Contact Information

Department of Psychology
114 Franklin Science Center
Shippensburg, PA 17257-2299
717-477-1657

Professors' Research Interests

Dr. Lea T. Adams - FSC121   477-1115

Research interests: 

My research interests are focused on the higher order cognitive processes (memory, problem solving, decision making, and critical thinking) and those things that influence their accuracy and efficacy.

Student roles: 

Students may assist me with an ongoing project or develop a research project of their own. Depending on the type or state of the research project, students role may include 1) reviewing literature, 2) generating an empirically testable research question, 3) designing a study, 4) collecting data and analyzing the data, 5) writing research papers, reports, or posters, and 6) presenting at conferences or submitting research for publication. Students are required to understand the purpose, techniques, measures, and results of any study with which they assist.

Requirements: 

It is best if students have taken a class with me, allowing me to evaluate their interest, capabilities, and general attitude toward research. They must be willing to attend research meetings and be available to conduct research with participants.

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Angela Bartoli - FSC123   477-1107

Topics, projects: 

• Cognition
• Social Cognition currently working on misattributions of friendliness

Students Roles:
 

• Library research
• Research design
• Running subjects
• Data analysis

Requirements:
 

• Prefer students who have taken RDS2
• Prefer students who have received an A or B in one of my classes
• Must be able to meet one hour per week on a regular basis
• Must be available other times to run subjects

Willing to work with:
 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Jamonn Campbell - FSC109   477-1146

Research Interests: 

• Computer-mediated Communication  interests include problem solving, decision making, impression formation and social identity in CMC groups
• Psychology of the internet interests include privacy, computer usage (e.g. gender gap, digital divide, etc.), and unrealistic optimism
• Sport Fans - interests include sport fan identification, gender differences in motivation and behaviors of sport fans

Students Roles: 

Students participating as a member of the research team will be responsible for

• Research theory and development
• Writing research proposals
• Data collection
• Data entry and analysis
• Presenting results at university, regional, and national conferences

Requirements: 

Students who are thinking about joining the research team should be interested in one or more of the project areas. Students should be: self motivated, comfortable working in groups, and familiar with computers and major statistical packages (e.g. SPSS, Excel, etc.).

Willing to work with: 

Undergraduate students who are interested in gaining research experience (volunteers and those receiving credit)
Graduate students who are volunteering or as a Master’s Thesis supervisorDr. Ken France - HH302   477-1108Topics, projects:As editor of the Psi High Newsletter, I am interested in working with students who would like to write articles for the newsletter.

Student roles: 

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• (Not available to work with graduate students)

Dr. James Griffith - FSC219   477-1374

Topics, projects: 

• Forensic/Legal I examine a variety of issues with this domain.Current topics of interest include mock jury decision making, judge/ attorney/ juror opinions of trial consultants and expert witnesses, and com-prehension of legalese and technical/ complicated expert evidence.
• Program Evaluation  I conduct evaluation (e.g., process, outcome, cost) on small scale programs (more are at the local level). I am currently working on projects that include teen pregnancy prevention, faith based outreach, and police services.
• Risk  taking  I am interested in different forms of what are referred to as risk taking behavior, particularly skydiving. It is of particular interest to me to examine first time skydivers and characteristics associated with a successful completion of a first jump course.

Students roles: 

Students who work with me will be working on my ongoing projects. Students will have the opportunity to participate in all of the research process that includes:
 

• Preparing conference presentations
• Preparing journal manuscripts
• Project design
• Literature Reviews
• Stimuli development
• Data analysis
• Data collection and entry

Requirements: 

I prefer to work with students who have some familiarity with SPSS and an intention to go on to graduate or professional program of study. In addition, my expectation is for students in my lab to put in 5-10 hours/week.

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Steve Haase - FSC101   477-1160

Topics, projects: 

• Conscious vs. Unconscious Perception  examining the relationship between conscious and unconscious perception. Main contributions on this project would be with data collection, at least initially.
• Attention  studying how the processing of a stimulus changes as a function of focusing ones concentration on or allocating processing resources to a stimulus.
• Other  most topics in the broad area of cognition and perception, including real-world applications.

