Convergence: Connecting Levels of Analysis in Psychological Science
In the past, our field harbored distinct, and often competing, schools of thought that tackled different problems and produced findings that often appeared to diverge. Today, investigators attack shared problems at complementary levels of analysis and produce results that converge. Studies of people in a social world; mental systems of cognition and emotion; and biological mechanisms of the genome and the nervous system interconnect and yield an integrated psychological science. The APS 23rd Annual Convention displays, and celebrates, these advances in our field.

Invited Symposium

Emotional Influences on Decision Making

Saturday, May 26, 2012, 9:00 AM - 10:20 AM
Ontario

Chair: Benjamin R. Newell
University of New South Wales, Australia

Dread Risk: Terrorism & Bicycle Accidents
Peter Ayton
City University London, United Kingdom
Gigerenzer (2004) claimed that dread evoked by the September 11, 2001 attacks prompted switching from flying to driving, producing additional road accidents causing 1,500 fatalities. We consider these disputed findings in light of our analyses of the effects of the 2005 London public transport attacks on bicycling and bicycling casualties.

Peter Ayton in the news: Reuters (Dec 19, 2011).

Read the APS Daily Observation on Peter Ayton.

Peter Ayton in The Faces and Minds of Psychological Science

The More Who Die, the Less We Care: Psychic Numbing and Genocide
Paul Slovic
University of Oregon
The statistics of genocide and other mass atrocities fail to spark emotion or feeling and thus fail to motivate action. Recognizing that we cannot trust our intuitive moral feelings to motivate proper action against genocide, we must look to, and strengthen, moral argument and international law.

Paul Slovic in the news: The New York Times (Feb 26, 2012).

Complex Risky Choice and Emotions
John W. Payne
Duke University
Research will be reviewed that explores both the direct effects (e.g., sensitivity to losses) and the indirect effects (e.g., the moods of happiness versus sadness) of emotions on risky choice. Choices between complex gambles with multiple outcomes, and the possibilities of both gains and losses is emphasized. The research includes measures of choice, response times, fMRI, and eye-tracking.

Subject Area: Cognitive