General Psychology

Most of us at some point in our careers have worked farther from home than we’d like and endured a commute to work that involves a car, bus or train – or all 3.  And while commuting may seem like a necessary evil on the path to building a career, or a nest egg, it…

An ongoing challenge for researchers has been a way to create bench top (suitable in size or configuration for study) brain tissue to study human brain function.  But now, researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) are one step closer – they’ve developed a 3-D printed layered structure that incorporates neural cells…

According to new research, it may be.   Procrastination is defined as more than just postponement in action, delays in activity or the occasional dilly-dallying that we all dabble in – but a chronic and irrational behavior pattern that involves putting off activities or responsibilities out of a habitual carelessness, with a sense of indecision when…

Experiencing a traumatic event is part of life for many people.  According to the US Department for Veteran’s Affairs, about 60% of men and 50% of women experience at least one trauma in their lives, defined as a shocking or scary event that you witness or that happens to you causing fear or a sense…

It’s not news that drinking on college campuses is widespread.  According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), about four out of five college students drink alcohol.  And, about half of those students who drink, also consume alcohol through binge drinking.  The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), producers of the…

Medical experts have come to understand that the bacteria that lives in our digestive tract has an impact on our overall health, it is generally accepted that the balance and variety of these bacteria affect gastrointestinal conditions like IBS and Crohn’s Disease, as well as skin issues, obesity and diabetes.  But interestingly, more and more…

More and more of us can be considered “heavy” smartphone users; we carry them everywhere (including the bathroom!) and refer to them hundreds of times a day.  In fact, according to the Pew Research Center 64% of American adults own a smartphone, 44% of cell owners admit to sleeping with their phone next to their bed,…

Burnout doesn’t just mean being tired, or stressed out, after a long day or before a big deadline – occasional stress is a normal part of a busy and healthy life.  Burnout syndrome is a psychological term that refers to long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information,…

Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease, and we all know someone who has been affected by it, either as a patient or caregiver.   Every 67 seconds someone in the US develops the disease, and an estimated 5.3 million Americans of all age groups currently have Alzheimer’s in 2015,  according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And these other…

We may think of ourselves as smart, rational, educated folks – but we all face biases when making decisions that make most of them less than rational, called cognitive biases.  As humans, we have an inherent inability to interpret events objectively and  a tendency to make decisions based on limited information, our own self-interest, an…