Psychology

A new study finds that young girls and women are more likely to believe that negative past events predict future events, compared to boys and men. And that, according to researchers, may help explain why females have more frequent and intense worries, perceive more risk, have greater intolerance for uncertainty, and experience higher rates of anxiety than males. In two studies involving 128 people, a researcher investigated 3- to 6-year-olds’ as well as adults’ knowledge that worry and preventative behaviors can be caused by thinking that a negative event from the past will or might reoccur…

'Quitting' in the face of insurmountable obstacles is the antithesis of American culture. John Henry died rather than give up against a machine trying to lay railroad track faster than him. Few successful businessmen have denied they worked their way through doubt and financial peril to succeed. It would seem that persistence would be mentally beneficial over the long haul; hanging in there should increase the odds of personal success and personal success is closely linked to well-being. But what if the goal is extremely unlikely? When does an admirable trait like perseverance start to look…

Why are some people prejudiced and others are not? The authors of a study in Psychological Science investigate how some individuals are able to avoid prejudicial biases despite the pervasive human tendency to favor one’s own group. Robert Livingston of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Brian Drwecki of the University of Wisconsin conducted studies that examined white college students who harbored either some or no racial biases. They found that only seven percent did not show any racial bias (as measured by implicit and explicit psychological tests), and that…

In 2000, Hal Pashler and I published a paper called “How persuasive is a good fit? A comment on theory testing.” For more than 50 years, experimental psychologists have supported mathematical theories by showing that the equations of the theory could fit their data. We pointed out that this was a mistake because no account was taken of the flexibility of the theory. A too-flexible theory can fit anything. However obvious this may sound to outsiders, the practice we criticized was common (and continues). Recently I asked Hal: Is the problem we pointed out an example of something more general?…

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are reporting in the September issue of the American Heart Journal that women with a family history of heart disease are less likely than men to change habits such as smoking and infrequent physical activity. They also are more likely to engage in lifestyle choices that increase their risk of heart disease than are women who did not report a history of heart disease. “A family history of heart disease is as important an indicator of future cardiovascular health in women as it is in men – perhaps more important,” said Dr. Amit Khera, assistant…

If you look at a price and you see larger numbers on the far right, it makes a difference in how you perceive the discount compared to small numbers on the right even if the actual differences are the same, according to a new study from the Journal of Consumer Research. So a price of $188 from an original price of $199 appears to be a better deal than a $222 price discounted to $211, even though they are both $11 cheaper. However, if the left-most digit is small, people perceive they are getting a larger discount when the right digits are “small” -- less than 5 -- rather than when they are…

There has been a lot of recent discussion about recovery from depression, sparked by the results of the largest ever treatment trial (STAR*D) and its indicator that more and new combinations of antidepressant drugs for an increased level of remission were essential. Some Italian investigators interpert the same data in a different way: the more you use antidepressant drugs, the worse is the long-term outcome, they say. Giovanni A. Fava and associates (University of Bologna) have published this new analysis in the September issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. The paper analyzes some…

A new research study at Northwestern University is investigating innovative ways to rehabilitate people with lousy health habits. Bonnie Spring, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, says the way to improve eating habits is to make change as easy as possible. Her method is based on the Behavioral Economics Theory used by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. The study uses high-tech tools, including a specially programmed Palm Pilot to monitor eating and exercise, virtual visits with a personal coach and an accelerometer which straps around the…

I welcome the blog from Michael Bailey this morning, and thank him for contributing it. This is the first time I am aware of where an exchange can take place in an open forum. Bailey's passages help make clear where the disagreements exist, which might suggest that an armistice is someday possible. On the other hand, his passages illustrate why this acrimonious dispute has persisted for over four years, and will not find an easy reconciliation. Bailey has still not been able to grasp that people may think he is wrong because they.... really, actually think he is wrong. They don't think he is…

I had a long correspondence with Deirdre McCloskey about what she and Lynn Conway did to try to ruin Michael Bailey. Most of it is on her website. The most interesting part was at the end. She wrote: Dear Professor Roberts: Anyone who is chilled by being challenged intellectually, I suppose you agree, doesn't belong in intellectual life. Anyone who is chilled by being investigated for wrongdoing when he's done wrong is just a moral coward, as I reckon Bailey to be. You don't understand The Letter if you don't think the women were mugged. You've not walked in those shoes, or bothered to…