APA?s Science Directorate funds three cutting-edge conferences

Michigan, Penn State and UC?Irvine host conferences to advance psychological research.

By Beth Azar
Monitor staff

Learning and memory, statistical methods for analyzing change and the psychology of the 'mere' will be topics tackled by three cutting-edge conferences funded this year by APA?s Science Directorate.

The Science Directorate?s scientific conferences program provides $500 to $20,000 in matching funds for research conferences that promise to contribute to and advance an area of psychological research.

A conference review committee of six research psychologists makes funding recommendations to the Science Directorate. The directorate funds as many of the recommended applications as funds allow.

This last round of funding went to two Festschrifts and one stand-alone conference:

? The University of Michigan will host a Festschrift for Robert B. Zajonc, PhD, May 15?17. Zajonc, a pioneer of cognitive social psychology, spent more than 40 years of his research career at the University of Michigan and is now professor of psychology at Stanford University. New York University psychologist John Bargh, PhD, organized and procured funding for the conference.

Speakers whose scientific careers have been influenced by Zajonc will discuss their latest research in the areas of social perception, stereotyping and prejudice, interpersonal relationships, motivation, and emotion and group processes.

The themes linking the talks include conscious versus nonconscious cognition; the interface between affect and cognitive processing; and the extent to which conscious thought mediates emotions and other psychological states, such as motivation and perception. Speakers will include Jerome Bruner, PhD, of New York University; Susan Fiske, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts; Nico Frijda, PhD, of the University of Amsterdam; Hazel Markus, PhD, of Stanford University; Richard Moreland, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh; and Claude Steele, PhD, of Stanford University.

? The Pennsylvania State University will host a conference on methods for the measurement of change Oct. 8?11.

The conference will address state-of-the-art statistical methodology for measuring dynamic processes that change over time, such as outcome measures in intervention studies and personality and other psychological factors that change with age. In particular, it will address advances in statistical techniques such as individual growth curve analysis, hierarchical linear modeling, nonlinear time series and multiple imputation of missing data.

Speakers will include Bengt Muthen, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, Stephen Raudenbush, EdD, University of Michigan, Steven Boker, PhD, of the University of Notre Dame, and John Schafer, PhD, of Penn State University. The conference is organized by Penn State psychologists Aline Sayer, PhD, and Linda Collins, PhD.

? The University of California at Irvine will host a Festschrift for James L. McGaugh, PhD, Nov. 6?7. McGaugh has played a major role in shaping research on learning and memory during his 40-year academic career. The conference immediately precedes the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

The conference will detail McGaugh?s contributions to researchers? understanding of learning and memory as it has developed over the past 40 years. The group of international speakers will include conference organizers William T. Greenough, PhD, of the University of Illinois, and Paul Gold, PhD, of the University of Virginia, as well as Mark Rosenzweig, PhD, of the University of California at Berkeley.Y

To apply to the Science Directorate?s scientific conference program, contact the directorate at the APA address, (202) 336-6000 or e-mail. Or visit the scientific conferences web page at http://www.apa.org/science/confer.html.

The deadlines are June 1 and Dec. 1 each year for conferences that will occur within a year after the funding decision.

1998 APA Science Directorate?sponsored conferences

May 15?17, 'Festschrift for Robert B. Zajonc, PhD,' University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Contact: Deborah Apsley, (313) 647-3924.

Oct. 8?11, 'New methods for the analysis of change,' The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA. Contact: Tina Meyers, (814) 865-3253.

Nov. 6?7, 'Festschrift for James L. McGaugh, PhD,' University of California at Irvine. Contact: Paul Gold, PhD, (804) 924-0685; or William Greenough, PhD, (217) 333-4472.