Psychology

How a cat named Zoe earned several advanced degrees and became a psychotherapist

A diploma doesn’t necessarily indicate expertise. Zoe D Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA, for example, has a wall of diplomas, despite being unable to sign her name. She doesn’t have the opposable thumbs for it. Steve Eichel, PhD, ABPP, who I can assume earned his degrees the hard way, got upset with the amount of credentialing…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

People at the end of the alphabet are more impulsive buyers than those at the front

People waiting in line for days for the latest must-have product are probably a bunch of Zimmermans, Youngs, and, yes, Wilkinses, according to a truly bizarre new study. It’s apparently all the fault of elementary school teachers overusing alphabetical order. This is one of those studies that seems way too ridiculous to be true, but…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The drinking gene controls who you pick as friends

Your friends might seem like an essentially random bunch, based on shared interests and emotional compatibility. But there might be something genetic going on – and it’s related to how much you drink. That’s the suggestion put forward by three researchers from UC San Diego. Their work focused on six genes in a group of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

A single brain cell can predict whether you’ll spend or save

Deciding what to do with your money is a complex decision, requiring lots of different parts of the brain to work together. But just before you make your conscious decision, a single neuron can reveal what you’re going to choose. The brain assembles a complex network of different areas that can evaluate the various benefits…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Moving dots optical illusion reveals the power of silencing

The world is constantly moving and changing all around us, but we’re not always able to perceive these changes as they happen. A new optical illusion reveals just how powerful change blindness really is through the mental magic of silencing. To see the illusion, watch the following short video. Focus on the white speck at…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Obesity can shrink your brain…but so can too much exercise

How you take care of your body can have serious effects on the state of your mind…and either extreme might be bad for you. Two new studies reveal both obesity and strenuous exercise can be bad news for your brain. The first study is the work of Antonio Convit at New York University. He performed…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The evolutionary basis for morality might be completely disgusting

Most humans are grossed out by things like oozing sores or rotten meat, and there might well be an evolutionary basis for staying away from these harmful things. But it might go deeper: that disgust might have created our morality. Valerie Curtis, a researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, argues that…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

New Year’s resolutions might not be a waste of time after all

New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken: why even bother making resolutions when you know you’re not going to keep them? Although maybe we shouldn’t give up on resolutions just yet, as one study suggests they really can work. A 2002 paper examined just how well people who make New Year’s resolutions compare to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The strange story of a man who got turned on by women running him over

Human sexuality can present itself in an almost infinite variety of ways, but outside the occasional David Cronenberg movie, most people don’t think of car crashes as particularly sexy. But one fifty-year-old scientific paper just might change your mind forever. In 1960, psychiatrist Martin Keeler published the story of one of his patients. His young…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The size of your amygdala might determine the quality of your social life

The amygdala is a brain structure crucial for regulating emotions. But the size of the amygdala also reveals just how rich and varied a social life a person leads. The bigger your amygdala is, the bigger your social network. This new research follows up on previous studies that had demonstrated a similar link between amygdala…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

1972 book claimed that being a hippie is a mental illness, can be inherited genetically

In 1972, a Colombian psychiatrist asserted that being a hippie is a form of mental illness that can be passed on to one’s children. Apparently a fondness for patchouli and Iron Butterfly can be traced to your chromosomes. Vaughan Bell of Mind Hacks found the book Psicopatologia y Existencia del Hippie (“Psychopathology and Existence of…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

The strangest ways Christmas has been used for psychological warfare

For decades, militaries have weaponized Christmas songs, symbols, and sentimentality for psychological warfare and propaganda purposes. Here are some bizarre tales about ersatz Christmas cards during World War II, controversial Christmas trees, and decking the halls in the Colombian jungle. 1.) The Korean DMZ Christmas Tree This week, South Korea lit up a 95-foot-tall metal…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

It’s been proven: You’re either a hypocrite or delusional

I love it when science explains why human beings are awful. A recent set of experiments proves the punishment you dole out to people is always worse than what they did to you. Strange chart by Michael Lewy. Apparently there is a game out there called ‘punch-for-punch’. A two person game, it involves player one…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Optical illusion makes the silhouetted dancer spin in whichever direction you choose

This amazing optical illusion has been put forward as a visual personality test that can reveal whether you’re right-brained or left-brained. That’s totally bogus, of course, but it doesn’t make the illusion any less amazing…and we’ll explain how it works. First of all, let’s take a look at the illusion itself: When you first looked…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Chimpanzees play with sticks as though they’re dolls

In many cultures, girls play with dolls more often than boys do. Now chimps have been observed treating sticks like dolls. Is there a gender imbalance in the way chimps play with their dolls, too? The differences in how boys and girls play is well-documented but controversial, which raises a tricky question. Is this tendency…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Did societies evolve to be corrupt?

Corruption is as old as human history. For as long as people have organized themselves into groups with powerful leaders, those leaders have sometimes abused their power. But evolutionary biologists say corruption might actually be holding societies together. That’s the theory put forward by evolutionary biologists Francisco Ubeda and Edgar Duenez. The pair used game…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Even animals as simple as fruit flies have free will

Fruit flies and other simple organisms might seem like they’re creatures of instinct, governed by a set of basically predictable stimuli and responses. But fruit flies actually have free will. Depending on what your definition of free will is. Leaving philosophy aside, we know humans have free will because we’re able to evaluate a set…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The strange case of a woman who felt no fear

A woman with a rare disease that destroyed the fear center of her brain is completely unable to be scared or recognize when other people are afraid. Her story reveals why we need negative emotions, and could help PTSD sufferers. The 44-year-old woman, nicknamed “SM” to protect her privacy, has a condition known as Urbach–Wiethe…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Science proves a rose by any other name doesn’t smell as sweet

Shakespeare might be the greatest writer in the history of the English language, but he was no experimental psychologist. Giving odors positive or negative names actually has a major effect on how how we perceive them. Of course, scientists weren’t musing over the impossibility of love between two warring noble houses from Verona. Instead, they…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Your eye movements reveal your political voting habits

Liberals and conservatives have different ways of looking at other people – literally. Scientists say that conservatives tend to ignore what other people look at, while liberals always follow other people’s gazes to see what they’re seeing. In a recent study, psychologists from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln studied how liberals and conservatives respond…

io9 Annalee Newitz

How a cat named Zoe earned several advanced degrees and became a psychotherapist

People at the end of the alphabet are more impulsive buyers than those at the front

The drinking gene controls who you pick as friends

A single brain cell can predict whether you’ll spend or save

Moving dots optical illusion reveals the power of silencing

Obesity can shrink your brain…but so can too much exercise

The evolutionary basis for morality might be completely disgusting

New Year’s resolutions might not be a waste of time after all

The strange story of a man who got turned on by women running him over

The size of your amygdala might determine the quality of your social life

1972 book claimed that being a hippie is a mental illness, can be inherited genetically

The strangest ways Christmas has been used for psychological warfare

It’s been proven: You’re either a hypocrite or delusional

Optical illusion makes the silhouetted dancer spin in whichever direction you choose

Chimpanzees play with sticks as though they’re dolls

Did societies evolve to be corrupt?

Even animals as simple as fruit flies have free will

The strange case of a woman who felt no fear

Science proves a rose by any other name doesn’t smell as sweet

Your eye movements reveal your political voting habits

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