News

Congratulations to Anu Asnaani who received the college’s Award for Advancing Equity and Connecting Communities.

Congratulations to Trisha Weeks she was awarded the CSBS Superior Teaching Award!!  Congratulations Trisha!

Congratulations to Katie Baucom for receiving two competitive administrative supplement awards for her K23.

"The rank of Distinguished Professor is reserved for selected individuals whose achievements exemplify the highest goals of scholarship as demonstrated by recognition accorded to them from peers with national and international stature..."

Trafton just received the college’s Superior Research Award! This award is for the senior division in our college and highlights how strong his profile is as it is truly the earliest for which he could qualify. Congratulations Trafton!

Congratulations to Jackie Chen who was awarded the CSBS Research Award in the junior faculty category. Jackie has an outstanding research record. She does high quality work on diversity issues (e.g., multiracial identification, underrepresented students in STEM fields) and publishes in some of the very best journals

Congratulations to Matt Euler who was recently awarded the Richard J. Haier Prize for Research on the Biological Basis of Intelligence by the International Society for Intelligence Research.

Congratulations to Katie Baucom(PI) who was recently awarded a Research Seed Grant aimed at evaluating diabetes intervention delivery in Hispanic populations (see abstract below). Anu Asnaani is a co-investigator on the project.

For the first time, scientists have recorded how our brains navigate physical space and keep track of others’ location. Researchers used a special backpack to wirelessly monitor the brain waves of epilepsy patients as each one walked around an empty room hunting for a hidden, two-foot spot.

“Our research demonstrates that focusing narrowly on one task may cause radiologists to miss unexpected abnormalities, even if those abnormalities are critical for patient outcomes,” stated study author Lauren Williams.

“In general, people like to think that the system they live in is fair,” reflects Jackie Chen, a social psychology professor. System justification — the human tendency to accept or defend the status quo, even if it’s damaging — is at work.

David Strayer says that our increased screen time has led to more multi-tasking, and the combination puts a strain on our brains. "One of the best solutions we've found is to set that aside and go out and walk for a bit. You don't then use those prefrontal regions of the brain to try and multitask," he says.

Human beings constantly seek narratives to help weave their past, present, and future together through their goals and expectations — and that’s where astrology comes in.

In a study of couples, Lisa Diamond observed minor withdrawal-like symptoms, such as irritability and sleep disturbances, along with an increase in cortisol in subjects after they were separated four to seven days.

One of the most important things kindness can do is ease our reaction to stress. Bert Uchino wrote, "simply having potential access to support is sufficient to foster adaptation to stress.”

Jonathan Butner, leads the analysis team and models the data to see if they can identify stable, low-risk, and high-risk patterns that signal impending binge or purge episodes.

Frank Drews was awarded the 2020 Franklin V. Taylor Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Applied Experimental/Engineering Psychology (APA, D21). This award recognizes outstanding achievements made by a psychologist in applied experimental/engineering psychology by virtue of (1) research and publication, (2) special new contributions (e.g., equipment or techniques) or (3) general leadership in the field (e.g., teacher, director of laboratory, officer in societies).

Trafton Drew has been selected as the recipient of the Altman award. During his time at the U, Irv was well-respected and admired for being the complete scholar who excelled in research, teaching, and service.

Pervasive loneliness "has widespread effects," says Bert Uchino, who studies relationships and health. It's strongly linked to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

Danielle DelPriore had 120 heterosexual women read a short story about a young woman who is preparing for a job interview with a male manager.

According to new research from Jacqueline Chen and Jasmine Norman, questions such as “What are you?” and other experiences of discrimination are related to mixed race people’s identification as multiracial.

David Strayer explained, “As the screens get bigger, they also tend to inherit more functions and features.”

Anu Asnaani explained, "People react to horror on a spectrum. There are folks who avoid it at all costs. There are those who run towards it, and for them getting scared delivers a kind of high."

