View a complete schedule of presentations.

Department of Psychology

DegreeWorks is a Web-based tool that enables advisors to view a real-time comparison of a student’s academic coursework against program-specific requirements. The information is presented in an easy-to-read, color-coded checklist format. Using this tool, advisors can view and track their students’ remaining degree requirements, elective requirements, overall GPA, and several other measures of progress.

DegreeWorks has been available for all university advisors since the Fall 2012 semester, and those who currently utilize it evaluated it positively and provided useful feedback about it.

Department of Psychology

Complex and interrelated processes in adolescents with physical illness, namely PCOS, make efficacious interventions challenging. This enhanced cognitive behavioral and motivational interviewing therapy creates a synergistic effect across domains (weight, mood, and sleep) in ways that become increasingly salient during adolescence. This research will lay the groundwork for future interventions targeting important physical, emotional, and behavioral facets.

Rofey has been involved with NIH-funded grants and has completed research trials investigating synergistic behavioral interventions that affect physiological outcomes (e.g., PCOS), health promotion in high-risk adolescents, psychosocial outcomes in teens having bariatric surgery, collaborative care models in pediatric primary care, pediatric variants of bipolar disorder, and psychosocial implications of bariatric surgery. She is the author and co-author of numerous articles that have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Professor Krys Kaniasty, Department of Psychology, has co-edited a book titled Stress and Anxiety: Applications to Economic Hardship, Occupational Demands and Developmental Challenges (Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2012).

This annual volume features invited and selected presentations from the most recent conference of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society.

Part One explores the psychological and social consequences of economic hardship and financial burden associated with global economic upheavals.

Part two features studies of risk factors and psychological resources concerning occupational stress and burnout.

The final part presents investigations of several facets of the stress process in a variety of populations, including school children, adults, and users of online social networks.

The literature on men’s experience of psychological abuse is reviewed with a focus on our ability to conceptualize and measure such abuse. Scales used to measure psychological abuse based on the experiences of battered women are critiqued as inadequate measures of psychological abuse of men. Evidence that women psychologically abuse male partners is examined, but I argue that gender influences the perpetration, experience, understanding, and impact of psychologically aggressive acts and that new conceptualizations and measures are needed. Adopting a gender role perspective on psychological abuse, I suggest that women may use different strategies to hurt men, including manipulation and gender role harassment. Others have argued that coercive control paired with physical violence may constitute one version of intimate partner violence more frequently perpetrated by men. Directions for future research are identified.

TEPP is an American Psychological Association journal and is dedicated to enhancing supervision and training provided by psychologists.

Abstract

This work makes use of similarities between psychotherapy and supervision to develop a framework for considering the priorities for topics that may be addressed in an individual supervision session. Working directly from a hierarchy of thematic priorities described for the practice of psychotherapy (Kernberg, Selzer, Koenigsberg, Carr, & Appelbaum, 1989), this article first describes the significance of the hierarchy for the practice of supervision. The work then adapts this hierarchy to form a hierarchy for supervision that provides a framework for deciding the relative urgency of a range of supervisory concerns. The hierarchy is of significant value in optimizing the efficacy of supervision, maximizing the use of limited supervisory time, and maintaining a supervision that promotes trainee growth without crossing over the boundary from supervision to psychotherapy.

Department of Psychology

Presentations were made by faculty and students from Bloomsburg, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Kutztown, IUP, Mansfield, and Millersville. IUP students Mallory Clark, Anna Eyer, Rachel Posner, Michael Robb, and Emily Silvis and faculty members Pearl Berman, Krys Kaniasty, Anson Long, Maureen McHugh, Lisa Newell, Raymond Pavloski, and Margaret Reardon presented research findings. In addition, a May 2012 graduate of the Psychology Department honors program, Thomas Trautman, also represented IUP. The leadership of the IUP Psychology Department in establishing the event and in providing support was noted by participants.

John Cavanaugh, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, provided the keynote address, entitled “Current Advances and Controversies in Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis and Intervention.” Cavanaugh is a highly accomplished researcher and scholar in the neuropsychology of aging. He provided conference attendees with a cutting-edge view of research on causes of and interventions for Alzheimer’s disease.

A great deal of enthusiasm for this conference was expressed by participants, and its value for both students and faculty was noted. Faculty from two different PASSHE system universities have expressed an interest in hosting a fourth annual conference in Fall 2013.

Statistical wisdom holds that the null hypothesis should not be predicted and academia has been resistant to publishing null findings. This presentation explores the utility of this traditional viewpoint within the context of a juror decision making study. Research has just begun examining how jurors evaluate fingerprint evidence (e.g., Reardon, Danielsen & Meissner, 2005) and suggests that jurors are responsive to some aspects of the fingerprint expert’s testimony (e.g., quality of the print) but not to other aspects (e.g., expert’s declaration of a match). The current study furthers this work by testing whether jurors are sensitive to aspects of the fingerprint examination procedure that could bias the results including whether the examiner had prior knowledge of the case, and the affiliation of the examiner. The results of this study confirm the predicted null effect, suggesting that jurors are insensitive to aspects of the fingerprint analysis procedure that can bias the process. The validity of these results will be discussed within the context of predicting null effects.

Pavloski presented results of his recent research, which show how both the structure of a visual gestalt and the neural information on which it depends can be described by a formal model. This work aims to fill a gap in gestalt research on perception by providing a theory of how the structure of a visual experience and underlying brain activity are related.

The conference, which took place at Tieteiden talo (The House of Sciences), marked the century of empirical and theoretical work that followed the publication in 1912 of Max Wertheimer’s research demonstrating the holistic nature of apparent visual motion. This gathering was hosted and supported jointly by the Society for Gestalt Theory and Its Applications and by the Finnish Society for Natural Philosophy, and included invited talks by scholars from Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Poland.

Krys Kaniasty has been active in presenting at professional meetings in Europe and Africa.

First, he presented an invited lecture at the Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw (Poland), June 14, 2012: “In search of the obvious? Stress-related grown explains the relationships between received social support and perceived social support.”

Next, he chaired two sessions and presented three papers at the 33rd international conference of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR), July 2–4, 2012, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

1. “When is Received Social Support Actually Helpful? A Review of Merging Theoretical Concepts and Assessment Instruments”
2. “Political Stress and Sociopolitical, Interpersonal, and Community Functioning” (with U. Jakubowska, Polish Academy of Sciences)
3. “Political Alienation as a Mediator in the Relation Between Sense of Economic Threat and Authoritarianism” (with A. Bronowicka, Opole University, Poland).

Finally, Kaniasty was a second author of an invited presentation delivered by Urszula Jakubowska (Polish Academy of Sciences) at the 30th International Congress of Psychology, Cape Town, South Africa, July 2012 (Jakubowska, U., & Kaniasty, K. “Attitudes toward democracy in post-communist states and their psychosocial determinants: The example of Poland”).

Department of Psychology

These instructions were e-mailed to all Psychology majors and are very important. Students may review these instructions on the Psychology Department website.

