Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Jon A. Sefcek has published a research paper about the evolution of general intelligence in humans. “A Life-History Model of Human Fitness Indicators,” co-authored with Aurelio José Figueredo of the University of Arizona, appears in the current issue of the journal Biodemography and Social Biology.
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Assistant Professor of Psychology Jean Burr has co-authored a chapter titled “Epistemological development in very young knowers” in the newly-published book Personal Epistemology in the Classroom: Theory, Research and Implications for Practice. More ...

Margeaux Annalett '10 co-authored an article that was published in the November edition of Psychiatric Annals. Annalett, a psychology major at Hamilton, externed at Buffalo Psychiatric Center's Research Department during the summer. While there she co-authored a case challenge article that concerned a 58-year-old woman who had attempted suicide several times. Hamilton College is noted in the publication as Annalett’s affiliated institution. More ...

The development of data archiving in psychology and the related contributions of Professor of Psychology Jonathan Vaughan were recently described in an article in the Monitor on Psychology (Vol. 40), a publication of the American Psychological Association. More ...

When Clair Cassiello ’11 was younger, she wanted to work for the FBI. The psychological twists excited her – she liked that criminal investigators sometimes analyze how a person thinks as opposed to what crime he has actually committed. Although her ambitions have changed, she still is interested in the profound effect the mind has on actions. This summer, Cassiello is learning more about psychology through an eye-tracking bias project with Visiting Professor of Psychology Mark Oakes.
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Do we have control over what we remember? Sarah Bookbinder ’10 and Clifford Robbins ’10 are researching directed forgetting, a method for thought control in which participants are told to forget previously learned material. More ...

Deborah Barany '11 and Anthony Sali '10 describe motor control in a way that would remind a listener of flip-book animation. An action consists of smaller, partial movements, that when assembled together and in the right fashion, trigger the complete maneuver. Similarly, flip books rely on persistence of vision to create the illusion of fluid motion, when in reality, they are just discontinuous images stapled together. More ...

It's hard to imagine that a single human being occupies an enormous number of social spheres. Typically, a person who is relatively humble will feel that he assumes only a few roles in his immediate community. The degree to which a person can identify and differentiate his numerous roles and traits is called self-complexity. Brian Milstone '10 and Caroline Pierce '10 predict that low self-complexity yields low self-esteem, and could lead to a greater likelihood of depression.  More ...

In 1973, directors of community actions agencies formulated a vision for a program that would investigate school readiness at the regional and state levels. This program became known as Head Start, and is now one of the leading authorities on advocacy for school readiness and education in the country. With the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), the organization's mission has developed rapidly – it aims to increase health standards and social competence in children growing up in low-income households.  More ...