Investigating Cortisol in a STEM Classroom: The Association Between Cortisol and Academic Performance.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education can be stressful, but uncertainty exists about (a) whether stressful academic settings elevate cortisol, particularly among students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, and (b) whether cortisol responses are associated with academic performance. In four classes around the first exam in a gateway college STEM course, we investigated participants' ( = 271) cortisol levels as a function of race/ethnicity and tested whether cortisol responses predicted students' performance. Regardless of race/ethnicity, students' cortisol, on average, from the beginning to the end of each class and across the four classes.

A latent class analysis approach to the identification of doctoral students at risk of attrition.

To advance understanding of doctoral student experiences and the high attrition rates among Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) doctoral students, we developed and examined the psychological profiles of different types of doctoral students. We used latent class analysis on self-reported psychological data relevant to psychological threat from 1,081 incoming doctoral students across three universities and found that the best-fitting model delineated four threat classes: Lowest Threat, Nonchalant, Engaged/Worried, and Highest Threat. These classes were associated with characteristics measured at the beginning of students' first semester of graduate school that may influence attrition risk, including differences in academic preparation (e.

Building a taxonomy of mental processes supporting social functioning to accelerate the integration between psychology and neuroscience: A commentary on Dang et al.

A methodological and theoretical chasm continues to exist between social psychology and social neuroscience, particularly with respect to research relevant to understanding racial bias, social justice and inequality. We use the Dang et al. (2022) study to illustrate the challenge of conducting research that lies between these two sub-disciplines.

Editorial.

During its 128 years of operation, has exerted a powerful and consistent influence on the field under its long-term sponsor, the American Psychological Association (APA). Notwithstanding changes in ownership, it has always been what it is now-the flagship of the Association and the field. Since its inception, the journal has focused on theoretical analyses (e.

A psychological intervention strengthens students' peer social networks and promotes persistence in STEM.

Retaining students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is critical as demand for STEM graduates increases. Whereas many approaches to improve persistence target individuals' internal beliefs, skills, and traits, the intervention in this experiment strengthened students' peer social networks to help them persevere. Students in a gateway biology course were randomly assigned to complete a control or values affirmation exercise, a psychological intervention hypothesized to have positive social effects.

The Future of Women in Psychological Science.

There has been extensive discussion about gender gaps in representation and career advancement in the sciences. However, psychological science itself has yet to be the focus of discussion or systematic review, despite our field's investment in questions of equity, status, well-being, gender bias, and gender disparities. In the present article, we consider 10 topics relevant for women's career advancement in psychological science.

Socioecological diversity and inclusion: a framework for advancing diversity science.

Understanding environmental influences on group processes has been a foundational goal of groups research since its inception. The aim of this paper is to synthesize recent research on the social ecology of diversity and inclusion. In doing so, we suggest a socioecological framework for examining how facets of the natural and social environment shape important intragroup and intergroup outcomes.

Bolstering trust and reducing discipline incidents at a diverse middle school: How self-affirmation affects behavioral conduct during the transition to adolescence.

A three-year field experiment at an ethnically diverse middle school (N = 163) tested the hypothesis that periodic self-affirmation exercises delivered by classroom teachers bolsters students' school trust and improves their behavioral conduct. Students were randomly assigned to either a self-affirmation condition, where they wrote a series of in-class essays about personally important values, or a control condition, where they wrote essays about personally unimportant values. There were no behavioral effects of affirmation at the end of 6th grade, after students had completed four writing exercises.