2025 Preliminary Program

The APS Convention Registration Desk is located on the Terrace Level of the hotel, in the Columbia Ballroom, which can be accessed via elevator or escalator.

Teaching Institute - Navigating Threats to Social Identities in the Classroom

The APS Convention Registration Desk is located on the Terrace Level of the hotel, in the Columbia Ballroom, which can be accessed via elevator or escalator.

Teaching Institute - Powerful Teaching: Unleash Learning in Your Classroom

Variable selection methods are useful when a researcher isn’t sure which predictors to include in their model. In this workshop we will review and compare modern approaches to address this age-old problem, including LASSO and Bayesian variable selection methods.

We’ll begin this workshop by exploring longitudinal data and learning how to characterize and format it appropriately for analysis. Then, we’ll fit multilevel models to our data, focusing on growth curve models. All models will be conceptualized, fit, and interpreted.

This workshop aims to develop theoretical knowledge and practical skills (primarily in R) with multilevel models, focusing on considerations for real data analysis. These models are commonly used with nested data structures, including children nested within classrooms or families, or with longitudinal data. Frequentist and Bayesian perspectives will be addressed.

Teaching Institute - The New Get Psyched Curriculum: How to Make Intro Psych Memorable with Five Pathways to Learning

Teaching Institute - Beyond the Lab: Rethinking How We Teach Developmental Science

The two-part Clinical Science Forum focuses on the future of clinical science. In Part One, recent rising stars in clinical science will showcase their work. In Part Two, Q&A panel speakers will provide updates on projects funded by APCS to improve clinical science training. The Clinical Science Forum is organized by the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science.

A registered report is a multi-stage publication that is accepted at a journal prior to data collection and analysis, removing the opportunity for publication bias. This workshop will introduce registered reports, help researchers identify journals, find examples, and provide guidance for writing and navigating the review and publication process.

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) combines common factor analysis with multiple regression to allow researchers to assess true score relations among constructs of theoretical interest. This workshop presents an overview of the logic, implementation, and interpretation of SEMs. Topics covered include: path analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural regression analysis.

Teaching Institute - A Better Understanding of Job Burnout

The two-part Clinical Science Forum focuses on the future of clinical science. In Part One, recent rising stars in clinical science will showcase their work. In Part Two, Q&A panel speakers will provide updates on projects funded by APCS to improve clinical science training. The Clinical Science Forum is organized by the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science.

Teaching Institute - Show Don’t Tell: Using Video to Diversify Teaching About Child Development

Teaching Institute - Learning About Research By Doing Research: Teaching Research Methods Through Replication Studies With The Collaborative Replication and Education Project

Join us! Enjoy light refreshments while chatting with your clinical science colleagues, Forum speakers, and APCS president about (a) improving clinical science training and (b) how to move the needle forward in clinical science!

Teaching Institute - “If you just keep pushing it away, it’s gonna be harder and harder to learn about it”: Reflections and Lessons From Students and Teachers About Discussing Race in the Classroom

Join colleagues at the APS Teaching Institute Reception - an opportunity to renew old acquaintances and network with fellow attendees. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served. You must be registered for the Teaching Institute to attend.

Memory is a constructive process: As we experience an event, we build a memory representation, and later when we retrieve the memory, we build the representation anew. Kensinger’s work has focused on emotion’s influence on these constructive processes. More specifically, what details do people build into their memory representations for good or bad experiences? What neural processes do they use to build these representations? How can these memories, and their narrative framings, influence behavior? To what extent do the answers differ if someone is 70 versus 20 years old? What if they are experiencing high levels of stress? These are the questions Kensinger and her laboratory members have been investigating for nearly two decades. She will describe how they have used in-the-laboratory experiments and assessments of autobiographical memories, often combined with fMRI methodology, to provide answers. Kensinger will also note new questions these experiments have raised, suggesting avenues for future research.

Join the entire convention delegation in the APS Exhibit Hall for the Opening Reception and poster session, following the Opening Keynote Address. The APS Exhibit Hall will be open 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM on Thursday, May 22.

Meet fellow students and dance along to a live DJ! Play social bingo to be entered into a drawing for prizes, chat about your research, and learn more about APS from Student Caucus Executive Board members. All 21+ attendees also receive a ticket for a free drink from the cash bar located in the event ballroom!

The APS Convention Registration Desk is located on the Terrace Level of the hotel, in the Columbia Ballroom, which can be accessed via elevator or escalator.

Jump into day 2 of the Convention with coffee before the Psychological Science and Society Plenary Session.

It is well known that the adult brain is highly lateralized for language: The left hemisphere is primarily responsible for sentence processing, the right hemisphere for processing emotion and intonation. However, many have suggested that there is plasticity for language in early life, allowing children to acquire language by using other cortical regions when left hemisphere language areas are damaged. Are these claims true? Which areas of the brain are capable of controlling language functions, and how well do they do this? Newport has been studying language processing and neural activation in teenagers and young adults who have had a stroke at birth to the left hemisphere brain areas ordinarily subserving language or to the right hemisphere areas ordinarily subserving the processing of emotion. Her results provide insights into the remarkable ability of the young brain to reorganize these functions in specific and highly constrained ways.

Stop by the APS Exhibit Hall for a mid-morning boost!

The APS Exhibit Hall will be open 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM and 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM on Friday, May 23. The APS Exhibit Hall will close from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM. There will be coffee available all day in the APS Exhibit Hall.

Need a professional headshot? Visit the headshot booth in the APS Exhibit Hall, Booth 107 at 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM on Friday and Saturday to have a professional photo taken. Sponsored by Sage Publishing.

This session highlights principles to effectively engage in research, practice, and policy that produces equitable outcomes. Informed by his career as a school psychologist, Charles Barrett discusses adopting a systems orientation; challenging ourselves and others; looking beyond quantitative data; centering those whom we serve; empowering families; and being cognizant of our lived experiences.

From high school classrooms to doctoral coursework, discussions of psychology’s history play an integral role in the psychology curriculum. This presentation uses specific teaching resources and content examples to describe how engagement with psychology’s history can foster enthusiasm and critical thinking for students at all levels of learning.

This symposium assembles novel research on how the brain processes vocal cues of emotion and attitudinal intent. The assembled presentations use innovative neuroimaging methods to advance our understanding of a) developmental variations in the neural representation of vocal emotion, and b) neural response to vocal cues of attitudinal intent.

This symposium presents interdisciplinary models that explore the relationships among mental health, social health, social capital, and physical environmental factors. Research from various countries, along with practical implications and strategies for fostering connected communities, will be showcased.

Using systematic review, meta-analyses, and intervention adaptation design, we examined digital mental health interventions’ efficacy, identified methods to enhance and adapt them, and proposed evidence-informed strategies for clinical integration. These findings suggest the importance of balancing professional support and digital innovation, supporting more accessible, personalized, and scalable mental health care.

Despite its critical importance, suicide prediction remains little better than chance, necessitating innovative approaches to identify risk and protective factors. This symposium examines distinct predictive factors (e.g., interpersonal, physiological, affective) across varied populations using ecological momentary assessment, offering a more comprehensive understanding of near-time experiences contributing to suicidal ideation.

Network psychometrics are common for investigating interrelationships among symptoms of PTSD. While generative, these approaches remain limited in their ability to explain PTSD-related phenomena. Here, we take the position that formal theories are essential to advance our understanding of PTSD, highlighting two ongoing efforts to formalize theories of PTSD maintenance.

Given advances in AI, what is about to happen to psychological science? We explore novel AI-based methods and consider how the field should think about generative AI—as mirrors, minds, stochastic parrots?—issues that will shape the next century of behavioral research.

This symposium highlights cutting-edge research on the fundamental properties of mental imagery and its clinical applications in psychological therapy. By exploring innovative techniques such as future-oriented imagery rescripting, preventive cognitive therapy, and technologically-supported interventions like virtual reality and deep fake, the symposium offers new pathways for enhancing treatment outcomes.

This symposium presents four talks demonstrating the impact of views of aging about general gains and losses and prosociality on ageist attitudes, interpersonal goals, self-reported and actual prosocial behavior, and explores the role of awareness of age-related changes in Western (Europe, USA) and Asian cultural contexts (South Korea, China).

In the US, there are 2,267 institutions of higher education catering to undergraduates. However, the predominant ethos in graduate teaching involves training academics for positions at large research institutions. Given that competition for academic jobs is incredibly high, we propose an alternative career path; primarily undergraduate serving institutions (PUIs).

