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Psychology Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Improving the Subjective Well-Being of Autistic Youth Utilizing a Positive Psychology Intervention , Nicolette Bauermeister

An Experimental Study of Negative Performance Feedback: Consideration of a Cognitive Pathway and Individual Difference Factors , Ansley M. Bender

A Critical Analysis of the Graduate Socialization of Racially Minoritized School Psychology Students , Tatiana J. Broughton

The Influence of COVID-19 on Tobacco Racial Health Disparities: Testing the Differential Effects of COVID-19 on Smoking Motivation Variables across Black and White Smokers , Patricia F. Calixte-Civil

An Evaluation of Measurement Invariance of DSM-5 Borderline Personality Disorder Criteria Across Heterosexual, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults , E. Elisa Carsten

The Development of a Behaviorally Based Mentoring Workplace Scale , Christina N. Falcon

Examining the Role of Executive Functions on the Intention-Behavior Gap of Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy Use , Becky K. Gius

The Effect of Psychopathy Trait Descriptions on Mock Juror Decision-Making , Bailey A. Hall

Context matters: Profiles of emotion regulation at work and home , Roxanne C. Lawrence

Planning to Behave Impulsively to Feel Better: An EMA Study of College Students' Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, Binge Eating, and Exercise Behaviors , Rose H. Miller

One Year Impact of the Advancing Coping and Engagement (ACE) Program on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Student Success , Amanda C. Moseley

The Effects of Divided Attention in Free Recall: Affecting Trace Accumulation by Dividing Attention , Anne Olsen

Investigating Risk Factors of the Development of Compulsive Exercise and Eating Disorder Symptoms in College Students , Madeline Palermo

Invisible Families, Clear Consequences: Work-Family Integration Among Employees in Same Gender Presenting Romantic Relationships , Joseph Regina

Threats to School Safety: Examining Levels of Community Violence and Its Relation to School-Related Threats , Dorie Ross

The Social Anxiety Stigma Scale (SASS): Development, Factor Structure, and Validation , Ruba Rum

Socio-emotional effects of rejection: An experience-sampling examination , Gabriella Silva

Observed Error Monitoring as an Index of Theory of Mind , Kipras Varkala

I'll Make a Man Out of You: Precarious Manhood Beliefs among Heterosexual-Cisgender Men and Queer Men , Serena L. Wasilewski

From Other and From World: Expanding the Current Model of Existential Isolation , Roger Young Jr.

Temporal and Spatial Properties of Orientation Summary Statistic Representations , Jacob S. Zepp

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Boredom, Interoceptive Ability, and Emotional Eating , Erica Ahlich

Environmental Transmission of Career Interests Through a Genetic Lens: Understanding the Confounding Around Parental Occupation , Tyler Allan

Do Suicide Attempt Survivors Have Reduced Long-Term Well-Being? A Study of Veterans Across Three Nationally Representative Cohorts , Bradley A. Brown

Depersonalized, Dysregulated, and Demanded: The Impact of Burnout on Appraisal and Emotional Events , Katrina M. Conen

Breast Health Esteem to Motivate Breast Health Behavioral Intentions: An Application of the Terror Management Health Model , Emily P. Courtney

Gender Differences in College Drinkers: The Role of Masculine Norms , Jared A. Davis

Prevalence and Predictors of Careless Responding in Experience Sampling Research , Alexander J. Denison

Perceptions of Workplace Discrimination: A Closer Look , Jeremiah Doaty

The Impact of Cannabis on Motivational Processes for Smoked Tobacco and Cigarettes , Claire M. Gorey

Outcomes of a Telehealth Adaptation of a Trauma-Based Parent Training Program , Holland Hayford

Why Don’t They Just Ask?: Barriers to Directly Requesting Affirmative Sexual Consent by Gender and Sexual Orientation , Jessica A. Jordan

Examining the Social Validity of Parent Training: Post-Participation Parent Perceptions and Reflections of Group Triple P , Nycole C. Kauk

Individual Differences in Response to Hostile and Benevolent Sexism in a STEM Interview Context: The Moderating Role of Behavioral Activation , Elizabeth Kiebel

Do Sociability Expectancies Moderate Social Anxiety Predicting Alcohol Consumption Following a Social Stressor Speech Task , Jacob A. Levine

An Object for Sexual Pleasure: Does Viewing Sexualized Media Predict Increases in Self and Partner Objectification Impacting Feelings of Sexual and Romantic Closeness? , Kaitlyn Ligman

Influences of Sentence Context and Individual Differences in Lexical Quality on Early Phonological Processing during Silent Reading , Sara Milligan

Testing the Effects of Social Exclusion on Emotional Arousal: An Examination of the Effects of Psychological Pain and Rumination , Amanda L. Peterson

Creating a Short, Public-Domain Version of the CPAI-2: Using an Algorithmic Approach to Develop Public-Domain Measures of Indigenous Personality Traits , Mukhunth Raghavan

Equitable Implementation of the Good Behavior Game , Faith D. Reynolds

Ethnic-Racial Minoritized Adolescents’ Perceptions of Cyberhate, School Connectedness, Ethnic-Racial Identity, and Life Satisfaction , Alexis Taylor

Predicting Future Well-Being Among United States Youth Who Attempted Suicide and Survived , Bingjie Tong

Approach and Avoidance Food Craving: A Dual Cue Reactivity Investigation , Christina Lee Verzijl

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

School Professional Coaching on Facilitation of Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) Model for Students with Persistent Problem Behavior , Rachel Ayres

Influencing Motivation for Alcohol through Social Bonding , Bryan Benitez

Case Studies in Applied Behavior Analysis: Using a Desensitization Procedure to Decrease Problem Behavior Towards Peers and Using a Treatment Package to Increase Time Spent in a Small Group , Mallamy I. Camargo Pena

Testing the Congruence of Espousals and Enactments Predicting Team Innovation , Rylan M. Charlton

The General Psychopathology Factor ( p ) From Adolescence to Adulthood: Disentangling the Developmental Trajectories of p Using a Multi-Method Approach , Alexandria M. Choate

An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Disordered Eating Behaviors within Alcohol Use Episodes: Determining Temporal Sequencing in Food and Alcohol Disturbance , Emily M. Choquette

The Influence of Maternal Body-Shaming Comments and Bodily Shame on Portion Size , Savannah R. Flak

Mental Health Problems, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Offending Behavior Among Persons Incarcerated in a County Jail , Lauren F. Fournier

The Adaptive, Social, Communication, and Cognitive Skills of Monolingual and Bilingual Toddlers with Autism , Marcela A. Galicia

Good Intentions Go Awry: Investigation of Unhelpful Supportive Leadership , Cheryl E. Gray

Hello Traitor: An Examination of Individual Differences in Perceptions of Technology-Related Incivility , David J. Howard

Measuring State Empathy: Exploring the Efficacy of a Film Clip Task and Examining Individual Differences in Empathic Responding , Stephanie R. Hruza

The Relationship of Hope to Goals and Psychological Outcomes in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer: A Test of Hope Theory , Kelly A. Hyland

Decisions and How Doctors Make Them: Modeling Multilevel Decision-Making within Diagnostic Medicine , Michelle S. Kaplan

Cultural Values as a Moderator of the Emotion Suppression to Strain Relationship: A Comparison of Two Dominant Theoretical Mechanisms , Roxanne C. Lawrence

How Enduring is Global Precedence? , Jong Lee

Cool Under Fire: Psychopathic Traits and Decision-Making in Law Enforcement-Oriented Populations , Sean J. McKinley

Cognitive Ability and Ambivalence toward Alcohol: An Examination of Working Memory Capacity’s Influence on Drinking Behavior , Emily T. Noyes

The Relationship Between Parenting Stress, Attendance, and Attrition in a Group-Based Parent Management Training Program , David Rubio Jr.

Unintended Consequences? Testing the Effects of Adolescent-Targeted Anti-Vaping Media upon Adult Smokers , Leslie E. Sawyer

“Just Joking”: Women’s Cardiovascular Responses to Sexist Humor , Samantha Shepard

Negative Performance Feedback and the Self-Regulatory Benefits of Mindfulness , Jeremiah Slutsky

Examining the Potential Interactions of Expectancies and Disordered Eating Behavior , Cody B. Staples

The nature of resilience: A person-centered approach using latent profile analysis , Yuejia Teng

Evaluation of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Fit Indices in Distinguishing between Circumplex and Other Factor Models , Andrew J. Thurston

Comparison of Parameter Estimation Approaches for Multi-Unidimensional Pairwise Preference Tests , Naidan Tu

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

The Impact of Cues on Autobiographical Memory Recall in Depression , Ena Begovic

Perfectionism, Negative Life Events, and Cognitive Appraisal: A Contextual Model of Perfectionism’s Maladaptive Nature , Ansley M. Bender

The Effect of Acute Interpersonal Racial Discrimination on Smoking Motivation and Behavior among Black Smokers , Patricia F. Calixte-Civil

Parent Coping and Sibling Relationship Quality in Pediatric Cancer: The Moderating Effects of Parental Emotion Socialization Beliefs , Esther Davila

Higher Sense of Control Predicts Long-term Well-being After Depression , Andrew R. Devendorf

Villains or Vermin? The Differential Effects of Discrimination and Dehumanization on Immigrant Cardiovascular Responses , Mona El-Hout

Alcohol Expectancy Associates as a Probe of the Motivational Processes that Lead to Drinking , Daniel C. Faraci

Features of borderline personality and related psychopathologies as a contemporaneously and temporally connected network , Haya Fatimah

Editing the Self Away: The Effects of Photo Manipulation on Perceptions of the Self , Roxanne N. Felig

Motivation Matters: The Interaction of Approach and Avoidance Alcohol Motivation and Self-Control Demands in College Drinkers , Becky K. Gius

Facilitators and Barriers to Treatment Engagement in a Behavioral Parent Training Program , Holland Hayford

Effects of Inter-Male Status Challenge and Psychopathic Traits on Sexual Aggression , Amy M. Hoffmann

If at First You Don’t Succeed...Your Coworkers Just Might Be Pleased: A Story of Workplace Schadenfreude , Kim Johnson

Motivation to Volunteer , Lendi N. Joy

Exploration of Drive for Leanness in Relation to Drives for Thinness and Muscularity, as well as their Concurrent Associations with Health-Related Outcomes , Brittany Lang

Affect and Craving: Examining the Differential Influences of Positive and Negative Affect on Inclinations to Approach and Avoid Alcohol Use , Jacob A. Levine

Threat-Induced Alterations in Cognition and Associations with Disinhibited Behavior , Julia B. McDonald

A Prospective Examination of Psychosocial Outcomes Following Gynecomastia Surgery , D. Luis Ordaz

Assessing the Impacts of Sensorimotor Stimuli and Nicotine Content on Cravings and Other Outcomes of E-Cigarette Use , Amanda M. Palmer

The Threat of Virality: Digital Outrage Combats the Spread of Opposing Ideas , Curtis Puryear

Why Are Women Leaving STEM? An Examination of Workplace Rivalry , Joseph Regina

A Fidelity-based Integration Model for Explicit and Implicit Ensemble Coding , Ke Tong

Care in Context: Constructing a Theory of Care in One Fifth Grade Classroom , Emily J. Wingate

Depression, Music Choice, and Affective Outcomes in Daily Life , Sunkyung Yoon

The Immediate Effect of a Brief Mindfulness Intervention on Attention and Acceptance , Xiaoqian Yu

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Understanding the Mechanisms Between Job Stress and Employee Sleep: A Daily Diary Study , Marijana L. Arvan

The Effects of Mortality Salience on Interest in Death (and Life) Among High Openness Individuals , Patrick Boyd

Linking Sleep and Aggression: The Role of Response Inhibition and Emotional Processing , Melanie L. Bozzay

Mapping Reward Values to Cues, Locations, and Objects: The Influence of Reward Associations on Visual Attention , Constanza de Dios

From C++ to Conscientiousness: Modeling the Psychosocial Characteristics Influencing Cybersecurity Personnel Performance , Rachel C. Dreibelbis

Personality and Process: The Role of Dyadic Homophily , Christina N. Falcon

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Psychology theses and dissertations.

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This collection contains some of the theses and dissertations produced by students in the University of Oregon Psychology Graduate Program. Paper copies of these and other dissertations and theses are available through the UO Libraries .

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• When “Self-Harm” Means “Suicide”: Adolescent Online Help-Seeking for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors  Lind, Monika ( University of Oregon , 2024-03-25 ) The sensitive period of adolescence facilitates key developmental tasks that equip young people to assume adult roles. Adolescence features important strengths, like the need to contribute, and some risks, like vulnerability ...
• Stereotypes and Social Decisions: The Interpersonal Consequences of Socioeconomic Status  Hughes, Bradley ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Interpersonal perceptions of socioeconomic status (SES), those formed in face-to-face interactions, can perpetuate inequality if they influence interpersonal interactions in ways that disadvantage people with low SES. There ...
• Utilization of Linguistic Markers in Differentiation of Internalizing Disorders, Suicidality, and Identity Distress  Ivie, Elizabeth ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) The adolescent period of development is associated with a significant increase in the occurrence of mental illness. In addition, death by suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst adolescents. Identity formation ...
• The Role of Fractal Fluency on Visual Perception  Robles, Kelly E. ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) From quarks to galaxies, the natural world is organized with fractal geometry. Fractal fluency theory suggests that due to their omnipresence in our visual world, fractals are more fluently processed by the visual system ...
• The Anatomy of Antagonism: Exploring the Relations of 20 Lexical Factors of Personality with Machiavellianism, Grandiose Narcissism, and Psychopathy  Kay, Cameron ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Despite being the focus of extensive research over the past two decades, the structure of the “Dark Triad”—or, as I will refer to it here, the “Aversive Triad”—is still shrouded in confusion. Much of this confusion stems ...
• Content Representation in Lateral Parietal Cortex  Zhao, Yufei ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) While the lateral parietal cortex (LPC) in the human brain is traditionally investigated for its functions in visual perception, more recent evidence has highlighted its substantial contribution to supporting human episodic ...
• Sociocultural Contexts of Emotion Socialization in BIPOC Families  Lee, Angela ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Having effective emotion regulation skills is critical to socioemotional well-being, and parents play a key role in the development of children’s emotion regulation through emotion socialization behaviors. However, since ...
• Cross-ideological Communication: The Impact of Real Conversations Compared to Imagined Ones  Niella, Tamara ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Political polarization has visibly increased in the last few years. A sense of divisiveness has been exacerbated by a surge in social media communication about contentious issues which has been replacing face-to-face ...
• Inflammation, Mental Health, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study with Child Welfare Service Involved Families  Horn, Sarah ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has posited unique challenges for families and significantly disrupted several aspects of children’s environments. The pandemic is an ongoing risk experience, with young children being ...
• Testing Novel Norm Interventions for Promoting Pro-environmental Consumption  Lieber, Sara ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) The purpose of the current project was to investigate how a social psychology approach could be used to develop an effective climate-change mitigation tool. A commonly used technique in the social psychology literature for ...
• Understanding the Misunderstood Emotion: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Variants of Anger  Razavi, Pooya ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) In cultural accounts and scholarly writings about anger, we see conceptualizations that reflect the existence of two variants: an anger perceived as moral, appropriate, and justified; and an anger considered wrong and ...
• Measuring long-term memories at the feature level reveals mechanisms of interference resolution  Drascher, Maxwell ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) When memories share similar features, this can lead to interference, and ultimately forgetting. At the same time, many highly similar memories are remembered vividly for years to come. Understanding what causes interference ...
• The Role of Hierarchical Structures in Cognition  Moss, Melissa ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) Individuals routinely execute complex tasks that involve multiple, dependent levels of information, such as driving a car or cooking dinner. It is amazing that our cognitive system is able to represent such complex, ...
• A Contextual Psychology Approach to Improving Health Outcomes in the Perinatal Period  Lightcap, April ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) The United States holds alarming records for highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world. The US infant mortality rate is on par with many low and middle income countries, and despite the decline in ...
• The Study of Behavior Settings as an Aid in Mental Hospital Analysis: A Methodological Exploration  Rose, David William ( University of Oregon , 1969-06 ) The ultimate goal of all mental hospital analyses is to provide information which by direct implication or through analysis might act as a guide in restructuring environment in which the mental patient lives. The goal of ...
• Personality-Driven Social Media Curation: How Personality Traits Affect Following Decisions on Twitter  Bedford-Petersen, Cianna ( University of Oregon , 2023-03-24 ) As social media occupies an increasingly important place in people’s lives, new opportunities are presented for people to select and modify their online environments. On many platforms, users have significant control over ...
• Stability of Mind-Mindedness Across the Transition to Motherhood and its Longitudinal Association with Children’s Theory of Mind & Executive Function  Gluck, Stephanie ( University of Oregon , 2023-03-24 ) Parental mind-mindedness refers to caregivers’ propensity to attribute mind-like and intentional qualities in their interactions with or representation of their young children. It is proposed to be associated with positive ...
• Dating and Mating in Adolescence: How Hormones and Puberty Influence Adolescent Mating Motivation  Donaldson, Sarah ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) Puberty marks the physical transition towards sexual maturity, culminating in the ability to reproduce. It follows that maturing cognitive, affective, and social skills develop concurrently to support reproductive competence, ...
• Individual Differences in Memory Functions and Their Relation to Hippocampal Connectivity  Frank, Lea ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) The hippocampus plays an important role in many aspects of learning and memory. It is most known for its role in episodic memory and spatial navigation, though it has also been shown to contribute to other processes like ...
• Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma: Gendered and Racialized Police Violence toward the Black Community  Barnes, Melissa ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) Racialized and gendered police violence is a pernicious problem for Black communities. For my dissertation, I empirically tested a novel theoretical concept, Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma (COBT). COBT integrates the ...

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Home > College of Social and Behavioral Sciences > Psychology > Psychology Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Psychology Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Theses/projects/dissertations from 2024 2024.

Impact of Perinatal Escitalopram Exposure on Adolescent Behavior , Jessica Bezenah - Bottorff

EFFECTS OF APOLIPOPROTEIN E, DEPRESSION, AND ANXIETY ON COGNITIVE DECLINE AMONG OLDER ADULTS AT RISK FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE , Lea Hemphill

Career motivation as mediator between cultural self-construal and interest , Mengxuan Zhang

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2023 2023

WHY WE LEAVE: THE ROLE OF APPROACH AND AVOIDANCE MOTIVATIONS IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP DISSOLUTION , Emily Connard

THE IMPACT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS ON EMPLOYEE BURNOUT AND THEIR CORRELATION TO TURNOVER INTENTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT , Teni Davoudian

Development and Validation of the Employee-Supervisor Attachment Scale , Johnny Doherty

Adverse Childhood Experiences Effects on Hot and Cool Executive Functioning , Miriam Gabrielle Fenton

BIOMARKERS OF OBJECTIVE CRITERIA FOR SUBTLE COGNITIVE DECLINE IN PARKINSON’S DISEASE , Mary Ellen Garcia

THE EFFECTS OF INNOVATIVE WORK CULTURE AND TRAINING QUALITY ON COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIORS , Emily Anne Garreton

Perceptions of Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Gains Following a Therapeutically Applied Tabletop Role Play Game Group , Tyler Giatroudakis

Pathways Through Care of Latinx Individuals Experiencing First-Episode Psychosis , Estevan Hernandez

BURNING OUT OF TIME: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE, WORKAHOLISM, PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, AND BURNOUT , Hira Ikram

AUTHENTICITY, SUPPORT, AND IDENTITY MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE FOR TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES , Raeven Jones

EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS OF STRESSORS AT WORK: AN ATTACHMENT PERSPECTIVE , Emma Josephine Naudet

Psychological Distress and Problematic Video Gaming: The Role of Psychological Inflexibility and Emotion Dysregulation , Frank Nieblas

IMPACT OF SUBJECTIVE COGNITIVE COMPLAINTS ON MCI DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE , Rhiannon Rivas

One of Us: Monoracial Latinx Perspectives of Multiracial Latinx-White Individuals , Rosemary Rojas

Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers Not Associated with Neurologic Compromise Among Mild Cognitively Impaired Reverters with Parkinson's Disease , Cameron Ryczek

THE EFFECT OF RESPONSE FORMAT ON FAKING IN PERSONALITY MEASUREMENTS USED FOR PERSONNEL SELECTION , Gilberto Sanchez

An Evaluation of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games for Psychological and Social Functioning Amongst Youth/Young Adults , Adam Thomas Soleski

REPEATED TREATMENT WITH 5-HT1A AND 5-HT1B RECEPTOR AGONISTS: EVIDENCE OF TOLERANCE AND BEHAVIORAL SENSITIZATION , Jordan Taylor

Toxic Leadership and its effect on Employees' Subjective Well-Being , Vaishnavi Waldiya

GRIEF, DEPRESSION, AND WELL-BEING: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLEXIBILITY , Ashley Wicochea

The Effects of Organizational Justice , Anneliese Yuenger

Overtime Worked and Its Effect on Burnout, Illness, and Health outcomes , Haoqiu Zhang

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2022 2022

THE EFFECT OF NUMERACY AND MATH ANXIETY ON WHOLE NUMBER BIAS , Jasmine Jessica Leanna Bonsel

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION, ROLE IDENTITY, AND PERCEIVED MEANINGFULNESS OF WORK ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VOLUNTEER SATISFACTION AND VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION , Tonia Christine Caraveo

The Influence of Work-Life Balance Directionality on Retirement Decisions , Joshua Craig

The Relationship Between COVID-19 Stress, Psychological Inflexibility, and Psycholoical Well-Being , Alyx Duckering

AS SEEN ON TV: REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISEMENTS AND THE EFFECTS ON WOMEN’S SELF-PERCEPTIONS, SELF-OBJECTIFICATION, AND SELF-DEHUMANIZATION , Kori Gearhart

Social Comparison and Shifting in Quantitative Performance , Ashlee Pardo

TO PREVENT OR TO DECEIVE: THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE ON MALINGERING AND WORKPLACE INJURY VIA PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH AND SAFETY CLIMATE , Abraham Rico

THE ROLE OF TRAUMA COPING SELF-EFFICACY AND SHAME IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIANTS OF SELF-BLAME AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES , Melody Robinson

OBSERVING GENDER ROLE SALIENCE AND GENDER ROLE FLEXIBILITY AS POTENTIAL BUFFERS BETWEEN LEVELS OF HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPERIENCES WITH WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND ROLE OVERLOAD , Roberta Alexis Salgado

PREDICTORS OF DEPRESSION IN DIFFERENT SUBGROUPS OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE: A NEUROIMAGING STUDY , Yenny Gabriela Valenzuela

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2021 2021

I AM OUT, NOW WHAT?: THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF BEING JUSTICE-INVOLVED , Eric J. Cazares

What Impact Can Conflict Resolution Skills Have on Conflict Experienced Within Culturally Heterogenous Virtual Teams? , Kellen Dohrman

ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONAL ORIENTATION PERCEPTION , Kaleb Garcia

HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPERIENCES OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND WELL-BEING AMONG FATHERS: THE ROLE OF IDENTITY AND GENDER ROLE BELIEFS , Rita Garcia

I’M ATTACHED TO MY WORK: AN INVESTIGATION OF JOB EMBEDDEDNESS AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN WORKAHOLISM ON EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION, SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING, AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS , Cristian Hernandez

HOW THE LEVEL OF JOB COMPLEXITY IMPACTS THE GENDER WAGE GAP ACROSS OCCUPATIONS , Zytlaly Magaña Corona

LGB EMPLOYMENT AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS: EMPHASIZING EXISTING AND POTENTIAL POLICY FOR IMPROVING THE LGB HIRING , Alexa Nicole Massiquet

FAMILY-SUPPORTIVE SUPERVISOR BEHAVIOR AND FATHERS’ WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT , Talar Ohanian

SEROTONIN 1B/1A RECEPTOR MODULATION ON BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY IN C57BL/6J MICE , Brandon L. Oliver

EFFECTS OF NEONATAL ETHANOL EXPOSURE IN NORMAL AND DOPAMINE DEFICIENT RATS , Jessica Luz Razo

THE WEIGHT OF SCOPE, PACE, AND PRACTICES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE DURING EVALUATIONS OF ACCEPTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE , Lewis Schneider

Inducing Proactive Control with High Load AX-CPT , Mina Selim

INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF EXPECTATIONS OF DISCLOSURE IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRAUMA-RELATED SHAME AND SEEKING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES , Holly Rachelle Timblin

Does Working Memory Capacity Modulate the Relationship between Intentional Mind-Wandering and Task Demand? , Stephen Ware

Spirituality, Inclusivity, Workplace Well-Being, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior , Rebecca Williams

HELPING YOUR CHILDREN DEVELOP POSITIVE, SUCCESSFUL SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS: A 4-SESSION PARENTING WORKSHOP , Caitlin Marie Younger Sackett

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2020 2020

THE IMPACT OF EXPERIENCING AGEISM AND SOCIAL SUPPORT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND PERCEPTIONS OF SELF-EFFICACY , Sean Alexander

Working Women’s Cognitive Attributions and Self-Perceptions After Experiences of Subtle Sexism and Internalized Sexism , Amanda Bain

THE IMPACT OF NEGATIVE AFFECT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING THROUGH AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT, ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS, AND EMPLOYEE BURNOUT , Michelle Balesh

BIOLOGICAL SIBLINGS: CAN YOU TRUST THEM WITH YOUR MATE? , Elisha Barron

THE INCREMENTAL EFFECT OF VOLUNTARINESS OF PART TIME WORK STATUS OVER AGE IN PREDICTING WORK MOTIVATION IN PART TIME WORKERS , Daniel A. Caro

INVESTIGATING WORK ENGAGEMENT AND AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT THROUGH A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL WORK UNDERLOAD SCALE, MEDIATED BY WORK-RELATED BOREDOM , Jessica Clemons

REFINEMENT OF THE SPITEFULNESS CONSTRUCT , Arturo Covarrubias-Paniagua

Anticipated Stigma and Chronic Illness: The Impact of Psychosocial Safety Climate , Michelle DeOrsey

A PARENTING CURRICULUM FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS OF YOUNG CHILDREN WITH A FOCUS ON ATTACHMENT THEORY , Alexandria Driscoll

ESTABLISHING THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AS AN OUT-OF-SCHOOL PARTNER IN STEM/STEAM EDUCATION , Gwyneth Fernandez

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTOMATION THREAT AND EMPLOYEE RELATED OUTCOMES USING SUPPORT AS A BUFFER AND MODERATED BY TRANSFORMATIONAL AND TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP , Monica Garcia

A FOUR-SESSION WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS, AND SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN WITH ASD , Vanessa Huizar

SELF-STIGMA AND HELP-SEEKING IN FIRST GENERATION STUDENTS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF EMPOWERMENT , D'Andra P. Johnson

Virtuality Now: Redefining Virtuality from an Individual Perspective , Trinity Kerr

SUPPORTING EARLY DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOL READINESS IN INFANTS AND TODDLERS: A 4-SESSION PARENTING WORKSHOP , Elaine Krzeminski

Work-Related Communications After Hours: The Influence of Communication Technologies and Age on Work-Life Conflict and Burnout , Alison Loreg

The Myers-Briggs Personality System and its Moderating Effects on the Relationship Between Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction , Rebecca Marshall

THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL ACCEPTANCE AND AWARENESS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER SYMPTOMS AND POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH AMONG SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT , Cecilia Maria Melendez

DUAL MECHANISMS OF COGNITIVE CONTROL: AN EYE TRACKING STUDY , Kyle Mobly

SCOPE OF ATTENTION VARIATION AS A FUNCTION OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION , Kathleen O'Donnell

The Role of Numerical Processing and Working Memory Capacity on the Relationship Between Math Anxiety and Math Performance , Pilar Olid

DEMOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEIVED INVASION OF PRIVACY WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA IS USED IN PERSONNEL SELECTION , Zayna Osborne

RETIREMENT PLANNING MOTIVATION FROM A REINFORCEMENT SENSITIVITY THEORY (RST) PERSPECTIVE , Luke Poulter

Developmental Implications of Parentification: An Examination of Ethnic Variation and Loneliness , Bertha Preciado

Helping Young Girls Build a Positive Body Image: A Training Workshop for Parents , Jennifer Richardson

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD SUCCEED IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL A PARENT EDUCATION WORKSHOP , Lauren Rivera

The Relationship Between Subtle Sexism and Women's Careers Explained by Cognitive Processes and Moderated by Attachment Styles , Patricia Carolina Rivera

The Consequences of Social Exclusion on Women's Negative Emotions and Self-Regulation of Unhealthy Eating , Caitlin Shaw

The Importance of Nutrition for Development in Early Childhood , Kaitlyn Sue Suha

FELT INCLUSION AMONG SEXUAL MINORITY EMPLOYEES: THE ROLES OF THE ORGANIZATION AND SUPERVISOR , Jamie Michael Tombari

The Importance of Recess in the Lives of Children , Kayla L. Villanueva

THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUALITY ON MOTIVATION IN THE WORK PLACE , Tong Yao

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2019 2019

How Prototypicality Influences Inferences and Discrimination Towards Gay Men , Adam Beam

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JUSTICE PERCEPTIONS, CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AND WORKPLACE BEHAVIORS AMONG OLD AND YOUNG EMPLOYEES , Martha P. Blanco Villarreal

THE IMPORTANCE OF FIT: FOSTERING JOB SATISFACTION AND RETENTION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS , Heather Carrasco

THE IMPACT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT DISCLOSURE REACTIONS ON INTERPERSONAL FACTORS AND MENTAL HEALTH , Lindsey Chesus

Women's Perceptions of Sexual Assault Perpetrators and Fear of Rape , Aaron George Cisneros

DIVERSITY STRUCTURES AND WHITES' CLAIMS OF BIAS , Princess Egbule

IMPACT OF CONDITIONAL JOB OFFER ON APPLICANT REACTIONS TO SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE SELECTION PROCESS , Ashley Gomez

THE EFFECTS OF WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY AND TRAIT ANXIETY ON VISUAL SHORT-TERM MEMORY PERFORMANCE , Celene Gonzalez

THE DARK SIDE OF FAMILY SUPPORTIVE SUPERVISOR BEHAVIORS: IS GETTING HELP WITH FAMILY NEEDS DETRIMENTAL TO WOMEN'S CAREERS? , Gino Howard

EARLY-LIFE METHYLPHENIDATE DECREASES SOCIAL ANXIETY IN ADULT FEMALE RATS WITHOUT CENTRAL DOPAMINE DEFICIENCY , Graham James Kaplan

The Impact of Sexual Assault Training and Gender on Rape Attitudes , Monica Krolnik Campos

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REPRESENTATION AND STRESS FOR WOMEN OF COLOR IN THE WORKPLACE , Aurora Luksetich

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY ON PERFORMANCE IN THE EMOTIONAL STROOP TASK , Gia Macias

THE ROLE OF SELF-COMPASSION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORAL INJURY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG MILITARY VETERANS , Mernyll Manalo

Development of the Mate Expulsion Inventory , Nestor Maria

Sexual Harassment, Justice Perceptions, and Social Identity: Cognition and Group Dynamics , Devon Marrott

THE ROLE OF SEXUAL SELF-SCHEMA AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION AND SEXUAL FUNCTIONING AND SATISFACTION , Alexandra Medina

Page 1 of 9

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Writing Research Papers

• Research Paper Structure

Whether you are writing a B.S. Degree Research Paper or completing a research report for a Psychology course, it is highly likely that you will need to organize your research paper in accordance with American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines.  Here we discuss the structure of research papers according to APA style.

Major Sections of a Research Paper in APA Style

A complete research paper in APA style that is reporting on experimental research will typically contain a Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References sections. 1  Many will also contain Figures and Tables and some will have an Appendix or Appendices.  These sections are detailed as follows (for a more in-depth guide, please refer to " How to Write a Research Paper in APA Style ”, a comprehensive guide developed by Prof. Emma Geller). 2

What is this paper called and who wrote it? – the first page of the paper; this includes the name of the paper, a “running head”, authors, and institutional affiliation of the authors.  The institutional affiliation is usually listed in an Author Note that is placed towards the bottom of the title page.  In some cases, the Author Note also contains an acknowledgment of any funding support and of any individuals that assisted with the research project.

One-paragraph summary of the entire study – typically no more than 250 words in length (and in many cases it is well shorter than that), the Abstract provides an overview of the study.

Introduction

What is the topic and why is it worth studying? – the first major section of text in the paper, the Introduction commonly describes the topic under investigation, summarizes or discusses relevant prior research (for related details, please see the Writing Literature Reviews section of this website), identifies unresolved issues that the current research will address, and provides an overview of the research that is to be described in greater detail in the sections to follow.

What did you do? – a section which details how the research was performed.  It typically features a description of the participants/subjects that were involved, the study design, the materials that were used, and the study procedure.  If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate Methods section.  A rule of thumb is that the Methods section should be sufficiently detailed for another researcher to duplicate your research.

What did you find? – a section which describes the data that was collected and the results of any statistical tests that were performed.  It may also be prefaced by a description of the analysis procedure that was used. If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate Results section.

What is the significance of your results? – the final major section of text in the paper.  The Discussion commonly features a summary of the results that were obtained in the study, describes how those results address the topic under investigation and/or the issues that the research was designed to address, and may expand upon the implications of those findings.  Limitations and directions for future research are also commonly addressed.

List of articles and any books cited – an alphabetized list of the sources that are cited in the paper (by last name of the first author of each source).  Each reference should follow specific APA guidelines regarding author names, dates, article titles, journal titles, journal volume numbers, page numbers, book publishers, publisher locations, websites, and so on (for more information, please see the Citing References in APA Style page of this website).

Tables and Figures

Graphs and data (optional in some cases) – depending on the type of research being performed, there may be Tables and/or Figures (however, in some cases, there may be neither).  In APA style, each Table and each Figure is placed on a separate page and all Tables and Figures are included after the References.   Tables are included first, followed by Figures.   However, for some journals and undergraduate research papers (such as the B.S. Research Paper or Honors Thesis), Tables and Figures may be embedded in the text (depending on the instructor’s or editor’s policies; for more details, see "Deviations from APA Style" below).

Supplementary information (optional) – in some cases, additional information that is not critical to understanding the research paper, such as a list of experiment stimuli, details of a secondary analysis, or programming code, is provided.  This is often placed in an Appendix.

Variations of Research Papers in APA Style

Although the major sections described above are common to most research papers written in APA style, there are variations on that pattern.  These variations include: 

• Literature reviews – when a paper is reviewing prior published research and not presenting new empirical research itself (such as in a review article, and particularly a qualitative review), then the authors may forgo any Methods and Results sections. Instead, there is a different structure such as an Introduction section followed by sections for each of the different aspects of the body of research being reviewed, and then perhaps a Discussion section. 
• Multi-experiment papers – when there are multiple experiments, it is common to follow the Introduction with an Experiment 1 section, itself containing Methods, Results, and Discussion subsections. Then there is an Experiment 2 section with a similar structure, an Experiment 3 section with a similar structure, and so on until all experiments are covered.  Towards the end of the paper there is a General Discussion section followed by References.  Additionally, in multi-experiment papers, it is common for the Results and Discussion subsections for individual experiments to be combined into single “Results and Discussion” sections.

Departures from APA Style

In some cases, official APA style might not be followed (however, be sure to check with your editor, instructor, or other sources before deviating from standards of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association).  Such deviations may include:

• Placement of Tables and Figures  – in some cases, to make reading through the paper easier, Tables and/or Figures are embedded in the text (for example, having a bar graph placed in the relevant Results section). The embedding of Tables and/or Figures in the text is one of the most common deviations from APA style (and is commonly allowed in B.S. Degree Research Papers and Honors Theses; however you should check with your instructor, supervisor, or editor first). 
• Incomplete research – sometimes a B.S. Degree Research Paper in this department is written about research that is currently being planned or is in progress. In those circumstances, sometimes only an Introduction and Methods section, followed by References, is included (that is, in cases where the research itself has not formally begun).  In other cases, preliminary results are presented and noted as such in the Results section (such as in cases where the study is underway but not complete), and the Discussion section includes caveats about the in-progress nature of the research.  Again, you should check with your instructor, supervisor, or editor first.
• Class assignments – in some classes in this department, an assignment must be written in APA style but is not exactly a traditional research paper (for instance, a student asked to write about an article that they read, and to write that report in APA style). In that case, the structure of the paper might approximate the typical sections of a research paper in APA style, but not entirely.  You should check with your instructor for further guidelines.

Workshops and Downloadable Resources

• For in-person discussion of the process of writing research papers, please consider attending this department’s “Writing Research Papers” workshop (for dates and times, please check the undergraduate workshops calendar).

Downloadable Resources

• How to Write APA Style Research Papers (a comprehensive guide) [ PDF ]
• Tips for Writing APA Style Research Papers (a brief summary) [ PDF ]
• Example APA Style Research Paper (for B.S. Degree – empirical research) [ PDF ]
• Example APA Style Research Paper (for B.S. Degree – literature review) [ PDF ]

Further Resources

How-To Videos     

• Writing Research Paper Videos

APA Journal Article Reporting Guidelines

• Appelbaum, M., Cooper, H., Kline, R. B., Mayo-Wilson, E., Nezu, A. M., & Rao, S. M. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for quantitative research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report . American Psychologist , 73 (1), 3.
• Levitt, H. M., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J. W., Frost, D. M., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for qualitative primary, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report . American Psychologist , 73 (1), 26.  

External Resources

• Formatting APA Style Papers in Microsoft Word
• How to Write an APA Style Research Paper from Hamilton University
• WikiHow Guide to Writing APA Research Papers
• Sample APA Formatted Paper with Comments
• Sample APA Formatted Paper
• Tips for Writing a Paper in APA Style

1 VandenBos, G. R. (Ed). (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) (pp. 41-60).  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

2 geller, e. (2018).  how to write an apa-style research report . [instructional materials]. , prepared by s. c. pan for ucsd psychology.

