LOUISVILLE, Ky., Dec. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A
scientist who discovered a brain mechanism that not only produces
resilience to trauma but also aids in coping with future adversity
has won the 2016 University of
Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
Steven Maier, distinguished
professor of psychology and neuroscience and Center for
Neuroscience director at University of
Colorado-Boulder, was selected for the 16th prize.
His award-winning work concerns what makes one resistant or
vulnerable to stress when bad things happen. Maier showed if test
subjects had behavioral control over some element of the adverse
event, they were less negatively impacted and also essentially
"immunized" against some harmful effects of future bad events, even
if those events were uncontrollable. Through laboratory research
studies, he uncovered in animal subjects the neural mechanism that
provides such resilience in the face of trauma.
The idea that behavioral control induces resilience has become
important in psychology, neuroscience and other academic
disciplines, as well as clinical research and therapies for
depression and anxiety disorders. Maier laid the groundwork for
understanding the brain mechanism involved in how one assesses and
deals with adverse events. His findings have been replicated in
humans using neuroimaging techniques.
"Outside the scientific community, Dr. Maier's idea of control
and its positive effects has become part of popular thinking," said
award director Woody Petry. "His
work has applications in many areas, including aging, military
training, the workplace and stress-reduction practices such as
mindfulness."
Maier's early research with colleague Martin Seligman in the late 1960s and early
1970s led them to develop the concept of learned helplessness,
which suggested that when stressors are uncontrollable, that lack
of control over them is learned and reduces motivation to cope with
later traumas.
However, resuming the work in the 1990s, Maier used new tools to
identify the neural structures involved and continued experiments
that led to determining that the feeling of control was what
provided protection in the future.
The 2016 Grawemeyer Award winners will be announced this week,
pending formal approval by the university's board of trustees. UofL
presents the prizes annually for outstanding works in music
composition, ideas improving world order, psychology and education
and gives a religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian
Theological Seminary. The winners will present free lectures about
their award-winning ideas when they visit Louisville in April to accept their
$100,000 prizes.
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SOURCE University of Louisville