http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/psychology/ en-us Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:36:05 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051440/posts A New York contractor was committed to a psychiatric ward when he broke through walls to retrieve a lost cat -- an animal doctors thought was a delusion. Chris Muth got out of the hospital after four days, the New York Post reported. The lost cat, Rumi, spent somewhat longer, 15 days, in the bowels of a Brooklyn church being converted into apartments. Muth said he panicked at the thought of losing Rumi when the cat wandered off because he was caring for it for a friend. After going through a hole in a wall, Rumi fell down a shaft.... Web India 123 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051440/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:36:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051247/posts " NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - When it comes to purchasing lottery tickets, making people feel poor will prompt them to spend more money on a chance to become rich, American researchers said. They found that people who were convinced they were earning a low salary bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets compared to others who were made to feel more affluent. "When people are made to feel subjectively poor, they end up buying more lottery tickets which is somewhat perverse since every time you buy a lottery ticket, it's the equivalent of burning money," said George Loewenstein, a... Reuters via Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051247/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:20:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050396/posts The husband of a Taunton woman who police say shot herself after faxing a suicide note to the company foreclosing on her home had a troubled financial history, including three recent bankruptcy attempts and an earlier foreclosure filing, the Herald has learned. Taunton police said Carlene Balderrama, 53, shot herself to death Tuesday after faxing her mortgage company a note implying suicide hours before her home was to be auctioned off. “ ‘By the time you foreclose on my house, I’ll be dead,’ ” Police Chief Raymond O’Berg said the note read. PHH Mortgage Corp. received the fax at 2:27... Boston Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050396/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:14:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050172/posts WASHINGTON: A new study has found that lesbians are nearly twice as likely to be overweight than heterosexual women. Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing are now using an extraordinarily successful, predominately lesbian weight loss group in Atlanta, as a model system for discovering how to target obesity in a lesbian population. Sarah Fogel, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, is studying the group, and her findings are giving her a different view on weight loss. "All weight loss groups offer an environment of like-bodied people (overweight or obese), but this is... Indiatimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050172/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:07:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2050065/posts Shock Jock Michael Savage is in hot water again this time for a stating his belief that 99% of Autism cases are fake. He has taken a beating from parents of autistic children and those who lobby for them. However, let us play devil's advocate for a moment... Are Savage's comments mean spirited or could there be some truth to it? Are children who are diagnosed with autism and Asperger's syndrome (Considered a high functioning form of Autism) being over diagnosed? Are the diagnostic criteria for Autism and Asperger's really too broad and too flawed that otherwise ordinary playful children... MainestateGOP Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2050065/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:24:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049828/posts NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People recovering from alcoholism seem to drink more coffee and have a higher rate of smoking than the average American, a new study shows. The researchers found that among 289 members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), 88.5 percent regularly drank coffee, often in large amounts. One third of coffee drinkers said they downed more than four cups per day. In addition, 57 percent of the group said that they smoked -- much higher than the general rate of 27 percent in Nashville, Tennessee, where the study was conducted. The findings, published online by the journal Alcoholism:... Reuters Health http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049828/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:54:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049775/posts The case of the San Jose/Evergreen Community College firing of June Sheldon is raising some eyebrows among academics, liberal and conservative. Here is the media version : The controversy centers on an incident in June 2007, when Sheldon was asked by a student in a human heredity class about heredity’s impact on “homosexual behavior in males and females.” Among other references, Sheldon noted a German study demonstrating some link between maternal stress and homosexual behavior in males, according to the lawsuit. After a student complained, college officials investigated and dismissed Sheldon, an adjunct professor at the school since January 2004.... Crosswalk.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049775/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:05:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049509/posts WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- He may be known to many children as a comic book friend, but a Purdue University professor warns the new "Dark Knight" Batman is a much more violent reincarnation of the classic character. Glenn Sparks, a professor of communication, studies the effects of scary movies, particularly on children. "The danger with a film like this is its history in the Batman comic book series and cartoons. People think of this hero as fun and entertaining, so parents may even take very young children to see what they believe is a family film. Instead, they may be... The Indy Channel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049509/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:51:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2048216/posts New research into inheritance shows we can alter family traits for better or for worse. Jonathan Leake reports For Beatrix Zwart being young means having fun. She works hard, and out of hours she plays hard — including plenty of nights on the town with her friends. “I lead a similar lifestyle to a lot of young professionals in Britain and I don’t intend to have any children until I’m well into my thirties,” said Zwart, a 25-year-old Belgian who lives in London. “I’ve never really thought my lifestyle now could have any effect on my future children or grandchildren.”... www.timesonline.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2048216/posts#comment Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:15:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047308/posts If your child came across a gun, what do you think they would do with it? Tell an adult? Pick it up? Pull the trigger? We wanted to try something. With a Northside ISD police officer's help, we put a group of children in a room with a real, unloaded gun to see what they would do when they thought no one was watching... ...During our experiment, several of the children picked up the gun and played with it. At least one boy walked up to another child and pointed it at the child's face. In the second group, comprised... WOAI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047308/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:44:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046936/posts July 16, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Real AutismParents need to be spared the emotional trauma of false diagnoses and children need to be spared stressful treatments that follow false diagnoses. By Thomas Sowell ‘New Ways to Diagnose Autism Earlier” read a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal. There is no question that you can diagnose anything as early as you want. The real question is whether the diagnosis will turn out to be correct. My own awareness of how easy it is to make false diagnoses of autism grew out of experiences with a group of parents of late-talking... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046936/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:35:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045982/posts In a dramatic move yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136. Now isn’t this interesting? Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long.... