What do you think about your own intelligence? Can you make yourself smarter over time, or are you stuck with the smarts you were born with? Your answer could reflect a key personality trait — namely, self-confidence — and whether you might want to help yourself to a big slice of humble pie.

It turns out, if you view your brainpower as a fixed, innate capacity, you’re also more likely to be … overconfident. This was suggested in a recent three-part study led by Joyce Ehrlinger of Washington State University. It found that students with a so-called “fixed mind-set” were more likely to overestimate their performance on a test than those with a “growth mind-set” (a belief that intelligence can change over time).

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Ozy Magazine

How do parents’ cultural values affect their babies’ temperament?

Maria (Masha) Gartstein, professor of psychology, is on a multi-year quest to find out.

For the past five years, Gartstein has compared the behavior of babies from around the globe to learn how parents’ values and expectations influence the development of their toddlers’ behavior and overall temperament.

A greater understanding of these values and their impact on temperament development will help psychologists devise fine-tuned approaches to prevent infant temperament issues from becoming behavioral problems later in life.

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Time Magazine

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MedicalXpress

SCIENMAG

Huffington Post

Daily Mail

For many people approaching retirement, finding ways they can continue to live at home safely as they age is an issue, one for which two Washington State University professors at the university’s campus in Pullman have been seeking a solution.

For almost 10 years now, professors Diane Cook and Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe have been researching what’s called smart-home technology, a kind of sensor monitoring system that might help seniors stay independent longer. A study that’s part of that long-term effort currently is underway and is scheduled to wrap up next summer.

“I had done clinical work with older adults, working to develop ways for them to stay independent, and studying how cognitive decline affects everyday living,” says Schmitter-Edgecombe, a professor of psychology. “Diane had a similar goal, in finding a way for technology to help keep people independent in their homes.

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Spokane Business Journal