Psychology Department faculty are actively seeking your help in their research. Read below for more information about how you can be involved in data collection, analysis, and the generation of cutting edge psychological research across a variety of domains. Please contact the faculty member listed for the study for details about how to be a part of the project or projects you would like to study.
Narrative psychology (Dr.Lodi-Smith). Narratives are the stories individuals tell about their lives as a whole or about specific, meaningful events in their lives. Individual differences in how people tell their stories can be coded from these narratives and this information used to predict important life outcomes. People working on this project will engage in two primary activities. First, they will read journal articles for information relevant to a review article addressing how individual differences in narrative style predict important life outcomes above and beyond traditional predictors of these outcomes - a great way to get familiar with some of the important narrative literature! Second, individuals working on this project will read actual narratives including life stories to stories of personality change to narratives of religious identity development. These narratives come from a range of people age 18 - 89 and some come from the same person at three different time points. Each will be coded for important narrative constructs and used to develop some new coding protocols.
The study of study abroad (Dr.Lodi-Smith). In its preliminary stages of development. Will study identity development during the study abroad experience first in an undergraduate population and then put an effort forward at the university level to get alums back to do semester abroad and study identity development across adulthood as a result of study abroad. May also integrate a variety of campus ministry immersion experiences.
Cognitive aging and personality (Dr.Lodi-Smith). A review article looking at the relationship between personality traits and cognitive functioning after age 60. People working on this project will read articles, pull out information pertaining to the review, and help with the analysis and write-up of the review.
Self-concept clarity over time across the lifespan (Dr.Lodi-Smith). Uses structural equation modeling to look at the patterns, influences, and outcomes of the development of self-concept clarity (how certain you are of who you are) across the lifespan over time. Would be a great project for people who have taken advanced stats and would like to build their knowledge of how to statistically analyze longitudinal data.
