Dr. Jessie Stern

Dealing with a difficult relationship? Here’s how psychology says you can shift the dynamic A bit of understanding – plus effort to regulate yourself and give compassionate feedback – can shift a stuck relationship into something more bearable, perhaps even meaningful.

Prof. Jessica Stern pens this piece in @ConversationUS.
https://theconversation.com/dealing-with-a-difficult-relationship-heres-how-psychology-says-you-can-shift-the-dynamic-264669

Dealing With a Difficult Relationship? Here’s How Psychology Says You Can Shift the Dynamic | Flipboard Nice News - This article was written by Jessica A. Stern, an assistant professor of psychology at Pomona College, for The Conversation — a nonprofit news …

Difficult relationships often reflect differences in temperament and attachment styles, psychology professor Jessica A. Stern explains in an article for @us.theconversation.com — learn her strategies for managing emotions and giving better feedback.

Dealing with a difficult relationship? Here’s how psychology says you can shift the dynamic A bit of understanding – plus effort to regulate yourself and give compassionate feedback – can shift a stuck relationship into something more bearable, perhaps even meaningful.

Difficult relationships often trace back to insecure attachment. Early caregiving experiences shape how we connect — but a relationship scientist explains that there are ways to manage the emotions. buff.ly/dlJVZjr

Journal of Cognition and Development Child Development and Climate Change. Volume 27, Issue 1 of Journal of Cognition and Development

Glad to be a part of this important & timely special issue in JCD @cogdevsoc.bsky.social, "Child Development and Climate Change"🌍🔥
www.tandfonline.com/toc/hjcd20/2...
As leadership & policy backtrack on this issue, children are increasingly aware of the consequences for their generation.

Planting the Seeds of Sustainability: The Promise of Dynamic Norms Climate change poses an increasingly dangerous threat to human life, necessitating widespread behavior change to mitigate its effects. Thus, targeting children, whose habits and norms are still for...

📣📣 A recent paper by Lesenia R. Fish & Arber Tasimi at JCD:

Planting the Seeds of Sustainability: The Promise of Dynamic Norms

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A recent paper by Jessica A. Stern et al. in JCD:
"Environmental Moral Cognition in Children and Adults: Journal of Cognition and Development"

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

@drmeltemyucel.bsky.social

Attachment security to mother is associated with lower trait expressive suppression among girls in middle childhood This study investigates links between children’s attachment security to their mother in middle childhood and two aspects of emotion regulation: (1) trait expressive suppression (ES), the dispositio...

New research: 9- to 10-year-old girls who are securely attached are less likely to suppress their emotions😄😢😠😨
Girls who feel secure in relationships with their mothers may feel more comfortable openly expressing how they feel.
@tandfresearch.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1461...

It's time to remove laptops from classrooms.

24 experiments: Students learn more and get better grades after taking notes by hand than typing. It's not just because they're less distracted—writing enables deeper processing and more images.

The pen is mightier than the keyboard.

Most scientists don't understand how effect sizes work and are therefore far too quick to dismiss "small" effects.

A correlation of .03 between taking aspirin & prevention of future heart attacks implied the prevention of 85 attacks in a sample of 10,845 people
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

In this piece for the @spspnews.bsky.social Character & Context blog, I write about our recent research on the psychological factors underlying people's beliefs about criminal justice. spsp.org/news/charact...

📣Attending the @psychscience.bsky.social Global Summit?
Check out these stellar students presenting research from our lab! Their work explores how cultural attitudes shape social relationships & mental health among young adults.
Proud of all their hard work!👏
#APSglobal @pomona-psych.bsky.social

JCPP Advances | ACAMH Child Development Journal | Wiley Online Library Background Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is common in children and adolescents, and if not successfully treated, has negative consequences for their current and subsequent mental health. Whilst...

