News Release
August 11, 2004
For Immediate Release
New York University's Elizabeth Phelps Elected to
APS Board of Directors
Elizabeth Phelps of New York University has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Society, an international organization dedicated to the advancement of scientific psychology.
Phelps is a professor of psychology and neural science. She and colleagues investigate the brain activity underlying memory and emotion. Much of Phelps' research has focused on the phenomenon of "learned fear", a tendency of animals to fear situations associated with frightening events, and she is credited with ground-breaking discoveries about the functioning of the human amygdala, considered our seat of emotion and learning.
"APS is one of the few organizations that brings together a wide range of researchers in psychology. As a cognitive neuroscientist with interests in emotion and social behavior, APS represents all of my interests. It is a great forum for interdisciplinary approaches to the scientific investigation of behavior," she said about her recent election to the Board.
A recognized leader in cognitive neuroscience research, Phelps investigates human behavior with an interdisciplinary approach that is both biological and behavioral. Her most recent projects investigate the interaction of emotion and decision-making and the role of the amygdala in social learning and judgments, with a special interest in racial biases.
Phelps is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the 21st Century Scientist Award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
Also elected to the Board were Michael Gazzaniga, Dartmouth College, as President-Elect, and Richard Bootzin, University of Arizona, as a Member-at-Large. Each is serving a three-year term which began on June 1, 2004.
The American Psychological Society is the only organization dedicated exclusively to supporting researchers, applied and clinical scientists, academics, and teachers in the field of psychology. The Society is a powerful voice in promoting psychology as a science-based discipline and advancing behavioral science research.
For more information about the APS, go to www.psychologicalscience.org/about/.