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Experts in the Media: With Kemp bowing out of mid-terms is Georgia staying blue?
Control of the Senate is key for most administrations, and with a razor-thin edge favoring the Republicans, any pickup to keep control of the Senate after the mid-term elections is a priority. However, with a heavy favorite in Gov. Brian Kemp stepping away from the chance to run for the GOP, many are speculating the once traditionally Republican stronghold could stay blue under the Democrats with the re-election of Sen. Jon Ossoff. It's a topic that has political watchers and media trying to cover and figure out as parties get ready to get back on the campaign trail for next year. It's also why journalists and news outlets like Newsweek are connecting with experts like William Hatcher, PhD, for expert opinion and perspective. An award-winning scholar, Hatcher is the chair of the Department of Social Sciences and a professor of political science. His research focuses on the connection between public administration and the development of local communities. Kemp's decision not to challenge Ossoff in the state's 2026 Senate race could be a boon to Democrats' chances of holding the seat in the battleground state, according to recent polls... Kemp's announcement follows months of speculation about whether he would challenge Ossoff, a Democrat first elected in 2020. Polls suggest Kemp would have been the strongest candidate against Ossoff and that other potential Republicans trail the incumbent senator in a hypothetical matchup. "Given that Kemp was perhaps the strongest candidate to face Ossoff, his decision to not run will make it difficult to find another candidate that would be as competitive. However, the election is over a year away, and in politics, a lot can happen in that amount of time," William Hatcher, chair and professor of social sciences at Augusta University, told Newsweek on Tuesday. A poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that Kemp led Ossoff by 3.3 points (49% to 45.7%), Ossoff led three other prospective challengers. That poll surveyed 1,426 respondents from April 24 to April 27, 2025, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. Hatcher said the state Republicans face a "limited" bench to challenge Ossoff, but whoever prevails will eventually have to defend Trump's "unpopular economic policies that will most likely adversely affect states like Georgia, particularly his recent commentary on leveling tariffs on the film industry – a industry that has a significant presence in Georgia." May 06 - Newsweek The race is obviously already on for the mid-term elections in November of 2026, and if you're a journalist looking to cover Georgia politics, let us help. William Hatcher, PhD, is available to speak with media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Most companies around the world have a leader, whether that title is a President, CEO, or Founder. There’s almost always someone at the very top of a corporate food chain, and from that position down, the company is structured hierarchically, with multiple levels of leadership supervising other employees. It’s a structure with which most people in the working world are familiar, and it dates back as long as one can remember. The word itself—leader—dates back to as far as the 12th Century and is derived from the Old English word “laedere,” or one who leads. But in 2001, a group of software engineers developed the Agile Workflow Methodology, a project development process that puts a priority on egalitarian teamwork and individual independence in searching for solutions. A number of businesses are trying to embrace a flatter internal structure, like the agile workflow. But is it necessarily the best way to develop business processes? That’s the question posed by researchers, including Goizueta Business School’s Özgecan Koçak, associate professor of organization and management, and fellow researchers Daniel A. Levinthal and Phanish Puranam in their recently published paper on organizational hierarchies. “Realistically, we don’t see a lot of non-hierarchical organizations,” says Koçak. “But there is actually a big push to have less hierarchy in organizations.” Part of it is due to the demotivating effects of working in authoritarian workplaces. People don’t necessarily like to have a boss. We place value in being more egalitarian, more participatory. Özgecan Koçak, Associate Professor of Organization & Management “So there is some push to try and design organizations with flatter hierarchies. That is specifically so in the context of knowledge-based work, and especially in the context of discovery and search.” Decoding Organizational Dynamics While the idea of an egalitarian workplace is attractive to many people, Koçak and her colleagues wanted to know if, or when, hierarchies were actually beneficial to the health of organizations. They developed a computational agent-based model, or simulation, to explore the relationships between structures of influence and organizational adaptation. The groups in the simulation mimicked real business team structures and consisted of two types of teams. In the first type, one agent had influence over the beliefs of rest of the team. For the second type, no one individual had any influence over the beliefs of the team. The hierarchical team vs. the flat structured team. “When you do simulations, you want to make sure that your findings are robust to those kinds of things like the scale of the group, or the how fast the agents are learning and so forth,” says Koçak. What’s innovative about this particular simulation is that all the agents are learning from their environment. They are learning through trial and error. They are trying out different alternatives and finding out their value. Özgecan Koçak Koçak is very clear that the hierarchies in the simulation are not exactly like hierarchies in a business organization. Every agent was purposefully made to be the same without any difference in wisdom or knowledge. “It’s really nothing like the kinds of hierarchies you would see in organizations