Tag Archives: News

Gay And Heterosexual Couples Enjoy Equal Levels Of Commitment And Relationship Satisfaction

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Two studies on the quality of adult relationships and healthy developments featured in the January issue of Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association show that same-sex couples are just as committed in their romantic relationships as heterosexual couples. The findings dispute the stereotype that couples in same-sex relationships are not as committed as their heterosexual counterparts and are therefore not as psychologically healthy.

The first study examined whether committed same-sex couples differ from engaged and married opposite-sex couples in how well they interacted and how satisfied they were with their partners. Evidence has shown that positive interactions improve the quality of relationships in ways that foster healthy adult development.

Results showed that same-sex relationships were similar to those of opposite-sex couples in many ways. All had positive views of their relationships but those in the more committed relationships (gay and straight) resolved conflict better than the heterosexual dating couples. And lesbian couples worked together especially harmoniously during the laboratory tasks.

The notion that committed same-sex relationships are “atypical, psychologically immature, or malevolent contexts of development was not supported by our findings,” said lead author Glenn I. Roisman, PhD. “Compared with married individuals, committed gay males and lesbians were not less satisfied with their relationships.” Continue reading →

Gesturing May Improve Learning

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Hand GesturesWant to solve a particularly vexing problem? Try using your hands when formulating solutions.

3rd and 4th grade children told to move their hands when explaining how they’d solve a problem were four times as likely as kids given no instructions to manually express correct new ways to solve problems. Even though they didn’t, in the end, give the right answer, their gestures revealed an implicit knowledge of mathematical ideas. For example, to indicate the need for the sides to be equal, children might sweep the palm first under a problem’s left side and then under its right side. Although those children weren’t ready to turn that implicit knowledge into action (at that point they solved problems incorrectly), a second study showed that gesturing set them up to benefit from subsequent instruction.

In that study, the researchers assessed how gesture vs. no-gesture students performed after subsequent instruction in how to solve the math problems. At post-test, children who’d been told to gesture about math problems and then had a lesson solved 1.5 times more problems correctly as did the children who’d been told not to gesture – a significant advantage.

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God Thoughts Can Influence Generosity

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Just considering thoughts of a higher being or God can foster altruism and generosity.

Just considering thoughts of a higher being or God can foster altruism and generosity.

I’m not a believer in one or more Gods, but I do find it interesting that just considering thoughts of a higher being or God can foster altruism and generosity – especially in a world where religion has been at the root of horrible wars and atrocious behaviors.

For many years, Rapid Eye Technology has encouraged clients and students to consider a higher power when dealing with stressful thoughts and emotions. Apparently, a recent study confirms the usefulness of that concept.

I figure that what you believe is your business – and ask that you not impose your beliefs on me or others. I think that an exemplary life is the best missionary tool for your belief system. Happiness tends to breed happiness. If a belief or belief system – religion – will cultivate that sense of happiness and peace, then I’m all for it.

I also believe that altruism and generosity are not exclusively the property of believers in God or a higher power. Learning to love and appreciate people as worthy of respect also tends to foster altruism and gratitude.

Whatever does the trick, I say… Read on for details of the study…

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Helping Doctors Cope With Patient Death

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Change is needed in medical staff education and support.

"Also there needs to be a sea change in medical culture to make support available, and for it not to be stigmatized, to help them cope with grief, depression, despair or sadness."

Doctors could benefit from support to help them cope with the trauma of patient death, says a psychologist speaking at the Death, Dying & Disposal conference organized by the University of Bath in the UK.

In a preliminary study, Dr Elaine Kasket from London Metropolitan University carried out detailed interviews with eight US physicians about their experiences of death. Half of those she spoke to wept as they recounted stories of traumatic death they had experienced as physicians, even though some of these events had occurred as much as 30 years ago.

“There is an unwritten rule for doctors that suggests it is not wise or possible for them to feel emotions over a patient’s death because there is always another patient to help,” said Dr Kasket.

“Whilst this detachment might help when presented with a patient with a severe injury, I question how well it serves them in the longer term.

