Career Profiles and Insights

Career Profiles and Insights

  • What Setting Suits You?

    What Setting Suits You?

    Teaching: The fit between a person and their environment, or PE fit, can provide undergraduates with engaging, concrete examples of nature/nurture dynamics, causal reasoning, and the difference between main effects and interactions. 

  • Exploring Tech Jobs as Psychological Scientists

    Exploring Tech Jobs as Psychological Scientists

    In this guest column, APS William James Fellow recipient James W. Pennebaker, a renowned academic and software entrepreneur, shares useful advice on pursuing careers in the technology sector.

  • Finding Opportunities in Research Administration

    Finding Opportunities in Research Administration

    In a conversation with APS President Wendy Wood, clinical scientist Christine Hunter shares how she’s applied skills learned in graduate school to her role as a government research director.

  • The Limitless Applications of Psychological Science

    The Limitless Applications of Psychological Science

    “I think there’s never been greater interest in and relevance and importance of translating rigorous research and academic scholarship for practitioners,” said Michael Fenlon of PricewaterhouseCoopers in this exclusive interview with APS President Wendy Wood.

  • Back Page: Bringing Climate Change Home

    Back Page: Bringing Climate Change Home

    Norman D Henderson Professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies at Oberlin College Cindy Frantz discusses her research into humans’ relationship with the natural world, promoting sustainability, and developing strategies that can help generate support to addressing climate change.

  • Back Page: Singular Sensation

    Back Page: Singular Sensation

    Clinical psychologist Dominika Ochnik discusses her research into singlehood and well-being, mental health risks among young people, and her plans to study associations between urbanization and mental health.

  • Back Page: The Executive Whisperer

    Back Page: The Executive Whisperer

    Constance Dierickx discusses her work as an advisor to boards and senior executives in high-stakes leadership situations and her experiences helping psychologists learn how to be consultants.

  • The Science of Starting Up

    The Science of Starting Up

    A burgeoning assortment of psychological scientists is studying the factors that distinguish successful entrepreneurs from those that falter. Their work is particularly salient amid today’s challenging economic climate.

  • What Music Does to Us

    What Music Does to Us

    Amy Belfi from the Missouri University of Science and Technology joined APS’s Ludmila Nunes to speak about her career as a neuroscientist studying music perception and cognition as well as how poetry and other forms of art can impact the brain and behavior.

  • Disinformation: Misinformation’s Evil Twin 

    Disinformation: Misinformation’s Evil Twin 

    Through a variety of efforts—including the APS COVID-19 global initiative and a new white paper for policymakers, the scientific community, the media, and the public—APS and its members are researching and combating misinformation.

  • Back Page: Reading and Believing

    Back Page: Reading and Believing

    David Rapp discusses reading comprehension and his research on the factors influencing individuals’ vulnerability to misinformation.

  • Back Page: It’s a Conspiracy!

    Back Page: It’s a Conspiracy!

    Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, studies the psychology of conspiracy theories.

  • Center for Advanced Study in the behavioral Sciences 2022-23 Fellowships

    Center for Advanced Study in the behavioral Sciences 2022-23 Fellowships

    The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University is now accepting applications for residential fellowships for the 2021–22 academic year. CASBS has hosted generations of scholars and researchers who are in residence for the academic year and welcomes applications from individuals at any career stage. It is particularly eager to receive applications from accomplished scholars and thinkers who engage with significant societal challenges, and the research methods that support them. Application Deadline: November 5, 2021 For more information, visit the CASBS website.

  • Student Notebook: Back Yourself

    Student Notebook: Back Yourself

    Sally Larsen encourages students preparing for careers outside academia to reimage the skill sets they’ve gained in graduate school.

  • Much More Online

    Much More Online

    Featuring articles on eco-friendly behavior, virtual networking, and horse psychology.

  • Back Page: Remember This

    Back Page: Remember This

    Nathan S. Rose uses neuroimaging and stimulation to study memory in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amnesia.

  • When the Perfect Mentor Is Outside Your Network

    When the Perfect Mentor Is Outside Your Network

    The National Research Mentoring Network, supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is a free social and professional networking tool that matches and facilitates mentoring relationships using evidence-based best practices and online resources.

  • A More Inclusive Psychological Science

    A More Inclusive Psychological Science

    Psychological scientists have long studied bias, from explicit and implicit attitudes to stereotypes and structural inequality. Now they’re working to apply those findings within the field itself.