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• Formatting Research Papers
• Using Databases and Finding References
• What Types of References Are Appropriate?
• Evaluating References and Taking Notes
• Citing References
• Writing a Literature Review
• Writing Process and Revising
• Improving Scientific Writing
• Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism
• Writing Research Papers Videos

Research Topics & Ideas: Psychology

100+ Psychology Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Research

If you’re starting out on the dissertation or thesis journey for your psychology degree, the very first challenge you’ll face is finding a solid research topic . In this post, we’ll help get the topic ideation process started by providing a meaty list of research ideas, spanning a range of psychology sub-disciplines. We’ll also look at some examples from actual theses and dissertations to give you an idea of what these look like in the real world.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps (which we’ll explain a little later). Therefore, it’s important to recognise that this post is only the first step in finding a high-quality psychology-centred research topic. To develop a research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this all sounds a bit intimidating, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course , which covers the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from A-Z. You can also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, have a look at our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Psychology-Related Topics

• How to find a research topic (video)
• Behavioural psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Educational psychology
• Forensic psychology
• Social psychology
• Sports psychology
• Examples of actual dissertation topics
• Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
• Where to get extra help

How To Find A Research Topic

In the video below, we explain how to find suitable research ideas (in psychology or any field), and how to then refine those into well-articulated potential topics for your dissertation or thesis. We also discuss a few important evaluation criteria to help you make the right choice for your project.

Below you’ll find a list of research ideas to get your thinking started. Please note that these research topic ideas are intentionally broad and generic, so you will need to refine them a fair deal using the techniques we discussed in the video above.

We’ve grouped the topic ideas based on a few popular areas of psychology to make it a little easier for you to find something in your particular field of interest. That said, there is naturally some overlap between topics, so keep this in mind.

Research Ideas: Behavioural Psychology

• Cultural variation in behaviour and mental health of adolescents during a disaster: a case study
• The impact of parental drug use and risky behaviour on early child development
• The effects of video game violence on aggressive behaviour among teenage boys in school
• The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and adult risk-seeking behaviour
• The impact of physical exercise on anxiety and health-harming behaviour
• The relationship between personality traits and addiction behaviour
• The effects of reinforcement schedules on decision-making and associative learning
• The effects of daily mindfulness practice on stress and anxiety in middle-aged women
• The use of behavioural interventions in the treatment of eating disorders in poorer communities
• Understanding implicit cognitive processes involved in the over-consumption of fast food
• The use of cognitive behavioural therapy for alcohol addiction treatment
• The impact of extensive technology use in children on long-term attention and focus
• The impact of social media on self-destructive behaviour and poor mental health outcomes
• Exploring the role of sleep and sleep deprivation on healthy behaviours

Research Ideas: Clinical Psychology

• The use of mindfulness-based approaches in the treatment of anxiety disorders among college students
• The use of technology in the delivery of psychological services in war-torn countries
• The effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder
• The use of virtual reality technology in the treatment of phobias and PTSD among war veterans
• The role of childhood adversity on adult mental health in immigrant populations in the USA
• The role of genetics and epigenetics in the development of bipolar disorder in Pakistani women: an integrative review
• The effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of social anxiety among hikikomori in Japan
• The perception of healthcare workers and patients on the use of teletherapy for the delivery of psychological services
• The impact of social support on mental health outcomes among single parents.
• The effectiveness of integrative therapeutic approaches in the treatment of schizophrenia
• The effectiveness of trauma-focused therapies on post-traumatic growth in domestic abuse survivors
• The role and use of cognitive-behavioural therapy for depression among first-generation students
• The effectiveness of family therapy in addressing childhood trauma and depression
• The impact of cultural mistrust on the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues in culturally-diverse populations
• The effectiveness of group therapy on post-traumatic stress symptoms among survivors of sexual assault

Research Ideas: Cognitive Psychology

• The impact of lifelong aerobic exercise on cognitive function in old age
• The effects of evening screen use on cognitive development in preschool children
• The impact of sleep deprivation on decision-making among graduate students
• The use of neuroimaging to understand the neural basis of memory retrieval
• The effect of conservative religious homes on social functioning in LGBT+ adolescents
• The role of positive emotions in working memory among high school learners
• The neural basis of decision-making and problem-solving during undergraduate statistic assessments
• The neural basis of language processing among adults learning English as a second language
• The role of technological tools in improving working memory in older adults
• The role of attention in emotional face processing among adult males
• The impact of depression on cognitive function during ageing The impact of daily meditation and mindfulness practice on cognitive function
• The relationship between increased protein intake and improved cognitive function
• The effects of stress on cognitive function among final-year learners

Research Ideas: Developmental Psychology

• The impact of maternal affection on cognitive, social, and emotional development
• The effects of parenting styles on children’s executive function
• The impact of late-night screen use on child development
• The role of digital play on child development outcomes
• Exploring the impact of poverty on early child development in Brazil
• The trauma-informed care as moderating the impact of trauma on child development
• Evaluating the relationship between peer relationship quality and child social development
• The impact of child-targeted media and advertising on child behavioural development
• The role of parental attachment in child resilience
• The moderating impact of culture on bullying and child social development
• The impact of single-parenting on child development in India
• The impact of early educational interventions on child socio-emotional development
• The impact of digital technology use on adolescent development and mental health
• The impact of socioeconomic status on child executive function
• The role of genetics and epigenetics on child neurodevelopmental outcomes linked to depression

Need a helping hand?

Research Ideas: Educational Psychology

• The relationship between self-regulated learning and academic performance in asynchronous versus synchronous learning environments
• Exploring effective parental involvement strategies and their impact on student achievement
• The role of intrinsic motivation in formative assessment in the classroom
• The impact of classroom management and practice on student learning and behaviour
• University students’ preference regarding online learning environments
• The effects of gentrification on student achievement in traditionally poor neighbourhoods
• The impact of teacher expectations and academic self-concept on K12 student mathematics performance
• The use and effectiveness of game-based learning in a high school biology classroom
• The impact of prejudice on the relationship between student motivation and academic performance among Black university students
• The impact of culture on second language English student learning preferences
• The effects of student self-efficacy and engagement on academic performance in secondary school mathematics
• The role of metacognition in learning musicality in hip hop
• The role of small group instruction on teacher efficacy and stress in early childhood education
• The perception and use of multimedia among high school biology teachers in France
• The use of augmented reality applications and its impact on student learning, motivation and attitude

Research Ideas: Forensic Psychology

• The impact of trauma on the psychological functioning of police officers and first responders
• Understanding cultural considerations during forensic psychological assessment and treatment of trauma
• Ethical considerations of the use of AI in forensic psychology in the legal system
• The psychological factors related to recidivism among white collar female offenders in the USA
• The psychological factors related to false confessions among juveniles
• Understanding the use of psychological assessment in the evaluation of eyewitness testimony in criminal courts in England
• The impact of trauma on the reflective functioning of adult female sexual assault victims
• The use and effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing recidivism among non-violent criminals
• The impact of domestic violence on the mental health and forensic evaluation of men
• Exploring the ethical considerations and use of behavioural analysis in the study of criminal behaviour
• The use and limitations of neuropsychological assessment in forensic evaluations
• The use of social media forensics in evaluating criminal behaviour in violent crimes
• The racialised use of psychological assessment in the evaluation of competency to stand trial in Canada
• Exploring the use and availability of virtual reality technologies in forensic psychology in Spain
• The impact of motivational interviewing-based interventions among criminalized drug users

Research Ideas: Social Psychology

• The impact of prejudice and discrimination on social behaviour among African immigrants in South Africa
• The impact of social networks on behaviour and well-being among young adult females
• The effects of social identity on non-conformity in University students
• The effects of group dynamics on risk-seeking behaviour in adult men
• The impact of social media on the quality of interpersonal relationships among high school learners
• The impact of parental emotional intelligence on pro-social behaviour in children and adolescents
• The effects of conformity and deviance on social attitudes and behaviour during a global recession
• The effects of Tik Tok on social comparison and self-esteem among teenage girls
• Understanding gendered differences in social influence and algorithms on impulsive decision-making
• The effects of social support on mental health among healthcare workers in the UK
• The effects of gender roles on social behaviour among trans teens
• The impact of perceived power and social status on the behaviour of social media influencers
• The impact of social norms on prosocial behaviour among women
• The effects of community participation on aggression and violence in middle-aged men
• The impact of culture and gender on social behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

Research Ideas: Sports Psychology

• The moderating role of cultural factors on the relationship between mental health and sports performance in team sports
• The role of mindfulness practice in addressing stress and anxiety in young national athletes
• The relationship between team cohesion and performance in cricket teams
• The effect of transformational leadership on female sports teams in Canada
• The effect of positive self-talk on athletic performance and motivation among Olympic athletes
• The use and perception of hypnosis in New Zealand team sports Understanding stress and burnout in University team athletes
• The efficacy of personalised nutrition and diet on athletic performance among sprinters
• Exploring mental preparation techniques and their effect on athletic motivation and resilience among team-sport athletes
• Exploring the perception and understanding of goal-setting characteristics on athletic performance among team coaches
• The effects of motivational feedback on the performance of female gymnasts
• The perception and use of visualization and imagery among coaches as a means to enhance sport performance
• The impact of sports injuries on mental health and recovery in high school athletes
• The moderating role of sleep on mental toughness and sports performance in Olympic athletes
• The use and perception of technology in sports training and performance in little league softball

Psychology-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in psychology, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various psychology degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Effects of a Patient Question Prompt List on Outpatient Palliative Care Appointments (McDarby, 2022)
• The role of affect and exercise goals in physical activity engagement in younger and older adults (Stojanovic, 2022)
• Lay Theories about Whether Emotion Helps or Hinders Reasoning and Well-being (Karnaze, 2022)
• The effects of blast-induced traumatic brain injury on two transgenic models of Alzheimer’s Disease (Gann, 2020)
• Understanding the parental mind: Examining the stability of parental reflective functioning across the birth of a child and associations with maternal mind-mindedness (Pitzen, 2021)
• An investigation of ineffective ally behaviours (Collier, 2019)
• Response Inhibition-Related Beta Power: Distinguishing Cognitively Intact Elders by Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease (Evans, 2021)
• Recognition Memory of Extremely High-Frequency Words (Miller, 2019)
• The Relationship between Dementia Caregiver Burden and Caregiver Communications in a Memory Clinic Setting (Martin, 2021)
• Examination of Maternal Versus Paternal Ratings of Child Pre-Injury Functioning in Predicting Child Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms (Sayer, 2021)
• Electromyography As A Means of Predicting The Rubber Hand Illusion (Teaford, 2021)
• Linking Diversity Climate and Feedback Seeking Through Interpersonal Processes and Race Effects (Flores, 2021)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are far more specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Fast-Track Your Topic Ideation

Still unsure about how to find the right topic for your research project? Check out our private coaching services , where we work with psychology students on a 1:1 basis to help them find the perfect topic.

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10 Comments

Great insight

A very interesting site that offers a variety of options regarding research topics.

You’re most welcome

A good platform to get information

Amazing and interesting options 👌

Very useful but had not any field of research in health psychology

I feel honored going through this lovely stuff put together. Thank you so much

I need counseling psychology research topics

very empowering and insightful presentations. Can I be assisted in crafting a school psychology-related research topic about African context

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Home > School, College, or Department > CLAS > Psychology > Dissertations and Theses

Psychology Dissertations and Theses

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

Faculty Mentors' Influence on Latino/a/x STEM Undergraduates' STEM Identity Development , Sandy Cerda-Lezama

Individual and Structural Contributors to Implicit and Explicit Anti-Muslim Bias in the United States , Aeleah M. Granger

The Wage of Wellness: The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status, Race, and Work Recovery , Emily Julia Ready

It Takes a Village: An Examination of Social Relationships and Mental Health , Em Francis Trubits

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Examining Factors Impacting the Service Needs of Unhoused Women , Holly Brott

Main, Mediated, and Moderated Effects of Participating in an After-School Social and Emotional Learning Program on Young Children's Development of Social-Emotional Skills , Amy L. Cordier

Who Puts the "Support" in Supportive Housing? The Impact of Housing Staff on Resident's Well-Being, and the Potential Moderating Role of Self-Determination , Kenna Estell Dickard

Motivation to Collaborate: A Qualitative Exploration of the Perspectives of Service Providers on an Alternative First Response Program , Desiree' J. DuBoise

Tell Me, Do You Feel It Too? A Meta-analysis of Dyadic Emotional Contagion in the Workplace , Stefanie Fox

Left on "Read" and All Alone: Instigated Cyber Incivility, Shame, and Experienced Ostracism at Work , Alison Lucia Hunt

Exploring Associations between Military Identity and Well-being Outcomes among Post-9/11 Veterans after Separation , James David Lee

Experiences of People with Serious Mental Illness Seeking Services at Community Mental Health Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Emily Leickly

Why So Serious? Using the Belongingness Need Tenet from the Self-Determination Theory to Examine Workplace Humor and Its Outcomes , Katharine Lucille McMahon

Emotion Knowledge, Its Applications, and Their Associations With African American Children's Social Relationships With Teachers and Peers in Kindergarten and First Grade , Brielle Emily Petit

Stress-Reduction from Positive Support: Impacts of Receiving Partner Capitalization Support on Veteran Stress/Work Stress , MaryAnn Dona Samson

Diversity in Recruitment: The Role of Realistic Website Job Previews for Racial and Ethnic Minority Applicants , Jennifer Saucedo

Antecedents of FSSB: Evaluating the Demographic Basis of Support , Erika Ann Schemmel

A Daily Investigation of the Recovery Paradox: Examining the Dynamic Interplay of Workload, Recovery Experiences, and Microbreaks , Morgan Rose Taylor

Not on the Menu: Customer Sexual Harassment in the Restaurant Industry , Fernanda Wolburg Martinez

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Model.Disclose(): Examination of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Disclosure at Work , Timothy Allen Carsey

Transforming Learning Communities, Transforming Ourselves: A Qualitative Investigation of Identity Processes in a Participatory Action Research-themed Undergraduate Course , Julia Sara Dancis

Clarifying and Measuring Inclusive Leadership , Kelly Mason Hamilton

Intersections of Masculinity, Culturally Relevant Factors, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among Asian American Men , Jason Z. Kyler-Yano

Sleeping to Support: An Examination of the Relationship Between Leader Sleep and Positive Support Behaviors , Jordyn Jan Leslie

Work-Related IPV Among Latinos: Exploring the Roles of Fatherhood Status, Gendered Expectations, and Support for Intimate Partner's Employment , Adrian Luis Manriquez

Masculinity Instability and Ideologies as Predictors of IPV Perpetration: The Mediating Role of Relationship Power , Emma Christine Marioles O'Connor

The Benefits of Social Support on Health and Well-Being in Military Populations: Examining Mechanisms, Source of Support, and the Reach of a Workplace Well-Being Intervention , AnnaMarie Sophia O'Neill

Do Motives Matter? The Role of Motivation in Shaping the Impact of Mindfulness Training on Teachers' Psychological Distress and Wellbeing , Cristi N. Pinela

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The Longitudinal Effects of a Family and Sleep Supportive Intervention on Service Member Anger and Resilience , Shalene Joyce Allen

Drug Conviction and Employment Restriction: Experiences of Employees with Drug-Related Criminal Histories , Liana Bernard

Sustaining Boys' Motivation Over the Transition to Middle School: Can Interpersonal Resources Protect Boys from Engagement Declines Across Sixth Grade? , Brandy Anne Brennan

Returning to Rejection: Outcomes and Boundary Conditions of Mental Illness Stereotypes , Stefanie Fox

Guarding Against Strain: The Moderating Role of Nonwork Experiences in the Relationship Between Work-Related Hypervigilance and Strain in Correctional Officers , Samantha Getzen

Anti-Muslim Bias: Investigating Individual Differences, Threat Perceptions, and Emotions in Islamophobic Policy Support , Aeleah M. Granger

Black Children's Development of Self-Regulation within Stressful Contexts of Parenting: Investigating Potential Buffering Effects of a Kindergarten Social-Emotional Learning Program , Eli Labinger

"Like I Was an Actual Researcher": Participation and Identity Trajectories of Underrepresented Minority and First-Generation STEM Students in Research Training Communities of Practice , Jennifer Lynn Lindwall

Claiming Miscommunication to Justify Rape: The Role of Liking the Perpetrator , Alyssa Marie Glace Maryn

An "I" for an "I" : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Instigated and Reciprocal Incivility , Lauren Sarah Park

Parenting and Children's Academic Coping as a Dynamic System: Feedforward, Feedback, and Mediators of Changes Across the School Year , Kristen Elizabeth Raine

Does Experiencing Spousal Support and Strain Impact the Quality of Family-Based Support that Supervisors Provide to Employees? , Joseph Alvin Sherwood

"B-ing Flexible" : Examining Creativity in Bisexual Employees , Megan Jane Snoeyink

Exploring the Relationships Between Community Experiences and Well-Being among Youth Experiencing Homelessness , Katricia Stewart

Mothers' Drinking Motives , Sheila Kathleen Umemoto

An Examination of Nurses' Schedule Characteristics, Recovery from Work, and Well-Being , Sarah Elizabeth Van Dyck

Preventing Sexual Violence Through Understanding Perceptions of Sexual Offenders , Judith G. Zatkin

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Examining Employee Needs at Work and Home: a Self-Determination Theory Perspective , Dana Anuhea Auten

Trajectories, Time Windows, and Alternative Pathways of Engagement: Motivational Resources Underlying Academic Development during Middle School , Heather Anne Brule

Examining Mindfulness Training for Teachers: Theoretical and Methodological Extensions of Intervention Effectiveness , Jaiya Rae Choles

Detecting Reinforcement Patterns in the Stream of Naturalistic Observations of Social Interactions , James Lamar DeLaney 3rd

An Investigation of the Temporal Relationship Between Agitation and Sleep Disturbances , Emily Catherine Denning

Peers' Academic Coping as a Resource for Academic Engagement and Motivational Resilience in the First Year of Middle School , Daniel Lee Grimes

Home Resources Supporting Workplace Resources: an Investigation of Moderated Intervention Effects From the Study for Employment Retention of Veterans (SERVe) , Sarah Nielsen Haverly

"It Puts a Face to All the Knowledge We've Gotten" : a Program of Research on Intimate Partner Violence Surrogate Impact Panels , Kate Louise Sackett Kerrigan

A Daily Examination of Anger and Alcohol Use Among Post-9/11 Veterans , James David Lee

An Examination of Daily Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors, Perceived Supervisor Responsiveness and Job Satisfaction , Luke Daniel Mahoney

Nurse Can't Even: the Immediate Impact of Incivility on Affect, Well-being, and Behavior , Katharine Lucille McMahon

Perceptions of Police Use of Force at the Intersection of Race and Pregnancy , Emma Elizabeth Lee Money

The Impact of Paternal Caregivers for Youth Who Commit Sexual Offenses , Miranda Hope Sitney

Human Energy in the Workplace: an Investigation of Daily Energy Management Strategies, Job Stressors and Employee Outcomes , Morgan Rose Taylor

Individual and Community Supports that Impact Community Inclusion and Recovery for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses , Rachel Elizabeth Terry

Investigating Sexual Fantasy and Sexual Behavior in Adolescent Offenders , Hayley Lauren Tews

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Integrating Work Ability into the Organizational Science Literature: Advancing Theory and Developing the Nomological Network , Grant Brady

Family Linked Workplace Resources and Contextual Factors as Important Predictors of Job and Individual Well-being for Employees and Families , Jacquelyn Marie Brady

The Role of Teacher Autonomy Support Across the Transition to Middle School: its Components, Reach, and Developmental Effects , Julia Sara Dancis

Does X Mark the Applicant? Assessing Reactions to Gender Non-Binary Job Seekers , Kelly Mason Hamilton

Urbanicity as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Stigma and Well-being Outcomes for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses , Emily Leickly

The Relationship Between Undergraduate Research Training Programs and Motivational Resources for Underrepresented Minority Students in STEM: Program Participation, Self-efficacy, a Sense of Belonging, and Academic Performance , Jennifer Lindwall

Perceived Partner Responsiveness, Sleep and Pain: a Dyadic Study of Military-Connected Couples , AnnaMarie Sophia O'Neill

Recruitment Marketing: How Do Wellness and Work-Life Benefits Influence Employer Image Perceptions, Organizational Attraction, and Job Pursuit Intentions? , Amy Christine Pytlovany

The Combined Effects of Parent and Teacher Involvement on the Development of Adolescents' Academic Engagement , Nicolette Paige Rickert

Examining the Development and Classroom Dynamics of Student Disaffection Over Multiple Time Periods: Short-term Episodes and Long-term Trajectories , Emily Anne Saxton

Drinking on a Work Night: a Comparison of Day and Person-Level Associations with Workplace Outcomes , Brittnie Renae Shepherd

Development and Validation of the Workplace Mental Illness Stigma Scale (W-MISS) , Nicholas Anthony Smith

Relational Thriving in Context: Examining the Roles of Gratitude, Affectionate Touch, and Positive Affective Variability in Health and Well-Being , Alicia Rochelle Starkey

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse and Juvenile Offending Through Parental Monitoring , Kelly E. Stewart

"To Call or Not to Call?" The Impact of Supervisor Training on Call Center Employee Attitudes and Well-Being , Whitney Elan Schneider Vogel

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

The Impact of Leader Race and Gender on Perceptions of Organizations in Response to Corporate Error , Nicolas Derek Brown

Impacts of Mindfulness Training on Mechanisms Underlying Stress Reduction in Teachers: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial , Jaiya Rae Choles

Student Motivation Profiles as a Diagnostic Tool to Help Teachers Provide Targeted Support , Cailin Tricia Currie

Insufficient Effort Responding on Mturk Surveys: Evidence-Based Quality Control for Organizational Research , Lee Cyr

Affirmative Consent Endorsement and Peer Norms Supporting Sexual Violence Among Vulnerable Students on College Campuses , Alyssa Marie Glace

Gendered Partner-Ideals, Relationship Satisfaction, and Intimate Partner Violence , Sylvia Marie Ferguson Kidder

Organizational Calling and Safety: the Role of Workload and Supervisor Support , Layla Rhiannon Mansfield

Bystander Intervention to Prevent Campus Sexual Violence: the Role of Sense of Community, Peer Norms, and Administrative Responding , Erin Christine McConnell

Benevolent Sexism and Racial Stereotypes: Targets, Functions, and Consequences , Jean Marie McMahon

Perceived Overqualification and Withdrawal Among Seasonal Workers: Would Work Motivation Make a Difference? , Anthony Duy Nguyen

Differential Well-Being in Response to Incivility and Surface Acting among Nurses as a Function of Race , Lauren Sarah Park

Financial Strain and the Work-Home Interface: a Test of the Work-Home Resources Model from the Study for Employment Retention of Veterans (SERVe) , MacKenna Laine Perry

Neighbor Perceptions of Psychiatric Supportive Housing : the Role of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors , Amy Leigh Shearer

The Role of Caregiver Disruption in the Development of Juvenile Sexual Offenders , Miranda Sitney

Intrapersonal and Social-Contextual Factors Related to Psychological Well-being among Youth Experiencing Homelessness , Katricia Stewart

Age-based Differences in the Usefulness of Resources: a Multi-Study Investigation of Work and Well-being Outcomes , Lale Muazzez Yaldiz

Pathways to Kindergarten Growth: Synthesizing Theories of the Kindergarten Transition to Support Children's Development , Rita Yelverton

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

The Force of Manhood: the Consequences of Masculinity Threat on Police Officer Use of Force , Aurelia Terese Alston

Supervisor Mindfulness and Its Association with Leader-Member Exchange , Dana Anuhea Auten

Combat Experiences, Iso-strain, and Sleep Quality Affect Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress among Working Post-9/11 Veterans , Gilbert Patrick Brady Jr.

A Study of Shame-proneness, Drinking Behaviors, and Workplace Role Ambiguity Among a Sample of Student Workers , Sarah Nielsen Haverly

Intraminority Support For and Participation In Race-Based Collective Action Movements: an Intersectional Perspective , Jaboa Shawntaé Lake

Patients and Nurses and Doctors Oh My!: Nurse Retention from a Multi-Foci Aggression Perspective , Kevin Oliver Novak

Intimate Partner Violence Impact Panels for Batterer Intervention: a Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Restorative Justice Process , Kate Louise Sackett

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Love research? Interested in taking what you learned in a PSYCH 4998 lab further? Consider completing a undergraduate thesis in psychology!

To Graduate “With Research Distinction in Psychology” a Student Must:  

• Be a psychology major (if you are an honors student, see "Honors Research Distinction in Psychology" below
• Graduate with at least a 3.0 overall GPA
• Take PSYCH 4999.01 and 4999.02 (Both of these course are  only  offered in Spring semester)
• Write and successfully defend a Psychology Thesis

The Thesis is independent research conducted by the student and supervised by a psychology faculty member. The Psychology Department requires completion of a two-course sequence (PSYCH 4999.01 and 4999.02). Each course is taught in subsequent spring semesters. For example, students on a traditional four-year plan would take Psychology 4999.01 in spring semester of their junior year and PSYCH 4999.02 in spring semester of their senior year. However, with support of the Faculty Thesis Advisor, a students may begin a Thesis and Psychology 4999.01 in spring of their sophomore year.

To Graduate “With Honors Research Distinction in Psychology” a Student Must:  

• Be a psychology major
• Be a member of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program
• Graduate with at least a 3.4 overall GPA
• Complete the psychology major Honors Contract Requirements
• Take PSYCH 4999.01H and 4999.02H (Both of these courses are  only  offered in Spring semester)
• Write and successfully defend a Psychology Honors Thesis

The Honors Thesis is independent research conducted by the student and supervised by a psychology faculty member (only tenured or tenure-track faculty may advise an Honors Thesis). The Psychology Department requires completion of a two-course sequence (PSYCH 4999.01H and 4999.02H). Each course is taught in subsequent spring semesters. For example, a student on a traditional four-year plan would take PSYCH 4999.01H in spring semester of their junior year and PSYCH 4999.02H in spring semester of their senior year. However, with support of the Faculty Honors Thesis Advisor, a student may begin an Honors Thesis and Psychology 4999.01H in spring of their sophomore year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Talk to your psychology advisor, attend our annual Psychology Enrichment Program “Getting Involved in Research in the Psychology Department,” attend the annual Psychology Undergraduate Research Colloquium, explore the PSYCH 4998 opportunities, or talk to your fellow students who are in research labs.

Students interested in pursuing a Thesis or Honors Thesis should begin participating in research (PSYCH 4998) no later than their sophomore year.

Students should secure a Faculty Thesis Advisor by fall semester of the junior year (typically this will be a faculty member with whom you completed 4998 research).

Go to the Be a Research Assistant webpage and find a project that sparks your interest. Check out the lab websites and start applying. It is recommended to apply to 5-7 labs. Once accepted, you can negotiate your hours and responsibilities (this will determine the number of credit hours you receive), have the faculty member sign a course enrollment form (s/he will have the class number), take the course enrollment form to the Psychology Advising Office (PS 015) or email it to [email protected] .

To enroll in PSYCH 4999.01 or 4999.01H, students should complete the Psychology Thesis/Honors Thesis Application. The application requires the signature of the Faculty Thesis Advisor. Once this is turned in to [email protected], students will be enrolled in PSYCH 4999.01 or 4999.01H.

For non-Honors students:

You must submit a Thesis Application with the  College of Arts and Sciences  (under Research Distinction) at least one term before your graduating term. You will need to submit a research proposal and your Faculty Thesis Advisor’s signature on the application form. You will need to schedule an appointment with your Psychology Advisor to complete the Major Program Form on the application.

For Honors students:

The application to graduate with Honors Research Distinction is available from the  Arts and Sciences Honors Office . You will need to submit a research proposal and your Faculty Thesis Advisor’s signature on the application form. If you do not have an approved Honors Contract on file at the Honors Office, you will need to call (614) 292-5750 to schedule an appointment with the Psychology Honors Advisor to complete the Major Program Form of the application (you will have to complete the psychology major contract requirements).

After you have successfully completed your written Thesis document, you will have an hour-long meeting with your Faculty Thesis Advisor and one other faculty member. You will describe your Thesis project to them, and they will ask you questions about your work. You must defend your Thesis at least two weeks before the end of the term you graduate.

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What do thesis projects involve.

• Online Library Access
• Start Finding Sources
• Search PsycINFO/PsycARTICLES
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• Find/Browse ebooks
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• Your Thesis Proposal
• Identify Research Gaps
• Develop A Hypothesis
• Identify/Justify Methods & Populations
• Identify/Justify/Find Tests
• Read & Analyze Your Articles
• Select Your Sources
• Use Your Sources
• Avoid Plagiarism
• Write & Cite in APA (7th ed.)
• Manage Your Sources & Citations
• Apply for Research Funding
• Publish Your Research
• Graduate Students
• Browse Master's Theses
• Browse Honors Theses
• Browse Journals
• Use Interlibrary Loan This link opens in a new window

Nadine Anderson, Behavioral Sciences and Women's & Gender Studies Librarian

• Introduction to Psychology Master's Thesis Projects at UM-Dearborn
• Library books (print and ebook) on research project design and putting together your thesis
• Library books (print and ebook) on statistics and data analysis/management
• APA 6-Step Guide to starting, researching, writing, and defending your thesis

Master's Thesis Projects at UM-Dearborn

1. Students may elect to complete a Masters Thesis during the second year of the program. Students selecting this option will take 3 credits in an approved elective course and 6 thesis credits. Contact the program director, Dr. Michelle Leonard , for more information.

2.  Browse Master's Theses   or Honors Theses   to see what approved theses look like.

• Your thesis will also be uploaded to Deep Blue , UofM's institutional repository (searchable through Google Scholar).
• You will need to register for an ORCID ID , a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. 

3.  Institutional Research Board (IRB) Application

• You cannot collect data or run analyses without Institutional Research Board (IRB) approval for any planned research involving human subjects. 
• Go to  the eResearch Regulatory Management Human Subjects application page  and click on the  Human Subjects Study Application button in the upper left margin to start a new application.
• Go to the Human Subjects Research page  for more information about conducting human subjects research and the IRB application process
• Go to the PEERS Human Subjects module , required training for anyone doing human subject research
• Use the IRB Application Checklist and the Instructional and Step-by-Step Guides for IRB Applications to help you put together your IRB application

For questions regarding IRB application requirements (e.g., policy, procedure, science), contact IRB Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Phone: (734) 936-0933  Fax: (734) 936-1852   [email protected]

4. To graduate after successfully defending your Master's thesis:

The Graduate Studies Office requires you to have your thesis submitted to  Deep Blue (the University of Michigan's institutional repository) in order to release your final grade. You and your advisor can choose from either of the following process options below to have your thesis submitted to Deep Blue

The deadlines for submission for either option  are:

• Fall 2023: December 4, 2023
• Winter 2024: April 14, 2024

Option 1: Submit your Master's Thesis for a format check before you have it submitted to Deep Blue

• Your thesis needs to be finalized and approved by your Thesis Chair before you submit it for a format check
• Use the  Master's Thesis Formatting Checklist  below to make sure that your thesis meets the Graduate Studies Office formatting requirements for Masters theses. 
• Library staff will check your thesis once using the  Master's Thesis Formatting Checklist  (see below) against the Graduate Studies Office formatting requirements for Masters theses.
• Library staff will send you an email that includes the formatting revisions needed as well as a link to the Deep Blue Submission form 
• You will also add information about your thesis needed for Deep Blue submission
• You will then submit your Master's Thesis as a pdf file with embedded fonts for Deep Blue

Option 2: Waive a format check and just submit your thesis to Deep Blue

• Fill out the Thesis/Dissertation Waiver Statement  and have your committee chair sign it
• This statement must be  signed by your committee chair before you submit it
• Library staff will send you an email that includes the link to the Deep Blue Submission form 

To help you format your Word document correctly , use:

• UM's online  Microsoft Word for Dissertations (and Theses) guide : look for the Scholar Space Word Template for Dissertation (and thesis) , which has many of the formatting guidelines built in.
• Word for Windows Training Page  or Word for Mac Help Page
• Master's Thesis Formatting Checklist

Research Project Design & Writing

Hover over the info "i" icon for the book's description

Print Books

• Click on the book title link for info on the book's Call Number and library availability. 
• If you need help finding a book on the library's shelves, feel free to ask for help at the Library Info Desk
• Click on the title link to open the ebook (click on Access web version on the landing page)
• Go to Online Library Access for instructions on how to access library ebooks and what to do when you can't

Statistics and Data Analysis/Management

• e-Source: Behavioral and Social Sciences Research by NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) e-Source is a free website offered by NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) with 20 interactive chapters on cutting-edge social and behavioral science research methods, including social survey data collection, qualitative methods, clinical trials and measuring socioeconomic status. The chapters give an overview of new research methods as well as updates of existing methods.

APA 6-step guide to starting, researching, writing and defending your thesis

1.  Starting the dissertation :  Experts offer tips on picking a topic, conducting a lit review, identifying your problem and questions, and staying on track

2.  Choose your research methods wisely : Experts offer tips on balancing ambition and realism in your research design

3. Ready, set, collect!   Experts offer tips on making your thesis proposal defense, IRB approval, participant recruitment, and data collection go smoothly 

4. Writing up your results : Experts offer tips on analyzing your data, formatting and design the presentation of your results, and staying focused

5.  Discussing your findings :  Experts offer tips on writing your discussion section, including putting your research into context, striking a balance between telling the story of why people should care about your research without overstating your conclusions, and common discussion mistakes 

6. Publishing your dissertation : Experts offer tips on editing your dissertation to make it publishable in a scholarly journal

• << Previous: Your Thesis Proposal
• Next: Identify Research Gaps >>
• Last Updated: Mar 10, 2024 2:54 PM
• URL: https://guides.umd.umich.edu/psychology

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Biopsychology, Cognition, & Neuroscience

Mohammad Shayaan Aqil - Sleep and self-regulation: A longitudinal analysis across adolescence. (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Sally Berson - The associations between systemic inflammation, white matter volume, and global cognition in an older adult population. (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Michelle Busschots - Unequal distribution of baby care and gratitude to one’s partner. (Mentor: Robin Edelstein)

Caroline Candy - The developmental timing of material hardship and its association with ADHD symptom severity in adolescence. (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Allison Choe - Executive functioning and treatment regimen adherence among adolescents with type 1 diabetes. (Mentors: Alison Miller & Christopher Monk)

Claire Fanning - The pediatric behavioral health nursing consultation service: Improving care delivery for youth experiencing mental health concerns and their families in a children’s hospital. (Mentors: Nasuh Malas & Daniel Keating)

Kathleen Good - Learning from the truth campaign: Can we tackle big food as we did big tobacco? (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Briana Hay – Barriers to mental health treatment seeking in older adults. (Mentor: Hans Schroder)

Michael Hicks - Investigating internal and external distraction in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (Mentors: John Jonides & Han Zhang)

Jada Houston - Endorsement of the superwoman schema moderation effects on gendered microaggression appraisal and response. (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Ajay Keerthy -Sound source tracking by auditory cortical neurons. (Mentor: Gideon Rothschild)

Mack Kroll - Aversion to sucrose: Optogenetic inhibition of GABAergic neurons within the ventral pallidum. (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Abhishek Menon - Enhancing motivation: Role of ventral pallidum GABA neurons in ‘liking’ and ‘wanting’ rewards. (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Charlotte Moss - An examination of associative memory using functional near infrared spectroscopy.(Mentors: Benjamin Hampstead & Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Jennifer Murray - Defining multi-dimensional associations in fear conditioning: Implications for abnormal fear responses. (Mentor: Natalie Tronson)

Julia Plawker - Associations between youth exposure to community violence and brain structure. (Mentor: Luke Hyde)

Arun Rajarajan - Effects of valence and anxiety on value-directed learning. (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Madeline Sage - Relationships between anxiety and brain activation during extinction recall. (Mentor: Elizabeth Duval)

Gretchen Stemmler - Dissociating 'liking' and 'wanting' within the ventral pallidum: An optogenetic study. (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Sebastian Suqi - Consuming psychedelic substances: Motivation and perceived effectiveness. (Mentor: Kai Cortina)

Lucas Tittle - The role of nucleus accumbens shell corticotropin-releasing-factor in incentive motivation. (Mentor: Kent Berridge).

