Psychology news

• Crystal Lynn Privett Recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by P.O.W.E.R. (Professional Organization of Women of Excellence Recognized)

  02-10-2024 09:00 via pr.com
  
  Crystal Lynn Privett of Carlsbad, California, has been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by P.O.W.E.R. (Professional Organization of Women of Excellence Recognized) for her outstanding contributions and achievements in the field of mental health care.About Crystal Lynn Privett Crystal Lynn Privett is the premier mental health transformation specialist, personal development coach, and award-winning author [PR.com]
  
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• Sound advice from John Cage | Letters

  27-12-2024 18:11
  
  Readers offer their views on getting rid of earworms using the composer’s 4’33”In her letter (Want to get rid of a earworm? Try John Cage, 22 December), Joan Friend says she has listened to different versions of 4’33’’ and that “they all sound the same”. This is impossible, because the whole point of the piece is that during it we hear the sounds all around us.Composed after Cage had experienced an anechoic chamber, a room without echoes where
  
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• Canadian researchers trial nature trick to boost mood in winter

  25-12-2024 17:00
  
  Volunteers asked to go about normal routine while paying more attention to natural worldThe start of a new year: a time for optimism, ambitious plans to improve the world, and the grim suspicion that the first couple of months may well be a miserable slog through the deepest of winter’s gloom.But for those who fear the cold and dark ahead, help is on the horizon. Researchers in Canada are investigating a simple trick they hope will boost flagging spirits even when the days are short and fr
  
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• Middle children are more cooperative than their siblings, study suggests

  23-12-2024 21:00
  After decades of debate, one of largest ever studies on birth order suggests it does actually make a differenceThe debate has raged for more than a century: does birth order help to shape personality, or are conscientious firstborns and creative youngest children flawed stereotypes based on flimsy evidence?After decades of contested claims, a handful of recent studies found there was little evidence for meaningful differences. But in a study published on Monday, psychologists have pushed back an
  
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• Cut sentences in half to tackle prisons crisis | Letters

  23-12-2024 18:15
  
  Paul Collins on how to improve the criminal justice system, and Ellie Dwight on an understaffed and ineffective probation serviceIn the 1990s, judges attending Judicial Studies Board seminars would hear the late David Faulkner, a humane and immensely knowledgable Home Office star, explain how German prison sentences were so much shorter than ours, with no corresponding increase in offending. Politicians, terrified of being pilloried for being soft on crime, have never taken any notice. The probl
  
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• Paul Gordon obituary

  22-12-2024 18:47
  
  My colleague and friend, the psychotherapist, author and campaigner Paul Gordon, has died aged 70. While eschewing the limelight, Paul was an influential figure and unique voice in the world of psychotherapy. His political commitment and determination to improve people’s lives led him to train as a psychotherapist at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Social Studies in London in the late 80s, and later at the Philadelphia Association, founded in 1965 by RD Laing and colleagues in order to
  
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• Want to get rid of a earworm? Try John Cage | Letters

  22-12-2024 18:02
  
  Readers respond to an article by Elle Hunt on the science of unshakeable tunes I have suffered from constant tinnitus for 30 years, and when it was joined by earworms it became almost unbearable (Tortured by an earworm? How to get it out of your head, 16 December). I read of the “cure” of listening to something else, but all that did was to replace it with something perhaps more irritating.Then I got to wondering: what would happen if I listened to silence? It wasn’t music
  
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• Canada to Hold Antisemitism Forum Following Recent Incidents

  22-12-2024 07:52 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Canadian Broadcasting Company - Top Stories NewsCanada will hold a forum on combatting antisemitism in February—news that comes as police investigate a fire at a Montreal synagogue and gunshots aimed at a Toronto Jewish girls school. Before these incidents, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said in an interview his "impression is that antisemitism as a problem is worse in Canada than the United States." In 2023, there were 900 police-reported hate crimes against Jewish people in Canada
  
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• Belief in a lottery curse is comforting, but winning lots of money does make you happy | Martha Gill

  21-12-2024 18:30
  
  The notion that vast windfalls inevitably bring misery is based on a handful of sad casesDoes winning the lottery wreck your life? When it was revealed earlier this week that an anonymous Briton had won £177m in the November EuroMillions draw – making them the third biggest national lottery winner ever – the Mail Online announced it with all the impartiality of a bad fairy at a christening: “Other big winners”, the second half of the headline ran, “have faced
  
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• The joy of trivia: ‘We wrote our book together to intrigue each other’

