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Psychology
Five from Penn elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024
Dolores Albarracín, Charles L. Kane, Edward D. Mansfield, Virgil Percec, and Deborah A. Thomas are recognized for their contributions to mathematical and physical sciences and social and behavioral sciences.
Bringing cognitive science in action to young minds
Penn Upward Bound high school students from West Philadelphia got a tour of the Penn Smart Aviary, GRASP Lab, and the Penn Vet Working Dog Center during a visit to Pennovation Works.
Using sound recordings in psychiatric research
By using linguistics models to analyze game play, fourth-year student Sydney Sun is listening in on the ways environment shapes interaction.
The role of history in how efficient color names evolve
In a new study, biology and psychology researchers show how existing color vocabularies constrain future options for efficient color vocabularies.
Penn scientists reflect on one year of ChatGPT
The Data Driven Discovery Initiative hosted an interdisciplinary panel discussion with Penn researchers in chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and political science.
How humans use their sense of smell to find their way
In the lab of neuroscientist Jay Gottfried, sixth-year psychology Ph.D. student Clara Raithel tries to understand how people’s brains respond to odors.
Five takeaways on urbanicity and depression research
Colin Xu and Robert DeRubeis discuss a recently published meta-analysis of the effects of urbanicity on depression in developing and developed countries.
How the hippocampus distinguishes true and false memories
Researchers in the School of Arts & Sciences have shown for the first time that electrical signals in the hippocampus differ immediately before recollection of true and false memories.
Can ChatGPT help us form personal narratives?
New research from Abigail Blyler and Martin Seligman at the Positive Psychology Center found that the language model can produce accurate personal narratives from stream-of-consciousness data.
A positive worldview is less associated with privilege than expected
A new study from The Primals Project shows that counter to public perception, positive beliefs about the world are a poor indicator of a person’s background.
In the News
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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The real reason you’re obsessed with spicy food
Paul Rozin of the School of Arts & Sciences agrees that it’s actually the pain that keeps us coming back for more spice.
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