psychology

The madness of offering depressed astronauts a computerized shrink

Is being an astronaut really all that much fun?

You get otherworldly for a while, but, as some children on vacation will tell you, floating can get old very quickly.

While a few astronauts become heroes, some seem to come back to earth and never come back to earth. Their behavior becomes eccentric. Their utterances become bizarre. Some even claim they have seen aliens.

A question worth asking is whether many of these astronauts were already a bit weird before they floated off into space. And I'm not even including the ones who wear diapers whenever they slip into … Read more

Shocking research: Narcissists drawn to Facebook

A team of researchers from the University of Georgia has come to a conclusion that will undoubtedly turn the tech world on its side (ha): if you use Facebook to promote your lovely self, it shows through. Narcissists, or those psychologically defined as "excessively egotistical," will inflate their profiles on the social network with more photos, massive friends lists, and packed activity feeds.

As we used to say on the playground in third grade, duh.

"We found that people who are narcissistic use Facebook in a self-promoting way that can be identified by others," study leader … Read more

The psychology behind open source and gaming

One of the things that drive success in online games such as World of Warcraft is the community and ecosystem that surround the game itself. This is much akin to open source where projects grow and become successful as individuals become part of the whole.

How we define our individual identities and the forms of social participation that we pursue to shape these identities drive our engagement. Whether it's software or gaming, we shape the world around us.

This existential viewpoint also explains a bit why Spore is such an interesting game (despite its archaic DRM)--we get to … Read more

The sad story of the stressed emailers

What do your email habits say about you?

Do you feel fine when you wait a day or two to reply to an email? Do you feel driven to reply within 30 seconds of the message hitting your inbox? Or are you one of those people for whom email has simply become a source of stress akin to, oh, traffic on the 405? Or marriage.

Some recent research by Dr. Karen Renaud at the University of Glasgow and Dr. Judith Ramsay of Paisley University suggests that for some people the emailing thing has become all too much.

38% of people … Read more

Play more 'Warcraft,' get sued for malpractice less

The Boston Herald.com, reporting on a presentation given at the American Psychological Association convention this past weekend, concluded that video games and MMOs--like World of Warcraft in particular--can not only make you smarter, but can improve your incision skills as well.

OK, first off, the idea that video games are good for you is not a new one. I mean, I've seen plenty of studies saying video games improve everything from hand-eye coordination to driving skills. This is, however, the first time I've seen the benefits directed at surgeons. I guess some surgeons needed to justify the … Read more

Motivation Overload?

Last year Amy put her PhD in neuroscience to good use when she wrote the article debunking Baby Einstein. I, too, aired my thoughts in an article titled buy now, pay forever: the business of tech toys. Today, a blog from open source community member Stormy Peters teaches that we may have it all wrong when it comes to rewards and motivation.

Adlerian psychology teaches that every human being has the goal of belonging, of making a place in his or her world. Discouraged children, who find themselves unable to accomplish this goal on the socially useful side of life … Read more

Why have sex with thee? Let me count the ways

Update: I added more detail from the study itself and some of the reasons it spotlights.

No doubt we all oversimplify the world a bit, but University of Texas-Austin researchers have found that there are way more reasons people have sex than one might expect.

Specifically, 237 reasons.

Helpfully, the researchers did boil the list down to four major factors--physical, goal-based, emotional and insecurity-based--and 13 minor ones, the university said Tuesday. Researchers David Buss and Cindy Meston described the motivations in the August issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

"Why people have sex is extremely important, but rarely … Read more

Improve your life while you work

At this very moment, I'm utilizing breakthrough psychological software to make me feel happier and less stressed. Or at least that's supposedly what I'm doing, according to developer Ded Pyhto, the publisher of the self-improvement tool Subliminal Flash.

The concept is simple. You select as many of the 33 areas of self-improvement, such as Happiness, Self-Esteem, Improved Memory, or Better Skin, as you want the program to include, and the software will present you with subliminal affirmations that improve those areas of your life. Sounds crazy? From the company's press release: "According to Ded Pyhto'… Read more