“Penn's Positive Psychology Center awards $2.9 million for research” plus 2 more

Penn's Positive Psychology Center awards $2.9 million for research
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology to Host International Council of Psychologists 68th Annual Conference
Hartford Shooter: Psychology of Workplace Violence Sprees

Penn's Positive Psychology Center awards $2.9 million for research

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 01:42 PM PDT

Public release date: 4-Aug-2010
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Contact: Jordan Reese
jreese@upenn.edu
215-573-6604
University of Pennsylvania

The Positive Psychology Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the John Templeton Foundation have announced the recipients of the 2010 Templeton Positive Neuroscience Awards, $2.9 million given to 15 new research projects at the intersection of neuroscience and positive psychology.

The winning projects explore a range of topics including how the brain enables humans to flourish, the biological bases of altruism and the effects of positive interventions on the brain.

"Research has shown that positive emotions and interventions can bolster health, achievement and resilience and can buffer against depression and anxiety," said Martin E. P. Seligman, director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center. "And while considerable research in neuroscience has focused on disease, dysfunction and the harmful effects of stress and trauma, very little is known about the neural mechanisms of human flourishing. Creating this network of positive neuroscience researchers will change that."

The 15 winning proposals represent 24 researchers and were selected from 190 submissions. The Awards identify the winning researchers as future leaders in the new field of positive neuroscience.

The Positive Neuroscience Project was established in 2008 by Seligman with a $5.8 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Seligman founded the quickly growing field of Positive Psychology in 1998 based on the idea that what is good in life is as worthy of scientific study as what is disabling in life.

Winners were selected by the Positive Neuroscience Steering Committee, comprised of psychologists, neuroscientists and fellow researchers from Stony Brook University, Harvard University, the University of Colorado, the John Templeton Foundation, Emory University, Ohio State University and Penn.

Winning studies include:

Abigail Marsh, assistant professor of psychology at Georgetown University, will receive $180,000 to study neural functioning of heroically altruistic people, such as those who donate a kidney to save the life of a stranger. Marsh has shown that sensitivity to others' fearful facial expressions predicts altruism better than gender, mood, self-reported empathy or general sensitivity.
James K. Rilling, associate professor of anthropology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory, and Richmond R. Thompson, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Bowdoin College, will receive $200,000 to study why some fathers are better parents than others. Children with nurturing and playful fathers are more likely to be popular with peers and teachers, be fair and generous and have higher IQs than kids with absent fathers.
Kateri McRae and Iris Mauss, assistant professors of psychology at the University of Denver, will receive $180,000 to study the neural bases of resilience. Extreme stress cripples some people, while others bounce back and some even thrive due to post traumatic growth. Research shows that positive emotions and flexible thinking are hallmarks of resilience and can be developed through training and therapy.
Elena Antonova from King's College London has received $180,000 to study how meditation affects sensory processing in the brain. Human brains filter the barrage of information flowing into our bodies through our senses. We wouldn't be able to notice anything if we noticed everything, so our brains help us quickly habituate to repeated signals, filtering most information under the radar of attention. Experienced meditators do not habituate to stimuli like most of us, nor do people with schizophrenia.
Alon Chen and Elad Schneidman from Weizmann Institute of Science will receive $200,000 to study the warm glow of companionship at the molecular level. Positive social interactions make us happier and healthier and even buffer us against ailments including heart disease and depression.
Britta H�lzel and Mohammed Milad from Harvard Medical School will use $200,000 to find out if meditation helps people conquer their fears. Mindfulness meditation impacts the structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala, brain regions that are also part of the neural circuits critical for deactivating conditioned fears.
Psyche Loui from Harvard Medical School was awarded $180,000 to study how the brain enables artistic genius. Loui will study neural connectivity in musicians with absolute pitch and people with synesthesia to better understand supernormal perception.
Jason Mitchell and Jamil Zaki from Harvard will study the relationship between doing good and feeling good and how both can be amplified within and between people. Sharing happiness may double your pleasure.
India Morrison from the University of Gothenburg will study how pleasurable touch affects the way we understand and relate to others. Touch is more than skin deep because skin is a social and emotional organ. Touch carries affective meaning, enhances social bonding and shapes our beliefs about what it feels like to be in another person's skin. Morrison will focus on a recently discovered type of nerve fiber that transmits the pleasure of gentle touch, and she will examine a people with a rare genetic mutation resulting in a severe reduction of those nerve fibers.
Stephanie D. Preston from the University of Michigan and Tony W. Buchanan from St. Louis University will study the neural differences between sensing that someone is in pain or danger and taking action to help them. Empathy is bodily response. Research shows that, when people feel another's pain psychologically, they also resonate physically in heart rate, facial muscles, skin response, neural activity and pupil dilation. Even so, people frequently fail to help those in need and sometimes even cause their distress.
Laurie Santos from Yale University will investigate how altruism evolved in the brain. Positive Psychology research has shown that good deeds lead to great pleasure. Altruistic actions can increase happiness even more than beneficial but selfish actions. Santos will work with two primate species, rhesus macaques and capuchin monkeys, to find out if they also experience prosocial actions as inherently rewarding.
William Cunningham from Ohio State University and Alexander Todorov from Princeton University will study how people's social goals influence how their brain processes important social stimuli.
Tor Wager and Sona Dimidjian from the University of Colorado will study how compassionate thinking impacts brain function and leads to more caring behavior. The researchers will conduct a four-week compassion meditation training and identify neural processes that support positive thoughts and affiliation with others.
Thalia Wheatley from Dartmouth College will study how different brain regions process emotion and support social intelligence. People see emotion in movement and hear emotion in music. She will study how different neural regions work together to process complex but universally understood emotion and how that relates to empathy and social skill.
Adam Anderson from the University of Toronto will study the neural and genetic bases of positivity and resilience. Anderson will examine how specific genes influence dopamine-related brain functions and behaviors and how that supports positive emotion, creative problem solving and recovery.

