Archived Content
The Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) archives materials older than three years that are no longer updated. This content is available for historical purposes, and the information and links may have changed over time.
Cultural influences on psychosis
What do hearing the voice of God, experiencing hallucinations, hearing voices, and suddenly feeling motivated to pray have in common? According to anthropologist Tanya Marie Luhrmann, Ph.D., they are all shaped by ...
OBSSR at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting and more
By Isabel M. Estrada Portales, Ph.D., M.S. If you are attending the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) this week, make sure to catch one of the sessions and presentations by ...
Some of the 79 million reasons to use Health and Retirement Study genomics data
By Jonathan W. King, Ph.D. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) received $275 million in funding over two years through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) ...
The evolution of skin pigmentation
By Nina Jablonski, Ph.D. I love evolution. I've been interested in studying evolution almost all of my life. I started collecting fossils when I was a tiny child, and I've always been interested in what life on Earth ...
Using a health equity model to promote environmental approaches to violence, alcohol and other drug prevention
What do place and the built environment have to do with alcohol and drug addictions? According to Debra Furr-Holden, Ph.D., quite a bit. Behavioral and mental health studies ...
Mindless eating: Why we eat more than we think
By Brian Wansink, Ph.D. I grew up in Iowa, which is total farm country, and all anybody does there is work with food and sell vegetables. Growing up as a little boy, I was always amazed at why one house would buy ...
Databrary: Enabling more research through sharing rich video data
Human behavior is infinitely rich, and video is a great method for capturing it. But after the initial behavior of interest is scored, the analysis completed, and the paper published, video data is often relegated ...
New OppNet FOA: Because life is a series of chronic conditions
By William Elwood, Ph.D. Over the last few years, it seems that almost every ad I encounter includes at least one product or prescription related to a chronic mental or physical condition. Often both, as they insist ...
Call for abstracts: The Matilda White Riley Early Stage Investigator Honors. Because researchers grow up and old in changing societies
By William Elwood, Ph.D. In the summer of 1912, a toddler took her uncle’s place in Bowdoin College’s graduation line. That uncle died along with the toddler’s grandfather in the sinking of the RMS Titanic ...
