"Academics cannot stay silent about anti-Black racism, nor can they remain silent in the face of racial violence and injustice. We need to engage in the critical work to dismantle anti-Black racism within ourselves, others, and in the system."

-Jeannette Mejia, University of Florida Counseling Psychology Doctoral Student 

Over the last few weeks, much attention has been directed towards the violence and injustice Black people are facing. In an effort to encourage academics to practice anti-racism and foster welcoming spaces for Black people in academia, graduate student, Pearis Bellamy and Dr

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Just about every highschool and college psychology textbook offers extensive coverage of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). The meaning of the SPE seemed obvious — that when given roles with power, people naturally become brutal tyrants. This message has had lasting influence, not only in psychology but in the world at large. However, after researchers have recently gained access to the SPE archives, it has come to light that much of what we thought we knew about the study is inaccurate. We asked three experts to weigh in on these recent events, and the resulting discussion is one

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With the recent news regarding the questionable nature of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, we thought it was purdent to republish one of our earlier blog articles drawing attention to the issue. The piece below appeared on our blog in 2012. 

A blogpost by the Neurocritic suggests that the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) was based on a pre-test in which participants behaved equally cruel. Job van Wolferen summarizes this post and highlights another disturbing point the Neurocritic raises: the experimenters might have given the guards ideas and suggestions on how to treat the

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Circle of Willis is a podcast series from Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist Dr. James Coan. The podcast features interviews with many of today's top social scientists, journalists, authors, and more. In a recent special episode of Circle of Willis, Dr. Coan speaks with five developmental scientists about what may be happening to the children who are currently being separated from their parents as part of a policy to deter immigration and asylum seekers at the southern border to the United States. Dr. Coan offers some background to the problem, what science has to say about it, and

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At a recent event honoring Navajo Code Talkers who are World War II Veterans, President Donald Trump stated, "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas"[1]. This was not a first offense, as Trump has a history of referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas. Trump’s “name calling” stems from Warren’s (albeit controversial) identification as Cherokee[2]. Fact, fiction, or it’s complicated, the accuracy of her ancestry is peripheral; calling Warren Pocahontas is racist and

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The newest installment of the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi, was released last month. Despite critical success, the film has been met with a polarized audience reaction online. Although likely not the primary reason for polarization, some of the negative reaction can be attributed to the perceived progressive, feminist political message of the main characters[1]: The primary protagonist, Rey, is a woman; the two most prominent White men, Kylo Ren and General Hux, are villains. Behind the scenes, women have powerful roles in the franchise, as president of Lucasfilm (Kathleen Kennedy) and as the

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In this blog, I will try to explain why we showed more empathy for victims in Paris than in Beirut, and how feelings of fear after such a terrorist attack can lead to prejudice against out-groups, especially against Muslims.

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In this blog post I will discuss how Target’s recent decision to do away with gender specific toy aisles could actually help children develop new cognitive skills, and as well as increase their willingness to play with different types of toys. ...more

We respond on many levels, like our readers, to the 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo staff in France. The human tragedy makes us sad and angry. The moral atrocity screams for outraged condemnation. The sense of threat calls out community determination, courage, and sacrifice. The counter-mobilisation of millions, and of world leaders, evokes pride and grim satisfaction. ...more