  21-12-2024 16:00
  
  After midlife burnout came a rediscovered curiosity for two friends and writersIt was the early 2000s, we were in our 20s and had both started as assistants at the same company. We bonded over excruciating induction sessions, where we had to reveal things like which cartoon character we most identified with (B: Danger Mouse; E: Marcie from Peanuts). We laughed a lot, but we also worked really hard – and pushed each other to do new things. Twenty years later, with six children between us as
  
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• Arno Rabinowitz obituary

  20-12-2024 20:41
  
  My father, Arno Rabinowitz, who has died aged 90, was a pioneering educational psychologist and a widely admired mentor, counsellor and confidant. His existence was down to a confluence of luck: his mother, Tilly, was one of three siblings evacuated from eastern Europe in the early 1920s during the pogroms against Jews. These three were “Ochberg Orphans”, fortunate recipients of the philanthropy of another émigré, the industrialist Isaac Ochberg, who enabled Jewish orph
  
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• Unraveling the Power and Influence of Language

  20-12-2024 08:31 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Association for Psychological ScienceFraming matters. For instance, when a story about cancer is framed as a "battle" rather than a "journey," people tend to view the diagnosis as more fatal. Indeed, research on framing goes well beyond health and psychology—it now extends to economics and government policy. This multidisciplinary area of research is spotlighted in the latest issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest, which explores the power and influence of language.
  
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• Large Study Finds No Link Between Antibiotics and Dementia

  20-12-2024 08:31 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top HealthGiven that the gut microbiome is important for overall health—including cognitive function—researchers have been concerned that antibiotics could have a harmful long-term effect on the brain, especially because older adults are frequently prescribed antibiotics. New research suggests, however, that antibiotic usage is not related to dementia. The results, based on 13,571 healthy people over 70, were published December 18, 2024, in the...
  
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• Biases in AI Can Amplify Our Own Biases, Research Suggests

  20-12-2024 08:30 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top SocietyArtificial intelligence systems tend to absorb human biases and amplify them, causing people who use that AI to become more biased themselves, finds a new study. Human and AI biases can consequently create a feedback loop, with small initial biases increasing the risk of human error, according to findings published in Nature Human Behaviour. The research was based on a series of experiments with over 1,200 study participants interacting with AI...
  
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• Rights Group Says Israel's Deprivation of Water in Gaza Is Act of Genocide

  19-12-2024 13:27 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Google News - HealthHuman Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by denying them clean water, which it says legally amounts to acts of extermination and genocide. In its report, the group concluded that "Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an 'act of genocide' under the Genocide Convention of 1948."
  
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• Teens With Reduced Response to Rewards at Higher Risk of Depression

  19-12-2024 13:26 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top HealthA new study has found that a reduced neural response to receiving rewards in teens predicts the first onset of depression, but not anxiety or suicidality. This prediction is independent of pre-existing depressive or anxiety symptoms, as well as age or sex, which are already strong risk factors for depression. The study, published by a Canadian research team, is a step toward using brain science to understand and assess mental health risks.
  
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• Could Tariffs Help Fight Climate Change?

  19-12-2024 13:26 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Canadian Broadcasting Company - World NewsU.S. president-elect Donald Trump says he's a "big believer in tariffs," and has threatened a 25 percent tariff on products from Canada and Mexico unless they curb the flow of drugs and migrants across the border. Trump says tariffs are a powerful tool to get "other things outside of economics." Could that include getting countries to cool the planet? Canada and the U.S. are now discussing "carbon tariffs" as a way to achieve climate goals.
  
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• Adopting an Anti-Inflammatory Diet to Improve Mental Health

  19-12-2024 13:26 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: U.S. News and World ReportThe connection between nutritious foods and physical health has been drilled into us since our parents told us to eat our vegetables. But studies have also found that avoiding unhealthy foods can help with mental health. Healthy foods provide essential nutrients that support brain function, protect against cognitive decline, and influence mood and cognition. What's the link between food and mental health? One is chronic inflammation.
  
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• Church Breakup Over LGBTQ Issues Linked to Deadly Violence in Nigeria

  19-12-2024 13:25 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: U.S. News and World ReportA religious schism has turned deadly in Nigeria, with a church member fatally shot and two young children killed as homes were set ablaze, according to United Methodist News Service. The news service said the reported violence on Sunday stemmed from a split in the worldwide United Methodist Church over its decision to repeal LGBTQ bans—and the ensuing formation of the new Global Methodist Church by breakaway conservative churches.
  
