If you are considering a degree in psychology, Assumption University will provide you with exciting opportunities to explore your individual interests and to gain hands-on research experience. All of our faculty bring experience from clinical or research positions in a variety of fields of study, and we enjoy working side-by-side with our students in our state-of-the-art research facilities.
Studying psychology at Assumption prepares you for a wide variety of career paths. From foundation courses that address general concepts and theoretical perspectives to electives that allow you personalize your education and to delve more deeply into specific areas of interest. The psychology program teaches students to become better analysts, communicators, and problem solvers in order to develop skills that are necessary in the workforce and in life.
The psychology program faculty serve as instructors and mentors, helping students define their professional goals through classroom learning, research projects, internships, and independent study. Many students apply to Assumption’s graduate program in applied behavior analysis or clinical counseling psychology, which is affiliated with the prestigious Aaron T. Beck Institute for Cognitive Studies, located on our Worcester Campus.
Students are encouraged to apply what is learned in class through hands-on experience conducting research with a faculty mentor, completing an internship, or engaging with the community in community service learning courses.
Psychology students also have the option of pursuing a major with a concentration in neuroscience of human behavior and/or pursue a minor in applied behavior analysis.
Department Mission Statement
Psychology is a science concerned with mind and behavior. The psychology program introduces students to a variety of ways to understand cognition, emotion, and behavior. In addition, the program prepares students for various career paths within psychology human service jobs, graduate study) or in other professions (business, education, public service). The curriculum requires students to sample from diverse courses that provide the foundation for understanding the major concepts and theoretical perspectives of psychology. Students also develop skills for understanding and conducting psychological research. The curriculum promotes personal growth and development and challenges students to critically evaluate complex social issues. Students can explore opportunities for independent research and work in supervised fieldwork placements. The department apprises students of the many fields with which psychology shares borders of concern and inquiry in the pursuit of knowledge.
Department of Psychology Faculty
Psychology Resources
Psychology at Assumption University
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The annual Undergraduate Symposium provides you with an opportunity to gain a greater appreciation of the individual and collective intellectual accomplishments of our faculty and your peers from all disciplines including the humanities, fine arts, biological sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences. Last year 80 students, sponsored by more than 40 faculty mentors, presented, displayed or performed their work.
Sample of Some Recent Psychology Undergraduate Symposium Presentations:
- Alexander Cerbo (Class of 2018). Characteristics of Pedestrian Fatalities during Motor Vehicle Accidents in Regard to Increased Distracted Driving and Walking
- Julie Dunn (Class of 2018). The Impact Community Service Can Have on Classroom Learning
- Lindsay Gomes (Class of 2018). Exploring the Relationships between Social, Motor, Emotional, and Sensory Development in Childhood
- Mariah Peck (Class of 2018). Fiction and Affect
- Holly Olson (Class of 2018). Emotional Expressiveness in Families at Risk for Postpartum Depression
- Tyshawn Thompson (Class of 2018).The Association between Mindfulness, Emotional Responding, Stress, & Academic Performance
- Lauren Bretanha, (Class of 2017). Emerging Adults’ Expectations of Longevity in Romantic Relationships.
- Campbell, S. (2017). The Influence of Social Context on Communication and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism.
- doCurral, A. (2017). A Microgenetic Study of Parental Depression and Infant Development at 3 Months Postpartum.
- Price, L. (2017). Does Mindful Meditation Prevent the Misinformation Effect.
- Tortora, D. (2017). The Role of Couples’ Birth Experiences in Coparenting Dynamics During the Transition to Parenthood.
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All students complete a capstone course in which they integrate what they have learned in the psychology major as they design and conduct a research project as part of a research team. This also provides students with an opportunity to develop presentation skills at the Semi-Annual Psychology Department Poster Session as they present the capstone research project at a conference-style poster session
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Assumption psychology faculty teach in the classroom and conduct research on an array of subjects. Often, faculty will invite students to participate in research thereby providing unique opportunities.
