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Psychology - Pedagogy - 30.08.2023 
Surprising study results: Students are bored during exams
In the case of boredom, we think of many situations in life but intuitively not of exams. However, an international team of academics led by Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna has now studied exactly this phenomenon of test boredom for the first time and found remarkable results. According to the study, school students are actually very bored during exams.
Psychology - Art and Design - 03.08.2023 
People feel emotions even with computer-generated art
Man-made works of art, however, are viewed more positively. Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) are also becoming increasingly important in the art world. AI-generated artworks fetch millions at auction, and artists routinely use algorithms to generate aesthetic content. A team of scientists at the University of Vienna has now been able to show through experiments that, contrary to common assumptions, people perceive emotions and intentions when viewing art even if they know that the work was generated by a computer.
Health - Psychology - 30.05.2023 
Obesity increases risk of mental disorders
People suffering from obesity are at a significantly greater risk of also developing mental disorders. This applies to all age groups, whereby women are more at risk than men for most diseases, as a recent study by the Medical University of Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna shows. The results were published in the specialist journal "Translational Psychiatry".
Psychology - Art and Design - 29.03.2023 
How people move in front of an art work can impact their experience
The objective measurement of the ways in which people move in front of art shows that there are four different groups that also report different art experiences. A recent study led by University of Vienna psychologists has shed light on the impact of viewers' movements and positioning when looking at art.
Psychology - Health - 31.10.2022 
Depression manifests differently in men than in women
Fewer men than women are diagnosed as having depression. One possible reason for this is that there is still a lack of awareness that this mental illness is characterised by different symptoms in men than in women.
Health - Psychology - 03.10.2022 
New study on biological detectability of depression.
More than 5% of all Austrians suffer from depression. However, little is known about the biological basis of this disease. In a new study, scientists led by Alexander Karabatsiakis from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Innsbruck have now observed a strong correlation between the severity of depression and the level of the stress hormone cortisol in hair.
Psychology - 20.05.2022 
Mindfulness as a key to success in psychotherapy
New statistical method applied for the first time Mindfulness is the ability to focus one's attention on the present moment and to approach the resulting impressions, thoughts, and feelings with curiosity, openness, and acceptance. A team of psychologists from the University of Vienna led by Ulrich Tran now shows in a comprehensive review that the increase of mindfulness not only explains the positive effect of meditation and similar treatments on mental health, but also of psychotherapeutic treatments in which meditation plays no role at all.
Psychology - 07.01.2022 
Consuming traditional media has little impact on well-being
Engaging with traditional media not associated with happiness or anxiety levels Consuming traditional forms of media - including books, music and television - has little effect on short-term adult well-being, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Vienna, published in Nature Scientific Reports.
Health - Psychology - 15.03.2021 
Fear of COVID-19 : Psychological, not environmental factors are important
During pandemics, protective behaviors need to be motivated by effective communication. A critical factor in understanding a population's response to such a threat is the fear it elicits, since fear both contributes to motivating protective responses, but can also lead to panic-driven behaviors. Furthermore, lockdown measures affect well-being, making it important to identify protective factors that help to maintain high perceived levels of health during restrictions.
Psychology - 13.06.2019 
Is every type of social support helpful?
New neuroscience research suggests support-dependent modulation of responses to social exclusion Social support can change the way we perceive an unpleasant situation, but some types of support seem more effective than others. An international team of researchers led by Giorgia Silani from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna, has shown that negative feelings and brain responses are modulated by the type of social support we receive after being socially excluded.
Psychology - Life Sciences - 20.05.2019 
Empathic birds
Raven observers show emotional contagion with raven demonstrators experiencing an unpleasant affect To effectively navigate the social world, we need information about each other's emotions. Emotional contagion has been suggested to facilitate such information transmission, constituting a basic building block of empathy that could also be present in non-human animals.
Psychology - 12.04.2018 
Sexual objectification influences visual perception
It has been suggested that sexually objectified women or men are visually processed in the same fashion of an object. Far from being unanimously accepted, this claim has been criticized by a lack of scientific rigor. A team led by Giorgia Silani, in collaboration with Helmut Leder, of the University of Vienna, and scientists of the University of Trieste and SISSA have explored the conditions under which this phenomenon persists.
