The Social Bluff That Ramps Up Your Attractiveness To Others

How to promote the pleasure of uncertainty in romantic attraction. Women are more attracted to men when they are uncertain of his feelings, research finds. So, the old dating advice about ‘playing hard-to-get’ may have some scientific basis. It all comes down to how much we are thinking about the other person. The study’s authors explain: “If we want to know how much Sarah likes Bob, a good predictor is how much she thinks Bob likes her. But what if Sarah is not sure how much Bob likes her? They

Childhood Spanking Backfires Spectacularly On Parents, 50 Years Research Finds

Risks of spanking children confirmed by 50 years of research. The more children are spanked, the more aggressive and anti-social they are. What is termed ‘spanking’ has similar effects on children as physical abuse. The conclusions come from studies conducted over 50 years which included more than 160,000 children. The researchers also found that being spanked was linked to more mental health problems and cognitive difficulties later on. Dr Elizabeth Gershoff, the study’s first author, said: “Our analysis focuses on what most Americans would recognize as spanking and not on

Little-Known Depression Symptom Confirmed by Study

Although few people know this depression symptom, it’s frequently reported by sufferers. People experiencing mood disorders like depression often say their thinking has become ‘fuzzy’. Now a large study has shown that the effect is real. Published in the journal Brain, the study tested the concentration of 612 women, two-thirds of whom had been clinically depressed or had bipolar disorder (Ryan et al., 2015). The results showed that women with mood disorders did worse on the test. Almost all those who performed in the bottom 5% had mood disorders. Brain

Psychopaths Naturally Excel In This Dark Skill

Psychopaths naturally excel in one dark skill. Psychopaths are much better at learning to lie than the rest of us, new research finds. It is a natural capacity just waiting to be tapped. The research compared people with high and low psychopathic traits. The results showed that psychopaths learned to lie quicker. Dr Tatia Lee, study co-author, said: “The stark contrast between individuals with high and low levels of psychopathic traits in lying performance following two training sessions is remarkable, given that there were no significant differences in lying performance