A century of Gestalt Psychology has provided clear demonstrations of the grounding of visual phenomena in neural dynamics. Over the same period of time, we have learned that phenomenal vision depends on specific interactions within and among neural networks. However, we have not found a way to deal with the epistemological gap that stands between perceptual organization and the neural interactions on which it depends. I previously proposed that making progress on this issue would be facilitated by a formal model, the abstract elements of which encompass and bridge the phenomenal and the neural. This presentation applies category theory to the results of neural network simulations in order to show that network dynamics can bring a stable algebra of relations among neural information states into existence, and that a pattern of information states and their relations can describe the organization of a gestalt. A goal for future research is the construction of networks in which gestalts are invariant over the kinds of geometric transformations that take place as a physical object is imaged on the retina. Such models would be consistent with research demonstrating that the global nature of perceptual organization can be described in terms of invariants over such transformations. A means of testing these models using visualization of large-scale brain simulations is suggested.

Department of Psychology

The presentation will feature several actual class materials used in IUP’s courses that employ the SMART board. The discussion will occur on Wednesday, September 12 from 12:20–1:10 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 111. 

This chapter was part of an book edited by Thanos Patelis, entitled, “Research Studies, Literature Reviews, and Perspectives in Psychological Science,” published by the Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athens, Greece.

Maureen McHugh, Department of Psychology, coauthored “Feminism and Psychology: Analysis of a Half-Century of Research on Women and Gender” in American Psycyhologist. 

The work was published by members of the American Psychological Association Division 35 Task Force on the Feminist Transformation of Psychology, chaired by Alice Eagley.

Krys Kaniasty, of the Department of Psychology, just published “Parental Crucibles: Families Coping with Disaster” in Buchwal, Moore, and Ringeisen’s (editors) work, Stress and Anxiety: Appllication to Education and Health.

Disaster victims primarily rely on their indigenous support networks. Researchers observing public reactions to natural disasters and other collective catastrophes term this immediate reliance on assistance within primary groups as an “informal mass assault.” Of course, families are at the forefront of this movement, and empirical research has strongly documented the pivotal importance of kin support in coping with collective traumas. Yet, there is an inherent irony in the label “mass assault” because, more often than not, it is the family that is also at the frontal position for the victimization exposure to the forces of disasters. This chapter reviewed literature on psychological complexities experienced by families with children coping with natural and human-induced disasters.

Krys Kaniasty of the Department of Psychology just published “Predicting Social Psychological Well-Being Following Trauma: The Role of Postdisaster Social Support” in Psychological Trauma.

The article discusses the results of a longitudinal study that documented that dissatisfaction with aid received, interpersonal and community animosities, and disagreements experienced within the first months after a severe flood were later associated with survivors’ lower levels of perceived social support, more doubts about benevolence of people, and a greater tendency to withdraw from social interactions.

Kaniasty, K. (2012). Predicting Social Psychological Well-Being Following Trauma: The Role of Postdisaster Social Support. Psychological Trauma:Theory, Research, Practice, Policy, 4, 22-33.

Previous research indicates that apologies increase forgiveness and reduce anger (e.g., Mullet, Riviere, & Sastre, 2007; Thomas & Millar, 2008). The current research examines how the context surrounding an apology or non-apology influences forgiveness. One set of studies examines a repeated-transgression scenario in which the transgressor either apologizes or does not apologize after each offense. Another set of studies examines offenses with two transgressors in which each transgressor apologizes or does not apologize. For all studies, forgiveness and anger toward the transgressor(s) are measured. Results and implications of these experiments will be discussed.

The Center for Applied Psychology presents Leonore Tiefer on Friday, April 13, 2012 from 9:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. She will discuss “Integrating a Non-Medical View of Sexual Problems into Clinical Practice, The Contributions of the New View Campaign.” The workshop will be held in 210 Stabley Library.

Leonore Tiefer, Ph.D., is an associate clinical professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Get more information and the workshop registration form.

Workshop Description

Sex therapy is often taught as a set of technical and professional skills, requiring expert knowledge of sexual dysfunction nomenclature, diagnosis-oriented sexual history talking, and eclectic use of behavioral, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral skills, plus team networking with physicians, pelvic floor therapists, and pharmacologists. This workshop will take a different perspective, approaching sex therapy as a psychoeducational endeavor that is part of the politics of sexual life. Dr. Tiefer’s New View Campaign offers an approach to sexual problems that avoids pathologizing at the same time as it recognizes complaints and distress and the legitimacy of some forms of professional intervention. This approach to sex therapy combines knowledge of the history of sexual medicine and selective use of clinical resources so as to maintain a nonmedicalizing position. Dr. Tiefer argues that clinicians must appreciate the delicate balance between facilitating sexual self-understanding and change and buying into an antiquated medical model of “sexual function and dysfunction.” The workshop will provide a didactic introduction to contemporary sexual medicine and the New View critique along with the opportunity to discuss case examples and engage in interactive activities.

The paper appears in Volume 38, Issue 3 of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Abstract

Believing one shares a subjective experience with another (i.e., I-sharing) fosters connections among strangers and alters perceptions of the ingroup and outgroup. In this article, the authors ask whether I-sharing also fosters liking for members of a salient outgroup. Study 1 establishes that I-sharing promotes liking for the other sex, even among people with salient social identities. Study 2 shows that I-sharing promotes liking for a member of the sexual orientation outgroup, whether it occurs before or after group memberships get revealed. Study 3 focuses on salient race categories and looks at the effects of I-sharing versus value-sharing as a function of shared group membership. For those high in existential isolation, I-sharing trumps value-sharing, regardless of the I-sharer’s social identity. I-sharing may offer a way of improving attitudes toward outgroup members that still enables people to embrace their differing social identities.

Department of Psychology

Dr. Krys Kaniasty conducted an invited half-day workshop at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico).

The workshop entitled “All About Social Support: Conceptual, Measurement & Methodological Distinctions That Matter” dealt with theoretical and empirical complexities in understanding and measurement of social support. During his three day visit at UNAM, Dr. Kaniasty participated in several research meetings and gave a colloquium about salutary influence of strong social ties in coping with trauma and disasters.

MonocleCAT is a classroom interaction tool designed to increase student participation and provide an additional basis for grading, particularly in larger classes.

With this system, students respond to questions posed in the classroom using their own cell phones, smartphones, laptops, or other electronic devices, eliminating the need for clickers. The tool is presently used in a very large General Psychology course with great success.

Brown Bag participants are asked to bring their own cell phones, smartphones, tablets, or laptops to take part actively in the demonstration.

Department of Psychology

With this system, students respond to questions posed in the classroom using their own cell phones, smartphones, laptops, or other electronic devices, eliminating the need for clickers. The tool is presently used in a very large General Psychology course with great success.

Brown Bag participants are asked to bring their own cell phones, smartphones, tablets, or laptops to take part actively in the demonstration.

Department of Psychology

Laura Knight and Lisa Newell in the Department of Psychology are currently conducting a study of parents’ knowledge of child development. They are looking for moms and dads with at least one child under age five to participate.