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045982/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:44:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2045139/posts Chicago, IL (AHN) - A new University of Chicago study linked happiness with age, with older people apparently happier than the youth. The findings are based on a study by Yang Yang, a researcher of the university's General Social Survey, in which 50,000 Americans have been interviewed since 1972 repeatedly to check trends, make comparisons and trace changes in responses over time. Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey, reportedly said the findings had results that were contrary to popular expectations.Despite the health problems of older people, the study found that they have lesser financial, interpersonal and crime problems... All Headline News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2045139/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:49:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045382/posts - it also lights up the reward centers of her brain, according to the results of a brain imaging study. The finding, investigators say, could go a long way in helping researchers dissect the unique bond between mother and infant and how it sometimes goes wrong. "The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development," Dr. Lane Strathearn, of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston noted in a statement. "For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn't develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child's development," Strathearn explained.... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045382/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:30:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045082/posts A refreshing night's sleep may be the best way to boost memory, a study suggests. Researchers found sleep appears to have a dramatic impact on the way the brain functions the next day. It appears to strengthen connections between nerve cells in the brain - a process key to both learning and memory. The University of Geneva study was presented to a Federation of European Neuroscience Societies conference. The researchers studied a group of volunteers who were taught a new skill or shown images they would later have to remember. The skill tasks included trying to follow a moving dot... BBC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045082/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:42:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044716/posts The Psychology of Ben Bernanke: The Great Depression was caused by the Federal Reserve. Was he Talking About the current Great Depression that is Sprouting Under his Watch? Lessons From the Great Depression: Part XIII. The Federal Reserve. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week once again mentioned that the Federal Reserve was “strongly committed” to financial stability and is considering options like keeping the lending facilities open to primary dealers. In short, they are going to continue to bailout banks and Wall Street firms while Americans get the shaft. This is an important statement and the futures markets are... Dr. Housing Bubble http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044716/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:31:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044446/posts Study: Baby Boomers Are Gloomiest Generation POSTED: 9:01 am EDT July 12, 2008 UPDATED: 9:42 am EDT July 12, 2008 NEW YORK -- A new study by the Pew Research Center found 66 percent of baby boomers find it harder to get ahead now than in 1998. It also found that 86 percent say it's harder to maintain their standard of living than just five years ago. We talked to boomers in Brooklyn. "There just seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel." As they approach their golden years, baby boomers like Ros Aaron are worried --... WNBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044446/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:49:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042731/posts Alarming numbers of children feel safer in the street when carrying knives or guns, Government inspectors warned today. A top-level report found that many children were still "very worried" about being bullied and were afraid of being on their own in public areas. DailyMail.Co.UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042731/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 02:39:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041847/posts Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency. The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care. This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food. The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age. It alerts playgroup leaders... Telegraph UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041847/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:11:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042214/posts The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care. This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food. The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age. It alerts playgroup leaders that even babies can not be ignored in the drive to root out prejudice as they can "recognise different... The London Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042214/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 03:39:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042019/posts Jawdropper of the Day: Racist Babies Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 9:20:24 am PDT Good grief. Now the British nanny state is actually warning nursery school teachers to be on the lookout for racist babies.============================= "Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency. "The National Children’s Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care. "This could include a child of as young as... LGF http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042019/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jul 2008 20:49:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041754/posts "...Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets... unveiled this July Fourth weekend, is an ambitious effort to raise $100 million to provide free psychological counseling for returning veterans and jobs for those who need them." Time http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041754/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jul 2008 12:03:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040633/posts Suicides kill more people than homicide and war, namely 1.8% of worldwide deaths! Global suicide rates have increased 60% over the past 45 years and suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth and young adults, aged 10-24. It's also is one of the leading causes of death for adults between the ages of 25-44, with men ranking 75 to 80 %. Socio-psychological studies rate single men as the least emotionally stable, followed by married men, and single women; married women are the most emotionally stable. The current world suicide rate is approximately 1 million per year, or... Pattaya [Thailand] Daily News.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040633/posts#comment Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:24:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036919/posts Why do people vote? Genetic variation in political participation A groundbreaking new study finds that genes significantly affect variation in voter turnout, shedding new light on the reasons why people vote and participate in the political system. The research, conducted by political scientists James H. Fowler, Christopher T. Dawes (of UC San Diego) and psychologist Laura A. Baker (of University of Southern California), appears in the May issue of the American Political Science Review, a journal of the American Political Science Association (APSA). "Although we are not the first to suggest a link between genes and political participation," note the... Physorg http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036919/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:09:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035497/posts It is widely reported that women suffer depression at twice the rate of men. Apparently, more women are clinically depressed than ever before. On the assumption that these assessments are true, the question anyone interested in the subject -- which means anyone who cares about any woman -- asks is, why? In a recent column I offered one explanation -- the impossibly high expectations for happiness that feminism created for many women. There are other possible explanations. One is the way in which many girls have been raised. As every wise person and wise culture in history has known, it... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2035497/posts#comment Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:09:21 GMT