Psychology in Action

Category: General Psychology

  • Evidence for Multiple Pathways to Sexual Orientation

    Social scientists have long debated the “true” nature of sexual orientation. In the past, this debate has been characterized as another example of the classic battle of nature vs. nurture/biology vs. society. Today, most acknowledge that a simplistic this or that explanation doesn’t fly for most things and likely doesn’t rightly characterize sexual orientation, either.…

  • Investigative Interviewing and the Detection of Deception – Professor R. Edward Geiselman, UCLA

    Information is the lifeblood of investigations and it is the ability of investigators to obtain useful and accurate information from witnesses that is most crucial.  Yet full and accurate memory recall is difficult to achieve.  The Cognitive Interview (CI) technique developed by Geiselman and Fisher is a systematic approach to interviewing witnesses toward increasing the…

  • How effective are political campaign advertisements?

    While the media buzz surrounding the 2012 Presidential Election is just starting up, now is as good a time as any to think about how effective political advertisements really are at influencing our candidate choices.  Every election season, political candidates shell out thousands and even millions of dollars on televised campaign advertisements.  But how persuasive…

  • Getting Involved in Undergraduate Research

    The world of research can be scary if you don’t know how to navigate the many fields and labs. But luckily a few tips can really demystify the process!

  • Listen to the Music

    Conducting research with babies invites many unique challenges.  For example, infants don’t speak or respond to instructions very well.  One of the ways researchers work around this limitation is by presenting images on a screen and measuring various aspects of the baby’s behavior.  The UCLA Baby Lab uses this method in studies of infant visual…

  • Dr. Rodney Hammond: A successful career of blending research and community work

    One of the goals of the American Psychological Association is “to advance the communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society.” As the head of the Center for Disease Control’s Division of Violence Prevention, Dr. Rodney Hammond has worked to achieve this goal by bringing scientific rigor and leadership to curbing violence in our…

  • How Does Early Life Stress Affect Health Across the Lifespan? — Professor Shelley Taylor, UCLA

    How does early life stress affect health across the lifespan? This question has intrigued our research team for many years. People who experience early life stress, in the form of poverty, exposure to violence, noise, and other stressors, or who experience a harsh early family environment in the form of conflict-ridden, cold non-nurturant parenting, or…

  • How not to conduct research: Online ethics edition

    Note: Everything in the following article and the provided links (at least at the time of posting) is work-safe, though some links may contain explicit language.  However,  please exercise caution in clicking other links found on the web pages referenced here! A quick Google search for recent Boston University grads Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam…

  • The Psychology of Radiation Panic

    A recent McClatchy-Marist poll found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans think a nuclear disaster similar to what happened in March of this year in Japan could happen here. Why do so many people suddenly think that nuclear disaster is likely? Recent research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General might shed some light on the…