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ABSAME: A Forum for Behavioral Sciences and Health Professions Education
The 44th Anniversary Meeting of ABSAME will be held October 16–18, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach, California. This year’s theme, “The Behavioral Science of Interprofessional Education: Confronting Issues of Hierarchy and Power” lends itself to exploration of many of the issues surrounding interprofessional education that must be recognized and addressed so our students can become fully participating members of highly functioning teams. Issues of teamwork, power imbalance, power structures, conflict resolution, communication strategies, roles, personal/professional identity, and how the arts and humanities can aid in creating more humane health care providers will be addressed.
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Researchers Make Strides in Early Diagnosis for Autism
It’s World Autism Awareness Day, an annual celebration in which autism organizations across the globe engage in fundraising and educational events to raise public understanding of the developmental disorder. And it falls in the wake of last week’s U.S. government report showing a 30 percent rise in autism rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the condition now affects an estimated one of every 68 8-year-old children, up from one in 88 just two years ago. Fortunately, psychological scientists are helping researchers from other disciplines make progress in early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism.
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Patching the Leaky Pipeline of Women in STEM
March is designated Women’s History Month in the United States, recognizing “generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.” And yet, as we celebrate the many advances and achievements of women across history, a stark fact remains: Women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. It’s a complex issue, driven by many factors. Some point to existing biases and stereotypes related to women and their abilities, while others talk about gender differences in achievement motivation and self-image. Many emphasize the lack of visible women leaders and role models in STEM fields.
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Kids Come to Like Their Own Before They Dislike “Outsiders”
Social groups form along all sorts of lines -- from nationality to age to shared interests, and everything in between. We come to identify with our groups, whichever those might be, to the point where we prefer people who belong to our groups and discriminate against those who don't. These group affiliations undoubtedly confer tangible and intangible benefits, but those benefits often come at a cost to members of other so-called out-groups. Given the consequences for human societies, researchers David Buttelman and Robert Bohm of the University of Erfurt in Germany set out to investigate the early origins of intergroup discrimination.
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European Association for Behavior Analysis Conference
The 7th biannual conference of the European Association for Behaviour Analysis (EABA) will be held in Stockholm, Sweden from September 10 through 13, 2014. Visit the EABA website to submit a paper, poster, or symposium or to view conference details.
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Busted Bracket? Science Suggests Strategy to Improve March Madness Picks
It’s official: No one on this planet will walk away with Warren Buffett’s $1 billion dollar prize for filling out a perfect March Madness bracket. Hopes for the money were quickly dashed after the second round of games in the NCAA college basketball tournament – Dayton topped Syracuse, Stanford snuffed out Kansas, and Kentucky ended Wichita State’s hopes for the first perfect NCAA season in almost 40 years. Suffice it to say, we all made wrong picks in one way or another. It’s likely that some people will blame their mistakes on the bracket “gurus” – those experts who allegedly know the ins and outs of each game in extraordinary detail.
