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The Bias Hunter
In February 2021, cognitive psychologist Itiel Dror set off a firestorm in the forensics community. In a paper, he suggested forensic pathologists were more likely to pronounce a child’s death a murder versus an accident if the victim was Black and brought to the hospital by the mother’s boyfriend than if they were white and brought in by the grandmother. It was the latest of Dror’s many experiments suggesting forensic scientists are subconsciously influenced by cognitive biases—biases that can put innocent people in jail.
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Enhancing Student Engagement through Innovative Online Technologies
Have trouble engaging students in online classes? Want to know more Have trouble engaging students in online classes? Want to know more about innovative online teaching techniques？ This webinar is supported by the Association for Psychological Sciences (APS) Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science to promote teaching technologies for online courses. These techniques may apply to both synchronous and asynchronous formats. These tools support a variety of learning methods for students.
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Implicit-Bias Remedies: Treating Discriminatory Bias as a Public-Health Problem
Psychological Science in the Public Interest (Volume 23, Number 1)Read the Full Text (PDF, HTML) Implicit bias refers to thoughts, attitudes, or stereotypes that can be measured indirectly and can operate without awareness. Such measurements have been associated with discriminatory judgments and behaviors, prompting efforts by many researchers to understand how to overcome implicit biases. Some researchers have suggested interventions at the individual level to weaken or eradicate implicit biases. Others have recommended training programs administered to groups to overcome biases more broadly, including implicit ones. Both approaches appear to be inefficient.
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Collected Research by Asian American and Pacific Islander Psychological Scientists
Research by psychological scientists Serena Chen, Stephen Chen, Angela Duckworth, and Jackson Lu.
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Few Transgender Children Change Their Minds After 5 Years, Study Finds
Young children who transition to a new gender with social changes — taking on new names, pronouns, haircuts and clothing — are likely to continue identifying as that gender five years later, according to a report published on Wednesday, the first study of its kind. The data come from the Trans Youth Project, a well-known effort following 317 children across the United States and Canada who underwent a so-called social transition between ages of 3 and 12. Participants transitioned, on average, at age 6.5.
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In Praise of Anxiety
Nobody likes to feel anxious. Anxiety is among the most pervasive and reviled of human emotions. An entire industry has sprung up to aid us in eradicating it, from self-help books and holistic remedies to pharmaceuticals and cutting-edge cognitive behavioral therapy. Yet we are an ever more profoundly anxious society. Epidemiological studies show that over 100 million people in the U.S. will suffer from an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. Rates, especially among the young, have been rising for the past decade. Our efforts to contain anxiety aren’t working.
