February can be a tough month for a lot of students. The winter doldrums often start to set in, and anticipating the warmer weather that’s right around the corner can often lead to a bad case of “spring fever.” Now isn’t the time to get distracted, however. With mid-terms on the horizon, it is especially important to spend a little extra time on your studies. In case you’ve been busy these past few weeks, here is a quick wrap-up of what’s new on the site in February. Image: Rodolfo Belloli This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Eyes Like Blank Discs – The Guardian’s Steven Poole On George Orwell’s Politics And The English Language .
American psychologist Harry Harlow is known for his infamous social isolation research conducted on rhesus monkeys during the late 1950s and early 1960s. At his primate lab located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harlow performed a series of experiments in which infant monkeys were raised by surrogate “mothers.” In different variations of the experiments, some of the mother monkeys were made entirely of wire while others were covered in a soft terrycloth. At the time, some researchers suggested that feeding was force behind the mother-child bond. The main idea behind this was that children love their caregivers because they provide food. What Harlow and his fellow researchers found was that the vital factor underlying an infant’s love for its mother was contact comfort. The infant monkeys in Harlow’s experiments preferred the soft terrycloth mothers over the wire mothers, even when the latter served as the source of food. Harlow’s experiments played an important role in changing our understanding of attachment , but they were also extremely controversial. The experiments were both shocking and cruel, particularly his later experiments that involved placing young monkeys in total social isolation. Most of his experiments are considered unethical by today’s standards and the nature of his research contributed to concern and ethical regulations over how laboratory animals are treated. Learn more about his life, career, and contributions to psychology in this Harry Harlow biography . This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Eyes Like Blank Discs – The Guardian’s Steven Poole On George Orwell’s Politics And The English Language .
Are you looking for someone who can empathize with your pain? Then consider talking about your situation to a woman in her 50s. According to a new study, women in their 50s are more empathetic than other age groups as well more empathetic than men of the same age. After analyzing the results from three large-scale samples of more than 75,000 U.S. adults, researchers discovered a U-shaped pattern for empathy across adult age groups. Younger and older adults reported less empathy and middle aged adults reported more. “[Middle-aged adults] reported that they were more likely to react emotionally to the experiences of others, and they were also more likely to try to understand how things looked from the perspective of others,” explained Sara Konrath, one of the study’s authors. Another of the study’s authors, Ed O’Brien, suggested that the U-shaped pattern might be the result of rising levels of cognitive abilities and emotional functioning that occur in the early years of adulthood and the declines in cognitive abilities and emotional functioning that occur later in adulthood. However, the authors note that more research is needed to determine if this empathy pattern is truy the result of age. “Given the fundamental role of empathy in everyday social life and its relationship to many important social activities such as volunteering and donating to charities, it’s important to learn as much as we can about what factors increase and decrease empathic responding,” Konrath suggested. Image: moodboardphotography (CC BY 2.0) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Eyes Like Blank Discs – The Guardian’s Steven Poole On George Orwell’s Politics And The English Language .
January has been an especially hectic month. Exactly one month ago today I gave birth to my first baby, so things have been a little crazy at my house! For many of our readers, January has marked the return to school after the holiday break. This means getting used to new classes and trying to juggle multiple commitments including school, work, and other obligations. Here are just a few of the new features that have been added to the site this month, just in case you missed them. Image: Sergey Soldatov This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC .
Choosing a college major can be a very difficult task, especially if you are torn between competing degree options. In order to select the major that is right for you, it is important to start by assessing your interests and goals. Psychology is one of the most popular degrees at colleges and universities throughout the world, but is it the right choice for you? Before you decide: Assess your interests. Psychology might be a good choice if you enjoy learning about the human mind and behavior, have an interest in psychology research or love working with people. Explore different options. Be sure to spend some time researching different psychology careers in order to get a good idea of the the different opportunities that are out there. Visit your academic advisor or campus career center. Students sometimes overlook the many resources that are available through their own college or university. An academic advisor can help you asses your strengths and interests in order to determine which college major might be best. In addition to offering a tremendous opportunity for personal growth, majoring in psychology opens up a huge range of career opportunities. If you are still wondering if psychology is the right choice for you, then be sure to check out some of these ten great reasons to earn a psychology degree . More tips: Image by Mary Gober This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC .
I’m always interested in finding new ways to learn quickly and efficiently. It’s important to get the most educational value out of my time as possible. However, retention, recall and transfer are also critical. I need to be able to accurately remember the information I learn, recall it at a later time and utilize it effectively in a wide variety of situations. I’ve written before about some of the best ways to improve memory . Basic tips such as improving focus, avoiding cram sessions and structuring your study time are a good place to start, but there are even more lessons from psychology that can dramatically improve your learning efficiency. Learn more in this article on how you can become a more effective learner . Poll: What’s your favorite learning/study strategy? Image: René Mansi/iStockPhoto This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC .
Buying textbooks for your psychology courses can be very expensive, with some texts costing hundreds of dollars each. With a new semester coming up fast, now is a great time to find out which texts you will need for the new term. By starting early, you can seek out the best deals both online and in bookstores. Before you buy a psychology textbook, ask yourself these important questions . More Tips for Students Image courtesy Sanja Gjenero This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC .
Definition: The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, often referred to as the WAIS, is one of the frequently administered psychological tests in use today. First published in the 1950s, the test is designed to measure intelligence in adults and older adolescents. Unlike earlier intelligence scales, the WAIS is designed to provide an overall view of a person’s strengths and weakness, rather than attempting to boil intelligence down to a single score. Learn more about the history and use of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale . This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC .
Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to remember some things (like important dates for your history exams), while you remember other things with no effort at all (like the lyrics to a catchy pop song)? Both of these examples represent different types of long-term memory. Things that we have to consciously work at to remember, like a phone number or information for a test, are stored in explicit memory. Those things that we don’t intentionally try to remember, such as a familiar song or various daily habits, are stored in implicit memory. Learn more about how this process works in this overview of implicit and explicit memory . This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC .
Definition: The representativeness heuristic is a type of mental shortcut first described by psychologists Tversky and Kahneman. In this particular mental shortcut, we tend to judge the likelihood of an event by how well it matches our existing prototypes of such events. When an object or event seems more representative, we tend to judge it as more likely or probable. While such heuristics can help us make judgements or decisions quickly, they can also lead to errors. Learn more about the representativeness heuristic . This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers . Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange – The Liberal Media Go To Work .
