ANN ARBOR—Getting experts to contribute to open content, such as Wikipedia, is not an easy task as experts often have high demands on their time. But one way to increase expert contributions is to understand what motivates them to contribute, a University of Michigan study shows. The study, led by U-M behavioral and experimental economist Yan Chen, finds… Continue reading Motivating experts to contribute to open content
Project: Research Center for Group Dynamics
Study: racial bias is no ‘false alarm’ in policing
ANN ARBOR—Black drivers are more frequently searched without finding contraband during traffic stops than white drivers, according to a University of Michigan study. Institute for Social Research scientists Maggie Meyer and Richard Gonzalez analyzed data from 98 million traffic stops, and showed that innocent Black drivers were likely to be searched about 3.4 to 4.5 percent of the time… Continue reading Study: racial bias is no ‘false alarm’ in policing
Alzheimer’s and Arab Americans: More research needed
EXPERT Q&A ANN ARBOR—Middle Eastern and Arab American populations may have higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease and related cognitive impairments, but researchers don’t exactly know because these populations aren’t identifiable in national datasets. That’s because historically, Middle Eastern and Arab Americans populations haven’t been included as a distinct ethnic group in the U.S. Census, making… Continue reading Alzheimer’s and Arab Americans: More research needed
Germ aversion impacted 2020 election voting behavior
Voters opted to pick candidates in 2020 by mail-in ballots, avoiding poll sites due to COVID-19 concerns rather than because of political party efforts to promote specific voting methods, according to a new University of Michigan study. Researchers tested attitudes toward using in-person, early and distanced voting in an experiment during summer 2020 and then… Continue reading Germ aversion impacted 2020 election voting behavior
Connect with The Abstract, a new podcast from ISR
Contact: Jon Meerdink ([email protected]) ANN ARBOR — The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research has launched a new podcast. “The Abstract,” a brief look at presentations and talks given by social researchers at ISR, released its first three episodes this week. Intended to highlight lectures given through ISR’s Insights Speaker Series and elsewhere, episodes… Continue reading Connect with The Abstract, a new podcast from ISR
Register now for BioSocial Methods ICPSR Summer Workshops
BioSocial Methods and the Research Center for Group Dynamics are proud to offer two ICPSR summer workshops in 2024: An introduction to psychophysiology, to explore the relationship between the human mind and body (hybrid) and a 3-day in-person session at the U-M HomeLab, where participants will learn to design and conduct research on human subjects in a… Continue reading Register now for BioSocial Methods ICPSR Summer Workshops
Patricia Gurin Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the Program for Research on Black Americans
ANN ARBOR – Patricia Gurin, a professor emerita of psychology and women’s study who was a pioneer in intergroup dialogue, received a Lifetime Achievement Award on Wednesday from the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA). Gurin is the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies, the former chair of psychology and… Continue reading Patricia Gurin Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the Program for Research on Black Americans
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
Program for Research on Black Americans 2023 Reunion Unites Leading Scholars
ANN ARBOR – The pioneering black psychologist James S. Jackson transformed the way that researchers study and understand Black American life– but his mentorship of a generation of Black scholars is an equally enduring legacy. The latter was the salient theme of the 2023 Reunion of the Program for Research on Black Americans, held Saturday… Continue reading Program for Research on Black Americans 2023 Reunion Unites Leading Scholars