ANN ARBOR—Early exposure to harsh parenting during preschool years can have widespread effects on the organization of the entire brain’s communication. Later exposures affect specific brain areas. A new University of Michigan study published in JAMA Pediatrics highlighted how harsh and warm parenting during early, middle and late childhood impacted brain development during adolescence and… Continue reading Parenting affects kids’ brains differently at different ages
News Tag: Social Psychology
Coping with election anxiety: Focus on other activities
EXPERT Q&A ANN ARBOR—Endless streams of political commercials flooding TV screens. Spirited social media sparring between friends and families over candidates and key issues. Less than three weeks remain until Election Day, and many people still feel stressed. But people can lower their election anxiety by refocusing their attention on other aspects of their lives,… Continue reading Coping with election anxiety: Focus on other activities
Childhood trauma echoes into final years: Deepen end-of-life pain, mental health struggles
Clinicians should consider cumulative hardships in optimizing treatment during patients’ final years ANN ARBOR—Repeating a school year, experiencing parental abuse or engaging in armed combat have far-reaching long-term effects. Lifetime trauma may even worsen end-of-life pain and discomfort, depression and loneliness. These are some of the main findings from the Health and Retirement Study, which… Continue reading Childhood trauma echoes into final years: Deepen end-of-life pain, mental health struggles
Nick Camp, on Trust in the Criminal Justice System
Racism and bias are often thought to stem from an individual’s personal prejudice against a certain group, but social psychologist Nick Camp notes that isn’t the way many inequities are perpetuated in the criminal justice system. In a new Social Science Bites podcast, interviewer David Edmonds interviews Camp on his research that investigates the relationships… Continue reading Nick Camp, on Trust in the Criminal Justice System
Police body cams can measure effects of officer communication training
ANN ARBOR – A new study based on body-worn camera footage capturing police-community interactions in Oakland, Calif., provides empirical evidence that police officer trainings can improve their interactions with the communities they serve. Findings published today in PNAS Nexus showed that police officers communicated more respectfully with drivers during traffic stops after they were trained… Continue reading Police body cams can measure effects of officer communication training
RCGD to Explore Political Polarization
The U.S. is experiencing unprecedented levels of political polarization, especially in terms of affective polarization, or feelings of dislike and distrust towards members of the opposing political party. This winter, the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research is hosting an interdisciplinary Winter Seminar Series, free and open to the public,… Continue reading RCGD to Explore Political Polarization
David Dunning, on the Dunning-Kruger Effect
“The beauty and the terror of the internet,” social psychologist David Dunning tells interviewer David Edmonds in this Social Science Bites podcast, “is that there’s a lot of terrific information, but there’s also a lot of misinformation and sometimes outright fraud. People often don’t have the wherewithal to distinguish.” David Dunning, a professor of psychology at… Continue reading David Dunning, on the Dunning-Kruger Effect
Do you have an unusual name? Your parents’ cultural sense of self may have something to do with it.
An unusual name can be a conversation starter. How do you pronounce that? Where does that come from? Does that mean something? A series of conversations centered around the Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) at the Institute for Social Research have recently provided me with some new perspective on what it means, culturally, to have… Continue reading Do you have an unusual name? Your parents’ cultural sense of self may have something to do with it.
Behavioral science recommendations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic have now been tested
RCGD affiliate Shinobu Kitayama contributes to a landmark evaluation ANN ARBOR — Behavioral science recommendations made early on in the COVID-19 pandemic were largely correct. In April 2020, a hugely influential paper (Van Bavel et al) proposed 19 policy recommendations describing how insights from behavioral science could reduce the impacts of the pandemic. The paper received… Continue reading Behavioral science recommendations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic have now been tested
The psychological consequences of political violence
ANN ARBOR—Thousands have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7. And watching, and experiencing, all of this violence unfold are Palestinian and Israeli children. Researchers Rowell Huesmann and Eric Dubow of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research have studied the effects of exposure to political conflict and war violence in Israeli… Continue reading The psychological consequences of political violence