NEWS ARCHIVES:
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NEWS 2007-2008
Review of Peter MacNeilage's "The Origin of Speech" in London Times Literary Supplement
 Peter MacNeilage's recently published book, "The Origin of Speech" was reviewed by N. J. Enfield in the September 12 issue of the London Times Literary Supplement. Enfield describes the book as "a sustained argument for the importance of bodily action in the development and evolution of psychological processes -- in this case, those processes that control the production of speech. He despairs of the lack of attention that action in this sense has received in the psychology of language. Not only does MacNeilage deliver a relentless attack on Chomskyan rationalism and its disembodied Cartesian assumptions, he points out that even the empiricists, who put bodily experience centre-stage, 'didn't ascribe an important role to action'."
-N. J. Enfield, "It's a Leopard!", Times Literary Supplement, September 12, 2008, pg. 12
Peter MacNeilage Web page | The Origin of Speech
Psychology students participate in the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Pre-Grad School Internship program
Psychology students Xuan Le, Rachel Roos, Jennifer Krug, Ana Lucia Hurtado, Jesus Correa, Julie Milligan Hughes, David Lewis, Simine Vazire, Nairn Ramirez-Esparza, and John Dennis have written about their experiences in the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Pre-Grad School Internship program (see links below). The program is sponsored by the Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE). IE's mission is to educate "citizen-scholars"--individuals who creatively utilize their intellectual capital as a lever for social good. (October 2008)
Xuan Le | Rachel Roos | Jennifer Krug | Jesus Correa | Julie Milligan Hughes | David Lewis | Simine Vazire | Nairan Ramirez-Esparza | John Dennis | Ana Lucia Hurtado
NEW PSYCHOLOGY FACULTY, FALL 2008
ZENZI M. GRIFFIN, Professor; Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests: cognition, psycholinguistics, language production.
Web Page
HONGJOO (JOANNE) LEE, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Yale University
Research Interests: Roles of amygdala-dopamine systems in learning and memory.
Web Page
JUAN M. DOMINGUEZ, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., University of Buffalo
Research Interests: Neural regulation of motivated behaviors, esp. mating; sexual behavior as a prototypic model for understanding motivation and its associated disorders; neuroendocrinological factors of depression and addiction.
Web Page
CRISTINE LEGARE, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., University of Michigan
Research Interests: Cognitive development, conceptual development and causal reasoning, knowledge acquisition and learning, culture and cognition.
Web Page
MARLONE HENDERSON, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., New York University
Research Interests: Attitudes, social judgments, negotiation.
Web Page
Clinical Psychology graduate student Reagan Wetherill interview on ABC News
Reagan Wetherill, graduate student researcher in Kim Fromme's "Sahara Lab", makes an appearance in an ABC News video that explores the phenomenon of student binge drinking. Reagan has studied binge drinking and its negative consequences for six years.
View video | Read more about Reagan's research | Sahara Lab
Text analysis software shows potential for application to EDD (Electronic Deception Discovery)
" James Pennebaker at the University of Texas developed a text analysis software, "Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count," that gained acceptance among linguists who study deception.
Pennebaker's research found that individuals who try to deceive generally use fewer first person pronouns (I, me, my) and exclusive words (e.g., except, but, without), and more negative emotion words (e.g., hate, worthless, and sad) and action verbs (e.g., walk, move, go).
David Skillicorn, of Queen's University, combined Pennebaker's findings with computer science tools such as singular value decomposition."
Read more in Electronic Deception Discovery: A New Kind of Search, Law Technology News.
Language and Health Psychology Lab
Students mark 21st birthdays with 'extreme' drinking binges
Kim Fromme's research on extreme drinking binges among college students is the focus of a USA Today feature.
"College students today celebrate 21st birthdays with an average of 12 drinks for men and nine for women, finds the most in-depth picture yet of the consequences of extreme partying.
The University of Texas-Austin research found 78% of students cited ill effects, including hangovers (54%). Of 44% who had blackouts, 22% found out later they had sex, and 22% got in a fight or argument. And 39% didn't know how they got home."
Read more in the August 27, 2008 issue of USA Today
Sahara Lab | Fromme Web Page
PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT COMPETES IN BEIJING OLYMPICS
Former UT psychology student and softball pitching standout Cat Osterman is making her second Olympic appearance in Beijing after helping Team U.S.A. to a gold medal at the Athens Games in 2004. She is a five-time National Player of the Year who led the Longhorns to the Women's College World Series in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Osterman lives in Chicago, where she is the assistant softball coach at DePaul University. She will blog about her experiences this summer on her personal Web site "Bound for Beijing."
