http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Online social networks such as Facebook are being used to express and communicate real personality, instead of an idealized virtual identity, according to new research from psychologist Sam Gosling at The University of Texas at Austin. http://www.physorg.com/news178888379.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:16:31 EST news178888379 Young athletes' achievement goals can change in a healthy way over the course of a season when their coaches create a mastery motivational climate rather than an ego orientation, University of Washington sport psychologists have found. A mastery climate stresses positive communication between coaches and athletes, teamwork and doing one's best. An ego climate, typified by many professional sports coaches, focuses on winning at all costs and being better than others. http://www.physorg.com/news177690530.html Other Sciences Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:40:01 EST news177690530 (PhysOrg.com) -- "The very thought of you ... the mere idea of you" -- from the song "The Very Thought of You" by Ray Noble. Can the mere thought of your loved one reduce your pain? http://www.physorg.com/news177344980.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:30:34 EST news177344980 (PhysOrg.com) -- We are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we will carefully deliberate the pros and cons of each item, taking into consideration past experiences with similar situations before making our ultimate choice. However, a new study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making. http://www.physorg.com/news177269248.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:50:01 EST news177269248 (PhysOrg.com) -- How do people choose a name for their child? Researchers have long noted that the overall popularity of a name exerts a strong influence on people's preferences -- more popular names, such as Robert or Susan, are more frequent and, by their sheer ubiquity, drive more parents to adopt a similar choice. However, new research by psychologists at New York University and Indiana University, Bloomington suggests that the change in popularity of a name over time increasingly influences naming decisions in the United States. Like momentum traders in the stock market, parents today appear to favor names that have recently risen in popularity relative to names that are on the decline. http://www.physorg.com/news174633865.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:27:37 EST news174633865 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Arkansas psychology professor Jeffrey Lohr and colleague David Tolin have documented the history and criticisms of the ethics policy of the American Psychological Association and recommended remedies to restore ethical standards to the profession. http://www.physorg.com/news174217134.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:50:01 EST news174217134 (PhysOrg.com) -- In her youth psychologist Karlijn Beune devoured crime stories. Now the world of crime is her field of expertise. She studied how the behaviour of detectives during investigative interviews influences suspects from different cultural backgrounds. http://www.physorg.com/news173548335.html Medicine & Health Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:52:53 EST news173548335 (PhysOrg.com) -- Breast cancer survivors may find participation on a team that incorporates physical fitness, such as boating, walking or running, can help improve their quality of life, says a Purdue University sport and exercise psychologist. http://www.physorg.com/news173547052.html Medicine & Health Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:31:18 EST news173547052 (PhysOrg.com) -- Study by Northeastern psychologist finds feelings of gratitude prompt people to share their financial resources. http://www.physorg.com/news172429131.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:02:02 EST news172429131 (PhysOrg.com) -- Folk wisdom usually has it that "seeing is believing," but new research suggests that "believing is seeing," too - at least when it comes to perceiving other people's emotions. http://www.physorg.com/news171125758.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:57:06 EST news171125758 In 18 years as the Mets' team psychiatrist, Dr. Allan Lans witnessed player insecurities, depressions and griefs "all the time." But this recent wave of major-leaguers becoming so stressed that they have been assigned to the disabled list has moved Lans, now a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, to call social anxiety disorder "the swine flu of baseball; it's crazy." http://www.physorg.com/news167210850.html Medicine & Health Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:30:01 EST news167210850 The ‘Analysis of the structure of language and dynamic of personality' research group of the University of Granada, Spain, has developed a method to analyse the personality of people with psychopathologic disorders by means of their drawings. It consists of a series of Graphic Projective Tests (TPG) where patients draw what a psychologist says. Each element of the picture has a meaning and it will give information about conscious and unconscious aspects of the analysed person. http://www.physorg.com/news166805697.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:09:27 EST news166805697 (PhysOrg.com) -- Stimulant medications, such as Ritalin and Adderall, are the accepted treatment to stem hyperactivity in children with attention deficit-hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and improve their behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news165514095.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:08:54 EST news165514095 University of Pennsylvania psychologists studying the cognitive mechanisms behind human friendship have determined that how you rank your best friends is closely related to how you think your friends rank you. The results are consistent with a new theory called the Alliance Hypothesis for Human Friendship, distinct from traditional explanations for human friendship that focused on wealth, popularity or similarity. http://www.physorg.com/news163260267.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:05:15 EST news163260267 (PhysOrg.com) -- Men and women may not be from two different planets after all when it comes to choosiness in mate selection, according to new research from Northwestern University. http://www.physorg.com/news163258060.