Not everyone’s holiday plans resemble a Hallmark card. If the “most wonderful time of the year” isn’t your reality, you’re not alone. You might have an idea of a festive picture-perfect holiday season, but what actually transpires doesn’t always measure up. And that’s where loneliness comes from, says King’s College London graduate student Samia Akhter-Khan, first...
Gratitude has been a trendy sentiment in recent years – sparking an industry of journals, knickknacks and T-shirts touting thankfulness as a positive force in individuals’ lives. New research suggests that gratitude from one’s partner may be a powerful tool for couples as well, increasing relationship satisfaction and commitment while protecting couples from the corrosive...
A desire to succeed despite adversity motivates people to pursue a legal career, but barriers caused by finances and careers advice are obstacles, a new study suggests. Those who have become solicitors and barristers said experiencing difficult circumstances in their lives and their personal qualities had been a bigger influence than any structural class or...
In an experimental study, participants’ first impressions of photos of strangers’ faces were strongly influenced by disclosure of the stranger’s political partisanship. Brittany Cassidy of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in PLOS ONE on November 9, 2022. Previous research suggests that levels of ideological polarization are rising in...
For anyone paying attention in the lead-up to the United States midterm elections, it should come as no surprise that people who consider themselves politically conservative see the world differently than those who consider themselves politically liberal. “Humans actually have 26 beliefs about the world as a whole, way more than we knew,” says Jer Clifton,...
Girls are routinely being given more generous grades than boys with the same academic competences, a new study of tens of thousands of pupils and their teachers concludes. This bias against boys could mean the difference between a pass and a fail in subjects such as maths. It could also have wider consequences in areas such...
“Women are better. The female advantage is consistent across time and life span, but it is also relatively small”, says Marco Hirnstein, professor at The University of Bergen, Norway. Hirnstein is interested in how biological, psychological, and social factors contribute to sex/gender differences in cognitive abilities and what the underlying brain mechanisms are. Will the...
When people believe that a door is closing — that they have a limited amount of time left to enjoy something, such as dining out or traveling — they gravitate to the comfort of something familiar rather than the excitement of something new, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. In eight experiments...
U.S. wars last longer under presidents who score high on a measure of narcissism, new research suggests. The study, which examined the 19 presidents who served between 1897 and 2009, found that the eight leaders who scored above average on narcissism spent an average of 613 days at war – compared to 136 days for...
A new national survey by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds many Americans are losing sleep over stress and worry about the current state of the world. After a global pandemic, polarizing political division and more than two years of turbulent events, nearly one in five survey respondents report struggling to fall asleep at...
