There are five topics in this report. 1. FREE FULL LENGTH PRACTICE MCAT! 2. PSYC310 (Perception): Note New Prerequisite! 3. Spanish-speaking Research Assistants Needed 4. Annual Health Career Panel, April 28 5. Special Edition: Undergrad Research Assistants Wanted for Fall 2004 __________________________ 1. FREE FULL LENGTH PRACTICE MCAT! When: Saturday, April 17th Time: 9am-5pm Where: 0112 Armory How: Email yrehman@yahoo.com with your name and email address by April 14th Sponsored by the pre-med society and Princeton Review ______________________ 2. PSYC310 (Perception): Note New Prerequisite Course The approved prerequisites for PSYC310 are now: "PSYC100 and BSCI105 or BSCI106 or CHEM103 or PHYS121" __________________________ 3. Spanish-speaking Research Assistants Needed Spanish-speaking Students - We are seeking Spanish-speaking research assistants to assist with Master's thesis research. This position can also be done for credit or on a volunteer basis. Interested applicants should be fluent in both Spanish and English, outgoing and friendly, and willing to go out to schools, churches and other community settings to recruit participants. It will also require some hours of administrative duties (i.e., entering data, creating questionnaire packets). This study focuses on the use of parenting practices among Latina mothers and how they might influence levels of externalizing behavior problems in their children. The start date for this research project is the first day of Summer semester - Session 1, and assistants are expected to work until the last day of final exams. If interested in this position, please email Yamalis Diaz at ydiaz@psyc.umd.edu for an application. __________________________ 4. Annual Health Career Panel, April 28 The Annual Health Career Panel will be on Wednesday, April 28th from 5:30-7:30pm. Professionals from several different health careers will be here to talk to the students, answer any questions, and give us an idea of what the career is really all about from their perspective. We look forward to seeing YOU there on April 28th from 5:30-7:30pm in the Grand Ballroom, Stamp Student Union. ______________________________________ 5. Special Edition: Undergrad Research Assistants Wanted for Fall 2004 1. Research in Decision and Memory Lab 2. Research in Counseling Psychology 3. Research in Reasoning and Personality 4. Research on Discrimination and Values 5. Research in Clinical Psychology 6. Research in Industrial/Organizational Psychology 7. Research in Social Cognition 8. Research in Cognitive Psychology 9. Research in Industrial/Organizational Psychology 10. Research in ADHD 11. Research in industrial/Organizational Psychology 12. Research on Learning with Animals 13. Research on Caffeine 14. More research on Caffeine _______________________ 1. Research in Decision and Memory Lab Description: Work in lab on Memory processes and judgement and decision making. Dates: Beginning until the end of spring semester. There is the potential for students to be invited back for future semesters. Skills Required: Some knowledge of cognition is desired but not required. What will you learn: Cognitive theory, experimental design and running participants Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): To be discussed between student and faculty member. Meetings with Faculty: To be discussed with faculty member. Required Readings: To be discussed with faculty member. Time requirements: 9 hours per week Compensation: 3 credits of Psyc479 Contact Person: Michael Dougherty, mdougherty@psyc.umd.edu, x58243 _______________________ 2. Research in Counseling Psychology Description: Research is based around a doctoral dissertation for a counseling psychology student under the advisement of Dr. Clara Hill. The study is an experimental counseling study involving action-focused and insight-focused psychotherapy with clients having different preferences for counseling styles. The research assistant will: Assist the primary investigator in recruiting for and scheduling counseling sessions, Attend a training workshop on delivery counseling interventions, Meet clients and therapists and assist in matching them and instructing them on protocol for the study, Distribute and collect questionnaires from the therapists and clients in the sessions, Listen to counseling sessions and code them as either action-focused or insight-focused. The research assistant MAY also be asked to assist in the following tasks: Enter data into a computer using SPSS (training will be provided), Email clients for follow-up data Dates: Will begin the first week of Fall semester and conclude finals week. Skills Required: None What will you learn: See description above. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): The student will be required to write a short report detailing what they have learned about counseling research over the course of the semester. Meetings with Faculty: The faculty member (Clara Hill) will attend the training sessions and will also be available to meet with the research assistants as needed. The doctoral student will meet with the students weekly. Required Readings: The student will be required to read excerts from Helping Skills by Clara Hill, which will be provided by the researcher. Time requirements: Students must commit to working 9 hours a week in return for 3 credit hours for Psyc479. At times the workload may be significantly lower, depending on how client recruitment goes. Compensation: 3 Credits of Psyc479 Contact Person: Melissa Goates-Jones, mgoates@psyc.umd.edu, 240-498-8559 _______________________ 