Pomona College Psychological Science

It's official, and we are thrilled! Professor Bacio will be promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Congratulations, Associate Professor Bacio!

We are happy to welcome our new junior liaisons, Christine Ha and Lauren Kim. Here is an introduction to Lauren.

Come meet the liaisons at our Boba event on Tuesday at SkySpace (4:15pm)!

My name is Lauren Kim, and I am super excited to be serving as one of the junior psychology liaisons this year. I look forward to working closely with the department to continue enhancing the Psychological Science program here at Pomona and building a stronger community within the department. Some of my favorite psychology classes that I have taken so far here at Pomona are Personality Psychology with Professor Masland and Social Psychology with Professor Pearson. I am currently a research assistant for the Applied Mind and Health-CARE Lab at CMC with Dr. Doan, where I study child development by looking into hard science data like cortisol and blood pressure.

I look forward to continuing studying Psychology, alongside Linguistics to pursue a career in Speech-Language Pathology and earning a PsyD to someday continue my passion for clinical psychology. In my free time, I love dancing (and teaching dance), choreographing and shopping. I look forward to getting to know everyone soon!

We are happy to welcome our new junior liaisons, Christine Ha and Lauren Kim. Here is an introduction to Christine.

Come meet the liaisons at our Boba event on Tuesday at SkySpace (4:15pm)!

Hi! I'm Christine, and I'm so excited to serve as a new student liaison! I've received so much love and support from the psych department, and I really want to share that love and support by helping further connect psych students to the wonderful staff, resources, and each other. Some classes I've loved are Child Development, Social Psych, and Personality Psych, and outside of class I love being a research assistant at AMH lab. Some fun facts about me are that I love cats (very very much, especially my daughter, Misty) and that I also enjoy listening to music and singing (particularly sad indie pop songs). In the future, I'm considering pursuing a masters in positive psychology and a PhD in clinical psychology. I'm super excited about this new role, so if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to say hi, please feel free to do so. --

CHIRP! A very big note of congratulations to Professor Pearson, who was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology “in recognition of extraordinary and distinctive contribution to the science of personality and social psychology” and for mentoring, teaching and service impact on the field. This is a fantastic and well-deserved honor.

https://spsp.org/news/spsp-news/congratulations-2022-spsp-fellows

APA PsycNet

Congratulations to Corinne Tsai, Pomona 2020, on this excellent paper. Corinne started this work as part of her senior thesis with Professor Pearson.

The piece covers building diverse climate coalitions and is featured in a special edition of Translational Issues in Psychological Science focused on climate change and global health. CHIRP!

APA PsycNet

A student recently sent us this opportunity for underrepresented students who plan to pursue PhDs in psychology. Check it out!

Link: http://nextgenpsychscholars.com/

The elephant in the room: attention to salient scene features increases with comedic expertise - Cognitive Processing

Congratulations to Professor Amir (psychological science) and Professor Papoutsaki (computer science) on their recent collaboration, published in Cognitive Processing. Check it out here! CHIRP!

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10339-022-01079-0

The elephant in the room: attention to salient scene features increases with comedic expertise - Cognitive Processing What differentiates the joke writing strategy employed by professional comedians from non-comedians? Previous MRI work found that professional comedians relied to a greater extent on “bottom-up processes,” i.e., associations driven by the prompt stimuli themselves, while controls relied more on ...

Interested in a career in mental health? Check out this fantastic event that Pitzer is hosting!

Changes in Maternal Depression and Children’s Behavior Problems: Investigating the Role of COVID-19-Related Stressors, Hair Cortisol, and Dehydroepiandrosterone - Stacey N. Doan, Madeleine Ding, Anna Beth Burniston, Patricia A. Smiley, Chong Man...

CHIRP! Congratulations to Professor Smiley on her recent publication in Psychological Science, which examines changes in maternal depression and children’s behavior problems during the pandemic. Check it out here!

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21677026221076845

Changes in Maternal Depression and Children’s Behavior Problems: Investigating the Role of COVID-19-Related Stressors, Hair Cortisol, and Dehydroepiandrosterone - Stacey N. Doan, Madeleine Ding, Anna Beth Burniston, Patricia A. Smiley, Chong Man... Few studies have used longitudinal approaches to consider the cumulative impact of COVID-19-related stressors (CRSs) on the psychological adjustment of mothers ...