Read Cat's blog... | Liberal Arts Athletes Head to the Olympics
ARTHUR MARKMAN AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COMPETITION
Some athletes play to win, and others play not to lose
Art Markman will be studying the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics to examine if the games confirm the findings in his research on the psychology of competition.
"Markman is interested in situational factors that could explain why some athletes thrive under pressure while others 'choke.'"
Read more in the August 7, 2008 issue of The Daily Texan...
Visit Art Markman's Similarity and Cognition Lab
RUSSELL JACKSON RECEIVES HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION SOCIETY POST-DOCTORAL AWARD IN KYOTO, JAPAN
Former UT Psychology student, Russell Jackson, travelled to Kyoto, Japan to accept the Postdoctoral Research Competition award from the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. This award consists of a cash prize and recognition at the annual meeting of the HBES. It is one of three HBES awards and the only one for recent PhD graduates.
Dr. Jackson received this award for research in which he discovered ubiquitous large-magnitude visual illusions. He predicted these illusions from a research approach that he developed while at UT (evolved navigation theory) that focuses on how the environments in which human's evolved may have shaped perceptual and navigational mechanisms. He conducted some of the research for which he won the award in collaboration with Larry Cormack, with whom he worked as a graduate student.
Dr. Jackson joined the psychology faculty at California State University at San Marcos as an Assistant Professor after receiving his PhD in Psychology from UT in 2007 under the mentorship of Dr. Cormack. (July 2008)
More on Dr. Jackson...
THE SECRETS IN YOUR STUFF
Sam Gosling's research featured on ABC's "NIGHTLINE" and the NEW YORK TIMES
ABC's "NIGHTLINE" featured a segment on Dr. Sam Gosling's research on personality and personal living spaces. The video follows Dr. Gosling as he examines the office environment of a colleague at New York University and the home of a ABC News correspondent.
Sam is also mentioned in an article on the subject of architectural design in the New York Times. See "Home is Where the Head Is". (July 2008)
Read more in The Secrets in Your Stuff | Gosling Web Site | Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
ULTERIOR MOTIVES: ART MARKMAN BLOGS IN PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Teens don't "do drugs" they "smoke joints
"The middle-school where one of my kids goes finally sent around the dreaded email that every parent fears. A couple of kids had been caught with drugs at school and the appropriate authorities had been notified. I much preferred the notifications we got when the kids were in elementary school telling us that a child had lice or strep..." (July 2008)
Read more in "How goals, both seen and unseen, drive behavior"
Visit Art Markman's Similarity and Cognition Lab
THE "SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE (SURE)" KICKS INTO GEAR
Fabian Aguirre leads a discussion at the first meeting of this summer's SURE participants. From left to right: Diandrea Garza, Antoinette Wilson, Tracie Pulido, Fabian Aguirre, Tonantzin Juarez, Ricardo Santos
SURE is a summer internship program for undergraduates from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups who are interested in research in psychology. It provides stipends for students to conduct 2 months of full-time (40 hours/week) summer research under the supervision of a UT-Austin Department of Psychology faculty member. This is the third group of students enrolled in the program, which launched in the summer of 2006.
Fabian is a graduate student researcher in Dr. Manuel Ramirez' Multicultural Psychology Lab, which, among its other goals, seeks to encourage undergraduate students from underrepresented ethnic/racial groups to pursue careers in social science research and mental health service.
 To break the ice and get students comfortable speaking in front of the group, each student had to introduce another student as the most interesting person they have ever met. In this picture, Ricardo and Tracie are getting to know Diandrea before they introduce her to the rest of the group.
Read about the SURE program...
WHAT DO SEX, TWINS, SPOTTED HYENAS, ADHD, AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION HAVE IN COMMON?
DENNIS MCFADDEN'S research on otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), to be published in the July 2008 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, is featured on the APS (Association for Psychological Science) website. Mcfadden's lab has been examining the use of simple, noninvasive measures to reveal the invisible processes of human prenatal development. The primary measures have come from the auditory system: otoacoustic emissions, which are sounds produced in the inner ear, and auditory evoked potentials, which are brainwaves evoked by acoustic stimuli. Both of these measures appear to be affected by how much exposure to testosterone a fetus receives during prenatal development. Dr. McFadden and his long-time collaborator, Edward Pasanen, have obtained auditory measures from opposite-sex and same-sex twins, ADHD and non-ADHD children, heterosexual and nonheterosexual males and females, and normal and androgen-treated spotted hyenas, rhesus monkeys, and sheep.
