Psychology

When 23andMe was in its most ridiculous phase of existence, the co-founder was telling FDA to talk to the hand while she assumed campaign donations to members of Congress would exempt them from being told to stop lying about their tests allowing consumers to “take steps toward mitigating serious diseases” like breast cancer. It didn't work, and after giving them years to obey the law FDA finally sent a warning letter and then Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., Director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health gave their customers hilarious subtext about how useless the tests really were:…

As a child, you probably thought a week took forever and parents certainly thought days crept by after having an infant. "Time flies when you are having fun" and COVID-19 quarantines and lockdowns were not fun. A new study also finds what psychologists warned about; the effects on those with depression issues could be even worse. Unlike a new job or moving to a new place, where time also 'seems' to slow down, the new paper found that distortions to the passage of time were also present later into the global pandemic. An online questionnaire was used to collect passage of time judgments for…

If you see someone on "TODAY" hawking four products per minute they claim are going to make your life better, there is a 100 percent chance it is a paid influencer invited because a producer needed content. Such influencers get paid because it works. This marketing strategy is also common on Facebook, Twitter, and outlets like Mother Jones, where organic food, supplements, and alternatives to medicine are popular for their demographics who have money and a distrust of science. A recent paper quantified the link between corporate media, including social media, and knowledge of COVID-19. A…

A new survey estimates that 8% of pregnant women reported symptoms that meet criteria for a clinical diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and in the 38 weeks after having a child that jumped to 17% - a huge increase over other surveys. It's no surprise expecting moms get a little control freak-y. For years before conception women are hammered by claims about how they should be behaving, using correlation and mysticism about epigenetics, or on the really weird anti-science side, claims that they should avoid automobile seats and any food not labeled organic because of increased "…

Even previously considerate and helpful male managers have become less likely to mentor female employees, according to a new study. They've become less likely to even talk one-on-one with women. This unintended consequence of the #MeToo movement could deny female employees critical development and thus career advancement. Women are not the problem, a large portion of female employees report a willingness to be mentored by an older male co-worker, but career advancement also has a social component, and in the last few years men are less likely to work one-on-one in an office with the door…

A few years ago, a study claimed that in gender blind symphony auditions, women scored 30 percent better. Harvard gender studies authors concluded that there was gender bias in hiring and that was the reason for a gender gap in symphony orchestra compositions. Implicit bias claims had reached their apex. We're all prejudiced, implicit bias proponents claim, it is only a matter of degree. Or was it only wishful thinking by social scientists? Peer review of the methodology couldn't conclude that sexism was rampant in symphony choices at all. Yet it got media attention by science journalists who…

For as much talk as there is about bullying and drama in schools, for most teens the experience of interacting with peers is not only positive, it is essential training for dealing with others later in life. And if a new national poll is an indication, government lockdowns and societal pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic may have lasting impacts on the mental health of young people. The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at Michigan Medicine is based on responses from 977 parents of teens ages 13-18 and finds that 46% of parents say their teen has shown signs…

I have put this post under the "psychology" category, although it discusses a chess game, for one important reason. Chess is a game, an art, a sport - you can categorize it in many different ways. However, what characterizes chess the most, in my opinion (an educated one, as I am an amateur with a long past of chess tournaments)  is the chance it gives to the players to mess up with each other's mind.A lot has been written about this topic, so I am not going to make a dent. However, it is nice to recall the matter here, at a time when chess seems to be on everybody's radar due to the…

In past years there has been ongoing concern that not enough people got the annual flu vaccine. Some of it was laziness, some of it was lack of education. There were few outright deniers that flu was a problem. Instead, it seemed to be the opposite. If someone had a bad cold they still said they had the flu, and some said they think they might have the flu, which led most doctors to remind people that if you think you have the flu, you don't have the flu. The real vaccine deniers were more coastal elites who believed a discredited former doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who was interested in…

'The right thing, the wrong thing, do it with authority is a common' is a common statement for leadership behavior. Humans take comfort in confidence. Even in things like facts; the faster the answer the more likely others will believe it.  Researchers conducted a series of experiments involving more than 7,500 individuals from the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Participants either listened to an audio snippet, viewed a video or read an account of a person responding to a simple question (e.g., did they like a cake a friend made or had they stolen money from work). In…