Lisa Diamond stated, "It’s really hard for me to believe that amendments such as these would not be interpreted by some clinicians as license to continue pushing their particular version of health and well-being on vulnerable youth."

A review by Bert N. Uchino in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine pointed to studies that link a lack of social support to higher mortality rates. Video games can help those with disabilities forget what they can’t do and build life-saving social connections.

Lisa Aspinwall went on UPR to further explore how to get people who are at risk of skin cancer to stay out of the sun.

David Strayer explained, "Going into nature changes how the brain works, with the parts associated with being mindful and in a meditative state becoming more active."

According to Liz Conradt, studies showed those with prenatal exposure to methadone had higher fear, aggression and anxiety, and lower attention.

Congratulations to Jeanine Stefanucci for being named a Celebrate U Research Honoree. Jeanine Stefanucci for her NSF project “Collaborative research: Designing virtual worlds for children: A developmental study of how children, act, perceive, and reason spatially”

Craig Bryan was featured in Rolling Stone in the article "All-American Despair." The article talked about the suicide epidemic fueled by guns, poverty and isolation has swept across the West, with middle-aged men dying in record numbers.

Congratulations to Luciana Salmi, BA in Psychology, who received a Fulbright research award to Italy. Her project aspires to analyze the effects of stress and social support on a group of mothers with a high body mass index categorized as overweight or obese.

While being interviewed, Ed Diener was asked: is happiness the responsibility of the society or the citizen?

The Navy is rethinking how it addresses suicides after two years of rising rates in the service. While there’s wide recognition among the senior leadership of the problem, quick fixes don’t exist and resources are stretched thin.

Dr. David Strayer was interviewed by the Utah Education Network for a locally produced segment.

"Short sleepers" can get just 4 hours a night and feel fine, but is their health at risk?

Bruce Ellis is one of the recipients of the Distinguished Contributions to Interdisciplinary Understanding of Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD).

Danielle DelPriore of the University of Utah and her colleagues at Texas Christian University  wondered whether appearance enhancement might come with a social penalty.

In her talk, Lisa argued that although it's become common to promote LGBT equality by arguing that LGBT individuals are "born that way", there are three major problems with this approach. Watch her presentation by clicking on the link below.

Lee Raby been named Association for Psychological Science Rising Stars for 2018. The Rising Star designation recognizes outstanding psychological scientists in the earliest stages of their research career whose innovative work has already advanced the field.

The 2019 Early Career Paper Award from APA, Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) has been awarded to Lee Raby for his paper entitled “The legacy of early abuse and neglect for social and academic competence into adulthood”.

When we make promises to ourselves, what makes the difference between success and failure? In this article by the Daily Utah Chronicle, Dr. Lisa Aspinwall looks at New Year's resolutions, which are typically abandoned rather than completed, to find the answer.

Congratulations to Kelsi Rugo and Julia Harris, who have both been selected by the Military Suicide Research Consortium for travel awards to attend research training day at the American Association of Suicidology conference.

Congratulations are in order for Parisa and Robert, both winners of APS Student Grants from the Association for Psychological Science Student Caucus.

Are there benefits to leaving technology behind and reconnecting with nature? Dr. David Strayer, who researches attention, tested this question by looking at differences in brain activity when people took a short break.

Samantha Joel and Brennan Payne have been named Association for Psychological Science Rising Stars for 2017.

University of Utah veteran psychologists AnnaBelle and Craig Bryan have researched and developed suicide-prevention and PTSD treatments with "near-perfect" success rates, as reported in Stars and Stripes magazine.

It's 2018, and many people are wondering what resolutions to make to ensure a happy new year. What advice can we take from psychological research, as well as from the citizens of Norway?

Are romantic matching algorithms possible? Dr. Samantha Joel, relationships researcher, sought to answer this question using advanced machine learning techniques, and what she found may surprise you.

