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Douglas L. Medin
Northwestern University William James Fellow Award Best known for his research on concepts and categorization, Doug Medin studies how our ideas of the natural world develop, examining biological thought from a cross-cultural perspective He also investigates the role of culture and moral values in the decision-making process. Through a collaboration with researchers on the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin and the American Indian Center in Chicago, Medin has explored the scientific reasoning orientations of children across cultures, as well as across urban versus rural populations.
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Janellen Huttenlocher
University of Chicago (retired) William James Fellow Award In a remarkable career, Janellen Huttenlocher has published on a range of research topics, including language, spatial coding in adults and children, quantitative development, and memory. She is a major figure, both within these subfields and in psychology at large. Huttenlocher has been particularly interested in the role of the child’s environment in the development of cognitive skills. One of her most famous findings is that the verbal behavior of parents and teachers not only determined children’s vocabulary growth, but also their grammatical learning.
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Encountering Connections May Make Life Feel More Meaningful
Experiencing connections, regularities, and coherence in their environment may lead people to feel a greater sense of meaning in life, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research, conducted by graduate student Samantha Heintzelman of the University of Missouri, along with advisor Laura King and fellow graduate student Jason Trent, suggests that meaning in life has an important adaptive function, connecting people to the world that surrounds them and, thereby, boosting their chances of survival. “Meaning in life tells the individual when the world is making sense,” say Heintzelman and colleagues.
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Extreme Political Attitudes May Stem From an Illusion of Understanding
Having to explain how a political policy works leads people to express less extreme attitudes toward the policy, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research suggests that people may hold extreme policy positions because they are under an illusion of understanding -- attempting to explain the nuts and bolts of how a policy works forces them to acknowledge that they don’t know as much about the policy as they initially thought.
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25 Years of Exhibiting With APS
As you make plans to attend the 25th APS Annual Convention in Washington, DC, don’t forget to schedule a stroll through the Exhibit Hall, where you will find books, equipment, software, professional opportunities, and, of course, free promotional items and giveaways. Among this year’s exhibitors are two organizations that have been attending the APS Convention since it all began in 1988. In Booth 502, the Association Book Exhibit will offer a combined display of scholarly and professional titles from leading publishers, as well as a free catalog; Worth Publishers, a publisher of cutting-edge, market-leading psychology textbooks and media, will be exhibiting in Booths 210 and 212.
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Marilynn Brewer
Ohio State University (Professor Emerita) University of New South Wales William James Fellow Award APS Past President Marilynn Brewer is internationally recognized for her contributions to research in social cognition, especially social identify and intergroup relations. Her work has focused on social identity, collective decision making, prejudice, and intergroup relations. Her exceptionally rich and rigorous career has spanned several decades and several continents.