Sofia Urban - Cues and contexts: Measuring reactivity and memory in patients with fibromyalgia. (Mentor: Elizabeth Duval)

Augustine Vanlianuk - Fast changes during the retention intervals improve older adults' working memory. (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Adithi Voleti - Neuroanatomical characterization of corticotropin releasing factor projections from central amygdala to the ventral tegmental area. (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Jingqi Zhu - Early-life educational quality and brain health in diverse older adults. (Mentors: Laura Zahodne & Ji Hyun Lee)

Psychology 

James Baybas - How do we read complex words? A lexical morphology priming study. (Mentor: Iouila Kovelman)

Rachel Beiter - The effort heuristic and scientific reasoning. (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Abigail Binder - Parental attitudes about children’s gender nonconforming books. (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Shelly Schreier)

Callie Cade - How close personal relationships negatively impact witness ability to recognize subtle gender bias. (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Kamryn Casey - Individualized intergenerational connections reduce isolation amongst college students and older adults. (Mentor: Jacqui Smith)

Sherry Chen - Atypical beta power fluctuation while listening to an isochronous sequence in stuttering. (Mentors: Ioulia Kovelman & Soo-Eun Chang)

Nikita Daniel - “I am not sure what else I could do to help her more”:  Perceptions of partner support and relationship satisfaction in older couples living with multiple chronic conditions. (Mentors: Courtney Polenick & Robin Edelstein)

Francesca De Geronimo - The relationship  between internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and prospective selfon adolescent alcohol and marijuana use occasions. (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Sarah Stoddard)

Marissa DeLeon - The effect of witnessing and labeling gender bias on performance and behavior for men and women in STEM. (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

JiaChen He - Are causal diagrams more beneficial for people with lower working memory capacity? (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Gautham Jayaraj - The COVID-19 college student mental health study: Three-year observational study using the Roadmap app and Fitbit wearable sensors. (Mentors: Sung Won Choi & Martin Sarter)

Carolyn Ji - Mental health help-seeking intentions & coping strategies of Chinese international students in the United States. (Mentor: Donna Nagata)

Grace Jung - Childhood precursors of hopelessness in late adolescence. (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Swathi Karthik - Modulation of reward behavior after the onset of fear learning. (Mentors: Christian Burgess & Natalie Tronson)

Ashley Ke – Asian Americans coping with discrimination and identity threats: Gender differences. (Mentor: Mari Kira)

Noor Khalaf – Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social anxiety, social behaviors, and loneliness in college students. (Mentor: Dina Gohar)

Sydney Kohrman - Adolescent depression symptomatology and alcohol use: The potential role of self-medication. (Mentor: Daniel Keating)

Barbara Lu - Demographic differences in the five factor borderline inventory short form among racial, sexual, and gender minority undergraduate students. (Mentor: Craig Rodriguez-Seijas)

Emma Morse - I know I'm stressed, but what are you?: Effects of acute stress on empathic accuracy and support transactions between cohabiting couples. (Mentor: Amie Gordon)

Sydney Phlegar - Stress and co-parenting relationships: Using language style matching as an indicator of extra-dyadic stress and team problem-solving. (Mentor: Robin Edelstein)

Michelle Ptak - Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among intern physicians working before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A repeated annual cohort study. (Mentors: Srijan Sen & Karina Pereira-Lima)

Nayiri Sagherian – Impacts on mental health from discrimination and trust in social networks within MENA populations in America. (Mentors: Myles Durkee & Toni Antonucci)

Aviva Satz-Kojis - Explanations for gender differences in preferences for submissive sexual fantasies. (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Manjiang Shen - Worker subjectivity under organizational control in China’s internet industry. (Mentor: Mari Kira)

Ishita Shukla - An experimental study on reducing the orgasm gap in heterosexual partnered sex. (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Nidhi Tigadi - Impacts of bicultural stress and shame on the wellbeing of South Asian college students in the United States. (Mentor: Donna Nagata)

Tyla Tolbert - A collective assessment: How the perception of HBCUs and PWIs relate to psychosocial outcomes of African American attendees. (Mentor: Myles Durkee)

Alicia Wang - I can’t tell if you’re listening: Effect of sleep deprivation on perceived partner responsiveness. (Mentor: Robin Edelstein)

Yijin Wang - Measuring critical thinking through performance assessment tasks and think-aloud protocol among college students. (Mentor: Kai Cortina)

Marley Warren - Criterion and clinician bias against sexual- and gender-minoritized individuals in the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD): Vignette experiment. (Mentor: Craig Rodriguez-Seijas)

Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience

Mikayla Bergwood - Associations between observed parent-child interactions and white matter connectivity in adolescents (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Olivia Varney-Chang – Closer look at ethnic and racial identity: Measuring the frequency of ethnic and racial identity activation and its association with psychosocial adjustment (Mentors: Kai Cortina & Kevin Miller)

Joshua Cohen - Predictors of physical health in school-age children, testing mediating variables (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Hannah Davies – The effect of glucocorticoid receptor knockdown in corticostriatal projections on the propensity to attribute incentive value to reward-cues (Mentor: Shelly Flagel)

Taylor Gordon – The influence of yoga practice and progressive muscle relaxation practice on sleep improvement in school-age children (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Robert Hsu – The influence of altruism and empathy on the endowment effect (Mentor: Stephanie Preston)

Nickolas Interrante - Hurtful reward in the ventral tegmental area and central amygdala (Mentors: Kent Berridge & David Nguyen)

Monica Iyer - Longitudinal associations of infections with dementia: 28-Year analysis of 3.5 million New Zealand citizens (Mentor: Leah Richmond-Rakerd)

Brianna Kenar – The role of educational quality in explaining racial disparities in cognition (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Sarah Klausner - Visual disruptor reveals impaired attentional control in mice with the common choline transporter coding variant (Mentor: Martin Sarter)

Elizabeth Lee – The effect of working memory re-exposure on episodic memory in older adults (Mentor: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Carrie Magee - Instrumental social support, social connectedness, and coping styles in adolescents with interpersonal problems (Mentors: Alejandra Arango & Cheryl King)

Eva McAlister Lopez - How do a bilingual’s two languages interact? Cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness in Spanish-English bilinguals (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Leonard Miller – The relationship between volunteering and mental health outcomes in college students during COVID-19 (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Kendall Mills – Patterns of aggression across despotic and tolerant species of macaque (Mentor: Alexandra Rosati)

Thiany Riddihough - Social connectedness and depression severity as predictors of mental health service use among male college students at risk for suicide (Mentor: Cheryl King)

Rachel Ritter - Are male binge drinkers more impulsive than female binge drinkers? Behavioral and neural sex differences during the go/no-go task (Mentors: Jillian Hardee & Lora Cope)

Julia Salamango – Behavioral flexibility in semi-free-ranging chimpanzees (Mentor: Alex Rosati)

Madison Salvato - Exploring the efficacy of aripiprazole and related compounds to reduce levels of toxic ATXN3 in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (Mentors: Maria do Carmo Pereira da Costa & Omar Ahmed)

Madhulika Shastry - Self-construal and systems of thought (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Jessica Stout - Brain function during face processing associated with depression symptoms in individuals with social anxiety disorder (Mentor: Elizabeth Duval)

Zoe Taswell – Is error-related negativity (ern) associated with externalizing behavior in adolescence? (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Liu Yanni)

Sally Valcarcel - Bilingual reading development & COVID-19 (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Ridge Weston - Plate-based complex implantation: A novel neurosurgical technique developed in rats (Mentors: Brendon Watson & Gideon Rothschild)

Andrea Bavikatty - TikTok, body image, and eating behavior: An analysis of college-age women (Mentor: Rona Carter)

Aissa Cabrales – “We just cried for the families”: The emotional impact of large-scale immigration worksite raids on faith responders (Mentors: William Lopez & Lorraine Gutierrez)

Kathryn Chang - The effect of reducing gender essentialism on prejudice against gender nonconforming children (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Mason Cox – Associationsbetween risky sexual behaviors and the externalizing spectrum of psychopathology among a sample of undergraduate students (Mentor: Craig Rodriguez-Seijas)

Allyson Dobrowalski – What it means to be a “real” native: Restrictive definitions of native identity undermine well-being (Mentors: Stephanie Fryberg & Laura Brady)

Alaina Gregory – Women and the leaky pipeline to stem: Is survivorship bias impacting our understanding of the barriers to women leadership? (Mentors: MS Krishnan & Carol Holden)

Augusta Guo – The influence of self-identification on everyday microaggressions and critical consciousness in Asian individuals in the U.S. (Mentors: Mari Kira & Fiona Lee)

Max Hernand – Understanding relations between treatment failure and mental health outcomes with illness identity (Mentors: Stefanie Russman Block & Hans Schroder)

Rachna Iyer - The effects of anxiety and upliftment on their regulation on creativity (Mentor: Dina Gohar)

Ariella Kushner – To sneeze or not to sneeze: The interpersonal consequences of infectious disease concealment (Mentor: Josh Ackerman)

Ximena Mancilla Delgado - Latine parental documentation status and adolescents’ perceived discrimination (Mentor: Deborah Rivas-Drake)

Caroline Maywood – Children’s expectations and judgements of conformity to ritual activities (Mentors: Felix Warneken & Nicole Wen)

Amy Nowack - Children’s evaluations of intentions regarding violations of novel public-health measures (Mentor: Felix Warneken)

Shi Xin Ooi - Am I good enough? The role of perceived competitive climate students’ sense of belonging across cultures (Mentor: Kai Cortina)

Morgan Palmer - Correlates of cognitive strategy use among socioeconomically diverse older adults (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Madeline Paxson - Is cupid colorblind? Color evasion in interracial romantic relationships (Mentors: Robin Edelstein & Fiona Lee)

Jessica Pelton - Educational experience of children with and without disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic - parental perspectives (Mentor: Kevin Miller)

Talia Rubin - What elements of the kids’ empowerment program promote flow and engagement? (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Nathan Schooner – Assessing the relationship between multiracial adolescents’ friendships and ERI development (Mentor: Deborah Rivas-Drake)

Julia Smith - The impact of discouragement of educational attainment on episodic memory in later-life (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Gabrielle Solowiejczyk - Stress predictors and outcomes in children (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Jessica Steir - Children’s use of race in their understanding of COVID-19 transmission: The role of essentialism in parents’ and children’s explanations (Mentors: Danielle Labotka & Susan Gelman)

Yicong Sun - Comparing the prediction of college adjustment in Asian American and Asian international students: Do acculturative strategies matter? (Mentor: Donna Nagata)

Elise Whitney - Title: Retention-interval context changes increase correct rejections in working memory (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Tara Woodward - A modern settlement house movement: The impact of neighborhood centers on climate resilience (Mentors: Raymond De Young & Myles Durkee)

Warda Yousuf - The grass is not greener on the other side: A qualitative study utilizing psychological frameworks to understand the beliefs, attitudes, and policies that are shaping violence within Rohingya refugee camps (Mentor: Joshua Rabinowitz)

Diane Yu - Looking beyond stigma: Cultural factors associated with mental health help-seeking behavior and attitudes in Asian and Asian American college students (Mentor: Donna Nagata)

Lara Zammit - Biopsychosocial predictors of empathic accuracy in romantic relationships (Mentor: Amie Gordon)

Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience 

Natalie Antenucci - When Freedom is Constraining: Freedom Increases Perceived Constraint for Those Low in Psychological Resources (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Alyssa Asmar - Investigating the Neural and Behavioral Consequences of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (Mentors: Gideon Rothschild & Joonyeup Lee)

Natalie Austin - The Consequences of Positive and Negative Mood on Affective Working Memory (Mentor: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Kendra Beaudoin - Cocaine-Induced CFos Levels are Modulated by G Protein-Coupled Receptor-1 Activation in Male Rats (Mentor: Jill Becker)

Jason Brenner - Payoff Magnitude Affects Value Learning for Win and Loss Associations (Mentor: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Samantha Cerpa - Ready for a Change? Cueing an Upcoming Modality Shift Eliminates Contextual Boundaries for the CSE (Mentor: Daniel Weissman)

Hana Chung - Do Cultural Tendencies Change During COVID-19? A Task Analysis of Implicit Independence (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Manasa Dittakavi - Health Behaviors and Compliance of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) at Risk for COVID-19 (Mentors: Sung Choi & Martin Sarter)

Lynn Freimanis - Does Expressiveness in Facial Action Potentiate Emotional Neural Responses and Subjective Ratings of Emotion? (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Hunter Glew - Perpetrators of the Acting White Accusation (AWA): Contributing Factors and Mental Health Implications  (Mentor: Myles Durkee)

Gabrielle Hooper - The Beneficial Effect of Cognitive and Creative Activity Engagement for Cognitive Functioning in Older Adulthood (Mentors: Laura Zahodne & Neika Sharifian)

Lily Johnston - Government Trust and Perceptions of Public Health Message Credibility (Mentors: Holly White & Priti Shah)

Jacquelin Kwentus - The Therapeutic Mechanisms of Neural Stem Cell Transplantation in Alzheimer’s Disease (Mentors: Lisa McGinley & Thad Polk)

Verity Lee - Behavioral Models of Neural Pleasure Circuitry: Effects of Sex Differences (Mentors: Bo Duan & Ada Eban-Rothschild)

Mengyuan Liu - The Effect of Subliminal Reward Signal on Reinforcement Learning (Mentor: Taraz Lee)

Jaden Mann Bryant - Re-examining the Divergent Aging Trajectories of Cognitive and Affective Working Memory (Mentor: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Preetha Pamidighantam - Rest assured: Can Resting-State Neural Oscillatory Activity in Schizophrenia Explain Impairment in Behavioral Response to Facial Stimuli? (Mentor: Ivy Tso)

Sohini Pandit - Examining the associations between material hardship, internalizing symptoms, and white matter connectivity in adolescents (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Sarah Payne - The Influence of Pathogen Threat on Mate Value Perceptions (Mentor: Joshua Ackerman)

Amanda Peters - Associations Between Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Neural Indices of Executive Functioning (Mentors: Pamela Davis-Kean & Elif Isbell)

Neema Prakash - Testing the Efficacy of Mood Lifters in Different Populations (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Rachael Rich - Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Rule-Breaking Behavior: The Roles of Protective Family Context and Prospective Self (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Aleija Rodriguez - Low Overexpression of Ubiquilin-2 Exacerbates Tau Pathology in vivo (Mentors: Julia Gerson & Laura Zahodne)

Alexandra Simmons - Remote Cognitive Testing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Validation Study of Online, Self-Administered Cognitive Assessment Tools (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Natalie Szlachta - The Regulation of Dscam Expression in Developing Neurons (Mentors: Bing Ye & Natalie Tronson)

Quynh Tran - Flowing into Hyperfocus: Hyperfocus and Cognition in Adults with ADHD (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Sydney Wilhoite - Mechanisms Underlying the Association Between Childhood Adversity and Later-Life Cognition (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Miles Camiener - Interpreting the Same News Differently: Examining Differential Policy Agreement Between Partisan News Sources (Mentor: Joshua Rabinowitz)

Aber John Espinoza - The Potential Benefits of Challenge Mindset for First-Generation College Students’ Wellbeing (Mentors: Stephanie Fryberg & Nadia Jessop)

Ibitayo Fadayomi - When loved ones transgress against us: How close relationships between transgressors and targets influence moral decisions (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Seth Finkelstein - Evaluating Distressing Events for School-age Children (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Nicole Fraija - The Relationship Between Subjective Age and Three Episodic Memory Tests (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Catherine Garton - The Influence of Intellectual Humility and Moral Reasoning on Partisan Polarization (Mentor: Stephanie Preston)

Onyul Haque - Is Trusting Others Obligatory or a Preference? (Mentor: David Dunning)

Anna Hedin-Urrutia - “Invisibility of Lesbian Possibility”: Examining the influence of male partner opinions on the relationship between sapphic body image and sexual agency (Mentor: Lucretia Ward)

Valeria Hernandez - Sexual Guilt or Sexual Conservatism? An Investigation of Mosher’s Sex Guilt Scale (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Deborah Ho - Developing a Data Analysis Pipeline for Novel Bio-Logging Tools (Mentors: Matt Gaidica & Ben Dantzer)

Xiang Ting Ho - Corss-cultural Differences in Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts and Relationship Satisfaction (Mentor: Robin Edelstein)

Yun Gi Hwang - The effects of bilingualism and culture on children’s literacy and academic achievement (Mentor: Loulia Kovelman)

Ava Kaufman - Pleasure after Trauma: The Associations of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Negative Sexual Messages with Adult Sexual Satisfaction (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Sydney Kayne - Like Mother, Like Daughter: Load Sharing During Puberty (Mentor: Rona Carter)

Lucy Loch - Association of current and early life stressors with maladaptive eating behaviors: An investigation of Life Course Theory (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Ellie Maly - The Mental Health of Emerging Adults: Hostile Home Environments and COVID-19 (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Sophie Martel - Learning in a Pandemic: How Parent Child-Conversations Relate to Children’s Understanding of COVID-19 (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Danielle Labotka)

Brianna McManamon - Understanding the Association Between Loneliness and Suicidal Behaviors in Latinas: A Preliminary Examination of Hopelessness and Depressed Mood as Potential Mediators (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Ryan Rich - A Novel EEG Measure of Neural Distinctiveness: Providing Temporal Insights into Neural Distinctiveness (Mentor: Thad Polk)

Abigail Richburg - Body Image in LGBTQ+ Young Adults: Current and Developmental Influences (Mentor: Abigail Stewart)

Jian Sun - Exploring the Psychology of Environmental Senescence through fMRI (Mentor: Stephanie Preston)

Caroline Touzeau - The Role of Generational Cohort and Technology Use in Adults’ Moral Judgments of Digital Tracking (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Nicole Cuneo)

Alexis Vatterott - Emotion Socialization in Early Childhood: Factor Structure and Associations with Emotional Adjustment Between Ages 3 and 19 Years (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Lance Ying - Nation, Culture, and Antecedents of Perceived Organizational Support: A Comparison Study between the United States and China (Mentor: Mari Kira)

Hayley Yu - Trauma: A Risk Factor for Food Addiction? (Mentor:Ashley Gearhardt)

Elizabeth Ahearn - DHEA: Moderating Factor of Psychological and Physiological Responses to Stress (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Jabir Ahmed - Oral Contraceptives and the Vulnerability to Acute Stress-induced Depression and Anxiety (Mentor: Natalie Tronson)

Adrienne-Denise Bilbao - A Preliminary Study on the Relationship Between Sleep, Depression and Cardiovascular Dysfunction in a 4 Sample Population (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Shreya Chandra - Sleep Quality and Executive Function in Diverse Older Adults (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Danielle Destiny - Behavioral State-Dependent Brain Stimulation Improves Manual Dexterity (Mentors: Michael Vesia & Taraz Lee)

Anthony Edgar - Investigating the Effects of Value-driven Attentional Capture on ADHD and Control Participants  (Mentor: John Jonides)

Jordan Gregory - Sex Differences in the Acquisition of Pavlovian Conditioned Approach and Fear Conditioned Behaviors in Rats (Mentors: Jonathan Morrow & Jill Becker)

Brooke Huizenga - Main Lifetime Occupational Demands, Late Life Cognitive Functioning and the Moderating Role of Gender (Mentors: Laura Zahodne & Neika Sharifian)

Joseph Jackowski  - The Manifestation of Meaning: How ‘Generic-You’ Emerges in Military Personnels’ Writing (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Sumrah Jilani - The Role of the Medial Amygdala in Motivation  (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

David Kamper - N400 Latency Effect in Lexical Access - A Meta-analysis (Mentor: Jonathan Brennan)

Sylvia Hyun Jee Kim - Cognitive Costs of Active Facebook Use (Mentor: Oscar Ybarra)

Anna  Kittendorf - Effects of Urbanization on the Behavior of Fox Squirrels (Sciurus niger) (Mentor: Ben Dantzer)

Sydney Kornbleuth - Impacts of Acculturative Stress and Substance Use on the Mental Health of University of Michigan Students (Mentor: Myles Durkee)

Zarin Kothari - Longitudinal Study of ERN and CRN in Children: Kindergarten to First Grade (Mentors: William Gehring & Elif Isbell)

Kyra Lipman - Understanding the Family Member Experience in the ICU: Expectations vs. Reality (Mentors: Thomas Valley & Elizabeth Duval)

Hilary Lowitz - Do Young Children Demonstrate a “Reverse” Endowment Effect? Tracking Ownership and Object Preference in Owned Toys Versus Peers’ Toys (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Lindsey Meister - Autobiographical Memory in Older Adults: Self-Relevance and the Reminiscence Bump (Mentor: Jacqui Smith)

Charmi Patel - Comparing Cortical Excitation and Cortical Inhibition in the Orbitofrontal Cortex hotspot (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Sara Pisanelli - Functional Connectivity Between Ventral Striatum and Dorsal Premotor Cortex Is Predictive of Reward-Related Enhancement of Motor Skills (Mentor: Taraz Lee)

Emmanuel Saint-Phard - Evaluating an Academic Success Program’s Effectiveness in Promoting Sense of Belonging, Sense of Capability, and Academic Outcomes among Black Students (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Sarah Samsundar - Age, Gender Roles, and their Association with Mental Health (Mentors: Noah Webster & Toni Antonucci)

Tayah Schuett e - Investigating Corticotropin Releasing Factor Neuronal Circuitry in Positive and Negative Reward Motivation (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Kayla Smith - Spatial Navigation Performance Associated with PTSD and Trauma Type (Mentor: Elizabeth Duval)

Zoe Solomon - Examining the Relation Between Big Five Personality and Social Media Use Across Platforms and Populations (Mentor: Adriene Beltz)

Joshua Svinarich - Mapping the Anterior Cingulate Cortex for a Hedonic Hotspot. Effects of Optogenetic Stimulation on ‘Liking’ and ‘Wanting’ in Rats. (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Amanda Szczesniak - The Influence of Marital Commitment on Mate Guarding (Mentor: Stephanie Preston)

Jean Tyan - Revealing the Roles of Sleep-Preparatory Behaviors in Sleep Physiology (Mentor: Ada Eban-Rothschild)

Giselle Uwera - Examining Health Behavior Constructs in the Context of Low Food Accessibility (Mentor: Allison Earl)

Devin Ablow - Loneliness and Negative Affective Conditions in Polish College Students: Clarifying If and How Feeling Socially Isolated is Associated with Expecting the Worst, Not Expecting the Best, or Both?  (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Laura Brasseur - Validation Study of Cartoon-Based Visual Analogue Pain Scale Towards the Construction of a Novel Pain Scale (Mentors: Holly White & Priti Shah)

Sarah Broner - Social Support Moderates the Link Between Familial Risk for Depression and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal-Axis Stress Response (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Logan Burley - Facial Gender Ambiguity (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Victor Mendoza)

Rachel Clark - Is Swiping Bad for You? Dating Application Use and Mental Health Outcomes Among College Students (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Michael Falbo - The Influence of Political Party Affiliation on Agreement with Political Statements (Mentor: Daniel Kruger)

Spencer Gines - How Does Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor Relate to Ketamine Treatment for Depression and Chronic Pain? (Mentors: Patricia Deldin & Ryan Cardinale)

Sylvia  Gisler - Developing Morphological Awareness: Predictive Characteristics of Production Errors (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

A bbey  Hamlin   - Social Engagement and Episodic Memory in Black and White Older Adults (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Stuart Hannah - Small-Group Composition Effects on Executive Function in Early Elementary School (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Riley Jouppi - The Great Food vs. Eating Addiction Debate: Effects on Obesity Stigma and Policy  upport (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Ameera Kamalrudin - Using Animation to Facilitate Second Language Learning (Mentor: Twila Tardif)

William Katzman - The Relationship Between Childhood Anxiety and Maternal Attachment Styles (Mentors: Kate Fitzgerald & Julie Premo)

Riley Marshall - Minority Stress and Sexual Minorities of Color: The Mediating Role of Mastery (Mentor: Ramaswami Mahalingam)

Marisa Meyer - Exploring the Role of Digital Play in Child Development (Mentors: Jenny Radesky & Shelly Schreier)

Kathleen Nelson - Investigating Relationship Between the Error Related Negativity at Ages 4-6 and Anxiety at 7-10 (Mentor: Kate Fitzgerald)

Madalyn Osbourne - Predictors of Perseverance and Optimism in the Kids' Empowerment Program  (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Akari Oya - Cardiovascular Reactivity to Interpersonal Stress: The Roles of Race and Chronic Stress (Mentors: Kira Birditt & Richard Gonzalez)

Laraine Pesheck - Together or Not at All: How Shared Interests Between Partners Encourages Stable Self-Definition (Mentor: Robin Edelstein)

Salam Qalieh - Cross-Cultural Variation in Emotional Reasoning and Behavioral Causality in Regards to Depression and Neurasthenia (Mentor: David Dunning)

Miranda Schaffer - Experience of Sexual Assault and Perfectionism as Predictors of Self-Destructive Behaviors in Female College Students: Distinguishing Between Self-Harm and Suicidal Behaviors (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Emma Schillinger - Temporal Associations Between Reasons for Alcohol Use and Alcohol Consequences in Adolescents and Emerging Adults (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Shannon Shaughnessy - Predictors of Character Strengths for Children Participating in the Kids' Empowerment Program (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Hayley Simon - To Conceal or To Reveal: Examining What Children Understand About Revealing Their True Identity While Online (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Allison Urban - “Achievement has no color:” Colorblind Ideologies and Race & Ethnicity Course Selection (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Rhianna Vergeer - Do Eating Disorder Treatment Outcomes Differ for Individuals with Comorbid Substance Use? Examination in an Adolescent Eating Disorders Partial Hospitalization Program (Mentors: Jessica Van Huysse & Ashley Gearhardt)

Alexandra  Wormley - The Influence of Pathogen Threat on Traditionalism (Mentor: Joshua Ackerman)

Jiayin Yuan - Loyal Friend or Dutiful Citizen? How Culture Shapes Responses to Moral Violations (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Yiwen Zhong - The Effect of Anecdotes on Science Evidence Evaluation (Mentors: Audrey Michal & Priti Shah)

Kiran Ajani - Decision Trees: An Effective Tool for Evaluating Generalizability of Medical Research Studies? (Mentors: Audrey Michal & Priti Shah)

Ruchica Chandnani - The Effects of How South Asian Women are Portrayed in American and South Asian Media (Mentor: Muniba Saleem)

Kendall Coden - Investigating Behavioral Cross-Sensitization Between Cocaine and d-Amphetamine in Sprague Dawley Rats Following Repeated and Intermittent Infusions (Mentor: Terry Robinson)

Elizabeth Estes - Exploring Associations Between Child Maltreatment and the Volume of the Extended Limbic System in a Population-Based Sample of Adolescents (Mentors: Luke Hyde & Melissa Peckins)

Anusha Garg - Mind Wandering in the Context of Personal Concerns and Personality (Mentors: Sripada Sekhar & Colleen Seifert)

Samantha Goldberg - Stressful Event Exposure is Related to Hippocampal Activity During Extinction Recall (Mentor: Elizabeth Duval)

Laura Huerta Sanchez - Investigating the Role of Corticotropin Releasing Factor Neurons in Motivation Using Optogenetic Inhibition (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Dora Juhasz - The Need for TLC (Tender Loving Cell Phone): Smartphones and Socialization Behaviors among College Students (Mentor: Daniel Kruger)

Zaina Khoury - Wealth Essentialism in Children and Adults (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Margaret Echelbarger)

Elizabeth Kruse - Grey Matter Markers Predicting Future Substance Use in Adolescents (Mentors: Jillian Hardee & Cindy Lustig)

Sanika Kulkarni - Children’s Inferences about Digital Tracking as a Result of Ingroup and Outgroup Differentiation  (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Catherine Lawton - Does 100.4 Mean Exactly 100.4? Expert Interpretations of Precise Numbers (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Nathan Lwo - Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Visual Attention Cognitive Training and tDCS in Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Mentor: John Jonides)

Arushi Mahajan - Novel Attention Training Paradigm Minimizes Distraction through tDCS Enhanced Cognitive Training (Mentor: John Jonides)

Megan Mitchell - Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Following Prolonged Cardiac Arrest: Predicting Neurological Outcomes in a Porcine Model (Mentors: Alvaro Rojas-Pena & Jillian Hardee)

Kelsey Owen - Anandamide and Hedonic ‘Liking’ within the Posterior Ventral Pallidum Hotspot (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Dasha Peppard - Investigating Engaged Learning and Transformational Impact in an Action Learning Program (Mentors: Mari Kira & Gretchen Spreitzer)

Mariam Reda - Influence of Trauma Type and Sex on Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Adolescents (Mentor: Israel Liberzon)

Emma St. Pierre - Type A Aortic Dissections Worsen Quality of Life and Mental Health (Mentors: Bo Yang & Bruno Giordani)

Rachel Tanenbaum - Caregiver Adaptation in Disorders of Sex Development (Mentors: David Sandberg & Jennifer Cummings)

Jessica Zhao - The Influence of Real-Time Emotion and Baseline Negative Urgency on Daily Food Consumption (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Jessica Alexa - Effects of Cognitive and Affective Distraction on Working Memory Performance (Mentors: Alexandru Iordan & Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Harrison Angoff - Unique Influence of Abuse and Neglect on School Behavior: An Exploratory Study (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Diego Barcala-Delgado - Parents’ Ethnotheories of Maladaptive Behavior in Young Children: A Comparison of Spain and the U.S. (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Anna Bergson - Children’s Attributions of Persistence of Individual Identity Following Transformations (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Kristan Marchak)

Megan Burns - Exploring Social Class Through Decision Making Paradigms and Evaluating Social Class Measurement Systems  (Mentor: Richard Gonzalez)

Andrew Canvasser - Collaboration and Creativity: Implementation and Improvement in the Educational Environment (Mentor: Colleen Seifert)

Kristen Cross - Beyond the Sidelines: Parental Involvement in Latino/a Adolescents' Extracurricular Activities (Mentor: Rosario Ceballo)

Chanelle Davis - Racial Identity as a Moderator of the Associations Between Parental Incarceration and Psychological Functioning and Aggression Among Black Adolescents (Mentor: Stephanie Rowley)

Taylor Galdi - Unskilled, Unaware, and Influential: The Dunning-Kruger Effect in Juries (Mentor: David Dunning)

Rachel Ghosh - Father-Daughter Relationships Among College Students: Implications for Other Interpersonal Relationships and Academic Outcomes (Mentors: Rona Carter)

Keegan Giffels - The Existence of Bisexual Miscategorization (Mentor: Arnold Ho)

Michael Harrington - Improving Causal Reasoning in a College Science Course (Mentors: Colleen Seifert & Priti Shah)

Jessica Hejka - Maternal Positive Parenting and the Development of Children’s Later Empathy and Externalizing Behavior (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Jean Anne Heng - Examining the Effects of Effortful Control Training in Clinically Anxious Preschool Children  (Mentors: Julie Premo & Kate D. Fitzgerald)

Shannon Jajko - Gender Essentialism Measure for Children (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Arnold Ho)

Sally Kafelghazal - Relationship between Contact with Gender Non-Conforming People and Race Essentialist Beliefs (Mentor: Arnold Ho)

Hadi Katebi - Manipulating Ideological Preferences Through Exposure and Inoculation (Mentors: Joshua Rabinowitz)

Janet Kim - Slow Life Strategists Hold More Growth Mindsets (for Intelligence not Physical Attractiveness) (Mentors: Oliver Sng & Joshua Ackerman)

Daejin Kim - Motivation and Grip Strength on Young and Older Adults (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Alexandra Mangus - Appropriate Punishments for Perpetrators of Sexual Assault  (Mentor: Abigail Stewart)

Juliette Ni - Culture Difference in Depression and Neurasthenia: The Implication of Hypocognition in Mental Health (Mentor: David Dunning)

Rizzo Nichols - Is Consent Sexy? An Evaluation of Direct, Verbal Consent in Erotic Fiction (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Emily Olin - Intersectionality and Charismatic Leadership in Female Leaders of Community-based Organizations: A Cross-Cultural Study (Mentor: Ramaswami Mahalingam)

Shima Sadaghiyani - Finding Strength in Adversity: Exploring the Process of Postadversarial Growth among Culturally Diverse Individuals (Mentors: Mari Kira & Fiona Lee)

Rachel Atkinson - Motivational Learning Styles are not Determined by Individual Differences in Levels of FAAH (Mentors: Jonathan Morrow & Terry Robinson)

Alexandra Chloe Eastman - Adolescent Psychopathology and Substance Use: The Moderating Effect of Prospective Self (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Maya Khalil Eter - Examining the Ability of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Augment Working Memory Training (Mentor: John Jonides)

Penelope Clare Farris - Work-Family Conflict and Cognition among Older Adults Working Full-Time (Mentor: Laura Zahodne)

Dana Elise Feldman - The Role of the Nucleus Accumbens in Context Fear Conditioning (Mentor: Natalie Tronson)

Saheli Ghosh - Induced Human Neurons as a Model to Study the Role of Mitochondria in Alzheimer’s Disease (Mentors: Michael Uhler & Jill Becker)

Jared Benjamin Goldberg - Assessing Teacher Understanding of Student Executive Functioning and Predictions to Academic Achievement (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Julia Aseel Haidar - The Effects of Saturated and Unsaturated Fatty Acids on Mitochondrial Trafficking and Function in Sensory Neurons (Mentors: Amy Rumora & J. Wayne Aldridge)

Julia Charlotte Harris -  Slow-Wave Sleep Disruption in Adolescence: Brain Responses to Monetary Reward and Loss (Mentors: Laura Cope & Robert Zucker)

Michael John Hendrickson - Teacher Response to Student Misbehavior: Assessing Potential Biases in the Classroom (Mentor: Kai Cortina)

Elizabeth O'Brien Hinckley - Can Generic You Increase ‘Your’ Sense of Belonging (Mentor: Ethan  Kross)

Elizabeth Hubbard - Counteracting Nucleus Accumbens-Mediated Fear Behavior with Optogenetics (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Joshua Levi Krasney - Central Amygdala-Induced Attraction towards Aversive Shock Rod  Recruits Mesocorticolimbic Brain Circuitry (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

George Lu - Long-lasting Neuroimmune-Mediated Changes Following Peripheral Immune Challenge (Mentors: Natalie Tronson & Katie Collette)

Diana Cecilia Marino - Predicting Gun or Knife Violence Against Women Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Margarett Sha'Lisa McBride - “Do I Belong in my Community?” Latino Adolescents' Perceptions of Neighborhood Belonging (Mentor: Rosario Ceballo)

Julia Aisling Menzel-Smith - Neurological Development and Injury among Premature Lambs Supported by the Artificial Placenta (Mentors: Kent Berridge & Alvaro Rojas Pena)

Tanisha Mitra - Individual Differences in the Motivation for Cocaine and Neuronal Activity Induced by a Cocaine-Paired Cue (Mentor: Terry Robinson)

Lining Pan - Role of Ventral Hippocampus in Context Fear Conditioning in Males and Females (Mentor: Natalie Tronson)

Kevin C. Pasquale - The Identification of Microvascular Variations in Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) through Machine Learning Algorithms (Mentors: Michael Wang & Henry Buchtel)

Isabel Cristina Quinones - Characterization of Health Behaviors in Transgender Youth (Mentors: Jessica Van Huysse & Ashley Gearhardt)

Grecia Quiroga - Testing Associations Between Sign and Goal-Tracking and Risk Factors for Obesity in Children (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Melanie Racenstein - An Aging Study of Somatosensory and Motor Dedifferentiation using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Behavioral Measures  (Mentor: Thad Polk)

Ruby Siada - ABC Brains: Linking Early Childhood Experience to Neural Activity and Obesity (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Elisabeth Silver - Perpetrating Sexism: An Investigation into the Effects on Men’s Psychophysiology (Mentor: Sari van Anders)

Khyati Somayaji - Effect of Estrous Cycle on Severity of Sepsis in C57Bl/6 Female Mice (Mentors: Joanna Spencer-Segal & Jill Becker)

Akemi Tsutsumi Rioboo - The Effects of Spanish-English Bilingual Dominance Profile in Children’s Literacy Skills (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Annie Zalon - Exploring the Role of Alpha1-chimaerin in a Model of Cerebellar Ataxia (Mentors: Vikram Shakkottai & Brandon Aragona)

Mary Zinn - Characterizing Resiliency in Adolescence: The Role of Prospective Self in Health-Related Outcomes Associated with Childhood Adversity (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Emma Abed - Investigating Diversity in Sexual and Gender/Sex Majorities: Interviews Using Sexual Configurations Theory (Mentor: Sari van Anders)

Zainab Ali Ahmad - Wandering Eyes: Patterns of Looking While Perambulating in a Natural Setting (Mentors: Kevin Miller & Kai Cortina)

Alexandra Bayer - Who Provides Social Support to Children Following Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence? (Mentors: Sandra Graham-Bermann & Andrew Grogan-Kaylor)

Stephanie Beaton - The Effects of Perfectionism on Objective Sleep Quality: The Role of Rumination (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Diana Curtis - Feminizing Fear: Investigating the Intersections of Paranoia, Empathy, and Sex (Mentors: Patricia Deldin & Sari van Anders)

Wisteria Deng - Anxiety Mediates the Relationship Between Psychotic-like Experiences and Social Functioning (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Sheng Dong - Affiliation Motives under Pathogen Threat Studied in Electrocortical Activity of Norm Violations (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Danielle Harrison - Subjective and Official Reports of Neighborhood Danger and Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence  (Mentor: Luke Hyde)

Natasha Heart - Does Sleep Duration Moderate the Relationship Between Adolescent Psychopathology and Health Risk Behavior? (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Jing Hu - Spontaneous Use of Self-Distancing Online Among Healthy and Depressed Facebook Users (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Morgan Johnson - Teachers’ Impact on the Wellbeing and Achievementof Students with ohnsonSpecial Needs in the General Education Classroom (Mentor: Fred Morrison)

Hannah Lahti - Sex Differences in Negative Affect and Symptom Severity in Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder and Bipolar Disorders (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Blacker Li - Post-Frog Pond: Cultural Variations in Hiring Decisions (Mentor: Stephen Garcia)

Muzi Lin - Fathers’ Experiences of Challenges and Joys During the Prenatal and Postnatal Periods (Mentors: Brenda Volling & Shawna Lee)

Katy Michon - The P300 ERP and Cognitive Bias in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Dysphoria (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Breanne Parker - Exploring the Relationship between College Student Exposure to the Model Minority Stereotype and Attributions of ADHD in Asian Americans (Mentor: Donna Nagata)

Reeya Patel - Disappointing Gift Task: Implications for Understanding Emotion Regulation Development During Early Childhood (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Haley Rough - Neighborhood crime and its effect on neural reactivity (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Aiya Saad - In the Eyes of the Beholder: How Experience Can Influence Perceptions of Interest and Engagement (Mentor: Kevin Miller)

Chaewon Sagong - Influences of Positive Parenting on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Moderation by Levels of Physical Neighborhood Disorder (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Zachary Schildcrout - Does Visual Attention Cognitive Training Decrease Distraction? (Mentor: John Jonides)

Jocelyn Schwartz - The Influence of Positive Affect on Food Consumption: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Analysis (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Priyanka Shanmugasundaram - Impacts of Multiple Marginality for South Asian Americans’ Mental Health (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Julia Snider - Engagement in and Desire for Romantic and Sexual Relationships in College: Associations with Mental Health (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Emily Armstead - Examining Rumination and Sleep: A Transdiagnostic Approach to Depression and Social Anxiety (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Jane Brown - Down the Musical Garden Path: Shared Syntactic Processing in Music and Language (Mentor: Julie Boland)

