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Special Initiative on Integrating Biology and Social Science Knowledge Accepting Inquiries
The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) has launched a special initiative, Integrating Biology and Social Science Knowledge, which will capitalize on new theories, concepts, and data from the biological sciences to advance research in RSF core programs in social inequality, behavioral economics, the future of work, and race, ethnicity, and immigration. The initiative is intended to integrate biology into social science models and social and environmental circumstances into biological models in order to further the understanding of how environments influence behaviors and socioeconomic outcomes. A detailed letter of inquiry must precede a full proposal.
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Russell Sage Foundation Seeking Applicants for Visiting Scholars Program
The Russell Sage Foundation is seeking applicants for its Visiting Scholars Program, a unique opportunity for select scholars in the social, economic, and behavioral sciences to pursue their research and writing at the foundation in New York City (NYC). Visiting Scholars typically work on projects related to the foundation’s core programs and special initiatives. The fellowship period is September 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Scholars are provided with an office at the foundation, research assistance, computers, library access, and supplemental salary support. Scholars from outside NYC are provided with a partially-subsidized apartment near RSF.
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Change Your Mind-Set, Reduce Your Chronic Pain
Humans, like other animals, are born with an instinctive motivation to escape pain. Think about the last time you touched something painfully hot and how quickly you pulled away from it. Your quick and automatic action is the result of hardwired biology meant to preserve your health and survival. When it comes to ongoing, severe pain that comes from within your own body—migraine or back pain, for example—escape isn’t so easy. About 100 million Americans experience this kind of chronic agony, making it more prevalent than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined—and it has a significant impact on their lives.
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Yale’s beloved happiness class is now on the internet for free
Happiness, they say, is infectious. Perhaps that is why the most popular course ever to be taught at Yale University—this semester enrolling 1,200 students, or a quarter of the undergraduate student body—is one titled “Psychology and the Good Life.” PSYC 157, or “Laurie Santos’ happiness class” as it is affectionately known on Yale’s campus, teaches practical advice such as how to pick a meaningful career and how to separate satisfying pursuits from hollow ones.
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Even minor stress can impact long-term health, study warns
That exposure to stress is a risk factor for many health problems, such as cardiovascular issues, anxiety and depression, and chronic pain, is a familiar idea. Yet we may think that it's only certain kinds of major stressors — such as getting fired, going through a breakup, or undergoing surgery — that significantly impact our lives. But, recent research explains that even small stressors can harm our long-term health if we hold on to how they make us feel. For example, a misunderstanding with a friend today might lead to health issues later in life if we let this stress factor carry over into the next day.
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The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’
In the early ‘90s, a New Zealand man named Neil Fleming decided to sort through something that had puzzled him during his time monitoring classrooms as a school inspector. In the course of watching 9,000 different classes, he noticed that only some teachers were able to reach each and every one of their students. What were they doing differently? --- In other words, “there’s evidence that people do try to treat tasks in accordance with what they believe to be their learning style, but it doesn’t help them,” says Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia.