Amy Cirillo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Cirillo is a child clinical psychologist with clinical and research interests in the development of prosocial referencing, empathy, and moral development in infancy and early childhood. Her current research explores the contribution of specific distortions in parent-child interaction to the disorganization of the infant’s attachment strategies.
Leonard Doerfler, Ph,.D. Professor of Psychology, Director, Counseling Psychology Program
Dr. Doerfler’s clinical and research interests include cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal models of mood disorders, predictors of psychiatric hospitalization, psychotherapy outcome assessment, psychosocial adjustment to life-threatening illness, and assessment of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder in heart attack survivors. He is a clinical psychologist.
Leamarie Gordon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Gordon seeks to understand how humans learn and remember visual and verbal information. In her current research, she investigates how retrieval practice, or memory tests, can not only change how people store information in memory, but also how they approach learning of new material. She explores these issues in two applied contexts: the classroom and eyewitness memory situations. Dr. Gordon is a cognitive psychologist.
Maria Kalpidou, Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Kalpidou’s interests primarily focus on the socio-emotional development of infant and young children. She is currently investigating the effects of postpartum depression on infant development and the role of sensory processing on infant attachment and eating competence. Her research in infancy also addresses age-related changes in imitation the first 12 months of life as well cultural differences in imitative mother-infant exchanges. Another ongoing project is the effects of childhood adverse experiences on later adjustment. Dr. Kalpidou is a developmental psychologist.
Regina Kuersten-Hogan, Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Kuersten-Hogan is a child clinical psychologist who is interested in family interaction patterns and children’s cognitive and emotional development. Her clinical interests include child and family therapy and she has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Her research interests focus on the role of the family emotion communication and co-parenting dynamics in children’s emotion understanding and Theory of Mind, on children’s understanding of pretense and magic, and on fathers’ involvement in children’s adjustment.
Karen Lionello-DeNolf, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Director of Applied Behavior Analysis Programs
Dr. Lionello-DeNolf is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and an experimental psychologist. Her research interests are in the areas of experimental and applied behavior analysis, autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities, and relational learning. The primary goal of her recent research has been to increase functional communication skills that are necessary for individuals with limited language ability to effectively use augmentative and alternative communication devices. Her current projects include exploring how learning history influences people’s willingness to cooperate with others in a shared task, teaching methods that result in better development of symbolic relations, and best practices in training service delivery staff to implement teaching programs to students with autism.
Maria Parmley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Parmley’s recent research interests have included how adults and children interpret the social cues of others, children’s interpretation of a peer’s emotion, and how gender stereotypes and the ambiguity of an emotion might influence the perception of an emotional message. Currently, Dr. Parmley is investigating the perception of emotions in relationships varying in intimacy. Dr. Parmley is a social psychologist.
Arlene Rankin, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Professor Emeritus
Dr. Rankin’s scholarly writings include two texts currently used at the University, one on research methods in psychology, and the other on anthology on images of women in popular culture. Her current research interests focus on interpersonal communication and performative psychology. Dr. Rankin is a social psychologist.
Alison Stoner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Stoner has broad interest in the resilience of youth, and her research explores predictors of positive mental health outcomes of high-needs, at-risk youth served in various care systems. Her current research investigates clinical outcomes for youth with cystic fibrosis (CF) and their families through projects aimed at establishing and maintaining a clinical outcomes registry and applying an illness-specific risk-taking model to youth with CF. Dr. Stoner is a child clinical psychologist.
Adam Volungis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Volungis’ research interests include prevention of school violence, suicide prevention in adolescents, college student mental health and smartphone dependency, enhancing cognitive-behavioral therapy with technology, and youth internalizing/externalizing disorders. He is a counseling psychologist and his clinical experience includes working in psychiatric, residential, and outpatient settings serving youth, families, and adults. Most recently, he has provided psychological assessment and cognitive-behavioral therapy to youth and their families at Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. and Children’s Friend.
