A quiet revolution is transforming how we think about the aging brain. As decades of research into the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is transforming clinical practice, the border between aging and disease is beginning to shift. Millions of persons once labelled as experiencing “normal aging” are either not normal, or they’re at risk of becoming abnormal. This talk, drawn from the presenter’s book The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It explains this revolution and its consequences for an aging America. The focus is the intersecting stories of two seminal events: the discoveries of mild cognitive impairment and biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. Together, these discoveries have transformed how physicians define Alzheimer’s disease. They promise early diagnosis and treatment and also a strange mix of opportunities and threats to the identity, agency, and privacy of aging Americans. WATCH RECORDING ... View more

Macmillan Learning is delighted to congratulate Jeff Greenberg, co-author of just-published Social Psychology, Third Edition, for receiving this prestigious honor from his peers. The SPSP's Career Contribution Award goes to scholars who make breakthrough contributions (theoretical or empirical) to our understanding of social psychology, personality psychology, or the areas where these fields intersect. The society uses this award to acknowledge exceptional careers that have previously been under-recognized. Learn more about the Career Contribution Award Learn more about Social Psychology, Third Edition ... View more

My college has been working remotely for the last 10 months, and we’re planning on working remotely for the next 10 months, although that may change as conditions warrant. I participate in regular committee and department meetings via Zoom. My EdTech colleagues—one-third of my time is spent there—and I communicate with each other primarily through Slack. We have only two Slack channels: #actualwork and #rantandrave. That pretty much covers what we need to discuss. In late March 2020 as the handful of us in EdTech prepared to help our 500 or so faculty move to remote or asynchronous online teaching, Slack was a lifeline. For colleagues I’m closer to, we meet via Zoom one-on-one every so often. As we plodded through January 2021 and the start of our winter quarter, I realized what I had been missing. I missed casual conversations. I missed people popping their heads into my office to ask if I had a minute to chat about… anything. Students. Teaching. Dogs. Cupcakes. Gossip. I missed chatting with people in the hallway. On campus sidewalks. In the parking lot. I missed my casual acquaintances. To remedy this at my college, I started a “watercooler” movement. Anyone at any time can email all faculty and staff with “watercooler” and a (short!) time limit in the subject line. For example, if it’s 10:55am, I could send out a faculty/staff email with “Watercooler until 11:15am.” In the body of the message is a Zoom link. There is no agenda, and the time is short and finite. We’re just there for a few minutes to chat about whatever topics move us. I’ve hosted a few watercoolers, and to date, three of my colleagues have hosted watercoolers. We’ve had anywhere from five to ten people attend—including the college president. I’ve met some new people, including people who started working at the college after we went remote. And I’ve seen many people that I only used to see in hallways, on sidewalks, in parking lots. After each watercooler session, my mood is much lighter. If I were a much deeper person, I’d say this time with acquaintances feeds my soul. But I’m not that deep. In a recent watercooler session, one my colleagues said she not-long-ago read an article about the importance of weak social ties. She said the crux of the article was that that’s what so many of us are missing with our remote work: our weak ties. And that is how I came to learn about sociologist Mark Granovetter’s paper on the importance of weak ties (Granovetter, 1973). One of my takeaways from the article is that historically, sociology focused on strong ties as the key to functioning networks. Granovetter proposed that weak ties are also important and worthy of research. Others evidently agreed. Google Scholar says that 58,631 articles to date have cited this 1973 paper. Several news outlets at various times during this pandemic year have picked up on this story—that we’re missing connecting with our weak ties. Here’s a sampling. Each article provides its own suggestions for how to tend to our weak ties during the pandemic. BBC (July 2, 2020): “Why your ‘weak-tie’ friendships may mean more than you think” The Harvard Gazette (August 27, 2020): “The value of talking to strangers — and nodding acquaintances” The New York Times (October 11, 2020): “How to connect with the co-workers you’re missing” In your coverage of social psych or stress and coping, ask your students to read one or more of the articles above. In a discussion, ask students if they feel like they’re maintaining their weak ties. If so, how? If not, how might they? Your students aside, how can you foster your weak tie connections?   Reference Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. ... View more

Humor is a vital part of our lives (even more so now). So, what's the secret recipe that makes something funny? https://www.spsp.org/news-center/blog/warren-barsky-mcgraw-humor-theory ... View more

