Snapshots from San Francisco

June 25, 2024
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Below are scenes from the 2024 APS Annual Convention in San Francisco, California. Thank you to the attendees for making the convention a huge success! We hope to see you at the APS Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., USA in May 2025.

Attendees gather and show off swag at the APS booth in the Exhibit Hall.
Researchers and students presented 1,200 posters during the Convention.
Researchers who promote nudges, or ways to change individual behavior to tackle societal problems, may have inadvertently undermined support for more effective policy changes, APS Fellow George Loewenstein says. “That’s like palliatives when surgery is needed,” the Carnegie Mellon University behavioral economist said during his keynote address.
APS Fellow Elke Weber (Princeton University) calls on psychological scientists to collaborate across disciplines and nations to address climate change and other social issues on multiple levels. “We need action at the individual and household level, at the community level and the collective level, and at the institutional level,” Weber said in her address at the Psychological Science and Society Plenary Session.
Convention Program Committee Chair Aaron Fisher (in the forefront) and his band Plastic Soul entertain attendees at an evening reception. APS William James Fellow Robert Levenson, a colleague of Fisher’s at the University of California, Berkeley, made a special appearance during the performance.
Social psychologist Markus Brauer, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Diversity Science, shares evidence-based interventions that spur people to become more inclusive and welcoming. Brauer’s presentation was part of a plenary panel on the science of behavior change. Joining him on the panel was behavioral scientist Asaf Mazar (University of Pennsylvania), who discussed the seemingly minor external barriers to behavior change.
In the Inclusivity Spotlight, APS William James and James McKeen Cattell Fellow Claude Steele discusses the worrisome vigilance that many people in underrepresented groups adopt to disprove stereotypes. “It puts them in a state that I call ‘churn,’—vigilance about how their identify is going to play out in a situation,” he said. Steele summarized experiments that have shown some ways to overcome tensions in diverse environments.
In the Inclusivity Spotlight, APS William James and James McKeen Cattell Fellow Claude Steele discusses the worrisome vigilance that many people in underrepresented groups adopt to disprove stereotypes. “It puts them in a state that I call ‘churn,’—vigilance about how their identify is going to play out in a situation,” he said. Steele summarized experiments that have shown some ways to overcome tensions in diverse environments. 
Clad in red APS T-shirts, more than 60 student volunteers helped members navigate the convention venue.
Rose Zacks (left) of Michigan State University and Lynn Hasher of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre receive the APS Williams James Fellow Award. The long-time collaborators have pioneered research on individual and age-related differences in cognition.
APS President Wendy Wood presents Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions to Sasha Epskamp (National University of Singapore). Epskamp is a leader in the nascent field of network psychometrics.
APS President Wendy Wood presents Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions to Sasha Epskamp (National University of Singapore). Epskamp is a leader in the nascent field of network psychometrics.
APS Fellow Vicki M. Mays (University of California, Los Angeles) speaks to attendees at the APS Awards Ceremony after receiving the James S. Jackson Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors APS members for their diversity-focused scholarship.
Cognitive psychologist Stephen L. Chew (Samford University) encourages psychologists to move from best practices in teaching toward applying what research shows about the contextual nature of learning. Chew was the speaker at the APS-David Myers Distinguished Lecture on the Science and Craft of Teaching Psychological Science.
In a keynote address, APS Fellow Angela Duckworth shares findings showing that it takes more than willpower and determination to achieve our goals. We can pursue our objectives more easily when we choose or change our physical and social situation, she said. “For somebody who studies habit, on self-regulation, on grit, on self-control, I just can’t emphasize enough how important context is,” Duckworth said.
Publications > Observer > Snapshots from San Francisco

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