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Why Bad News Compels Us to Take Action
How people handle sunk costs may depend, at least in part, on whether pursuing a new course of action is framed as the more active or inactive option.
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Studies in Swollen Heads: What Causes Overconfidence?
A set of experiments demonstrates how people can underestimate or forget about the importance of practicing an activity in order to do it well.
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Steven Pinker’s Work Continues to Dazzle Bill Gates
Billionaire philanthropist Gates is touting his admiration for APS William James Fellow Steven Pinker’s newest book, Enlightenment Now
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How Rooting for a Rival Could Help Your Team
If the NFL team you hate the most is in the Super Bowl, take heart. Psychological science suggests that a rival team’s win may improve your team’s motivation and performance next season.
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Duckworth, Feldman Barrett Among Speakers in Webinar Series
APS Fellow Angela Duckworth will present “Grit: The Power of Persuasion and Perseverance” in a March 27 “Grand Rounds” webinar hosted by the Science of Behavior Change (SOBC), a program at the National Institutes of Health. Duckworth, a psychological scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, studies how factors other than intelligence predict achievement. She focuses specifically on the demonstrated role of grit and self-control. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2013 and was an APS Rising Star in 2011. The 1-hour Grand Rounds webinar begins at 2 p.m. The SOBC webinars are held bi-monthly and are designed to engage the public.
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Newport, Kahana Honored by the Society of Experimental Psychologists
APS William James Fellow Elissa Newport of Georgetown University and APS Fellow Michael Kahana of the University of Pennsylvania both received special awards at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP), held March 2-3 at the University of Arizona. APS Fellow Mary Peterson of UA served as chair of the event. Newport received the Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Award for her lifetime of profound theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of language acquisition and its relation to constraints on learning. Newport studies both normal language acquisition and creolization using miniature languages presented to participants in lab studies.
