Performance Psychology
Parents’ Warm Encouragement Can Help Shy Toddlers
How can parents help shy toddlers become more at ease in social situations? A new study suggests that a combination of warmth and gentle prompting to engage socially might be the answer. The study involved 55 toddlers between 21 and 24 months of age who were temperamentally disposed toward shy behavior. In the study, these…
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A Lunchtime Nap Can Boost Children’s Academic Performance
We typically think of it as a bad thing to “fall asleep on the job.” But when your job is learning, a midday nap might be just what the psychologist ordered. A new study of 3,819 elementary school children in China suggests that lunchtime naps are associated with better performance in school. As it turns…
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Courage Is Key for Entrepreneurs
You need a lot of things to start a business. A good idea, the skills to turn that idea into reality, and some cold, hard cash. Increasingly, psychologists who study entrepreneurship believe you need the right mindset too. They talk about having the “psychological capital” to succeed in a new venture. Psychological capital, or PsyCap…
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An Intervention for Perfectionism
I’ve written about perfectionism several times on here before, and to be honest, I’ve never really said anything nice about it. As I’ve pointed out, perfectionism has been implicated in everything from insomnia to binge eating to lower resilience. Basically, the need to be perfect is not a tendency that seems to bode well for…
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Gossip as a Workplace Coping Mechanism
We typically think of gossip as something frivolous. But “idle gossip” might not be so idle. Gossip can be a social bonding mechanism, and workplace gossip in particular might help people cope with the stresses of the job. In a recent study, researchers looked at how gossiping helps people deal with precarious employment situations. The…
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Can Implicit Bias Training Make College Admissions Fairer?
Last week, the ugly and absurd side of the United States’ college admissions process burst into public view. Charges were filed against 50 people from wealthy families across the countries, who were accused of paying hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to bribe their way into selective private schools. The world of elite…
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Mental Imagery Can Enhance Motivation
A lack of motivation can put to ruin the greatest plans – or the smallest ones for that matter. Getting the motivation to do something is a complex process that takes place in the brain, so there’s no simple formula for boosting your motivation when you need it. But as it turns out, using mental…
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Teaching Makes a Difference in Whether Students See Classes as Easy or Hard
It’s a common recognition on college campuses that one course might be an “easy A” while another strikes fear into the heart of even the most capable student. But what exactly makes some classes easy and others hard? Teaching technique seems to have something to do with it. In a recent study, researchers at Bethel…
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Can Natural Sounds Recharge the Brain?
Buy a CD of music for relaxation, and there’s a good chance it’ll feature running water, chirping birds and rustling leaves. Instinctively, it makes sense to us that the sounds of nature should be refreshing for the mind. This idea hasn’t been lost on psychology researchers. A range of studies have investigated whether natural sounds…
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What an Amazing Coincidence Tells Us About Schadenfreude
In December 2015, researchers asked 59 Argentinian adults to consider this description of a scenario featuring Argentina’s long-time football rival, Brazil. They meant it as a hypothetical exercise: Brazil and Peru are playing a football match. The match is decisive for the both teams’ chances of advancing to the next round. Brazil will make it…
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