Society & Psychology

Simply Stated: Do we really have free will?

When you decided to read the Science & Tech section of the Daily Nexus today, was it really a choice? Or is this action, and every action you have ever taken, predetermined? Hard determinists woul...
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Simply Stated: Curious about curiosity? Why do we seek answers?

Curiosity, the trait concerning an individual’s propensity to seek new information, is highly variable. How does it shape the lifelong journey of learning? Is it university students' best learning a...
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I feel, therefore I am: Leading neuroscientist António Damásio speaks on human consciousness

“I think, therefore I am.” Many of us are familiar with the Cartesian notion of the thinking nature of consciousness. René Descartes, it turns out, was wrong. That's according to António Damás...
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Can we slow our biological clocks? Cynthia Kenyon lectures on the molecular components of aging at Corwin Pavilion

Cynthia Kenyon, vice president of aging research at Calico Life Sciences and director of University of California, San Francisco’s Larry L. Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging,  presented her ...
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We get by with a little help from our weak social ties: A UCSB PhD student’s insight on recent social portfolio study from Harvard researchers

For UC Santa Barbara students struggling to make and maintain meaningful connections, a recent study examining the link between social networks and psychological well-being may provide some much-neede...
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Black History Month: Contributions to Science

Timeline:  1864:  Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. She later writes one of the earliest medical books published by an African Ame...
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Psychological & brain sciences department assesses predictors of blame for gay men in homicide cases

Elizabeth Quinn-Jensen, a graduate student and researcher in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, and colleagues recently published a paper exploring how strong feelings...
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When the Data Lies: The Consequences of Racial Bias In Research and Algorithms

When data itself is skewed, how do the findings themselves — or even policies and outcomes — get affected by such biases? 
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UCSB Professor Urges Centrality of Women in Biomedical Research

Emily Jacobs gave a lecture last week in the library entitled, “The Uncharted Mind — The Scientific Body of Knowledge: Whose Body Does it Serve?”
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River Flows Across You: Game Theory in the Harirud Basin

The Harirud flows west from the snow-capped peaks of the Hindu Kush. From this origin, the river traverses Afghanistan, Iran and Turkmenistan.
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The Psychological Science Behind Pseudoscience

How do pseudoscientific beliefs, as they are called, spread and come to be accepted by many as fact? 
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Tracing the Pandemics of California Past

One of the most devastating impacts to arise from the Spanish colonial system emerged in the form of disease.
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Researchers Study PTSD-related Symptoms Among LGBTQ Latinx Immigrants

Researchers discovered that not even high levels of social support insulated SGM Latinx immigrants from developing symptoms. 
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UCSB Researchers Study “Collective Intelligence” In Effort to Understand Why Some Groups Fly While Others Flounder

Kim and her collaborators carried out a meta-analysis on 22 studies evaluating collective intelligence in 1,356 groups and 5,279 individuals. 
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Thinking Ahead: How Do UCSB Students Feel About Climate Change?

Julia Fine worked alongside an array of collaborators to better understand how UCSB students relate to the climate crisis.
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