Fang Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Zhang’s broad research interests include the cognitive, motivational, and emotional foundations of personality. Specifically, her research focuses on four areas: 1) personality and self-development across the lifespan, 2) adult attachment and interpersonal dynamics, 3) sending, decoding, and co-regulation of emotions in interpersonal relationships, 4) cross-cultural comparison of person perception and implicit theories of personality. Dr. Zhang is a social and personality psychologist.
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Fitzpatrick, P., Bui, P., & Garry, A. (2018). The role of perception-action systems in the development of tool using skill. Ecological Psychology, 30 (1), 74-98.
Bui, P. P., Kalpidou, M., DeVito, L. E., & Greene, T. (2016, accepted for publication). The Effects of Induced Empathy on Disparaging Humor. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research.
Fitzpatrick, P., Schmidt, K. Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Perceiving Movement synchronization differences in autism. In J. Weast-Knapp, M. Malone, & D. Abney (Eds.), Studies in perception and action XIII: Eighteenth international conference on perception and action, New York, NY: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Fitzpatrick, P., Mitchell, T., Frazier, J., Cochran, D, Coleman, C., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Exploring the behavioral and neural processes underlying social synchronization of individuals with and without social deficits. In J. Weast-Knapp, M. Malone, & D. Abney (Eds.), Studies in perception and action XIII: Eighteenth international conference on perception and action, New York, NY: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K. L., & Georges, N. (2015). Fluctuations in female attention to male facial expressions of emotions across the menstrual cycle. In A. Freitas-Magalaes (Ed.), Emotional expression: The brain and the face. (Vol. 7). Porto, Portugal: Edições Universidade Fernando Pessoa (pp. 147-179).
Cavanagh, S.R., Fitzgerald, E.J., & Urry, H.L. (2014). Emotion reactivity and regulation are associated with psychological functioning following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan. Emotion, 14, 235-240.
Fitzpatrick, P., Vander Hart, N., & Cortesa, C. (2013). The influence of instructional variables and task constraints on handwriting development. The Journal of Educational Research, 106 (3), 216-234.
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Fitzpatrick, P., Lampi, A., Campbell, S., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2017). The Influence of Social and Motor Context on Communication and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Autism. Paper presented at the 7th Joint Action Meeting, London, England, July, 2017.
Gomes, L. Kearney, A., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2017). Exploring the relationships between social, motor, emotional, and sensory development in childhood. Poster presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), Boston, MA, October, 2017.
Kalpidou, M., doCurral, A. Kuersten-Hogan, R., & Deligiannidis, K (2017, April). A Microgenetic Study of Parental Depression and Infant Development at 3 Months Postpartum. Poster presented at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Research in Child Development. Austin, TX.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Charbonneau, J., Shea, A., Tortora, D., Kalpidou, M., & Deligiannidis, K. (May, 2018). Prenatal risk factors for coparenting dynamics and infant functioning at 3 months postpartum. In R. Kuersten-Hogan (chair): The role of coparenting and family-level risk factors in child and family functioning. Symposium presented at the conference of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Rome, Italy.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Olson, H., Shea, A., Charbonneau, J., Kalpidou, M., & Deligiannidis, K. (May, 2018). The role of parental depression in family expressiveness across the transition to parenthood. Poster presented at the conference of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Rome, Italy.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Spillman, C., & Folan, K. (2018, March). Serenity and Stereotypic Thinking. Poster presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., doCurral, A., Visconti, M., & Nguyen T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A Shift in Cognitive Processing associated with Serenity. Poster presented at the annual meeting of at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.
Volungis, A. M., Morse, E., Fox, L., & Doerfler, L. (2018, March). High school suicide prevention: Follow-up to a psychoeducation program pilot study. Poster presented at the 89th annual conference of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Peck, M., & Gordon, L. T. (March, 2018). Can Mindful Meditation Enhance Eyewitness Memory? Poster presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association.