  • Looking Forward: Letter from the New APS Executive Director

    Looking Forward: Letter from the New APS Executive Director

    As APS’s newly appointed executive director, I have been focused on new beginnings—new information, new partnerships, new ideas, and new perspectives on persistent problems. Interestingly, my thoughts have coincided with the end to what nearly everyone around the world will look back at as a remarkably long and stressful year. As we continue to work to resolve the myriad challenges that surfaced in 2020, we must also recognize that life has changed. How we do business, learn, collaborate, communicate, and interact has changed. Our organizations must also change.

  • Back Page: Dr. Roboto

    Back Page: Dr. Roboto

    Melissa Smith brings a lifetime of fascination with robotics and human-computer interaction to her work as a senior user experience (UX) researcher at Stadia, Google’s gaming platform.

  • NASEM Seeking Environmental Health Committee Experts

    NASEM Seeking Environmental Health Committee Experts

    The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on the Use of Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions seeks experts to plan a workshop exploring the influence of environmental exposures (e.g., pollutants) on mental and behavioral health outcomes.  The workshop, planned for February, 2021, will focus on efforts to better integrate mental and behavioral health into multidisciplinary considerations of environmental health; new tools and technologies to assess mental and behavioral health outcomes; and ways in which mental and behavioral health impacts could be incorporated into environmental risk assessm…

  • Back Page: Driven From Distractions

    Back Page: Driven From Distractions

    Lotte van Dillen, of Leiden University, studies the role of affect in consumption, financial decision-making, and judgment, especially under trying circumstances.

  • Virtual Event: Careers in Data Science

    Virtual Event: Careers in Data Science

    IE University will host a virtual event, "Why Doctoral Students Make Great Data Scientists," at 6:30 pm GMT (12:30 pm EST) on Wednesday, July 15th, 2020. The talk, hosted by Inna Saboshchuk, a data scientist with a background in basic and applied social psychology, will provide an overview of some of the career options that exist for psychological scientists outside of academia, as well as an opportunity for students to ask any questions they may have on the topic. Register for this free event here.

  • Back Page: Decades of Dolphins

    Back Page: Decades of Dolphins

    Janet Mann, a professor of psychology and biology at Georgetown University, dives deep into the social lives of these clever marine mammals.

  • Back Page: Personality Plus Plus Plus

    Back Page: Personality Plus Plus Plus

    In his new book and his research, clinical psychologist and Oxford College of Emory University professor Ken Carter gets inside the minds of thrill-seekers, daredevils, and adrenaline junkies.

  • Much More Online

    Much More Online

    Featuring articles on the psychological science community’s response to COVID-19, as well a research on public health and epidemics.

  • Back Page: The Talent Bias

    Back Page: The Talent Bias

    Years of performing as a pianist sparked psychologist Chia-Jung Tsay’s curiosity about perceptions of “natural talent” and other factors that can influence how we evaluate achievements.

  • APS Spence Awards Announced

    APS Spence Awards Announced

    Eight psychological scientists have been selected as the recipients of the 2020 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award

  • Back Page: Awake at the Wheel

    Back Page: Awake at the Wheel

    APS Fellow Mark Rosekind, chief safety innovation officer at Zoox and former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, uses psychological science to make roads safer for drivers and pedestrians alike.

  • Take an Aisle Seat

    Take an Aisle Seat

    Part of the scientific process is dealing with conflicting data and results. APS President Lisa Feldman Barrett suggests making a resolution this year to transform your adversaries into your greatest resource, scientifically speaking.

  • Back Page: Never Fear?

    Back Page: Never Fear?

    It may sound like he’s inducing amnesia, but psychology professor Tom Beckers is actually testing the possibility of targeting and muffling psychologically crippling memories.

  • Back Page: Nap Tracker

    Back Page: Nap Tracker

    A pioneer in studying learning and memory during atypical development, University of Arizona professor Jamie Edgin is uncovering the effects of poor sleep on learning in children with Down syndrome.

  • Biennial International Seminar on the Teaching of Psychological Science

    Biennial International Seminar on the Teaching of Psychological Science

    The 2nd Biennial International Seminar on the Teaching of Psychological Science (BISTOPS) will take place on 13 – 17 July, 2020 in Paris at Maison Suger, at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme—Maison Suger’s residential and working facility. The seminar will accommodate about 20 participants who have experience in conducting and publishing research on teaching psychology and in successful grant-writing, as well as those who are developing ideas for such research or have a strong interest in doing so.

  • Advice for New Faculty

    Advice for New Faculty

    It’s your first faculty job. Now what do you do? A panel of three psychological scientists who have been there, done that offer some advice. What are the first things you should do as a brand new faculty member? Kim Penberthy: Get a mentor if you have not already been assigned one. This should be a faculty member at a higher rank who has risen in your system. Check and see if there is a mentoring program in your institution and join it! Jessica Schleider: I’m not sure if these are things everyone should do, but here are some things I did do and found helpful: Find out who the “go-to” administrative folks are in and beyond your department.

  • The Publication Arms Race

    The Publication Arms Race

    The advice to “publish or perish” may fuel many psychological scientists, but APS President Lisa Feldman Barrett says the field’s future depends on incentivizing research quality over quantity.

  • Become a Tenure-Track Scientist Within the NIH Intramural Research Program

    Become a Tenure-Track Scientist Within the NIH Intramural Research Program

    Psychological scientists interested in a tenure-track research position within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will want to know about a unique opportunity to earn a position via an innovative application initiative. Now in its 11th year, the NIH Earl Stadtman Investigators Program offers tenure-track positions to researchers conducting cutting-edge behavioral or biomedical science. These positions are housed with the NIH intramural research program, which is NIH’s internal research wing. “The Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigators search seeks to identify talent through a broad search that can focus on specific areas of science or enable the candidates to bring their ideas to us.

  • Extended Deadline for EuroCogSci 2019 Paper & Poster Submission

    Extended Deadline for EuroCogSci 2019 Paper & Poster Submission

    The European Conference for Cognitive Science 2019 (EuroCogSci 2019) will be held September 2 to 4 at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany. The conference will feature contributed papers, symposia, and posters covering all subfields of cognitive science, bringing together a large number of experts from Europe and overseas.  The call for conference papers and posters has been extended to April 15, 2019. More information on the submission process and conference events is available on the EuroCogSci 2019 website.

  • Where Psychology Majors Work

    Where Psychology Majors Work

    All of us involved in undergraduate education go to great lengths to ensure our curriculum provides training in the content, methods, critical thinking, and communication skills appropriate for a major in the science of psychology. But despite that training, neither employers nor psychology students presume they have the skills important for success in the world of work. In a 2012 paper, educational psychologist Todd Haskell (Western Washington University) and colleagues pointed out how this irrational belief persists, with negative consequences for our field and our students — particularly when it comes to their career choices and the opportunities they seek.

  • Student Notebook: Diverse Opportunities for Students in Psychological Science

    Student Notebook: Diverse Opportunities for Students in Psychological Science

    When the weather starts to get chilly and the leaves start to fall, students begin the application process for graduate school. Starting with writing and revising their resumes, students gather all the information that will strengthen and support their applications. Although a high GPA is widely perceived as a determining factor for graduate school entrance, there are other significant factors that can help students’ applications stand out as well. These include involvement on campus and with professional organizations, leadership positions, research experiences, mentoring experiences, and internships.

  • Back Page: Attitudes About Accents

    Back Page: Attitudes About Accents

    Psychologist scientist Karolina Hansen of the University of Warsaw in Poland investigates the assumptions and biases we harbor toward foreign and native accents. How did you become interested in studying linguistic biases? It all started with a Cognitive Psychology lecture. The whole lecture was interesting, but what especially attracted my attention was the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis about linguistic relativity. I found it a fascinating and intuitively true idea that people who speak different languages will see the world differently. Straight after the lecture I borrowed a book with a collection of Whorf’s articles and essays from a library.

  • Back Page: Experiments in Different ‘Worlds’

    Back Page: Experiments in Different ‘Worlds’

    Using virtual reality as an experimental tool, APS Fellow Alan Kingstone and psychological scientist Andrew C. Gallup are exploring how basic human behaviors differ between the real world and simulated environments. What prompted your idea to examine people’s behavioral responses in virtual environments compared to real life? Both of us are tremendously committed to conducting research that has a clear and direct relevance to everyday life. As people expect virtual reality (VR) experiences to mimic actual reality, and so to induce similar forms of thought and behaviour, introducing VR into our research programs was a natural step.

  • Back Page: A Rural Reach for STEM Education

    Back Page: A Rural Reach for STEM Education

    Psychological scientist Martha Escobar of Oakland University’s Cognitive and Behavioral Lab investigates the use of evidence-based approaches to promote scientific learning in low-income rural areas. What is the aim or rationale behind your NSF-backed research project? Our overall goal is to reach populations typically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to increase their interest and persistence in scientific careers. Our participants want to explore science, but lack the access and resources to attend available educational programs.

