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Diverse Perspectives on Strengthening Science
During the last 5 years, Perspectives on Psychological Science (PPS) has published several special sections focused on improving research methods and strengthening psychological science. This special section, introduced by Editor Barbara A. Spellman, is an eclectic collection of articles that present new insights into the strength of our science or provide commentary on topics raised in past methodology-based special sections. Why are some scientists tempted to use questionable research practices, fabricate data, or otherwise cheat in the pursuit of science?
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Fighting Crime, One License Plate at a Time?
You’re driving down the street when you witness a hit-and-run incident between two other cars. The offending driver speeds off before you have a chance to jot down their license plate number. You’ve only had a few seconds to memorize the plate but you know that the more you can remember, the more likely police are to nab the hit-and-run driver. This is no small feat. Vanity plates aside, the seeming arbitrariness of the letters and numbers that grace most license plates makes them tricky to memorize on the spot.
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Psychological Scientists Address the Challenges of an Aging Workforce
Older adults are a growing proportion of the American workforce in unprecedented numbers. For the first time since 1948, American employees over age 65 outnumber teenage workers, according to a report from AARP. Yet, older workers are still beset by discriminatory hiring and negative stereotypes about their capabilities and competence. Last week, psychological scientists from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) hosted a congressional briefing in the Senate demonstrating how evidence-based strategies can help organizations and policymakers successfully manage the emerging challenges of the world’s aging workforce.
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Imagination Beats Practice in Boosting Visual Search Performance
Practice may not make perfect, but visualization might. New research shows that people who imagined a visual target before having to pick it out of a group of distracting items were faster at finding the target than those who did an actual practice run beforehand. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Customer Loyalty May Depend on the Race of a Company’s Leader
Franklin Raines was appointed CEO of Fannie Mae in 1999 -- making him the first black CEO in America to lead a Fortune 500 company. Since then, only 14 other black CEOs have assumed the top leadership role within America's most powerful companies. For years, researchers have found evidence that managers show bias against black personnel, particularly when they’re in positions that involve customer contact. But new research explores how this racial bias extends all the way to the most senior leadership roles of a company.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Not So Innocent: Toddlers' Inferences About Costs and Culpability Julian Jara-Ettinger, Joshua B. Tenenbaum, and Laura E. Schulz How do perceptions of competence and motivation influence children's social evaluations of others? Children watched two puppets push a button on a toy. When the button was pushed, the toy played music. One puppet correctly pushed the button on the first try; the other puppet correctly pushed the button only after several unsuccessful attempts. When asked, both puppets refused to help the child's accompanying parent push the button.
