Religiosity and generosity
People in more religious countries are no more generous with their time and money than people in nonreligious countries are, suggests a study in Psychology of Religion and Spiritualityopens in new window. Researchers analyzed data from three large international surveys—with respondents from more than 100 countries—that measured religiosity and prosocial behaviors. Overall, the researchers found that national levels of religiosity were not related to citizens’ volunteering, were positively related to people’s likelihood of helping a stranger and were negatively related to donating money. However, the effects were different between poorer and wealthier countries: In countries with a lower GDP, religiosity generally was associated with prosocial behaviors, while in wealthier countries there was no significant correlation between religiosity and prosociality. DOI: 10.1037/rel0000171
Conversations matter for kids
Previous research has found that poor children in the United States hear as many as 30 million fewer words by age 4 than wealthier children do, contributing to a socioeconomic status (SES) achievement gap. Now, a study in Psychological Scienceopens in new window suggests that what matters is not only the number of words that children hear, but the quality of the conversation. Researchers evaluated the verbal ability of 36 socioeconomically diverse children, ages 4 to 6, then used recording and language-analysis software to analyze two days of conversations between the children and their caregivers at home. They found that children from high-SES homes experienced more “conversational turns”—back-and-forth exchanges between the caregivers and children—than children in lower-SES homes did. Later, the researchers used fMRI to measure the children’s brain activity as they listened to a story. They found that children who had experienced more conversational turns at home showed more activity in a language-related area of the frontal lobe (Broca’s area) while listening to the story. DOI: 10.1177/0956797617742725
Blue-state pain
Research on previous U.S. presidential elections has found that voters felt only short-lived sadness when their favorite candidate lost. Not so after the 2016 presidential election: A study in Emotionopens in new window finds that voters who opposed Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election remained significantly less happy six months after the election than they had been before it. Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 voters three weeks before the election, and again one week, three weeks and six months after the election, to assess general happiness and life satisfaction. They found that Trump supporters increased on both measures and Hillary Clinton supporters decreased on both measures immediately after the election. Six months later, both groups of participants had returned to baseline levels of life satisfaction, and Trump supporters had returned to baseline levels of general happiness. However, Clinton supporters remained below their baseline level of happiness six months after the election. DOI: 10.1037/emo0000411
The eyes have it
People use eye movements to help remember complicated visual information, and older adults may use this strategy more often to help overcome age-related declines in memory, suggests a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performanceopens in new window. Researchers tracked the eye movements of 20 younger adults (ages 18 to 27) and 20 older adults (ages 63 to 84) as they took a memory test. On each trial, participants first spent a few seconds memorizing a set of objects on a screen. Then, after seeing a blank screen for about 1 to 6 seconds, they were shown the set of objects again and had to identify whether one object had moved. The researchers found that during the blank screen interlude, participants moved their eyes in the same pattern as when they saw the first set of objects, as if they were rehearsing what they’d seen. Older adults used this strategy for all levels of the test, while younger adults used it only for more difficult levels, when there was a longer interlude between the memorization and recall phases. DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000522
No neuron growth for adults
Contrary to previous research, human adults may not continue to grow new neurons in their brains, suggests a study in Natureopens in new window. Researchers analyzed brain tissue from the hippocampal region of 59 people, ages 1 to 77. Some tissue samples were taken from autopsies, others from patients undergoing brain surgery. Using several new techniques to look for evidence of neuron growth, the researchers found that the number of new neurons decreased sharply between ages 1 and 7 and decreased again between ages 7 and 13. They found no evidence of new neuron growth in any of the tissue samples from people older than 13. DOI: 10.1038/nature25975
Study now, succeed later
Teenagers who work hard and are interested in school are more likely to find career success in adulthood, and this correlation is found over and above the effects of other personal and family characteristics, finds a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychologyopens in new window. Researchers analyzed data from a longitudinal study of 346,660 U.S. high school students who were surveyed in 1960, with follow-up data from 81,912 of those students 11 years later and 1,952 of them 50 years later. On average, being a responsible high school student, showing an interest in school and having fewer problems with reading and writing were all significantly associated with greater educational attainment and a more prestigious job 11 years and 50 years after high school, and with a higher income at the 50-year follow-up. Most effects remained significant even after controlling for cognitive ability, parental socioeconomic status and broad personality traits such as conscientiousness. DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000185
No bilingual advantage?
