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Psychology
In the pursuit of happiness, a new class leads the charge
The course, taught by Positive Psychology’s James Pawelski, not only gives students an intellectual understanding of the subject but asks them to practice what they’re learning.
Former Penn President Judith Rodin speaks on resilience
Returning to campus to deliver the Penn Forum for Women Faculty’s Phoebe S. Leboy Lecture, Rodin reflected on her tenure at the University and the Rockefeller Foundation, while explaining her concept of ‘resilience.’
Penn junior Christina Steele named Beinecke Scholar
Penn junior Christina Steele has been awarded a Beinecke Scholarship to pursue her graduate education. She is the 12th Beinecke Scholar from Penn since the award was first given in 1975.
Weekly paid professional staff learn resilience through free, online opportunity
Offered through the Online Learning Initiative and the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, the course teaches participants resilience, gratitude, authenticity, and more.
An affirmation tree grows on campus
Through a Penn Wellness and Sachs grant, Elana Burack, a senior religious studies major, is touring the ‘Affirmation Tree’ around campus, soliciting reflections from the University community at large.
What is esketamine?
Following FDA approval of esketamine as a nasal spray to address otherwise untreatable cases of depression, Michael Thase, a professor of psychiatry at Penn Medicine, explains what it is and how it came to be.
Spicy foods: To eat, or not to eat
Cold months come with fiery foods—but is that heat good for you? Penn’s Paul Rozin and Nitin Ahuja, along with a registered dietician, chime in to explore its effects on mind and body.
Procrastinating on climate change
Joseph Kable, Baird Term Professor of Psychology, studies how people make (or don’t make) decisions. He calls the circumstances around climate change a “perfect storm of features” that’s leading us to not act.
What do opponents of genetically modified foods really know about the science?
The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, found that the strongest critics actually know less—a pattern similar for gene therapy, but not for climate change.
Celebrating science
Eight Penn faculty share their favorite general interest books about science.
In the News
What is food noise and how do you get rid of it?
According to Thomas Wadden of the Perelman School of Medicine, people taking GLP-1 drugs are finding that daily experiences that used to trigger a compulsion to eat or think about food no longer have that effect.
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Expect to see AI ‘weaponized to deceive voters’ in this year’s presidential election
Cristina Bicchieri of the School of Arts & Sciences says that AI-generated misinformation exacerbates already-entrenched political polarization throughout America.
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Can money buy you happiness? Yes, it can. However…
Research by Matthew Killingsworth of the Wharton School reveals there is no monetary threshold at which money's capacity to improve well-being diminishes.
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Philadelphia hospital program adds psychologists to bridge mental health services for trauma survivors
A new psychology team at the Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program has provided about 46 survivors with short- and long- term therapy, featuring remarks from Elinore Kaufman and Lily Brown of the Perelman School of Medicine.
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Early humans had ADHD, scientists say after making people play game online
A collaborative study by researchers from Penn suggests that the impulsive component of ADHD may provide a competitive advantage to learn from rivals and “catch” new methods of achievement.
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Why hasn’t the new me shown up yet?
In his book “What You Can Change and What You Can’t,” Martin Seligman of the School of Arts & Sciences says that some personal qualities and habits can’t be changed without extreme difficulty.
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