This month (November 2019) faculty and students from across New England gathered to share their work and learn about psychology. Ten current UNE students, two alumni, and two faculty members from the Psychology Department attended the New England Psychological Association to present the work they have been conducting at UNE.
Olivia Kudas, Julia Beebe, Kristin Macek, Alexus Campobasso, Katelynn Paul, Benjamin Katz, and Dr. Trish Long (Clinical Professor & Chair, Department of PSY) presented their project from the Life Experiences lab entitled Sexual Assault and Bystander Behavior: The Role of Feminine Ideology, Rape Myth Acceptance, Exposure to Sexism, and Modeling of Appropriate Responses.
Dr. Long and alumni Benjamin Katz also presented a poster on Childhood Maltreatment and Parental and Friend Emotional Socialization.
Students from the Self and Close Others Relationship lab spoke with attendees about work entitled Women Decrease Mental Overlap with Same-Sex Friends and Family Members after Recalling Gender-Based Mistreatment, authored by Kana Colarossi, Ashley Karpowicz, Mackenzie Deveau, and Dr. Julie Peterson, Associate Professor of Psychology.
Work entitled Experimental Incorporation of Others into the Self-Concept: Does It Hurt More than It Helps? was presented by Hannah Christian, Sara Authier, Eric Lederman, and Dr. Peterson.
Students from the Reading Comprehension and Cognition lab were also well represented at NEPA. Work authored by Aubrey Sahouria, Nicole Martin, Ellie Leighton, and Dr. Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour, Associate Professor of Psychology, entitled Can Font Change How You Read? Exploring Font Type’s Effect on Recall and Reading Speed on E-Readers was presented as was a project entitled An Investigation of Reading Comprehension Ability Measures and Text Type, by Genna Companatico, Courtney Parent, and Dr. Stiegler-Balfour.
Dr. Stiegler-Balfour also presented a paper co-authored with aluma Ellie Leighton entitled An Investigation into the Effects of Structure Building Ability on Comprehension on E-readers for Expository and Narrative Text.
UNE undergraduates who are interested in exploring research opportunities in these three labs can contact the faculty supervisors. A list of all faculty in the department and their research programs can be found here: https://www.une.edu/cas/psych/contact. Click on faculty member’s names to learn more about their interests and work.
Interested
in Neuroscience Research? Want to know more about the exciting
opportunities on campus? Do you like having fun? The Center for
Excellence in Neuroscience and the Neuroscience Club are co-sponsoring a
neuroscience mixer. All students are welcome to join to hear faculty talk
about research opportunities, eat dinner and play games with other interested
students and faculty.
See attached flyer. November 7, 2019, 6:30-7:30, Harold Alfond Forum 230
Please
RSVP to Jenn Malon (jmalon@une.edu) if you
are planning to attend, so she knows how much food to order.
A guest post by Nick Sabato about the internship he completed in Spring 2019 as part of PSY 300.
In Spring of 2019 I completed my internship with the Sweetser organization, which is part of Maine Mental Health Services. My internship experience involved working with young children, age 7-12, who come from many different backgrounds, for many different reasons. A typical day of work for me includes helping the children eat their dinners and keep their composure during movie nights, tucking them into bed, and reading bedtime stories. However, there are times where it can be hectic; then I use de-escalation tactics including explaining to the kids to focus on themselves, take deep breaths, and take space. I also take part in meetings between staff, clinical psychologists, and the families of our clients in order to help achieve a suitable treatment plan. I feel as though I am making a positive impact on the lives of the children that I work with. It is also incredibly rewarding to see a child’s face light up when he or she sees me walk onto the unit. There are two children that I work with that want me to play games with them, tuck them into bed, and read their bedtimes stories to. The fact that these two children choose me to spend time with provides me with the knowledge that I am doing my part correctly.
This internship experience has lead me to hone my interpersonal social skills and has sharpened my abilities in regards to using de-escalation tactics for those in a crisis situation. In the future, I plan to go into researching psychotic disorders such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Schizoaffective disorder, Paraphrenia, and more. The ability to work with clients this young and with the wide range of symptoms that are present will allow me to always keep in mind that the same disorder can manifest itself differently in different people. Interning at Sweetser has also taught me that I do have the capability and competency to work with children in the mental health field. However I plan to focus on working with and researching adult psychotic disorders because my personal attributes are more suitable for this population and that is my passion. My internship experience has given me prodigious amounts of clarity in respect to my professional career because now I know that working with adults who are burdened with psychotic disorders is my vocation.