  • Back Page: Smell Talk

    Back Page: Smell Talk

    APS Fellow Asifa Majid, a psycholinguistics researcher at the University of York in the United Kingdom, is uncovering cultural differences in the way people talk about odors, aromas, and scents. How did you become interested in the way we identify and talk about smells? In my research, I try to understand the relationship between language and thought. One way to do that is to examine what things are more or less easy to express in language. Is everything that you can think equally expressible in language? Or expressible at all? Or are there experiences that defy verbalization? Smell was interesting to me because there is a long-standing assumption that it is impossible to talk about odors.

  • New Research From Psychological Science

    New Research From Psychological Science

    A sample of research exploring how trait anxiety relates to attention, how choosing different career paths may shape personality development, and how attentional selection contributes to risky decision making.

  • Long Live Psychology! … and Long-Lived Psychologists

    Long Live Psychology! … and Long-Lived Psychologists

    Turning 76 years old in a week, and still loving what I do, I find myself inspired by two recent emails. One, from social psychologist Thomas Pettigrew, age 87, responded to my welcoming his latest work by attaching 14 of his recent publications. The second, from C. Nathan DeWall, pointed me to an interesting new article coauthored by developmental psychologist Walter Mischel, age 88 (who, sadly, died just hours before this essay was posted). That got me thinking about other long-lived people who have found their enduring calling in psychological science.

  • Getting Involved On and Off Campus

    Getting Involved On and Off Campus

    For many people, the first few years of graduate school are pretty much alike: spending hours reading journal articles, taking classes, formulating research questions, doing the research, and writing papers. Aside from the occasional required self-care (e.g., sleeping, eating, bathing), graduate school becomes all about the academics. Sure, during first-year orientation I learned about the events I could be attending, the graduate student government, and the community, but those concerns were easy to ignore while I focused intently on research.

  • Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science

    Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science

    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 a peer-reviewed bimonthly journal featuring reviews by leading experts covering all of scientific psychology and its applications and allowing readers to stay apprised of important developments across subfields beyond their areas of expertise.

  • Professional Networking as a Graduate Student

    Professional Networking as a Graduate Student

    Networking means many different things to many different people, especially in graduate school. With many graduate students feeling uneasy about the post-PhD job market, the pressure to network, both socially and professionally, has reached a peak. This article will focus on networking at a professional level, defined simply as getting your name out into the academic world. The advice contained within this article may appear most relevant for students approaching graduation, but it is never too early to begin the networking process. Three methods of professional networking will be discussed: conferences, academic Twitter, and personal webpages.

  • Back Page: Collaborating With a Crowd

    Back Page: Collaborating With a Crowd

    University of Sussex researcher Raphael Silberzahn describes how an early setback led him to develop an innovative crowd-sourced research project. This “many analysts” project reveals how research teams can draw different conclusions from the same data set as a result of the choices they make in conducting their analyses. Before transitioning to academia, you had a career as a business consultant. What led you to pursue graduate studies in behavioral science? After my undergraduate studies in international business administration I couldn’t wait to try myself out in the real business world, to participate in the action rather than merely learn about it.

  • Back Page: Languages’ Layers

    Back Page: Languages’ Layers

    Ted Supalla, Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery at Georgetown University Medical Center One of your research interests is exploring universals in language. What fundamental features do signed and spoken languages have in common? All languages have layers of structure, starting with a limited set of minimal contrastive formational features (sound contrasts in spoken languages; contrasts in handshapes and movements in signed languages) that combine into words, which then combine to form a potentially infinite number of sentences. This kind of grammatical productivity is found in both spoken and signed languages. What misconceptions about signed language do people often have?

  • On Collaborations: The Opportunities

    On Collaborations: The Opportunities

    When is a good time to collaborate on a research project instead of going it alone? APS President Suparna Rajaram offers some thoughts to help you decide.

  • Back Page: Redefining ‘Academic Superstardom’

    Back Page: Redefining ‘Academic Superstardom’

    Your work advances our understanding of mental disorders from a network perspective — how did you come to this line of research? (Did you start with an interest in clinical issues? Or did the interest begin with statistical modeling?) I started with an interest in clinical issues, forensic psychology in particular. During my Research Master I did my internship in a forensic psychiatric hospital, comparing low versus high psychopathic patients on their performance in the Iowa Gambling Task, a measure of how people process risk and emotion.

  • NSF Releases 2018 Science & Engineering Indicators Report

    NSF Releases 2018 Science & Engineering Indicators Report

    The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has released its most recent Science and Engineering Indicators Report, one of two congressionally mandated biennial reports, on the state of science and engineering investments and the workforce in the US and abroad.

