
Congratulations to India Oates ’21 who was awarded a $509 Mamie Phipps Clark Research Grant from Psi Chi over the summer of 2021. The award “highlights research projects by Psi Chi students and faculty advisors focusing on diverse populations and issues.” Her project, “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals’ Dehumanizing Beliefs and Experiences” was originally conceived and developed though directed research with assistant professor of psychology Kristina Howansky in the spring 2021 semester. The study aims to identify how transgender and gender non-conforming (GNC) individuals experience dehumanization and examine how their beliefs about stereotypes may mediate the association between dehumanization and harmful mental health effects and the association between dehumanization experiences and self-dehumanization. This study will help fill in gaps in the current psychological body of literature. Limited research has examined the associated effects of dehumanization, nor has past dehumanization work focused on transgender and GNC individuals’ perspectives. Grant funding will be used to compensate a large sample of online survey participants recruited from Academic Prolific.
India is currently studying morality and empathy as a full-time lab manager at Pennsylvania State University – the perfect combination of her double-major in religious studies and psychology.
Congratulations to Professor of Psychology Libby Nutt Williams, who, in collaboration with colleagues from James Madison University, the George Washington University, and Deakin University in Australia, published an article entitled “The Development and Practice of Authentic Leadership: A Cultural Lens” in the European Journal of Training and Development!
https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-03-2021-0039
The purpose of this empirical study was to explore the practice of authentic leadership and understand more about how it is cultivated and sustained. Interviewing an international sample of leaders, across multiple countries, allowed a comparison of leaders in the United States and those outside the United States, as well as a comparison of male and female leaders. The results of the analysis highlight the leaders’ beliefs, values and behaviors, their leadership development, and the barriers and supportive factors they experienced related to their leadership. This study provides insight and direction for individuals and organizations seeking to better understand the practice of authentic leadership, its development and how it can be sustained over time and across contexts and social identities.
Professor of Psychology Aileen Bailey attended the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM (TIDES) Institute held virtually on June 7-10, 2021.
On June 15–18, Assistant Professor of Psychology Gina Fernandez, Associate Professor of Psychology James Mantell, Associate Professor of Psychology Scott Mirabile, Associate Professor of Psychology Jennifer Tickle, and Associate Dean of Curriculum Christine Wooley attended the virtual AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success. St. Mary’s College of Maryland was one of 61 institutions selected to participate in the event.
Finally on June 22, Professor of Psychology Aileen Bailey and Assistant Professor of Psychology Gina Fernandez co-presented on behalf of the SMCM psychology team during a workshop entitled “Strategies for Successful Curricular Change to Provide Equity in Undergraduate Research Opportunities” which was organized as part of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Virtual 2021 Centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference. Assistant Professor Gili Freedman, Assistant Professor of Psychology Ayse Ikizler, and Associate Professor James Mantell were co-authors on the work that Bailey and Fernandez presented. Other faculty presenters for the workshop were associated with the CUR Transformations Project either as principal investigators or as part of the chemistry department team from Bridgewater State University. The session had over 160 people in attendance.
Congratulations to Gabrielle Backus, Jordan Bailey, Mary Claire Basso-luca, Mason Drusano, Julia Ann Fitzpatrick, April Fraser, Alyssa Jo Heintzelman, Erin Nicole Lanham, Spencer Minor, Elizabeth Mlinek, Elizabeth Prather, Angelie Roche, Claire Ruble, Katerina Scott, Constantina Thomakos, and Holly Vallone!
Pictured above: Some of the inductee cohort along with Psi Chi adviser Dr. Scott Mirabile and chapter officers.
Photocredit: Angela Draheim
To better understand differences in Monoracial White, Monoracial Minoritized, and Multiracial college students, 888 emerging adults were surveyed. Results indicated that Multiracial participants were significantly different than the other two groups in ethnic identity exploration and experienced discrimination (with Monoracial White participants showing the lowest levels, Monoracial Minoritized participants showing the highest). Multiracial participants did not differ significantly in ethnic identity commitment from Monoracial White participants, but both groups were significantly lower in commitment than Monoracial Minoritized participants. Because Multiracial college students are poorly represented in the literature, Jensen and her collaborators also explored some variables specific to having multiple racial identities. Multiracial participants’ ethnic identity commitment, a variable related to positive psychosocial outcomes in previous research, showed a significant positive relationship with both ethnic identity exploration and a negative relationship with conflict between identities. This research highlights the differences between Monoracial and Multiracial people, and makes a strong case for people working with Multiracial college students to consider their unique challenges and experiences.
Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Psychology Kristina Howansky and collaborators who recently published “Identity safety cues predict instructor impressions, belonging, and absences in the psychology classroom” in the journal Teaching of Psychology!
Howansky, K., Maimon, M., & Sanchez, D. (2021). Identity safety cues predict instructor impressions, belonging, and absences in the psychology classroom. Teaching of Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628321990362
This work aimed to explore some of the possible benefits of identity safety cues – signals to let students’ know diverse identities are valued in their classroom – in the higher-ed classroom. Researchers found that identify safety cues were associated with more positive impressions of students’ professor, a higher sense of belonging in the class, and even fewer absences. Although the safety cues were aimed at specific populations, they were associated with positive outcomes across student identities, even those not specifically targeted by the cues. Provided in the article are concrete examples and small steps faculty can make to signal their values of inclusion to students.
You can read the abstract here.
The acknowledgements section of the paper includes a shoutout to psychology department members Assistant Professor Gili Freedman, Assistant Professor Ayse Ikizler, and Associate Professor Scott Mirabile for their feedback on the manuscript. It also gives thanks to psychology majors Gabrielle Backus, Jannah Mawuli, and India Oates.
Congratulations to Dr. Laraine Glidden who served as the editor for a new APA handbook!
Glidden, L. M. (Ed.). (2021). American Psychological Association Handbook of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Washington, D.C.: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Consisting of 2 volumes, this 2021 Handbook contains 38 chapters and was in process from its inception in late 2016 to its publication at the very beginning of 2021. Distinguished Professor Emerita Laraine Masters Glidden, faculty member in psychology and human development from 1976 to her retirement in 2012, oversaw its development. She selected three associate editors, and together they developed the table of contents and invited authors who were experts in their respective subfields of developmental disabilities.
Read the full press release at https://inside.smcm.edu/news/2021/01/distinguished-professor-emerita-laraine-masters-glidden-editor-chief-two-volume-apa
Read the handbook overview and table of contents here.
Glidden and her decades-long parenting research are featured in the Fall 2020 edition of The Mulberry Tree. The article that starts on page 13 mentions Glidden’s work on the Handbook and numerous other publications and presentations. It also highlights a number of psychology program alumni who collaborated with Glidden on some of those works.
Assistant Professor of Psychology Kristina Howansky was interviewed on the AskPsychSessions podcast about being an early career academic during the pandemic. Posing the question, “How can I employ radical empathy to teach during a pandemic,” they discussed using safety cues to increase belongingness and how radical empathy can make classes go more smoothly. The interview ends with a discussion on Howansky’s new course on the psychology of sharks.
The podcast can be found here: https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=80934013&refid=asa