Participation in this study will involve completing an online questionnaire that can be filled out at home or in a computer lab in Uhler Hall on the IUP campus. The survey will take about 30 minutes. Participants will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win one of four $25 Walmart gift cards.

If you would like to participate in this study, please call Lisa Newell at 724-357-4063 or e-mail Whatdoparentsknow@gmail.com.

This study is approved by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board (IRB).

The APS is the largest professional association for psychologists in Australia, currently representing over 20,000 members. The conference took place in Canberra (capital of Australia), October 2–8, 2011.

The major point of Kaniasty’s presentation (“Disasters or Social Catastrophes? On Social Psychological Reactions of Communities Coping with Natural and Human-Induced Disasters”) was that maintaining strong social ties in the aftermath of disasters is just as important as rebuilding infrastructure to help people overcome traumatic events.

These materials and paradigm are from Children’s Advocacy Studies Training (CAST), an undergraduate curriculum spearheaded by Victor Vieth, J.D., in collaboration with the Department of Justice. We have joined forces with his team within a cooperative effort to design the best CAST curriculum and spread it across the United States.

The discussion will be held in Uher Hall, Room 118.

Department of Psychology

This conference is a yearly gathering designed to foster community and allow for members of the psychology departments at the fourteen state universities to share ideas and research findings. The inaugural conference was hosted last year by the IUP Psychology Department.

There was an increase in both the number of universities represented at the conference and the number of presentations from the first to the second year. A total of nine presentations were made by IUP students (Chloe DePaolo, Adrianne Fuller-St.-John, Michael Gregory, Michael Robb, Sarah Scholl, Rachel Snyder, and Iryna Yavorska) and faculty members (David LaPorte, Anson Long, Lisa Newell, Raymond Pavloski, and Margaret Reardon). Deanne Snavely, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, supported student travel and also provided refreshments during the Saturday afternoon conference session.

IUP’s leadership in establishing the event and in providing support was noted by Jason Lanter, who coordinated this year’s conference, and by Anita Meehan, chair of the Kutztown Psychology Department.

A great deal of enthusiasm for this conference was expressed by participants. The Psychology Department at Millersville University announced that they will host next year’s event.

Fun photos of the event are available online.

With faculty representative from industrial/organizational, social, clinical, and other areas of psychology, the panelists will discuss careers in the social sciences and social services.

Department of Psychology

Dr. Lynda Federoff will talk about her experiences in moving her online classes from one system to another.

Desire2Learn is a new PASSHE-contracted learning management system that offers collaborative learning tools, activity-based learning, and interaction with materials that encourage critical reflection.

PASSHE recently announced that it has signed a five-year agreement with Desire2Learn to replace Moodle.

The Children’s Advocacy Studies Training program focuses on promoting the understanding of the various factors that lead to child maltreatment, and of various existing responses to incidents of child maltreatment.

Department of Psychology

• To all new Psychology majors, both beginning university students and transfer students: Welcome to IUP and to the Psychology Department.
• To returning psychology majors: Welcome back for the Fall 2011 semester.

Everyone in the Psychology Department hopes that this is very successful year.

The purpose of the meeting is to introduce students to members of the department, to talk about department activities like practicum and Psi Chi, and to help students become oriented to life as a Psychology major at IUP. The meeting will be especially useful for new students (freshmen or transfers), but any student who wishes to learn about the things described above, and others, should feel free to come and meet with us.

This award is presented annually to honor a current member of the STAR society who has a long and distinguished history of scientific contributions to one or more of the following areas: stress, coping, emotions, and health.

The Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR) is a multidisciplinary, international organization of researchers who share an interest in problems of stress, coping, and anxiety. Its members, from more than thirty-five countries, meet annually to exchange research findings and clinical applications on a wide range of stress, coping, and anxiety-related phenomena.

At the conference, Dr. Kaniasty also gave a keynote address entitled “Disasters or Social Catastrophes? On Social Psychological Reactions of Communities Coping with Natural and Human-Induced Disasters.” He also made two presentations: “The Link Between Received and perceived Social Support is Mediated by Social Psychological Growth Following Adversity” and “Development of the Warsaw Appraisal of Political Stress Inventory.”

Previous recipients of the award are a distinguished group that includes Charles Spielberger (1998), Ralf Schwarzer (1999), Irwin Sarason (2000), Charles Carver (2001), Stevan Hobfoll (2002), Moshe Zeidner (2003), Jeri Benson (2004), Kazimierz Wrzesniewski (2005), Esther Greenglass, Knut Hagvet (2006), Christine Schwarzer (2007), Kornel Sipos (2008), Michael Eysenck (2009), and Juhani Julkunen (2010).

Department of Psychology

As a team representing IUP, Berman and McHugh were accepted as participants at the training funded by a federal grant and held at the National Child Protection Training Center in Minnesota.

The National Child Protection Training Center , under the direction of Victor Veith, seeks to end child abuse in three generations, primarily through education and training.

The CAST workshop, which entailed four full days of instruction, enabled teams of educators to develop a curriculum in violence education at their home institutions.

Drs. Berman and McHugh each address issues of violence in their current courses.

This journal issue, entitled The Legacy of Gestalt Psychology, included five invited contributions from individuals whose contemporary research is influenced by the historically-important Gestalt school. Building on his neural network research, Pavloski presents a new model of large-scale neural network information states based on category theory, a branch of abstract algebra, and outlines a research program having as its aim the development of categorical models of both neural states and perceptions.

Bibliographic information for Dr. Pavloski’s article:

Pavloski, R. (2011). Learning how to get from properties of perception to those of the neural substrate and back: An ongoing task of Gestalt Psychology. Humana.Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies, 17, 69-94.

Thirty-eight early career psychologists received with the ECP Credentialing Scholarship, presented by the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology (National Register), in conjunction with the American Psychological Association Committee on Early Career Psychologists. 

The ECP Credentialing Scholarship is presented to exceptional early career psychologists interested in becoming credentialed by the National Register. These individuals are recognized for their exemplary commitment to professional excellence.

View the National Register press release recognizing this honor.

The Psychology Department Commencement will begin promptly at 8:15 a.m. in the Crimson Event Center. Students must arrive before 8:00 a.m. to line up for the ceremony.

For information about the university ceremony in the Kovalchick Complex, visit IUP’s Commencement webpage.

Dr. Elizabeth Kincade, chair of the Counseling Center at IUP, will discuss her new book, Feminist Therapy: Strategies for Social and Individual Change, on Friday, April 22, 2011, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 116.

Although feminist therapy is often considered a newcomer to the field of clinical practice, its has a long history with roots in feminist philosophy and theory. From its inception, feminist therapy has incorporated psychology of women and gender, well-established psychotherapeutic techniques, multicultural awareness, and social action in a coherent, theoretical, and therapeutic package.

They will discuss such questions as:

• How early should children be screened for an ASD?

• What signs should parents and pediatricians watch for?

• What is the next step when an ASD is suspected?

