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LETTERfrom the chairHello, Alumni and Friends!

Springhasbeenaterrificsemesterforus.Wearepleasedtopresentournewsletterwithloadsof updates.

Faculty News Wehavebeenbusyrecruitingnewfacultythisspring,andIhopeto introduceyouto threenewfacultymembers inournextnewsletter.Meanwhile,twonewfacultyjoinedusinJanuary:DavidFoster,inourbehavioral&systemsneurosciencearea,andJasonOkonofua(seepage9inthisissueformore)inoursocial-personalityarea. Summerandfallwillbringustwonewbooksbyourfaculty.SteveHinshawwillreleaseAnother Kind of Madness: A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness onJune20,2017,andMattWalker’snewbook,Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams,willbereleasedonOctober3,2017.

Building News Constructiononthenewbuildingiswellunderway.Allfloorsareup,andmanyexteriorwindowsarenowinplace.Weexpecttomoveinearly2018,butmuchworkremainstobedonebeforethen. WecontinuetodelightinreadingthemanystoriesthatouralumnihavesharedontheDepartment’swebpage.BerkeleyPsychologyhassomanytalentedpeopleallovertheworld,andhearingaboutthevariedcareers,exploits,anddiscoveriesof ouralumniistrulyinspiring!

Bestwishesforarelaxingsummer,Ann KringProfessor and Chair

Share your alumni updates online:http://psychology.berkeley.edu/stay-connected

Join our LinkedIn networks:For undergraduates: http://link.in/LmmrEJFor graduate students: http://link.in/J90JUzSubscribe to our YouTube channel to watch videos of special events and lectures from the Department.

Follow UC Berkeley Psychology on Facebook for news updates, pictures, and more.

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Department News Awards & Recognition• Al Riley,professoremeritus,receivedtheUniversityof California at Berkeley Emeriti Association’s (UCBEA)DistinguishedEmeritusof theYear,2017-18.

• Sheldon Zedeck, professoremeritus(left),receivedtheATPProfessionalContributions andServicetoTestingAward.

• Prof. Bob Knight waselectedas1of 11newmembersof the American Academy of

Arts and Sciences, an esteemedsociety of scholars, scientists, writers,

artists,andleadersfromaroundtheworld.

• TheAssociationforPsychologicalSciencenamedProf. Mahesh Srinivasan a “Rising Star” in psychologicalscience. This designation recognizes “outstandingpsychological scientists in the earliest stages of theirresearch career post-Ph.D. whose innovative work hasalreadyadvancedthefieldandsignalsgreatpotentialfortheircontinuedcontributions.”

• TheSocietyforResearchonChildDevelopmentawardedProf. Stephen Hinshaw the Distinguished ScientificContribution to Child Development Award for hisprestigiouslifetimecareer.

• Prof. Tania Lombrozo was named a Fellow of theAmericanCouncilof LearnedSociety.

• Prof. Tom GriffithsreceivedaGuggenheimFellowship,awarded to individuals who have “demonstratedexceptional capacity for productive scholarship orexceptionalcreativeability.”

• Alexandra Carstensen, who received her Ph.D. in2016,hasbeenawardedaRobertJ.GlushkoDissertationPrizebytheCognitiveScienceSocietyandtheGlushko-SamuelsonFoundation.

• Numerous current graduate students recently receivedfellowships. Five received National Science GraduateStudent Fellowships this spring: Brandon Chuang (Clinical), Rachel Jansen (Cognition), Helena

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Karnilowicz (SP), Amanda Perez-Ceballos (SP), andLauren Weittenhiller (Clinical). Jocelyn Meza (Clinical)receivedaFordFoundationFellowship,andJessica Jones (SP)receivedaHellmanFellowship.

• Exemplifying Berkeley’s continued commitmentto teaching, many have been recognized for theirexcellence.David Bourgin (Cognition) received theArnold Leiman prize for his teaching contributions.TheOutstandingGraduate Student InstructorAwardswent to nine students: pictured below,Carly Giffin (Cognition), Hannah Bosley (Clinical), Cathy Anicama (Clinical), Arianna Benedetti (SP), andFausto Gonzalez (SP);notpictured:Caitlin Eggleson (Clinical), Angela Johnson (Clinical), Neta Gotlieb (BSN), and Ye Xia (CN). (Flip to page 4 to readabout students who received scholastic awards atCommencement.)

