Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2628 )

• A Psychological Mechanism to Explain Why Childhood Adversity Diminishes Adult...

  A large number of studies have by now shown that harsh social and physical environments early in life are associated with a substantial increase in the risk of... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Ecstasy of Speed - Or Leisure?

  Because I so frequently feel overwhelmed by input streams of chunks of information, I wonder how readers of this blog manage to find time to attend to its... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Mind and Body - A Neural Substrate of Psychosomatic Illness

  We all have our "hot buttons" - events or issues that can trigger an acute stress response as our adrenal medulla releases adrenaline, causing heart rate... Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Want to Predict a Group’s Social Standing? Get a Hormonal Profile.

  Usually the analysis of a group's social standing is attempted by determining demographic or psychological characteristics of group members. Akinola et al. Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Reason is Not Required for a Life of Meaning.

  Robert Burton, former neurology chief at UCSF and a neuroscience author, has contributed an excellent short essay to the NYTimes philosophy series The Stone. Read more

  Posted on 08 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Network Characteristics of Highly Intelligent People.

  Schultz and Cole show that higher intelligence is associated with less task-related brain network reconfiguration: SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The brain's network... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Feeling Good? Do Something Unpleasant.

  A curious piece from Taquet et al.: Most theories of motivation have highlighted that human behavior is guided by the hedonic principle, according to which our... Read more

  Posted on 06 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Do Your Friends Really Like You?

  I found this article by Murphy pointing to work by Almaatouq et al. to align with my recent experience of having two long term friends (or so I thought),... Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Growing Older, Getting Happier

  A brief piece from Nicholas Bakalar in the NYTimes summaring the recent paper by Thomas et al. (senior author Dilip Jeste): Older people tend to be happier... Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Climate Disasters Act as Threat Multipliers in Ethnic Conflicts.

  Schleussner et al. offer a proof of a common assumption about the effects of climate disasters: that they drive people further apart rather than closer together... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Our Self and Our Temporo-parietal Junction

  

  Eddy does a review of the Temporo-parietal junction area of our brain that appears to be central to our sense of self and other: Highlights •Existing... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Psychological Disruptions of Our Online Lives.

  I want to pass on clips from a review by Steiner-Adair in the Washington Post, describing Mary Aiken's book "The Cyber Effect," that describes how cyberspace... Read more

  Posted on 29 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Alerting Or Somnogenic Light - Pick Your Color

  Bourgin and Hubbard summarize work by Pilorz et al. Light exerts profound effects on our physiology and behaviour, setting our biological clocks to the correct... Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Oxytocin - a Molecular Substrate for Forming Optimistic Beliefs About the Future

  Ma et al. demonstrate a molecular basis for why people tend to incorporate desirable, but not undesirable, feedback into their beliefs: Significance People... Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Slow Motion Increases Perceived Intent.

  The abstract from interesting work of Caruso et al. To determine the appropriate punishment for a harmful action, people must often make inferences about the... Read more

  Posted on 23 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition - Early Life Sets the Stage.

  

  Walhovd et al. present a fascinating study on the origins of lifespan changes in brain and cognition, defining an extensive cortical region wherein surface... Read more

  Posted on 22 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Neural Link Between Affective Understanding and Interpersonal Attraction

  From Anders et al.: Being able to comprehend another person’s intentions and emotions is essential for successful social interaction. Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Statistics Versus Judgement.

  This interesting website, pointed out to me by a friend, offers to send a daily gem of information to you, usually an excerpt from a published book...so, being ... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Long Lives of Fairy Tales.

  I pass on some clips from a review by Pagel of work by Da Silva and Tehrani suggesting that some common fairy tales can be traced back 7,000 years or more,... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Changes During Hypnosis

  Jiang et al. do the most detailed analysis to date of brain changes that are distinctive to people undergoing hypnosis: Hypnosis has proven clinical utility, ye... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2016 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE