Toddler self-consciousness
One- to 2-year-old children are already aware that other people judge their behavior, and they adjust their behavior accordingly, finds research in Developmental Psychology. In one experiment, researchers showed 31 14- to 24-month-old toddlers how to push buttons on two remote controls. When demonstrating the first remote, the researcher smiled and said, "Wow! Isn’t that great?"; when using the second remote, she frowned and said, "Uh-oh! Oops, oh no!" Later, the child was allowed to push the buttons while the researcher either watched the child or looked away. Overall, the children pressed the "positive" remote significantly more when being watched and the "negative" remote significantly more when not being watched. In a follow-up experiment, when the researcher demonstrated both remotes with a neutral expression, the children showed no preference for one remote over the other regardless of whether they were being watched. DOI: 10.1037/dev0000548opens in new window
An expert AI diagnostician
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can predict patients’ deaths from coronary artery disease with greater accuracy than a model designed by human experts, according to a paper in PLOS ONE. Researchers developed the AI system using electronic health-record data from 80,000 patients. The AI algorithm "trained itself" by analyzing patterns among nearly 600 variables in the data. When tested, the algorithm predicted mortality more accurately than a model that made predictions based on 27 variables chosen by medical experts. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202344opens in new window
Obesity and cognition
Previous epidemiological research has found that obese people are more likely to develop dementia and other cognitive problems. Now, a mouse study published in JNeurosci provides evidence that overactive microglia—the brain’s primary immune cells—that interfere with neurons’ ability to communicate may be behind that link. Researchers fed a group of mice a high-fat diet for 12 weeks. Afterward, those mice performed worse on maze tests of cognitive function compared with a control group of mice fed a regular diet. The overweight mice also had fewer dendritic spines on neurons in their hippocampi—dendritic spines are small protrusions that allow neurons to receive signals. In two more experiments, researchers found that when they gave the overfed mice drugs that blocked microglial activity, the mice’s performance on the cognitive tests improved. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0789-18.2018opens in new window
Reproducibility
Researchers were able to replicate the results of just under two-thirds of a sample of psychology studies published in two of the world’s most influential scientific journals, according to the latest test of reproducibility in psychology, published in Nature Human Behaviour. Researchers attempted to replicate 21 psychology studies published in Science and Nature between 2010 and 2015. Thirteen of the studies replicated, with significant results in the same direction as the original paper. On average, the effect sizes were about 75 percent as large as in the original papers. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0399-zopens in new window
Trust your gut
When people go with their gut rather than try to reason out a decision, they are more likely to believe that the decision reflects their "true self," finds a study in Emotion. In four in-person and online experiments with a total of more than 450 participants, researchers asked participants to choose between two similar options (two DVD players, travel mugs, apartments or restaurants). In each experiment, they asked half the participants to make their decisions rationally by weighing features of the choices and the other half to simply use their intuition. Afterward, participants who went with their gut feelings were more likely to say their decisions reflected who they really were inside—and were also more likely to publicize their choices by emailing them to friends to win a prize. DOI: 10.1037/emo0000490opens in new window
Political theory, psychological theory
Previous studies indicate that mental health providers tend to lean toward the liberal end of the political spectrum. Now, new research in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry suggests that mental health counselors’ preferred counseling theories vary according to their political leanings. Researchers surveyed 467 licensed mental health counselors in Florida about their political beliefs, party registration and therapeutic orientation. Overall, 51 percent of the respondents self-identified as liberal or progressive, 21 percent as moderate/centrist, 20 percent as conservative, 4 percent as libertarian and 2 percent as socialist. Overall, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was the most-preferred theoretical approach among the providers, followed by humanistic/constructivist/existentialist and mindfulness-based approaches. Lower levels of preference were found for systemic, psychodynamic and experiential approaches. But self-identifying as conservative, Republican or libertarian predicted a higher preference for CBT, while self-identified liberal ideology predicted a higher preference for psychodynamic theory. DOI: 10.1037/ort0000339opens in new window
College student mental heath
About one-third of college students around the world report symptoms consistent with a mental health disorder, reports a study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Researchers analyzed data from a World Health Organization survey of almost 14,000 college students from eight countries (Australia, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Spain and the United States). Thirty-five percent of students reported symptoms over their lifetimes consistent with at least one mental health disorder (major depression, mania/hypomania, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder). Thirty-one percent reported experiencing those symptoms in the past year. The most common were depression (21.2 percent) and anxiety (18.6 percent). DOI: 10.1037/abn0000362opens in new window
Civil response
