Psychology

Miss Universe contestant petitions World Health Organization to remove transsexualism as a mental disorder

Many of you will remember Jenna Talackova, the Canadian Miss Universe nominee who had to fight for her right to compete at last year’s pageant because she’s transgendered (she won the appeal and finished in the top 12). Now, Talackova is asking the World Health Organization to remove transsexualism from their list of mental disorders.…

io9 George Dvorsky

The deadly condition named for a Sherlock Holmes story

One of the most beloved tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle provided the name for a real medical effect. The Baskerville Effect doesn’t require any hounds, but it can be just as deadly. We’ll take a look at the experiment that proved that Doyle’s murders were more likely than you might think. Those of you…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Researchers revisit history’s most adorable psychological experiment, find something new

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment was designed to assess delayed gratification in children, and it is the single most adorable psychological test ever created. The premise of the marshmallow task is simple. Offer a kid a marshmallow. This marshmallow is theirs to eat, but if they can wait for you to leave the room and grab…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

So you think you’re smart? Well, prove it.

Unfortunately, despite nearly a century and a half of testing and decades of neuroscience, you can’t prove you’re intelligent. Our inability to define one of humanity’s basic traits has led to some pretty weird ideas about intelligence — and could ultimately undermine our quest for strong artificial intelligence, too. Intelligence Tests Some of the first…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Why do some traumatized people get PTSD while others don’t?

A fascinating new article by Virginia Hughes in Nature explores the most recent discoveries that neuroscientists have made about the mechanisms that cause post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The story focuses in part on the story of one woman, a psychotherapist who was raped and then thrown off a bridge, and how she’s recovered from…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Can this test actually predict whether you’ll become a serial killer?

The Macdonald Triad was first presented in the sixties as a way of predicting violent behavior. Today, people are not so convinced. We’ll take a look at the rise and fall of this particular way of predicting whether kids would grow up to be serial killers. If you’ve watched any crime shows, you’ve heard at…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Pediatric Psychologist Whose Job Was To Scare the Crap Out of People

Ever had a chair pulled out from under you, just as you sat down? During the 1920s, Dr. William Blatz earned a Ph.D in Psychology by conducting series of experiments to measure the physiological response to fear as he strapped subjects into chairs and then flipped them onto their backs. And what he learned was…

io9 Keith Veronese

What does Wonder Woman have to do with polygraph tests? More than you probably realize.

From a forthcoming episode of PBS’s NOVA scienceNOW on the science of crime prevention comes an interesting revelation: William Marsten, one of the people behind the invention of the (oft-maligned) lie-detecting polygraph, is the same William Marsten who created Wonder Woman and her truth-producing Golden Lasso: “Anyone caught in the lasso found it impossible to…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

The neuroscience of stage fright — and how to cope with it

Public speaking is one of our most common fears, topping flying, financial ruin, sickness, and even death. The fear can get so bad that people become physically ill before getting on stage. But this fear — often called performance anxiety or stage fright — extends beyond the pressure to perform in the moment. It’s about…

io9 George Dvorsky

Men with shaved heads appear more masculine, study finds

Advice for guys who are struggling to deal with their receding hairlines: You might just want to shave it all off. A recent study involving three separate experiments has shown that men who shear the hair off their heads are perceived as being more dominant, taller, and even stronger. But the increased perception of masculinity…

io9 George Dvorsky

Not so fast — what’s so “premature” about premature ejaculation?

It occurred to me recently, under conditions that I leave to your ample and likely sordid imagination (how dare you), that the very concept of “premature ejaculation” in human males is a strange one, at least from an evolutionary theoretical perspective. After all, the function of ejaculation isn’t really a mysterious biological occurrence…it’s an evolved…

io9 Jesse Bering - Bering in Mind

Study of the Decade: Looking at Photos of Cute Animals Linked to Increased Work Performance

Stuck at work? Having trouble finishing out your Friday? Take a good, long look at this bunny. It’s freaking adorable. And, according to newly published research, it could actually improve your performance at work*. Yes, really. Researchers from Hiroshima University in Japan describe the results of their study in the latest issue of PLoS ONE.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

The Real Reason Why You Won’t Eat Green Eggs (and Ham)

This week, as I was passing through a drugstore, I noticed on the shelves Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. I didn’t recognize them at first, because their usual blue, red, yellow, and green packaging was turned into a rather unpleasant purple and green combination that reminded me of those old Nickelodeon shows that used to slime people.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Did B.F. Skinner really put babies into boxes?

