Michele W. Berger

Penn Study Finds Sorority Rush Process Negative, Membership Positive

College-age women who participate in sorority rush largely describe the process as negative but report a sense of belonging and support once they’re in the group, according to research from University of Pennsylvania psychologist Melissa Hunt and Penn alumna Colleen Kase.

Michele W. Berger

Penn sociologist deconstructs America’s trucking industry

More than 3 million people drive trucks in the United States. In fact, according to Steve Viscelli, author of “The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream” and a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, it’s the No. 1 occupation in 37 of 50 states.

Michele W. Berger

PIK prof examines eye gaze and development in monkeys

For more than three decades, scientists have worked to understand the link between eye gaze and cognition in babies. They have found that children begin following where people—typically moms—look during their first year of life, and the development of this function can signify how other skills, such as language and empathy, will progress.

Michele W. Berger

Penn Study: People More Likely to Defer Making Decisions the Longer They Wait

Would you rather eat an apple or a banana? Read Moby Dick or A Tale of Two Cities? Is a cup or a mug holding that coffee? How quickly the decision gets made matters. That’s because the longer someone takes to draw a conclusion, the more likely that person will disengage from the process altogether and simply never decide.

Michele W. Berger