Man Ting Choi - Paternal Education Attainment Moderates Associations Between Paternal Psychological Control and Preschool Children’s Internalizing Problems: A Cross-National Study in the United States and China (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Bailey Ferris - Differential Longitudinal fMRI Activation in Bilateral Thalamus in Substance Using Versus Non-Using Adolescents During a go/no-go Task (Mentors: Mary Heitzeg & Jillian Hardee)

Nick Gabry - Relapse: An Investigation into the Differential Modulation of Cue-Based Drug Reinstatement (Mentors: Terry Robinson & Bryan Singer)

Maia Gersten - Examining the Role of Diversification of Contingent Self-Worth on College Student Mental Health (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Kevin Grimaldi - The Role of Parental Involvement and Monitoring in Adolescent Health Risk Behavior (Mentors: Daniel Keating & Edward Huntley)

Sonalee Joshi - The Effects of Race on Implicit Attitudes about Social Anxiety (Mentors: Elizabeth Duval & Israel Liberzon)

Louisa Kane - Motivational-Dopaminergic versus Cognitive-Cholinergic Processing of a Pavlovian Cocaine Cue in Sign- and Goal-Tracking Rats (Mentors: Martin Sarter & Kyle Pitchers)

Kelsea Kangas - Use of Neuropsychological Evaluation Results in a VA Healthcare System Sub-Acute Geriatric Rehabilitation Clinic (Mentors: Linas Bieliauskas & Katherine Kitchen-Andren)

Alexandria Kolenda - Investigating the Relationship Between Depression, Metabolic Syndrome, and DNA Methylation of the SLC35D3 Gene Region in Psychotic Disorders (Mentor: Vicki Ellingrod)

Alyssa Marquette - The Role of the Built Environment on Adolescent BMI (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Allison Moll - Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS), Metabolic Syndrome, and Cognition in Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders (Mentor: Vicki Ellingrod)

Anna Nagler - The Effect of Cognitive Impairment on Deconditioned/Debilitated Post-Acute Veterans (Mentors: Linas Bieliauskas & Stelmokas Julija)

Jeewon Oh - Emotional Word Processing in First and Second Language (Mentor: Nick Ellis)

Natalie Perkins - Examining Impoverished Neighborhoods with Google Street View: A New Tool for Assessing Ecological Settings (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Kelly Rea - White-Matter Tract Abnormalities and Links to Antisocial Behavior Among High-Risk Young Adult Males (Mentors: Luke Hyde & Rebecca Waller)

Seonyool Song - Education Comparison between United States and South Korea with PISA Results (Mentors: Kevin Miller & Kai Cortina)

Emma Sutherland - Investigating the Association Between Screen Time and Adolescent Adiposity (Mentors: Ashley Gearhardt & Sarah Domoff)

Taylor Weeks - Direct Inhibition of the Nucleus Accumbens Shell Potentiates Eating (Mentor: Berridge Kent)

Jennifer Alpert - Children’s and Adults’ Recall of Generic and Proper Name Statements (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Caroline Bartholomew - Parental Restrictive Feeding Behaviors and Adolescent Food-Related Self-Regulation (Mentors: Ashley Gearhardt & Megan Pesch)

Stephen Berkemeier - Law Enforcement Conformity to Masculine Norms and Myths Surrounding Male Victims of Sexual Assault (Mentors: Jamie Mitchell & Eric Fretz)

Shyryn Borgol - The Behavioral Immune System and Interoception (Mentor: Joshua Ackerman)

Emmy Carey - Forms of Intimate Partner Rape Experienced by Latinas with and without PTSD (Mentors: Sandra Graham-Bermann & Andrew Grogan-Kaylor)

Sitao Chen - Correlational Study of Childhood Activities and Executive Functions (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Xi Chen - Stereotypes and Biased Perceptions towards Foreign Currencies: An Irrationality of Market Valuations (Mentor: Stephen Garcia)

Rachel Cultice - #VocalWomen: How Does Threatened Masculinity Influence Perceptions of Women Who Confront Online Misogyny? (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Snehanjani Edupuganti - Don't Judge a Book by its Cover: The Influence of a Professor's Gender on Student's Impression and Lecture Evaluation (Mentor: Kevin Miller)

Alison Grenon - A Comparative Analysis of Body Mass Index and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Measurements in a Teenage Population Considering Gender, Pubertal Status, and Athletic Participation (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Inara Ismailova - Young and Distracted: Children Filter Irrelevant Stimuli Less Effectively than Adults (Mentors: Daniel Weissman & Ioulia Kovelman)

Rachel Korn - The Influence of Impulsivity on Food Ordering Behavior and Caloric Consumption (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Jerin Lee - Negative Life Events and Sexual Assault Victimization as Predictors of Negative Psychological Functioning in Female College Students (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Sai-Lai Lee - Color Outside the Lines: Perceptions of Identity Conflict and Women of Color in Leadership (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Wanying Liu - Risk Portfolio Management: Mathematical Models and Behavioral Styles (Mentor: Jun Zhang)

Andrea Maxwell - Neighborhood Effects on the Brain: Impoverishment in Early Childhood Predicts Amygdala Reactivity to Ambiguous Faces in Young Adulthood (Mentor: Luke Hyde)

Isabel Osgood - Infectious Disease Psychology and Social Categorization (Mentor: Joshua Ackerman)

Dayna Petkov - Examining Perceptions of Moral Change of the Self and Others (Mentors: Ethan Kross & Walter Swoden)

Kaitlin Prakken - Correlates of Maternal Warmth in Latinas Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Manna Shintani - Executive Function and Academic Achievement: Differential Relations Across Socioeconomic Status (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Anna Spitz - Diversity, Pressure, and Divisions on the University of Michigan Campus (Mentors: Priti Shah & Deborah Dash-Moore)

Lara Stojanov - The Paradox of Bilingual Attentional Control Investigated Through Comparative Analytic Approaches (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Julia Swan - Associations Between Delay Discounting Performance and Reward-Related Neural Activity (Mentor: Luke Hyde)

Warren Teo - Multicultural Experience and Wisdom (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Andrea Villafuerte - The Role of Perceived Social Support in Buffering Women Against Stereotype Threat (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Kali Vitek - Risky, Dramatic, and Unrealistic: Reality Television Portrayals of Pregnancy and Childbirth and Their Effects on Women's Fear and Self-Efficacy (Mentor: Lucretia Ward)

Haley Yaremych - Prosocial Development Between Siblings: The Role of Marital Quality and Parents' Emotion Socialization Practices (Mentor: Brenda Volling)

Tina Yu - Understanding the Association Between Spirituality, Religiosity, and Feelings of Happiness and Sadness Among HIV-Positive Indian Adults: Examining Stress-Related Growth as a Mediator (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Joel Adu-Brimpong - Cortisol Stress Reactivity Can be Shaped by Control, Support and Threat in Surprising Ways – Illustrating HPA Axis Complexity (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Bryana Bayly - This is Not a Pipe…Or is it? Children's and Adults' Appreciation for the Representational Properties of Pictures and Toys (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Natalie Davidson)

John Bell - Synaptic Interactomes and Neurological Disease:  A Closer Look at Neurexin-1α (Mentors: Gabrielle Rudenko & Natalie Tronson)

Alix Bernholtz - ‘Running in the Family’: Exploring the Causal Beliefs of At-Risk Individuals with a Family History of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Toby Jayaratne )

Rui Deng - Differential Effects of Oxytocin on The Motivation of Methamphetamine Self-Administration in Isolated and Pair Housed Female Rats (Mentor: Jill Becker)

Dema Fawaz - Optogenetic Inhibition of Lateral Hypothalamic Inputs into Ventral Pallidum Amplifies Aversive ‘Disgust’ (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Danielle Flanders - Structural Priming in Sentence Production (Mentor: Julie Boland)

Andrew Garton - Examining the Impact Of Cognitive Styles on Responses to Self-Relevant Failures (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Zoe Hawks - Memory-Control Interactions Influence the Congruency Sequence Effect (Mentor: Daniel Weissman)

Sunghyun Hong - Optogenetic Stimulation of Dopamine Afferents in Nucleus Accumbens and Central Amygdala Reveals Differential Roles in Food and Social Motivation (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Yona Isaacs - Cholinergic Highs and Lows: A Genetic Link to Attentional Function? (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Shaima Khandaker - Neural Correlates of Verbal Communication Using Infant Directed Speech in Language Acquisition: An fNIRS Investigation (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Lena Kremin - Predictors and Transfer of Reading Ability in Spanish-English Bilingual Children (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Danielle Leonard - Phonological and Lexical Processes in Bilingual Spanish-English Learners (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Alina Lesnovskaya - Symptoms of Depression as Indicators of Delirium in Elderly Hospitalized Veterans (Mentors: Linas Bieliauskas & Jennifer Flaherty)

Emily Lustig - Cognition and Experienced Well-Being in the Aging Population: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study (Mentor: Jacqui Smith)

Christina Naegeli - Cross-Cultural Look at Orphan Care in Brazil and the USA: Does There Exist a Difference in 'Positive' Themes in Different Methods of Child Care? (Mentors: Nansook Park & Reighan Gillam)

Eve Rosenheck - Current Trends and Predictors of Therapy Underutilization Among Asian American College Students (Mentors: Justin Heinze & Jennifer Glass)

Gabrielle Schwartz - The Influence of Power on Emotions Felt for Others (Mentor: Phoebe Ellsworth)

Adam Sitzmann - Treatment-Resistant Depression, Obesity, and Adiponectin (Mentors: Brian Mickey & Christopher  Monk)

Lawrence Tello - Beliefs Influence the Consequences of Expressive Suppression (Mentors: Shinobu Kitayama & Ethan Kross)

Linsa Varghese - Mindfulness, Emotional Well-Being, Emotional Regulation, Burnout, and Servant Leadership Among Women Social Justice Activists (Mentor: Ram Mahalingam)

Alisa Zoltowski - Using our Theory of Mind for Inferences in Strategic Reasoning (Mentor: Jun Zhang)

Monica Arkin - The Relationship Between Community Violence Exposure and Psychological Well-Being among Latino Adolescents (Mentor: Rosario Ceballo)

Pallavi Babu - The Psychometric Validation of the Military Attributions Scale (Mentor: Michelle Kees)

Amanda Balakirsky - Children’s Inferences about Relative Age as a Result of Power Comprehension (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Jillian Bean - Impact of Weight Based Self-Ssteem and Objectification on Risk of Disordered Eating in College Students (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Jacob Bradburn - The N-Effect in Sales: A Field Experiment (Mentor: Stephen Garcia)

Zoe Brier - Suicidal Trajectories across the Postpartum: Risk and Protective Factors (Mentors: Maria Muzik & Katherine Rosenblum)

Rachel Carretta - Religiosity and Suicidality in Caucasian And African-American Sexual Minority Young Adults (Mentor: Cheryl King)

Shao Wei Chia - Perceived Differential Parental Expectations of Achievement: Assessing Impact on Psychological Well-Being Among College Students with Siblings (Mentors: Pamela Davis-Kean & Daniel Keating)

Melissa Durante - Everyday Scientific Reasoning: Critical Approaches Outside the Classroom (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Julia Feldman - Early Fathering Predictors of Children’s Late School-Age Peer Acceptance, Emotion Regulation, and Behavior Problems (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Ryan Foley - Competitive Versus Cooperative Video Game Decision Making and it’s Relationship to Problematic Video Game Play (Mentor: Frank Yates)

Rachel Forche - Children's Predictions about Future Desires:  Parent Input vs. Intuition (Mentors: Susan Gelman & Craig Smith)

Samantha Goldstein - Gender Differences in Children's Emotion Regulation from Preschool to School Age (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Nora Greenstein - Women’s Academic Motivation in the STEM Field: Using Group Role Models to Reduce Stereotype Threat in Group Work (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Roxanne Harfmann - "Don't Forget to Subscribe": Investigating the Impact of Exposure to User-Created Youtube Channels on Endorsement of Gender Attitudes and Self-Sexualization (Mentor: Monique Ward)

Youjeong Huh - Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation and Employee Well-Being Among Korean Workers (Mentor: Ramaswami Mahalingam)

Corey Jackson - Social Inclusion, Identity, & Conflict Adaptation (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Zunaira Jilani - Relations Between Multidimensional Spirituality and Negative Affective Conditions in Adults: Examining Hope as a Potential Mediator (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Kathryn Kemp - Sleep Quality and Mood on Memory in People with and without Depression (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Brandon Klein - Loss of a Job vs. a Loved One: The Impact on Indulgent Consumption (Mentor: Stephen Garcia)

Jessica Koolick - Comparisons of PTSD Symptomatology in Children Across Multiple Ethno-Racial Groups (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Jie Ling Kuan - The Reading Brain: fMRI Study of Chinese (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Emily Noyes - Alcohol-Related Consequences Among Binge Drinking College Students: Exploring Positive Alcohol Expectancies and Self-Efficacy to Use Protective Strategies (Mentors: Erin Bonar & Frederic  Blow)

Stephanie Oprea - Students’ Perceptions of Creative Process Pedagogy in College Courses (Mentor: Colleen Seifert)

Miray Philips - Attitudes Towards Rape Among College Students in the US, North Africa, and the Middle East (Mentors: Rowell Huesmann & Eric Dubow)

Sarah Polk - The Effects of Restraint and Gender on Frequency of Consumption of High-Glycemic Load and High-Fat Foods (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Benjamin Rooney - Explaining Gender Differences in Emotional Reactions to Heterosexual Casual Sex Offers (Mentor: Terri Conley)

Alison Sagon - Examining the Value of Setting Communication Goals for Subjective Well-Being (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Justin Sarkis - The Effect of Sociolinguistic Accent on the Believability of Trivia Statements (Mentor: Julie Boland)

Shaina Shetty - Reluctant Models (Mentors: Harold Neighbors & Donna Nagata)

Keima Smith - African American Parental Racial Socialization: Exploring Gender Differences (Mentors: Stephanie  Rowley & Kevin Miller)

Precious  Smith - Fun To a Point: The Positive and Negative Effects of Children’s Toys in the Household (Mentor: Stephanie  Preston )

Chloe Sosenko - Zingerman’s: Mindfulness in the Dynamic Work Environment (Mentors: Gretchen Spreitzer & Oscar Ybarra)

Chloe Sprague  - The Role of Reconstruing versus Recounting in Social Support Contexts (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Emily Steinberg  - The Role of Age, Gender, and Father Involvement in Firstborns' Behavioral Adjustment Across the Transition to Siblinghood (Mentor: Brenda Volling)

Gladys Tan  - Behind Racial Differences in STEM Participation:  College Students’ Priorities When Choosing Majors (Mentor: J Yates)

Alyssa Tender  - Too Close for Comfort:  An ERP Investigation into The Role of Relevancy in Attention to HIV-Relevant Information (Mentor: Allison Earl)

Meaghan Thompson  - The Relationship Between Parenting Behaviors During the Preschool Period and Subtypes of Childhood Aggression in the Late Elementary Period (Mentors: Sheryl Olson & Rebecca Waller)

Tara Von Mach  - An Evaluation of Within-Session Interactions During Motivational Interviewing-Based Brief Interventions for Marijuana Misuse: A Mixed-Methods Investigation (Mentors: Maureen Walton & Frederic Blow)

Yuqi Wang  - Masculinity on Trial:  A Content Analysis of Men-Against-Men Sexual Harassment Legal Cases, 1982-2014 (Mentor: Lilia Cortina)

Chelsey Weiss  - The Roles of Early Externalizing Behavior and Prosocial Parental Discipline on Peer Rejection (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Alexandra Wilt  - Addictive-Like Eating Mediates the Association Between Eating Motivations and Elevated Body Mass Index (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Kaidi  Wu  - Would You Rather be a Big Frog In A Small Pond? Examining Cultural Variations in Competition Entry Decisions (Mentor: Stephen Garcia)

Carlos Yeguez  - Developing a Self-Efficacy Intervention for College Students Diagnosed with ADHD (Mentor: Priti Shah)

Chelsea Zabel  - Psychology of Selfies: Motivations for Posting Selfies and their Connections to Self-Concept (Mentor: Lucretia Ward)

Ankita Badhwar -  Measuring Prosocial Action Tendencies From Caretaking Emotions  (Mentor: Sara Konrath)

Lauren Burton -  The Effect of Chronic Phase Shifts on Melatonin Rhythms (Mentors: Jimo Borjigin & Martin Sarter)

Nathan Chesterman -  Mapping a Hedonic Hotspot in Insular Cortex (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Kathleen Duemling -  Cortisol Awakening Response and Youth Depression: The Impact of Anxiety, Age, and Sex  (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Paige Galecki -  Testing a Video-Chat Social Reward Learning Task to Predict Depression in Young Adults (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Mariam Hamid -  In Vivo Corneal Confocal Microscopy in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (Mentors: Roni Shtein & Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Rina Joshi -  Does Time Really Tell All?: The Effect of Circadian Rhythms on Emotional-Like Behavior in Rats Selectively Bred to Model Mood Disorders (Mentor: Megan Hagenauer)

Viktoria Krislaty -  The Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) on Neuropsychological Functioning in Adolescents who Suffer from Major Depressive Disorder  (Mentor: Bruno Giordani)

Kathryn Lee -  Semantic and Syntactic Priming in Infant Language Acquisition: A Comparison of English and Mandarin Speakers (Mentor: Twila Tardif)

Shoko Mori -  Regulating Negative Affect: Neurophysiological Investigation of Self-Generated vs. Externally-Provided Reappraisal (Mentors: Christine Rabinak & William Gehring)

Emily Munier -  Modality Effects in Short-Term Memory Versus Long-Term Memory within the Deese, Roediger and McDermott Paradigm  (Mentors: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz & Justyna Olszewska)

Maryam Seifeldin -  Sociolinguistic Stereotype and Syntactic Processing (Mentors: Julie Boland & Jonathan Brennan)

Erica Seifert -  Syntactic Error Processing in Bilingual Children: An fNIRS Study (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Aashna Sunderrajan -   It's a Trap! The Influence of Instrumental Manipulation Checks on Response Non-Differentiation and Gricean Norm Effects  (Mentors: Norbert Schwarz & Allison Earl)

Rachel Terry -  The Role of Orexin and Acetylcholine on 'Liking' and 'Disliking' in the Nucleus Accumbens Hedonic Hotspot (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Xiao Wang -  Examining the Relationship Between Skilled Musical Training and Attention  (Mentor: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Leah Breish -  Effects of Backwards Design Lesson Planning Implementation on Non-Educator Elementary Literacy Tutors (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Peter Ceglarek -  A Tool for Help or Harm? Associations Between Sexual Minority Youth’s Social Networking Use and Their SocialSupport, Sexual Identity, and Mental Health  (Mentor: L. Monique Ward)

Alejandra Cuspinera -   “Go to Sleep to Get Rid of the Fright”: Colombian Youth’s Experiences with Community Violence Exposure (Mentor: Rosario Ceballo)

Hailey Dotterer -  Influences on Destructive College Drinking: The Role of Psychopathic Traits and Gender  (Mentor: Luke Hyde)

Valerie Foster -  The Relationship Between Maternal Insightfulness and Psychopathology in Women with Histories of Childhood Maltreatment (Mentors: Maria Muzik & Katherine Rosenblum)

Danielle Goldstein -  Building a Better Campus: Establishing Mental Health Services at Ukrainian Universities (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Steven Homan  - Quality of Student Discourse During Math Lessons in the United States and China (Mentors: Kevin Miller & Kai Cortina)

Emma Kahle -  Understanding How Domestic Abuse is Associated with Greater Depressive Symptoms in a Community Sample of Female Primary Care Patients: Do Loss of Belongingness or Sense of Burdensomeness Matter? (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Adam Kern -  The Effect of Watching Food-Related Television on Eating Behaviors and Cravings  (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Heejoo Kim -  The Effects of Autonomy and Relatedness on Internalizing and Externalizing During Adolescence: Concurrent and Longitudinal Effects within Family Context  (Mentors: Jacquelynne Eccles & Yi-Miau Tsai)

Adriane Kline -  The Effects of HIV/AIDS Knowledge During Adolescence: The Role of This Knowledge in Predicting Sexual Behaviors and Outcomes  (Mentors: Justin Heinze & Marc Zimmerman)

Jenny Lee -  Resilience in the Face of Betrayal: The Significance of Social Support and Spontaneous Self-Distancing (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Jonathan Lee -  Narcissism, Frustration, and the Mediating Role of Anger (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

MengZhen Liu -  The Effect of Emotional Face Cues on Response Conflict Processing (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Melissa Manley -  Is What I Do Who I Am? A Study of Romantic and Sexual Partnering and Identity  (Mentor: Sari van Anders)

Margaret McGuire -  Intimate Partner Violence: Demographic Effects on Children’s Attitudes and Beliefs After Exposure (Mentors: Sandra Graham-Bermann & Andrew Grogan-Kaylor)

Annick Odom -  Local and National Identity of Flemings and Walloons in Belgium (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Maggie O'Reilly-Treter -  Exploring the Relations Between Caregiver-Child Communication and Psychopathology Among Bereaved Families (Mentor: Julie Kaplow)

Rebekah Richmond -  Parenting Style and Parental Self-Efficacy in the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa (Mentors: Ashley Gearhardt & Renee Hoste)

Taylor Rothman -  (Mis)imagining Someone Else’s Life: The Role of Focalism in Feeling Envy and Pity Towards Others  (Mentor: Phoebe Ellsworth)

Mallika Sarma -  Mindfulness, Psychological Well-Being, Emotion Regulation, and Creativity Among South-Asian Americans  (Mentor: Ramaswami Mahalingam)

Thea Senger -  The Relationship Between Cumulative Risk Exposure, Family Cohesion, and Working Memory Impairments (Mentor: James Swain)

Long Shi -  Possible Selves of College Students in China and the U.S. (Mentor: Daphna Oyserman)

Christopher Shu -  Effects of Onset and Persistence of Antisocial Behavior in Adulthood  (Mentor: Brian Hicks)

Alexa Shull -  Rumination Mediates the Impact of Personality on the Development of Depression During the Transition to College  (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Mehgha Shyam -  The Influence of Mirth and Elevation on Local and Global Information Processing  (Mentor: Richard Lewis)

Stacey Sklepinski -  Promoting Attention to Stigmatized Health Information: The Complexity of Targeted Messages (Mentor: Allison Earl)

Hannah Tuttle -  Applying the Addiction Label to Food: Legal and Policy Implications (Mentor: Ashley Gearhardt)

Abigail Waters -  Effort, Somatization, and Self-Reported Psychological Distress in a Veteran Population (Mentors: Linas Bieliauskas & Nicolette Gabel)

Audrey Wittrup -  The Relationship Between Academic Self-Concept and Achievement in High School and Risky Sexual Behavior in College-Aged Females Over Time  (Mentors: Jacquelynne Eccles & Meeta Banerjee)

Hannah Wolfson -  Children Facing Maternal Breast Cancer: Examining Relations Between Maternal Functioning and Child Psychiatric Symptoms  (Mentor: Julie Kaplow)

Kuan Hua Wu -  Mapping a Novel Hedonic Hotspot in the Orbitofrontal Cortex  (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Elizabeth Yu -  Doubling Up on Positive Future Cognitions Associated with Lower Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Risk in Latinos?: A Look at Hope and Positive Problem Orientation (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Mo Zhang -   Interpretation of Difficulty’s Impact on Shifting and Inhibition Ability  (Mentor: Daphna Oyserman)

Sara Alberti -  Larger Amygdala Volume Relates to Social Anxiety in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Mentor: Christopher Monk)

Curtis Austin  -  Interactions Between Social and Drug Reward on Stimulated Dopamine Release  in Male Prairie Voles  (Mentor: Brandon Aragona)

Sara Bendler  - Modality Effects in Working Memory Using the DRM Paradigm (Mentor: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Shannon Burke -  How Sexual is Sexual Desire? Desire and Testosterone in Women   (Mentor: Katherine Rosenblum)

Christopher Cannon  -  Conspicuous Consumption & Sexual Orientation: Are Homosexuals "Experts"?   (Mentor: Stephanie Preston)

Lauren Frisch  -  The Impact of Emotional Recognition on Prejudice and Discrimination  (Mentor: Sarah Konrath)

Yasaman Kazerooni  -  Task Related Pupil Dilation Patterns in a List Lexical Decision Task  (Mentor: Richard Lewis)

Dana Kelly  -  The Effects of Insomnia and Psychological Distress on Cognitive Performance Among Veterans  (Mentor: Linas Bieliauskas)

Elizabeth O'Donnell  - Dorsomedial Striatal Control of Cue-Directed Versus Goal-Directed Pavlovian Approach Behavior (Mentor: Terry Robinson)

Salomi Rami  - Social support, emotional well-being, and emotion regulation: A mediation model (Mentor: Oscar Ybarra)

Stephanie Romeo  -   Defendant and Juror Social Class and Age: Effects on Jurors’ Perceptions of a Crime  (Mentor: Phoebe Ellsworth)

Craig Sanders  -  Computational Models of Regressive Eye Movements in Reading  (Mentor: Richard Lewis)

Gabriel Stellman -  Investigating the roles of Fast-Spiking Interneurons and Neuronal Projections Associated with the Nucleus Accumbens as they Relate to the Production of Motivated Behaviors   (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Alexander Tereshchenko  - Convergent and Divergent Thinking Creativity in Nominal and Collaborative Groups (Mentor: Cindy Lustig)

Margaret Ugolini -  fMRI Study of Amplitude Modulation Perception: How the Brain Turns Sounds Into Language (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Michael Wilcox -  Emotional Contagion in Major Depressive Disorder (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)  

Neuroscience

Leon Averbukh -  Exploring the Link between Drug Addiction Propensity and Improper Top- Down Processing via Sustained Attention Tasks   (Mentor: Giovanna Paolone)

Mary Catherine Bender -  The Role of RGS Proteins in Modulating States of Behavioral Arousal (Mentor: Ralph Lydic)

Adam Fischer - Incentive Salience Attribution Based on Experiences of Uncertain Reward in Rats  (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Piper Keyes - Kappa-Opioid Receptors in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell Mediate the Attenuation of Amphetamine Reward Induced by Monogamous Pair Bonding  (Mentor: Brandon Aragona)

Katie Long - The Effect of Social Stress on Sign- and Goal-tracking Propensity in Selectively Bred Rats  (Mentor: Shelly Flagel)

Adam MacDonald -  Maternal Perspective-Dependent Empathy and Neural Responses (Mentors: Chris Monk, Shaun Ho, James Swain)

Nolan O'Hara  - Characterizing the Engagement of Cognitive Error-Detection and Assessment During Self-Motivated and Morally Relevant Deception: An ERP Study (Mentor: Bill Gehring)

Julia Roberts -  A Study Examining The Effects of Naps on Self-Reported Impulsivity  (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Michelle Wehbe -  Effect of Repeated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury on Sustained Attention Task Performance (Mentor: Giovanna Paolone)

Martha Alves -  Coercive Control and the Stay-Leave Decision: How Abusers get their Victims to Remain in a Violent Relationship (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Kathryn Beck -  Increasing Help-Seeking in College Freshmen: An Intervention Examining the Effects of Motivational Interviewing (Mentor: Joseph Gone)

Kevin Binder -  Homophobic Hip-Hop Music and Its Effect on Attitudes Toward Homosexuality  (Mentor: Lucretia Ward)

Jordan Boeve -  Child Temperament, Parental Personality, and Parenting as Related to Child Behavior After the Birth of a Sibling (Mentor: Pamela Davis-Kean)

Nancy Boulos -  Validity of the PHQ-8 and PHQ-6 During Pregnancy: A Longitudinal Study Possible Risk Factors and Screening for Antenatal Depression (Mentor: Richard Tolman)

Caroline Buck -  Changes in Maternal Mentalization, Reflectivity, and Sensitivity as Assessed through Analysis of Narratives: An Evaluation of the Circle of Security Intervention (Mentor: Katherine Rosenblum)

Max Cantor -  The road to reckless driving: Can parent alcoholism and antisocial behavior affect reckless driving in children? (Mentor: Jennie Jester)

Yun Chen -  Parent-adolescent agreement about adolescent’s suicidal ideation and behavior in relation to adolescent’s one-year depressive symptoms, and suicide-related outcomes  (Mentor: Cheryl King)

Robin Conley -  Change in Relation to Alcohol Use Disorders: A Qualitative Study Examining Motivation for Change and Changes in Early Recovery   (Mentor: Amy Krentzman)

Amanda Cooper -  Children’s Perceptions of Parental Differential Treatment as a Mediator for the Link Between Parental Differential Treatment and Sibling Relationship Quality (Mentor: Brenda Volling)

Jared Cutler -  The Effects of Gender Composition and Common In-Group Identity on Women's Desire to Participate in a Science Conference (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Damia December  -  Individual and Environmental Correlates of Anxiety in Parentally Bereaved Children  (Mentor: Julie Kaplow)

Jenna Dehne  - Comparing Methods to Reduce Stereotype Threat: In-person vs. On-paper Interventions (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Hau Dinh -  Intersecting Social Identities and Awareness of Social Justice (Mentor: Lorraine Gutierrez)

Laura Distel -  The Effects of an Evolution Exhibition on Students’ Essentialistic Thinking about Genes   (Mentor: Evelyn Evans)

Peter Felsman  - Music listening facilitates self-distancing (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Hayley Goldenthal -  Risk Factors for Depression During the Perinatal Period: The Role of Anxiety, Trauma and Life Stressors (Mentor: Stephanie Thompson)

Joanna Gross  -  The Relationship Between Coping and Mental Health in Children Facing Maternal Breast Cancer  (Mentor: Julie Kaplow)

Lindsay Hamilton  - Sleep, Depression, and Child Behavior in Women with Histories of Childhood Maltreatment (Mentors: Maria Muzik & Kate Rosenblum)

Jessica Harper  -  Congruency Sequence Effects in Pediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder  (Mentor: Daniel Weissman)

Sarah Horn  - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): The Clinical Picture of Physiological Arousal Symptoms (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Sean Houchins -  Mechanisms and Outcomes of Metta Meditation (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Eunjung Kim  - Embodied Metaphors: Embodied Fishy Smell Attenuates the Moses Illusion (Mentor: Norbert Schwarz)

Christina Koch  - Counting on Executive Function: A Study of Preschoolers’ Eye Movements During a Quick Visual Search Counting Task (Mentor: Kevin Miller)

Kirsten Koseck  - Culture and Executive Functioning: The Effects of Individualism and Collectivism on Complex Reasoning (Mentor: Daphna Oyserman)

Lucas LaFreniere  -  Parentally Bereaved Children and Adolescents: Peer Support and Interaction  (Mentor: Albert Cain)

Becky Lau  - The Effects of Empathy in Intergroup Interactions when Minorities Disclose Race-Salient or Neutral Hardship (Mentor: Emily Falk)

Chung Lau  - Prevalence and Correlates of Depression and Drinking Behavior among Adolescents and Young Adults in the Suburban Emergency Department (Mentor: Frederic Blow)

Wing Tung (Vivian)   Law  - The Relationship between the Intersection of Gender and Race and Asian Americans’ Awareness of Social Justice (Mentor: Lorraine Gutierrez)

Xinyue Liu  -  Home Literacy Environments’ Influence on Language and Reading Development  (Mentor: Ioulia Kovelman)

Jordan Magat  -  Looking at Gender Differences in Preschoolers’ Self-Regulation Through Multiple Lenses  (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Alexander McBrairty  -  Quit, Persist, or... Switch?: Putting Lay Theories Into Context  (Mentor: Norbert Schwarz)

Kaci Parsons  - Being Single in Old Age: The Implications of Differences in Marital Status on Global and Experienced Well-being (Mentor: Jacqui Smith)

Jason Paul  - Examining Working Memory as an Underlying Mechanism in Identity-Based Motivation (Mentor: Daphna Oyserman)

Eric Peist  -  Gender Differences in Student Misbehaviors and Teacher Responses: Comparing Classrooms with Novice and Experienced Teachers  (Mentor: Kai Cortina)

Marisa Perera  - Examining for Ethnic Variations in the Interpersonal Sources Representing Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Carly Sheridan  -  Politeness in Conflict: Identity Management and Politeness Strategies Used During a Conflict  (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Nora Stephens  - Intersectionality of Race/Ethnic and Gender Identities in Intergroup Dialogue (Mentor: Patricia Gurin)

Alvin Tan  -  Combining Competitive Situational Factors: N-Effect and Proximity to a Standard Interaction on Competitive Behavior (Mentor: Stephen Garcia)

Charity Tarn  - Organizations and Values: Examining Cross-Cultural Differences and Predicting Financial Performance (Mentor: Fiona Lee)

Rebecca Toback  - Effects of Identifying Strengths of Character on the Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy of Youth in an Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Palek Vani  - Understanding Young Children’s Error Processing: Connecting Brain and Behavior (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Yu Zhang  - The Influence of Donation Appeals on Emotions and Donation in American and Chinese Cultures (Mentor: Richard Gonzalez)

Brain, Behavior & Cognitive Science

Staci Aubry - Perspective Taking: Effect of Accessible Cultural Values on Cross-Cultural Differences. (Mentor: Daphna Oyserman)

Erica Heisel - Pain Processing in Women with Borderline Personality Disorder. (Mentors: Kent Berridge and Jon-Kar Zubieta)

Alexis Holman - Fear and Disgust: Brain Responses to Two Signals of Motivational Salience. (Mentors: Kihn Luan Phan and William Gehring)

Amanda Kleeman - Characterizing Febrile Seizure Susceptibility in Scn1b +/- Mice: A Model for Genetic Epilepsy with Febrile Seizures Plus . (Mentors: Lique Coolen and Lori Isom)

Kristin Kops - Delineating Sexual and Social Motivation in the Female Rat Using Operant Responding . (Mentors: Jill Becker and Jennifer Cummings)

Peter Kotvis - Effects of Acute Stress on Risk Taking in Financial Decision Making . (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

Ann Kraal - Slow-Wave Sleep Disruption and Emotional Memory in Major Depressive Disorder. (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Melissa Levoska - The Association between Coping Strategies and Physical Function Among Adults with Symptomatic Knee or Hip Osteoarthritis. (Mentors: Susan Murphy and Elizabeth Peckham)

Sariha Moyen - The Basal Ganglia and Beat Perception in Parkinson's Disease. (Mentor: Rachael Seidler)

Mei Lun Mui - Basic Visual Functioning and Eye Gaze Processing in Schizophrenia: Relationship with Symptoms and Social Functioning . (Mentor: Patricia Deldin)

Amy Olzmann - Problem Solving and Memory: Investigating the Solvability and Memorability of Remote Associates Problems. (Mentors: Patricia Reuter-Lorenz)

Krupa Patel - Oral Health Education and Dental Patients' Attitudes, Perceptions, and Behavior: A Person-Environmental Fit Analysis . (Mentor: Marita Inglehart)

Jessica Rampton - Allopregnanolone and its Effects on Mood Modulation and Regulation. (Mentor: Israel Liberzon)

Leslie Rubin - Health and Cognitive Framing: Individual Differences in Health Orientation. (Mentors: Stephanie Preston and R. Brent Stansfield)

Mary L Ryan - Neural encoding of incentive salience during cue-controlled cocaine self-administration. (Mentors: J Aldridge and Paul Meyer)

Teague Simoncic - Facebook Depression Revisited: The Absence of an Association between Facebook Use and Depressive Symptoms . (Mentor: Nestor Lopez-Duran)

David Springstead - Is Incentive Salience Dynamically Influenced by Satiation State? (Mentors: Kent Berridge)

Carly Stone - Maternal Sleep-Disordered Breathing During Pregnancy and the Development of Autism. (Mentors: Patricia Deldin)

Yasamean Zamani - The Effects of Prenatal Testosterone Exposure on the Sexual Differentiation of Feeding Patterns and Food Motivation in Suffolk Sheep. (Mentors: Theresa Lee and Elizabeth Peckham)

Rohit Abraham - Time-course of Motor Deficits in a Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease . (Mentor: Joshua Berke)

Katherine Adams - Linguistic Markers of Emotional Elaboration in the Past and the Present in Online Blogs. (Mentor: John Jonides)

Abram Davidov - Microdialysis Delivery of the Sedative/Hypnotic Eszopiclone to the Basal Forebrain Differentially Alters Acetylcholine Release in Lean/Fit (HCR) Rats and Obese/Metabolic Syndrome (LCR). (Mentors: Ralph Lydic and Kent Berridge)

Sarah Feenstra - Pain, Sleep, and Mood in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury. (Mentors: Claire Kalpakjian and Terry Robinson)

Michael Frank - Replacing Leptin in Leptin-Deficient Mice Restores the Antinociceptive Effects of an Adenosine A1 Receptor Agonist in the Pontine Reticular Formation. (Mentors: Helen Baghdoyan and Kent Berridge)

Yamini Jadcherla - The Effects of Postnatal Administration of Flutamide and Rosiglitazone on Mating Behavior in Suffolk Sheep with Prenatal Testosterone Treatment. (Mentors: Theresa Lee and Elizabeth Peckham)

Claire Meurice - Sex Differences in the Effects of Adolescent THC Exposure on Adult Rat Behaviors. (Mentors: Jill Becker and Emily Jutkiewicz)

Nolan O’Hara - ERN Sensitivity to Honest and Dishonest Self-Reports. (Mentor: Bill Gehring)

Andrea Plawecki - GABAergic Elicitation of Fear and Feeding Behaviors in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell are Dopamine Independent. (Mentor: Kent Berridge)

Zubin Sedghi - Examining Interactions between Kappa-Opioid Receptors and Dopaminergic Transmission in the Striatum of Socially Monogamous Prairie Voles . (Mentor: Brandon Aragona)

Romeissa Selmane - The Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation on Taste Reactivity in the Central Nucleus of the Amygdala. (Mentor: J Aldridge)

Elizabeth Anastasia - Associations Between Active and Passive Child Noncompliance Strategies with Externalizing Behavior, Effortful Control, and Parental Discipline. (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Anna Badalian - The N-effect and the Size of the Competitive Venue . (Mentors: Stephen Garcia)