Some research has suggested that bilingual adults may develop better executive functioning skills than those who speak only one language because they must learn to switch between their two tongues. But a meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletinopens in new window finds little evidence to support that hypothesis. Researchers analyzed 152 studies, each of which compared bilingual and monolingual adults on at least one measure of executive function. Overall, before correcting for publication bias, the researchers found a small bilingual advantage in the areas of inhibitory control, set shifting (shifting between tasks) and working memory, but not for monitoring or attention. However, after correcting for publication bias, they found no significant bilingual advantage in any of those areas. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000142
The wisdom of age
Older college students—and particularly older women—take a more “deep learning” approach to classwork and are more satisfied with their college classes than traditional-age students are, finds a study in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Educationopens in new window. Researchers surveyed 983 undergraduate students at an Australian university, ages 17 to 70, about their approach to learning in their college courses and their satisfaction with their degree programs. They found that older students were generally more independent, inquisitive and motivated by an intrinsic desire to learn, while traditional-age students tended to have a more “surface” approach characterized by more rote memorization. The association between age and learning style was stronger for women than for men. Also, among women but not men, older students expressed more satisfaction with their degree programs than younger students did. DOI: 10.1037/dhe0000042
Mitigating the effects of abuse
Supportive relationships in adulthood can help mitigate the long-term consequences of being abused as a child, finds a study in Nature Human Behaviouropens in new window. Previous research has found that abused children are more likely to suffer from physical maladies including heart disease, stroke and cancer later in life. In the current study, researchers examined data from more than 6,000 adults who took part in the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. They found that self-reported social support in adulthood was associated with a 19 to 26 percent mortality-risk reduction among people who had suffered from severe physical abuse, moderate physical abuse or emotional abuse as children. Social support also reduced mortality risk among people who had not been abused, but by just 7 to 8 percent. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0316-5
Birdsong
In a finding that could provide insight into how humans learn language, researchers have discovered that activating and deactivating a specific neural pathway involved in performance feedback in a songbird’s brain can prompt the bird to change its tune as it learns courtship songs. In a study in Neuron,opens in new window researchers activated and suppressed neurons in zebra finches’ ventral tegmental area (VTA) as the birds practiced their complex courtship songs. Previous research had shown that neurons in the VTA released dopamine when the birds sang the songs without a perceived error. In the new study, the researchers found that when those neurons were suppressed as the finches practiced their songs, the birds changed specific syllables of the song in later attempts to sing it. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.02.020
Acne and depression
Patients with acne are more likely to suffer from depression, finds research in the British Journal of Dermatologyopens in new window. Researchers analyzed a large database of medical records in the United Kingdom that included 134,427 people with acne and 1,731,608 people without. Most were teenagers at the start of the study, though the full age range included patients ages 7 to 50. Over the 15-year span of the study, 18.5 percent of patients with acne reported symptoms of major depressive disorder, compared with 12 percent of people without acne. The increased risk of developing depression was greatest in the first year after the acne diagnosis (63 percent higher risk) and tapered off after that, the researchers found. DOI: 10.1111/bjd.16099
Trivial pursuits
When people are interested in finding out the answer to a trivia question, they’re more likely to remember the question later, finds a study in Motivation Scienceopens in new window. Researchers showed almost 1,500 participants a series of 66 trivia questions, chosen from a pool of 244. For each question, participants were asked to give their best guess, rate their confidence in their guess and say how interested they were in learning the answer. Then, after being given the answer, they were again asked how interested they were in the information. At a follow-up one week later, participants were more likely to remember trivia questions that they’d expressed an interest in both before and after learning the answer. DOI: 10.1037/mot0000087
Memory lapses
Patients who are unaware of their own memory loss may be more likely to have their cognitive problems worsen quickly compared with those who recognize their cognitive problems, finds research in Neurologyopens in new window. Researchers studied 468 patients who had mild cognitive impairment but were still capable of taking care of themselves. The researchers compared patients’ self-ratings of their own cognitive abilities with ratings from a family member. Participants with a greater discrepancy between the self- and family ratings were three times more likely to develop full-blown dementia over the next two years compared with participants who had more accurate pictures of their cognitive abilities at the beginning of the study. DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000005120
Smile or smirk?
