Psychology

Numerous confounding factors reduce the likelihood of replicating psychological studies, which are rarely replicated anyway. For example, the race of participants in an experiment or the geography of where the experiment was run can reduce the likelihood of getting the same result, and if it's a survey of college students, forget about it. Last year, the Reproducibility Project, a collaborative of psychologists, sought to replicate the findings of 100 previously published psychology studies. However, it was able to do so with only 39 percent of these studies, raising questions about…

Tobacco kills nearly half of all long-term smokers and in the UK alone accounts for the deaths of 100,000 people annually, according to the public health charity ASH. This is the harsh reality behind plain packaging for tobacco, which comes into force in the UK on May 20 2016. Plain packaging isn’t plain, though. In fact, the name is a bit of a misnomer. It is true that plain packaging prohibits all commercial content such as brand colors, logos and taglines. But tobacco packs under the new policy scheme are still very much marketing vehicles. They use extremely strong shock messages such as…

Controversial evolutionary psychologist  Dr. Satoshi Kanazawahas written a new evolutionary psychology paper arguing that women may have been evolutionarily designed to be sexually fluid, changing their sexual desires and identities from lesbian, to bisexual, to heterosexual and back again, in order to allow them to have sex with their co-wives in polygynous marriages. This is because it helps in reducing conflict and tension inherent in such marriages while at the same time successfully reproducing with their husbands in heterosexual unions. Kanazawa also says this would also help…

A new atudy finds that an online computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) program both alone and in combination with Internet Support Groups (ISG) is more effective than doctors for anxiety and depression. The randomized trial, led by Bruce L. Rollman, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Smart Technology at the University of Pittsburgh, enrolled 704 depressed and anxious patients from 26 UPMC-affiliated primary care offices across western Pennsylvania. Patients 18 to 75 years old were referred into the trial by their UPMC primary…

Why is the WebMD website so successful? Last week, John Oliver ridiculed them for promoting every suspect association between anything and cancer, without any analysis or critical thinking.  A new paper paper in the journal Communication Research may provide some answers. They are publishing churnalism and advertorials about science and health, and that is far more effective than the numerous advertisements they carry. Credit: HBO Responding to consumer concern that native advertising can be intentionally misleading, the Federal Trade Commission last December issued guidelines on native…

Psychologically, women may not like much competition, according to a female psychologist, and that may account for inequality in academia and the work force. If that is true, though, why is psychology 70 percent women? There is just as much competition, it just isn't men. It may be that because psychology has a smaller monetary reward, women feel more communal than competitive, according to Dr. Kathrin Hanek, the study's lead author.  Men seek larger competitions, which are typically associated with higher monetary rewards, she believes. "Smaller social groups, even when individuals…

A study finds greater prevalence of mental health symptoms in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) community in your bisexual women.  During routine visits with physicians, participants in the study, numbering 2,513 between the ages of 14 and 24, took a survey through Behavioral Health Screen, a tool designed to uncover mental health concerns in patients. The tool was developed by Guy Diamond, PhD, director of the Family Intervention Science program and co-author of the study. Every participant was screened for depression, anxiety, traumatic distress, substance use and…

London, UK (May 04, 2016). Leaving work at the office and home at the door may not always be the best strategy for employee well-being and performance, according to a new paper in Human Relations . Traditionally it has been thought that in order to maintain concentration and high performance, employees needed to have a strict separation between home and work - the well-traveled work-life balance claim which, like ecological balance of nature, caught on with public and journalists who know little about science, but has never been shown to be true. The new paper follows common sense;…

Young gay and bisexual men under the age of 26 are six times more likely to attempt suicide or self-harm compared to men in that group aged over 45, and twice as likely to be depressed or anxious, according to a paper in the Journal of Public Health. Using data from the Stonewall Gay and Bisexual Men's Health Survey, the researchers analyzed responses of 5,799 gay and bisexual men aged 16 and over living in the UK. Depression, anxiety, attempted suicide and self-harm were examined against a range of life factors. Age, ethnicity, income and education were all found to have a large impact on…

People are fascinated by the unknown, by the possibility that there are things out there that are yet to be discovered. We think that most of our planet has been mapped by satellites and continents have been thoroughly explored. Although scientists estimate that millions of species are yet to be discovered, these are mostly assumed to be very small animals, especially invertebrates. Long gone are the days of famous explorers, when the borders of uncharted lands were marked with warnings such as “here be dragons”. And yet, many of us, still hope that some amazing, unexpected creatures may be…