Congratulations to Sydney Caulder ’21 for the successful defense of her Honors in the Major Project entitled “Exploring Sensation Seeking and Psychopathy Factors: Associations with Risk-Taking Behaviors and Aggression”. Her supervisor, Dr. Danielle Findley-Van Nostrand was joined by committee members, Dr. Lindsey Osterman and Dr. Dane Hilton to oversee her defense.
Project Abstract:
Previous research has established a link between sensation seeking behaviors, aggression, risk-taking, and psychopathic personality. The links between both sensation seeking, psychopathy, and risk-taking are well-established, but literature on factors that might mitigate these associations (when healthier coping mechanisms are implemented) is limited. The current study examined associations between sensation seeking, psychopathy, risk-taking and aggression and aimed to extend this research by exploring whether activities that would fulfill sensation seeking tendencies in a safer way may buffer against risk-taking and aggression. Several moderation analyses were conducted to explore the effect of recreational risk-taking on outcomes of aggression and maladaptive risk-taking with predictors of sensation seeking and psychopathy. Correlations replicated previously established associations between these constructs, but the results of many of the moderation analyses were insignificant. However, recreational risk-taking moderated the association between sensation seeking and maladaptive risk-taking, but not as expected. Findings may serve as a good starting point to attempting to understand less maladaptive risk-taking mechanisms.
Congratulations again to Sydney Caulder on a successful defense and we look forward to seeing all you accomplish in the future!
Carolyn defending her project on zoom before her committee.
Congratulations to Carolynn Bructo ’21 for the successful defense of her Honors in the Major Project! Her project was titled “STEM Students’ Perceptions of Changes in Motivation and Identity During a Global Pandemic: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective”. Her supervisor, Dr. Danielle Findley-Van Nostrand was joined by committee members, Dr. Darcey Powell and Dr. Matthew Fleenor to oversee her defense.
Project Abstract:
Student persistence in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) particularly deserves close attention given the alarming attrition rates from such programs. Education and academic achievement are vital pathways to personal and professional success, and the importance of promoting STEM students’ success to enter this field is arguably more evident yet challenging amid a global pandemic. In this study, we aimed to use self-determination theory (SDT), an established theoretical framework in educational psychology that states that individuals’ internal motivation strongly corresponds with the satisfaction of three specific psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), to understand better the perceptions of emerging adults’ satisfaction of these needs during an ongoing global pandemic, and how these needs along with science identity relate to intrinsic motivation, achievement, and intention to persist in STEM. We examined STEM students’ satisfaction levels of both general and domain-specific needs using an online survey (N = 60). As hypothesized, students perceived their domain-specific needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness satisfaction to decrease from pre-pandemic to currently. There was mixed support for other hypotheses. Perceived satisfaction in autonomy, across all measures, was significantly positively related to intrinsic motivation. Students’ perceived satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness in basic and domain-specific measures were significantly associated with amotivation. Science identity was the most significant predictor of intention to leave STEM. Finally, academic achievement was negatively related to perceived autonomy satisfaction. We hope the results from this study can help us better understand how to promote the success of these students.
Bructo’21 with her Honors in the Major t-shirt.
Congratulations again to Carolynn Bructo on a successful defense and we look forward to seeing all you accomplish in the future!
If you are a freshman or sophomore wrapping up this semester thinking, “What am I going to do after I graduate in a few years?” or are wondering, “What should I be doing these next few years to reach my career goals?” then make a note to add PSYC 110 to your Spring 2022 schedule!
PSYC 110 is a P/F course taught each spring that helps students consider their post-graduation pursuits, as well as clarifies for students the resources available to them within the department and across the college. In a typical (i.e., face-to-face) semester, students also shadow a professional in a career of interest to them. In this semester’s remote format, students complete two informational interviews with professionals in careers of interest to them. After completing the interviews, the students created posters summarizing what they learned.
Continue reading for some examples of the posters from this semester’s students.
Finals are quickly approaching being less than two weeks away. Now is the perfect time to start studying and putting the finishing touches on final projects and assignments that will be due. Of course, this time of the year is not without stress especially now during the pandemic.
Keep reading for more helpful advice about stress management and how to succeed during the finals.
Below are some tips on completing projects and how to study to avoid stress and turn in quality work.
How to Prepare
The best way to make sure that you have adequate time to start and complete all of the assignments is to come up with a plan.
