Jingwen Zhang, a professor of communication, has been developing and testing artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots designed to motivate and persuade us to get in those extra steps for health.
New research using large-scale online experiments suggests that rewarding people to contribute to a virtual public good, such as a simulated online rating for a ferry system, increased the accuracy of the ratings and improved the overall quality of that resource.
While adoration for Disney princesses continues to grow in terms of film ratings, some parents wonder what effects these idealized images of young women might have on how their children feel about and express themselves. In new research, a favorite princess improved—but did not harm—young children's confidence in their own bodies and the diversity of the ways in which they chose to play.
A program that gets students into labs as early as their first year at UC Davis transforms lives — leading many to pursue careers in research. Accelerating Success by Providing Intensive Research Experience, or ASPIRE, has begun reaching out to a wider pool of students. “We wanted to find the students who, given this opportunity, would go the farthest relative to where they started,” says co-founder Steve Luck, Distinguished Professor of Psychology.
Melinda Guzman, Cathy Rodriguez Aguirre and Lydia Ramirez attended UC Davis at different times, pursued different majors in the College of Letters and Science, and followed different paths to successful careers in law, business advocacy and banking. Each was named to The Sacramento Bee’s inaugural list of Top 25 Latino Change Makers for leading positive transformations in their communities.
