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Dani Bassett
University of California, Santa Barbara www.danisbassett.com What does your research focus on? My research focuses on the very basic issue of understanding how the interactions between a system’s components constrain and enable that system’s dynamics. The human brain is a very complex system for which this question is particularly fascinating and has pervasive ramifications for the human condition.
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The Touch-Screen Generation
The Atlantic: On a chilly day last spring, a few dozen developers of children’s apps for phones and tablets gathered at an old beach resort in Monterey, California, to show off their games. One developer, a self-described “visionary for puzzles” who looked like a skateboarder-recently-turned-dad, displayed a jacked-up, interactive game called Puzzingo, intended for toddlers and inspired by his own son’s desire to build and smash. Two 30‑something women were eagerly seeking feedback for an app called Knock Knock Family, aimed at 1-to-4-year-olds. “We want to make sure it’s easy enough for babies to understand,” one explained. ... To a toddler, this is less magic than intuition.
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Can Our Beliefs About Exercise Make Us Fat?
The Huffington Post: Everyone is an expert when it comes to weight and weight control, and I'm no exception. I am what's known as an "exercise theorist." That is, I ascribe to the lay theory that sedentary lifestyle is a major cause of obesity, and that regular exercise is the cure. That's one of the reasons I show up at the gym most days -- and nag others to come with me. ... So what are the consequences of such lay theories? And more important, what are the consequences of embracing the wrong theory?
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Math Careers Just Don’t Add Up For Women
LiveScience: Having skills suited for a variety of careers helps explain why few women pursue math and science jobs, new research finds. A study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan revealed that women may be less likely to want careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) because they have more career choices, not because they have less ability.
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Jamil Zaki
Stanford University ssnl.stanford.edu What does your research focus on? I study the cognitive and neural bases of social cognition and behavior, but that’s not very specific! For the past several years, my research focused on empathy and social cognition: how we make sense of and respond to other minds. In graduate school, I examined what’s known as “empathic accuracy” — one individual’s ability to insightfully assess another individual’s emotional states over time.
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Tessa West
New York University http://psych.nyu.edu/westlab What does your research focus on? My research primarily examines the dynamics that unfold during dyadic interactions, with a particular focus on the intergroup (e.g., cross-race) context. I study how individuals come to make sense of their partners’ behaviors, whether the inferences they make based on these behaviors are accurate, and how psychologists can shape such inferences to improve the quality of intergroup relationships. I also study basic person perception processes, and my theoretical work focuses on developing a unified approach to defining and studying accuracy in interpersonal perception.
