Best and Worst of Psychology and Psychiatry – Sep 2017

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At Brainblogger we publish monthly roundups of the most interesting findings in psychology and psychiatry research. For some reason, May was particularly packed full with studies producing important and actionable findings with regard to mental health and wellbeing, covering diverse populations, from metal heads to military personnel.

AI Machines’ Cognitive Abilities Assessed in Behavioral PsychologyTests
Maze tests have been routinely used by behavioral psychologists to study memory and learning, typically in rats and mice. Now researchers are using the same tests on the latest breed of artificial intelligence machines with mazes created in the online World of Minecraft.
The best performing AIs on the maze test displayed cognitive abilities involving deep reinforcement learning enhanced with additional memory.

Protective Psychological Benefits from Heavy Metal Music
The study analyzed trends in the psychology literature relating to Metal music, as well as songs by Slipknot, a metal band known for its masked, horror movie-style aesthetic. The authors argue that metal heads can improve difficult emotions via the accompanying social relationships, sense of solidarity and even the type of dancing that comes with listening to this type of music.
Negative songs were considered to induce feelings of relief through the sense that someone else has felt a particular way and recovered enough to transform these emotions into a creative outlet.

Social Psychology

• Thirdly, social psych discusses the psychology of human interaction in the world. With a great professor, this class will be extremely interesting to any psych major. Learning about how people interact with each other and the psychology behind it can teach you a lot about yourself as well. This class is sure to spark your interest and make you think more about the world around you. Depending on your professor, your work load will be manageable and interesting because of the content!
  

Loneliness is Not Just for the Old
It’s a common stereotypical view that loneliness is most common in the elderly. However, using data from a large, nationally representative German study (16,132 participants) revealed that the age distribution of loneliness followed a complex nonlinear trajectory, with elevated loneliness levels among young adults and among the oldest old age.
Researchers suggest that seeing as sources of loneliness in older adults are well understood, future research should focus on understanding the specific sources of loneliness in middle-aged adults.

Insomnia Assessments Useful in Identifying Depression and Suicide-Risk in Military Service Members
Due to high rates of suicide among military personnel and the need to characterize suicide risk factors associated with mental health service use , US-based researchers aimed to identify suicide-relevant factors that predict treatment engagement and major depressive episodes in a military sample.
Insomnia severity was the only significant predictor of major depressive episodes, predicted treatment engagement and was associated with bringing soldiers into mental health treatment.

Self-Awareness of Risk Taking Behavior Reduces Risk Taking In Crack Cocaine Users
Researchers identified similarities between adult female crack cocaine users and adolescents in risky decision-making scenarios. While giving feedback to teens regarding their level of risk taking didn’t affect their behavior, feedback regarding the crack cocaine users risky behavior resulted in a reduction of risk-taking behavior.
Further research may find that drug addiction interventions that foster a self-awareness of one’s level of risk taking may enhance treatment effectiveness.

Calling all psych majors at the University of New Hampshire! During your four years in college, you will take many psychology classes. To narrow down your options, here is a list of the top psychology classes to take at the University of New Hampshire. You could also access their notes and study guides here!

• Statistics in Psychology
  The only required math course for your major, and definitely easier than some courses! Although this will be a tough class considering it does require some math skill, you will only have to put up with it for a semester. The beauty in being a psychology major is how little math you will be graded on throughout your four years. Work hard in this course, it will be over before you know it and easier than you think!