In the News• Graduate student Mikel Delgado (Cognition) andothers in the Jacobs Lab for Cognitive Biology werefeaturedintheLos Angeles Times fortheirworkonhowsquirrelsdecidewheretoburytheirnuts.

• Prof. Dave Whitney’s research has uncovered whyblinking doesn’t momentarily dim the lights (“strobevision”),whichhasbeenfeaturedinvariousnewsoutlets,suchasNew AtlasandUPI.

• Prof. Rudy Mendoza-DentonwastheleadauthoronarecentPLOS OnepaperalongwithProf. Aaron Fisher,documenting ethnic & gender gaps in grad studentpublication rates at Berkeley. Their research was alsofeaturedinaScienceMag.orgarticle.

• Prof. Bob Levenson and Stanfordprofessor andCalalum James Grosswere featured inReader’s Digest fortheirresearchunveilingthesaddestfilmof alltime.

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GRADUATE STUDENTS GET “QUACK”-Y Second-year graduate students Rachel Jansen and Mariel Goddu established the Quantitative Analysis and Coding Knowledge (QuACK) workshop series last fall, which supports fellow students in learning, maintaining, and honing their data analysis and programming skills.

Second-year graduate students Rachel Jansen(above,left)andMarielGoddu(above,right)co-foundedtheQuACKworkshopseriesworkshopseriesinFall2016withsupportfromDepartmentChairDr.AnnKringandPsychologyGraduateStudentAdvisorJohnSchindel. First-yeargraduatestudentsentertheprogramwithvaryinglevelsof experienceandcomfortwithstatisticsandprogramming.Thus,QuACKwasconceivedasameansof supporting incoming students and preparing themfor required coursework in statistics. More specifically,RachelandMarieldesignedQuACKtoprovideadditional

trainingindataanalysisandprogramming,withworkshoptopics ranging frombasic statisticsandprogramming tolinearalgebra,bigdata,andreproducibility. AlthoughQuACKwas designed specifically forfirst-year graduate students, the workshops were opentoall interestedgraduate students.For this reason, eachweeklyworkshopintheseriesstoodindependently,whichencouraged broader participation for specific topics of interest. Ledbyvolunteersfromthedepartment—includinggraduatestudents,postdocs,andprofessors—workshopsincludeddidacticandhands-ontrainingforimproveddatamanagement,collaboration,analysis,andpublication.Thefinalworkshopfeaturedapanelof professorsdiscussingtheir paths to research and advice for “best practices”inmethodsandreporting. Thankstoanoutpouringof volunteers,QuACKwasable tocoverabroadrangeof topicstoengagethewiderdepartmentcommunity. StartingthisAugust,first-yeargraduatestudentsinPsychologywillagainhavetheopportunitytoparticipateintheseworkshops.EmilyLiquinandFeliciaZerwasaretheQuACKco-coordinatorsforFall2017.

Voicing Challenges Faced by Mothers in Academia

Beingamomishard.Beinganacademicishard.Isitpossibletobebothamomandanacademic?Obviously,it is indeed possible, though there are many uniquechallengesfacedbymothersinacademia. OnDecember6th,attheendof thefallsemester,graduate student Neta Gotlieb facilitated a Moms InAcademia panel. The panel discussion focused on thechallengeof beingamotherwhilepursuinganacademiccareer.PanelistsincludedfacultymembersLindaWilbrecht,Oz Ayduk, Serena Chen, Anne Collins, IrisMauss, andTaniaLombrozo. Followingavaluablediscussion,TaniaLombrozopublishedablogpost,“ADayIntheLifeof anAcademicMom,” inNPR’s13.7Cosmos & Cultureblog. Thispostoffers a glimpse into both the packed schedule and thefreneticstreamof consciousnessof anacademicmother.

