CONFRONTING TOUGH ISSUES OF RACE

"Why we're here today is there are terrible racial inequities in the United States in almost every domain you look at: health, mental health, physical health, in education levels, in income levels, white Americans are privileged over others".

-- Professor Rebecca Bigler, in a discussion on the subject of race on ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, December 5.

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ROBERT HELMREICH WILL DELIVER KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT AUSTRALIAN AVIATION PSYCHOLOGY SEMINAR

Robert Helmreich, Professor of Psychology, will deliver the keynote address entitled 'Riding the Tsumami of Threat and Error' at the Australian Aviation Psychology Seminar, Manly Beach, Austraila on Nov 9. He will also chair a workshop on monitoring normal operations for safety in aviation, medicine, and rail.

Dr. Helmreich is quoted in the October 31, 2006 edition of The New York Times in "What Pilots Can Teach Hospitals About Patient Safety" by Kate Murphy:

“Medicine is a more complex environment with more professionals interacting than in aviation,” said Robert Helmreich, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and director of its Human Factors Research Project, which studies team performance and the influence of culture and behavior in aviation and health care.

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New research offers tantalizing clues as to why some teenagers taking common anti-depressants may become more aggressive or kill themselves

Neuroscientists at the University of Texas at Austin found that juvenile hamsters given low doses of fluoxetine hydrochloride, which is sold in the United States as Prozac, became more aggressive on low doses of the drug.  Juveniles given high doses became somewhat less aggressive, but not as much as adult hamsters, who calmed down on both high and low doses. Doctoral student and lead author Kereshmeh Taravosh-Lahn, B.A., says the findings confirm that juvenile and adult brains are different.  Thus, she says, It is unwise to expect a drug to work the same in juveniles as in adults.

The research is published in the October Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Kereshmeh works with Dr. Yvon Delville in the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab.

APA Press Release (PDF)

Full text of article (PDF)

IN MEMORIUM - ABRAHAM AMSEL

A memorial service for Abe Amsel, Ashbel Smith Professor Emeritus, was held on Friday, September 8, at 1:30 at the Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home on Lamar and 31st. Abe was a distinguished faculty member in the Psychology Department from 1969 until his retirement in 1999. He was elected into the National Academy of Sciences in 1992 for his extensive research on animal learning. By any measure, Abe helped develop the department into what it is now.

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Austin American Statesman Obituary...

The College of Liberal Arts Obituary...

The Psychology Department is pleased to welcome two new faculty members this semester. David Schnyer taught and was affiliated with the Memory Disorders Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine. Mary Hayhoe taught and was affiliated with the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester, NY.

In addition, we have three new staff members. Eilis Keely is the Administrative Assistant in the Chair’s Office. She had served as Information Center Manager at Saint Martin’s College in Lacey, Washington. Patri O’Gan is Research Coordinator for the Children’s Research Laboratory. She had previously worked in the Student Affairs Office at the School of Nursing. Leah Anderson-Wimberly is an Adminstrative Associate in the Business Office. She had worked previously in the Office of Student Financial Services as a Financial Aid Counselor.

The University of Texas at Austin ranks fifth in the nation in producing undergraduate degrees for minority groups, with Liberal Arts departments Psychology and English both ranking in the top 30 programs, according to the June 1 edition of Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine. Read more...

Professor James Pennebaker and graduate students Cindy Chung, and Richard Slatcher are the authors of a paper which will be published in the Journal of Research in Personality. The research findings, concerning the linguistic styles of the 2004 presidential and vice presidential candidates, are discussed in the April 4, 2006 edition of the Washington Post. Read more...

On March 21, 2006 the Department of Psychology hosted The Barbara Pierce Bush 2006 International Conference: Language and Health. The conference featured a group of international scholars participating in a series of talks and roundtables dealing with the ways that expressive writing, communication and the study of language can affect people’s physical health.

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James Pennebaker was quoted in the Washington Post about the effectiveness of government electronic surveillance techniques. Read more...

Rebecca Bigler was quoted in USA Today about interracial relationships.

Sam Gosling was quoted in the Boston Globe about what a person’s workspace can reveal about their personality. Read more...

A Fetching Personality: Psychologist’s work may help dog lovers find their perfect match
“Pet owners will frequently tell you about the personalities of their dogs,” said Sam Gosling, an assistant professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. “The question is, should we trust that? Is this really telling us something about what the dog is like or is it some type of sentimental projection onto their adored animals?”

Michael Arbib from the Departments of Computer Science, Psychology and Biological Sciences of the University of Southern California will be visiting the Psychology Department during the month of March, 2006 as a visiting scientist. This visit is to interact with members of our department and to perform part of his sabbatical work with Timothy Schallert and Theresa Jones, which is funded by a collaborative research grant from the National Institute of Health.

Sam Gosling's research on the role of musical taste as social currency, will be published in the March 2006 issue of Psychological Science. Titled "Message in a Ballad: The Role of Music Preferences in Interpersonal Perception", it was written up in the February 14, 2006 issue of the New York Times in an article titled "In Music, Others' Tastes May Help Shape Your Own". Gosling's music research is also covered in the February issue of Science magazine.(PDF download)

Juan Salinas is quoted in the February 13th issue of the Daily Texan, in "UT researchers study social intimidation effects in mice: Injection can lower intimidation response in bullied subjects."

The use of electronically activated recorders (EAR's) in the research of James Pennebaker, grad students Richard Slatcher and Nairan Ramirez-Esparza, and former UT Psychology student, now University of Arizona Assistant , Matthias Mehl, was prominently featured in the January 20 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, in a article entitled "Tales of the Tape".

Sam Gosling made the cover of the January 22, 2006 issue of the New York Times Magazine, in a feature titled "The Animal Self". He was also on National Public Radio's "On Point" (Animal Personality) on January 23, and on ABC's "Good Morning America" (What does your workplace say about you?) on January 26.

Jane Richards' research is featured in the January edition of the College of Liberal Arts' Life and Letters (PDF).

For Better or Worse: Research shows that hiding emotions may affect your memory

"People who suppress their facial expression during an emotional event may impair their memory of that event," said Jane Richards, assistant professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin.
"While there is definitely a time and place to conceal emotion, concealing emotions during a stressful situation may come at a cognitive price." ... Jane Richards, Assistant

David Buss is featured in the New York Times, Jan. 8, p. 4 of Week in Review section in an abbreviated publication of his essay entitled "The Evolution of Evil." The essay has also been published in the January 3 issue of the Telegraph (UK Newspaper).

“Babies aren’t a blank slate,” says Sam Gosling, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. “We’re all born with a baseline of anxiety or outgoingness, for example, and a parent can influence her child only within a biologically determined range.” ...from "5 Parenting Myths You Can Kiss Goodbye", by Sam Gosling, in the February issue of Parenting.

Robert Josephs' paper, "The Mismatch Effect: When Testosterone and Status are at Odds", has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.