News – The John Randolph Haynes Foundation

A hearty congratulations to Professor Goto, who was recently awarded a Haynes Foundation Faculty Fellowship for her research project “Predicting Asian American Elderly Help-seeking During Covid-19: A theory of planned behavior approach.” Congratulations, Professor Goto!

https://haynesfoundation.org/news/

News – The John Randolph Haynes Foundation At its Winter 2022 meeting, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees selected the following projects for receipt of an Archival Grant:

Looking for guidance on finding summer opportunities? Look no further!

Psychology professor Patricia Smiley to retire after 33-year teaching career - The Student Life

Professor Smiley is retiring after 33 years of service to the college and our department. We are thrilled for her as she begins a new phase, but deeply saddened to see her go. More than anything, we are grateful. The TSL recently wrote a great piece on her career--read it here: https://tsl.news/smiley-retires/

Psychology professor Patricia Smiley to retire after 33-year teaching career - The Student Life Professor of Psychological Science Patricia Smiley will retire at the end of 2021-2022 academic year, following a rewarding 33-year-career at Pomona College.

Not Funny! A [Super] Serious Multidisciplinary Exploration of Humor Creativity

Interested in humor? Professor Amir recently co-authored an editorial for a special edition of Frontiers in Psychology on the multidisciplinary study of humor!

https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/11768/not-funny-a-super-serious-multidisciplinary-exploration-of-humor-creativity

Not Funny! A [Super] Serious Multidisciplinary Exploration of Humor Creativity In common knowledge, creativity is generally associated with artistic expressions and the concept of talent, or a personality trait of a small set of individuals. However, in psychological research, creativity is defined as the capacity to produce novel and effective products. As such, creativity ca...

Students: we are hiring for a 1-year visiting assistant professor in developmental psychology, and would love your input! We have a candidate scheduled to give a talk on Thursday 2/10 from 12-1. Please attend if you can! You can get the Zoom link from Sandy, or any professor or liaison!

Interested in the Open Science movement? Check out this talk!

In the House with Aaron Johnson Levy '01 | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College

Aaron Johnson Levy graduated in 2001 as a psychological science major, and has gone on to Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Read about his path and work in this recent highlight piece!

https://www.pomona.edu/news/2021/12/01-house-aaron-johnson-levy-01?utm_source=internal_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pomona%20Internal%20Newsletter

In the House with Aaron Johnson Levy '01 | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College Aaron Johnson Levy ’01 is the role model he always looked for on television. As a kid, Levy never saw any celebrities or media personalities he could relate to, which is why it is so rewarding for him to receive messages from fans of his new Fox Soul talk show, The House, telling him that they app...

CENTRO Lab Seeks Solutions to Mental Health Issues Facing Latinx Youth | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College

Professor Bacio’s work was recently featured on the college website. Read more about the research and advocacy work she and her students do here!

CENTRO Lab Seeks Solutions to Mental Health Issues Facing Latinx Youth | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College For Lupe Bacio, assistant professor of psychological science and Chicana/o-Latina/o studies, her research doesn’t get more personal as a Latina immigrant searching for answers to questions about issues facing young ethnic minorities.

Not sure what to do with a psych major? Check out this event!

Home | Rutgers Clinical PhD

Are you interested in applying to Clinical PhD programs? Check out this opportunity hosted by Rutgers University.

Date/Time: October 28th from 3-5pm.

Event: Open house, especially for applicants from historically excluded backgrounds. They will focus on information regarding fellowships for students from underrepresented and economically disadvantaged backgrounds as well as training and clinical opportunities with diverse populations.

You can get more information about the program and their application process here: https://www.ruclinpsychadmissions.org/
You can view information specifically about the open house here: https://www.ruclinpsychadmissions.org/projects-2
You can register for the open house here: https://rutgers.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ohLQRMg6TqGG0cZemyRvvA

Home | Rutgers Clinical PhD

We are looking for new research assistants at CENTRO Lab!

