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How the Brain Made Room for Complex Social Ties
When APS Fellow and Janet Taylor Spence Award recipient Naomi Eisenberger was a graduate student, she ran an experiment in which study participants felt socially excluded: Participants situated in an fMRI machine played a virtual game of catch with two other players — or so they thought. In truth, they were playing catch with a computer, and no other human player was participating in the game. At some point, the other “players” quit passing the ball to the study participants, which led to feelings of exclusion.
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Violence and Its Origins
A panel at the 2014 APS Annual Convention, to be held May 22–25 in San Francisco, California, will explore the questions asked in such research, including whether there are evolutionary reasons behind our destructive past and whether there might be predictors of what kind of person is most prone to violence. Speakers include: APS Fellow John T. Monahan, University of Virginia. His research has focused on mental health law. APS Fellow Adrian Raine, University of Pennsylvania. He studies antisocial behavior from social, developmental, and neuroscience perspectives. Matthew K. Nock, Harvard University.
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Student Events at the 2014 APS Annual Convention
Applying to graduate school and finding employment after you’re done with your program of study are formidable undertakings, to say the least. At the 2014 APS Annual Convention, to be held May 22–25 in San Francisco, students can get advice from experienced graduate students and professional scientists who know the ropes. The convention will feature programs for undergraduates looking to gain research experience, graduate students preparing to find full-time work, and all the students in between. The Naked Truth Part I: Getting into Graduate School Panelists discuss graduate school preparation and the graduate school application process.
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Perspectives on Behavioral Priming and Replication
The January 2014 issue of Perspectives in Psychological Science features a special section focused on behavioral priming research and attempts at replication. The five articles included in the special section explore issues including the potential role of moderators in hampering the replication of priming effects and whether direct replications are truly feasible. In addition, researchers discuss the fundamental importance of theory to understanding when, why, and how priming effects occur.
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Dysregulated Positive Emotion Predicts Disordered Eating
Considerable research explores the relationship between negative emotion and disordered eating behaviors, such as binge eating and purging. But a new study suggests that positive emotions may also play a role in rewarding and maintaining
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Celebrating 25 Years of Science in Perspectives
The fourth and final special section recognizing the 25th anniversary of APS is published in the January 2014 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science. The special section, like those that came before it, examines the evolution of psychological science over the last quarter century. The special section articles span a variety of topics, including psychotherapy for children and adolescents, treatments for mental illness outside the therapist's office, the effects of insulin on brain function, measuring experiences of pleasure and pain, and understanding familial risk for depression. Building Robust Psychotherapies for Children and Adolescents John R.