  • APS Student Caucus: Serving Student Members for 3 Decades

    APS Student Caucus: Serving Student Members for 3 Decades

    There is much to celebrate about the past 30 years of APS, an organization founded to advance the science of psychology. And that includes a key part of the APS membership — students. From its inception in 1988, APS has boasted a large student base. Of its 30,000 members, more than 13,000 are students. Like APS itself, the APS Student Caucus (APSSC) came from humble beginnings but has grown to serve the needs of students through funding, programming, and career-development opportunities. History of the APSSC When APS was founded in 1988, membership grew quickly; after 6 months, more than one third of members were students.

  • Back Page: Playing to Chronotype

    Back Page: Playing to Chronotype

    Psychological scientist Royette Tavernier is staying closely tuned to her natural sleep-wake preferences to build a career investigating links between sleep and psychological and physical outcomes.

  • Back Page: A Conversation with Ralph Hertwig

    Back Page: A Conversation with Ralph Hertwig

    Behavioral scientists have made great strides convincing policymakers to embrace the concept of nudges — interventions designed to steer people’s behavior in a preferable direction while preserving their freedom of choice. But APS Fellow Ralph Hertwig, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, is proposing a second kind of intervention that he calls “boosts.” In a new article in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Hertwig and philosophy professor Till Grune-Yanoff (Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm) explain the differences between the two types of policy strategies. APS asked Hertwig about the “boost” concept.

  • An Unwavering Commitment to Science

    An Unwavering Commitment to Science

    Meet Lynn Nadel, the Fred Kavli Keynote Speaker at the APS 2018 Convention APS Fellow Lynn Nadel’s scientific exploration of the hippocampus has led to groundbreaking developments in understanding how space and memory are represented in the brain. He coauthored the seminal book The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map with John O’Keefe. Together, they received the 2006 Grawemeyer Award to honor their outstanding ideas in psychology that have had broad impact. I am delighted that Lynn Nadel will deliver the Fred Kavli Keynote Address on May 24, 2018, at the 30th APS Annual Convention in San Francisco.

  • Student Events Inspire, Impress at the 2017 Convention

    Student Events Inspire, Impress at the 2017 Convention

    APS Student Caucus (APSSC) events at the 2017 APS Annual Convention in Boston offered students a wide array of topics, including how to apply to and survive graduate school; how to navigate the job market for both academic and nontraditional jobs; and how to get your manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals. Students also had the exciting opportunity to meet and talk with some of the leaders in the field of psychological science in an intimate setting during the “Champions of Psychological Science” event. The student programming began on Friday with a forum on “How to Get Published” chaired by APSSC Student Notebook Editor Elise Goubet of the University of Kansas.

  • Natural Selection: The Mentoring Edition

    Natural Selection: The Mentoring Edition

    In today’s society they may be hidden, but good shepherds do exist. They nurture. They guide. They use their foresight to keep their flock safe and ensure its survival. As graduate students, we often find ourselves members of such a flock, seeking guidance, knowledge, and survival skills from those who act as shepherds — our mentors. A good mentor can ensure successful completion of your research project. Furthermore, healthy mentor–mentee dynamics facilitate a prosperous graduate experience. This article aims to define several attributes that characterize a good mentor and to encourage you to progress from flock member to shepherd status by becoming a mentor.

  • 2017 APS Mentor Awards

    2017 APS Mentor Awards

    Recipients of the APS Mentor Award for 2017 include David M. Buss, University of Texas at Austin; Randall W. Engle, Georgia Institute of Technology; Paul L. Harris, Harvard University; and Phoebe C. Ellsworth, University of Michigan.

  • Pre-Doctoral Summer Internship at the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

    Pre-Doctoral Summer Internship at the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

    The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) is sponsoring a pre-doctoral internship this summer at the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Candidates must have completed two years of coursework towards a doctorate focusing on human development; must be in good standing academically, and have a strong interest in the research linking behavioral and social factors with health outcomes for children and adolescents. They must be SRCD members and US citizens.  The deadline to apply is May 15, 2017. For more information, please visit the SRCD website.

  • From Protecting POTUS to Safeguarding Schools

    From Protecting POTUS to Safeguarding Schools

    After spending a decade helping the US Secret Service identify genuine dangers to the President’s safety, Marisa Randazzo is applying her science to guiding schools on threat assessment.

