Speaking of Psychology

Despite the sexist jokes, the menstrual cycle doesn’t cause significant changes in mood or behavior for most people. But a small percentage do suffer severe premenstrual symptoms, or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Tory Eisenlohr-Moul, PhD, of the University of Illinois Chicago, talks about how hormones and the menstrual cycle interact with mental health, why premenstrual symptoms are not...

Microaggressions, the indirect, subtle, sometimes unintentional incidents of racism and bias that members of marginalized groups experience every day, can take a large toll on people’s mental and physical health. Dr. Derald Wing Sue, PhD, of Teacher’s College Columbia University, discusses what makes something a microaggression, why microaggressions are so harmful, and what you can do to disarm an...

When you’re sad, do you say that you’re feeling blue? Have you ever felt green with envy? Domicele Jonauskaite, PhD, of the University of Vienna, discusses why language so often links color with emotion, whether those links are universal or differ by culture, whether colors can actually make us feel calm or sad or angry, why people’s favorite colors don’t really tell us anything about their person...

Almost everyone lies occasionally, but for a small percentage of people, lying isn't something that they do every once in a while -- it's a way of life. Drew Curtis, PhD, of Angelo State University, and Christian L. Hart, PhD, of Texas Woman’s University, authors of a new book on pathological lying, talk about what drives “big liars” to lie, why they believe pathological lying should be classified...

There’s a common stereotype is that teenagers’ brains are immature and underdeveloped, and that teens are “hard-wired” to take unwise risks and cave to peer pressure. But psychologists’ research suggests these negative stereotypes are unfounded and that the teen years are a time opportunity and growth as well as risk. Eva Telzer, PhD, explains why teens take more risks and why that risk-taking is...

Is there anything more agonizing than being in limbo? Time may seem to slow to a crawl when you’re waiting for high-stakes news like a hiring decision, a biopsy result – or the end of a pandemic. Kate Sweeny, PhD, of the University of California, Riverside, discusses what makes waiting so stressful, how the stress of waiting differs from other types of stress, the relationship between waiting and...

It used to be that if you wanted to gamble, you had to go to a casino or a racetrack to do it. But the expansion of online gambling and newly loosened laws around sports betting mean that people can now place bets from just about anywhere. Shane Kraus, PhD, of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Lia Nower, PhD, JD, of the Rutgers University Center for Gambling Studies, talk about whether that...

From Ponzi schemes to e-mail phishing identity thieves, the world can seem full of people who want to deceive us. Daniel Simons, PhD, and Christopher Chabris, PhD, co-authors of the “Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It,” talk about the cognitive habits that put us at risk of believing lies; famous frauds and cons from the worlds of business, science and competitive chess...

When someone hurts you, it can feel justifiable or even satisfying to nurse a grudge. But psychologists have found that forgiveness, when done right, can lead to better mental, emotional and even physical health for the forgiver. Robert Enright, PhD, of the International Forgiveness Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses how you know if you’re ready to forgive, the difference...

From ChatGPT to self-driving cars, AI is everywhere these days – but its rollout hasn’t always been entirely smooth. Tom Griffiths, PhD, a professor of psychology and computer science at Princeton University, talks about how artificial intelligence works, how AI differs from human cognition, how it’s changing the way science is done, and how studying human cognition can help researchers improve AI...

Religion and spirituality can be a source of comfort and strength but can also cause stress and conflict in people’s lives, when for example they wonder why God has allowed something terrible to happen or feel rejected by their religious community. Julie Exline, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University, talks about how spirituality and spiritual struggle affect mental health and well-being; what sp...

Whether your idea of the perfect vacation involves the beach, exploring a city or just relaxing at home, you probably look forward to your time off all year. Sarah Pressman, PhD, of the University of California Irvine, and Jessica de Bloom, PhD, of Groningen University in the Netherlands, talk about why taking a break from work is important for physical and mental health, what you can do to make t...