Graduating Ph.D. Students

CongratulationstothesePh.D.scholarswhogradu-atedthisspring,orplantograduatewithinthecom-ingfewmonths:

Yang BaiMaxwell Bertolero

James CaseyFeng-Kuei Chiang

Ori EllisChanelle GordonJessica Hamrick

Kimberly JenningsElizabeth Johnson

Sandy LwiKaja Johnson McMaster

Ryan MoreheadJasmine Mote

Andrew PeckhamAlison Taylor Miller

SingleyKatherine Spencer

Jia Wei Zhang

By: Mariel Goddu

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Keynote Speaker: Professor Aaron FisherEmphasizingtheimportanceof embracingthetransienceof eachpresentmoment,ProfessorAaron Fisherreminded theaudience that theprobabilityof anyonepersoncomingintoexistenceis,actually,infinitesimal.Sharinga famous quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,Dr.Fisherremarkedthat“lifemovespretty fast; if you don’t stop and lookaroundonceinawhileyoucouldmissit”Inotherwords,don’tgettoocaughtupintheuniversaltendencytoworryaboutthefutureandruminateonthepast. How, then, should we thinkabout the present moment? First, Dr.Fisher highlighted jazz as a metaphorfor the importance of being bothprepared and able to improvise. Second,practice cultivating compassion andjoy. Third, remember the concept of “and”: seemingly polar opposites can beembracedsimultaneously.Fourth,broadenyourperspectivebyputtingyourself inthelarger context. “There are larger forcesat playwell outside of your control,” hemused,“andthereissomuchyoucandoinanygivenmomenttomaximizeyourownjoyandreducethesufferingof others.”

Commencement AwardsCongratulationstotheallthehard-workingstudentswhoreceivedawardsatCommencementthisyearinrec-

ognitionof theirexemplaryperformanceinresearchandacademics:

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Graduate Student Speaker: Alison Miller Singley

Alison MillerSingleyis passionateaboutimprovinglearning.Inareassuringcommencementspeech,sheshared,“aspsychology graduates, we are uniquelypositioned to help people think, feel,and live better...those contributionscan be life-changing.” Alison remindedlisteners thatbuilding a theory requiresthe combined work of many people;thus, anyone should take pride in theircontributions. “Although only a fewpeople get to lay the cornerstones”,Alison remarked, “all are criticallyimportanttothestructureasawhole.” Alison is interested in therelationship between reasoning andmathematics, and how she mighthelp students reason more effectivelyabout mathematics. She hopes to useher research to improve curriculumand teaching in elementary schools.Currently,Alisonisenjoyingtimespentwith family in Chicago before lookinginto consulting work in the educationsector.

Wisdom from Commencement-Day SpeakersUndergraduate Student Speaker: Kathy Zhang In her speech,

KathyZhangoffered ames sag eof bothprideandhumility.

Sharing herfeelings

of esteemandinspirationfrom

being in the Berkeley community,Kathy reminisced: “The standardhereatBerkeley is insanelyhighandsometimes, it makes me feel prettyaverage.But,youknowwhat,itisanamazingthingtobeataplacelikethisandtobesurroundedbypeoplewhoareexceptional.Becausethisisaplacewhereeveryoneistryingtodobetterandbebetter.” At the same time, sheemphasized the importance of strivingtounderstandoneanother,anendeavorthatpsychologyisuniquelyqualified to tackle: “psychologyis literally the science of tryingto understand each other...thisdepartmentisfilledwithpeoplewhohavededicatedtheirlivestotryingtoanswerthosequestions.” Kathy will attend YaleUniversity to pursue her Ph.D. inneuroscience.

Undergraduate Student AwardsDepartmental Citation in Psychology: KathyZhangWarner Brown Memorial Prize: HarmonieStrohlSwan Research Prize: WingShan(Megan)Chungand ArdaPartamian

Graduate Student AwardsSheldon J. Korchin Prize in Clinical Psychology:

CatherineAnicama,JocelynMeza,LumaMuhtadie,andAliceVerstaen

Stephan Jarjisian Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience: WanChenLin

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Meet the Department’s Newest Staff Members The Psychology Department wouldn’t get half as much done without the crucial work of its staff members. We took a moment to learn about four of the newest additions to the staff.

