2016 Spring Academic Conference - Event Wrap Up

 

Applying Psychology to a Diverse World 

The annual 2016 KPF Spring Academic Conference was held on Saturday, April 2nd at Georgetown College. The Conference provides a unique opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students to present their research in juried competitions, develop practical skills, and network with fellow students from across Kentucky. The featured workshop for faculty and students, Rewards & Challenges of Mental Health Research with a Vulnerable Population, will discuss rewards and challenges for psychologists when conducting research in correctional settings, identify socio-contextual factors that contribute to prisoners being identified as a vulnerable population, cover racial disparities among prisoners, and discuss issues related specifically to research involving drug use and HIV research in correctional settings.

Students are encouraged to nominate a faculty member as the Outstanding Graduate or Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor.  Faculty members are invited to participate in the Conference as judges, mentors, and coaches.  Undergraduate students have the opportunity to talk with graduate students about "how to get into graduate school," and graduate students may also serve as judges for the undergraduate poster competition.  There will also be a Faculty/Student Luncheon that is included with your registration.  The 29th Annual Psych Bowl will be a featured event, with undergraduate teams vying for the top slot as 2016 Psych Bowl Champions! 

Hosting Sponsor: Georgetown College, Department of Psychology

                        Funded in part by a grant from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky

 

Conference Program

Conference Photos
If you have photos from the Conference, please send them to [email protected] so that we can add them to our album!


29th Annual Psych Bowl Competition

Six Psych Bowl teams competed for the championship this year. Bellarmine University took the title! 

Champions: Bellarmine University
Runners Up: Thomas More College
 

Poster Research Competition Results

There were 24 Graduate Division posters and 49 Undergraduate Division posters entered in the competition this year - all competing for cash prizes totaling $900. 

Graduate Division
Poster Abstracts

1st Place: Cassie Studler, Cassandra Walter, Richard Osbaldiston, Ph.D. - Eastern Kentucky University

"Effectiveness of Employee Wellness Programs in the Workplace"

Almost 80% of organizations today offer some sort of wellness or health program that cost on average $693 per employee per year. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the effectiveness of organization wellness programs on overall employee health. The organizations ranged in size from small organizations to large corporations. We computed the standardized mean difference to use as the effect size for each program. After computing the effect sizes, we found that overall organization wellness programs reduced employees’ weight, blood pressure, tobacco use, and stress. Additionally, organizational wellness programs increased employees’ level of physical activity and job satisfaction. Moderator variables that we examined include off-site and on-site and incentivized versus non-incentivized. Onsite programs were more effective than offsite programs, and non-incentivized programs were more effective than incentivized programs.

 

 

2nd Place:  Christine A. Lee, Richard Milich, Elizabeth Lorch, Steven W. Evans, Kate Flory, Julie Sarno Owens, & Lee Van Horn- University of Kentucky 

"Inferences as mediators between ADHD symptoms and social outcomes"

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display both academic and social impairment. However, the ability to infer motivations, causes, and consequences may underlie difficulties in both areas. Participants were 156 boys and girls (M=8.89 years, 65% male), about half were diagnosed with ADHD. Children listened to two fables, then retold as much of each story as possible. The number of explanatory inferences, inferences key to understanding the causes and consequences of story events, made during recall was calculated. Then, children participated in a playgroup after which peers and staff rated children on social behaviors (e.g., cooperation, obedience). Higher levels of parent-rated inattention related to making fewer explanatory inferences, which in turn related to worse social ratings. The number of inferences significantly mediated the relation between ADHD symptoms and social status. Interventions addressing children’ s ability to infer the motivations and feelings of others may be promising for ameliorating academic and social difficulties.

 

 

Undergraduate Division
Poster Abstracts

1st Place:

Nicholas Gregorich, Cory Moore,  Jana Hackathorn, Ph.D. -  Murray State University

"Stressed the F@&$ Out:  The Relationship Between Profanity and Anxiety"

Profanity is relatively commonplace and is often found in every spoken language, as well as various forms of media.  Despite stereotypes that profanity is used by individuals who lack intelligence, a proficient vocabulary, or social skills, some studies show that profanity may actually be used by professional, intelligent, and successful individuals.  Perhaps this is because profanity is an effective coping skill for anxiety, a serious problem for many college students. To begin the investigation into this notion, the current study examined whether profanity use and anxiety were negatively correlated. Participants were asked to complete measures of social anxiety, as well as measures of profanity frequency and preferences.  The results of a Pearson’s r correlation analysis indicated that the use of profanity and social anxiety are negatively correlated.  This begins the conversation about the utility of profanity.  Future studies may want to conduct experiments to look at the nature of causality.

