It is known that compulsivity is linked to a problem in planning based on a cognitive map of the environment, which is necessary for predicting the consequences of our actions. Paul Sharp, from Dr. Eran Eldar’s lab, found that this problem is associated with a more fundamental impairment in learning the structure of cognitive maps. Paul demonstrated this impairment in three different experiments in collaboration with researchers from University College London.
Congratulations to the PhD candidate Hadar Naftalovich and Prof. Eyal Kalanthroff, who were awarded the International Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation's Michael Jenike Young Investigator Award along with collaborators Dr. Alex Gileles-Hillel, from Hadassah Medical School, Dr. Helen Blair Simpson, from Columbia University, and Drs. Hagai Bergman, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Rumination about negative experiences is widely viewed as a transdiagnostic process underlying various forms of psychopathology that involve emotion dysregulation. Cognitive models highlight the role of attentional control and emotional biases in the development and maintenance of rumination. We suggest that the temporality of the attentional blink paradigm may make it especially relevant for studying rumination-related biases and designing bias modification interventions for rumination.
Searching for something, whether it is your keys or a familiar face, is a frequent everyday activity. Under some circumstances, such as in security settings, it even carries life-saving implications. Until now, it was widely believed that in order to find what they are looking for, people need to know at least some aspects of what they are trying to find. However, this assumption is inconsistent with common human experiences, such as suddenly finding a friend in a crowd although there was no prior expectation of seeing them.
Competitiveness is an essential feature of human social interactions. In an era of increasingly selective educational programs, vigorous races for career promotion, and a scarcity of high-paying jobs, opportunities for success come disproportionately to those who embrace competition. To date, research on the underlying biological factors that contribute to individual differences in competitive preferences remains poorly understood, and has focused almost exclusively on the sex-hormone testosterone.
A new video program of prof. Orya Tishby and Prof. Hadas Wiseman (Haifa University) demonstrate the application of the core conflictual relationship theme method (CCRT). The CCRT method serves to identify the internal representations of clients' relationships with early caregivers and guides the therapy in the process of exploring the client’s subjective experiences in current relationships, including the relationship with the therapist.
We welcome applicants with a strong academic record, from any subfield in psychology. Our department values theoretical and methodological diversity and innovation, and embraces interdisciplinary collaboration.
People who live in conflict zones live in constant threat from the recurrence of hostilities and violent confrontations. But does this threat make people more supportive of peace-promoting policies or more opposed to them? This question has been explored by political psychologists and conflict scholars for long while. In a new paper published in Political Behavior, Oded Adomi Leshem and Eran Halperin offer a novel solution to this puzzle.
It is commonly argued that older adults show difficulties in standardized tasks of emotional expression perception, yet most previous works relied on classic sets of static, decontextualized, and stereotypical facial expressions. In real-life, facial expressions are dynamic and embedded in a rich context, two key factors that may aid emotion perception. Specifically, body language provides important affective cues that may disambiguate facial movements.