Elodie Steffen joinedthe Department last year,onOctober24,asthenewClinicalScienceProgramandPsychologyClinicCoordinator.Beforethat,ElodieworkedatCalasan undergraduate andgraduate student affairsofficer for South and

SoutheastAsianStudiesintheDivisionof ArtsandHumanities.

ShehasbeenatCalforalmostthreeyears;beforehermovetoCalifornia, she lived,worked, and studied in cold andsnowyMinnesota. She received her bachelor’s degree inpsychologyfromSouthwestMinnesotaStateUniversityandhermaster’sdegreefromtheUniversityof Minnesota. During her spare time, Elodie loves cooking,reading,traveling,photography,andwine-tasting.

Alex Mastrangeli joined the DepartmentonMarch1asDirectorof Administration.Hegraduated from Calin1987andobtainedhis MBA 1991 fromCal State Hayward.AlexhasworkedatCalsince1990intheCollegeof Engineering;theSchoolof PublicHealth,theDivisionof Health Policy and Management; and in variousdepartmentsinL&S.Alexisalsopartof theAcademicBusinessOfficersGroup;hemeetsregularlywithothermanagers, campus leaders, and UCOP executives todiscusswaystoinfluenceorganizationalchange. In his free time, Alex keeps fish, enjoysastronomy,ridesbikes,swims,gardens,andenjoysthecompanyof histhreefelinecompanions,Chloe,Riley,andMarley.

Christine Mullarkey joinedtheStudentServicesOfficeonMarch21asan

UndergraduateMajorAdvisor.Sheisexcitedtobeinthispositionwhereshecanprimarilyfocusherattentiononhelpingstudentsby

guiding them not onlythroughtheiracademiccareers

majoringinpsychologyatCal,butalso through post-undergraduate options into the rest of theirlives. Before joining the department, Christine workedin student services with Berkeley Summer Sessionssupportinginternationalvisitingstudentsfrom90differentinstitutions around the world. Prior to that, she workedin the study abroad office at the University of Nevadaas well as teaching middle school for over 10 years. Inhersparetime,Christineenjoysplayingpubtriviawith friends, running with her dog, and collecting heart-shapedrocks.

Mandi HarvilljoinedthePsychologyDepartmentveryrecently,onMay8,asthenewFrontOfficeAssistant.OriginallyfromLouisiana,MandistudiedpsychologyatLouisianaStateUniversity,whereshethenworkedasaresearchassociateforfiveyearsaftergraduating.MandiisnowexcitedtobeworkingatUCBerkeleyinthePsychologyDepartment. When she’s not in Tolman Hall, Mandi canprobably be found outside, most likely with her dog,exploring the Bay Area, volunteering, participatingin art-related activities, or practicing yoga. One of the best parts of living in the East Bay Area, whereshe has been for the past three years, is that all of these are in such close proximity to UC Berkeley.

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Why is stability complicated in visual perception? The human visual system is subject to noisethat makes perception challenging. Head and eyemovements,occlusion,andchangesinlightingconvergeto make visual signals discontinuous. Nonetheless,human perception is stable, just as are objects in theexternal world. Kathy Zhang and her team soughtto understand one of the proposed mechanismspromoting perceptual stability: serial dependence.

What is serial dependence in visual processing? Serial dependence refers to a mechanismthat promotes perceptual stability by making similarobjects nearby in space and time appear more alikethan they are objectively. The visual system employsserial dependence incorporate both prior andpresent visual input to perceive the external world,establishing the perception of stability over time.

What are consequences of serial dependence in the visual system? The use of serial dependence to promotevisualstabilitysacrificesaccuracyof thevisualsystem,whichmaybecomemaladaptive.Serialdependencealso relies heavily on working memory resources.

What did the research uncover? The researchers wanted to determinewhat would happen to visual perception underhigh workingmemory load to determine if serialdependence is reduced in tasks that require highmemory accuracy. Kathy found that if a taskrequires high-resolution object representations,the balance shifts to favor accurate perceptionby reducing serially dependent perception.