 


 

Tied 2nd PlaceHunter Gatewood,  Jennifer Price, Ph.D. -  Georgetown College

"The Divide Between Implicit and Explicit Transphobia: An Examination of the Role That Gender Role Beliefs Have on Levels of Transphobia."

Previous research has been conducted to measure explicit levels of transphobia (Hill 2005; Tebbe 2014), however there has yet to be research conducted to measure implicit levels of transphobia. The present study aims to measure individuals’ levels of implicit transphobia, through a Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT; Karpinski 2006) of the researcher’s design, and compare that to the individuals’ levels of explicit transphobia, measured through the Genderism and Transphobia Scale Short Form (GTS-SF). Results collected from (N=93) participants indicate a positive correlation between implicit and explicit transphobia, and a strong relationship between these two and one’s gender role beliefs. This finding can show that in terms of transphobia, it can be expected that individuals’ levels of implicit and explicit transphobia are likely to be similar.

 

 

Tied 2nd PlaceSydney Henderson, Wendy Williams, Ph.D. -  Berea College

"Don’t Forget the Condoms: The Effects of Delivery and Social Norms in Prevention Programs on Healthy Sexual Behaviors"

STD and HIV rates are highest among college age people (Davis, Jacques-Tiura, Stappenbeck, Danube, Morrison, Norris, & George, 2015). Yet, prevention/intervention programs designed upon the Theory of Planned Behavior [TPB], which uses norms, attitudes and perceived behavioral control to predict intentions and behaviors, have been effective in increasing condom use (Montanaro & Bryan, 2014). A meta-analysis of TPB studies concluded that norms were the strongest predictor of intentions (Tyson, Covey, & Rosenthal, 2014). Moreover, within the norm variable, social comparisons were significant indicators of effective programs and the majority of successful programs were face-to-face [FTF]. The current research seeks to determine what type of social norm comparison (attitudes or behavior) would be most effective and if FTF interventions are more effective than pamphlet-only. Researchers hypothesize that there would be a main effect for delivery (FTF leading to taking more condoms) and for social norm comparison (behavior leading to taking more condoms). There would also be an interaction between the two variables. Berea College students participated in this study. A 2x2 ANOVA was conducted. Findings revealed no significant main effect for norms and no interaction, but a significant effect for delivery, with FTF participants taking more condoms than pamphlet-only participants. Social norms were not in the predicted direction with participants in the attitude norm condition taking more condoms than those in the behavioral norms conditions. This indicates that FTF delivery may be an essential proponent of intervention programs.

 

 

 


 

         2016 Outstanding Mentor Award Winners


Graduate Division:


Dan Florell, Ph.D.
   Eastern Kentucky University            


Undergraduate Division:

Schneider_Jurs,_Bethany.png

                        Bethany Schneider Jurs, Ph.D.
                            Transylvania University
                                                                                                                                   

                                                                  




2016 Conference Committee

A special thank you goes out to this year's committee members who helped make this event a huge success! 

Committee Members

  • Steve Katsikas, Ph.D. (Spalding University) 
  • Pam Cartor, Ph.D. (Bellarmine University)
  • Norah Chapman, Ph.D. (Spalding University)
  • Megan Church-Nally, Ph.D. (Bellarmine University)
  • Janet Dean, Ph.D. (Asbury University)
  • Gina De Arth-Pendley, Ph.D. (Midway University)
  • Courtney Keim, Ph.D. (Bellarmine University)
  • Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Ph.D. (Western Kentucky University)
  • Edie McClellan, Ph.D. (Midway University)
  • Melinda Moore, Ph.D. (Eastern Kentucky University)
  • David Olson, Ph.D. (Morehead State University)
  • Jennifer Price, Ph.D. - Chair (Georgetown College)
  • Jeff Reese, Ph.D. (University of Kentucky)
  • Gregory Smith, Ph.D. (University of Kentucky)
  • Lisa Willner, Ph.D. (Bellarmine University) 

 

2016 Conference Sponsors

We would like to thank the following sponsors for helping make this Conference so successful!
 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 



2017 Spring Academic Conference details coming soon!

 

Additional Links

View paper & poster abstracts from previous year submissions


Return to the Academic Conference main page.