As the pandemic wears on, I’ve been in need of more feel-good stories. Here’s one to add to your coverage of helping behavior in the social psych chapter. Four-year-old Nico was out walking along Ottawa’s Rideau Canal with his mom, his two-year-old brother Santiago and his six-year-old brother Sebastian. Unfortunately, Santiago tossed Nico’s stuffed animal over the railing and onto the frozen canal. Unable to retrieve it, all they could do was revisit it every day, watching as each snowfall buried it deeper. Sebastian, being the community-minded six-year-old that he is, implored his mom to use social media to see if anyone could help. Mom was skeptical, but she took Sebastian’s advice and posted to Twitter. The article author writes, “As hard as it was to believe, a mission to rescue Rudolph was quickly mounted.” I’m not sure why this was hard to believe. At this point in the article, I was ready to board a plane to Ottawa and retrieve the stuffed animal myself. Here’s this little boy who cares enough about this stuffed animal to take it with him on walks, his brother tosses it out of reach, and now all he can do is see it from the railing. Every day. And wait for spring when the ice melts and his stuffed animal floats away. As you might guess, I wasn’t the only one feeling for Nico. Members of the National Capital Commission Skateway team—the group that makes sure the Rideau Canal has skate-able ice in the winter—found the stuffed animal, thawed it out, tidied it up, and returned it to Nico. Group discussion Read “Little boy’s stuffed Bambi was rescued from frozen canal—they didn’t think people would care.” In your groups, review the list of factors that are associated with helping behavior from the social psychology chapter and from lecture. For each factor, identify whether it was present, absent, or unknown.  For each factor that was present, provide evidence from the article. After discussion, bring students back together. Ask each group to report, in turn, one helping factor they identified from the article—a factor that has not been already been identified by an earlier group. As a follow-up assignment/asynchronous discussion, ask students to find another story where a stranger provided help, and, from the article, identify whether the helping factors covered in your textbook and/or lecture were present, absent, or unknown. Again, for each factor that was present, provide evidence from the article. ... View more

The good folks at Google have been working from home since March/April 2020. Their “Supporting Employee Mental Health and Well-being” document has a number of handy tips. It opens with this statement. “We are all learning how to cope with a global crisis. Each day, there is a new challenge that we may encounter. Here are a few things that Google is doing to help our people take care of their mental health during these difficult and uncertain times.” While covering Stress and Coping in your Intro Psych course, consider this discussion topic. Discussion Read Google’s “Supporting Employee Mental Health and Well-being” document. Part A. Identify two suggestions in the document that are supported by research that you read about in your textbook. Quote the relevant passages from your textbook. Part B. Identify at least one coping strategy that you read about in your textbook that is not in Google’s “Supporting Employee Mental Health and Well-being” document. If you were revising this document, write a paragraph that would be an appropriate addition. Alternatively, you could turn this into a group project with the goal of creating a “Supporting [Your Institution’s] Mental Health and Well-being” document that would be distributed to the students and employees of your institution. Your students would be using what they learn in your Intro Psych class in a real-world, impactful way. Divide your students into groups of three to five, and give them these instructions. Group Project Read Google’s “Supporting Employee Mental Health and Well-being” document. The goal of this group project is to create a similar document for [your institutions’] students and employees. While Google’s document has five categories, you may choose to use or not use any or all of these categories. Use what you learned in our Stress and Coping chapter to create your recommendations. Each recommendation needs to be evidence-based. Include the reference to at least one peer-reviewed journal for each recommendation. The last page of your document will be a “Works Cited” page. Once each group has submitted their “Supporting [your institution’s] Mental Health and Well-being” document, a representative from each group will meet to take the best recommendations from each group’s document to create a final set of recommendations and make final edits, as needed. This final document will be distributed institution-wide. ... View more

“People are able to see and recognize patterns that can help them make decisions or form judgments, and a lot of this recognition is outside of conscious awareness.” The Science Behind Gut Feelings https://elemental.medium.com/the-science-behind-gut-feelings-e4ed0be994e9 ... 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 THE RECORDING ... View more

Humans are supposedly the most altruistic animals, but why? The answer is likely in our genes. https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/altruism-human-nature?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 ... View more

In the aftermath of the US presidential inauguration, I’ve been reading about QAnon with much interest. From the New York Times: Followers of QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, have spent weeks anticipating that Wednesday [1/20/21, inauguration day] would be the “Great Awakening” [also called “The Storm”]— a day, long foretold in QAnon prophecy, when top Democrats would be arrested for running a global sex trafficking ring and President Trump would seize a second term in office. Imagine the QAnon believers as they watched the coverage of the inauguration. From NPR: Former President Donald Trump did not declare martial law in his final minutes in office; nor did he reveal a secret plan to remain in power forever. President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were not sent to Guantánamo Bay. The military did not rise up and arrest Democratic leaders en masse. If you’re looking for a new example of cognitive dissonance, here you go. From CNN: The anti-climax sent QAnon adherents into a frenzy of confusion and disbelief, almost instantly shattering a collective delusion that had been nurtured and amplified by many on the far right. Now, in addition to being scattered to various smaller websites after Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR) cracked down on QAnon-related content, believers risked having their own topsy-turvy world turned upside down, or perhaps right-side up. We see a similar pattern in doomsday cults. For them, on an identified day, the world will end. When that day passes, the doomsday cult members face some significant cognitive dissonance. “I believed that the world was going to end, but it didn’t.” Now, how to resolve that dissonance. One option is to acknowledge that you were wrong. Another option is provided by the doomsday cult leader. Something like, “The Great Being was so impressed with our preparations for the end that the Great Being has moved the date to [some date in the future].” For some followers, they grab hold of that explanation like a lifeline and become even more committed to the group. “Wow! I helped save the world!” The QAnon followers are facing a similar cognitive dissonance challenge. While the world wasn’t supposed to end on 1/20/21, democracy in the U.S. was. But it didn’t. So now what? Some followers are deciding that they were wrong; they were duped. From the Washington Post: A huge chunk of Twitter’s QAnon community has vaporized, seemingly overnight. A pro-Trump message board has rebranded itself, jettisoning the former president’s name from its URL in its move toward a broader message. And other right-wing forums are grappling with internal rebellion and legal war. As reported in the above news stories, a significant number of QAnon followers (can we ever know how many?) are looking for something else to grasp. Some have decided that—like doomsday cults—the “Great Awakening” will still happen. Others seem to believe that Trump is still in charge and is controlling President Joe Biden. I’m especially interested to see where that goes. Will that QAnon faction break off and become staunch supporters of Biden? Other QAnon followers are being courted by neo-Nazi groups. History—and cognitive dissonance research—tell us that the beliefs fostered by QAnon will persist. What form will they take? And how many people will adhere to them? ... View more