Beyond the value of contributing to science, why pursue an honors thesis? Completing an honors thesis informsstudents of the entire research process from startto finish. Through the process, students becomeintimately aware of study design, data collectionand analysis, and the presentation and writingof results. Kathy shares, “I really enjoyed beingable to present my project and hearing otherpeople get excited about the results. It’s beenreally gratifying and has gotten me more excitedabout continuing to do research in the future.”

In the fall, Kathy will attend YaleUniversity in pursuit of a Ph.D. in neuroscience.

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Senior Kathy Zhang worked with faculty member David Whitney to study a possible mechanism for perceptual stability. We asked Kathy a few questions to learn more about her research project.

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What is dementia? Dementia is a chronic neurological conditioncaused by brain disease or injury. Typically, dementia ismarkedbychangesinmemory,personality,orotheraspectsof cognitive ability. There aremany causes of dementia,withAlzheimer’sDiseasebeingamongthemostcommon.

Why focus on caregivers? Dementiaaffectsapproximately35.6millionpeopleworldwide,andthisnumberisexpectedtotripleby2050.Becauseof dementia’sprogressiveanddebilitatingnature,patients come to rely on caregivers. Although caring forsomeoneexperiencingdementiaisacommonfacetof familylife formany, it is often associatedwith increased healthproblems. Caregivers are at heightened risk for physicalillness, mental illness (especially depression and anxiety),andmortality.Despitetheseriskfactors,notallcaregiversexperiencethesenegativeconsequences,makingitimperativeto identifyfactors inthepatient, thecaregiver,and inthepatient-caregiverrelationshipthatmayserveasvulnerabilitiesorprotectionforthenegativeconsequencesof caregiving.

What is visual avoidance, and how is it related to caregiver distress? Visual avoidance is one of the most commonformsof emotionregulation.Visualavoidance,orlookingaway or closing one’s eyes, is a way to limit emotionalresponsebysimplyreducingthevisual inputof whateverstimulus is causing the emotional reaction. For example,if you’re watching a scary movie and feel intense fear,choosing to close your eyes will likely reduce that fear.Althoughvisualavoidanceisapowerfulemotionregulationstrategy,patientswithdementiadon’tuse it as frequently.Deficits in emotion regulation andemotional functioningmay increase risk for caregivers’ development of poor

health outcomes, so understanding visual avoidanceis important for understanding caregiver distress.

What did the research uncover? Marcela and colleagues sought to determinewhether less use of visual avoidance by patients withdementia would predict greater psychological distressincaregivers.Theresearchersassessed86patientswithdementiaandtheircaregivers.Theyfoundthatcaregiversof patientswhousedless(versusmore)visualavoidnceexperienced greater psychological distress. Part of thereason for this was that patients who use less visualavoidancealsohavepooreremotionalfunctioning,whichleadstoworseoutcomesforthecaregiver.Otherresearchhasalsofoundthatpooremotionalfunctioninginpatientswithdementiaisassociatedwithincreasedpsychologicaldistress incaregivers, so this researchsuggests thatwecan also look atwhetherpatients use visual avoidancetohelpidentifywhichcaregiversareatheightenedriskof experiencing negative consequences of caregiving.

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Marcela Otero is a Clinical Ph.D. student. In a recent article published in Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, Marcela and her co-author and Berkeley faculty advisor Bob Levenson examined how visual avoidance in patients with dementia relates to psychological distress in caregivers.

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Championing Open Science By: Belén Guerra-Carrillo

How does open-source software

fit into Open Science practices?

Open-sourcesoftware is a big and

important component of practicingOpen Science.Reproducibilityisnotnecessarilydependentonusingopen-sourcesoftware,butrelyingonopentoolsforreproducibleworkflowshelpsresearchersmaketheirscience transparent and freely accessible to otherpeople.

