People consider far less information than they think they will before making judgments, suggests a study in PNAS. Researchers asked 207 online participants to view up to 40 paintings in a novel style of art. Before viewing the paintings,...
Teenagers in treatment for depression fare better when therapists more quickly assess symptoms and adjust treatment as needed, finds a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Researchers followed 40 U.S. teenagers with depressive disorder undergoing 12 sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy over...
A pregnant woman’s exposure to air pollution could slightly increase her child’s risk of developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD), suggests a study in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers studied the medical records of more than 132,000 children born in Vancouver between 2004...
Teenagers are less likely to fight physically with one another in countries that ban spanking and other forms of corporal punishment, finds a study in BMJ Open. Researchers analyzed World Health Organization data from more than 400,000 teens in 88...
When people eat off shared plates, they are more likely to cooperate in negotiations, finds a study in Psychological Science. Researchers paired 200 strangers (students at a U.S. university) and asked each pair to negotiate an hourly wage for workers...
Older adults with depressive symptoms are more likely to injure themselves in falls–and those who fall are more likely to develop depression, finds a study in The Gerontologist. Researchers analyzed data on nearly 6,300 U.S. Medicare beneficiaries, age 65 and...
Human encroachment appears to be threatening chimpanzees’ behavioral diversity, finds a study in Science. Previous research has found that chimpanzees pass on some behavioral traditions–such as using sticks to fish for algae or cracking nuts with stones–that differ from...
Setting attainable goals now may set you up for happiness later, suggests a longitudinal study in the European Journal of Personality. Researchers interviewed 973 people, ages 18 to 92, living in Switzerland, and followed up with 637 of them two years later...
Combat veterans may experience more depression and anxiety as they age compared with military veterans who did not see combat, suggests a study in Psychology and Aging. Researchers examined survey data from more than 1,100 U.S. military veterans, collected between 1985...
People who have spent time in prison are more likely to suffer from chronic medical conditions, finds a study in Health Psychology. Researchers analyzed a nationally representative U.S. sample of more than 36,000 adults, 12.4 percent of whom reported a...