Gerald Bracey, fierce critic of education policy; at 69 Oct 24, 2009
He had the analytic skill and academic standing, including a doctorate in developmental psychology from Stanford University, to become a leading government or university policy analyst. But he was unable to curb his sharp tongue or his outrage at the way American schools were being demeaned by politicians and editorial writers, so he chose a less financially secure career as lecturer, writer, author, and sender of e-mails eviscerating people who disagreed with him. (Boston Globe)
Phone scammers target grandparents (148) Oct 19, 2009
An associate professor of developmental psychology at Arkansas State University described the Barnum Effect on Friday as the tendency for people to believe general or vague information, such as that contained in astrological readings, applies to them personally. According to reports, callers claim to be outside of the county or state or in northern states bordering Canada. (Paragould Daily Press, AR)
Experts fear effects of media on 'balloon boy' Oct 17, 2009
Other child and developmental psychology experts warn that too much media exposure can be harmful. They worry that the spotlight could skew the child's sense of self-identity and negatively affect his or her development. (CNN)
While adolescents may reason as well as adults, their emotional maturity lags, says new research Oct 8, 2009
"Adolescents likely possess the necessary intellectual skills to make informed choices about terminating a pregnancy but may lack the social and emotional maturity to control impulses, resist peer pressure and fully appreciate the riskiness of dangerous decisions," said Laurence Steinberg, PhD, a professor of developmental psychology at Temple University and lead author of the study. "This immaturity mitigates their criminal responsibility.". (EurekAlert!)
Delinquents 'misinterpret anger' Sep 20, 2009
" Professor Karen Pine, an expert in developmental psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, said the ability to "read" a person's emotions from their facial expressions "is fundamental to us as social beings". Failure to understand an expression could lead to one feeling threatened without due cause, and even to antisocial behaviour, she added. "This is consistent with previous evidence and has been shown to account for some conduct problems in children. " But she stressed the latest... (BBC News -- Health)
High-quality child care leads to academic success for low-income kids Sep 15, 2009
"The real takeaway here is that even minimal exposure to higher quality child care protects children from the harm done by living in poverty," co-author Eric Dearing, an associate professor of applied developmental psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, said. "When it comes to early child care, quality matters more for children in poverty than for affluent children in promoting the long term academic achievement of the former up to similar levels as the latter.". (EurekAlert!)
Quality of early child care plays role in later reading, math achievement Sep 15, 2009
"In large part, our results can be explained by the fact that low-income children who attended higher-quality child care developed reading and math skills in early childhood that likely prepared them for later achievement in middle childhood," according to Eric Dearing, associate professor of applied developmental psychology at Boston College and the study's lead author. "These results give added credence to the central role that higher-quality child care should play in future discussions on... (EurekAlert!)
Kids Need More Than Sports for Positive Growth Sep 4, 2009
Children in fifth, sixth and seventh grades who took part in both sports and after-school activities such as Boys Clubs, 4-H or Scouts had the highest scores for "positive development" and the lowest scores for risky and problem behavior, according to a study from Tufts University, published recently in Developmental Psychology. "Positive development" includes measures of competence, confidence, character, connection and caring, the study authors explained. (MEDLINEplus)
What Is It Like to Be a Baby? Sep 2, 2009
But very fortunately for me, when I started graduate school there was a real scientific revolution taking place in developmental psychology. New video-recording technology meant that for the first time we could take those natural observations of children and turn them into a real science. (Scientific American)
Impact Of Positive Parenting Can Last For Generations Sep 2, 2009
The study will be published in the September issue of the journal Developmental Psychology in a special issue devoted to findings of some of the few long-term studies of intergenerational family processes. The journal is published by the American Psychological Association. (Science Daily)
Outsmart your food Aug 24, 2009
Fisher, who is trained in nutrition with an appreciation for developmental psychology, often gets ideas for research in her own kitchen while trying to satisfy 5-year-old twins Theo ("the adventurous eater") and Ian ("the cautious eater"). She gathers hard data in her Family Eating Laboratory at Temple, where eating can be measured, videotaped and manipulated under tightly controlled conditions. (Erie Times-News, PA)
A dangerous label for children Aug 16, 2009
However, I do have ideas about how to help these families in the present, ideas that are informed by contemporary research at the interface of developmental psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral genetics. This research shows that a child s mind grows and develops when the people who are most important to the child are able to think about the child s experience without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down. (Boston Globe)
