Advocates Of Equality For All Are More Likely To Show Prejudice Against Older Adults At Work
By Emma Young
Social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, have done huge amounts to address racism and sexism in our society. It’s now common for organisations to have diversity programmes, for example. As Ashley Martin at Stanford University and Michael S North at New York University note in their new paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Facebook has famously invested millions of dollars in increasing diversity. However — and this is a big however — the pair’s work reveals that people who are keenest to advocate for women and racial minorities harbour more prejudice a...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - March 4, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Occupational Source Type: blogs
During Lockdown, Meaningful Activity Is More Fulfilling Than Simply Staying Busy
By Emily Reynolds
It’s not hard to find ways to stay busy during lockdown. Yes, many of us are spending lots of time at home and have evenings and weekends free from almost any kind of social activity — but we’re also juggling work, chores, childcare, life admin and the various emotional demands of living through a global pandemic.
For some, in fact, staying busy has been an appealing prospect; indeed, hundreds of articles have been written with ideas on how to stay busy and distracted during the boredom of lockdown. But a new study from a team at Australia’s RMIT University, published in PLOS ONE, suggests...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - March 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Coronavirus Emotion Source Type: blogs
Companies Undermine “Sacred” Values Like Environmentalism When Co-opting Them For Profit Or Prestige
By Emma Young
How important is it to you to protect our planet’s wildest places? Would you put a price on it — or is it the kind of goal that just can’t be subject to a cost-benefit analysis? If the latter, then for you, protecting Earth’s wilds is a “sacred value”. Patriotism, or the protection of human lives, or diversity in the workplace can be sacred values, too. So what happens when a for-profit organisation embraces such values — is the pursuit of social or environmental values and profit a “win-win”, as is often claimed?
A new paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Ps...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - March 2, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: environmental Occupational Source Type: blogs
Americans Simultaneously Hold Both Positive And Negative Stereotypes About Atheists
By Emily Reynolds
What — or who — do you think about when you hear the word “atheist”? Someone scientific, rational, and open-minded? Or, instead, someone who lacks morality, or who is less trustworthy than your average religious person? Prior research hasn’t been wholly positive for non-believers, finding serious levels of distrust of atheists — even among atheists themselves.
But the real picture might be slightly more complicated. According to a new study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, positive and negative stereotypes abound when it comes to atheists. And for many...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - March 1, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Personality Religion Social Source Type: blogs
Phone Fears And Dolphin Directions: The Week ’s Best Psychology Links
We reported earlier this week on the similarities between dolphin and human personalities — but do dolphins also have “handedness” like humans? Past work had suggested that the aquatic mammals showed behavioural asymmetries in their movements, preferring to spin rightward. But a new study casts doubt on those findings, writes researcher Kelly Jaakkola at Scientific American.
“Mini-brains” — brain organoids grown from stem cells in the lab — are used to study the development of the human brain, though they are far more primitive than real brains. But researchers have reported a surprising finding: after...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - February 26, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Weekly links Source Type: blogs