Psychological scientists increasingly look beyond traditional federal funding sources to support their research, community partnerships, and public engagement. This session spotlights foundations that prioritize behavioral and brain science, social equity, and public impact. Attendees will learn what these funders are looking for, how to craft compelling proposals, and how to align their work with the broader missions of private philanthropy.

This workshop introduces item response theory (IRT), a class of psychometric models describing interactions between people and test/survey questions. Through lectures, discussions, and interactive examples, we will explore the basic tenets of IRT, common dichotomous and polytomous IRT models, and applications in psychological science.

The symposium explores the psychological foundations of extremism across political, ideological, and environmental domains. Through four talks and a discussion, we will examine the motivations, rhetoric, and grievances driving extreme behaviors and ideologies. The session elucidates the psychological mechanisms and societal contexts contributing to the emergence and effects of extremism.

This symposium presents research that applies Cultural Consensus Theory to examine the agreement on beliefs on love across diverse populations. Through three talks—focusing on U.S. older adults, U.S. immigrants, and a Spanish sample—we explore culture-specific and universal patterns in love beliefs, and individual differences in people’s knowledge about love.

How to Get Published

Open Science Tools is a small team of psychology researchers creating free and affordable tools to support high-quality, accessible research. This talk will introduce three key resources: PsychoPy, a free open-source application for building experiments in the lab; Pavlovia.org, an online platform for sharing and hosting studies; and Pavlovia Surveys, a cost-effective survey creation tool. In addition to showcasing what these tools can do and how to get started, we’ll also discuss how researchers can build sustainable business models to support the long-term development of research tools.

Recent advances in cognitive, clinical, and developmental neuroscience have offered methodological recommendations for psychological research that employs brain imaging measures. One line of work has highlighted the statistical necessity of studies to include hundreds (if not thousands) of participants, for reliable insights into brain-behavior relationships. An emerging alternative focuses instead on dense sampling, acquiring multiple scans of a small number of people. This symposium will bring together experts from both approaches, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of these new methodological approaches for psychological science, and the powerful ways in which they can advance our understanding of human behavior.

Two psychological scientists changed the course of history with one groundbreaking study—and their courage to talk about it in court. Another completely redesigned our kitchens and contributed to the success of the Apollo space program. Let’s bring the memory of these three remarkable psychological scientists into the 21st century.

This symposium highlights cutting-edge research on reward processing in depression and anxiety, a transdiagnostic mechanism linked to their development, maintenance, and comorbidity. Using diverse methodologies—experimental paradigms, self-reports, neuroimaging, and passive sensing—the presentations demonstrate how deficits in reward processing impact depression and anxiety and how treatments may improve reward processing.

Since its inception in 2017, the HiTOP framework has transformed our understanding of mental illness. This symposium addresses key questions about its utility, exploring the performance and validity of a novel HiTOP-specific measure, the behavioral manifestations of dimensional psychopathology, and implications for neurodiversity, advancing dimensional approaches to mental health research.

Measuring and modeling psychological phenomena as discrete components yields novel, clinically actionable insights into how psychological processes unfold over time (e.g., quantifying frequency and duration). In this symposium, we present research that uses probabilistic methods to characterize discrete psychological phenomena (e.g., emotion states, behavioral avoidance).

This symposium explores the psychological experiences of sexual minority men (SMM) through interdisciplinary research on identity, relationships, and mental health. Presentations address internalized homophobia, identity formation, masculinity’s influence on relationships, and intimate partner violence, offering integrative perspectives that challenge conventional narratives and promote inclusive, context-sensitive approaches to psychological well-being.

Present symposium examines psychosocial barriers that college students, particularly those from minoritized communities, experience within higher education and suggest approaches for addressing those barriers. A wide range of academic contexts (e.g., R1, R2, minority-serving institutions) and methods (e.g., longitudinal, randomized controlled trial, mixed-methods) are represented.

This Presidential Roundtable aims to increase awareness of the research efforts across different countries and continents on DEI issues and the successes and challenges of these efforts globally. Four researchers with expertise from across several countries present the research or practices that they have carried out and findings on effectiveness of different approaches. They also briefly discuss broader issues, such as the government support and protections in place, the response of business to DEI initiatives, the effect of US trends on these efforts, and the future of DEI research and interventions. Half of the session time is reserved for discussion among the panel and with the audience.

Just-in-time adaptive interventions show great promise for intervening on psychological disorders based on inputs collected from ecological momentary assessment studies. A challenge in this arena is successfully predicting these psychological episodes in order to best offer therapeutic intervention. In this symposium, we offer statistical solutions to this issue.

This symposium showcases recent methodological advances and novel applications of Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA), highlighting its versatility and robustness across different psychological research contexts. Through four interconnected presentations, we demonstrate how EGA provides innovative solutions to common challenges in dimensional assessment and structural analysis of psychological data.

This symposium brings together four talks that present work employing cutting-edge techniques to demonstrate 1) how sociocultural factors shape individuals’ representations of gender groups in the linguistic, visual, and moral domains and further, 2) how such representations perpetuate gender inequality.

What are the dangers of treating fiction as fact? This symposium explores how unsubstantiated convictions fuel harmful outcomes, including polarization, risky health behaviors, misinformation spread, and violence. Our findings highlight that misplaced certainty—treating fiction as fact—poses a substantial risk to individual well-being and societal stability.

Data Science for Psychologists introduces you to the principles of data science. In this hands-on workshop, you'll gain a strong foundation in R and the tidyverse, including data wrangling, modeling, visualization, and communication.

Psi Chi is deeply committed to advancing open scientific practice. The NSF-sponsored conference IGNITE (Innovating Global Networks to Inspire Tomorrow’s Experts) shared best practices for crowdsourced, global research using Psi Chi’s innovative research platforms. Come learn about freely available IGNITE resources designed to educate, train, and empower students and faculty.

Individuals with eating pathologies face elevated risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs). While existing theories on suicide are valuable for understanding risk, specific mechanisms promoting SITBs in this population remain underexplored. Our multimodal, multidisciplinary research highlights brain and body responsivity as a novel mechanism driving SITBs in eating pathologies.

This symposium presents studies aiming to optimize the digital delivery of meditation training. Presentations will examine the incorporation of lightweight digital prompts, small amounts of human support, computerized assessment of meditation-related skills, and evaluation of well-being growth mindset as a candidate mechanism.

This symposium addresses the need for evidence-based assessment methods in psychedelics research and describes methodological innovations driven by challenges raised by these interventions. Presentations include (1) a novel voice diary tool for intensive, longitudinal qualitative assessment; (2) the first EMA study in psychedelics; (3) a novel psychedelic adverse events measure.

The uptake of research-informed psychosocial interventions remains poor, especially in non-English speaking countries. Community participatory methodologies and digital solutions can facilitate the sharing of empirical knowledge with consumers in ways adaptable to diverse socio-cultural needs within available resources. This symposium highlights recent efforts in Japan and Brazil.

American children and adolescents of color report experiencing discrimination, exclusion and harassment. These experiences are associated with negative emotional, health, and academic outcomes. This symposium will discuss children and adolescents as active agents in shaping experiences regarding social exclusion and discrimination in their lives, increasing understanding about discrimination reduction.

This study examines the impact of parental authoritarian control on adult perceptions of workplace bullying, mediated by external locus of control and moderated by desire for power. Data from three studies demonstrate significant correlations, underscoring the model's utility in elucidating how childhood dynamics influence adult social and occupational behaviors.

Joining researchers from three countries, this symposium presents an integrative overview of key findings from highly systematic effort research programs grounded in the principles of motivational intensity theory. Using physiological measures, studies have generated important insights about how different psychological variables influence people’s vigor in performing tasks.

Emotion regulation is a dynamic process that varies across temporal, situational, and cultural contexts. This symposium uncovers mechanisms of emotional resilience by examining variability, regulatory goals, and strategy use through ecological momentary assessments. Findings provide novel insights into adaptive regulation and its role in promoting well-being and guiding future interventions.

Social connections are beneficial to well-being, but the accompanying comparisons to others can be threatening. In experimental, physiological, and social studies, we demonstrate how strategically positioning oneself in relation to others can mitigate social risks to self-concept by allowing vulnerable people to selectively seek social contexts that promote self-enhancement.

Intergroup contact is psychology’s most researched strategy for reducing prejudice and fostering political solidarity. New studies, however, call on researchers to rethink what we know about intergroup contact by asking whether intergroup contact actually works, what it measures, and how it translates to interminority relations (total N = 54465).

