For people haunted by recurring nightmares, untroubled sleep would be a dream come true. Now in a small experiment, neuroscientists have demonstrated a technique that, for some, may chase the…
Category: Psychology
The pandemic shows us how crises derail young adults’ lives for decades
Ninna Ragasa was 24 years old when doctors discovered a mass on the left hemisphere of her brain. Further imaging revealed that Ragasa had an arteriovenous malformation, a tangle of…
The pandemic may be stunting young adults’ personality development
The psychological development of young adults may have taken a hit, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. In typical times, people tend to become more conscientious and agreeable and less neurotic…
Sleep deprivation may make people less generous
Lack of sleep has been linked to heart disease, poor mood and loneliness (SN: 11/15/16). Being tired could also make us less generous, researchers report August 23 in PLOS Biology.…
Demond Mullins climbed Everest to inspire more Black outdoor enthusiasts
Demond “Dom” Mullins’ days as a student at Lehman College in New York were interrupted in 2004 when his National Guard unit was deployed to Baghdad. A year later, he…
The idea that many people grow following trauma may be a myth
“What does not kill me, makes me stronger,” 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote. Variations of that aphorism abound in literary, spiritual and, more recently, psychological texts. That…
COVID-19 has killed a million Americans. Our minds can’t comprehend that number
One million deaths. That is now roughly the toll of COVID-19 in the United States. And that official milestone is almost certainly an undercount. The World Health Organization’s data suggest…
Pressure to conform to social norms may explain risky COVID-19 decisions
The pandemic has entered a murky stage, and social norms are quickly shifting, something I’ve thought a lot about lately. Many people are testing at home, or not at all.…
Latin America defies cultural theories based on East-West comparisons
When Igor de Almeida moved to Japan from Brazil nine years ago, the transition should have been relatively easy. Both Japan and Brazil are collectivist nations, where people tend to…
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Imagine removing a branch of the U.S. government, say the Supreme Court. What are the myriad ways that such an upheaval might reshape people’s lives? Policy makers and researchers probably…
