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Posts

June 18, 2013

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9:55 PM | Psychology At the Movies: Essentialist Musings in Man of Steel
www.imdb.com Yesterday, my spouse and I dropped our newborn daughter off with Grandma and then popped over to the local theater to see this summer's much anticipated comic-book blockbuster Man of Steel. By any standard, Man of Steel is exceptionally light when it comes to philosophical musings: The plot is predictably linear--good guys fight bad guys who are trying to kill them. At first glance, it may seem like a stretch to write an entire blog entry (for a psychology blog) about the […]

Kraus MW & Keltner D (2013). Social Class Rank, Essentialism, and Punitive Judgment., Journal of personality and social psychology, PMID:

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June 13, 2013

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11:26 PM | The Daddy Chronicles II: Parenting Boosts Immune Function
I've been doing this whole parenting thing for almost three months now and it has been simultaneously gratifying, terrifying, exhausting, and fascinating. One thing I haven't been doing is sleeping, and because of this I have had a lot of time to read up on some neat research on new parents. Last time I wrote about how parenting reduces Testosterone in men. Today I blog about the relationship between parenting and immune function. Can parenting boost the immune system? Read More-> […]

Sneed, R., Cohen, S., Turner, R. & Doyle, W. (2012). Parenthood and Host Resistance to the Common Cold, Psychosomatic Medicine, 74 (6) 567-573. DOI:

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June 11, 2013

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5:02 PM | This is NOT advice for first year faculty
Hello again, PYM readers. It is now June and I just finished my first full academic year as a faculty member at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Chambana). Having just passed through the rabbit hole, I have returned mostly unscathed to blog a bit about my experience. As this is just my first year, I don't have any advice that will help others who are transitioning to professor-hood, rather, this post reflects some of the things that I think people (like me) deal with during […]
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science

June 09, 2013

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3:54 PM | Four (Wrong) Ways To Interpret Links Between Genes and Education
Last week Science published a neat little paper examining links between specific human DNA sequences and educational attainment. The paper, which is a bit shorter than the list of authors who worked on the project, examined a total sample of more than 120,000 participants who had their entire genome sequenced for a number of small clusters of repeating nucleotides (single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs). They then examined all the SNPs and their associations with the level of educational […]

Rietveld, C. A. (2013). GWAS of 126,599 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with educational attainment, Science, Other: Link

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June 07, 2013

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4:36 PM | Sunscreen slows wrinkles: Will this evidence increase the use of sunscreen?
source This week, new research was released suggesting that sunscreen not only reduces the risk for skin cancer, but that it also slows skin aging. In this study, people who were told to use sunscreen daily had fewer lines and less coarse skin after four years than those who used it as they normally would. I’ve seen this study all over the news (here, here, and here)! Though doctors say they have long been telling patients that sunscreen protects against skin aging, they are now excited to […]

Mahler, H., Kulik, J., Gerrard, M. & Gibbons, F. (2007). Long-term effects of appearance-based interventions on sun protection behaviors., Health Psychology, 26 (3) 350-360. DOI:

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June 05, 2013

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9:00 PM | Why So Serious?* An Insider’s Guide to the Study of Smiling and Dominance
The toughest grad students at the University of Illinois (J. Hepler & N. Segal) Over the years, one of my favorite things to hear about in research is the initial personal events that inspired researchers to conduct their investigations into human behavior (e.g., Did your neglectful mother lead you to a study of anxious attachment?). In today’s blog post I would like to talk about the inspiration for a study I conducted last year, with my my colleague David Chen, examining what […]

Kraus, M. & Chen, T. (2013). A winning smile? Smile intensity, physical dominance, and fighter performance., Emotion, 13 (2) 270-279. DOI:

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May 11, 2013

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12:38 AM | Searching for happiness: What makes life meaningful?
Recently I’ve been contemplating giving up on the modern world and moving to a cabin in the woods. I mean – what is with all of this technology, the 50+ hour work week, and guilt over the simple pleasures like spending time with friends and family on the weekends? Maybe I would be able to feel happier and more fulfilled if I turned my back on the world of today and instead started living a simple life. After all, despite the fact that technology has made our lives easier over the past […]

