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Does Fact-Checking Work? Here’s What the Science Says
... In terms of helping to convince people that information is true and trustworthy, “fact-checking does work”, says Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, who acted as an unpaid adviser on Facebook’s fact-checking programme in 2022. “Studies provide very consistent evidence that fact-checking does at least partially reduce misperceptions about false claims.” ... Fact-checking is less effective when an issue is polarized, says Jay Van Bavel, a psychologist at New York University in New York City. “If you’re fact-checking something around Brexit in the UK or the election in United States, that’s where fact-checks don’t work very well,” he says.
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She Is in Love With ChatGPT
... Michael Inzlicht, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, said people were more willing to share private information with a bot than with a human being. Generative A.I. chatbots, in turn, respond more empathetically than humans do. In a recent study, he found that ChatGPT’s responses were more compassionate than those from crisis line responders, who are experts in empathy. He said that a relationship with an A.I. companion could be beneficial, but that the long-term effects needed to be studied.
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Treatment Could Provide Relief for Comorbid Depression and Anxiety
For people with anxiety and depression, these conditions can feel like two sides of the same coin. Researchers are exploring how interventions could help alleviate the ups and downs of both disorders. Visit Page
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Student Notebook: Five Tips for Working With Your Committee
Doctoral student Beth Anne Hosek provides five tips for moving through graduate school and navigating the student-committee relationship. Visit Page
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A Four-Day Science-Backed Guide to Forging Better Friendships That Will Improve Your Life
... Another way to add warmth to your connections could be to repair past wrongs, by saying sorry. As our tech specialist Thomas Germain found out, robots are actually surprisingly good at coming up with effective apologies – while many humans struggle with that. But we humans may have one advantage: we can show in many ways that while imperfect, our apologies come from the heart. As Judy Eaton, a psychology professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, told Thomas: "Apologies aren't just about saying the right words, it's about bringing in the physiological responses of what researchers call 'psychic pain'. If you're truly remorseful, it hurts.
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Should Students’ Efforts Be Rewarded With Good Grades?
... If effort isn’t rewarded, effort won’t be applied. Those who doubt that they can find the right answer won’t even try. The richness that comes from inviting students to do their best will be left by the wayside. New approaches to old problems won’t be pursued, new solutions won’t be chased, and new problems that might be recognized by those who see themselves as outside the box won’t emerge. ... I teach incredibly talented students, including many first-generation college students from immigrant families and international students who aren’t always sure they belong at the university. They come with life experience that doesn’t always match the curriculum.
