ScienceDaily sums it up in a headline: Older Adults Watch More TV Than Younger People, Enjoy It Less. Data from other studies indicate that the average American household spends 4.5 hours watching TV per day and, in those over age 65, about 25% percent of their time is spent watching TV.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is yet another condition being studied for its responsiveness to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). [P]eople coping with BDD seek out in particular plastic surgeons, orthodontists and aesthetic professionals to alleviate their suffering. “However, what they really need is psychological support and assistance…”
A look at recent thinking about daydreaming. “For creativity you need your mind to wander,” Dr. Schooler says, “but you also need to be able to notice that you’re mind wandering and catch the idea when you have it.”
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A pair of studies looks at the look of love: First: Attitudes Towards Sexual Relationships Can Be Judged From Photos Of Your Face And in another: Volunteers looked at faces with exaggerated or reduced male or female features; the faces had been morphed to look either more or less masculine or feminine. As the faces
At PsychCentral: Relationships Grow, Improve with Age. “Older adults report better marriages, more supportive friendships and less conflict with children and siblings.” So…time to start aging.
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Ignored stress brings cravings, then relapse, says study. Researchers supplied Palm Pilots to 55 college students who were in recovery from substance abuse ranging from alcohol to cocaine and club drugs. The students were asked to record the their daily cravings for alcohol and other drugs, as well as the intensity of negative social experiences
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The Boston Globe looks at the science of taking a good vacation. For psychologists and behavioral economists, vacations are a window into the still only dimly understood mystery of human pleasure, a field known as hedonic psychology. Their research, along with other work on prototypically pleasant (and unpleasant) experiences, has begun to yield a portrait
Taking care of a spouse who is ill can increase anxiety and depression, however… [A study] found that when spouses were engaged in active caring tasks they had an increase in positive emotions, while time spent in passive care tended to provoke more negative emotions. Spouses who viewed themselves as sharing a mutually close relationship with their
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PsychCentral: Personality Reflects Size of Respective Brain Area. For example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior…
How lonely you are has to do with how lonely you think you are, says a study. The team found that, above all, loneliness is a matter of perception. “Loneliness is the discrepancy between your achieved and desired level of social contact, and that has important implications,” Segrin said. “The portrait of a lonely person
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