Psychology

  1. Health & Medicine

    Too many Facebook friends?

    Can you have too many Facebook friends? Maybe so, says a new study. It links heavy Facebook use to levels of a stress hormone called cortisol.

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  2. Brain

    Cool Jobs: Getting in your head

    Experimental psychologists study animals and people to understand the roots of behavior.

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  3. Agriculture

    Profile: A human touch for animals

    Temple Grandin uses her own autism to understand how animals think. The animal scientist is famous for fostering the humane treatment of livestock.

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  4. Brain

    Lessons from failure: Why we try, try again

    We all suffer failures. But we don’t always try again. Focusing on what they can be learned might help people keep going, brain imaging data now show.

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  5. Brain

    Explainer: What is anxiety?

    Anxiety is the stress linked to worries about an upcoming event — one that may not even happen. But anxiety can affect the body every bit as much as does the stress provoked by staring down a hungry lion.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    If you’re awake, you’re probably eating

    The idea that we eat three meals a day is a myth. People eat nearly constantly, and that may not be good for our health.

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  7. Brain

    Study challenges safety for teens of two depression drugs

    Scientists reanalyze data on the safety of common drugs to treat depression and find that they don’t seem to help teens. Worse, the drugs may harm them.

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  8. Psychology

    Friends’ good moods can be contagious

    Good mental health spreads through teen social networks, but depression doesn’t, a new study finds.

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  9. Brain

    Childhood stress can leave changes in the adult brain

    A new study finds that young men who had experienced lots of stress early in life carried a lasting legacy — changes in the size and shape of their brains.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Vaping can lead to teen smoking, new study finds

    A study in L.A. high school students finds that those who vape are much more likely than those who don’t to eventually take up smoking cigarettes.

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  11. Math

    New math: Fail + try again = real learning

    Hands-on instruction by trial and error is gaining traction. Kids really can learn mightily from their mistakes.

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  12. Brain

    Back off, bullies!

    Mental health is another reason to stop bullies. Victims of bullying are more likely to develop anxiety problems than are victims of abuse or neglect, a new study finds.

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