Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

A research collaboration between UC Berkeley Psychology and Neuroscience Professor Steve Piantadosi and Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Jessica Cantlon recently led to a rethinking of what makes human intelligence unique.

In a paper published on April 2 in Nature Reviews Psychology, they argue that the distinguishing feature of human intelligence is our ability to process and share vast amounts of information. This work argues against prevailing “silver bullet” theories, which had previously maintained...

In today’s job market, a college degree is often seen as a pathway to success, promising greater opportunities and higher chances of employment. But for individuals with a criminal record, the reality can be starkly different.

UC Berkeley Sociology alumnus Michael Cerda-Jara explores the challenges formerly incarcerated individuals face while seeking employment in a study published in Sociological Science titled "Criminal Record...

William Carter was in a National Archives reading room in the United Kingdom staring at a box of tattered pages covered in cursive writing, sea water stains and smears of blood. It smelled musty, and his hands became smudged turning the soot-covered pages.

Carter, a UC Berkeley Ph.D. candidate in geography, was mining these centuries-old slave ship logs in 2020 as part of his research into the transatlantic slave trade and what lessons from then might apply to our own understandings about race, literacy and power today.

But there was a problem: He couldn’t read a single...

A groundbreaking study led by UC Berkeley Psychology Postdoctoral Research Fellow Aakash Chowkase showed the official number of COVID-19 deaths in Pune, India may be significantly underreported.

Published in Nature's Scientific Reports on May 6th, 2024, the research estimates that from March 2020 to December 2021, Pune...