http://medicineworld.org/news/psychology-news.html MedicineWorld.Org brings daily psychology news from various sources to keep you updated on the latest events in the world on this topic. Medicineworld psychology news service is the most comprehensive psychology news service on the internet. We keep an archive of previous few days of news on this site. Please go down through the list to find the older news items. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/psychology-news.jpg http://medicineworld.org/news/psychology-news.html 107 77 http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/failed-college-dreams.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/failed-college-dreams.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT High school seniors, take note: A wise person once said, "It is better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim at the gutter and hit it". That's right on, says Florida State University Sociology Professor John R. Reynolds, who just completed a study to determine whether unrealized educational expectations are linked to depression among adults. Reynolds also is the director of the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy at Florida State........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/feeling-lonely.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/feeling-lonely.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT Chronic feelings of loneliness take a toll on blood pressure over time, causing a marked increase after four years, as per a newly released study at the University of Chicago. A newly released study shows, for the first time, a direct relation between loneliness and larger increases in blood pressure four years latera link that is independent of age and other factors that could cause blood pressure to rise, including body-mass index, smoking, alcohol use and demographic differences such as race and income........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/smoking-may-impair-mental-function.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/smoking-may-impair-mental-function.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT Men and women with a history of alcohol abuse may not see long-term negative effects on their memory and thinking, but female smokers do, a newly released study suggests. In a study of 287 men and women ages 31 to 60, scientists observed that those with past alcohol-use disorders performed similarly on standard tests of cognitive function as those with no past drinking problems........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/psychopaths-brains-wired-to-seek-rewards.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/psychopaths-brains-wired-to-seek-rewards.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT The brains of psychopaths appear to be wired to keep seeking a reward at any cost, new research from Vanderbilt University finds. The research uncovers the role of the brain's reward system in psychopathy and opens a new area of study for understanding what drives these individuals. "This study underscores the importance of neurological research as it relates to behavior," Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said. "The findings may help us find new ways to intervene before a personality trait becomes antisocial behavior"........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/r-rated-movies-and-underage-alcohol.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/r-rated-movies-and-underage-alcohol.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT R-rated movies portray violence and other behaviors deemed inappropriate for children under 17 year of age. A newly released study finds one more reason why parents should not let their kids watch those movies: adolescents who watch R-rated movies are more likely to try alcohol at a young age. Reported in the recent issue of Prevention Science, a scientific journal of the Society for Prevention Research, the study of 6,255 children examined the relationship between watching R-rated movies and the probability of alcohol use across different levels of "sensation seeking," which is a tendency to seek out risky experiences. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and conducted by James D. Sargent, MD, a pediatrician at Dartmouth Medical School. The children were surveyed every 8 months for a period of two years from 2003 through 2005........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/after-a-fight-with-a-partner.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/after-a-fight-with-a-partner.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT Common wisdom tells us that for a successful relationship partners shouldn't go to bed angry. But new research from a psychology expert at Harvard University suggests that brain activityspecifically in the region called the lateral prefrontal cortexis a far better indicator of how someone will feel in the days following a fight with his or her partner........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/anti-depressants-and-cataracts.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/anti-depressants-and-cataracts.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT Some anti-depressant drugs are linked to an increased chance of developing cataracts, as per a new statistical study by scientists at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and McGill University. The study, based on a database of more than 200,000 Quebec residents aged 65 and older, showed statistical relationships between a diagnosis of cataracts or cataract surgery and the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), as well as between cataracts and specific drugs within that class........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/ritalin-boosts-learning.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/ritalin-boosts-learning.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT Doctors treat millions of children with Ritalin every year to improve their ability to focus on tasks, but researchers now report that Ritalin also directly enhances the speed of learning. In animal research, the researchers showed for the first time that Ritalin boosts both of these cognitive abilities by increasing the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine deep inside the brain. Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers neurons use to communicate with each other. They release the molecule, which then docks onto receptors of other neurons. The research demonstrated that one type of dopamine receptor aids the ability to focus, and another type improves the learning itself........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/talking-your-way-to-happiness.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/3-2010/talking-your-way-to-happiness.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT Is a happy life filled with trivial chatter or reflective and profound conversations? Psychological researchers Matthias R. Mehl, Shannon E. Holleran, and C. Shelby Clark from the University of Arizona, along with Simine Vazire of Washington University in St. Louis investigated whether happy and unhappy people differ in the types of conversations they tend to engage in. Volunteers wore an unobtrusive recording device called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) over four days. This device periodically records snippets of sounds as participants go about their lives. For this experiment, the EAR sampled 30 seconds of sounds every 12.5 minutes yielding a total of more than 20,000 recordings. Scientists then listened to the recordings and identified the conversations as trivial small talk or substantive discussions. In addition, the volunteers completed personality and well-being evaluations........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/prozac-and-celexa.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/prozac-and-celexa.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT A newly released study observed that fluoxetine (Prozac) and citalopram (Celexa) therapy significantly inhibited disease progression of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice. Research led by Sandra Sacre, Ph.D. from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) in the UK studied the anti-arthritic potential of these drugs, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), most usually used to treat depression. Both SSRIs exhibited anti-inflammatory effects and may provide drug development opportunities for arthritic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Full findings of this study are reported in the recent issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/depression-in-low-income-urban-mothers.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/depression-in-low-income-urban-mothers.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT More than half of low-income urban mothers met the criteria for a diagnosis of depression at some point between two weeks and 14 months after giving birth, as per a research studyled by University of Rochester Medical Center scientists and published online by the journal Pediatrics. This is the first study to describe the prevalence of depression among low-income urban mothers, who were attending well-child care visits, through the use of a diagnostic interview. It also is the first study of this population group to test the accuracy of three depression screening tools routinely used by physicians........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/what-the-brain-values-may-not-be-what-it-buys.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/what-the-brain-values-may-not-be-what-it-buys.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT It's no wonder attractive human faces are everywhere in media and advertising when we see those faces, our brains are constantly computing how much the experiences are worth to us. New brain-imaging research shows it's even possible to predict how much people might be willing to pay for a particular face........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/when-do-you-explore-new-things.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/when-do-you-explore-new-things.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT A sick or sad child might cling to mom's leg. But that same child fed, rested and generally content will happily toddle off to explore every nook and cranny of the known world. Or: You're chipper and you decide to check out the new restaurant across town. You're blue and you turn to comfort foods........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/depression-and-lack-of-concentration.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/depression-and-lack-of-concentration.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT A number of clinicians think that depression goes hand in hand with cognitive difficulties such as memory problems or difficulties concentrating and paying attention, but a recent review of nearly 20 years of literature conducted by scientists from UT Southwestern Medical Center has observed that depression does not always lead to such impairments........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/financial-hardship-and-anxiety.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/financial-hardship-and-anxiety.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:30 GMT A new analysis has observed that women with medium or low levels of income are especially susceptible to anxiety and depression after being diagnosed with the premalignant breast condition, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Published early online in Cancer, a peer-evaluated journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that women with financial hardship appears to benefit from psychosocial interventions that are designed to accommodate their unique needs........ ]]>