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Living in Pasteur’s Quadrant
How can psychological researchers balance the need to do basic science with their desire to be relevant to the questions and issues of their time? In his classic book‚ Pasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation‚ Daniel Stokes proposes an answer. Cross-cutting two dimensions — a quest for understanding and considerations of use — Stokes offers four quadrants that capture the areas of scientific progress. Pasteur’s quadrant contains “use-inspired” research that enhances our basic understanding of scientific phenomena at the same time that it offers answers to practical‚ real-world problems.
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The Sense of Style
Let’s face it: Most academics are terrible communicators. Why do the world’s most cerebral people find it so hard to convey their ideas? And how can we learn to do better? I suggest that the sciences of mind and language can provide guidance. Thoughtful writers and teachers should begin with a clear idealization of the simulated scenario in which they are communicating with their audience. And they must overcome The Curse of Knowledge: the inability to imagine what it’s like not to know what they do know.
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Burnout Leaves its Mark on the Brain
Chronic stress seems to dampen people’s neurological ability to bounce back from negative situations—causing even more stress. Visit Page
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Weiß ich doch (I know!)
Süddeutsche Zeitung: In Arztpraxen und Krankenhäusern sind sie gefürchtet, im sonstigen Leben gelten sie als elende Nervensägen. Die Rede ist von Menschen, die immer Bescheid wissen, überall den Durchblick haben - und dies andere auch deutlich spüren lassen. Sogar wenn sie medizinischen Rat suchen, sagen solche Zeitgenossen dem Arzt, was er gleich bei ihnen finden wird und wie sie am besten behandelt werden sollten. Was diese selbsternannten Experten jedoch nicht ahnen: Im Gefühl ihrer eigenen Überlegenheit bemerken sie oft nicht, wie sie sich grandios überschätzen und gerade in Gebieten, in denen sie sich besonders gut auszukennen meinen, fulminant danebenliegen.
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Non-verbal Communication
Nonverbal communication applies across different groups of people and even different species, and it varies within and between individual people, making it a prime candidate for an integrative science initiative, said Anne Maass (Universitá di Padova, Italy), who chaired an Integrative Science Symposium on the topic. Beatrice de Gelder (Maastricht University, the Netherlands) elaborated on cognitive neuroscience research investigating how we perceive emotional expression through the body, even outside awareness, while Klaus Scherer (University of Geneva, Switzerland) discussed the fundamental architecture of the emotion system and how our bodies and faces convey our appraisals of, and intent…
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Psychology in an Economic World
Poverty, wealth, and their cognitive, emotional, and neurochemical consequences dominated the discussion in the opening integrative science symposium at ICPS. Moderated by Daniel Cervone, who co-chairs the program committee for the event that kicked off March 12 in Amsterdam, scientists representing psychology, economics, and sociology shared a wealth of research findings on the various ways socioeconomic status correlates with brain development, decision-making, and emotional well-being. Sociologist Jürgen Schupp of the German Institute for Economic Research detailed the manifold psychological concepts that should factor into the development of relevant social and economic indicators.
