Having a Social Purpose Makes a Physical Task Seem a Lot Easier, Study Shows
A study by Durgin and colleagues (2009) finds that the burden of wearing a heavy backpack is lessened when a social purpose is given in form of social …
Does the Apple Fall Far From the Tree? Parent-Child Similarities in Attitudes
This article considers a strongly disputed topic in social psychology: the formation of attitudes, prejudices, and stereotypes. A new meta-analysis by Degner & Dalege (2013) …
The Effects of Glutamate in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are some of the most frequent psychological disorders, and the processes involved in fear conditioning seem to be the same across species, i.e. the …
Self-Harm as a Means of Coping With Emotional Distress
The number (prevalence) of self-harmers is relatively high in the general population. Self-harm is involved in as much as 225 out of 100.000 emergencies in the …
Body Dysmorphic Disorder: An Obsession With Beauty
A study by Crerand and colleagues (2006) found body dysmorphic disorder to be associated with cosmetic surgery. The study found that 7 to 15 percent of …
4 Elementary Ways of Relating to Others
Fiske (1992) posits that there are four elementary forms of sociality, which will be described below. Fiske’s theory suggests that human beings are fundamentally social, and people of …
The Ripple Effect (Emotional Contagion in Groups)
The ripple effect is emotional contagion in groups, which is more precisely the transfer of moods among people in a group. This is an interesting …