UNM PSYCHOLOGY HONORS STUDENTS RECOGNIZED FOR RESEARCH PAPERS

May 9, 2003

UNM PSYCHOLOGY HONORS STUDENTS RECOGNIZED FOR RESEARCH PAPERS

Nine University of New Mexico psychology students were honored for research papers during the 38th Annual Senior Honors Symposium sponsored by the Department of Psychology recently.

Cynnamon Katapski, Allison Siebern, Sonia Shingleton and Jessica Rager, all of Albuquerque, Crystal Aragon (Rio Rancho), India Allman (Los Lunas), Laura Boxley (Las Cruces), Melyssa Agee (Placitas) and Rebecca Garrett (Philadelphia, Pa.), each of whom are in the Honors Program in the Psychology Department, will receive honor cords at UNM’s graduation ceremonies next Saturday for their efforts.

“The presentations are the culmination of a two year departmental honors program project for selected undergraduate majors,” said Harold Delaney, professor and Honors Committee chairperson. “The program started in 1965 and is the oldest and largest departmental program at UNM. The basic idea behind the symposium is for graduating senior honors students to present the results of their research written in their thesis projects and present the results in front of faculty, graduate students and other honors students, and also in front of family and friends.”

Two of the students, Allman and Garrett, received the Rachael Dowler Outstanding Honors Thesis and the Rachael Dowler Outstanding Student awards respectively.

Allman’s research thesis, “The Bizarreness Effect: The Effects of Stimulus Modality,” centered around the effects of bizarre stimuli and ordinary stimuli. Allman discovered that bizarre stimuli are recalled better than ordinary stimuli.

Garrett’s research, “The Possible Limiting Function of Perceived Normative Information,” focused on normative information as a tool that allows for the determination of probable and acceptable outcomes in a performance situation. Previous research has suggested that norms influence performance not directly, but indirectly by impacting the personal goals one sets for their performance. Research has
revealed the positive effects of normative information on performance, but little has been given to its potential negative aspects, which Garrett addressed.

Katapski’s research, “Effects of Sexual Abuse on Depression and Suicide with Shelter Adolescents,” examined the effects of prior child sexual abuse over time in a sample of shelter-bound adolescent drug and alcohol using adolescents in New Mexico and also the possible early onset of sexual abuse and depression.

Siebern’s research project, “Information Processing in an Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Population,” focused on a long-standing problem in childhood psychopathology of differentiating those patients with dissociative symptoms from those with schzotypal symptoms.

Shingleton’s research, “Mate Selection and its Relationship to Physical and Personality Characteristics,” evaluated the possibility that the gender related personality traits of masculinity and femininity contribute to within sex variation in patterns of mate selection.

Rager’s thesis project, “Coping Preferences in a Mate,” examined the relationship between person’s self-reported coping techniques and coping techniques that they would prefer in a mate.

Aragon’s research, “The Effect of Maternal Drinking on Parent-Infant Interaction and Infant Affect,” investigated the impact of drinking on maternal interactive life-styles and infant affect during the Still-Face Paradigm.

Boxley’s research, “Depression and Social Contract Theory: How Depressive Mood Affects Decision Making Processes,” investigated the relationships between depressive mood and decision-making ability in a sample of college students.

Agee’s research thesis, “Comparison of Two Tutoring Styles for Enhancing Introductory Psychology Performance,” was focused around a course redesign program implemented at UNM to increase student retention in an introductory psychology classes.

“The fact that these students carry out a thesis project under more severe time constraints is an impressive accomplishment,” said Delaney. “To get honors thesis’ completed and make professional and understandable quality of their work is one of the best things we do in terms of undergraduate education.”

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