Wilson, Timothy D. & Gilbert, Daniel T. (2003). Affective Forecasting, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 35 345-411. DOI:

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May 07, 2013

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5:41 PM | Group gender composition: Does it matter?
source When I was younger, I can remember being split into teams in gym class and different tables in art class and having one question: how many girls and how many boys are in my group? Depending on the activity, it seemed important to know this so you could assess your chances for success. More boys on your team, and you might be more likely to win dodgeball. More girls at your art table, and you might paint a better mural. An adult might have told me that was silly - how many […]

West, T., Heilman, M., Gullett, L., Moss-Racusin, C. & Magee, J. (2012). Building blocks of bias: Gender composition predicts male and female group members’ evaluations of each other and the group, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48 (5) 1209-1212. DOI:

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April 20, 2013

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6:07 PM | SWAG: Racial Bias in Pain Perception
Tom Brady is no stranger to pain (source) Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week in SWAG we read an article about racial biases in perceptions of others’ pain. The American medical field has a long […]

Trawalter S, Hoffman KM & Waytz A (2012). Racial bias in perceptions of others' pain., PloS one, 7 (11) PMID:

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April 18, 2013

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5:02 PM | The Daddy Chronicles: What Happened To My Testosterone?
Zoë at two weeks I'm not sure how many of you know this, but on March 19th of this year I became a new daddy. It's hard to describe the meaning of this event and its impact on my life, but here is a useful comparison that might put things into perspective: My dissertation was accepted for publication on the same day that my daughter was born and despite the near month passing, I still haven't filed the publication forms for the paper. Fatherhood changes the way I see the world […]

Gettler LT, McDade TW, Feranil AB & Kuzawa CW (2011). Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (39) 16194-9. PMID:

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April 05, 2013

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5:57 PM | When Telling Others About Your Goals Compromises Them
source As you think ahead about what you want to accomplish in the next few months and years, you probably have several goals that involve you “becoming” something – like a good athlete or a good doctor. These are called “identity goals” because they are goals to achieve a certain identity, and they can be attained by engaging in identity-relevant activities, like training for a marathon or going to medical school. In order to enact these behaviors, we might tell others about […]
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science

April 01, 2013

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2:37 AM | SWAG: Video Games and Violence
wikipedia.org Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week, SWAG was led by Jesse Preston, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois. Her summary of the SWAG discussion follows below: Can […]

Ferguson, C. (2013). Violent video games and the Supreme Court: Lessons for the scientific community in the wake of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association., American Psychologist, 68 (2) 57-74. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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March 25, 2013

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7:16 PM | 5 Ways Gratitude Can Backfire
Gratitude is good. Good for your health and well-being. Good for your relationships. In fact, I've written about the benefits of gratitude here, here, here, and here. But is gratitude always good? No. Although a focus on appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you have-not is generally good advice, gratitude is not a panacea. Here are a few ways in which gratitude may be the wrong prescription: 1.       Overdosing on gratitude. When it comes to keeping track of your […]

Sheldon, K. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1 (2) 73-82. DOI:

McNulty JK & Russell VM (2010). When "negative" behaviors are positive: a contextual analysis of the long-term effects of problem-solving behaviors on changes in relationship satisfaction., Journal of personality and social psychology, 98 (4) 587-604. PMID:

Watkins, P., Scheer, J., Ovnicek, M. & Kolts, R. (2006). The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness, Cognition & Emotion, 20 (2) 217-241. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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March 21, 2013

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12:23 AM | How to End a Bad Relationship for Good
Sometimes we find ourselves in relationships that make us miserable more than they make us happy, relationships that we know in our hearts are not right, yet still have a hold on us. If this sounds like you, or someone you care about, here are some research-based strategies you may not have considered before for ending it for good and getting on with your life. Read More->

Aron, A. (2005). Reward, Motivation, and Emotion Systems Associated With Early-Stage Intense Romantic Love, Journal of Neurophysiology, 94 (1) 327-337. DOI:

Schweiger Gallo I & Gollwitzer PM (2007). Implementation intentions: a look back at fifteen years of progress., Psicothema, 19 (1) 37-42. PMID:

