Scared Of Spiders? There ’s An App For That
In this study, published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 33 participants (18 diagnosed with arachnophobia) used the Phobys app as recommended. Before and after using the app, they provided responses to several measures of fear: subjective fear ratings when approaching a real spider (a Behavioural Approach Test), the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ), and the Spider Phobia Beliefs Questionnaire (SBQ), as well as a measure of disgust. They were also asked to rate how much they felt that their fears had reduced, post-intervention. A further 33 (17 diagnosed with arachnophobia) participants received no intervention, in ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 13, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Technology Source Type: blogs

A Jekyll And Hyde Emotion? Research On Anger, Digested
This study provided evidence of “the important role of anger in the psychological process underlying moral courage,” the team wrote. Of course, a person’s individual moral framework is crucial here, though. If the sight of women venturing outdoors alone or going to work, say, deeply offends you, then your resulting outrage will likely propel you to action, too. Expressing anger can also make you seem more authentic and sincere. At least, this was suggested by a 2021 study of Kickstarter pitch videos. Entrepreneurs are often encouraged to be only positive about their ventures, commented the researchers. But they fo...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 12, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Anger Source Type: blogs

We ’re More Likely To Steal From Large Groups Than From Individuals
By Emma L. Barratt We’re all aware of the financial disparity that plagues our economic systems. Many of those at the top of large corporations seem content to exploit large groups of people for their own significant financial gain. Strangely, this is somewhat at odds with previous research in behavioural economics, which tends to find that people are generally quite prosocial, honest, and overall unwilling to steal considerable amounts from others. From results like these, it’s difficult to piece together exactly how we’ve arrived at such levels of financial inequality. Psychologists have floated a number ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 11, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Money Social Source Type: blogs

Only Children Are No More Selfish Than Those With Siblings
By Emma Young Do you think that an only child behaves differently to a kid with siblings? If you do, you’re hardly alone. Stereotypes about only children being spoiled, self-centred “little emperors” abound. In 2019, though, research in Germany concluded that while the idea that only children are more narcissistic is widespread, it’s wrong. Now a team in China has failed to find any evidence for another of the clichés: that only children are more selfish. In a paper in Social Psychology and Personality Science, Xuegang Zheng at Shaanxi Normal University and colleagues first confirm that this...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 7, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Developmental Social Source Type: blogs

Language Proficiency Can Determine How Similarly First And Second Languages Are Represented In The Brain
By Emma L. Barratt Researchers widely agree that first and second languages are handled similarly in the brain. According to previous research, proficient bilinguals’ brain activity is broadly quite similar when accessing their first and second languages. However, the literature exploring this until now has relied on imaging methods that can tell us where in the brain there is activity, but not how languages are represented in those areas. Distinct patterns of activation may have differentiated first and second languages in those same regions all this time, and by relying on traditional forms of imaging analys...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 6, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Brain Language Source Type: blogs

“Zoom Fatigue” Disproportionately Affects Women And New Hires
By Emily Reynolds Anyone who has worked from home will probably be familiar with the miserable, draining feeling of having spent too much time on Zoom. Such is the pressure of all-day-every-day video calling that some companies have even announced Zoom-free Fridays to give employees a little time away from their screens. The fact that video-calling is tiring, then, will not be news to many of us. But a new study in the Journal of Applied Psychology explores in more detail who is affected the most, finding that both gender and length of time spent within an organisation both impact fatigue. And this suggests that a o...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 5, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Coronavirus Occupational Source Type: blogs

Rage Over Repetitive Movements? It Could Be Misokinesia
By Emma L. Barratt You may be aware of misophonia — an automatic, intense hatred of certain types of sounds, such as chewing, tapping, and breathing, to name a few. Misophonia entered mainstream awareness relatively recently, but hot on its heels is an extremely similar condition which relates not to sound, but to movement: misokinesia. There are several well-established online support groups for those who relate to having strong negative affective responses to certain types of stimuli — typically small, repetitive movements, such as leg shaking or finger tapping. And, while it appears to be widespread, there ha...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 4, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Perception Source Type: blogs

Left-Wing Authoritarianism Is Real And Needs To Be Taken Seriously In Political Psychology, Study Argues
By Emma Young Authoritarianism has been well-studied by psychologists. Well, right-wing authoritarianism has. In fact, as that’s typically the only type that’s studied, you might be forgiven for thinking that’s what authoritarianism is. The very idea of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) has received not only little academic attention, but a lot of scepticism from psychologists. “I think I have not found any authoritarians on the left because if there ever were any, most of them have dried up and blown away….” wrote Bob Altemeyer, pioneer of work on right-wing authoritarianism, in 1996. But as Thomas Coste...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - October 1, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Political Source Type: blogs