This session aims to consider what makes a successful mentoring experience for motivated individuals across all career-levels, specializations, and diverse identities within the field of psychological science. The goal of this panel is to provide a template to mentorship-seeking persons to promote the expansive future of the discipline.

Career transitions can be both expected, as when you move from one stage of training to another, and unexpected, when openings arise or circumstances change. These transition points bring uncertainty and opportunity. At times of transition, networks of peers and mentors can provide connections, advice, and support for career development. Our panelists bring expertise from multiple sectors to a discussion of building and maintaining professional networks throughout a career. Panel discussion and Q&A will run from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm, followed by a speed networking event.

The production, support, and application of psychological science are shaped by a complex network of advocacy organizations. This session brings together key groups that work to advance psychological science at the national level. Attendees will gain insight into the policy landscape, the role of advocacy in shaping science funding and visibility, and how individual researchers can connect with these efforts to amplify their work and contribute to the field’s collective impact.

An Intro Psych Course That Matters: What Our Neighbors Need to Know

Building the Future of Psychological Science

APS members are invited to the 2025 APS Business Meeting to talk with APS Board and staff leadership and learn more about what APS is doing with and for you. This is also an opportunity for you to share your thoughts and recommendations for the future of APS, particularly related to how we can increase participation in the Annual Convention, better engage globally, strengthen advocacy for psychological science, and re-envision our Board and committee structures to further strengthen our science.

Not sure what to do after you get your degree? This session is designed to provide valuable insights into non-academic career paths for our student members post-graduation. Our distinguished speakers will share their diverse professional experiences, offering guidance to help students navigate potential career trajectories beyond traditional academia. Join us as we explore the array of possibilities available in the broader professional landscape.

This lecture summarizes findings from over 2,500 meta-analyses, highlighting four key claims: fostering a positive class climate, empowering students to drive their learning, engaging teachers in evaluating their impact, and building collective teacher responsibility for assessing the fidelity and impact of teaching practices.

This symposium brings together computational investigations of diverse clinical phenomena: anorexia nervosa, insomnia, repetitive negative thinking, and psychotherapy with gay and bisexual men. The presentations converge on the theme of developing rich models—that capture the contexts that shape psychopathology (e.g., state variation, minority stress) and simulate clinically relevant phenomena.

Despite decades of research, depression remains a leading cause of disease burden. With no substantial differences in effectiveness between psychological treatment types, this symposium will feature talks on exploring individual differences in treatment response and mechanisms of change. These insights promise personalized approaches, improving outcomes by tailoring interventions.

Out-of-school time programs, such as Boys & Girls Club (BGC), present opportunities to promote a “whole-child, whole-family” (CDC, 2023) approach to well-being. This symposium highlights the ways one BGC is integrating behavioral health across program areas to build community and increase access to tailored supports and services.

Parents’ history of problem behaviors may influence the development of similar behaviors in their children.  Using data from the Northwestern Juvenile Project, our 28-year longitudinal study of previously detained youth and their children, we explore the intergenerational transmission of substance use disorders, crime, and firearm involvement among high-risk families.

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health is celebrating its 30^th anniversary. This symposium will highlight the office’s history and current work through presentations by OBSSR staff and researchers supported by OBSSR-led initiatives, improving health for all through research and capacity building.

Despite increased research, severe psychological outcomes have not declined in past decades. This is often attributed to psychology’s lack of formalized, theory-driven research. However, some argue theory alone cannot enhance prediction when key aspects of the research process remain underspecified. This symposium explores phenomena-detection and construct validation as paths forward.

What can psychological science tell us about how to lead the good life? We draw together recent advances that use cutting-edge methods to illustrate how human flourishing can be defined and promoted. These talks collectively point to the social, cognitive, and affective determinants of positive psychological functioning.

Perceivers spontaneously infer character traits from others' behaviors. Limited research, however, examined the content of those inferences; what traits are more likely to be spontaneously inferred, and when? The present symposium will focus on those questions and uncover the motivational factors playing key roles in the content of spontaneous impressions.

Connect with colleagues and share your experiences from the day at the Friday evening coffee break before the Plenary Panel Session: Human Language and Thought in the Era of Large Language Models.

This panel brings together leading early career voices whose work engages with the relationship between human language and LLMs. How do these advances in language technologies influence how we think about and study the psychology and neurobiology of human language processing? The capacity to rapidly communicate and think with language is a remarkable human ability that has been argued to separate humans from other forms of intelligence, biological or artificial. However, recent advances in artificial intelligence, specifically large language models (LLMs), appear to be approaching human-like performance. This symposium brings together leading early career voices whose work engages with the relationship between human language and LLMs. How do these advances in language technologies influence how we think about and study the psychology and neurobiology of human language processing?

Join colleagues at the Friday Night Reception - an opportunity to renew old acquaintances and network with fellow attendees. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served.

The APS Convention Registration Desk is located on the Terrace Level of the hotel, in the Columbia Ballroom, which can be accessed via elevator or escalator.

APS honors members throughout their careers with the field’s most prestigious awards and recognitions. The 2025 APS Awards Ceremony will recognize recipients of the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award, James S. Jackson Lifetime Achievement Award for Transformative Scholarship, William James Fellow Award, Mentor Award, and Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions. Join your colleagues to celebrate these achievements in psychological science. View the 2025 APS Award Recipients: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/2025-aps-award-recipients

Stop by the APS Exhibit Hall for a mid-morning boost!

The APS Exhibit Hall will be open 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 24. There will be coffee available all day in the APS Exhibit Hall.

Need a professional headshot? Visit the headshot booth in the APS Exhibit Hall, Booth 107 at 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM on Friday and Saturday to have a professional photo taken. Sponsored by Sage Publishing.

Prolonged exposure to racial discrimination threatens Black youth's development, but racial socialization and cultural frameworks like Collective Black Consciousness foster resilience and emotional well-being. Interventions highlighting community, cultural assets, and emotion regulation empower Black youth, enhancing mental health and supporting thriving amidst adversity, from childhood to emerging adulthood.

This panel will offer guidance for establishing equitable and impactful community-research partnerships. Representatives from the nonprofit FilExcellence will discuss their vision for conducting research that empowers Filipino American communities, and through an audience Q&A and small-group breakout session, will explore barriers and solutions to conducting community research.

Cognitive control allows us to think and behave flexibly based on our context, knowledge, and goals. In this address, I will discuss the role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control, focusing on how the brain represents the tasks we perform, and the implications this holds for our everyday behavior.

Abstract to follow

Inter-individual differences in memory impairment and underlying neural integrity in aging are well known. I will discuss the malleable factors, including sleep quality, depressive symptomology, and social determinants of health (e.g., discrimination stress, religiosity) that serve as mediators and moderators of individual differences in memory impairment, decline, and neural underpinnings.

The ability to learn is fundamental to remaining engaged, healthy, and employed in the dynamic landscape of work and life in the 21st century. This presentation will apply learning theory to adult learners across contexts and examine the individual differences, contextual, and cultural factors that shape learning in adult life.

This session will highlight how psychological scientists are engaging beyond academia to influence public policy, communicate with broader audiences, and shape the role of science in society. Through real life stories, practical strategies, and lessons learned, attendees will explore how to translate their research for policymakers, contribute to public debates, and build bridges between science and civic life. The session will include concrete tools for science communication and advocacy, as well as inspiring examples of researchers making an impact.

I briefly discuss the origins of situational strength research in work by, among others, former APS President Walter Mischel. I then discuss how the situational strength "torch" has more recently been picked up by industrial and organizational psychologists, including myself. I end with "known unknowns" for future research to tackle.

"The elevator pitch. We talk about it, say it is important for networking and sharing our research. And yet when it comes to actually doing it, we find ourselves using jargon, spending too much time on details that aren’t important, or not giving the right context for our audience.

Statistical models enable scientists to describe data, explain phenomena, form testable predictions, and (ideally) understand the world. To achieve such aims, a model and its components must undergo thorough evaluation. In this symposium, we confront the widely accepted methods of model evaluation, expose their limitations, and explore more insightful alternatives.

Intimate relationships can be home to both our highest highs and our lowest lows. I will present new findings from our laboratory-based research program on how couples’ emotions change with age, what well-being and health outcomes they predict, and how contextual factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) matter for couples’ emotions.

