Laura’s Psychology Blog

the APS Observor caught this nice picture of William James and Me!

(posted by iPad)

The Association for Psychological Sciences Conference is over for this year but has left a powerful impression! Here are a few of the pictures we took while at the convention and in Boston!

Here are a couple of articles that I thought you might enjoy:

• Empathy:college students don’t have as much as they used too

‘The study, presented in Boston at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, analyzes data on empathy among almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years.

“We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000,” said Sara Konrath, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research. “College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait.”‘

• Researcher decodes Rembrandt’s magic!

“In the study, published in the current issue of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s arts and sciences journal Leonardo, UBC researcher Steve DiPaola argues that Rembrandt may have pioneered a technique that guides the viewer’s gaze around a portrait, creating a special narrative and “calmer” viewing experience.”

my daughters (Kristin & Karen) at A.P.S. presenting 'Snakes in Suits' -- an analysis comparing C.E.O.'s and Psychopaths ... can you guess how it turned out? (HINT: they are wearing Slytherin shirts!)

While at APS, I found much interesting reading! Here’s some of what I found:

Compulsive Behavior in mice cured by bone marrow transplant!

“Even more stunning, they report in the May 28th issue of Cell, the animals’ neuropsychological behavior can be cured by bone marrow transplant.”

Love it or hate it, powerpoint shapes new strategy

“But because PowerPoint is easily available to anyone with access to a computer, it “has radically changed who can participate. It has the potential to democratize strategy-making.”"

Racial bias clouds  others ability to feel their pain

“This is quite important because it suggests that humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play,” said Salvatore Maria Aglioti of Sapienza Università di Roma.

an underlying cause of psychopathic behavior

“…psychopaths are also known to be extremely good manipulators and deceivers, which would imply that they have good skills in inferring the knowledge, needs, intentions, and beliefs of other people”

Snails on methamphetamine

“Crystal meth (methamphetamine) is a highly addictive drug that seduces victims by increasing self-esteem and sexual pleasure, and inducing euphoria. But once hooked, addicts find the habit hard to break.”

opening of the Association for Psychological Sciences convention - Boston 2010

Here are a few pictures from the opening of the 2010 conference ! On the bottom is a sea of students, researchers and professors studying the first day poster session; next on the upper right, the legendary ( I believe she might hate that title) Janet Taylor Spence reading off the winners of the award that bears her name; and finally, on the upper left is a picture of me at the Cengage Booth that displays  my 2nd edition of Discovering Biological Psychology!

Come on by the booth, we can chat and I am even giving away a free — highly collectible — mouse pad!

Stay tuned!

Here I am at the Association for Psychological Science Conference in Boston getting my picture taken with William James!

If you didn’t make plans to  join us in Boston,  try to come next year, if you made it to the conference drop by the  Cengage Booth or our presentation to say ‘hello!’ Love to meet you all!

Here is what I am reading today!

• Get that song out of my head (earworms!)

“In most cases, earworms will disappear after a few minutes. In some cases, earworms can last hours or even days…. McNally-Gagnon and Hébert now plan to study earworms using MRI or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation technology.”

• Copy cat behavior in children

This willingness to assume that an action has some unknown purpose, and to copy it, may be part of how humans develop and share culture, he says.

As I post this I am traveling to the APS convention in Boston and remembering a funny scene from Stargate!

Here are a few fun things I am reading today! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

swarming increases locust’s Brains!

‘He concluded: “Being inside these swarms is really a messy business – it’s driven by hunger and the need to figure out where to find new food. “These insects even turn to cannibalism – if you’re not quick enough you turn into lunch, so the [big] brain gives them the edge in a cut throat situation.”‘

when older mothers give birth

Although the percentage of women over 40 having babies is small, it is an increase of 89% in women over 40 having babies.