Madison Niermeyer’s poster, titled Reported Expressive Suppression in Daily Life is Related to Lower Executive Functioning and Slower Action Planning Among Older Adults, has been selected by the National Academy of Neuropsychology as a winner of the Student Poster Award.

This year, Brennan Payne joins Liz Conradt and Katie Baucom as members of our faculty accepted to this highly competitive program. Congratulations, Brennan!

Is multitasking a struggle for you? There's a secret to improving productivity, according to an article published in Mic, and it's to focus on one thing at a time.

Dr. David Strayer has lead a study for the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety that analyzes in-vehicle technology features in newer cars. His research shows that new car “infotainment” is often too dangerous to safely use...

With the recent hurricanes affecting this country, it is an excellent time to examine how predictions of hurricane movement are communicated to the public.

A recent study by Dr. Samantha Joel, published in Psychological Science and titled "Is Romantic Desire Predictable? Machine Learning Applied to Initial Romantic Attraction", is the basis of a new article in NPR.

In a new story on KSL.com, Dr. Jacqueline Chen uses social psychology to explain the phenomenon of depersonalization, and the effect it has on "mob mentality" behavior on social media.

Samantha’s study, published in Social Psychology and Personality Science in an article titled “Wanting to Stay and Wanting to Go: Unpacking the Content and Structure of Relationship Stay/Leave Decision Processes", focuses on understanding…

Congratulations to Kristina and Brennan, who have both received Early Career Awards from APA Division 3 (Society for Experimental Psychology in Cognitive Science) in the Human Perception and Performance category for the best papers...

Elisabeth Conradt has been chosen to receive the Kucharski Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology. This award recognizes a promising young investigator in the field of Developmental Psychobiology.

Kelly is researching how newly-developed driver-assist technologies are labeled by manufacturers and understood by consumers as they are brought to market. Using her background in human factors research, she is working…

Bruce was interviewed for Julie Rose's Top of Mind program.

Prof. Ed Diener and his team, in a comprehensive review of studies on subjective well-being, has found that there is a connection between happiness and health in some instances. Prof. Diener is a leading expert on happiness, and he joined Dave in a radio interview recently to talk about these findings.

In a Good4Utah post, Bruce believes children’s survival skills can be enhanced and adapted to learning subjects like math and reading. Understanding how children adapt can help develop better classroom environments.

In an article for Entrepreneur regarding what happy people do and don’t do, David says if you want to be more physically and mentally healthy, you need to spend time interacting with nature. Such interactions produce changes in our brain and in our bodies.

Ed Diener finds that happy people are healthier and live longer. His study findings are published in the journal Health and Well-Being and point to a link between cheerful disposition and improved well-being. See story posted in Daily Mail.com here.

The study ”Beyond Risk and Protective Factors: An Adaptation-based Approach to Resilience” is forthcoming in July issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science. They propose that more attention be given to what’s right with children who grow up in high-stress environments so their unique strengths and abilities can be used to more effectively tailor education, jobs and interventions to fit them.

The 2017 winner of the Irwin Altman Outstanding Psychology Faculty Award is Dr. Lisa Aspinwall. Dr. Aspinwall is an internationally-recognized expert in self-regulation and risk perception, conducting groundbreaking work in genetic testing for familial melanoma. Congratulations!

The Wall Street Journal reported on research conducted by Bruce Ellis and Danielle DelPriore, calling the study design 'ingenious'. The research examines the relationship between domestic instability during childhood and sexual behavior later in life, a link that had not previously been observed.

Francesco Biondi and Joel Cooper spoke to the Deseret News about the current state of automation in self-driving car technology, and how to close the gap between the present and future.

Spencer Castro just competed in the Boston marathon and finished 147 out of 30,000 with a time of 2 hours and 38 minutes.

Why does looking down from the edge of a cliff or tall building make us feel so strange? Dr. Stefanucci explains some of the peculiarities of visual perception, and why we sometimes feel overcome by the fear that we might accidentally jump.