3. Research in Reasoning and Personality Description: The research project uses questionnaires and a computerized task to assess reasoning and personality. Dates: Positions are available for the Fall 2004 semester. Skills Required: The necessary skills are an interest in psychology, conscientiousness, and dependability. What will you learn: The specific duties of the research assistant will be working with subjects for the experiment, data entry, data analysis and other administrative work related to the project Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): The student will be required to write a brief report on a topic of choice in collaboration with the supervisor or will write a brief report on their experiences as a research assistant. Meetings with Faculty: The student will primarily report to the graduate researcher on a weekly basis. S/he will meet with the professor at different points during the semester. Required Readings: The student will be required to read various articles related to the study. They will also be required to read about SPSS. Time requirements: Time requirements are flexible but should range between 6-10 hours per week. Compensation: Individuals will be credited with course credit for PSYC479 if desired as well as a reference letter upon successful completion of the assistantship. Contact Person: Anuradha Ramesh, aramesh@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 4. Research on Discrimination and Values Description: The research is on targets of discrimination, how people feel when they are discriminated against, how values influence our attitudes toward our own groups and other groups Dates: Start the first week of classes, end the last week of classes (before finals) Skills Required: None, but should have taken at least psyc 221, and potentially 420 as well, though not required. What will you learn: Students will help run subjects and enter data Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): Short essay on what they did and what they learned from the experience Meetings with Faculty: Will meet with the student periodically throughout the semester as the student wishes; weekly lab meetings Required Readings: Those for weekly lab meetings, any related to the topic of the experiment they are working on Time requirements: 9 hours/week Compensation: Up to 3 hours of credit Contact Person: Alison Ottenbreit, aottenbreit@psyc.umd.edu, 301-440-2175 _______________________ 5. Research in Clinical Psychology Description: One or two experiments designed to test the so-called "self-reference effect." Dates: I would like to start over the summer, so that the undergraduate research assistant can become familiar with some of the relevant literature, and so the BDI can be administered at "mass screening" time in the fall semester. The subjects will be run during the fall semester. Skills Required: Some computer programming skill might be very useful; but I would not say it is a requirement. Other than being able to write well, find materials in the library and on the internet, and to interact effectively with human subjects, no other special skills will be necessary. What will you learn: Duties will include, but will not necessarily be limited to: learning to score the Beck Depression Inventory; doing some literature searches in the library and on the internet; doing some photocopying; contacting potential subjects for scheduling of their participation; "running" subjects; writing the required paper for PSYC 479 credit. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): A short paper having the following properties: a review of some of the relevant literature on the "self-reference effect", "self-schemas", and the "depth-of-processing" framework for human memory research; a description of the method used in the present study; methodological justification of the present study; potential outcomes of the present study and prospective explanations of those potential outcomes; discussion of actual results, if those results have been analyzed. Meetings with Faculty: At least weekly, in order to check progress on various phases of the study. Required Readings: A tentative list follows (some of these may be deleted; others may be added). Bellezza, F.S. (1993). Does "perplexing" describe the self-reference effect? Yes! In T.K. Srull & R.S. Wyer (Eds.), Advances in social cognition (vol. 5, pp. 51-59). New York: Erlbaum. Bellezza, F.S., & Hoyt, S.K. (1992). The self-reference effect and mental cuing. Social Cognition, 10, 51-78. Bower, G.H., & Gilligan, S.G. (1979). Remembering information related to one's self. J. of Research in Personality, 13, 420-432. Brown, P., Keenan, J.M., & Potts, G.R. (1986). The self-reference effect with imagery encoding. JPSP, 51, 897-906. Catambrone, R., & Markus, H. (1987). The role of self-schemas in going beyond the information given. Social Cognition, 5, 349-368. Clifford, P.I., & Hemsley, D.R. (1987). The influence of depression of the processing of personal attributes. British J. of Psychiatry, 150, 98-103. Craik, F.I.M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. JVLVB, 11, 671-684. Craik, F.I.M., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. JEP, 104, 268-294. Keenan, J.M., Golding, J.M., & Brown, P. (1992). Factors controlling the advantage of self-reference over other-reference. Social Cognition, 10, 79-94. Klein, S.B., & Kihlstrom, J.F. (1986). Elaboration, organization, and the self-reference effect in memory. JEP:General, 115, 26-38. Kuiper, N.A., Olinger, L.J., MacDonald, M.R., & Shaw, B.F. (1985). Self- schema processing of depressed