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Department of Psychology > Archives for Research

Howansky Published in Teaching of Psychology

Kristina HowanskyCongratulations to Assistant Professor of Psychology Kristina Howansky who was recently published in the journal Teaching of Psychology!
Her article “Fostering Inclusivity: Exploring the Impact of Identity Safety Cues and Instructor Gender on Students’ Impressions and Belonging” was included in Teaching of Psychology’s special issue on social justice pedagogy: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Teaching of Psychology. Collaborators were Melanie Maimon and Diana Sanchez of Rutgers University.
Identity Safety Cues (ISCs) signal to students with marginalized identities that their identities are valued and respected. In this work, we explored whether positive outcomes of ISCs differed based on the gender identity of the instructor. Students in an introduction to psychology course read a syllabus of a prospective class that either included ISCs or did not. The gender of the professor was also manipulated. Students reported greater expected course engagement and sense of belonging in the field of psychology when the syllabus included ISCs compared to when it did not. Further, students had more positive impressions of the instructor when the syllabus included ISCs compared to the control syllabus. Instructor gender had a minimal impact on participants’ outcomes and impressions. This work demonstrates including ISCs in course syllabi can positively impact students when course instructors are White men or women. In future work, we hope to explore more diverse gender and racial identities.

 

Alumna Awarded Research Grant from Phi Chi Honor Society for Project with Assistant Professor Howansky

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.

Jensen Published in Journal of American College Health

Cjersti JensenCongratulations to Visiting Assistant Professor Cjersti Jensen and collaborators who recently published an article titled “Examination of ethnic racial identity exploration and commitment in emerging adults: Group comparisons and specific features of multiracial identity” in Journal of American College Health!

Jensen, C., Koerten, H., Mattei, G., Weinandy, J. G., Froemming, M., Dulek, E., & Dworsky, D. (2021). Examination of ethnic racial identity exploration and commitment in emerging adults: Group comparisons and specific features of multiracial identity. Journal of American College Health, DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2021.1900197

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.

Howansky Publishes Article in Teaching of Psychology Journal

Kristina HowanskyCongratulations 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.

Sharpless Published in Journal of Sleep Research

Brian SharplessCongratulations to Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology Brian Sharpless who recently published an article in the Journal of Sleep Research with two colleagues from Charles University and the National Institute of Mental Health (NUDZ) in the Czech Republic! The article, “Could Sleep Paralysis be Pleasant?” was a quantitative study of the prevalence and associated features of sleep paralysis episodes.
 
Sleep paralysis is the experience of either going to sleep or waking up and finding yourself unable to move. It is a recognized sleep disorder that can have significant impacts on daytime functioning. The majority of individuals with sleep paralysis also experience hallucinations during the event. Though usually thought of as a frightening experience, this study – using a sample of Czech individuals with recurrent sleep paralysis – found that 23% of episodes were actually pleasant and that the nature of the corresponding hallucinations appeared to be quite different. The ability to lucid dream and a greater openness to new experiences (a “big five” personality trait) were both associated with pleasant sleep paralysis episodes. Clinical implications of these findings were also discussed.
 
See the full abstract at https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13154. SMCM faculty, staff, and students can request the full-text through interlibrary loan.

Freedman Receives Collaborative Grant from the National Science Foundation

Dr. Gili FreedmanCongratulations to Dr. Gili Freedman!

Assistant Professor of Psychology Gili Freedman and colleague Dr. Jennifer Beer (University of Texas at Austin) recently received a collaborative, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation for a total of $465,222 ($75,102 of which will go to SMCM). In the project titled “Collaborative Research: Lessening the Blow of Social Rejection,” Freedman and Beer will be investigating the language of social rejection and how power and concern for one’s reputation shape the way that individuals reject others. A central aim of the project is to develop empirically supported training that teaches individuals how to be less hurtful when they engage in social rejection. Starting this fall, Freedman will be working with SMCM collaborative research students on the first stages of the grant.

Read the award abstract on NSF’s website.

Williams Publishes Book Chapter

WilliamsCongratulations to Dr. Libby Williams on her recent publication!

Williams. E. N. (2020). Research with underserved populations: Matching method to need. In J. Zimmerman, J. Barnett, & L. Campbell (Eds.), Bringing psychotherapy to the underserved: Challenges and strategies. New York: Oxford University Press.

