red white and black labeled box

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In: 02. Research Methods, 05. Attitudes, Behavior, & Persuasion, 11. Social Psychology, Intro to Psych, Principles of Social Psych

Unnamed researchers at the University of Zurich created 34 false Reddit accounts that represented diverse demographics, such as “a male rape survivor, a trauma counselor, and a Black person who disagreed with the Black Lives Matter movement” (O’Grady, 2025, p. 570). From these accounts, the researchers posted AI-generated content in the changemyview subreddit. Their hypothesis was that if AI used information about the person who originally posted their point of view, AI could create a more persuasive argument. After 1,500 posts over four months, the researchers reported that their AI-generated posts resulted in more deltas, which are what readers give for posts that were influentialRead More →

close up shot of a toddlers feet

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In: 02. Research Methods, Intro to Psych

In Agnes, a comic strip by Tony Cochran, the protagonist is an eccentric little girl who lives with her grandmother and who often shares her quirky ideas with her best friend, a girl nicknamed Trout. In the May 17, 2025 strip, Agnes is sitting on the floor of her classroom with her shoes off. When asked to get back into her seat, Agnes explains that she was just “giving the toes a bit of the old ‘tug-a-roo’ because doing so “aids cognition and promotes relaxation.” The last panel is a common one for Agnes—she is visiting the principal’s office. In Intro Psych, after covering experimentsRead More →

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In: 02. Research Methods, 05. Consciousness, 06. Development, 07. Learning, 10. Emotions & Motivation, 11. Social Psychology, Intro to Psych

In this New York Times article (gifted to you), the writer Frances Dodds tells us the tragic story of how her sister’s four children came to live with the writer’s parents, the children’s grandparents (Dodds, 2025). Grandparents being responsible for raising their grandchildren is not an unusual occurrence. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2023, 2.1 million grandparents were doing so. With very little effort, I can think of many “grandfamilies” I currently know or have known, including neighbors, my extended family, colleagues, and students. In my teaching and writing, I try to honor such families by referring to caregivers rather than parents. WhenRead More →