Abstract to follow

Abstract to follow

Financial exploitation can have devastating consequences. Deception plays a critical role, and detecting it is challenging. Susceptibility increases with age-related cognitive, socioemotional, and neurobiological changes. This talk will summarize human factors and deceptive contexts that heighten susceptibility to inform age-tailored interventions, including warnings and integrating AI with human-centered approaches to reduce victimization.

Construct proliferation is a problem across many areas of psychology and threatens scientific progress. This panel will address (a) what construct proliferation is, (b) why it is a problem, (c) statistical and methodological tools for addressing it, and (d) institutional changes (e.g., to graduate education, journal policies) to address it.

Well-executed evidence-based treatments significantly improve the quality and safety of care. Treatment guidelines are available for nearly every disorder, including eating disorders. However, not all patients benefits (sufficiently). I will reflect on this issue and will discuss my research lines aimed at optimizing treatment outcomes of psychotherapy for eating disorders.

Creating drawings of information can provide elaborative, pictorial, and motor cues that enhance later memory retrieval—but the relative contributions of these cues, and how they interact, remain poorly understood. To isolate the mechanisms underlying drawing’s effectiveness as a mnemonic tool, we developed a task battery compatible with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that systematically manipulates the presence or absence of these information sources. For instance, beyond standard drawing, participants completed tasks such as drawing “without ink” to test the role of visual feedback, and tracing to assess the contribution of elaborative processing. To examine the role of motor information, we used robot-guided movements to reinstate participants’ motor activity from encoding during later retrieval. Across these experiments and preliminary fMRI data, our findings highlight the critical role of motor information—but only when integrated with visual and, especially, elaborative cues. These results suggest that multimodal integration during encoding is fundamental to drawing’s power as a memory tool.

We examined whether response styles, such as socially desirable response style (SDR), leads to overestimation of classes in growth mixture models (GMMs). Longitudinal data were simulated from a single-class model with SDR, and GMM's were fit to the resulting data. We found spurious extraction of classes when SDR was present but unmodeled.

My talk explores how large language models like GPT-4 compare to humans in providing emotional support, focusing on cognitive reappraisal and perceived empathy. I examine how people respond to AI-generated support and how knowing its source—human or AI—affects their perception of empathy.

In this presentation, Dr. Noelle Hurd will discuss ways in which her program of research contends with risk stemming from systems of oppression and identifies opportunities to build on pre-existing strengths in marginalized individuals' lives. She will discuss recommendations for advancing justice-based scholarship that is responsive to the current moment.

Abstract to follow

Longstanding questions in cognitive science have centered on the role of statistical learning versus rules and abstraction. Today's computational language models, which emerged largely from the connectionist tradition, are often taken as a triumph of the statistical approach. But is that conclusion too fast? In a series of talks and a panel discussion, we consider how modern models can inform --- and be informed by --- connectionism, Bayesianism, generative linguistics, and other traditions in psychology and cognition.

This symposium explores the critical intersection of entrepreneurship and psychological science, focusing on the well-being and resilience of entrepreneurs navigating today's dynamic and challenging landscape. We will delve into the unique psychological demands faced by entrepreneurs, including navigating uncertainty, managing stress, and fostering innovation to contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychology behind entrepreneurial success.

In this workshop, participants experience demos of research presentations told with and without storytelling components and then discuss how a story format pushes the audience’s thinking forward about the research.

As a discipline psychology has long wrestled with the promise of big data for a precise accounting of human behavior and mental life. In this symposium we will discuss recent work to address these challenges by combining ideas from traditional dynamic modeling with techniques from machine learning and computational statistics.

People can live without food for weeks but water for only days. Since water is so critical for survival, it would make sense if water scarcity has shaped human cultures in dry environments. Of course, dry and rainy countries vary in lots of ways besides just water. To get a cleaner comparison, we tested people in two nearby regions of Iran—one in an environment with plentiful water. We find that Iranians in a water-scarce province endorse long-term orientation more and indulgence less than people in a nearby water-rich province. This replicated comparing 82 countries around the world and in a field study where we tracked applications for ads we posted for a long-term job ad and a short-term flexible job. In the lab, priming students to think about increasing water scarcity from climate change caused them to endorse long-term orientation more. Finally, long-term orientation went up in US states that experienced a drought but down in other states. In sum, cultures in water-scarce environments value thinking for the long term more and indulgence less.

Abstract to follow

Responsive caregiver-infant interactions are vital for child development, yet current understanding is constrained by the inability to manipulate infant behaviour. I will describe initial studies with an interactive digital simulation of a human child designed to overcome this barrier and highlight additional ways this tool could advance Developmental Science.

This panel will present qualitative findings from a 2023 convening of emerging scholars focused on advancing emotional well-being research. Panelists will discuss principles and practices for research that prioritizes well-being, promotes equity, and reimagines relationships between researchers, communities, and institutions to foster a more just and supportive academic culture.

We examine tolerance and intolerance across social contexts, focusing on individual differences and psychological implications tied to these behaviors. We examine the value systems associated with tolerance and intolerance, intellectual humility mitigating biases against tolerance, and the distinct psychological impacts of being tolerated. We provide recommendations for fostering tolerance.

This panel will blend research insights and practical guidance for women navigating academic careers. We will update the state of the science on women's careers (e.g., barriers, opportunities, solutions), including an intersectional perspective, and facilitate an audience Q&A, offering advice from our accomplished panelists across career stages.

This panel will focus on the future of psychological science and its shift toward a more inclusive, reflective, and contextual science. Topics for this panel may focus on: 1) the roots of psychological science and oppressive practices (e.g., sample sizes in research, discrimination, etc.), 2) an introduction to the concept of decolonization, and 3) a consideration of how to include more inclusive and liberatory practices in psychological research and practice. Panelists will be recruited through APS and from the Washington D.C. area.

This presentation explores Latinx caregivers’ beliefs about the causes of youth internalizing/externalizing problems and related use of mental health supports. Findings highlight how caregiver beliefs shape help-seeking pathways and underscore the need for culturally responsive adaptations to youth psychological interventions to align them with family interpretations of mental health problems.

The continued influence effect - the lingering influence of misinformation even when known to be false - is a critical problem. Could its pervasiveness result from measurement methods? We find that including an “I don’t know” response allows to assess participants’ recognition of their lack of relevant knowledge more accurately.

Both infants and their caregivers bring cognitive and behavioral tools to their mutual interactions. The talks in this symposium will provide different perspectives on what we know about these tools and how they are shaped by individuals’ experiences.

Accurately planning sample sizes has been challenging, especially due to uncertainty around nuisance model parameters. This talk introduces an innovative method designed to restore robustness and simplify sample size determination in the structural equation modeling framework, demonstrated through measured variable structural models, aiming to enhance statistical integrity in research.

Abstract to follow

How do we remember the age of a face?  Here we show strong biases to remember young faces as younger than they really were, and old faces as older than they really were.  These effects suggest the existence of age prototypes, which warp our memory of other people.

A methodological revolution in response to concerns about the credibility and replicability of psychological results has brought attention to concepts such as statistical forensics, power analysis, p-hacking, and accumulating evidence. Four talks in this symposium will touch on these topics, bringing new information on the use of these methods.

Constructionist theories of emotion posit a central role for the body in the experience of emotion, though argue against one-to-one mappings between emotion categories and distinct patterns of physiological activity. Speakers will discuss alternative approaches for examining the role of the body in affective and emotional experience from this perspective.

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The goal of this panel will be to talk about the critical intersection of gender, culture, and policy, emphasizing the importance of translating research findings into actionable strategies that can benefit psychological science. Panelists will discuss how empirical studies on gender dynamics and cultural influences can inform and shape effective policies across sectors like education, healthcare, and the workplace. The session aims to bridge the gap between academic research and practical application, providing attendees with insights into creating inclusive and equitable policies that reflect diverse cultural contexts. By connecting research with real-world policymaking, this panel will highlight how psychological science can drive meaningful change in addressing gender and cultural disparities, benefiting both research and practice in the field.

This talk establishes sets of sufficient conditions as target outcomes in psychological science. Using examples from an emotion regulation study, I will demonstrate how structured EMA can be paired with set-theoretic analyses to capture sequential processes and identify which sequences are sufficient for generating distress versus sufficient for preventing distress.

Abstract to follow

In this roundtable DEI event, students have the opportunity to informally interact with a diverse group of leaders in psychological science to discuss questions and experiences related to marginalized identities in psychological science.