R.S.V.P. to 724-357-4526, or e-mail Dr. Knight (Laura.Knight@iup.edu) or Dr. Newell (Lisa.Newell@iup.edu).

This talk will take place on Friday, April 8, 2011, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 116.

Dr. McGowan, Ph.D., NCSP, is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational and School Psychology at IUP and coordinator of the School Psychology Certification Program.

McGowan will (a) compare current best-practice approaches for the assessment of generalized violence, (b) describe current conceptualization of violence risk that are derived from empirically based markers for specific types of violence, & (3) analyze the benefits of violence risk assessment for identifying at risk youth as well as guiding intervention efforts to assist them. Contemporary violence risk assessment approaches provide a means for identifying high risk youth and their needs. More importantly, these assessment approaches present opportunities for treatment teams to align services with child specific risk factors. The Structured Professional Judgment model will be discussed as a promising practice for working with youth populations.

Department of Psychology

Dr. Laura Knight will facilitate this discussion on “Career Paths for Clinical Psychologists: What Does the Future Hold?”

Since 2002, the number of sites offering predoctoral internships in clinical psychology has risen by 13 percent, but the number of applicants has risen by 37 percent. This imbalance and the sweeping economic changes occurring across the country are presenting challenges to both clinical psychology graduate students and the faculty members who train them.

In this uncertain economy, what skills do graduate students need in order to be competitive in the internship and job market?

The news is not all bad—with great challenge, comes great opportunity! In what fields are psychologists currently in demand and where are the opportunities going to be when today’s graduate students are ready for them?

This discussion will take place on Wednesday, February 16, 2011, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 116.

Dr. Lynda Federoff and Dr. Laurie Roehrich will also be discussant for work with ethical conduct of research and subject pool procedures.

Participants may also bring specific problems to the discussion for problem-solving assistance.

The researchers are trying to better understand who student-parents are and how they cope with the responsibilities of parenting and college.

Participation in this study will take about an hour to complete, and free child care will be provided while you participate. Participants will also have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win one of two $50 Visa gift cards.

For further information, contact the primary researcher, Amy Swingle, at IUPParentingStudy@gmail.com or call 724-422-9715.

Learn more about the study.

The paper was presented at the mid-winter meeting of the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology in San Juan, Puerto Rico on January 19, 2011.

Dr. Krys Kaniasty co-authored a review with his colleagues in the recently published journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

The review is titled “Weighing the Costs of Disaster: Consequences, Risks, and Resilience in Individuals, Families, and Communities.”

Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a supplement to Psychological Science (a flagship journal of the Association for Psychological Science), features comprehensive and compelling reviews of issues that are of direct relevance to the general public. These reviews are written by selected teams of specialists representing a range of viewpoints and are intended to assess the current state-of-the-science with regard to the topic.

Department of Psychology

The colloquium takes place on Friday, November 12, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 114.

Professor Mascolo developed a system for the dynamic analysis of joint action. This system provides a set of conceptual and empirical tools for analyzing developmental changes in the dynamic structure of jointly-produced acting, thinking, and feeling. The analytic system has been used to examine developmental changes in a variety of different psychological domains: development of representations of self in sociocultural contexts (USA, India); development of self-evaluative emotions (pride, shame, guilt, etc.) in sociocultural contexts (USA, Chinese-American immigrants); teaching and learning how to perform everyday tasks (sensori-motor tasks; how to tie shoes; adding integers; storytelling, etc.); micro-development of self and emotion in psychotherapy; and individual and social change processes in development.

About his colloquium, Dr. Mascolo notes:

Psychology is largely a fragmented discipline. Psychologists not only begin their work from different orientations and assumptions, they tend to focus their research programs on relatively isolated problems that have relevance within isolated intellectual communities.

Researchers tend to study parts or modules of human action and experience in isolation from each other (e.g., sensation, perception, emotion, cognition). Within these practices, we are immediately faced with a paradox.

Scientific analysis requires that researchers narrow the scope of their inquiry to solvable problems. The local success of this approach comes at a cost. Researchers are often unaware of studies in areas that have deep importance for their own research. Similarly, despite the voluminous outpouring of data generated from local research, progress toward developing an understanding of human action at the level of the integrated person has been limited.

In this talk, I attempt to bring together literature from multiple areas within and outside of psychology to develop an integrated conception of what it means to understand human action at the level of the person. I then describe a set of conceptual and empirical tools for analyzing the development of integrated structures of thinking, feeling and acting over the course of the lifespan. I will draw on studies on the holistic nature of development in academic, socio-emotional, and psychotherapeutic contexts. My hope is to invite conversation about how to coordinate and preserve what is best about existing research and applied practice in psychology, while simultaneously working toward ways to develop a rigorous holistic psychology of developing persons.

About Michael Mascolo

Michael F. Mascolo earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University at Albany and conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard University (Graduate School of Education). He is currently professor of Psychology at Merrimack College (North Andover, Mass.). His research is derived from an embodied coactive systems approach to human development. His research includes studies on the development of self and emotion, psychotherapy as a developmental process, teaching and learning processes, and the development of action within the context of social interaction. Mascolo has authored or coauthored numerous theoretical and empirical articles, and he has edited and coauthored several books, most recently Psychotherapy as a Developmental Process.

Learn more about Michael Mascolo.

The conference, being held in Uhler Hall from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., was organized by the Psychology Department faculty.

The idea of a Potluck is to bring your best “dish” and share it with others. The conference, the first of its type, will feature the best research conducted by faculty and students in many areas of psychology from various PASSHE universities. Among the topics represented are sexual desire, time pressure, humanistic therapy, memory for flavors, teaching, and sports fans.

A keynote address delivered by Krys Kaniasty, IUP, at 9:00 a.m. is entitled “United or Divided? Social Psychological Reactions to Natural Disasters, Technological Catastrophes, Acts of Violence, and Terror.”

The luncheon, which features a welcome and remarks from President Werner, will be held in the Allegheny Room at the Hadley Union Building.

Individuals registered for the conference are invited to a potluck dinner and film screening in Uhler Hall on Friday, October 22.

Preregistration runs through October 12, and costs $10 for students. Checks can be made payable to Foundation for IUP and sent to Margaret Reardon (Uhler 304). You can also register at the door for $5 more ($15/student).

This paper describes neural network models and computer simulations of those models that Dr. Pavloski has devised in order to study how the visual system produces hidden patterns having structural and dynamic properties that match those of perceptual experience.

An introduction to the article, written in German by Dr. Hellmuth Metz-Göckel, board director of the Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications, appeared in the same issue. Dr. Metz-Göckel indicated that he prepared this introduction because the contents of the paper were unfamiliar to many of the journal’s readers and “. . . at the same time theoretically very important.”

Department of Psychology

These include service activities, graduate school information meetings, and fun!

Check the Psychology Department’s calendar for upcoming events.

STAR is a multidisciplinary, international organization of researchers who share an interest in problems of stress, coping, and anxiety. Its members, from more than thirty-five countries, meet annually to exchange research findings and clinical applications on a wide range of stress and anxiety-related phenomena.

For more information, visit STAR’s website.

