Solving Big Problems

As part of our ongoing series of events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Psychology Department at UC Berkeley, we are delighted to showcase three of our faculty and their research – Professors Robert Knight, Sheri Johnson, and Jason Okonofua. The cutting-edge research of each of these faculty and their students uniquely illustrates how psychological science can contribute to solving a broad range of big problems at both the individual and societal levels. After each faculty presentation, audience members will have the chance to engage the speaker with questions and comments.

Physiology of Human Cognition:
Insights from Direct Brain Recording with Implications for Health and Disease
Robert T. Knight, M.D.
Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience

How do we think, remember, speak, and socialize? Discovering the physiological substrate of these human behaviors presents one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century. Evidence obtained from electrodes inserted into the human brain for treatment of medication refractory epilepsy provides unprecedented insight into the electrophysiological processes supporting human behavior. I will review some of our findings with implications for understanding brain function in health and how these findings might be used for development of neuroprosthetic devices for treatment of disabling neurological disorders.

Understanding and Managing Impulsivity
Sheri L. Johnson, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Psychology

For decades, scientists have considered the role of impulsivity in contributing to mental health and behavioral outcomes. In the last 20 years, researchers have shown that one form of impulsivity—the tendency to engage in rash and regrettable behavior during states of high emotion—is particularly related to poor outcomes. I will review some of the outcomes tied to this form of impulsivity, and I will highlight new treatment development work.

Sidelining Bias: A Situationist Approach to Reduce the Consequences of Bias in Real-World Contexts
Jason A. Okonofua, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology

Bias and bias-reduction have become ubiquitous topics of research, policy, and practice. I will introduce an approach to study and mitigate societal consequences of bias that begins with the presumption that people are inherently complex, that is, including multiple, often contradictory patterns of selves and goals. When we conceptualize the person this way, we can ask when biased selves are likely to emerge and whether we can sideline this bias—alter situations in potent ways that elevate alternative selves and goals that people will endorse and for which bias would be non-functional. My research shows how sidelining bias has led to meaningful improvements for thousands of individuals in real-world outcomes, including higher achievement and reduced school suspensions for youth and recidivism to jail for youth and adults.