Faculty Research

Professor Boyatzis 

Prof. Boyatzis has many students working with him this semester (Fall 2004) to learn how religion is related to different aspects of well-being and behavior. Some students (Laura Bender, Ashley Hall, Steph Backof) are finishing a series or experiments to learn if reading religious or spiritual affirmations (e.g., "my body is made in the image of God," or "God loves me regardless of any physical imperfections I might have") helps protect college women from the negative impact of viewing images of thin and beautiful models in advertising. Senior honors student Liz Manning is studying the relationship between men's body image and their religiosity at different times in their college career and after they graduate. Undergraduate Liz Lorson is finishing a project on the role of religion in college women's decision-making about risky behaviors (sex, drugs, etc.), and Lindsay Morton is studying how Bucknell men and women are using religious and non-religious coping to deal with their anxiety about the Iraq war. Graduate student Sarah O'Connell is developing a project to assess women's physiological reactions to reading religious and spiritual affirmations (as described above) about their bodies.

Professor Flack 

I am currently working with three groups of students on the following projects: 1. Bucknell Unwanted Sex Survey II: This is a survey study of the causes, characteristics, and consequences of unwanted sex among first- and second-year undergraduate students. Katie Breitenbach is focusing her honors thesis on the role of alcohol and hooking up in unwanted sex. Sarah Leinen is focusing her honors thesis on high-risk time periods for the occurrence of unwanted sex (e.g., "the Red Zone"). Other student members of this research team are Annie Barber, Caroline Bone, Elaine Brown, Taylor Harchak, Melissa Hendricks, Katie Rector, and Heather Stein. 2. Emotional Self-Perception, Psychophysiology, Neuroaffective Personality, and Spirituality: This is an experimental study of individual differences in emotional self-perception, and their relationships with physiological reactivity, personality characteristics associated with neurally based networks of emotion, and spirituality. Student members of this research team are Kelly Archibald, Katie Bukstein, Sara Fink, Leah Wasserstrum, and Stephanie Wolff. 3. Psychological Consequences of Sorority Rush: This is a pilot study on the psychological impact of acceptance or rejection from the sorority system. Student members of this research team are Heather Stein, Taylor Harchak, Brian Feretic, Stacy Trust, and Drew O'Brien.

Professor Floody 

I have 2 projects with undergraduates this semester. One studies the neurochemistry of defensive behavior in animals, specifically trying to assess the role of cholinergic cells in the preoptic area in the generation of defensiveness and defensive behavior. The second studies the conditions under which the brain, and the behavior it controls, recover from damage. Specifically, it will be manipulating the size and placement of brain lesions, looking for effects of these manipulations on the extent to which hamster vocal behavior recovers from damage localized to the ventromedial hypothalamus.

Professor Myers 

Professor Kevin Myers and junior psychology major Sean Bradley are working on a research project studying what factors influence rats' liking for the taste of fat and their preference for high-fat foods. Students who have performed well in the Learning course and who are interested in experimental psychology can contact Professor Myers to find out about opportunities to get involved in this research.

Professor Evans 

In our lab we are working on two, inter-related lines of research. The first line of work examines the cognitive and emotional aspects of self-regulation. Findings from the study of obsessive-compulsive disorder reveal that patients with OCD evidence deficits on certain neuropsychological tasks assessing the so-called "executive functions." In our lab we are examining the associations between children's executive functions (cognitive set-shifting and response inhibition) and the development of rituals, habits and compulsive-like behaviors. This work draws from a developmental psychopathology perspective that integrates theory and research from both normal and abnormal development.

The second line of research extends these developmental findings to the realm of psychophysiology. Using event-related potentials (ERP), we are examining the connection between the brain's electrical response and self-reported obsessions and compulsions in the normal population. This work explores whether the variance in P300 and N175 responses that are observed in patients with OCD under certain conditions are observed in sub-clinical populations.

The general thrust of our work is to explore the underlying similarities and developmental aspects of normality and psychopathology, and to eschew a categorical "disease entity" characterization of certain patterns of behavior -- such as obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Professor Halpern

In my lab, we carry out projects related to memory, cognitive aging, and music cognition.  For instance, one ongoing project is studying implicit memory for music: the type of memory that allows you to sing along with a familiar song once it starts, but without the explicit recollection of the song.  Other projects study auditory imagery, both for music (“hearing” tunes in your head) and other things, like environmental sounds.  Students in my lab help prepare experiments suitable for ERP and neuroimaging techniques, which I carry out with collaborators at other institutions. One recent example is looking at how the brain reacts to tunes that are major or minor (or “happy” and “sad”).  Some of these studies are designed to explore how musical experts function but others are focused on everyday musical experiences.  Finally, we investigate some questions relating to how senior citizens can remember information, especially music.