  • Professors’ Influence on Display in APS Membership Initiative

    Professors’ Influence on Display in APS Membership Initiative

    Back when APS was established, our membership grew quickly, largely through word of mouth. Many of our current leaders today tell us that they joined as students because they were strongly encouraged by their professors and research mentors to be part of this important new group dedicated to the science of psychology. Invoking that same spirit on the eve of our 30th= year, we recently asked our current faculty members to engage their students with APS. “As a professor and mentor, you play an integral role in shaping your student’s careers,” said APS Executive Director Sarah Brookhart in an email to faculty.

  • Reenvisioning Graduate School

    Reenvisioning Graduate School

    The field of psychological science is continually changing. These changes are spurred by many factors, from the development of new methodological approaches to shifts in the sociopolitical climate. For students, this ever-morphing environment can feel exciting, as though we are at the cutting edge of our field; yet it also can feel daunting, as if there is no end to the amount of training we need before we can jump-start our careers.

  • New evidence-based policy team in Washington, DC hiring psychological scientists

    New evidence-based policy team in Washington, DC hiring psychological scientists

    A new scientific team in the Executive Office of the Mayor of Washington, DC is hiring psychological scientists, data scientists, and others, with a September 19 deadline. This new team, called The Lab @ DC, was founded and is directed by David Yokum, formerly of the U.S. Social and Behavioral Sciences Team and GSA Office of Evaluation Sciences, who spoke at the 2016 APS Convention on ways that psychological scientists can get involved in day-to-day governance.

  • Building Better Science Means Breaking Down Barriers

    Building Better Science Means Breaking Down Barriers

    Many of the world’s most challenging issues – poverty, health behavior change, and globalization – are at their core issues that can be solved with a better understanding of human behavior. Making progress on solving these complex, multidimensional issues increasingly requires interdisciplinary collaboration across research disciplines. But the way most modern universities are organized, with behavioral and social science faculty splintered throughout dozens of departments, prevents scholars in one department from sharing ideas and resources with their colleagues from another department — even if it’s just down the hall.

  • Genetic Variations Linked with Social and Economic Success

    Genetic Variations Linked with Social and Economic Success

    Psychological characteristics link genes with upward social mobility, according to data collected from almost 1000 individuals over four decades. The data suggest that various psychological factors play a role in linking a person’s genetic profile and several important life outcomes, including professional achievement, financial security, geographic mobility, and upward social mobility. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study, led by psychological scientist Daniel W.

  • Some Jobs May Help Prevent Cognitive Decline

    Some Jobs May Help Prevent Cognitive Decline

    Even years after retirement, a mentally stimulating career may be keeping people’s minds active and memories sharp. As people age, cognitive skills like memory and information processing speed tend to decline. But a large body of research suggests that this decline isn’t necessarily inevitable.

  • Jeb Bush Was Wrong: There Are Many Careers for Psychological Scientists

    Jeb Bush Was Wrong: There Are Many Careers for Psychological Scientists

    By now, most of us have heard what Jeb Bush said in October about a psychology degree only preparing students to work in the fast-food industry. While behavioral scientists know that a psychology degree is in fact excellent preparation for a wide variety of jobs, Bush’s comment may reflect a broader lack of awareness about the incredibly diverse applications of degrees in psychological science. The Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) and APS have partnered to develop a searchable mentorship database that helps junior scientists connect with more established scientists to learn how psychological scientists can use their skills.

  • Rotten Reviews Redux

    Rotten Reviews Redux

    Thomas H. Carr Michigan State University Two truly great rejections come immediately to mind. The first was the reaction of the editor of a high-level journal to a response I made to two reviews, one of which said the current version of our paper should be rejected but proposed revisions after which the paper could make a contribution. The other review literally made up “quotes” from the paper, defeated them handily, and recommended rejection.

  • Lessons Learned From a Life in Science

    Lessons Learned From a Life in Science

    APS Past President Michael S. Gazzaniga’s illustrious career as a researcher, an intellectual, and an advocate for science has led to his elections to the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences and appointment to the President’s Council on Bioethics. Gazzaniga’s groundbreaking investigations examining split-brain patients and his instrumental role in the genesis of the field of cognitive neuroscience establish him as a leader in the scientific quest to understand the relationship between brain and mind.

  • Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellowships for 2016–2017

    Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellowships for 2016–2017

    SRCD is seeking applications for upcoming Policy Fellowships for 2016–2017. There are two types of Fellowships: Congressional and Executive Branch. Both provide Fellows with exciting opportunities to come to Washington, DC and use their research skills in child development outside of the academic setting to inform public policy. Fellows work as resident scholars within their federal agency or Congressional office placements. Fellowships are full-time immersion experiences and run from September 1st through August 31st.