Read the current version of "What Do Sex, Twins, Spotted Hyenas, ADHD, and Sexual Orientation Have in Common?"
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN PROFILES JAMES PENNEBAKER
Stateman reporter Chris Garcia writes about James Pennebaker in the April 13, 2008 edition of the Austin American-Stateman:
"Pennebaker has authored a passel of groundbreaking studies, most importantly in social psychology with emphases in health, language and personality, that have seismically altered the field. Beyond an ocean of scientific journals, the mainstream media persistently cites his work and solicits him for insights." ...Chris Garcia, "For famed UT psychologist James Pennebaker, work is play"
Read more...
Pennebaker Web Site
SAM GOSLING'S RESEARCH FEATURED ON "HOW STUFF WORKS" WEBSITE
Sam Gosling has been fighting to expand research in the area of animal personality and gained media attention for his research in dog personality. Because dogs cannot tell us about their feelings and behavior, Gosling compared how observers interpret personality in other humans and in dogs.
...Jane McGrath, "Do animals have personalities"
Read more...
RESEARCHING FIRST IMPRESSIONS IN THE AGE OF ONLINE PROFILES
Sam Gosling, writing in the Psi Chi National Honor Society's online magazine:
A flurry of recent news articles has highlighted a new challenge faced by college students: giving the wrong impression about our personalities through our online profiles. Much of this interest can be attributed to the popularity of MySpace®, Facebook®, and other social-networking websites visited by over 10 million people each month (Nielsen/Netratings, 2007). The news articles often caution us about posting information that could disrupt others (particularly potential employers) from seeing us accurately (or at least as we see ourselves). But don’t we want to avoid giving anyone an inaccurate impression of what we are like? How can psychological research help us with this issue? Read more...
Sam Gosling Web Page
Psi Chi National Honor Society (UT Chapter)
(March 2008)
MICHAEL MAHOMETA LEADS 2-DAY WORKSHOP ON SPSS IN MAY 2008
Dr. Michael Mahometa, who graduated from UT-Austin with a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and is now a statistical consultant with the Division of Statistics & Scientific Computation, is teaching a workshop, "Introduction to SPSS" in May 2008. The workshop is one of many being offered by the UT Summer Statistics Institute from May 27-30, 2008. Read more...
NEW BOOKS BY PSYCHOLOGY FACULTY TO BE PUBLISHED IN SPRING 2008
We are pleased to announce the publication of Peter MacNeilage's book, "The Origin of Speech" (Oxford University Press) in April 2008.
PETER MACNEILAGE has written over 120 papers on the topic of complex action systems and their evolution. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Acoustical Society of America, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural and Social Sciences...from book jacket
The Origin of Speech "combines a critique of the Non-Darwinian approach to speech of Noam Chomsky with a presentation of two Neodarwinian theories regarding the evolution of speech production. According to the "Frame/Content" theory, the mouth close-open alternation underlying the basic consonant-vowel syllable of speech had its origin in the cyclical mouth movements of chewing, sucking, and licking. According to the "Postural Origins" theory, both right handedness and the specialization of the left cerebral hemisphere for speech had a deep heritage in a left hemisphere specialization for the control of the body under routine circumstances."
...Peter MacNeilage, Professor of Psychology
Read more...
Also scheduled for publication is Sam Gosling's first book, "Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You" (Basic Books), due on May 26, 2008.
SAM GOSLING has spent the last decade conducting research on how personality is expressed and perceived in everyday contexts. He has been profiled by the New York Times, Psychology Today, and other publications, and he is featured in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. ...from book jacket
Description:
Does what’s on your desk reveal what’s on your mind? Do those pictures on your walls tell true tales about you? And is your favorite outfit about to give you away? For the last ten years psychologist Sam Gosling has been studying how people project (and protect) their inner selves. By exploring our private worlds (desks, bedrooms, even our clothes and our cars), he shows not only how we showcase our personalities in unexpected-and unplanned-ways, but also how we create personality in the first place, communicate it others, and interpret the world around us.
