Scranton Students, Faculty and Alumna Present at Psychological Association Annual Meeting

Ten University of Scranton students, five faculty members, and one alumna presented research projects and led workshop sessions at the Eastern Psychological Association annual meeting held in March in Boston.

The students who presented were: Mary Kaitlyn O’Hara, a junior from Scranton; and seniors Mary Ackourey of Ivyland; Erin Alexander of Linden, New Jersey; Marissa DeStefano of Martinsville, New Jersey; Caitlin Gilby of Hackettstown, New Jersey; Dana Kosman of Walnutport; Kimberly Lavelle of Jessup; Melissa Lopez of Tobyhanna; Joshua Peri of Hyattsville, Maryland; and Maria Tiroly of Yardley.

DeStefano, Gilby, Kosman, Peri and Thomas Hogan, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University, presented “Reviewing the Test Reviews: A Study of MMY.”

Lopez and Jessica Nolan, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the University, presented “Race IAT: Seeking Self-Verifying Feedback.”

Ackourey, Alexander, O’Hara and Tiroly presented “The Influence of Smiling on Age Perception.”

Gilby and Christie Karpiak, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University, presented “Social Media: Do Skepticism-Promoting Images Alter Fit-spiration’s Impact on Body Esteem?”

Peri and Dr. Hogan presented “PsycTESTS: What’s in it?”

Alexander and John Norcross, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University, presented “Causes and Cures of Psychoquackery: A Content Analysis of 25 Expert Sources.”

University of Scranton class of 2016 graduate Shoronda Matthews of Stroudsburg and Carole Slotterback, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University, presented “All I Want for Christmas: An Examination of Children’s Requests.”

At the conference, University of Scranton psychology professors Dr. Norcross and Dr. Hogan also presented workshops about preparing for and applying to graduate school for psychology. Dr. Norcross and Michael Sayette, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, are co-authors of the book “Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology.”

The Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) was founded in 1896 and is the oldest of the regional psychological associations in the United States. Its sole purpose is to advance the science and profession through the dissemination of professional information about the field of psychology, according to its website. EPA achieves this goal by conducting its annual meeting where its members present the latest advances in professional and scientific work to their colleagues.