Dr. Sewell's Clinical Hypnosis

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Teens’ Home Access to Drugs & Alcohol May Fuel Use As Adults

{ http://ift.tt/2aodvq4

Teenagers who have easy access to drugs and alcohol in the home are more likely to drink and do drugs in their early and late 20s, according to new research.

The study, by Michigan State University’s Dr. Cliff Broman, also found that the effects were more significant among white people and males.

“While there have been many studies linking alcohol and drug use by parents to substance use among youths, there is limited research on how the availability of alcohol and drugs in the home may influence patterns of use among offspring in the future,” said Broman, a professor of sociology.

“These findings provide evidence that the availability of illegal drugs and alcohol in the home while growing up is a critical factor in the later use of substances.”

Broman analyzed data from about 15,000 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health when the survey participants were, on average, 16, 22 and 29 years old.

He found that participants who had illegal drugs and alcohol easily available to them during adolescence started using drugs and alcohol at an earlier age, and used drugs and alcohol more as they got older.

Male participants, who had alcohol and illegal drugs more available to them in the home during adolescence than female participants, subsequently drank and did drugs more in adulthood than females, the analysis found.

The study also found that whites were significantly more likely to use drugs and alcohol in adulthood than blacks, Hispanic and Asian participants. This was despite the fact that Hispanic and Asian participants generally had drugs and alcohol more easily available to them in the home during adolescence, according to the researcher.

The study appears in the Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse.

Source: Michigan State University

Photo: ‘These findings provide evidence that the availability of illegal drugs and alcohol in the home while growing up is a critical factor in the later use of substances,’ said Michigan State University sociologist Cliff Broman. Credit: Michigan State University.

{ All Hypnosis Feeds

via Psych Central News http://ift.tt/15FdJya

July 30, 2016 at 03:03AM

10 Secrets Marijuana Smokers Won't Tell You

http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DO1vtx5sDxrg&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8

Advertisers Play with Time for a Reason - Marketing illusions that make time fly

{ http://ift.tt/2ao87mX

submitted by /u/anutensil
[link] [comments]

{ All Hypnosis Feeds

via cognitive science http://ift.tt/1WRY4HA

July 30, 2016 at 02:03AM

Breast Milk for Preemies Tied to Better Brain Development

{ http://ift.tt/2akFCmf

A new study has found that preterm babies fed more breast milk in the first 28 days of life had larger deep nuclear gray matter volume and better IQs, academic achievement, memory and motor function by age 7.

“Our data support current recommendations for using mother’s milk to feed preterm babies during their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization,” said Mandy Brown Belfort, M.D., lead researcher and a physician in the Department of Newborn Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“This is not only important for moms, but also for hospitals, employers, and friends and family members, so that they can provide the support that’s needed during this time when mothers are under stress and working so hard to produce milk for their babies.”

For the study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers followed 180 preterm infants from birth to age 7.

They determined the number of days infants received breast milk as more than 50 percent of their nutritional intake from birth to 28 days of life.

The researchers also examined data related to regional brain volumes measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at each baby’s term equivalent age and at 7 years old. They also looked at cognitive and motor testing at age 7, including IQ, reading, mathematics, attention, working memory, language and visual perception.

The findings show that infants who received predominantly breast milk on more days during their NICU hospitalization had larger deep nuclear gray matter volume, an area important for processing and transmitting neural signals to other parts of the brain. When they were 7, these children performed better in IQ, mathematics, working memory and motor function tests.

Overall, breastfeeding correlated with better outcomes, including larger regional brain volumes at term equivalent and improved cognitive outcomes at age 7.

“Many mothers of preterm babies have difficulty providing breast milk for their babies, and we need to work hard to ensure that these mothers have the best possible support systems in place to maximize their ability to meet their own feeding goals,” Belfort said. “It’s also important to note that there are so many factors that influence a baby’s development, with breast milk being just one.”

Researchers note some limitations on the study, including that it was observational. Although they adjusted for factors such as differences in maternal education, some of the effects could possibly be explained by other factors that were not measured, such as greater maternal involvement in other aspects of infant care.

Belfort said future studies using other MRI techniques could provide more information about the specific ways in which human milk intake may influence the structure and function of the brain.

Source: Brigham and Women’s Hospital

{ All Hypnosis Feeds

via Psych Central News http://ift.tt/15FdJya

July 30, 2016 at 02:03AM

Why Many Men Have Difficulty Compromising

{ http://ift.tt/2ajS8sy

New research from Boston College finds that compromise always occurs among two decision-makers when a woman is involved, but hardly ever when the pair of decision-makers are men.

“When men are in the presence of other men, they feel the need to prove their masculinity,” said co-researcher Dr. Hristina Nikolova, the Coughlin Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor of Marketing with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

“Both tend to push away from the compromise option because the compromise option is consistent with feminine norms. On the other hand, extremism is a more masculine trait, so that’s why both male partners tend to prefer an extreme option when making decisions together.”

While previous research has examined the compromise effect — the tendency to choose the middle, compromise option in a set of choices — using individuals, the new study examines joint decision-making.

“The decisions we make in pairs may be very different than those we make alone, depending on who we make them with,” the researchers said in the study, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research. “Classic compromise effects, AKA the ‘goldilocks effect’ or ‘extremeness aversion,’ may not emerge in all joint consumption decisions.”

Nikolova and co-author Dr. Cati Lamberton, an associate professor of marketing with the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, conducted four experiments with 1,204 students at two U.S universities, and a fifth experiment using 673 online participants.