Here is the abstract for the book chapter:

“The research findings to date are clear: health disparities exist and are persistent. This chapter explores current research strategies and considers additional, less often employed methodologies in the area of mental health disparities. In particular, previous correlational and survey studies examining barriers to treatment are reviewed. In addition to understanding barriers to treatment, however, we need to focus on what works for underserved populations. Additional experimental studies of treatment modalities (e.g., tele-health), the impact of integrated care and geographic access, and the use of cultural and language-sensitive programs seem timely. Additional qualitative studies of individual experiences within various underserved populations will also help us devise innovative treatment approaches. By matching method to need, we will be able to find new ways to help underserved populations decide to seek help, access the care they need, and receive the best psychotherapeutic treatments available.”

Freedman Published in Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology

 

Congratulations to Dr. Gili Freedman on her recent publication!

Freedman, G., Brandler, S. & Beer, J. S. (2019). Does engaging in social rejection heighten or diminish social processing? Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/23743603.2019.1684820

Engaging in social rejection can lead to feeling both increased social power and decreased belongingness. Yet, social power is associated with diminished social sensitivity, whereas threatened belongingness can enhance social sensitivity. In a registered report, Freedman and coauthors tested these competing hypotheses of how engaging in social rejection may affect social sensitivity. Contrary to the competing hypotheses tested, they did not find evidence that social rejection, compared to social acceptance, led to increased or decreased social sensitivity. An exploratory analysis found that men who engaged in rejection showed decreased social sensitivity compared to men who did not engage in rejection.

 

 

Fernandez Published in Neuropharmacology

Congratulations to Dr. Gina Fernandez on her recent publication, “General Anesthetic Exposure in Adolescent Rats Causes Persistent Maladaptations in Cognitive and Affective Behaviors and Neuroplasticity” in the journal Neuropharmacology.

In the article, Fernandez and her coauthors examine evidence that indicates that exposure to general anesthetics during infancy and childhood can cause persistent cognitive impairment, alterations in synaptic plasticity, and increased incidence of behavioral disorders.

Publisher link abstract: Accumulating evidence indicates that exposure to general anesthetics during infancy and childhood can cause persistent cognitive impairment, alterations in synaptic plasticity, and, to a lesser extent, increased incidence of behavioral disorders. Unfortunately, the developmental parameters of susceptibility to general anesthetics are not well understood. Adolescence is a critical developmental period wherein multiple late developing brain regions may also be vulnerable to enduring general anesthetic effects. Given the breadth of the adolescent age span, this group potentially represents millions more individuals than those exposed during early childhood. In this study, isoflurane exposure within a well-characterized adolescent period in Sprague-Dawley rats elicited immediate and persistent anxiety- and impulsive-like responding, as well as delayed cognitive impairment into adulthood. These behavioral abnormalities were paralleled by atypical dendritic spine morphology in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HPC), suggesting delayed anatomical maturation, and shifts in inhibitory function that suggest hypermaturation of extrasynaptic GABAA receptor inhibition. Preventing this hypermaturation of extrasynaptic GABAA receptor-mediated function in the PFC selectively reversed enhanced impulsivity resulting from adolescent isoflurane exposure. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the developmental window for susceptibility to enduring untoward effects of general anesthetics may be much longer than previously appreciated, and those effects may include affective behaviors in addition to cognition.

Foster Published in Memory & Cognition

Dr. Nathan FosterCongratulations to Dr. Nathan Foster on his recent publication,  “Why Does Interleaving Improve Math Learning? The Contributions of Discriminative Contrast and Distributed Practice”  in the journal Memory & Cognition.

In the article, Foster and his coauthors examine why interleaved practice of materials has been shown to enhance test performance.

Publisher Abstract:

Interleaved practice involves studying exemplars from different categories in a non-systematic, pseudorandom order under the constraint that no two exemplars from the same category are presented consecutively. Interleaved practice of materials has been shown to enhance test performance compared to blocked practice in which exemplars from the same category are studied together. Why does interleaved practice produce this benefit? We evaluated two non-mutually exclusive hypotheses, the discriminative-contrast hypothesis and the distributed-practice hypothesis, by testing participants’ performance on calculating the volume of three-dimensional geometric shapes. In Experiment 1, participants repeatedly practiced calculating the volume of four different-sized shapes according to blocked practice, interleaved practice, or remote-interleaved practice (which involved alternating the practice of volume calculation with non-volume problems, like permutations and fraction addition). Standard interleaving enhanced performance compared to blocked practice but did not produce enhanced performance compared to remote interleaving. In Experiment 2, we replicated this pattern and extended the results to include a remote-blocked group, which involved blocking volume calculation with non-volume problems. Performance on key measures was better for remote-interleaved groups compared to remote-blocked groups, a finding that supports the distributed-practice hypothesis.

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