Featured series 
Tag: psychology and psychiatry
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Science & Tech
The whys and woes of child beauty pageants
Hilary Levey, a member of the Harvard College Class of ’02, studied child beauty pageants. “With the death of JonBenet Ramsey, there’s been a barrage of interest in beauty pageants but no sociological studies,” she said. Levey decide to rectify that. She found that there is a high financial cost to competing in beauty pageants.…
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Health
Researchers face up to liars
What category of people do you think would be best at detecting lies? It’s not Secret Service agents, or psychiatrists, or even mothers. Investigators working at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have found that aphasics — people who, because of stroke or other forms of brain damage, have been robbed of their ability to understand…
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Health
Study points to more targeted use of Ritalin
An area known as the putamen, located deep in the center of the brain, helps to control movement and attention. Harvard researchers believe that the putamen is involved in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The finding also suggests that Ritalin may not be effective in treating ADHD. When researchers examined hyperactive, inattentive boys with a new type…
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Science & Tech
Study finds that for young men, family comes first
Breaking ranks with their fathers and grandfathers on the important issue of work-family integration, 71 percent of men 21-39 said in a survey that they would give up some of their pay for more time with their families. “What we’re seeing is a transformation between generations and gender,” said Paula Rayman, director of the Radcliffe…
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Science & Tech
Professor’s survey method opens ‘windows of consciousness’
Bringing together theories and tools from disciplines ranging from psychology to neuroscience, the Mind of the Market Laboratory at Harvard Business School attempts to define and qualify consumers’ and managers’ thoughts and feelings about an array of ideas, from “loyalty” to “privacy” to “chocolate.” The work is spearheaded by the lab’s co-director, Gerald Zaltman, whose…
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Health
Unlocking the mystery of artistic taste
“Unlike infants, who share innate preferences about shapes and colors, preschoolers already differ in their artistic tastes,” says Kim Sheridan, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Using cognitive development, developmental psychology, art, brain-imaging technology, and education, Sheridan is now trying to unlock the mystery of artistic taste. A year in Kenya…
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Science & Tech
Study finds biotech workers ‘thrive’ on instability
Marked by job insecurity, dependence on changing technology, and uncertain financing, the biotechnology industry is viewed by researchers as one of the best examples of the workplace of the future. A study by the Radcliffe Public Policy Center (RPPC) released in December 1999 found that biotech workers were actually thriving in this highly unstable environment.…
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Health
Electromagnets used in treating depression
Recent studies by Harvard researchers at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., have enlarged the body of knowledge about a promising, though still experimental, treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders. The treatment is called “transcranial magnetic stimulation,” and essentially involves placing a powerful electromagnet on a person’s scalp. The electromagnet alters brain activity by inducing…