Concussion injuries among high school and college athletes have become a central concern in youth sports. Prompt self-reporting of a concussion immediately improves brain recovery and is necessary to reduce second-impact syndrome, rapid swelling of the brain after a person receives a second concussion before symptoms of the first concussion have subsided. Unfortunately, repetitive head injuries in adolescents and young adults are often underreported. Peter Ajayi, HD’19, David Garavito, JD/PhD ’21, and Valerie Reyna, professor of human development, are the first to detail an association between socioeconomic status (SES) and concussion reporting intentions among adolescents and young adults. Click here to read more.
Despite the restrictions on campus to prevent the spread of COVID-19, graduate and undergraduate students in Human Development persisted and excelled in their research and outreach activities. Click here to read more.
Qi Wang, Human Development Chair and Professor, and Director of the Culture & Social Cognition Laboratory is a leading researcher in the study of memory and culture. In January 2021, Dr. Wang begins a 5-year appointment as Editor of the Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition (JARMAC) JARMAC is the flagship journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, an international organization for researchers who study memory and cognition in the real world.
Wang discusses the limited generalizability of psychological research based on research subjects from Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic (WEIRD) societies in a podcast, "WEIRD Psychology" for the Australia Broadcasting Company's radio program, "All in the Mind with Lynne Malcolm". Top international journals publish predominantly WEIRD psychological research which is problematic because these populations are not representative of universal human populations. Wang explains how cultural psychology can address the problem. Click the arrow below to listen.
In a recent paper, Wang demonstrates how her study goes beyond WEIRD psychology by examining the effects of age, gender, ethnicity, and education on the recognition of bias in one's self versus in others. This research is timely and has direct relevance to understanding and addressing social tensions that arise from claims of bias or discrimination that in turn lead to social polarization. Wang and co-author, Hee Jin Jeon, examined whether people recognize "myside bias" (a tendency to process information in a way that supports one's own position) and "social bias" (prejudices against others based on gender, age, race, or social class) in their own thinking and behaviors as well as in those of others. They found that people attributed more biases to others than to themselves and this was more pronounced among people with strong beliefs about the existence of biases.
Also, Wang and Jeon discovered demographic differences in the perception of biases. Older adults, relative to younger adults, perceived greater myside bias in themselves and others. Similarly, people with lower levels of education perceived greater myside bias in themselves and others than those with higher levels of education. Women perceived greater myside bias than did men. They also found differences among ethnic groups; Caucasians perceived the greatest myside and social biases in themselves and others and Asians the least, with Hispanic and African Americans falling in between. Wang and Jeon suggest that bias recognition is not just the result of human cognition, but may also be affected by sociocultural factors. They call for more research to better understand these demographic differences.
Wang and Jeon also reported encouraging results of a potential intervention for reducing the lopsided bias in bias recognition. They asked participants to simultaneously judge their own and other people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a situation where myside bias might occur. They discovered that when people were able to see things from the perspective of others, it raised their "social mindfulness."
Reference cited in this article:
Wang, Q., & Jeon, H. J. (2020). Bias in bias recognition: People view others but not themselves as biased by preexisting beliefs and social stigmas. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0240232. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240232
International Day of Women and Girls in Science is February 11th and examining the factors and policies that impact women's careers in STEM sciences has been an on-going focus of HD faculty. Dr. Wendy Williams, professor of human development and director of the Cornell Institute for Women in Science (CIWS), conducts research and disseminates information relevant to women's experiences in STEM careers. Her work was featured in an online article of the Yale Scientific Magazine. Williams has reported that women in math-intensive fields are particularly hindered by the impacts of parenting. Her studies revealed that relative to men, women face significantly more stress and career complications in their pursuit of academic tenure. Women typically apply for tenure-track positions between the ages of 27 and 33. Raising a family is often incompatible with a career path that demands a singular focus on academic productivity. Williams points out that the tenure system has not evolved with the needs of women. One of Williams' policy recommendations for encouraging women to enter STEM careers is to permit women with newborns to work remotely from home and reduce the workload of parenting. The development and use of digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that it is possible to conduct research remotely and make it a viable option for tenure-tracked mothers. Read more about Dr. Williams' research and resources on the CIWS website.
Jane Mendle
In September 2020, the Association for Psychological Science (APS) published the first-ever gender parity review of psychological science: “The Future of Women in Psychological Science.” The consensus was that although gender gaps for women in psychological science are closing, there is more work to be done. Jane Mendle, professor of human development, was an author of the report. It was considered one of APS’s most highly cited publications from 2020. Click on the arrow below to listen to a discussion with Mendle and her co-authors for more context.
A 2018 study conducted by Jane Mendle and her team found that girls who entered puberty significantly earlier than their peers were at higher risk for mental health concerns.
