Children's Judgments about whether Objects Are Owned - Research Paper Example

There are various concepts in the sense of ownership, as in how objects can be handled in an appropriate manner (Neary et al., 2012, p. 150). It can also be very helpful in avoiding sibling quarrels about toys and food items; or in profiling certain criminals prone to commit fraud, burglary, or theft (Chapman, 1968, p. 90). Age-Related Changes in Detecting Happiness This second article is concerned with the study done on age-related changes in the ability to distinguish between enjoyment smiles (a happy smile) and non-enjoyment smiles (a smile just for the sake of smiling and for social purposes, but without any happy emotion involved).

The research was conducted by a team from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and its full title is “Age-related changes in detecting happiness: Discriminating between enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles” and its results were first published in the journal of Psychology and Aging back in March 2010. The aim of their research was to determine if age differences can be influential in discriminating between these two kinds of smiles. Their hypothesis was an ability to distinguish different smiles can have big social consequences, especially on personal interactions because it is a person's physiognomy (facial features) that are first to be noticed, and by which one can judge that person's character and emotional temperament.

Research subjects were both younger and older adults; the older people tend to be biased and view a smile as positive (Slessor et al., 2010, p. 246), due to the realization that time is running short and it is much better to enjoy life. Younger people attached more meaning to a smile, so those in service industries should smile often. The Therapist Effect The third summary in this paper is a magazine article written by the feature writer Amy Novotney entitled “The Therapist Effect” and published in the Monitor on Psychology only this month.

Essentially, the article talks about how some therapists are effective with their patients while others are not quite effective. Some psychologists are effective in using psychotherapy as in most cases, they possess certain personal qualities or characteristics that allow them to form a bond with their patients. Factors such as good verbal fluency, excellent interpersonal skills, show warmth, express acceptance, exhibit empathy, and can relate with the patient's feelings all contribute to gaining their trust, and thereby tend to be more effective in terms of patient response (Novotney, 2013, p. 48). The article is likewise promoting the idea that psychotherapy is much better when compared to medications, as it has fewer side effects and lower relapse rates when therapy is discontinued.

The usefulness of the article is it pointed to two new research directions today: insight in therapy and the corrective experience. The value of the article is that psychotherapy is more effective in the longer term and also more cost-effective than drugs, like cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT (Hofmann, 2011, p. 5) in treating many mental disorders, such as anxiety.