My internship experience reinforces many different concepts that I have learned over my last 4 years of learning. The most relevant concept that ties into my internship is that having a stable environment is important for a young child. Another concept that can be applied to some of our residents is Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby’s theory of attachment styles. At our facility, the children we work with all appear to be either in the anxious resistant or anxious avoidant classification (Bowlby & Ainsworth, 1991). Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory states that behavior can be learned through observation and modeling, shown by his Bobo doll experiment which examined aggression (Bandura, 1971). Many of the children I work with exhibit their parents behaviors, such as aggression, recklessness, profanity, and many more behaviors. The ability to recognize the real life displays of these theories in lived experience is paramount in the learning process and has provided me with an increased level of appreciation for the residential spectrum of the mental health field and working with children.
Our thanks to Nick for sharing his thoughts about his internship. All psychology majors complete an internship as part of PSY 300 and work closely with a faculty member who helps them with their placement.
Mariah Berchulski talks to Samia Pratt about her SURE project
On September 28th, 2019, the College of Arts and Sciences hosted the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Symposium. Three neuroscience majors and two psychology majors presented work that they completed over the summer, with supervision from UNE faculty, in their areas of research.
Nicole Martin discusses her summer research with an audience member
Nicole Martin (PSY, ’21), working with Dr. Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour, presented on Investigating reading comprehension on digital devices in younger and older adults.
Kayla Looper presents about her experiences during SURE
Kayla Looper (NEU, ’21), working with Dr. Mike Burman, presented on Behavioral testing in transgenic rats: An investigation on the effects of inhibited CRF expression.
Mariah Berchulski (NEU, ’21), working with Dr. Mike Burman and Dr. Seth Davis, presented on Modulating anxiety and fear response in neonatal pain treated rats via CRF receptor 2.
Samia Pratt (NEU, ’20), working with Dr. Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, presented on Detection of abnormal stathmin-2 mRNA processing in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient samples in cells with TDP43 depletion.
Hannah Christian stands at her poster presentation at the symposium
Hannah Christian (PSY, ’20), working with Dr. Julie Peterson, presented on the self and daily life in older adults.
Wednesday, September 25th, the department welcomed back our Neuroscience, Animal Behavior, and Psychology majors and welcomed all our new first year students. The event, co-sponsored by our student groups, was held outside (in beautiful weather!) and fun was had by all.
If you weren’t able to attend, be sure to connect with our four departmentally affiliated clubs/organizations:
The Psychology Department is pleased to announce that the Society for Personality and Social Psychology has selected Dr. Julie Peterson as a Teacher-Scholar Award Winner for the 2020 SPSP convention. This award recognizes teacher/scholars who teach and work exclusively with undergraduate students and comes with a cash award. Award decisions were based on the excellence of the submitted conference abstract.
In addition, out of 2289 single presenter submissions to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual conference, Dr. Peterson was one of only 36 individuals to be selected for a Data Blitz Session, where “hot” research in the field is presented as part of a series of short talks.
Dr. Peterson shares that the work that led to her selection for the Teacher-Scholar award is based on work completed with former psychology majors Janelle Sherman and Mackenzie Deveau, and current psychology major Hannah Christian. The title of the talk is Easy, Breezy, Beautiful? College Women Are Willing to Pay More Money for Cosmetic Products in Response to Identity Threats.
Here is a summary of the project to be presented:
College women’s pricing of cosmetic products (e.g., lipstick, mascara, anti-aging cream, foundation) increases following threats to their value as a mate (study 1) or status as women (study 2). In study 1, 175 women received bogus personality feedback that indicated either they would be alone (mate-value threat) or accident prone (misfortune control) later in life. All participants then evaluated and priced cosmetic products. Analyses revealed that women were willing to pay significantly more money for cosmetic products in the mate-value threat (vs. control) condition even though they did not increase liking for the products. In study 2, 161 women were randomly assigned to memorize statements reflecting either sexist or control beliefs. Participants then rated and priced a series of products as part of an ostensibly unrelated task. Women in the sexism (vs. control) condition were willing to pay significantly more money for cosmetic products, but not for other types of products related to domestic labor or daily life. Together this work suggests that college women may exaggerate the monetary value of makeup in response to different types of identity threats.
Dr. Peterson is an Associate Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. You can learn about her research and opportunities for UNE undergraduates in her research lab at: https://longuapetersonlab.wixsite.com/selflab
Dr. Seth Davis says hello to one of the rats that will learn in the lab section associated with PSY 384
Hands-on Training: Understanding Learning and Behavior Change in Psy 384, Animal Learning and Behavior
Sitting at the intersection of Animal Behavior and Psychology are the powerful techniques for predicting and controlling behavior known as Classical and Operant Conditioning. Originally discovered over 100 years ago, these techniques have proven essential for our understanding of both human and animal behavior, with important applications in animals training, clinical psychology, business management, advertising, physical/occupational therapy and more. It’s critical that our students learn about this!
