A group of eight Elizabethtown College psychology students, accompanied by Professor of Psychology Michael Roy and Assistant Professor Jennifer Wittmeyer, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to present their research at the annual Association for Psychological Science (APS) Conference, held May 22 through 25.

“Presenting the research I had worked on all year and networking with other psychologists in my field at APS this year felt so rewarding and exciting,” Delaney Peckham ’25 said. “I would not have known about or been able to engage in this opportunity without the support of the Psychology faculty here at Etown.”

In addition to presenting, students engaged with other presenters, attended a number of talks, and took part in networking opportunities. While in the nation’s capital, the group also explored the city and visited the National Zoo. Dean of the School of Sciences and Health, Alan C. Utter, joined the group for part of the trip.

“Our students did a fantastic job presenting at the conference,” Dr. Roy said. “More than once, people were surprised to find out that they were undergraduates given the high quality of their work.”

Research Presentations

  • Creativity Priming and Ethical Decision Making — Percy Lachman ’26, Sara Colletti ’25 (not in attendance), Delaney Peckham ’25, Ryan Ramler ’25, and Dr. Jean Pretz
  • Gender and Relationships Affect the Admission of Wrongness and Willingness to Apologize — Kortny Green ’25 and Dr. Jean Pretz
  • Gray Matter Structure Correlates with Individual Differences in False Memory Performance —  Ryder Pavela ’25 and Dr. Wittmeyer
  • Music Taste, Personality, and Fandom: Diving Into K-Pop and Taylor Swift Fans — Kathryn Mackey ’25, Dr. Michael Roy, and Dr. Jean Pretz
  • Perceptions of Physical and Psychological Intimate Partner Violence Among LGBTQ+ Couples — Delaney Peckham ’25, Dr. Jean Pretz (not in attendance), Dr. Evan Smith (not in attendance), and Dr. Michael Roy
  • Perceptions of Donor-Assisted Families — Kyla Carpenter ’25 and Dr. Michael Roy
  • The Effect of Verbal Encouragement on Perceived Difficulty of Exercise — Ryan Ramler ’25 and Dr. Michael Roy
  • The Impact of the Own-Anchor Effect on Judgments of Height and Weight — Abbie Machmer ’25, Kathryn Mackey ’25, Ryan Ramler ’25, Leandra McMahon ’26 (not in attendance), and Dr. Michael Roy

The APS is an international organization that focuses on scientifically based psychology and has more than 25,000 members.

About Etown’s Psychology Program

Students studying Psychology at Etown gain knowledge by exploring subfields of the discipline, gaining foundational clinical skills, and conducting research projects that they design. Students can easily combine the Psychology major with an academic minor or a second major, and studying abroad is easy to integrate into our major program. Discover more.