Second Impressions Have Limited Value

An international team of psychologists argue that there appears to be truth in the saying ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression'.

Second Impressions Have Limited Value

Remembering Faces

The ability to recognize and remember faces is best when we are aged 30-34 - ten years later than most of our other mental abilities.

Recognizing and Remembering Faces

Perceiving Emotions

Japanese people pay more attention to the tone of voice than facial expression.

Perceiving Emotions

Rating Others Positively Linked To Emotional Stability

Research led by Wake Forest University identified an association between the degree to which individuals perceive others in positive terms and their own happiness and emotional stability.

Rating Others Positively Linked To Emotional Stability

Rating Personality and Attractiveness

Volunteers in a recent study were able to accurately judge aspects of a stranger's personality by looking at photographs. It proved possible to correctly assess factors such as self-esteem and ratings of extraversion and religiosity from physical appearance.

Rating Personality and Attractiveness

Rating Facial Attractiveness

Three pieces of research on attractiveness:

Women are as complicated as men say they are when evaluating potential mates.

People who know each other well are more likely than strangers to agree on the attractiveness of faces.

A study of a psychological phenomenon called "attentional adhesion" found that whatever the motive, we are automatically and strongly drawn to attractive people and are rendered temporarily unable to avert our attention.

Rating Facial Attractiveness

Choosing A Mate

Beauty is still of paramount consideration for men while women are more discriminating, placing greater emphasis on the need for security and commitment.

Also, recent research from psychologists at McGill University has identified gender differences in responses to flirtation. Researchers found that men tend to consider their current partners less favorably after meeting an attractive unattached woman whereas female partners are more likely to work on strengthening existing relationships.

Choosing A Mate

Explaining Out-of-body Experiences

Two recent studies published in Science offer insight into how individuals perceive their own bodies and a possible explanation for out-of-body experiences. This phenomenon has been associated with drug use and neurological disorders such as epilepsy but patients were commonly thought to have imagined it.

Explaining Out-of-body Experiences

Appreciating Another Perspective

People from Western cultures such as the United States find it particularly difficult to understand someone else's point of view because they are part of a culture that encourages individualism.

Appreciating Another Perspective

Facial Recognition: The "Cross-Race Effect"

A recent study throws new light on the "cross-race effect", a well-replicated if not fully understood phenomenon involving difficulty in distinguishing between people of other racial groups.

Facial Recognition: The "Cross-Race Effect"

Why Women Prefer Pink

A study by Newcastle University researchers Anya C. Hurlbert and Yazhu Ling published in Current Biology supports the popular notion that men and women differ when it comes to colour preference. Researchers found that women prefer pink "or at least a redder shade of blue" than men do.

Why Women Prefer Pink

Colour Enhances Taste

Study finds that the colour of orange juice has a huge effect on perceptions of taste.

Colour Enhances Taste