When I was a little kid, I had a weird babysitter. She was very pale and thin, with dark hair and a tentative smile. She wore blouses with big trumpet sleeves, out of which poked her bony white wrists and elbows. She seldom made physical contact. She lived just up the street from us, and…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Why are men so obsessed with breasts?

When you think about it, the male fixation with female breasts is completely disproportionate. Men will literally stop dead in their tracks and dismiss the entire world around them when suddenly presented with a perfect pair. The reaction is undignified — and even a bit pathetic. But why is this? And what does science have…

io9 George Dvorsky

How should healthcare providers respond when their patients say they’re waiting for a miracle?

Back in 2007, a survey found that 79% of Americans still believe in miracles. Of those surveyed, 60% of the public and 20% of trauma professionals believed patients in a permanent coma can be saved by a miracle. Taking these surprising figures into account, what are healthcare providers supposed to do when patients and families…

io9 George Dvorsky

How to keep colonoscopy patients from exploding, and other winners from the 2012 Ig Nobel Awards

Colonoscopies sometimes end with intestinal detonation, or what’s known in more official circles as a “colonic gas explosion.” Never heard of it? Neither had we. That was until last night, when a team of international researchers was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine for advising doctors who perform such procedures how to minimize the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Watch the 2012 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony live, here on io9!

As of this posting we are just half an hour away from the start of this year’s Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony. Don’t know what the Ig Nobels are? Go educate yourself. Then come back here to watch the festivities, live. https://gizmodo.com/and-now-the-winners-of-the-2011-ig-nobel-prizes-5845543 The ceremony itself kicks off at 7:30 pm (US Eastern Time), but we’ll be…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Science proves that you should un-friend your ex on Facebook

It’s a question that many couples face in the aftermath of a breakup: “Do we still stay Facebook friends?” Inevitably, in an attempt to show maturity and poise, many couples choose to remain connected. But now, new research is showing that keeping tabs on your former partner is a big mistake — one that will…

io9 George Dvorsky

Koro Syndrome: The Irrational Fear of Lethal Genital Shrinkage

Koro Syndrome is mostly found in China, Japan, and India. It’s the obsessive fear that the genitals are shrinking, or retracting into the body, and that when they finally do disappear, you will die. How does a doctor even begin to treat such a syndrome? Take a look at a very strange, and specific, delusion.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Miss Universe contestant petitions World Health Organization to remove transsexualism as a mental disorder

The deadly condition named for a Sherlock Holmes story

Researchers revisit history’s most adorable psychological experiment, find something new

So you think you’re smart? Well, prove it.

Why do some traumatized people get PTSD while others don’t?

Can this test actually predict whether you’ll become a serial killer?

The Pediatric Psychologist Whose Job Was To Scare the Crap Out of People

What does Wonder Woman have to do with polygraph tests? More than you probably realize.

The neuroscience of stage fright — and how to cope with it

Men with shaved heads appear more masculine, study finds

Not so fast — what’s so “premature” about premature ejaculation?

Study of the Decade: Looking at Photos of Cute Animals Linked to Increased Work Performance

The Real Reason Why You Won’t Eat Green Eggs (and Ham)

Did B.F. Skinner really put babies into boxes?

Why are men so obsessed with breasts?

How should healthcare providers respond when their patients say they’re waiting for a miracle?

How to keep colonoscopy patients from exploding, and other winners from the 2012 Ig Nobel Awards

Watch the 2012 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony live, here on io9!

Science proves that you should un-friend your ex on Facebook

Koro Syndrome: The Irrational Fear of Lethal Genital Shrinkage

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