Olivia DrakeCharles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of a study published in the summer issue of the Journal of Personality Disorders that reports findings from the Collaborative Personality Study. The study dissociates severity and style of trait ratings and results suggest that severity plays a key role in predicting dysfunction. The work is helping to inform the organization for classifying personality pathology in the soon to be published DSM-5. The article is online here.
Patricia Rodriguez Mosquera, assistant professor of psychology, published a Special Issue on Social Image for the European Journal of Social Psychology. The 13 papers included in the special issue reflect the centrality of social image in a wide array of psychological processes. Five major themes integrate the diverse selection of papers: (i) self-presentation of social image; (ii) culture-specific conceptions of social image; (iii) the role of social image in emotion; (iv) respect and status as reflections of social image; and (v) the influence of social image on ingroup and outgroup perceptions. The Special Issue is online here.
A study by Wesleyan's Department of Psychology is mentioned in a May 23 Business Wire article. Mattel, Inc. announced it will fund four university research projects focused on the impact of play in children’s early development through Mattel’s Philanthropy Programs. Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology; Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior; and Emily Slusser, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology, received one of the grants worth $25,000. Their study is titled "Understanding the Power of Play: Study will focus on assessing the cognitive benefits of independent, self-directed play with toys." More information on the…
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, so-authored a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in May that compares the abilities of clinician-practioners and clinical researchers with expertise in personality to make DSM-IV personality disorder diagnoses based on trait models. This work is one facet of Sanislow’s effort to inform the revision process for DSM-5 and help shape psychiatric nosology. The study is online here.
Jessica Sullivan '08; Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology; and Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, are the co-authors of a paper titled, "Adults’ number-line estimation strategies: Evidence from eye movements," published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Issue 18, pages 557-563, in June 2011.
Barb Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, and Rachel Berkowitz '09 are the co-authors of "Effects of morphological families on English compound word recognition: A multitask investigation," published in Language and Cognitive Processes, Issue 26, pages 653-682, in 2011.
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Charles Sanislow, assistant professor in psychology, co-authored a prospective study of personality disorders and anxiety disorders. The work, published in the May issue of the Psychological Medicine, reported results from the NIH-funded Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders, a study which Sanislow has worked on since it began in 1996. The study is online here.
David PesciAmericans have been bombarded over the past three decades with the news that our K-12 students are academically falling behind their peers dozens of countries. The U.S. government has responded by implementing a series of standardized tests and creating such programs as “Race to the Top” and “No Child Left Behind” to measure and improve our children’s success. The outcomes of these initiatives are often used to determine teacher effectiveness, as well. “These programs are based on an assumption that has rarely been questioned by researchers and policy makers–the assumption that there is a consensus about the fundamental purpose of…
Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of “Non-Bayesian Contour Synthesis” published in Volume 21, Issue 6 of Current Biology, March 2011. The authors studied how our visual system 'fills in the gaps' when looking at interrupted or partially obscured shapes. The research is featured in a Dispatch article in Current Biology titled "Visual Perception: Bizarre Contours Go Against The Odds". The reports presents new motion displays that depict simple occlusion sequences. These displays elicit vivid percepts of illusory contours. Unlike most illusory contours, the contours in these displays are "unnecessary": they don't help us make sense of the information…
Two psychology seniors and a recent alumnus were recognized in the National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship competition. Dominic Gibson '10 was awarded a fellowship, and Hannah Nam '08 and Christian Hoyos '11 received Honorable Mentions. Gibson will be attending the University of Chicago and Hoyos will attend Northwestern next year. Nam is currently in a social psychology Ph.D. program at New York University.
Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology; Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior; and Emily Slusser, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology, received a grant worth $25,000 from Mattel Philanthropy Programs. The grant was awarded on March 24. The grant allows the group to explore children's ability to learn from independent play with toys. Children will receive one of four kinds of toys for a period of two months, and their parents will be asked to bring the toys out daily. At the beginning and end of the study, children will participate in a series of brief measures, many of which…