The study found that people who use their smartphone on the toilet are more likely to have hemorrhoids. How strong is their evidence? Photo: Svitlana Hulko/Shutterstock Is there any relationship between using your smartphone on the toilet and your hemorrhoid risk? Let's get into it. A study on this topic did find an association. …
Continue reading Claim: Using smartphones on the toilet increases hemorrhoid risk
Many public health officials raise ethical concerns about requiring placebocontrolled tests of slight revisions to existing vaccines. Photo: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock Placebo effects have been in the news lately because the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced a new policy requiring placebo controlled studies for vaccines before …
Continue reading Placebo controls: When are they necessary? When are they ethical?
Survey, observational, and qualitative research can all support carmakers' decisions about how to design a dashboard. Photo: insta_photos/Shutterstock Here's a story about automobile dashboards! After leaning in to designing cars with touchscreen dashboard controls, automakers seem to be heading back to basic buttons. This summary, from the website PopSci.com, discusses the variety of research that …
Continue reading Touchscreens, buttons, and dials: What’s best for drivers?
Were all the variables in this study measured? Were any manipulated? Photo: Caftor/Shutterstock Psychology Today columnist Sebastian Ocklenburg summarized a recent study under the headline, The Dark Side of Emojis: A Surprising Link to Narcissism. Let's take a look. It's a recent correlational study that tested the link between various personality traits and emoji use. …
The article reported three evidence-based techniques for changing people's minds. Photo: Caftor/Shutterstock In our era of extreme political polarization, people's attitudes seem entrenched. However, a new BBC article proposes some ideas for changing others' minds, under the headline "The Simple Trick to Change Other People's Minds." The author's essay focuses on three simple tricks. One …
Although optimism feels good, it's more effective to also anticipate what might go wrong. Photo: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock This article, entitled "the problem with optimism," discusses one of my favorite theories of psychological motivation and goal pursuit--Gabrielle Oettingen's theory of "mental contrasting with implementation intentions" (or MCII). (The popular press article might be paywalled, so try …
The study found that kids who spent more time in physical activity during ages 6-9 were less likely to be depressed at age 15. Photo: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock The online magazine Study Finds has a new summary of a developmental psychology study. The headline focuses on the relationship between childhood screen time and teen …
Continue reading Childhood physical activity and teen depression
Turns out this illusion is probably universal--not only in humans, but also in other species. Photo: Dr. Dorsa Amir One of the examples in Chapter 14 is about the Mueller-Lyer Illusion (pictured), specifically, as a prominent example of culture's influence on psychological processes. The original study (conducted by Segall, et al., 1966) showed that people …
Continue reading Replication update: Mueller-Lyer Illusion (Ch 14)
How could you test the hypothesis that the most successful pro athletes are more creative than average? Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images The Eagles are the most local team to my university (the University of Delaware is less than one hour from Philly), so we were excited when they won the Super …
Continue reading Some sports psychology behind the Eagles’ Super Bowl win
Given the study's results, predict which of these chimps is most likely to pee after another one does. Photo: Dirk M. de Boer/Shutterstock The radio program Short Wave (on NPR) highlights 3 science-related news stories every week. In this episode, one story is about a study showing that peeing is contagious in chimpanzees. The study …