For young people, text messaging is rapidly replacing talking on the phone. Parents could easily assume that typed text is the best way to stay in touch with their tech-savvy kids. But newly published research suggests that, in times of stress, there’s no substitute for the soothing sound of mom’s voice. That’s the conclusion of a research team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison cultural anthropologist Leslie Seltzer. In a study released last year, Seltzer and her colleagues found comforting words from mom decreased levels of cortisol (a biomarker of stress) and increased ... Read More
Long-Term Love Not Just a Fairy Tale
August 8, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
And they lived happily ever after. That fairy-tale inspired narrative of wedded bliss appears to hold true for a surprisingly large number of Americans, according to a newly published study. In a random survey, 47.8 percent of married Americans (49 percent of men and 46.3 percent of women) reported being “very intensely in love” with their spouse, according to a research team led by Stony Brook University psychologist K. Daniel O’Leary. Another 13.4 percent said they were “intensely in love,” while 26.2 percent chose the term “very in love.” Not surprisingly, those ... Read More
Portraits Can Get Your Pulse Pounding
July 26, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Art exhibits are not generally thought of as opportunities to get our pulses racing and skin tingling. But newly published research suggests aesthetic appreciation is, in fact, a full-body experience. Three hundred and seventy-three visitors to a Swiss museum agreed to wear special gloves measuring four physiological responses as they strolled through an art exhibit. Researchers found an association between the gallery-goers’ reported responses to the artworks and three of the four measurements of bodily stimulation. “Our findings suggest that an idiosyncratically human property — ... Read More
Female Pop Stars: Prepare to Disrobe
July 19, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
There is no shortage of voices decrying the sexualization of mass culture. Just last month, actor and director David Schwimmer complained to a London newspaper: “We have this real emphasis on how important it is to look young and sexual, so that’s the message we’re sending our girls. Look at the biggest pop stars around at the moment: Everything they do is about sex.” Newly published research finds the former Friends star has a point: Over the past four decades, images of female celebrities have become much more sexualized. Evidence of this trend, which troubles feminists and social ... Read More
Everyone’s a Critic: Babies Prefer Picasso
June 14, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Taste in art is, of course, highly subjective. Personality, education and the norms of one's culture all influence why one person craves Kandinsky while another has a crush on Kinkade. But what about babies, whose minds have yet to be shaped by any sort of cultural indoctrination? Newly published research finds they prefer the imagery of Pablo Picasso to the impressionism of Claude Monet. For babies, "a painted canvas is simply a visual pattern," writes a University of Zurich research team led by psychologist Trix Cacchione, "and some patterns appeal to them more than others." Their ... Read More