where there is somebody who has a corner office, or somebody who is has a management title, or somebody’s making more than the others. In the simulation, it’s nothing to do with those distributional aspects or control, and nobody has the ability to control what others do in (the simulation). All control comes through influence of beliefs.” Speed vs. Optimal Solutions What they found in the simulation was that while both teams solved the same problems presented to them, they achieved different results at different speeds. We find that hierarchical teams don’t necessarily find the best solution, but they find the good enough solution in the shorter term. So if you are looking at the really long term, crowds do better. The crowds where individuals are all learning separately, they find the best solution in the long run, even though they are not learning from each other. Özgecan Koçak Özgecan Koçak (pronounced as ohz-gay-john ko-chuck) is associate professor of Organization & Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. She holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. For example, teams of scientists looking for cures or innovative treatments for diseases work best with a flat structure. Each individual works on their own timeline, with their own search methodologies. The team only comes together for status updates or to discuss their projects without necessarily getting influence or direction from colleagues. The long-term success of the result is more important in some cases than the speed at which they arrive to their conclusion. That won’t work for an organization that answers to a board of directors or shareholders. Such parties want to see rapid results that will quickly impact the bottom line of the company. This is why the agile methodology is not beneficial to large-scale corporations. Koçak says, “When you try to think about an entire organization, not just teams, it gets more complicated. If you have many people in an organization, you can’t have everybody just be on the same team. And then you have to worry about how to coordinate the efforts of multiple teams. That’s the big question for scaling up agile. We know that the agile methodology works pretty well at the team level. However, when firms try to scale it up applied to the entire organization, then you have more coordination problems. Özgecan Koçak “You need some way to coordinate the efforts with multiple teams.” The Catch: Compensation Makes a Difference The simulation did not take into account one of the biggest parts of a corporate hierarchical structure—incentives and reward. The teams in the simulation received no monetary compensation for their leadership or influence. That is not something that happens in real life. Koçak says, “If you built up an organization with just influence, you just say we’re not going to have any authority, and we’re not going to give anybody the right to control anybody else’s actions. If we’re not going to be rewarding anyone more than the other, there’s not going to be any marks of status, etc. We’re just going to have some people influence others more. I would guess that would automatically lead to a prestige hierarchy right away. The person with more influence, you would start respecting more.” It’s almost like we’re incapable of working in a flat society, because somebody always wants to be or naturally becomes a leader and an influencer whether they planned on it or not. Özgecan Koçak The paper concludes that both methodologies, with either hierarchical and flat organization of teams, reach their goals. They just arrive at different times with different end results. If an organization has the luxury of time and money, a flat, agile methodology organization might be the right structure for that company. However, even agile workflow needs some coordination, according to Koçak. “There are also some search tasks that require coordination. You can’t always be searching on your own independently of others. There are some situations in which search needs to be done in a coordinated fashion by more than one person in teams. That’s because many of the knowledge-based settings where we do discovery require some division of labor, some specialization by expertise.” Communication is Key The key to any successful workflow, whether it be agile or hierarchical, is coordination and communication. Looking back to the example of scientific researchers, Koçak said, “You have scientific teams working independently of one another without a common boss dictating what they do research on or how they do it. Instead, they explore and experiment on their own. They write up their results, share their results, and learn from each other, because they are in the long-term game. The goal is to find the truth, however long it takes. “But when you look closely at a scientific team where everybody’s exploring, there is still some need for coordination. A lot of that happens through communication, and a lot of times projects will have a lead. Not necessarily somebody who knows better than the others, but somebody who’s going to help with coordination.” The leaner, flatter organizational structures in businesses might be gaining popularity. This simulation done by Koçak and colleagues, however, shows that it isn’t a perfect fit for every company, Further, some form of hierarchical workflow is necessary to maintain communication and coordination. Hierarchical structures don’t always find the best solution to a problem, but it’s almost always a good solution in a timelier fashion. Looking to know more? Özgecan Koçak is associate professor of Organization & Management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. She is available to speak with media about this topic - simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
Expert Q& A: ‘The Pope is also a monarch’
