Psychology

A new paper in the Journal of Adolescence finds that adolescents attending religious services has a positive affect on reducing pornography viewing. Between 2003 and 2008, adolescents were surveyed on, among other things, their pornography usage into young adulthood (between the ages of 13 to 24) and results showed that, unsurprisingly, pornography consumption` increases sharply with age, especially among males - but it was decidedly lesser among those who attend religious services.  The data collected for this project was obtained from data in the publicly available National Study of…

At the 2012 Democratic convention, when President Obama mentioned that his administration had killed the terrorist Osama Bin Laden, the building erupted in cheers. This was positively un-Democratic, to both Democrats and Republicans. Democrats were supposed to be more tolerant of other cultures, with safe spaces for all, and anything that looked like being critical of Muslims was usually frowned upon. Four years later, things are more normal again. Democrats are more likely to look at a terrorist attack in Orlando as a conflicted gay man in a repressed family, while Republicans believe that…

Depression is different for African-Americans than Caucasian-Americans or Latin-Americans, and   the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), the primary source of diagnostic information for clinicians, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, the legal system, is getting it wrong, according to Sirry Alang, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Lehigh University. Alang came to the conclusion that all of psychiatry is wrong on depression by spending a year in year in black neighborhoods and giving informal interviews, she says…

Though diet book authors claim they have a once-size-fits-all solution for weight gain, be it giving up sugar or salt or wheat, the fact is that we have the luxury of being able to eat in excess for a very low cost.  But 'do everything in moderation' is also ineffective for losing or maintaining weight, because the more people like a food, the more forgiving their definitions of moderation are,  A paper in Appetite describes the relative meanings attached to moderation based on perceptions, based on surveys. "We asked people to tell us what they think moderation is, in terms of…

How can you buy a new car and still appear socially responsible? Make it a hybrid or electric car. The manufacturing strain on the environment is the same, and the energy production strain is worse because the energy density is far less than combustion, but you can appear socially responsible to others. A paper in Marketing Science shows how companies can leverage that kind of "conspicuous conservation." If a company can attach a green halo to its products then consumers who need for their neighbors to know how environmentally conscious they are will be happy about about paying…

Anxiety may be a first world problem - and a young female one at that. A review of reviews (so calibrate your expectations) in Brain and Behavior finds that women are almost twice as likely to experience anxiety as men, and people from Western Europe and North America are more likely to suffer from anxiety than people from other cultures. Anxiety disorders are a non-specific blanket term for excessive worry, fear and a tendency to avoid potentially stressful situations including social gatherings. Pretend money estimates claim these disorders cost $42.3 million in the U.S. In the European…

You don't see a lot of celebrities advertising kale - which is okay, kale is not all that healthy, but at least it has a health halo. Not so for soda and other sugary drinks, fast food and sweets, and those are among the most common food and beverage products endorsed by famous music personalities. They are directly to blame for obesity, claims lead author Marie Bragg, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone, in Pediatrics. Unsurprisingly, Big Lettuce did not hire celebrities to do endorsements, nor did music stars endorse fruits, vegetables,…

We've seen increasingly bizarre claims from social psychologists and advocates with confirmation bias: American liberals are evolving into a different species, they have prettier children, conservatives are motivated by fear, and more.  One thing is truth, people are more likely to mate by education level now, there are very few scenarios where smart people simply don't go to college in a culture where government spends money convincing young people they need a college degree.  That would have to change the genetic makeup of subsequent generations, right? Not really. In the…

Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment in a non-judgmental way. The practitioner learns to avoid dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. This can be difficult, especially for people suffering from anxiety and depression, but, if achieved, it can bring lasting relief. NHS mental health services are increasingly offering a therapy called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) which is, as the name suggests, based on mindfulness skills. MBCT is an evidence-based group therapy. It combines training in mindfulness skills and practices with cognitive therapy (…

When someone shoots up innocent people, is that extremism or insanity? It often depends on if they are one of your own citizens. After studying the 2011 case of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, University of Missouri School of Medicine scholars are suggesting a new forensic term to classify non-psychotic behavior that leads to criminal acts of violence. Breivikkilled 77 people on July 22, 2011 in a car bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting at a youth camp on the island of Utøya. Claiming to be a "Knights Templar" and a "savior of Christianity," Breivik stated that the purpose of the…