Abby Bailin - Family Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Adolescent Suicidal Ideation: A Meditational Model. (Mentor: Cheryl King)

Gilad Berkowitz - The Effects of Social Media on High-Quality Relationships between Agents and Clients. (Mentor: Jane Dutton)

Rachel Brigell - Behavioral Outcomes for Caribbean Adolescents in an Aggression-Reducing Intervention in a Custodial Setting . (Mentor: Albert Cain)

Julia Briskin - Enabling Adaptive Social Support in a Virtual Setting: Recounting versus Re-Constructing Negative Experience. (Mentors: Oscar Ybarra)

Heather Burcham - " I Do" Want it All: Weddings, Materialism, and Marital Satisfaction . (Mentors: Norbert Schwarz)

Lauren Bush - Associations Between Sleep Measures and Neurobehavioral Functioning in Children. (Mentors: Bruno Giordani and Elise Hodges)

Xirui (Rae) Cao - Cultural Variations in Emotion Regulation Strategy: Investigation of Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP). (Mentor: Shinobu Kitayama)

Margaret Cease - The Presence of Memory: How Guided Attention Influences Recall and Recognition. (Mentor: Norbert Schwarz)

Camellia Das - African American Women and Friend Groups: The Association Between the Presence of White Friends, Body Dissatisfaction, and Disordered Eating Behaviors. (Mentor: Elizabeth Cole)

Leah Goldmann - Exploring the Social Relationship Between Cultural Mindset and Spatial Ability. (Mentor: Daphna Oyserman)

Aakash Gupta - Investigating Individual Differences in Decision-Making Styles. (Mentors: Thad Polk)

Nader Hakim - Sources of Information and Norms Regarding Sexual Issues Among Indian Male Young Adults. (Mentor: Rona Carter)

Heather Hennrick - Conjugation and Contagion: Effects of Verb Form on Judgments of Positive and Negative Contagion . (Mentor: Susan Gelman)

Abby Herringshaw - Predictors of Adjustment in College Students. (Mentor: Edward Chang)

Courtney Hsing - Alexithymia and Levels of Emotion Processing. (Mentor: Stephanie Preston)

Ka Ip - Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors of Children of Alcoholics in Heterogeneous Family Structures . (Mentors: Jennifer Jester and Robert Zucker)

Stephanie Kim - Sibling relationships, birth status, and personality: A qualitative study of Asian American College Students . (Mentor: Donna Nagata)

Dayana Kupisk - Busy Today, Better Tomorrow? Extracurriculars and Parent-child Relations as Protective Factors for Latino Adolescents . (Mentor: Rosario Ceballo)

Shaon Lahiri - Assessing the Associations between Treatment Modality and Client Characteristics on Treatment Outcome for Heroin Addiction through a Lagged Mediation Model. (Mentors: Amy Bohnert and Jennifer Myers)

Jill Mailing - Classroom Management and Self-Regulation: The Role of Teacher Perceptions in Shaping Outcomes. (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Kelsey Martin - The Existence of Implicit and Explicit Stereotypes about Unfemininity in STEM and the Effect of Feminine Role Models. (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Mara Minasian - Self-Distancing and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Homework Exercise: A Longitudinal Study Examining the Completion of Daily Worry Logs in the Third Person. (Mentor: Ethan Kross)

Leslie Monheit- How the Transition to College Affects School and Math Self Concept. (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Michael Moore - Believing that Gay Men are More Feminine than Straight Men: How Stereotype Threat and Identity Stability Affect Sexual Minority Men . (Mentor: Denise Sekaquaptewa)

Leslie Moreno - Father Involvement and Firstborn Adjustment to the Birth of a Sibling . (Mentor: Brenda Volling)

Lane Nesbitt - Jealousy and Competition: Imagined Partner Flirting Behavior Increases Testosterone in Partnered Women . (Mentor: Sari van Anders)

Ann Newberg - Individualized Instruction and Teachers' Perceptions of their Students Skills. (Mentor: Frederick Morrison)

Hannah Noah - Thinking About my Amazing (photos of) Vacation: On the Relationship between Cognition and Technology . (Mentors: Phoebe Ellsworth)

Devon Oosting - Effects of Child Behavior Problems on the Development of Preschoolers’ Sleep Problems: A Longitudinal Examination . (Mentors: Sheryl Olson and Barbara Felt)

Ashli Owens - Notes and Learning from Lecture . (Mentors: Kevin Miller and Kai Cortina)

Cassandra Pentzien - The Role of Cognitive Depletion from Playing Video Games in Promoting Aggression . (Mentor: L Huesmann)

Christopher Photiades - The Emotional and Pragmatic Life in Cities Under Pressure: Lessons Learned from an Ethnographic Study of Ferndale, Michigan . (Mentor: Phillip Creekmore)

Erica Podsiadly - Math Teachers’ Question-Fixation Patterns: Fair or Gender Biased?. (Mentor: Kevin Miller)

Amy Ransohoff - Examining the Relationship Between Cortical Thickness and Memory Abilities in Major Depressive Disorder. (Mentors: Scott Langenecker and Sara Wright)

Sara Schafrann - The Effect of Disruption on the Executive Functioning of Kindergartners with Typically and Atypically Developing Peers. (Mentors: Frederick Morrison)

Davia Steinberg - Desperately Seeking Support: Pregnant Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence. (Mentor: Sandra Graham-Bermann)

Emily Sterling - Family Perspectives on the Sibling Experience of Childhood Cancer. (Mentors: Brad Zebrack and Brenda Volling)

Steve Strycharz - Embodied Self: Using Embodied Processes to Examine the Dynamic Construction of the Self in Context. (Mentors: Daphna Oyserman)

Elise Wojewoda - Classroom Management Strategies and Executive Function Development: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between U.S. and Chinese Kindergarten Classrooms . (Mentors: Frederick Morrison)

Courtney Zulauf - Preschool Precursors of Children's Peer Rejection during the Late School-Age Years: The Roles of Early Aggressive Behavior and Harsh Parental Discipline . (Mentor: Sheryl Olson)

Samantha Ashinoff - Functional Connectivity in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders. (Mentor: C. Monk)

Priyang Baxi - Cross-Cultural Differences in Financial Risk-taking: India and the United States. (Mentors: P. Shah & R. Mahalingam)

Cyril Bennouna - Aspects of Executive Function in Bipolar I: Mood, Duration, and Age. ( Mentor: P. Deldin)

Anita Calwas - Psychophysiological Processing of Emotional and Self-Referential Information in Schizophrenia . (Mentor: P. Deldin)

Michelle Cardinal - Scaling of Chewing Rate Variables. (G. Gerstner)

Sara Chadwich - Reclaiming Sexual Deviance as Sexual Liberality: A Study of Attitudes, Behaviors, and Testosterone . (Mentor: S. Van Anders)

Megan Davis - Fathers’ Testosterone, Marital Quality, and Fathers’ Interactions with their 12-Month-Old Infants. (Mentor: B. Volling)

Aaron Garcia - NMDA Stimulation and AMPA Blockade in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell Generate Appetitive and Fearful Motivation . (Mentor: K.  Berridge)

Amanda Gehrke - Differential Performance of Children With and Without Cerebral Palsy on Graphomotor Cognitive Processing Speed Measures . (Mentors: J. Kaufman & J. Jonides)

Rachel German - Negative Transfer of Response Inhibition: Toward Selective Fatigue of a Non-unitary Executive. (Mentor: P. Reuter-Lorenz)

Matthew Gilles - Dissonance and Disgust: An Exploratory Analysis of Differences in Musical Liking under Negative Affect. (Mentor: R. Lewis)

Anson Kairys - The Effect of Pain on Attentional Processing. (Mentors: D. Meyer & J. Glass)

Sarah Leitman - Evaluating Behavioral and Genetic Markers of Reading Ability. (Mentor: T. Polk)

Nina Massad - Hot Cognition: Effects of Emotion on Interference Resolution in Working Memory. (Mentor: P. Reuter-Lorenz)

Bianca Moiseff - At the Rhythm of Language: Neural Bases of Language-Related Frequency Perception in Children . (Mentor: I. Kovelman)

Elana Mosesova - The Donation Dilemma: Differences in Giving Behavior When Primed with Negative and Positive Economy Factors and a Working Memory Load. (Mentors: P. Shah & S. Preston)

Ana Orejuela - White Matter in Pediatric Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: a Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study. (Mentors: S. Perkins & I. Liberzon)

Jory Piglowski - The effects of male eyelid openness on perceptions of mating strategy: Ladies and gentleman, beware of the squinty-eyed guy! (Mentors: D. Kruger & D. Sekaquaptewa)

Andy Pollens - Investigating the Attentional Impairments in the Sign-Tracker: Implications for ADHD and Drug Addiction. (Mentor: T. Robinson)

Joshua Prasad - The Effects of Psychological Distancing on Working Memory Function. (Mentor: E. Kross)

Rachel Proudfoot - Eye Movements During Motivational Argument Processing . (Mentor: J. Boland)

Chelsea Schoen - The Effects of Continuous Deep Brain Stimulation on Food Consumption in Basal Forebrain Structures that Support Self-Stimulation. (Mentors: J.W. Aldridge & S. Ross)

Maria Tocco - Emotional Telescoping: Distorted Memories and Predictions of Emotional Intensity for the Events of 9/11 . (Mentor: C. Lustig)

Caitlin Vander Weele - Real-time Dopamine Transmission within the Nucleus Accumbens Core and Shell Following Morphine. (Mentor: B. Aragona)

David Bushart - Neostriatal Dopamine Modulates Motivation: Incentive Salience Generation in the Neostriatum . (Mentor: K. Berridge)

Benjamin Fensterheim - Selective Suppression of Striatal Fast Spiking Interneurons in Vivo. (Mentor: J. Berke)

Kate Gilliam - Prenatal Bisphenol-A Alters Response to Novelty In the Environment in Suffolk Sheep. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Samantha Greenberg - Effects of Social Research Methodology on Cortisol and Testosterone . (Mentors: S. Van Anders & T. Lee)

Caely Hambro - Interactions between the Dopamine and the Dynorphin/Kappa Opioid Receptor System Regulate both Positive and Negative Social Behavior in Prairie Voles. (Mentor: B. Aragona)

Morgan Kuhnmuench - Mesolimbic Dopamine and Opioid Interactions in the Regulation of Pair Bond Maintenance in the Socially Monogamous Prairie Vole. (Mentor: B. Aragona)

Mary Larijani - Investigating the Dynamic Properties of Reward Processing: A Shift in Incentive Motivation Converts an Aversive Salt Cue into an Appetitive Motivational Magnet . (Mentor: K. Berridge)

Stephanie Lazar - Systemic Administration of Dexmedetomidine Disrupts Sleep Architecture and Does Not Decrease Adenosine Levels in the Substantia Innominata of the Sprague-Dawley Rat. (Mentors: R. Lydic & K. Berridge)

Pei-Hsuan (Patricia) Lee - Examination of Novelty-Seeking Behavior in Selectively-Bred Rat Lines that Differ in Addiction Liability. (Mentors: S. Flagel & T. Robinson)

Caitlin Mallory - Sustained Attention and Associated Acetylcholine Release in Choline High-Affinity Transporter Hemizygous Mice. (Mentor: M. Sarter)

Tori Nault - Determining the Relevance of Single Prolonged Stressors in Altering Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression in the Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus. (Mentors: I. Liberzon & J.W. Aldridge)

Melanie Sottile - Dopaminergic Effects on Temporal Processing in Parkinson‟s Disease: A Pharmacological and Genetics Approach. (Mentor: R. Seidler)

Maria Tecos - Neurocognitive Effects of Resolving Interference for People Suffering from Bipolar Disorder . (J. Jonides)

Adam Weiner - Effect of Prenatal Testosterone Treatment on Novelty-seeking Behavior in Sheep . (Mentor: T. Lee)

Josephine Au - A Longitudinal Study Examining the Role of Social Connectedness in the Course of Depressive Symptoms: An Evaluation of Transfer and Freshman Students . (Mentor: N. Park)

Stephen Behan - Third Places and Subjective Well-Being Among College Students. (Mentors: C. Peterson & N. Park)

Katherine Billerbeck - The Development of Intersectional Awareness in Youth Dialogues. (Mentor: R. Mahalingam)

Amanda Broderick - Changes in Maternal Representations of the Mother-Child Relationship: Evaluating a Parenting Intervention Study.(Mentors: M Muzik & K. Rosenblum)

Sara Burke - Stigmatized Sources and Stigmatized Content: Liberals and Conservatives React Differently to Fat Authors . (Mentor: T. Conley)

Corissa Carlson - The Effects of Reality Television on Social Relationships in Adolescence. (Mentor: L Ward)

Zachary Ciullo - Move Your Mood: Effects on Functioning for Adolescents with Depression . (Mentors: D. Richard & C. King)

Sarah Cremer - Cluster Analysis of Eating Disorder Behaviors using EMA Technology: A Secondary Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trial Data . (Mentors: K. Stein & D. Oyserman)

Riordan D'Lasnow - High and Low Inference Test of the Teacher Gender Attention Bias Hypothesis . (Mentors: K. Cortina & K. Miller)

Veronica Diaz - Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Deactivation as Predictor of Depressive Symptoms in College Students. (Mentor: N. Lopez-Duran)

Alanna Farber - Psychological Resiliency in Parentally Bereaved Children. (Mentor: J. Kaplow)

Michael Fialkoff - Depression and Creative Intelligence . (Mentor: R. Nisbett)

Laura Gabriel - To Go or Not to Go? Differential Activation during Response Inhibition in Major Depressive Disorder . (Mentor: S. Langenecker)

Maria Galano - Predicting Shelter Residence for Women Experiencing Recent Intimate Partner Violence. (Mentor: S. Graham-Bermann)

Alex Goldberg - Effects of a Self-Distancing Perspective on the Fundamental Attribution Error: An Attempt at De-Biasing. (Mentor: E. Kross)

Allison Gollub - Images of Identity-Congruent Action and Their Effects on Women's Possible Selves. (Mentor: D. Oyserman)

Sichen Gong - For Myself or For My Friend? Cultural Modulation of Error-Related Negativity (ERN) in Decision Making. (Mentor: S. Kitayama)

Kathleen Hlavaty - Adolescent Positive and Negative Behavior and the impact on the Transition to Adulthood. (Mentor: P. Davis-Kean)

Susannah Hope - Relationships Between Race, Generativity, Activist Identification, and Activism for Midlife Women . (Mentor: A. Stewart)

Kristin Houck - An Examination of Gender Differences in the Development of Spontaneous Language Measured by the Observation of Spontaneous Expressive Language (OSEL). (Mentor: C. Lord)

Ching Hung - Clutter in the Classroom: Distracting Effects on Novice and Experienced Teachers. (Mentors: K. Miller & K. Cortina)

Mengyin Jiang - Cultural Differences in Emotion-Regulation: Investigation of Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP). (Mentors: S. Kitayama & A. Murata)

Rebeca Kelly - Ultrasonic Vocalizations as a Behavioral Index of Cocaine-induced Contextual Conditioning in STs vs. GTs: Implications for Addiction. (Mentor: T. Robinson)

Jungsoo Kim - Parents’/Guardians’ Presence in the Operatory During their Child’s Dental Visit: A Person-Environmental Fit Analysis. (Mentor: M. Inglehart)

Tae Kim - Promoting Conceptually Sound Thinking (CST) About ADHD: An Empirical Survey. (Mentor: J. Hansell)

Heather Krieger - Conversations About Drinking. (Mentor: P. Davis-Kean)

Jocelyn Kuhn - World Language Learning and Cultural Beliefs Among Elementary Students. (Mentors: S. Gelman & M. Cooligan)

Tao Li - The Impact of Group Membership and Belief Similarity on Alexithymia and Aggression. (Mentor: S. Konrath)

Natalie Lin - Understanding the Link between Perfectionism and Adjustment in College Students: Examining the Role of Maximizing . (Mentor: E. Chang)

Madeline Lupei - Two Types of Disgust: Physical Disgust is to Fear as Moral Disgust is to Anger . (Mentor: P. Ellsworth)

Nazanin Maghsoodi - The Rey Complex Figure is Moderately Useful as a Screen for Poor Effort Among Veterans with Possible Mild Traumatic Brain Injury . (Mentor: L. Bieliauskas)

Alyson Makstein - Relationship Attachment Styles and Attachment to Food. (Mentor: P. Davis-Kean)

Elan Mendelowitz - Experiences with Bullying: Socio-emotional Predictors of Cyberbullying and Cyber-victimization. (Mentor: L. Huesmann)

Crosby Modrowski - Comparing Traumatic Symptoms at Home and in Therapy for Preschoolers Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) . (Mentor: S. Graham-Bermann)

Mira Mooreville - Maternal Warmth and Child Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: A Longitudinal Study of Risk Specificity. (Mentor: S. Olson)

Aesha Mustafa -Students’ Awakening to Privilege, Oppression, Discrimination, and Social Justice: A Quantitative Analysis of Students’ Engagement with Diverse Communities. (Mentor: L. Gutierrez)

Annalyn Ng Li-ting - Quantity vs. Quality: Individual Differences in Capacity and Resolution of Visual Working Memory . (Mentor: P. Shah)

Wai Ngan - A Cross-Cultural study of the Relations between Kindergarteners’ Skills And the Teachers’ Directional Language . (Mentor: F. Morrison)

Shardae Osuna - Intercultural Competency: An Assessment of International/U.S. Intergroup Dialogues at the University of Michigan. (Mentors: P. Gurin & J. Yim)

Yiwen Pan - Determinants of Discrimination Against Asians: Social Stereotypes and Perceived Communication Ease. (Mentor: D. Sekaquaptewa)

Jazmine Powell - Gender Effect of Parent-Child Relationships on Parental Health. (Mentor: T. Antonucci)

Jacqueline Rau - Promoting Emotion Regulation during a Current Stressful Task through Self-Distancing. (Mentor: E. Kross)

Jillian Rosati - Mom Power Intervention: Effectiveness at Increasing Maternal Sensitivity among High Risk Mother-Child Dyads . (Mentors: M. Muzik & K. Rosenblum)

Chelsea Samples-Steele - Adult Attachment as a Predictor of Touch Attitudes and Touch Behavior in Romantic Relationships . (Mentor: R. Edelstein)

Stephanie Schroder - Delinquency With and Without Substance Use: Examining the Heterogeneity of Delinquency in Adolescents. (Mentor: J. Schulenberg)

Elisha Shaw - I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair:” Wiping Away the Negative Affect Evoked by Recalling Bad Relationships. (Mentor: N. Schwarz)

Helene Simons - The Impact of Family History of Alcoholism and Depression on Sleep. (Mentors: D. Conroy & P. Deldin)

Christina Steinman - Mandarin- and English-learning Infants’ Self-Correction During Noun and Verb Matching: Implications for early word comprehension . (Mentor: T. Tardif)

Jennifer Sun - Social Integration is Associated with Influenza Vaccination in a Nationally Representative Sample of Older US Adults. (Mentors: C. Peterson & N. Park)

Rachel Throop - The Effects of Health and Marital Support on Subjective Well-being in Midlife and Old Age . (Mentor: J. Smith)

Lauren Tighe - Intergenerational Ambivalence from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Implications for Well-being . (Mentors: K. Birditt & T. Antonucci)

Jaclyn Vansloten - Attachment Orientation and Leadership Style: From Child’s Play to Partnerships with the Person Upstairs . (Mentor: F. Lee)

Xiao Wang - Through Teachers’ Eyes: Teacher Attention During U.S. Elementary Literacy and Mathematics Lessons. (Mentors: K. Miller & K. Cortina)

Kristen Williams - Using What You Know: The Effects of Genital Knowledge and Sexual Subjectivity on Orgasm Frequency in Women. (Mentor: S. McClelland)

Alexandra Wills - The Effects of Maternal Depression and Inter-Parental Conflict on Children’s Externalizing Disorders Over Time. (Mentor: S. Olson)

Karen Wullaert - Harassment in the Workplace: Factors Relating to Discrimination in Organizations. (Mentor: L. Cortina)

Cynthia Yuen - A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Chinese and American Parental Attributions of Child Misbehavior, Discipline Strategies, and Children’s Behavioral Adjustment . (Mentor: S. Olson)

Stephen Zavitz - Adults’ Understanding of Extraordinary Mental, Perceptual, and Physical Capacities . (Mentor: E. Evans)

Brain, Behavior & Cognitive  Science

Amna Agha - The Expression of BDNF is Regulated by an Endogenous Circadian Rhythm in Rats. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Bryan Benson - Improving Motor Learning: The Effects of Rest Breaks and Mode of Instruction. (Mentor: R. Seidler)

Erin Cable - Prenatal Testosterone Masculinizes Auditory Sibling Recognition in Juvenile Sheep. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Anna Chase - The Relationship between Cardiovascular Health and Memory in Midlife and Old Age. (Mentor: J. Smith)

Li Hui Chiang - Effects of Beta-blockers on Memory in Veterans at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Hospital . (Mentor: L. Bieliauskas)

Kathleen Darbor - Individual Differences in Creativity: How Different Processes and Mind-Wandering Influence Performance . (Mentor: P. Shah)

Nika George - Demographic Characteristics Associated with Depression Severity, Suicidal Ideation and Treatment Engagement During Pregnancy . (Mentor: H. Flynn)

Christina Hong - Error-Related Brain Activity in Anxiety Disorders: The Hyperactivity of the ERN . (Mentor: W. Gehring)

Natalie Hsiao Fang-Yen - The Effect of Spaced versus Massed Practice in Musical Skill Acquisition. (Mentor: T. Polk)

Shayna Liberman - Applying the Challenge Hypothesis to Wild, Adult Male Chacma Baboons (Papio ursinus) . (Mentor: J. Beehner)

Irene Liu - Individual Differences in Working Memory and Susceptibility to Distractor Nouns in Subject-Verb Agreement. (Mentor: J. Boland)

Amanda Markowitz - Factors that Affect Taxonomic versus Thematic Preferences in Children and Adults: The Role of Manipulability . (Mentor: S. Gelman)

Kortni Meyers - The Influence of Depression and Diabetes on Cognitive Function in Older Adults. (Mentors: E. Hodges & B. Giordani)

Kelly Reina - Neophilia in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus) . (Mentor: B. Smuts)

Andrew Rosenberg - Effects of G93A-SOD1 Expression on Zebrafish Motor Neuron Development and Efficacy of IGF-I. (Mentors: E. Feldman & R. Roth)

Surya Sabhapathy - Contributions of Genetic Variation in CHT1 to Human Attention. (Mentor: C. Lustig)

Alexandra Seal - Desire for Control, Experienced Control and Dental Fear: A Quasi-Experimental Investigation. (Mentor: M. Inglehart)

William Stone - Neural Circuitry Responsible for Regulation and Control of Self-directed Attention and Decision Making. (Mentors: C. Sripada & I. Liberzon)

Brittany Strawman - Amphetamine-Enhanced Sensation Seeking and Its Neural Correlates in the Ventral Pallidum . (Mentor: J. W. Aldridge)

Kathryn Swanson - The Impact of Narcotics on Cognitive Functioning in Patients at the Ann Arbor VA. (Mentor: L. Bieliauskas)

Alexander Taylor - Genetics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Vulnerability through the Endophenotype of Neuroticism. (Mentors: I. Liberzon & A. King)

Halle Zucker - Multiple Memory Systems?: Serial Position Dependent False Memory Effects . (Mentor: P. Reuter-Lorenz)

Joseph Domino - Individual Differences in the Ability of a Nicotine Cue to Acquire Incentive Value. (Mentor: T. Robinson)

Pe-feng Hsieh - Comparison of the Endocannabinoid and Orexin Hedonic Hotspots for Sensory Pleasure in the Ventral Pallidum . (Mentor: K. Berridge)

Syed Shabbir - Effect of Pregabalin on Diabetic Chronic Neuropathic Pain. (Mentor: P. Paulson)

Melissa Tan - Maternal Separation as an Early Life Stressor and Its Effects on the Regulation of HPA Axis Function and Noradrenergic Activity in Rats Exposed to Single Prolonged Stress. (Mentor: I. Liberzon)

Riti Trivedi - Does Handedness Affect Interhemispheric Interactions? A Lifespan Approach. (Mentor: R. Seidler)

Mary Winters - Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: Glucose Effects on Attention and Memory. (Mentor: C. Lustig)

Andrew Wisti - The Effects of Musical Training on Bimanual Control and Interhemispheric Transfer . (Mentor: R. Seidler)

Naomi Anest - Depression, Rumination and Sleep Disturbance. (Mentor: P. Deldin)

Steven Bengal - Implicit Egotism and Decision Complexity. (Mentor: N. Schwarz)

Samuel Boas - The Effects of Social Exclusion on Attention to Vocal Tone As Measured by Event-Related Potentials . (Mentor: S. Kitayama)

Leah Boepple - The Effect of Emotion on Response Inhibition and Cognitive Flexibility in Bipolar I Disorder. (Mentor: P. Deldin)

Kevin Callender - The Effects of Parental Depression, Cognitions, and Discipline on Later Child Externalizing Behavior . (Mentors: S. Olson & C. King)

Kimberly Canter - Childhood Knowledge of Recovery from Serious and Non-Serious Illness . (Mentor: S. Gelman)

Lana Castor - The Impact of Additional Traumatic Events on Trauma Symptoms and PTSD in Preschool-Aged Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) . (Mentor: S. Graham-Bermann)

Patricia Chen - Yin and Yang Theory of Competition: Social Comparison and Evaluation Apprehension Reciprocally Drive Competitive Motivation. (Mentor: S. Garcia)

Jaeyeon Chung - Nationalism and Antagonism: Koreans' Purchasing Behavior towards Japanese Products . (Mentor: C. Yoon)

Andrew Fayad - The Impact of Service Climate on Promotion- and Prevention-Based Proactivity, and the Moderating Role of Individual Differences. (Mentors: G. Spreitzer & F. Lee)

Allison Fifolt - Masculinity and the Body: Body Image among White and Asian American Men. (Mentor: E. Cole)

Kate Gasparrini - Language in Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Examination of the Observation Scale of Expressive Language. (Mentor: C. Lord)

Brennan Haase - Why Are You Mad at Me? Misperception of Negative Emotions as Angry in Major Depressive Disorder. (Mentor: S. Langenecker)

Michelle Hampton - Religion, Activism, Identity and the Global Feminisms Project: A Qualitative Study of a Paradoxical Relationship. (Mentor: A. Stewart)

Jenna Hedglen - A Developmental Study of Asymmetry in Generic Meaning. (Mentor: S. Gelman)

Adam Horwitz - Coping Styles and their Relation to Depression and Suicide Ideation in Adolescents. (Mentor: C. King)

Minzheng Hou - The Nail That Stands Out Gets Pounded Down: An Analysis of Inter and Intragroup Aggression. (Mentor: S. Konrath)

Jean Kim - The Conceptualization and Assessment of the Perceived Consequences of Perfectionism. (Mentor: E. Chang)

Ryan Leclerc - Malcolm X and the Hajj: A Change in Tamed Power . (Mentor: D. Winter)

Sarah Linden - The Effects of Dyadic Social Withdrawal On Parent-Child Relationships. (Mentor: T. Conley)

Stacey McGregor - The Analysis of Personality through Language: Narcissism Predicts use of Shame-Related Words in Narratives . (Mentor: R. Edelstein)

Lolita Moss - Still in the Shadows: Representations of Black Women in Film. (Mentor: L. M. Ward)

Fiona Nowlin - Getting Beyond a Negative First Impression: Thin-Slice Judgments of Teacher Personality . (Mentor: K. Miller)

Lauren Oglevee - Locus of Control, Interpersonal Trust, and Self-Construal: Psychological Correlates of Pro-Environmental Behaviors. (Mentor: F. Yates)

Shannon Olinyk - Relationship between Body Mass Index and Depressive Symptoms. (Mentors: N. Lopez-Duran & J. Sapala)

Kathryn Osher - Sibling Jealousy as Observed in a Triadic Family Context . (Mentor: B. Volling)

Shira Oyserman - Does the Weather of the Day Influence Sentencing Lengths in Judicial Proceedings? (Mentors: J.J. Prescott & F. Yates)

David Reinhard - The Influence of Weight Cues on Product Perceptions. (Mentor: N. Schwarz)

Patricia Richardson - Infant Temperament and Perceived Parenting: Predicting Child Behavioral Outcomes at 18 months. (Mentors: M. Muzik & K. Rosenblum)

Michael Rudowski - Exploring the Effects of Brooding Rumination as a Mediator in the Relationship between Positive and Negative Perfectionism and Depressive Symptoms in a Clinical Population. (Mentor: P. Deldin)

Kirsten Schohl - Does Spousal Support Modify the Link between Psychopathology and Maternal Behavior in Mothers with Childhood Trauma? (Mentor: M. Muzik)

Alayna Schreier - Sibling interactions: The role of older siblings in the social and communication development of children with autism spectrum disorders. (Mentor: C. Lord)

Chelsea Slater - Do Gender Incongruent Careers Adversely Influence Criminal Punishment Assessment? (Mentor: P. Ellsworth)

Ryan Stringer - A Life Course Perspective on Depression after Age 50: The Role of Lifetime Traumatic Events, Negative Interpersonal Relationships, and Chronic Stressors. (Mentor: J. Smith)

Amy Taub - Parental Demand for Precision in Their Preschool Children’s Letter Writing. (Mentor: F. Morrison)

Derek Towster - F Juries! Validating an Abbreviated Pretrial Juror Attitude Questionnaire. (Mentor: D. Winter)

William Tsai - Examining the Relations Between Rumination and Adjustment: A Focus on Ethnicity. (Mentor: E. Chang)

Randy Vander Molen – A Content Analysis of Character Strengths and Affective States in Military Leaders. (Mentor: C. Peterson)

Elvina Wardjiman - Daily Interpersonal Tensions and Salivary Cortisol: The Role of Personality. (Mentors: K. Birditt & T. Antonucci)

Suzannah Wisher-Love - Prenatal and Postnatal Depression and PTSD in Mothers Surviving Trauma. (Mentor: K. Rosenblum)

Ashish Chaddha – Effects of Heat Shock Protein on Amyloid Precursor Protein Catabolism. (Mentors: I. Saluja & R. Turner)

Alayna Czuj - Dopamine Blockade by α-Flupenthixol and Its Effects on the Acquisition and Expression of Incentive Salience. (Mentor: T. Robinson)

Aaron Ducoffe - Effects of Geographic Origin and Health Status on Agonistic Behavior of Aegean Wall Lizards. (Mentors: J. Foutopoulos & J. Beehner)

Daniel Kessler - Predictive Reliability of the Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua) Communicative Developmental Inventories Across Early Performance-Based Strata. (Mentor: T. Tardif)

Andrea King – Changes in Circadian Rhythms During Puberty in Rattus norvegicus: Developmental Time Course & Gonadal Dependency. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Nikhil Kurapati - Functional Connectivity in Youth at Risk for Depression . (Mentor: C. Monk)

Katherine Martin - Phonological and Working Memory and L2 Grammar Learning . (Mentor: N. Ellis)

Emily Sallen - False Working Memories: Comparison Between Semantic and Phonological Distortions.  (Mentor: P. Reuter-Lorenz)

Michael-Paul Schallmo - Papez Circuit Activation Observed with Functional Imaging During Semantic List Learning in Healthy Adults. (Mentor: S. Langenecker)

Shane Schwikert - The Effect of Ambiguous Stimuli on the Error Signal in ERP . (Mentor: W. Gehring)

Ryan Selleck - Increase in Conditioned Place Preference and Feeding After Mu-opioid Activation in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis . (Mentor: K. Berridge)

Belinda Shih - The Effect of Prenatal Testosterone Exposure on Maternal and Sibling Vocal Recognition in Lambs. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Alexis Thompson - Unaware vs. Aware Errors: An Anti-Saccade Feedback Task. (Mentor: W. Gehring)

Wai-Ying Yau - Brain Imaging and Injury. (Mentors: M. Heitzeg & J. Zubieta)

David Altshuler - Cry2 Expression in the Cortex and Suprachiasmatic Nucleus During Puberty in Octodon degus. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Lauren Dayton -The Effects of Iron Deficiency at Infancy on Working Memory Among Preadolescents. (Mentor: C. Monk)

Casey Lwo - Effects of RFRP-3 on Luteinizing Surge and Sex Behavior in Female Rats. (Mentors: T. Lee & E. Peckham)

Katherine MacDuffie - Investigating Working Memory Distortions in Alzheimer’s Disease. (Mentor: P. Reuter-Lorenz)

Alexander Wiltschko - Opposing Effects of Amphetamine and Eticlopride on Striatal Fast-Spiking Interneuron Firing . (Mentor: J. Berke)

Emily Arnstein - Associations Between Corporal Punishment and Behavioral Adjustment in Preschool-Aged Boys and Girls. (Mentor: S. Olson)

Brittany Branand - Parental Involvement and College Academic Achievement: Parental Support, Parent-Student Relationship, and Effort. (Mentor: J. Hagen)

Kathleen Bruder – Quantitative Assessment of Autistic Symptomatology by Parents and Teachers Using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). (Mentors: C. Lord & S. Risi)

Pooja Desai - Sign-Tracking and Its Relation to Food-Carrying Behaviors. (Mentor: T. Robinson)

Alex Dopp - Peer Support and Emotional Adjustment of Bereaved Children Over Time. (Mentor: A. Cain)

Elizabeth Dries - Multinationalism and Performance: Does Multinational Experience Predict Competence? (Mentor: F. Lee)

Samantha Drotar - The Effects of One’s Sub-Group Identity on the Formation of a Common In-Group Identity. (Mentor: R. Gonzalez)

Michele Dunsky - How Much is Too Much? Investigating When Very High Parental Monitoring Levels Hinder Adolescent Development. (Mentor: J. Schulenberg)

Tracy Ederer - Revealing Individual Differences in Decision-Making Behavior. (Mentor: T. Polk)

Daniel Ehrmann - Sleep-Disordered Breathing, Physiological Sequelae, and the Neurobiological Relationship with Psychopathology . (Mentor: P. Deldin)

Michael Finn - Personality Traits and Relapse Rates: A Survival Analysis. (Mentors: J. Hansell & E. Robinson)

Kayla Frick - Parenting and Child Mental Health: The Role of Openness in Internationally Adoptive Families . (Mentors: K. Freeark-Zucker & K. Rosenblum)

Jamarie Geller - The Implicit Self: Comparing the Effects of Self-Kindness and Self-Criticism Priming on Symptoms of Depression. (Mentor: E. Kross)

Hannah Goldman - The Home Advantage in Elite-Level Ice Hockey. (Mentor: T. George)

Whitney Hall - Police Interrogations: A Qualitative Analysis of Police Practices. (Mentor: P. Ellsworth)

Jennifer Hartsell - Compassionate and Self-Image Goals as Predictors for Problem Discussions in Romantic Relationships . (Mentors: A. Canevello & J. Crocker)

Kathleen Hazlett - The Role of Perfectionism in Maladjustment: Cause, Consequence, or Covariate? (Mentor: E. Chang)

Laura Hieber - Early Auditory Sensory Processing Deficits in Schizophrenia. (Mentor: P. Deldin)

Ryan Hill - Predicting Continued Elevated Suicide Risk Among Adolescents. (Mentor: C. King)

Avanti Jangalapalli - Children of Alcoholics’ Physical Health Outcomes in Early Childhood. (Mentors: A. Buu & R. Zucker)

Sara Johnson-Cardona - Gender Ideologies, Paternal Involvement, Martial Relationship Quality, and Infant Attachment: Exploring Dynamics in Couples Expecting a Second Child. (Mentor: B. Volling)

Rachel Kay - Maternal Stress and Infant Outcomes: The Impact of Perinatal Anxiety on Pregnancy and Delivery Outcomes . (Mentor: H. Flynn)

Calli-Ev Kosch - Promoting Postpartum Resilience in the Face of Childhood Trauma: The Roles of Individuals and Social Traits . (Mentor: M. Muzik)

Jean Kwek - The Contribution of Activity Experience to Self-Regulation Development in Preschoolers. (Mentor: F. Morrison)

Jennifer LaCosse - Mortality Salience, Self-Regulation and Two Types of Self-Affirmation. (Mentor: J. Crocker)

Celia Li - Teacher Reactive Disciplinary Language and Preschool Math and Literacy Skills . (Mentor: F. Morrison)

Yee Lam Li - Content and Organization of the Self-Concept as Potential Moderators of the Effects of the Media on Body Dissatisfactio n. (Mentors: K. Stein & L. M. Ward)

Kristin Mannella - Fire at Will: Empathy and Aggression in First Person Shooters. (Mentor: B. Bushman)

Jennifer Morack - Do Positive Perceptions of Aging Influence Well-Being in Older Adults? Findings from the Health and Retirement Study. (Mentor: J. Smith)

Erica Ranade - The Relations Between Young Children’s Understanding of Theory of Mind and Their Understanding of Expected and Unexpected Human Behaviors. (Mentors: M. Rhodes & H. Wellman)

Katherine Rice - The Effects of Motivation on Racial Differences in Elementary Cognitive Tasks. (Mentor: R. Nisbett)

Andria Robinson - Motivation and Learning Strategies of First-Generation and Nonfirst-Generation College Students. (Mentor: W. McKeachie)

Marjorie Shapiro - Parental Education Level: Academic Involvement and Success. (Mentor: J. Hagen)

Puneet Sodhi - The Effects of Associative Strength on False Working Memory. (Mentor: P. Reuter-Lorenz)

Nora Jean Sporn - The Effects of Sex Object, Thin-Ideal, and Body Part Images on Women’s Body Image. (Mentor: L. M. Ward)

Kavita Srivastava - Conceptualization and Development of the Appearance Perfectionism Scale: Preliminary Evidence for Validity and Utility in a College Student Population. (Mentor: E. Chang)

Jenna Stein - Relationships Between Body Modifications, Motivations, and Depression. (Mentor: J. Hansell)

