A longtime friend of mine (names withheld for privacy), who now works as a writer for a very famous game company, recently told me about how he got his first job there. “So when I first applied, I submitted a bunch of material for them to evaluate. The …
In the field of health psychology, there is still much debate as to what constitutes an acute stressor versus a chronic stressor. The importance of this clarification is crucial for researchers in this field, because stress is a key factor in many area …
Mondays. The hardest part about Mondays is waking up in the morning. Kudos to those to feel otherwise. Getting back to the rhythm of our early weekday start is typically more difficult for people who are naturally night owls. Each of us has a unique ci …
Odds, Probability, Chance, Risks: Interchangeable?Not so much.What does it mean to say “smokers are X times more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers?” What about when the weather channel says, “there is a 10% chance of rain?” The odds of 1 …
Recently The Onion posted this tongue-in-cheek article regarding synesthesia. For those of you who may not know, synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which people experience cross-sensory perceptions. Fellow PIA blogger Emma Geller has written a …
So you applied to PhD programs in Psychology in the fall, with some kind of interest or focus in cognitive psychology – memory, attention, perception, thinking, learning, cognitive neuroscience, computational modeling of cognition, etc. Now interviews …
Preparing for interviews for a PhD program in psychology can be very stressful as well as very exciting. This is likely the first time that you will be interacting face to face with multiple professors and graduate students from the program you are app …
Psychology in Action’s Outreach Program co-hosted a very successful awareness event on UCLA campus last quarter with UCLA’s Cognitive Science Student Association (CSSA). Geared towards inspiring and educating undergraduate women who are looking to purs …
As a general rule of development, the progression of skills usually improve overtime. However, language learning is one domain where the abilities of infants far exceeds that of adults. Research examining young children’s early processing of language h …
Currently in the field of clinical psychology, there are a lot more dogs showing up in the clinic. Sometimes the dogs are there to help humans feel better, and sometimes the humans are trying to make the dogs feel better. Whether it is animal-assisted …
Ever felt “positively punished” when your dog-trainer or psychologist inundate you with these lingo?
The Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), the official name of child protective services/social services here in Los Angeles County, was on a week-long strike over horrendous caseloads, low pay, and terrible schedules.
In the 21st century, many people still attribute their eating behavior primarily to factors such as hunger and taste. However, research on the psychology of eating indicates that the social presence and behavior of others can also have an enormous impact on food consumption.
If you enter the world of research, there will come a time when you’re talking about your studies at a party and you suddenly realize that no one cares. If you’re lucky, this will happen before you’ve been in academia for 10 years and published 30 pape …
Attitude change has been the subject of decades of research, yet examples of dramatic alterations in attitude outside of the lab remain few and far between.
Here are a few of the mechanisms that help people be motivated
People are increasingly capable of pursuing their disagreements with calm, rational discussion, civil debate, understanding, and efforts to reach acceptable compromises.
Celine Dion I’m not sure about you, but when I hear Celine Dion belting out the last chorus of “My Heart Will Go On”, I seem to disconnect from reality and become totally immersed in a wave of emotion (one might even say that it’s a wave strong enough …
In 1992, the Dalai Lama invited an up-and-coming neuroscientist, Richie Davidson, out to Dharamsala, India to discuss the future of neuroscience research.
Vvisual behaviors sculpt our potentially overwhelming environment into meaningful experiences and the importance of studying visual social attention among individuals with autism
Does your 6-to-12-month-old infant follow you around the room like a shadow, cry in the presence of unfamiliar people, and refuse to be comforted or held by anyone but you? No worries! This is a normal part of development. As exhausting as this phas …