News

The Great Recession impacted class identity

Susan T. Mashiyama — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0800

A new study published in Psychological Science led by Stephen Antonoplis, a UC Riverside assistant professor of psychology, showed that the 2008 recession, or Great Recession, caused people to identify with a lower class, and this was a long-lasting effect.

$1 million gift from Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center Foundation will support research on child abuse prevention

Sarah Nightingale — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0800

UC Riverside has received a $1 million gift from the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center Foundation to help stop child abuse before it happens.

Gossip is good for romance, study finds

John Warren — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0700

“Spill the Tea, Honey: Gossiping Predicts Well-Being in Same- and Different-Gender Couples” is the name of a new study from UC Riverside psychology researchers that found gossip within couples is associated with greater happiness and better relationships.

For seniors: the mental health payoff of staying curious

Jules Bernstein — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0700

New research shows that older adults who challenge themselves to learn new things are less likely to experience loneliness or depression, even during times of major upheaval.

Positive ethnic identity fosters STEM career aspirations

David Danelski — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700

In a collaboration with a Chicago science museum, UCR psychology scholars find that when minority youth aspire toward careers in science and technology, their confidence and how they think society views their ethnic-racial group can play a crucial role.

Link among racial identity, GPAs, alcohol use studied

Nicole Elyse Feldman — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0700

For many students of color, adjusting to college means navigating unfamiliar academic and social settings, often while also managing stress borne from experiences relating to race. A UC Riverside study, which appeared in the journal Race and Social Problems, sought to better understand their experiences, to find what helped students to be more successful academically and what influenced maladaptive behaviors such as alcohol consumption.

Pandemic misinformation at RivCo meetings studied

Susan T. Mashiyama — Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 -0700

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were major public health efforts to reduce infection rates and mitigate serious health effects of the disease through promotion of behavior such as getting vaccinated and wearing masks. An obstacle was the broad and rapid spread of misinformation about the coronavirus that causes the illness and effective ways to combat it. This led to mistrust of health authorities and resistance to adopting protective behavior.

UCR psychology researchers part of $4.7 million grant

John Warren — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0700

UC Riverside psychology researchers Kate Sweeny and Elizabeth Davis are among the recipients of a $4.7 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust. The grant will be used to advance research on patience, with a focus on what can be learned from parents of adolescents who face unique forms of adversity.

Minoritized groups face high anxiety when taking part in research experiments

Iqbal Pittalwala — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0800

Preadolescent girls used an MRI scanner in UC Riverside-led study

Psychology research 'giant' Robert Rosenthal has died

John Warren — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0800

Robert Rosenthal, a father of meta-analysis who was named one of the 20th century's top 100 psychologists, died Jan. 5 at 90. Twenty-five years ago, following his retirement from Harvard University, Rosenthal joined the UC Riverside faculty. He was named a University Professor in 2008 by the University of California system, a distinction shared by only 40 professors in UC’s history. He retired from his full-time UCR professorship in spring 2018 but continued teaching part-time in UCR’s Graduate Division through fall quarter 2023.

Older adults are more easily distracted

Iqbal Pittalwala — Wed, 10 May 2023 00:00:00 -0700

While engaged in a physical task requiring effort, such as driving a car or carrying grocery bags, older adults are more likely than younger adults to be distracted by items irrelevant to the task at hand, a University of California, Riverside, study reports. The study assessed the interaction between physical exertion and short-term memory performance when distractors were present or absent in younger and older adults.

Boozing while breastfeeding impacts health of newborns

Iqbal Pittalwala — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0700

Studies have shown that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can alter the brain and behavioral development of gestating offspring. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises against maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and state that there is no known safe level of consumption. What are the consequences, however, of mothers consuming alcohol while breastfeeding? A research team at the University of California, Riverside, performed a mouse study to find out.

Older adults may achieve same cognition as undergrads

John Warren — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0700

A set of recent studies demonstrates for the first time that learning multiple new tasks carries benefits for cognition long after the learning has been completed. The finding affirms a long-held assertion of the lead researcher, Rachel Wu, who is an associate professor of psychology at UC Riverside. That is, older adults can learn new tasks and improve their cognition in the process, if they approach learning as a child does.

Celebrity sightings have a built-in contradiction

Iqbal Pittalwala — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0800

UC Riverside research helps explain a tradeoff in human behavior

Asian American shootings: This is ‘not an exception’ and other issues that need to be discussed

Sandra Baltazar Martinez — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0800

Farm working, mental health, and social and cultural barriers that some Asian American communities face.

Do you act before you think or think before you act?

Iqbal Pittalwala — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0700

UC Riverside psychologists’ experiments explain which choice rules daily life

What guides our attention to faces in videos changes with age

Iqbal Pittalwala — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0700

UC Riverside study has implications for children’s television and autism spectrum disorder

Gay migration happens but not always to gay-friendly places, reports new study

Holly Ober — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0700

Study also shows that straight people prefer to live in places that match their attitudes toward sexuality

Psychologist to lead research on Alzheimer’s in Riverside

Iqbal Pittalwala — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 -0700

UC Riverside study is part of a larger landmark study tracking older adults

Study of perception and memory in older adults will improve understanding of dementias

Holly Ober — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 00:00:00 -0700

UC Riverside scientists will use a $2 million NIH grant to study the brain’s locus coeruleus