Lab members Lauren, Jenna, Velinka, Jess, and Alvin attended the 90th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, from April 12-14 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. The purpose of the conference is for students and psychologists across the Midwest to share and discuss their research. The conference featured nearly a thousand research presentations across all branches of psychology, and included major addresses and methodology workshops. Additionally, the conference featured programs offered by Psi Chi, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and the Society for Community Research and Action.
Lauren and Jess presented their poster titled Which Dimensions of Narcissism are Influential in Reporting Posttraumatic Growth? which they worked on with Dr. Taku. Particularly, their presentation explained how aspects of narcissism like grandiose fantasy and contingent self-esteem, respectively, influence PTG. Narcissism was a popular topic at the conference, and Jess and Lauren answered many questions from interested attendees
.
Jess presented her and Velinka’s poster titled Examining the Relationship Between the Dark Triad and Posttraumatic Growth, which they worked on with Dr. Taku. This poster presentation examined the association between Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, respectively, and PTG. Jess got a chance to inform many intrigued attendees about both the Dark Triad and PTG.
Velinka presented her poster titled Personality Traits and Importance of Nationality: Indicators of Cultural Adaptation? which she worked on with Kyle and Dr. Taku. This poster presentation shared results about how extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness relate to the importance one places on nationality. Many attendees stopped to ask questions and found Velinka’s poster regarding immigration research extremely engaging!
On the final day of the conference, Jenna and Alvin presented their poster titled, Counter-Intuitive Impact of Academic Stressors on Posttraumatic Growth in Bereaved College Students, which they worked on with Dr. Taku. Specifically, their poster presentation shared results regarding how experiencing both academic stressors and the death of someone close, respectively, affect PTG. They did a fantastic job communicating their research and ended the MPA conference on the right note!
The conference was a huge success with over 3,300 in attendance, and the PTG lab looks forward to presenting at the 91st MPA conference next year. Next year’s conference is set to be held at the Palmer House Hilton again, from April 11-13, 2019.
Great job Jess, Lauren, Velinka, Alvin, and Jenna for representing the lab well!
Recently, graduate students Whitney Dominick and Jess Kopitz shared a poster presentation at an annual conference hosted by the Department of Psychology at Oakland University. Over the past several years, the Department of Psychology has hosted an evolution-focused conference, and this year’s event was titled “Evolutionary Perspectives of Death.” The goal of the conference was twofold: to enrich one’s understanding of death and dying, and to recognize the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. During a portion of the conference, graduate students had the opportunity to give a poster presentation. Whitney and Jess’s study titled “Cross-Cultural Differences in Perceptions of Death in Japanese and American Undergraduates” examined four death-related components: 1) emotions evoked by thoughts of death (sorrow versus anxiety), 2) focus on self versus others, 3) mention of reincarnation, and 4) mention of living a fulfilling life. Whitney and Jess predicted that participants from Japan and America would differ in each category, with Japanese participants predicted to mention reincarnation more than Americans and American participants predicted to mention fulfillment in life more than Japanese. All their hypotheses were supported, suggesting significant cultural differences in the way death is perceived and cognitively processed. Well done, Jess and Whitney!
Lauren’s study, titled “Posttraumatic Growth and Illusory Growth: Attitudes Toward Growth Types and the Impact of Individual Differences,” was designed to apply a multifaceted examination of posttraumatic growth and illusory growth through the use of vignettes and self-report perceptions of each growth type over the course of three studies. Lauren’s defense committee included Dr. Taku, Dr. Keith Williams, and Dr. Deb McGinnis, all of whom provided letters of recommendation for Lauren’s graduate program applications. While Lauren and Dr. Taku worked together on Lauren’s study over the past year, the presentation created an opportunity for Drs. Williams and McGinnis to learn about Lauren’s research abilities, since they had each previously only knew Lauren from an academic perspective. Following the presentation, Lauren responded to individual questions from her committee and was then excited to receive unanimous approval of her defense. After graduation, Lauren will begin her graduate studies beginning Fall 2018. Lauren has been accepted into the Master of Social Work program at University of Michigan. Her practice area is Aging in Families and Society, and she has also been accepted into the Geriatric Scholarship Program.
Jenna’s presentation, titled “Exploring Military Experiences: Clarifying the Relation Between Resiliency and Posttraumatic Growth,” was designed to 1) clarify the relation between resiliency and PTG, 2) examine relations between the two concepts and other related variables (e.g., altruism, growth motivation, social support), and 3) compare two measures of resiliency. Jenna’s defense committee included Dr. Taku and Dr. Matt McLarnon, each of whom first introduced Jenna to the concepts of PTG and resiliency and got her interested in studying the relation between the two. In addition, both Drs. Taku and McLarnon served as advisors to Jenna for her study over the past year during development, implementation, and analyses. After the presentation, Jenna responded to questions from her committee and other attendees and was thrilled to receive unanimous approval of her defense. Upon graduation, Jenna will move to Florida to begin her graduate studies beginning Fall 2018. Jenna has been accepted into the PhD program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Central Florida. The PTG lab recognizes the hard work that both Lauren and Jenna put into their respective research studies and is excited for them as they begin their graduate programs in the fall!
Congratulations to both Whitney Dominick and Alvin Nicholas for each being awarded a Provost Graduate Student Research Award! In order to be considered for the award, students are required submit an application, which includes a detailed research proposal, to OU’s Research Office. Both Whitney and Alvin submitted applications for their respective studies and both were offered the award! Whitney received the award for her study entitled “The Impact of Dolphin Interactions on Emotion Regulation and Perceptions of Social Support,” which will be a part of her doctoral dissertation. The purpose of her research is to compare the effects of various types of dolphin interactions on personal growth, distress, and psycho-education in children. In order to implement her study, Whitney plans to travel to Florida and Hawaii this summer where she will begin data collection! Alvin received the award for his study entitled “Achievement, Resiliency, and Deliberate Rumination Moderating the Relationship Between Failure and Positive and Negative Outcomes,”
which will be a part of his Master’s Thesis. The purpose of his research is to test the relationship between amount of achievement and failure experiences and outcomes that are identified after either experience, such as posttraumatic growth or depression. He is currently preparing his online survey and is scheduled to begin collecting data with university students shortly. We are excited that Whitney and Alvin both have an opportunity to implement their respective studies and we look forward to seeing how their studies unfold! Good luck, Whitney and Alvin!
Velinka recently presented her Honors Independent Study Proposal, entitled “Immigrant Youth Well-being and the Role of Perceived Parent-Child Gaps of Acculturation, Family Obligations, and Emotion Processing Tendencies”. Velinka is interested in the acculturation gap-distress between immigrant parents and their children. Acculturation is the process of adapting to a new culture. The acculturation gap-distress model states that differing rates of acculturation occur between parents and their children, cause tension, stress, and may result in youth maladjustment. Velinka would like to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the role of perceived gaps between parents and children experiencing acculturation, attitude towards family obligation, and emotion processing tendencies on youth distress. In addition, she would like to explore if stress related to perceived parent-child discrepancies leads to personal growth. She plans to accomplish this by reaching out to high-schools, community centers, libraries, and Oakland University to locate participants and administer surveys. Overall, she would like to make a contribution to the acculturation gap-distress model, and she hopes to identify the relation between perceived parent-child differences and PTG. We are very excited about her work! Good luck Velinka!
FF-PTG LAB 