We examined relations among cerebellar fMRI activation, executive functioning (EF), and the ‘p-factor’ in cross-diagnostic patients. Greater cerebellar activation during increasing working memory task difficulty was associated with higher p-factor scores via poorer EF test performance. EF may be one mechanism underlying associations between cerebellar alterations and general psychopathology.

Depression and sex influence Alzheimer’s disease. Cox proportional-hazards models examined effects of sex, age, and depression on impairment risk. In 26,362 adults, depression increased impairment risk by 74% in men (HR=1.74, p<.001) and 106% in women (HR=2.06, p<.001). For women, the effect of depression on impairment was significantly larger (p<.01).

We investigated the role of working memory (WM) in prediction during sentence comprehension. Verb-mediated prediction was measured through anticipatory eye movement in the visual world paradigm for 64 healthy young participants. Our findings highlight the critical role of semantic WM, in contrast to phonological or visual-spatial WM, in predictive processing.

This study explored the influence of maternal anti-prejudice on young children's behaviors respecting diversity, while examining dual mediating effects of children's trust and anti-prejudice. Maternal anti-prejudice influences children's sense of trust, which in turn affects their anti-prejudice and ultimately their respect for diversity behaviors.

Natural language processing is increasingly used to score open-ended text but can often exacerbate adverse impact. I examine the effects of debiasing machine learning admissions essay scores via multi-objective optimization. While reliability and cognitive saturation decrease slightly from optimizing diversity, the main effect is changing what experiences receive high scores.

With increasing access to large datasets, implementing complex multivariate models has become feasible. Yet, identifying important moderators amidst influential variables remains a challenge. Addressing this, we introduce SEM-Boruta, a novel adaptation of the Boruta algorithm, and demonstrate its robustness through application on simulated datasets in a multivariate and longitudinal framework.

As datasets grow, identifying key predictors remains a challenge. The LASSO is one method commonly used to perform simultaneous shrinkage and selection, but are you aware of the drawbacks? Bayesian Stochastic Search Variable Selection provides a more robust approach and can easily be applied to applications with incomplete data.

We suggest that people can feel positive emotions during negative stressors by making positive appraisals of some elements of the stressor. In 6 studies, we demonstrate that people spontaneously and strategically make positive appraisals of negative stressors, which makes them feel better without having to change their negative appraisals.

This mega-study examined the effectiveness of 10 behavioral interventions at increasing online  voter registration in the 2024 U.S. presidential election (N = 16,242). A system justification intervention most increased visitation to the U.S. voter registration website, while a social pressure intervention most increased voting intentions.

Do theory of mind subcomponents require distinct brain regions? We related deficits to brain damage patterns in 48 participants during acute stage right hemisphere stroke. Damage to right temporal-parietal junction and subcortical structures respectively predicted individual differences in the ability to implicitly infer another person’s perspective and explicitly manage perspectives.

Research identifies risk factors related to psychopathology that span biological and environmental factors. However, much of that work identifies risk factors in isolation (or among only a few other risk factors). Here, we present new computational models that accurately capture complex interactions among multiple environmental, brain, and behavioral variables.

Using seven languages and five historical events, we probed three Large Language Models (LLMs) and found that LLMs, as an emerging source of collective memory, exhibited synchronized historical memories. These memories were more consistent across languages in LLMs than in humans and more consistent for remote events than recent ones.

Latent profile and mixed regression analyses revealed four distinct profiles of caregiving in a diverse lower-income sample of mother-infant dyads engaging in dyadic problem-solving. Maternal alcohol dependence (but not PTSD, anxiety, and depression) was uniquely predictive of membership in the “harsh and detached, low scaffolding and supportive parenting” profile.

We study contact leveraging California’s 1998 affirmative action ban. We link most 1988-2010 UC students to their 2020s local residential ethnic composition and spousal race. Difference-in-difference designs show that neither racial diversity nor cross-race academic match meaningfully affects longitudinal racial integration. We confirm our findings studying the Berkeley dormitory lottery.

Are semantic brain networks sensitive to variation in ‘semantic expertise’? Physicians (n=16) and non-physicians (n=16) inferred illness causes while undergoing fMRI. A temporoparietal semantic network linked to living things concepts responded preferentially to illness inferences relative to mechanical inferences and non-causal language and showed a more robust effect in physicians.

This study examines the therapeutic potential of post-combat rituals in mitigating PTSD symptoms. 72 non-industrial rituals were analyzed using Bayesian hierarchical models, revealing purification and reintegration type rituals as significantly therapeutic. Implications include the value of culturally sensitive practices in mental health care, bridging traditional wisdom with modern therapeutic approaches.

Cognitive slowing is common in depression, yet its causal relationship with mood remains unclear. Using microlongitudinal data from smartphone-based ecological momentary assessments (N=708 across three studies), we found that depressed mood states Granger cause slower digital questionnaire response times. Findings highlight mood-driven cognitive changes, informing treatment approaches.

We examined social class discrimination as a new way of understanding the association between social class and academic achievement among adolescents. There were 1,558 participants (Mage = 16.17). Results indicated that social class discrimination was inversely associated with academic achievement and that teachers and classmates were particularly important sources.

This study simultaneously tested goal orientation and expectancy-value theories on job search strategies amongst unemployed job seekers in three-time points (nT1 = 859; nT2 = 720; nT3 = 418). Results showed that goal orientation predicted job search strategies beyond expectancy-value variables, indicating the relevance of job-search motivation in job search.

The presentation introduces a Beta-Bernoulli mixture item factor analytic model (BBM-IFA) for bounded-continuous items from continuous rating scales (CRS) and slider-bar assessments. Via simulation studies and an empirical case study of the Self-Determination Inventory, we show that the BBM-IFA can provide nuanced information about responses process from CRS/slider-bar assessments.

We examined unique indicators of socioeconomic status among 71,385 adults from more than 10 countries who completed measures of heart rate, blood pressure, and emotions in daily life. Higher levels of education were associated with better health indicators, whereas higher levels of income were associated with higher levels of well-being.

We developed a neuroanatomical imbalance score to quantify the divergent developmental trajectories of the socioemotional and cognitive-control systems based on theories. Using data from the ABCD study (N = 11868; ages 9-16) and the HCP (N = 652; ages 8-21), we demonstrate this imbalance score is both reliable and valid.

Psychopathology fluctuates from day to day reflecting the contextual nature of mental illness. We show that brief open-ended diaries can be coded with ChatGPT to assess individual differences in and daily fluctuations in psychopathology. This novel methodology allows for greater personalization in psychopathology assessment.

This research investigates how information accessibility—the extent to which information is easy and fast to access—affects curiosity. Participants (N = 82) rated curiosity about trivia questions, which varied in answer accessibility. A Bayesian analysis revealed strong evidence favoring the null hypothesis (BF = 140.05): information accessibility does not affect curiosity.

This study relates the development of grasping behavior to neural body representations in infants from 6-14 months. Combining a smartphone app for video collection by caregivers, a new computer vision tool (HaMeR) and EEG methods, we document fine-grained developmental changes in grasping in relation to neural representations of infant fingers.

The current research examined the effects of audio quality on perceptions of applicants in online job interviews. Statistically significant differences were found between the low-quality and medium-quality conditions in regard to hiring patterns, and between the low-quality and high-quality conditions in regard to starting salary offers.

Missing data are ubiquitous in psychological research, particularly at the item level. There are not easily implemented methods for estimating effect sizes and relative importance in regression models using modern missing data methods. We propose and evaluate a two-stage method for computing these parameters with item level missing data.

Connect with colleagues and share your experiences from the day at the Saturday evening coffee break before the Psychological Science and Society Plenary Panel Session: Collective Cognition.

In a diverse sample of girls with ADHD (140), maltreatment predicted higher likelihood of suicide attempt by adulthood (35% vs 14%, OR = 3.10, p <.05), including stringent covariates. Maltreatment did not significantly predict suicidality in matched comparisons (88). Heritable ADHD symptoms and less-heritable traumatic life events require joint consideration.

The current study on the effects of grandparenthood on cognition found over-the-phone interaction with grandchildren to be positively associated with enhanced cognitive performance. A reflexive thematic analysis of the qualitative responses found that grandparents characterize their experience as providing opportunities for stimulation that they believe positively affects their cognition.

In a multi-method study (N = 273; 51.6% boys, Mage = 11.52), we evaluated which adolescents who spend time in solitude are likely to aggress against peers. Most solitary adolescents do not aggress, but findings point to the enhanced risks associated with high rejection and low levels of loneliness.