How do you incorporate open-source software in your research? Istudycomputationalcognitivescience,withafocusonmeta-reasoning(thinkingabouthowotherpeoplethinkaboutproblems)andmentalsimulations.Myresearchinvolvesbuildingmathematicalmodels,writing simulations, running experiments, andanalyzing data. All of these steps involve writinglargeamountsof code,which I spendmostof mytimedoing.Opentoolsareimportantforallaspectsof my research because they easily allow others toaccess my research and to run the models I havedeveloped without having to depend on expensivesoftware. It also allows others to make their ownpersonalcontributionstomyprojects–forexample,

Alarming statistics about the lack of reproducibility of research findings in psychology and neuroscience have inspired many Open Science initiatives focused on developing tools and promoting practices that can lead to more transparent and reproducible science. We spoke with two Open Science advocates within the Department about their important contributions to help improve research practices.

Jessica Hamrick: Open-Source Software DevelopmentJessica Hamrick is a Ph.D. candidate in Tom Griffiths’s Computational Cognitive Science Lab. She

is a core contributor to the Jupyter project and lead maintainer of nbgrader and nbflow, as well as an occasional contributor to several other open-source projects. She is passionate about

developing open source software that facilitates reproducible workflows and helps improve scientific education.

byfindingandnotifyingmeaboutbugs(allsoftwarehasbugs)andperhapsevendevelopingafixforit. Using Jupyter (IPython) Notebooks, ascientificenvironmentdevelopedbypeoplehereatBerkeley,hasparticularlytransformedhowIanalyzedata.WhenIstartedgradschool, Imadeanefforttousethesenotebooksformyresearch.Eventually,Ialsostartedcontributingbackto theproject.Theformat of the notebooks allows you to do dataanalysisinanorganized,flexible,andinteractiveway.There are several features that help you documentyouranalysisdecisionsneatly,andhavingtheoutputrightnext to the codemakes it easy tounderstandexactlyhowtheresultswerecomputed.Ihavealsodevelopedatool(nbflow)thatsupportsone-buttonreproducibleworkflowswiththeJupyterNotebookandScons.

Do you have any advice to offer “non-programmers” who want to use open tools in their research? Althoughitmaybeintimidatingatfirst, it isworth investing the time to learn basic computingskills that can help automate your workflow, forexample by learning program languages suchas Python. There are several resources here oncampusthatareavailabletostudents,postdocs,andoccasionallyalsotoalumni.

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Can you tell us about your book, “The Practice

of Reproducible Research”?

At the BerkeleyInstitute for Data Science,

I am involved in the reproducibility and openscienceworkinggroup.Oneof theprojectsthatIwasinvolvedinendedinabooklaunch.Thebookcontains 31 case studies of reproducible researchworkflows written by a community of scientistsfromdifferentdisciplinesandinstitutions,includingUC Berkeley, University of Washington eScienceInstitute, and NYU. Each case study describesspecifictools,ideas,andpracticesthattheauthorsused to make their research as reproducible aspossible.Therearemanyexamplesthatcanbeuseddirectlybysomeoneinpsychologyandneuroscience,andcouldeveninspirewholelabstoadoptvariouspracticesforcreatingcontinuityintheirresearch. Theonlineversionof thebookisavailableonline (www.practicereproducibleresearch.org),andthebookwillbepublishedinprintformbyUCPressin2017.

What inspired you to pursue teaching, and how does that fit into Open Science initiatives? Icomefromacomputersciencebackground,andwhenIentered thefield, Iwas fascinatedbyalltheexcitingresearchincognitiveneuroscience.With time, it became disheartening to realizethat so many of the traditional findings are notreproducible.Thatmademewonderhowwecould

becomemore critical aboutourfindings andmoreopenabouthowwehandledata.Teachingisoneof mypassions,anditisapowerfulwaytohelppeopledevelopcritical thinking skills and show themhowtheycanadoptpracticesthatincreasereproducibility. Previously, I was involved in softwarecarpentry workshops that helped scientists withlimitedcomputerbackgroundstolearnthebasicsof scientificcomputing.Thisallowedthemtoautomatetheir workflow with precise protocols, which canmakeahugedifferenceforreproducibility.WhentheFoundationsof DataScienceCoursestartedatUCBerkeley,Iimmediatelywantedtoteachacoursethatcombines data science and cognitive neuroscience,so I initiated the Data Science for CognitiveNeurosciencecourse.Inthiscourse,undergradsfromdifferentdepartmentsusethePythonprogramminglanguagetoapplymajorconceptsindataanalysistovariousresearchquestionsincognitiveneuroscience.Our aim is for students to gain an intuition abouttheconcepts,learntechnicalskillsalongtheway,andmostimportantlylearntothinkcriticallyaboutdata.Afterall,believingfalseclaimscouldbeasharmfulasactuallycreatingfalsefindings.