Kathleen Comerford, Ph.D., professor of history at Georgia Southern University, specializes in Catholic history in the 16th and 17th centuries. She is also an associate editor for the Journal of Jesuit Studies, which focuses on the work of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a religious order within the Catholic Church. Pope Francis was the church’s first Jesuit pope. With the global significance and rarity of the conclave, Comerford answered frequently asked questions about how the conclave works, how the conclave process has evolved over time, and what the passing of a pope means for the Catholic Church and the world. Question: What does the passing of a pope mean for the world? Comerford: Multiple things! First of all, there are 1.4 billion Catholics in the world scattered in many different countries. The pope is a unifying figure for all of the Catholics. He represents something immediate in the sense that he’s the head of the church and is a recognizable figure. The pope is also a monarch. I was just talking with my classes about this. He is the head of the government of the Vatican City State, which is the smallest independent state in the world. It has a very long history itself. Pretty much everybody who lives in Vatican City works for the Vatican. The pope is one of the few elected monarchs in history. He is responsible for financial and political decisions, and he has ambassadors around the world as a result of his role in global policy. Question: How is a new pope selected? Comerford: The College of Cardinals will meet for an election called a conclave, and they actually stay in a dormitory-like place in Vatican City for it. They are sequestered from the public, and they take some time to meet, pray and vote. The cardinals aren’t supposed to be sitting around talking about who would be a really good pope, but we don’t know whether they do because they’re sequestered and nobody is supposed to talk about it. They will likely take a vote on the first day, but that’s not required. Every subsequent day, they can take a maximum of four votes; two in the morning and two in the afternoon until a candidate gets a two-thirds majority. Question: What does the voting look like? Comerford: There are ballots, and the cardinals write their preferred candidate on the ballot, and then they put their vote in a chalice. To count the votes, there’s a group of three people who are in charge of counting and then announcing the results to the fellow cardinals. There are 252 cardinals, but only 135 of them are eligible to vote because anyone over the age of 80 is ineligible. The procedure where only cardinals can elect the pope dates from 1059. The secret ballot and the two-thirds majority requirement is from 1621. The sequestration for the process dates from 1271 because they argued about who the new pope would be for two years and nine months; a total of 33 months. And so, they decided that the only way to make sure that this didn’t happen again would be to create this scenario with the cardinals locked in a room with a key. Question: When one of the candidates receives a two-thirds majority and becomes the next pope, how will it be announced? Comerford: Well, this is kind of fun, because they have four votes every day until one of the candidates receives a two-thirds majority. After they take the votes, the papers used to vote are burned. How the news is shared to the crowds outside is based on the color of smoke. If the smoke is black, that means no one received the majority and there’s no new pope yet. If there’s white smoke, it means there’s a new pope. This practice really only dates to the early 19th century. At first, it was just if there was smoke, there was no pope; if there was no smoke, then there was a pope. In 1914, they changed this aspect of the election so that black smoke means “no pope” and white smoke means “new pope.” Question: It’s expected that the next pope will be one of the cardinals in the room when they vote, yes? Comerford: Yes, but it doesn’t have to be. There have been a lot of popes, but in the last 200-300 years, there hasn’t been somebody who wasn’t in the conclave that was elected. Theoretically, they could nominate somebody who’s not a cardinal and the whole room could say, “yes, that’s the person we want as pope.” However, they don’t vote by acclamation anymore. They stopped doing that in the 19th century. Question: Pope Francis appointed 108 of the cardinals, so that’s a total of 80% of those eligible to vote for the next pope. How likely is it that we see a pope similar to the late Francis, considering he provided the electorate for his successor? Comerford: First of all, he deliberately went out and created cardinals in places where there had never been cardinals before. And he didn’t do that by saying, “I’m going to find somebody who’s like-minded to me.” He just said, “There are a lot of Catholics in Myanmar and they’ve never had a cardinal. So I’m going to make sure that there’s a cardinal now.” Most of these new cardinals are in places like Rwanda, Cape Verde, Tonga, Myanmar, Mongolia and so on. So these are non-European cardinals. Now, less than 40% of the voting cardinals are European. So to speculate on how similar they are to Francis, you have to break down what Francis was. There has been his entire pontificate about how he’s the first American pope, but his parents were born in Italy. He didn’t grow up speaking Italian, but it was a dialect of Italian as well as Spanish, because he grew up in Argentina. He was the most European you can get and still be an American. Another part of the question is, will the new pope be somebody who is of a similar mind to Francis in terms of his governance, which was very devolved. He introduced this idea of “synodality,” which is about fairly consistent communication with groups of people. Pope Francis was not particularly monarchical or hierarchical. There is also the aspect of his thinking that leans more to the left than the right on a number of social issues like immigration, women’s rights, the rights of minorities and immigration. He opened a lot of conversations, which the very right leaning portions of the church have been very uncomfortable with. If you're interested in learning more about this topic and want to book time to talk or interview with Kathleen Comerford then let us help - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.