“This emotional detachment is socially ingrained through medical school, and the cultures in both the UK and US medical establishments would see a physician’s emotional response to death as a sign of weakness and even incompetence.

“It feeds into this popular image of the physician as some kind of superhuman ultimate rescuer of human life; unable to do his or her job if they give in to or even acknowledge their emotions.

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The Extent of Military Psychological Operations

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The 9/11 attacks were highly successful from the standpoint of inflicting massive psychological damage for an extended period of time using very little resources on the part of the perpetrators.

The 9/11 attacks were highly successful from the standpoint of inflicting massive psychological damage for an extended period of time using very little resources on the part of the perpetrators.

Stress and fear in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may be making Americans sicker, according to a groundbreaking new study by UC Irvine researchers.

For the first time, acute stress responses to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have been linked to a 53 percent increased incidence in cardiovascular ailments over three years following Sept. 11. These findings persist even after considering health status before Sept. 11, degree of exposure to the attacks, and risk factors such as cholesterol problems, diabetes, smoking, and body weight. The results were especially strong among individuals reporting ongoing worry about terrorism after Sept. 11; these individuals were three to four times more likely to report a doctor-diagnosed heart problem two to three years after the attacks.

“Our study is the first to show that even among people who had no personal connection to the victims, those who reported high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks were more than twice as likely to report being diagnosed by their doctors with cardiovascular ailments like high blood pressure, heart problems and stroke up to three years later,” said Alison Holman, professor in nursing science and lead researcher for the study, which is published in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry.

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The God Pattern?

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Perhaps they are observing the "God Pattern"

Perhaps they are observing the “God Pattern” – a fundamental, universal pattern underlying all things (patterns) – hidden, as it were, in the noise that pervades everything everywhere.

A rather amazing study out of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis discovered that EEG readings once discarded as “noise” are instead remarkably useful information – using a well-known mathematical technique a pattern emerges that matches many other patterns in nature and in human endeavors.

“We don’t yet know how to decode the information contained in these signals, but the fact that they’re such a large part of brain activity and that they can be modulated when you do a task suggests that they are going to be very important to understanding the brain,” says lead author Biyu Jade He, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow.

By using a mathematical technique called spectral analysis, neuroscientists have found that these “irregular” signals produce a regular pattern – one that is nearly identical to spectral analyses of many other phenomena that produce the same pattern. For example, analysis of the most frequently used words in a language and the number of times they appear in a typical text produces a similar pattern when graphed. Analyzing changes in stock market prices versus how fast they change, or the power and frequency of waves of seismic energy also produces similar results.

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People Think They Reap What They Sow In Relationships

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I see myself more clearly in othersPeople gauge how responsive their partners are primarily by how they themselves respond to their partners-not the other way around, according to a series of Yale studies in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

“We have examined this in different ways,” said Margaret Clark, faculty author and psychology professor. “In studies of marriage we’ve found that what people report they do for their partners is a better predictor of what they think their spouse does for them than are the spouse’s own reports of what was done.”

“Most surprisingly,” she said, “when Edward Lemay, a senior Yale graduate student, brought people into the lab and asked leading questions to make them feel supportive or non-supportive of their partner, the first group reported that their partner is more supportive toward them than did the second group.”

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Echinacea for Colds? Maybe!

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Every year, I catch at least one cold. Usually it's not serious – but it can deprive me of a day or two of activity and leave me feeling weak and vulnerable. I prefer to feel strong and capable so when a study comes out that shows me how I can increase my chances of staying healthy through cold season, I'm all over it. Here's what they're saying:

"Taking the herbal product echinacea could reduce the chances of catching a cold by 58%, conclude authors of a Review published Online and in the July edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The Review also states echinacea could reduce the duration of colds by an average of 1·4 days. It was authored by Dr Craig Coleman, University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, Hartford Hospital, Connecticut, USA, and colleagues. They conducted a meta-analysis (a study which combines the results of previous trials) of 14 studies into the use of echinacea to relieve/protect against catching a cold.

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