Q&A: A New Look Inside Babies' Minds Aug 14, 2009
I'm afraid the parenting advice to come out of developmental psychology is very boring: pay attention to your kids and love them. MORE.. (Time.com)
Babies understand dogs Aug 11, 2009
"Infants enter the world with a large capacity for recognising emotion," said psychology professor Ross Flom, lead author of the study published in Developmental Psychology. "Infants many not understand what you say, but they know how you say it. They pick up on emotional cues, even in the first six months.". (Sydney Morning Herald -- Sport)
Valley native wins teaching award Aug 6, 2009
At UNC Asheville, she teaches general psychology courses as well as classes on psychology and law, developmental psychology and human sexuality. Laughon also works as a court-appointed mitigation specialist for defense attorneys, helping secure life sentences for inmates on death row. (Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald, NC)
Barbie's 50th Birthday Convention Jul 27, 2009
A study published in 2006 by Developmental Psychology, an American Psychological Association journal, found that they could link body worries and low self-image in young girls to the influence of Barbie dolls. Still, Barbie's backers believe the message she conveys is quite the opposite. (Time.com)
10Babies Can Understand Dogs, Study Finds» Jul 26, 2009
The results, published in the July issue of the journal Developmental Psychology, suggest that can decipher emotions even before they learn how to talk. "Emotion is one of the first things babies pick up on in their social world," said lead researcher Ross Flom, a psychology professor at Brigham Young University in Utah. (Fox News)
Babies Understand Dogs, Bark-matching Study Finds Jul 21, 2009
Flom and two BYU students report their latest amazing baby findings in the journal Developmental Psychology ... D. in developmental psychology. (Science Daily)
Babies 'really understand dogs' Jul 21, 2009
A new study, published in the latest edition of the 'Developmental Psychology' journal, has revealed that babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks, despite little or no previous exposure to dogs. Researchers at Brigham Young University have found that infants just six months old can match the sounds of an angry snarl and a friendly yap to photos of dogs displaying threatening and welcoming body language. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Brookline resident to head society of pediatric psychology Jul 21, 2009
Koocher received his bachelor s degree in psychology from Boston University, and both his master s degree in psychology and his doctorate degree in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Missouri. Koocher has received numerous professional honors and awards, and serves on several major committees and editorial boards. (Brookline TAB, MA)
Robot Learns To Smile And Frown Jul 9, 2009
In order to begin to automate this process, the UCSD researchers looked to both developmental psychology and machine learning. Developmental psychologists speculate that infants learn to control their bodies through systematic exploratory movements, including babbling to learn to speak. (Science Daily)
Researcher turns his baby into CCTV star in the name of science Jul 2, 2009
Professor Pinker, who is also an adviser to the project, said: "In developmental psychology there has long been a trade-off between gathering lots of data from a small number of children, or a small amount of data from a much larger number of children. "Roy is simply pushing this trade-off to an extreme - a truly massive amount of data from a single child. " Now, a quarter of million hours of recordings later, Professor Roy is beginning to tease apart the masses of data and look for answers.... (BBC News)
Obituaries for Wednesday, May 27, 2009 May 27, 2009
He received his doctor of philosophy degree in developmental psychology from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in 1985. Professor Luster served as a faculty member in the Child and Family Ecology Department at Michigan State University since 1985. (La Crosse Tribune, WI)
Tying education to future goals may boost grades more than helping with homework May 20, 2009
These findings are reported in the May issue of Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association ... Article: "Parental Involvement in Middle School: A Meta-Analytic Assessment of the Strategies That Promote Achievement," Nancy E. Hill, PhD, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, and Diana F. Tyson, PhD, Duke University; Developmental Psychology, Vol. 45, No. 3. (EurekAlert!)
Trauma Experienced By A Mother Even Before Pregnancy Will Influence Her Offspring's Behavior May 14, 2009
This was discovered for the first time in a new study that was carried out at the University of Haifa and published in the journal Developmental Psychology in a Special Section on "The Interplay of Biology and the Environment Broadly Defined." ... Developmental Psychology, 2009; 45 (1): 9 DOI. (Science Daily)
Will the economic crisis lead to major societal changes? May 9, 2009
Greenfield's theory was published in the March issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association. "My theory has to do with the idea that there are behavioral and socialization adaptations to a Gemeinschaft environment and to a Gesellschaft environment and different adaptations, different behaviors and socialization are adapted to thrive and survive in each environment," Greenfield said. (EurekAlert!)
