Alcohol Use of College Students |
| Project Description: The goal of this experiment is to understand the underlying factors of college student drinking and to explore intervention methods that encourage lower risk drinking. |
| Student Roles/Responsibilities: Research assistants will administer questionnaires to participants in the study and will learn to enter data into statistical computer programs. Students will have the opportunity to survey the alcohol/substance use literature and to learn more about research methodology. Research assistants will also attend regular lab meetings to learn about the latest developments in the substance use field and to find out more ways to get involved in research opportunities in the lab. A two semester commitment is required. |
| Qualifications: Students who apply must have taken Psychology 205 and must be hard-working, dependable, and interested in learning more about all aspects of research. Applicants must be able to attend weekly meetings on Fridays from 9-10am. Basic computer experience is a must. |
Sponsor: Professor Kate B. Carey, 430
Huntington Hall; x2706; e-mail: kbcarey@syr.edu |
| Family Life and Asthma Project |
| Project Description: Study aims to examine how family routines and rituals may promote medical adherence and reduce anxiety in children with asthma. |
| Student Roles/Responsibilities: Students are trained to assist in laboratory procedures including parent and child interviews, coding videotapes of parent/child interaction and assisting in home observations. |
| Minimum Qualifications: Students must have an overall 3.0 GPA, be able to make a two semester commitment, and show evidence of maturity and investment in psychological research. |
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| Age Differences in Learning and the Development of Automaticity | |
| Project Description: Dr. Hoyer's Adult Cognition Laboratory (457 Huntington Hall) provides an opportunity each semester for one or two junior or senior undergraduates to gain first-hand experience in a cognitive psychology research laboratory that focuses on individual differences (i.e. age differences). Students will work closely with Professor Hoyer and several graduate students on ongoing projects that focus on the study of adult age differences in learning, memory, and visual selective attention. One of the projects is concerned with how individuals of different ages (young adults, middle-aged, elderly) learn and maintain new cognitive skills. A second project is concerned with understanding adult age differences in the ability to ignore or inhibit distractor information in learning tasks. Each project consists of a series of studies that will continue throughout the year. | |
| Student Roles/Responsibilities: The students will become part of a research team investigating the questions described above. Students will be responsible for assisting with data collection, and with scoring and entering of data into computer files. Students will attend research team meetings and will participate in group discussions of research findings of plans and procedures for new experiments. Students will read and discuss research articles that are related to the ongoing research projects. | |
| Minimum Qualifications: There is only room for two undergraduates to participate each semester, so Professor Hoyer will need to be selective. The experience is most suited to someone who has a strong interest in actively participating in cognitive psychological research. In terms of qualifications, the student should : 1) be a psychology major; 2) have taken PSY 337 (Adult Life and Aging) and PSY 332 (Human Information Processing) or related courses; and 3) be seriously considering graduate study in cognitive or life-span developmental psychology. | |
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Cognitive Aging |
| Project Description: Dr. Verhaeghen's laboratory for research on cognition in adulthood and late life each semester provides an opportunity for one or two junior or senior undergraduates to gain first-hand experience in research on cognitive psychology as applied to adult age differences. Dr. Verhaeghen's ongoing research centers mainly around the role of working memory and control processes in explaining cognitive aging. |
| Student Roles/Responsibilities: The students will become part of a research team investigating the questions described above. Students will be responsible for assisting with data collection (testing young and older adults), and with scoring and entering of data into computer files. Students will have the opportunity to attend research team meetings and to participate in group discussions of research findings and of plans and procedures for new experiments. |
| Minimum Qualifications: There is typically room for one or two undergraduates to participate each semester. The experience is most suited to someone who has a strong interest in actively participating in cognitive psychological research. In terms of qualifications, the student should ideally: 1) be a psychology major; 2) have taken PSY 322 (Human Information Processing) or related courses; and 3) be seriously considering graduate study in cognitive or life-span developmental psychology. |
Sponsor: Professor Paul Verhaeghen,
430 Huntington Hall; x3462; e-mail: pverhaeg@psych.syr.edu |
Creativity, mood disorder, and rumination |
| Project Description: It has been shown that creative artists (most notably writers) have a higher lifetime vulnerability to mood disorder (especially depression). It is possible that there is a direct link, but it is also quite possible that the effect is spurious, and due to a third variable. The variable we investigate is rumination – people who ruminate are more likely to get depressed, but they may also be more likely to be creative. The research has obvious implications for the treatment of mood-disordered creative people. |
| Student Roles/Responsibilities: Students will be responsible for assisting with data collection (questionnaire research), and with scoring and entering of data into computer files. Students will have the opportunity to attend research team meetings and to participate in group discussions of research findings and of plans and procedures for new studies. |
| Minimum Qualifications: There is typically room for one or two undergraduates to participate each semester. The experience is most suited to someone who has a strong interest in actively participating in psychological research. In terms of qualifications, the student should ideally: 1) be a psychology major; 2) have taken PSY 444 (Psychology of Creativity and the Arts), a class in personality, abnormal psychology, or related courses; and 3) be seriously considering graduate study psychology. |
Sponsor: Professor Paul Verhaeghen,
430 Huntington Hall; x3462; e-mail: pverhaeg@psych.syr.edu |
Updated 02/21/2003
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