Money now buys more happiness
Research in Emotion indicates that earning more income makes people happier and points to changes in happiness levels over recent decades. Data from an ongoing representative survey of 44,198 people in the United States conducted from 1972 to 2016 show that associations between income and happiness are linear, with no tapering off at higher levels of income. Further, happiness among white participants with no college education declined during this period, while happiness among white participants with a college degree remained steady. Among Black participants with no college education, happiness levels remained steady during this period, while they increased for those with a college degree. DOI: 10.1037/emo0000774opens in new window
Skipping grades doesn’t stunt social growth
Contrary to long-held concerns of administrators, teachers and parents, intellectually precocious children who skip ahead one or more grades do not suffer long-term social or emotional harm, according to research in the Journal of Educational Psychology. Researchers tracked for 35 years a total of 1,636 children in the United States who either skipped ahead academically or pursued advanced learning opportunities prior to high school graduation. The researchers evaluated participants at age 50 and found no link between amount of academic acceleration and several indicators of psychological well-being. In a second study, researchers identified 478 graduate students at age 25 who had accelerated their earlier schooling and assessed them psychologically at age 50. They again found that educational acceleration did not negatively impact psychological well-being. In fact, the psychological well-being of participants in both studies was above the average of age-matched peers. DOI: 10.1037/edu0000500opens in new window
Do kids trust robots as teachers?
Yes, as long as these instructors provide accurate answers and appear to have minds of their own, according to a study in Developmental Psychology. Researchers showed 60 3-year-olds in the United States videos of a woman asking two humanoid robots to identify common objects. One robot answered all the questions correctly, while the other answered them incorrectly. The researchers then asked the children which robot they would trust to help them learn the names of unfamiliar objects and the extent to which they thought the robots exhibited such signs of psychological agency as being able to move or think for themselves or experience emotions and pain. The children preferred to learn from the accurate robot. Also, children who assigned more agency to the robots were more likely to prefer the accurate robot. In a second study, 47 3-year-olds shown videos of two faceless blobs, who only spoke when a hand pulled their string, did not consistently prefer the accurate blob, again indicating that objects perceived as lacking psychological agency are less trusted overall. DOI:10.1037/dev0000884opens in new window
Virtuous victims
Research in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology sheds light on a form of interpersonal manipulation. Across three online studies with 235 participants, researchers found that people who give off signals that they are both virtuous and victims receive more monetary and nonmonetary resources from both strangers and acquaintances than others who do not display such signals. In a fourth online study with 594 participants, the researchers showed that individuals with “dark triad” traits—characterized by Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy—more frequently signaled virtuous victimhood. A final three online studies with 874 participants found that people who more frequently emit virtuous victim signals are also more willing to engage in and endorse ethically questionable behaviors, such as lying to earn a bonus or purchasing counterfeit products. DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000329opens in new window
Battle of the ages
Growing up in the same house as an older relative can make people less tolerant of older people, according to research in Social Psychology. In an online study, researchers asked 309 U.S. adults, 194 of whom reported growing up with an older adult, about their contact with older people, their feelings about such contact, their attitudes toward older people and their anxieties about growing old. The researchers found that participants who had grown up with an older adult in their home had lower opinions of older adults, especially if that older person had been seriously ill. The researchers also found that participants in this group had more anxiety about interacting with older people, but they were less anxious about their own aging. DOI: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000415opens in new window
Exercise improves memory
A protein produced by the liver during exercise may restore age-related memory loss and drive the growth of new brain cells, according to research with mice and humans in Science. Researchers collected blood plasma from young (6 months) and older mice (18 months) that were either active or sedentary and injected it into older sedentary mice. The researchers found that when the older mice received plasma from the active mice, they showed increased neuronal growth and better performance on tests of learning and memory. Analysis of the plasma indicated that levels of a protein called Gpld1 increased following exercise. The researchers next induced the livers of aged mice to produce more Gpld1. These animals also showed neuronal growth and improved learning and memory. Moreover, the researchers found higher levels of Gpld1 in plasma collected from older people (ages 66 to 78) who were physically active compared with those who were sedentary. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw2622opens in new window
Let’s get real
