Psychology

  • Trump administration axes more than $125M in LGBTQ health funding, upending research field

    Trump administration axes more than $125M in LGBTQ health funding, upending research field

    Amid the prospect of both gay and trans people’s erasure from the nation’s research priorities, 30 editors of leading journals that focus on sex and gender research published an editorial last month in The Journal of Sex Research on this work’s importance, NBC reported. UC Santa Cruz Psychology Professor Phillip Hammack coauthored the editorial in his role…

  • The problem with dating? Your standards might be too high.

    The problem with dating? Your standards might be too high.

    Campbell Leaper, a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz commented on how dating expectations can clash with shifting gender norms and increased levels of education and employment for women. “A lot of these men who are not going on to college are often having trouble finding jobs and then resenting…

  • Why You Can’t Get That Song Out of Your Head

    Why You Can’t Get That Song Out of Your Head

    Scientific American spoke with UC Santa Cruz Psychology Professor Nick Davidenko and Ph.D. student Matt Evans about “earworms,” the types of songs that get stuck in your head and play automatically on a loop. Davidenko and Evans have studied earworms together, finding that when people sing out their earworms, they have a remarkable ability to perfectly match…

  • Exploring gender roles in 2024, from ‘girlboss’ to ‘trad wife’

    Exploring gender roles in 2024, from ‘girlboss’ to ‘trad wife’

    UC Santa Cruz gender and sexual identity diversity expert Dr. Phillip Hammack joined Detroit Public Radio to discuss how gender roles have shifted in the past decade. Hammack said that new labels popularized on social media show that "ideas around how to be a woman, how to inhabit your gender, have now opened up, and…

  • Georgia prison system engages in deception as crisis builds

    Georgia prison system engages in deception as crisis builds

    A leading expert on prison conditions and solitary confinement, Craig Haney, was brought in to study the unit, and he described the SMU as "one of the harshest and most draconian" solitary confinement facilities he had ever seen. … "The atmosphere inside E Wing was bedlam-like, as chaotic and out of-control as any such unit…

  • Enter the ‘ether,’ where scammers weaponize your emotions

    Enter the ‘ether,’ where scammers weaponize your emotions

    Anthony Pratkanis, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, co-wrote a source book for fraud fighters. “We’re looking at it from the outside, and we may not see all the little details and trappings that create that powerful situation for the targeted victim,” he said.

  • Two WA men were arrested in mental health crises. Only one survived

    Two WA men were arrested in mental health crises. Only one survived

    Across the country, jails have become “the default placement” for people in mental crisis, said Craig Haney, a University of California, Santa Cruz, psychology professor. “In worst-case scenarios, that can have fatal consequences,” because mentally ill people “oftentimes react badly to the oppressive nature” of jail environments, Haney said.

  • You Might Have Perfect Pitch And Not Even Know It, Study Suggests

    You Might Have Perfect Pitch And Not Even Know It, Study Suggests

    “What this shows is that a surprisingly large portion of the population has a type of automatic, hidden ‘perfect pitch’ ability,” said Matt Evans, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz who led the study, alongside Psychology Profesor Nicolas Davidenko. Forbes also featured this study in their daily news quiz.

  • You can (probably) sing better than you think

    You can (probably) sing better than you think

    Popular Science covered research by cognitive science Ph.D. Candidate Matt Evans and Psychology Professor Nicholas Davidenko that shows a surprisingly large portion of the population has a type of automatic, hidden 'perfect pitch' ability. Additional coverage in Earth, Cosmos, and Yahoo News.

  • Harsh Florida law sees more Black kids tried as adults than white kids

    Harsh Florida law sees more Black kids tried as adults than white kids

    The Miami Herald interviewed Psychology Professor Craig Haney about the possible impacts of a Florida law that has seen more juveniles tried as adults. “For young people who are in the process of development and haven’t fully learned social skills … this is an experience that damages their maturation,” Haney said.

  • What we know about the shooting of an Uber driver in Ohio and the scam surrounding it

    What we know about the shooting of an Uber driver in Ohio and the scam surrounding it

    Anthony Pratkanis, an emeritus psychology professor, spoke to the Associated Press about the increasing prevalence of so-called "grandparent scams" in the past decade and explained how these scams typically work. 

  • Confirmation Bias In Policing And The American Nightmare

    Confirmation Bias In Policing And The American Nightmare

    Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Haney joined KALW radio show Your Legal Rights for a discussion of confirmation bias in prosecution. 

Last modified: Apr 22, 2025