Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2009

5 Tips for Keeping New Year's Resolutions

From quitting smoking to losing weight, lots of people have high hopes as they ring in the New Year. To beat the odds and actually keep those bold resolutions, be ready for some failures and don't give up, one expert says. Behavior and habit changes are very difficult for many...

Dec 31, 2009

As Elvis Turns 75, Celebrity Worship Alive and Well

If Elvis were alive, he'd be 75 on Friday. While his musical style and gyrations may have been unique, Elvis Presley's stardom and swooning fans can be explained by simple psychology, trends in technology and pop culture, and a look at our ancestors, all of which reveals why celebrity worship...

Dec 31, 2009

To Haiti's Long List of Curses, Add Pat Robertson

Comments by Rev. Pat Robertson today suggesting that an ancient curse on Haiti was responsible for this week's earthquake spurred a dumbfounded response from the White House, and then backpedalling by Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. On his television show 700 Club, Robertson said Something happened a long time ago in...

Dec 31, 2009

Weekends Are Good For You, Study Finds

Just about everybody – even workaholics – should look forward to the weekend, when most people get a mood boost, a new study suggests. Participants in the study often reported better moods, greater vitality, and fewer aches and pains from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon as compared with the rest...

Dec 31, 2009

Mid-life Crisis: An Outdated Myth?

The stereotype that many middle-aged people get depressed and must perk up their lives with sports cars and affairs may be an outdated myth, scientists say. In fact, these days many people often feel more fulfilled in their middle and later years, data shows. The term mid-life crisis was coined...

Nov 30, 2011

Yawns More Contagious Among Friends

Next time you catch yourself yawning, look around: Did anyone close to you let out his or her own sleepy ahhh? Turns out, close friends and family are more likely than acquaintances or strangers to catch someone's yawns, a new study finds. The researchers suggest this yawning contagion is, in...

Nov 30, 2011

Babies Picky About Who They Imitate

Babies are famous for copying adults, but a new study shows that little ones carefully choose whether to imitate an adult's actions based on how credible they think the adult is. For example, if an adult has previously displayed unreliable or dishonest behavior, the baby is less likely to mimic...

Nov 30, 2011

Do the Math! Sex Divide Is Cultural, Not Biological

Many explanations for the gender gap in math skills don't hold up, suggests new research on math skills and gender in 86 countries. Math has traditionally been seen as a man's game, and the statistics often indicate that there are differences between males and females in their math skills, participation...

Nov 30, 2011

The 6 Most Tragic Love Stories in History

Bad Romance (Image credit: Artist: Ernesto Ferreira Condeixa)Nothing makes one's heart flutter quite like a good love story. And by good, we mean tragic, of course. Though Shakespeare's plays are littered with doomed lovers — unrequited passion and death makes for good reading, apparently — couples equally as star-crossed can...

Nov 30, 2011

Transitioning Back to Civilian Life (Infographic)

As U.S. troops are expected to be home from Iraq by Dec. 31, a new report from the Pew Research Center suggests they may have a tough time readjusting to civilian life, though religion seems to help buffer the struggle. The survey included 1,853 veterans, finding that 27 percent said...

Oct 31, 2011

In-Group Blindness: Why Penn State Students Rioted for Paterno

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Last night I witnessed the aftermath of the brief, angry riot at Penn State: an overturned news van being righted by a bulldozer, debris from battered cars and upended trash cans littering the street, college kids in “Joe Knows Football” t-shirts stumbling away from College Avenue...

Oct 31, 2011

Scantily Clad Men Viewed As Less Competent

Men who show skin are viewed as more sensitive, but less competent than those who are fully clothed, suggests new study that shows a similar response to scantily clad women. The research reveals that semi-naked people aren't necessarily viewed as mindless objects, but are instead attributed a different kind of...

Oct 31, 2011

Life's Extremes: Left- vs. Right-Handed

In this weekly series, LiveScience examines the psychology and sociology of opposite human behavior and personality types. To get a sense of human handedness, take a survey of those combination chair-desk furniture pieces in classrooms. The desktops tend to wrap around from the right. That's so right-handers can comfortably rest...

Oct 31, 2011

Crusader's Arabic Inscription No Longer Lost in Translation

A rare Arabic inscription from the Crusades has been deciphered, with scientists finding the marble slab bears the name of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, a colorful Christian ruler known for his tolerance of the Muslim world. Part of the inscription reads: 1229 of the Incarnation of our Lord...

Oct 31, 2011

Finding Extrasolar Planets with Einstein's 'Useless' Method

This ScienceLives article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. In his last year of graduate school at Stanford University, David Bennett happened to read an article in the Astrophysical Journal that discussed the gravitational microlensing method. Though he had been training as a theoretical particle...