Please note the announcement for the PsiChi speaker on the 20^th.  An event well worth attending for org side I/O  students.

There is a rumor that the event will be well attended.

Tom Mitchell, Ph.D.

Industrial and Organizational Psychologist

University of Baltimore

Division of Applied Behavioral Sciences

Academic Center Suite 209 D

1420 North Charles Street

Baltimore MD 21201

http://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 3:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Psi Chi Speaker

Hi everyone,

Psi Chi is having a nationally known researcher coming to speak at UB on October 20th. He will be arriving the evening of the 19th and be leaving on the 21st in the morning.  We have him scheduled to speak at 4:30 on the 20th in the Performance theater at the Student Center 5^th floor, plus we have the Gallery so we can have some light refreshments there.  I really need help getting people to attend. Extra credit for attendance would a plus if you can work it out with your classes. Sally and I have been working on this for some time...any help /suggestions from each of you would be appreciated. John

Bio:

Dr. Nicholas DiFonzo

Professor DiFonzo earned his Ph.D. in Social & Organizational Psychology from Temple University in 1994 where he was awarded the Marianthi Georgoudi Dissertation Award for philosophical and theoretical contributions to the field of Psychology. He is currently Professor of Psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology where he teaches Social Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Graduate Statistics. He is a member of numerous professional associations including the American Psychological Society, the Society for Personality and Social Psychologists, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

He has published over 35 articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries and technical reports pertaining to the topic of rumor. His book, Rumor Psychology: Social & Organizational Approaches (written with Prashant Bordia), was published by the American Psychological Association and won the Gold Medal-2006 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award in the psychology category. His general press book, The Watercooler Effect: A Psychologist Explores the Extraordinary Power of Rumors, was released by Avery (Penguin) Press in September of 2008, was released as a paperback in September of 2009, and a Spanish translation (Rumorologia) was published by the South American publisher, Ediciones B also in 2009 (a Korean version was also published in 2009 and a Japanese translation is forthcoming). He has been interviewed on National Public Radio on numerous occasions, and routinely assists the press in the analysis of rumor and gossip. He has given over 40 presentations and invited addresses at academic conferences on rumor, as well as seminars and lectures to business audiences on rumor and rumor management.

Dr. DiFonzo has studied how rumors propagate through networks in social space and across time, the mechanisms by which rumors become accurate or distorted, the effect of repeated hearing of rumors on belief, motivations involved in rumor transmission, processes involved in believing a rumor, how rumor is differentiated from other forms of communication, the effects of hearing rumors and rumor denials, psychological mechanisms by which rumors are effectively refuted, how rumor processes are affected by organizational trust, and how rumors influence social and economic behavior. He has pursued practical applications of rumor theory including how harmful rumors may be most effectively refuted.

In 2005 he received a major multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation ($755,546) to investigate how rumors propagate through social networks over time. He has also received funding from the Institute for Public Relations to study corporate rumors, their effects, and how top corporate public relations officers handle them. He organized and maintains an Internet discussion group, [log in to unmask] for scholars interested in the topics of rumor and gossip. Dr. DiFonzo has served as expert trial witness for corporations and government entities on the topics involving derogatory workplace rumors, malicious product rumors, and slanderous conspiracy rumors.

Good Morning,

Our division meeting is still on Thursday, October 13, 2011 from 12:30-2pm, but the room has changed to the Langsdale Library  room 401.  The reason for this there will be an APA demonstration on PsycTESTS, and PsycTHERAPY.  Any questions please give me a call or email.

Thanks,