What is something you would like your students to take away from your course? Science is something you learn by doingeverystep.Weshouldnotbeafraidof beingwronginwritingcodeorexpressingourideasandtheories.Mistakescreateroomfordevelopment.Weshouldbeopen in everything:ourworkflow,data,publishing,butevenmoresoweshouldbeopeninourthinking.

Fatma Deniz: Open Science EducationFatma Deniz, Ph.D., is a joint postdoctoral researcher in the Gallant Lab and the International

Computer Science Institute, as well as a BIDS Data Science Fellow. She is committed to teaching reproducible research practices and scientific thinking at all stages of training.

She is the co-editor of a recent book, “The Practice of Reproducible Research”, and an instructor of the undergraduate course Data Science for Cognitive Neuroscience.

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How did you become interested in psychology? I started my undergraduate studies majoringin biomedical engineering with the plan to become asurgeon. Duringmy sophomore year of college, whiletaking organic chemistry, I was really stressed out andwasnothavingfunwiththework.Istartedtofeelasif Iwasonlyonthispathbecauseitwouldleadtomakingalotof money.Ihadaconversationwithmymomaboutmy concerns and she encouragedmeby saying thatbygettingintoagreatschool,IearnedtheopportunitytodowhateverIwanted,andthemoneywouldcome.ThenIrememberedanexperiencefromhighschool:Ioncereadmy older brother’s psychology textbook cover-to-coverfor fun, which I never do. Inspired bymy recollectionof my love for psychology, I switched to majoring inpsychology, economics, and African American studies.The intersection between these three fields was bothfulfillingandfascinating,andIneverturnedback.

Tell us about a scientist who has had a big influence on you. Dr. Jennifer Richeson had the most profoundimpact on me. She guided me into social psychologyspecifically. Originally, I was considering becoming aclinical psychologist, developmental psychologist, ora social psychologist.While participating in a summerresearch program as an undergraduate, I had an ideathat if you gave people a test, like the ACT or SAT,peoplewouldperformdifferentlyif theyhadansweredabouttheirraceorgenderbeforethetest,versusafter.IsharedmyideawithJennifer,andshesmiledandreplied,“There’s this guy, Claude Steele, who did that exactresearchsomeyearsago.”Iwas,of course,embarrassed,butshevalidatedthatitwasagreatideaandsuggestedIjoinherlabtolearnmore. Unbeknownsttomeatthetime,Jenniferwasarockstarof psychologyandscience.Iworkedforherforthenexttwoyearsasaresearchassistant,learningmoreabout socialpsychology,howtoconduct research,andhowtousesocialpsychologyasawaytodiscoverhowweinteractwiththesocietyaroundus.Everystepalongtheway Jennifer has been supportive andhelpful. Shehasbeenmygreatestmentorandadvocate.

Can you tell us more about what you’ve been working on recently? I’ve been working with UC Berkeley graduatestudentsonavarietyof projects.Onehaslookedatthetwo-strikesbiasthatexistsinteacher-studentrelationshipsandislookingtoseeif theprincipal-studentrelationshipcanalsobetaintedbysomeformof racialbias.We’vealso been looking at which elements of an empathyinterventioncanoffsettheeffectsof thatbias.

What kinds of methods do you use? Iuseamixed-methodsapproachbecauseIoftenlook at longitudinal data to study relationships thatchangeover time,bothwith lab studies andwithfield

Q&A With New Faculty Member Jason Okonofua By: Amanda Perez-Ceballos

As the Psychology Department’s newest Social-Personality faculty member, Professor Jason Okonofua talks with us

about his research, both current and future.

