Lab News and Updates

THE LATEST

September 2019
Our lab's research in the news: Why Negative Campaigning Works and How to Fight It

May 2019
Listen to PI Alison Ledgerwood on NPR: How Can We Reframe Setbacks in a Positive Light?

April 2019
Congratulations to Andre Wang for winning a Provost's Dissertation Fellowship! 

Congratulations to our lab manager, Paige Snelgrove, who was just accepted to her top choice graduate program at Sacramento State!

March 2019
Congratulations to Sabrina Huang, whose undergraduate senior thesis was just accepted for publication in SPPS! 

Congratulations to Dr. Sanchez, who just started her new position as an Institutional Research Associate at Loyola Marymount University!

December 2018
Congratulations to Dr. Sparks, who just completed her dissertation and is off to start a post-doc in the Social Cognition Center at the University of Cologne! 

September 2018
Congratulations to Jehan Sparks, lead author on a paper examining reframing effects across the lifespan that was just accepted for publication in PSPB! 

Congratulations to Jehan Sparks for winning a SPSP Graduate Travel Award!
 
August 2018
Congratulations to Andre Wang for winning the UC Davis Graduate Student Association Travel Award!

June 2018
Congratulations to Dr. Sanchez, who just filed her dissertation!

April 2018
Congratulations to undergraduate research assistant and soon-to-be lab manager Paige Snelgrove for winning a Dukes Fund Travel Award to present a talk at the forthcoming SIPS conference in Grand Rapids, MI, and to PhD student Andre Wang for winning a Dukes Fund Travel Award to present his research at SPSP and a workshop on Distances in Organization in Montreal!

March 2018
Congratulations to Andre Wang for winning the best poster award at the SPSP Social Cognition preconference!

February 2018
We are excited to welcome the newest member of our lab, Aline da Silva Frost, who will be joining our PhD program in the fall!

January 2018
Check out our new article on distance and social influence in Current Opinion in Psychology!

THE RECENT PAST

​December 2017
PI Ledgerwood has been named a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow!

October 2017
Our new article on sequential framing in SPPS suggests that negativity biases in reframing persist across both intergroup and intragroup political contexts.

September 2017
Congratulations to our former lab manager and honors thesis student Sabrina Huang, who is starting her PhD at Stanford University this fall!

April 2017
Congratulations to Andre Wang, lead author on a paper examining best practices in using covariates that was just accepted for publication in JESP!

March 2017
Congratulations to Jehan Sparks, lead author on our latest framing paper that was just accepted for publication in JEPG!​

THE OLDEN DAYS

September 2016
Dr. Ledgerwood’s latest special section on best practices is now available in this month’s issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science (see this blog post for a quick overview or go straight to the open access articles).

Congratulations to Andre Wang, who was awarded a Student Travel Award from SPSP to support the presentation of his simulation research on the costs and benefits of using covariates in experimental designs!

May 2016
Congratulations to Sabrina Huang, who was just awarded a Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship to support her research on distance and interpersonal interactions!

April 2016
In the news: Logos make your group seem real.
New research from our lab suggests that group symbols like flags, logos, and even team colors can make a group seem more real, cohesive, and potentially intimidating to others.

Congratulations to Shannon Callahan for receiving a 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award! Congratulations to Andre Wang, who was recognized as a semi-finalist for the Point Foundation Scholarships and who was awarded an Amherst Memorial Fellowship for 2016-2017!

March 2016
Congratulations to Max Hong, who will be starting the PhD program in quantitative psychology at Notre Dame University in the fall, and to Sabrina Huang for her acceptance to the NYU summer internship program at the Center for Motivated Perception!

December 2015
Congratulations to Jehan Sparks and Shannon Callahan, who both won Dukes Travel Awards this year to support their research presentations at national conferences! Our latest research on the psychological function of flags and logos is described in this new manuscript, now in press at JPSP!

May 2015
In the news: Going back to college, one lecture at a time. The Davis Enterprise, 5/7/15. Congratulations to Amber Sanchez, who was awarded a 2015 Institute of Social Science/Psychology Research Award!

March 2015
Congratulations to Max Hong, who was awarded a 2015 Undergraduate Research Council Travel Award from UC Davis support the presentation of his research on group symbols!

Guest blog post on the demographic disconnect in social psychology’s ongoing conversation about best practices.

February 2015
Congratulations to Jehan Sparks, finalist in the 2015 SPSP poster awards.

January 2015
Congratulations to Jehan Sparks, who was awarded a Student Travel Award from SPSP to support the presentation of her research on sequential framing effects.

Congratulations to Max Hong, who was awarded a 2015 SPSP Diversity Fund Undergraduate Registration Award to support the presentation of his research on group symbols.

November 2014
The latest special section on best practices is now available in this month’s issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science (see this blog post for more or go straight to the open access articles).

Congratulations to Courtney Soderberg, lead author on our meta-analysis of distance and construal level that was just published online in Psychological Bulletin! Click here for the article.

July 2014
Congratulations to Mark Kurai, who was awarded a SPSSI Grant-in-Aid for his research on emotional responses to the appropriation of ingroup identity symbols.

June 2014
Congratulations to Courtney Soderberg, who was awarded her PhD and is off to start a position as a Statistical and Methodological Consultant at the Center for Open Science in July.

Congratulations to Shannon Callahan, who won the poster presentation contest at the annual conference of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in Portland, OR.

May 2014
Hot off the presses: This month’s issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science contains our special section on advancing best practices in empirical research, chock full of concrete suggestions for things we can change right now about the way we do research that will make our science better.

April 2014
Welcome to Andre Wang, who will join our lab as a new PhD student in Fall 2014!

November 2013
Congratulations to Chun Su, who was awarded a 2014 SPSP Diversity Fund Undergraduate Registration Award.

September 2013
Congratulations to Yanine Hess, whose paper on social exclusion and meritocratic beliefs was just accepted for publication in Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.

August 2013
Welcome to Jehan Sparks, our new PhD student!

May 2013
Congratulations to Shannon Callahan for winning an award for best poster presentation at the Annual Psychology Department Conference.

March 2013
Congratulations to Yanine Hess, who will be joining the faculty at SUNY Purchase College in Fall 2013. December 2012
Congratulations to Chun Su, who just received a Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship for her independent research project on construal level.

September 2012
In the news: My Yard, My Candidate: The Social Psychology of Lawn Signs
The Conversation, 9/24/12

August 2012
In the news: What Your Friends Think Has a Big Impact on Your Vote
Capital Public Radio/All Things Considered, 8/1/12; Morning Edition, 8/2/12

July 2012
Welcome to Annie Kochersberger and Amber Sanchez, our new graduate students!

In the news: Votes Are Influenced by Friends, Neighbors, and Groups
UC Davis News, 7/31/12

December 2011
Congratulations to Shannon Callahan, coauthor on a paper that was just accepted for publication in Psychological Science.

May 2011
Congratulations to Yanine Hess, Courtney Soderberg, and Jimmy Calanchini, who were all accepted into the 2011 Summer Institute in Social Psychology at Princeton.

January 2011
Congratulations to Shannon Callahan, who received a Runner-Up Award in this year’s SPSP Graduate Student Poster Contest.

December 2010
Congratulations to Courtney Soderberg, who was awarded a SPSSI Grant-in-Aid for her research on reactions to cooperative intergroup positions.

October 2010
In the news: UC Davis Social Psych Program Ranks Fourth in NationUC Davis News, 10/11/10
(See the top ten social psychology programs based on faculty research impact)

​July 2010
In the news: When Are Attitudes Pliable? PsychologyToday.com, 7/27/10