Rural health documentary earns Peabody Award for Georgia Southern professor
Georgia Southern University Professor Matthew Hashiguchi has won a Peabody Award for his documentary, “The Only Doctor,” which focuses on rural health and the services provided by a single doctor in southwest Georgia. The Peabody Awards are prestigious accolades in storytelling across television, radio, streaming and other digital mediums. Categories for winning a Peabody include journalism, social video, interactive documentary, gaming and more. The nearly hour-long feature received the award in the Public Service category, which recognizes projects that address or respond to public health concerns, enhance public engagement or educate the public. For Hashiguchi, the award represents a personal and career accolade. “This award isn’t just a professional achievement, but also represents a moment in my life where I became a father,” said Hashiguchi. “I started filming right before my first daughter was born, and finished right after the second. While this award is an incredible acknowledgment of my work, it means even more to me as a priceless moment from their childhood.” The documentary focuses on Karen Kinsell, M.D., the sole physician serving 3,000 citizens in Clay County, Georgia, near the Georgia-Alabama border. The film spotlights the plight of a community in need of medical assistance and the dedicated doctor fighting to keep her clinic’s doors open. Hashiguchi delves into Kinsell’s sacrifices for her clinic’s operations, revealing her commitment to her patients. “Dr. Kinsell gets calls at home at all hours of the day and night,” Hashiguchi said. “She, at times, has had to pay the bills from her own bank account. But I’d say the biggest sacrifice is that she’s a doctor who does not have breaks.” The final cut of “The Only Doctor” is a bit different from the angle Hashiguchi took when he began work on it several years ago. He initially started the project to better understand the risks associated with maternal health care and childbirth when he and his wife were expecting their first child. Through his work, he learned of a more complex issue of health care access in rural communities. The documentary first premiered on the PBS program Reel South and is now available internationally on Al Jazeera’s documentary series “Witness.” Hashigchi’s work earned him a 2019 Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund award and a 2021 American Stories Documentary Fund award from Points North Institute. The film’s world premiere took place at the 2023 Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, and was awarded Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 South Georgia Film Festival, Best Feature at the 2023 Newburyport Documentary Film Festival and Award of Merit at the 2023 University Film and Video Association Conference. His rise to media prominence wasn’t on his radar early in his academic career. He described himself as a “C student,” and still sees himself as that young boy struggling with math and science courses. With one of the nation’s highest media honors, he can show his students new paths to success as well as the skills it takes to win a Peabody. “I want my students to know how I failed and know that I struggled,” he said. “I tell them that if they want to excel, they really have to put in hard work. That’s very much who I am now as I devote myself to these films.” If you're interested in learning more and want to book time to talk or interview with Matthew Hashiguchi then let us help - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.
