Tag "IQ"

Couples with three or more children often feel that others judge or refuse to understand them. Their decision to have many children seems to annoy their extended family, neighbours, colleagues, health professionals and government bureaucrats. Very often, other large families are the only one who offer them support. Based on findings from in-depth interviews, HSE researchers describe the effect that social interactions can have on fertility.

Little is known to science about the origins of dementia, except in cases stemming from such external causes as traumatic brain injuries and infections. At present, the dominant theory points to a link with Alzheimer’s — itself a disease whose causes have not been explained and that lacks reliable diagnostic criteria. Professor Vasily Vlasov of the Health Care Administration and Economics Department of the Social Sciences Faculty at HSE University explains what science currently knows about dementia.

In 2013, Russia banned smoking in public places such as cafes, restaurants and nightclubs, as well as on trains, in playgrounds, etc. Statistical analysis has revealed, however, that 26% of male and 28% of female smokers do not always comply with these smoking bans. A full report from a study by Ludmila Zasimova, Assistant Professor at the HSE Department of Applied Economics, has been published in the International Journal of Public Health.

HSE psychologists have studied how the presence or absence of siblings, as well as birth order, affect children’s ability to maintainpersonal boundaries. The results showed that only children and second-born children have the strongest sense of personal boundaries, while first-born children have the least. However, as children become adults, their ability to balance between their own needs and those of others becomes determined more by gender.

Temporary or informally employed people are less satisfied with their lives than those with a permanent job. The most apparent differences can be seen in countries with strict labour laws. Tatiana Karabchuk and Natalia Soboleva investigated the legislative impact on the social well-being of employed populations in European countries and Russia.

Nikolai Pavlenko, a shadow entrepreneur and creator of a successful business in Stalin’s USSR, was executed by firing squad in 1955. Running a successful commercial enterprise right under the dictator’s nose in a strictly planned economy was a striking but not so uncommon case in the Soviet Union at the time, according to HSE professor Oleg Khlevniuk who made a number of unexpected findings having studied newly accessible archival documents. Below, IQ.HSE offers a summary of what his study reveals.

This year, a slowdown is expected in the Russian economy. According to some forecasts, the country will enter recession in 2021 or possibly even earlier. However, according to the HSE Centre for Business Tendencies Studies (CBTS), there are no noticeable signs of recession at the moment. This article looks at what keeps Russia's economy from picking up pace and why slowdowns are a possibility, according to the HSE CBTS.

Mental health disorders are among the leading worldwide causes of disease and long-term disability. This issue has a long and painful history of gradual de-stigmatization of patients, coinciding with humanization of therapeutic approaches. What are the current trends in Russia regarding this issue and in what ways is it similar to and different from Western countries? IQ.HSE provides an overview of this problem based on research carried out by Svetlana Kolpakova.

A flexible schedule is one of the main advantages of freelance work. But don’t rejoice in your freedom just yet: self-employment often disrupts the balance between life and work and takes up more time than traditional office work. HSE University researchers Denis Strebkov and Andrey Shevchuk investigated the downsides of independent work.

When reading words on a screen, the human brain comprehends words placed on the right side of the screen faster. The total amount of presented information on the screen also affects the speed and accuracy of the brain’s ability to process words. These are the findings of HSE researchers Elena Gorbunova and Maria Falikman presented in an article that was published in the journal, Advances in Cognitive Psychology.