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Additional information about the Positive Neuroscience Project and Templeton Positive Neuroscience Awards is at www.posneuroscience.org.

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The Chicago School of Professional Psychology to Host International Council of Psychologists 68th Annual Conference

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 09:14 PM PDT

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 August 2010, 17:41 CDT

CHICAGO, Aug,. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Renowned psychologists from around the world will converge in Chicago this week for compelling workshops and discourse at the 68th Annual International Council of Psychologists (ICP) Conference. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP), the nation's largest nonprofit graduate school focused exclusively on psychology and related behavioral sciences, will host the conference in its role as ICP Secretariat.

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"We couldn't be more pleased to be working with The Chicago School of Professional Psychology as our secretariat and host of this year's annual conference," said Dr. Ann O'Roark, president of ICP. "The school's commitment to teaching skills that prepare students to work effectively with people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives aligns well with our mission to advance psychology by strengthening international bonds between psychologists."

Illinois State Senator Iris Martinez, the first Latina to be elected to the Illinois Senate and a tireless advocate for underserved women and children, will welcome conference participants to Illinois during the opening reception on August 4. Dr. Armand Cerbone will provide the keynote address. Cerbone is a respected and well-known psychologist who co-wrote the Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Clients, which the American Psychological Association adopted as official policy in 2000. A member of the board of directors of APA, Cerbone is former president of the Illinois Psychological Association.

This year's conference, entitled "Psychological Values Around the World," will focus on shared values across the globe, and will include workshops such as "The Family Chessboard: A multicultural therapy for exploring family values and systems," with Australian psychologist Dr. Sandra E.S. Neill and physician/psychologist Dr. Robert Silverberg; and the invited address, "Psychologists as Humanitarian Interventionists," presented by Dr. Chris Stout from the Center for Global Initiatives in Chicago. International psychologists from as far away as Japan, Australia, and the Philippines, along with experts from the Chicago area, will present on a wide range of topics, including protecting children from violence, trauma therapy, and feminist psychology.

"It is an honor and a privilege to host such a distinguished international panel of psychologists here at The Chicago School," said Dr. Carroll Cradock, president of the Chicago Campus of TCSPP. "We encourage students and practitioners to take full advantage of the opportunity to engage with colleagues from around the world."