Is pandemic fatigue affecting your motivation as we face the start of a new semester? Learn why and read advice here: https://www.psichi.org/blogpost/987366/363184/Has-COVID-19-Affected-Your-Motivation#.YAcg4MXYrzc ... View more

We are two weeks into the new year! Are your resolutions feeling a little...flat? Here's how to keep them going, psychology style! New podcast from APA: https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/behavioral-habits ... View more

Psychological science applied to real-world problems! Covid-19 vaccine stickers could encourage people to get vaccinated http://ow.ly/8wuC50D72Jh ... View more

It used to be that money only made us happier up to a certain point. New research shows that this relationship is changing and getting stronger over time. Why is this happening? http://ow.ly/Hgyt50D2QjZ ... View more

Learning how to learn assignment My father used to get so frustrated with one of my brothers. My father would say, with great exasperation, “I talk to you until I’m blue in the face…” Even though my father’s “talk” was—apparently—not very effective, it didn’t keep him from talking. Over and over again. Until he was blue in the face. How many of us instructors are like my father? We tell our students about the best study strategies until we are blue in the face, and it feels like most of our students continue to use less effective methods. Maybe we should take a different approach. Carolyn R. Brown-Kramer (2021) asked her Intro Psych students to read one of four research articles where each article investigated the effectiveness of a study strategy. Two articles were about more effective study strategies: distributed practice (Seabrook et al., 2005) and practice testing (McDaniel et al., 2011). Two articles were about less effective study strategies: rereading (Rawson & Kintsch, 2005) and forming mental images (Schmeck et al., 2014). Students were instructed to “write a three- to four-page paper summarizing and analyzing [their assigned article] critically” and then “drawing specific connections to how they study, how they could use the article’s results to improve their studying behavior, and their plans to adopt (or not to adopt) the strategy about which they had read.” (Contact Brown-Kramer for assignment instructions and scoring rubric.) What impact did this assignment have on students? Over the course of the term, students reported using more of the more effective strategies and fewer of the less effective strategies. Students who read the practice testing article (McDaniel et al., 2011) did much better on the exams following this assignment than students who read the other three articles. Students who were given this assignment did better on the exams following this assignment and in the course overall than students from an earlier term who were not given this assignment. Students who reported using the more effective study strategies and using them more frequently did better on the exams and in the course overall. Brown-Kramer (2021) has provided us with some pretty compelling evidence that there is something we can do as instructors that will help students change their study strategies. I wonder what component of this assignment is key. For example, would the application piece be enough, or is the analytic section crucial? Or perhaps the analytic section ensures that students are reading the article carefully. In that case, would some other assignment instructions that would also ensure careful reading—such as answering a few targeted questions about different sections of the article—be just as effective? Brown-Kramer’s assignment would fit as part of your coverage of research methods or memory. If you use it as part of your memory coverage, the research methods review would be a terrific application of distributive practice.   References Brown-Kramer, C. R. (2021). Improving students’ study habits and course performance with a “learning how to learn” assignment. Teaching of Psychology, 48(1), 48–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628320959926 McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in a middle school science classroom: The effects of quiz frequency and placement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 399–414. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021782 Rawson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (2005). Rereading effects depend on time of test. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 70–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.97.1.70 Schmeck, A., Mayer, R. E., Opfermann, M., Pfeiffer, V., & Leutner, D. (2014). Drawing pictures during learning from scientific text: Testing the generative drawing effect and the prognostic drawing effect. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 39(4), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2014.07.003 Seabrook, R., Brown, G. D. A., & Solity, J. E. (2005). Distributed and massed practice: From laboratory to classroom. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(1), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1066   ... View more