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U.S. Remains the Largest Cocaine Market in the World

By PravdaMarch 6, 20111 commentCulture, GeneralEurope, heroin, largest market for cocaine, legalisation of marijuana, lisa karpova, marijuana, methamphetamine, mexican traffickers, overuse of drugs, united states

The United States remains the world’s largest market for cocaine, with 4.8 million users, although its importance has been reduced in recent years, according to the INCB (International Board for Narcotics Control).

“In 2009, 4.8 million people consumed some form of cocaine in the U.S., compared with 5.3 million in 2008,” the INCB said in its report in 2010. With this number of consumers, the U.S. represents 41% of the international drug market, ahead of Europe, with 29%, according to the board, stating that “Although the market for cocaine has been reduced in North America, it continues to grow in Europe.” (more…)

People With Low Self-Esteem Show More Signs of Prejudice

By Guest PostFebruary 26, 20111 commentCulturearguments, automatic reactions, better control, difference, iat, implicit association test, implicit prejudice, jeffrey sherman, negative evaluations, people, prejudice, sherman and allen, stereotype, subtle, thomas allen

When people are feeling badly about themselves, they’re more likely to show bias against people who are different. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines how that works.

“This is one of the oldest accounts of why people stereotype and have prejudice: It makes us feel better about ourselves,” says Jeffrey Sherman of the University of California, Davis, who wrote the study with Thomas Allen. “When we feel bad about ourselves, we can denigrate other people, and that makes us feel better about ourselves.” (more…)

Social Network Games Even Help Grown-ups With Their Relationships

By Guest PostFebruary 25, 2011Culture, Technologyadults, clifford lampe, Facebook, facebook users, farmville, michigan state university, nicole ellison, playing games, relationship management strategies, relationships, rick wash, social game, social network games, social network sites, yvette wohn

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Think social network games are just for kids? A recent Michigan State University study found that many adults are playing games such as Facebook’s “Farmville” to help initiate, develop and maintain relationships.

The MSU team of researchers interviewed a number of Facebook users between the ages of 25 and 55, said Yvette Wohn, a doctoral student in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media who led the study.

“The interesting thing is that we were asking people how they use Facebook to manage their different relationships,” she said. “Surprisingly, all but one person talked about playing games as one of their relationship-management strategies.” (more…)

Cubans Say Lots of Sex and Tobacco is Why They Live Longer

By PravdaFebruary 24, 2011Culture, Health120 years club, centenarians, coffee, cubans, Fidel Castro, food habits, havana, Japan, life expectancy, lisa karpova, little salt, longevity, lucid state of mind, methodical life, nancy nepomuceno, natural spices, secret formula, sex, sexual nature, singapore, stress free environment, tobacco, varied food habit, vegetables, villa clara

Cubans are proud of their longevity, and the sharp mind of Fidel Castrol is a prime example. Certainly the totally free and complete medical care and stress free environment contribute greatly to length and quality of life, as does the the availability of community recreational, cultural and educational programs. A family doctor can be found on every block.

A methodical life with varied food habits, which does not exclude tobacco, coffee or sex, would be the “secret formula” to achieve satisfactory longevity, according to a recent study of more than 50 people over a hundred years old in Cuba. (more…)

Stresses of Unemployed Spouse Can Hurt Job Performance of Other Spouse, Study Finds

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 20112 commentsCulture, Economyemployee's productivity, interpersonal relationships, journal of applied psychology, maw-der foo, national university of singapore, stresses of an unemployed spouse's job, unemployment situation, university of colorado boulder

Ignoring the stresses of an unemployed spouse’s job search does not bode well for the employed spouse’s job productivity or home life, says a University of Colorado Boulder professor.

Associate Professor Maw-Der Foo of CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business studies employee workplace issues, including those related to interpersonal relationships. (more…)

‘Was Doing’ Versus ‘Did’: Verbs Matter When Judging Other People’s Intentions

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2011Cultureaction, communication, courtroom, criminal law, defense attorney, did, doing, dolores albarracín, english, grammar, gun, imagine, imperfective, innocent or guilty verdict, people, perceptions, perfective, prosecutor, report of a crime, shot, subtle variations, university of alabama, verb form, was shooting, william hart

Your English teacher wasn’t kidding: Grammar really does matter. The verb form used to describe an action can affect how the action is perceived—and these subtle variations could mean the difference between an innocent or guilty verdict in criminal law, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

William Hart, of the University of Alabama, was inspired to conduct the study by research on how people think about narratives. “Research was showing that when you describe somebody’s actions in terms of what they’re ‘doing,’ that action is way more vivid in [a reader’s] mind” than if the action is described in terms of what the person ‘did.’ At the same time, other researchers had found that when people imagine action vividly, they were more likely to think the person performing the action was doing it intentionally. (more…)

‘Growing Economy Sparks Change in Chinese Mating Preferences’

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Culturechinese, chinese men, cultural changes, economic income, mate preferences, mate selection, mating preferences

AUSTIN, Texas — As China’s economy continues to grow, more young adults desire potential mates with good financial prospects, according to new psychology research from The University of Texas at Austin. (more…)

Patient Privacy Should be Respected Abroad and Online

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Culture, Healthamerican medical student, developing countries, dominican republic, ecuador, erik black, ethical gray area, Facebook, federal guidelines, haiti, health care providers, lindsay thompson, medical students, patient, patient privacy, reed van deusen, social media, spring break, terry kind, unauthorized photo, united states, web

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Taking an unauthorized photo of a patient and posting it on Facebook is a giant no-no for health-care providers, who follow strict federal guidelines protecting patient privacy.

But what if the patient is a little girl in Ecuador receiving a vaccine from an American medical student, who’s in the country on a medical outreach trip? Although taking photos of patients in developing countries and posting them on the Web may not be illegal, it’s not ethical, say researchers from the University of Florida.

It’s long been a common practice for health care providers to snap photos while volunteering their time in developing countries, generally to bring back evidence of the conditions patients face there. But reporting in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, UF College of Medicine researchers say providers should treat patients’ privacy with the same reverence no matter where the care takes place. (more…)

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