Children Bullied At School At High Risk Of Developing Psychotic Symptoms May 6, 2009
The research team, led by Professor Dieter Wolke, Professor of Developmental Psychology, followed 6,437 children from birth to 13 years. The children took part in annual face-to-face interviews, psychological and physical tests. (Science Daily)
What Facebook Users Share: Lower Grades Apr 14, 2009
It was this habit that first got Karpinski interested in the topic while she was earning her master's degree in developmental psychology at West Virginia University. "When I became a teacher's assistant, I started noticing my students using Facebook and becoming obsessed with it," says Karpinski, who is not on Facebook, despite her fellow classmates' badgering efforts to get her to join. (Time.com)
Intervention reduces children's viewing of violent TV Apr 8, 2009
According to the researchers, whose findings will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, the result was an 18 percent reduction in violent TV viewing among first- through fourth-grade children. That reduction was maintained eight months after concluding the intervention. (EurekAlert!)
Texting Benefits for Teens Apr 1, 2009
However, a recent study reported in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology reported that there was no correlation, or relationship, between students use of textisms and their capacity to use traditional spellings and language features ... British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27(1), 145-161. (Suite101.com)
The family Pandora's Box Mar 25, 2009
" For her part, Dr. Baker, who has a PhD in developmental psychology but is not a practising clinician, says she started her research to answer alienated parents' "burning questions" about whether kids ever figure out what has happened. After she put out a call for participants, 40 people, including Mr. Rabiega, responded. A number of catalysts can trigger a realization, including getting married, having a first child or the death of a parent. But outcomes vary wildly. "For some people, the same... (Globe and Mail)
Can Robots Be Programmed to Learn from Their Own Experiences? Mar 24, 2009
"A truly useful personal robot [must have] the ability to learn on its own from interactions with the physical and social environment," says Stoytchev, whose field of developmental robotics combines developmental psychology and neuroscience with artificial intelligence and robotic engineering. "It should not rely on a human programmer once it is purchased. It must be trainable.". (Scientific American)
Readers Respond on "A Sunshade for Planet Earth" Mar 20, 2009
I agree with Michael Shermer's main thesis in "" [Skeptic] that theories of predictable life stages in psychology (such as Elisabeth K bler-Ross's five stages of grief) are, for the most part, "toast." But the column seems to equate stage theories in developmental psychology with stories (narrative accounts of one's life thought to shape one's identity) in narrative psychotherapy. As both a developmental psychologist and a narrative psychotherapist, I cannot find anything they have in common. (Scientific American)
TV Ratings For Kids' Shows Don't Reflect Aggressive Content, Psychologists' Study Finds Mar 9, 2009
The study, which is published online in the March/April issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, was the first to report a link between viewing TV verbal aggression and a child's resulting verbal aggression ... Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2009; DOI. (Science Daily)
One ride forward, two steps back Mar 2, 2009
M. Suzanne Zeedyk is a senior lecturer in developmental psychology at the University of Dundee. . (International Herald Tribune -- Ed/Op)
Texting 'improves language skill' Feb 26, 2009
The study is published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. "Children's use of textisms is not only positively associated with word reading ability, but it may be contributing to reading development ," the authors wrote in the report. (BBC News -- Technology)
Study confirms TXT SPK doesn't hurt kids' language skills Feb 25, 2009
According to a published in the March 2009 issue of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, children who use "textisms" on mobile phones tend to have a better grasp of (normal) word reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, even when controlled for age, memory, and how long they have owned a phone. Researchers Beverly Plester, Clare Wood, and Puja Joshi studied the texting behavior of 88 British children between the ages of 10 and 12 and how it related to their school literacy... (Ars Technica)
Scott Fruhan: From Multiple Sclerosis to Med School--And Music Feb 25, 2009
He graduated in 2003 and spent the next year earning a master's degree in social and developmental psychology at the University of Cambridge in England. Although he enjoyed his time abroad, he decided that going further in a theoretical academic program wasn't for him, and he returned home to Massachusetts as soon as he finished. (Scientific American)
Owen Hart's widow chooses positive path Feb 24, 2009
Now close to completing a PhD in social and developmental psychology at Englands prestigious Cambridge University, Martha marks the tumultuous past decade as one of struggle and, ultimately, hard-won triumph. "You cannot only survive, you can thrive," she says. (SLAM! Sports)
Bah' community of Lewisville to host candlelight vigil Feb 20, 2009
One of the imprisoned Bah s is 46-year-old Fariba Kamalabadi, who received her postgraduate degree in education, specializing in developmental psychology. She is married with three children. (McKinney Courier-Gazette, TX)
BETTER LIFE: More on sexual health Feb 11, 2009
In a study of humans, USA TODAYs Sharon Jayson reported in January that is a sexual identity, not a phase, according to studies published in the journal Developmental Psychology. --By Anne Godlasky, USA TODAY. (USA Today -- Life)
