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Is Success in Our Genes?
Many factors influence the course of a person’s career, from a strong personal motivation to succeed to a leg up because of a family connection. One factor that psychological scientists are increasingly exploring is the extent to which our professional success is shaped by our genes. In a recent study, published in Psychological Science, a team of researchers led by Daniel W. Belsky of Duke University School of Medicine investigated the link between genetics and upward social mobility.
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Science of Implicit Bias to Be Focus of US Law Enforcement Training
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week that it will formally integrate findings from psychological science into new training curricula for more than 28,000 DOJ employees as a way of combating implicit bias among law enforcement agents and prosecutors. The training program began rolling out Monday and is expected to continue through 2017. Accumulated evidence from decades of psychological research has shown that even when individuals do not show outward bias toward individuals from certain groups, they often show evidence of implicit bias – or bias that influences behavior in subtle ways that operate outside of conscious awareness.
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Who’s the Better Judge of a Good Idea: You or Your Boss?
After the success of his movie American Graffiti, George Lucas pitched an idea for a little sci-fi flick called “The Star Wars” to several major film studios; United Artists, Universal Pictures, and Disney all passed on the ambitious project. Star Wars, which was produced for $11 million dollars in 1977, went on to become one of the biggest box office successes in the history of film. Adjusted for inflation, the Star Wars films have raked in over $21 billion dollars—a fact that has probably haunted all the studio executives who initially passed on the project.
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Symposium in Honor of Janet Taylor Spence
Recorded in May 2016 at the 28th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago.
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NIH Simplifies IRB Procedures for Multisite Studies
Multisite research collaborations can lead to significant discoveries, but they are also a challenge for many reasons, including logistical ones. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have introduced a new policy to streamline one aspect of these valuable projects: Now, multisite, NIH-funded studies conducting the same experiment are required to use only a single institutional review board (IRB) to oversee the research. This new policy begins May 25, 2017, and affects NIH-funded multisite studies which intend to use the same experimental protocol.
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Why Driving Lessons Should Go Green
A promising new study shows that a simple behavioral intervention for bus drivers may go a long way towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