Georgia Southern University announces Cassie N. Morgan as Vice President for Enrollment Management
A seasoned leader in higher education, Morgan brings nearly two decades of experience in strategic enrollment planning, student success and organizational leadership. She returns to Georgia Southern with a proven record of innovation and impact, having previously served as associate vice president for Enrollment Management, providing strategic oversight to Financial Aid, the Registrar’s Office, and Enrollment Services. Her leadership during that time contributed directly to steady enrollment growth, improved student service delivery, and the development of a comprehensive strategic enrollment plan. Morgan consistently champions data-informed strategies, operational excellence, staff development, and a deep commitment to student-centered services and leads with a strong commitment to collaboration, innovation and service excellence. She has held significant roles at Appalachian State University, Gadsden State, Liberty University, the University of North Alabama and the University of West Georgia. “Cassie is a dynamic and visionary leader whose experience and values align perfectly with our mission,” said Alejandra C. Sosa Pieroni, Ed.D., executive vice president for Enrollment, Marketing, and Student Success. “Her return brings invaluable leadership as we build on our success and accelerate progress toward enrollment goals. Cassie leads with clarity, purpose and a student-first mindset. We are thrilled to welcome her back to Eagle Nation.” In her new role at Georgia Southern, Morgan will lead the enrollment management unit, overseeing all facets of the enrollment lifecycle, including undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid and enrollment services, the registrar’s office, military and veteran services, and international student services. She will also play a key role in institutional planning, marketing alignment and collaboration with academic and system partners. “I’m truly honored to return to Georgia Southern in this pivotal leadership role,” said Morgan. “It’s a privilege to serve an institution I deeply respect and cherish. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help shape its future and to build on the momentum already in place. I couldn’t be more excited about what lies ahead and to once again be part of a community that means so much to me.” Morgan holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education from the University of West Georgia. If you want to book time to talk or interview with Vice President for Enrollment Management, Cassie Morgan then let us help - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.
Research Matters: Ultra-conductive molecule sets stage for post-silicon computing era
A research team has uncovered what it believes is “the world’s most electrically conductive organic molecule,” a discovery that opens new possibilities for building smaller, more powerful, and more energy-efficient computers. It could also allow computer chip manufacturers to eliminate their reliance on silicon and metal as conductors. “Molecules are nature’s tiniest, mightiest, and most configurable building blocks and can be engineered to build ultra-compact, ultra-efficient technology for everything from computers to quantum devices,” said Ignacio Franco, who was part of the research team that was led by scientists at the University of Miami. Their research was detailed in a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The molecule, which is composed of chemical elements found in nature, including carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen, can carry electrical current over record-breaking distances without losing efficiency. Using molecular materials in electronic chips offers several advantages. They consume less power. They can be more easily customized than silicon. They are more environmentally friendly. And, perhaps most importantly to manufacturers, they are potentially cheaper to produce. “This molecular design overcomes many of the big issues that for decades have prevented the use of molecules in electronics,” Franco said. To learn more about this ground-breaking research, read about it at the University of Rochester News Center, and contact Franco at ignacio.franco@rochester.edu.
Aston University researcher to help uncover hidden impact of painkiller overuse among older people
The HOPE-AO project led by the University of Plymouth will look at the potential harms of overprescribed pain medication in older people in the UK Aston University’s Professor Ian Maidment will bring his expertise in pharmacy and work with patient groups on medicine optimisation The project has been funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) A new study led by the University of Plymouth will explore chronic pain prescribing in older adults across the UK, with the aim of understanding whether current treatments and processes meet their needs. The HOPE-AO: Helping to Optimise Pain control in the Elderly experiencing Analgesic Overprescribing project is being supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and includes Aston University’s Professor Ian Maidment. It will investigate whether certain groups of the older population are more likely to have analgesic (pain relief) medication overprescribed to them, and any side effects or other harms these medications can pose if taken for long periods. It aims to identify alternative treatment solutions to reduce the use of unnecessary pain medicines, working with patients to develop a list of acceptable strategies that could be tested and implemented across the UK. Around 4m older people across the UK live with varying degrees of chronic pain as a result of conditions including arthritis, diabetes or frailty. While some people benefit from pain relief medicines, many end up receiving long-term repeated prescriptions – for medications ranging from paracetamol and ibuprofen to opioids and antidepressants – for weeks, months or years at a time. The