Seth Pollak
sethpollak.bsky.social
Seth Pollak
@sethpollak.bsky.social
Child Emotion Research Lab at Univ of Wisconsin - Madison. Science about emotions to improve children’s wellbeing.
Demonstrates that while preschoolers initially rely on perceptual information from faces, this diminishes with age; the crux of emotional development in children shifts to conceptual knowledge gained through social experience. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#cogsci
#devsci
#AffectSci
#PsychSciSky
August 18, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Thank you Koraly!
April's Editor's Choice:

Computational modeling approaches to emotional development.

psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...

Andrea Stein & Seth Pollak

@sethpollak.bsky.social

@apajournals.bsky.social

2/2
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
April 1, 2025 at 11:41 AM
🧪 Call for Papers: Rigorous science that examines children's developmental trajectories in the long shadow of COVID-19, with a special focus on heterogeneity among children’s developmental contexts, social experiences, and outcomes. www.srcd.org/call-papers-...
March 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
New issue of Dædalus on caregiving. Megan Gunnar
@rjc3kids.bsky.social and I discuss science parents can rely on to make decisions about care of children. www.amacad.org/sites/defaul... OPEN ACCESS bit.ly/3Qm49ha

www.amacad.org/sites/defaul...

🧪 #devsci #psychology #developmentalpsychology
February 14, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
It is simply not enough for universities to say, “Our grants & research offices are looking into how research will be affected by the latest directive.”

University leaders must actively and very publicly make the case for the kind of work many of us do. The silence on this front is deafening.
January 31, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Childhood adversity influences future decision-making. This systematic review suggests adversity shifts individuals to prioritize information about risks and de-value information about reward- which is likely adaptive in adverse contexts.

authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

@kesmith.bsky.social
January 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
Check out this very special Special Issue honoring Dante Cicchetti!

I’m grateful for the opportunity to discuss my ideas about the future of the field and to honor my legendary mentor. Fun to read all the other contributors’ ideas too!
January 10, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
Can’t wait to dive into this special issue, featuring a paper from my lab!

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
January 9, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
I have barely opened the Table of Contents and can already feel my heart racing with excitement... This looks like a truly exceptional special issue! I cannot wait to read it.
The special issue of Development and Psychopathology entitled “The Future of Developmental Psychopathology: Honoring the Contributions of Dante Cicchetti” is published!

My intro to the volume is
doi.org/10.1017/S095...
A link to all of the papers from luminaries is in the field is in the comments
Continuing the momentum of developmental psychopathology: Lessons learned from the seminal contributions of Dante Cicchetti | Development and Psychopathology | Cambridge Core
Continuing the momentum of developmental psychopathology: Lessons learned from the seminal contributions of Dante Cicchetti - Volume 36 Issue 5
doi.org
January 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
The special issue of Development and Psychopathology entitled “The Future of Developmental Psychopathology: Honoring the Contributions of Dante Cicchetti” is published!

My intro to the volume is
doi.org/10.1017/S095...
A link to all of the papers from luminaries is in the field is in the comments
Continuing the momentum of developmental psychopathology: Lessons learned from the seminal contributions of Dante Cicchetti | Development and Psychopathology | Cambridge Core
Continuing the momentum of developmental psychopathology: Lessons learned from the seminal contributions of Dante Cicchetti - Volume 36 Issue 5
doi.org
January 9, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
Postdoc positions in math cognition & math education! The RISE Postdoctoral Training Program at UW-Madison seeks applicants interested in inclusive mathematics education and in ensuring greater participation in STEM by learners from diverse groups. More info in the flyer and via the QR code.
December 17, 2024 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens theonion.com/no-way-to-pr...
December 16, 2024 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
Posting here as well as on the other app.

Finally getting around to sharing our (@sethpollak.bsky.social) new theoretical paper! We challenge assumptions around the role of arousal in emotion, highlighting ambiguity in how the construct is defined and measured.

journals.sagepub.com/eprint/XWGB4...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
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journals.sagepub.com
December 16, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Seth Pollak
“Arousal might refer to some set of processes underlying emotion but evidence for its role in emotional experiences and behavior is at best mixed and imprecise” from @kesmith.bsky.social & @sethpollak.bsky.social

(Reading as I prep an arousal coding template 💃)
A cheeky new paper that may challenge assumptions about emotion (hopefully, in a productive way).

“Arousal Might Not Be Anything to Get Excited About”
journals.sagepub.com/share/W6VFCD... asks: Is there really evidence for arousal, or is it just a placeholder for unexplained aspects of emotion?
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
December 15, 2024 at 3:48 PM
Postdoctoral positions in Emotion Research. Come and collaborate with 24 training faculty across disciplines in the nation’s longest standing emotion research training program (also home to the country’s largest local farmers market). Applications are due on Friday, February 7,2025. emotion.wisc.edu
December 10, 2024 at 3:41 PM
A cheeky new paper that may challenge assumptions about emotion (hopefully, in a productive way).

“Arousal Might Not Be Anything to Get Excited About”
journals.sagepub.com/share/W6VFCD... asks: Is there really evidence for arousal, or is it just a placeholder for unexplained aspects of emotion?
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
December 9, 2024 at 6:37 PM
Computational approaches to language at UW-Madison! jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...
November 19, 2024 at 7:03 PM
Lots of research attention to how we learn to infer other people's feelings. We always give a nod to the importance of context but don’t often integrate this into a task. Here, we examine how children versus adults combine facial and contextual cues.
rdcu.be/dVjs5
Children’s and Adolescent’s Use of Context in Judgments of Emotion Intensity
rdcu.be
September 27, 2024 at 4:39 PM
Two renewable teaching faculty positions at UW Madison psychology. Come join us!

jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/teachin...
Teaching Faculty - Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Job Summary: The Department of Psychology seeks a dynamic and engaging individual with a commitment to teaching as a profession for a full-time, 9-month teaching faculty position. The successful can...
jobs.wisc.edu
May 2, 2024 at 2:18 PM
New work led by Madeline Harms examines the structure of explore-exploit decision making using four commonly used paradigms to advance understanding of how individuals adapt to changing environments over time. authors.elsevier.com/a/1ikHr2Hxod...
March 14, 2024 at 4:44 PM
Cortisol’s Diurnal Rhythm Indexes the Neurobiological Impact of Child Adversity in Adolescence - Exciting new work led by Birdie Shirtcliff!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
March 8, 2024 at 8:58 PM
Deadline for nominations for the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award is March 15.  Much more efficient and simpler nomination process than in the past:  www.apa.org/about/awards... Help recognize someone who influenced your thinking!
March 4, 2024 at 4:34 PM
Early experiences influence how humans learn from and adapt to their changing circumstances
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Children who experienced their lives as less predictable explore less, and therefore have fewer opportunities to learn about environments and the people in them
November 27, 2023 at 8:47 PM
Come study children's emotions and learning with us at the UW-Madison Child Emotion Lab. Post-doc fellowships on the NIMH Training Program in Emotion Research. Apps due February 2, 2024 (but please contact me before applying). childemotion.waisman.wisc.edu
emotion.wisc.edu
November 25, 2023 at 9:37 PM