Stephen Ceci, the Helen L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology in the College of Human Ecology is elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ceci’s research focuses on understanding real-world problems and settings. His work spans studies of intellectual development; children and the law; and women in science.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a new method of statistical analysis, Adam Anderson and colleagues have discovered that sweet, sour, salty, and bitter tastes are represented in distinct areas of the taste center in the human brain.
Dr. Valerie Reyna is Lois and Melvin Tukman Professor and has been Department Extension Leader for the Human Development department of the Cornell University College of Human Ecology since 2005. She also directs the Human Neuroscience Institute and co-directs the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research.
Dr. Marlen Gonzalez founded the Integrative Neuroscience Salon to create an inclusive community of "neuroscientifically curious" scientists from disparate disciplines, including human development, psychology, communications, engineering, neurobiology, computer science and law to meet and discuss neuroscience research through presentations and papers.
Anthony Burrow, Professor in the Department of Human Development and co-director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research’s Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE), was interviewed for the podcast "Extension Out Loud." He discusses how exploring identity and sense of purpose helps young people get more out of programs such as 4-H.
Watch Valerie Reyna's talk at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) Colloquium on Advancing the Science and Practice of Science Communication: Misinformation About Science in the Public Sphere held in Irvine, CA on April 3-4, 2019 and co-sponsored by Rita Allen Foundation, Science Sandbox, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The KAVLI Foundation.
Stephen Ceci, the Helen L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology in the College of Human Ecology is elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ceci’s research focuses on understanding real-world problems and settings. His work spans studies of intellectual development; children and the law; and women in science.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a new method of statistical analysis, Adam Anderson and colleagues have discovered that sweet, sour, salty, and bitter tastes are represented in distinct areas of the taste center in the human brain.
Dr. Valerie Reyna is Lois and Melvin Tukman Professor and has been Department Extension Leader for the Human Development department of the Cornell University College of Human Ecology since 2005. She also directs the Human Neuroscience Institute and co-directs the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research.
Dr. Marlen Gonzalez founded the Integrative Neuroscience Salon to create an inclusive community of "neuroscientifically curious" scientists from disparate disciplines, including human development, psychology, communications, engineering, neurobiology, computer science and law to meet and discuss neuroscience research through presentations and papers.
Anthony Burrow, Professor in the Department of Human Development and co-director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research’s Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE), was interviewed for the podcast "Extension Out Loud." He discusses how exploring identity and sense of purpose helps young people get more out of programs such as 4-H.
Watch Valerie Reyna's talk at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) Colloquium on Advancing the Science and Practice of Science Communication: Misinformation About Science in the Public Sphere held in Irvine, CA on April 3-4, 2019 and co-sponsored by Rita Allen Foundation, Science Sandbox, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The KAVLI Foundation.
Anthony Burrow, Professor in the Department of Human Development and co-director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research’s Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE), was interviewed for the podcast "Extension Out Loud." The podcast, along with podcasts of other HD faculty, can be found on the HD Today e-NEWS Soundcloud webpage - click here. Read more below about how PRYDE supports 4-H programs and contributes to positive youth development.
How can exploring identity and sense of purpose help young people get more out of programs such as 4-H?
R.J. Anderson/Cornell Cooperative Extension
Anthony Burrow, associate professor of human development, center, joined “Extension Out Loud” podcast hosts Paul Treadwell and Katie Baildon for a conversation about self-purpose and how it can impact youth programming.
In the latest episode of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s “Extension Out Loud” podcast, Anthony Burrow, associate professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology, shares his research on the benefits of helping youth think about long-term personal goals and self-identifying “their why” prior to introducing programming.
Burrow, co-director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research’s Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE), suggested that before program leaders kick off activities, they lead youth participants through a series of exercises designed to identify long-term goals and prompt them to examine their future selves. Tapping into this perspective can give programming more meaning and help youth stay focused.
A sense of purpose can also be a weapon against negative or overreactions in their daily lives.
“We’ve often thought of purpose as a sort of protection against negative experiences or stressors,” said Burrow, recipient of the 2019 Engaged Scholar Prize administered by the Office of Engagement Initiatives. “So on days when challenges happen or negative events or negative experiences happen, might having a sense of purpose help people react less negatively to those experiences?”
During the 33-minute episode, co-hosted by CCE staff members Katie Baildon and Paul Treadwell, Burrow covers an array of topics, including:
The need to provide youth and adults with safe spaces where they can experiment with different identities to develop purpose, for which 4-H is a great vehicle, Burrow said.
How Burrow’s lab has observed the benefits of social media and exploring how it can be a place where youth are exposed to ideas and experiences and can make observations that could not otherwise happen. In his research, Burrow finds having a sense of purpose in life can stave off heightened affective or emotional reactivity to something as simple receiving (or not receiving) a thumbs-up on a social media selfie.
