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How Humans Evolved to Care for Others
APS Member/Author: Alison Gopnik The last few weeks have seen extraordinary displays of altruism. Ordinary people have transformed their lives—partly to protect themselves and the people they love from the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to help other people they don’t even know. But where does altruism come from? How could evolution by natural selection produce creatures who sacrifice themselves for others? In her 2019 book “Conscience,” the philosopher Patricia Churchland argues that altruism has its roots in our mammalian ancestry. The primordial example of an altruistic emotion is the love that mothers feel toward their babies.
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‘Education via Computer Needs To Be Limited’: Psychologist Says Parents Must Step Up To Nurture Kids In Age Of Coronavirus
With schools closed for more than 55 million children across the country in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, students, parents and teachers are facing a host of new and unexpected challenges. Schools all over the country have created virtual classrooms online, but many parents and caregivers find themselves managing the workload and tools like Google docs and Zoom meetings — all in addition to working remotely, taking care of finances and putting food on the table.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of research on the relationship between executive functions, impulsivity, and psychopathology, affective dynamics in psychopathology, risk profiles in social anxiety disorder, the effects of emphasizing negative affect in psychiatric diagnosis, motivation in schizophrenia, and neural patterns in patients with anxiety.
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For Introverts, Lockdown is a Chance to Play to Our Strengths
Yesterday morning I spent an hour doing a jigsaw puzzle, followed by a game of Scrabble, fortified by tea and scones. For once, there was no one I had to see and nowhere I had to be. The way we live now has split us in two. For introverts, it’s largely business as usual. But for my more extroverted friends, who are clamouring for Zoom calls to fill the gaping hole the pub has left in their lives, it’s a deeply testing time. I’m an introvert, which means I need time alone to recharge. This doesn’t mean I hate socialising, but it may well mean I will feel stressed and fatigued if I’m not left on my own for a while afterwards.
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Covid-19 Crisis: Gretchen Chapman, PhD on the Psychology of Vaccinations
Podcast interview with APS Member Gretchen Chapman. Gretchen Chapman, PhD researches how we make decisions about vaccines. She is a Professor in the Social & Decision Sciences department at Carnegie Mellon University and works across disciplines in both fields of judgment and decision making as well as health psychology. She is the recipient of an APA early career award and an NJ Psychological Association Distinguished Research Award, a fellow of APA and APS. She is a former senior editor at Psychological Science, a past president of the Society for Judgment & Decision Making, the author of more than 100 journal articles, and the recipient of 20 years of continuous external funding.
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The Choices Before Us: Can Fewer Options Lead To Better Decisions?
Podcast interview with APS Member Sheena Iyengar. To many people, an abundance of options is a good thing, a symbol of freedom and control. You get to choose whether to spend your Saturday at a movie or a baseball game. You decide whether to try the new restaurant down the block, or to stay in and cook. It's your call whether to take the job with higher pay, or the one with the better work-life balance. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has eliminated these and other options that we used to take for granted. And for many of us, this sudden contraction of choice has been a struggle.
