We are pleased to announce that Taylor Elam, a third-year PhD student, has defended her master’s thesis to her department committee. Taylor has been diligently working on her thesis over these past few semesters, and the department was very excited to learn about the findings of her study. Her current research focuses on perceptions of moral decline and improvement, and the data collected for this study revealed a variety of interesting results.
Before getting into the specifics of her current research, Taylor took some time to present a real-world example of how we view others and their moral behaviors using Bill Cosby. She established how Cosby was a beloved and respected public figure in the ’80s and ’90s, but the public quickly turned on him as allegations of sexual assault and misconduct came to light in the early 2000s and again in 2015. She used this example to transition to the main themes of her presentation regarding impression formation, moral perception, negativity bias, and the overall impact of moral behaviors.
After setting up the relevance of her study, Taylor provided some pertinent information regarding the variables that she would be addressing in her research. Taylor explained the Moral Primacy Model to further the audience’s understanding of how we form impressions of others. This led her to describe her variables of perceiver moral self-image, personality, and the modality of the presented information (i.e., reading vignettes, watching videos, or both).
After describing her hypotheses and purposes for this study, Taylor went on to explain the methodology behind her research. She established the participant pool used for this study, her 3×2 mixed experimental design, her procedure, and the statistical analyses used to garner her results. She was able to show that the results significantly differed amongst the moral target and perceiver moral self-image, as well as the difference in impression updates based on the modality of presentation. The implications of these findings are plentiful.
The findings presented by Taylor during her master’s thesis defense were very insightful and certainly contributed to a greater understanding of how moral perceptions and self-image adapt and change. However, it is also important to mention the limitations of this study. One of the limitations of this study is its predominantly female undergraduate student sample, which could limit generalizability. Additionally, the controlled lab setting used in her study may limit the real-world applicability of the findings.
Despite the limitations of this study, Taylor’s findings are very important and could lead to future research in this area. For example, it is possible that this study can be replicated for different populations to address specific mental health concerns.
We are very proud of all that Taylor has accomplished! We can’t wait to see what is next for Taylor as she continues her academic journey towards earning her PhD!
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