It’s that nagging question you ask yourself every Thanksgiving after you have piled the food sky-high on your plate and savored every last morsel: “What happened? Were my eyes bigger than my stomach?”

For many years, doctors and dieticians have focused on overeating as part of the reason for the obesity epidemic in America.

There is sound science behind the predisposition to fill our plates with what we think is a reasonable portion, only to find ourselves overeating anyway. However, a new study by Kent State University researchers aims to help us use the tricks that our eyes play on us to combat our over-eating habits.

While the United States Department of Agriculture emphasizes portion control strategies in its dietary guidelines, including the use of portion-control plates, many people still struggle to learn the healthy portion sizes and consistently consume those amounts. Prior to the study, published in the health journal BMC Obesity, little research had evaluated the dishes specifically designed for portion control.

“The goal of the study was to learn if building an optical illusion into a plate would help people choose smaller portions,” said Joel Hughes, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The plate uses two types of optical illusions. The Ebbinghaus illusion gives the impression that something is larger or smaller in contrast to shapes surrounding it; a circle surrounded by smaller circles will look larger than it is.

The Delboeuf illusion is similar, but it skews our perception of an object’s size in relation to its distance from a border; if the gap between the object and border is narrow, we perceive the object larger, but if the gap is wider, we perceive the object as smaller. In combination, these illusions make food look bigger and might help people lose weight over time. Click here to watch a video explaining the concept in greater detail.

“The plate produced smaller self-selected servings in both studies,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the team has conducted a number of studies using the portion control plate, and hopes to pursue manufacturing options to make the plate commercially available. He said future studies using the dish should include a broader age range and clinical trials of portion-control dishes for weight loss.

For more information about Kent State’s Department of Psychological Sciences, visit www.kent.edu/psychology.

According to Ideastream®, a black infant in one Ohio county is more than three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. As part of a continuing series, “Zip Code: the Hidden Vital Sign,” Ideastream talks with Kent State University Professor Angela Neal-Barnett about the relationship between racial stress in black women and ways to reduce the stress before it affects pregnancy.

Neal-Barnett is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the story from Ideastream.

Learn more about Neal-Barnett’s research from WEWS.

According to Ideastream®, a black infant in one Ohio county is more than three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. As part of a continuing series, “Zip Code: the Hidden Vital Sign,” Ideastream talks with Kent State University Professor Angela Neal-Barnett about the relationship between racial stress in black women and ways to reduce the stress before it affects pregnancy.

Neal-Barnett is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the story from Ideastream.

Learn more about Neal-Barnett’s research from WEWS.

According to Ideastream®, a black infant in one Ohio county is more than three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. As part of a continuing series, “Zip Code: the Hidden Vital Sign,” Ideastream talks with Kent State University Professor Angela Neal-Barnett about the relationship between racial stress in black women and ways to reduce the stress before it affects pregnancy.

Neal-Barnett is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the story from Ideastream.

Learn more about Neal-Barnett’s research from WEWS.

According to Ideastream®, a black infant in one Ohio county is more than three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. As part of a continuing series, “Zip Code: the Hidden Vital Sign,” Ideastream talks with Kent State University Professor Angela Neal-Barnett about the relationship between racial stress in black women and ways to reduce the stress before it affects pregnancy.

Neal-Barnett is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the story from Ideastream.

Learn more about Neal-Barnett’s research from WEWS.

According to Ideastream®, a black infant in one Ohio county is more than three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. As part of a continuing series, “Zip Code: the Hidden Vital Sign,” Ideastream talks with Kent State University Professor Angela Neal-Barnett about the relationship between racial stress in black women and ways to reduce the stress before it affects pregnancy.

Neal-Barnett is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the story from Ideastream.

Learn more about Neal-Barnett’s research from WEWS.

According to Ideastream®, a black infant in one Ohio county is more than three times more likely than a white baby to die before his or her first birthday. As part of a continuing series, “Zip Code: the Hidden Vital Sign,” Ideastream talks with Kent State University Professor Angela Neal-Barnett about the relationship between racial stress in black women and ways to reduce the stress before it affects pregnancy.

