COVID-19 Psychological Science Updates
We recognize that these are unprecedented circumstances that require significant flexibility, grace, and compassion. The Department of Psychological Science is committed to ensuring that all students have the support to succeed in this environment. Our understanding of human behavior, and how we, and others, use evidence to critically inform our understanding of the world around us has perhaps never been so important as it is today. We are re-imagining how we teach, and how we could teach. And this work is well underway. Our faculty, staff, and students have responded to the challenge with dedication and creativity. We are energized by the chance to keep interacting with you, and to rethink how we can learn together.
This is a deeply challenging moment for all of us. While each one of us is experiencing the challenges of this moment in a unique way, we hope we can all be there for each other as a community of supportive faculty, students, and staff. If you have personal concerns, questions, or ideas, we want to hear from you.
Please consider reaching out to us in one of these ways:
- First, you are always welcome to contact individual faculty directly. We are all ready to listen, to be flexible, and to help whenever we can.
- Second, the student liaisons would love to hear from you, and they are ready to relay your concerns to the faculty (anonymously if you prefer). Our student liaisons are Tanya Shah, Zane Chung-Mehdi, Ananya Saluja and Cogie Celzo.
- And third, we’ve established a department support line for the pandemic, where you can share any concerns or ideas, of any kind, that you’d like the faculty to be aware of. The support line also serves as a channel where you can raise personal issues, that for any reason you may not feel comfortable raising via other means. A subcommittee of three faculty (Eric Hurley, Pat Smiley, and Shlomi Sher), have been charged with advocating for compassion and fairness, and will jointly review requests for individualized consideration and/or accommodations. Personal matters will be kept confidential, and issues raised will be handled discreetly or brought to the larger department faculty as appropriate (depending on student request).
***To contact the subcommittee via the support line, just click on the email link here: PsychSciSupportLine
National Academies and NSF Launch New Network of Social and Behavioral Scientists to Inform National Pandemic Response
In late April, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the National Science Foundation announced the formation of a Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) to connect social and behavioral science researchers with decision-makers who are leading the response to COVID-19. SEAN will respond to the most pressing social, behavioral, and economic questions that are being asked by federal, state, and local officials by working with appropriate experts to quickly provide actionable answers. The new network recently launched a weekly archive of freely-accessible probability-based survey data and reports measuring public attitudes, behavior, and experiences related to the pandemic.
Resources for Coping During COVID
- Check out this Resource Guide created by the Department of Psychological Sciences
- Check out Happy Habits for Hard Times-- a website with fun modules on coping skills!
- Watch Meaning & Purpose-- a webinar with tips on feeling less overwhelmed during COVID crisis.
- Watch this 12 minute youtube video with tips on coping--utilizing techniques from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).