Psychology // Current

An Intense & Psychotic DOG NIGHTMARE!!!

This is The Crypticon Command Unit, Bane the Blue having one of his usually intense dream/nightmare moments. He twitches and... more

DarkEnergy
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To Switch or Not to Switch. That is the Question.

"The Switch" is an acclaimed independent film that received Tropfest short film awards at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival... more

disembedded
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Atheists see the bigger picture

A study by Dutch psychologists shows that religious beliefs can effect how we see the world - whether we focus on the details or... more

ProfessorFunk
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Left Unsaid: The Tyranny of Eternal Silence

"Left Unsaid" is an experimental short-film that focuses upon the issue of loss, in particular the feelings of loss... more

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Brain of a bully: they like seeing others in pain

"Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of seeing someone else in pain, U.S. researchers said on Friday.

While this may come as little surprise to those who have been victimized by bullies, it is not what the researchers expected, Benjamin Lahey of the University of Chicago, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

"The reason we were surprised is the prevailing view is these kids are cold and unemotional in their aggression," said Lahey, whose study appears in the journal Biological Psychology.

"This is looking like maybe they care very much," said Lahey, who worked on the study with Jean Decety, also of the University of Chicago.

The researchers compared eight boys ages 16 to 18 with aggressive conduct disorder to a group of eight adolescent boys with no unusual signs of aggression.

The boys with the conduct disorder had exhibited disruptive behavior such as starting a fight, using a weapon and stealing after confronting a victim.

They showed both groups video clips of someone inflicting pain on another person and tracked brain activity with a type of imaging called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.

In the aggressive teens, areas of the brain linked with feeling rewarded -- the amygdala and ventral striatum -- became very active when they observed pain being inflicted on others.

But they showed little activity in an area of the brain involved in self-regulation -- the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction -- as was seen in the control group.

"It is entirely possible their brains are lighting in the way they are because they experience seeing pain in others as exciting and fun and pleasurable," Lahey said.

"We need to test that hypothesis more, but that is what it looks like," he said.

Lahey said the differences between the two groups were strong and striking, but cautioned that the study was small and needs to be confirmed by a larger study.""Brain scans of teens with a history of aggressive bullying behavior suggest that they may actually get pleasure out of... more

DeliaTheArtist
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2 responses

11 days ago

Brain scans find bullies enjoy inflicting pain on their victims

Bullies brains may be hardwired to have sadistic tendencies, US imaging research suggests. An area of the brain associated with... more

DonkeyPong
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1 response

11 days ago

Behavioral economics revisited in the face of the recent economic crisis

Behavioral economics is a merge of psychology and economics. This discipline becomes even more important in the events of the... more

stelman
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15 days ago

How to keep anger from bubbling over

Experts are predicting a record voter turnout for tomorrow's presidential election. That means long lines, and many people... more

singrrr
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15 days ago

Do we have an innate sense of irony?

A psychologist at the University of Calgary has been investigating the way people use irony. Laboratory results suggest that an... more

joshuaheller
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20 responses

15 days ago

Madness in Somalia: Young Rape Victim Stoned by Islamic Militants

A young child who was raped in Somalia was put to death by militants in her community, that is sick and a betrayal of all basic... more

AuthorJupiterKing
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16 days ago

Brain's 'hate circuit' identified

People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as... more

stelman
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16 days ago

What do narcissists think of when they make love?

Take a few moments to think about what sex means to you (sexual intercourse that is). …and…STOP. Now go ahead... more

singrrr
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4 responses

16 days ago

Living single longer: It's a global phenomenon

One of my favorite statistics about single life in the United States is that Americans now spend more years of their adult life... more

singrrr
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3 responses

16 days ago

Catholic priests to face psychological screening

New Catholic priests are to be psychologically screened as the Vatican increases its efforts to be more selective after a series... more

singrrr
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18 days ago

Vatican issues screening guidelines for priests after sex scandals

The Vatican issued new psychological screening guidelines for seminarians Thursday the latest effort by the Roman Catholic Church... more

JanforGore
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50 responses

19 days ago

Experts warn of "Voter Bandwagon" effect

If John McCain’s supporters are hoping for a “Bradley effect” bounce on Election Day, some pollsters and... more

asherp
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61 responses

19 days ago

Cole Hauser on Project American Spirit for disabled veterans

Cole Hauser is involved in a non-profit organization called Project American Spirit, which seeks to help disabled American... more

chapinyoung
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1 response

2 months ago

The woman in red drives the men crazy, study finds

"If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red.

Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other color, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.

The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the color of romance -- as so many Valentine's Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years.

Although this "red alert" may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said.

Noting the genetic similarity of humans to higher primates, he said scientists have shown that certain male primates are especially attracted to females of their species displaying red. For example, female baboons and chimpanzees show red coloring when nearing ovulation, sending a sexual signal that the males apparently find irresistible.

"It could be this very deep, biologically based automatic tendency to respond to red as an attraction cue given our evolutionary heritage," Elliot, whose findings appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, said in a telephone interview.

The study involved more than 100 men, mostly college undergraduates, who were shown pictures of women and asked to rate how pretty they were, how much the men would like to kiss them and how much the men would like to have sex with them.

Men were shown a woman, with some of the pictures bordered in red and some bordered in white, gray or green. Even though it was the same picture of the same woman, when she was framed in red the men rated her as more attractive than when she was bordered by another color.

Men were then shown photographs of a woman that were identical except that the researchers digitally made her shirt red in some versions or blue in others. And once again, the men strongly favored the woman in red.

The men also were asked, "Imagine that you are going on a date with this person and have $100 in your wallet. How much money would you be willing to spend on your date?" When she was clad in red, the men said they would spend more money on her.

The researchers noted that the color red did not alter how men rated the women in the photographs in terms of likeability, intelligence or kindness -- only attractiveness.

The researchers then had a group of young women rate whether the pictured woman was pretty. Red had no impact on whether women rated other women as pretty, they found.

Gay men and color blind men were excluded from the study.""If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red. Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more... more