psychology

The science of fear

Feelings of fear “often have to do with uncertainty,” says Northeastern’s Lisa Feldman Barrett, “particularly uncertainty around whether something is alive or not.” Take a…

by News@Northeastern November 1, 2016

The science of being scared

In tomorrow’s edition, we’ll take you inside a haunted house and talk with a faculty expert about the science of being scared.

by News@Northeastern October 31, 2016

Comfort dogs bring healing in times of tragedy

Twelve golden retrievers recently arrived in Orlando to bring comfort to the survivors and those grieving after the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse. Here, Northeastern’s Lisa Feldman Barrett, who specializes in the psychology of emotion, explains how dogs help bring our nervous systems back into balance and, at least temporarily, make us feel safe.

by Thea Singer June 23, 2016

January 26, 2012 - Lisa Feldman Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory. Dr. BarrettÕs research focuses on the nature of emotion from both psychological and neuroscience perspectives, and takes inspiration from anthropology, philosophy, and linguistics. Her lab takes an interdisciplinary perspective approach, and incorporates methods from social, clinical, and personality psychology, psychophysiology, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, and visual cognition.

Failure to reproduce results is ‘a normal part of how science works’

Lisa Feldman Barrett, University Distinguished Professor of Psychology, says that there is “not a cause for alarm” after a new paper revealed that many psychology studies’ results could not be replicated.

by Thea Singer September 10, 2015

3Qs: How we feel what we feel

Lisa Feldman Barrett, University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern, explains why misconceptions about emotion persist, how our emotional brains change as we age, and the role of context in what we feel.

by Thea Singer August 10, 2015

The thinking behind gender stereotypes

Adults and children hold equally stereotypical views about gender, according to new research from associate professor of psychology John Coley’s lab.

by Angela Herring August 4, 2014

3Qs: Listen to the words

Joanne Miller, Matthews Distinguished University Professor and chair of Northeastern’s Department of Psychology, was recently recognized for her pioneering research on human language processing in the field of speech perception.

by Angela Herring June 3, 2014

3Qs: Gender balance in biomedical research

A new policy from the National Institutes of Health will require all biomedical research funded by the NIH to be gender balanced. Here, Rebecca Shanksy, an assistant professor of psychology whose research is focused in this space, discusses the implications of the decision.

by Angela Herring May 29, 2014

A biological engine for human language

New research out of Northeastern psychology professor Iris Berent’s lab suggests that humans’ capacity for creating language is encoded in our brains as a universal set of rules.

by Angela Herring April 17, 2014

Give thanks, and prosper

In new a paper, Northeastern psychology researchers challenge long-held beliefs about patience by showing that cultivating gratitude can promote impulse control—which many previous studies have linked to better long-term outcomes.

by Angela Herring March 31, 2014