Cultural Reactions to Anger Expression can Affect Negotiation Outcomes
Getting angry might help you get your way if you’re negotiating with European Americans, but watch out – in negotiations with East Asians, getting angry may actually hurt your cause. That’s the conclusion of a new study on how people from different cultures react to anger in negotiations.
Some Vivid Memories are Simply Figments of the Imagination
Remembering events from our past that we know have never actually happened is actually a relatively common phenomenon, according to psychologists from the University of Hull.
Brain Study Shows That Thinking About God Reduces Distress—But Only for Believers
Thinking about God may make you less upset about making errors, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The researchers measured brain waves for a particular kind of distress-response while participants made mistakes on a test. Those who had been prepared with religious thoughts had a less prominent response to mistakes than those who hadn’t.
Study Suggests Intervention for Overcoming Reading-Comprehension Difficulties in Children
Effective reading requires recognizing words and also understanding what they mean. Between 7-10 percent of children have specific reading-comprehension difficulties. These children can read text aloud accurately but do not understand what they have just read. A new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, identifies a training program which may help children overcome reading-comprehension difficulties.
Researchers Discover First Genes for Stuttering
Stuttering may be the result of a glitch in the day-to-day process by which cellular components in key regions of the brain are broken down and recycled, says a study in the Feb. 10 Online First issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, led by researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, has identified three genes as a source of stuttering in volunteers in Pakistan, the United States, and England.
Endocannabinoid Blockers Improve Obesity-Related Health Complications
An experimental compound appears to improve metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity, according to a preliminary study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. A report of the study, which was conducted with obese mice, appears online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
To Make One Happy, Make One Busy
In Greek mythology, the gods punished Sisyphus by condemning him to roll a rock up a steep hill for eternity. But he was probably better off than if they’d condemned him to sit and stare into space until the end of time, conclude the authors of a new study on keeping busy. They found that people who have something to do, even something pointless, are happier than people who sit idly.
Good and Bad in the Hands of Politicians
Politicians’ gestures can reveal their thoughts, according to a new study published July 28, 2010, in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. “In laboratory tests, right- and left-handers associate positive ideas like honesty and intelligence with their dominant side of space and negative ideas with their non-dominant side,” says Daniel Casasanto of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.
People Confront Prejudice Only When They Believe Others’ Personalities Can Change
Confronting someone who makes a prejudiced remark can be a good thing—but not everyone does it. Researchers at Stanford University studied how and when targets of bias will speak up, and found that they’re more likely to do so if they hold a particular belief: that people’s personalities can change.
Remembering to Forget: The Amnesic Effect of Daydreaming
When your mind drifts, it’s hard to remember what was going on before you stopped paying attention. Now a new study has found that the effect is stronger when your mind drifts farther – to memories of an overseas vacation instead of a domestic trip, for example, or a memory in the more distant past.
Scientists Identify Brain Circuits Related to the Initiation of Termination of Movement Sequences
In humans, throwing a ball, typing on a keyboard, or engaging in most other physical activities involves the coordination of numerous discrete movements that are organized as action sequences. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and the Gulbenkian Institute in Portugal have identified brain activity in mice that can signal the initiation and termination of newly learned action sequences. The findings appear online today in the current issue of Nature.
Can Blocking a Frown Keep Bad Feelings at Bay?
Your facial expression may tell the world what you are thinking or feeling. But it also affects your ability to understand written language related to emotions, according to research published in the July issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.