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:28:12 EST news163258060 It is well known that people use head motion during conversation to convey a range of meanings and emotions, and that women use more active head motion when conversing with each other than men use when they talk with each other. http://www.physorg.com/news162451415.html Medicine & Health Mon, 25 May 2009 06:24:07 EST news162451415 Between 20 and 70 percent of Canadians affected by mental illness shun medical treatment. Such avoidance of services provided by doctors and psychologists is particularly acute among men, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research. http://www.physorg.com/news162213289.html Medicine & Health Fri, 22 May 2009 12:16:28 EST news162213289 Some people say they never forget a face, a claim now bolstered by psychologists at Harvard University who've discovered a group they call "super-recognizers": those who can easily recognize someone they met in passing, even many years later. http://www.physorg.com/news161968641.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 May 2009 16:17:39 EST news161968641 Stereotypes often paint a partial or false picture of an individual or group. http://www.physorg.com/news160318240.html Other Sciences Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:51:18 EST news160318240 Not all technology meets human needs, and some technologies provide only the illusion of having met your needs. http://www.physorg.com/news159623791.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:57:00 EST news159623791 (PhysOrg.com) -- Humans don`t always make the most rational decisions. As studies have shown, even when logic and reasoning point in one direction, sometimes we chose the opposite route, motivated by personal bias or simply "wishful thinking." This paradoxical human behavior has resisted explanation by classical decision theory for over a decade. But now, scientists have shown that a quantum probability model can provide a simple explanation for human decision-making - and may eventually help explain the success of human cognition overall. http://www.physorg.com/news158928941.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:56:09 EST news158928941 In a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychologists Jeremy Ginges and Ian Hansen from the New School for Social Research along with psychologist Ara Norenzayan from the University of British Columbia conducted a series of experiments investigating the relationship between religion and support for acts of parochial altruism, including suicide attacks. Suicide attacks are an extreme form of "parochial altruism" - they combine a parochial act (the attacker killing members from other groups) with altruism (the attacker sacrificing themselves for the group). http://www.physorg.com/news154200893.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:35:37 EST news154200893 Armies train by marching in step. Religions around the world incorporate many forms of singing and chanting into their rituals. Citizens sing the National Anthem before sporting events. Why do we participate in these various synchronized activities? A new study, published in the January issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that when people engage in synchronous activity together, they become more likely to cooperate with other group members. http://www.physorg.com/news152383150.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:39:40 EST news152383150 What is it with false confession? It seems crazy on the face of it, to take the blame for a crime you didn't commit. Yet experts have found that while some innocent confessors are mentally disturbed attention seekers, or taking the fall for someone else, most innocents who confess do so under stress, as an act of surrender, during a high stakes, high-pressure police interrogation. According to one estimate, fully a quarter of convictions later overturned by DNA evidence involved a false confession. http://www.physorg.com/news152383104.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:38:52 EST news152383104 Eyewitness testimony is a crucial part of many criminal trials even though research increasingly suggests that it may not be as accurate as we (and many lawyers) would like it to be. For example, if you witness a man in a blue sweater stealing something, then overhear people talking about a gray shirt, how likely are you to remember the real color of the thief's sweater? Studies have shown that when people are told false information about an event, they become less likely to remember what actually happened - it is easy to mix up the real facts with fake ones. However, there is evidence that when people are forced to recall what they witnessed (shortly after the event), they are more likely to remember details of what really happened. http://www.physorg.com/news152378697.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:25:17 EST news152378697 We all have goals and desires, but unfortunately, they are not always achieved. For example, a fouled basketball player tries for a free throw shot, but misses. It may be obvious that he wanted to make the shot, but the outcome did not match that goal. As adults, we are able to tell the difference between people's internal goals and the behaviors they influence. When do we gain this ability? Are infants able to "see" the hidden reasons behind certain actions? That is, can an infant tell that the basketball player intended to make the free throw shot, even though he missed? Earlier research indicates that older infants (15- to 18-month olds) are able to separate goals and intentions from actions, but University of Michigan psychologists Amanda C. Brandone and Henry M. Wellman conducted a study to determine if younger infants also have this ability. http://www.physorg.com/news152377762.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:09:45 EST news152377762 (PhysOrg.com) -- The old real estate maxim "location, location, location" also plays a role in how infants learn to understand the ambiguous actions and behavior of other people. http://www.physorg.com/news151853797.html Medicine & Health Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:37:11 EST news151853797 Dollar signs for eyes - cartoonists have been drawing them for years, and the artists, while whimsical, may have been onto something. According to new research from UC San Diego, areas of the brain responsible for vision respond more strongly to objects of value. http://www.physorg.com/news149344893.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:41:33 EST news149344893 One of the most important decisions that we can make is what company we will work for. There are a number of factors to consider when making this decision, including salary, benefits and work location. However, there may also be less-obvious factors in play that sway our decision, and without us even knowing it. It is well known that unconscious thoughts can influence certain aspects of our behavior. An intriguing example of this is the "name-letter effect," a phenomenon which shows that we have a preference for things that begin with the same letter as our first name. http://www.physorg.com/news143977010.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:36:50 EST news143977010