Psychology

If you have ever seen pictures of people doing yoga with goats or sunning their butt-holes(1), you may have assumed it is California, but that is unfair. It is just as likely to be any state on the west coast. In my town, people who claim they love poor people hate lawnmowers run by...poor people.(2) Yet they love animals that, at fantastic cost and with no benefit to poor people, are hired out and fenced into areas to...mow lawns. There is a whole section of Facebook devoted to pictures of grazing animals eating in cities, our municipal website publishes dates and locations so California…

Films have been common for over a century and a new paper laments that for much of that time men have been the unhinged scientists with a 'God complex', because by not having more 'mad' women in the 1930s, modern Artificial Intelligence routines are perpetuating gender stereotypes. When you think of 'mad scientist' you probably do think of a man, and the authors argue that is a symptom of deeper sexism; so AI, which is going to pick a spot in brute force style and converge on answers from there, will perpetuate it. And that is true, except the issue is well-known and easy to work around…

Most people go into relationships intending to be monogamous, or at least convincing themselves they can remain faithful, but with cheap travel and dating apps, any small problem can become a permanent schism. A new paper sought to understand if virtual reality can be used to examine the circumstances that will help people in a monogamous relationship resist the temptations of infidelity. The researchers based their work on inoculation theory, a proper name for the psychological idea that, like with vaccines, exposure to weakened threats increases protection. In the case of a…

Is there an addiction that primarily affects one gender in one age demographic in rich countries? Survey data using the National Poll on Healthy Aging says there may be.  The results were that about 13 percent of people from ages 50 to 80 responded in ways that could be interpreted as addiction to foods and beverages in the past year. Prevalence was much higher among women than men – older Generation X and younger Baby Boomer women. Less surprisingly it was higher in people who say they are overweight, lonely, or in fair or poor physical or mental health. Anyone who has gone from active…

Humans owe it to language for their many accomplishments throughout history. Our ability to communicate thoughts and ideas enabled us to build entire cultures, establish laws, and develop new ways of making life increasingly better.  However, there is more to language than meets the eye. Aside from serving as a vehicle of communication, it also helps us determine who we are and how we want others to perceive us. More importantly, our use of language reveals our inner thoughts and personalities in ways we are never fully aware of.  How do we begin to describe the relationship…

If the media, popular entertainment, and retail habits are taken as indicators then the celebration of Christmas is no longer just the reserve of Christians. This has some consequences for the religious and non-religious alike. In popular culture and the media, Christmas is portrayed as a time of happiness, togetherness, generosity, and peace. In the “made for Christmas” movies, such as those on the popular Hallmark Channel, a “feel good” message is the order of the day. Whether it be the rekindling of a long-lost love or reconciling between family members after a long and painful conflict,…

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, from school closures to lockdowns, were important for health officials and implemented even after factoring in concerns about long-term psychological effects. If results from 2015-2020 surveys are an indication, depression cases may go up sharply in future data. In 2020, past 12‒month depression was prevalent among nearly 20 percent of adolescents and young adults, and almost 10 percent of Americans.   That needs some context. Young people are often more depressed. It is a time of change, physically and emotionally, aided by the modern invention of "…

The teen years are a challenging time for people transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, especially if they have mental health issues. The online posting, sending or sharing of hurtful content is like being trapped in a small town, except possibly the whole world sees it. So why would someone do it to themselves? That's the puzzle of digital self-harm. Like older forms of self-harm (cutting, burning, hitting oneself), there is worry it will lead suicidal ideation and attempts, but since peers assume a third-party is the culprit, the dysphoric or abnormal reasons to post cruel,…

Many of us enjoy a drink at the end of a stressful day. But for some, this is less of a discretionary treat and more of a nightly must-have. While alcohol reduction campaigns ask us to check our relationship with alcohol, emphasising the role it can play in causing violence and disease, our research has found many Australian women view alcohol in a different way. Many don’t see alcohol as only a bad thing and have complex reasons for their relationships with alcohol. We conducted 50 interviews with midlife women (45–64 years of age) from different social classes living in South Australia.…

Before every Marvel film premiere, comic books related to the characters almost always rise in value. People who speculate buy them from sellers. It's a bad idea. In other parts pf culture, people who read about trendy topics like working-from-home and the metaverse and buy exchange traded funds (ETFs) will also likely be disappointed. Researchers found that ETFs based on these and similar hot topics earn an average return about 30 percent lower than more diversified funds over the five years after they are launched. ETFs, which were first developed in the mid-1990s, are popular…