Everyone gets stuck sometimes: in a creative pursuit that stalls, in a job or a relationship that isn’t working out, or even just at an exercise plateau. NYU psychologist Adam Alter, PhD, author of “Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most,” talks about why getting stuck is such a universal experience, what you can do to get stuck less often, how you know when it’s time t...

As the U.S. struggles with a shortage of mental health providers, advocates say that digital therapeutics – evidence-based mental health treatments delivered via app -- could provide an important tool to expand access to mental health care. Vaile Wright, PhD, a clinical psychologist and senior director of healthcare innovation at the American Psychological Association, talks about how digital ther...

What happens when people gather in crowds – whether for political rallies, protests, football games or religious pilgrimages? Stephen Reicher, PhD, of St. Andrew’s University in Scotland, discusses why “mob mentality” is a myth; other misconceptions about crowd behavior; the role of leaders in groups and what can we learn from re-examining some classic psychology studies on obedience to authority;...

Factitious disorder, more commonly known as Munchausen syndrome, is a mental health disorder in which people fake serious illness to gain sympathy, attention and support. A related disorder, Munchausen by proxy, or factitious disorder imposed on another, is a form of abuse in which caregivers make up or induce illness in their children. Psychiatrist Marc Feldman, MD, and psychologist Janet Cahill,...

The lives of young adults look far different than they did a generation ago: The average age at which people marry and have children is higher than ever, and rising housing costs mean more young adults are living with parents. Laurence Steinberg, PhD, of Temple University, talks about how these changes are affecting the relationship between parents and their grown children, what young adults wish...

Congress and state legislators are considering laws to restrict teen social media use, and school districts are suing social media companies for harming kids’ mental health. Are parents and policy makers right to be so concerned? Jacqueline Nesi, PhD, of Brown University, talks about the research on social media and teens’ mental health, whether it’s possible to be addicted to social media, what t...

Researchers who study eating disorders sometimes call them the silent epidemic. Despite the stereotype that these disorders afflict only young white women, the truth is that they occur among people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, races, shapes and sizes. Cheri Levinson, PhD, of the University of Louisville, discusses myths about eating disorders, how our toxic diet culture combined with genetic...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been a treatment option for people with major depression since it was approved by the FDA in 2008. Today, it is also used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety and for smoking cessation. Sarah “Holly” Lisanby, MD, director of the Noninvasive Neuromodulation Unit at the National Institute of Mental Health, talks about how TMS works and recent...

Very few people do their jobs entirely on their own. For most of us, doing our job well means being part of a well-functioning team. Eduardo Salas, PhD, of Rice University, talks about the key ingredients of highly effective teams, the difference between team training and team building, what to consider when working on a remote team, the role of team leaders, and how industries such as aviation an...

While ageism may be one of the last socially acceptable biases, research shows that aging often comes with positive changes. And by believing in and propagating negative myths about aging, we can do ourselves real harm. Dr. Manfred Diehl, a lifespan developmental psychologist at Colorado State University, dispels the myth that growing older involves primarily loss and decline and explains how much...

About one in 36 children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Geraldine Dawson, PhD, of Duke University, discusses why the number of diagnoses has risen so steeply in recent years, why it’s more common in boys than girls, and how research using artificial intelligence and brain biomarkers is making it possible to detect autism risk at younger ages than before – even in inf...

Forget the stereotype of a good-bye party in the break room followed by endless days on the golf course. Today, workers are staying on the job longer and taking on more “bridge employment,” or post-retirement jobs. Mo Wang, PhD, of the University of Florida, talks about what these shifts mean for modern retirement, how retirement can affect people’s mental and physical health, and what workers – e...

Recently released CDC data found that teen girls are experiencing startling levels of sadness and violence -- nearly 1 in 3 had seriously considered suicide and 57 percent felt persistently sad or hopeless. The report also found high levels of distress among LGBQ+ teens. Dr. Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, discusses what’s behind this crisis in teen...