Gosling, one of the field’s most innovative researchers, dispatches teams of scientific snoops to poke around dorm rooms and offices, to see what can be learned about people simply from looking at their stuff. What he has discovered is astonishing: when it comes to the most essential components of our personalities-from friendliness to flexibility-the things we own and the way we arrange them often say more about us than even our most intimate conversations. If you know what to look for, you can figure out how reliable a new boyfriend is by peeking into his medicine cabinet or whether an employee is committed to her job by analyzing her cubicle. Bottom line: The insights we gain can boost our understanding of ourselves and sharpen our perceptions of others. Packed with original research and fascinating stories, Snoop is a captivating guidebook to our not-so-secret lives. ...from book jacket
To read more about the book and see the schedule of the upcoming book tour and speaking engagements check out the Snoopology web site.
"RED, MIND, BLUE MIND": WHAT OUR POLITICAL VIEWS MAY REVEAL ABOUT OUR PERSONALITIES
The research of a team of psychologists including Sam Gosling is featured in the March 3, 2008 edition of Newsweek. The article explores the nature of personal spaces and what they reveal about one's habits of mind, which ultimately link to basic personality traits and how these traits shape political views. Apparently, the tendencies to hold conservative or liberal points of view run deep and the findings of these psychologists' research suggest that "ideology permeates the most basic cognitive machinery we have".
Results of the research will be published in the March issue of Perspectives on Psychogical Science. Read more...
SAM GOSLING'S RESEARCH INTO PERSONAL SPACES FEATURED IN THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND FORBES.COM
"A neatly made bed and an organized CD collection suggest a conscientious person. Upon closer inspection, clothes piled in the closet and books shoved under the bed reveal a last-minute effort to impress. These are the types of clues ferreted out by Sam Gosling, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, and his team of 'scientific snoops.' "
...My Space: I Spy, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 02/22/08
What's Your Office Style?
"...the more research I've done, the more I've come to believe that what's going on outside the mind reflects what's going on inside the mind."
...Sam Gosling, What's Your Office Style? Forbes.com, 02/22/08
IN MEMORIAM: GARDNER LINDZEY, FORMER CHAIR OF DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
Gardner Lindzey died February 4, 2008 after a brief illness. Dr. Lindzey was chair of the Department of Psychology from 1964-1969 and then served as one of UT's vice presidents until 1975. He was instrumental in transforming the department from a relatively small and unassuming group to a large and internationally-recognized faculty.
Dr. Lindzey was known for his work in social and personality psychology. His edited Handbook of Social Psychology defined the structure of the field for a generation. As the director and president of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto from 1975 to 1989, he brought together the finest intellects in the social and behavioral sciences.
Dr. Lindzey earned his AB degree at Pennsylvania State University in 1943, his MS in 1945, and his PhD in psychology from Harvard University in 1949. He served as president of the American Psychological Association 1966-67 and as president of the American Psychological Foundation 1974-1976. He received an award for scientific reviewing from the National Academy of Sciences and the Dobzhansky Memorial Award for Eminent Research in Behavior Genetics in 1982. (February 2008)
2008 PRO BENE MERITIS AWARD GIVEN TO VICE PROVOST JUDITH LANGLOIS
Judy Langlois, vice provost and the Charles and Sarah Seay Regents' Professor of Developmental Psychology, is one of four recipients of the College of Liberal Arts' 2008 Pro Bene Meritis Award. Dr. Langlois is a leading researcher in children's social development. She has received national attention for her groundbreaking research on infant development and the formation of social stereotypes. Langlois, who earned her doctorate from Louisiana State University, joined the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin in 1973. She has served in several key leadership roles on campus, including past associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and interim dean of the college in 1998 and from 2006 to 2007. (January 2008)
PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCHERS OFFER PERSPECTIVES ON THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES
Rebecca Bigler researches gender and racial attitudes and the formation of stereotypes. She has examined children's views of the U.S. Presidency related to race, gender and ethnicity. She can discuss the potential for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama to break the pattern of white males serving in the presidency. Website
James Pennebaker has analyzed language in political speech to evaluate a candidate's psychological state. The researchers found the words used in interviews provide insight into how a candidate thinks and relates to people. They have examined the language and personalities of George Bush, John Kerry, Dick Cheney and John Edwards. Website
Sam Gosling studies how people create environments that provide insights into their personalities and how they would like to be perceived. For example, Gosling and his colleagues at New York University and Harvard University have found differences between how liberals and conservatives decorate their offices or bedrooms. Website
(January 2008)
STUDENT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION SCORES HIGHEST DURING FOOTBALL GAMES
Dr. Kim Fromme's study of student alcohol consumption over two football seasons has shed light on the behavior and drinking patterns of male and female students. The study found that University of Texas students drank larger amounts of alcohol on football game days than on other popular drinking days.