Realists have greater long-term well-being than pessimists or optimists, suggests research in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Researchers asked 1,601 U.K. participants about their financial expectations and compared them with their actual financial status annually over the following 18 years. Participants also reported their well-being, using a standard self-report instrument. Compared with participants whose expectations matched their outcomes, participants with the most pessimistic expectations showed a 21.8% reduction in long-term well-being despite their doing better than they expected. The most optimistic participants—whose expectations were not realized—showed a 13.5% reduction in long-term well-being. DOI: 10.1177/0146167220934577opens in new window
Marry early, drink more
Early marriage may exacerbate the risk for alcohol problems among people with a greater genetic predisposition to alcoholism, suggests research in Development and Psychopathology. Researchers examined data from a sample of 937 individuals ages 21 to 25 in the United States. Overall, marital status was not associated with level of heavy drinking. However, among participants who were married by age 21, those with higher genetic predisposition for alcoholism reported more heavy drinking. Those who married at later ages did not show this effect. These results are a departure from previous findings that marriage is protective against heavy drinking. DOI: 10.1017/S0954579420000371opens in new window
Bystander effect in rats
Rats are less likely to rescue another rat in need when surrounded by unhelpful bystanders and are more likely to spring into action when their peers are willing and able to help, according to research in Science Advances. For this study, which was inspired by human bystander research, investigators constructed an apparatus in which rats could work to free a fellow rat trapped in a tube. In one condition, the investigators placed each potential helper rat with two rats that had been given a sedative to reduce their ability or motivation to help. Unlike rats tested alone, rats placed with these unhelpful drugged rats did not consistently help the trapped rat. However, when rats were placed with drugged rats of a different and unfamiliar strain, this reduction in helping was not observed. When none of the rats were drugged, they started to help more quickly than when alone. Also, rats that had previously observed other rats helping were more likely to help. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb4205opens in new window
Less wealth, less well-being
Older adults with less wealth had sharper declines on many measures of physical and mental health than those with greater wealth, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers followed 5,018 adults in England for eight years, starting at an average age of 64. The participants were grouped by household wealth (including assets such as real estate). The researchers measured 19 different physical and mental health outcomes for all participants. All measures of physical health declined more in the groups with less wealth. While participants in each group showed a dip in cognitive function, the least wealthy had the largest reduction. Less wealthy people also reported greater reductions in enjoyment of life, more depressive symptoms and greater difficulty keeping up with social activities over time, including volunteering and maintaining friendships. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1915741117opens in new window
Religion versus science
While religious people in the United States tend to have overall negative attitudes toward science, that’s not the case in all countries, according to research in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Researchers analyzed nine studies assessing the religiosity and attitudes toward science of a total of 2,160 U.S. residents. They found that more religious participants tended to have less interest in science or more negative attitudes toward it. The researchers also examined data from 11 studies with a total of 66,438 participants across 60 countries. Overall, they found a small correlation between religiosity and negative attitudes toward science, though some countries showed correlations with positive attitudes. DOI: 10.1177/1948550620923239opens in new window
Children’s sleep and later mental health
Early childhood sleep problems may be associated with mental disorders in adolescence, suggests research in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers analyzed sleep behaviors among 7,155 children in the United Kingdom when the children were 6, 18 and 30 months old, and again at ages 3.5, 4.8 and 5.8 years. The children were subsequently assessed at ages 11 to 13 for symptoms of psychosis and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Overall, early sleep problems such as frequent night awakenings, irregular sleep routines and shorter sleep duration were linked with later psychosis and BPD, with specific patterns of sleep problems associated with each diagnosis. Further, depression at age 10 played a factor in the association between frequent night awakenings and psychosis, but it was not a factor in the link between short sleep duration and BPD, suggesting the existence of a direct association between sleep problems and BPD symptoms. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1875opens in new window
A link between apathy and dementia
Apathy, rather than depression, may be an early signal of dementia in individuals with cerebrovascular disease, suggests research in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Researchers studied two groups of patients with cerebral small vessel disease, the most common cause of vascular dementia. Across both cohorts—121 in the United Kingdom and 352 in the Netherlands—the researchers found that participants with higher baseline levels of apathy, or those with increasing apathy over time, had a greater risk of dementia. In contrast, neither baseline depression nor change in depression over time was linked with dementia risk. DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2020-323092opens in new window
Lying and health
