Author Archives: Elliot Berkman

About Elliot Berkman

Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon Director of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab Associate Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience

Do we overeat because of poor self-control?

See Elliot’s latest blog post on The Motivated Brain over at Psychology Today: …Self-control is a resource, but a renewable, psychological one. We’ve known for a long time that goals that are motivated from within—for reasons that are personally important to us—are … Continue reading

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Sociality as a natural mechanism of public goods provision

People’s economic decisions are nearly always embedded in a social context. To what extent does that context influence their decisions, if at all? Social factors such as group memberships and affiliative motives have powerful effects on a range of behaviors. These factors … Continue reading

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Predictive validity of three eating measures

The following is a guest post by Nicole Giuliani. Food researchers (such as myself) study topics such as how often people crave their favorite foods or how well they are able to control those desires. We use a variety of laboratory measurement … Continue reading

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New grant from the National Institute on Aging for inhibitory control training

Our latest translational neuroscience project tests whether a computerized training program can reverse the effects that early adverse experiences have on inhibitory control. The project is funded by the National Institute on Aging and will last two years. Early adversity … Continue reading

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New grant from the National Cancer Institute to study food craving regulation

The lab has received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for a project entitled, “Reducing craving for cancer-promoting foods via cognitive self-regulation”. You can read more about the grant here. The grant will last for two years beginning this … Continue reading

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When does feedback increase or decrease motivation?

See Jordan Miller-Ziegler‘s thoughts on this question over at the lab blog on Psychology Today, The Motivated Brain.

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Did Facebook really manipulate emotion?

Elliot is quoted in a piece by Maria Konnikova over at the New Yorker about the somewhat controversial Facebook study on emotional contagion.

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Me, My Brain, and I

Check out Elliot’s latest blog post on the Motivated Brain at Psychology Today where he describes a recent symposium on self and self-functions from the 2014 Association for Psychological Science meeting. “Social psychologists have made recently breakthroughs in understanding the … Continue reading

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Comparison of text messaging and pencil-and-paper for ecological momentary assessment of food craving and intake

It is becoming increasingly common for researchers to use text messaging to measure everyday thoughts, feelings, and behaviors because of its low cost and people’s generally high levels of familiarity and comfort with the technology. Another key advantage of text … Continue reading

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Lab manager position in the UO SAN/DSN labs!

The Developmental and Social Affective Neuroscience Labs, under the supervision of Profs. Jennifer Pfeifer and Elliot Berkman in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon, are currently seeking a lab manager to support studies of motivation, self-regulation, self-evaluation … Continue reading

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