Thomas, A. K., Gordon, L. T., Cernasov, P., & Bulevich, J. B. (2017). The effect of testing can increase or decrease misinformation susceptibility depending on the retention interval. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2 (45), 1-10.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Gostkowski, R., & Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster presented at the annual meeting of at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.
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Bretanha, L., & Kuersten-Hogan, R. (2017, March). Emerging adults’ expectations of longevity in their romantic relationships. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Caruso, G., Cavicchi, A., Henderson, S., Hickey, R., & Parmley, M. (2016, March). Impact of personality characteristics on task performance. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York, NY.
Cerbo, A., Clark, H., & Zimmerman, M. (2016, October). Course of depression and anger in an acute intensive treatment setting. Poster presented at the Annual New England Psychological Association Conference, Worcester, MA.
doCurral, A. & Kalpidou, M. (2015, October). Age-related Changes in Sensory Processing and Attachment to Comfort Objects. Poster presented at the Annual New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
doCurral, A. & Kalpidou, M., & Kuersten-Hogan, R., (2016, May). Coparenting and Temperament Predict Fathers’ Responsiveness in Father-Infant Interactions from 3 to 12 months. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL.
doCurral, A., Parmley, M., Zhang, F., & Knight, B. (2015, October). Global versus local processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with yoga. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
Fitzpatrick, P., Frazier, J. A., Mitchell, T., Cochran, D., Coleman, C. & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Exploring the Behavioural and Neural Processes of Joint Action in Individuals with and without Social Deficits. Paper presented at the 6th Joint Action Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, July, 2015.
Fitzpatrick, P., Mitchell, T., Frazier, J., Cochran, D, Coleman, C., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Exploring the behavioral and neural processes underlying social synchronization of individuals with and without social deficits. Poster presented at the 18th International Conference on Perception and Action, Minneapolis, Minnesota. July, 2015.
Fitzpatrick, P., Mitchell, T., Frazier, J. A., Cochran, D., Coleman, C., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Behavioural and neural processes underlying social synchronization provide insights for understanding autism. Paper presented at The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 62nd Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, October, 2015.
Fitzpatrick, P., Schmidt, K., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Perceiving movement synchronization differences in autism. Poster presented at the 18th International Conference on Perception and Action, Minneapolis, Minnesota. July, 2015.
Kalpidou, M., doCurral, A., & Kuersten-Hogan, R., (2016, May). Coparenting and Temperament Predict Fathers’ Responsiveness in Father-Infant Interactions from 3 to 12 months. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL.
Kalpidou, M., Volungis, A., Bates, C, & Mamott, E. (2016, August). Childhood Adversity and College Adjustment. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Denver, CO.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Bui, P., & Boisvert, R. (2015, September). Coparenting dynamics across the transition to parenthood and infant-parent gaze patterns at 3 months postpartum. Poster presented at the European Conference for Developmental Psychology, Braga, Portugal.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Kalpidou, M., Boisvert, R., & Bui, P. (2016, June). The role of infant gaze patterns in triadic family interactions at 3- and 12 months postpartum. Poster presented at the World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Prague, Czech Republic.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Molinaro, M., Manteuffel, J., LaForce, J., Kalpidou, M., & Deligiannidis, K. (2016, October). Parental depression and coparenting dynamics predict infant functioning at 3 months. Poster presented at the New England Psychological Association, Worcester, Massachusetts.
LaForce, J., & Kuersten-Hogan, R. (2015, October). Prenatal depressed mood and coparenting expectations in pregnancy couples. Poster presented at the New England Psychological Association, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Lampi, A., Fitzpatrick, P., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2016). Evaluating the role of social and motor engagement for reducing restrictive and repetitive behaviors in autism. Poster presented at the 2016 International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Baltimore, MD, May 2016.
Lampi, A., Fitzpatrick, P., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Evaluating the role of social and motor engagement for reducing restrictive/repetitive behaviors in autism. Poster presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), Fitchburg, MA, October, 2015.
