Education may not improve your chance of happiness long-term, according to research conducted at the University of Warwick. The study examined mental well-being data collected from more than 17,000 survey participants. Researchers then matched the data to factors such as educational achievement, income and age. They found that high levels of mental well-being were not correlated with higher educational accomplishment (considering high school graduates to those with advanced degrees) or with higher income. People over age 55 were more likely to have high mental well-being (British Journal of Psychiatry, online March 19).
Faculty in doctoral programs are more responsive to white male prospective students , according to a study led by a University of Pennsylvania scientist. Researchers sent emails from supposedly prospective doctoral students to more than 6,500 faculty at 259 U.S. universities, asking to meet with the professors to discuss the faculty member's work and possible opportunities for the student to get involved in the research. Each email was signed with one of 20 names selected based on census and other data to indicate the gender and race/ethnicity (white, black, Hispanic, Indian, Chinese) of the purported student sender. The researchers found that faculty in almost every academic discipline were significantly more responsive to white males than to women and minorities. In business, for example, the most discriminatory discipline observed in the study, women and minorities seeking guidance were collectively ignored at 2.2 times the rate of white males. Even in the least discriminatory academic discipline, the humanities, women and minorities were collectively ignored at 1.4 times the rate of Caucasian males ( Journal of Applied Psychology , online April 13).
Searching the Internet for information may make people feel smarter than they actually are , according to Yale University psychologists. In one experiment, out of several conducted in the study, researchers divided participants into two groups and asked them to answer various questions, such as, "How does a zipper work?" Members of one group were told they could search for the answer on the Internet, but the other group was not given that resource. Participants who searched for information on the Internet consistently rated themselves as knowledgeable about topics unrelated to their online searches, compared with those who didn't use the Internet in the experiment ( Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , online March 30).
When health risks go down, worker productivity goes up , suggests a study led by researchers at StayWell, a health-engagement company in St. Paul, Minnesota. They analyzed health assessment surveys from nearly 97,000 workers completed from 2009 to 2011, and found a strong correlation between health risks and productivity. Improved employee health led to increased productivity in later years, and the effect was cumulative over time ( Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine opens in new window , April).
Genetics may be key to a student's level of motivation at school , according to a study by the Ohio State University psychologists. More than 13,000 twins ages 9 to 16 from six countries answered questions about how much they enjoyed reading, math, science and other academic subjects. The twins also rated their own abilities in these subjects. The researchers looked at how close the answers concerning these aspects of motivation were for fraternal twins compared with identical twins. They found that about half of the difference in the twins' motivation could be explained by genetics, while the other half could be explained by the twins' experiences, such as differential parenting or a teacher whom one twin had but not the other ( Personality and Individual Differences opens in new window , July).
Acting in synchrony increases children's feelings of similarity and closeness , according to findings from the University of Washington. Researchers tested 74 8-year-old children in pairs of two boys and two girls, seated side-by-side watching a video screen upon which an animated soccer ball bounced on both halves of the screen. A divider prevented each child from seeing the other half of the screen, though the children could see each other. Whenever the ball on their side of the screen hit the bottom of the display, the children pressed a button. For some pairs of children, the balls bounced in sync, so their fingers tapped the buttons simultaneously, while other pairs had out-of-sync bouncing. The activity lasted three minutes. After the game, participants completed questionnaires about how similar and close they felt to the child they had been paired with. The researchers found that children in the synchronous group reported a greater sense of similarity and closeness ( PLOS ONE , April 8).
Adolescents appear to benefit most from math and science homework that they complete on their own , finds a study by researchers from the University of Oviedo in Spain. They looked at the performance of 7,725 students who completed questionnaires asking how often they did homework and how much time they spent on various subjects. The researchers also asked whether the students did their homework alone or with help and, if they did have help, how often. The researchers found that students who did their math homework on their own scored higher on a standardized test than those who asked for frequent or constant help ( Journal of Educational Psychology , online March 16).
Power naps significantly improve memory performance
, suggests research by psychologists at Saarland University in Germany. In the study, 41 volunteers studied 90 single words and 120 word pairs, and were then tested to see how many they could remember. About half of the participants were then allowed a 90-minute nap, while the others watched a DVD. Participants were then immediately re-tested. Those who had taken naps remembered substantially more word pairs — but not single words — than those who had watched the DVD
(Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
, April).
People's brain activity may change when they are carrying out a violent act , based on whether the act is viewed as justified or unjustified, finds research conducted by Monash University psychologists. Researchers monitored the study's 48 participants' brain activity by fMRI while the participants played video games in which they imagined themselves shooting innocent civilians or enemy soldiers. The researchers found that when participants imagined themselves shooting civilians compared with soldiers, there was greater activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a brain area involved in moral decision-making. The more guilt the participants reported feeling about shooting innocent people, the greater the response in this area. When shooting enemy soldiers, no activation was seen in the lateral OFC ( Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience opens in new window , online March 9).
