Under the Cortex

A Paradox in the Field: Mental-Health Disorders Among Psychologists

It’s been estimated that at least one third of the population will experience mental disorders and difficulties in their lifetimes, from anxiety to depression. Those affected can be helped by people working in applied fields of psychological science, such as clinical psychology, counseling, or school psychology. But what do we know about the prevalence of mental-health difficulties among psychological scientists themselves—that is, among the same professionals who seek to understand and alleviate suffering in others due to mental disorders?  

To speak about mental health among psychologists and paths for future research, APS member Sarah Victor, a clinical psychologist and professor at the Texas Tech University, joined APS’s Ludmila Nunes. 

 

The July Collection: Five Research Briefs

What gives away a deceitful 911 caller who might have committed a crime? From a cross-cultural spin on the classic “marshmallow experiment” to deceitful 911 homicide calls to what true smiles do, new research in APS journals explores a broad range of topics, including visual memory and success. In this episode of Under the Cortex, APS’s Ludmila Nunes and Andy DeSoto—both of whom are psychological scientists themselves—discuss five of our most interesting new research papers. 

APS members get advance notice of all new research through our This Week in Psychological Science newsletter and may access the complete archive of APS journal articles.

Learn more at psychologicalscience.org.

The New Riddle of the Sphinx: Life History and Psychological Science

Life history—the transformations that occur throughout the lifespan—shapes the human mind. This idea cuts across all the subdisciplines of psychology and underlies the answers to the two main questions that drive psychological scientists: What is universal about human minds and what is special and particular about specific minds? In her inaugural presidential column for the APS Observer, APS President Alison Gopnik, who studies learning and development at the University of California, Berkeley, writes about life history and psychological science. In this episode, she reads her column, which you can find here. 

I Don’t Care If It’s Fake News, I Believe It

While the past several decades can rightly be called the “information age,” the rise of social media platforms makes is seem like the past few years could be considered the misinformation age. The viral nature of alternative facts, rumors, and planned disinformation campaigns has taken its toll on global politics, the economy, and healthcare. If only we could be told when we were reading “misinformation” that might just solve our problems! Or perhaps not. Does knowing that a news story is false really inoculate us against its misinformation?

Taking a new look at misinformation is "Max” Bai, a post-doctoral scholar in the Polarization and Social Change Lab as part of the Stanford Impact Labs. who presented new research at the 2022 APS Annual Convention earlier this year. 

2022 Spence Award Mini Episode: Brian Anderson and Habit-Reinforcing Behavior

The winners of the 2022 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions represent some of the brightest and most innovative young psychological scientists in the world. In a series of mini-episodes, Under the Cortex talks with each winner about their research and goals.

Today we hear from Brian Anderson (Texas A&M University) about his research on what captures human attention and how that influences behavior. 

Learn more about our sponsor by visiting https://macmillanlearning.com/psychsessions. 

 

2022 Spence Award Mini Episode: Patricia Lockwood and the Foundations of Social Learning

The winners of the 2022 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions represent some of the brightest and most innovative young psychological scientists in the world. In a series of mini-episodes, Under the Cortex talks with each winner about their research and goals.

Today we hear from Patricia Lockwood (University of Birmingham), who is researching the foundations of social learning and decision-making throughout life. 

Learn more about our sponsor by visiting https://macmillanlearning.com/psychsessions. 

Delusion and the Uses of Not Being Rational

Being rational is an often-admired quality. After all, a rational mind allows us to calmly and carefully evaluate  situations based on the facts rather than letting emotions cloud our thinking. There are times, however, when irrational thought has its advantages. Shedding some light on the human propensity for delusion thinking is psychologist, writer, and APS Fellow and Charter Member Stuart Vyse, who has published a new book “The Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Rational to Be Rational.” 

Learn more about our sponsor by visiting https://macmillanlearning.com/psychsessions. 

2022 Spence Award Mini Episode: Neil Lewis Jr. on the Unequal Nature of Society

The winners of the 2022 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions represent some of the brightest and most innovative young psychological scientists in the world. In a series of mini-episodes, Under the Cortex talks with each winner about their research and goals.

Today, Neil Lewis Jr. (Cornell University) talks about how the unequal nature of the society that we live in affects the way we think. 

2022 Spence Award Mini Episode: Human to Nonhuman Interactions with Kai Chi (Sam) Yam

The winners of the 2022 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions represent some of the brightest and most innovative young psychological scientists in the world. In a series of mini-episodes, Under the Cortex talks with each winner about their research and goals.

Today, Kai Chi (Sam) Yam (National university of Singapore) tells us about his research on human-nonhuman communication.

Learn more about our sponsor by visiting https://macmillanlearning.com/psychsessions. 

Traffic Stops and Race: Police Conduct May Bend to Local Biases

New research covering tens of millions of U.S. traffic stops found that Black drivers were more likely than White drivers to be stopped by police in regions with a more racially biased White population. Pierce Ekstrom, a researcher at the University of Nebraska and lead author on one of two concurrent papers in the journal Psychological Science talks about how these studies shed new light on how countywide attitudes toward race correlate with local policing. Read the news release and watch the video segment here.