project is being led by researchers from the University of Plymouth, working with colleagues at the University of Exeter, Aston University, University of Aberdeen and the North East London Foundation NHS Trust. It is funded by through a Programme Development Grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The project team comprises experts in the care of older people – including healthcare researchers, nurses, consultants, GPs, pharmacists and psychiatrists working across the UK – as well as medical statisticians and health economists. It also involves an advisory group of patients with lived experience of receiving repeat prescriptions for pain medication. During the project, the team will speak to patients aged 65 and over with a history of chronic pain for which they are taking, or have taken, medication and families who cared for and supported relatives with chronic pain. They will also speak to healthcare professionals who are either prescribing or supporting older adults taking medication for chronic pain management. Alongside this work, the team will analyse anonymised healthcare data to understand more about older adults who are prescribed medication for chronic pain. This includes patterns in prescribing, health and demographic factors associated with pain medication use, and potential health outcomes, and will help identify those likely to benefit most from support. Professor Maidment, from Aston Pharmacy School, will bring his expertise in pharmacy, medication use in day-to-day clinical practice and working with diverse groups of patients to support medication optimisation. He said: “From my experience in community pharmacy, the use of pain medicines is very common in older people. We need to work with older people to understand how we can help older people to use other potentially safer approaches.” Patricia Schofield, professor of clinical nursing at the University of Plymouth and one of the study’s chief investigators, said: “Very often, older people are told by a doctor that the most effective means of treating a health condition is through some form of pain relief. But they often don’t get any form of follow-up appointment and, as a generation, are less likely to seek one as they either feel pain is part of the ageing process or they don’t wish to be seen as a burden. The result is that they end up getting repeat prescriptions, potentially for pain medications they no longer need and also at significant cost to the NHS. “This study will give us a clearer understanding of the scale of the issue which we can use to develop ways of benefitting patients and their families, and the healthcare professionals working to treat and support them.” Victoria Abbott-Fleming MBE, founder of the charity Burning Nights CRPS Support, is the chair of the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement group for the HOPE-AO study. It will be made up of several adults over the age of 65 who live with chronic pain and have received repeat prescriptions for pain medication. Victoria has herself lived for more than 20 years with a chronic pain condition, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), and set up Burning Nights to support those affected by it on a day-to-day basis and their families. She is also chair of the Expert Patient and Carer Committee at the British Pain Society. She said: “I’m excited to support this study that places the voices of older adults and their carers at the heart of pain management. All too often, those living with chronic pain – especially older adults – are prescribed medication without regular review or consideration of alternative approaches. This study is a vital step towards more informed and balanced care, helping ensure that older people living with chronic pain are not just treated, but truly heard and supported.”
Retro Appeal: Research Reveals the Reasons Behind Vintage Shopping in Turbulent Times
Why buy vintage? Reasons abound. It’s kinder to the environment. It’s usually cheaper. It’s back in style. But did you know it may also address a deep-seated psychological need for stability amid upheavals? Vintage consumption—that is, buying previously owned items from an earlier era—acts as a means to connect the past, present, and future. That connection across time can be reassuring, most especially in times of uncertainty. When you really want to buy a leather jacket that’s older than you are, it may be enlightening to consider the circumstances. This vintage insight reveals itself in research by Ryan Hamilton, associate professor of marketing at Goizueta Business School. In an award-winning article titled “Stitching time: Vintage consumption connects the past, present, and future,” Hamilton—along with coauthors Gulen Sarial-Abi, Kathleen Vohs, and Aulona Ulqinaku—uncovered why we may want to turn to something old when we perceive threats to our worldviews. Notably, multiple studies have shown thoughts of death to increase the appeal of items that have already stood the test of time. The Psychological Appeal of Thrifting In psychology, “meaning frameworks” are how we, as human beings, interpret and understand our lives as meaningful and valuable. Threats to our meaning frameworks—i.e., the pillars propping up our worldviews—can include thoughts of death, unsettling economic upheavals, and other existential challenges. In order to explore the effects of meaning threats on our preference for vintage, Hamilton and coauthors designed several studies. Their pilot test measured the physical health of nursing home residents. It then measured their preferences for vintage items, controlling for other variables. The results held up the researchers’ hypothesis: Vintage items—be they books, watches, bicycles, or luggage—were more strongly preferred over their modern versions by elderly participants in poorer health, presumably those most likely to have mortality on their minds. Six subsequent studies used different variables to see if the main hypothesis continued to hold up. It did, while at the same time revealing more