Speaking of Psychology

There's been a great deal of media attention focused on shootings in which a white police officer fired on a black or non-white suspect. Psychology has for years performed research to determine whether racial hostility plays a role in such shootings. These studies have usually entailed having participants sit in front of a computer screen and respond to images of suspects who pop up holding a gun or a benign object such as a wallet or a can of soda. These experiments are helpful. But is there a better way to study this phenomenon so we can curb these types of shootings? Our guest is John Tawa, PhD, of Mount Holyoke College who has developed a new and perhaps more realistic method for testing these responses. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting children to eat healthy meals is a challenge many parents face but what if virtual reality could help? Researchers at the National Institute of Health are using new technology to understand why parents feed their kids the foods they do and to help them make smarter food choices for the health of their children. Our guest for this episode is psychologist Susan Persky, PhD, head of the Immersive Virtual Environment Testing Unit where she applies virtual reality to biomedical research. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cameras are playing a greater and greater role in law enforcement, whether that means cameras placed on dashboards in police cruisers or cameras that officers wear as part of their uniforms. But how effective are cameras in police encounters? What do they tell us about police-citizen interactions and do cameras ever lie? Our guest for this episode is Nick Camp, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. His primary research focus examines racial disparities in the everyday encounters between police officers and citizens. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The spaces we are in every day influence our mood and well-being whether we are aware of it or not. Creating spaces to make us feel our best is a hot topic – in community planning, in the office and on HGTV. Sally Augustin, PhD, an environmental psychologist who is a principal at Design with Science, a design consultation firm, discusses how to design spaces to optimize well-being. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered why drivers don't get carsick? If you've ever been seasick, are you curious to know what causes it and what, if anything, can be done to stave it off? Dr. Arnon Rolnick is a clinical and experimental psychologist from Israel where he directs Rolnick's Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy and studies psychophysiology and the integration of technology and psychology. Rolnick spent 20 years as a psychologist in the Israeli Navy developing various methods to improve sailors' performance and well-being under conditions intended to make them seasick. He is also working on a book exploring how virtual psychotherapy can open new ways to study the roles of the body and brain in therapy. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russell Shilling, PhD, guest host for Speaking of Psychology and Chief Scientific Officer for the American Psychological Association, sits down at APA2019 to talk with Kaitlyn Roose and Shawn Doherty, PhD, to discuss the psychology of esports, the benefits of gaming on higher level cognition, and the culture of video games. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our memories may not be as reliable as we think. Once we experience an event, most of us likely assume that those memories stays intact forever. But there is the potential for memories to be altered or for completely false memories to be planted, according to Elizabeth Loftus, PhD. Loftus, a distinguished professor at the University of California, Irvine, is an expert on human memory and she discusses how our recollections of events and experiences may be subject to manipulation. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human Trafficking occurs when individuals are economically exploited through force, fraud or coercion for labor or commercial sex. Worldwide, it is estimated that almost 25 million people are robbed of their freedom and human dignity through trafficking- trafficking is akin to slavery. It is difficult to determine how many people are trafficked in the US but it occurs here and includes both citizens and foreign nationals. Women, children, the economically vulnerable, persons with disabilities and runaway youth are disproportionately impacted. Understanding what trafficking is and how to respond is critical. Our guest for this episode is psychologist Kalyani Gopal, PhD, a clinical psychologist and Executive Director of SAFE (Sex Trafficking Awareness, Freedom and Empowerment). Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast discusses the impact of technology on the future of work, including electronic surveillance in the workplace, the potential impact of automation on jobs, the significance of continuous education and the role of psychologists, the impact of automation and AI on the economy and hiring process, the future of work and the importance of core skills, and the value of soft skills in the workplace.

Discipline in pre-K through 12 schools is not doled out equally, as black students, boys and students with disabilities are suspended and expelled at much higher rates than other students, according to a report released last year by the Government Accountability Office. These types of harsh discipline can have dire consequences on a child’s future, including putting him or her at a higher risk of falling into the school-to-prison pipeline. Guests Amanda Sullivan, PhD, associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, and Ivory Toldson, PhD, professor of counseling psychology at Howard University, are experts on discipline disparities in pre-K to 12 schools. Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices