Psychology

Chair, Professor of Psychology: Randy Larsen Administrative Assistant: Cheryl B. Casanova

Home Page: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~psych/default.htm Email: psych@artsci.wustl.edu Telephone: (314) 935-6565

The Department of Psychology in Arts & Sciences in ranked among the leading graduate and undergraduate psychology programs in the nation. Psychology is one of the two most popular majors at Washington University and the department graduates about 180 majors each year, including about 80 graduate students. The department has four primary research programs: Aging and Development, Clinical Psychology, Behavior Brain & Cognition, and Social and Personality Psychology. Scroll down this page for more information on the department and its research.

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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WUSTL professor awarded Howard Crosby Warren Medal Roediger wins Warren Medal for contributions to experimental psychology April 25, 2008 -- Citing his creative experimental investigations of false memory and underlying processes that have led to a new understanding of human memory, the Society of Experimental Psychologists has awarded its highest honor to WUSTL psychology professor Henry L. "Roddy" Roediger III.

An expert on race relations Poussaint to speak on tolerance and diversity April 9, 2008 -- An expert on race relations, prejudice and diversity issues in a multicultural society, Alvin Poussaint, M.D., will present the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture for the Assembly Series. The talk will be held at 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, in the Laboratory Sciences Auditorium on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.

New leader for neuroscience research Barch named new director of Conte Center April 8, 2008 -- Barch The Silvio Conte Center for Neuroscience Research at Washington University has a new director. Deanna Barch, associate professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences, of psychiatry and of radiology, takes over leadership of the center from John Csernansky, the former Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry, who has become the chairman of psychiatry at Northwestern University.

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Faculty Experts:

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Renee Cunningham-Williams visiting associate professor of social work Renee Cunningham-Williams Download Cunningham-Williams' expertise centers on the comorbidity of mental health disorders, particularly those relating to behavioral addictions, risk taking, and antisocial behaviors. Expertise: gambling addiction, substance abuse, risk taking, antisocial behaviors, crisis intervention Direct contact: (314) 935-4563 / williamsr@wustl.edu

Henry L. "Roddy" Roediger III James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor Roediger Download Roediger is an internationally recognized scholar of human memory function and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor. He served as chair of the Department of Psychology in Arts & Sciences from 1996-2004, when he was named dean of academic planning in Arts & Sciences. Roediger's ... Expertise: human memory, memory, learning, retention, false memory Direct contact: (314) 935-4307 / roediger@artsci.wustl.edu

John Baugh Director of African and African American Studies John Baugh Download John Baugh, Ph.D., a well-known African-American linguist and education expert, is the inaugural holder of an Arts & Sciences endowed professorship named in honor of prominent civil rights attorney and emerita trustee Margaret Bush Wilson. Baugh, author of Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial ... Direct contact: (314) 935-5690 / jbaugh@wustl.edu

John Stern Professor Emeritus of Psychology in Arts & Sciences Stern Stern, a professor emeritus of psychology, is a pioneer in the integrative and emergent science of psychophysiology. His main field of interest is human psychophysiology applied to human factors problems and major concern is with using the eye and eyelids as indicants of aspects of information processing ... Expertise: psychophysiology, biometrics, lie detection, stress monitoring, eye blinks, fatigue, drowsy drivers Direct contact: (314) 935-6535 / jastern@artsci.wustl.edu

Richard Abrams Professor of Psychology in Arts & Sciences Abrams conducts research on aspects of perception, attention, and motor control. His work addresses questions about the mental mechanisms that underlie overt movements of the eyes and limbs and covert movements of visual attention. One ongoing project examines the link between eye movements and movements ... Expertise: attention, eye movements, mental mechanisms, motor control, perception, visual attention Direct contact: (314) 935-6538 / rabrams@artsci.wustl.edu

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Related News Clips:

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Give a leg up The Times Education Supplement (London UK) April 25, 2008 -- So you thought testing was just assessment and either neutral or actively harmful to learning? Well, think again. New research from the U.S. suggests that, far from being a recipe for a blighted childhood, repeated testing is one of the best ways to learn. The active retrieval of facts from the memory that occurs during testing is far more helpful for consolidating knowledge than passive studying. This research was conducted by Purdue's Jeffrey Karpicke and WUSTL psychology professor Henry Roediger.

Dementia Diagnosis May Relieve Patients Associated Press and 110 others March 13, 2008 -- Doctors often hesitate to tell patients they likely suffer from Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, fearing the news will overwhelm them. Not only did the diagnosis not increase anxiety or depression among patients and their caregivers, but most were relieved to have symptoms explained and a way to find help. But a WUSTL medical study suggests physicians need not worry. Researchers amd WUSTL psychology professor Brian Carpenter and neurology proessor John Morris comment. The study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, gauged depression and anxiety two days before and two days after an evaluation and diagnosis.

Humor Hampered By Aging Brain? CBSNews.com and 1 others Aug. 6, 2007 -- Age-related brain changes may make it harder for older adults to understand humor, a new study shows. The study comes from WUSTL psychology graduate student Wingyun Mak and psychology professor Brian Carpenter.

Joke comprehension may decrease with age, study at St. Louis university suggests International Herald Tribune (France) and 206 others July 11, 2007 -- It's no laughing matter: a new study suggests older adults have a harder time getting jokes as they age. The research indicates that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning and short-term memory, they also have greater difficulty with tests of humor comprehension. The research conducted by WUSTL graduate student Wingyun Mak and WUSTL psychology professor Brian Carpenter. Findings were published earlier this month in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

Verbal battle of the sexes all hot air, study finds The Ottawa Citizen (Canada) and 3 others July 6, 2007 -- Women aren't chattier than men after all, say psychologists who recorded 400 students of both genders over a seven-year period. Professors from U. Texas, U. Arizona and WUSTL strapped voice recorders onto student volunteers. Students never knew when the machines were recording. The study was published in the journal Science.

Established in 1924, the Department of Psychology at Washington University has graduated about 650 Ph.D.'s and thousands of psychology majors. In the early 1990s, Washington University targeted psychology as an area of excellence and growth. As part of its commitment, the University constructed a new $28 million psychology building, which opened in 1996. The department is currently engaged in an ambitious effort to double in size through an aggressive faculty recruitment campaign; it has added more than a dozen new faculty since 2000.

The Department has four primary research programs: Aging and Development, Clinical Psychology, Behavior Brain & Cognition, and Social and Personality Psychology.

The Aging and Development program dates back to the 1950s, when we received our first training grant. This program has been continually funded since that time. Although research on older adults has become increasingly prominent at a number of universities, we have a long history of excellence and continue to be a leader in this important scholarly endeavor.

The Clinical Psychology program, fully accredited by the American Psychological Association, trains students according to a scientist/practitioner model emphasizing clinical research. Three specializations within the clinical program are clinical aging, clinical neuropsychology, and health psychology. Recent students in this program have consistently received their top choice of outstanding internships.

The Behavior, Brain & Cognition program includes researchers studying attention, language, and memory, as well as animal learning and behavior. Cognitive neuroscience is a current emphasis, as we have recruited five researchers who use functional brain imaging in their research.

The Social/Personality program emphasizes both basic and applied research in such topics as stereotyping, the development of self-concept, racial dynamics, mood regulation and happiness, and decision-making related to health, careers, and relationships.