Wednesday, September 17, 2003
3:30 - 4:30 pm
Room LA3 106

Psychoneuroimmunology:  Implications of Mind-Body Interactions for Behavior and Health

Presenter:
Julienne Bower, Ph.D.
UCLA

Summary:
Dr. Bower's research examines how psychological processes such as coping, mood, and behavior
influence, and are influenced by, the immune system.  Her talk will consider how psychological
responses to stressful life events may impact the immune system and health, focusing on positive
psychological states such as finding meaning from the stressful experience.  In addition, she will
discuss how alterations in immune status can influence psychological well-being, leading to symptoms
of fatigue, depression, and other sickness behaviors. 

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Wednesday, October 1, 2003
3:30 - 4:30 pm
Room LA3 106

Hardiness:  The Key to Resiliency

Presenter:    
Salvatore Maddi, PhD
UCI

Summary: 
Resiliency is the fact of surviving and thriving under stressful, disadvantageous circumstances. 
It is important to understand what produces resiliency, especially now that the world is
experiencing an increasing rate of disruptive change that qualifies as turbulence.  The key to 
being resilient is hardiness, which is a particular pattern of attitudes and skills that gives you
the strategy with which to turn adversity into opportunity, and the courage to carry this out
despite the risks.  Discovered more than 20 years ago, hardiness is by now supported by
hundreds of studies showing that it underlies resiliency under stress.  The measurement and
training of hardiness will also be discussed.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
3:30 - 4:30 pm
Room LA3 106

The Long-Term Effects of a Terrorist Attack on the General Public:
Restoring Adaptive Assumptions After September 11th

Presenter:    
Suzanne Thompson, PhD
Pomona College

Summary:
How did the 2001 terrorist attacks affect the general public who were not directly
involved in the attacks?  Are the attacks still influencing the general public even if they
do not live in the NY or DC area?  What has helped people to restore their sense
of safety?  These questions were examined through interviews with 501 U.S. residents
in the second year following the terrorist attacks.

 

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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
3:30 - 4:30 pm
Room LA3 106

First Language Effects on ESL Language Processing Skills

Presenter:    
Michael Fender, PhD
CSULB Linguistics

Summary:
This talk examines how first language processing skills interact with and shape the
development of ESL language processing skills. Four groups of ESL learners that
included Japanese, Korean, Arabic & Chinese native speakers participated in a
lexical decision task and an on-line sentence reading task with English materials.
The results suggest that the first language literacy and language experience of these
ESL groups shapes and influences the development of corresponding ESL word
recognition and word integration skills.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2003
11:00 - 12:00 noon  TIME CHANGE!
Room PSY 236  Room Change!

The North American Polygraph as Entrails Reading: Lay, Legal, and Scientific Reactions

Presenter:    
John Furedy, PhD
University of Toronto

Summary:
An extensive handout provides details on the reasons why variants of the "Control" Question "Test"
polygraph widely used in North America are akin to entrails reading in ancient Rome.  During the
session I shall comment on the reactions of the lay, legal, and scientific North American communities. 
My claim (to be examined by the audience) is that these reactions are surprisingly homogeneous in the
failures to recognize basic distinctions such as that between a standardized psychological test and an
interview, or that between detection and interrogation.