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• Inflammatory Dietary Habits Linked to 84% Higher Risk of Dementia

  19-12-2024 13:24 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Google NewsInflammatory dietary habits linked to 84% higher risk of dementia Medical Xpress Cognitive decline: 4 nutrients may reduce brain iron buildup with age Medical News Today Research finds the MIND diet may reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Psychology Today UNL researchers delving into which foods help slow aging of brain KOLN Dementia Incidence Linked to Inflammatory Foods Medpage Today.
  
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• Trouble in Arctic Town As Polar Bears and People Face Warming World

  19-12-2024 12:42 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: BBC News - Science and EnvironmentThe town of Churchill, Canada, is known as the polar bear capital of the world. Every year, the Hudson Bay thaws and forces the bears on shore. Yet the bear population has dropped from 1,200 in the 1980s to just over half that number, largely due to climate change, say experts. And as the sea ice continues to melt earlier each year, the bears are spending more time on land, introducing a new challenge: increased human-bear interactions.
  
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• App Helps Alleviate Mental Health Symptoms in Bereaved Parents

  19-12-2024 12:42 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top HealthA new study has found that an app can help parents mourning the loss of a child. The study, published in the journal Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, was based on data from 248 Swedish parents who had lost a child in the last 10 years. Half received access to the app, and the other half had to wait three months to use it. Parents who used the app reported reduced symptoms of prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress, and also had fewer negative...
  
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• Recommendations to Minimize Bias in Medical AI Technologies

  19-12-2024 12:34 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science DailyA new set of recommendations aims to improve the way datasets are used to build artificial intelligence health technologies and reduce the risk of bias. An international initiative called "STANDING Together (STANdards for data Diversity, INclusivity and Generalizability)" has published recommendations after surveying more than 350 experts from 58 countries. The recommendations aim to ensure that medical AI is safe and effective for everyone.
  
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• Dr Harte Says: Drug Control, Not Gun Control

  19-12-2024 00:49 via pr.com
  
  The recent Madison, WI school shooting brings the usual cries for gun control, when that is not the point. Legally prescribed psych drugs are making kids crazy and violent. [PR.com]
  
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• The Debrief Project Announces Plans for a Documentary Film Honoring the Heroes of the Battle of Baqubah, Iraq

  18-12-2024 18:17 via pr.com
  
  Compelling Stories from Soldiers, Leaders, and Families to be Captured in Time for 20-Year Anniversary of a Hard-Fought Victory [PR.com]
  
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• Life inside a therapeutic prison: ‘Look, we’ve done some terrible things ...’

  18-12-2024 11:00
  
  At HMP Grendon, psychology professionals aim to ‘re-child’ a group of Britain’s most serious offenders in relatively relaxed conditions. Does the treatment work?As you go through the gates of Grendon prison in Buckinghamshire, past the raised garden – whose intricacy is still discernible in November – towards the main block, there’s a foundation stone laid by Rab Butler from when building commenced in 1960. “As home secretary, he wanted two things: to im
  
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• Could Psychedelic Drugs Improve the Mental Health of Autistic People?

  17-12-2024 09:44 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceDeep feelings of unity, transcendence, and awe—as well as improved mental health. Those were among the testimonials in a recent survey of 233 people about their experiences with psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin. Such accounts aren't unusual, but the survey participants were: All were autistic. The results, reported in October in Psychopharmacology, hint that psychedelics could benefit a group typically overlooked in studies of...
  
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• Transgender Patients Are More Likely to Experience Chronic Pain

  17-12-2024 09:43 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: ScienceChronic pain can affect people of all demographics, bringing with it disability, lower quality of life, and economic hardship. Women, people older than 65, and people with a history of trauma are all known to be particularly vulnerable, but new research suggests another group is in the high-risk category: transgender individuals. The study, based on data from 56,470 transgender men and 41,882 transgender women, was published in the European...
  
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• Australian State May Ban Protests at Worship Sites to Fight Antisemitism

  17-12-2024 09:43 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: U.S. News and World ReportAn Australian state government on Tuesday proposed new restrictions on protesters in response to rising antisemitism, including a ban on demonstrations outside places of worship. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan proposed the new laws after arsonists damaged a Melbourne synagogue this month and protestors kept fearful worshippers trapped inside a Sydney synagogue for three hours a week earlier.
  
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• Tortured by an earworm? How to get it out of your head

  16-12-2024 15:46
  
  Scientists explain why the music of Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and Wicked sticks in our minds – and the best ways to ditch an unshakeable tuneSomething has changed within me – and it’s really bloody annoying!Ever since Wicked stormed the global box office last month, many people have been holding space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity – which is to say, unable to get them out of their head. Continue reading...
  
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