Patients typically hear health information from their physicians once, which may not be the optimal communication method for patient recall of health information. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the modality (visual or auditory) of initial health information interacts with the modality of summarization to influence the delayed recall of health facts.

College students were randomly assigned to a communication modality condition (visual/read or auditory/hear) as well as to a summary condition (visual/read, auditory/hear, or control/no summary). After a fifteen-minute delay, participants freely recalled health facts regarding Chagas disease. Information presented in the visual modality resulted in better recall than information presented in the auditory modality. Also, a summary in either modality (visual or auditory) was better than no summary at all.

However, the optimal summary modality was dependent on how the health information was first presented. When patients initially read health information, it was best for the summary to be verbal. However, when patients initially heard health information, any type of summary was effective.

Summarizing health information improves recall. If time with patients is limited, our results suggest that it is not necessary to provide verbal summaries of health information; written summaries (e.g., brochures, websites) could also increase patient recall. Physicians should find the most efficient way to provide patients with health summaries to improve patient adherence to protocol, thereby decreasing potential health-related risks.

Department of Psychology

Patients typically hear health information from their physicians once, which may not be the optimal communication method for patient recall of health information. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the modality (visual or auditory) of initial health information interacts with the modality of summarization to influence the delayed recall of health facts.

College students were randomly assigned to a communication modality condition (visual/read or auditory/hear) as well as to a summary condition (visual/read, auditory/hear, or control/no summary). After a fifteen-minute delay, participants freely recalled health facts regarding Chagas disease. Information presented in the visual modality resulted in better recall than information presented in the auditory modality. Also, a summary in either modality (visual or auditory) was better than no summary at all.

However, the optimal summary modality was dependent on how the health information was first presented. When patients initially read health information, it was best for the summary to be verbal. However, when patients initially heard health information, any type of summary was effective.

Summarizing health information improves recall. If time with patients is limited, our results suggest that it is not necessary to provide verbal summaries of health information; written summaries (e.g., brochures, websites) could also increase patient recall. Physicians should find the most efficient way to provide patients with health summaries to improve patient adherence to protocol, thereby decreasing potential health-related risks.

Department of Psychology

The electronic announcement of the publication appears at the Wiley Online Library.

The workshop will be presented by Dr. Katherine Hammond Holtz, an alumna of our Psy.D. program who (with Zan Master Thich Nhat Hanh) established Laughing Rivers Sangha, a community for mindful living, in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Check here for a complete workshop brochure.

The purpose of the meeting is to introduce students to members of the department, to talk about department activities like practicum and Psi Chi, and to help you become oriented to life as a Psychology major at IUP.

The meeting will be especially useful for new students (freshmen or transfers), but any student who wishes to learn more about the things described above, and others, should feel free to come and meet with us.

Undergraduate students presented the results of completed projects as well as proposals for upcoming investigations. Titles of student projects are listed on the research page of the Psychology Department website.

The Psychology Department presents Dr. Aaron Sell from the Center for Evolutionary Psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He will present “An Evolutionary-Computational Model of Human Anger” on Thursday, April 29, 2010, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 114.

In this lecture, Dr. Sell will apply the methods of the adaptationist program to human anger and argue that anger is the output of a cognitive mechanism designed by natural selection to negotiate conflicts of interest. The causes of anger, the behavior it produces, the factors that mitigate it, and its effects on physiology, perception, and cognition can all be explained by reference to this adaptive function. Using this framework, one can ask under what conditions aggression is mobilized by the anger system and predict individual differences in thresholds for aggression. For example, because physical aggression was frequently used by men during our evolutionary history to negotiate conflicts of interest, it was predicted and found across several cultures that physically stronger men were much more prone to aggression.

Dr. Sell’s research focuses on an evolutionary-computational model of anger called the Recalibrational Theory. According to this theory, anger is an adaptation designed by natural selection that functions to regulate conflicts of interest. He and his colleagues have used anthropometric measurements, vignette studies, argument analyses, studies of aggression, computerized facial tomography, and vocal analyses to demonstrate that many features of anger are functionally designed to respond to indications of a low Welfare Tradeoff Ratio (WTR)—i.e., an index of the weight another places on your welfare relative to their own when making decisions that impact you both.

Dr. Sell has tested the various predictions of the recalibrational theory in seven diverse cultures: the Tsimane (Bolivia), the Colla of the Andes (Argentina), the BiAka (African Congo), the Shuar (Ecuador), the Danes (Denmark), and American and Romanian college students.

The event will be held on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in Uhler Hall, Room 114. Everyone is welcome!

The conference theme was “Death, Dying, and Bereavement: It’s All about the Stories.”

Her presentation was titled “Audiovisual Interactions in Categorization: Voice Gender Biases Face Categorization.”

Two studies, both currently in progress, will be presented. The first investigates the relationship between promiscuity and sexual abuse history. The second project concentrates on the sexual double standard on IUP’s campus and its implications for contraceptive use. The presentation will also offer some insights on differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods when examining the sexual double standard.

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:

• Colloquium, Thursday, April 29 (3:30–5:00 p.m.), Aaron Sell, UC Santa Barbara, on an evolutionary-computational model of anger.
• Brown Bag, May 5 (12:15–1:15 p.m.), Dasen Luo on non-quant’s approach to General Latent Variable Modeling.

The Center for Applied Psychology (CAP) is hosting a Continuing Education workshop (CE credits for psychologists). The workshop, “Clinical and Ethical Considerations in Psychotherapy with Sexual Minority Clients: Conflicts at the Intersections of Ethnic, Spiritual, Sexual, and Other Identities,” will be conducted by Beverly Greene, Ph.D., ABPP, of St. John's University.

The workshop will be held on Friday, April 9, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Susquehana Room of the Hadley Union Building.

Interested parties may contact the CAP for a flyer or more information (724-357-6228).

Sexuality, ethnocultural, and religious beliefs are not uncommon issues presented by clients in psychotherapy either as a focus of or a part of their concerns. Each issue is provocative to both therapist and client and brings particular therapeutic and ethical challenges to the work. It is frequently presumed that these beliefs naturally conflict with one another, although clearly they do not conflict for a great many people. There are clients, however, who feel that their sexual identities, desires, and/or behavior and their religious or cultural beliefs are incompatible and irreconcilable. Such clients may present us with a range of challenges, including the appropriate ethical behavior of the therapist. This workshop will explore a range of ethical dilemmas that confront therapists in the treatment of clients whose religious beliefs and sexual identities, desires, and/or behaviors conflict in ways that are problematic for them.

The Department of Psychology is delighted to announce the awarding of this year’s Stanley Lore Scholarship to Heather Wagner and Rachel Snyder.

From left: Undergraduate Honors Coordinator Dr. Tara Johnson stands with Ms. Wagner, Ms. Snyder, and department chair Dr. Raymond Pavloski.

Congratulations!

The American Psychiatric Association has released the proposed diagnostic sets for mental disorders and is seeking public comment. There are many significant changes that are worth discussing and commenting about as the revision committee is seeking public feedback.

