-
Social Networking in a Graduate Industrial/Organizational Program
While social networks proliferate, insight is lacking about how graduate students, faculty, and administration collaboratively engage such networks. In early 2011, University of Phoenix rolled out what has become the world’s largest, single institution, educational social networking site, PhoenixConnect. The authors examined graduate student, faculty, and administrator contributions and interactions within this university social network. Participants from the graduate program in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology were given qualitative interviews during bimonthly face-to-face classes to investigate the ways participants from different cohorts used social networking.
-
Emotional Cues Alter Perceptions of Time and Number
Emotionally charged information dilates our perception of time and interferes with our numerical intuition, though it does so in different ways. Previous findings on how we process time and numbers have been mixed -- some studies propose a common mechanism, while others suggest that the two domains are distinct. Psychological scientists Laura Young and Sara Cordes of Boston College sought to further investigate this issue by having 38 participants observe emotionally charged stimuli -- in this case, angry, happy, or neutral faces -- and then estimate either the number of dots that appeared or the amount of time that an oval was shown on a screen.
-
The Cold Truth About “Heating Up” on the Court
It might seem as though some players are on a streak, with their chances of success getting better with every shot they take. But the data suggest otherwise.
-
Developing a Clinical Decision Support System
A Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) is an application that analyzes complex patient data to help healthcare providers make better clinical decisions. While these tools have been successfully used to reduce medical errors and improve healthcare efficiency, they have not always been embraced by providers. David Albert of Columbia University describes the development of a CDSS designed to help dentists and dental hygienists provide tobacco cessation counseling in the dental office.
-
Failure to Replicate the Mehta and Zhu (2009) Color Effect
Mehta and Zhu (2009) reported several studies in Science on the effects of the colors red and blue over a series of cognitive tasks. Red was hypothesized to induce a state of avoidance motivation which would cause people to become more vigilant and risk-averse in a task. Blue was hypothesized to induce a state of approach motivation which would cause people to use more innovative or risky strategies. Studies appear in high-impact journals, like Science, often because they report novel or far-reaching effects. Such studies need to be replicated in order to determine whether the finding is reliable.
-
2013 SRA and RISE Winners and Honorable Mentions
Student Research Award The APS Student Research Award (SRA) serves a dual purpose: to provide students with experience of the peer review process (both as submitters and reviewers) and to recognize outstanding research conducted by students. This year’s competition received 260 submissions, representing all areas of psychological science. The quality of submissions was exceptionally high, and competition was stiff. In response to record growth in the contest’s popularity over the last few years, this year’s contest featured a lengthier application process to provide additional information for our peer reviewers. Four overall winners and eight honorable mentions were selected.