Psychology - Life Sciences - 11.04.2017 
Stress can increase empathy
Acute psychosocial stress leads to increased empathy and prosocial behavior. An international team of researchers led by Claus Lamm from the University of Vienna investigated the effects of stress on neural mechanisms and tested the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior in a new experiment.
Art and Design - Psychology - 12.11.2015 
It’s music to my eyes
When people are listening to music, their emotional reactions to the music are reflected in changes in their pupil size. Researchers from the University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck, Austria, are the first to show that both the emotional content of the music and the listeners' personal involvement with music influence pupil dilation.
Psychology
Results 1 - 14 of 14.
In the case of boredom, we think of many situations in life but intuitively not of exams. However, an international team of academics led by Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna has now studied exactly this phenomenon of test boredom for the first time and found remarkable results. According to the study, school students are actually very bored during exams.
Man-made works of art, however, are viewed more positively. Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) are also becoming increasingly important in the art world. AI-generated artworks fetch millions at auction, and artists routinely use algorithms to generate aesthetic content. A team of scientists at the University of Vienna has now been able to show through experiments that, contrary to common assumptions, people perceive emotions and intentions when viewing art even if they know that the work was generated by a computer.
People suffering from obesity are at a significantly greater risk of also developing mental disorders. This applies to all age groups, whereby women are more at risk than men for most diseases, as a recent study by the Medical University of Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna shows. The results were published in the specialist journal "Translational Psychiatry".
The objective measurement of the ways in which people move in front of art shows that there are four different groups that also report different art experiences. A recent study led by University of Vienna psychologists has shed light on the impact of viewers' movements and positioning when looking at art.
Fewer men than women are diagnosed as having depression. One possible reason for this is that there is still a lack of awareness that this mental illness is characterised by different symptoms in men than in women.
More than 5% of all Austrians suffer from depression. However, little is known about the biological basis of this disease. In a new study, scientists led by Alexander Karabatsiakis from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Innsbruck have now observed a strong correlation between the severity of depression and the level of the stress hormone cortisol in hair.
New statistical method applied for the first time Mindfulness is the ability to focus one's attention on the present moment and to approach the resulting impressions, thoughts, and feelings with curiosity, openness, and acceptance. A team of psychologists from the University of Vienna led by Ulrich Tran now shows in a comprehensive review that the increase of mindfulness not only explains the positive effect of meditation and similar treatments on mental health, but also of psychotherapeutic treatments in which meditation plays no role at all.
Engaging with traditional media not associated with happiness or anxiety levels Consuming traditional forms of media - including books, music and television - has little effect on short-term adult well-being, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Vienna, published in Nature Scientific Reports.
During pandemics, protective behaviors need to be motivated by effective communication. A critical factor in understanding a population's response to such a threat is the fear it elicits, since fear both contributes to motivating protective responses, but can also lead to panic-driven behaviors. Furthermore, lockdown measures affect well-being, making it important to identify protective factors that help to maintain high perceived levels of health during restrictions.
New neuroscience research suggests support-dependent modulation of responses to social exclusion Social support can change the way we perceive an unpleasant situation, but some types of support seem more effective than others. An international team of researchers led by Giorgia Silani from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna, has shown that negative feelings and brain responses are modulated by the type of social support we receive after being socially excluded.
Raven observers show emotional contagion with raven demonstrators experiencing an unpleasant affect To effectively navigate the social world, we need information about each other's emotions. Emotional contagion has been suggested to facilitate such information transmission, constituting a basic building block of empathy that could also be present in non-human animals.
It has been suggested that sexually objectified women or men are visually processed in the same fashion of an object. Far from being unanimously accepted, this claim has been criticized by a lack of scientific rigor. A team led by Giorgia Silani, in collaboration with Helmut Leder, of the University of Vienna, and scientists of the University of Trieste and SISSA have explored the conditions under which this phenomenon persists.
Acute psychosocial stress leads to increased empathy and prosocial behavior. An international team of researchers led by Claus Lamm from the University of Vienna investigated the effects of stress on neural mechanisms and tested the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior in a new experiment.
When people are listening to music, their emotional reactions to the music are reflected in changes in their pupil size. Researchers from the University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck, Austria, are the first to show that both the emotional content of the music and the listeners' personal involvement with music influence pupil dilation.
