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DC Government Study Finds Body-Worn Cameras Have No Effect on Police Uses of Force
The Lab @ DC, a research team within the Washington, DC city government, has just released the results of a two-year-long study investigating the effects of police body-worn cameras on policing in DC.
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Inside the Psychologist’s Studio with Lila Gleitman
APS Mentor Award Recipient Lila R. Gleitman reflects on her rich career exploring the fundamentals of language and cognition.
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To Focus Attention, Think On Your Feet, Not Your Seat
Standing may lead to quick thinking when taking on cognitively demanding tasks.
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How Much Sacrifice Is Your Reputation Worth?
Psychologist Abraham Maslow's famed “hierarchy of needs” says people seek food, shelter and safety before esteem and self-actualization. So what explains foolish dares and violent sports, in which people risk grave injury to pursue respect? New research suggests the hierarchy may be more fluid than we think—many individuals will undergo disgusting or painful ordeals to save their reputations. Andy Vonasch, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his colleagues conducted an online survey of 111 Americans about the value of reputation.
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Switching To Middle School Can Be Hard On Kids, But There Are Ways To Make It Better
"I'll be famous one day, but for now I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons." That's harsh language from the downtrodden sixth-grade narrator of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, a blockbuster series of graphic novels. But it speaks to a broader truth. A large body of research suggests that students who go to middle school or junior high do worse academically, socially and emotionally, compared to the young teenagers who get to be the oldest students at schools with grades K-8. ... The negative effects were exaggerated for students from higher-income households. That surprised Elise Cappella, a lead author on the study and associate professor of applied psychology at New York University.
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How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media
Hours after the Las Vegas massacre, Travis McKinney’s Facebook feed was hit with a scattershot of conspiracy theories. The police were lying. There were multiple shooters in the hotel, not just one. The sheriff was covering for casino owners to preserve their business. ... For starters, said Colleen Seifert, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, “People have a benevolent view of Facebook, for instance, as a curator, but in fact it does have a motive of its own. What it’s actually doing is keeping your eyes on the site. It’s curating news and information that will keep you watching.”
