Roanoke College Psychology Department

Category: Research

  • Successful Honors in the Major Defense

    Congratulations to Courtney Yoke and mentor, Dr. Powell, for their successful Honors in the Major Project!

    Her project was titled, “Success Now and Later: Emerging Adults’ Perceptions of Collegiate and Future Success.”

  • Honors in the Major Defense!

    Congratulations to Stephanie Gaines, alongside her mentor, Dr. Powell,  on her successful Honors in the Major Defense!

    Here project was entitled, “The Influence of Service Learning and Self-Reflecting on the Teaching Self-Efficacy of Students in First-Level Education Classes.”

  • Dr. David Nichols wins award

    Dean Richard Smith presented Dr. David Nichols with the prestigious Professional Achievement Award for his many accomplishments in professional life (research publications, internal and external grants, conference presentations, and dedication to mentoring undergraduates in research). Congratulations Dr. Nichols!

  • Summer Scholars

    Congratulations to Megan Miller and Sabrina McAllister for being selected as Summer Scholars!

    Roanoke’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.

    Megan will be working with Dr. Buchholz on her project entitled, “Self-driving cars as a test of the potentially harmful effects of empathy on moral decision making.”

    Sabrina will be working with Dr. Nichols on her project entitled, “Time Perspective as a State-Based Measure.”

  • Complexity Coding Test

    Nicole Lancry and Brian Matera of the Rhetoric and Social Perception (RASP) Lab recently passed the Integrative Complexity coding test! Training to be an IC coder is a 4 week intensive process requiring a high degree of analytical skill and attention to detail. Certification requires coders to have a reliability scores of α=.85 or better with an expert complexity coder. Both Lancry and Matera passed with flying colors! Please join us in congratulating them on this accomplishment!

    Get connected!
    Instagram & Twitter:  #PsychRC
    Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/rcpsychology
    Blog:  https://psych.pages.roanoke.edu/
    Linked In:  https://www.linkedin.com/groups/RC-Psychology-8140491/about
    Website:  https://www.roanoke.edu/inside/a-z_index/psychology

  • Honors in the Major: Sophia Bolton

    Congratulations to Sophie Bolton for successfully defending her Honors Thesis under the supervision of Dr. Powell! Her project was entitled, “Examining the Usefulness of Educational Programming on Children’s Capabilities for Women at a Residential Treatment Facility”.

  • Honors in the Major Defense

    Congratulations to Alex DiFelice for successfully defending her Honors in the Major Project. Her project was entitled “Self- and Collective-Efficacy of Female Youth Athletes in a Positive Youth Development Program.”

    Get connected!
    Instagram & Twitter:  #PsychRC
    Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/rcpsychology
    Blog:  https://psych.pages.roanoke.edu/
    Linked In:  https://www.linkedin.com/groups/RC-Psychology-8140491/about
    Website:  https://www.roanoke.edu/inside/a-z_index/psychology

  • Research Opportunity: University of Miami

    Summer Research Mentoring Program in Developmental Science      

    This summer, Dr. Elizabeth Simpson and her team will be leading a Summer Research Mentoring Program, funded by the National Science Foundation. Students will be compensated $1,800 to work 20 hours per week over the course of this of this 9-week program.

    The Social Cognition Lab studies the development of social behavior in infants, including neonatal imitation and face perception. We use eye tracking to measure infant visual attention and we collect saliva to detect salivary hormones. You can read more about our research here: https://goo.gl/2lP2s8

    Eligibility, Dates, and Location

    • High school seniors and undergraduate students are eligible. No prior research experience is required.
    • The program is from June 1st through August 4th, 2017.
    • The University of Miami is located in a culturally diverse and vibrant community. We are an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity University that values diversity and have progressive work-life policies. Women, persons with disabilities, and members of other underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. We are especially interested in research-focused students from groups historically underrepresented in science, including racial/ethnic minorities, women, and students who are the first in their family to attend college.
    • Students are responsible for their own accommodations and transportation.

    Components
    Students will lead projects, under Dr. Simpson’s guidance. This student mentoring program aims to (a) introduce students to the general scientific method and specific methods of investigating infant social cognitive development; (b) identify student training and career goals; (c) facilitate student support networks, including peer mentoring; and (d) lead students in community science education through outreach and the dissemination of research findings to both the scientific community and the broader public. The research experience includes:

    • 20 hours per week in the laboratory learning to measure social cognitive development in infants.
    • Weekly 1-hour face-to-face research meetings focused on the training and professional development.
    • Participating in a research conference to learn more broadly about developmental science and to network with other leading scientists. The South Florida Child Psychology Collaborative Research Conference is a student-focused conference held in Miami every summer.
    • Designing a summer collaborative outreach project. Students will be encouraged to be creative and develop a project to educate children or families in the community on a topic related to our research.
    • Pairing up with a graduate student to produce a tangible product summarizing research findings. At the end of the program, students will share their results through a paper or presentation.

    Application

    • Materials must be received by April 24th, 2017 (midnight EST).
    • Please complete the online application: https://goo.gl/forms/HgGwkdAXefSjChQP2
    • Email Dr. Simpson (simpsone@miami.edu) your cover letter expressing why you are interested in this program and attach your CV or resume.

    Contact
    Learn more about our lab: https://www.facebook.com/SocCogLab
    Questions can be directed to Dr. Simpson (simpsone@miami.edu).

    For more information, see the attached flyer.

  • 10 Differences in Psychology between Eastern and Western Cultures You Won’t Believe!

    For the next couple of weeks, we will be featuring Dr. Osterman’s social psychology class assignment where they were tasked with researching and writing a Buzzfeed-style article on a number of topics.

     The first article focuses on differences among Eastern and Western cultures. Click this link to learn more!

     

    Get connected!
    Instagram & Twitter:  #PsychRC
    Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/rcpsychology
    Blog:  https://psych.pages.roanoke.edu/
    Linked In:  https://www.linkedin.com/groups/RC-Psychology-8140491/about
    Website:  https://www.roanoke.edu/inside/a-z_index/psychology

  • Recruiting Student Research Assistants for Fall 2017!

    Dr. Travis Carter, a new faculty member in the Department of Psychology, is recruiting student research assistants to start in the fall.

    The research conducted in the lab will focus on:

    •  Bias in social judgments
    • The role of introspection in biased self-assessments
    • Motivated reasoning and self-deception
    • Happiness and consumer behavior
    • Political belief formation

    Looking for research assistants who:

    • Are conscientious and hard-working
    • Are able to juggle a variety of tasks at once
    •  Are intellectually curious (ideally with knowledge of social psychology)
    • Are familiar with MS Office/Google Docs
    •  Have some familiarity with research methods and statistics (preferred, not required)
    •  Have some programming skills, or an interest in learning (preferred, not required)

    Research assistants will be involved with many aspects of the research process, including developing experimental materials, data collection (in and outside of the lab), data entry, and literature reviews. Highly motivated students will have opportunities for more involvement in study design, statistical analysis, and other more advanced aspects of the research process.

    Interested students from all class years are encouraged to contact Dr. Carter for an application (travis.carter@gmail.com).