Nguyen, T., Visconti, M., Parmley, M., & Zhang, F. (2015, October). Promotion of well-Being: Effects of Serenity and Emotion Regulation. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K. L., Georges, N., & Lincoln, C. (2015, May). Attentional bias across the menstrual cycle: Emotional expression matters. Poster presented at the 27th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, New York, NY.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K. L., & Georges, N. N. (2014, February). Decoding facial expressions across the menstrual cycle: Support for the evolutionary perspective. Poster presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Lincoln, C., Colburn, K. L., Georges, N. (2015, March). Emotion perception across the menstrual cycle. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., doCurral, A., Visconti, M., & Nguyen, T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with serenity. Poster to be presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Gostkowski, R., & Reynolds, N. (2017, January). The serene mind: Serenity and holistic perception. Poster to be presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Parmley, M. (Chair), doCurral, A., Teylman-Cashman, N., Martin, C., & Price, L. Harris O’Brien, D. (Discussant) (2016, October). Psi Chi chapter leadership exchange: Welcome to Assumption University. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Assumption University, Worcester, MA.
Price, L., Crockett, L., & Gordon L. (2017, March). Preventing the misinformation effect: Using mindful meditation to enhance eyewitness memory. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Schmidt, K., Fitzpatrick, P., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Perception of movement differences in autism spectrum disorder. Paper presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), Fitchburg, MA, October, 2015.
Soule, C. Kalpidou, M., Commors, M., Correia, S. & Palmer, S. (2016, March). The Relationship between Smartphone Dependency, Loneliness, and Social Anxiety. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York, NY.
Sullivan, E., Bylsma, A., Allard, B., Parmley, M. (2016, March). Self-esteem, self-disclosure, and Facebook: A replication of Forest and Wood (2012). Poster presented at the Eastern psychological association conference, New York, NY.
Tortora, D., Kuersten-Hogan, R. (March, 2017). Couples’ birth narratives and coparenting dynamics during the transition to parenthood. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Volungis, A., Knight, B., Joyce, M., & Popores, C. (2017, March) Suicide prevention in adolescents: Implementation of a high school-based psychoeducation program. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Colburn, K., Georges, N., Walker, A., & Gjemnica, F. (2014, July). Experiencing serenity. E-poster presented at the 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Paris, France.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Gostkowski, R., & Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster to be presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.
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The Psychology Department has state-of-the-art research facilities to conduct research in mental health, biological psychology, developmental psychology, social, cognitive, and affective science, and learning and memory. Because Assumption is an undergraduate institution, you will have the distinct benefit of working side-by-side with a faculty member rather than a graduate student or post-doc when you engage in research at Assumption. In addition, students have the unique advantage of being able to present research as a co-author at regional, national, and international professional conferences in psychology or become a co-honor on a professional publication.
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Students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned in class by getting involved in psychological research. Students benefit from one-on-one mentoring with faculty and have opportunities to present research on campus at the Undergraduate Research Symposium or at regional or national psychology conferences. Students also can become co-authors in professional publications.