This study explores how being part of the QTBIPOC community influences leadership purpose, identity development, and workplace experiences using semi-structured interviews and grounded theory analysis. Findings highlight themes of purpose development, leadership identity, and workplace impact, informing inclusive leadership practices, diversity initiatives, and organizational policies.

Moral injury results from witnessing or acting in ways that violate moral values. Across two national studies (NTotal=1738), we examine the prevalence of moral injury among voters in the highly polarized, morally fraught 2024 U.S. Presidential Election along with risk factors (political identity centrality) and protective factors (emotional intelligence).

In two experiments, descriptive norms of participating in collective protests for better housing in Portugal had positive indirect effects on own participation intentions, mediated by combined identification with the movement, moralization, perceived injustice and efficacy. The absence of a total effect, though, also speaks for a suppressed negative substitutability effect.

This panel brings together speakers carrying out novel research to address how group interaction influences cognitive processing, going beyond the typical approach of studying cognition through observing individuals acting alone. Learning, memory, and decision-making often involve individuals working together such as in group projects in classroom environments or in workplace teams, and other everyday settings such as family, community, and social media where people influence one another. However, much research on these topics has focused on individuals working alone. This panel will present recent findings on the effects of group interaction including collaborative remembering, allocation of roles among team members, and the impact of artificial intelligence on teamwork. The speakers will address whether the findings can be derived from principles uncovered by individuals and how group members arrive at collective representations and joint action. The Psychological Science and Society plenary session is made possible by generous support from the Alan Kraut-Jane Steinberg Family Fund (KSFF). This plenary session is held annually during the APS Annual Convention to showcase the use of psychological science in the public sphere.

Join your APS friends and colleagues for a reception where light hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Start your last Convention morning strong with coffee and colleagues in the APS Exhibit Hall.

The APS Exhibit Hall will be open 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM on Sunday, May 25. There will be coffee available all day in the APS Exhibit Hall. Please note that the Sunday APS Exhibit Hall includes posters only.

The APS Convention Registration Desk is located on the Terrace Level of the hotel, in the Columbia Ballroom, which can be accessed via elevator or escalator.

Psychedelic therapy is thought to work by boosting neuroplasticity onto prefrontal neurons expressing serotonin 2A receptors (5-HT2AR). We engineered new conditional knockout mouse lines to reveal psychedelic neuroplasticity of regions lacking 5-HT2AR. Physiology from 321 neurons (84 mice) causally revealed a presynaptic, not postsynaptic, basis of psychedelic neuroplasticity.

Empathy is a protective factor that deters individuals from committing violence. The integration of neurobiological perspectives presented here sheds new light on the progress made in assessing dynamic, functional and virtual-immersion empathy. We discuss the potential implications for interventions in forensic and clinical psychology as well as in cybersecurity settings.

We tested the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a proven, effective brief video intervention—aimed at reducing stigma and increasing treatment openness among childhood trauma survivors—to youth (18-24) on Instagram. Results showed that human-narrated videos outperformed controls on engagement metrics, highlighting Instagram’s potential for cost-effective, evidence-based mental health outreach.

Mood disorders are characterized by a thought pattern that is repetitive, narrow and slow. Our framework of FTP (facilitating thought progression) is aimed to counter this by increasing cognitive flexibility. This study resulted in 45% improvement in depression symptoms. We propose that FTP can be used as a novel therapy.

The retrieval practice effect (i.e., retrieval practice outperforms re-exposure) is ubiquitous, including in studies of naming impairment in aphasia. We investigated person-specific and item-specific factors that interact with the retrieval practice effect magnitude, which revealed effects of working memory at the person level and error type at the item level.

Pure coordination games test how players converge on responses without communication. Groups from the UK, South Africa, Chile, and a globally representative group all showed successful coordination, though often on different answers. Participants  also coordinated successfully between groups, and often generated new answers specific to the challenge of between-group coordination.

Drawing from the Pathways to Desistance study (N = 1,354), this study longitudinally investigates how parental, romantic, and peer relationships differentially impact adolescent offending and perceptions of future success. Findings suggest delinquency and relationship quality strongly shape youth behavior and future outlook, with positive relationships boosting expectations and reducing offending.

Using nationally representative data, our symposium examines the ecological influences (e.g., parenting, non-parental care, community cohesion) on children's cognitive and socioemotional development in Singapore, a multiethnic city-state in Southeast Asia, where family structure, parenting practices, and childcare as well as community organization are distinct but underrepresented in developmental research.

This study examines the impact of mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and rumination on well-being in 524 undergraduates, using two mindfulness conceptualizations for a comprehensive understanding. By combining machine learning with traditional SEM, results reveal that mindfulness influences well-being indirectly via flexibility and rumination, with one mindfulness conceptualization showing stronger predictive power.

Thirty-nine interviews with volunteers at a nature preserve were qualitatively coded. The following primary themes were identified: passion for nature, desire to “pay it forward,” social belongingness, appreciation; mission alignment; skill development; and safety of patrons. The results emphasized the diverse motives that attract and retain dedicated volunteers.

This symposium examines the application of artificial intelligence tools that analyze multimodal data (video, audio, text) to track fluctuations in mental states. Presentations will showcase how integrating these complementary data streams provides valuable insights to inform therapist decision-making and personalize digital interventions.

The abbreviated version of the Norse Feedback is reliable and provides clinically equivalent information to the full measure in a clinical sample (N = 2923). This psychometrically valid shortened measure is more feasible for use in routine care, particularly for screening and triage, where time or resources may be limited.

Honor concern—self-worth based in social reputation—is argued to be comprised of different domains (e.g., group honor; masculine honor). We unpack domains of honor by examining theoretically relevant predictors and outcomes, illustrating how people’s honor concern predicts victim blaming, parenting practices, traditional masculinity norms, and substance use.

Conspiracy beliefs are mostly described as individual maladaptive tendencies. Extending this approach, we highlight the role of macro-level deficits that induce conspiracy beliefs especially during crises. Multimodal data showed that lower resilience and stricter cultural norms of a state and restricted societal freedoms of citizens predicted higher conspiracy beliefs.

We employed Bayesian latent profile analysis (LPA) to obtain multi-system environment profiles during childhood. We used the profiles to predict subcortical volume and psychopathology during adolescence. Bayesian LPA revealed 9 profiles with excellent discrimination. Three profiles predicted externalizing problems. We found two pathways that predicted externalizing psychopathology via subcortical volume.

We found that East Asian dialectical beliefs were associated with greater coping flexibility (β = .32 - .37, p < .001), which in turn was associated with greater psychological well-being (e.g., fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms, lower acculturative stress, and greater life satisfaction).

We conducted two meta-analyses on associations between Social Capital, Social Integration, and suicide mortality. We screened 848 articles and 34 studies met inclusion criteria. There was a nonsignificant positive association between Social Capital and suicide mortality, and a significant positive association between Social Fragmentation and suicide mortality.

Precrastination, the tendency to immediately complete a task, is described as a cognitive load reduction strategy (CLEAR Hypothesis). While Study 1 does not support the CLEAR hypothesis, Study 2 finds executive functioning differences in precrastination compared to its antipode—procrastination. Further research should examine self-regulation, a subdomain of executive function.

Exposure to language-switching practice enhances prospective monitoring in prospective memory tasks, reflected in increased ERP amplitudes (e.g., N300, frontal positivity) associated with cognitive control. However, it does not affect retrospective intention retrieval (e.g., P3b, frontal slow waves). These findings highlight the selective impact of language-switching practice on prospective memory processes.

Using cognitive ability data collected in 860 twins (513 females, Mage = 70.36, SD = 10.09) in the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging, genetic simplex models were used to test person-environment effects in older adulthood. Results suggest that person-environment covariance partly explains why heritability of cognitive ability increases with age.

Latinx LGBTQ+ people with less traditional gender roles and ‘familismo’ are more critically conscious, particularly if they have fewer intrapersonal (resilience) and interpersonal (social support) strengths. They may have realized that other LGBTQ+ people experience oppression too, resulting in a stronger collective identity and increased awareness.

We investigated the optimal number of response categories for Likert and Visual Analog Scales (VAS) using simulations. Reliability plateaus after 4–10 categories; however, when measurement error increases with more response options, reliability declines, and converting Likert items to VAS can drastically decrease reliability.