Congratulations are in order for University of Utah's Clinical Psychology Graduate Students.

Craig Bryan, along with other colleagues published a study finding that crisis response planning can significantly reduce suicide attempts among veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients.

The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, is designed to engage the public and encourage scientists to communicate their findings more broadly.

Erica receives travel award from Women in Cognitive Sciences group.

Jackie Chen has been named an Association for Psychological Science Rising Star.

Liz has been chosen as the winner of the 2017 Society for Researching Child Development Early Career Research Contributions Award.

Andrea Wolfe-Clark was promoted to the rank of Major in the United States Air Force. Andrea is also a graduate student in the Clinical psychology program.

David Strayer was recently invited to participate in the discussion of research and science at the White House Roundtable Public Lands for Public Health.

Katie Baucom in her role as Chair of the Committee on Awards and Recognition for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies had the pleasure of presenting a mental health advocacy award to Patrick Kennedy during the annual meeting in New York.

Craig Bryan, Director of the National Center for Veterans Studies, educates us about veteran's suicide behavior and PTSD.

Congratulations to Paula and Brian on their publication in Brain and Behavior, which has received extensive media coverage in such outlets as ABC News, LiveScience, Popular Science, Research and Development Magazine, Self magazine, Sleep.org, and the Today Show!

Monisha explains that sharing stories with others helps us find meaning in the experience, but only if the one we are telling the story to is paying attention to what is being said.

The Presidential Scholar award is a prestigious award given out by the University of Utah to recognize excellence and achievement for faculty members at the associate professor level. Congratulations Craig!

In a Deseret News National story entitled “The lasting effects PTSD has on veterans” Craig outlines two types of psychotherapy that are effective in treating PTSD.

Frank Drews and the Human Factors Certificate Program within the Psychology Department have received the University of Utah's Transforming U: Beacons of Excellence award.

The psychology behind the Orlando shooting: there are a lot of factors at play and Doug Wright tries to get to the bottom of it. Dr. Lisa Diamond, Professor of Psychology and Gender Identity at the University of Utah, shares her expertise.

In a new study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, Dr. Fagundes establishes a connection between anxiety control, inflammation, and Type 2 diabetes.

Kelly and Tessa won for their posters in the Graduate category. Congratulations to Kelly and Tessa!

Craig Bryan is the recipient of the Junior Superior Research Award. Patricia Kerig was chosen as a finalist in the senior faculty category.

Michaela Mozley has received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations, Michaela!

Kent has been selected to receive an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations, Kent!

The Journal of Traumatic Stress is the official journal of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). Patricia will begin her position on January 1, 2017. Congratulations, Patricia!

Tami is finishing up her PhD is Social Psychology and her adviser is Carol Sansone. Here is a description of the 2015 GE Healthcare Surgery President's Award: President’s Awards are given only once per year to recognize outstanding contributions in a calendar year. Tami spent much of 2015 developing a new, statistically valid procedure for trending product complaints. This new technique allows us to recognize problems occurring in the field as early as possible and enables us to take action in order to keep our products operating safely and effectively.

Abby Bossart, who works with Liz Conradt, has been recognized as a student innovator for her work on refugee women’s health, her academic accomplishments, and her dedication to research. Congratulations, Abby!

This is one of the University's most prestigious research awards. Congratulations Cindy!

Jenny Cundiff (Ph.D. 2014) and Matt Cribbet (Ph.D. 2013) have accepted tenure-track faculty positions in the Department of Psychology at Texas Tech. Congratulations Jenny and Matt!

Carol Werner has won the 2016 Alta Sustainability Leadership Award in the Sustainability Research Award category, which “recognizes an individual (student, faculty, or staff member) who is conducting significant interdisciplinary sustainability research.”

This award is one of the highest honors the university has to offer. Congratulations, Tim!

The award recognizes faculty members who are instrumental in inspiring students and fostering their career development. Congratulations, Jeanine!