Write down all due dates for finals assignments/projects and dates and times of final exams.
Schedule times to study or complete parts of the project and make sure to follow the schedule. Getting in the habit makes sure that you’re not waiting until the last minute.
During scheduled times make a plan on what you want to accomplish. Breaking large assignments or studying for finals in smaller sections, not only reduces stress but makes it easier to remember.
For studying, always review what you studied the day before. If on day one, you studied chapters 1 and 2, on day two, you would quickly review chapters 1 and 2 but focus on the next chapters.
Make sure that you start early enough so you have ample time.
Take Breaks
The best rule to follow for work/life balance is 80/20 where 80% is focused on academics and 20% is focused on having fun. Studying for long periods of time can be draining and isn’t efficient in the long run. Breaks can be as simple as meditating or going for a walk. Just remember to come back to studying when you’re mentally prepared.
Ask for Help
Sometimes it can be really helpful to talk with other classmates for clarification. This can also apply to professors. It’s better to ask before to make sure you’re prepared for the test. In addition, being able to explain the material to someone else and having them understand it is a good strategy for understanding and remembering the material.
Where to Study
Now that 9 AM to 9 PM access to other residence halls has been restored to all residential students, you can use the study lounges across campus to your advantage. Make sure the spot you pick to study is quiet and free from distractions. The library also has some great resources such as the individual study rooms on the top floor and group study rooms in the basement.
These are just some tips and not all of these work for everyone. This is also by no means a comprehensive list. Starting early will help you figure out which strategies work best for you. Remember the psychology department is cheering you on!
Abbie Joseph wearing her new Honors in the Major t-shirt!
Congratulations to Abbie Joseph ’21 for the successful defense of her Honors in the Major Project! Her project was titled “Cyberstalking Behaviors After the Use of Ghosting”. Her supervisor, Dr. Darcey N. Powell was joined by committee members, Dr. Osterman and Dr. Berntson, to oversee her defense.
Abbie Joseph defending her project on zoom!
Project Abstract:
The purpose of the current study was to examine the differences in cyberstalking behaviors after the dissolution of a romantic interaction based on the dissolution strategy used (i.e., ghosting or explicit reasoning). Participants included emerging adults between the ages of 18 and 29 (N = 240) who had a romantic interaction end. A survey was used to collect information regarding participants’ most recent relationship dissolution, their experiences with ghosting and cyberstalking, their engagement in cyberstalking behaviors towards an ex-partner and the ex-partner’s new partner, their social media app usage, and their relationships with their ex-partner. Analyses revealed that participants whose most recent romantic interaction ended via ghosting did not engage in significantly more cyberstalking behaviors than participants whose most recent romantic interaction ended via explicit reasoning. There were no significant differences in the length of engagement in cyberstalking behaviors after the breakup between participants whose relationship ended through ghosting and participants whose relationship ended explicitly. There were no significant differences in engagement of cyberstalking behaviors between participants who initiated the ghosting and participants who were ghosted. Participants who were ghosted engaged in cyberstalking behaviors to seek out information about their ex-partner and the ex-partner’s new partner. The findings of the current study provide information on how the dissolution strategy is associated with post-dissolutional cyberstalking behaviors.
Congratulations again to Abbie Joseph on a successful defense and we look forward to seeing all you accomplish in the future!
Want to get ahead or catch up? Just want to take an interesting course? You might be interested in taking summer courses.
This summer the psychology department is offering five summer classes in 2021, three in the first term and two in the second term. All courses still have seats available. See below for which classes are being taught in which term, who they are being taught by, and their times. This information can also be found on self-service which is also where you can sign up for these courses.
See our class registration 101 blog post found here to refresh on how to do so.
Congratulations to Naomi Painter and Ben Campbell for being selected as Summer Scholars!
Roanoke College’s Summer Scholar Program is designed for serious students who want to use their summers wisely and work one-on-one with faculty. Every year, students compete for selection to receive one of the summer scholarships. Faculty from across the college review student research proposals and decide these prestigious awards.
Naomi will be working with Buchholz on her project in light of the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and issues involving prejudice and discrimination where she intends to examine the effects of disgust on the presence of prejudicial responses and the individual differences that contribute to said relationship.
Ben will be working with Dr. Findley-Van Nostrand on his project, inspired by his interest in traditional or toxic masculinity, where he intends to research the effects of jealousy on threatened masculinity and relational aggression (i.e., aggression used to harm peer relationships) use.