Students roles: 

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduates who are receiving credit (student will need to draft a project goals statement prior to the start of the project)
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduates students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Robert Hale - FSC135  477-1177

Topics, projects: 

• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Alcohol dependence
• Binge drinking in college students

Students roles: 

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Scott F. Madey - FSC 105   477-1167

Topics, projects: 

Students roles:
 

• Conducting research (experimental or descriptive) in an area of health psychology
• Gathering, managing and interpreting data
• Acquiring a thorough knowledge of a particular area of health psychology through reading lists, team meetings, and a written report of the findings in APA style

Requirements:
 

• Must be motivated and responsible
• Knowledge of research methods is helpful but not necessary
• May require some week-end off campus work

Willing to work with: 

• Advanced sophomore, junior, senior or graduate students
• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit or volunteering (including undergraduate Honors Thesis supervisor)
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Ron Mehiel - FSC121   477-1515

Topics, projects: 

• Flavor preference learning - learning phenomenon such as classical conditioning mechanisms, physiological systems involved in preference learning (e.g. opiate systems of reward)
• Sexual motivation - gender differences
• Attribution as it relates to sexual behavior

Students' roles:
 

• Planning - reading the literature, generating experimental designs
• Running subjects - rat or human
• Data analysis
• Report writing
• Presenting research at conferences

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students enrolled in PSY 374 or PSY 375
• Graduate students as a Master's Thesis supervisor
• (I prefer not to work with students who are volunteering rahter than receiving credit)

Dr. Sue Morin - FSC114   477-1538

Topics, projects: 

Students roles: 

Requirements:
 

• Prefer students who have taken RDS2 and received an A or B.
• Must commit for two or more semesters.
• Must be prepared to present at conferences.
• Students will have to do a semester of readings on the topic before they are able to actively participate in other phases of the project (such as data collection, etc.).

Willing to work with:
 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Kathryn Potoczak - FSC225   477-1372

Research Interests: 

• The experimental functional analysis of aberrant behavior
• The deceleration of aberrant behavior using extinction or capitalization on the schedule of reinforcement currently in effect
• The use of behavior analysis in the teaching of college students

Students roles: 

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr Toru Sato - FSC213   477-1352

Topics, projects: 

Students are welcome to study personality and consciousness from the perspective of Depth and Transpersonal Psychology.  We will have weekly meetings, research the media, explore our own minds through introspection, and share creative work in the form of writing or other forms of art.  Undergraduate students may receive 3 credits for PSY 374 or 375 after completing 2 semesters of work (i.e., student enrolls in PSY 374 or PSY 375 in the second semester).  Students are also welcome to collaborate on presenting at a conference as a co-author if new and interesting discoveries are made. 

Students roles: 

• Literature and media search, reading, viewing, listening
• Introspection (e.g. meditation, exploration of dreams)
• Sharing introspections and creative works (e.g. poetry, stories, drawing and discussing how they relate to personality and consciousness
• Presenting at conferences (rarely but occurs occasionally)

Requirements:

• Must be committed to spending TR 2:00-3:30 pm in meetings and another 3.5 hours per week on work outside the meetings

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students receiving credit for PSY 374 or PSY 375 (3 credits may be granted for 2 semesters of work)
• Graduate students who are volunteering

Dr. Adrian Tomer - FSC111   477-1514

Topics, projects: 

• Wisdom  measurements of wisdom and development of a model of wisdom that will show how wisdom is related to other variables and to age.
• Death anxiety  development of a comprehensive model of death anxiety and evaluation of the model based on data collected in a young and in an older population

Students roles: 

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates who are volunteering
• Graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor

Dr. Kim Weikel - FSC115   477-1482

Topics, projects: 

• Goal Setting  investigation of ways to set goals in order to increase chances of goal attainment
• Therapy Effectiveness  investigation of factors influencing therapy effectiveness
• Narcissism  investigation of the consequences of narcissistic personality and factors influencing the development of narcissism

Students roles: 

Requirements: 

Willing to work with: 

• Undergraduate students who are receiving credit
• Undergraduates and graduate students who are volunteering
• Graduate students as a Masters Thesis supervisor