Very pleased to share our latest paper - a systematic review of psychological therapies for primary Generalised Anxiety Disorder in children and adolescents - which has recently been published in JCPP Advances. It’s available here doi.org/10.1002/jcv2..., or keep reading for the key messages! (1/6)

A new study released in #ChildDevelopmentJournal shows that viewing teens more positively may help their school performance and strengthen family bonds. Read more here https://bit.ly/4mRekIx

Crowd at an outdoor concert raising hands as colorful confetti rains down during sunset.

Did you know? #SPPS research found that in-person events where you actively participate with others are powerful for social connection. Across 1,500+ people, these factors mattered more than personality or baseline loneliness.

Learn more: ow.ly/7kXP50Xb9uR

Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.

In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.

SPSP Get Advised by Grad Students and Postdocs: Apply as an Advisee in SPSP's Peer Advising Program Application Deadline: October 28

📣Calling undergrad and early grad students studying psychology: Want to connect with advanced grad students who can share advice and help you navigate academia? Apply to join the SPSP Peer Advising Program!

Apply here before October 28: ow.ly/Nb0W50X7L9s

I'm excited to share the news that our climate change project won the @spspnews.bsky.social Robert Cialdini Prize for a "paper that uses field methods and demonstrates the relevance of social psychology to outside groups and communities"!

You can read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Science of Supportive Workplaces Learn psychology-backed strategies for creating a supportive workplace that transforms difficult relationships and reduces conflict.

How can we deal with difficult people in the workplace?
I really enjoyed this conversation with Rich Rininsland about how relationships research can inform leadership, team building, and a supportive workplace culture.
www.teambonding.com/podcast/supp...

Highlights from the NASEM @health.nationalacademies.org 2025 workshop on the neurobiology of empathy and compassion are newly published in this brief: ow.ly/c0eZ50WYkGg
Grateful to the speakers, co-organizers, and wonderful staff who brought together science and lived experience for this event.

How do empathy & compassion shape our lives?

Our May 2025 workshop explored the neurobiology behind these traits, how social & environmental factors influence them, & their potential to inform treatments for brain disorders & foster #WellBeing: buff.ly/7CI9pXe

Crowded urban crosswalk filled with diverse pedestrians moving in multiple directions during daytime.

📈New research in Social Psychological and Personality Science reveals how government policies shape our beliefs about poverty. Countries with less spending and deregulated labor markets see more blame placed on individuals rather than systems.

Learn more: ow.ly/8AZv50WYMbR

So excited to share that my first first-author paper is out in
@commspsychol.nature.com
🎉

In a mini-meta analysis of seven studies, we looked at whether loneliness is related to altered expectations of one’s own and others' emotion transitions.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...
(1/4)

Today a former student from my Intro to Psychology class surprised me with this excellent gift 🙌🏼😆

I just want to add that this work would not have been possible without @spspnews.bsky.social ‘s Climate Research Grant!!

loveresearch.info Monthly email of the latest scientific love research publications and other relevant information.

We're excited to share this call for submissions for the upcoming 2025 loveresearch.info symposium taking place virtually at the end of October. More information at the link below.

loveresearch.info/symposium

New pub alert ‼️

Finally, we find that parents' education level — but *not* political orientation — and the amount of time kids spent outdoors predict children's harsher judgments of environmental harm.♻️
Many thanks to co-authors @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social Tobias Grossmann & Amrisha Vaish
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Both U.S. children & adults view pro-environmental behavior as positive and environmental harm as negative — even if sanctioned by authority.
But children & adults also show stronger moral judgments about harming humans than harming plants, animals, or ecosystems.🌳
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Environmental Moral Cognition in Children and Adults How does environmental moral cognition emerge in childhood? The present research examined individuals’ moral judgments of environmental actions and their choices in an environmental trade-off task ...

🚨New paper: Do young children think about environmental actions as moral?🌎
We find that children's environmental moral reasoning strengthens with age & predicts their pro-environmental choices in a trade-off task...
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www.tandfonline.com/eprint/II3SE... @cogdevsoc.bsky.social

Climate models since the 1970s nailed it—most predicted global warming almost exactly as it happened.