Ouachita students present psychological research studies at national convention
September 14, 2010 - Meg Gosser
Ouachita Baptist University students presented three studies at the Association for
Psychological Science Convention this summer in Boston.
“These students all want to go on to grad school and are trying to build up their
resumes for the application process that many of them will go through this year,”
said Dr. Guyla Davis, the Ouachita assistant professor of psychology whom the students
worked with to complete their research. “It was completely volunteer work after class,
evenings and weekends.
“While at the conference, they had the opportunity to attend sessions specifically
for undergrads, they attended a social with other students from across the globe and
they attended talks and poster sessions highlighting the most current psychological
research,” Davis added.
“I am so grateful that I got to attend and present,” said Amy Guiomard, a senior psychology
and biology double major from DeSoto, Texas. “I really enjoyed getting to see so much
research; it was amazing how many different studies were presented. The sessions on
getting published and getting into grad school were also encouraging.”
Guiomard worked with Christina Albee, a senior psychology major from Hannibal, Mo.,
and Jessica Hensarling, a senior psychology major from Allen, Texas, to complete one
of the studies.
“They developed a test of inter- and intra-personal competitiveness from scratch and
tested the reliability and validity of the test,” Davis said. “It was well received
at the conference and they were even asked if someone could use it for their own research.”
The second study, “The Influence of Identity Status and Age on Facebook Use,” was
completed by Albee and Guiomard as well as Sarah Davis, a senior psychology major
from Newark, Texas; Anna Kay, a senior psychology and biology double major from Maumelle,
Ark.; and Alyson Walker, a senior psychology, Biblical studies and Christian missions
triple major from Benton, Ark.; and was presented by Albee, Davis and Guiomard at
the convention.
“Some of the questions about our research sparked new research,” Dr. Davis said. “For
instance, we are collecting a new sample this semester for our Facebook study based
on a question we were asked at the conference.”
The last study, “The Effect of Sentence Priming on Preoccupation with Weight,” was
completed by Albee, Davis, Hensarling and Walker as well as recent Ouachita graduate
Gabrielle Sanders. Albee and Davis presented the study at the conference.
“To examine the influence of sentence priming on preoccupation with weight, 95 participants
unscrambled sentences about the body,” Dr. Davis explained. “We found that people
who unscrambled sentences that portrayed the body in a negative manner were more preoccupied
with their weight than participants who unscrambled sentences that reflected positive
aspects of the human body.”
Dr. Davis’ lab continues to grow, expanding to 11 students working on four studies
with plans to submit their work to national conferences again in 2011.
For more information, contact Guyla Davis at [email protected] or (870) 245-5108.
By Meg Gosser
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