The Psychology Department will hold a series of sessions concerning these changes. The first DSM-5 Brown Bag will consider the process used to develop the draft criteria. Then two of the more controversial proposals—minor cognitive disorder and psychosis risk syndrome—will be discussed. Future brown bags will consider other disorders.

The October conference will be the first of what will become a yearly gathering of psychology departments from the fourteen PASSHE schools to share ideas and research findings. Submissions pertaining to any and all areas of psychology will be presented on October 22 and 23 in paper presentations, symposia, and poster format.

Submission are due by June 1. Check out the Hot Topics section of our website for a more complete description, a program flyer, and a submission form.

Doing a practicum provides an interesting alternative learning experience and may significantly increase your employment opportunities after graduation, as well as your chances of being accepted into a graduate program. Research practicum opportunities are also available, but must be directed by a faculty member in the department.

In order to receive course credit for your work, you must be accepted as an intern by the Practicum Committee following the completion of the application process. The application process involves several steps and takes about one month to complete, so get started on this NOW.

Applications are available on the Psychology Department website.

For more information, contact Dr. Newell, 215 Uhler Hall, newell@iup.edu.

Doctoral alumna Dr. Stephanie Kim Phillips will be the presenter. This colloquium will utilize case studies to present ways to conduct culturally-informed interventions in working with people of diverse backgrounds.

The colloquium will be centered around three actual case studies. The presenter will discuss intervention choice points made in the process of treatment.

The presenter will also discuss the impact of the person of the therapist on the client(s) and visa-versa, emphasizing that the first step in the practice of multiculturally competent clinical work is an extensive, intensive, and ongoing journey of self-exploration. An opportunity for discussion of the issues raised will be afforded to participants.

Check the Psychology Department website “Hot topics” for more complete information.

Dr. Tara Johnson and Dr. Lynda Federoff will be helping out. Interviews will take place on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in Uhler 114. Students may bring their academic vitae if they have one.

An expert in forensic and neuropsychological assessment, Dr. LaPorte held two sessions for this specialized legal group. His topics included “Parental Alienation: Does it Exist and How to Address it” and “Should Psychologists Performing Child Custory Evaluations be Making Recommendations?”

Make sure to bring your questions and any other materials you might need (textbook, notes, calculator).

The tutor is available during the following times in Uhler 117.

• Monday 2:30–4:00pm
• Wednesday 2:15–4:15pm
• Thursday 6:00–7:30pm

Department of Psychology

What causes people to become involved in their communities and with politics? Dr. Tara Johnson from the Psychology Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is seeking middle-aged and older adult participants to complete an on-line survey at their own convenience. This study seeks to examine age differences in and predictors of civic engagement.

Participants will have a chance to receive compensation for their time (i.e., a drawing at the end of the study for one of two $50 gift cards to any establishment the winner chooses) and will have the opportunity to review group results once the study has ended.

To learn more about this study, contact Dr. Johnson at civicstudy@gmail.com or 724-357-4529.

Statistical and SPSS knowledge are not required, although preference will be given to students who have already completed PSYC 290.

E-mail Dr. Reardon at Margaret.Reardon@iup.edu for more details.

In addition to forming lasting friendships, Psi Chi is a great way to become involved in IUP, network with professors and employers, and learn about the field of psychology.

There are many benefits to joining Psi Chi, so join us at our first meeting of the semester. Be there!

Dr. Maureen McHugh of the Department of Psychology was recently awarded the Legacy Award from the Greater Pittsburgh Psychological Association.

A dinner was held at the Grand Concourse in Pittsburgh in her honor, along with two other awardees. The Legacy award is given in recognition of exceptional contributions to psychology and to the community. Dr. Mary Burke presented the award to Dr. McHUgh, citing Dr. McHugh's contributions in scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and professional and community service.

Sixty-eight Fellows are chosen annually each year through a highly competitive selection process. The Fellows Program in Public Affairs is conducted in Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and St. Louis.

Psychology students interested in this highly touted, nine-month, graduate-level, experiential program are encouraged to check out the Coro website.

Published by Sage, the second edition of this work is unique in its theoretical and practical application of clinical approaches.

Psi Chi, the Honor Society in Psychology, will be sponsoring two graduate school panel discussions. The first session will be held on Monday, November 16, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. in Uhler 114. At this session, several psychology professors will be in attendance to provide information and answer questions.

The second session will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. in Uhler 114. Several psychology graduate students will be at this session to relate their experience with graduate school and answer your questions. Feel free to come to one or both sessions.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The discussion will include the rationale for developing a clinic at the IUP Center for Applied Psychology to assess these disorders and the challenges of getting such a clinic started. Feedback from faculty members and graduate students will be an essential part of this process, so a lively discussion is desired.

Come to Uhler Hall, Room 109, from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. this Thursday!

The Legacy Awards dinner will be held November 13, 2009, at the Grand Concourse, Station Square.

The chapter will appear in Neria, Galea, and Norris’ edited work, Mental Health Consequences of Disasters, published by Cambridge University Press.

As part of completing the doctorate at IUP, she did her internship at the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University Medical School. She proceeded to a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell Medical Center in New York City and another postdoctoral fellowship at the Bedford VA Medical Center in Boston. She is now the director of Cognitive Rehabilitation and an instructor in Neurology at Boston University of School of Medicine. She also received her Diplomate in Clinical Neuropsychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology.

She will be on campus for this award on Monday, November 9, 2009, and will be meeting with students several times that day.

Kudos to Dr. O’Conner!

His talk, entitled ”Distinctions That Matter: Received Social Support, Perceived Social Support, and Social Embeddedness After Traumatic Events,” will be presented on Friday, October 23, 2009, at 10:00 am.

IUP Department of Psychology

The training was conducted in three professional venues. First, he presented at the Pennsylvania Psychological Association’s (PPA) Ethics Educators’ Annual Meeting in Harrisburg on October 2. Next, his work was accepted for presentation at the PPA Annual Continuing Education Conference in Mars, Pa., on October 9. Finally, he was invited to provide the training for the Lehigh Valley Psychology and Counseling Association at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., on October 16.

Her presentation is entitled “Predictors of Treatment Attendance and Attrition in an Integrated Behavioral Parent Training Program for Depressed Mothers of Children with ADHD.” An abstract of her presentation is available for download.

Mr. Chris Clouser is IUP’s science librarian. The science librarian provides reference services, collection development, library instruction, and research support to the students and faculty of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Check the department calendar for upcoming brown bag discussions on October 22 (Music Performance Anxiety) and November 12 (IUP’s Autism Clinic).

Be there!

This panel discussion is designed to consider the needs and interests of students who are at all phases of their training. Undergraduate students are also encouraged to attend to begin considering the planning and direction of their undergraduate and graduate education. The discussion will be held on Friday, September 25, 2009, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m in Johnson Hall, Room 247 (adjacent to Uhler Hall). Check out the panel discussion flyer for complete information!

