CAREER: Integrating affect, self-control, and intelligence

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

.Self-control and intelligence can greatly influence people's mental and physical well-being, including their educational and health outcomes. The proposed experiments are intended to make fundamental advances in understanding the nature of self-control and intelligence, especially: a) how they are related to each other; b) the information processing and neural mechanisms that support them; and c) how they influence and are influenced by emotion or affect. Sometimes excess emotion needs to be regulated to behave more optimally (e.g., to resist temptation and impulsive responding), and sometimes the opposite is true: affect can help people behave more optimally (e.g., being mildly anxious about a test can lead to better preparation). The PI's prior work has sought to establish that cognitive and affective aspects of the human mind and brain are integrated in a deep sense, that is, cognition and emotion are not completely separable. In turn, such integration strongly suggests that affect cannot be fully separated from intelligent behavior, including self-control and even logical reasoning. The PI will conduct behavioral, brain imaging, and molecular genetic studies of self-control, as well as a classroom-based intervention to teach Emotional Literacy skills and evaluate the influence of that intervention on self-control and intelligence as outcome measures. If successful, the proposed research will provide a strong basis for follow-up studies into the roles of frustration tolerance, math anxiety, and stereotype threat during STEM learning. Broader impacts. The research described in this proposal will be the core activity of a training program, based in the PI's laboratory at Yale University, intended to increase research capacity in the cognitive neuroscience of science education. The results will add momentum to a major conceptual shift at the core of conceptions of human intelligence, especially the role of affect and self-control. By extension, it has the potential to positively influence educational curriculum and policy. The activity will engage diverse undergraduate and graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows in developing their skills in cognitive neuroscience research, classroom research, and science communication. The PI will visit schools in Kent, U.K., to gain a greater cultural perspective and to contribute to international scientific dialog on affect, self-control, and intelligence.