Social Sciences

It might have killed the cat but a new study by psychologists at the University at Buffalo suggests that curiosity is very good for people. Their study concludes that the degree to which people are curious actively influences their personal growth opportunities and the level of intimacy that develops when they meet someone new.

The School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo will offer its first online graduate-level course, Behavior Disorders of Childhood (SW 992), beginning with the Spring 2003 semester.

University at Buffalo geographers are embarking on a new project designed to find out how school-aged children relate to urban spaces, to create the first "children's geography of the inner city."

Working with survivors of serious car accidents, psychologists at the University at Buffalo are evaluating the use of group therapy to provide effective treatment to individuals experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Researchers affiliated with the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions have been awarded two grants focusing on couples therapy and family treatment for alcoholism and drug abuse, which are among the most effective, but rarely used substance-abuse treatment programs because they are labor-intensive and costly to deliver.

As he packed off the army knapsack used by renowned "wartime poet" Robert Graves, Robert Bertholf -- curator of the University at Buffalo Poetry and Rare Books Collection -- reflected on the value of the items he often sends to museums from around the world. The knapsack was sent last month to the Imperial War Museum in London, where it is part of the exhibition, "Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War." It is one of four major exhibits in which the UB Poetry and Rare Books Collection, which is quietly achieving international notoriety for its significance, is participating over the next few months.

Using non-invasive geophysical tools -- and without turning one shovel of soil -- a team of University at Buffalo scientists has discovered in the Jordanian desert an ancient Nabatean settlement buried beneath a 2nd-century Roman fort, which itself is buried a few feet below the desert surface.

Juliana Read, a doctoral candidate in the University at Buffalo who previously was a genuine arachnophobe, is conducting research to determine whether an hour of treatment can produce clinically significant reductions in anxiety among those afraid of spiders.

The popular response to the events of 9/11 has been wholly appropriate, moving and important, says historian Michael Frisch, but now the "war" metaphor is being used at the policy level to justify actions whose consequences place the U.S. and its people in greater and greater danger.

The appetites and spending habits of American consumers have changed substantially during the one-year period after Sept. 11, according to an expert on retail strategy and consumer perception at the University at Buffalo.