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Bower Reflects on Integrating Two Theoretical Frameworks
At the APS-Psychonomic Society W. K. & K. W. Estes Lecture at the 2016 APS Convention in Chicago, APS Past President and William James Fellow Gordon H. Bower delivered a 60-year retrospective on his attempts to integrate Clark Hull’s learning theory with William K. Estes’s statistical theory of learning. He also talked about his many years of collaboration with Estes, who passed away in 2011.
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Kelly McGonigal: Teaching the Values of Psychological Science
Recorded in May 2016 at the 28th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science in Chicago, Illinois.
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Scientists Explore the Brain’s Navigational Capacity
Participants in the 2016 Presidential Symposium hosted by APS President C. Randy Gallistel included Nobel Laureate Edvard Moser of Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, pioneering cognitive psychologist Barbara Tversky of Columbia University, pictured, neurobiologist Randolf Menzel of Freie Universität Berlin in Germany, and cognitive psychologist Russell Epstein of University of Pennsylvania. These prominent psychological scientists discussed the innate navigational systems embedded in our own brains.
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Gopnik Shares Research on Parenting and Learning
Modern parents try to raise their children to become smart, successful, happy adults. But this goal-centered concept of parenting is profoundly wrong, both scientifically and practically, says psychological scientist Alison Gopnik. An internationally recognized expert in child development, Gopnik shared research on why children should be nurtured, but not shaped, in her “Bring the Family” address at the 2016 APS Annual Convention. Gopnik’s presentation, “Parents Without Parenting,” examined research showing how children learn from the people who care for them through everyday observation, conversation, and play, rather than through intensive supervision and direction.
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When Looking Like a Leader Derails the Group
Experiments show that people who display the powerful, confident body language associated with leadership tend to dominate decision making—even when their ideas were entirely incorrect.
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Dynamic Dazzle Distorts Speed Perception
During World War I, a zoologist proposed that British warships could use the “disruptive” camouflage of zebras and leopards to confuse enemy ships. Instead of attempting to hide from view, the idea was that “razzle dazzle” patterns would make it difficult for the enemy to accurately gauge a ship’s position -- misleading rather than hiding. Although both American and British warships were painted with psychedelic zebra-stripe patterns based on this theory, it was never conclusively shown that the razzle dazzle stripes helped the ships elude enemy fire.
