Most graduate students in psychology are familiar with behaviors that reinforce anxiety — namely, avoidance, the use of safety behaviors, and reassurance seeking. Yet how many of us consciously apply our knowledge to help us understand our own adaptive and maladaptive behaviors as graduate students? Our perpetual state of over-commitment More

Ellen Frank has been recognized internationally for her clinical research on the assessment and treatment of mood disorders, including the creation of interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT), a psychotherapy treatment that has been proven effective in preventing and reducing the recurrence of the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Frank, a More

2014 was the first year in which Psychological Science authors were eligible to earn up to three badges in recognition of open scientific practices. Open Data badges are awarded to authors who have made data that are shareable online publicly available; Open Materials badges are awarded to authors who have More

To submit a new book, email apsobserver@psychologicalscience.org. Processing Inaccurate Information: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives from Cognitive Science and the Educational Sciences edited by David N. Rapp and Jason L. G. Braasch; the MIT Press, August 22, 2014. Social Influences on Romantic Relationships: Beyond the Dyad edited by Christopher R. Agnew More

With childhood obesity rates escalating, psychological scientists are using self-report measures, brain scans, and other methods to reveal how ads for unhealthy foods affect children’s minds — and their eating behaviors. More

James S. Jackson, an APS James McKeen Cattell Fellow and Director of the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan, has begun a 6-year term on the National Science Board. He will be among 25 board members who will advise the US Congress and the president on More

1962: Enrolled as engineering student at Michigan State University (MSU) and later changed major to psychology 1968: Became National President of the Black Student Psychological Association 1971: Hired as the first full-time African American faculty member at the University of Michigan (UM) 1972–73: Served as president of the Association of Black Psychologists 1979: Launched the groundbreaking More

The message may seem ridiculously obvious: “If she doesn’t consent, or can’t consent, it’s rape.” So why does the White House need to enlist Benicio Del Toro, Daniel Craig, and other famous actors to deliver this explanation in public service announcements? Why did the California legislature feel compelled to pass More

Many of today’s developmental psychologists defend the hypothesis that “babies are smarter than we think” — a lot smarter than we think, explained Nora Newcombe of Temple University during her APS William James Fellow Award Address at the 2014 APS Convention in San Francisco. But Newcombe’s work on mental rotation More

Robert J. Sternberg received his doctorate in cognitive psychology from Stanford in 1975 and went on to become IBM Professor of Psychology and Education, Professor of Management, and Director of the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise at Yale University. Sternberg left Yale in 2005 to become More

Kabir (1440–1518), the Indian mystic, asked, “Given both Guru [teacher] and Govind [God] standing in front of you, whom should you bow to first?” Kabir counselled, “All the glory should go to your Guru for showing the right way to Govind.” I then wholeheartedly bow to my esteemed Guru, Donn More

Just as advancements in technology have revolutionized the collection and measurement of data, new statistics offer an approach to analysis that allows results to be examined and applied in a broader scientific context. A growing demand for accountability and reliability in the social sciences has spurred an increase in studies More

Aimed at integrating cutting-edge psychological science into the classroom, “Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science” offers advice and how-to guidance about teaching a particular area of research or topic in psychological science that has been the focus of an article in the APS journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. Current Directions is More

Many psychological scientists who have conducted research for some time have a home or favorite funding agency. Mine is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Although NICHD supports considerable medical research, for decades it has been a strong funder of basic psychological research More

APS Fellows Randall Engle and Laurence Steinberg have been selected as recipients of the 2014 Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award for “inspiring a former student to make a difference in his or her community.” Randall W. Engle, Professor of Psychology at Georgia Institute of Technology, is a renowned expert on the More

Students applying to medical school in the US in the fall of 2016 will soon have to add psychological science to the topics they study in preparation for taking the Medical College Admissions Test, or MCAT®. The new MCAT2015 will be rolled out in April 2015 and one of the More

Catherine Lord, the DeWitt Senior Scholar and a professor of psychology in psychiatry and of psychology in pediatrics at Weill Cornell, and Michael N. Shadlen a professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University, were elected as new members to the (IOM) on Oct. 20 during the IOM’s 44th annual meeting in More