Mental Health Research
The Laboratory for the Evaluation of Psychopathology and Psychosocial Interventions does research to focus on practice-based research by collaborating with mental health professionals in the community. The data for this research is usually generated through the course of routine clinical services or activities and addresses questions that are important to practicing clinicians.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Leonard Doerfler, Dr. Adam Volungis
The Psychosocial Outcomes for Multi-Stressed Youth (POMSY) Lab explores predictors of positive mental health outcomes of high-needs, at-risk youth. Youth that are served in various care systems, including the healthcare and foster care systems, are studied.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Alison Stoner
Developmental Research
The Child and Family Studies Labs (CAFS) contain a real-life living room with a one-way mirror and state of the art observation cameras, coding software, a computerized doll simulating the responses of a real baby, and equipment to record body movements. This allows for unobtrusive data collection when interviewing families or observing children performing motor tasks or engaging in free play or social interactions. Our developmental research also involves observations outside of the lab, such as in schools, preschools, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and during home visits with families. Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Amy Cirillo, Dr. Paula Fitzpatrick, Dr. Maria Kalpidou, Dr. Regina Kuersten-Hogan
Biopsychology Research
The Laboratory for Cognitive and Affective Science (LaCasa) houses equipment designed to measure precise reaction times to experiments, present multimedia stimuli, and record a range of psychophysiological measurements (such as heart rate and skin sweating). Past research projects have investigated the impact of fiction reading on emotional response, attentional bias under states of anxiety, and whether nostalgia helps or harms recovery from sad mood states.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Sarah Cavanagh
Emotion and Social Cognition Research
The Emotion and Social Cognition Lab, investigates emotions and facial expressions by exploring how culture, social, and physiological factors, such as gender, stereotypes and hormonal changes, influence recognition of facial expressions and how various emotions can impact information processing. We use morphing software to manipulate facial expressions and behavioral experiment software to present images and record individuals’ responses.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Maria Parmley, Dr. Fang Zhang
Learning and Memory Research
Research conducted in the Learning and Memory Lab employs a variety of experimental methods to better understand how we acquire and use information in a number of contexts and how that work can be applied in the real-world. For example, one area of research explores how the distribution of attentional resources during learning impacts memory accuracy and memory errors. This has important implications for classroom and eyewitness memory scenarios. Other projects include exploring how learning history influences people’s willingness to cooperate with others in a shared task, teaching methods that result in better development of symbolic relations, and best practices in training service delivery staff to implement teaching programs to children with autism.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Leamarie Gordon, Dr. Karen Lionello-Denolf
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Psychology students who are members of the Honors Program complete an Honors Thesis in Psychology as one of the requirements for the Honors Program. Students work with the close supervision of a faculty mentor while doing independent research. Students who are not part of the Honors Program but who wish to conduct independent research have the option of completing an independent study as an Honors Thesis with departmental approval.
Sample of Some Recent Honors Theses:
- Julie Dunn, Class of 2018, (Mentor: Maria Parmley). The Impact Community Service Can Have on Classroom Learning
- Holly Olson, Class of 2018, (Mentor: Regina Kuersten-Hogan). Emotional Expressiveness in Families at Risk for Postpartum Depression
- Mariah Peck, Class of 2018, (Mentor: Sarah Cavanagh). Fiction and Affect
- Lauren Bretanha Class of 2017, (Mentor: Regina Kuersten-Hogan). Emerging Adults’ Expectations of Longevity in Romantic Relationships.
- Shannon Campbell, Class of 2017, (Mentor: Paula Fitzpatrick). The Influence of Social Context on Communication and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism.
- Anna doCurral Class of 2017, (Mentor: Maria Kalpidou). A Microgenetic Study of Parental Depression and Infant Development at 3 Months Postpartum.
- Lauren Price Class of 2017, (Mentor: Leamarie Gordon). Does Mindful Meditation Prevent the Misinformation Effect?
- Deanna Tortora Class of 2017, (Mentor: Regina Kuersten-Hogan). The Role of Couples’ Birth Experiences in Coparenting Dynamics During the Transition to Parenthood.
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Assumption offers students several options for applying for paid summer research internships. Summer research students work directly with a professor for 10 weeks during the summer break. These competitive positions are full time commitments for the entire 10 week period and give students a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in research.
Research internships are available through the Psychology Department, Honors Program, and Center for Neuroscience.
Sample of Some Recent Summer Research:
- Fitzpatrick, P., & Lampi, A. Honors Program Summer Fellowship: Evaluating the Relationship Between Social and Motor Engagement, Self-Stimulation, Joint Attention and Theory of Mind in Autism.
- Fitzpatrick, P., & Hickey, R. Psychology Department Summer Research Internship, Evaluating the neural mechanisms underlying social synchronization and measuring social communication dynamics in autism.
- Kalpidou, M., Kuersten-Hogan, R., & doCurral, A. Department Summer Research Internship: Postpartum depression, transition to parenthood, and attachment to comfort objects.