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experiments or interventionwork.Notably, I completemy research outside of the physical lab space, so by“lab study” I actually mean an online experiment thatis structured like a highly controlled lab experiment;however, these experiments are completed with actualpractitionersacrossthecountry.

In your work, you’ve researched a phenomenon called the Black Escalation Effect. Can you tell us what this is? TheBlackEscalationEffect refers to situationsinwhichadisciplinarianrespondswithincreasingnegativity to repeatedtransgressions by aBlack student, comparedto a White student.This effect occurs inthe context of schooldiscipline when studentsrepeatedly misbehave inthe classroom. If thatstudentisBlack,thereisasharperincreaseinnegativeresponsestothatstudentascomparedtoif thatstudentwereWhite.Todetermineif thisisthecasenationally,wehavelookedatpublicdataonsuspensionratesthroughoutthecountry.We’vefoundthatthisescalationeffectlikelyoccursinmanycontexts,notjustincasesof schooldiscipline.

Through your research, what have you found to help mitigate this effect? Empathycanbeapowerfulforcetomitigatetheescalation effect. The escalation effect and likelihoodof holdingracially stigmatizingviewsaboutaperson isincreasedby theprocessof labeling, suchasby callinga student a troublemaker. Inmywork, I focus on thatlabeling process and what happens when someoneis labeled. I’ve found that encouraging a mindset of empathyandperspective-takingcanhelppeopleexpandtheir image of someone beyond a mere label, whichincreases the likelihood of treating others equitably.

That’s a solution that I’ve been finding inmy researchandonethatIhopetofurtherinvestigateinthefuture.

Where else do you see your research going in the future? I’mlookingintoreachingouttolargerpopulationsof students, teachers, and principals. I also want todetermine the efficacy of my empathy intervention inadditionalschoolsettings. Moreover, I am considering other domainswhere similar processes are likely to exist and may

be addressable withsimilar interventions.For example, I’mcurrently looking at anintervention targetingways to ease youthoffenders’ transitionback into school. I’malso aiming to conductinterventions and fieldworkinadultprisonstolookattherelationships

betweenprisonersandprisonguardsandhowempathyinthoserelationshipsmayimproveboththeprisoners’andtheprisonguards’outcomes.

What do you like to do outside of work? I watch an incredible amount of films. I lovewatching Netflix TV shows because they’re similar tofilmsand last far longer. Ihaveadaughteron theway,andIenjoythinkingabouther;IamsureIwillsoonenjoyplayingwithher.

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“A mindset of empathy and perspective-taking can help people expand their image of someone beyond a mere label, which increases the likelihood of treating others equitably.”

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PsychologiCAL3210 Tolman HallDepartment of PsychologyUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeley, CA 94720-1650

Editor-In-Chief

Jennifer Pearlstein

Layout EditorAmanda Wang

Faculty EditorSilvia Bunge

ContributorsAmanda Perez-Ceballos

Belén Guerra-CarrilloMariel Goddu

Email submissions andsubscription requests to

calpsychnews@gmail.com or mail

them to:

PsychologiCAL3210 Tolman Hall

PsychologiCAL SPRING 2017

Support the Psychology Department as an inaugural member of the

Charter Hill Society for PsychologyThe upcoming 2017-2018 academic year will be the inaugural year of the Charter Hill Society for Psychology, modeled from a successful program in the College of Letters & Sciences. Members will make a three-year pledge to the Psychology Department’s annual fund ($1,000-$25,000 per year). Gifts directly support the students and faculty of Berkeley Psychology, and can be made annually or monthly.

Members will be invited to special programming for Psychology, as well as to events with Charter Hill members from around the College. Recent lectures and events have included faculty, Nobel Laureates, and leading figures in sports, government, and entertainment.

To become a member of the Charter Hill Society, make a three-year recurring commit-ment at tinyurl.com/GiveBerkeleyPsych. (One-time gifts can also be made.)

For more information or questions, contact Christian Gordon:cmgordon@berkeley.edu | 707-673-3461