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Psychology | Social Science
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March 14, 2013

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3:00 PM | PYM Enters the Terrible Twos!
Two years ago today, this blog was born. Thanks to you, PYM readers, this once tiny blog venture has been an overwhelming success--both in terms of outreach, and I think, in terms of fun (at least for the bloggers)! Let's check out some of the PYM blog stats after the jump. Read More->
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science

March 07, 2013

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10:14 PM | SWAG: The American Choice Fixation
Yes. I Exist! (source) Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). Right before our SWAG meeting this week, I attended a laboratory meeting of a colleague here at the University of Illinois. One of the graduate students […]

Savani K, Markus HR, Naidu NV, Kumar S & Berlia N (2010). What counts as a choice? U.S. Americans are more likely than Indians to construe actions as choices., Psychological science, 21 (3) 391-8. PMID:

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Psychology | Social Science
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March 01, 2013

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8:55 PM | Friday Fun: Psych Your Mind at the Oscars
source If you follow all the goings-on in Hollywood, you almost certainly watched the 85th Academy Awards last Sunday. If you didn't, I would be surprised if you have paid attention to the news this week without seeing at least one mention of the best and worst dressed, Jennifer Lawrence’s fall, or Seth MacFarlane’s performance as host. While the gowns and all the famous people in one room may have caught your attention the most, if we move beyond all of the glamour and drama […]
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Psychology | Social Science

February 27, 2013

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11:19 PM | SWAG: Do the ends justify the means?
source Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). Are you familiar with Watchmen? The popular graphic novel turned semi-popular summer blockbuster describes a deeply dystopian future in which Richard Nixon has been […]

Conway P & Gawronski B (2013). Deontological and utilitarian inclinations in moral decision making: A process dissociation approach., Journal of personality and social psychology, 104 (2) 216-35. PMID:

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Psychology | Social Science
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February 22, 2013

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5:02 AM | Have Your Cake and Eat It Too! Practical Reform in Social Psychology
The cake we can (1) have, and (2) eat! If you have been following recent headlines in the social sciences then you are aware that the field of social psychology has been in some rough water over the past three years. In this time period, we've had our flagship journal publish a series of studies providing evidence that ESP exists (and then refuse to publish non-replications of these studies). We've suffered through at least three instances of scientific fraud perpetrated by high […]

Richard, F., Bond, C. & Stokes-Zoota, J. (2003). One Hundred Years of Social Psychology Quantitatively Described., Review of General Psychology, 7 (4) 331-363. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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February 21, 2013

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2:47 AM | SWAG: Thoughts as Physical Objects
Ideas as Objects (Source) Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). We typically think of thoughts as mental constructs without physical properties. And yet, it is remarkably common to use physical metaphors when […]

Briñol P, Gascó M, Petty RE & Horcajo J (2013). Treating thoughts as material objects can increase or decrease their impact on evaluation., Psychological science, 24 (1) 41-7. PMID:

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Psychology | Social Science
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February 15, 2013

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5:27 AM | Do it for Future You
Source It's only a month and a half into the New Year, and most of us have already abandoned our New Year's resolutions. We had the best of intentions, but our intentions only got us so far, and eventually we fell back into our old habits--eating and drinking too much, exercising and sleeping too little. Why are we so bad at this? There are a number of reasons for our difficulty with New Year's Resolutions and other efforts to make positive changes in our lives. For example, […]

Hershfield, H. (2011). Future self-continuity: how conceptions of the future self transform intertemporal choice, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1235 (1) 30-43. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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February 13, 2013

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4:37 PM | 4 Ways to Boost Gratitude on Valentine's Day
Today's post is the second in a two-part series on Gratitude. Yesterday I discussed research I've done on how gratitude helps us hold onto our relationships. Today I give you a few science-based tips for how to boost gratitude on Valentine's Day. Whether February 14th is your first Valentine’s Day together or your 35th, it is a great excuse to show gratitude for the one you love. This Valentine’s Day, try these science-based tips to make sure you get the most out of your […]

Flynn, F. & Adams, G. (2009). Money can’t buy love: Asymmetric beliefs about gift price and feelings of appreciation, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (2) 404-409. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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February 12, 2013

