The importance of whether students believe in their ability to become smarter (i.e., “mindsets”) in helping students to realize their learning potential is increasingly gaining mainstream attention. But what does it mean to have a certain kind of mindset, how does it develop, and how can it be changed? I discuss a new way of thinking about the nature of mindsets that emphasizes the contextualized nature of mindsets, and that changes the way that we can answer these questions.
Network analysis enables researchers to visualize the relations between people, objects, and concepts. Here, Dr. Bringmann shows how the technique can be generalized to psychopathology: the complex constellation of symptoms that co-occur with Major Depression can be mapped, and the map itself can be analyzed. This then illustrates an emerging approach to understanding psychopathology.
About one year ago, I received a message from Mrs. M.’s neurosurgeon: “Stefanie, are you ready to attend a surgery this Saturday?” This truly extraordinary experience showed me once again the impact of executive dysfunctions and how they can abruptly turn one’s whole life upside-down.
One Monday in mid-to-late January is said to be the most depressing day of the year. For the past 12 years, a Welsh psychologist has been associated with this day. He has become known as the brain behind Blue Monday, allegedly developing the formula used to calculate the date. But what is the real story, and how has it developed over time?
Every quarter, we share articles published in the BCN Newsletter and we are happy today to share an interview with Dr. Simone Sprenger, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts, who studies language perception and bilingualism. The interview was conducted and written by Améie la Roi, PhD candidate in linguistics.
Everyone uses p-values (in empirical psychological research anyway), but is that the best idea? In this blogpost, I will outline four problems that are associated with using p-values in inferential statistics.
The desire to understand the neuronal mechanisms underlying changes in food pleasantness is becoming increasingly relevant in order to maintain adequate dietary intake in young and older adults. Our research shows that emotion and cognitive mechanisms, in addition to sensation, should be taken into account to understand food pleasantness with age.
Researchers have an extremely high level of expertise within their domain. However, relying on this domain-specific expertise alone might not always be enough to advance a given research areas. Instead, collaboration various different researchers from virtually any domain can improve our work immensely.
Organizations increasingly aim to reduce their ecological footprint and to encourage pro-environmental behaviour at work. This Thursday, November 24, Angela Ruepert will defend her PhD-thesis showing that although strong environmental values predict pro-environmental behaviour, employees with weaker environmental values also act pro-environmentally when the work context makes them focus on the environment.
I am writing this on my third day as assistant professor at the Experimental Psychology Group at the University of Groningen. And this article is my way to say: hi! I think the best way to introduce myself is to tell you why I think these are exciting times to be a cognitive scientist. […]