How while there is a lot of wonderful development happening through programs and clubs, particularly 4‑H, delivery of those programs and the impacts they are having often go understudied or unexamined. “There’s this gap between the research that’s relevant to youth and the good work that’s happening in communities,” he said. “PRYDE was born out of an attempt to create some infrastructure to bring these two crowds together.”
Full episodes of “Extension Out Loud,” including descriptions and transcripts of each episode, can be found online. Episodes can also be streamed on iTunes and SoundCloud.
R.J. Anderson is a writer/communications specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research's podcast series, "Doing Translational Research," May 2, 2018
It's our 20th episode! This seemed like a good moment to address a question we often hear: What is translational research?
To tackle this important question Karl is joined by BCTR associate director John Eckenrode. They cover the origins of translational research, and how it differs from "basic" and "applied" research. There are some examples of translational research projects and throughout the conversation they touch on why this research method is so effective and more and more in-demand by funders, policymakers and practitioners.
John Eckenrode is a social psychologist and professor of human development and associate director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. He is also founder and co-director of the National Data Archive of Child Abuse and Neglect. His research concerns child abuse and neglect, the effects of preventive interventions, translational research, and stress and coping processes.
Robert Sternberg was interviewed on October 9, 2018 for the podcast, What Makes Us Human? from Cornell University's College of Arts & Sciences. This is the podcast's third season, "What Do We Know About Love?" and Dr. Sternberg discusses his "Triangular Theory of Love."
I became interested in love when I was in a failing relationship (regrettably, one of several in my lifetime). I wondered what was wrong. I thought back to some of the relationships in my life I would have labeled at one time or another as “loving.”
The first was with a little girl I’ll call Joan, when I was in early elementary school. We could talk about anything. We even planned to be King and Queen of the world, and everyone except us would have to go around naked. We communicated well, cared about each other, felt like we could count on each other. In sum, Joan and I were truly intimate with each other, although of course strictly in a Platonic sense. After all, we were just 5 years old at the time!
The second relationship was with Jane (also not her real name). I saw Jane sitting in front of me in high school biology class and immediately fell head over heels for her. That year of school I obsessed over Jane. I could think of no one and nothing else. But it was totally one-sided. She had no interest in me, and when she met the captain of the soccer team at a New Year’s Eve party, I was totally out of the picture. What I felt for Jane was passion—infatuated love—but there was no intimacy. We even hardly spoke to each other.
The third relationship was with a woman I’ll call Joanne. The relationship started off well enough. But as time went on, it cooled. We seemed to be on different life paths and our understanding of each other got worse by the day. For a long time, we stayed with it, despite the fact that the relationship had tanked. Eventually, feeling commitment but little more, we split up.
These three relationships formed the basis for what I came to call a “triangular theory of love.” The basic idea is that love has three components: intimacy (as with Joan), passion (as with Jane), and commitment (as with Joanne). Each component contributes to the overall experience of love. And different combinations of components yield different kinds of love. Intimacy alone yields liking. Passion alone produces infatuated love. Commitment alone yields what I call empty love. Intimacy plus passion, without commitment, gives you romantic love. Intimacy plus commitment, but without passion, produces companionate love. Passion plus commitment, but without intimacy, gives you what I call fatuous or foolish love. And intimacy, passion, and commitment all combined yield consummate or complete love.
I devised a scale to measure each of the components of love, and then did what is called “construct validation,” testing both the theory and the scale with adult subjects around New Haven, Connecticut. We learned two important things. The first thing we learned wasn’t surprising: it turned out that more of each of the three components—intimacy, passion, and commitment—is associated with greater success and happiness in a relationship. But the second thing we learned was more surprising and more important: we found that relationships tend to be more successful when partners’ triangles match -- when each partner is looking for more or less the same thing. For example, if both partners value intimacy and passion but are not yet ready to commit, that will augur well for the relationship. But if one partner seeks intimacy and the other craves passion, things are not likely to work out all so well. Compatibility matters—a lot.
So what should you look for in a partner? Most of all, look for someone who wants the same things out of a relationship that you do. In that way, you ensure that what you mean by love and what your partner means by love are, more or less, the same thing. You will then have so much more reason to stay together!https://soundcloud.com/cornellcas/a-triangular-theory
Human Development has added two new faculty members this year, Misha Inniss-Thompson and Adam Hoffman. Click here to read more.
The Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR) is launching a new project – the Community Neuroscience Initiative, (CNI) headed by four Human Development faculty, Anthony Burrow, Marlen Gonzalez, Eve De Rosa, and Adam Anderson. All have been engaged in STEM outreach and engagement and envision CNI as a way to build connections between neuroscience research, STEM education, and community empowerment. Click here to read more.
Karl Pillemer
