We Enjoy Deep Conversations With Strangers Much More Than We Expect To
By Emily Reynolds
Sometimes the most meaningful conversations come at surprising times: with someone you meet on a train and never see again, with a friend of a friend who you’ve only just met. Conversely, conversations with our closest friends and family can often be difficult, and we sometimes fail to share our deepest thoughts and feelings with those we love the most.
A new paper, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, finds that we seriously benefit from these deep conversations with strangers. But, despite this, we sometimes remain reluctant to engage in them, overestimating their awkw...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 15, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Social Source Type: blogs
Audio Technique Makes People Feel That Their Doppelganger Is In The Room With Them
In this study, published in Consciousness and Cognition, participants (N=25) produced a series of tightly controlled binaural recordings of themselves walking into a room and reading excerpts from The Little Prince. One set of microphones were placed in the ears of a dummy sitting across the room from the participants, in order to create recordings with true-to-life location cues. Another set of microphones recorded from the ears of the participants themselves.
Participants then sat with their head in the same location and position as the dummy head used for the recordings. While watching a virtual empty room through a ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 12, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Illusions Perception Source Type: blogs
Here ’s How Psychologists Are Using Robots To Study The “Uncanny Valley”
By Emma L. Barratt
Mentioning the uncanny valley often brings one thing to mind — creepy dolls. The phenomenon, in which near-human-looking faces produce an inexplicable uneasy reaction in those who view them, was actually first described as an issue faced by roboticists. But the faces of dolls in particular are a cultural touchstone for uncanny feelings — at least in part due to their (over)use as a spooking-device in hundreds of horror movies over the years.
As such, psychological research has been conducted on the subtleties that non-human facial structure and expression can have on producing feelings of unea...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 10, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Cognition Perception Source Type: blogs
Early Symptoms Of Psychosis Can Identify Particularly At-Risk Individuals
By Emma Young
The number of people referred in the UK to mental health services for a suspected first ever episode of psychosis rose by nearly a third between April 2019 and April 2021. The stresses of COVID-19 have been blamed. Ideally, these people would have been identified as being at-risk before they first experienced the hallucinations and/or delusions that characterise the condition. That’s because early treatment can work to delay or even prevent a first episode from occurring.
Research has revealed a suite of symptoms that can occur in this preceding period. These include odd or eccentric behaviours a...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 9, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Mental health Source Type: blogs
Developments In Psychology ’s Covid Research
By Emma L. Barratt
Early in the pandemic, there was a rapid shift in the pace of research. With the situation evolving quickly, lockdowns coming into effect, and the massive loss of life that followed, researchers across academia were racing against the clock to produce papers.
This haste was unusual for most scientists, more used to detailed scrutiny, further investigations, and collaboration. As a result, some were concerned about the rigour of papers that would ultimately see the light of day. Early on, psychologist Vaughan Bell tweeted with regards to Covid research, “If it’s urgent, the urgency is to ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 8, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Coronavirus Feature Source Type: blogs
Expressing Outrage At Factory Farming Makes People Feel Less Guilty About Eating Meat
By Emily Reynolds
Meat consumption has decreased by 17% in the UK over the past decade, with more and more people questioning the health, environmental and moral implications of eating meat. While some will be unrepentant about their taste for meat, others may find it more morally ambiguous, with big questions about how justifiable their diets really are.
A new study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, takes a closer look at how meat-eaters grapple with these quandaries. It finds that blaming third parties, holding them responsible for moral transgressions, can reduce the cognitive dissonance...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 5, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Eating Source Type: blogs
Massive Study Finds No Link Between Time Spent Playing Video Games And Wellbeing
By Emma L. Barratt
Video games are perhaps one of the most politicised forms of entertainment media out there. In the decades since they were first created, governments, politicians, health bodies and beyond have voiced concerns that the amount of time some players spend in these virtual worlds could be detrimental to their mental health.
Despite all this concern, there’s been a lack of high-quality research into the effect of video games on player wellbeing. To remedy this situation, Matti Vuorre and colleagues at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with several large game publishers such as Nintendo and S...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 4, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Media Mental health Source Type: blogs
People Will Pay Money To Avoid Having To Exert Self-Control
By Emily Reynolds
Self-control — or lack of it — can have a serious impact on our lives. Poor self-control can lead to feelings of loneliness, while those with higher levels of self-discipline experience states like hunger and tiredness less intensely. Yet despite these obvious benefits, the vast majority of us sometimes experience failures in self-control no matter how hard we try.
A new study, published in PNAS, looks to quantify the cost of self-control. Candace M. Raio and Paul W. Glimcher from the New York University School of Medicine find that we’re willing to pay a monetary price to avoid having to exe...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Eating Money The self Source Type: blogs
“Frenemies” Both Help And Harm Each Other At Work
By Emma Young
Think about your relationships with your colleagues… I bet there are at least some who you’d call “frenemies”. Maybe there’s a co-worker whose sense of humour you love, say — but who also irritates you by failing to pull their weight. In fact, the workplace is the ideal breeding ground for relationships that are characterised by simultaneous, strong positive and negative feelings — so-called “ambivalent relationships” (or frenemies) — note the authors of a new paper in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
It’s surprising, then, how little is known about how frenemie...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 2, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Occupational Social Source Type: blogs
