Snap Judgements: Race, Religion, and Age

People are like library books, sorted into different shelves because of what they look like, where they come from, what they believe, and how old they are. It's how we make sense of the world. The problem with the organization scheme is that there seems to be an implicit hierarchy, giving some categories more preferable shelves than others. In the Psychological Science article "The Rules of Implicit Evaluation by Race, Religion, and Age," UVa researcher Jordan Axt, with the assistance of Brian Nosek and Charles Ebersole, used the Brief Implicit Association test to measure individuals' quick reactions to images and text as a way of determining their bias towards race, religion, and age. The results indicated that after the individual picked their own group as the top preference, the remaining groups consistently fell into the same order. For example, if the individual was Asian, he would categorically pick positive associations with Asians but for the remaining races they were ordered in the following order with the most preferential first: Whites, Asians, Blacks, Hispanics. Regardless of the individual's race, the remaining races were always listed in that order. For additional information and interviews, check out this article on the Daily Progress website.

Does Being Cool at 13 Pay?

Researchers at the followed a group of Charlottesville, VA, teenagers over a ten year period to gauge whether popularity at age thirteen equates to success ten years down the road. Joseph Allen, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, led the study that was recently published in Child Development. Their conclusion? Popularity in middle school isn't a guarantee for later success in life and it may in fact have negative consequences as well. As young adults, the more popular youths were using 40% more drugs and alcohol than the "not so cool" kids and were 22% more likely to run into trouble with the law. Kelly Wallace, CNN reporter, submitted this detailed report.

Teenagers More Vulnerable in Police Interrogation

Interrogation techniques used by the police force often incorporate stressors that result in confession, sometimes even false confessions. Teenagers are more susceptible to interrogation pressure and may waive Miranda rights or make incriminating statements without having the proper counsel to guide them through the interrogation process, resulting in higher penalties and loner prison sentences. Only twenty percent of a surveyed police force is prepared to interrogate minors, Todd Warner, a U.Va. PHd candidate in Psychology discovered in his recent study. “Police officers have a very difficult job trying to determine who actually perpetuated the crime under investigation, and while they are well-trained on laws and the legal system, many of them lack knowledge on adolescent decision-making, which can have a detrimental effect on suspects who may not be guilty, and also on the proper functioning of the legal system,” Warner said. For more information about this study, check out the UVaToday article as well as other postings on local Charlottesville news stations.

Congratulations Grant Foundation Scholars!

L-R: Education professor Joanna Lee Williams and psychology professor Noelle Hurd

Joanna Lee Williams and Noelle Hurd were selected to receive major support from the William T. Grant Foundation and are named Grant Foundation Scholars. This honor is rarely bestowed on more than one candidate from an institution and was last received by a UVa recipient (Joseph Allen) in 1991. Both Williams and Hurd are assistant professors and conduct research with Youth-Nex: The UVa Center to Promote Effective Youth Development. They will both receive $350,000 in research support in addition to intense mentoring by relevant scholars. For more information about the candidates please see this UVA Today article.

Insights on the Family

Tom Graham hosted two UVa professors on Virginia Insights (WMRA) to hear about their research on the family.

Sarah M. Corse, Ph.D. - co-author of the study "Intimate Inequalities: Love and Work in a Post-Industrial Landscape," presented at the August, 2013, annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia.

Robert E. Emery, Ph.D. - Co-author of "Overnight Custody Arrangements, Attachment, and Adjustment Among Very Young Children"  (August, 2013. "Journal of Marriage and Family").  Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Children, Families, and the Law, University of Virginia.  Author of numerous books, including  The Truth About Children and Divorce (Penguin Group).

To hear the interview, check out this link.

Getting older may not be a good excuse...

We've all had moments where the answer we are looking for is on the "tip of the tongue" and as age increases, it is easy to assume the temporary memory lapse and a few extra grey hairs are connected. Dr. Timothy Salthouse and U.Va. undergraduate researcher Arielle Mandell created a study to determine if age and a lapse in the brain's ability to recall facts are related. After quizzing over 700 participants, they initially found that older participants did struggle to recall answers as well as their younger counterparts. But after the researchers factored participants' general knowledge, for example, they found no association between how often the participants' memory recall failed and their performance on the types of memory tests often used in the detection of dementia. 

For more information, check out this article on NBC 29.

U.Va. Employees Legally Obligated to Report Child Abuse

Susan A. Carkeek, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, sent the following in an email to staff on July 7th, 2012:

"In the 2012 legislative session, the General Assembly passed legislation on reporting suspected child abuse and neglect.  Specifically, the law requires "any person employed by a public or private institution of higher education" to report suspected instances of child abuse and neglect.  All University employees are now required to contact local or state Social Services if they see or suspect child abuse or neglect.  This law went into effect July 1, 2012.

University Human Resources has developed a web page at http://www.hr.virginia.edu/go/abuse-reporting with the legal definition of a neglected or abused child, instructions on where and how to report suspected child abuse or neglect, and other resources.  I ask that you familiarize yourself with the basic definitions and requirements so that you know how to proceed if you encounter or suspect child abuse or neglect. 

All employees need to be aware of this new legislation, particularly those of you who come in contact with children as part of your teaching, research, or other operations.  I appreciate your support in helping us comply with this law, and encourage you to share it with your colleagues. If you have questions, please contact the HR Service Center at 982.0123 or email AskHR@virginia.edu."

In the past, researchers were not obligated to report abuse (though they were highly encouraged!) but the new legistlation changes their status. If you or anyone on your research team interact with children, please be aware of the signs of abuse and how to report. For more information about working with this population, please see Child Abuse on our website.

Seen anything cute lately?

U.Va. researchers Gary Sherman, Jonathan Haidt, and James Coan demonstrated that seeing a cute object can improve your ability to handle delicate things. Participants in their study were shown either a "very cute" picture of a puppy or kitten or a "less cute" picture of an adult cat or dog. After viewing the images, participants were asked to play Operation, a game that requires very careful fine motor skills. The participants who viewed the "very cute" images had greater success in playing the game than the "less cute" image participants, demonstrating that viewing "cuteness" helped to engage the participants in more careful behavior. Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic Journal highlighted their work in his June 7th article "Why the Puppy Cam Is About to Make the Whole Internet Better at Photoshop." The original article published by Sherman, Haidt, and Coan in Emotion can be found here.

Is Pretend Play Crucial for a Child's Development?

The answer, according to UV.a. psychologist Angeline Lillard, is that the research in the past was not done very well and pretend play may not play a significant role in creative and intellectual development. Lillard and her team concluded after reviewing over 150 studies on the subject that better designed studies need to be done and previous researchers may have been biased in their approach. For more details, see the article on UVa Today.

Does Your Teenager Argue? Maybe It's Not a Bad Thing

The Daily Progress and NPR's All Things Considered highlighted research conducted by UVa psychology professor Joseph Allen and his team regarding young teenagers, research that was recently published in the Child Development journal. They found that young teenagers who argued assertively with their parents were able to take the skills learned from that exercise and apply it with their peers. The same teens were less likely to give into peer pressure and resisted taking drugs or engaging in other harmful behaviors that would otherwise be encouraged by peers. For more information, check out the article in the Daily Progress, the interview on NPR's All Things Considered, or the report in the Child Development journal.