psychology readings for today july 15th 2010

Everyone in my family loves to cook, including me! CLICK on the picture above to discover what my favorite dish is?

obesity harms women’s memory

“…first in the United States to link obesity to poorer memory and brain function in women and to identify the body-shape connection.”

can we trick our minds??

“…Test subjects were more satisfied for longer periods of time after consuming varying quantities of food for which they were led to believe that portion sizes were larger than they actually were.”

smoking comes from habit and not addiction

“In the new study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Dr. Reuven Dar of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Psychology found that the intensity of cravings for cigarettes had more to do with the psychosocial element of smoking than with the physiological effects of nicotine as an addictive chemical.”

great apes ‘play’ to stay competitive

“It is the first study to show apes, like humans, will hit a playmate then run in order to try to get away with the upper hand.”