News

Berni Leidner (1983-2022)

Berni LeidnerBernhard (Berni) Leidner passed away on November 19th 2022. He was one of us: A social psychologist who spent half of his 39 years of life conducting research on intergroup relations. Berni graduated from the Free University of Berlin in 2006 and in the same year he joined Emanuele Castano’s lab at the New School for Social Research, where in 2010 received his Ph.D. He spent his entire academic career at UMass Amherst where, earlier this year, he was promoted to Full Professor.

Doctors may be more concerned about accidentally harming a patient than being sued for malpractice

doctor and nurse look at chart

Linda Isbell was featured in a MedPage Today article citing her recent co-authored paper "Perspectives of emergency clinicians about medical errors resulting in patient harm or malpractice litigation". She discusses results from a survey of Massachusetts clinicians as well as possible interventions to address practitioners who fear harming a patient.

Can a woman’s health during pregnancy reveal a risk for cardiovascular disease and depression later in life?

child uses stethoscope on woman's pregnant belly

UMass Amherst epidemiologist Lisa Chasan-Taber, along with neuroscientist collaborators Rebecca Spencer and Jerrold Meyer, will continue research that aims to understand how physical and mental health during pregnancy can help predict cardiovascular and mental health disorders in middle age.

2022 Faculty and Staff Social

On Oct. 6th, PBS held a social event for faculty and staff celebrating some of our great accomplishments over the past two years. Department members were honored for years of service milestones, newly awarded tenure, promotions, and awards of excellence received from UMass Amherst and beyond. This was an wonderful opportunity to get together, catch up, and congratulate each other on all we have achieved during a challenging few years. Here's to another awesome year in PBS!

Free guide to cultivating contact between different groups authored by UMass Amherst psychologists

illustration of people drawing lines between each other

Social psychologist Linda Tropp and doctoral student Trisha Dehrone in Tropp’s Intergroup Relations and Social Justice Lab collaborated with the nonprofits American Immigration Council and Welcoming America to author a new publication – “Cultivating Contact: A Guide to Building Bridges and Meaningful Connections Between Groups.”

Professional Development: The Non-Faculty Track | Presented by Social Psychology Alumna Jane Stout, PhD

Career Development

Check out this great presentation by Social Psychology Alumna Jane Stout, PhD! She discusses her journey along a non-faculty career track within psychology. Jane shares many great career development tips, insights into how she landed each of her jobs, and ways to manage work/life balance and find work that is fulfilling to you.

This presentation is geared towards social psychology grad students, but is useful to anyone considering a psychology career in industry. 

Greg Pearson wins two awards to attend Society for Neuroscience conference

Greg PearsonThe NSB program is happy to announce that Greg Pearson (3rd year PhD student in the Karatsoreos Lab) has won a Trainee Professional Development Award (TDPA) to attend the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference in San Diego. The competitive TPDA recognizes undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who demonstrate scientific merit and excellence in research. 

We are also excited that Greg’s SfN abstract, exploring how the circadian clock alters the impact of viral inflammatory stimuli that access the brain via the intranasal route, was chosen for a NanoString Technologies Travel Grant. Congratulations Greg!

Pages