Feature Channels: Behavioral Science

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A new study of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania suggests social networks sparked the evolution of cooperation.

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Sending a text message leads people to lie more often than in other forms of communication, according to new research by David Xu, assistant professor in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University.

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Every year between 3 and 10 percent of school-age children in this country are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Increasingly, families are using natural or complementary therapies to improve their child’s attention or behavior, and often seek advice from an integrative pediatrician, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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Research led by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute found that small-group dynamics -- such as jury deliberations, collective bargaining sessions, and cocktail parties -- can alter the expression of IQ in some susceptible people, especially women.

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Researchers at Albright College in Reading, Pa examined how perceptions of a person’s sexual orientation are influenced by facial symmetry and proportions. Self-identified heterosexuals had facial features that were slightly more symmetrical than homosexuals. And the more likely raters perceived someone as heterosexual, the more symmetrical that person’s features were.

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For students to accept the theory of evolution, an intuitive “gut feeling” may be just as important as understanding the facts, according to a new study.

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Do you imagine your co-workers to be positive, confident and resourceful? If so, chances are that you also display those traits in your own life, a new study finds.

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Napoleon Bonaparte, the notoriously “short” French emperor, may have stood only 5 feet 6, but being a powerful military and political leader probably made him feel much taller, suggests a new study by an organizational behavior expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

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A recent study led by a Cornell University researcher finds that the psychological experience of power makes people feel taller than they are.

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Research shows that English is strongly biased toward being positive. This new study complements another study published Dec. 7 by the same University of Vermont scientists that attracted wide media attention showing that average global happiness, based on Twitter data, has been dropping for the past two years. Combined, the two studies show that short-term average happiness has dropped -- against the backdrop of the long-term fundamental positivity of the English language.

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Two studies by USC Marshall School of Business professor find aligned action does not always lead to the common good Moving in harmony can make people feel more connected to one another and, as a result, lead to positive collective action. Think of those feel-good vibes created in a yoga class as students move in unison through their downward-facing dogs. Yet given that synchronized physical activities are also a cornerstone of military training and are the highlights of military propaganda reels, could the interconnectedness created by coordinated action be mined to make people behave destructively instead? According to two studies conducted by Scott Wiltermuth, assistant professor of management and organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, the cohesiveness synchronized action fosters can, indeed, be manipulated for less than ideal ends.

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Blogging may have psychological benefits for teens suffering from social anxiety, improving their self-esteem and helping them relate better to their friends, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

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A new study from the University of Haifa assessed the tools employees are using to cope with the stress of abusive treatment from a supervisor and how effective those tools are in terms of employee well-being.

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Adolescent children of lesbian mothers report as good quality of life as those with heterosexual parents, reports a study in the January Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Humble people are more likely to offer time to someone in need than arrogant people are, according to findings by Baylor University researchers published online in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

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Children and the elderly have slower response times when they have to make quick decisions in some settings. But research suggests that much of that slower response is a conscious choice to emphasize accuracy over speed.

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New research challenges the conventional thinking that young children use language just as adults do to help classify and understand objects in the world around them.

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How do holiday shoppers make fast and effective choices about what to buy? One Darden professor helps uncover the role of the similarity heuristic in how people make decisions.

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People born with severe facial disfigurement have generally good psychological adjustment in adulthood, according to a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Babies may not remember what they saw, but they remember that they saw something.

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When making New Year’s resolutions this year, committing to a specific plan for when and where you are going to accomplish each goal will make you more likely to succeed, says psychologist E.J. Masicampo. In a recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, he found that committing to a specific plan to accomplish a goal not only makes it more likely to be done, but also gets it off your mind so you can think about other things.

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You’re in search of a new coffee maker, and the simple quest becomes, well, an ordeal. After doing copious amounts of research and reading dozens of consumer reviews, you finally make a purchase, only to wonder: “Was this the right choice? Could I do better? What is the return policy?”

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Nearly half of all people in the United States will experience a mental illness at some point during their lives, yet talking about mental illness remains taboo for many. A new website, Project Implicit Mental Health, allows visitors to examine and gain insight into their associations about mental health topics that may exist outside their conscious awareness or conscious control.

