Anyone lost in a desert hallucinating mirages knows that extreme dehydration discombobulates the mind. But just two hours of vigorous yard work in the summer sun without drinking fluids could be enough to blunt concentration, according to a new study. Cognitive functions often wilt as water departs the body, researchers at the Georgia Institute of …
Prison employees experience PTSD on par with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, a new study from a Washington State University College of Nursing researcher found. Working conditions in a prison can include regular exposure to violence and trauma, and threats of harm to the workers and their families. Previous studies have shown that prison workers …
In the study, Stillman and his colleagues found that people tended to make the most efficient decision – the one that resulted in the most overall value for the group – when they looked at the big picture, or saw the forest for the trees. This “big picture” perspective is what psychologists call “high-level construal” …
Feedback loops are powerful forces of nature. Melting polar ice caps reduce the earth’s reflectivity, causing it to absorb more heat from the sun, which accelerates the melting. The cumulative, accelerating aspects of such loops make it imperative to break the cycle before it gets out of control. … Individuals can take steps to improve their …
However, not all men at the top are harassers. In this study, Halper and Rios set out to understand whether there are specific aspects of a man’s disposition that make him more prone to misusing his power to sexually harass others, which can include attempts to gain sexual favours. The researchers conducted three different studies …
Looking at whether or not participants could tell the difference between truth and lies, on average, players at the start of the game scored “not much better than chance — about 56 percent accurate. By the end of the game they’re 68 percent accurate, and that’s just playing for about an hour. Law enforcement participants …
“We designed and distributed our survey before the presidential election. Our response rates were relatively low before election night but surged the following week,” said Utr�an, lead author of the study and a refugee from Bosnia-Herzegovina. “Organizations became concerned about their ability to facilitate the resettlement of refugees broadly and Syrian refugees specifically given Mr. …
The tall, sharply dressed man said humans were a cancer on the Earth. He said that he resented his parents for raising him to be “super hedonistic, just monstrously gaining things.” He said he had grown nihilistic, that he wanted to take up chain smoking and die a slow death. When Schapira asked if he …
In the study, 62 men in their 20s were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (target breath alcohol level 0.080%) or no alcohol. Participants were encouraged to talk to a simulated woman as if they were on a date, and they made choices from a list which included nonsexual and sexual options. The female agent was …
John Coltrane and Jerry Garcia became improvising legends for their ability to mix musical elements on the fly. How the brain accomplishes such feats of creativity under pressure remains a mystery, though practice is increasingly thought to play a pivotal role. Now, in a new study in the journal Psychology of Music, Columbia University researchers …