Category: Trending on the Web

Transmitting Trauma – Genetics

Psychology and history look at events affecting large numbers of people – psychology to understand behavior, and history to document it for posterity. A fairly recent convergence of the two fields comes in the forms of a study about how trauma can be inherited by the children of parents who experience it. The study (link to study) looks at how the trauma experienced by Holocaust survivors affects subsequent generations genetically – the idea being that these children are genetically vulnerable to PTSD, anxiety disorders, and possibly more.

While the science is complicated, the implications are even more nuanced. It raises a lot of questions, including how many generations could be affected (a case for slavery) and what the interplay is with race, socioeconomic status, culture, etc. With socioeconomically driven tension on the rise in America, what does this mean for how we understand generational disadvantages, social cycles of inequality, and neighborhoods characterized by violence? The emergence of this information, while still scientifically contested, raises more questions than answers; but the questions being asked seem to be ones that can challenge preexisting assumptions, structures, and norms – which could mean the kind of social progress and understanding we need.

There is an “I” in Marriage

At the end of my freshman year at CMC, my boyfriend came home from a 13-month deployment and proposed. It wasn’t a surprise, and almost all of my friends expected me to start my sophomore year of college with a fiancé. Yet even with this knowledge, many approached me with more judgment than joy.

What baffled me the most were the weird assumptions people started to make when I came back to school following my wedding. Instead of asking how my classes were going, people asked me whether I felt tied down, regretted my decision to get married young, and how I thought it would affect my success in the future. Instead of engaging with me about course material, people wondered if I had to learn to cook so my husband wouldn’t starve, and how soon we were planning on having children.

Many of these questions were asked candidly, out of pure and non-malicious curiosity. To be completely honest, they often showed me perspectives I hadn’t yet considered. I respect that. But mostly, they were incredibly frustrating. Instead of the strong, independent, intellectually curious young woman I perceived myself as, many of my peers made me feel as if I were a novelty, a little housewife with a completely different life and trajectory now that I had a wedding band on my left hand.

People seem to think that getting married means sacrificing your personality, individual self-worth, or independence. But that’s just not true. Marriage is a partnership – a team. I didn’t sign up to be a cook, or a maid, or an assistant. I signed up to hang out and have fun with my best friend for the rest of my life. Romance aside, it was pragmatism. We work well together and complement one another in ways I had never imagined possible. I’m a bookworm, by-the-book history nerd with a penchant for cooking, and he’s a comic book loving fireman-engineer in the Navy who can fix anything and is incredibly innovative. Everything just works.

School + Marriage + Kids = It’s Possible!

Imagine working in a lab, volunteering at multiple clinics, and studying for the MCATS, all while balancing a full course load. Now imagine doing it with a spouse and two kids. Marine Corps Veteran Brian Dix ’17 (the oldest student at CMC!) and his wife Stephanie talk about the challenges (and joys) of making it all work.

Many thanks to Janet Dreyer and all the teachers at The Children’s School for making work-life balance better for our community!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhM72TZvQlo&w=560&h=315]

Meet our Kaiser summer interns

StephGraceSharonpicnic

From left to right:

Stephanie LaFace ’17, Grace Bailey ’18, and Sharon Chiang ’17, pictured here at a division-wide picnic. Other interns attended, as well.

Stephanie, Sharon, and Grace are working with the Innovation and Advanced Technology (IAT) team, headquartered in Oakland, California. They’ve also spent time at the Innovation Lab, based at the Garfield Center in San Leandro.

Returning to Kaiser for the summer

Sharon at cooler.png

As an intern last summer at Kaiser Permanente, Sharon Chiang ’17 had the opportunity to explore a field she wasn’t familiar with. This summer, she returned with a goal: to gain more skillsets in healthcare innovation and technology.

So far, she’s worked on five different projects, ranging from presenting products at sales meetings to analyzing the concept of a “concierge robot.” She writes:

“Being exposed to the different stages of innovation, such as the pipeline technology intake meetings, to the mock-up stage, to the user experience interviews, and back to brainstorming, has made me gain a new appreciation for teamwork. Innovation welcomes many different perspectives…I feel like I am making a positive impact.”

 

Women & Finances

CFP and Berger Board Member Mari Adam has wise words of advice for all her clients at Adam Financial Associates. But her advice to women in particular? You need to know how to handle money. A recent article in Financial Advisor magazine states that “80% of men will die married but 80% of women will die single.” Adam believes that women should not only feel comfortable handling their own finances – they should consider a career as a financial advisor. “Many successful women advisors, like us, feel that – despite the many challenges – the career is tailor-made for women, offering great flexibility and enormous personal and professional satisfaction.” For more about Mari and her thoughts about personal finance, visit her blog, Charting Your Financial Future.

