Category: Studies

  • Let It Out

    Benedict Carey looks at  The Benefits of Blowing Your Top in the NYT.  One upside to emotional expression (according to a study), a better social life: [P]sychologists followed 278 men and women as they entered college, giving questionnaires and conducting interviews. Those who scored highest on measures of emotion suppression had the hardest time making…

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  • Habit Slayers

    Unwanted habits are susceptible to some simple tricks, says PsyBlog, reviewing a new study. Something you want to stop doing?  Try: Vigilant monitoring: watching out for slip-ups and saying “Don’t do it!” to yourself. Distraction: trying to think about something else. Stimulus control: removing the opportunity to perform the habit, say by leaving the bar, fast-food restaurant…

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  • Overstudying the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic)

    The universal truths of psychology may not be so universal, after all. A new University of British Columbia study says that an overreliance on research subjects from the U.S. and other Western nations can produce false claims about human psychology and behavior because their psychological tendencies are highly unusual compared to the global population…

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  • Online Marriage Checkup

    Studies have couples checking in annually about their marriages, online. “You don’t wait to see the dentist until something hurts — you go for checkups on a regular basis…If people were to bring their marriages in for a checkup on an annual basis, would that provide the same sort of benefit that a physical health…

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  • Sleep = Energy

    “Brain’s energy restored during sleep–not exactly a news flash.  But a study looks at what actually goes on in your head while you’re slumbering: In the initial stages of sleep, energy levels increase dramatically in brain regions found to be active during waking hours [suggesting] a surge of cellular energy may replenish brain processes needed to…

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