Results of the study are featured in the November 23rd issue of the Houston Chronicle. Read more...
MICHAEL DOMJAN'S RESEARCH FEATURED IN ONLINE EDITION OF "SCIENCE" MAGAZINE
Professor Domjan's research on sexual conditioning and sperm competition is featured in the "Today's Headlines" section of the Science magazine web page at http://www.sciencemag.org/.
"We tend to think of sexual behavior as instinct-driven," Domjan says, "yet our results show that learning plays as big a role in reproduction."
- Dr. Michael Domjan, quoted in "Anticipating Sex Increases Breeding Potential", Science Magazine, 5 September 2007.
SAMUEL GOSLING ON WORKSPACE DECOR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
Extroverts will often have a well-lit office with a comfortable chair and some candies for the taking while introverts might have a darker office, fewer, less comfortable chairs and no snacks, said Sam Gosling, associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas and author of the forthcoming book Snoop: The Secret Language of Stuff. Read more...
The New York Times, Walking the Tightrope of Workspace Decor, (Sept.16, 2007)
BOOKS BY DAVID BUSS PUBLISHED IN FOREIGN EDITIONS
Three books by Professor David Buss have been published in foreign editions. They are:
The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating [Korea, 2007]
The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill [Germany, Poland, 2007], and
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind [China, 2007]
PROFESSORS BUSS AND MESTON'S RESEARCH ON SEXUAL MOTIVATION FEATURED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
New research by Drs. David Buss and Cindy Meston reveals that people have sex for many reasons, identifying four major factors: 1) physical, goal-based, emotional, and insecurity-based. Their findings have been published in the August issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior.
“Although I knew that having sex has consequences for reputation, it surprised me that people, notably men, would be motivated to have sex solely for social status and reputation enhancement.”
- Dr. David Buss, quoted in "The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting", The New York Times 07/31/07
Read more in "The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting" and Why Do People Have Sex?
Meston Lab | Buss Lab
JUST LIKE HUMANS: ANIMAL PERSONALITY IS NOW TAKEN SERIOUSLY
"...evidence has begun to show that animals have personalities after all. Chimps, for example, can be conscientious: they think before they act, they plan and they control their impulses, says Samuel Gosling, a Texas-based psychologist. Research has identified similar personality traits in many other species."
...from Newsweek International (June 18 issue) Read more....
PROFESSOR DEVENDRA SINGH'S RESEARCH COVERED IN "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE
Dr. Singh's research has been included in the May 7, 2007 issue of People magazine, in a feature titled "An Ode to Five Voluptuous Stars Who Are Pure Poetry in Motion." People's annual "World's Most Beautiful People" issue is one of their top-selling issues each year. The magazine has a circulation of 3.75 million, with readership in the 12 million range.
"What we consider attractive has remained constant it's an hourglass figure, a woman with a low waist-to-hip ratio,...A woman could be walking away from you, where you can't see her face or breasts, but you can still see her shapeliness and say, 'What a sensual, beautiful woman.'"...Devendra Singh
RESEARCHERS EXAMINE THE SCIENCE OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
Psychologists, neuroscientists and economists will come together to examine the science of social interactions, from fears about race to emotion-based decision-making, at The University of Texas at Austin's "Neural Systems of Social Behavior" conference at the Hilton Hotel, May 11-13. Conference attendance is open to the public but registration is required and space is very limited. Media are invited to cover the presentations, which will by visual elements such as brain scans. Read more...
JACQUI WOOLLEY TO BE ON ABC's "20/20"
The ABC 20/20 program "Seeing and Believing: The Power of Faith," which will include a short segment with Jacqueline Woolley, is scheduled to air at 8:00pm (9 p.m. EST), Friday, May 11. Dr. Woolley's segment will be placed toward the end of the 2-hour program.
DEVENDRA SINGH'S RESEARCH FEATURED ON BBC NEWS
"Dr Devendra Singh scoured references to fictional beauties from modern times back to early Indian literature. He found that slimness was the most common term of praise from an author. The study, published in a Royal Society journal, adds to evidence highlighting the role of the ratio between waist and hips in attracting a mate"
...Slim Waist Holds Sway in History", BBC News, 01/10/07
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