Heather Antecol in the New York Times

Professor Heather Antecol, former Director of the Berger Institute, was featured last week in The New York Times. A study she co-authored with two other professors shows that gender-neutral tenure extension policies put women at a disadvantage:

The policies led to a 19 percentage-point rise in the probability that a male economist would earn tenure at his first job. In contrast, women’s chances of gaining tenure fell by 22 percentage points. Before the arrival of tenure extension, a little less than 3o percent of both women and men at these institutions gained tenure at their first jobs. The decline for women is therefore very large. It suggests that the new policies made it extraordinarily rare for female economists to clear the tenure hurdle.

 

Berger Students Attend WPA!

WPA

In early May, seven Berger Institute research assistants attended the Western Psychological Association’s annual conference to present posters of their latest research findings. This year’s conference took place in Long Beach, and it was an excellent opportunity for our students to show off the hard work they’ve completed here over the past year.

In the pictures here, clockwise from the top left, are:

Kelsey Gohn ’16 and Lauren Livingston ’18 (“College Students’ Plan for the Future: Men and Women’s Priorities.”)

Kelsey Gohn ’16, Adrienne Johnson ’16, Tyler West ’16, and LillyBelle Deer ’15 (“Work-Life Priorities of College Students within Specific Fields of Study.”)

LillyBelle Deer ’15 talks to an interested observer.

Lauren Livingston ’18 gets some pointers from a tiny aid.

Not pictured are the following students/projects:

“College Students’ Anxiety Regarding Work-Life Balance,” LillyBelle Deer ’15, Adrienne Johnson ’16, Tyler West ’16, and Lauren Livingston ’18.

“If I Think I Can: Do Short-Term Career Search Self-efficacy Interventions Work?” Kelsey Gohn ’16.

“Employing Narrative Techniques to Investigate Socio-Cultural Processes and Cognitive-Linguistic Outcomes in Young Children,” Alejandro Zuniga ’17 and Timothy Valdez ’19.

Congratulations to all on a fantastic job! Our seniors will be missed.

 

Oxytocin and High-Performance Organizations

by Larissa Chern ’17

This week, CMC students had the chance to participate in a dynamic, fun, and enlightening talk led by Dr. Paul Zak at the Athenaeum. Dr. Zak, who administers the first doctoral program in neuroeconomics as well as the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, was credited with the first published use of the term “neuroeconomics.” His lab is responsible for advancing the academic research on oxytocin, the brain chemical that facilitates trust between individuals.

According to Dr. Zak’s findings, the secret to a high-performance organization lies in a high-trust environment. The list below numbers the various ways in which leaders can increase their peers’ oxytocin levels, thereby enhancing their organizations’ performance:

  1. Ovation: Recognize people who do outstanding work. If your colleague worked hard last week to hand in that important report and it turned out to be of great quality, make sure to recognize him in front of everyone. If that ovation is unexpected and public, its effect is even stronger.
  2. Expectations: Design hard, but achievable challenges within your organization. Challenge stress stimulates oxytocin, increasing empathy and strengthening bonds between colleagues.
  3. Yield: Give control of projects to others. When we don’t micromanage, we induce innovation and allow colleagues to make mistakes and learn from them.
  4. Transfer: Let people choose what projects to work on. If you let you colleagues bid for the work, they are more likely to devote themselves to it completely. It’s also important to let people work where they like (be it at a café or at their house) and whenever they like (it’s okay if they do their work at 3AM, as long as they do it, and do it well). Offering colleagues a sense of autonomy increases their energy and health.
  5. Openness: Communication, communication, communication. Allow everyone to be on the same page. Announce important information pertaining to the company. After all, all members of the organization have just as much importance.
  6. Caring: Humans are social creatures who build relationships all the time. Foster a friendly and caring environment, allowing for meaningful social interactions.
  7. Invest: Invest in your colleagues’ personal fulfillment. If there is anything about the job they do not seem to be satisfied with, make sure to address their concerns. By helping others achieve work-life balance, you help them foster a sense of growth rather than shackling them to the job.
  8. Natural: Be a vulnerable and authentic leader. Leaders who are seen as confident, but who also make mistakes, are seen as more trustworthy.

Research shows that employees working in high-trust environments report less stress, more innovation, fewer sick days, and more satisfaction with their lives outside of work. It’s no coincidence that the “best companies to work for” have higher stock return and employee retention.