Even in this hyperpartisan era, the public prefers when politicians act more civilly, suggests a paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Researchers used text-analysis software to assess the level of civility in the full U.S. Congressional Record from 1996 to 2015—all 267,264,597 words spoken in Congress during that time. They found that in times when Congress was more civil, public opinion polls rated Congress higher. In a follow-up experiment, researchers asked more than 1,000 online participants to identify their political affiliations and read three tweets from President Trump that were independently categorized as civil or uncivil, then report their feelings toward the president and rate his character on dimensions of warmth and dominance. Overall, even among the president’s "die-hard supporters," the group that read the civil tweets evaluated his character more favorably than did those who read the uncivil ones. DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000140opens in new window
Teen reading declines as screen time rises
Teens today spend more time online and less time reading books, magazines and newspapers, finds a study in Psychology of Popular Media Culture. Researchers analyzed data from the Monitoring the Future study, which has surveyed approximately 50,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in the United States annually since 1976. In the late 1970s, 60 percent of 12th-graders said they read a book or magazine almost every day; by 2016, only 16 percent did. And, in 2016, approximately one-third of 12th-graders had not read any book—including an ebook—for pleasure at all in the past year. Meanwhile, 12th-graders in 2016 spent about two hours each day texting, two hours each day on social media and two hours each day online (including gaming), on average, the survey found. DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000203opens in new window
Men, masculinity and rape myths
People who believe more strongly in traditional ideas of masculinity are less likely to say they would report being a victim of rape, finds a study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Researchers asked 916 U.S. college students, both men and women, to read vignettes about a clear-cut case of rape, perpetrated by either a man against a woman, a man against a man, or a woman against a man. Then, participants rated the blame- worthiness of both the perpetrator and victim in each case, as well as how likely they would be to tell friends, their doctors or the authorities if they were in the victim’s position. Overall, male participants and heterosexual participants were more likely to blame victims and less likely to say they would disclose the rape. But endorsing traditional beliefs about men and masculinity seemed to drive that association—both men and women who believed that men should act more "masculine" were less likely to say they would disclose being raped. DOI: 10.1177/0886260518795171opens in new window
Confidence increases with age
People really do get more comfortable in their own skin as they get older, according to a meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin that found that self-esteem peaks around age 60. Researchers analyzed data from 191 studies with almost 165,000 total participants, primarily from the United States and Europe. Overall, average levels of self-esteem increased from ages 4 to 11. They remained stable from 11 to 15, increased strongly until age 30 and continued to increase until age 60, when they peaked and remained constant until age 70. Then they declined slightly until age 90 and more strongly after age 90. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000161opens in new window
Genuine gratitude
Letters of thanks may have a greater impact than you think, suggests a study in Psychological Science. Researchers asked participants to write letters expressing gratitude toward people who had affected their lives in positive ways. They also asked the participants to rate how happy, surprised and awkward they thought the recipients would feel upon reading them. Then, the researchers asked the recipients their true feelings. Participants consistently overestimated how awkward the recipients would feel about receiving the letters and underestimated how happy the letters would make them. In a follow-up experiment, the researchers also asked participants to rate how warm and sincere they thought recipients would perceive the letters to be. Again, the participants under- estimated the recipients’ warmth and sincerity ratings. DOI: 10.1177/0956797618772506opens in new window
Placebo responders
Differences in brain structure and personality could help predict who will respond best to placebo treatments for pain, suggests research in Nature Communications. Researchers administered brain scans and personality tests to 63 patients with back pain in the United States, 43 of whom received placebo pill treatment and 20 of whom received no treatment at all (a separate participant group received real painkillers). Patients reported their daily pain levels during the eight-week study. Among the patients who received the placebo treatment, about half saw a pain reduction of about 30 percent—similar to the effect of the real painkiller. The researchers found that these "placebo responders" were more likely than nonresponders to show personality traits such as being emotionally aware and attuned to their bodies. The brain scans showed that the placebo responders also had more left-right brain asymmetry in areas related to emotion and reward, including the amygdala, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05859-1opens in new window
A dishonest face
People can identify corrupt politicians with better-than-chance accuracy simply by looking at photos of their faces, finds a study in Psychological Science. Researchers showed 100 participants black-and-white photos of 72 U.S. politicians, all white men, half of whom had been convicted of corruption-related crimes and half of whom had no history of crimes. The participants, who were not previously familiar with the politicians, correctly differentiated convicted politicians from the others almost 70 percent of the time. In a follow-up experiment, the researchers analyzed the politicians’ faces and found that the only significant difference between those judged as honest and those judged as corrupt was width-to-height ratio—those judged as corrupt had wider faces. The researchers caution that the results do not necessarily mean that wide-faced people are more dishonest: The correlation could also be caused because wide-faced people appear more dishonest and thus are offered bribes more often, or because corruptible-looking politicians are more likely to be suspected and convicted of crimes. DOI: 10.1177/0956797618788882opens in new window
