The Ethical Treatment of Research Assistants: Are We Forsaking Safety for Science?

Science inevitably involves ethical discussions about how research should be implemented. However such discussions often neglect the potential unethical treatment of a third party: the research assistant. Extensive anecdotal evidence suggests that research assistants can experience unique physical, psychological, and social risks when implementing their typical responsibilities. Moreover, these research assistants, who perhaps engage in research experience to bolster their curricula vitae, may feel coerced to continue to work in unsafe environments out of fear of losing rapport with the research supervisor or letters of recommendation for their future endeavors. In the present article, we address two important issues regarding the ethical treatment of research assistants. First, we present evidence suggesting that research assistants may experience substantive risk when implementing their assigned responsibilities. Second, we propose a document, the "Research Assistant's Bill of Rights," as a possible ethics code for people supervising research assistants. This document is independent from typical institutional review board processes, and it has the potential to maximize benefits to research supervisors and research assistants

Working memory and cued recall

Previous research has found that individuals with high working memory have greater recall capabilities than those with low working memory (Unsworth, Spiller, & Brewers, 2012). Research did not test the extent to which cues affect one’s recall ability in relation to working memory. The present study will examine this issue. Participants completed a working memory measure. Then, they were provided with cued recall tasks whereby they recalled Facebook friends. The cues varied to be no cues, ambiguous cues high in imageability, and cues directly related to Facebook. The results showed that there was no difference between individual’s ability to recall their Facebook friends and their working memory scores. However, those in the ambiguous cue condition were able to recall significantly fewer Facebook friends than those in the Facebook cue or no cue condition. Thus, this research shows that ambiguous cues can interfere with recall. However, further research is needed to see the extent that working memory moderates this effect

The Relationship of Personal, Family, and Abuse-Specific Factors to Children’s Clinical Presentation Following Childhood Sexual Abuse

Past literature has proposed potential variables (e.g., age, gender, attributional style) that may relate to clinical presentation following childhood sexual abuse (CSA). However, few studies have tested these relationships. The current study examined multiple factors related to clinical presentation following CSA in 101 children and adolescents presenting for treatment at Project SAFE, a parallel group treatment for children/teens and their nonoffending parents. Using clusters developed in a previous study, relationships between proposed variables and pretreatment clinical presentation were examined. Results indicated that attributions about the abuse, parental mental health, and severity of abuse related to the differentiated clinical presentation. These results are important because pinpointing correlates to clinical presentation following CSA helps elucidate differences among those with a history of CSA and gives greater insight into the impact sexual abuse has on children. Knowing these differences may also benefit treatment providers in the development of individual treatment goals during therapy

Yes, You Can Get a Job With That Major! Goal 5 Strategies for Facilitating, Assessing, and Demonstrating Psychology Students’ Professional Development

The Summit on the National Assessment of Psychology was held on June 2016 to chart a path for assessing student achievement of the goals of the undergraduate psychology major. Our subcommittee was charged with identifying evaluation strategies and tools for students’ professional development, which included applying psychology to various careers; engaging in effective self-regulation, project management, and teamwork; and developing lifelong professional skills. In this article, therefore, we not only review a wide range of assessment tools for facilitating and evaluating professional development in psychology, but we also discuss the larger importance of the learning goal both to students and to public perceptions of psychology

Heterogeneity of Individuals with a History of Child Sexual Abuse: An Examination of Children Presenting to Treatment

The current study examined children and families who presented for treatment through Project SAFE (Sexual Abuse Family Education) following childhood sexual abuse. Pretreatment assessment data were used to develop clusters of participants with significantly differing presentation of symptom outcome following abuse. Four clusters were discovered: (a) a Highly Distressed group, whose members had clinically elevated scores on all self- and parent-report measures; (b) a Problem Behaviors group, whose members had scores within the normal range for self-report measures and elevated scores on all parent-report measures; (c) a Subclinical group, whose participants had scores below the mean and below cutoff scores for all self- and parent-report measures; and (d) a Self-reported Distress group, whose members had elevated scores on self-report measures and scores below clinical cutoffs for all parent-report measures

The Relationship of Personal, Family, and Abuse-Specific Factors to Children’s Clinical Presentation Following Childhood Sexual Abuse

Past literature has proposed potential variables (e.g., age, gender, attributional style) that may relate to clinical presentation following childhood sexual abuse (CSA). However, few studies have tested these relationships. The current study examined multiple factors related to clinical presentation following CSA in 101 children and adolescents presenting for treatment at Project SAFE, a parallel group treatment for children/teens and their nonoffending parents. Using clusters developed in a previous study, relationships between proposed variables and pretreatment clinical presentation were examined. Results indicated that attributions about the abuse, parental mental health, and severity of abuse related to the differentiated clinical presentation. These results are important because pinpointing correlates to clinical presentation following CSA helps elucidate differences among those with a history of CSA and gives greater insight into the impact sexual abuse has on children. Knowing these differences may also benefit treatment providers in the development of individual treatment goals during therapy

Males Show Improved Perspective-Taking Performance When Females Images Occupy Locations in the Spatial Array: Preliminary Evidence Consistent With Sexual Selection of Spatial Skills?

One tenet of sexual selection theory posits that females select males on the basis of physical attributes because these attributes serve as indicators of fitness. Relatively recently, evolutionary psychologists have suggested that females also select males on the basis of cognitive attributes because such attributes also serve as indicators of fitness. Spatial abilities are hypothesized to be one such cognitive attribute, but evidence supporting this hypothesis is lacking. We tested this hypothesis by having human male participants engage in a perspective-taking task (imagine standing at object A, facing object B, point to object C). We manipulated the content of the objects forming the spatial array to present either images of human females, animals, or kaleidoscope snippets. Pointing accuracy for males viewing images of females was superior to that of males viewing animals or kaleidoscope snippets. Results appear to provide preliminary evidence consistent with sexual selection of spatial abilities

Introductory Psychology Initiative Census Materials

These are the materials we used for the 2019 national census study of Introductory Psycholog

A Social Look at Student-Instructor Interactions

Empirical Research in Teaching and Learning: Contributions from Social Psychology draws upon the latest empirical research and empirically-based theories from social psychology to inform the scholarship of teaching and learning. Provides an accessible theoretical grounding in social psychological principles and addresses specific empirical evidence drawn from teaching and learning contexts Features concrete strategies for use in the classroom setting Includes contributions from experts in both social psychology and the scholarship of teaching and learnin