Seattle is not exactly a short trip from Europe, but while I am a visiting researcher at NYU, I thought the 6h flight might be worth it and I was not disappointed. The SESP convention is a small (2018: 347 participants) and quite “exclusive” conference, in the sense that it is for members only and you have to fulfill certain criteria before you can become a member. Likewise, there are only sessions but no posters and only researchers holding a PhD are allowed to present. As an interested PhD student, however, you can sneak in by being “hosted” by a member attending the conference.

Three things that stood out for me:

• In contrast to SPSP, the research presented is very recent and often in progress, so you get to know what people are literally working on right now.
• The quality of talks was extremely high throughout the conference. I would not go ahead and say it is because you can only present when holding a PhD, but who knows.
• The attendance list read like the who is who of social psychology. You should better ask me who was not there than who was there.

My personal highlights included the preconference workshop on female leadership in which I had the pleasure to experience Diane Mackie playing my stubborn teaching assistant, the fatty pretzels and molten processed cheese that should mimic cheese fondue, and the session on the psychology of newness with talks on overconfidence (by Dave Dunning, see picture), updating impressions, sexuality after marriage, and that people are more likely to destroy their phones when they know that an upgrade is released soon.

Lastly, Seattle is the perfect place for moody Sunday morning pictures by the water.