Love and Hate: Not Your Fault

Studies showed that part of the brain putamen (connected to the perception of contempt and disgust) and the insula activated when people see someone they hate. These parts of the brain also activated by romantic love. The putamen could also be involved in the preparation of aggressive acts in a romantic context during the rival situation. It is fascinating to see how both hate and love lead one to make irrational, heroic and evil decisions. The two opposite sentiments lead to the same behaviour because they are triggered from the same part of the brain.

Monkey Helps Relatives and Friends, So Do You

Capuchin monkeys try to choose options that get food for others. When they are paired with relative or friend, the monkeys choose double reward “prosocial” choice than ” Self-fish” choice. But when it comes to strangers, they choose “self-fish” option. In the study monkeys were given tokens to exchange for food. One token got them a slice of apple. The other also got an apple slice, plus a similar slice to another monkey. When it comes to partner or familiar monkey from the same social group, the one choosing the token moved closer to the other monkey and choose the token that got them both food. But when the other monkey was a stranger, they choose selfish token to get food just for them.

Peer Pressure To Be Slim

Teenage girls identify themselves according to the peer groups that they belong to. A study done in University of Miami proved that girls’ own definition of normal body weight and their perception of what others consider normal body weight depend on the peer group that they are in.

Dangerous weight control behaviours such as excessive dieting and can lead to serious long-term health implications. Teen girls identifying with athletic peers are less concerned about their weight while girls identifying with non-conformist peers are more concerned about their weight and appearance. Latter group tends to practice dangerous weight losing techniques.

Recovery From Heroin

A study compared the effectiveness of naltrexone (a standard treatment for heroin addiction), buprenorphine and placebo in treating drug addiction. The U.S researchers proved that Buprenorphine helps heroin addicts to stay clean for more number of days compared to other treatments. According to the study, buprenorphine performed best in maintenance of heroin abstinence, prevention of relapse, and reduction of HIV risk behavior of patients.

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