Psychology News and Achievements

MARCH 2018

Jean Pretz, professor of psychology and department chair, and psychology major Megan Kuczma ’18 presented their research on creativity at the 2017 annual conference of the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C. Kuczma presented work from a SCARP project in the poster, “Using Creativity and Critical Thinking to Predict College Success.” Pretz gave a talk on “Gender Differences in Self-Perceived and Actual Creativity” as part of a symposium on the Social and Emotional Bases of Creativity.

Pretz also gave an invited talk at the annual meeting of the Dysphagia Research Society in Baltimore, Maryland. Her talk, “Clinical Reasoning and Intuition: Insights from Cognitive Science,” was presented to a group of clinicians, speech and language pathologists, physicians and others specializing in swallowing and swallowing disorders.

DECEMBER 2017

 Ian MacFarlane, assistant professor in psychology, had a research article, titled “Genetic Counselors’ Experiences and Interest in Telegenetics and Remote Counseling,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Genetic Counseling. The research study explores interest in, experiences with, expectations of and barriers to implementation of genetic counseling conducted via telephone, web conferencing or other forms of technology-enhanced communication. With the rapid evolution of technology to improve access to care among rural populations and other areas without adequate coverage of genetic counselors, it is important to understand the degree to which the field of practitioners is embracing these new methods and spread lessons to improve implementation in additional areas.

NOVEMBER 2017

Ian MacFarlane, assistant professor of psychology, coauthored the research study “‘If It Helps, It’s Worth a Try’: An Investigation of Perceptions and Attitudes about Genetic Counseling among Southern Manitoba Hutterites in the Journal of Genetic Counseling.” The paper is based on another coauthor’s master’s thesis at the University of Minnesota and continues to expand the literature on perceptions of genetic counseling among rural populations.

Holly Gasper ’18 and Michael Roy, associate professor of psychology, presented “The Accuracy of Witness Crime Duration Estimates Can Be Improved” at the Psychonomic Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The research for this project was supported by the SCARP program.

 

September 2017

Ian MacFarlane, assistant professor of psychology, co-supervised the master’s thesis of University of Minnesota Genetic Counseling student Katie Plamann, whose research received the best student abstract award at the 2017 National Society of Genetic Counseling Annual Education Conference in Columbus, Ohio.

 

June 2017

Students and faculty members presented at the recent Association for Psychological Science conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

The following were completed in collaboration with Catherine Lemley, professor of psychology:

• Frey, J., Craver-Lemley, C., & Donlin, H. Enhanced auditory memory associated with better learning in music-color synesthetes with Halley Donlin ’17
• Reeves, A., Craver-Lemley, C., Smith, M. & Nunn, C. The Perky effect is no longer robust with acuity tasks with Morgan Smith ’17 and Cara Nunn ’17
• Bush, John & Craver-Lemley, C. Athletes utilize object imagery over spatial imagery with John Bush ’17
• Piatt, G. Visual emotional cues increase change deafness with Genevieve Piatt ’17
• Ruszala, J. Single-session loving-kindness meditation practices increase positive social emotion with Josh Ruszala ’17

 

The following were completed in collaboration with Michael Roy, associate professor of psychology:

Supplying a correct anchor shifts patterns of bias in retrospective time estimates with Jason Mountain ’17, Josh Ruszala ’17, Jonnie Dempsey ’17; Kayla Furman ’18 and Ally Killen ’18

Going with your gut: How intuition is related to thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors with Jean Pretz, associate professor of psychology and department chair; Kayla Furman’18 and Ally Killen ’18

 

April 2017

Jean Pretz, associate professor of psychology and department chair, and her collaborators in Nursing and Psychology at the PA College of Health Sciences were awarded the 2016 Research Article of the Year from the journal “Clinical Simulation in Nursing” for their paper, “Effect of Simulation Role on Clinical Decision-Making Accuracy.” The researchers integrated an experimental design into nursing laboratory exercises using simulated patients. Results showed the value of intuition and analysis in clinical decision making among student nurses who were randomly assigned to various roles in the simulated scenario. This work was also presented at the Nursing Education Research conference and the Eastern Psychological Association conference in 2016.

March 2017

Jean Pretz, associate professor of psychology, and Danielle Nelson ’15 published their work in a new book, “The Creative Self: Effect of Beliefs, Self-Efficacy, Mindset and Identity,” published by Elsevier. Their chapter describes work by Pretz on how self-perceived creativity differs by major field of study. In the chapter, Nelson reports on her senior thesis about creativity and self-efficacy. Her research received Honors in the Discipline at Elizabethtown and previously was presented at the national meeting of the American Psychological Association in 2015. Nelson is now completing her master’s degree in counseling psychology and art therapy at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

January 2017

John A. Teske, professor of psychology, was recently designated a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion, which entitles him to put F.I.S.S.R. after his name. … “Not that he ever will.”

December 2016

Michael Roy, associate professor of psychology, presented “The whole is not the sum of its parts: Individual estimates of duration do not add up to the global estimates” at the recent Society for Judgment and Decision Making conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The research was done in collaboration with former student Tatem Burns ’16.

November 2016

Joseph Mahoney, professor in psychology, presented “The potential of out-of-school time for promoting social-emotional learning: Implications for education and youth development” Nov. 7, 2016, at the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), in Chicago, Illinois.

October 2016

Joseph Mahoney, professor of psychology, had research published in the peer-reviewed publication, “International Journal of Research on Extended Education.” The research was supported, in part, by a faculty grant from Elizabethtown College.

Summer 2016

Joseph L. Mahoney, professor of psychology, delivered an invited seminar at Örebro University, Sweden, titled, “Youth development through after-school and summer activities.”

John A. Teske, professor of psychology, was co-organizer of “How Can We Know: Co-Creating Knowledge in Perilous Times,” the 62nd Annual Conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, June 25 through July 1 on Star Island, New Hampshire.

John A. Teske, professor of psychology, moderated three of the Plenary Dialogues at the 62nd Annual Conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science: “On Imagining and Knowing,” “On Knowing Traditions” and “On Knowing Good”. He also participated in the dialogue on Knowing Ourselves with Warren Brown, a neuropsychologist/neuroscientist and director of the Lee Travis Research Institute in Pasadena. Teske’s position paper was “How Do We Know Ourselves? From the Outside In.” Other speakers included a Gifford lecturer from South Africa, anthropologists from North Carolina and Virginia, a philosopher of religion, a psychologist specializing in indigenous psychologies, and a Jesuit astronomer. Conference participants represented 23 states and 10 countries.