Neal-Barnett is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Watch the story from Ideastream.

Learn more about Neal-Barnett’s research from WEWS.

Kent State University’s Center for Applied Conflict Management is transforming into a new School of Peace and Conflict Studies this month. The change better reflects Kent State’s reputation as a leading institution of research, teaching and practice in constructive conflict management, and elevates the center from a unit within the Department of Political Science to a school in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

The original center was established in 1971 as the university’s “living memorial” to the four Kent State students who were killed by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, during a demonstration against the U.S. war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Throughout its history, the center’s mission has been to promote constructive and peaceful mechanisms of social and political change.

The new School of Peace and Conflict Studies will have seven full-time faculty members, two of whom were recently hired for the start of the school on Aug. 21. The school will initially be headed by Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., Kent State professor of political science and longtime director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management. A national search for a new director will be conducted this fall, which will bring the school’s faculty total to eight in 2018.

“Establishing a School of Peace and Conflict Studies is the logical next step for Kent State, which had the foresight to make a substantial leadership commitment to this field back in 1971,” Coy said. “We have a vibrant, award-winning faculty researching and teaching about the critical issues facing our communities in the 21st century, including violence, conflicts and peace with justice. With the higher profile and increased resources of a school, even more can and will be done in these important areas, further cementing Kent State’s leadership role.”

Faculty members from the new School of Peace and Conflict Studies will oversee the College of Arts and Sciences’ popular undergraduate Applied Conflict Management major and minor, teaching courses in mediation, cross-cultural conflict management, nonviolence, negotiation, conflict in the workplace, environmental conflict resolution, gender, power and conflict, and international conflict resolution among others.

In cooperation with Kent State’s Division of Student Affairs, the school will support and staff the campus-based Student Mediation Services program, and continue to house Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, a peer-reviewed series published since 1977 by Emerald Publishing of the U.K.

Kent State’s peace and conflict studies undergraduate program is one of the country’s oldest and largest, enrolling more than 1,000 students in its classes each year. Students are taught applied skills in the constructive management of conflicts on the international, community, workplace and relationship levels. School faculty also will teach in the political science doctoral program, which offers a track in conflict analysis and management.

The school also will promote working groups centered on constructive conflict themes that faculty and students can affiliate with. For example, a faculty research group on identity-based conflicts is already forming to spur research, external grant applications and impactful publications.

For more information about Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies, visit www.kent.edu/cacm.

# # #

Photo Caption:

Kent State University’s Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., professor of political science and longtime director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management, will initially head the School of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Media Contacts:

Patrick G. Coy, pcoy@kent.edu, 330-510-7497

Jim Maxwell, jmaxwel2@kent.edu, 330-672-8028

Kristin Anderson, kander63@kent.edu, 330-672-7907

Kent State University’s Center for Applied Conflict Management is transforming into a new School of Peace and Conflict Studies this month. The change better reflects Kent State’s reputation as a leading institution of research, teaching and practice in constructive conflict management, and elevates the center from a unit within the Department of Political Science to a school in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

The original center was established in 1971 as the university’s “living memorial” to the four Kent State students who were killed by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, during a demonstration against the U.S. war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Throughout its history, the center’s mission has been to promote constructive and peaceful mechanisms of social and political change.

The new School of Peace and Conflict Studies will have seven full-time faculty members, two of whom were recently hired for the start of the school on Aug. 21. The school will initially be headed by Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., Kent State professor of political science and longtime director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management. A national search for a new director will be conducted this fall, which will bring the school’s faculty total to eight in 2018.

“Establishing a School of Peace and Conflict Studies is the logical next step for Kent State, which had the foresight to make a substantial leadership commitment to this field back in 1971,” Coy said. “We have a vibrant, award-winning faculty researching and teaching about the critical issues facing our communities in the 21st century, including violence, conflicts and peace with justice. With the higher profile and increased resources of a school, even more can and will be done in these important areas, further cementing Kent State’s leadership role.”