This study provides a meta-analytic update and narrative synthesis on the link between attachment orientation and mindfulness. Significant negative correlations were identified between attachment insecurity and mindfulness. Narrative synthesis revealed mechanisms linking mindfulness and attachment to mental health, emotion regulation, and interpersonal relationships, with implications for clinical practice and theory.

Across online marketplace transaction data and seven experiments (N=~6.7 million), people who reply more quickly to a request are more likely to be hired. We also identify an important boundary condition: replies that are perceived as automatic do not yield such benefits, because they do not signal responsiveness.

This study explores dehumanization's role in aggression toward food delivery robots. Using Haslam’s model, experiment 1 linked dehumanization to unprovoked violence, while experiment 2 manipulated framing, revealing increased aggression toward dehumanized robots. Findings suggest parallels between human-human and human-robot interactions, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks to ensure respectful coexistence.

Prenatal heat exposure contributes to children's mental health problems, with risks amplified by air pollution. Our study found first-trimester heat exposure predicted greater internalizing problems at ages 4-5, mediated through elevated age-3 progesterone and cortisol. Higher air pollution enhanced these effects. These findings inform interventions to protect child neurobehavioral development.

Believing emotions are controllable can influence how people ruminate. In this daily-dairy study, emotion-control beliefs were found to predict greater daily self-reflection (b = .05, p<.05) but not brooding upon experiencing negative affect. This is the first intensive longitudinal study to demonstrate the influence of emotion-control beliefs on rumination.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to neurocognitive impairments. This research examines the links between ACEs and Amyloid, Tau and Neurodegeneration biomarkers and assesses differences by race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Results indicate that females and low early life SES could be important factors linking ACEs to ATN biomarkers.

When ID screeners fail to detect fake IDs, security is compromised. We investigated participants’ performance while wearing eye-tracking glasses during a physical ID card and a standardized face matching task. Eye movements revealed different patterns of performance. We consider implications for pre-employment screening and on-the-job performance in professional security.

This research introduces how BabyX, an AI-driven simulation of an infant, can be used to modulate joint coordinated engagement. We show how caregivers adjust their behaviours contingent on the simulation’s communicative cues. This work demonstrates BabyX’s potential as a research tool to uncover the dynamics of early caregiver-infant interaction.

As part of a larger qualitative study on conceptualization of grief, I analyzed the responses to a question on what helped the grievers. Participants list talking, spending time with others, praying, work, etc. The aim is to show that although grief is highly personal and subjective, there are certain commonalities.

We introduce a mathematical theory of optimal experimental manipulation that enables maximal change in psychological traits of various stimuli using generative networks. Across three studies (N = 417) we demonstrate superior performance over existing approaches for face image manipulation, particularly for previously unattainable increase in valence-laden impressions.

This study confirms the cross-cultural validity of the Multidimensional Self-Control Scale across the USA, Romania, and Norway. Using integrated MCFA and IRT methods, results demonstrate full measurement invariance and robust psychometric properties, highlighting the scale’s universal applicability in assessing self-control dynamics.

This study found that, regardless of the level of family cohesion, family members of different ages perceived that younger generations were more liberal and older generations more conservative than themselves. This perceived difference in socio-political orientation, in turn, translates into intergenerational socio-political conflicts within families.

We found that poorer air quality disrupted regular daily activities, which, in turn, were associated with higher subsequent anxiety and depressive symptoms among a population-representative sample (n=1333), controlling for demographic and environmental covariates. The findings underscore important implications for climate change-related mental health policy and interventions.

This confirmatory study examined the association of resilience with traumatic symptoms and risk factors (N = 10312). The findings suggested that resilience was associated with habituation in the form of numbness and depersonalization, and dishabituation due to anxiety and insomnia. Non-resilience was associated with worthlessness, self-harm, and psychiatric history.

Do predictors of suicidal ideation (SI) while in residential mental health treatment differ across civilian, veteran, and first responder populations? Machine learning models fit to data from each population finds SI is harder to predict in first responders, and emphasizes different key predictors across groups (e.g., coping skills).

The impact of environment on the visual perception of fire growth was examined using a comparison task. Detecting which of two simulated fires grew faster was affected by the type of room and viewing distance (N = 1863). This suggests that placement within the surrounding environment influences fire perception.

We conducted a review and meta-analysis of fMRI studies of proactive and reactive control to test the dual mechanisms of control (DMC) theory. The lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) was linked to proactive and reactive control, which supports the DMC. Contrasting the theory, proactive control was also associated with non-lPFC activations.

In a sample of 20,000 students, a statistically significant race-SES interaction was found. Results suggest that students from higher-SES backgrounds are set on more success-oriented trajectories (i.e., advanced course qualification, high school completion, college attainment) compared to lower-SES peers, but that the range of a student’s trajectory differs by race.

We examined ego depletion using Bayesian analysis with 74 Chinese students. Results showed no evidence for traditional depletion (BF = 0.107) but weak support for reverse effects (BF = 0.634). Boredom was monitored, revealing its role as a confound. Findings highlight the need for refined designs to reassess ego depletion.

This study depicts job redesign products: job type and job control as unable to impact somatic stress - job strain relationship positively enough by surveying 623 employees across organizations in Nigeria and analysing responses with regression and interaction analyses. This and other outcomes necessitate further investigations towards more all-encompassing interventions.

A sample of 499 participants (301 pre-election, 198 post-election) revealed that hate was more strongly correlated with perceived threat than with prejudice or dehumanization. Comparing Democrats and Republicans, the findings underscore the central role of perceived threat in driving political hostility during the 2024 U.S. election.

Eight preregistered experiments (N = 3,896) find that power is perceived as more zero-sum than status, and that men perceive more ingroup harm from women's gains in power (versus status). Perceived in-group harm predicts men's heightened political conservatism, as well as their reduced support for gender-equity-enhancing diversity initiatives.

Using data from the Prospective study (N=3,527, Mage=16.10, Females=51%) of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism, we found that parental bonding during adolescence is associated with later onset of regular drinking and fewer alcohol use disorder symptoms via less positive alcohol expectancies and enhanced neural response inhibition.

We examined decision-making disruptions underlying rigidity in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) using a novel translational paradigm. Patterns of reward selectivity and accelerated behavioral adaptation were associated with OCPD traits, showing similarities and distinctions with other disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa). Findings underscore unique pathways to rigidity, informing future mechanistic research.

We examined differences in subjective response to alcohol through survey measures, focusing on intensity and number of drinks. Black individuals reported higher intensity of stimulating effects (β=0.14, p=0.03) and needed more drinks to feel lighter effects (β=0.21, p<0.001), while males reported needing more drinks to feel heavier effects (β=0.19, p<0.001).

Choice architecture can facilitate collective action and coordination. In an intergenerational public-goods game (n=1,378), redirecting attention from past decisions to potential future decisions increased public-good contributions. In a coordination game (n=805), participants switched to a new group-norm only when option-labels did not violate personal identity at substantial loss of income.

We compare how Americans and Chinese people infer personality traits from three-dimensional body shapes. Using data-driven analyses, we analyzed 30 traits from the Big Five across 140 body models in 160 participants. Cultural differences influence trait perceptions: Americans view skinnier bodies as more extraverted; Chinese view them as less extraverted.

Verbal working memory is related to academic success, yet the role of experience in WM development is unclear. This study tested whether numerical knowledge enhances WM performance on the Backward Digit Span task in 259 linguistically diverse 4–7-year-olds. Numerical exposure, recognition, and literacy predicted WM performance, highlighting context-specific influences.

We implemented five Psychology virtual learning sessions utilizing the drama-based pedagogy (DBP). Analyses of our 100 participants’ quantitative and qualitative responses revealed not only students’ acknowledgement of DBP’s efficacy in promoting psychological literacy, but also five principles behind the success of a DBP learning session in Psychology learning and teaching.

We investigated the consequences of unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) through the lens of cognitive dissonance theory. Using data from a three-wave survey of 313 participants, our findings reveal that engaging in UPB triggers cognitive dissonance, which, in turn, heightens turnover intentions by fostering perceptions of careerism.

We surveyed 450 adolescent girls of color to determine contributions of TV viewing to their appearance concerns and well-being. We expand existing literature by demonstrating associations with their acceptance of the thin-ideal, Eurocentric features, and Whiteness, and by revealing the impact of viewing content with and without people of color.

