Category: Psychology

Two large-scale studies, on 243 and 400 participants, show no evidence that testosterone affects empathy in young men.
This casts doubt on the theory that early exposure to increased levels of testosterone can cause men to lose empathy.
These results do not take into account all possible links between testosterone and empathy.
However, they still provide robust evidence that developmental exposure to testosterone does not impact cognitive empathy.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on September 6, 2019

39.15 bits per second -- that is the average rate at which information is transferred across 17 different languages.
This finding is based on a study of recordings from 170 native adults from Europe and Asia, reading a set of 15 texts around 240,000 syllables long.
By taking into account the rate of speech -- not just amount of words -- it was shown that our brains limit the amount of information over time that we can process.
Because of that, informationally-dense languages are spoken slower, and languages that convey less information with more words are spoken faster.
So while all these languages are significantly different, they all have a similar information rate.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on September 6, 2019

psypost.org

Existential isolation - not to be confused with loneliness - could weaken our ‘anxiety buffers’, potentially making us think more about death.
This isolation results from a lack of social validation -- in other words, feeling misunderstood by people around us.
While interesting, the study was only done on 1,545 psychology students in one school, so it doesn’t take cultural or age differences into account.
Nonetheless, it’s an interesting step towards understanding the darker side of our daily human experience.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on September 3, 2019

Experiences become meaningful based on how intense they are -- regardless of whether they’re positive or negative.
Analysis of reports from three studies has shown that either extremely pleasant, or extremely painful events are the most meaningful.
Emotional intensity and need for contemplation afterwards are what makes a meaningful experience.
Without pain, there is no way to appreciate the good in life -- happiness and sadness are both essential.
This puts a question mark on the recent mindfulness craze -- while it has benefits, peaceful meditation is not the only element to a meaningful life.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 30, 2019

Series of five studies provides interesting findings about the fundamental process which we use to read emotions from properties of images and sounds.
They explored how the “Spectral Centroid” (average of different frequencies of a spectrum created by breaking down images and sounds) influences emotions.
Apparently, the SC of someone’s voice or movements gives us a clear signal about their emotions.
Same goes for shapes and sounds -- for example, low-SC (ie smooth) shapes and sounds cause feelings of calmness or sadness.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 28, 2019

Psychology (category filter × )