Bill Swann's research on verbal reactions in personal relationships is featured on UT's UTOPIA web site.

"High blirters make themselves known and understood much more quickly than do low blirters,...An advantage of being a high blirter is that you are understood more rapidly than are low blirters and as a result you are more apt to get your needs met. So, not only do you come across as more socially skilled but you are also known. And that’s good unless you have something you don’t particularly want others to know about.
from "Utterly Blirtatious! Your verbal reactions can affect personal relationships and health".

---

Robert L. Helmreich received the 2004 Flight Safety Foundation/Airbus Human Factors Award during the Flight Safety Foundation's 16th Annual European Aviation Safety Seminar (EASS) in Barcelona, Spain March 15-17, 2004. The Human Factors Award was established in 1999 to recognize ?outstanding achievement in human factors contributions to aviation safety.? The award was instituted to encourage human factors research that would help reduce human error – one of the most common elements in aviation accidents. Read more about Dr. Helmreich in Safety First: From medicine to air travel, leading researchers find ways to manage human error (July 26, 2004)

---

Cindy Meston was elected and served as President of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health in 2003. The Society met in Amsterdam this fall where Meston presented the presidential address. Since being hired at the University of Texas in 1998, she received the "Athena Institute of Women's Wellness Award" to examine the effects of hysterectomy on sexual arousal processes, and a NIMH grant to study the relation between central and peripheral mechanisms that facilitate female sexual arousal. For information on her current research, visit her web page at www.mestonlab.com).

---

James W. Pennebaker was recently honored by the city of Midland, Texas as one of 36 "All Star Heroes" who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields. Included are such luminaries as , Texas Speaker of the House Tom Craddick, General Tommy Franks, and CBS News reporter Melinda Murphy.

Dr. Pennebaker is a leading health and social psychologist. Since receiving his Ph.D. in 1977, Professor Pennebaker has contributed to three broad research topics - physical symptoms, expressive writing, and natural language use. Each of these projects has produced both theoretical and practical results and has earned Professor Pennebaker wide recognition and acclaim. Read more...

---

Juan Salinas' research on the brain is featured on the Utopia web site:

"Salinas' focus has shifted since coming to UT in 1998 to the possible connection between lead and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, using a particular strain of rats that were originally bred to have hypertension. But researchers noticed that their behavior and some of the chemistry of their brains showed abnormalities that looked a lot like ADHD."...
from "Gray Matters: Learning, memory, reward, frustration. UT neurobiologist Juan Salinas explores one of the last great mysteries on earth: the space between your ears"

---

To learn more about women's social drinking patterns, the Oprah Winfrey show visited Kim Fromme's Sahara Lab in the Department of Psychology on the University of Texas campus. Nine stay-at-home moms participated in a "happy hour" in which they had free access to their preferred alcoholic beverages in the simulated bar of the SAHARA Lab. Graduate students Marc Kruse, Amee Patel, and Reagan Wetherill served as bartenders while Dr. Fromme provided her observations about the women's drinking. Breathalyzer and behavioral tests indicated a greater degree of impairment than the women expected. This segment was part of a larger show on Women and Alcohol that aired April 19, 2004. The video can be viewed on the Oprah web site."Moms Who Drink Too Much"

---

The New York Times asked James Pennebaker to study the use of positive and negative words used by Democratic candidates Kerry and Edwards in press interviews over a seven-week period. The results are described in an article in the February 28, 2004 edition, titled "Positive Words, Negative Effect" by John Tierney.

"Dr. Pennebaker and two colleagues at the University of Texas, Richard Slatcher and Cindy Chung, scrutinized more than 50,000 words spoken by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards in five dozen interviews with the press in the past seven weeks. Their computer analysis showed that Mr. Kerry matched Mr. Edwards's optimism by one measure: they both used "positive emotion words" like "build," "energetic" and "admire" at the same rate. But Mr Kerry offset that by using negative words like "fight," "disgrace" and "dangerous" three times as often as Mr. Edwards did." - John Tierney, New York Times (February 28, 2004)

---

Brian Stankiewicz' research using virtual reality environments to help pinpoint the information and process needed to navigate through large-scale spaces such as a building or city is featured in the current issue of Life & Letters, a publication for the alumni of the College of Liberal Arts. (This is a downloadable PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this file. If you do not have the Reader you may download a free copy at http://www.adobe.com)

"What I'm particularly interested in is what we remember and store about an environment so that when we return we are able to way-find and move to a particular destination," Stankiewicz said. "I enjoy the overlap between psychology, computer science, and engineering this type of research allows me to do." --Brian Stankiewicz

UT's Office of Publica Affairs has also published a story on Professor Stankiewicz' research:

You Can Get There From Here: Researcher helps people navigate more efficiently through their environments
(March 2004)

---

Sam Gosling's research is featured on several news sites:

The Guardian of London wrote about his research concerning dogs and personality (Personality tests for dogs) in its Jan. 22, 2004 edition.

Man's best friend has biting persona (Daily Texan)

Unique animal personalities identifiable to observers (UT Office of Public Affairs)

"A Dog's Got Personality: A Cross-Species Comparative Approach to Personality Judgments in Dogs and Humans" appears in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The research, conducted by Dr. Samuel Gosling of The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Virginia Kwan of Princeton University and Dr. Oliver John of the University of California, Berkeley, used three separate studies to assess the ability to distinguish the personalities of domestic dogs. The study determined that dog personality traits such as energy, affection, emotional reactivity and intellligence could be accurately judged.