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 Contemptuousness is a distinct personality trait that you can measure with a simple questionnaire. That's according to Roberta Schriber and her colleagues who administered their new test to hundreds of people and found that those prone to contempt tended to be lonely and insecure. more>>
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Poverty erects material barriers, but psychological ones too, from the conditions that exacerbate mental health problems, to inculcating children with the sense that they are second-rate. A stream of recent research has suggested that financial concerns can also tax your mind and prevent you from thinking clearly. But that may be too sweeping a conclusion, according to a new study that suggests having money problems on the mind can enhance thinking that's based more on gut instinct. more>>
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 Whereas the emotional effects of music are well researched, scientists still know little about the ways we are moved by watching dance. Now one of the first ever investigations has found that rounded dance movements, rather than edgy ones, made watchers happier, as did more impressive moves, up to a point. Also, like music, watching dance can provoke visual imagery and personal memories in the viewer. more>>
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There have been times in my life where work seemed pretty pointless, on occasion because the position was a prime example of what anthropologist David Graeber calls bullshit jobs – those that give no real value back to oneself or society. But I’ve more frequently experienced the sense that a job was at some times meaningless, and at others very worthwhile. That’s a theme picked up in a study published in MIT Sloan Management Review, where interviews with 135 people within 10 different occupations explored times when work was meaningful or meaningless. more>>
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 The most popular explanation for bystander apathy is that people experience a diffusion of responsibility when in the company of other bystanders. But a new study provides evidence that there is much more to it than this – in particular, when deciding whether to help, we take into account the perspective of the other bystanders – whether they know that help is needed, whether they know that we know that help is needed, whether they know that we know they know that help is needed, and so on. more>>
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There are scholars who believe in the wider benefits of computer-based brain training and some reviews support their position, such as the 2015 meta-analysis that combined findings from 20 prior studies. But what if those prior studies supporting brain training were fundamentally flawed by the presence of a powerful placebo effect? That's the implication of a new study in PNAS that suggests the advertising used to recruit participants into brain training research fosters expectations of mental benefits. more>>
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 You know that situation where you're walking across a train station concourse or a park and there's another person walking on a different trajectory that means if you both hold your course and speed, you're going to collide? Are you the kind of person who assumes the other guy will give way, or are you the polite one who slows down and lets the other person cross your path? more>>
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The Psychologist is the flagship publication of the British Psychological Society. Visit our website now for the July issue, plus Tim Lomas on the dialectical nuances of flourishing, news on our forthcoming appearance with Elizabeth Stokoe at this summer's Latitude Festival, and all our latest reports and feature articles and much more.
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