Students Present Findings at Symposium

---

   For the first time in 12 years, the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences hosted the 23^rd annual Arkansas Symposium for Psychology Students.   

   Psychology students throughout the state of Arkansas presented their psychological research through the form of verbal or poster presentations. 

   Each floor of the Memorial Classroom Building was filled with the roar of students bestowing knowledge and research upon the unknowing.  

   Ana Hunt, senior, and her partner Apryl Wilson, junior, gave a verbal presentation on Facial Recognition Accuracy for Different Ethnicities.    

   They used 103 (59 black, and 44 white) University of Arkansas - Monticello psychology students in their study. They randomly assigned the participants to two groups. 

   They showed the groups four photographs: a black male, a white male, a black female and a white female in a certain order for each group. Half of the subjects in each group received a stressor to measure the effects of stress on a situation.

   All of the subjects received the same time delay, which was a 10-minute video of an all-white sorority at a step show.

    "We thought this would also distract their minds, because we thought the idea of an all-white step team would be a little unusual for most people," Hunt said.

   After the video, the participants were asked to pick the four faces shown out of an array of faces. They discovered 71 percent of blacks and 59 percent of whites correctly identified both black faces and 71 percent of whites and 47 percent of blacks correctly identified both white faces.

   Jay Phipps, a University of Central Arkansas student, gave a poster presentation on the effects of gender and ethnicity on college students’ perceptions of the severity of corporal punishment methods. 

   Participants included 67 UCA students, separated into Caucasian, African American and a group of other ethnicities. Participants were asked to complete a survey rating the severities of six different punishment scenarios and asked to give demographic information.

   “I was quiet surprised at the results. The significant effect existed for ethnicity, but not for gender. Given the high emotional level involved, I expected the significant effect to exist for gender," Phipps said.

  Due to time constraints and scheduling conflicts it was impossible to attend every session. Listed below are other UAM students who presented: 

• Michael W. Finley and Mel Granger - The Developmental Basis of Depression, Based on the Tripartite Model.
   
• Karee Dowty and Shea Dempsey - I Signed What? Do I Even Care?: The Consequences of Signing Documents Without Reading.
   
• Donna Martindale and Kimberley Boykin- The Relationship Between Television, Attention and Personality.
   
• Dennis Aswell II and Bryce Boroughs- Eyewitness Identification and Ethnicity of the Criminal.
   
• Kathy Arguz, Heather Pittillo and Jamario Bush- How Pheromones can Affect Who We Find Attractive.
   
• Lauren Raynor and Emily King- How Parental Involvement Affects Basic Skills in Pre-schoolers.
   
• Nathan Nall and Holly Chambers- The Effect of Distraction and Self-Esteem on Task Performance.
   
• Rosalyn Jackson and Stephanie Harper- Attitudes toward African Americans and Women Holding Leadership Positions.
   
• Sarah Wilson and Andre Dobbs- A Qualitative Study of Student Reactions to the Experimental Methods Course.
   
• Jennifer Speer and Alexandrea Davis- Locus of Control and Conformity.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.