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APS Convention Newsstand

Thanks for a wonderful convention! Check out the recent media coverage stemming from this year’s excellent program:

New Scientist: Why cockiness counts for more than expertise

US News & World Report: The Whole World is Optimistic, Survey Finds

Psychcentral.com: Lies, Lies, Lies

Science Magazine: A Shake May Prevent  A Crash

USA Today: All the rage in baby names: What’s unusual

Time/CNN: Competitive Altruism: Being Green in Public

Sunday in Pictures

Psychology and Policy

Obviously, there are many areas of psychological research that inform public policy, but few topics affect as many people as informed decision-making in the realm of healthcare. Enter Psychological Science in the Public Interest as a guide for policy-makers, clinicians, and doctors alike. In the recently published PSPI “Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics” by Gerd Gigerenzer, and “Current Status and Future Prospects of Clinical Psychology: Toward a Scientifically Principled Approach to Mental and Behavioral Health Care” by Timothy Baker, set to be published early this Fall, the authors presented two separate but equally important issues in modern healthcare. (more…)

The Ghost in the Machine

Neuroscience is the new black. “It has rappelled down from its ivory tower and eloped from the hospital world,” Martha Farah asserted during her William James Award Address on Sunday. No longer just pretty pictures on a screen, studies of the brain have contributed to a host of enhancement techniques. (more…)

Adversity and the Genome

The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the understanding of the environmental impact on our genes. Sunday’s Theme Program, “Gene-Environment Interplay in Stress and Health,” presented the latest research in how environmental stress impacts health and behavior from the genetic level up.  (more…)

Women of Psychology

The “History of Women in Psychology” symposium provided a very interesting glimpse into the history and challenges women psychologists have faced. Ann Johnson began the program by talking about the “classic history” of women in psychology: “That’s the ‘classic history’ – they are left out and excluded,” she observed. (more…)

On the Road

With the rise of driver distraction, much effort has been made towards the development of warning signals to prevent collisions. Arizona State University psychologist Robert Gray discussed possible auditory, tactile, and visual solutions to warn drivers of possible collisions. “Designing Effective Collision Warnings for Drivers” could have been attended by psychologists and non-psychologists alike. Any person with a driver’s license would have benefited from the innovative research currently underway to decrease the number of accidents caused by driver error.

Dr. Gray recognizes that humans make errors. While talking on a cell phone when driving is not safe, it is normal behavior. “The problem is not the driver, but the roadway/vehicle/driver system,” he said.A wide range of solutions were offered to correct the driver system and studies showing the benefits of collision warning signals were presented. Still, Dr. Gray’s closing picture of a man talking widely on a cell phone during a near fender bender reminded us all “not to be that guy.”

-Christina Smith

Better Leaders Through Science

“I don’t know if I’m impressed there are so many people here at 9am, or disturbed there are so many people here at 9am.” That was Michigan State psychologist Fred Morgenson’s wry comment at this morning’s session on leadership, chaired by Purdue’s Deidra Schleicher. Bruce Avolio of the University of Washington led off, describing a life-span approach to leader development and raising the question: How important is serendipity (“happy accidents”) in the creation of effective leaders? His answer: Life develops leaders, but we should throw in some training to help it along. Leadership trainers need to examine and develop leadership at the individual level–everyone has a different pattern of development. He referred to this as the “Pandora effect”–as in, one thing builds on another on another.

Morgenson focused on the nature of the team leader. Events challenge teams and leaders by creating uncertainty and disrupting routines. He discussed how events and challenges affect teams, and noted the difficulty in knowing when and how leaders should intervene. 

-Bob Nolan

Productive Aging

Turns out getting older can be good for your emotional health. In a National Institute on Aging (NIA)-sponsored symposium on emotion regulation in older adults, James Gross, Derek Isaacowitz, Mara Mather, and Heather Urry argued that these individuals pay more attention and are more responsive to  positive stimuli (such as happy faces) than do young adults. (more…)

The Neurons of Social Life

Humans are social animals, but what’s going on in the neurons when people interact in groups? Several researchers gathered this morning to offer partial answers to this big question.

Ralph Adolphs of the California Institute of Technology presented evidence that people with amygdala lesions use different facial areas to determine whether an expression is threatening than do healthy controls. Healthy controls focus on the eyes, where people with amygdala damage focus on the mouth. Interestingly, people with autism perform equally well as controls despite using the mouth region. Eye-tracking studies indicate that autistics look at both the mouth and eyes, perhaps because of two competing processes: a natural tendency to look at the mouth area and social training to make eye contact. (more…)