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Teens’ Mental Health May Improve When They Help Others
In college my oldest son volunteered as a Big Brother and taught computer science at local elementary and middle schools. After graduating, he said his time with those young students was one of the most rewarding parts of his college experience. According to emerging research, it might also have improved his mental health. ... “Part of the exploration of adolescence and young adulthood is figuring out where you can be needed and useful—arguably core aspects of our mental health,” says developmental psychologist Andrew Fuligni, co-executive director of the Center for the Developing Adolescent at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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How to Win Elections: Evidence-Based Principles of Effective Persuasion
I can read your mind. I see your worried spirit. I sense that, when assessing today’s U.S. political divide and voter sentiments, you feel astonished at what so many others believe and embrace. If only you, and your preferred candidate, could persuade well-meaning but misinformed people to embrace truth and value decency. If you support an incumbent, you and your kindred souls will want voters to perceive the economy as thriving, crime rates as falling, and leadership as effective. If you support a challenger, you will want voters to see a darker present—a government plagued by corruption, an economy languishing, a society in decline—and to long for someone who can make things great again.
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Social psychologist Brenda Major wins mentor award, launches scholarship
For her lifetime achievements in teaching, advising and encouraging students and colleagues in the field of social psychology, UC Santa Barbara’s Brenda Major has received the Association for Psychological Science 2024 APS Mentor Award. “Advising and mentoring students is the part of being a professor that I have most enjoyed,” Major said. “I believe that good mentorship is one of the most important assets one can have on the path to achieving one's goals.” ... To honor Major’s mentoring and contributions to science, along with those of her husband and colleague, Jim Blascovich, the department has established the Brenda Major and Jim Blascovich Fund for Social Psychology.
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A User’s GuideTo Midlife
Midlife, typically defined as ages 40 to 60, is an inflection point. It’s a time when our past behaviors begin to catch up with us and we start to notice our bodies and minds aging — sometimes in frustrating or disconcerting ways. But it’s also an opportunity: What our older years will look and feel like isn’t set in stone, and there’s still time to make adjustments to improve health and well-being going forward. “Things that you do or things that happen in midlife can have long-term effects on the later life,” said Margie Lachman, a psychology professor at Brandeis University who specializes in middle age. “So it’s a really important period for paying attention to your body.” ...
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Is that chatbot smarter than a 4-year-old? Experts put it to the test.
Laura Schulz has spent her career trying to unravel one of the most profound human mysteries: how children think and learn. Earlier this year, the MIT cognitive psychologist found herself baffled by her latest test subject’s struggles. ... “One thing that seems to be really important for natural intelligence, biological intelligence, is the fact that organisms evolved to go out into the real world and find out about it, do experiments, move around in the world,” said Alison Gopnik, a developmental psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley.
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What ‘Inside Out 2’ Teaches Us About Anxiety
At the end of “Inside Out,” the 2015 Pixar movie about the emotional life of a girl named Riley, a new button appears on the console used to control Riley’s mood. ... So he dug into the scientific research and spoke with Dr. Damour and Dacher Keltner, an expert on the science of emotion and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who also worked on the first movie. Eventually, Mr. Mann’s team decided that Anxiety was motivated by love for Riley, just like Joy was.