Toby Steinberg - Children with Disorganized Attachment in Foster Care: Facilitating Caregiver Commitment and Psychological Availability. (Mentor: J. Ribaudo)

Alyson Sularz – The Contributions of Additional Traumatic Events to Trauma Symptoms and PTSD in Women Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). (Mentor: S. Graham-Bermann)

Kelsie Thelen - Relations Between Maternal and Paternal Parenting Behaviors and Internalizing Symptoms in 3-year old Girls. (Mentor: S. Olson)

Abigail Van Bremen - Winner Take All Disputes in Legal Contexts: When Social Categories Disrupt Procedural Justice. (Mentor: S. Garcia)

Akshaya Varghese - Cultural Variation in Response to Strategic Display of Emotions During Negotiations: Comparing South Asians to North Americans. (Mentor: S. Kopelman)

Clare Wrobel - Facilitator Involvement in Fostering an Effective Intergroup Dialogue. (Mentor: P. Gurin)

Laura Yocky - Coparenting, Temperament, and Emotional Understanding: Mediating and Moderating Models Leading to the Development of Children’s Behavior Problems. (Mentor: B. Volling

Aaron Baugh - Oscine and Non-Oscine Responses to Sciurid Carolinensis Vocalizations. (Mentor: T. Bergman)

Patrick Bissett - Overcoming Interference in Memory and Responding. (Mentor: J. Jonides)

Stephen Chang - Stress and Reward: The Effects of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor on Cue-Triggered "Wanting" for Sucrose Reward. (Mentor: K. Berridge)

Alyse DeHaan - Exogenous Prenatal Androgen Exposure Alters the Development of Rank in Male and Female Suffolk Lambs. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Charlotte Gamble - Maternal Malaria and Birth Outcomes: Findings from Ghana. (Mentors: T. Lee & T. Johnson)

Lindsey Harik - Cognitive Deficits Associated with Anticholinergic Medications in Veterans at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Hospital. (Mentor: L. Bieliauskas)

Katherine Kudyba - Psychopathology and HPA Axis Functioning in Postpartum Women Who Experience Childhood Maltreatment. (Mentors: K. Rosenblum & M. Muzik)

Atasi Satpathy - Risky Business: Differences in Financial Risk-Taking Behavior in South Asian Indians, Indian Americans, and Caucasian Americans. (Mentor: P. Shah & R. Mahalingam)

Cortney Sera - Ambiguity Resolution Using Visual Imagery for Linguistic Processing of Homographs. (Mentors: R. Lewis & J. Boland)

Jessica Koch - The Per1 Response to Light within the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus of the Diurnal Octodon Degus and the Nocturnal Rat. (Mentor: T. Lee)

Ian McLachlan - Reducing the Resistance of Recent Fear to Extinction: A Pharmacological Approach. (Mentor: S. Maren)

Sarah Na - The Extended Amygdala Modulates Food Intake and Other Associated Behaviors. (Mentor: K. Berridge)

John Wang - Neuroanatomy of Decision Making About Everyday Objects. (Mentor: S. Preston)

Sarah Williams - Cortical High Affinity Choline Uptake during Challenged Attentional Performance. (Mentor: M. Sarter)

Genevieve Aidala - Analyzing Messages About Alcohol, Motivations to Drink, and Associated Risky Behaviors. (Mentor: L.M. Ward)

Sarah Banco - Qualities of the Sibling Relationship as Risk Factors for Child Adjustment in Homes with Interpersonal Violence. (Mentor: S. Graham-Bermann)

Stephanie Becker - Marriage and Emotional Expressivity in Men and Women. (Mentor: B. Volling)

Emily Bendikas - Nature and Extent of Parental Control & Its Association with Preschool Self-Regulation. (Mentors: F. Morrison & L. Skibbe)

Stella Binkevich - The Gap in Media Usage Knowledge Between Parents and Their Children. (Mentor: B. Bushman)

Marguerite Bodem - Optimism-Pessimism and Adjustment in College Students: An Investigation of the Validity and Utility of a Domain-Specific Model of Outcome Expectancies. (Mentor: E. Chang)

Andrew Bronstein - Utilizing Diversity in College Classrooms for Educational Benefit: Student Development in Intergroup Dialogue. (Mentor: P. Gurin)

Lauren Clevenger - The Relationship of Sexual Abuse and Pain in Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain: The Mediating Role of Pain Catastrophizing. (Mentor: R. Roth)

Ciaran Considine - Unpredictability and Paranoia: The Desire to Be Unknown. (Mentor: N. Schwarz)

Mallory Cooper - The Influence of Marital Satisfaction on Paternal Involvement and Secure Attachment in Toddlers. (Mentor: B. Volling)

Daniel Davis - Cognitive Impairment in Male Incarcerated Youth. (Mentor: S. Graham-Bermann)

Belinda Feng - Asian Values Communication and Perceptions of Intergenerational Family Conflict Among Asian American College Students. (Mentor: D. Nagata)

Kristin France - Body Image, Body Composition, and Sociosexuality. (Mentor: R. Nesse)

Neisi Garcia - Individual Differences in Counterfactual Thinking and Training Effects: Implications for Jury Decision-Making. (Mentor: P. Shah)

Kristin Garrison - Expertise and Competency in Clinical Medicine: Knowing When to Stop. (Mentor: C. Seifert)

Laura Girz - The Relationship Between Parenting Practices and Attitudes Toward Dating Violence for Asian American and White College Students. (Mentor: P. Akutsu)

Rebecca Grzadzinski - Attachment Behaviors in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Examination of Factors Associated with Separation and Reunion. (Mentor: C. Lord)

Chanel Harris - Multicultural Content Resources in the Classroom: A Comparison and Analysis of the United States and Canada. (Mentor: L. Gutierrez)

Nicole Hermann - The Perception and Function of Perfectionism in a College Student Population: Do Lay Theories Correspond with Scientific Models? (Mentor: E. Chang)

Rachael Herrmann - Examination of Goals to Reduce Stereotype Threat on Women’s Math Performance. (Mentors: J. Crocker & Y. Niiya)

Todd Hoffman - Measuring the Extent and Nature of Variation in Storytelling Skills in 3 to 6 Year Old Children. (Mentor: F. Morrison)

Megan Hoffmann - Instructional Impacts on Literacy and Language Skills in Kindergarten and First Grade. (Mentors: F. Morrison & L. Skibbe)

Brynne Janeway - The Role of Children’s Temperament for Sibling Relationships and Empathy Development. (Mentor: B. Volling)

Karen Kao - Gender Differences of Preschoolers and its Implications for Self-Regulation and Other Developmental Skills. (Mentor: F. Morrison)

Alison Kartush - Developmental Predictors and Outcomes of Feminism: An Exploration of the Effects of Media and Family on Feminist Beliefs and Career Aspirations. (Mentor: L.M. Ward)

Holly Keilch – Children’s Reasoning about Transgressions Involving Gender, Morality, and Biology: Evidence for Domain Specific Causal Reasoning. (Mentor: S. Gelman)

Alana Knoppow - The Role of Mortality Salience in Determining the Decision for War Versus Peace Among Political Leaders. (Mentor: D. Winter)

Alissa Koloff - The Effects of Advertising on Women's Notions of Femininity and Masculinity. (Mentor: L. M. Ward)

Lisa Kowalko - Criminal and Psychiatric Recidivism in Acquittees Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity in the State of Michigan in 1995 and 1996: A Follow-Up Study. (Mentor: C. Holden)

Melissa Maye - The Relationship Between Usage of Psychotropic Medication and Problem Behaviors Among Individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. (Mentors: C. Lord & D. Anderson)

Katherine Oddi – Fathers’ Physical Punishment and Warm Responsiveness in Relation to Childhood Attention Problems. (Mentor: S. Olson)

Elise Petersen - Intersectionality and Attitudes Towards Affirmative Action. (Mentor: R. Gonzalez)

Leah Potvin - Emotional Transmission in Alcoholic Couples and its Effects on Drinking Behavior. (Mentor: J. Cranford)

Jane Rho - Rankings and Facial Expressions: It Looks Unfriendly at “the Top.” (Mentor: S. Garcia)

Brittany Ruiz - The Effects of Maternal Parenting Dimensions on Girls’ Risk for Relational Aggression. (Mentor: S. Olson)

Mallory Salerno - Spotting Authoritarianism a Mile Away: The Development of an At-A- Distance Measure. (Mentor: D. Winter)

Kimberlee Shelton - Racial and Socioeconomic Differences in Health Behaviors Among Pregnant Women. (Mentor: H. Flynn)

Lauren Szczurek - The Effects of Warm and Cold Metaphors on Object Perception. (Mentor: N. Schwarz)

Deanna Tracy - The Relationship between Sensory Behaviors and Socialization in Young Children with Autism. (Mentor: C. Lord)

Madeline Wachman - The Relationship Between Implicit Theories of Health and Health Locus of Control: Implications for Mental and Physical Health. (Mentor. R. Mahalingam)

Yen Geraldine Wai - Spirituality and Forgiveness: A Pathway to Posttraumatic Growth. (Mentor: C. Peterson)

Margie Yu Ming Wong - Schizophrenia and Religion. (Mentor: C. Peterson)

Erica Yi - Do Race and Gender Concordance Improve Patient - Provider Communication? A Survey with Adult Dental Patients. (Mentor: M. Inglehart)

Ho Lam Yiu - Executive Function and Aggression: A Study from a Sample of Incarcerated Youths. (Mentors: K. Cortina & S. Perkins)

Korie Zink - Sexual Communication Patterns in Families: An Exploration of the Effects of Birth Order and Gender on Sexual Communication Messages Received from Parents and Siblings. (Mentor: L.M. Ward)

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Psychology Undergraduate Program

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• Thesis Advising

If you're thinking of writing a thesis as part of your Psychology concentration, the first thing you'll want to do is check out the Undergraduate Office's  thesis manual . You can find it on the Honors Thesis section of this website! Then, you should contact Psychology's Thesis Tutorial Instructor.  

Statistics Consulting

Statistics and coding may seem overwhelming at first, especially if the thesis project will be your first time working with your own data. For guidance, senior thesis students should reach out to the Department's  Statistics Consultant . The Consultant holds individual meetings with students to provide input on statistical methods, writing analysis, and experimental results for thesis projects.  

Kirsten Morehouse, Data and Statistics Consultant (2023-2024)

How to Meet with the Data and Statistics Consultant: Please email Kirsten directly ( [email protected] ) with the following info:

• 3 specific dates and blocks of time that work for you
• A summary of the questions you'd like to discuss 
• A copy of your most recent thesis proposal/prospectus (including background and proposed analyses)
• A copy of your data (or mock dataset that shows your expected data structure)
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Master of Arts (M.A.) Major in Psychological Research (Thesis Option)

Program overview.

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree with a major in Psychological Research is designed to foster competence in the methodological foundations and conduct of psychological research across a wide variety of settings. Students will gain expertise regarding the impact of biological, social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors on psychological phenomena. Focus is placed on learning interpersonal/research skills and statistical competencies relevant to the responsible and ethical conduct of both basic and applied psychological research.

Evaluation of Student Fitness and Performance

Members of the faculty, using their professional judgments, evaluate student fitness and performance continuously. The criteria used by the faculty to make such judgments include instructors’ observations of student performance in class or in activities related to courses. Students who are not making satisfactory progress or who are not meeting program standards should consider withdrawing from the program.

In this context, the term “satisfactory progress” refers to an academic judgment made regarding the student’s fitness and performance. It is a judgment that the student has failed to meet program standards rather than a judgment made on the basis of the student’s violation of valid rules of conduct. Disciplinary matters are referred to Dean of Student’s Office.

Student Review Process

If a faculty member believes that a student is not making satisfactory progress or meeting program standards, he or she should discuss the situation with the student. If the faculty member believes that the student’s performance cannot improve to acceptable standards, the faculty member should refer the student to the Program Standards Committee of the appropriate department. The Program Standards Committee consists of three faculty members appointed by the Department Chair in consultation with the department’s senior faculty.

The Committee will notify the student of the reasons that he or she is not making satisfactory progress or meeting program standards and will give the student an opportunity to meet with the Committee to respond and to present information and witnesses to the committee. The Committee will also meet with the faculty member who referred the student to the Committee. After considering the matter, and within ten working days of meeting with the student, the Committee will report to the student and the Department Chair. The Committee will recommend that the student either be allowed to remain in the program or be removed from the program. The committee may make other recommendations, such as placing restrictions or conditions on the student’s continuing in the program. Within ten working days of receiving the Committee’s recommendations, the student will be notified of the Department Chair’s decision (acceptance or rejection of the committee’s recommendation).

Within ten working days of receiving the Committee’s recommendation, the Chair will make a decision as to the student’s continued presence in the program. Before making the decision, the student will have the opportunity to meet with the Chair and to offer information on his/her behalf. However, the Chair need not meet with the student before making a decision if the Chair has given the student a reasonable opportunity to meet, and the student has either failed or refused to meet. The Chair will notify the student of the decision.

If the student is dissatisfied with the Chair’s decision, he or she may appeal to the Dean of the Graduate College. However, in order for an appeal to be considered, the student must submit a written notice for an appeal to the Chair and to the Dean within ten working days of receiving the Chair’s decision. The Dean will consider the matter based on information compiled by the Chair and notify the student of his or her decision within ten working days of the Dean’s receipt of the appeal from the Chair. The Dean may meet with the student and give the student an opportunity to address the issues. The Dean’s decision is final.

Application Requirements

The items listed below are required for admission consideration for applicable semesters of entry during the current academic year. Submission instructions, additional details, and changes to admission requirements for semesters other than the current academic year can be found on The Graduate College's website . International students should review the International Admission Documents page for additional requirements.

• completed online application
• $55 nonrefundable application fee

          or

• $90 nonrefundable application fee for applications with international credentials
• baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited university
• official transcripts from  each institution  where course credit was granted
• minimum 3.0 GPA in the last 60 hours of undergraduate course work (plus any completed graduate courses)
• Introduction to Psychology
• Quantitative and Statistical Methods
• Experimental and Research Methods
• GRE not required
• research interest statement listing three faculty members in the Texas State Psychology Department whose research interests most closely match the student’s
• resume/CV including prior experience in research or clinical areas, awards, and scholarships
• statement of purpose (approximately 1–2 pages) conveying research interests, plans for graduate study, professional aspirations, and career goals. Students should indicate how their scholarly interests fit with those of specific faculty members in the Department of Psychology, as well as any relevant experience, special abilities, or skills (e.g., computer programming, fluency in another language).
• three letters of recommendation from non-related individuals familiar with the student’s scholarly work and/or relevant experience

TOEFL, PTE, or IELTS Scores

Non-native English speakers who do not qualify for an English proficiency waiver:

• official TOEFL iBT scores required with a 78 overall
• official PTE scores required with a 52
• official IELTS (academic) scores required with a 6.5 overall and minimum individual module scores of 6.0

This program does  not  offer admission if the scores above are not met.

Degree Requirements

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree with a major in Psychological Research requires 38 semester credit hours, including a thesis.

In addition to meeting the University standards, students are required to follow department policies. The policy of the department on grades is that a student must complete all required courses with a grade of "B" or better. Students who make a grade of "C" or worse in a required course will be required to retake the course. A student will be placed on probation for receiving two grades of "C" or worse in the program. A student whose current degree audit reflects 3 "C"s in required courses will be dismissed.

At the midpoint of each semester, faculty will be asked to provide information to the Graduate Director regarding any students having potential problems with grades. The Graduate Director or Designee will meet with students in danger of making "C"s or worse in their program courses.

The Graduate Director or Designee will review all students’ grades at the end of each semester and send written notification to those students who make grades of "C" or worse explaining their status and any required actions.

Course Requirements

Comprehensive examination requirement.

All students in the Psychological Research Program are required by the University to take and pass a comprehensive examination in order to graduate. Thesis students will have their Comprehensive Examination administered orally as part of their thesis defense.  If students fail the defense, they are allowed to repeat it until they pass.

Students who do not successfully complete the requirements for the degree within the timelines specified will be dismissed from the program.

If a student elects to follow the thesis option for the degree, a committee to direct the written thesis will be established. The thesis must demonstrate the student’s capability for research and independent thought. Preparation of the thesis must be in conformity with the  Graduate College Guide to Preparing and Submitting a Thesis or Dissertation .

Thesis Proposal

The student must submit an official  Thesis Proposal Form  and proposal to his or her thesis committee. Thesis proposals vary by department and discipline. Please see your department for proposal guidelines and requirements. After signing the form and obtaining committee members’ signatures, the graduate advisor’s signature if required by the program and the department chair’s signature, the student must submit the Thesis Proposal Form with one copy of the proposal attached to the dean of The Graduate College for approval before proceeding with research on the thesis. If the thesis research involves human subjects, the student must obtain exemption or approval from the Texas State Institutional Review Board prior to submitting the proposal form to The Graduate College. The IRB approval letter should be included with the proposal form. If the thesis research involves vertebrate animals, the proposal form must include the Texas State IACUC approval code. It is recommended that the thesis proposal form be submitted to the dean of The Graduate College by the end of the student’s enrollment in 5399A. Failure to submit the thesis proposal in a timely fashion may result in delayed graduation.

Thesis Committee

The thesis committee must be composed of a minimum of three approved graduate faculty members.

Thesis Enrollment and Credit

The completion of a minimum of six hours of thesis enrollment is required. For a student's initial thesis course enrollment, the student will need to register for thesis course number 5399A.  After that, the student will enroll in thesis B courses, in each subsequent semester until the thesis is defended with the department and approved by The Graduate College. Preliminary discussions regarding the selection of a topic and assignment to a research supervisor will not require enrollment for the thesis course.

Students must be enrolled in thesis credits if they are receiving supervision and/or are using university resources related to their thesis work.  The number of thesis credit hours students enroll in must reflect the amount of work being done on the thesis that semester.  It is the responsibility of the committee chair to ensure that students are making adequate progress toward their degree throughout the thesis process.  Failure to register for the thesis course during a term in which supervision is received may result in postponement of graduation. After initial enrollment in 5399A, the student will continue to enroll in a thesis B course as long as it takes to complete the thesis. Thesis projects are by definition original and individualized projects.  As such, depending on the topic, methodology, and other factors, some projects may take longer than others to complete.  If the thesis requires work beyond the minimum number of thesis credits needed for the degree, the student may enroll in additional thesis credits at the committee chair's discretion. In the rare case when a student has not previously enrolled in thesis and plans to work on and complete the thesis in one term, the student will enroll in both 5399A and 5399B.

The only grades assigned for thesis courses are PR (progress), CR (credit), W (withdrew), and F (failing). If acceptable progress is not being made in a thesis course, the instructor may issue a grade of F. If the student is making acceptable progress, a grade of PR is assigned until the thesis is completed. The minimum number of hours of thesis credit (“CR”) will be awarded only after the thesis has been both approved by The Graduate College and released to Alkek Library.

A student who has selected the thesis option must be registered for the thesis course during the term or Summer I (during the summer, the thesis course runs ten weeks for both sessions) in which the degree will be conferred.

Thesis Deadlines and Approval Process

Thesis deadlines are posted on  The Graduate College  website under "Current Students." The completed thesis must be submitted to the chair of the thesis committee on or before the deadlines listed on The Graduate College website.

The following must be submitted to The Graduate College by the thesis deadline listed on The Graduate College website:

• The Thesis Submission Approval Form bearing original (wet) and/or electronic signatures of the student and all committee members.
• One (1) PDF of the thesis in final form, approved by all committee members, uploaded in the online Vireo submission system.  

After the dean of The Graduate College approves the thesis, Alkek Library will harvest the document from the Vireo submission system for publishing in the Digital Collections database (according to the student's embargo selection).  NOTE: MFA Creative Writing theses will have a permanent embargo and will never be published to Digital Collections.  

While original (wet) signatures are preferred, there may be situations as determined by the chair of the committee in which obtaining original signatures is inefficient or has the potential to delay the student's progress. In those situations, the following methods of signing are acceptable:

• signing and faxing the form
• signing, scanning, and emailing the form
• notifying the department in an email from their university's or institution's email account that the committee chair can sign the form on their behalf
• electronically signing the form using the university's licensed signature platform.

If this process results in more than one document with signatures, all documents need to be submitted to The Graduate College together.

No copies are required to be submitted to Alkek Library. However, the library will bind copies submitted that the student wants bound for personal use. Personal copies are not required to be printed on archival quality paper. The student will take the personal copies to Alkek Library and pay the binding fee for personal copies.

Master's level courses in Psychology: PSY

Courses Offered

Psychology (psy).

PSY 5105. Practicum in Teaching Psychology.

This course will examine processes and strategies designed to improve the teaching and learning process. Students will be introduced to learning and instructional theory and selected concepts, issues, and strategies of instructional planning, delivery, management, and evaluation. This course does not earn graduate degree credit. Repeatable with different emphasis. Prerequisite: Instructor approval.

PSY 5198. Research Seminar.

Taken in two consecutive semesters, this seminar provides an orientation to the graduate program and the steps required for thesis completion. Topics include the discussion of research interests, critiquing literature, and topic selection; developing and submitting a research proposal; selecting a thesis committee; and thesis completion and submission. Restricted to M.A. students in Psychological Research.

PSY 5199B. Thesis.

This course represents a student’s continuous thesis enrollment. The student continues to enroll in this course until the thesis is submitted for binding.

PSY 5299B. Thesis.

PSY 5306. Psychological Development: Theories & Research.

This course is an advanced coverage of biological, social, and cognitive development throughout the lifespan. Topics include cognitive developmental theory, sensory/perceptual development, language development, infant attachment, the development of gender roles, moral development, and issues related to aging. Prerequisite: PSY 3300 with a grade of "C" or better.

PSY 5310. Advanced Psychopathology.

This course offers a critical analysis of the definition and classification of psychopathology and experiences and an in-depth study of theories and research on causes, remediation, and prevention. Prerequisite: PSY 3315 with a grade of "C" or better.

PSY 5311. Univariate and Bivariate Statistics.

This course introduces students to univariate and bivariate statistical concepts and techniques used in psychology research (e.g., probability, sampling distributions, t-tests, and analysis of variance, correlation). Emphasis is placed on developing skills in data analysis including the selection of appropriate techniques, using data analysis software, and interpretation of statistical results. Prerequisite: PSY 2301 with a grade of "C" or better.

PSY 5318. Assessment in Psychology.

The course will provide an overview of assessment instruments commonly used by psychologists and neuropsychologists in research and practice. Basic psychometrics such as validity and reliability also will be covered.

PSY 5320. Principles of Measurement and Statistics.

The course emphasizes classical measurement theory, including reliability and validity of measurement instruments commonly used in psychology, and reviews descriptive statistics with a focus on correlation and regression. Prerequisite: Course in undergraduate statistics.

PSY 5321. Multivariate Statistics.

This course introduces students to multivariate statistical techniques commonly used in psychological research such as analysis of variance and covariance, multiple regression, and factor analysis. Emphasis is placed on developing applied skills in data analysis: selection of appropriate statistical techniques, using data analysis software, and interpretation of statistical results. Prerequisite: PSY 5311 with a grade of "B" or better.

PSY 5324. Biological Bases of Behavior.

This course provides an overview of the nervous system structure and function appropriate to the overall field of Psychology in order to foster an appreciation of the biological determinants of behavior.

PSY 5326. Neuropsychological Assessment.

This course will introduce principles of neuropsychological assessment including assessment procedures, interpretation of results, neuropathology, and the range of neuropsychological functions to be assessed. This course will also cover the characteristics and administration of several neuropsychological assessment instruments.

PSY 5335. Foundations of Health Psychology.

This course will utilize a biopsychosocial approach to understand the psychology of wellness and disease. Topics include stress, coping, pain, social support, and chronic illness. Special emphasis will focus on physiological responses, psychoneuroimmunology, and somatization.

PSY 5345. Psychopharmacology.

This course explores: (1) the reasons that humans and animals consume mind altering substances called psychoactive drugs, (2) the neuronal, chemical, and hormonal mechanisms underlying drug action, and (3) the environmental factors that modulate the impact of psychoactive drugs on emotional, cognitive, perceptual and behavioral expression in humans and animals.

PSY 5348. Health Psychology: Prevention and Intervention.

This course will focus on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention and intervention strategies to enhance health and wellness. Topics will include health-promoting behaviors, risky health behaviors, theories of health behavior change, the process of medical care, and treatment adherence. Special emphasis will be on planning, implementation, and assessment of interventions. Prerequisites: PSY 5335 with a grade of "B" or better.

PSY 5352. Psychological Therapies.

This survey course on evidence-based psychological interventions focuses on the active mechanisms by which therapies work and their application to specific diagnostic categories and conditions. Interpersonal, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and dialectical behavior therapies will be highlighted along with newer empirically-based therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and mindfulness approaches.

PSY 5360G. Forensic Psychology.

Examination of the relationships between psychology and the Criminal Justice system. Emphasis is placed on how psychology variables influence how individuals carry out their duties within the system. Sample topics include: (a) psychology and jury decision-making, (b) accuracy/impact of eyewitnesses testimony, and (c) how characteristics of defendants influence juries.

PSY 5360H. Psychology of Women.

The course includes an in-depth examination of the development of women's roles and gender differences as well as a consideration of women's relationships, sexuality, employment, and diversity. Special topics such as women and violence will also be covered. (MULT).

PSY 5360N. Advanced Statistical Methodology.

An overview of commonly used statistical methods in scientific research, with a core focus on generalized linear mixed models for individual studies and meta-analysis for study aggregation. Analyses will be implemented primarily in the R statistical programming environment.

PSY 5360O. Applied Biostatistics in Health Research.

This course will examine methodological approaches and applied biostatistics in health research. Emphasis on non-parametric univariate and multivariate statistical tests. Prerequisite: PSY 5311 with a grade of "C" or better or instructor approval.

PSY 5360P. Psychology of Culture and Diversity.

This course provides a graduate level introduction to psychological theories and methods that examine the links between culture and human behavior, affect and cognitions. The course explores the relevance of these links to life development, mental health, social and gender identity, and sexuality. The student is expected to gain critical thinking skills in evaluating the validity of psychological knowledge within a cultural context. More importantly, the students are expected to gain an appreciation and understanding for cultural variation in human behavior across different cultures and an enhanced awareness and ability to work with a culturally diverse and multicultural population.

PSY 5362. Cognitive Neuroscience.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to cognitive neuroscience: the study of the biological basis of cognitive processes such as perception, attention, memory, language, and decision-making. This is a seminar course that will cover theoretical constructs, methods, and current research findings in cognitive neuroscience. Prerequisite: PSY 3322 with a grade of "B" or better.

PSY 5366. Individual Study.

Students design and execute original research or engage in extensive fieldwork in the field of psychology under the supervision of a faculty member. May be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: PSY 5391 with a grade of "C" or better and instructor approval.

PSY 5367. Research Seminar in Social Psychology.

The course provides an in-depth examination of selected topics in social psychology. The focus of student commitment and responsibility is learning about social psychology and actively producing psychological knowledge. The course covers the research process and concludes with each student developing a research proposal.

PSY 5370. Learning, Cognition, and Motivation.

Basic problems in the acquisition of responses, treating with such constructs as reinforcement, extinction, retention, forgetting, problem solving, motivation, and punishment. Major theories are treated through attention to classical experiments, but greatest emphasis is given to contemporary research. See Educational Psychology 5370.

PSY 5373. Human Memory and Memory Disorders.

This course provides a comprehensive overview of topics in human memory including different types of memory and the brain structures involved. Special emphasis will be given to problems with memory including aging memory, amnesia, and Alzheimer's disease. This course will cover current theories of memory with discussions of cutting-edge research.

PSY 5374. The Psychology of Language.

This course provides a grounding in the cognitive theories/models of the major areas of language research: acquisition, comprehension, and production. It also provides an overview of the cognitive processes involved in several specific topic areas in language, such as syntax, semantics, discourse, prosody, bilingualism, neuro-linguistics, sign language, and reading.

PSY 5381. Introduction to Psychophysiology.

This course will provide an overview of the principles, theory, and applications of using physiological measures to study mental processes. This course will illustrate how the use of psychophysiological measurements can enhance our understanding of brain/mind/behavior relationships.

PSY 5391. Research Methods & Experimental Design.

Problems in psychology, emphasis on research procedures. A research project is required of each student. Restricted to M.A. students in Psychological Research.

PSY 5398. Internship in Psychology.

Students engage in extensive field work in a professional setting related to psychology. Prerequisite: PSY 5311 and PSY 5321 and PSY 5391 all with grades of "C" or better.

PSY 5399A. Thesis.

This course represents a student’s initial thesis enrollment. No thesis credit is awarded until the student has completed the thesis in PSY 5399B .

PSY 5399B. Thesis.

PSY 5599B. Thesis.

PSY 5999B. Thesis.

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50+ Research Topics for Psychology Papers

How to Find Psychology Research Topics for Your Student Paper

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

• Specific Branches of Psychology
• Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy
• Human Cognition
• Human Development
• Critique of Publications
• Famous Experiments
• Historical Figures
• Specific Careers
• Case Studies
• Literature Reviews
• Your Own Study/Experiment

Are you searching for a great topic for your psychology paper ? Sometimes it seems like coming up with topics of psychology research is more challenging than the actual research and writing. Fortunately, there are plenty of great places to find inspiration and the following list contains just a few ideas to help get you started.

Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. It can be particularly important when you are writing a psychology research paper or essay. Psychology is such a broad topic, so you want to find a topic that allows you to adequately cover the subject without becoming overwhelmed with information.

I can always tell when a student really cares about the topic they chose; it comes through in the writing. My advice is to choose a topic that genuinely interests you, so you’ll be more motivated to do thorough research.

In some cases, such as in a general psychology class, you might have the option to select any topic from within psychology's broad reach. Other instances, such as in an  abnormal psychology  course, might require you to write your paper on a specific subject such as a psychological disorder.

As you begin your search for a topic for your psychology paper, it is first important to consider the guidelines established by your instructor.

Research Topics Within Specific Branches of Psychology

The key to selecting a good topic for your psychology paper is to select something that is narrow enough to allow you to really focus on the subject, but not so narrow that it is difficult to find sources or information to write about.

One approach is to narrow your focus down to a subject within a specific branch of psychology. For example, you might start by deciding that you want to write a paper on some sort of social psychology topic. Next, you might narrow your focus down to how persuasion can be used to influence behavior .

Other social psychology topics you might consider include:

• Prejudice and discrimination (i.e., homophobia, sexism, racism)
• Social cognition
• Person perception
• Social control and cults
• Persuasion, propaganda, and marketing
• Attraction, romance, and love
• Nonverbal communication
• Prosocial behavior

Psychology Research Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy

Exploring a psychological disorder or a specific treatment modality can also be a good topic for a psychology paper. Some potential abnormal psychology topics include specific psychological disorders or particular treatment modalities, including:

• Eating disorders
• Borderline personality disorder
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Profile a  type of therapy  (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, psychoanalytic therapy)

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Cognition

Some of the possible topics you might explore in this area include thinking, language, intelligence, and decision-making. Other ideas might include:

• False memories
• Speech disorders
• Problem-solving

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Development

In this area, you might opt to focus on issues pertinent to  early childhood  such as language development, social learning, or childhood attachment or you might instead opt to concentrate on issues that affect older adults such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Some other topics you might consider include:

• Language acquisition
• Media violence and children
• Learning disabilities
• Gender roles
• Child abuse
• Prenatal development
• Parenting styles
• Aspects of the aging process

Do a Critique of Publications Involving Psychology Research Topics

One option is to consider writing a critique paper of a published psychology book or academic journal article. For example, you might write a critical analysis of Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams or you might evaluate a more recent book such as Philip Zimbardo's  The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil .

Professional and academic journals are also great places to find materials for a critique paper. Browse through the collection at your university library to find titles devoted to the subject that you are most interested in, then look through recent articles until you find one that grabs your attention.

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Famous Experiments

There have been many fascinating and groundbreaking experiments throughout the history of psychology, providing ample material for students looking for an interesting term paper topic. In your paper, you might choose to summarize the experiment, analyze the ethics of the research, or evaluate the implications of the study. Possible experiments that you might consider include:

• The Milgram Obedience Experiment
• The Stanford Prison Experiment
• The Little Albert Experiment
• Pavlov's Conditioning Experiments
• The Asch Conformity Experiment
• Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiments

Topics of Psychology Research About Historical Figures

One of the simplest ways to find a great topic is to choose an interesting person in the  history of psychology  and write a paper about them. Your paper might focus on many different elements of the individual's life, such as their biography, professional history, theories, or influence on psychology.

While this type of paper may be historical in nature, there is no need for this assignment to be dry or boring. Psychology is full of fascinating figures rife with intriguing stories and anecdotes. Consider such famous individuals as Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Harry Harlow, or one of the many other  eminent psychologists .

Psychology Research Topics About a Specific Career

​Another possible topic, depending on the course in which you are enrolled, is to write about specific career paths within the  field of psychology . This type of paper is especially appropriate if you are exploring different subtopics or considering which area interests you the most.

In your paper, you might opt to explore the typical duties of a psychologist, how much people working in these fields typically earn, and the different employment options that are available.

Topics of Psychology Research Involving Case Studies

One potentially interesting idea is to write a  psychology case study  of a particular individual or group of people. In this type of paper, you will provide an in-depth analysis of your subject, including a thorough biography.

Generally, you will also assess the person, often using a major psychological theory such as  Piaget's stages of cognitive development  or  Erikson's eight-stage theory of human development . It is also important to note that your paper doesn't necessarily have to be about someone you know personally.

In fact, many professors encourage students to write case studies on historical figures or fictional characters from books, television programs, or films.

Psychology Research Topics Involving Literature Reviews

Another possibility that would work well for a number of psychology courses is to do a literature review of a specific topic within psychology. A literature review involves finding a variety of sources on a particular subject, then summarizing and reporting on what these sources have to say about the topic.

Literature reviews are generally found in the  introduction  of journal articles and other  psychology papers , but this type of analysis also works well for a full-scale psychology term paper.

Topics of Psychology Research Based on Your Own Study or Experiment

Many psychology courses require students to design an actual psychological study or perform some type of experiment. In some cases, students simply devise the study and then imagine the possible results that might occur. In other situations, you may actually have the opportunity to collect data, analyze your findings, and write up your results.

Finding a topic for your study can be difficult, but there are plenty of great ways to come up with intriguing ideas. Start by considering your own interests as well as subjects you have studied in the past.

Online sources, newspaper articles, books , journal articles, and even your own class textbook are all great places to start searching for topics for your experiments and psychology term papers. Before you begin, learn more about  how to conduct a psychology experiment .

What This Means For You

After looking at this brief list of possible topics for psychology papers, it is easy to see that psychology is a very broad and diverse subject. While this variety makes it possible to find a topic that really catches your interest, it can sometimes make it very difficult for some students to select a good topic.

If you are still stumped by your assignment, ask your instructor for suggestions and consider a few from this list for inspiration.

• Hockenbury, SE & Nolan, SA. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers; 2014.
• Santrock, JW. A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2016.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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100 Psychology Thesis Topics for 2023

Students know the importance of developing great psychology dissertation topics for a graduate assignment. However, many don’t have the time to brainstorm ideas that meet the requirements their professors expect. We’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting and have put together a list of 100 psychology thesis topics suitable for several situations. Feel free to pick a topic and start writing your thesis proposal .

General Psychology Topics for High School

• Give five top reasons why you would want to become a psychologist.
• What kind of influence has psychology research had in other sciences?
• Why are teenagers at higher risk of developing an eating disorder?
• How are phobias developed in children under the age of twelve?
• In what ways did Pavlov’s conditioning experiment contribute to our understanding of addiction therapy?

Child Psychology Research Paper Topics

• What are the major differences between psychiatry and psychology?
• Discuss mental tools that can be used to determine when children are lying to adults.
• What were the ethical complications involve 12d in the Little Albert Experiment?
• What does research suggest is the origin of intelligence in children?
• How does emotional intelligence in children affect their learning abilities?

Cognitive Psychology Topics

• How did Alan Turing’s suggestion that the brain is an organized machine lead to computers?
• Do the “seven chunks of information” still hold through in research?
• Can we develop working memory to retain greater long-term memory?
• Can a person that has been convicted of a felony charge change into a law-abiding citizen?
• How can cognitive therapy be used to help patients suffering from emotional disorders?

Developmental Psychology Topics

• How do our perceptions of our experiences affect development in teenagers?
• What are the four levels of development and which is most important in children?
• Can a moral judgment be taught to toddlers who have latent reasoning skills?
• How are our personalities developed through the influence of others?
• Are children naturally beholden to one parent or the other?

Social Psychology Topics for College Students

• How are a person’s original opinions influenced by the opinions of larger groups?
• What psychological effects does spending too much time on social media have?
• How do social psychologists deal with aggression and violence in young adults?
• What impact has social psychology had on our understanding of online bullying?
• How do family dynamics change when a member of the immediate family dies?

Sports Psychology Research Topics

• Does aging have a bigger impact on retired athletes’ mental health than head trauma?
• How is mental health affected by long recovery schedules for serious body injuries?
• How does neuro-linguistic programming in professional athletes affect performance?
• How do professional athletes mentally prepare for competitions?
• How have approaches to sports training and preparation been affected by developments in psychology?

Controversial Topics in Psychology

• How did the Milgram Obedience Experiments of the 1960s help us understand how we view authority figures?
• How did the Stanford Experiment help further our knowledge of situational variables on human behavior?
• How did Harlow’s experiments of affection (especially the lack of affection) lead to advancements in child development theories?
• Does the implementation of capital punishment on sex offenders prevent them from committing a crime?
• What is the link between criminal acts and teenagers that were bullied?

Health Psychology Topics for College Students

• What impact do regular exercise and healthy eating have on mental health in young adults?
• How have the media’s depictions of body ideals have negatively impacted how young adults see themselves?
• What are the most effective strategies for getting people to develop healthy eating habits?
• What can local governments do to help people maintain mental health after a disaster?
• How do stress management techniques help people cope with difficult situations in the workplace?

