News

Symposium: The Human Capacity for Language: Nature, Origins and Use

The Department of Psychology and the College of Science are pleased to co-sponsor “The Human Capacity for Language: Nature, Origins and Use,” an interdisciplinary symposium. Organized by Dr. Iris Berent, the symposium will feature internationally-renowned scholars Simon Fisher, Steven Pinker, and Albert Galaburda.  Please join us in the Curry Student Center Ballroom (2nd Floor) on [...]

Dr. DeSteno featured at “Science on Screen” Program

Dr. David DeSteno spoke at the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s “Science on Screen” program on Monday, February 20th . He discussed the science behind surprising shifts in human morality prior to the screening of Woody Allen’s 1989 comedy-drama Crimes and Misdemeanors. For more information about the his “Science on Screen” talk, click here.

Harlan Lane Receives George Veditz Award

The faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Psychology congratulate Dr. Harlan Lane, Matthews Distinguished University Professor, on receiving the George Veditz Award. This much deserved award was presented by the Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf  to recognize Dr. Lane’s “long-time commitment to preserving ASL by educating others, increasing awareness of Deaf culture nationally [...]

Psychology Majors Fight Mental Health Stigma in Middle East

Alaa and Dalal Alhomaizi, twin sisters from Kuwait created SPEAK, an organization whose mission is to overcome the stigma attached to mental illness in the Middle East. The Psychology majors were interviewed by Northeastern News, read the article here.

Graduate Student Xu Zhao presents poster at BU Conference

Congratulations to graduate student Xu Zhao who presented a poster at Boston University’s 36th annual Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 36). Her topic was “Are markedness constraints universal? Evidence from Mandarin Chinese speakers.” Xu is a graduate student in the department’s Phonology and Reading Lab, directed by Dr. Iris Berent. Xu’s area of research focuses [...]

PRISM Connections with Psychology

PRISM is a program funded by the National Science Foundation to attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at Northeastern University. The Department of Psychology is actively involved in PRISM’s mission. In the fall, Distinguished Professor of Psychology Lisa Feldman Barrett presented a talk through PRISM titled “Understanding the Nature [...]

First Ever College of Science Colloquium featured Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett

The College of Science kicked off their Colloquium series with a talk by Distinguished Professor of Psychology Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, Director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory (IASL). Dr. Barrett presented a talk entitled “How the Brain Creates the Mind.” The talk took place at the Raytheon Amphitheater on November 17th.

PsyClub launches Graduate Student Mentoring Program

The PsyClub recently launched the “Graduate Student Mentoring Program.” This program is for students interested in attending graduate school. Undergraduate students can pick the brains of graduate students who already successfully navigated the graduate application process. The program consists of six informal meetings in which undergraduate and graduate students hang out and discuss questions about [...]

Dr. David DeSteno on Factors that Influence Interpersonal Judgments

Recently featured in the Boston Globe, Dr. David DeSteno, Associate Professor of Psychology, describes the psychological factors that can warp our judgments of other people. Click here to read the entire article.

Iris Berent featured on Northeastern’s YouTube Channel

Iris Berent, Professor of Psychology, was recently featured on Northeastern University’s YouTube channel. Click here and watch Professor Berent describe how people identify sounds as speech.

Lisa Barrett invited to speak at PRISM

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, will be speaking at PRISM, an interdisciplinary program to promote interest in Mathematics, Physics, Biology and the sciences among college and high-school students. Professor Barrett’s talk, entitled “Understanding the Nature of Emotion” is scheduled for Friday, September 30th at 12:00pm, in 210 SH. For more information about PRISM, click here.

Seeking Candidates for Behavioral Neuroscience Position

The Psychology Department has a tenure-track position available in the area of behavioral neuroscience. For details on the position, please click here.

Professor Colvin discusses Coping with Crises

Randy Colvin, Associate Professor of Psychology, assesses the psychological impact of man-made and natural disasters. Read the article here.

College of Science Co-op Expo Event

The first College of Science Co-op Expo is scheduled for October 6, 2011, from 2-5 pm in the Curry Student Center Ballroom. This event will provide COS students with an opportunity to share what they have learned on their Co-op with faculty, administrators, and COS freshmen who have been invited to the event. Students in [...]

Faculty and Students Participate in the Social Psychology Summer Institute

Professor Judy Hall spent two weeks in Princeton, New Jersey as a faculty member in the Social Psychology Summer Institute, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Princeton University. This two-week intensive set of courses attracts outstanding graduate students from around the country (and the world) to immerse themselves in current topics of interest to [...]

Dr. Emily Fox-Kales releases “Body Shots”

Congratulations to Dr. Emily Fox-Kales on the publication of her new book about Hollywood celebrities and the culture of eating disorders titled, “Body Shots.” Dr. Fox-Kales discusses how body conscious and weight-obsessed celebrities are dangerous role models for young moviegoers. For over thirty years, Dr. Fox-Kales has helped people who suffer from body image disturbances as a clinical psychologist [...]

3Q’s Judgment impaired by emotion

Jolie Baumann, doctoral candidate in social psychology, was recently interviewed by the Northeastern News about her research demonstrating the influence of emotion states on threat detection. To read Jolie’s comments and learn more about her interesting research, click here.

