Psychology

Why Male Suicides Outnumber Female

Finally, Drummond had everything he’d ever dreamed of. He’d come a long way since he was a little boy, upset at his failure to get into the grammar school. That had been a great disappointment to his mother, and to his father, who was an engineer at a pharmaceutical company. His dad had never showed…

“She’s likely to be in her twenties or thirties, middle-class, probably married, probably Christian, probably average intelligence. I just described, you know, your next-door neighbor” — Evolutionary psychologist Melissa Harrison, speaking about her new study on female serial killers in America.

Meet the Expert Witness Who Goes Inside the Minds of Young Killers

Imagine spending time with murderers, digging into their childhoods to figure out what made them violent — and then convincing skeptical juries to take your conclusions into account. In his book Listening to Killers, Dr. James Garbarino reflects on 20 years spent serving as an expert witness. He told us what it’s like to work…

If Satan Talked To You Backwards, Could You Actually Understand Him?

So the Dark Lord is talking to you backwards through the medium of your favorite record. What message could you get from this speech? Find out, and listen to some “backmasked” messages. During the Satanic Panic, there was concern that rock bands were the tools of the devil. They were engaging in “backmasking,” playing messages…

We’re Too Optimistic About The Power Of Optimism

So say the results of a new study out of UC Berkeley, anyway. Three different experiments show we resort to optimism when we believe it can improve our chances of success, but are too hopeful about its actual benefits. Optimism is still important, say the researchers, but we should also focus on knowledge and approach.…

The American Psychological Association Colluded On Justifying Torture

A new report is accusing the American Psychological Association of secretly collaborating with the U.S. government to make a legal and ethical case for torture in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. As the New York Times is reporting, the accusations are being made by six “dissident” health professionals and human rights activists who…

How I Forgot My Email Password In A Dream

If you think dreams can’t actually hurt you, then this might make you reconsider. Last night, I dreamed that I forgot my password. When I woke up, I had actually forgotten my password. Top image: Little Nemo in Slumberland The dream wasn’t anything spectacular. I was at my computer, about to check my email, and…

“Western culture throughout its long and tangled history provides us with a rich array of images, a remarkable set of windows into both popular and latterly professional beliefs about insanity,” writes Andrew Scull in his extensive look at images of madness throughout history, including an oddly peppy Thorazine ad.

How Do You Turn A Monkey Into A Therapist?

Harry Harlow’s most famous experiments involved isolating an infant rhesus monkey until it was socially and emotionally devastated. Less well-known is the experiment in which he revived them using “therapist monkeys.” In the 1960s, Harry Harlow made headlines when he revealed the experiments he done on rhesus monkey infants. He’d raised infants in isolation, with…

There Is More Than One Type Of Near-Death Experience

Researchers have attempted to categorize near-death experiences according to seven major themes. Photo Credit: Gareth via flickr | CC BY-NC 2.0 At BBC Future, Rachel Nuwer describes the work of Sam Parnia, director of resuscitation research (what a title!) at Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York. Parnia, along with several colleagues, has…

This Food Psychology Experiment Was Nearly Foiled By Chronic Politeness

Psychology experiments have to straddle the line between letting people act naturally, and forcing them to act out an extremely specific situation. Sometimes that doesn’t work out. Here’s an experiment that drove psychologists crazy. Why? Because they underestimated the politeness of Minnesotans. Psychologist Traci Mann runs a food lab at the University of Minnesota. She…

Dogs Exploit The Parent-Child Bonding Mechanism To Make You Love Them

Have you ever gazed into your dog’s eyes and sensed a remarkably strong connection – almost as if that little fur ball were your child? The results of a newly published study could help explain why this is — and how dogs evolved from wild wolves into the domesticated companions we know (and love) today.…

Why We Remember Learning About Dramatic Events So Vividly

It isn’t surprising that many Bostonians have vivid memories of the 2013 Marathon bombing, or that many New Yorkers have very clear memories about where they were and what they were doing on 9/11. But many individuals who were not onsite for these attacks, or not even in Boston on April 15 2013 or in…

How Science Is Making It Easier To Read Screens In One Glance

How many times a day would you say you check your smartphone? Be honest. For the average person, it’s 150 times a day. And most of those interactions happen in less than a second. Today, as the first reviews of the Apple Watch rolled in, we got a look at how Apple plans to banish…

Bad Reviews May Actually Be Good For Sales

We’ve all spent some time checking out online reviews. While businesses want nothing but good reviews, a new study shows that sometimes mixed reviews can actually help drive up sales. Here’s why. Review systems and review sites come under fire regularly for the ways their reviews do and don’t fairly represent the products and services…

What Would Being In A Bunker For 15 Years Really Do To Your Head?

So a woman emerges from a bunker after 15 years. She’s cheerful and ready to embrace life. It’s the premise of the recent Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, but what is the reality? What do years of isolation and confinement actually do to a person’s brain? Personal Isolation Versus Group Isolation There are few…

Do You Suffer From ‘Exploding Head Syndrome’? You’re Not Alone.

New findings indicate nearly one in five college-age students has been startled awake by an abrupt, loud noise that doesn’t actually exist. Known as “exploding head syndrome,” the psychological condition appears to be more common and disruptive than previously thought. Art by Jim Cooke. Some of you may already be familiar with exploding head syndrome…

Why Anti-Vaxxers Just ‘Know’ They’re Right

Anti-vaccination beliefs can cause real, substantive harm, as shown by the recent outbreak of measles in the US. These developments are as shocking and distressing as their consequences are predictable. But if the consequences are so predictable, why do the beliefs persist? It is not simply that anti-vaxxers don’t understand how vaccines work (some of…

What Disabled People Can Teach Us About Sex – And Why We Should Listen

The sexuality of disabled people has long been suppressed and exploited. But in recent years, people with physical and cognitive impairments have been pushing back, fighting for sexual citizenship, and upending standard notions of gender, pleasure, and sexuality. Top photo featured by kind permission of Sofie Middernacht and Maarten Alexande Millie Dollar sashays onto the…

Farmed Salmon Is Dyed From Gray To Pink So Consumers Won’t Freak Out 

Wild salmon are pink (or pinkish-orange, depending on geography) for the same reason flamingos are pink: their diets, which are heavy in krill and shrimp. But farm-raised salmon are fed a diet that renders them gray… or it would, if they weren’t carefully “pigmented” to transform into more appetizing hues. The Atlantic reports: While [astaxanthin,…