What a great discussion-starter for Sensation & Perception. What if we had these abilities too? Five Animals That Can Sense Things You Can't ... View more

What are the consequences of being surrounded by light 24/7? Check out this new @scifri video to find out! https://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/dark-skies/ ... View more

Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation is promoting intentional acts of kindness this September (#BeKind21) with a goal toward better mental health for everyone. Every day, from September 1 to September 21, let’s engage in purposeful acts of kindness to others and ourselves. I encourage you and your students to sign up.   Zara Abrams (2021) provides a nice summary of the research on kindness, emphasizing its benefits to both our physical and mental health. Even small acts, such as bringing a colleague coffee, counts. Buying me a beer also counts. Without too much difficulty, we can tie acts of kindness into what students are learning in their Intro Psych course. Here are a few examples. Biopsych chapter: Which neurotransmitters are most likely to be released in our brains when we do good deeds for others? Explain Development chapter: What are developmentally-appropriate good deeds we could perform for each group: toddlers, middle-schoolers, high-schoolers, middle-aged adults, older adults? Explain. Learning chapter: Identify at least three acts of kindness you have engaged in. Was your act positively reinforced? Explain. Memory chapter: We tend to have stronger memories for events that are emotional. Based on the emotional reaction of those who were on the receiving end of your kindness, will any of your acts of kindness be remembered years from now by one of your recipients? After September 21st, give your students an opportunity to reflect on their experience. What was especially good about engaging in intentional acts of kindness? Were there any surprises? Will they continue to be intentionally kind?   References Abrams, Z. (2021, August). The case for kindness. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/news/apa/kindness-mental-health ... View more

Interested in the history of psychology? Check out this series of 5-minute history videos! Today's video features James McConnell, who found a chemical basis for memory by studying worms. ... View more

I have used some of my free time this summer learning more about some areas where, well, I could learn more. Hormones would be one of those areas. To give me some current information and a bit of historical background, I turned to Randi Hutter Epstein’s book, Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything. For an overview, it is an informative and entertaining read. This for example: Beginning in the 1920s, and for nearly twenty years, [Vienna physiologist, Eugen] Steinach pioneered one of the most popular and controversial rejuvenation treatments. He claimed that vasectomies boosted sex drive, intellect, energy, and just about anything else that withered with age. Steinach believed that blocking the exit of manly juices (which is what a vasectomy does) prompted a congestion of them, much the way a traffic jam causes a pile-up of cars. If you rate success by the quantity and quality of scientific evidence, vasectomies for rejuvenation don’t rank high. If, on the other hand, you rate success by testimonials plus the number of paying customers, the practice was a global sensation. It was so popular, in fact, that Steinach’s name became a verb: to Steinach meant to do a rejuvenating vasectomy. Sigmund Freud was Steinached. William Butler Yeats, the poet, was Steinached. (pp. 72-73) Raise your hand if you were familiar with that bit of Freudian trivia. You will want to remember this, because I would not be surprised if this is the topic of a Stephen Chew trivia question at the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP). ["At what age was Freud Steinached?" Answer: 67.]  If nothing else, you can give "Steinached" as your answer to any trivia question you don't know. It would give you the opportunity to talk about Freud's vasectomy, which you certainly must be itching to do.  As for Freud, if you live by speculation in lieu of data... Steinach did not perform vasectomies, however, he did guarantee that your vasectomy would be rejuvenating if he was present to supervise. No word on whether Steinach supervised Freud’s vasectomy (he probably did since they were friends) or if Freud found his vasectomy rejuvenating (he probably did since he provided a testimonial).   One last comment before we can all stop thinking about Freud and his testicles. There is something strangely beautiful about testimonials driving that vasectomy-for-rejuvenation craze. The words testimonial and testis share the same etymological root, a root that means “witness.” Not all witnesses are created equal, however. I prefer my witnesses to have data derived from established research methods. Or at least that would be my standard before I allowed anyone near my testicles. If I had testicles. ... View more

"US scientists found that quantity, rather than quality, of speaking determined who was perceived as a leader in small groups...regardless of the intelligence or personality traits of members within the group" https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/leaders-talk-more-babble-hypothesis/ ... View more