Unfortunately, with over a 100 years of vocabulary terms, complexity, theory refinement and experimental data, these topics can get pretty complex and sometimes start to seem a little dry to students sitting in a classroom. However, that is NOT the case here at UNE. Using equipment donated from UNE’s COBRE project and a collaborator, Dr. Seth Davis, Associate Professor Michael Burman, has developed an exciting hands-on curriculum in which students get to work with live rats.
However, it’s not all snuggly fun with the animals. The purpose of this experience is to recreate and expand upon some of the classical operant conditioning experiments in order to better understand how these techniques work. The students are trained in the use of modern high-tech cages called “operant chambers” or “skinner boxes.” In these cages the rats, just like UNE students in the cafeteria, are motivated to earn sugary treats.
The students in the course will first habituate the subjects to the chambers and teach them that sugar pellets or sugary water is available to them. Once an animal is excited to play, the students will then begin to train them to work for their rewards. The student’s job is to teach the rats to press a lever to earn their treats. After that, the students can start to ask more sophisticated questions: Does the size of the reward matter? What about a delay between the effort and the reward? How does changing the rate of pay effect behavior?
At the end of the class, a member of the group will often adopt their rat, bringing home a new friend and a constant reminder of the strength of operant conditioning in our lives.
The faculty of the department invite all of our Neuroscience, Animal Behavior, and Psychology majors and minors for an evening with ice cream! Come and meet us and your fellow students, learn about the clubs associated with all our majors, and have some fun!
Questions can be directed to Kana Colarossi at kcolarossi@une.edu
Students in Dr. Stiegler-Balfour’s section of PSY285 at the 2019 CAS Undergraduate Research Symposium
The University of
New England Psychology Department prides itself on offering students with the
opportunity to get involved in scientific research whether they’re studying
psychology, animal behavior or neuroscience.
Daria Cassaza, Nikonas Aganis, Brianna Jewett & Jessica Larsen investigated whether positive self-affirmation could offset levels of stress in college students depending on whether someone had internal or external locus of control
A terrific example of how we enable students to get hands-on experience with science is in our Research Methods (PSY285) class. For Dr. Stiegler-Balfour, one of the department faculty members who teaches this class, taking Research Methods as an undergraduate was the course that inspired her to become a researcher and make a positive contribution to the world of science and the field of psychology.
Meagan Thompson, Ashley Johnson, Cassidy Morey & Erin Murphy investigated how an individual’s perception of dogs is effected by their experiences and the breed
At UNE, one of the goals of the research methods course is to teach students to use the tools of psychological science to answer everyday questions and/or to become better consumers of research. As part of the class, students work together in groups to complete a research project under the direction of the instructor.
Nicole Martin, Bobbi Brandau, Zane Getman and Elizabeth Vigue explored the effects of mood and trait level optimism on one’s perception and judgements of others
At the beginning of each semester, Dr. Stiegler-Balfour encourages students to explore research journals and articles for inspiration, and consider which questions remain unanswered or require a more extensive examination. But great research ideas aren’t limited to building on existing studies. Looking closely at everyday life and identifying potential solutions to practical problems or establishing a deeper understanding of why a phenomenon occurs often reveals exciting research ideas.
Kaela Kee, Riley Kelly, Amanda Bettencourt and Josh Morris researched how individuals interpret horoscopes depending on their locus of control and perception of their future success
Once students
begin to develop an idea of what they might be interested in studying, Dr. Stiegler-Balfour
likes to use a “speed dating” activity where students chat with classmates to
see whether there are overlaps in interests. Ultimately, this results in students
being put into groups of 3 or 4 to work on developing a research idea together.
Students are involved in all aspects of research from determining a research
idea and forming a hypothesis to developing the study materials, data collection
and analysis, and interpreting the results.
The students who
come up with the best projects are invited to present their findings at the CAS
Undergraduate Research Symposium at the end of the academic year. The CAS Undergraduate
Symposium is one of the biggest events on campus each spring and students from
all departments get to present all the wonderful work they have done in their
classes and research labs throughout the academic year. For more information
about the CAS Undergraduate Symposium also see this UNE news release (https://www.une.edu/news/2019/2019-college-arts-and-sciences-spring-research-symposium-awards-announced).
Most students who have taken the class would probably agree that this is one of the more challenging classes they will take during their college career; however, many students find it also very rewarding. All you need to do is look at their proud faces when you see them presenting their projects. Dr. Stiegler-Balfour had a fantastic lineup of students complete four different research projects in her Research Methods class in Spring 2019. The students worked extremely hard to put together their research projects which ranged from examining the impact of a person’s experience on their perceptions of different dog breeds to examining whether the use of positive self-affirmation can offset stress in college students.
Thanks to Dr. S-B for all she does with the students and for the information for this post.