- Kuersten-Hogan, R., & LaForce, J. Honors Program Summer Fellowship: The relationship between coparenting and depression.
The annual Undergraduate Symposium provides you with an opportunity to gain a greater appreciation of the individual and collective intellectual accomplishments of our faculty and your peers from all disciplines including the humanities, fine arts, biological sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences. Last year 80 students, sponsored by more than 40 faculty mentors, presented, displayed or performed their work.
Sample of Some Recent Psychology Undergraduate Symposium Presentations:
- Alexander Cerbo (Class of 2018). Characteristics of Pedestrian Fatalities during Motor Vehicle Accidents in Regard to Increased Distracted Driving and Walking
- Julie Dunn (Class of 2018). The Impact Community Service Can Have on Classroom Learning
- Lindsay Gomes (Class of 2018). Exploring the Relationships between Social, Motor, Emotional, and Sensory Development in Childhood
- Mariah Peck (Class of 2018). Fiction and Affect
- Holly Olson (Class of 2018). Emotional Expressiveness in Families at Risk for Postpartum Depression
- Tyshawn Thompson (Class of 2018).The Association between Mindfulness, Emotional Responding, Stress, & Academic Performance
- Lauren Bretanha, (Class of 2017). Emerging Adults’ Expectations of Longevity in Romantic Relationships.
- Campbell, S. (2017). The Influence of Social Context on Communication and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism.
- doCurral, A. (2017). A Microgenetic Study of Parental Depression and Infant Development at 3 Months Postpartum.
- Price, L. (2017). Does Mindful Meditation Prevent the Misinformation Effect.
- Tortora, D. (2017). The Role of Couples’ Birth Experiences in Coparenting Dynamics During the Transition to Parenthood.
All students complete a capstone course in which they integrate what they have learned in the psychology major as they design and conduct a research project as part of a research team. This also provides students with an opportunity to develop presentation skills at the Semi-Annual Psychology Department Poster Session as they present the capstone research project at a conference-style poster session
Assumption psychology faculty teach in the classroom and conduct research on an array of subjects. Often, faculty will invite students to participate in research thereby providing unique opportunities.
Amy Cirillo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Cirillo is a child clinical psychologist with clinical and research interests in the development of prosocial referencing, empathy, and moral development in infancy and early childhood. Her current research explores the contribution of specific distortions in parent-child interaction to the disorganization of the infant’s attachment strategies.
Leonard Doerfler, Ph,.D. Professor of Psychology, Director, Counseling Psychology Program
Dr. Doerfler’s clinical and research interests include cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal models of mood disorders, predictors of psychiatric hospitalization, psychotherapy outcome assessment, psychosocial adjustment to life-threatening illness, and assessment of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder in heart attack survivors. He is a clinical psychologist.
Leamarie Gordon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Gordon seeks to understand how humans learn and remember visual and verbal information. In her current research, she investigates how retrieval practice, or memory tests, can not only change how people store information in memory, but also how they approach learning of new material. She explores these issues in two applied contexts: the classroom and eyewitness memory situations. Dr. Gordon is a cognitive psychologist.
Maria Kalpidou, Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Kalpidou’s interests primarily focus on the socio-emotional development of infant and young children. She is currently investigating the effects of postpartum depression on infant development and the role of sensory processing on infant attachment and eating competence. Her research in infancy also addresses age-related changes in imitation the first 12 months of life as well cultural differences in imitative mother-infant exchanges. Another ongoing project is the effects of childhood adverse experiences on later adjustment. Dr. Kalpidou is a developmental psychologist.
Regina Kuersten-Hogan, Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Kuersten-Hogan is a child clinical psychologist who is interested in family interaction patterns and children’s cognitive and emotional development. Her clinical interests include child and family therapy and she has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Her research interests focus on the role of the family emotion communication and co-parenting dynamics in children’s emotion understanding and Theory of Mind, on children’s understanding of pretense and magic, and on fathers’ involvement in children’s adjustment.
