Why teach intelligence? N.J. Mackintosh Abstract IQ tests are one of psychology’s more visible and controversial products. For this reason alone, a student who has graduated with a degree in psychology ought to know enough about the subject to dispute some of the public’s misconceptions. Controversy breeds disagreement, and although intelligence researchers are agreed on […]
Study Alerts
STUDY ALERT: The Dark Triad personality: Attractiveness to women
The Dark Triad personality: Attractiveness to women Gregory Louis Carter, Anne C. Campbell, Steven Muncer It has been suggested that the Dark Triad (DT) personality constellation is an evolved facilitator of men’s short-term mating strategies. However, previous studies have relied on self-report data to consider the sexual success of DT men. To explore the attractiveness […]
STUDY ALERT: The Ape That Thought It Was a Peacock: Does Evolutionary Psychology Exaggerate Human Sex Differences?
The Ape That Thought It Was a Peacock: Does Evolutionary Psychology Exaggerate Human Sex Differences? Steve Stewart-Williams and Andrew G. Thomas This article looks at the evolution of sex differences in sexuality in human beings and asks whether evolutionary psychology sometimes exaggerates these differences. According to a common understanding of sexual selection theory, females in most […]
STUDY ALERT: White matter maturation supports the development of reasoning ability through its influence on processing speed
White matter maturation supports the development of reasoning ability through its influence on processing speed Emilio Ferrer, Kirstie J. Whitaker, Joel S. Steele, Chloe T. Green, Carter Wendelken and Silvia A. Bunge The structure of the human brain changes in several ways throughout childhood and adolescence. Perhaps the most salient of these changes is […]
STUDY ALERT: What Lies Beneath the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: Varied Relations with the Big Five
What Lies Beneath the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen: Varied Relations with the Big Five Peter K. Jonason, Scott Barry Kaufman, Gregory Webster, and Glenn Geher ABSTRACT – The Dirty Dozen is a recently developed, concise measure of the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, & Machiavellianism). However, recent evidence has questioned the validity of this scale. […]
STUDY ALERT: Creatures of the night: Chronotypes and the Dark Triad traits
Creatures of the night: Chronotypes and the Dark Triad traits Peter K. Jonason, Amy Jones, Minna Lyons In this study (N = 263) we provide a basic test of a niche-specialization hypothesis of the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). We propose that in order to best enact a ‘‘cheater strategy’’ those high on […]
STUDY ALERT: Nonsense, common sense, and science of expert performance: Talent and individual differences
Nonsense, common sense, and science of expert performance: Talent and individual differences Phillip L. Ackerman Controversies surrounding nature and nurture determinants of expert/elite performance have arisen many times since antiquity, and remain sources of concern in the present day. Extreme positions on this controversy are fundamentally silly — both nature and nurture are necessary determinants […]
STUDY ALERT: Deliberate practice: Is that all it takes to become an expert?
Deliberate practice: Is that all it takes to become an expert? David Z. Hambrick a,⁎, Frederick L. Oswald b, Erik M. Altmann a, Elizabeth J. Meinz c, Fernand Gobet d, Guillermo Campitelli e Twenty years ago, Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Römer (1993) proposed that expert performance reflects a long period of deliberate practice rather than innate […]
STUDY ALERT: Testing for Racial Differences in the Mental Ability of Young Children
Testing for Racial Differences in the Mental Ability of Young Children Roland G. Fryer and Steven D. Levitt On tests of intelligence, Blacks systematically score worse than Whites, whereas Asians frequently outperform Whites. Some have argued that genetic differences across races account for the gap. Using a newly available nationally representative data set that includes […]
STUDY ALERT: Searching for Tomorrow’s Innovators: Profiling Creative Adolescents
Searching for Tomorrow’s Innovators: Profiling Creative Adolescents Barbara Kerr and Robyn McKay Profiling may be a viable means of identifying those creative adolescents who can benefit from specialized guidance and exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, arts, and human services. The experimenters developed 1 general and 5 specific profiles including interest, personality, […]
STUDY ALERT: Dopamine and training-related working-memory improvement
Dopamine and training-related working-memory improvement Lars Bäckmana, Lars Nybergb Converging evidence indicates that the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) is implicated in working-memory (WM) functioning and that WM is trainable. We review recent work suggesting that DA is critically involved in the ability to benefit from WM interventions. Functional MRI studies reveal increased striatal BOLD activity […]
STUDY ALERT: Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering
Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering Michael D. Mrazek, Michael S. Franklin, Dawa Tarchin Phillips, Benjamin Baird, and Jonathan W. Schooler Given that the ability to attend to a task without distraction underlies performance in a wide variety of contexts, training one’s ability to stay on task should […]