Social Sciences

Children whose mothers are depressed after childbirth are at elevated risk for violence by age 11, especially if the mothers suffered repeated depression, according to new research involving British families. The study also finds that in contrast to their peers, children whose mothers had been depressed at three months postpartum showed more diverse and severe aggressive behaviors than other children. The findings appear in the November issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal published by the A

Your eyes play tricks. And your brain makes it worse. Both teenagers and adults misjudge how much they pour into glasses. They will pour more into short wide glasses than into tall slender glasses, but perceive the opposite to be true. The delusion of shape even influences experienced bartenders, though to a lesser degree, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has found.

How shape can alter a person’s notion of size has been widely investigated. For instance, trian

“I never saw a woman worth thinking twice about after the anchor was a-peak – on shore it is another thing; and I will laugh, sing, dance, and make love, if they like it, with twenty girls.” — Clement Cleveland, in Walter Scott’s “The Pirate”

For long-term relationships, women like dads – men who are kind, compassionate and monogamous. But for short-term relationships, women prefer cads – the classic Romantic dark heroes who are dominant, promiscuous and daring.

That’s acc

A group of German researchers, headed by Gudrun Schneider (University of Munster) explored the characteristics of psychological well-being in an elderly population in an article published in the Nov-Dec 2003 issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

Recent gerontological research shows a high variability in the elderly population. The aim of the present study is to investigate by means of cluster analysis, as to whether different ’ageing styles’ can be identified in a sample of cognitivel

Married heterosexual couples can learn a great deal from gay and lesbian couples, far more than the stereotypical images presented by the television show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” according to the first published observational studies of homosexual relationships.

“Gay and lesbian couples are a lot more mature, more considerate in trying to improve a relationship and have a greater awareness of equality in a relationship than straight couples,” said John Gottman, a University of Wash

Even proficient bilingual speakers always have both languages on the tips of their tongues, according to Penn State researchers. “What appears amazing, is that people do not make extensive mistakes,” says Dr. Judith F. Kroll, professor of psychology and applied linguistics. “We have an exquisite cognitive control system that monitors the code switching between one language and another.” While no one knows exactly how the control system allows even people of limited bilingual ability to speak in a se