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People Know When to Move On
People make decisions all the time. What sandwich to order, whether to walk through that puddle or around it, what school to go to and so on. However, psychologists disagree on how good we are at making decisions. “In the literature on human decision-making, there are two almost parallel stories,” said Andreas Jarvstad of Cardiff University. “One goes, ‘humans are terrible at making choices.’ The other goes, ‘humans are close to being as good as they possibly can be.’” Jarvstad is an author of a new study on decision-making published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. His study is about choosing how long to spend on the task at hand.
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God’s Flipside: Religion Without Kindness
I recently watched one of the most brutal and upsetting films I’ve ever seen, called The Stoning of Soraya M. I suppose the title of this 2008 film should have warned me away, but I really don’t believe that anything could prepare viewers for the graphic, bloody and excruciatingly prolonged scene that gives the film its name. It’s the story of a 35-year-old mother, falsely accused of adultery by her bullying husband and local mullah, who is convicted under Islamic law and executed by the men of a rural Iranian village. The stoning, based on a true story, took place in 1986, but the small-mindedness and hate-filled religiosity are medieval. The Stoning of Soraya M.
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Writing Away Academic Anxiety
A simple, 10-minute writing exercise can significantly improve test performance for students with math anxiety. These findings were reported by Sian L. Beilock of the University of Chicago, who spoke about her research on math anxiety at the 24th APS Annual Convention before signing copies of her book Choke: The Secret to Performing Under Pressure. Beilock discussed behavioral and brain imaging work examining how students’ knowledge and general cognitive abilities interact with social and emotional factors to influence performance in academic arenas such as math.
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2012 Convention Video: Schizophrenic Patients and Self-Concept
Hi I'm Fahad Rahman from Teachers College, Columbia University and I presented my research at the APS 24th Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This poster examines the self-reference memory effect (SRM) in schizophrenic patients as it plays an important role in social- and self-cognition. Schizophrenic patients show a lack of SRM, which points to a deficit in their self-schema, and thereby helping us to design more effective treatment plans for them.
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APS’s Saturday Night Concert: A Smashing Hit
On Saturday night, the Sheraton Ballroom V at the 24th APS Annual Convention was turned into a swinging club featuring the musical talents of five-time Grammy Award winning bass player Victor Wooten and a band of both professional musicians and musically gifted psychological scientists. Wooten took the stage first and warmed up the crowd with a soaring version of Amazing Grace that morphed from a mellow melody into an explosive, jazzy jam that sent his fingers flying across the strings.
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Convention Video: Opting-In Versus Opting-Out in Healthcare (APSSC Award Winner)
Trishna Narula from Emory University and Chethan Ramprasad from Rice University presented their research at the APS 24th Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This was an APSSC Student Research Award-winning poster. Trishna Narula Emory University Chethan Ramprasad Rice University Enrica N. Ruggs Rice University Michelle R. Hebl Rice University The current study examines whether a default, opt-out appointment scheduling system will increase show-up rates for colonoscopy procedures.
