The psychology of smartphones, movies, music, and AI to be featured at APS Convention

How do smartphones affect our relationships? How do filmmakers adapt movies to take advantage of our capacity for vision, hearing and memory? How can public policies encourage people to take better care of themselves? Some of the world’s leading scientists will share the latest findings surrounding these and other questions as they gather for the 31st Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). The event will be held May 23-26 in Washington, DC.

The APS convention draws thousands of scientists and student researchers each year to share discoveries related to human behavior, brain functioning, emotion, and much more. The event includes free registration for credentialed journalists.

The prime convention programming will focus on the psychological factors underlying creativity in filmmaking, music composition, and other arts; cognitive and cultural processes that distinguish humans from great apes; strategies aimed at encouraging people to get vaccinated, rise above prejudices, and adopt healthy eating and exercise habits; and the role that psychological scientists are playing in advancing artificial intelligence.

Among the featured speakers at this year’s convention are:

• Michael Tomasello, a Guggenheim Fellow who studies the cognitive differences between humans and other primates;

• Betsy Levy Paluck, a MacArthur Fellow who studies the use of social norms to mitigate violence and intolerance;

• Jeffrey Zacks, a cognitive psychologist and author of the book “Flicker: Your Brain on Movies;”

• Jonathan Berger, a Guggenheim Fellow and world-renowned musical composer and researcher; and

• Carol Dweck, a leading expert in motivation and achievement and author of the book “Mindset.”

The full convention program is available online at http://www.psychologicalscience.org/conventions/annual. Journalists interested in attending the event can contact Scott Sleek at [email protected] to register.

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The Association for Psychological Science (APS) is the leading international organization dedicated to advancing scientific psychology across disciplinary and geographic borders. See all of our latest research news at http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news.