Roanoke College Psychology Department

Category: Undergraduate News

  • 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”.

  • Ten Things The Breakfast Club Got Right About Social Psych

    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 seventh article focuses on what the Breakfast Club got right about social psychology. Click this link to learn more!

  • 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

  • Witness to Innocence Follow Up

    On Tuesday, March 28th, Sabrina Butler-Porter visited Roanoke College to talk to students about being an exonerated death row inmate as an advocate of the Witness to Innocence Project.

    Witness to Innocence (WTI) is the only national organization in the United States composed of and led by exonerated death row survivors and their family members. The mission of WTI is to abolish the death penalty by empowering exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones to become effective leaders in the abolition movement. WTI actively challenges political leaders and the public to grapple with the reality of a fatally flawed criminal justice system that sends innocent people to death row. WTI also seeks ways to support death row survivors and their loved ones as they confront the challenges of life after exoneration.

    RC students filled up Massengill auditorium to hear her story and we were extremely thankful for the time and commitment Sabrina, WTI, and all of the sponsoring RC groups on campus that helped to make this event possible!

    Here is the link to Sabrina’s book if you are interested!

    https://sabrinabutler.webs.com/apps/webstore/products/show/3327514

     

  • 10 Ways to Know if Your Relationship Will Last

    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 sixth article focuses on ways to know if your relationship will last. Click this link to learn more!

     

  • 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.

  • Psi Chi Congratulations

    As the year winds down, the Psychology department would like to welcome and congratulate 29 of its newest members of our Psychology Honor Society, Psi Chi. Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology, which was founded in 1929 for the purposes of “encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology.”

    Members have access to wide number of resources, including scholarships, grants, and discounted services!

     

    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

  • 8 Ways to Make a Good First Impression

    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 fifth article focuses on ways to make a good first impression. Click this link to learn more!