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Reports on the latest psychology research plus psych gossip and comment. Brought to you by the British Psychological Society.
BPS Research Digest
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- February 8, 2012
- 02:17 PM
- 57 views
Having superior working memory capacity can make time go faster
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Working memory is like a neural memo-pad. People with higher working memory capacity can hold more items in mind whilst solving a concurrent problem or performing a distracting task. There's been some excitement lately about the possibility that working memory can be improved through training, with knock-on benefits for IQ and academic attainment. A new study suggests such training should come with a footnote: "Improving your working memory could affect your perception of time".
James Wo........ Read more »
Woehrle, J., & Magliano, J. (2012) Time flies faster if a person has a high working-memory capacity. Acta Psychologica, 139(2), 314-319. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.12.006
- February 2, 2012
- 04:25 AM
- 4 views
Facebook or Twitter: What does your choice of social networking site say about you?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Social networking sites have changed our lives. There were 500 million active Facebook users in 2011 and approximately 200 million Twitter accounts. As users will know, the sites have important differences. Facebook places more of an emphasis on who you are and who you know. Twitter restricts users to 140-character updates and is more about what you say than who you are. A new study asks whether and how the way people use these sites is related to their personality, and whether there are ........ Read more »
Hughes, D., Rowe, M., Batey, M., & Lee, A. (2012) A tale of two sites: Twitter vs. Facebook and the personality predictors of social media usage. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2), 561-569. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.11.001
- February 1, 2012
- 04:36 AM
- 3 views
When your hands are tied, your eyes are tied up too
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Our eyes and hands operate in wonderful balletic synchrony. When we reach for an object, our eyes jump first, grabbing our intended target visually. Something similar also happens when we watch another person reaching. Our eyes jump ahead to their intended target, as if we were making the same grasping movement ourselves.
In an intriguing new study, Ettore Ambrosini and his team tested whether these anticipatory, vicarious eye movements still occur if our hands a........ Read more »
Ambrosini, E., Sinigaglia, C., & Costantini, M. (2011) Tie my hands, tie my eyes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. DOI: 10.1037/a0026570
- January 30, 2012
- 04:00 AM
- 2 views
Psychology ignored and depression neglected in the media's coverage of mental health research
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Research into some mental disorders receives disproportionate media coverage at the expense of other disorders. That's according to the first systematic study of the way the UK mass media covers mental illness. And in a wake-up call to psychology and its advocates, the analysis found that mental health research stories were biased towards neurobiological aspects of mental illness. They tended to be accompanied by commentary from medical charities, and........ Read more »
Lewison, G., Roe, P., Wentworth, A., & Szmukler, G. (2011) The reporting of mental disorders research in British media. Psychological Medicine, 42(02), 435-441. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291711001012
- January 27, 2012
- 01:13 PM
- 5 views
The life-long curse of an unpopular name
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Receiving an unpopular name can have lifelong consequences, according to new research
Making assumptions about someone based on their name is ridiculous. A few attention-seeking celebrities aside, most of us were given our names, rather than choosing them, so why should they be any indicator of the kind of person we are? And yet a new European study claims that people with unfashionable first names suffer from prejudice, with life-long implications for their self-esteem and well-being.
Joche........ Read more »
Gebauer, J., Leary, M., & Neberich, W. (2011) Unfortunate First Names: Effects of Name-Based Relational Devaluation and Interpersonal Neglect. Social Psychological and Personality Science. DOI: 10.1177/1948550611431644
- January 25, 2012
- 04:56 AM
- 3 views
Easily embarrassed people are more altruistic, and onlookers can tell as much
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Social interactions can feel like walking a tight-rope, an excruciating pit of embarrassment always just one tiny misstep away. Well, here is some comforting news for the easily embarrassed. A new study claims that people prone to embarrassment are better citizens - more selfless and cooperative (more "prosocial" in the psychological jargon). What's more, onlookers interpret expressions of embarrassment as a sign that a person is prosocial, and as a consequence are more likely to cooperate wit........ Read more »
Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Keltner, D. (2012) Flustered and faithful: Embarrassment as a signal of prosociality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(1), 81-97. DOI: 10.1037/a0025403
- January 23, 2012
- 05:05 AM
- 0 views
Do smells really trigger particularly evocative memories?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
We wore ankle-length blue coats at my school, in the Tudor-style. When it rained, the wool of the coat gave off a pungent smell, rather like wet dog. Now when I encounter a similar scent, it propels me back in time to my school days. This effect is called the "Proustian phenomenon". The name comes from Proust's description in Remembrance of Things Past of how the smell of a tea-soaked madeleine biscuit transported him back in time to his childhood.
