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There Are Some Important Differences In What Lay People And Psychologists Think The Main Personality Traits Mean. By Christian Jarrett Most personality research is today conducted in the context of the Big Five model that describes personality according to people’s scores along five trait dimensions: Openness-to-Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

There Are Some Important Differences In What Lay People And Psychologists Think The Main Personality Traits Mean

While these trait terms have very specific (though not necessarily completely settled) meanings in personality science, they also have their own meaning in everyday talk, which raises the question of whether, when a lay person says someone is extraverted, or conscientious, or whatever, they mean the same thing that psychologists mean when they measure and investigate those traits.

To find out, Judith Hall at Northeastern University and her colleagues compared lay volunteers’ conceptions of the Big Five traits with the way they are represented in four of the formal Big Five personality questionnaires that are used widely by researchers. There was a high degree of consistency across the two online studies. Taking a mere five-day break from Facebook will lower your physiological stress levels, researchers claim. Contrary to popular belief, smiling makes you look older. By Christian Jarrett In the adverts for anti-ageing skin products, everyone is smiling, positively blooming with youthfulness.

Contrary to popular belief, smiling makes you look older

Class is still written into our psychology – working class folk are more empathic, selfless, vigilant and fatalistic. By Alex Fradera Social class may seem different today than in the early 20th Century. Three years of research into #thedress, digested – a lesson in humility for perceptual science. By Christian Jarrett Three years ago, in a time before Trump and Brexit and Yanny and Laurel, someone posted an overexposed photograph of a black and blue striped dress on Tumblr.

Three years of research into #thedress, digested – a lesson in humility for perceptual science

Soon millions of people had seen it and started arguing about it. The reason? It quickly became apparent that about half of us – more often women and older people – perceive the dress, not as black and blue, but white and gold. You don’t have to climb a mountain for a “peak experience” in nature to be life-changing. BBC One - Panorama, A Prescription for Murder? ‘Off piste’ student reading. Why do women like men who are already taken? There's a scientific reason... Gaming addiction classified as disorder by WHO. Image copyright Getty Images Gaming addiction is to be listed as a mental health condition for the first time by the World Health Organisation.

Gaming addiction classified as disorder by WHO

Its 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) will include the condition "gaming disorder". The draft document describes it as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour so severe that it takes "precedence over other life interests". Some countries had already identified it as a major public health issue. Language Testing & Awake Brain Surgery. Online Dementia Course - The Many Faces of Dementia. <p>Unable to play video.

Online Dementia Course - The Many Faces of Dementia

Please enable JavaScript or consider upgrading your browser. </p> Captions Settings Dialog. Good brain, bad brain: basics — University of Birmingham. This free online course is an introduction to the key concepts of the human brain and is designed for the non-specialist.

Good brain, bad brain: basics — University of Birmingham

It gives you basic information and explanations, so that you may better understand your own amazing brain. Understand your own amazing brain We will look at what your brain is made of, how these components are organised and how they function. This information is helping neuroscientists across the globe understand the brain - and how it is able to do everything from stopping you falling off your bike, to making you feel sad that your football team lost their game, to helping you learn how your brain works.

Understand the terminology of neuroscience Like all specialist areas, the field of neuroscience has its own terminology, and often a single word or short phrase can carry a whole paragraph’s meaning. Learn more with the Good Brain, Bad Brain program. For teen boys at risk of psychopathy, laughter isn’t catching. By guest blogger Lucy Foulkes When you see someone laughing hysterically, do you often find yourself laughing too?

For teen boys at risk of psychopathy, laughter isn’t catching

Laughter is usually extremely contagious. In fact, we are up to 30 times more likely to laugh with someone else than when alone. It’s a powerful bonding tool: we enjoy seeing other people happy, we enjoy laughing with them, and this brings us closer together. Psychopathic personality traits include reduced levels of empathy and guilt and a tendency to manipulate. The researchers scanned the brains of three groups of boys aged 11-16. The researchers found that both groups of antisocial boys showed reduced brain activity when listening to the clips of laughter, compared to the typically developing boys.

