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Don’t Freak Out on Friday the 13th: Stay Positive
It’s Friday the 13th for the second time in 2012. With one more Friday the 13th coming in July, for some superstitious people this is a scary time—but stay positive. Check out this TED talk from APS Fellow and Charter Member Martin Seligman, a leader in the field of Positive Psychology. Seligman runs the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. APS Fellow David Myers of Hope College agrees. He says people are much happier than we think they are. And the good news is, we’re not born afraid of things – so maybe we can learn to overcome these fears.
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Growing Over Showing in Math Education
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Matthew G. Mandelbaum from Fordham University present his poster session research on “Mastery, Need for Cognition, and Self-Efficacy Promote Long-Term Math Achievement in Adolescent Females.” Mandelbaum’s research shows that “growing” is better than “showing” when it comes to learning math.
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Cultural Ties
When a child learns to tie her shoes —perhaps using the “bunny ears” method or the “squirrel and the tree” — her parents probably don’t think of the lesson as a moment of cultural reinforcement. But in the midst of a debate over culture and cognition, a group of five psychological scientists at Northwestern University’s MOSAIC lab noticed their shoe-tying methods were as diverse as the countries they represented. The lesson: Culture permeates nearly everything we do, even mundane routines that we think are neutral. For more on culture and science, read the April 2012 Presidential Column Everything is Cultural by APS President Douglas L. Medin.
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HPA Activation Leads to Sex Differences in Spatial Attention
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Melissa VanderKaay Tomasulo from St. Michael's College present her poster session research. Stressors in your life, such as navigating traffic or doing a public presentation, activate two main biological stress systems: The HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and the SAM axis (sympatho-adrenomedullary axis). Stress research in humans has generally focused on verbal learning and memory. But Melissa M. VanderKaay Tomasulo of Saint Michael's College, along withAnthony E.
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How to Beat Bad News
There’s a lot of bad news out there, and sometimes it’s hard not to assume that the next flu pandemic, terrorist attack, or natural disaster is just around the corner. If remembering frightening, high-profile events makes you feel bad, APS Fellow David Barlow suggests that you confront your negative feelings head on. Ten years after the September 11 attacks, Barlow said that ramped-up airport security and color-coded threat assessments from the Department of Homeland Security serve as constant reminders that something terrible could happen at any moment. The consequence, he says, has been an increase in anxiety among Americans.
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The Influence of Justifications on the Acceptance of the Use of Torture
I'm Robert D. Johnson from Arkansas State University and I presented my research at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC.