Department of Psychology

Dr. Frieze is the current editor of Sex Roles and the former editor of Journal of Social Issues. This interactive discussion will begin at 12:20 p.m. It will be located in Uhler Hall, Room G36 (in the basement). Latecomers and early leavers are welcomed!

Applicants must have a minimum of a 2.75 GPA for a minimum of 28 credits taken at IUP. Interested students must apply by October 7, 2009 (applications are available on the website). Successful applicants will be required to take COUN 253, Counseling in School Settings, in the Spring 2010 semester before beginning work in Fall 2010. This position entails signing a work contract for an academic year (Fall and Spring semester, fifteen weeks each semester) with a commitment of fifteen hours weekly at the student work-study hourly rate. Undergraduates who are interested in counseling or clinical graduate training might want to apply.

All of the information regarding this is on the Center for Student Success website.

IUP Department of Psychology

The colloquium will be held in Uhler Hall, Room 114 on September 25, 2009, at 4 p.m.

Complete information is available on the conference flyer.

IUP Department of Psychology

All are invited!

Located in the basement of Uhler Hall, the Academic Development Center will be open Mondays from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m., Tuesdays from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m., Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Check us out!

The purpose of the meeting is to introduce students to members of the department—both faculty members and students—to talk about department activities like practicum and Psi Chi, and to help students become oriented or reoriented to life as a Psychology major at IUP. The meeting will be especially useful for new students (freshman or transfers), but any student who wishes to learn about the things described above, and others, should feel free to come and meet with us.

This study seeks to examine age differences in and predictors of civic engagement. Participants will have a chance to receive compensation for their time and will have the opportunity to review group results once the study has ended. To learn more about this study, contact Dr. Johnson at civicstudy@gmail.com or 724-357-4529.

This thorough review of the MMPI-RF provides an important review of the validity and clinical scales, as well as the score report and other important aspects of administration.

The workshop will be held September 11, 2009, in the Hadley Union Building. Get the complete flier and registration form for the workshop.

Dr. Meil’s new rank, which will be effective with the Fall 2009 semester, was the result of recommendations by department faculty members and the department chair, a universitywide committee of his peers, and the granting of the new rank by the university president.

Professor Metz-Göckel, board director of the society, wrote “...I welcome you heartily. We are very glad to greet you because of your special research interests. These will be able to stimulate internal discussions very much.”

In the past year, Dr. Pavloski has presented his research linking neural networks and perceptual phenomena at a special symposium on Gestalt theory at the international conference Describing Complex Systems, held in Zadar, Croatia, and at an international conference entitled Neuroscience Meets Gestalt Psychology, held at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. Dr. Pavloski also has a theoretical paper in press in the society’s journal, Gestalt Theory: “Searching for a Neural Isomorph of the Perceptual Gestalt: From Cortical Currents to Hidden Patterns in the Dynamics of Recurrent Neural Networks.”

He will serve a one-year term as president-elect before taking the helm of the statewide body. Congratulations to Dr. Hogue! Check out the PPA website for more information.

Department of Psychology

The awards were presented by President Tony Atwater during IUP’s 2009 Honors Day on March and again at the University Commencement. Details can be found at the IUP Reporter page.

IUP has honored exemplary faculty members who make significant contributions to the university with these awards since 1969. The winners are determined by the University Senate Awards Committee.

The 2009 program is entitled “Living with Grief: Diversity and End-of-Life Care,” and will presented on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Susquehanna Room of the IUP Hadley Union Building. Check out the Living with Grief ’09 Brochure for more details and registration information.

She will present data on the financial associations between expert members of diagnostic and treatment guidelines and the pharmaceutical industry. Cosgrove will also discuss why the overuse of diagnostic checklists undermines an appreciation for the diversity of individuals’ experiences, reinforces the authority of only certain kinds of research, and privileges biomedical interventions. CE credits are available, so check out the Bias and Conflict of Interest flyer  for more information and registration.

In the afternoon, Cosgrove will conduct an analysis of diagnosis as social construction and provide a critical perspective on the issue of bias in contemporary psychiatric diagnosis with an emphasis on Conflict Of Interest issues in clinical practice and research. Cosgrove will present her research on the financial associations between expert members of diagnostic and treatment guidelines and the pharmaceutical industry. She will discuss why the overuse of diagnostic checklists undermines an appreciation for the diversity of individuals’ experiences, reinforces the authority of only certain kinds of research, and privileges biomedical interventions.

The colloquium will be held on Friday, April 17, 3:30–5:00 p.m., Uhler Hall, Room 114. 

Presented by the IUP Department of Psychology.

Professor Irene Hanson Frieze (psychology, University of Pittsburgh) will talk about her on-going study of changing attitudes of university students in Central and Eastern Europe as they respond to a world changing around them. These formerly Communist countries are now developing market economies where jobs are no longer guaranteed, prices for all types of goods have risen, and ideas about the necessity for women and men to have full time jobs are changing. There is also more emphasis on religion. How do these changes affect the young adults? Do we find evidence that communist ideals about gender equality are disappearing? What do they feel are now the appropriate roles for women and men as they grow up? Is there evidence that economic indicators predict attitudes? (For more on the speaker, please refer to Professor Frieze’s website).

Check out the Psychology Department Calendar for this and other upcoming events!

Check out the Psychology Department Calendar for this and other upcoming events!

The center is conducting a study that investigates how individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder differ from their typically-developing peers in social processing skills.

If you, or anyone you know, have children that meet these criteria and are interested in helping us learn more about social processing in children, or you have any questions, please contact the Cognition and Development Center. Check out Hot Topics for more details about the program!

Dr. Rafoth directs the English Department’s graduate program in Composition and TESOL. He teaches courses in qualitative research methods and composition theory. From 1987 to 2006, he directed the IUP Writing Center. He specializes in composition theory and pedagogy and has published three books: The Social Construction of Written Communication, A Tutor’s Guide, and ESL Writers. His articles have appeared in Written Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, Writing Program Administration, and other journals. He has been a writing program consultant and invited speaker in the U.S. and overseas. In 2003 he served as chair of the annual meeting of the International Writing Centers Association.

In order to receive course credit for your work, you must be accepted as an intern by the Practicum Committee following the completion of the application process. It’s a somewhat complicated process, so get started on it right away. The application process involves several steps and takes about one month to complete, so get started on this NOW.

Department of Psychology

The Convention Committee will be accepting poster submissions from now until April 1, 2009. Copies of both applications are available in the convention section of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association website.

Members of the Convention Committee will review all submissions and notify students regarding acceptance by May 10 and will select three submissions by that date for $200 prizes (Undergraduate, Graduate and Existential-Humanistic), which will be awarded at the Annual Convention on Friday, June 19, during the Awards Ceremony.

Submissions for the Science-Practice Research Poster Session will also be judged by May 10 and recognized during the Awards Ceremony.

The Pennsylvania Psychological Association encourages excellence in the teaching of psychology and in psychological research. We are also eager to provide support to psychologists of the future by offering a forum where graduate and undergraduate students, and psychologists actively engaged in psychological research can display their research and become acquainted with the research of their peers.