Not all smiles are alike: Some are meant to be encouraging, while others promote social bonding or signal dominance, according to a study in Scientific Reportsopens in new window that also finds that different types of smiles elicit different physical stress responses among recipients. Researchers asked 90 U.S. male undergraduates to give a short speech in front of a video camera. The participants believed an evaluator was watching the speech in another room. Later, the participants saw video clips that they believed were of the supposed evaluator reacting to their speech, in which the evaluator showed either an encouraging smile, an affiliative (social bonding) one or a “dominance smirk.” Participants’ levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as measured in their saliva, increased by about three times as much in those who saw the dominance smiles compared with those who saw the social bonding or encouraging ones. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-21536-1
Flu and forgetfulness
The influenza virus might have longer-term effects on thinking and memory than previously realized, suggests a mouse study in the Journal of Neuroscienceopens in new window. Researchers exposed mice to three flu strains: H1N1, which caused the swine flu outbreak in 2009; H7N7, which rarely infects people; and H3N2, which was prevalent in the 2017–18 flu season. Then they tested the mice for memory problems 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and 120 days later. Mice exposed to the H7N7 and H3N2 strains showed impaired performance on the memory test up to 90 days after the infection. Full recovery was not observed until the 120-day test. Mice exposed to the H1N1 strain did not show these long-term memory effects. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1740-17.2018
Body confidence = Relationship success
Partnered people who feel better about their own bodies are also more satisfied with their sex lives and relationships, finds a study in the Journal of Family Psychologyopens in new window. Researchers surveyed 155 heterosexual Dutch couples about their body image, sexual satisfaction and relationship quality. Among both men and women, people with a positive body image also reported a higher level of sexual satisfaction and better perceived romantic relationship quality. The effect was equally strong among men and women. DOI: 10.1037/fam0000407
Self-objectification
Young women are more likely to value themselves for their sexual appeal and appearance when they regularly read women’s magazines and watch reality TV and sitcoms, suggests a study in Psychology of Women Quarterlyopens in new window. Researchers surveyed 754 heterosexual and bisexual undergraduate women at a large U.S. research university about their mass media consumption and their sexual beliefs and behavior. Consuming more of the kinds of mass media that sexualize women was related to more sexual self-objectification, and this self-objectification in turn predicted more negative feelings about the women’s own level of sexual experience, less condom use and increased alcohol use to feel sexual, the researchers found. DOI: 10.1177/0361684317737940
Early puberty
Girls who get their first period at a younger-than-average age are more likely to suffer from depression and other mental health problems well into adulthood, finds research in Pediatricsopens in new window. Researchers analyzed data from more than 7,800 girls who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health between 1994 and 2008, beginning when they were 11 to 14 years old. On average, the younger a girl was when she got her first period, the more likely she was to report symptoms of depression and antisocial behaviors, both during adolescence and as late as age 30. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-1703
In-school interventions
School-based mental health services delivered by school personnel can help reduce mental health problems in elementary school children, finds a meta-analysis in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatryopens in new window. Researchers analyzed 43 controlled trials involving a total of nearly 50,000 children. The most effective programs were those that targeted child behavior problems, relative to those that targeted attention problems, mood and anxiety problems, or substance use. Interventions that were integrated into academic instruction and those that were implemented multiple times a week were also particularly effective. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2017.11.022
Women in STEM worldwide
In a seemingly paradoxical finding, a smaller percentage of recipients of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees are female in countries that have greater gender equality, such as Norway and Germany, than in countries with less equality between the genders, such as Tunisia and Turkey, finds research in Psychological Scienceopens in new window. The researchers examined data on academic achievement from more than 460,000 teenagers in 67 countries and compared those with the gender ratios of college STEM majors in those countries. Overall, they found that teen girls performed about as well in science classes as teen boys did; however, boys were more likely to graduate from college with STEM majors. More surprising, the countries with more gender equality (according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report) had larger gaps between girls’ STEM potential and their STEM achievement. The researchers suggest this may be because countries with less gender equality also tend to be poorer and have smaller social safety nets, leading women to choose well-paying STEM careers for economic security. DOI: 10.1177/0956797617741719
Lies fly online
False news stories spread faster on social media than real news stories do, finds a study in Scienceopens in new window. Researchers analyzed the paths of 126,000 stories tweeted by about 3 million people between 2006 and 2017. False news stories reached more people than true news did and diffused faster through the social network in all categories of information, including stories about politics, terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends and finance. The effect was particularly strong for political stories. The researchers also found that web robots spread true and false news at the same rate, which suggests that false news spreads more easily than true news because of humans, not robots. The researchers suggest that one reason humans spread false news more readily is that it tends to be more novel than true news. DOI: 10.1126/science.aap9559