A flu shot reminder
A simple well-timed reminder to medical providers can increase the number of patients who get flu shots at the doctor’s office, finds a study in JAMA Network Open. Researchers examined data on vaccination rates at 11 primary-care practices affiliated with a Pennsylvania health-care system. On average, they found, flu shot uptake decreased over the course of the day—from 44 percent of patients at 8 a.m. to 32 percent at 4 p.m.—possibly because the medical providers’ schedules became more hectic at the end of the day and they had less time to discuss the vaccine with patients. Then, the researchers implemented an intervention in three of the practices that gave an electronic nudge prompting medical assistants to either accept or decline a vaccine order at the beginning of each patient’s appointment and present orders to doctors for their review. Overall, vaccination rates increased by 9.5 percentage points in those clinics with the electronic reminder; however, rates still declined over the course of the day. DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.1770opens in new window
Robot therapists for autism
An in-home therapy robot could improve outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder, finds a study in Science Robotics. For one month, researchers placed autonomous social robots in the homes of 12 children with autism, ages 6 to 12. The robots led the children and their caregivers through daily 30-minute interactive sessions focused on improving social skills and emotional understanding. At the end of the 30 days, the children showed significant improvement on a test of joint attention—the ability to follow another person’s pointing, verbal or eye-gaze directions to look at an object. The caregivers also reported that the children’s social skills—including initiating more conversations and making more eye contact with others—improved over the course of the study. DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aat7544opens in new window
A common language
Chimpanzees use many of the same gestures as human children to communicate the same things, finds a study in Animal Cognition. Researchers observed 13 1- to 2-year-old children in Germany and Uganda, video recording their interactions with family members and caregivers in the home and at day care. The researchers then compared those videos with recordings of infant and adult chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest in Uganda. Overall, the human toddlers used 52 gestures to communicate, including bending, waving and shaking their arms, stomping, clapping, tapping and hitting. Chimps, the researchers found, used 48 of those same gestures. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-018-1213-zopens in new window
Smoking deterrent
Smokers are more likely to remember cigarette warning labels when their messages are presented with highly emotional photos rather than less emotional photos—at least over the long term—finds a study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. In an online experiment, researchers showed 1,932 teen and adult smokers nine text warnings (like "Smoking can kill you"). Some participants saw only the text warnings, some saw each warning accompanied by a photo that evoked a low level of emotion (like chained hands reaching for a cigarette) and some saw each warning with a photo that evoked a high level of emotion (like a person smoking through a tracheotomy hole). Smokers who saw only text or the low-emotion photos were more likely than those who saw the high-emotion photos to remember the text warnings immediately after seeing them. But when asked again six weeks later, warning recall dropped by nearly half for those who saw the low-emotion photos, one-third for those who saw the text-only messages and only 5 percent for those who saw the high-emotion photos. DOI: 10.1093/abm/kay050opens in new window
Discrimination and teen stress
Teenagers who report being increasingly concerned, worried or stressed about societal discrimination are more likely to also report symptoms of depression and substance use, finds a study in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers surveyed 2,572 Los Angeles–area 11th-graders (47 percent Latino/a, 19 percent Asian, 17 percent white and 4 percent African-American) in 2016 about their levels of concern about discrimination. Then the researchers tracked the students’ concern over the next year. Overall, 29.7 percent of the teenagers were very or extremely worried about discrimination in 2016, and that figure increased to 34.7 percent by 2017. Students whose levels of concern increased over the year reported more substance use (alcohol, cigarettes and drugs) as well as more symptoms of depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder than those whose concern levels didn’t increase. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.2022opens in new window
Marijuana use up among older adults
More middle-aged and older U.S. adults are using marijuana than in the past, finds a study in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Researchers examined data on more than 17,000 people, age 50 and older, from the 2015–16 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Nine percent of adults ages 50 to 64 and 2.9 percent of those older than 64 had used marijuana in the last year. That’s double the percentage of adults ages 50 to 64 who reported marijuana use in the same survey in 2006–07 (4.5 percent) and seven times the percentage of adults 65 and older (0.4 percent). The numbers may reflect decreasing stigma about marijuana use, increasing access and the fact that many of today’s middle-aged and older adults came of age in the 1960s and 70s and first used marijuana then, the researchers posit. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.07.006opens in new window
