A blog about human brains and behavior for students of psychology.
Rumination, repetitively playing over negative thoughts, has been consistently associated with mental health problems. Among children, for example, rumination on anger-provoking situations has been linked to both aggression and depression. Rumination has also been proposed as a path from being
It might be overstating the case to say that you are what you eat. But what you eat could reveal subtle statistical differences about you. At least, that’s what a new study, Examining the “Veggie” Personality, from researchers in Germany
Anxiety runs in families, partly because it has a genetic component. But genetics aren’t the whole story. Without realizing it, anxious parents can transmit anxiety to their children by modeling anxious behaviors and teaching their children to be fearful of
Next time you see a watch advertisement, check out what time the watch reads. Chances are it’ll be 10:10. So is there something special about 10:10? Why do people selling watches always choose to set watches to this time before
All good things must come to an end, and that includes psychotherapy. For some people, psychotherapy comes to an end quite quickly. A recent study by researchers from Portugal, Brazil and Israel looked at what happens to people who drop
An awareness of how vast and complex the world around us is seems to go hand-in-hand with an awareness of how small and limited we are as individuals. At least, that’s what a new study establishing a link between feelings
You might think that apologies would be a good way to soften the blow of social rejection. But apparently, saying “I’m sorry” when you turn down someone’s request to be included socially can be more like pouring salt in the
Psychologists are still working on piecing together the details of what exactly video game addiction is. One of the open questions is how similar gaming addiction is to other addictions like gambling and drugs. The latest version of DSM, a
It’s no secret that, to some extent, people’s tendency to be happy may be hardwired into their personality. But psychologists are still sorting out what personality traits correlate with being more satisfied in life. Recently, a team of researchers from
Reading minds isn’t a superpower. It’s something we do every day, sometimes without even thinking about it. Of course, our attempts at guessing what’s going on in the minds of others aren’t always successful. And some people are better at