About 1 in 8 people consider themselves to be, or think other people would label them as, pathological liars, suggests a study in Psychiatric Research & Clinical Practice. Researchers surveyed 623 participants, mainly young adults in the United States, about their lying behaviors. About 13% of participants said they had told numerous lies throughout each day for the previous six months. People who identified themselves as pathological liars reported greater distress and more impaired functioning, especially in social relationships. Most self-reported pathological liars reported that they started lying frequently during adolescence. DOI: 10.1176/appi.prcp.20190046opens in new window
‘Love hormone’ reverses Alzheimer’s
Oxytocin, the hormone best known for its roles in sexual reproduction and social bonding, may reverse impairment in the functioning of hippocampal neurons caused by amyloid plaques, according to research with mice in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. Such plaques are found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers perfused slices of mouse hippocampus with amyloid proteins and observed a reduction in synaptic plasticity. Then the researchers administered oxytocin to the slices and observed an increase in synaptic plasticity. The finding suggests that oxytocin has potential as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.04.046opens in new window
MCT tops CBT
A new treatment for depression called metacognitive therapy (MCT) that targets mental control processes related to worry and rumination may be more effective than the current leading psychotherapy approach, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), according to a study in Scientific Reports. Researchers randomly assigned 174 participants in the United Kingdom to receive up to 24 hourlong sessions of either CBT or MCT. They found that CBT led to 52% of patients recovering from depression symptoms at the end of treatment, while MCT led to 74% of patients recovering. Six months later, recovery for CBT patients rose slightly to 56%, while recovery for MCT patients remained the same at 74%. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64577-1opens in new window
A kid’s best friend
Owning a dog appears to increase young children’s emotional and social well-being, suggests a study in Pediatric Research. Researchers surveyed 1,646 Australian parents with children between ages 2 and 5 about dog ownership and their children’s emotional and social development. Children from dog-owning households had fewer difficulties with emotions and social interactions and displayed more prosocial behavior compared with children who had no dogs. For households with dogs, family dog walking at least once a week and active play with the dog three or more times a week were associated with increased likelihood of prosocial behaviors. DOI: 10.1038/s41390-020-1007-2opens in new window
Loss of smell implies COVID impact on nervous system
The sensory and mental health symptoms observed in COVID-19 patients suggest that the coronavirus directly affects the central nervous system, according to a study in The Laryngoscope. Researchers surveyed 114 participants in Switzerland diagnosed with COVID-19 over a six-week period. They found that anxiety and depression were associated with loss of smell or taste, but not with nasal obstruction, excessive mucus production, fever, cough or shortness of breath. The researchers suggest this link between loss of smell and altered mood may indicate that the virus is infecting olfactory neurons, then entering the central nervous system through the olfactory tract. DOI: 10.1002/lary.28964opens in new window
Is grit overrated?
Compared with intelligence, grit has a negligible effect on a person’s educational and economic success, suggests research in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Researchers compared the relative contribution of grit and intelligence to educational and job-market success in a representative sample of 8,984 participants in the United States. They found that intelligence contributes 48 to 90 times more than grit to educational success and 13 times more to job-market success. Conscientiousness also contributes to success more than grit, but only twice as much. The researchers suggest that the reason their results differ from previous findings is that the new study used a more representative sample. DOI: 10.1177/1948550620920531opens in new window
PTSD therapy doesn’t trigger drug relapse
Contrary to commonly held views, behavior therapy that exposes patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to memories of their trauma doesn’t cause relapses of drug use, suggests research in the Journal of Traumatic Stress. About a quarter of people with drug or alcohol use disorders also have PTSD. Researchers evaluated drug cravings before and after exposure therapy sessions and drug use between sessions in 44 participants in the United States with substance use disorders. The researchers found there was no increase in the use of drugs of various classes, or in reported instances of stress after therapy sessions. They also found that by the ninth session, PTSD severity scores decreased, on average, by 54% compared with the first session. DOI: 10.1002/jts.22546opens in new window
A new indicator of PTSD
An individual’s pupils can reveal if they have suffered a prior traumatic experience, according to research in Biological Psychology. In the United Kingdom, researchers measured the pupils of 65 participants being shown threatening images such as vicious animals or weapons, as well as neutral or pleasant images. At the onset of image presentation, pupils were less constricted in participants with a PTSD diagnosis than in participants who had experienced trauma but did not have a PTSD diagnosis and other participants who had not experienced trauma. In addition, the pupils of participants with PTSD grew larger than those of other participants in response to both threatening and pleasant images, indicating that PTSD involves a general sensitivity to emotional material. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107922opens in new window
