Women who engage in “fat talk”—the self-disparaging remarks girls and women make in relation to eating, exercise or their bodies—are less liked by their peers, a new study from the University of Notre Dame finds.

Led by Alexandra Corning, research associate professor of psychology and director of Notre Dame’s Body Image and Eating Disorder Lab, the study was presented recently at the Midwestern Psychological Read More

The National Science Foundation recently announced the winners of the 2013 Graduate Research Fellowship Program, with nine current Notre Dame students winning the prestigious award—including three psychology students from the College of Arts and Letters—and another nine earning honorable mention. This year’s nine winners equal the total number of winners from Notre Dame over the last seven years combined. Read More

Concrete objects—such as toys, tiles, and blocks—that students can touch and move around, called manipulatives, have been used to teach basic math skills since the 1980s. Use of manipulatives is based on the long-held belief that young children’s thinking is strictly concrete in nature, so concrete objects are assumed to help them learn math concepts. However, new research from the University of Notre Dame suggests that not all Read More

Mallory Meter, a psychology major from Beverly Hills, Mich., has been named valedictorian of the 2013 University of Notre Dame graduating class and will present the valedictory address during the University Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 19 at Notre Dame Stadium.

Meter, who has achieved continuous Dean’s List honors each semester, currently has earned a 4.0 cumulative grade point average. Read More

According to a new study from the University of Notre Dame, a particular style of thinking that makes people vulnerable to depression actually can be “contagious” to others and increase their symptoms of depression six months later. The study, conducted by Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gerald Haeffel and former Notre Dame undergraduate student Jennifer Hames ’09, is published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science. Read More

Mothers who have experienced childhood abuse, neglect or other traumatic experiences show an unwillingness to talk with their children about the child’s emotional experiences, a new study from the University of Notre Dame shows.

According to the study, which was presented at the Society for Research in Child Development 2013 Biennial Meeting in Seattle, a sample of low-income mothers who had experienced their own childhood traumas exhibited ongoing “traumatic avoidance symptoms,” Read More

Catherine Reidy, a University of Notre Dame senior majoring in psychology with a minor in anthropology, has been awarded a Clarendon Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford. Reidy, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, will use the scholarship to study for her master’s degree in African Studies starting in October.

The highly selective scholarship awards full tuition, Read More

University of Notre Dame senior Taylor Thomas says she chose to major in psychology because it can help bring order to things that seem incomprehensible. “I’m interested in the ways we can explain systematically the very chaotic aspects of life.” In pursuing this interest, Thomas spent last summer studying how mothers who have experienced trauma engage their children in conversation. Read More

When tragedies strike, how do we recover? Last summer, senior psychology major Benjamin Pfeifer moved closer to an answer, thanks to a research grant from the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters.

Administered by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, UROP supports Arts and Read More

Social practices and cultural beliefs of modern life are preventing healthy brain and emotional development in children, according to an interdisciplinary body of research presented recently at a symposium at the University of Notre Dame.

“Life outcomes for American youth are worsening, especially in comparison to 50 years ago,” says Read More