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 16th Annual Meeting of Minds Undergraduate Conference: A Celebration of Research and Creative Endeavors
The sixteenth annual Meeting of Minds Conference was held on Friday, May 16, at the University of Oakland campus. Psychology majors from OU presented papers and posters throughout the day to students, faculty and administrators from UM-Flint, UM-Dearborn and OU. Meeting of Minds, or MOM as it is known to its participants, offers undergraduate students at the three institutions the opportunity to begin their professional careers by presenting the products of their scholarly activities in a public setting. Many of our psychology alumni made their first presentation to this audience and recognize that this event launched them on their careers in graduate school and professional life. Participating in MOM is truly one of the most outstanding opportunities that make the undergraduate experience at OU distinctive. Preparation of the papers and posters presented at this year's MOM was funded through contributions made by alumni and friends of the Department of Psychology. In particular, the Psychology Undergraduate Student Research Endowment Fund supported the preparation of many posters. We appreciate your continued support in enabling us to maintain this great tradition and in facilitating our efforts to provide an educational experience that is not limited to the classroom. Many of the students who participate in MOM later describe this event as the highlight of their undergraduate experience.
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I began my research experience my senior year with Dr. Lakshmi Raman. Our study entitled, “Children and Adult’s Understanding of the Roles of Healthy and Unhealthy Foods”, examined if preschoolers (ages 4 and 5) and college students recognized the impact of eating healthy and unhealthy foods on a single occasion. The results demonstrated that preschoolers reported that eating any kind of food, (irrespective of whether it was healthy or unhealthy), would make the character described in the vignettes grow taller or fatter. Adults on the other hand, reasoned that people who ate healthy food would grow taller, whereas a person who ate unhealthy food would grow fatter. Adults seemed to think that a person who ate healthy food for a meal was generally a healthy eater and vice versa. In conclusion, preschoolers recognized the underlying biological mechanism between eating and growth, but unlike adults, they failed to recognize that it was nutrition that played the pivotal role. My research experience was something I wish I had started earlier in my college career. Once I had begun the initial process of calling area preschools to see whether they were interested in partaking in the study, I knew I would love the subsequent work. Testing the preschoolers was what I thoroughly enjoyed. They were so eager to share their knowledge and also stories of their friends and family that I couldn’t help but look forward to “testing days”. Entering the data afterwards proved to be an invaluable experience as I finally was given the opportunity to use the knowledge I had learned in the classroom applied to a real-world setting. Partaking in the activities at Meeting of Minds was an invaluable experience. Presenting my research at MOM was really the culmination of my semester-long hard work, and I couldn’t remember a time I was more proud of myself as I explained our study to professors and students alike. Listening to other poster presentations after my own and learning about my fellow student’s studies, as well as meeting students from other schools was just as enjoyable as discussing my own. Even though I graduated this May, I can definitely see myself coming back next May to see the new goings-on at MOM. |
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Reviewing Three Decades Worth of Statistical Advancements in Industrial-Organizational Psychological Research Author: Nick Wrobel
Faculty Sponsor: Kanako Taku The purpose of this study was to examine statistical improvements in the past 30 year in Industrial-
Organizational Psychology using the type of statistical analysis conducted and an experimenter’s research
experience relating to the complexity of the analysis. Current research was hypothesized to contain more structural equation modeling (SEM) formulas than previous decades. Data was collected using the Journal of Applied Psychology for articles published in 2008, 1998, 1988, (n = 31, 23, 31, respectively) with SEM coded as a nominal variable of 1 or 0. A chi-square test indicated that SEM use was not distributed evenly across the different years ÷² = (2, N = 113) = 16.40, p < .001, ö = .39. The percentage of SEM use in 2008 and 1988 were 56.52, and 16.28 respectively. Further research is needed and presented to discuss the application of statistical analyses in current and future research. |
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 Dr. Sifonis and Allison Zitrick
Author(s): Allison Zitrick
Faculty Advisor: Cynthia Sifonis SUMMARY: Podcasting, one of the newest technologies being adopted by student populations to enhance learning, has the potential for benefiting university students in a variety of ways. The current study investigated the effects of podcasting lecture material on academic performance in a Psychology Research Method and Design Course. Selected lectures were recorded and posted as podcasts following the lecture. Students’ understanding of the material was assessed during regularly scheduled exams. Exam performance on the lecture material for which podcasts were available was compared to exam performance on lecture material for which podcasts were not available. Analyses indicated that attendance dropped significantly on days that students knew podcasts would be made available. However, as the semester progressed, students became more comfortable with the technology and better able to successfully use the podcasts as a learning tool. Towards the end of the semester, podcast availability significantly improved exam performance for difficult material.
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Meeting of Minds 2008 was my first conference. I began doing research in Dr. Kozak's lab in the Fall of 2007. I was able to use the data collected in the lab to create my own research questions and hypotheses. My analysis of negative mood regulation and disinhibited eating evolved into a poster for Meeting of Minds. I came into MoM not knowing at all what to expect. I did not know how many people would be there, what the event itself would entail, the questions others would ask. The MoM experience taught me many valuable things about conferences and research. First, I found MoM to be a great opportunity for students to share their work with other students. The conference also showed me the importance of sharing my own ideas. Moreover, the nerve-wracking experience of standing next to my poster, hoping to be prepared for any questions that may have come my way, taught me to think on the spot. All in all, Meeting of Minds was a great conference to begin with, and I am sure it will prepare me for future conferences.
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 Gerta Dume and Jenna Steiner
Author(s): Jenna Steiner, Gerta Dume, Cody Kearse
Faculty Advisor: Andrea Kozak SUMMARY: A high body mass index (BMI; weight to height ratio used to determine body fat) is associated with overconsumption of calories. External environmental factors (external eating), eating to assuage negative emotions (emotional eating), and attempting to restrict food intake (restraint) are a few possible reasons for overconsumption. Previous research has found that females engage in more emotional and restrained eating than men, but not external eating. This work has focused primarily on restraint, and has rarely considered the effects of BMI. In this study of 97 males and 166 females from two universities, it was hypothesized females would endorse significantly more emotional and restrained eating. Eating behavior was assessed using the 3 subscales of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Based on an analysis of covariance that controlled for BMI, it was found that females had significantly higher scores on the restrained and emotional eating subscales as compared to males, and there was no difference between groups on the external eating subscale. Overall, there were significant positive relationships between BMI and the restraint (r = .21, p <.01) and emotional eating (r = .22, p <.01) subscales. The results of the study suggest that future research should examine different weight loss techniques for women and men. |
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