If you are interested in applying, the link to the application is : https://pomona.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eM6Xd7DOu7v1kOy

Photos from CENTRO Research Lab at Pomona College's post

Shannon Burns ’15, assistant professor of psychological science (S '22), co-authored an article on “Making social neuroscience less weird: Using fNIRS to measure neural signatures of persuasive influence in a Middle East participant sample,” published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Diversity in Psychology Program

Check out this excellent opportunity for underrepresented students in psychology at the University of Minnesota! Applications are due 5pm (CST) on Wednesday, September 29th.

https://cla.umn.edu/psychology/about/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-psychology-program

Diversity in Psychology Program The University of Minnesota Graduate Programs in Psychology is excited to announce the 2021 Virtual Diversity in Psychology Program on October 28-29, 2021. Applications are being accepted until 5 pm (CST) Wednesday, September 29th. (See below instructions on applying to the program.) Due to the cont...

Internet interventions for perfectionism: a meta-analysis and proposals for the college setting

Ever get really excited about a paper you wrote for a class? Why not use it as the foundation for a publication? That's exactly what Evan Iliakis (PO '18) did following a seminar course. Check out his comprehensive meta-analysis, just published in the Journal of American College Health! CHIRP!

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NEF75SME7EXMAGY9WDRJ/full?target=10.1080/07448481.2021.1970559

Internet interventions for perfectionism: a meta-analysis and proposals for the college setting (2021). Internet interventions for perfectionism: a meta-analysis and proposals for the college setting. Journal of American College Health. Ahead of Print.

PPREP Program

The Harvard Department of Psychology is hosting the second annual Prospective PhD & RA Event in Psychology (P-PREP). The goal of this workshop is to recruit and provide mentorship and support to students from historically under-represented groups in STEM with their applications to graduate school, lab manager, and/or research assistant positions.

This program is free and open to students who are applying to doctoral programs or lab manager / research assistant positions this fall. The workshop will take place October 16-17, and participants will receive one-on-one mentorship from a member of the Harvard Psychology Department on their application materials after the workshop.

More information, including details on how to apply, can be found here:
https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/pprep

PPREP Program Interested in applying to graduate programs or any research position in psychology? Great! The Harvard Psychology community is thrilled to announce our offering in the form of an informational event for individuals interested in pursuing research positions and/or doctorates in psychology: Prospectiv...

Registration for the 7th Biennial Meeting of the Association for Research in Personality

The Association for Research in Personality has made their conference FREE this year! And it's virtual, too! Sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclfatoUtimk-_cHbh02DvfrYbThH_wc7H5vsNUAj8Sj5W5sA/viewform

Registration for the 7th Biennial Meeting of the Association for Research in Personality

11 Pomona College Students and Alumni Awarded 2021 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College

Congratulations to all these NSF winners, including psych majors Rachel Song and Jovani Azpeitia! CHIRP!

11 Pomona College Students and Alumni Awarded 2021 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College Four Pomona College students and seven alumni have won 2021 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards. These fellowships support the graduate education of outstanding and promising students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The fiv...

Sefa Aina, Joseph Brennan and Sandra Lundergan-Price Win 2021 Distinguished Staff Awards | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College

We are THRILLED to share the news that Sandy Lundergan Price has won this year's Distinguished Staff Award. Sandy is the glue of the Psychological Science department, and this is truly well deserved. Please join us in congratulating Sandy!

https://www.pomona.edu/news/2021/04/15-sefa-aina-joseph-brennan-and-sandra-lundergan-price-win-2021-distinguished-staff-awards

Sefa Aina, Joseph Brennan and Sandra Lundergan-Price Win 2021 Distinguished Staff Awards | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College The Peter W. Stanley Distinguished Staff Award was established in 1997 to recognize Pomona College staff members for their service and effort beyond their daily job requirements. This year, our staff reacted, adapted and were proactive amid a global pandemic, 24 individuals were nominated, with more...

Another research update!

Professor Pearson had his research featured in a new advisory report issued by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, which issues guidance for federally-funded climate change research in the United States. The new report, titled, "Global Change Research Needs and Opportunities for 2022-2031," advises the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) on how best to meet its mandate in light of climate change impacts happening today and projected into the future and identifies critical new opportunities to advance the USGCRP's research priorities over the next decade.

And, Corinne Tsai '20 gave a talk that won the Best Student Paper Award at the Sustainability Pre-conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology: “Building Diverse Climate Coalitions: The Pitfalls and Promise of Identity-Based Messaging.” The talk is based on a paper by the same title authored by Tsai and Pearson.

Teacher Implemented Communal Learning in Math: Boosting Learning with African American Elementary Students - Sean T. Coleman, Eric A. Hurley, A. Wade Boykin, 2021

Research Update!