The mission of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association is to advance psychology in Pennsylvania as a means of promoting human welfare through activities that

• Educate and support the professional development of our members
• Educate the public through disseminating and applying psychological knowledge
• Maintain and build organizational strength
• Advocate vigorously for public access to psychological services

 
IUP Department of Psychology 

Pennsylvania Psychological Association
Website: www.papsy.org
Marti Evans
Public Information Contact
E-mail: mevans@papsy.org 
Phone: 717-232-3817

The application deadline for the Summer 2009 program is March 6, 2009. Students who are currently enrolled as undergraduates at any college or university are invited to apply.

Check out the Undergraduate Summer Workshop website. This is noted on our departmental calendar as well.

Department of Psychology

PSYC 290-W04 students from Fall 2007

The research team attempted to determine the degree to which requiring participants to classify faces by race in the IAT contributes to the racial bias they show on the task. In a control condition, we instructed participants to classify the picture stimuli by race (i.e., African American or European American, the standard IAT). In two other conditions, we asked participants to classify the picture stimuli by gender (i.e., woman or man) or by shapes (i.e., a superimposed square or triangle). We replicated the previously reported bias in the control condition but found no bias in either experimental condition.

Soupe du jour by Dr. Newell and home-made cottage cheese and dill bread by Dr. Roehrich

This will be our last Brown Bag for the semester.

Presented by the Department of Psychology.

“Social Causation and Social Selection Models of Social Support and Posttraumatic Distress”

Reviews of literature frequently note the limitations of supportive relationships in times of stress but have generally concluded that social support is beneficial to psychological well-being and physical health. The vast majority of studies that have provided evidence for such conclusions were based on two dominant theoretical formulations: the stress buffer (interactive) model and the main effects (additive) model. Although heavily supported empirically, these two models constrain our understanding of the many different ways stress, social support, and health are related. This presentation should alleviate this deficiency by introducing many other theoretical models describing these relationships.

Senior psychology major Carol Shuler, second-year doctoral student Janna Foster, and Dr. Krys Kaniasty have provided the latest entries in the Psychology Department’s Research and Recognition!

Ms. Shuler received an award from the IUP McNair Program for best overall research during the program’s Summer Research Institute. Her research project was “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: An Assessment of College Students’ Knowledge and Atttitudes toward HIV and AIDS.”

From Cortical Fields to Hidden Patterns: Neural Network Revisions to Köhler’s Isomorphism

Dr. Ray Pavloski

How is sensory input encoded both as the noisy, high-dimensional activity recorded from the brain and as low-dimensional and noise-free perceptual experience? In 1929, Köhler argued that there are physical fields distributed throughout the cortex that stand in a 1:1 relationship with the structures of perception. Current evidence suggests that perceptual experiences are self-organized biological patterns, but their relationship to the activities of neurons and neural networks remains unexplained. For the past several years, Dr. Pavlovski has used neural network modeling and analysis of computer simulations to study how patterns having the dimensions and structures of relations that characterize perceptual experience might be hidden within neural network activity. He will give an overview of this work, starting with his initial efforts to devise simple neural networks that produce hidden patterns and progressing to more recent efforts to find hidden patterns that are naturally produced by certain networks.

Presented by the Department of Psychology.

Regalia and hoods must be ordered from the Co-op Store by November 10, 2008.

For more information about this memorable occasion, stay tuned to the Commencement Web page.

Elephant Café Brown Bag Series — ECBBS: PRESENTS:

Cardiovascular Response during Trumpet Playing

Donald Robertson, Lynda Federoff, and Kevin E. Eisensmith

October 3, Friday, from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m., ROOM 109

Heart rate, heart rate variability, stroke volume, and cardiac output were measured while six college students and six professionals played trumpet. One-minute rest periods were followed by one minute of playing exercises designed to assess the effects of pitch and articulation. Heart rate and heart rate variability increased when playing but stroke volume decreased. Changes in heart rate between resting and playing were greater for students, although beat-to-beat variability was larger for professionals in the upper register. These results suggest that expertise is characterized by greater physiological efficiency.

Soupe du jour by Dasen Luo...

In addition to the food, Psi Chi will have clothing items for sale (IUP sweatshirts, sweatpants, T-shirts, etc.) as well as various psychology books.

The clothing sale is on a first-come, first-served basis, as we have a limited number of items in each size. However, we will be placing another order soon, so will be taking orders as well.

So come hungry Friday and be ready for some good food. We will be serving until 2:30 p.m.

Check the Department of Psychology Events page for dates, times, and locations of Psi Chi meetings and events.

Come to an important meeting for Psychology majors on September 10 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Weyendt 032.

Overview of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition WAIS-IV

Presented by Gloria Maccow, Ph.D., Assessment Consultant, Pearson, Inc., formerly the Psychological Corporation/a division of Harcourt Assessment, Inc.

Friday, October 10, 2008, 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.

Susquehanna Room, IUP Hadley Union Building

The complete description and enrollment form are available for download.

Sponsored by Center for Applied Psychology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the IUP Office of Distance Learning and Continuing Education.

Five (5) APA CEs are available for psychologists

Five (5) ACT 48 Hours for educators

Description

This full-day workshop will provide information on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition, published in August 2008. The presenter will discuss features of the fourth edition of the WAIS, technical properties of the WAIS-IV, directions for administration and scoring of the subtests on the WAIS-IV, and interpretation of the results. Sample data will be used to illustrate interpretation.

By the end of the workshop, participants will

• describe the structure of the WAIS-IV
• discuss reliability and validity of the WAIS-IV
• describe administration and scoring of the subtests;
• discuss interpretation of the data

Presenter

Dr. Maccow is an assessment consultant with Pearson (formerly the Psychological Corporation/a division of Harcourt Assessment, Inc.). She was trained as a school psychologist at Texas A&M University and at the University of Florida. She worked for two years as supervisor of Psychological Services and for several years as a school psychologist with Guilford County Schools in North Carolina. She provided training for graduate students in school psychology at Indiana State University and at Illinois State University, and she worked as a psychologist in private practice in Greensboro, N.C.

Dr. Maccow has conducted research on assessment methods and instruments, early intervention, and Response to Intervention. Her publications include a chapter on prematurity in Children’s Needs, an article on full-service schools published in School Psychology Review, and several test reviews for the Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook.

She is a member of the National Association of School Psychologists and has presented on different topics at national and state conferences. In her current position, she conducts workshops for psychologists in New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

This program is sponsored by the IUP Center for Applied Psychology.

Continuing Education Approval for Psychologists

The Center for Applied Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Center for Applied Psychology maintains responsibility for the program and its content. This workshop is available for five (5) APA CEs. A $25 CE recordkeeping fee is required.

Act 48 Hours for Educators

IUP School of Continuing Education offers five (5) Act 48 Hours. A $25 recordkeeping fee is required.

IUP is a member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

If you have questions about this workshop or about continuing education, call 724-357-6228.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 18 at 8:00 p.m. in 114 Uhler Hall. See the Psychology Department calendar for specific dates through the semester.