In a series of studies, participants’ attention was incidentally cued to one of two faces before deciding whom to trust in a partner choice game. We found that attention influenced trust decisions irrespective of facial characteristics, but attentional effects were weakened with distrust framing and strengthened with ingroup membership.

We randomly assigned 85 young adults to a threat or challenge condition. Participants in the threat condition showed higher levels of prosocial tendencies towards both close others (b = .21, p = .035) and strangers (b = .35, p = .01) compared to the participants in the challenge condition.

We examined how experiencing discrimination during the college years among a sample of underrepresented students may be related to poor sleep in young adulthood via greater marginalization-related vigilance. Results from our study suggested that discrimination across the college years indirectly predicted poor sleep six years later through greater marginalization-related vigilance.

This study examines how experiential avoidance and emotion dysregulation mediate the impact of discrimination on mental health. Using a diverse sample of 163 university students and a time-lagged design, results highlight experiential avoidance as a key mechanism. Findings inform interventions targeting maladaptive coping and contribute to equity-focused mental health strategies.

We observed that participants with inconsistent handedness were more likely to experience the visual illusion of the strange face, than consistent handers. In addition, personality traits of agreeableness, antagonism, and negative affect were related to illusion perception in inconsistent handers, but not consistent handers.

We developed computer-based movement tasks to track mouse cursor trajectories. Validated through lab (n = 92, n = 85) and online (n = 280) studies, this tool is found sensitive to age-related changes, offering an accessible, affordable solution for studying motor cognition, especially in seniors and individuals with mobility challenges.

This study explores how classroom climate influences middle school students’ help-seeking behaviors. Cooperative climates promote adaptive help-seeking, while competitive climates increase avoidance and expedient help-seeking. Help-seeking threats mediate these associations, with academic self-efficacy buffering the negative effect of perceived threats on students’ help-seeking behaviors.

This randomized experiment tested whether quiet ego contemplation (QEC) training improves well-being and reduces stress. Results showed that a 3-session QEC intervention enhanced participants' subjective well-being and decreased stress through increased emotional intelligence. Effects persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting QEC's potential for improving psychological health during high-stress periods.

Three experiments (N = 793) examined the impact of counterfactual thinking on moral judgments of actions and inactions. Actual bad actors were consistently judged as more immoral than counterfactual ones. Other findings include order effects, a replication of outcome bias, and evidence for the attenuation of inactions relevant to actions.

Across five studies (secondary analyses, diary studies, experiments; combined N=2,746), we document situational variability in people’s inferences from metacognitive experiences of difficulty, the procedural-readiness aspects of identity-based motivation. Difficulty-as-importance and difficulty-as-impossibility are commonly inferred when tasks feel difficult. Within-person variability matters for self-regard; between-person variability shapes performance and action.

This symposium includes four studies examining various factors and mechanisms associated with adolescent mental health in the context of coping with stress among racially diverse samples. Findings have implications for considering ethnic identity, maladaptive coping, adaptive mindset and growth initiative, and parental perceptions in mental health services for adolescents.

Over the past decade, there has been burgeoning enthusiasm for formalizing theories of psychopathology as mathematical and computational models. This symposium addresses outstanding limitations needed to realize the potential of formal models, including leveraging empirical data for generating and testing formal theories and making formal modeling accessible to psychopathology researchers.

4 main methodologies: (a) literature review about public health; (b) a 4-week participant observation in Hospital (France) and in a social center in Katowice (Poland), as well as 3 focus groups; (c) a survey addressed to 500 women in Europe; and (d) 2 focus groups with doctors from Geneva Hospitals.

This study identified five latent profiles of dissociative experiences using data from 8,145 participants and explored associations with cognitive-emotional processing. Profiles differed significantly in demographics, face recognition, emotion perception, and social cognition. Findings highlight the possibility of leveraging behavioral markers for assessment, and the need for culturally informed interventions.

We investigated the cognitive/neural “recycling” underlying the acquisition of programming, a culturally-invented skill. Using fMRI, we found neural representations of algorithms (written in plain-English) before 22 programming-naive participants took an introductory programming course. During a semester-end scan, the same neural populations represented programming-code, showing rapid recycling for novel cultural skills.

The study examined whether delay discounting, the tendency to prefer small immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards, changed during the first semester of college among emerging adults (N=458). Delay discounting of money (b=-0.516, p=.0001) and alcohol (b=-0.639, p=.029) significantly decreased. Findings suggested discounting changed during the first semester of college.

This symposium explores the critical role of psychological science in rebuilding post-war communities, with Sri Lanka as a case study. We highlight how novel insights from research on resilience, group dynamics, intergenerational trauma (using mixed-methods approaches), and e-mental health interventions can shape societal recovery and foster pluralistic post-conflict norms.

We examined the motivational dimension of self-control, hypothesizing that high self-control individuals prefer meaningful (eudaimonic) activities over pleasurable (hedonic) ones. Across three studies (2 pre-registered, N = 960, gender balanced) we found support for this hypothesis with participants rating imagined and actual activities. Our findings challenge traditional assumptions of self-control.

Using a national sample of Black college students (N=269), structural equation modeling examined individual traits, coping, and ethnic-racial identity on drinking behaviors. Spirituality coping and student role investment protected against high-risk drinking, while ethnic-racial identity facets uniquely influenced decisions, offering insights into tailored interventions addressing race-related stress and drinking.

This session examines why current misinformation interventions have limited real-world effectiveness and explores novel platform-level approaches that leverage collective wisdom. We show the limited impact of some popular interventions, introduce social rewards for trustworthy information,, and demonstrate how partisan motivations can enhance, not impede, crowd-sourced fact checking.

This symposium explores the multifaceted role of social and other types of comparison in shaping behavior, integrating experimental, longitudinal, ecological momentary, and meta-analytic evidence. Presentations highlight comparisons in physical activity, social anxiety, and intervention design, informing future research and effective strategies for behavior change and mental health improvement.

We conducted item response theory and differential item functioning analyses on the Compulsive Buying Scale in a large sample (n = 927). Several items did not perform well according to item response theory, and one item was biased toward women, which may inflate prevalence rates of compulsive shopping in women.

This study utilized Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) to develop a concise version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), addressing challenges such as respondent fatigue. By analyzing data from 1,040 participants, we identified eight key items that maintained the scale’s psychometric integrity. Reduced form enhances efficiency in clinical and research settings.

We explored cognitive processes involved in rumination. Study 1 (n=498) established the network structure, Study 2 (n=500) replicated it. Study 3 (n=95) investigated the temporal interplay between the key variables. Rumination was associated with cognitive self-consciousness, attentional control, depression, perfectionism, and promotion focus, supporting the multiple-path perspective.

This study obtained self-reported data from 200 postpartum mothers. Findings indicated that postpartum depression and self-efficacy influence socioemotional outcomes among 6–12-month-old infants primarily by affecting mother-infant bonding relationships. These findings support the need for future evidence-based interventions to enhance positive mental health and parenting self-efficacy to enhance infant outcomes.

The study utilizes LASSO adaptive penalization in the Hurdle model to enhance zero classification and positive count prediction. Results using national exam reports show the adaptive penalization improved the model fit in both parts count and zero part (measures like dispersion, AIC, log-likelihood, McFadden's R², count & zero components' diagnostics).

We examined associations between sleep, physical activity, and eating behavior among women. Poorer sleep quality was associated with greater disordered eating behavior. Sleep was unrelated to physical activity.

Experiencing discrimination can affect subsequent health behaviors, such as healthy eating (Brodish et al., 2011). In the present study, experiencing weight discrimination predicted orthorexia nervosa symptomatology. These effects were strongest when participants held more weight controllability beliefs and explicit weight prejudice.

To understand the tendency to regulate negative emotions in oneself versus others, we found that individuals report a higher likelihood of regulating acquaintances' emotions over their own, especially in high-intensity situations.Participants rated acquaintances as experiencing more intense emotions and a greater need for regulation, both associated with increased IER tendencies.

Sexual dysfunctions and PTSD are consistently correlated in the literature. Our research found that specific PTSD symptom clusters predicted specific sexual dysfunction symptoms in men and women. The results provide unique variables to further understand the neurobiology of sexual dysfunctions in individuals PTSD.

We examined the relationship between child media use (CMU) and externalizing problem behaviors (EPB), and the moderating role of maternal media use (MMU) and maternal stress (MS) in 164 preschoolers' mothers. CMU positively correlated with EPB, r(164)=.75, p<.001. MMU and MS individually buffer it, p<.001; combined, they strengthen it, p<.001.