Expressing gratitude may make your heart healthier , according to research by University of California, San Diego scientists. The study involved 186 adults who had been diagnosed with asymptomatic (Stage B) heart failure. Using standard psychological tests, the researchers obtained scores for gratitude and spiritual well-being, and compared those scores with the patients' scores for depressive symptom severity, sleep quality, fatigue and self-efficacy, as well as their levels of inflammatory biomarkers. The researchers found that when participants had higher gratitude scores, they also had better moods, higher quality sleep, more self-efficacy and less inflammation. The study also found that patients who kept gratitude journals for eight weeks had lower inflammation ( Spirituality in Clinical Practice opens in new window , March).
Children who are on antipsychotics may be at increased risk of weight gain and diabetes , according to researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The scientists examined national Medicaid data on more than 1.3 million youth ages 10 to 18 with a mental health diagnosis. They found that initiating antipsychotics may elevate a child's risk for weight gain and for Type 2 diabetes by nearly 50 percent. Among children who are also taking antidepressants, the risk may double ( JAMA Pediatrics opens in new window , April).
Teenagers shape each other's views on how risky a situation is , finds research conducted at University College London. In the study, 563 visitors of all ages to the London Science Museum were asked to rate the riskiness of everyday situations, such as crossing a road or taking a shortcut through a dark alley, and then informed about the ratings that other people of a particular age group had given. The study found that young adolescents' judgments were most influenced by what other teens thought, while older adolescents, as well as children and adults, were more influenced by adults' views ( Psychological Science opens in new window , online March 25).
Chronic loneliness in older adults leads to more physician's office visits , according to research from the University of Georgia. Scientists analyzed data gathered in 2008 and 2012 from 3,530 adults age 60 and older in which they rated their level of companionship and feelings of isolation. Researchers compared those data with participants' self-reported physician visits and hospital stays. The researchers found that people who reported they were lonely in both 2008 and 2012 had significantly more physician visits; however, there was no effect of loneliness on hospital stays. Lonely respondents also reported they had more problems with daily living tasks and more depressive symptoms ( American Journal of Public Health opens in new window , May).
Rates of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) appear to decrease at higher altitudes , according to research conducted at the University of Utah. Scientists correlated the number of cases of diagnosed ADHD with average elevations in the lower 48 states and the District of Columbia. They found that for every one-foot increase in elevation, the likelihood of being diagnosed with ADHD decreased by 0.001 percent. The data showed that North Carolina, whose average elevation is 869 feet above sea level, had the highest percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD. Nevada, however, with an average elevation of 5,517 feet above sea level, had the lowest percentage at 5.6. In fact, all of the Mountain West states rated well below average for the percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD. The study also took into account other factors, such as birth weight, ethnicity and gender — all of which could affect ADHD diagnoses and influence the rate of the disorder in each state ( Journal of Attention Disorders opens in new window , online March 25).
Middle-aged and older adults who participated in arts and craft activities and socialized appear to be less likely to develop thinking and memory problems in very old age
, according to research from Mayo Clinic scientists. The study looked at 256 participants — average age 87 — who reported that in middle or older age they participated in such activities as painting, drawing, woodworking and quilting, as well as social activities such as going to the movies. Over the study's four-year follow-up, people who had engaged in arts in both middle and old age were 73 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) than those who reported they did not engage in artistic activities. Those who engaged in crafts were 45 percent and socializers were 55 percent less likely to develop MCI (
Neurology
, online April 8).
Contrary to popular belief, frequent use of the words "I" and "me" doesn't necessarily mean someone is a narcissist , finds research by University of Arizona psychologists. They asked the study's 4,800 participants from the United States and Germany to engage in one of six communications tasks in which they wrote or talked about themselves or an unrelated topic. They scored the participants for narcissism using five narcissism measures, then compared the results with participants' use of first-person singular pronouns in the communication tasks. The study found no association between pronoun use and narcissism ( Journal of Personality and Social Psychology opens in new window , online March 30).
Young adults are more likely to appreciate the dangers of smoking when warnings are presented in images as well as text , suggest findings from a study led by a Washington State University Vancouver psychologist. In the study, smoking and non-smoking people ages 18 to 25 took an online survey about their smoking behaviors. They also rated cigarette warning labels on understandability, how much they learned from the label, the extent to which the label evoked worry and how much the label discouraged them from smoking. The labels in the study emphasized negative consequences of smoking, such as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, impotence and more. Overwhelmingly, participants reported that labels containing both images and text gave them more knowledge about cigarette use, aroused more worry and discouraged them from smoking more than text-only labels ( Annals of Behavioral Medicine opens in new window , February).
Older workers appear to bring valuable knowledge to the job , while younger ones display superior reasoning abilities, finds a study by University of Minnesota psychologists. The researchers examined standardized psychological test data gathered from 3,375 people who applied for executive-level jobs. The psychologists found that general mental ability decreased gradually across age groups, with more marked declines for people over 59. However, older people had higher scores on crystallized intelligence — which draws upon acquired knowledge — compared with younger ones ( Journal of Applied Psychology opens in new window , online March 30).
— Amy Novotney
