Category Archives: PS253-2015

No one learns in a vacuum. People are incredibly social creatures, and the way we learn is very often a direct result of those around us. We learn to speak from hearing our parents, we learn how to interact from … Continue reading →

If I were to offer you an opportunity to make you feel better about yourself, improve your general overall health, and enhance your social relationships with others, would you take it? You probably should. Or at least consider it, since … Continue reading →

Surely there are times when we look back on a situation and think, “Why the heck did I do that?” Further, we may even look back at whole periods of our lives (like that brief middle school phase where frosted tips seemed … Continue reading →

With the uprising surge of job competitiveness in America, people have been going to great lengths to get even the slightest advantage they might need in order to prove themselves as more qualified than somebody else. What’s one of the … Continue reading →

Have you ever felt threatened by your romantic partner’s successes? If you have, chances are you’re a man. Traditional gender roles may play a bigger role in the demise of relationships than people want to believe. With more women rising … Continue reading →

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2015-00679-001&site=ehost-live Evaluating a war tends to be done in a retrospective manner. The Iraqi War, in the current day, tends to be evaluated as a complete and total mistake. However, in the days leading up to military action in Iraq, … Continue reading →

Every woman needs a little black dress. It is a fashion “rule”- that every woman has an LBD in her closet. But if women really want to be seen as attractive, that LBD may not be working for them – … Continue reading →

Over the last couple of decades one of the most studied topics in social psychology has been stereotype threat. Stereotype threat occurs when worry about conforming to a negative stereotype leads to underperformance on a test or other task by … Continue reading →

Throughout our lives it is all but inevitable that we will become part of several groups. These groups that we belong to, called “in-groups” can be anything from an athletic team, families, physical traits like eye color, or student. The … Continue reading →

    If you are like most people, you probably have cried more than once. Can you remember the situation that made you to cry? Did you cry because you were scolded by your parents or because a person meaningful … Continue reading →

               We all know that outside influences can affect our decisions, especially with the frequent manipulation of commercials, ads, and even store environments to encourage us to buy products we may or may not … Continue reading →

“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is one of the most commonly accepted phrases to prevent people from making incorrect stereotypical assumptions, but why do our brains automatically make these inferences without as much as a second look? Our … Continue reading →

Absolutely no one likes to be stressed. Who ever jumped for joy when they realized they had to write five more pages of an essay before bed, or just remembered that they’d forgotten to get their significant other an extravagant … Continue reading →

How much is too much for a new pair of pants? Fifty, sixty dollars? 100 dollars? Your answer may depend on a variety of things: how much you make, how badly you need a new pair of pants, and even … Continue reading →

Genetic and environmental factors influence our behavior as human beings, but we all want to know the common internal and external elements that frequently make us experience either positive or negative emotions—joy or sadness, for example. Things such as music, … Continue reading →

At some point, if not many points in our lives, we’ve all wanted something from someone else. This “something” may be a favor quite small, such as switching your laundry for you, or it might be a heftier task, like … Continue reading →

College students are bogged down with academics, busy social lives and demanding schedules. This can cause not only sleep deprivation, but can also lead to bouts of insomnia; trouble falling and staying asleep. Fortunately, recent research may have found the answer … Continue reading →

Joshua A. Tabak and Vivian Zayas conducted a study on “The Roles of Featural and Configural Face Processing in Snap Judgments of Sexual Orientation,” published on 16 May 2012. The two found that “People are able to judge men’s and … Continue reading →

One of my favorite shows in high school to watch on the weekends was Cash Cab. The basic premise of the show is quite simple. Essentially, the show is like any other TV game show in which contestants win money … Continue reading →

It is very well known that electronics can be distracting. Whether it’s a computer in a classroom or a cell phone while driving, when electronics are involved people have a difficult time focusing all of their attentional capacity on the … Continue reading →

“She’d rather eat, half-ass her way through non-major tournaments and complain she’s not getting the respect her 11-major-championships résumé demands…. [S]eriously, how else can Serena fill out her size-16 shorts without grazing at her stall between matches?” said by Jason … Continue reading →

How would you feel if someone called you a cheater? What if instead, they told you that you were cheating? Do you think the small alteration in the way they framed the word “cheat” would cause your behavior to change? … Continue reading →

Weren’t these girls ever taught not to judge a book by its cover? Apparently not, according to what sorority members base their choice on who to accept into their house. A study conducted by Krendel et al. of Tufts University … Continue reading →

What factors influence healthy eating habits? Do we eat healthy foods just to maintain a well-balanced diet, or is there more to it? I’ll be honest. Although I consider myself a fairly healthy eater (I try to get in as … Continue reading →

We have known for a while now that different anchors, even if completely irrelevant, can influence people’s responses, especially for numeric based ideas. This is in part because once people have a number in their mind, when coming up with … Continue reading →

Many of us are familiar with the physical reaction our bodies have when we observe suffering in others. It almost seems as if time stands still – everything slows down including our breathing and heartbeat – when we witness heartache … Continue reading →

It’s a Thursday night and you’re about to flop down on the couch for some much-needed TV time. Before settling in, you grab a quick bowl of ice cream. After enjoying the show for a little while, you realize that … Continue reading →

Picture yourself driving your car. You are in the grocery store parking lot and in a bit of a hurry. You are backing out of the parking spot and suddenly you hit the car parked behind you. Looking around, you … Continue reading →