information about the mechanisms at work. Ryan Hamilton Associate Professor of Marketing Death or Dental Pain In one study, for example, researchers prompted participants with death reminders. They had to contemplate and write about their own deaths to make sure mortality was top of mind. Researchers prompted a control group with reminders of dental pain. Both groups then answered a 12-question survey about their desire for structure (e.g., set routines and practices) at that particular moment. But there was another element in this study: contemplating wearing a watch from the 1950s. As predicted by the main hypothesis, death cues were associated with participants reporting that they desired more structure. The only exceptions was for those who imagined an old watch ticking on their wrists. Vintage consumption seemed to act as a buffer against unsettling thoughts of death for them. What is going on here? As noted above, the researchers theorize and show that vintage objects tend to connect our thoughts of the past, present, and future. These mental, intertemporal connections tend to be reassuring—“a hidden factor” in our preferences and choices, as Hamilton notes. More than Nostalgia One might think nostalgia—a sentimental longing for the past—could also be at work. Feeling nostalgic for one’s own past and social connections can buffer against meaning threats, as previous research has shown. But this paper was designed to tease out nostalgia. It focused on vintage’s connections across time regardless of one’s personal experiences. “This study allowed us to clearly show that people respond differently to something they believe to be old,” as Hamilton explains. “It’s not just something that has a retro look, which was one of my favorite aspects of this project.” Hamilton and his coauthors achieved this by having participants evaluate identical items thought to be genuinely vintage or replicas. And the results were robust. Retro replicas, which can prompt nostalgia, did not have the same psychological impact as items believed to be genuinely old. For instance, 20-year-olds who find a watch from the 1950s reassuring can’t feel nostalgic about the design personally. They can, however, feel a connection across time—and that came through in the study. Retail Therapy on the Rise? Hamilton’s research here follows his broader interest in consumer psychology, branding, and decision-making. “When we’re buying things, we may think it’s based on strict utility maximization. However, it also might be making us feel better in some way,” says Hamilton. Shopping can serve as an emotional management strategy—for better or for worse. Although it was outside the scope of this particular investigation (and all participants were over age 18), the insights gleaned here may help explain why 21st-century teenagers seem to be particularly avid “thrifters” these days. “I don’t want to overstate our findings. But it’s at least possible that the appeal of vintage for teenagers is boltstered by a sense of permanence and endurance that helps them during times of upheaval,” Hamilton says. It turns out a 30-year-old leather jacket might help its new owner feel better on many levels. So is it any wonder that vintage shopping is surging in uncertain times? Fashion magazines, such as Vogue and GQ, are following the vintage craze closely in 2024. Concern for climate change and the Earth’s finite resources may present two intertwined reasons to buy old things: those two things are environmental and psychological. If tumultuous times continue amid contentious elections, wars, and other threats, it seems safe to bet on vintage. Ryan Hamilton is associate professor of Marketing at Emory University - Goizueta Business School. If you're a journalist looking to know about this topic, simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Historical Significance of the Papal Name
In the wake of the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American to ascend to the papacy, scholars and observers alike are reflecting on the global, historical and theological implications of his early statements and symbolic choices. His decision to take the name Leo – a name not used for over a century – immediately evokes comparisons to both Leo XIII and Leo I (Leo the Great), popes known for their firm leadership and dynamic engagement with the world. Baylor University’s Elisabeth Rain Kincaid, J.D., Ph.D., director of the Institute for Faith and Learning and an expert on early modern theology and Catholic Social Thought, said choosing the name Leo is significant, especially in today’s world. Through his choice of name, rhetorical style and theological references, the new pope is signaling a clear vision for a Church that is simultaneously grounded in tradition and open to global dialogue, Kincaid said. Kincaid is currently at work on a monograph – “Business Ethics for a Flourishing Life: Catholic Social Thought in the Modern Workplace” – in which she argues for the continued importance of Leo XIII’s thought for modern life. If you're covering the news about Pope Leo XIV and are looking to know why Cardinal Robert Prevost chose that name - we can help. Elisabeth Rain Kincaid is an author, speaker, teacher, and theologian. She has published broadly in peer-reviewed journals and popular publications. She is a frequent speaker at conferences, churches, and professional events on topics including business ethics, virtue and character, Christian engagement with law and politics, and work and vocation. She is currently the Director for the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University. In her teaching, she draws upon her years of experience as a white-collar criminal defense attorney and a private equity professional, along with her ministry experience. Elisabeth is available to speak with media about this topic - simply contact Shelby Cefaratti-Bertin, M.A., Assistant Director of Media and Public Relations at Baylor University, Shelby_Cefaratti@baylor.edu or 254-327-8012 to arrange an interview today.