Faculty members from the new School of Peace and Conflict Studies will oversee the College of Arts and Sciences’ popular undergraduate Applied Conflict Management major and minor, teaching courses in mediation, cross-cultural conflict management, nonviolence, negotiation, conflict in the workplace, environmental conflict resolution, gender, power and conflict, and international conflict resolution among others.

In cooperation with Kent State’s Division of Student Affairs, the school will support and staff the campus-based Student Mediation Services program, and continue to house Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, a peer-reviewed series published since 1977 by Emerald Publishing of the U.K.

Kent State’s peace and conflict studies undergraduate program is one of the country’s oldest and largest, enrolling more than 1,000 students in its classes each year. Students are taught applied skills in the constructive management of conflicts on the international, community, workplace and relationship levels. School faculty also will teach in the political science doctoral program, which offers a track in conflict analysis and management.

The school also will promote working groups centered on constructive conflict themes that faculty and students can affiliate with. For example, a faculty research group on identity-based conflicts is already forming to spur research, external grant applications and impactful publications.

For more information about Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies, visit www.kent.edu/cacm.

# # #

Photo Caption:

Kent State University’s Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., professor of political science and longtime director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management, will initially head the School of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Media Contacts:

Patrick G. Coy, pcoy@kent.edu, 330-510-7497

Jim Maxwell, jmaxwel2@kent.edu, 330-672-8028

Kristin Anderson, kander63@kent.edu, 330-672-7907

Kent State University’s Center for Applied Conflict Management is transforming into a new School of Peace and Conflict Studies this month. The change better reflects Kent State’s reputation as a leading institution of research, teaching and practice in constructive conflict management, and elevates the center from a unit within the Department of Political Science to a school in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

The original center was established in 1971 as the university’s “living memorial” to the four Kent State students who were killed by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, during a demonstration against the U.S. war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Throughout its history, the center’s mission has been to promote constructive and peaceful mechanisms of social and political change.

The new School of Peace and Conflict Studies will have seven full-time faculty members, two of whom were recently hired for the start of the school on Aug. 21. The school will initially be headed by Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., Kent State professor of political science and longtime director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management. A national search for a new director will be conducted this fall, which will bring the school’s faculty total to eight in 2018.

“Establishing a School of Peace and Conflict Studies is the logical next step for Kent State, which had the foresight to make a substantial leadership commitment to this field back in 1971,” Coy said. “We have a vibrant, award-winning faculty researching and teaching about the critical issues facing our communities in the 21st century, including violence, conflicts and peace with justice. With the higher profile and increased resources of a school, even more can and will be done in these important areas, further cementing Kent State’s leadership role.”

Faculty members from the new School of Peace and Conflict Studies will oversee the College of Arts and Sciences’ popular undergraduate Applied Conflict Management major and minor, teaching courses in mediation, cross-cultural conflict management, nonviolence, negotiation, conflict in the workplace, environmental conflict resolution, gender, power and conflict, and international conflict resolution among others.

In cooperation with Kent State’s Division of Student Affairs, the school will support and staff the campus-based Student Mediation Services program, and continue to house Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, a peer-reviewed series published since 1977 by Emerald Publishing of the U.K.

Kent State’s peace and conflict studies undergraduate program is one of the country’s oldest and largest, enrolling more than 1,000 students in its classes each year. Students are taught applied skills in the constructive management of conflicts on the international, community, workplace and relationship levels. School faculty also will teach in the political science doctoral program, which offers a track in conflict analysis and management.

The school also will promote working groups centered on constructive conflict themes that faculty and students can affiliate with. For example, a faculty research group on identity-based conflicts is already forming to spur research, external grant applications and impactful publications.

For more information about Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies, visit www.kent.edu/cacm.

# # #

Photo Caption:

Kent State University’s Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., professor of political science and longtime director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management, will initially head the School of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Media Contacts:

Patrick G. Coy, pcoy@kent.edu, 330-510-7497

Jim Maxwell, jmaxwel2@kent.edu, 330-672-8028

Kristin Anderson, kander63@kent.edu, 330-672-7907