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Fall 2024

Psychology

sun over a city skyline
Fall 2024

Feeling hot triggers impulsive behavior and irritability

Heat blanketed Chicago during the summer of 2022, with hot, sticky days followed by sweltering nights.

In the nation’s third-largest metro area, about 400 residents tracked their moods during a summer when temperatures hit 100 degrees by mid-June. Were they feeling cranky? Acting impulsively? Lashing out verbally? Yes, yes, and yes, according to survey results.

When people were uncomfortably hot in their homes, they reported increases in impulsive behavior. In neighborhoods with lower-income households and less tree canopy, residents also noticed being easily angered and verbally aggressive.

The research was conducted by Kimberly Meidenbauer, an assistant professor in Washington … » More …

Grand Theft Auto 5 screenshot of man looking at two women in short skirts
Fall 2019

The evidence that video game violence leads to real-world aggression

A 2018 meta-analysis found that there is a small increase in real-world physical aggression among adolescents and pre-teens who play violent video games. Led by Jay Hull, a social psychologist at Dartmouth College, the study team pooled data from 24 previous studies in an attempt to avoid some of the problems that have made the question of a connection between gaming and aggression controversial.

Many previous studies, according to a story in Scientific American, have been criticized by “a small but vocal cadre of researchers [who] have argued much of the work implicating video games has serious flaws in that, among other things, it measures … » More …

Tri-Cities psychology students
Summer 2019

WSU Tri-Cities students explore homelessness

Eyes were opened and hearts touched as students in a Washington State University Tri‑Cities psychology statistics course recently worked with homeless people at Tri‑City Union Gospel Mission.

Each semester, Janet Peters, clinical assistant professor of psychology, has her students work with a local service-based organization to provide them with real-world experience.

Read more at the WSU Tri-Cities website.