What makes gambling addictive?
Research on gambling addiction often focuses on risk factors in individual people – but is the design of the games themselves part of the problem? In a segment for a Research2Reality web series, Luke Clark, associate professor and director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, tells us how game design shapes gambling addiction. According to Clark, there […]
New research shows we read the body to reveal the mind
New research out of the Department of Psychology finds that people can read others’ attentional states by observing their actions. The study, Humans are sensitive to attention control when predicting others’ actions, shows that many of us have a keen ability to read the attentional states of others through their actions. But this ability is […]
Meet psychology alum and serial entrepreneur Wilson Lee
What can you do with a psychology degree? Wilson Lee (BA ’09, Psychology) is a self-professed ‘serial entrepreneur’. He heads a marketing agency, an event production company, and an ice-cream chain. In May 2016 he was named a BC Business 30 under 30 for his efforts. 30 Under 30 celebrates future business leaders under 30 […]
Prof. Jessica Tracy on how politicians like Trump use hubris to achieve power
Pride is a complex emotion that plays an important role in our lives. In her book, Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success, UBC psychology professor Jessica Tracy examines the role of pride in shaping our minds, and how pride helps politicians like Donald Trump attain power. In Take Pride, you use Donald Trump as […]
Therapy dogs from Vancouver ecoVillage are helping UBC students unwind
Studies have shown that therapy-dog visits alleviate stress and improve health and well-being. Dogs are popular visitors in hospitals, senior centres, airports–and now universities. To help students adjust to university life, UBC Psychology is teaming up with the UBC Alma Mater Society and Vancouver ecoVillage to bring their therapy dogs to campus from September 27 to November 7 2016. At these dog […]
A life of research leads to a University Killam Professorship
Dr. Janet Werker began her long, prolific research and teaching career at UBC in 1985. Throughout her entire academic career, she has managed multiple roles at once. Not only is she a teaching professor and researcher who is director of the Infant Studies Centre in the Department of Psychology, she is also the one of […]
UBC Psychology prof Jessica Tracy's new book 'Take Pride' hits bookshelves today
Why did Paul Gauguin abandon middle-class life to follow the path of a starving artist? What inspired Bill Gates to give away so much of his hard-won fortune? How has Donald Trump succeeded so excessively, when his winning style could easily be his greatest liability? As the renowned emotion researcher Jessica Tracy reveals in her […]
New online therapy program is helping students overcome social anxiety
Meeting new people and forging new friendships is an important part of university. Some students enjoy this aspect of student life, while others dread it. Students experience social anxiety differently; it can be pervasive for some and for others the anxiety surfaces in specific situations, such as class or group presentations or a simple social […]
UBC Psychology prof. Steven Heine elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Dr. Steven Heine is among 89 new Fellows elected into the Royal Society of Canada. The 2016 Fellows have been elected by their peers in recognition of outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic achievement. Election to the academies of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) is the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities and Sciences. “I’m […]
Meet the 2016/17 GSC presidential team
Meet the department’s new Graduate Student Council (GSC) presidents, Jennifer Campbell, Jordan Brace, and Bri Glazier. The GSC is composed of graduate students from different areas of the department. They aim to serve the graduate students in the department by acting as a bridge between the faculty/staff and the graduate students. In this Q&A, the presidential team share their research–and […]