  • Rotten Reviews

    Rotten Reviews

    Back in the early 1980s, the actress Dame Diana Rigg began asking colleagues in the theater and film industries — including some of the world’s most honored thespians — to share their worst-ever reviews. The responses turned into a collection, No Turn Unstoned, which eventually drew a cult following as she toured university campuses reading excerpts from the book. In that spirit, we asked some distinguished APS members, all of whom are leaders in their areas of study, to share their own worst wounds from the critics (in this case, journal editors, peers, job recruiters, or even laypeople hearing about their studies).

  • Early-Career ‘Memories’

    Early-Career ‘Memories’

    In late 2005, I applied to several psychology PhD programs. I was invited for an interview at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and I remember meeting Elizabeth Loftus and thinking to myself, “There’s no way I’m qualified to work with a person so highly esteemed and accomplished.” Thus, I approached our meeting less as an interview and more as a fun opportunity to sit down with someone who might offer some wisdom and advice — perhaps an interesting story or two about her experiences as a psychological scientist and expert in criminal cases. I think my mindset made me feel less nervous about our meeting. As we spoke, I was struck by how easy it was to talk to her.

  • Off the Beaten Path

    Off the Beaten Path

    The road well traveled by psychological scientists has traditionally been academia, particularly for individuals interested in research and education. However, developments in our field, coupled with limited tenure-track opportunities, have led psychology graduates to stray from the beaten path and pursue less traditional employment options. The US Department of Education reports that in 1975, across higher-education institutions, close to 60% of faculty were in either tenured or tenure-track positions.

  • Gifted Men and Women Define Success Differently, 40-Year Study Shows  

    Gifted Men and Women Define Success Differently, 40-Year Study Shows  

    Researchers spent four decades studying a group of mathematically talented adolescents, finding that by mid-life they were extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyed a high level of life satisfaction.Gender, however, played a significant role in how they pursued — and defined — career, family, and success. This conclusion comes from the most recent round of results from the largest scientific study of the profoundly gifted to date, recently published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth is a longitudinal research project conducted at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development.

  • Ten Tips for Developing a Programmatic Line of Research

    Ten Tips for Developing a Programmatic Line of Research

    “My research is about…” Many graduate students finish this sentence with a long, awkward pause and a deep sigh, followed by the admission that they have done a number of unrelated studies in order to fulfill their program requirements. However, as APS Past President Henry L. Roediger, III, wrote in a 2007 Observer article, “Early in one’s career, publishing a steady series of journal articles is how one builds a reputation.” A programmatic line of research on one topic helps young scientists transition from frantic graduate students to accomplished scientists.

  • Stepping Into the Mix

    Stepping Into the Mix

    I was introduced to interdisciplinary research during my very first lab meeting in graduate school in 1991. Judith Rodin, my first advisor, was leading a MacArthur Foundation network on Health-Promoting and Health-Damaging Behaviors, including the role of stress. The network included diverse and broad thinkers such as neuroscientist Bruce McEwen and social psychologist Nancy Adler. The MacArthur networks provided a great model of how small interdisciplinary discussion groups could be highly collaborative and generative in promoting new ideas that stretch people out of their disciplinary silos, as well as support students in their training.

  • Undergraduates’ Thoughts About Creative Success: Anecdotes From a Creativity Seminar

    Undergraduates’ Thoughts About Creative Success: Anecdotes From a Creativity Seminar

    What do undergraduates think about how creative ability develops? It seems like a simple question, but it led to a sea change in my own scientific outlook. It also embodies an important example of the positive feedback loop that can exist between the laboratory and the classroom. For 4 years I taught an undergraduate seminar on creativity and problem solving at the University of Delaware. The entire semester was arranged to support a final project conducted by each student: a case study of creativity. This was not simply a biographical case-study project, but rather a chance for students to explore the validity of the variety of theories from creativity research.

  • Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science

    Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science

    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 a peer-reviewed bimonthly journal featuring reviews by leading experts covering all of scientific psychology and its applications, and allowing readers to stay apprised of important developments across subfields beyond their areas of expertise.

  • Lean On: Workers, Work and the Spouses Who Help Us Succeed

    Lean On: Workers, Work and the Spouses Who Help Us Succeed

    Sheryl Sandberg had a good year last year. She was named chief operating officer of Facebook, and also published the bestselling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, which has sold more than a million copies and has sparked a movement among professional women. She is a perennial on Forbes’ list of most powerful women in business. Lean In is aimed primarily at women who aspire to leadership roles in the competitive world of business, but Sandberg makes it clear she is also talking to men who want to live in a more equitable world.

