September 30, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
You feel it ahead of a big exam. Your stomach churns before a job interview. Your heart races before you board a plane. Stress is something everyone is likely to experience at some point.
But stress doesn’t have to be an obstacle. In fact, it can be a useful tool.
A recent study from the University of Rochester found that re-evaluating perceptions of stress can improve mental health, wellbeing and ultimately, success.
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September 29, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Refugees who wish to settle in Western countries are less likely to have extreme political and religious views.
A study published in Psychological Science surveyed 1000 Syrian refugees living in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
The researchers found that the majority of refugees were more motivated to return home to Syria than to migrate to Western countries, but those who did want to move to the West were less likely to hold extremist views.
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August 31, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Banning an online jerk from a social media platform may not be the answer to dealing with toxic people. It may just make it worse.
That’s the finding of a study from a group of researchers from Binghamton University, Boston University, University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany.
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August 27, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, an interesting phenomenon was playing out in grocery stores. Panic buying. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, an interesting phenomenon was playing out in grocery stores. Panic buying.
Consumers, in the face of increasing uncertainty, began stockpiling in a buying frenzy that left the shelves bare.
Now a study from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia may have an explanation for the behaviour. Unexpected certainty can cause us to change our behavior even if it isn't helpful.
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July 13, 2021
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in JAMA looked at exposure to family member incarceration and adult wellbeing in the United States. “Our study investigated how the incarceration of a family member is associated with wellbeing and life expectancy,” study author Dr. Ram Sundaresh told us. “We suspected that having a family member incarcerated would be associated with lower wellbeing and life expectancy.”
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March 16, 2021
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology looked at how people who frequently try to impress or persuade others predicts receptivity to various types of misleading information. “On a basic level, it’s investigating some of the ways that misinformation is spread (intentionally and unintentionally) and evaluated by people when they encounter it,” study author Shane Littrell told us.
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February 26, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Teenagers who bully may be using aggression as a technique to climb the social ladder.
Research from UC Davis published recently in the American Journal of Sociology found that teens who harass, bully or victimize their peers don’t always do this due to an unhealthy home environment or due to psychological problems, but out of a desire to strategically move up in a school’s social hierarchy.
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February 18, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Life in a pandemic for married couples can lead to feelings of sadness and anger.
Many couples across the country are co-existing at home for extended periods due to COVID-19.
Now, researchers have found the more a person feels their spouse disrupts their daily lives, the more they view their relationship as turbulent.
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November 6, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
Americans living in a state that favours the losing candidate of the US Presidential election might experience a decline in their mental health.
A study from researchers at UC San Francisco and Duke University used data from 500 thousand people during the 2016 Presidential election to examine mental health indicators.
Americans who lived in states that favoured Hillary Clinton experienced an extra half-day of poor mental health on average during the month after the election.
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October 30, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
Americans are overwhelmed with multiple sources of stress.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the United States is facing a national mental health crisis that could have consequences well into the future.
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