Smells do have this unca........ Read more »
Toffolo, M., Smeets, M., & van den Hout, M. (2012) Proust revisited: Odours as triggers of aversive memories. Cognition , 26(1), 83-92. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2011.555475
- January 20, 2012
- 09:10 AM
- 4 views
When wives believe they do an unfair share of the housework, everyone loses
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
More women than ever go out to work and yet surveys in Western countries show that wives continue to take on the lion's share of domestic chores.
A new study has quizzed 389 couples in Austria, Germany and Switzerland to build up the most comprehensive picture yet of how this uneven distribution of domestic chores is associated with men's and women's marital satisfaction.
These were all dual-earning couples with young children, with both spouses working at least 15 hours per week. Eighty-nin........ Read more »
MIKULA, G., RIEDERER, B., & BODI, O. (2011) Perceived justice in the division of domestic labor: Actor and partner effects. Personal Relationships. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01385.x
- January 18, 2012
- 04:42 AM
- 3 views
You're most creative when you're at your groggiest
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Are you an evening person? Guess what? Early in the day, when you're bleary eyed, stumbling about in the fog of sleepiness, you're probably at your creative peak. In contrast, if you're a morning person, then for you, the evening is the best time for musing.
How come? Insight-based problem-solving requires a broad, unfocused approach. You're more likely to achieve that Aha! revelatory moment when your inhibitory brain processes are at their weakest and your thoughts are meandering.
Mareike ........ Read more »
Wieth, M., & Zacks, R. (2011) Time of day effects on problem solving: When the non-optimal is optimal. Thinking , 17(4), 387-401. DOI: 10.1080/13546783.2011.625663
- January 17, 2012
- 10:54 AM
- 2 views
Why we're better at predicting other people's behaviour than our own
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Psychologists have identified an important reason why our insight into our own psyches is so poor. Emily Balcetis and David Dunning found that when predicting our own behaviour, we fail to take the influence of the situation into account. By contrast, when predicting the behaviour of others, we correctly factor in the influence of the circumstances. This means that we're instinctually good social psychologists but at the same time we're poor self-psychologists.
Across ........ Read more »
Balcetis, E., & Dunning, D. (2011) Considering the situation: Why people are better social psychologists than self-psychologists. Self and Identity, 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2011.617886
- January 16, 2012
- 10:03 AM
- 2 views
Is it time to resurrect post-trauma psychological debriefing for emergency responders and aid workers?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
You've probably seen on the news, after a disaster, the announcement that trained counsellors will be on hand as a matter of routine. Or you used to. In fact, the practice of offering routine post-trauma psychological debriefing (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing - CISD - to give it its original, formal title) is all but dead and buried. It's hard to say who exactly executed the fatal blow.
NICE - the trusted, independent UK body that provides health advice - is a chief culprit. Bas........ Read more »
Hawker, D., Durkin, J., & Hawker, D. (2011) To debrief or not to debrief our heroes: that is the question. Clinical Psychology , 18(6), 453-463. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.730
- January 13, 2012
- 03:58 AM
- 4 views
Babies can tell whether you made a mistake or not from the tone of your voice
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
For decades, psychologists have been trying to find out when and how children develop the ability to step outside of themselves and understand other people's minds. Piaget, the great Swiss developmental psychologist, had children study a model of the mountains around Geneva and describe what the scene would look like from another perspective. His results led him to conclude that children younger than about seven are stuck with an ego-centric perspective. Since then, with ever more ingenious te........ Read more »
Sakkalou, E., & Gattis, M. (2012) Infants infer intentions from prosody. Cognitive Development, 27(1), 1-16. DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2011.08.003
- January 12, 2012
- 05:49 AM
- 1 view
Want to feel more powerful? Do a Barry White impression
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
As a rule, big beasts tend to make deep noises, whereas little creatures squeak. Perhaps it's little wonder then that we tend to rate human speakers with deeper voices as seeming more powerful. Another finding is that if you put a person in a position of power they will tend to lower their voice. These previous results prompted Mariëlle Stel and her fellow researchers to find out if speaking with a deeper pitch than usual would lead people to feel more powerful.
In an initial study, 81 st........ Read more »
Stel, M., van Dijk, E., Smith, P., van Dijk, W., & Djalal, F. (2011) Lowering the Pitch of Your Voice Makes You Feel More Powerful and Think More Abstractly. Social Psychological and Personality Science. DOI: 10.1177/1948550611427610
- January 12, 2012
- 05:45 AM
- 2 views
Trainees in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy underestimate their therapeutic skills
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
For psychotherapists, the research literature can sometimes make for uncomfortable reading. Yes, most people benefit from therapy, but other findings are less welcome, such as that therapeutic outcomes are unrelated to therapist experience, and that therapists tend to overestimate their skills.
