Outreach

PAWS on Science

Two Psychology Department research labs participated in the UW Paws-on Science event at the Pacific Science Center in April. Reports are that 18,270 children and parents attended the event, where scientists shared their expertise with the community.

Photo: Graduate student Alissa Worly (left) and Associate Professor Lori Zoellner teach a child about attentional focus.

Associate Professor Lori Zoellner and her research team from the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress (UWCATS) gave participants the opportunity to participate in an experiment on attentional focus, showing how a narrow focus of attention affects what is seen. Parents and children alike participated in Daniel Simon’s Monkey Business Illusion. They were instructed to carefully count the number of times a ball was tossed among the players on one of two teams. In the middle of the ball toss, a man dressed in a gorilla outfit walks through the game, stops, and pounds his chest. Because attention is focused on the ball toss, about half of the people miss the gorilla. Children-and especially their parents-were shocked when they were later asked if they had seen “the gorilla.” Some had to watch the video over and over again just to make sure there wasn't a camera trick.

UWCATS staff discussed how fear is associated with the same type of attention narrowing. They explained that when someone is scared, attention is focused toward the feared object or situation. They explained how this can later be problematic for individuals who have gone through scary experiences, such as individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For those that were interested, information on PTSD and no-cost PTSD treatment, through a National Institute of Mental Health-funded research study going on at UWCATS, was available. A number of the staff manned the booth over the weekend including, Ellen Bluett, Frank Farach, Janie Jun, Larry Pruitt, Alissa Worly, and Lori Zoellner.

Photo: Project 1, 2, 3, Go! team members, John Loughlin-Presnal and Kristina Ponischil, had a great time teaching kids about self-control at their booth.

Professor Lili Lengua, and her staff with Project 1, 2, 3, Go! also had a booth at the event. Project 1, 2, 3, Go! is a study addressing the development of self-control. The team played "Simon-says" types of games with children. The games demonstrate whether children are able to refrain from doing something automatic, keep a rule in mind, and even do the opposite of the instruction when those are the “right” responses in a game. These are indications of children’s executive based self-control; that is, their ability to focus attention and inhibit automatic responses. These skills have been shown to be critical in children’s school readiness and achievement, and in their social and emotional competence.

Children of all ages participated in the activities, from curious and hesitant three year-olds to confident high school teenagers (who sometimes still had a difficult time inhibiting automatic responses!). Parents also thoroughly enjoyed watching their children participate in the activities and appreciated the team’s suggested activities to do at home to help enhance the development of self-control. Common questions parents asked included the importance of these executive self-control skills for problems in school, if these activities actually “change” the brain, and implications for children’s ADHD. In addition to Professor Lengua, other Project 1,2, 3, Go! team members at the event were Cathea Carey, Cerise Knakal, John Loughlin-Presnal, Kristina Ponischil, Beza Semu, Taylor Trippe, Tammy Tsay, Andie Uomoto, and JJ Vongpanya.

Debunking Stereotypes Workshop

Presenting for the American Association for University Women-Seattle chapter (Left to right: Amanda Tose ’11, Marissa Vichayapai ’08, Lauren Hudson ’11, Dr. Sapna Cheryan).

Photo: Presenting for the American Association for University Women-Seattle chapter (Left to right: Amanda Tose ’11, Marissa Vichayapai ’08, Lauren Hudson ’11, Dr. Sapna Cheryan

Psychology Department assistant professor Sapna Cheryan, understands the importance of taking research out of the lab and into the community. Two years ago, she and her students developed Debunking Stereotypes, a workshop for schools and companies designed to boost women’s and girl’s interest in computer science and engineering by combatting stereotypes. This workshop was the outcome of many years of research showing that the current image of computer science and engineering, fueled by inaccurate stereotypes (e.g., the “computer nerd” stereotype), discourages many women (and men) from entering these fields. Workshop attendees learn how stereotypes can deter students’ interest in computer science and engineering and are given tools and strategies to change these stereotypes in their own communities and institutions. In addition to learning from the researchers themselves, workshop attendees also hear from a UW computer science & engineering (CSE) department advisor who shares what being a CSE major is really like.

Cheryan and her students have now presented this workshop six times to such diverse audiences as high school math and science teachers at UW’s CS4HS program, employees at Microsoft Research, parents and teachers at the Seattle Expanding Your Horizons conference, and high school and college students at the UW Women in Science and Engineering conference. These workshops have proven not only to be beneficial to the community but discussions with workshop attendees have in turn furthered research in Cheryan’s lab. See http://depts.washington.edu/sibl/ for more information about the research and this workshop.

Allen L. Edwards Public Lecture Series

Each year since 2004, the Psychology Department has hosted a public lecture series made possible by a generous endowment by Professor Allen Louis Edwards. Professor Edwards was affiliated with the University of Washington Department of Psychology from his arrival in 1944 as an Associate Professor to his death in 1994. In this lecture series, world renowned leaders in a variety of Psychology subdisciplines join our faculty for three evening public lectures on important issues facing our society. These lectures are recorded for future viewing on UWTV.

This year, the Public lecture series addressed the theme of Diversity, Culture, and Behavior. Our three featured faculty were Sapna Cheryan, Cheryl Kaiser, and Jane Simoni. Descriptions of their individual research programs can be found below. Also you will find the names of the world renowned colleagues who have been invited to participate in each of the lectures.

If you missed these extraordinary lectures, you can download the podcasts by clicking on the links below, or visiting http://uwtv.org/index.aspx at your convenience.

Discouraging Gender Stereotypes in Unconventional Careers – Part 1
Dr. Sapna Cheryan, University of Washington
To download the podcast, click here.

Discouraging Gender Stereotypes in Unconventional Careers – Part 2
Dr. Alice Eagly, Northwestern University
To download the podcast, click here.

Initiating Better Diversity Laws and Policy – Part 1
Dr. Cheryl Kaiser, University of Washington
To download the podcast, click here.

Initiating Better Diversity Laws and Policy – Part 2
Dr. Linda Tropp, University of Massachusetts
To download the podcast, click here.

Global Mental Health: Why Now and How Now? – Part 1
Dr. Craig Van Dyke, University of California, San Francisco
To download the podcast, click here.

Global Mental Health: Why Now and How Now? – Part 2
Dr. Jane Simoni, University of Washington
To download the podcast, click here.

Thank You to Our Supporters!

We are pleased to recognize the following for their much appreciated contrbutions during the period of November 2010 through April 2011. Their gifts help strengthen our Department and support a wide range of important research and instructional work by our current students and faculty, as well as recruitment of the very best new faculty and graduate students. Please let us know if we have accidentally omitted or misspelled your name by writing to the Psychology Development office.

In memory of Donald Justin Barker: Ms. Gail Duplessis