Hormone Supplementation in Rhesus Monkeys Points to Potential Autism Treatment
For years, Florida Tech’s Catherine Talbot, assistant professor of psychology, has worked to understand the sociality of male rhesus monkeys and how low-social monkeys can serve as a model for humans with autism. Her most recent findings show that replenishing a deficient hormone, vasopressin, helped the monkeys become more social without increasing their aggression – a discovery that could change autism treatment. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that one in 36 children in the United States is affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That’s an increase from one in 44 children reported in 2018. Two FDA-approved treatments currently exist, Talbot said, but they only address associated symptoms, not the root of ASD. The boost in both prevalence and awareness of the disorder prompts the following question: What is the cause? Some rhesus monkeys are naturally low-social, meaning they demonstrate poor social cognitive skills, while others are highly social. Their individual variation in sociality is comparable to how human sociality varies, ranging from people we consider social butterflies to those who are not interested in social interactions, similar to some people diagnosed with ASD, Talbot said. Her goal has been to understand how variations in biology and behavior influence social cognition. In the recent research paper published in the journal PNAS, “Nebulized vasopressin penetrates CSF [cerebral spinal fluid] and improves social cognition without inducing aggression in a rhesus monkey model of autism,” Talbot and researchers with Stanford, the University of California, Davis and the California National Primate Research Center explored vasopressin, a hormone that is known to contribute to mammalian social behavior, as a potential therapeutic treatment that may ultimately help people with autism better function in society. Previous work from this research group found that vasopressin levels are lower in their low-social rhesus monkey model, as well as in a select group of people with ASD. Previous studies testing vasopressin in rodents found that increased hormone levels caused more aggression. As a result, researchers warned against administering vasopressin as treatment, Talbot said. However, she argued that in those studies, vasopressin induced aggression in contexts where aggression is the socially appropriate response, such as guarding mates in their home territory, so the hormone may promote species-typical behavior. She also noted that the previous studies tested vasopressin in “neurotypical” rodents, as opposed to animals with low-social tendencies. “It may be that individuals with the lowest levels of vasopressin may benefit the most from it – that is the step forward toward precision medicine that we now need to study,” Talbot said. In her latest paper, Talbot and her co-authors tested how low-social monkeys, with low vasopressin levels and high autistic-like trait burden, responded to vasopressin supplementation to make up for their natural deficiency. They administered the hormone through a nebulizer, which the monkeys could opt into. For a few minutes each week, the monkeys voluntarily held their face up to a nebulizer to receive their dose while sipping white grape juice – a favorite among the monkeys, Talbot said. After administering the hormone and verifying that it increased vasopressin levels in the central nervous system, the researchers wanted to see how the monkeys responded to both affiliative and aggressive stimuli by showing them videos depicting these behaviors. They also compared their ability to recognize and remember new objects and faces, which is another important social skill. They found that normally low-social monkeys do not respond to social communication and were better at recognizing and remembering objects compared to faces, similar to some humans diagnosed with ASD. When the monkeys were given vasopressin, they began reciprocating affiliative, pro-social behaviors, but not aggression. It also improved their facial recognition memory, making it equivalent to their recognition memory of objects. In other words, vasopressin “rescued” low-social monkeys’ ability to respond prosocially to others and to remember new faces. The treatment was successful – vasopressin selectively improved the social cognition of these low-social monkeys. “It was really exciting to see this come to fruition after pouring so much work into this project and overcoming so many challenges,” Talbot said of her findings. One of Talbot’s co-authors has already begun translating this work to cohorts of autism patients. She expects more clinical trials to follow. In the immediate future, Talbot is examining how other, more complex social cognitive abilities like theory of mind – the ability to take the perspective of another – may differ in low-social monkeys compared to more social monkeys and how this relates to their underlying biology. Beyond that, Talbot hopes that they can target young monkeys who are “at-risk” of developing social deficits related to autism for vasopressin treatment to see if early intervention might help change their developmental trajectory and eventually translate this therapy to targeted human trials. Catherine F. Talbot is an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology at Florida Tech and co-director of the Animal Cognitive Research Center at Brevard Zoo. Dr. Talbot joined Florida Tech from the Neuroscience and Behavior Unit at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, where she worked as a postdoc on a collaborative bio-behavioral project examining naturally occurring low-sociability in rhesus monkeys as a model for the core social deficits seen in people with autism spectrum disorder, specifically targeting the underlying mechanisms of social functioning. If you're interested in connecting with Catherine Talbot - simply contact Adam Lowenstein, Director of Media Communications at Florida Institute of Technology at adam@fit.edu to arrange an interview today.