We're deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Albert Bandura, one of the most honored and influential psychologists and researchers of his time, and a beloved Macmillan author. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues.   Bandura was a titan of 20th century psychology, best known for developing social cognitive theory (also known as social learning theory); the concept of self-efficacy – the idea that a person’s belief in their ability to succeed can shape how they think, act and feel; and his Bobo Doll experiments.  Here is a full obituary from The New York Times.     Macmillan Learning is proud to be the publisher of two of Bandura's books, Self-Efficiency (1997) and Moral Disengagement (2016). Here is a link to one of his last interviews, for the Macmillan-sponsored podcast, PsychSessions. You can also access this re-released PsychSessions episode #124 at your favorite podcast provider. ... View more

Particularly important today after Simone Biles withdraws from team competition in Tokyo Olympics. Going for Gold: How Sport Psychologists are Helping Olympians https://www.apa.org/topics/mental-health/going-for-gold ... View more

Excellent resource for students! Gain insight into the peer review process by examining published peer reviews: https://plos.org/published-peer-review-examples/ ... View more

Ever found yourself stuck while writing demographic questions? If so, see this guide: Bad Gender Measures and How To Avoid Them https://devonprice.medium.com/bad-gender-measures-how-to-avoid-them-23b8f3a503a6 ... View more

Do your students know what makes them happy? They probably think they do, and much what they think is probably wrong. Professor Gilbert will discuss the science of happiness, and tell you about some findings that will surprise your students – and maybe you as well!      WATCH RECORDING ... View more

Five conditions that cause people to abandon happiness: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-kids-call-the-shots/202106/why-you-don-t-believe-in-happiness-anymore ... View more

Summer 2021: June 1 to August 31 Sports psychology Recommended by a member of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology History of psychology Written by a person with a disability Recommended by a colleague at your institution Written by a BIPOC psychologist Neuroscience   On your shelf Cognition Written by a person diagnosed with a psychological disorder Written by a person who identifies as transgendered Stress & coping FREE Fiction Prejudice & discrimination Emotion Written by an APA 2021 keynote speaker I/O psychology Written by a psychologist who works outside the U.S. Social justice/activism Comparative psychology Cultural psychology   Science that is not psychology Written by a psychologist under the age of 40 Sensation & perception   Created by Sue Frantz                                               Read books that match the categories. Only one book per category. Write in the author’s name and title of the book in the box. A bingo is 5 across, 5 down, or 5 diagonally. How many bingos can you get? If you read 24 books—one that matches each category--that’s a blackout. Congratulations! Between August 31 and September 6, share your completed bingo cards to the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Facebook group or Twitter using hashtag #psychbookbingo. Happy reading! [Download as a Word file]    [Download as a PDF] ... View more

If you are looking to freshen up your examples of experiments, here’s a pretty readable one from an open access journal. Pendry, P., Carr, A. M., Vandagriff, J. L., & Gee, N. R. (2021). Incorporating human–animal interaction into academic stress management programs: Effects on typical and at-risk college students’ executive function. AERA Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211011612 Here is a summary. Petting therapy dogs can help college students cope with stress. (2021). The Optimist Daily. Retrieved May 28, 2021, from https://www.optimistdaily.com/2021/05/petting-therapy-dogs-can-help-college-students-cope-with-stress While you can use this as your own lecture example, if you want to make this an assignment or a discussion, here are some questions. Use whatever best matches your coverage of experiments. Ask students to read both the summary and the original research article, then answer these questions. What is the independent variable? What are the levels of the independent variable? What is the dependent variable? How many different times was the dependent variable measured? Were participants randomly assigned to conditions? Why is random assignment important? In the research article, the authors identify three limitations to the study. What are they? Which of the three do you believe is the biggest limitation? Why? Identify at least two more pieces of evidence you would like to have before recommending that your college or university spend money on therapy dogs. ... View more

For women, perceptions of intelligence and morality change based on how much makeup they're wearing: https://www.psypost.org/2021/05/study-suggests-that-women-wearing-heavier-makeup-are-perceived-as-having-less-mental-capacity-and-less-moral-status-60837 ... View more