Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

Groundbreaking research from UC Berkeley’s Department of Psychology is shifting the understanding of human decision-making processes by highlighting the importance of goal-oriented rewards. Conducted by Berkeley Psychology Professor Anne Collins and Berkeley Psychology doctoral student Gaia Molinaro, the study suggests that the value people attribute to outcomes is subjective, and heavily influenced by their personal goals and the context of the decision.

"Value isn't just determined by an objective reward or outcome,” Collins said. “Our...

Two UC Berkeley Department of Psychology researchers recently published a commentary that provided insights into the way we understand and define gender.

The paper was titled "Trans-inclusive gender categories are cognitively natural" and published in Nature Human Behaviour. In it, Berkeley Psychology professors Steven T. Piantadosi and...

UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor James Holston and Public Health immunologist Dr. Josefina Coloma have been awarded a $3.1 million, 5-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health to combate dengue virus in Peru.

The grant will fund “Proyecto Tariki”, a research initiative developed...

Researchers led by a University of California, Berkeley, comparative psychologist have found that great apes and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, can recognize groupmates they haven't seen in over two decades —...