ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—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 davisg@obu.edu or (870) 245-5108.