The studies involved different pairs of a man and woman, two women, and two men making decisions on such things as buying printers, toothpaste, flashlights, tires, hotels, headphones, different sizes and shapes of grills, what prizes to seek in a lottery, and whether to buy risky or safe stocks with corresponding high and low returns.

“No matter what the product is, we see the same effects,” Nikolova said. “The compromise effect basically emerges in any pair when there is a woman. However, surprisingly, when you have men choosing together, they actually tend to push away from the compromise option and select one of the extreme options.”

“Say two men are choosing a car and the cars they are considering differ on safety and fuel efficiency — they will either go for the safest car or the one that offers them the most fuel efficiency, but they won’t choose an option that offers a little of both,” she explained.

In contrast, individuals and mixed-gender and female-female pairs will likely go for the middle option since it seems reasonable and is easily justified.

“In contrast to men, women act the same together as they would alone because they don’t need to prove anything in front of other women,” she said. “Womanhood is not precarious and does not need the same level of public defense as manhood. That’s why we observe the compromise effect in the joint decisions of two female partners.”

Interestingly, the research found that compromise is criticized among other men, but embraced by women.

“Only men judge other men very harshly when they suggest the compromise option to a male partner,” Nikolova said. “It doesn’t happen when a man suggests the compromise option to a female partner or when women suggest the compromise option, so it’s really specific to men dealing with other men.”

Nikolova says the findings are something corporate American will want to pay attention to and gear campaigns around since the compromise effect is a phenomenon often used to position products and drive sales. The study’s findings suggest that retailers and marketers should be aware of the gender composition of the joint decision-making pairs they might be targeting.

“For instance, marketers should be aware of the fact that when two men make decisions together, they are more likely to choose one of the extreme options,” she said. “So if a company wants to push sales toward a particular option, and they expect their target customers to primarily be men making decisions together, then it’s better to make the particular option an extreme option rather than a middle alternative.”

The findings can easily be applied by car sales people, she noted. When offering different cars, sales people need to pay attention to the gender composition of the decision-making pairs.

If a father and a son are purchasing the first car for the son together, it would be better for the sales person to make the particular car which he or she wants to sell (usually the most profitable one) an extreme option in the offered choices — the one with the most fuel efficiency, the best interior design, or the highest horsepower.

In contrast, if a male/female couple or a mother and a daughter are shopping together, it would be best to make that option a middle alternative by adding other alternatives that offer less or more of the particular attribute.

Nikolova added if an organization wants more middle ground decisions made, it’s critical to include a woman in the decision-making pair. In contrast, if a manager wants to “nudge” more all-or-nothing decisions, it is better to entrust them to two men.

As for consumers, it’s important for men to know that what they might buy themselves is different from what they would choose with another man.

“What we’re finding is when men have to choose alone, most select the compromise option,” she said. “But when they have to make the decision with another man, they tend to choose one of the extreme options, which is not something they would prefer if they were alone.

“It’s important for male consumers to be aware of this when making decisions with other people since the drive to prove their masculinity might lead them to make decisions that they might not enjoy later.”

Source: Boston College

{ All Hypnosis Feeds

via Psych Central News http://ift.tt/15FdJya

July 30, 2016 at 01:33AM

While Cognitive Ability Varies, Prejudice Seems Universal

{ http://ift.tt/2aFVZN0

A new study finds that when it comes to prejudice, it doesn’t matter if you are smart or conservative or liberal. Each group has its own specific biases.

In fact, the study found that cognitive ability — whether high or low — only predicts prejudice towards specific groups.

“Very few people are immune to expressing prejudice, especially prejudice towards people they disagree with,” said lead author Dr. Mark Brandt of Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

For their study, Brandt and Dr. Jarrett Crawford of The College of New Jersey analyzed data from 5,914 people in the United States that included a measure of verbal ability and prejudice towards 24 different groups.

Analyzing the results, the researchers found that people with both relatively higher and lower levels of cognitive ability show approximately equal levels of intergroup bias, but towards different groups.

For instance, people with low cognitive ability tended to express prejudice towards groups perceived as liberal and unconventional, such as atheists, gays and lesbians, as well as groups of people perceived as having low choice over group membership, such as ethnic minorities.

People with high cognitive ability showed the reverse pattern, according to the study’s findings. They tended to express prejudice towards groups perceived as conservative and conventional — Christians, the military, big business.

“There are a variety of belief systems and personality traits that people often think protect them from expressing prejudice,” Brandt said. “In our prior work we found that people high and low in the personality trait of openness to experience show very consistent links between seeing a group as ‘different from us’ and expressing prejudice towards that group. The same appears to be true for cognitive ability. ”

While previous work has found that people with low cognitive ability express more prejudice, Brandt said his study found this was limited to only some target groups.

“For other target groups, the relationship was in the opposite direction,” he said. “For these groups, people with high levels of cognitive ability expressed more prejudice. So, cognitive ability also does not seem to make people immune to expressing prejudice.”

The researchers noted they would like to see if their findings will replicate in new samples, with new target groups, and additional measures of cognitive ability.

“We used a measure of verbal ability, which is essentially a vocabulary test,” Brandt said. “Although this measure correlates pretty well with other measures of cognitive ability, it is not a perfect nor a complete measure.”

The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Source: Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)

{ All Hypnosis Feeds

via Psych Central News http://ift.tt/15FdJya

July 30, 2016 at 12:33AM