A new study of trainee cognitive behavioural therapists bucks this trend. Freda McManus and a her team have found that several dozen trainee CBT therapists tended to underestimate, not overestimate, how ........ Read more »
McManus, F., Rakovshik, S., Kennerley, H., Fennell, M., & Westbrook, D. (2011) An investigation of the accuracy of therapists’ self-assessment of cognitive-behaviour therapy skills. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.2011.02028.x
- January 12, 2012
- 05:43 AM
- 3 views
When therapists have the hots for their clients
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
The fictional Dr Weston
(played by Gabriel Byrne)
experiences lust for a client
Clients go to psychotherapy seeking a mind massage, but all too often things turn physical. Cases of inappropriate sexual contact in psychotherapy average around 10 per cent prevalence, and a 2006 survey of hundreds of psychotherapists found that nearly 90 per cent reported having been sexually attracted to a client on at least one occasion. It's an issue dramatised artfully in the HBO series In Treatment, w........ Read more »
Martin, C., Godfrey, M., Meekums, B., & Madill, A. (2011) Managing boundaries under pressure: A qualitative study of therapists’ experiences of sexual attraction in therapy. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 11(4), 248-256. DOI: 10.1080/14733145.2010.519045
- January 12, 2012
- 05:42 AM
- 2 views
Your memory of events is distorted within seconds
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Your memory automatically fills in the blanks in unfolding events
Memory isn't etched in neural stone. It's a creative process, sketched in sand. In one of the most dramatic demonstrations of this yet, Brent Strickland and Frank Keil have shown how people's memory for a video clip was distorted within seconds, to form a coherent episode "package". They said their finding provided evidence that the mind uses "sophisticated compression routines ... for efficiently packaging previous events as t........ Read more »
Strickland, B., & Keil, F. (2011) Event completion: Event based inferences distort memory in a matter of seconds. Cognition, 121(3), 409-415. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.04.007
- December 22, 2011
- 04:52 PM
- 112 views
How our collective memory of 1066 could be souring Anglo-French relations
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Anglo-Saxon troops confront the invaders
No doubt you've noticed that the Entente Cordiale has been looking a little strained lately. That's mostly due to contemporary European politics and economics. Isn't it? We can't blame 1066. Can we?
In fact, British attitudes towards the French today probably aren't helped by memories and myths surrounding the Norman Conquest. This may seem like an odd claim, but a timely and intriguing new study focuses on the Norman Conquest of B........ Read more »
Brownlie, S. (2011) Does memory of the distant past matter? Remediating the Norman Conquest. Memory Studies. DOI: 10.1177/1750698011426358
- December 19, 2011
- 05:02 AM
- 72 views
You're more likely to catch a yawn from a relative than a stranger
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Reading this blog post is likely to make you yawn. Not, hopefully, because it's boring, but rather because yawning is so contagious that even reading about it has been shown to provoke the behaviour. A popular theory for how yawns spread is that they automatically engage the empathy systems in our brains. Consistent with this, past research found that children with autism, some of whom have difficulty empathising, are immune to the contagious effects of yawns.
Now Ivan Norscia and E........ Read more »
Norscia, I., & Palagi, E. (2011) Yawn Contagion and Empathy in Homo sapiens. PLoS ONE, 6(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028472
- December 15, 2011
- 07:08 AM
- 75 views
Questionable research practices are rife in psychology, survey suggests
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Update (15 Dec 2011): the uncorrected proofs of this article have now been released online (pdf).
Questionable research practices, including testing increasing numbers of participants until a result is found, are the "steroids of scientific competition, artificially enhancing performance". That's according to Leslie John and her colleagues who've found evidence that such practices are worryingly widespread among US psychologists. The results are currently in press at the journal Psychologi........ Read more »
Leslie John, George Loewentstein, & Drazen Prelec. (2012) Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth-telling. Psychological Science. info:/
- December 15, 2011
- 05:17 AM
- 71 views
Mention of the word "loving" doubles charitable donations
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
"Love begets love." Proverb
French researchers say that adding the text "donating=loving" to a charitable collection box almost doubled the amount of money they raised.
Nicolas Guéguen and Lubomir Lamy placed opaque collection boxes in 14 bakeries in Brittany for two weeks. All the boxes featured the following text in French: "Women students in business trying to organise a humanitarian action in Togo. We are relying on your support", together with a picture of a young African woman wi........ Read more »
Guéguen, N., & Lamy, L. (2011) The effect of the word “love” on compliance to a request for humanitarian aid: An evaluation in a field setting. Social Influence, 6(4), 249-258. DOI: 10.1080/15534510.2011.627771
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