and nondepressed content: The effects of vulnerability to depression. Social Cognition, 3, 77-93. Kuiper, N.A., & Rogers, T.B. (1979). Encoding of personal information: Self-other differences. JPSP, 37, 499-514. Maki, R.H., & McCaul, K.D. (1985). The effects of self-reference versus other reference on the recall of traits and nouns. Bulletin of the Psycho- nomic Society, 23, 169-172. Markus, H. (1977). Self-schemata and processing information about the self. JPSP, 35, 63-78. McCaul, K.D., & Maki, R.H. (1984). Self-reference versus desirability ratings and memory for traits. JPSP, 47, 953-955. Rogers, T.B., Kuiper, N.A., & Kirker, W.S. (1977). Self-reference and the encoding of personal information. JPSP, 35, 677-688. Symons, C.S., & Johnson, B.T. (1997). the self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. Psych. Bulletin, 121, 371-394. Time requirements: To be discussed between professor and student. Compensation: PSYC 479 credit only. Contact Person: Dr. Thomas Capo, tcapo@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 6. Research in Industrial/Organizational Psychology Description: Research assistants will potentially work on a variety of projects within the context of industrial/organizational psychology - the psychology of the workplace. This area of psychology is exciting because it concerns theory but has many practical implications for your everyday work life. I am particularly interested in the topics of fairness in organizations, the ethics and social responsibility of organizations, and workplace diversity. Research assistants may work on the following projects: examining attitudes about affirmative action programs, understanding how people form fairness judgments, determining whether the social responsibility of an organization encourages job-seekers to be attracted to that organization, and examining reasons for racial differences on cognitive ability tests. Dates: The start date is 8/30/04 and the ending date is 12/10/04. Skills Required: Over the past 4 years I have had 15 RAs and I have a good understanding for the qualities that I am looking for. The most important quality is conscientiousness. It is important to show up on time and be professional. A second important quality is a genuine interest in the topic. It is more fun when we are all excited about the research. A third important characteristic is having the prerequisites for the 479 course. Aside from these qualities, there are no other specific requirements. What will you learn: Specific duties may include but are not limited to the following things: background reading, literature reviews, running subjects, entering data, suggesting ideas about projects, basic data analysis, and practice writing up research papers. The duties for each particular research assistant will be a function of the role that needs to be filled at any given time and the past experience of the assistant. An important part of the 479 course is that you get an understanding of the various stages of the research process and this is something I aim to provide to help your development. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): A 6-8 page written report will be due at the end of the semester. There are many options to the paper. The general goal is for the paper to help you in some way (e.g., researching graduate schools, studying a topic you are interested, practice writing up a paper in APA format). Meetings with Faculty: The faculty member will meet with the RA at the beginning of the semester and there will be opportunities for consultation throughout the semester. Required Readings: All RAs will be expected to do some background reading on the topic of the study they will be working on. I will provide these readings. Time requirements: See below. Compensation: The time requirements for the RA position are the following: 1 credit=3 hrs/wk, 2 credits=6 hrs/wk, 3 credits=9 hrs/wk. Thus, 1-3 credits of PSYC 479 will be given to all RAs who successfully complete the course. In addition, a less tangible outcome of the course is that you will learn a lot more about the research process. Contact Person: Dave Mayer, dmayer@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 7. Research in Social Cognition Description: Social Cognition (stereotyping, unconscious motivation and consumer behavior, social judgments and biases) Dates: During the fall 2004 Skills Required: No What will you learn: Editing experimental materials and planning, conducting, running experiments, and analyzing Data. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): Research summary Meetings with Faculty: Once a week plus running schedule Required Readings: Chun et al. (2004). On the psychology of quasi-rational decisions: The mulitinality principal in choice without awareness: This paper is about the effects of unconscious motivation on consumer choice. Time requirements: Variable Compensation: 1 credit per 3 hours work a week. Contact Person: Wooyoung Chun, wchun@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 8. Research in Cognitive Psychology Description: Cognitive Psychology: Learning, Memory, Judgments, and Priming effect Dates: Fall semester, 2004 Skills Required: No special skills required What will you learn: Running cognitive psychology experiments, and data collecting and analysis Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): 3 page paper for PSYC479 credit Meetings with Faculty: A weekly research lab meeting Required Readings: Shiffrin, R. M. (1970). Forgetting: Trace erosion or retrieval failure? Science, 168, 1601-1603. More readings to be discussed