A guest post by Zane Getman about his experience as part of PSY 300 Internship
My internship at Sweetser during Spring 2019 was both rewarding and challenging. Sweetser is a prominent behavioral healthcare organization with several residential locations throughout Maine. While there are resources provided to adults in need of Sweetser’s services, Sweetser mostly provides assistance to children, adolescents, and their families. Recipients of Sweetser’s care services are often adolescents suffering from trauma, depression, ADHD, and behavioral/cognitive issues.
As an intern I was essentially a Youth and Family Counselor in training at one of their sites in Saco. I worked in the Portland Adolescent Unit (PAU) which included eight adolescent boys. Sweetser creates individualized programs based on the clients’ strengths and tendencies in order to help them overcome certain behaviors that prevent them from thriving in a public setting. In my unit, the clients shared difficulty with self-restraint, sexualized behaviors, and oppositional defiance to any type of authority. My role at Sweetser was to build connections with each client to identify their strengths and weaknesses to help them overcome these behavioral issues, as well as to work with my fellow staff members to provide empathic and effective care.
There are many valuable things that I learned throughout this internship, but the most significant one to me has been the importance of establishing connections. The adolescent boys that I spent 120 hours with all required different types of attention, and it is impossible to meaningfully help them make progress if you are unable to build a trusting relationship with them individually. At first whenever I would try to intervene if a client was having a rough week or try to offer them advice, they were not receptive to it at all. However, as I became more present in the unit and the clients, and I got to know each other more, we began to respect one another and I became popular among them as a staff member that they would gravitate to. Many times I would simply listen to their issues stemming from their families, homes, school, and peers, but many of the adolescents in my unit do not open up to adults often.
With this in mind I was able to recognize the position I found myself in as a youth and family counselor, and they began to view whatever words I had to offer with value. Another aspect of my internship that I valued is empathy. Understanding that many of these children are spending their childhoods in these cottages (one client in my unit has been at Sweetser for 7 years, and will be until he is discharged at age 18), away from their families, should be taken into consideration deciding to work there. However tough I may think my schedule is during the week, I tried my best to leave it all at the door when I would walk into my unit and begin working with kids that had been living there for years without an idea of when they will finish their program and return home.
This internship has also influenced my potential future career path by introducing me to people involved in various different fieldwork positions based in psychology. I mostly worked alongside other Youth and Family Counselors in my unit and I learned that they are some of the most important people at residential sites like Sweetser because they are the ones that the clients spend a majority of their time with. I was also introduced to the first licensed clinician I have ever met; Jess is the LC assigned to the Portland Adolescent Unit and she is amazing at what she does. She included me in individual meetings with the clients where we discussed their progress in school and managing their behavioral tendencies. In some of these meetings the clients’ families would be present, and I was allowed to sit in with them and listen to their thoughts as well. During my internship I also met with various behavioral therapists, sometimes walking individual clients from my unit to their offices for their weekly meetings to discuss how their medication routines were going.
Another aspect of fieldwork in psychology that I have been exposed to throughout my internship is the position of a caseworker. I was present during an admissions meeting for a new client, and this meeting consisted of myself, my unit’s licensed clinician, the new client, his family, and also his caseworker. She represented him in this meeting similarly to how a lawyer represents a client in court; she was knowledgeable of his weaknesses and approved of Sweetser’s program that was intended to improve his behaviors. Having met people in all of these mentioned positions and seeing how they do their job in the field of psychology has been helpful in showing me a variety of potential future career options that I will consider as I continue my studies.
Working in a unit where the primary focus is rehabilitating adolescent’s overly sexualized behaviors, I have seen issue firsthand that I learned about at UNE. Most of these concepts are recalled from my sophomore year when I enrolled in Abnormal Psychology, which include paraphilia, oppositional defiance disorder, sociopathic behaviors, trauma/abuse, and just overall lack of respect for the boundaries of others. All of the boys in PAU have violated others’ boundaries in some form and are prone to respond defiantly or violently to authority, which relates to what I learned about oppositional defiance disorder being common in many young boys. Some have experienced or witnessed abuse in their family backgrounds, which can explain why they believe their behaviors are justified when done to others since it was what they were exposed to during very crucial developmental stages of their early lives. In Abnormal Psychology we thoroughly studied paraphilia, another concept that I have noticed is a common theme in many of my unit’s clients’ backgrounds as well. Overall, working at Sweetser and with these children was an eye-opening experience in how it introduced me to the field of psychology in the real world, as well as brought many concepts that I had studied over the years at UNE to life before me.
Our thanks to Zane for sharing his thoughts about his internship experience. All psychology majors complete at least one internship, PSY 300, as part of their degree. In this class they work directly with a faculty supervisor who helps them make connections between their work on site and the concepts they are learning about in their coursework.
We Are ANB, PSY, NEU, Art Therapy, & MHR at UNE 