From April 15-17, Roanoke College will be holding their annual Alumni Weekend virtually to bring Maroons together from all over the world to celebrate. On Friday, April 16th, the psychology department will be hosting a psychology reception from 3:30 to 5:30 pm hosted via Gatherly. You can sign up for Alumni Weekend by clicking this link. Come join us to see your favorite Psychology faculty members!
It’s almost that time of year again: registration time! Advisors might be reaching out to you either this week or the next to set up meetings since registration will begin on Monday, April 19th. Students should be notified about their registration time in the next few weeks through email and it should be visible on self-service as well. Thus, this post will provide a simple step-by-step guide on how to register for classes as well as some helpful reminders!
How to Register
Self Service helps to organize and visualize your class schedule. The following link should bring you to the self-service login page. Your username and password is the same for self-service as it is for inquire.
After you log in, you should see the student home page seen below. Click on Student Planning near the bottom left, above Grades.
This should bring you to the student planning page where you can either check your academic progress or register for classes. Click on Plan for your Degree & Register for Classes on the right side of the screen (seen below).
Finally, you’ve reached the page where you can schedule your courses. Here is where register for You can use the arrows near the top left to change between terms. To add courses to your schedule, you can search for courses at the top right search bar.
Let’s say you wanted to add psychology 251 to your schedule. You would type it into the search bar and you should be brought the course catalog seen below. Clicking on “Add Course to Plan” and selecting a term won’t put the available class sections on your schedule, it will only show the class on the left sidebar in the planned classes. You’ll have to manually add a section by clicking view other sections.
If you click on “View Available Sections for PSYC-251” you’ll see all sections available for both the current and next term as shown below. Make sure you scroll down and click on “Add Section to Schedule” on a section under Fall Term, 2021.
You can also follow this post for instructions on how to register on the Ellucian Go app.
On the day of your registration time, a button should appear that says “Register Now” on the right that if pushed should register you for all classes currently on your course schedule. A confirmation email should be sent that notifies you of what classes you have registered for.
If you would like to see these steps in action, Roanoke College provides two videos on using Self-Service to plan schedules.
Meet with your advisor. Some advisors should be reaching out to you this week if they haven’t already for a pre-registration advising meeting. If not, it might be a good idea to reach out to them first. It’s always a great idea to meet with your advisor just to check in with them to make sure you’re taking the right classes and that you’re on the right track to graduate on time.
Your advisor can help you indicate what classes are available next semester but you can (and should) look at what is being offered through self-service by typing in the class name or number in the search bar in self-service. You can also look for general types of classes. For example, if you wanted to see all psychology classes, you would type in psychology in the search bar. You can also search courses through the course catalog on self-service or the directory.
Before you meet with your advisor, pick classes that are required and/or that you want to take and make a draft of your schedule using self-service. Class registration goes in order with those who have the most credits prior to the current term picking their classes first so it is possible that you may not get your first choices. That’s okay! Having a plan B and sometimes even a plan C helps reduce disappointment and worry about not taking classes that are interesting to you but also meet requirements. Here you can check the requirements for majors and concentrations in the psychology department.
Remember being early is being on time. Opening self-service a few minutes before your designated time and making sure you’re ready to push that register button may be the difference in you getting your first choice or second choice or not.
Miami University is now accepting applications for their third annual Diversifying Psychology Weekend being held virtually, May 1st, 2021. This weekend is designed to help students from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds learn more about research and graduate school in psychology, prepare to apply for a doctorate in psychology, network with graduate students and faculty, and learn more about what their department has to offer. The event is supported by Miami University’s Psychology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, and Graduate School, and Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion. Students who are early in their college careers and/or who are less familiar with doctoral degrees in psychology are encouraged to apply.
To receive full consideration, successful applicants should:
Demonstrate a strong interest in learning more about a doctoral degree in the following areas of psychology: clinical, cognitive, community, developmental, social, or neuroscience.
Identify as a racial or ethnic minority traditionally underrepresented in psychological science AND/OR identify as an individual who will enhance the diversity and inclusivity of psychological science. Examples include (but are not limited to): first-generation college students, individuals with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, individuals from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, etc.
To apply, follow this link. Applications are due April 7th, 2021.
More information about their psychology department can be found here.
