Colloquium November 6, 2013 Hennes, E.
“Motivated Information Processing in the Service of the System: The Case of Anthropogenic Climate Change”
Erin P. Hennes, Ph.D.
Abstract
Unlike many contentious policy issues, disagreement about climate change centers not on how best to take action to fix the problem but on whether the problem even exists. In the current research, I demonstrate that climate change denial is facilitated by biased evaluation, recall, and tactile perception of scientific information. First, I find that the motivation to protect the economic system strongly predicts climate change skepticism and that it can account for previously observed associations between environmental attitudes and political ideology. In addition, this motivation modulates information processing – specifically, evaluation and recall of scientific evidence. Finally, I demonstrate that system justification motivation also biases somatosensory perception by influencing judgments of ambient temperature. Taken together, these findings suggests that simply providing the public with scientific evidence may be insufficient to inspire action to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic climate change.
Colloquium October 2, 2013 Fuligni, A.
“Why do Latino Adolescents Help Their Family and What does it Mean for their Development?”
Andrew Fuligni, Ph.D.
Abstract
Adolescents from Latin American backgrounds generally spend more time helping and assisting their families than teenagers from other groups. In this talk, I will describe a program of research that examined this sources of this helping behavior as well as the implications for other aspects of psychological and behavioral development, focusing on the role of economic resources, cultural identity, daily experiences, and neural development.
Colloquium September 18, 2013 Izquierdo, A.
A rat model of cognitive flexibility: implications for studying addictions
Alicia Izquierdo, Ph.D.
Associate professor of Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
Flexible cognition allows us to respond quickly to changes in a dynamic environment: one in which attentional demands, effort to obtain the reward, reward contingency and incentive reward value changes frequently. A lack of cognitive flexibility is an important facet of neuropsychiatric disease such as that seen behavioral and substance additions. One operational definition of this process, discrimination reversal learning, will be elaborated on in this talk: from its neurobiological substrates to its potential use as an assay for vulnerability to psychostimulant addiction. New studies focused on the role of the basolateral amygdala as well as the developmental period of adolescence will be highlighted.
Jennifer Robles
Jennifer Robles
Hometown: Huntington Beach, CA Current city of residence: Huntington Beach, CA E-mail address: jennifer.robles15@yahoo.com Resume LinkedIn Profile Organization for which I currently work: City of Bell Gardens Job Title: Recreation Leader Past employer: Research interests: Training, Appraisal Thesis title: TBA General interests: Swimming, watching TV, spirituality, traveling
Alexis Nakamura
Alexis Nakamura
Hometown: Long Beach, CA Current city of residence: Long Beach, CA E-mail address: alexisnakamura@gmail.com Resume LinkedIn Profile Organization for which I currently work: Job title: Past employer: Research interests: Employee Training General interests: Visiting Hawai’i, Mexican cuisine, pop music
Megan Morgan
Megan Morgan
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Current city of residence: Long Beach, CA
E-mail address: meganocean08@yahoo.com
Resume
LinkedIn Profile
Organization for which I currently work: Parker’s Lighthouse
Job Title: Server
Past employer: Romano’s Macaroni Grill
Research interests: Employee Training, Retention, many more
Thesis title: TBA
General interests: Hanging out at the beach, bike riding, cheerleading
RIMI Seminar March 20, 2013 Thames, A.
The Psychology Colloquium & the CSULB RIMI Project Health Equity Research Seminar series
Presents
Ethnic/racial disparities in HIV/AIDS: Impact on neurocognitive and functional outcomes
April D. Thames, Ph.D. Assistant Professor-in-Residence, UCLA Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Dr. Thames is an Assistant Professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She recently receivedan NIH Career Development Award (K-23) to develop her laboratory in cultural neuropsychology, neuroscience, and health disparities. Dr. Thames has focused her research on the neurological and neurocognitive effects of infectious disease, substance abuse, and cerebrovascular risk factors among underrepresented groups, particularly ethnic/racial minorities. She is Principal Investigator on four grant supported studies targeting (1) Neuroimaging and neurocognitive correlates of HIV and Hepatitis C disease severity; (2) the impact of stereotype threat and perceived discrimination in neurocognitive performance in African Americans; and (3) neurological and functional consequences of HIV in geriatric HIV adults (4) genetic predictors of cognitive impairment. In her clinical work, Dr. Thames is particularly interested in cognitive issues that disproportionately impact ethnic and racially diverse aging populations. She was recently appointed as Chair of Division 40 Ethnic Minority Affairs committee
Colloquium March 6, 2013 Agars, M.
“Expanding Work and Family Research to Address the Needs of Low-Income Workers”
Mark D. Agars, Ph.D.
COLLOQUIUM ABSTRACT
Research on the work and family interface has exploded in recent years, yet there is a growing recognition that this work has had a minimal impact on organizations and their employees (Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011). We have argued (Agars & French, 2011) that this can be explained in part by the failure of work and family researchers to adequately consider population characteristics. The Work.Family.Life project aims to address this void by conducting population-sensitive research, building from the understanding that extant theory and measurement tools may be insufficient due to historical sampling limitations. Our initial project targets the population of low-income workers, and includes a qualitative and quantitative examination of several classic work and family instruments. Initial findings will be discussed, as will other examples of how the expanded consideration of population characteristics can meaningfully advance our understanding of the work and family interface.
RIMI Seminar February 20, 2013 Singer, M.
The Psychology Colloquium & the csulb rimi project
Health disparities research seminar series
presents
How is Culture Operationalized
for Practice and Research?
Marjorie Kagawa Singer, PhD, MA, MN, RN, FAAN
Professor
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Asian American Studies Department
Colloquium February 6, 2013 Ngo, M.
“Facilitating Visual Target Identification with Temporally Synchronous and Spatially Congruent Non-Visual Cues”
Mary Ngo, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
Humans are said to be “visual creatures / visually dominant” as we tend to rely heavily on our sense of sight to help us understand and navigate through the environment. At times when the resources available to process visual information are taxed, information received through other sensory modalities, such as hearing and touch, can provide effective alternative means for communicating critical details of a given event. I present a line of research which examines how the temporal synchrony and spatial congruence of non-visual cues with visual targets could work together to improve the discrimination and identification of visual targets in both laboratory-based and applied contexts. The speed and accuracy of participants’ responses were compared following the presence or absence of temporally synchronous and/or spatially congruent auditory, vibrotactile, and audiotactile cues in the context of dynamic visual search and rapidly-masked visual target identification.