Po’stl’ab Code of Conduct
To maintain a supportive, safe, and welcoming climate for all, it is important that our lab “family” adhere to a common set of values and guidelines. These include:
Inclusion: We welcome and value the contributions of everyone, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in psychology and cognitive neuroscience;
Integrity: we strive to conduct fair, ethical research and to hold ourselves to the highest standard of academic and scientific honesty in all aspects of our work;
Honesty: we hold honesty and integrity in interpersonal interactions as core values that guide all of our work and our interactions;
Community: we strive to cultivate a community where everyone feels welcome and supported in the work they do;
Respect: we treat all individuals with respect and uphold values described in this document in all of our interactions;
Equity: A laboratory such as ours necessarily contains hierarchies and power imbalances: graduate students and postdocs supervise undergraduate students; the principal investigator (PI; a.k.a. “the professor”) supervises the research of trainees; etc. When in a position of responsibility and influence over others, we strive to hold all to equitable standards, such that there is transparency in how resources and responsibilities are allocated to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to be successful in their studies and their careers. This often means making accommodations for those whose circumstances would otherwise put them at a disadvantage.
The following behaviors are not acceptable:
Discrimination: Conduct that adversely affects any aspect of an individual’s training, education, or participation in the lab’s activity, or has the effect of denying equal privileges or treatment to an individual on the basis of that individual’s protected status or another category, including, but not limited to, race, color, creed, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, disability, neurodiversity pregnancy, marital or parental status, or any other category protected by law, including physical condition or developmental disability.
Harassment: Engaging in unwelcome verbal, written, electronic, or physical conduct, directed at or disseminated about an individual or group of individuals. Harassment may include, but is not limited to, verbal or physical assaults, threats, slurs, or derogatory or offensive comments, particularly if they create a working, learning, or living environment that a reasonable person would find intimidating, offensive, or hostile.
Sexual harassment: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, direct inquiries about another’s personal life on topics that include (but are not restricted to) dating, romantic relationships, or sexual orientation, or open speculation with others about sexual aspects of a targeted individual’s personal life. Sexual harassment is particularly insidious when it occurs, whether explicitly or implicitly, as a term or condition of an individual’s opportunities within the lab.
Committing microaggressions: Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative indignities toward another.
Retaliation: Adverse action taken against an individual in response to, motivated by, or in connection with an individual’s complaint of discrimination or discriminatory harassment, participation in an investigation of such complaint and/or opposition to discrimination or discriminatory harassment.
Recourse:
If you have concerns that you or another member of the lab is experiencing/has experienced behavior that is inconsistent with this Code of Conduct, you are encouraged to contact the PI asap. If you do not feel comfortable contacting the PI, there are many alternatives:
• Dept. of Psychology Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies*, Professor Anthony Auger, apauger@wisc.edu.
• Chair of the Dep.of Psychology*, Professor Craig Berridge (berridge@wisc.edu)
• Chair of the Dept. of Psychology’s Climate & Diversity Committee, Catherine Marler (catherine.marler@wisc.edu)
• UW–Madison’s bias incident reporting system: https://doso.students.wisc.edu/services/bias-reporting-process/ .
• “Buddy Lab.” Should you want informal advice from someone outside the lab, the laboratories of Prof. Postle and of Prof. Michael Koenigs have set up a “buddy system,” whereby there is a researcher (who is a woman) in the Koenigs lab who is willing to speak confidentially with any member of the Postle lab who has a concern that they want to discuss with a researcher over whom the PI has no authority. The name and contact information of this person is shared by lab manager Dr. Jacqueline Fulvio at the beginning of each semester. (Dr. Fulvio serves the same function for trainees in the Koenigs group.)
*Note that these individuals are Responsible Employees with reporting requirements as specified by Title IX: https://compliance.wisc.edu/titleix/mandatory-reporting/#responsible-employees
last updated: September 22, 2021