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5:06 AM | To Have and To Thank: Gratitude Helps us Hold onto our Relationships
In honor of St. Valentine, today's post is the first in a two-part series on why gratitude may be a key ingredient in successful relationships. Today I talk about some of my own research on gratitude. Then on Wednesday I'll be back with a few tips for how to make sure you and your partner get the most out of your gratitude on Valentine's Day. I had one goal when I started graduate school five years ago – to understand why some romantic relationships thrive while others fail. […]

Gordon AM, Impett EA, Kogan A, Oveis C & Keltner D (2012). To have and to hold: gratitude promotes relationship maintenance in intimate bonds., Journal of personality and social psychology, 103 (2) 257-74. PMID:

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February 08, 2013

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5:27 PM | SWAG: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough... and I give up!
wikipedia.org Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week we read a recent collection of studies written by Kathleen Vohs and her colleagues (2013) about goal disengagement and self-affirmation. Usually […]

Vohs KD, Park JK & Schmeichel BJ (2013). Self-affirmation can enable goal disengagement., Journal of personality and social psychology, 104 (1) 14-27. PMID:

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February 06, 2013

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1:34 AM | Living Abroad and Thinking Outside of the Box
 source Two weeks ago, I had the exciting opportunity to visit my sister in London where she is studying for the year. As she showed me her new lifestyle and daily routine, we reflected on some of the benefits she has gained from her time abroad thus far, such as greater knowledge about European history and new friends from different countries. We also talked about some less tangible advantages, like changing the way she thinks about the world, learning to interpret behaviors from a new […]
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Psychology | Social Science

February 01, 2013

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7:29 PM | Mom's the boss at home - but is it good for her?
Source I often say that becoming a mom has made me a stronger feminist than any class, book, or essay I took or read at my small liberal arts college. More and more, I have been noticing the explicit and implicit ways that all women, but especially those with children, get excluded from positions of power in organizations. Meanwhile, I have seen many strong, intelligent, and admirable female friends change or leave their careers to accommodate families. All this makes me wonder, if the […]
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science

January 31, 2013

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5:15 AM | SWAG: The World is ending and that's unfair!
www.earthtimes.org Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar, affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). Ever watch a video like this one? I imagine that for different people it activates very different emotions. For some, this sort of video might galvanize […]

Feinberg, M. & Willer, R. (2010). Apocalypse Soon?: Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs, Psychological Science, 22 (1) 34-38. DOI:

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January 25, 2013

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8:13 PM | New Year’s Resolutions: Are You Suffering From Decision and Willpower Fatigue?
Today's guest post comes from Sarah Roberts, Ph.D. candidate in Psychology at the University of Quebec in Montreal and blogger at Psychobabble for Normal People.  Why is it that at the beginning of January, we’re able to keep our New Year’s Resolutions—hitting the gym regularly, drinking less alcohol, wasting fewer hours on Facebook, following a budget or a diet—but our willpower wears off as the month wears on? Similarly, how come at 9am, 10am, and 1pm, […]

Danziger, S., Levav, J. & Avnaim-Pesso, L. (2011). Extraneous factors in judicial decisions, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108 (17) 6889-6892. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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Editor's Pick

January 23, 2013

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10:43 PM | SWAG: The Aversion to Harm Others
Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week in SWAG we read a paper on committing harmful actions by Fiery Cushman and colleagues (2012), who may have the most fantastic name in all of the academic world. Cushman […]

Cushman F, Gray K, Gaffey A & Mendes WB (2012). Simulating murder: the aversion to harmful action., Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 12 (1) 2-7. PMID:

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January 20, 2013

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7:26 AM | How Much Inequality Is Too Much?
“Of all the babies that die every year, what percent should be from the richest 20% and what percent should be from the poorest 20%?” – Mike Norton In the Saturday morning session, some of my favorite social psychologists/researchers presented their ongoing work on lay beliefs about inequality in the United States. It is encouraging to see the new generation of psychology scholars taking on important issues related to social justice and inequality! The first talk was presented by […]
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Psychology | Social Science
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