Linda Tropp, social psychology, is quoted in a column noting that mask-wearing is becoming an outlier activity seen more as a political statement than a health choice. “ Americans’ fraught relationship with masks ‘didn’t have to be like this,’ Tropp told me,” the columnist writes. “Perhaps if the country had avoided politicizing the practice early on, perhaps if there had been more emphasis on collective acts of good. Other parts of the world, certainly, have weathered shifting masking norms with less strife.” The Atlantic
Linda Tropp offers advice on making research matter in the article "Applying the full force of research and theory to social policy" for the British Psychological Society publication The Psychologist.
An article provides an in-depth look into the research into peer mentors for women in STEM fields by Nilanjana Dasgupta, provost professor of psychology and Director of the Institute of Diversity Sciences. Boston Globe Magazine
A new survey conducted by Linda Isbell found that fear of harming patients may be a greater motivator than fear of being sued among emergency department clinicians making medical decisions. Medpage Today
Allecia Reid is interviewed about her November study that found older adults living in counties with greater age bias had better health outcomes than those living in areas with less age bias. “When we look at our maps, [we] can see that there’s this sort of clustering of high levels of bias, especially in New England, in California, and relatively low levels of ageism in states [like], Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Those are also places that we know tend to have higher mortality,” she says. WFCR/New England Public Media
Rebecca Spencer appears on a local TV program to discuss how to sleep better in 2023 by setting achievable resolutions. “Set a goal that I want to sleep one hour longer than I currently am,” she says. “Another great sleep resolution is to simply set goals around better sleep habits.” Mass Appeal
Professor Emeritus Dan Anderson's work with Mr. Rogers is mentioned in an article about how Rogers possessed an extraordinary understanding of how kids make sense of language. Pocket
Maureen Perry-Jenkins is interviewed about a study her team conducted that correlates a parent’s feelings about their job with their child’s development. Perry-Jenkins’s team followed 370 low-wage-earner families who were having their first child from pregnancy through the child’s first grade of school. They found that a job that offers autonomy and support for a parent in a child’s first year of life is linked to better cognitive and social outcomes and mental health for that child six years down the road. “People spend 40 hours a week at work, and that experience affects you and your mental health, your physical health, everything,” Perry-Jenkins says. That, in turn, affects how supportive and responsive a parent is. The results are outlined in her book “Work Matters.” Washington Post