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An Indiana University of Pennsylvania sociologist’s study of mixed martial arts competitors found that these men have unique ways of managing fear that actually allow them to exhibit confidence.

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Mothers with jobs tend to be healthier and happier than moms who stay at home during their children’s infancy and pre-school years, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

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Children learn more from television when parents interact with them similar to book reading.

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Kerri Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and colleagues are developing new ways to treat overeating in children and adults.

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A professor has found that children recognize and understand sarcastic comments better when the comments that are used are conventional. Her findings could help children recognize and understand sarcasm better, as well as help better convey social meanings to children with language impairment or who are on the autism spectrum.

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Children’s reasoning about language and race can take unexpected turns, according to University of Chicago researchers, who found that for younger white children in particular, language can loom larger than race in defining a person’s identity.

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A study by St. Lawrence University Assistant Professor of Psychology Serge Onyper showed that there is some short-term benefit to chewing gum just before taking a test.

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New research shows how support for a generally liked policy can be significantly lowered, simply by associating it with a group seen as “radical” or “extreme.”

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Men may think about sex more often than women do, but a new study suggests that men also think about other biological needs, such as eating and sleep, more frequently than women do, as well.

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Having an abusive boss not only causes problems at work but can lead to strained relationships at home, according to a Baylor University study published online in journal, Personnel Psychology. The study found that stress and tension caused by an abusive boss have an impact on the employee’s partner, which affects the marital relationship and subsequently the employee’s entire family.

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Creative people are more likely to cheat than less creative people, possibly because this talent increases their ability to rationalize their actions, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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By eighth grade, girls have already started to monitor the sexual conduct of other girls, according to researchers, and 70 percent of students have experienced some kind of non-physical sexual harassment, including sexual rumor spreading, also known as “slut bashing.”

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Although police officers are at a high risk of experiencing traumatic events (TE) in their work, they are no more likely than the general population to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

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Wake Forest University Assistant Professor of Psychology Christian Waugh studies human emotions and why some people are more resilient in maintaining positive emotions than others. After the holidays are over, it can be easy to slide into a funk. Waugh’s research suggests three tips to keep up the excitement and joy of the holidays all year long.

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For black American adults, perceived racism may cause mental health symptoms similar to trauma and could lead to some physical health disparities between blacks and other populations in the United States, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

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Perceptions shaped by evolution influence voters to choose candidates with lower-pitched voices, according to new findings by researchers at McMaster University.

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Rules that are supposed to ensure minimum standards may in the end serve only to lower standards further than they might be without any rules at all, according to a study by a University of Iowa researcher.

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Intelligence and smart thinking are not the same, according to University of Texas at Austin psychologist Art Markman, who studies how best to apply knowledge for smarter thinking at work and home.

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Whether you love the "Harry Potter" series or despise it, there may be a psychological explanation behind your opinion. Russell Webster, Kansas State University doctoral student in psychology, Sherwood, Ill., recently discovered that people experience fantasy differently, which explains why some people enjoy it more than others.

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In a study of wild primates, reported this week (Nov. 7, 2011) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist Karen B. Strier describes a monkey society where equality and tolerance rule and where sexually mature males, still living at home, seem to get helpful access to mates by the mere presence of their mothers and other maternal kin.

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Watching a horror movie can scare you into selling your stocks earlier than you would have otherwise. That’s the frightening evidence shown in a series of studies by Associate Professor Eduardo Andrade, University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

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What do Jesus, Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, George Washington and Charles Darwin have in common? “These historic figures and recent work by dozens of psychologists contribute to the provision of solutions to complicated human problems,” said Bem Allen, author of the new book “Common Sense Versus Wisdom: A Guide to Emotional Control and Rational Thinking.”

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They could be the peer that a friend turns to for help. But University of Cincinnati research suggests it can be tough for college students to spot some of the warning signs indicating or leading to eating disorders.

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Adolescent boys with at least one parent in the military are at elevated risk of engaging in school-based physical fighting, carrying a weapon and joining a gang, according to research presented today at the American Public Health Association’s 139th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

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Being reminded of the concept of God can decrease people’s motivation to pursue personal goals but can help them resist temptation, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

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This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa. It is possible that the differences between men and women are founded in gender socialization: 'teaching' women to respond to terrorism with more anxiety than men.