The conference will take place from August 4-7 at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Merchandise Mart, 4th Floor East Chicago, Illinois. The opening reception on August 4 will be at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza in Chicago. Onsite registration is available. Students pay a significantly discounted rate. For more information, contact TCSPP's Center for International Studies ndubrow@thechicagoschool.edu or 312.410.8950, or visit http://icpweb.org/august-2010-annual-convention-program/

About the International Council of Psychologists

ICP is a nonprofit international organization comprised of individual psychologists from over 80 countries. Its mission is to advance psychology and the application of its scientific findings throughout the world. To this end, ICP seeks to strengthen international bonds between psychologists and to promote and to facilitate channels of communication between individual psychologists.

Now in its 68th year, this year's annual conference is a true international collaboration. Dr. Ludwig Lowenstein served as scientific program chair, and Dr. Donna Goetz from Elmhurst College in Illinois served as local arrangement coordinator. http://icpweb.org/

About The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Founded in 1979, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) is the nation's leading nonprofit graduate school dedicated exclusively to the applications of psychology and related behavioral sciences. The school is an active member of the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology, which has recognized TCSPP for its distinguished service and outstanding contributions to cultural diversity and advocacy. The school's community service initiatives have resulted in three consecutive years of recognition on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service to disadvantaged youth. In 2009, the school was named to The Chronicle of Higher Education's annual list of "Great Colleges to Work For." Campuses are located in Chicago; in Los Angeles, Westwood, and Irvine, California; and the newest campus in Washington, D.C. Programs are offered on-ground and in an online-blended format.

For more information about The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, visit www.thechicagoschool.edu. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gradpsychology. Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thechicagoschool.

CONTACT: Lynne Baker The Chicago School of Professional Psychology 312.370.1635 lbaker@tcsedsystem.org

SOURCE The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Source: PR Newswire

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Hartford Shooter: Psychology of Workplace Violence Sprees

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 11:05 AM PDT

Aug. 4, 2010

The allegations of racial harassment that Omar Thornton told his family about may have been what finally sent him over the edge and on his fatal rampage, according to mental health experts.

"A common association with workplace violence is a recent experience of humiliation," said Dr. Ken Robbins, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "It sounds like there may have been some of that." Robbins didn't know Thornton and is only speculating on what could have triggered the gunman's rage.

"There's a question about hostility in the workplace, and that could definitely have played a role," said Dr. Paul Ragan, senior consulting psychiatrist in the department of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Thornton's family believes the union knew about the racial harassment, but the union says it didn't. If the union or the company did know about the alleged instances of racism, experts say they should have addressed it.

"If anybody talks about an experience where they've been humiliated and they have feelings about it, it needs to be taken seriously," said Robbins. "It's important that workplaces develop an atmosphere where people do feel able to talk about something that is troublesome."

The alleged racism was just one event that could have led up to Thornton lashing out at his colleagues. ABC News has learned that Thornton, the man behind the murder-suicide at the Connecticut beer distributorship, was offered the chance to resign his job as a driver or be fired. There's no official word about the reason behind his termination, but sources said he was caught on video stealing beer from his employer.

"Suicides and violence can increase in economic hard times," said Ragan.

Workplace Violence Not Uncommon

The events that unfolded in Connecticut are an example of extreme workplace violence, something that happens more frequently than we think.

"We know that violence is the second leading cause of occupational death. It's not as uncommon as we would like it to be," said Robbins.

There have been well-publicized incidents of extreme workplace violence prior to the events that unfolded in Connecticut, including the shootings of six employees, three fatally, at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus in February and the shootings of 45 people, 13 fatally, at the U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas in November.

While the true motives behind these events may be unclear and the alleged perpetrators very different, spree killers who seem to lash out at people in their workplace generally have certain psychological characteristics in common.

"The workplace is often a source of disappointment, and is the unfortunate recipient of the person's rage," said Dr. Ragan.

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Psychology

Wednesday, August 4, 2010