Fake news leaves a lasting impression on the less smart. By Alex Fradera One reason why fake news is dangerous is that we don’t like giving up reassuring certainties, and once we have a take on things, it colours further information – hence the seeming bulletproof nature of conspiracy theories and partisan political hatreds.

Fake news leaves a lasting impression on the less smart

But new research in Intelligence suggests this is truer for some people than others. For mentally sharp people, the results suggest it’s relatively easy to jettison an outdated perspective, while for those of lower cognitive ability, the dregs remain. Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba. Doctors treating the victims of mysterious, invisible attacks on the US embassy in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the damage to their hearing, vision, balance and memory.

Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

The most specific finding to date about physical damage from the attacks shows that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. It is one of several factors fuelling growing scepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved. Medical testing has revealed the embassy workers developed changes to the white matter tracts that let different parts of the brain communicate, several US officials said, describing a growing consensus held by university and government physicians researching the attacks.

White matter acts like information highways between brain cells. Loud, mysterious sounds followed by hearing loss and ear-ringing had led investigators to suspect “sonic attacks”. Sorry romantics, new findings suggest love at first sight is really lust at first sight. By Christian Jarrett.

Sorry romantics, new findings suggest love at first sight is really lust at first sight

Full transcript: Do Blind People Care about Colour? - October 19 2017. Researchers Have Restored Consciousness In A Man Who Spent The Last 15 Years In A Vegetative State. Scientists at the French National Center for Scientific Research have used nerve stimulation to induce signs of consciousness in a man who has been in a vegetative state almost half his life. The unfortunate individual is still far from complete wakefulness, but his case demonstrates consciousness can be restored after a much longer time than previously thought. The vagus nerve connects the brain to the gut, along with other parts of the body. Stimulation has been shown to sometimes offer benefits to people with depression or epilepsy. Oh dear, even people with neuroscience training believe an awful lot of brain myths – Research Digest.

By Christian Jarrett Three years ago, the film Lucy came out starring Scarlett Johansson as the eponymous heroine who is implanted with drugs that allow her to use the full capacity of her brain rather than the mere 10 per cent that the rest of us supposedly use. In response I wrote an article for WIRED “All you need to know about the 10 per cent brain myth in 60 seconds“. Soon afterwards I received an angry, acerbic 1,200-word email from a reader: “I am obviously not going to insist you take your article down since that isn’t my place,” she wrote, “but you should certainly not feel proud to be spreading such misinformed information to the public”. New research reveals the long-term toll of keeping secrets – Research Digest. Women know better than men what other women are thinking and feeling – Research Digest. By Emma Young If you want to know what a woman is really thinking, ask another woman. The pursuit of pleasure is a modern-day addiction.

Article of the Month Page. Punishment vs. Negative Reinforcement + 9 More Pairs of Psych Terms You’re Getting Confused – Research Digest. Whether you snack or not is more about the presence of temptation than your willpower – Research Digest. “A burden and a privilege” – clinical psychologists look back on their life’s work – Research Digest. Research Digest. 10 Ways That Running Changes Your Mind and Brain – Research Digest. My life with Oliver Sacks: ‘He was the most unusual person I had ever known’ Experience: I taught myself to see. Donald Trump: Psychiatry professors say 'dangerous' US President must be removed from post for public safety. Donald Trump is “dangerous” and drastic steps must be taken to protect the public from him, two leading psychiatrists have warned.

Scientists win 1m euro brain prize for understanding reward. No cookies? Is ‘Gaydar’ Really a Thing? The evidence for the psychological benefits of animals is surprisingly weak. Four-year-olds’ knowledge of gender stereotypes foretells their gender bias a year later. What do dreams mean? The five most common explained. Bad With Names? Don't Blame Yourself, Blame Your Brain. What assumptions do we make about people when we first meet them? There's A Reason Why You Still Love The Music From Your Teen Years. Lord Nelson’s Traumatic Brain Injury. Psychopaths Have Regrets: Can Early Help and Love Save Them? The Psychology of Eye Contact, Digested – Research Digest.