Blind And Sighted People Understand Colour Similarly
This study wonderfully illustrates that blind and sighted people share common knowledge about colour. Though the two groups differ in some domains — particularly when it comes to associative knowledge about the colour of objects (eg. bananas are yellow) — they are largely similar in their understanding of the natural occurrence and application of colours. Blind individuals are able to draw upon deep understandings of how colours function, and make inferences about totally new objects based on their category alone, in a way that closely resembles those with sight. The authors take this data to suggest that those livi...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 30, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Perception Source Type: blogs

Threat To Identity Stops Harmful Drinkers Recognising Their Alcohol Issues
By Emma L. Barratt Here in the UK, one in five hospital admissions is the result of heavy drinking. Those who drink to the extent of needing medical assistance, as well as those who are caused problems by their own alcohol consumption, are known as harmful drinkers. This group is characterised not only by their high levels of alcohol consumption, but a surprisingly low level of problem recognition. Generally speaking, harmful drinkers are known for being resistant to seeing that they have an issue with drinking, often to avoid being labelled as an alcoholic, which comes with a huge amount of stigma. This phenomenon...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 29, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Alcohol The self Source Type: blogs

There ’s Surprisingly Little Evidence Behind Common Beliefs About The Best Way For Immigrants To Adapt
By Emma Young The world is full of migrants — not only refugees from places like Afghanistan and Syria, but also people who have travelled to study, or to work in another country. In fact, 281 million people live outside their country of birth or citizenship. They face all kinds of challenges, and adapting well to life in a new culture is a critical one. Current thinking holds that what an immigrant does is important for how well they adapt both psychologically and socially. A combination of maintaining one’s own culture while also engaging in the mainstream culture is widely held to be the best strategy. This i...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 28, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Social Source Type: blogs

“Liking” Outraged Posts Encourages People To Express More Outrage In The Future
By Emily Reynolds It can be hard to know what’s going to go viral — or even what’s going to get you just a few more likes. For many, however, expressing an outraged opinion on politics has been a good way of garnering interactions, even if it doesn’t always have the intended effect. A new study, published in Science Advances and authored by William Brady and colleagues from Yale University, looks more closely at how outrage spreads on social media. It finds that likes and shares      garnered by outrage act as a reward that “teaches” us to express more of the same. ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 27, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Social Twitter Source Type: blogs

Immature Jokes: What Kids ’ Humour Can Tell Us About Their Ability To Empathise
By Emma L. Barratt There’s nothing less funny than explaining a joke. But analysing humour can actually tell us a lot about the development of sympathy and empathy in children. Having a joke land is a complex task which requires an in-depth understanding of both the situation and mental state of the person on the receiving end. One audience, for example, might find a joke hilarious, whereas another might find that same joke wildly offensive. Zeroing in on the appropriate joke, therefore, is likely to require a good amount of empathy. This ability to imagine the thoughts and feelings of your audience is pivotal ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 23, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Developmental Social Source Type: blogs

The Pandemic Has Left Us Wanting More Personal Space — Even In Virtual Reality
By Emma L. Barratt The boundaries of personal space aren’t set in stone. They even vary widely from person to person, between cultures, and between environments (for example, we might give strangers a wide berth on the pavement, yet end up shoulder to shoulder on trains). And though it may not feel like it on public transport, personal space is a consideration in everything from the design of buildings to logistics for large events. In 2020, Covid brought a whole new element to the table in terms of our comfort levels around other people. Maintaining a physical distance was one of the few things we could do for ma...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 22, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Coronavirus Source Type: blogs

We Think We ’ve Changed More In The Past Than We Will Change In The Future — And Americans Seem Particularly Susceptible To This Illusion
By Emma Young Think about what you were like 10 years ago. How have you changed, in terms of values, life satisfaction and personality? Now picture yourself 10 years in the future. Do you think you’ll be just as different then as you were a decade in the past? When asked about past vs future change, most people — no matter what their age — report more change over a period of time in the past than they predict for the same period into the future. This “End of History Illusion” has been well-documented, at least, among WEIRD populations. Now Brian W. Haas at the University of Georgia, US, and Kazufum...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - September 21, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Cross-cultural Illusions Time Source Type: blogs