  • Women May See Tradeoff Between Power at Home and at Work

    Women May See Tradeoff Between Power at Home and at Work

    Women earn less money, hold fewer public leadership positions, and have fewer legal rights than men in much of the world. Yet, when it comes to making decisions about the home, women are often portrayed as the ones calling the shots. While taking charge of household decisions may seem like a positive role for women, a recent study found that holding power over household decisions may have unanticipated consequences. Psychological scientists Melissa J. Williams (Emory University) and Serena Chen (University of California, Berkeley) hypothesized that women would experience power as a tradeoff.

  • Averting the Motherhood Penalty

    Averting the Motherhood Penalty

    Whether they’re willing to admit it or not, hiring managers tend to doubt working mothers’ dedication to the job. Previous studies have revealed that the so-called “motherhood penalty” is rather rampant in the job market. People generally assume that working mothers are less committed, and therefore less capable, on their jobs. One of the most telling studies on this mindset was published in 2007, when a team of researchers had a group of women, some of them wearing a prosthesis to make them appear pregnant, pose as either job applications or customers at retail stores. Store employees were generally more rude toward pregnant applicants vs.

  • Work Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Productivity—They’re a Virtuous Cycle

    Work Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Productivity—They’re a Virtuous Cycle

    Engaged workers—those who approach their work with energy, dedication, and focus—are more open to new information, more productive, and more willing to go the extra mile. Moreover, engaged workers take the initiative to change their work environments in order to stay engaged. What do we know about the inner workings of work engagement, and how can employers enhance it to improve job performance? In a new article to be published in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science , a journal of the Association for Psychological Science,  Arnold B. Bakker creates a model of work engagement based on the best current research.

  • Queen bee in the office: who gets stung?

    Queen bee in the office: who gets stung?

    Financial Times: Female bosses get a bad rap. There's even a word for them. No, not that word. I am talking about the term "queen bee". The queen bee is the female boss who strives to protect her power at all costs. She distances herself from other women at the office, and rather than promote her junior counterparts, she refuses to help them rise through the ranks. But according to a new study by Belle Derks of Leiden University in the Netherlands, such behaviour may not necessarily be her fault. Rather, it is the product of an inherently sexist work environment.

  • The Myth of the ‘Queen Bee’: Work and Sexism

    The Myth of the ‘Queen Bee’: Work and Sexism

    Researchers wondered if the “queen bee” behavior—refusing to help other women and denying that gender discrimination is a problem, for example—might be a response to a difficult, male-dominated environment.

  • Income Disparity Makes People Unhappy

    Income Disparity Makes People Unhappy

    Many economists and sociologists have warned of the social dangers of a wide gap between the richest and everyone else. Now, a new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, adds a psychological reason to narrow the disparity - it makes people unhappy. Over the last 40 years, “we’ve seen that people seem to be happier when there is more equality,” says University of Virginia psychologist Shigehiro Oishi, who conducted the study with Virginia colleague Selin Kesebir and Ed Diener of the University of Illinois. “Income disparity has grown a lot in the U.S., especially since the 1980s.

  • Will Psych Majors Make the Big Bucks?

    Will Psych Majors Make the Big Bucks?

    A new crop of college graduates have just landed on the job market. Right now they’re probably just hoping to get any job, if at all. However, for psychology majors, the salary outlook in both the short and long term is particularly poor, according to a new study which will be published in an upcoming issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. It’s generally known that psychology majors don’t make a ton of money when they’re starting out; they’re not like engineering students, many of whom go straight into a job that pays well for their technical skills.

  • Taking Safety Personally

    Taking Safety Personally

    A year after the BP explosion and oil spill, those trying to find someone to blame are misguided, says psychological scientist E. Scott Geller, Alumni Distinguished professor at Virginia Tech, and author of a new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Geller has spent much of his 42-year career developing interventions to keep people safe, particularly helping companies develop a culture that promotes occupational safety.

  • The Road Taken (and the One That Wasn’t)

    The Road Taken (and the One That Wasn’t)

    Throughout one’s professional life, there are many paths that might be taken and many choices to make. Increasingly, one decision confronting a psychologist is whether to remain within the domain of psychology for teaching, scholarship, and service activities or to branch into related disciplines and functions. Here, I review several major choices that one faces and how my choices at these points shaped my journey as a scholar and teacher. These are broken into several categories: work domain, professional focus, and setting.