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When Kids Know Better
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Alia Martin from Yale University and Kelcey Wilson from Quinnipiac University present their poster session research on “When Kids Know Better: Paternalistic Helping in 3-Year-Old Children.” One challenge we face in helping others is that sometimes the best way to help is by not doing what is requested. Martin, Wilson, and collaborators showed that 3-year-old children can override a communicated request and, as a result, provide the most useful means of helping another person to achieve her goal.
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APSSC Award Winners Talk About Identity and Race
Eighty-three years after the birth Martin Luther King, Jr., psychological scientists continue to investigate race, cultural identity, and prejudice. Three APSSC Award presentations at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC addressed how these factors influence health and social interaction. Watch Sabrica Barnett (The City University of New York), Bryan Jensen (Brigham Young University), and Lillian Polanco (Hunter College) present their research. Designing effective methods to combat prejudice is still a challenge for researchers. To learn more, read Wray Herbert’s blog on the problem with “colorblindness” or recent research on anti-prejudice messages from Psychological Science.
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Meet Your Brain
In December, 2.4 millions viewers watched APS Fellow Bruce Hood deliver the Royal Institution of Great Britain Christmas Lectures. The lectures were started in 1825 and target a teenage audience. They have been delivered by prominent scientists including David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins. Hood’s three-part lecture series, entitled “Meet Your Brain,” explores how the human brain functions, interprets the outside world, and guides social interaction. The first lecture, “What’s in your head?” explains how the human brain constructs its own version of reality. In this clip about how the eyes and the brain work together, Hood makes some surprising observations about human vision.
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Pupillometry Turns 50
When someone loves you or is lying to you, you might be able to see it in their eyes—or at least their pupils. “Pupillometry” — which uses pupil-diameter measurements for psychological research — recently turned 50 years old. Measuring pupil diameter allows scientists to approximate the intensity of mental activity as well as potential changes in mental state. The technique is also a promising tool for studying subjects that can’t speak, such as infants, patients with neurological damage, and even animals. The January 2012 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science features commentary by Bruno Laeng and colleagues on the history, promise, and current state of pupillometry research.
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Better Treatment for PTSD
What happens when fear — a psychological mechanism that protects us from harm — becomes unmanageable after a traumatic event? APS Fellow Edna Foa, one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in 2010, is an expert in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders. She is known for designing “prolonged exposure” or PE, a groundbreaking therapy for PTSD that has been embraced by the US military. PE involves helping patients overcome their fears by gradually facing painful thoughts, memories, and environments. In this video excerpt from CMI Education Institute, Inc. Foa discusses treatment for PTSD.
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Be YOUR Motivation
As you draw up your list of New Year's Resolutions for 2012, remember to set goals that are really important to you. In this video from Eco-mobilite.tv, psychological scientist Maarten Vansteenkiste explains why autonomous motivation (change that is personally important) is more effective than controlled motivation (change that results from outside pressure). Vansteenkiste's APS Rising Star profile can tell you more about his research. If you want to know even more about motivation, you can read research on effective and ineffective anti-prejudice messages from Psychological Science or watch footage from APS Fellow Elke Webber’s recent chat with the Dalai Llama.