“Out of Character” by Dr. David DeSteno

Dr. David DeSteno’s new book explores virtue and vice, and provides a new perspective on “character.” The book is titled, ”Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All of Us” and should be on everyone’s reading list.  Dr. DeSteno is associate professor of psychology and director of the Social [...]

Students Headed to Graduate School

Congratulations Class of 2011! We are proud of your achievements. Many of our talented students are headed to graduate school. Here is a partial list of our recent graduates and the programs they will be attending in the fall. Best wishes to the Class of 2011!

Psychology Department members honored at 2011 Convocation Ceremony

Several members of the Psychology department were recently honored at the 2011 Convocation Ceremony. Psychology Professor Judith Hall, pictured above, was awarded the honor of University Professor. Recognition as a University Professor is one of the highest honors the university can bestow on a faculty member at Northeastern. Dr. Hall was one of three faculty [...]

Dr. Judy Hall named a University Professor

Congratulations to Dr. Judy Hall who was recently named a University Professor! Recognition as a University Professor is one of the highest honors the university can bestow on a faculty member at Northeastern. This is a major accomplishment and a great honor – congratulations Professor Hall!

Outstanding Graduate Student Research

Congratulations to Jolie Baumann, on being the chosen recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award in Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences. Jolie is a third year graduate student, working toward a Ph.D in Social Psychology with Professor Dave DeSteno. This is one of six university-wide graduate awards for research, teaching, and community service presented [...]

Dr. Lane coauthored book on Deaf Culture

Harlan Lane, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, has coauthored a new book on Deaf Culture, “The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry.” One of the founders of Northeastern’s ASL program, Lane highlights that sign-language users have many of the characteristics of a distinct ethnic group. Click here for the full article.

3Qs: The side effects of sudden fame

Randy Colvin, Associate Professor of Psychology at Northeastern, assesses how overnight fame, mega success and good fortune affect behavior. Read the article here.

Amygdala Related to Adult Social Behavior

Lisa Feldman Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, and colleagues evaluated the brain structures of 58 participants using MRI scans. Results indicated that amygdala volume was positively correlated with participants’ reports of the size and complexity of their social networks. Click for more details.

Angry People See Guns

Congratulations to graduate student Jolie Baumann and her advisor David DeSteno. Their research on emotion and threat detection was highlighted in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Participants induced to feel anger, compared to participants induced to feel a different emotion, were more likely to misidentify neutral objects, such as a wallet or [...]

Research Duo Make Presence Known at International Conference

Congratulations to Professor Judith Hall and Doctoral Student Danielle Blanch-Hartigan of the Psychology Department for their significant contributions to the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare held in Verona, Italy. Professor Hall presented a keynote address entitled “Clinicians’ Accuracy in Perceiving Patients: Toward an Integrative Approach to Communication Skill.” Danielle Blanch-Hartigan chaired a symposium entitled [...]

Farewell Friend

Michelle Israel, who guided hundreds of psychology students through successful Cooperative Education experiences, is leaving the Psychology Department to take on her next challenge as Head Co-op advisor for Behavioral Neuroscience. Faculty and staff will miss seeing you and your beautiful office. Students will miss your humor, guidance, and caring. We wish you much success [...]

Psychology to Hire Two Assistant Professors

The Psychology Department is pleased to invite applications for two tenure-track positions at the Assistant Professor level in the emerging field of affective science. We seek a social psychologist whose research is at the intersection of emotion and social psychology. We also seek a behavioral neuroscientist whose research focuses on the mechanisms underlying affective and [...]

Psychology Joins the College of Science

On July 1, 2010 the Department of Psychology joined the College of Science. Founding Dean J. Murray Gibson will guide the new college. For more information visit the College of Science website.

Dr. David DeSteno Named Editor of Emotion

Congratulations to Dr. David DeSteno for being selected Editor of Emotion, the prestigious journal published by the American Psychological Association. Professor DeSteno will start accepting manuscripts in 2011 as incoming editor and take the helm as Editor in 2012. We wish Dave the very best.

Causal Reasoning and Hindsight Bias

Congratulations to Jennelle Yopchick and her advisor Nancy Kim for receiving “The Society for Personality and Social Psychology Best Poster Award for 2010” titled “Causal Reasoning and Hindsight Bias.” This is quite an honor. Jennelle’s poster was one of seven that received the “Best” honor from over 2,000 posters presented at the annual conference held [...]

Outstanding Graduate Researcher Recipient

Congratulations to Danielle Blanch, pictured with Vice Provost Luis Falcon. Danielle was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Research in the Humanities, Social, and Behavioral Sciences. This is one of six university-wide graduate awards for research, teaching, and community service presented annually by the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) and the Office of [...]

Dr. Judith Hall Receives Stemmler Award

Dr. Judith Hall and Dr. Amy Ship of Harvard Medical School have received the prestigious Stemmler Award from the National Board of Medical Examiners. The two-year award is to conduct innovative research designed to contribute to the health of the public through state of the art assessment of health professionals. Drs. Hall and Ship will [...]