Social Psychology
Study: People You Meet Probably Like You More Than You Think
A theme that often comes up on this blog is that people tend to be biased in their judgments about themselves and about the way other people see them. In many situations, it’s as if people are wired not to see themselves accurately. On one hand, people tend to overestimate their own traits in a…
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The Health Benefits of Playfulness
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It also makes him less healthy, less physically fit and less likely to lead an active life. That second part isn’t from the original proverb. Rather, it’s from a study published this month in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. In the study, researchers looked to…
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The Personality of a Team Player
If you’re looking for someone who is good at teamwork, your ideal candidate is probably extraverted, agreeable and conscientious – but not too extraverted, agreeable or conscientious, according to a new study. The study was, fittingly, a collaboration between researchers in Romania, the Netherlands and Singapore. In it, the researchers examined the personality traits associated…
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What Do Your Media Habits Say About Your Personality and Mental Health?
Here’s a shocking finding: going on the Internet might correlate with good mental health. And if you don’t find that shocking, you probably don’t spend enough time on the Internet. That finding is from a recent study that tracked the media habits of 633 German students with the goal of untangling how different types of…
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Male Attractiveness: Is It All in the Upper Body?
It’s one thing to judge someone’s attractiveness based only on their looks, without considering their personality or non-physical traits. But researchers from Australia and the United States went a step further: they took people’s faces out of the equation too. In a study published this month, they created what could best be described as Tinder…
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How Social Media Influences Offline Behavior
What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook? Maybe not. Considering how much time we spend on social media, it makes sense that our online interactions could affect our behavior IRL. And researchers are increasingly finding that this is the case, for better and for worse. Let’s start with the “better.” A little online peer pressure…
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The Dangers of Comparing Yourself to Others on Social Media
Social media makes a lot of things easier. Keeping up with old friends. Sharing your vacation pictures. Comparing yourself to other people. It’s that last one that could be causing problems, according to two new studies published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Social networking isn’t inherently bad for people’s mental health, the…
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Teen Social Media Use – Is there a Mental Health Risk?
The use of smartphones, social media, and messaging apps are now ubiquitous in modern life for teens ages 13-17. The rates of usage in recent years are staggering and continue to grow; according to data from the Pew Research Center: 24% of teens go online “almost constantly,” with a smartphone 56% of teens go online…
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The Role of the Media in Body Image & Eating Disorders
Most likely, we have all known someone who suffered from some form of eating disorder. According to the National Eating Disorder Association 20 million women and 10 million men in the US suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life – that’s approaching 10% – and four out of 10…
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Harry Harlow
Harry Harlow 1905-1981 Harry Harlow was born in Fairfield, Iowa and was educated in the field of Ethology, or the study of primates. He spent his entire professional career teaching at the University of Wisconsin from 1930-1974. His focus of research was on the learning abilities in primates and he observed the phenomenon of ‘learning…
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