More Controversial Psychology Topics

• What did the “lost in a mall” study lead to a better understanding of how memories are formed and stored?
• Why was were the Voodoo Correlation studies of the 1960s so controversial and what did they reveal about human behavior?
• What did showing a lack of affection in infants reveal about the need to nurture one’s young?
• What did the Kirsch Anti-Depressant reveal about the impact that harmless placebos have on humans?
• What are the potential risks of taking part in multiple health studies throughout a given year?

Great Educational Psychology Topics

• How can different technologies help students perform better at school?
• Does working in a small group help students retain more information?
• How does physical activity help students perform better on standardized tests?
• What psychological factors should teachers consider as they develop each year’s curriculum?
• In what ways do psychologists help develop confidence in students with learning disabilities?

Excellent Cultural Psychology Topics

• What are some of the most difficult cultural situations young people face?
• In what ways does developing culture roots with one’s family positively impact social behavior?
• What stresses do young people feel when they return to their native countries?
• What impact does cultural learning have on students in elementary school?
• How does family support help young people cope with difficult decisions?

Psychology Topics to Write About

• Why are adolescents more at risk of developing some type of eating disorder?
• What are the negative effects of insomnia in patients being treated in a medical facility?
• In what ways does group therapy positively impact a patient’s ability to overcome addiction?
• Why should therapists refrain from prescribing ADHD medications to children?
• What are the most effective ways of treating PTSD without using prescription medication?

Abnormal Psychology Topics

• What are the psychological effects of telling either a truth or a lie among young adults?
• What are the major causes of borderline personality disorder in teenagers?
• In what ways does the level of insanity change in patients under specific treatment?
• Why are some people more prone to suffer from personality disorders?
• Can the Oedipus complex first introduced by Freud be used in treatment today?

Developmental Psychology Research Topics

• What role does television media play in promoting violence in adults?
• What are the major psychological characteristics in a child prone to aggression?
• What are the major factors in sociopathic behavior among youth?
• What are some traditional ways of parenting that have been proven ineffective?
• What environmental factors increase the chances of child abuse by a parent?

Biological Psychology Topics

• How are cognitive diseases related to the development of certain disorders?
• How are our perceptions of the world around us affecting the way we behave?
• Can alcohol addiction and other drug-related dependencies be tied to genetics?
• Does biology prevent humans from experiencing a pure sense of free will?
• In what ways does functionalism play into biological psychology?

More Sports Psychology Topics

• What are the negative effects on the mind of exercising to lose weight?
• How is having a network of supporters important for athletic performance?
• How does the attention of PHDs affect the way people feel about sports?
• What impact do sports role models have on a youth’s development?
• Is the NCAA giving an adequate education to its student-athletes?
• What are the most effective ways of dealing with school bullying?
• What are the major causes of psychopathic tendencies in teenagers?
• How does our modern society deal with gender roles?
• What are the key characteristics that improve the abilities to learn a new language?
• Do children require a good foundation to excel academically?

Forensic Psychology Topics

• How can psychology be used to identify and put suspects on trial for certain crimes?
• How has forensic psychology assisted in the way we look at death penalty cases?
• Can psychotic disorders be reevaluated as a result of better psych understanding?
• Should mental diseases be considered in capital punishment cases?
• How would you evaluate the mitigating effects of capital cases in people?

What did you think of our list of psychology thesis topics? Our professional dissertation writers keep our list of ideas up-to-date so that students are always pushing the envelope of research in every discipline. Check back for new general psychology topics or contact us to have a list custom-made for a specific research project.

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The Relationship between Psychological Well-Being and Psychosocial Factors in University Students

Francisco manuel morales-rodríguez.

1 Department of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain; se.rgu@selarommf

Isabel Espigares-López

2 Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Avda. de la Investigación, 11, 18016 Granada, Spain; se.rgu.oerroc@seragipseasi

3 Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University—Peninsula Campus, Frankston, VIC 3199, Australia; [email protected]

José Manuel Pérez-Mármol

4 Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Avda. de la Ilustración, 60, 18016 Granada, Spain

5 Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.Granada), 18016 Granada, Spain

Determining what factors influence the psychological well-being of undergraduate university students may provide valuable information to inform the development of intervention programs and targeted learning activities. The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between psychological well-being in university students and their self-reported learning styles and methodologies, social skills, emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and self-concept. The final sample consisted of 149 Spanish university students, with an average age of 21.59 years ( SD = 4.64). Psychological well-being dimensions, along with learning style and methodology preferences, social skills, level of social responsibility, emotional intelligence, state and trait anxiety, empathy and levels of self-concept were measured using a series of validated self-report scales. The results indicate that the total variance explained by the university students’ psychological well-being factors were as follows: i) self-acceptance dimension (R 2 = 0.586, F (6,99) = 23.335, p < 0.001); ii) positive relationships dimension (R 2 = 0.520, F (6,99) = 17.874, p < 0.001); iii) autonomy dimension (R 2 = 0.313, F (4,101) = 11.525, p < 0.001); iv) environmental mastery dimension (R 2 = 0.489, F (4,101) = 24.139, p < 0.001); v) personal growth dimension (R 2 = 0.354, F (4,101) = 13.838, p < 0.001); and vi) purpose-in-life dimension (R 2 = 0.439, F (4,101) = 19.786, p < 0.001). The study findings may be used to inform new educational policies and interventions aimed at improving the psychological well-being of university students in the international context.

1. Introduction

1.1. psychological well-being.

Psychological well-being has been defined within the eudaimonic perspective as the development of one’s true potential. This is in contrast to the subjective well-being view [ 1 , 2 ]. Psychological well-being is viewed as the result of a life well-lived and is an important factor in students successfully adapting to college/university life. For this reason, this construct usually includes dimensions such as self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth and purpose-in-life [ 3 ]. Students attending university have to adjust to a new learning context and are under increased academic pressure [ 4 , 5 ]. This stage is considered to be one of the highest anxiety and lowest psychological well-being phases in the life cycle, with high levels of psychological distress compared with the general population [ 4 , 6 ]. Several studies have reported lower levels of psychological well-being in students attending university [ 3 , 7 , 8 ]. In a recent study by Sandoval et al. [ 8 ], a high percentage of university students exhibited a medium degree of psychological well-being, indicating that it is an indicator of their degree of adjustment adaptation.

1.2. Psychosocial Factors

Several models support the possible psychosocial factors related to psychological well-being. From a general perspective, the psycho-educational approach is an integral framework for the development and evaluation of psychological and educational constructs such as social skills, empathy, self-concept, anxiety and emotional intelligence, among others [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. More specific frameworks, such as EuroPsy for the development of standards for high-quality professional education in psychology, include the following higher education competencies: adequate levels of empathy or anxiety, socially responsible attitudes, emotional management, problem solving and learning style preferences [ 11 ]. Other frameworks, such as the European Higher Education Area [ 10 ] and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [ 9 ], highlight the importance of developing systemic competencies that include inter- and intra-personal psychological resources such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, social skills, social responsibility and empathy [ 9 , 10 ]. From a psychological perspective, emotions are key constructs related to psychological well-being and satisfaction with life, according to classical theoretical models such as that of Goleman [ 12 ], Mayer et al. [ 13 ] and Bar-On [ 14 ]. Other more contemporary models include those by Bisquerra and Pérez-Escoda [ 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. These models propose that emotional/psychological skills may be divided into two poles inside a continuum. The positive side includes elements such as self-esteem, social skills and empathic attitudes, and the negative side includes symptoms such as anxiety [ 5 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Both sides seem to have a relationship with psychological well-being, according to the existing empirical literature [ 5 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].

From an educational perspective, learning style preferences are understood as the various ways of overcoming, planning and resolving the demands of learning. There are four learning styles based on the preferences of the individual: the activist style based on direct experience, the reflector style based on observation and data collection, the theorist style based on abstract conceptualization and conclusion formation and the pragmatist style based on active experimentation and a search for practical applications [ 26 ]. In relation to learning methodologies, two types are usually differentiated, traditional learning, usually more common in education, whose methodology is expository, individualistic and competitive, and cooperative learning, which is characteristically more autonomous, social and dialectical. García-Ruiz and González Fernández [ 27 ] noted that the cooperative learning methodology was more positive for students than the traditional approach, since their learning was greater and of better quality. Cooperative learning methodologies usually influence the degree of academic satisfaction [ 5 , 28 ]. In turn, the greater the satisfaction with the academic environment in general (contents of university subjects, types of assessments used, methodologies applied to learning, teaching / learning styles, etc.), the larger the psychological well-being perceived by university students [ 22 ].

Under the umbrella of educational resources, social skills are the ability to adequately manage interpersonal relationships with the environment and to correctly understand, control and adjust interpersonal strategies. Social skills are measured by the overall social competence of the individual and by the inter- and intra-personal strategies used [ 29 ]. These skills appear to be related to academic performance in the university environment [ 30 ]. Positive social relationships have been shown to be associated with psychological well-being [ 31 ]. In addition, university social responsibility has been studied from the perspective of the organization, understanding that it should meet the expectations of stakeholders such as current and/or future students [ 32 ]. However, the importance of the individual perspective of the students’ values should be emphasized [ 33 ].

On the positive side of the psychological continuum, emotional intelligence interconnects emotions with reason, or in other words, emotions influence our thoughts, just as our cognitive processes influence our emotional states [ 34 ]. The concept of emotional intelligence is defined as the cognitive abilities that can be measured through tasks involving the processing of emotional information. This has been developed at a theoretical and empirical level, to demonstrate its predictive ability in different areas of daily life [ 35 , 36 ]. The latest research on emotional intelligence highlights its role in the ability of individuals to adapt to daily life environments and is linked to well-being [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. In the tertiary context, the implication of high emotional intelligence in relation to academic performance in university students has been studied, emphasizing the role of emotional skills [ 24 ]. Some authors have highlighted the importance of emotional intelligence as a type of psychosocial adaptation in the university educational environment [ 38 ], it being a possible predictor of psychological well-being [ 23 ]. Several studies involving university students have examined the impact of proficient emotional intelligence skills in relation to academic performance, highlighting the key role of emotional skills [ 24 ]. This indicates the key role of emotional intelligence and its related dimensions (such as empathy) in university teaching and learning environments with students.

Empathy is the skill that allows us to know how other people are feeling, what they are thinking, understand their intentions, predict their behavior and understand their emotions [ 39 ]. Some studies on empathy have focused on analyzing it in young people, as it contributes to the enhancement of social skills and prosocial behavior [ 40 , 41 ]. The psychological well-being perceived by students appears to be strongly associated with empathy. Gustems Carnicer and Calderón [ 42 ] conducted a study with a group of university students where they found that students at high risk of psychological distress had higher scores for empathic stress and avoidance coping strategies. On the one hand, they obtained a direct correlation between psychological distress and emotional discharge, cognitive avoidance, the search for alternative rewards and resignation [ 42 ]. Recent studies have reported relationships between the emotional ability known as empathy and subjective well-being in university students [ 5 , 43 , 44 ]. Self-concept is considered a complex term because of the difficulty of differentiating it from similar terms that have even been used as synonyms, such as self-esteem [ 45 ]. Several authors refer to this as the labels that people give themselves, generally related to their physique, behavior and emotions [ 46 ]. Behavioral, affective and social functioning are explained by the perception of an individual’s experiences; therefore, one’s self-concept could be a predictor of one’s psychological well-being [ 45 , 47 ]. In a study conducted with university students in the area of self-concept within a cooperative learning structure, there was an improvement in self-concept [ 48 ]. Other studies [ 49 ] have reported positive relationships between psychological well-being and physical self-concept and self-esteem [ 22 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. Therefore, self-concept could be included in studies as a probable factor related to university students’ psychological profiles.

On the negative side of the psychological continuum, anxiety has been erroneously considered synonymous with other concepts such as stress, fear or distress. Spielberger et al. [ 52 ] defined anxiety as an emotional reaction that is externalized through tension, apprehension, nervousness and worry, in addition to activation of the autonomous nervous system. Spielberger, Gorsuch and Lushene [ 53 ] establish two types of anxiety based on lengths of time: state and trait anxiety. For Spielberger [ 54 ], state anxiety refers to an immediate emotional state, modifiable over time, while trait anxiety is a relatively stable disposition, tendency or personality trait. Different concepts of anxiety (state and trait) need to be studied. According to Sandín and Chorot [ 55 ], anxiety implies at least three response systems (cognitive, physiological and behavioral), with their activation creating a fight or flight response, which in turn can have an effect at the psychological level [ 55 ]. The vast majority of the scientific literature suggests that approximately 50% of university students have experienced significant levels of anxiety [ 56 , 57 ]. Research focused on the university population concludes that the effects of anxiety are closely related to certain variables such as academic performance, abandoning the course and psychological and emotional well-being [ 58 , 59 ]. However, it has not been studied in conjunction with other explanatory variables of psychological well-being.

The study of the potential predictive relationship between the psychosocial factors previously described and psychological well-being in a university student sample provides a more holistic view for prospective educators, researchers and health care practitioners. Findings from this study may inform the development of new educational policies and intervention programs aimed at directly improving the psychological well-being of university students in the international context. Likewise, studies of this type could strengthen lines of research oriented towards the application of intervention programs aimed at the well-being of students and their academic performance. Conducting studies with sample groups of first-year undergraduate students from social and health areas allows a suite of baseline educational and psychosocial data measures to be collected on which intervention programs can be founded. This is beneficial in two key ways. Firstly, the objective data can be used to determine what psychosocial and educational factors need urgent attention and remediation activities put in place in courses such as social education, pedagogy or speech therapy. Secondly, follow-up data can be then collected after program planning, implementation and completion to determine its efficacy in those disciplines. The information about the possible potential relationship between psychological well-being and psychosocial factors provides a landscape overview about potential strategic changes that are needed in this higher education context over the duration of enrolment of first-year students up until they finish their degree. This evaluation is useful to improve the process of adjustment, socio-emotional adaptation to the university context and the quality of life of first-year students to better equip them with the foundation skills needed to be successful upon graduation and during the first few years of their work life. In sum, collecting baseline data from first-year students can have both short- and long-term benefits for the designer of intervention programs and for the students themselves.

1.3. Research Hypothesis

The research hypothesis of this study is as follows: psychological well-being dimensions are significantly related to a multifactorial construct composed of psycho-educational dimensions, such as educational aspects (learning style and methodology, social skills and level of social responsibility) and psychological or cognitive-affective skills (emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and levels of self-concept).

To investigate the possible association between psychological well-being and psychological factors among undergraduate university students.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. design.

A cross-sectional approach using standardized self-report scales.

2.2. Participants

The initial sample consisted of 164 participants, of whom 32.3% were men and 67.7% women. The sample was taken from the first year of the undergraduate degree courses in Social Education, Pedagogy and Speech Therapy at the University of Granada, Spain. After applying the selection criteria for the present study, the final sample was 149 university students (15 students were excluded). The inclusion criteria were: a) being a full-time university student enrolled in the first year of his/her course; and b) providing informed consent to take part in the study. The exclusion criteria included: a) not completing each and every one of the questionnaires provided; b) not being a full-time student, having a recognized part-time student status and/or having requested a single assessment; and c) being a student with special educational needs. The present study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Granada (Granada, Spain), with the registration number: 328/CEIH/2017. The participants completed an individual informed consent form to participate in the study.

2.3. Instruments

Demographic data were collected through a self-report questionnaire. It included items asking questions about the following information: age, sex, academic program, year and semester of course. There was an evaluation of psychological well-being, learning styles, learning methodologies, social skills, social responsibility, emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and levels of self-concept. All the instruments used in the study were validated in Spanish language versions: they were available and were completed in Spanish.

2.3.1. Psychological Well-Being

The starting point was Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale [ 1 , 22 ]. The Spanish adaptation was provided by Díaz et al. [ 3 ], who assessed six dimensions of psychological well-being: self-acceptance: as the individual’s attempt to feel good about themselves; positive relationships: understood as the capacity to love, where social relationships are stable and trustworthy; autonomy: described as self-determination, independence and personal authority; environmental mastery: involving managing the demands and opportunities of the environment to satisfy one’s own needs and capacities; personal growth: where there is an effort to develop one’s capabilities and maximize them; and purpose in life: it consists of the need to set goals and define objectives to give life meaning. The scale consists of 39 items that use a Likert-type response format, ranging from one (total disagreement) to six (total agreement). A higher score means that the person shows higher levels of well-being. The Spanish version of the instrument has adequate reliability and validity properties for the six dimensions (RMSEA = 0.07). Internal consistency coefficients for the subscales of the Spanish version for the sample of this study were as follows: self-acceptance, 0.88; positive relationships with others, 0.72; autonomy, 0.90; environmental mastery, 0.89; purpose-in-life, 0.88; and personal growth, 0.94.

2.3.2. Learning Styles and Methodologies

The Honey-Alonso Learning Styles Questionnaire [ 26 ] evaluates the psychological, affective and physiological characteristics expressed by a person when faced with a learning situation. Learning styles are divided into four dimensions: 1) active style, based on direct experience, 2) reflexive style, based on observation and data collection, 3) theoretic style, based on abstract conceptualization and conclusion formation and 4) pragmatic style, based on active experimentation and the search for practical applications. The questionnaire is composed of 80 items that use a dichotomous response format. The maximum score is 20 points for each style. The Spanish version of the instrument exhibited adequate validity properties for the 4 dimensions after factorial analysis. The active style explained 41% of total variance, the theoretic style 39.5%, the pragmatic style 40.2% and reflexive style 42.7% [ 26 ]. The reliability results obtained for the sample of this study for the styles were a Cronbach alpha of: 0.88 (active), 0.90 (reflexive), 0.88 (theoretic) and 0.76 (pragmatic). Further, also used was the questionnaire on cooperative learning and traditional learning methods [ 41 ]. This questionnaire assesses the respondent’s skill acquisition level, based on the respondents’ preference for the two learning approaches. This instrument has adequate psychometric properties of reliability and validity. The questionnaire consists of 34 items. Internal consistency coefficients of Cronbach’s alpha of 0.92 for traditional learning, and 0.89 for cooperative learning have been reported.

2.3.3. Social Skills

The social skills scale consists of 20 items, each item representing one inter- or intra-personal social skill, using a Likert scale of five response options, ranging from one (never) to five (always) [ 29 ]. This instrument has adequate psychometric properties of reliability and validity. The study of the validity of this instrument yields satisfactory results. The reliability analysis for the present study showed a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.93. The social responsibility questionnaire [ 60 ] evaluates the self-attribution of socially responsible behavior. The questionnaire is divided into 40 items that use a Likert scale scoring format from one (never) to five (always). The higher the score, the more frequently an individual engages in socially responsible behavior. This instrument has adequate psychometric properties of reliability and validity. The validity was verified by the inter-judge agreement method and was satisfactory [ 60 ]. A Cronbach alpha of 0.96 was obtained for this questionnaire.

2.3.4. Emotional Intelligence

The Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) [ 61 , 62 ] emotional intelligence questionnaire was used. This questionnaire evaluates perceived emotional intelligence, understood as the ability to control feelings and emotions, to discriminate between them, and to use that ability to direct one’s own thoughts and actions. The instrument has three dimensions: emotional attention, understood as the capacity to feel and adequately express feelings; clarity, interpreted as an optimal understanding of one’s own emotional states; and repair, which alludes to the capacity for optimal control of emotional states. The questionnaire consists of 24 items rated on a Likert scale from one to five points. In terms of validity, all three factors were correlated appropriately and in the expected direction with classical criteria variables such as depression, anxiety, rumination and life satisfaction [ 61 ]. The instrument has shown a high reliability in its three dimensions: Cronbach alpha of 0.87 for emotional attention, 0.78 for clarity and 0.57 for repair.

2.3.5. Anxiety

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [ 63 ] was used. This inventory has been designed to evaluate two aspects of anxiety: anxiety as a state, understood as a transient emotional condition; and anxiety as a trait, attributed to a relatively stable propensity for anxiety. The questionnaire consists of 40 items that are rated using a four-point Likert response scale which depends on intensity, ranging from zero (almost never/nothing) to three (almost always/much) [ 63 ]. The Spanish version of the instrument has adequate psychometric properties of reliability and validity. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the state anxiety subscale was 0.93, while for the trait anxiety subscale it was 0.88.

2.3.6. Empathy

The Test of Cognitive and Affective Empathy—TECA [ 39 ] was used. This test evaluates cognitive-affective skills related to the level of empathy. The test consists of four dimensions. Within the cognitive area are the dimensions of perspective taking (capacity for tolerance, communication and personal relationships) and emotional understanding (ability to recognize and understand emotional states, intentions and impressions of others). The affective area includes empathic stress (connection with other people’s negative emotional states) and empathic happiness (ability to share other people’s positive emotions) [ 39 ]. The test consists of 33 items that are rated on a Likert scale from one (totally disagree) to five (totally agree). High scores in each dimension indicate a higher level of empathy. The Spanish version of the instrument has adequate psychometric properties of reliability and validity [ 39 ]. Cronbach’s alpha resulted in 0.87 for the global TECA and the higher value for the four dimensions was a Cronbach alpha of 0.63.

2.3.7. Self-Concept

The AF5 Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale [ 64 ] was used. This scale is based on a model that views self-concept as a multidimensional construct organized hierarchically from a general dimension. This questionnaire evaluates five dimensions: academic/professional, social, emotional, family and physical. This instrument consists of 30 items, scored on a scale from 1 to 99 points, where 1 corresponds to total disagreement and 99 to total agreement. The higher the score, the better the self-concept. The Spanish version of the instrument has adequate psychometric properties of reliability and validity. The factor analysis satisfactorily confirmed the five theoretical dimensions, explaining 51% of the total variance [ 64 ]. The reliability of the total scale in this study using Cronbach’s alpha test was 0.86 and this was 0.90 for academic/professional, 0.50 for social, 0.82 for emotional, 0.53 for family and 0.83 for physical.

2.4. Procedure

Regarding recruitment of the sample, participation was voluntary, i.e., the consecutive recruitment of participants was performed. The questionnaires were completed by the student participants at the end of a scheduled morning class during the second semester, under the supervision of a research assistant. Once the general procedures and objectives of the study had been explained, instructions were given to complete the questionnaires in hard copy version. The students provided written consent and the confidentiality of the data obtained was assured. The questionnaires were field-tested beforehand. The average time it took participants to complete the questionnaire was two hours, split between two sessions. In each session, the participants took at least one voluntary five-minute break. The anonymity of the participants was guaranteed since the hard copy included only a number, and their personal data were preserved in a different document linking this number and their personal data. Power relationships from an ethical perspective were not present. The data were manually entered into a database.

2.5. Data Analysis

The SPSS software (version 22.0, IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA) was used for the statistical analysis. A descriptive analysis was performed and the normal distribution of the variables was confirmed. Student t-test and univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) were completed to investigate the relationship between psychological well-being and sex and level of course, respectively. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the association between psychosocial variables and each of the psychological well-being dimensions. We used multiple linear regression analysis to investigate the predictive relationship between emotional well-being as the dependent variable, and age and the psychosocial variables (learning style and methodology preferences, social skills, level of social responsibility, emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and levels of self-concept) as the independent variables. The regression analysis was also executed in an independent manner when differences between academic disciplines were found for any of the psychological well-being dimensions. Normality of residuals, homogeneity of variance for residuals and linearity of data were examined before completing the regression model. The data met all the assumptions required to carry out the multiple linear regression analyses. Multi-collinearity was avoided by selecting a stepwise method in the regression model. A p < 0.05 was used as the significance level in the study.

2.6. Sample Size

In a previous study completed by Atienza [ 22 ], a significant bivariate correlation of 0.298 between psychological well-being (self-acceptance dimension) and emotional intelligence (repair dimension), measured with the Ryff scale (assessing well-being) and the TMMS-24 scale (evaluating repair), was used to calculate the sample size required to detect this size effect in the sample. This was carried out using the G*power software (version 3.1, Institut für Experimentelle Psychologie, Düsseldorf, Germany). This calculation demonstrated that a sample size of 140 university students was needed to provide a confidence interval of 95%, with a power of 95%, assuming a bilateral significance level (α) of 0.05. To be able to handle possible missing data, any participants dropping out or badly completed instruments, the recruited sample should be increased by around 5%. As a result, the final sample should include at least 147 participants.

3.1. Description of the Sample

The total sample consisted of 149 students enrolled on the Social Education ( n = 52), Pedagogy ( n = 56) and Speech Therapy ( n = 41) courses at the University of Granada, of whom 67.7% were women and 32.3% men, with an average age of 21.59 ( SD = 4.64) years. One hundred percent of the sample was recruited from the first year of the three courses. The descriptive statistics of the independent and independent variables of the sample are reported in Table 1 .

Descriptive results (range, mean, SD and quartile scores) of psychological well-being, learning style and methodology, social skills, social responsibility, emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and levels of self-concept in university students.

SD = standard deviation; Q = quartile scores.

3.2. Confounding Variables for Psychological Well-Being

No statistically significant differences between sexes in relation to psychological well-being were found since there were no differences between male and female participants in terms of self-acceptance ( t = 0.285, p = 0.776), positive relations with others ( t = -0.971, p = 0.333), autonomy ( t = 0.929, p = 0.354), environmental mastery ( t = 0.067, p = 0.947), purpose-in-life ( t = −1.344, p = 0.181) and personal growth ( t = −0.955, p = 0.343). Among the three student course groups, statistically significant differences in the scores for the psychological well-being dimensions of environmental mastery (F(2,101) = 3.682, p = 0.028) and purpose-in-life (F(2,101) = 4.631, p = 0.011) (ANOVA) were found.

Specifically, the post-hoc analysis showed differences between the student participants enrolled on the Pedagogy and Speech Therapy academic courses for environmental mastery ( p = 0.037; Pedagogy M ± SD = 12.90 ± 0.62; Speech Therapy M ± SD = 10.56 ± 0.68) and purpose-in-life ( p = 0.011; Pedagogy M ± SD = 21.19 ± 4.33; Speech Therapy M ± SD = 18.17 ± 5.69).

3.3. The Correlation between the Psychological Well-Being Dimensions and Psychosocial Factors

Bivariate correlation analyses have shown direct and inverse relationships between the psychological well-being dimensions and the cooperative learning methodology, the empathy dimension of emotional understanding, social skills and all dimensions of the levels of self-concept, emotional intelligence and levels of anxiety in university students. These results are shown in Table 2 .

Correlations between psychological well-being and age, sex, learning style and methodology, level of social responsibility, empathy, anxiety, social skills, level of self-concept and emotional intelligence in university students.

* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.001.

The dependent variables (each dimension on the Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale) exhibited a normal distribution. After testing the normality of the residuals in the regressions, it was confirmed that the observed residuals were normally distributed. The independence of data for all regressions performed for each dimension of well-being was confirmed. There was a linear relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables. Homogeneity of the residuals’ variance was not violated and the data met the assumption of homoscedasticity.

3.4. Influence of Psychosocial Factors on Psychological Well-Being in University Students

Multivariate regression analysis showed that the cooperative learning methodology, the clarity dimension of emotional intelligence, state anxiety, the emotional understanding dimension of empathy and physical and family self-concept were significantly related to the dependent variable, predicting 58.6% of the total variance (R 2 = 0.586, F(6,99) = 23.335, p < 0.001) of levels of self-acceptance in university students. The active learning style, emotional understanding and empathic stress, academic/professional self-concept, social self-concept and family self-concept were significantly related to the dependent variable, predicting 52% of the total variance (R 2 = 0.520, F(6,99) = 17.874, p < 0.001) of levels of positive relationships in this sample. Social skills, the emotional attention and clarity dimensions of emotional intelligence and emotional self-concept were significantly related to the dependent variable, predicting 31% of the total variance (R 2 = 0.313, F(4,101) = 11.525, p < 0.001) of levels of autonomy. Global emotional intelligence, state anxiety, emotional understanding and family self-concept were significantly related to the dependent variable, predicting 48.9% of the total variance (R 2 = 0.489, F(4,101) = 24.139, p < 0.001) of levels of environmental mastery. The emotional attention dimension of emotional intelligence, state anxiety, the emotional understanding dimension of empathy and academic/professional self-concept were significantly related to the dependent variable, predicting 35.4% of the total variance (R 2 = 0.354, F(4,101) = 13.838, p < 0.001) of levels of personal growth. Global emotional intelligence, state anxiety, empathic happiness and family self-concept were significantly related to the dependent variable, predicting 43.9% of the total variance (R 2 = 0.439, F(4,101) = 19.786, p < 0.001) of levels of purpose-in-life. There was no collinearity between the variables included in the regression model.

Figure 1 depicts the relationship between the psychological well-being dimensions and psychosocial factors. Table 3 shows the final multiple regression models of the psychological well-being dimensions after the selection of independent variables.

Directed acyclic graph of the relationship between the psychological well-being dimensions and psychosocial factors. Source: created with DAGitty.

Influence of psychosocial factors on psychological well-being in university students.

R 2 , regression coefficient of determination; B, regression coefficient; CI , confidence interval; β , adjusted coefficient from multiple linear regression analysis; SE coefficient standard error.

The multivariate linear regression analysis involving the students on the Pedagogy program indicated that state anxiety, family self-concept, traditional learning methodologies and empathy (emotional understanding) were significantly related to environmental mastery, predicting 54% of its total variance (R 2 = 0.540, F = 9.990, p < 0.001). For students on the Speech Therapy program, state anxiety and emotional intelligence (emotional attention) were significant predictors of the psychological well-being dimension (R 2 = 0.593, F = 21.110, p < 0.001), accounting for 59.3% of its total variance. For student participants enrolled on the Pedagogy course, the results demonstrated that state anxiety, social responsibility and theoretic learning style were significantly related to purpose-in-life, predicting 49% of its total variance (R 2 = 0.492, F = 11.306, p < 0.001). In the Speech Therapy program, the perspective taking, empathic stress and empathic happiness empathy dimensions predicted 57.3% of the total variance of this dimension (R 2 = 0.573, F = 12.528, p < 0.001). In Table 4 , the independent multiple regression models for the psychological well-being dimensions of environmental mastery and purpose-in-life among the students of the Pedagogy and Speech Therapy courses are shown.

Influence of psychosocial factors on psychological well-being in university students according to the academic program—Pedagogy or Speech Therapy.

4. Discussion

This study investigated the possible association between self-reported levels of psychological well-being and educational aspects (learning style and methodology, social skills and level of social responsibility) and psychological or cognitive-affective skills (emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and levels of self-concept). The final regression models indicated that the psychological well-being dimension of self-acceptance appears to be related to the cooperative learning methodology, the clarity dimension of emotional intelligence, state anxiety, the emotional understanding dimension of empathy and physical and family self-concept. The positive relationships dimension appeared to be related to the active learning style, the emotional understanding and empathic stress dimensions of empathy, academic/professional self-concept, social self-concept and family self-concept. Autonomy was associated with the emotional attention and clarity dimensions of emotional intelligence, emotional self-concept and social skills. Environmental mastery was related to global emotional intelligence, state anxiety, the emotional understanding dimension of empathy and family self-concept. Personal growth was associated with the emotional attention dimension of emotional intelligence, state anxiety, the emotional understanding dimension of empathy and academic/professional self-concept. Finally, purpose-in-life was related to global emotional intelligence, state anxiety, the empathic happiness dimension of empathy and family self-concept.

4.1. Learning Styles

Consistent with the emotional skills model [ 5 , 23 , 34 ], the results of this study demonstrate the importance of educational and socio-emotional constructs on psychological well-being. Nevertheless, the current study focuses on a particular group of university students (Social Education, Pedagogy and Speech Therapy) that could be more sensitized than others to the study variables due to the nature of these disciplines in themselves. These disciplines usually give help and service to people with disabilities. Specifically, the present study demonstrates that Pedagogy and Speech Therapy students exhibited differences for the two psychological well-being dimensions of environmental mastery and purpose-in-life. Pedagogy students demonstrated that state anxiety, family self-concept, traditional learning methodologies and empathy (emotional understanding) were significantly related to environmental mastery, and that state anxiety, social responsibility and theoretic learning style predicted purpose-in-life. For students enrolled in the Speech Therapy program, state anxiety and emotional intelligence (emotional attention) predicted the environmental mastery dimension, and the empathy dimensions of perspective taking, empathic stress and empathic happiness predicted purpose-in-life.

Within the two learning methodology options evaluated, a direct and significant relationship has been found between the cooperative learning methodology and the psychological well-being dimensions of self-acceptance, environmental mastery, personal growth and purpose-in-life. This indicates that a more cooperative learning methodology is more positive for students than the traditional one, since their learning could be greater and improved in quality [ 65 , 66 ]. Therefore, students who prefer this methodology will have a higher probability of showing higher psychological well-being. However, the results have shown that there is no significant relationship between learning style and psychological well-being in the population studied. Generally, while there is previous scientific literature including this educational variable, as far as we know, no conclusive results have been obtained about student preferences for one style or another, since this preference seems to vary with time and experience [ 67 , 68 ]. Another study found that the most effective active methodologies according to students were work and group dynamics [ 69 ]. Online, the higher the level of satisfaction and emotional well-being, the better the academic performance of students seems to be [ 70 ].

4.2. Social Skills

Regarding social skills, a significant direct relationship with all psychological well-being dimensions has also been observed. Therefore, the higher the level of social skills in these students, the higher the level of general psychological well-being. These results are consistent with those reported by Recabarren [ 71 ], Vasilenko et al. [ 31 ], Souri and Hasanirad [ 72 ] and Freire et al. [ 73 ]. These authors concluded that a larger number of positive relationships in one’s own environment or context led to better coping strategies and more resilience or capacity to adapt. This strengthening of strategies is likely to produce higher levels of psychological well-being for students because they achieve a higher level of support and optimism. In relation to social responsibility, no significant association with psychological well-being has been found [ 72 , 73 ]. The reason for this could be that while social responsibility is based on positive values such as altruism, more individualistic and selfish behaviors may prevail in the current world. This construct could be affecting the psychological well-being of university students in Spain [ 33 ]. In some recent studies [ 74 ], social responsibility has been shown to be correlated directly with life satisfaction for students during university years. The higher the social skills, the higher the level of emotional intelligence [ 13 , 15 ], which is associated with better psychological well-being [ 23 ].

4.3. Emotional Intelligence

The emotional attention dimension was directly correlated with all psychological well-being dimensions and inversely correlated with the autonomy dimension. This finding may be interpreted as suggesting that the greater the emotional attention, the higher the level of psychological well-being. However, a high level of emotional attention seems to imply a regression in the student’s level of autonomy. In the case of the clarity dimension, a direct association with all psychological well-being dimensions was observed. The reparation dimension had a direct relationship with the psychological well-being dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy and mastery of the environment. This may mean that students who have greater repair emotional intelligence achieve better self-acceptance and autonomy, along with better mastery of the environment, which in turn fosters more positive relationships. Overall, high emotional intelligence in the student sample group appeared to contribute to high psychological well-being. The results in the current study highlight the importance of emotional skills in relation to psychological well-being, being a type of psychosocial adaptation to the educational environment [ 75 , 76 ]. For example, authors such as Burris et al. [ 77 ] point out how good management of emotional intelligence influences psychological well-being. These authors found a relationship between optimism and high psychological well-being in the university stage and pointed out that, in order to achieve this, one must have a defined awareness of one’s own emotional intelligence in order to actively train optimism in this group [ 77 ].

4.4. Anxiety

If anxiety levels are considered, both of these (state and trait) showed a significant but inverse relationship with the psychological well-being dimensions. State anxiety shows a relationship with all the well-being dimensions, although the highest significant association was observed with the environmental mastery dimension. This can be interpreted as meaning that the greater the state of anxiety that students feel at the present moment, the lower their levels of general psychological well-being in all its dimensions. In contrast, trait anxiety, characterized by a more stable construct over time, was only inversely related to the positive relationships dimension. It follows that students who have the personality trait of anxiety will have greater difficulties in establishing positive relationships with their environment. It can be concluded that, in keeping with the studies of Cooke et al. [ 4 ], Recabarren [ 71 ] and Stallman [ 6 ], higher levels of anxiety occur in the university stage and psychological well-being declines worryingly. Zuñiga [ 51 ] pointed out that state anxiety and trait anxiety seem to be correlated with all psychological well-being dimensions, except the personal growth dimension, applying the same instruments to assess anxiety and well-being in university students.

4.5. Empathy

Within the empathy dimensions, the emotional understanding dimension has been shown to be directly related to all psychological well-being dimensions, although the highest significant correlation has been obtained with the personal growth dimension. Therefore, students who are most able to understand their emotions and the emotions of others seem to show higher levels of overall psychological well-being. These results are also similar to those found by Cicognani et al. [ 78 ], where they show the importance of a sense of community, participation and social understanding for psychological well-being. In line with this, Gustems Carnicer and Calderón [ 42 ] found that students at high risk of psychological distress were more likely to show empathic stress and avoidance coping strategies. As in our study, other authors such as Serrano and Andreu [ 43 ] and Cañero et al. [ 5 ] showed, in the Spanish university context, that empathy was a predictor of subjective well-being in university students. Likewise, Malhotra and Kaur [ 44 ] also found a relationship between emotional empathy and perceived well-being. Sánchez-López et al. [ 79 ] found no significant correlation between psychological well-being and empathy in a study they reported.

