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Psychology News

These research articles involve many aspects of psychology such as cognitive psychology, depression studies, mental health, stress, happiness and neuropsychology, Scroll below for more specific categories.

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Researchers Ease Nightmares by Manipulating Emotions in Dreams

Rehearsing positive versions of frequent nightmares before sleep and playing noises associated with positive daytime experiences during sleep helps reduce nightmare frequency, a new study reports.

Autistic Women Have Increased Risk of Mental Illness

Women on the autism spectrum are more likely to be diagnosed with a co-morbid mental health disorder, such as depression, anxiety, or increased risk of self-harm than males with autism.

What’s in a Name? Actors Suppress Their Sense of Self When Playing New Character

When actors hear their own names during a performance, their response is suppressed by activity in the left anterior prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with self-awareness.

How Early Fears Play a Role in Future Anxiety and Depression

Behavioral inhibition at 12 to 24 months of age was associated with an increased risk of developing depression, more so than anxiety, during later life. This is especially true for inhibited children who showed blunted activity in the ventral striatum during adolescence.

Where Do Fears Come From?

Exposure therapy for fears and phobias may only have a 50% success rate because fear memories outlast competing safety memories learned from therapy. Researchers investigate the genesis of fear memories and have developed a new mathematical model to help strengthen exposure therapies.

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Happily Ever After? A New Chapter for Traditional Fairy Tales

While some deem traditional fairy tales to be outdated or sexist, researchers say fairy stories play an important role in teaching young children about social justice, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking skills.

Cats Distinguish Between Speech Directed at Them and Humans

Cats alter their behavior when their owner speaks in a cat-directed tone toward them, but not when their owner talks to another human or when a stranger addresses them in a cat-directed tone. Evidence suggests cats are able to, and do form strong bonds with their owners.

Highly Emotional People Drawn to Cats for Stress Relief

Those with strong and highly reactive emotions benefit from feline interventions when it comes to stress relief programs.

People Who Struggle to Cope With Stressful Situations Could Benefit From Owning a Pet

Pet ownership helps improve the well-being of those who have low resilience to stress. However, an unhealthy emotional attachment to pets, where a person considers the animal to be more important than friends, can increase loneliness and impact mental health.