Four Southwestern College seniors have been chosen to present their psychology research projects at the 30th annual Association for Psychological Science (APS) Convention May 24-27 in San Francisco. 

The students selected are Anna Mankoski, Winfield; Jerlecia Thompson, Waco, Texas; Ashley Smith, Garden City; and Troy Fort, Stillwater, Oklahoma. The four have been mentored by Carrie Lane, associate professor of psychology, and Jacob Negley, assistant professor of psychology.

“Each of these four is in an activity at Southwestern but they are equally or more passionate about academic and future career goals, which sets them apart,” says Lane.  “They have to show initiative and be able to work independently.  This isn’t a class; we give them guidance and direction, but we treat them like first-year graduate students.”

Lane adds that the students begin putting their projects together in the spring of their junior year and acquire the necessary data in the fall of their senior year. 

Ashley Smith's project title is “The Early Bird Gets Happiness: The Impact of Chronotype and Life Satisfaction.”  

“This study examines the relationship between morningness-eveningness, naps, and social jetlag on several psychological factors,” Smith says.  “The results show that scoring higher on morningness and taking more naps are related to higher life satisfaction. There were no significant relationships between social jetlag and the psychological factors that were measured.”

Troy Fort's project title is “Drinks Like a Fish: Neural Maturation Mitigates the Effects of Ethanol on Associative Learning in Zebrafish.”

“This study used adult zebrafish to assess ethanol’s effects on an associative memory task,” Fort says.  “The 12-hour post-exposure endpoint showed severe impact with steady improvement on subsequent time samples. Although recovery was observed, performance did not return to baseline. Results indicate that neural maturation is important in mitigating ethanol’s effects on memory.”

Jerlecia Thompson’s project title is “Wind Beneath My Wings: The Relationship Between Self-Construal, Personality Traits, and Friendship Satisfaction.”

“The current research examined the relationship between individuals’ self-construal within friendships and satisfaction,” Thompson says.  “Researchers found that individuals who reported high relational interdependent construal have more satisfying relationships. The results imply that individuals who view the self as having a social role within their personal relationships more often enjoy their friendships.”

Anna Mankoski’s project title is “Why Do We Put Things Off? An Analysis of Procrastination in Undergraduates.”

“This study reports factors such as personality and lifestyle commitments that influence the degree in which students procrastinate in completing work,” Mankoski says.  “This study was divided into two parts to gain an objective measure of procrastination, thus allowing us to examine the validity of self-report measures to students’ actual procrastination.”

More than 4,000 scientists from disciplines spanning the full spectrum of psychological science will attend the APS convention. 

“My goal is that our students as juniors do group projects and as seniors do an individual project,” Lane says.  “In five years, everyone who has done a group and individual project has been accepted into a regional or national research conference.”

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