4.6. Self-Concept

The levels of self-concept in the academic/professional, social and physical areas have been found to have a direct relationship with all psychological well-being dimensions. Therefore, students who have a good concept of themselves, both physically and in their studies and social relationships, appear to have a higher level of psychological well-being. The family self-concept dimension has a direct relationship with all psychological well-being dimensions except for the autonomy dimension. This relationship may indicate that, although at a general level a high self-concept in the family environment leads to high psychological well-being, this construct does not generate greater or lesser feelings of autonomy. In this line, Kazarian [ 80 ] has pointed out that having good family relationships influences students’ personalities and entails an improvement in psychological well-being and in one’s concept of oneself. In another study by Sánchez-López et al. [ 79 ], it was reported that self-esteem constitutes one of the elements that determines the so-called emotional intelligence profile and it was determined that positive relationships existed between self-esteem and subjective psychological well-being and material psychological well-being. Likewise, Fernández-Zabala et al. [ 74 ] found direct correlations between some self-concept dimensions and the satisfaction with life variable in university students. Other recent research [ 63 ] has also found that self-concept was one of the predictors of life satisfaction. In turn, emotional self-concept has been found to have an inverse relationship with four of the psychological well-being dimensions: self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery and personal growth. This result may imply that a high emotional self-concept may generate a negative impact on these psychological well-being dimensions. In this way, some studies report that the greater the sense of humor (which is more frequent in people with greater positive self-concept), the greater their level of psychological well-being [ 81 ].

4.7. Limitations

Participants took part in the study on a voluntary basis and were not randomly selected. This research only used self-reported measures (i.e., self-rating scales) to evaluate psychological well-being and the set of constructs from the psycho-educational approach which may have been subject to recall bias. As a result, respondent bias may have been present due to social desirability. Additionally, participants may have answered items on the social responsibility questionnaire and the TECA in a socially desirable manner. Hence, objective evaluations would be more appropriate to evaluate the constructs examined in this study. Students were recruited from a single geographical location, so the generalizability of the results may be limited. The nature of the courses taken by the students in the study sample (Degree in Social Education, Pedagogy and Speech Therapy) may have sensitized them (had an influence) to the study variables response, therefore impacting on the results. Likewise, all of the student participants were recruited from the first year of the three courses which may have impacted their answers on the self-report questionnaire. For this reason, the interpretation of the findings for other similar populations of university students should be approached with caution.

4.8. Future Research

Future studies should evaluate the impact of educational initiatives taking into account the psychological well-being of university students and their learning styles, social skills, emotional intelligence, anxiety, empathy and self-concept and the emotional dimension, whether positive (emotional intelligence) or negative (anxiety), in university students as a group. However, since the study was conducted at one university site, future research in this topic should be made multi-center by including student data from several educational institutions. Additionally, multi-level analysis could be performed by taking into consideration specific needs and demands by geographical location or sociodemographic characteristic. In future research, it is important to test the role of possible moderators other than age, sex or academic discipline. A longitudinal study should be designed to evaluate the change in the variables investigated in this research as participants get older.

4.9. Implications for Education

Some possible educational implications arise from the current findings which may help to improve the learning process and its quality for students. The results can be used to design initiatives that increase the general perception of psychological well-being, prevent stress in the educational setting and lead to better academic performance.

The data could be used to implement academic development and an effective approach to the educational process and provide counselling and support services with strategies that will enhance students’ management of emotions and their ability to cope with certain conflict situations.

5. Conclusions

Among the psychological and cognitive dimensions selected, emotional intelligence, empathy, social skills and self-concept were positively correlated with all psychological well-being dimensions, whereas for learning methodologies, only the cooperative one was positively correlated with most of the psychological well-being dimensions. In contrast, anxiety was inversely correlated with the perception of well-being in university students, negatively influencing it. Therefore, it is necessary to look at this issue in more depth, providing more comments and observations on these results.

This research has shown that psychological well-being is associated with different psychological and educational constructs, both intra- and inter-personal. Firstly, students who prefer a cooperative learning methodology have greater self-acceptance. This implies their recognition of their worth and having better psychological well-being in themselves. Secondly, students who show a high capacity for adaptation and social skills use them to grow personally in situations that require this, obtaining higher levels of psychological well-being. Thirdly, we highlight the importance of students’ emotional skills, since a type of psychosocial adaptation that shows high emotional intelligence leads to high psychological well-being. Fourthly, in the university stage, there seem to be high levels of anxiety, generating psychological discomfort in students. Fifthly, the emotional understanding, both internal and external, of students seems to propitiate a high psychological well-being that could help them to grow personally. Finally, the importance of self-concept in all its dimensions, except the emotional one, has a significant influence on the psychological well-being of students. Having a good self-concept will, on the whole, produce higher levels of psychological well-being. Therefore, the individuals’ psycho-educational resources should be integrated and studied as a whole in relation to psychological well-being.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the students who participated in this study, as well as the university authorities for their help in recruiting the sample.

Author Contributions

F.M.R. conceived and designed the study, recruited the participants, and contributed to the manuscript writing and data analysis. I.E.L. and T.B. contributed to the bibliographic review and the manuscript writing. J.P.M. conceived and designed the study, contributed to the bibliographic review, manuscript writing and data analysis. All authors revised the manuscript critically and approved the final version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

61 intriguing psychology research topics to explore

Last updated

11 January 2024

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

Psychology is an incredibly diverse, critical, and ever-changing area of study in the medical and health industries. Because of this, it’s a common area of study for students and healthcare professionals.

We’re walking you through picking the perfect topic for your upcoming paper or study. Keep reading for plenty of example topics to pique your interest and curiosity.

• How to choose a psychology research topic

Exploring a psychology-based topic for your research project? You need to pick a specific area of interest to collect compelling data. 

Use these tips to help you narrow down which psychology topics to research:

Focus on a particular area of psychology

The most effective psychological research focuses on a smaller, niche concept or disorder within the scope of a study. 

Psychology is a broad and fascinating area of science, including everything from diagnosed mental health disorders to sports performance mindset assessments. 

This gives you plenty of different avenues to explore. Having a hard time choosing? Check out our list of 61 ideas further down in this article to get started.

Read the latest clinical studies

Once you’ve picked a more niche topic to explore, you need to do your due diligence and explore other research projects on the same topic. 

This practice will help you learn more about your chosen topic, ask more specific questions, and avoid covering existing projects. 

For the best results, we recommend creating a research folder of associated published papers to reference throughout your project. This makes it much easier to cite direct references and find inspiration down the line.

Find a topic you enjoy and ask questions

Once you’ve spent time researching and collecting references for your study, you finally get to explore. 

Whether this research project is for work, school, or just for fun, having a passion for your research will make the project much more enjoyable. (Trust us, there will be times when that is the only thing that keeps you going.) 

Now you’ve decided on the topic, ask more nuanced questions you might want to explore. 

If you can, pick the direction that interests you the most to make the research process much more enjoyable.

• 61 psychology topics to research in 2024

Need some extra help starting your psychology research project on the right foot? Explore our list of 61 cutting-edge, in-demand psychology research topics to use as a starting point for your research journey.

• Psychology research topics for university students

As a university student, it can be hard to pick a research topic that fits the scope of your classes and is still compelling and unique. 

Here are a few exciting topics we recommend exploring for your next assigned research project:

Mental health in post-secondary students

Seeking post-secondary education is a stressful and overwhelming experience for most students, making this topic a great choice to explore for your in-class research paper. 

Examples of post-secondary mental health research topics include:

Student mental health status during exam season

Mental health disorder prevalence based on study major

The impact of chronic school stress on overall quality of life

The impacts of cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can occur at all ages, starting as early as elementary school and carrying through into professional workplaces. 

Examples of cyberbullying-based research topics you can study include:

The impact of cyberbullying on self-esteem

Common reasons people engage in cyberbullying 

Cyberbullying themes and commonly used terms

Cyberbullying habits in children vs. adults

The long-term effects of cyberbullying

• Clinical psychology research topics

If you’re looking to take a more clinical approach to your next project, here are a few topics that involve direct patient assessment for you to consider:

Chronic pain and mental health

Living with chronic pain dramatically impacts every aspect of a person’s life, including their mental and emotional health. 

Here are a few examples of in-demand pain-related psychology research topics:

The connection between diabetic neuropathy and depression

Neurological pain and its connection to mental health disorders

Efficacy of meditation and mindfulness for pain management

The long-term effects of insomnia

Insomnia is where you have difficulty falling or staying asleep. It’s a common health concern that impacts millions of people worldwide. 

This is an excellent topic because insomnia can have a variety of causes, offering many research possibilities. 

Here are a few compelling psychology research topics about insomnia you could investigate:

The prevalence of insomnia based on age, gender, and ethnicity

Insomnia and its impact on workplace productivity

The connection between insomnia and mental health disorders

Efficacy and use of melatonin supplements for insomnia

The risks and benefits of prescription insomnia medications

Lifestyle options for managing insomnia symptoms

The efficacy of mental health treatment options

Management and treatment of mental health conditions is an ever-changing area of study. If you can witness or participate in mental health therapies, this can make a great research project. 

Examples of mental health treatment-related psychology research topics include:

The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with severe anxiety

The benefits and drawbacks of group vs. individual therapy sessions

Music therapy for mental health disorders

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for patients with depression 

• Controversial psychology research paper topics

If you are looking to explore a more cutting-edge or modern psychology topic, you can delve into a variety of controversial and topical options:

The impact of social media and digital platforms

Ever since access to internet forums and video games became more commonplace, there’s been growing concern about the impact these digital platforms have on mental health. 

Examples of social media and video game-related psychology research topics include:

The effect of edited images on self-confidence

How social media platforms impact social behavior

Video games and their impact on teenage anger and violence

Digital communication and the rapid spread of misinformation

The development of digital friendships

Psychotropic medications for mental health

In recent years, the interest in using psychoactive medications to treat and manage health conditions has increased despite their inherently controversial nature. 

Examples of psychotropic medication-related research topics include:

The risks and benefits of using psilocybin mushrooms for managing anxiety

The impact of marijuana on early-onset psychosis

Childhood marijuana use and related prevalence of mental health conditions

Ketamine and its use for complex PTSD (C-PTSD) symptom management

The effect of long-term psychedelic use and mental health conditions

• Mental health disorder research topics

As one of the most popular subsections of psychology, studying mental health disorders and how they impact quality of life is an essential and impactful area of research. 

While studies in these areas are common, there’s always room for additional exploration, including the following hot-button topics:

Anxiety and depression disorders

Anxiety and depression are well-known and heavily researched mental health disorders. 

Despite this, we still don’t know many things about these conditions, making them great candidates for psychology research projects:

Social anxiety and its connection to chronic loneliness

C-PTSD symptoms and causes

The development of phobias

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) behaviors and symptoms

Depression triggers and causes

Self-care tools and resources for depression

The prevalence of anxiety and depression in particular age groups or geographic areas

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a complex and multi-faceted area of psychology research. 

Use your research skills to learn more about this condition and its impact by choosing any of the following topics:

Early signs of bipolar disorder

The incidence of bipolar disorder in young adults

The efficacy of existing bipolar treatment options

Bipolar medication side effects

Cognitive behavioral therapy for people with bipolar 

Schizoaffective disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is often stigmatized, and less common mental health disorders are a hotbed for new and exciting research. 

Here are a few examples of interesting research topics related to this mental health disorder:

The prevalence of schizoaffective disorder by certain age groups or geographic locations

Risk factors for developing schizoaffective disorder

The prevalence and content of auditory and visual hallucinations

Alternative therapies for schizoaffective disorder

• Societal and systematic psychology research topics

Modern society’s impact is deeply enmeshed in our mental and emotional health on a personal and community level. 

Here are a few examples of societal and systemic psychology research topics to explore in more detail:

Access to mental health services

While mental health awareness has risen over the past few decades, access to quality mental health treatment and resources is still not equitable. 

This can significantly impact the severity of a person’s mental health symptoms, which can result in worse health outcomes if left untreated. 

Explore this crucial issue and provide information about the need for improved mental health resource access by studying any of the following topics:

Rural vs. urban access to mental health resources

Access to crisis lines by location

Wait times for emergency mental health services

Inequities in mental health access based on income and location

Insurance coverage for mental health services

Systemic racism and mental health

Societal systems and the prevalence of systemic racism heavily impact every aspect of a person’s overall health.

Researching these topics draws attention to existing problems and contributes valuable insights into ways to improve access to care moving forward.

Examples of systemic racism-related psychology research topics include: 

Access to mental health resources based on race

The prevalence of BIPOC mental health therapists in a chosen area

The impact of systemic racism on mental health and self-worth

Racism training for mental health workers

The prevalence of mental health disorders in discriminated groups

LGBTQIA+ mental health concerns

Research about LGBTQIA+ people and their mental health needs is a unique area of study to explore for your next research project. It’s a commonly overlooked and underserved community.

Examples of LGBTQIA+ psychology research topics to consider include:

Mental health supports for queer teens and children

The impact of queer safe spaces on mental health

The prevalence of mental health disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community

The benefits of queer mentorship and found family

Substance misuse in LQBTQIA+ youth and adults

• Collect data and identify trends with Dovetail

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Take the headache out of analyzing your data and instantly access the insights you need to complete your next psychology research project by teaming up with Dovetail today.

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Examining the mediating role of psychological capital between dispositional mindfulness and well-being in the Philippines’ economically active population , Joanna Camille A. Litton

Does work-family centrality moderate the relationship between telecommuting intensity and work-family conflict? , Rommell P. Malenab

Psychometric properties of Covid stress scales (CSS) , Marites Silva Moya

The moderating role of identity commitment in the relationship between emotional autonomy and psychological well-being of Filipino adolescents , Wawie DG Ruiz

A qualitative study on self-differentiation among young adults with a history of non-suicidal self-injury , Nikki M. Sebastian

Determining the impact of a movement-based intervention on the trauma symptoms and emotion regulation of adolescent victims of child sexual abuse , Gabrielle Kaye M. Tad-y

The relationship of experiencing toxic behaviors and the psychological well-being of Filipino gamers and the moderating role of coping strategies , Mary Jearette Criskim A. Tan

Network analysis of depression and anxiety in Filipino youth , Gabrielle J. Tiongson

The mediating effect of coping strategies on the relationship between dispositional resilience and perceived stress among Filipino seafarers , Angelica Francesca A. Tumbocon

Parental rejection as a predictor of anxious and depressive symptoms among Filipino emerging adults: The role of self-criticism and social support , Gia Michaela V. Umil

Abusive supervision, counterproductive work behavior, and the role of negative affect and dispositional hope: A mediated moderation model , Rainier Besin Uy

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between social isolation and depression and anxiety symptoms of emerging adults in the COVID-19 pandemic , Frednick Luis O. Asistio

Poor mental health as a correlate of perceived unmet needs of earthquake survivors in evacuation camps: Posttraumatic stress and growth as parallel mediators , Maria Angelika T. Balungay

The mediating role of exercise self-efficacy on the relationship between depressive symptoms and exercise participation of student athletes in the Philippines , David Kuyunjik T. Damian

Unblocking the pathway to psychological care: The role of stigma and mental health literacy in general help-seeking for psychological distress , Abigail P. Del Puerto

The need to belong, perceived social support, and loneliness in Filipino college students , Ana Mariel A. Enrile-Inton

Positive Disability Identity Development in Adults with Autism , Maria Couline Gloria

Impact of altruism on Filipino young adult volunteers' subjective well-being: The role of relatedness, autonomy and competence , Danica Mae L. Mangampat

The relationship of perfectionism and peace of mind: The mediating role of implicit theories of intelligence , Renz Louis T. Montano

Dimensions of friendship in predicting quality of life of older adults , Beniliza R. Polican

Breakdowns to breakthroughs: Growth after intimate partner violence (IPV) of Filipino women , Ainah O. Salcedo

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The moderating role of employee voice in the relationship between regulatory focus and leader receptivity , Ann Lorainne Ancheta

The moderating role of psychological capital components in the Job Demands Resources (JD-R) model among a sample of filipino elementary and secondary school teachers , Beatriz C. Balilu

Pagsusuri sa pagpapahalaga ng “utang na loob” sa konteksto ng ugnayan sa pamilya , Jennifer Ides Rocha Bernardo

Age differences in future time perspective, social goals, and psychological symptoms of Filipino adults in the time of the COVID-19 , Shiela Grace M. Casis

Childhood maltreatment and dysfunctional parenting style of mothers: The mediating role of insecure adult attachment , Alyssa Patricia R. Cleto

Exploring the roles of locus-of-hope dimensions and self-stigma on help-seeking intentions among Filipinos , Angela Lorraine P. Cunanan

When worrying helps impostors cope: Metacognitive beliefs associated with impostor phenomenon and psychological well-being , Mark Lawrence Q. Gale

The moderating effect of extraversion on transformational leadership and employee engagement , Alison D. Galian

How does corporate social responsibility improve employee engagement: A mediational study of organizational trust , Alain Louise F. Garcia

The moderating effect of emotion regulation on telecommuting intensity, anxiety and depression: A study on telecommuting in the Philippines , Cecille Nicole Q. Golloso

Challenges, coping and future plans of aging parents who have older children with special needs , Ana Maria Cruz Ilustre

The mediating role of thriving at work: Transformational leadership influences organizational citizenship behaviors , Uzziel Nicolai C. Magsalin

A model of employee engagement: Integrating the job demands-resources model and Kahn's psychological conditions , Merwin R. Masanque

The moderating role of religiosity and relational spirituality in trait anxiety and marital satisfaction of filipino married couples , Mary Abigail G. Miranda

Bullying and college adjustment: The moderating role of resilience , Mary Anne J. Montoya

Shaping senior high school students' career adaptability through aspirations for the future and well-being , Mirasol A. Pineda

Do adaptive humor styles mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and well-being? , Raydon L. Reyes

“The buffering effect of ego resiliency on the relationship of combat exposure and severity of post – traumatic stress disorder symptoms” , Jenny Marie Davantes Ruanto

Sibling rivalry as a mediator of therRelationship between parental differential treatment and depressive symptoms on college students , Ma. Jenine C. Santiago

The role of stressful life events, daily hassles and sense of coherence in understanding depressive symptoms , Jomar Veridiano Sayaman

The parenting styles and experiences of Filipino mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder , Lisette Ann T. Tan

Filipino psychologists and counselors experience of integrating spirituality in psychotherapy and counseling , Indira Grace P. Voloso

Levels of TriPM-disinhibition on the relationship between TriPM-boldness and verbal intelligence , Reinier Dave P. Zapanta

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Impact of military deployment to Filipino children's well-being: A qualitative study , Lalaine N. Bajin

The moderating role of virtual work environment on transformational leadership and personality types as predictors of occupational self-efficacy of employees from selected institutions in Metro Manila , Lizelle T. Caballes

The mediating role of locus of control in the relationship between paternal over parenting and depressive symptoms among children in transnational households , Eunica A. Dee

Factors affecting motivation of corporate scholars across the stages of their graduate study completion , Jaimie Lynne M. Elnas

The meditating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between job characteristics and organizational citizenship behavior , Philip S. Maaño

The moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between perceived community violence and anxiety of youth in a high-violence urban area , Gaea Marelle J. Miranda

The utility of human figure drawings as a screening tool for identifying anxiety and depression among substance users , Jeffrey Danao Sanchez

Moderating role of parental presence in the relationship between childhood adversity, emotional reactivity, rumination, and emotion dysregulation , Florina P. Santiago

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

The spiritual development and well-being of seminarians: A basis for spiritual formation program , Augusto O. Abril Fr.

Testing the moderating role of self-reliance and social support on the mediated relationship of help-seeking attitudes and behavior through intentions among individuals with mental health concerns , Mahjalin Araiza S. Bugtong

Narrative identity of adult survivors of childhood psychological maltreatment (CPM) , Jethro O. Cristobal

A study on rewards and organizational commitment in a higher education institution , Johanna G. Minglana

Determining types of workplace incivility and their relationship to counterproductive work behaviors: Towards the development of HR interventions , Susan Grace T. Neri

I am a survivor: Experiences, impacts and coping mechanisms of Fiipino victims of sexual violence , Karen Anne C. Quing

Adolescents' value formation in the superhero fandom , Joseph Russell R. Santos

The relation of parenting styles with self-esteem as mediated by early maladaptive schemas among adolescents from matrilineal Khasi Society of India , Theophilus Sohtun

Family, anxiety, and substance use: The mediating role of anxiety in the relationship of family functioning and substance use , Gutsdozer E. Tancio

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

The experiences of friendship of male adolescents with autism spectrum disorders , Marie Elaine F. Avellana

Self-compassion, mindfulness, internalized shame and aggression among adolescents in residential centers in the Philippines: Testing a moderated mediation model , Lorraine Jessica L. Baclig

The relationship of materialism and vitality among Filipino adolescents and the mediating role of relatedness , Matthew Christian Robert R. Doming

The moderated mediating role of social support and locus of hope on the relationship between self-efficacy and self-regulation among illicit substance use patients within therapeutic communities , Justin Vianey M. Embalsado

Social networking sites addiction: The moderating effect of self-regulatory focus and the mediating effect of affective state on need for belongingness online and dysfunctional social networking site use , Mary Jo Jessica V. Fenix

Sense of coherence as mediator in the relationship between spirituality and depressive symptoms among college students , Mary Jane A. Guba

A study on the perceived effects of the psychotherapy practice on the therapists and their self-care , Daryl Dizon Malonzo

Self-efficacy as a moderator of the relationship between emotional exhaustion and psychological well-being of Filipino child care workers in residential centers , Kimberly Kaye C. Mata

Childs life satisfaction as a mediator of perceived maternal parenting style in having obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) symptoms , Beverly Denice T. Ongson

Grandchildren as young caregivers of their grandparents with physical disability , Richmond E. Ordoñez

Relationship of demographic profiles and organizational culture with the public service motivation of employees in selected government agencies , Anna Virgilia V. Rodriguez

Relationships among employee stress, job satisfaction, health & well-being programs and employee well-being in a sample of working adults , Suzanne Marie D. Roxas

The moderating role of perceived self-efficacy on the relationship of intolerance of uncertainty, pessimistic prediction certainty, and depressive symptoms , Jan Marie E. Santos

Conscientiousness moderating the relationship between the behavioral approach system and methamphetamine use , Gerard Joseph M. Tabao

Identifying the organizational and individual factors perceived to contribute to employee enngagement towards the development of employee engagement program for Bank X , Rochiel D. Tannagan

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Why bother? The moderating effect of social cynicism on the relationship between self-stigma and attitudes towards mental health help-seeking , Richard Dominique D. R. Almendral

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101 Examples of Dissertation Research Topics for Psychology Students

The journey of a psychology student culminates in the all but dissertation stage and the challenging task of selecting a dissertation topic . The decision you make at this point will set the stage for your academic and professional trajectory.

This momentous project is not just a rite of passage but an opportunity to delve deeply into a niche area of interest, contribute to a body of knowledge, and possibly even ignite a career-long pursuit. With the vast expanse of psychology stretching from the neural synapses of the brain to the complex social interactions of communities, the challenge lies not in finding a topic, but in narrowing down the multitude of possibilities!

In this article, we present an expansive list of dissertation topics for psychology students who are in the process of choosing a good dissertation topic .

The ideas provided are designed to encourage exploration of both traditional and avant-garde topics, reflecting the current trends and enduring questions that shape the evolving landscape of psychological research. From the psychological impacts of digital detox to the cognitive rehabilitation techniques for stroke survivors, these topics are designed to accommodate various interests and academic pursuits. They cater not only to a comprehensive academic challenge but also to the practical implications that such research can have on individuals, systems, and societies.

As you take a look at these suggestions, it’s important that you consider not only what interests you but also what excites you. The best dissertation topic is one that you can commit to with passion and curiosity, one that promises a journey of discovery replete with challenges and rewards.

Before we present the list of dissertation ideas for psychology students, let’s take a look at what makes a good dissertation research topic.

What Makes a Good Dissertation Research Topic for Psychology Students?

A good psychology research topic should meet several key criteria to ensure it is valuable, feasible, and has the potential to contribute to the field. Here’s an overview of the characteristics that make a research topic stand out:

• Relevance : The topic should address current issues or gaps in the field of psychology. It needs to be pertinent to contemporary debates, practices, or policies. Relevance also means that the research could have practical applications or implications, potentially informing practitioners, policymakers, or the general public.
• Originality : A good research topic brings a new perspective to a known issue or explores an understudied area. The aim is to contribute original knowledge or insights rather than replicating past studies without adding substantial value.
• Specificity : Broad topics can be overwhelming and impractical to tackle within the constraints of a typical research timeline and budget. A well-defined and focused research question allows for a more thorough and in-depth study.
• Clarity : The topic should be framed in a way that is understandable and clear. This means avoiding jargon when unnecessary and defining key terms. A clearly articulated research question guides the methodology and helps maintain focus throughout the project.
• Feasibility : This involves considering the researcher’s access to subjects, resources, and data. The research should be achievable within the given time frame and with available resources. Feasibility also concerns the ethical considerations and approval processes required for conducting research.
• Interest : A researcher’s personal interest and passion for a topic can significantly influence the quality of the research. It’s beneficial if the topic resonates with the researcher’s own scholarly interests and curiosities.
• Scope for Scientific Method : Good psychology research topics should allow for systematic investigation through accepted scientific methods. This includes the potential for hypothesis testing, operationalization of variables, and the use of statistical analysis to draw conclusions.
• Ethical Soundness : Psychology research often involves human subjects, which necessitates careful ethical consideration. A good topic should conform to ethical standards, ensuring the privacy, consent, and welfare of participants.
• Implications : Lastly, a good research topic should have clear theoretical, practical, or clinical implications. It should contribute to a greater understanding of the human mind and behavior, potentially leading to better psychological interventions or therapies.

While selecting a research topic for your dissertation is important, you should never overlook the importance of the writing and editing process. Dissertation proofreading services can help you refine your final draft and ensure it presents you in the best possible light.

101 Psychology Dissertation Ideas

• The Role of Social Media in Adolescent Mental Health: Investigate how different levels of social media use affect mood disorders in adolescents.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Depression: Analyze the efficacy of CBT interventions in treating depression among various age groups.
• Neuroplasticity and Rehabilitation After Brain Injuries: Study how different rehabilitation techniques can affect the brain’s plasticity and recovery trajectory post-injury.
• The Psychology of Pandemics: Explore the long-term psychological impact of pandemics on different populations, focusing on coping mechanisms and resilience.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood: Examine the challenges and support systems available for adults with autism, including employment, social relationships, and healthcare.
• Sleep Patterns and Academic Performance: Investigate the correlation between sleep quality and academic success in college students.
• The Impact of Parenting Styles on Child Development: Analyze how different parenting styles affect a child’s emotional, social, and cognitive development.
• Workplace Psychology and Employee Well-being: Explore the effects of workplace culture on mental health and job satisfaction.
• Memory and Aging: Study the patterns of cognitive decline in memory with aging and the effectiveness of interventions to slow down this process.
• The Influence of Cultural Background on Psychological Treatment Outcomes: Research how cultural beliefs and practices affect the efficacy of psychological treatments for mental health issues.
• Psychological Resilience in First Responders: Investigate the coping strategies used by first responders to manage stress and trauma-related to their line of work.
• The Effect of Nature on Mental Health: Examine how regular exposure to natural environments influences psychological well-being and stress levels.
• Intergenerational Trauma and Healing: Study patterns of trauma transmission in families and communities and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at breaking these cycles.
• The Psychology of Fake News: Explore the cognitive biases that contribute to the belief in and spread of misinformation, and strategies for critical thinking promotion.
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Chronic Pain: Evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation practices in managing chronic pain and improving quality of life.
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Grief and Mourning: Research how different cultures process and express grief and the implications for counseling practices.
• The Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Development: Investigate how learning and using multiple languages from an early age affects cognitive abilities and neural plasticity.
• Social Isolation and Cognitive Function in the Elderly: Examine the long-term cognitive effects of social isolation in senior populations and potential interventions.
• Attachment Styles and Romantic Relationships: Study how early attachment patterns influence adult romantic relationships, including partner selection and relationship satisfaction.
• Cyberpsychology and Identity Formation: Investigate how online environments and social networks contribute to or disrupt the process of identity formation in adolescents and young adults.
• Emotional Regulation in High-Stress Professions: Study strategies and their effectiveness in managing emotional responses in professions such as surgery, law enforcement, or air traffic control.
• Virtual Reality as a Tool for Phobia Treatment: Explore the use of VR environments in the systematic desensitization of individuals with specific phobias.
• Influence of Dietary Patterns on Children’s Behavioral Disorders: Investigate the relationship between nutritional choices and behavioral outcomes in children with ADHD or autism spectrum disorders.
• Psychological Impacts of Climate Change: Examine the effects of climate change on mental health, including anxiety, depression, and feelings of loss or grief.
• The Role of Art Therapy in Treating PTSD: Evaluate the efficacy of art therapy interventions for veterans or victims of violence suffering from PTSD.
• Gender Identity Development in Adolescence: Research the factors that influence gender identity and expression during the critical developmental stage of adolescence.
• Cognitive Dissonance and Consumer Behavior: Study how cognitive dissonance affects purchasing decisions and brand loyalty in the retail sector.
• Psychology of Pain Management: Investigate the role of psychological factors in the perception of pain and the effectiveness of psychological pain management techniques compared to pharmacological treatments.
• Social Perception in Online vs. Face-to-Face Interactions: Compare the accuracy of social perception and formation of first impressions in online settings versus in-person encounters.
• The Impact of Social Support on Recovery from Substance Abuse: Explore how different types and sources of social support contribute to the recovery process from drug and alcohol addiction.
• Effects of Microaggressions on Workplace Performance: Investigate how subtle forms of discrimination impact employees’ job satisfaction and productivity.
• The Psychology of Financial Decision-Making in Young Adults: Explore how psychological factors influence financial literacy and decision-making in the transition to adulthood.
• The Role of Pet Ownership in Managing Chronic Mental Illness: Examine the therapeutic benefits of pet ownership for individuals with chronic mental health conditions.
• Mindfulness Interventions in Elementary Education: Study the effects of mindfulness practices on attention and emotional regulation in young children.
• Narrative Identity and Life Transitions: Analyze how personal storytelling and narrative identity evolve during major life transitions, such as retirement or career change.
• Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy: Evaluate the importance of cultural competence in therapeutic practices and client outcomes.
• Psychological Impact of Body Image Portrayed in Social Media: Explore the effects of social media on body image dissatisfaction and the development of eating disorders.
• Eco-Anxiety and Environmental Activism: Examine the psychological effects of climate change concerns on environmental activism behaviors.
• Psychological Processes in Extreme Sports: Study risk assessment, decision-making, and flow states in athletes who participate in extreme sports.
• The Effect of Music Therapy on Cognitive Decline in Dementia Patients: Research the impact of music therapy sessions on the progression of cognitive symptoms in dementia.
• Social Cognition in Virtual Teams: Evaluate how individuals understand and operate within teams that interact exclusively through digital means.
• Attachment Patterns and Social Media Usage: Investigate the connection between attachment styles and usage patterns of social media platforms.
• Psychological Safety and Learning in Academic Settings: Explore the concept of psychological safety and its impact on students’ willingness to engage in learning activities.
• Humor and Coping Mechanisms in Stressful Occupations: Analyze the role of humor as a coping strategy for professionals in high-stress fields like emergency medicine.
• Impact of Sleep Hygiene Education on Student Performance: Evaluate the effectiveness of sleep education programs in improving the sleep quality and academic performance of university students.
• Color Psychology in Marketing and Branding: Study how color influences consumer perceptions and behaviors towards products and brands.
• The Role of Psychological Flexibility in Chronic Pain Management: Explore how acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can aid individuals with chronic pain in improving their quality of life.
• Cyberbullying and Self-esteem in Adolescents: Examine the long-term effects of cyberbullying on self-esteem and identity formation during adolescence.
• Emotional Intelligence and Conflict Resolution: Investigate how emotional intelligence skills facilitate conflict resolution in personal and professional relationships.
• Digital Detox and Psychological Well-Being: Examine the psychological effects of taking regular breaks from digital devices.
• Stress Resilience in Space Exploration: Study psychological resilience strategies for astronauts during long-duration space missions.
• Language Acquisition in Mixed-Language Households: Explore how children in bilingual homes acquire and separate languages cognitively.
• The Role of Play in Child Development: Investigate different play therapies and their impact on developmental disorders in children.
• Implicit Bias and Decision Making in Jury Deliberations: Examine how implicit biases can influence the decision-making process in legal settings.
• Cognitive Effects of Chronic Sleep Deprivation: Research the long-term cognitive impacts of chronic sleep deprivation in adults.
• The Psychology of Superstitions in Sports: Study the role and impact of superstitious behaviors on athletes’ performance.
• The Mental Health Effects of Urban vs. Rural Living: Compare the prevalence and types of mental health issues in urban versus rural populations.
• Psychological Outcomes of Genetic Testing: Explore the emotional and psychological impact of undergoing genetic testing for diseases.
• Intergenerational Effects of Historical Trauma: Investigate the psychological effects across generations within communities that have experienced historical trauma.
• The Impact of Social Comparisons on Self-Esteem: Examine how individuals’ self-esteem is affected by comparisons made on social media platforms.
• Emotion Recognition and AI Interactions: Study how humans perceive and react to emotional expressions by artificial intelligences and robots.
• Personality Development in Space Colonies: Speculate on how living in space colonies might affect personality development and social dynamics.
• The Effect of Parental Leave on Child Psychological Development: Research the long-term effects of various lengths and types of parental leave on children.
• Sensory Processing Disorders and Educational Outcomes: Examine the impact of sensory processing disorders on children’s educational achievements.
• The Influence of Scent on Memory Recall: Explore the connection between olfactory cues and the accuracy or vividness of memory recall.
• Peer Influence on Risky Behavior in Adolescence: Analyze how peer groups can impact the decision-making process in teenagers regarding risky behaviors.
• The Effect of Minimalism on Mental Health: Study the psychological impact of adopting a minimalist lifestyle in a consumer-driven society.
• Psychological Mechanisms of Radicalization: Investigate the cognitive and emotional pathways that lead individuals to adopt radical ideologies.
• Multitasking and Cognitive Load: Investigate the limits of cognitive load and its impact on multitasking efficiency.
• Psychological Effects of Long-Term Spaceflight: Explore the mental challenges astronauts face during extended missions.
• Therapeutic Effects of Creative Writing: Study how creative writing can be used as a therapeutic tool for emotional expression.
• Psychology of Religious Extremism: Examine the factors that contribute to religious extremism from a psychological perspective.
• Mental Health Implications of Climate Migration: Research the psychological impact of relocating due to climate change.
• Social Psychology of Urbanization: Explore how urban living influences social behavior and community dynamics.
• Gestures and Language Development in Children: Investigate the role of gestural communication in early language acquisition.
• Technology Addiction and Family Dynamics: Study the impact of technology addiction on interpersonal relationships within families.
• Psychology of Solitude: Examine the effects of solitude on mental health and personal growth.
• Cognitive Rehabilitation Techniques for Stroke Survivors: Explore effective cognitive rehabilitation methods for post-stroke recovery.
• Impact of Prenatal Exposure to Music on Infant Development: Research the long-term developmental effects of prenatal music exposure.
• Psychological Impacts of Participatory Art: Study how engagement with participatory art can affect psychological well-being.
• Neuroethics of Brain-Computer Interfaces: Delve into the ethical implications of using BCIs in neurology and psychiatry.
• Empathy Development in Virtual Reality Training: Investigate how VR can be used to enhance empathy in professional training programs.
• Social Media and Collective Memory Formation: Examine how social media platforms influence the formation of collective memories.
• Psychological Aspects of Cosmetic Surgery: Research the motivations and outcomes of cosmetic surgery from a psychological standpoint.
• Personality Traits and Online Dating Success: Analyze how different personality traits affect success in online dating.
• Psychological Strategies in Competitive Esports: Study the mental techniques used by esports players to enhance performance.
• Attachment Security and Pet Ownership: Explore the connection between attachment styles and the bond with pets.
• Psychological Effects of Autonomous Vehicles: Investigate how trust and control issues impact the acceptance of self-driving cars.
• Mental Health Services in Rural Communities: Examine the challenges and effectiveness of delivering mental health care in rural areas.
• Cross-Cultural Communication in Global Teams: Research the psychological barriers and facilitators of communication in international teams.
• Psychology of Sustainable Behavior: Study the motivators and deterrents of engaging in environmentally sustainable behaviors.
• Impact of Witnessing Parental Conflict on Children: Investigate the long-term effects of exposure to parental conflict during childhood.
• Sleep Disorders and Emotional Regulation: Examine the relationship between sleep quality and the ability to regulate emotions.
• Trauma-Informed Practices in Education: Explore the implementation and outcomes of trauma-informed approaches in schools.
• Psychology of Menu Design: Analyze how menu layout and choice architecture influence dining decisions.
• Motivational Factors in Crowdfunding: Investigate what psychological factors motivate people to contribute to crowdfunding campaigns.
• Perception of Time in Different Cultures: Research how the cultural background affects the perception and value of time.
• Psychological Resilience in Extreme Athletes: Study the mental toughness and resilience strategies of athletes in extreme sports.
• Influence of Indoor Plants on Mood and Productivity: Explore the psychological benefits of having plants in indoor workspaces.

Each of these topics has a broad range of literature to draw from and the potential to contribute new knowledge or insights to the field of psychology. It’s important to refine these ideas further to create a specific, researchable question that can be addressed within the scope of a dissertation.

Celebrating the Winners of the Earl and Barbara Baughman Dissertation Research Award

By Patricia Spillane

We are delighted to announce that Jillian Battista, Jimmy Capella, and Madison McCall are the esteemed recipients of this year’s Earl and Barbara Baughman Dissertation Research Award. This prestigious award is presented annually to outstanding graduate student researchers within our department, acknowledging their innovative dissertation research.

The Earl and Barbara Baughman Dissertation Award underscores our department’s commitment to supporting advanced graduate students who are in the crucial stages of their dissertation projects. By enabling them to focus exclusively on their research over the summer, the award alleviates the need to seek other employment, ensuring that our brightest scholars can devote their full attention to making significant academic contributions.

This year, the department has allocated three awards to assist our recipients as they push towards the completion of their transformative research projects. This investment in our students’ future is not only a testament to their hard work and potential but also a tribute to the legacy of Earl and Barbara Baughman’s dedication to academic excellence.

For more details about the application process or future deadlines, please contact Dr. Charlie Wiss. Let us extend our heartfelt congratulations to Jillian, Jimmy, and Madison . We eagerly anticipate the impactful research outcomes their work will bring to our community and the broader field.

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