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The most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings place UC Davis #6 among public universities and #11 among undergraduate Psychology programs in the nation. For details, please read the press release: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-rises-6th-among-nations-top-public-universities

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Dean Keith Simonton has been honored with the 2024 Ernest R. Hilgard Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed by the Society for General Psychology, Division 1 of the American Psychological Association. He thus joins such past recipients as Daniel Kahneman, Janet Shibley Hyde, Philip Zimbardo, Florence L. Denmark, Scott Lilienfeld, Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Robert J. Sternberg, Linda Bartoshuk, Paul Rozin, Nora Newcombe, Gregory A. Kimble, and Hilgard himself, the inaugural honoree.

Professor Ross Thompson has been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from "Zero to Three", a national nonprofit organization devoted to the healthy development of young children and their families. Professor Thompson is a distinguished professor of Psychology and author of the recent book "The Brain Development Revolution: Science, the Media, and Public Policy" published by Cambridge University Press.

Professor Gail Goodman was selected to receive the 2024 American Psychological Association Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) Mentor Award. The Developmental Psychology Mentor Award honors "individuals who have contributed to developmental psychology through the education and training of the next generation of research leaders in developmental psychology. Our interest is in recognizing individuals who have had substantial impact on the field of developmental psychology by their mentoring of young scholars."

Distinguished Emeritus Professor Phillip Shaver was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Established in 1780, the academy “honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”

Professor Fernanda Ferreira was chosen to receive the Psychonomic Society’s Clifford T. Morgan Distinguished Leadership Award. The award recognizes her outstanding contributions to the field of scientific psychology as well as her sustained leadership and service to the discipline. The award is accompanied by a $1,000 USD prize.

Mosley is an Assistant Professor of Racial Inequality in the Psychology Department at UC Davis. Her research focuses on how group members navigate their social identities and their worlds, and relate to other groups. She studies how people think about, respond to, and engage in acts of cultural appropriation, or acts of out-group cultural use. In 2020, she received her doctoral degree at the University of Kansas as a member of Monica Biernat's Stereotyping and Judgement Lab.

We are pleased to announce that the UC Davis Department of Psychology was ranked 12th in the country (tied for 6th among Public Universities) by U.S. News and World Report. The new rankings reflect the growing recognition and positive overall reputation of our department, previously ranked #26 four years prior. The rankings also provide subdiscipline rankings: for Developmental Psychology, our department was ranked 9th overall (7th among public universities).

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Although treatments for depression are available, existing treatments are not effective for many who use them. Furthermore, rates of depression are higher in women than in men, yet the cause for this difference is unknown, making their illnesses, at times, more complicated to treat.

Psychology Professor Paul Hastings is the recipient of the 2022 Graduate Studies Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentoring Award at UC Davis. Professor Hastings received the award for his "oustanding investment in mentoring" and will receive a $1,000 award of Academic Enrichment Funds. He was nominated by current and former students as well as Psychology faculty for being "one of the most supportive, dedicated, and selfless mentors of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty on our campus." Prof.

Psychology Professor Richard Robins was quoted by Newsweek in an article discussing the validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality assessment tool. Although widely used in corporate settings, the MBTI has "fundamental problems", Professor Robins stated. Among them, the MBTI's focus on categorical profiles is "analogous to measuring people's height and then classifying them as either tall or short and ignoring more precise differences in height."

New research from the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) at the University of California, Davis reveals that infant monkeys conceived while their mothers were naturally exposed to wildfire smoke show behavioral changes compared to animals conceived days later. John Capitanio, professor of Psychology at UC Davis and a core scientist at the CNPRC, has been conducting standardized assessments on animals born at the center for two decades. This allowed a comparison of animals born during the recent Camp Fire to historical data from animals unaffected by wildfires.

Psychology Professor Fernanda Ferreira was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This honor is awarded to "members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues" (AAAS).

Associate Professor of Psychology Mijke Rhemtulla was selected to be a 2021-2022 Chancellor’s Fellow, and will receive an award of $25,000 to be used in support of her research, teaching, and service activities. The Chancellor’s Fellows Program was established in 2000 to honor the achievements of outstanding faculty members early in their careers. Dr. Rhemtulla received this award in recognition of the outstanding quality and significance of her research and teaching.