between the student and instructor Time requirements: About 9 hours per week required Compensation: 1 credit per 3 hours of PSYC479 Contact Person: Yoonhee Jang, yjang@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 9. Research in Industrial/Organizational Psychology Description: The position consists of an undergraduate research assistantship helping out an Industrial/Organizational Psychology doctoral candidate on several research projects with faculty members. These projects cover a broad topic range of Industrial/Organizational Psychology including attraction to organizations, implicit attitude measurement, personality, leadership, and teams. Dates: Positions are available for the Fall 2004 semester and could possibly extend further depending on interest and availability. Skills Required: The necessary skills are an interest in psychology, being able to work independently, conscientiousness, and dependability. What will you learn: The research assistant will assist in all phases of research including tasks such as literature searches, study design, pilot testing, data collection, data entry, and data analysis. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): Research assistants will be required to complete a general written report at the end of the semester detailing the skills acquired and any plans for future research. Meetings with Faculty: Research assistants will meet with Jonathan Ziegert on a weekly basis. Meetings with faculty members will be arranged based on the need of the student and/or faculty member. Required Readings: Students will be required to read several journal articles and papers that are currently in progress in order to help orientate themselves to the various research projects. Time requirements: Time requirements are flexible but should range between 6- 10 hours per week. Compensation: Individuals will be compensated with Psyc 479 course credit if desired as well as a reference letter upon successful completion of the assistantship. Contact Person: Jonathan Ziegert, jziegert@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 10. Research in ADHD Description: The Maryland Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder Program currently has openings for research assistants to help with coordination and administration of various research projects. Responsibilities include the provision of childcare to families of children with ADHD and other behavioral disorders during their visits to the clinic, utilization of appropriate behavior management techniques, recruitment of families to participate in various studies through mailings and phone conversations, providing set-up and support for psychological assessments, maintaining and updating research databases, and other administrative responsibilities. Dates: The start date for this position is the beginning of either the Summer or Fall semesters. Students are expected to work until the last day of final exams. Skills Required: Students who apply should have a strong interest in child psychopathology and treatment, be actively engaged and open to learning, and have a friendly, personable manner as well as an attention to detail and good organizational skills. What will you learn: see above Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): 10-page paper, which will be discussed with the students when they begin Meetings with Faculty: Students will meet with and be supervised by Dr. Andrea Chronis on a weekly basis Required Readings: There will also be required readings to be assigned by the instructor. Time requirements: Ideally, we are looking for students willing to commit to at least one year of part-time work (approximately 8-12 hours per week) for either course credit or on a volunteer basis. Compensation: Psyc479 Credit Contact Person: Yamalis Diaz, ydiaz@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 11. Research in industrial/Organizational Psychology Description: The projects are related to Industrial/Organizational Psychology. We have several projects covering the general areas of selection, fairness, and bias. Additionally, there will be opportunities to work on projects related to virtual teams, e-leadership, and computer-mediated groups. Dates: Fall 2004. Potential to continue working through Spring 2005. Skills Required: No special skills or hours. The main criteria that we're looking for in potential research assistants are: (1) willingness to learn, (2) dependability and conscientiousness, and (3) interest in Industrial/Organizational psychology. Experience with searching PsycINFO is preferred. We are willing to train other skills (e.g., running subjects, entering and analyzing data in SPSS). What will you learn: Duties span the range from brainstorming ideas and conducting literature reviews to running laboratory studies. Research assistants will likely have the opportunity to run subjects in a lab setting, which includes setting up the study, ensuring the informed consent is signed and understood, giving instructions, and cleaning up after the subject is done. Additionally, research assistants will enter data from the study and can be involved in data analyses if interested. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): The form of the written report is negotiable. We've found that students benefit most from the experience when they use this requirement to write a research proposal on their own topic of interest, related to I/O psychology. Meetings with Faculty: Dr. Paul Hanges will meet with the student at least once during the course of the semester to discuss the studies and/or topics related to I/O psychology. The graduate student in charge of the projects (Julie Lyon) will meet with the student at least once a week. Required Readings: Readings will be assigned on average once every two weeks. There will probably be more readings at the beginning of the project to get the student up-to-speed. These readings will typically be current journal articles. Time requirements: 1-3 credits of PSYC 479. Students will get the most out of the experience if they take 2-3 credits (i.e., 6-9 hours/week). Compensation: 1-3 credits of PSYC 479. Students will get the most out of the experience if they take 2-3 credits (i.e., 6-9 hours/week). Contact Person: Julie Lyon, jlyon@psyc.umd.edu, (301) 405-5934 (Industrial/Organizational Lab) _______________________ 12. Research on Learning with Animals Description: Undergraduate students are needed to examine song recorded from young zebra finches during the period of song learning. We are interested in the brain mechanisms underlying this complex behavior, and are using detailed analysis of songs to make inferences about the corresponding neural representations. In particular, we are interested in interactions between the representations of song syllables, song Dates: The research will coincide with the semester schedule. Skills Required: Advanced computational skills are NOT required, but students will need to be comfortable with quantitative thinking. What will you learn: The lab uses an automated sound recording set up to acquire large quantities of data (2-3GB/day). Undergraduate researchers will use custom software to examine the song learning data, providing descriptive reports of the overall time course of development. Since so much is currently unknown about the process of song learning, students are encouraged to develop their own hypotheses and to gather and organize Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): Students will be required to write a paper summarizes their research and puts it into the context of research in the field. Meetings with Faculty: Students will be expected to attend weekly lab meetings, and will meet with the PI at least once every two weeks. Required Readings: Students will be required to read the chapter on song learning in Behavioral Neurobiology: The Cellular Organization of Natural Behavior, by Thomas J. Carew as well as a number of review and original research papers. Time requirements: Schedule is flexible, but 3 hrs per week per unit of credit are expected. Compensation: 1-3 credits of PSYC479. Monetary support will be considered for successful students that stay on after the first semester of research. Contact Person: Todd Troyer, ttroyer@glue.umd.edu, 301-405-9971 _______________________ 13. Research on Caffeine Description: The purpose of this research is to measure the effects of caffeine consumption on responses to a mirror tracing task in women with Premenstrual Syndrome. The goal of this project is to assess the effects of caffeine consumption on premenstrual distress during the luteal phase. Tasks that RA's might be involved with in our lab, run experiments, lit search, data analysis, etc. Dates: Fall 2004 semester Skills Required: Computer knowledge: Word, excel, etc. We will teach SPSS if necessary. Psychology majors preferred. What will you learn: Data analysis, lit search, knowledge of experimental methods. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): Varies depending on what project you'll be working on. Meetings with Faculty: once/week lab meeting Required Readings: To be discussed between the student and faculty. Time requirements: at least 2 hrs/week Compensation: Psyc479 course credit Contact Person: Hoa Vo , hvo@psyc.umd.edu or Thom White, twhite@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ 14. More research on Caffeine Description: The purpose of this study is to see how caffeine and nicotine interact to produce effects on behavior. Participants will be male college students. RAs will schedule and run participants, keep the lab organized, enter data, and do lit searches Dates: Fall 2004 semester Skills Required: Computer knowledge: Word, excel, etc. We will teach SPSS if necessary. Psychology majors preferred. What will you learn: Data analysis, lit search, knowledge of experimental methods. Written Report (Required for Psyc479 Credit): Varies depending on what project you'll be working on. Meetings with Faculty: once/week lab meeting Required Readings: To be discussed between the student and faculty. Time requirements: at least 2 hrs/week Compensation: Psyc479 course credit Contact Person: Hoa Vo , hvo@psyc.umd.edu or Thom White, twhite@psyc.umd.edu _______________________ The department of psychology posts these notices only as a service to our students. Archived Copies of this Listserv can be found online at: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/undergraduate/Listserv.html Visit the Undergraduate Psychology Website at: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/undergraduate/ _______________________________ If you have a question about any of these topics, please contact Mr. Thomson Ling (tling@psyc.umd.edu) Academic Advisor for the Undergraduate Psychology Dept. __________________________ The Department of Psychology is not necessarily affiliated with the institutions listed above. We post these notices only as a service to our students. _______________________________ If you have a question about any of these topics, please contact Ms. Paula Young (pyoung@psyc.umd.edu) Academic Advisor for the Undergraduate Psychology Dept. ________________________________