Professor Hurley recently co-authored an article entitled “Teacher Implemented Communal Learning in Math: Boosting Learning with African American Elementary Students” in Urban Education.

He also gave a talk virtually entitled “Cultural Misperceptions and Structurally Supported Racialized Thinking: How They Enable Everything from Educational Inequity to State Violence (Including Healthcare Disparities) at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Campus Diversity and Global Health Perspectives Lecture Series in El Paso, Texas on February 17.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042085921998745

Teacher Implemented Communal Learning in Math: Boosting Learning with African American Elementary Students - Sean T. Coleman, Eric A. Hurley, A. Wade Boykin, 2021 The current study examined lasting learning effects of communal contexts for 124 African American third and fourth-grade students using a mathematics fractions ...

Sagehens Abroad: Student Stories From Around the World Podcast | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College

Check out this podcast from the Study Abroad Office, "Sagehens Abroad: Student Stories From Around the World!". The first episode features psych science major Jessica Orvis, who studied abroad with Pitzer College in Nepal.

https://www.pomona.edu/administration/study-abroad/student-identity-and-experiences/sagehens-abroad-podcast

Sagehens Abroad: Student Stories From Around the World Podcast | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College Tune in to the Pomona College Study Abroad Podcast – Sagehens Abroad: Student Stories From Around the World. Each episode features one of our peer mentors interviewing students who have returned from abroad to provide insight into their unique experiences. Some of the discussion topics include pre...

Aashna Saraf '21 Develops Award-Winning App to Help Kids Love Math | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College

Congratulations to psychological science major, Aashna Saraf!

Aashna Saraf '21 Develops Award-Winning App to Help Kids Love Math | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College For pre-K-12 students worldwide, schooling and learning have been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aashna Saraf ’21 entered a newly-created competition to help address the global education crisis sparked by COVID-19. She and her co-founder, Neil Vakharia, developed a game app that promotes ...

Let's meet our other panelists for the clinical psychology (and more!) panel on April 3rd (registration link below). In addition to PsyD and PhD, popular degrees for going into a helping profession are in Social Work and in Marriage and Family Therapy. Come to the Saturday panel and learn more about these fascinating degrees with Kacey Klein, CMC '11, MFT and Jasmine Lamitte, PO '08, LCSW.

Registration Link: https://pomonacollege.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qd-CgpjwuHtSmfFXN2vjPicGh9Et1B_pe

Meet the panelists! Hope to see 5C students at the clinical psychology panel next Saturday, April 3 (registration link below). We are excited to hear from Melanie Fox PsyD, PO '12, a pediatric clinical psychologist, and Kai Kellerman CMC '18, a doctoral student in clinical psychology. More panelists to be announced here in a few days!

Registration link: https://pomonacollege.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qd-CgpjwuHtSmfFXN2vjPicGh9Et1B_pe

Pomona College Psychological Science updated their info in the about section.

Pomona College Psychological Science updated their info in the about section.

Zoom registration link:
https://pomonacollege.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qd-CgpjwuHtSmfFXN2vjPicGh9Et1B_pe

Lilienfeld Honorary Webinar | Buros Center for Testing | Nebraska

Interested in the assessment of personality disorders and psychopathology or the validity of psychological test interpretations? Check out this FREE webinar, in honor of the late Scott Lilienfeld:

https://buros.org/lilienfeld-honorary-webinar

Lilienfeld Honorary Webinar | Buros Center for Testing | Nebraska Dr. Scott Lilienfeld served from 2017 until his death in 2020 as a member of the Buros Center for Testing’s National Advisory Council. His career overlapped the mission of the Center in aiming to improve the science and practice of testing, and his contributions as a Council member were exceedingl...

5C Students: The CENTRO Lab is looking for research assistants! Check out the flyer and information below.

The CENTRO lab is recruiting research assistants! The application is due Sunday, February 21st. Link: https://pomona.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bHhj0j4ISyE96D4
CENTRO is a psychology research lab directed by Dr. Guadalupe A. Bacio. The lab studies alcohol and drug use among ethnic minority adolescents and young adults, Latinx mental health, and overall health disparities among ethnic minorities. We are looking for students who are interested in working with underserved communities, have great communication skills, and are able to work well in groups. No prior research experience is required! Students must be willing to commit to at least two semesters.