Karen Lionello-DeNolf, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Director of Applied Behavior Analysis Programs
Dr. Lionello-DeNolf is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and an experimental psychologist. Her research interests are in the areas of experimental and applied behavior analysis, autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities, and relational learning. The primary goal of her recent research has been to increase functional communication skills that are necessary for individuals with limited language ability to effectively use augmentative and alternative communication devices. Her current projects include exploring how learning history influences people’s willingness to cooperate with others in a shared task, teaching methods that result in better development of symbolic relations, and best practices in training service delivery staff to implement teaching programs to students with autism.
Maria Parmley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Parmley’s recent research interests have included how adults and children interpret the social cues of others, children’s interpretation of a peer’s emotion, and how gender stereotypes and the ambiguity of an emotion might influence the perception of an emotional message. Currently, Dr. Parmley is investigating the perception of emotions in relationships varying in intimacy. Dr. Parmley is a social psychologist.
Arlene Rankin, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Professor Emeritus
Dr. Rankin’s scholarly writings include two texts currently used at the University, one on research methods in psychology, and the other on anthology on images of women in popular culture. Her current research interests focus on interpersonal communication and performative psychology. Dr. Rankin is a social psychologist.
Alison Stoner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Stoner has broad interest in the resilience of youth, and her research explores predictors of positive mental health outcomes of high-needs, at-risk youth served in various care systems. Her current research investigates clinical outcomes for youth with cystic fibrosis (CF) and their families through projects aimed at establishing and maintaining a clinical outcomes registry and applying an illness-specific risk-taking model to youth with CF. Dr. Stoner is a child clinical psychologist.
Adam Volungis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Volungis’ research interests include prevention of school violence, suicide prevention in adolescents, college student mental health and smartphone dependency, enhancing cognitive-behavioral therapy with technology, and youth internalizing/externalizing disorders. He is a counseling psychologist and his clinical experience includes working in psychiatric, residential, and outpatient settings serving youth, families, and adults. Most recently, he has provided psychological assessment and cognitive-behavioral therapy to youth and their families at Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. and Children’s Friend.
Fang Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology
Dr. Zhang’s broad research interests include the cognitive, motivational, and emotional foundations of personality. Specifically, her research focuses on four areas: 1) personality and self-development across the lifespan, 2) adult attachment and interpersonal dynamics, 3) sending, decoding, and co-regulation of emotions in interpersonal relationships, 4) cross-cultural comparison of person perception and implicit theories of personality. Dr. Zhang is a social and personality psychologist.
Fitzpatrick, P., Bui, P., & Garry, A. (2018). The role of perception-action systems in the development of tool using skill. Ecological Psychology, 30 (1), 74-98.
Bui, P. P., Kalpidou, M., DeVito, L. E., & Greene, T. (2016, accepted for publication). The Effects of Induced Empathy on Disparaging Humor. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research.
Fitzpatrick, P., Schmidt, K. Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Perceiving Movement synchronization differences in autism. In J. Weast-Knapp, M. Malone, & D. Abney (Eds.), Studies in perception and action XIII: Eighteenth international conference on perception and action, New York, NY: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Fitzpatrick, P., Mitchell, T., Frazier, J., Cochran, D, Coleman, C., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Exploring the behavioral and neural processes underlying social synchronization of individuals with and without social deficits. In J. Weast-Knapp, M. Malone, & D. Abney (Eds.), Studies in perception and action XIII: Eighteenth international conference on perception and action, New York, NY: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K. L., & Georges, N. (2015). Fluctuations in female attention to male facial expressions of emotions across the menstrual cycle. In A. Freitas-Magalaes (Ed.), Emotional expression: The brain and the face. (Vol. 7). Porto, Portugal: Edições Universidade Fernando Pessoa (pp. 147-179).
Cavanagh, S.R., Fitzgerald, E.J., & Urry, H.L. (2014). Emotion reactivity and regulation are associated with psychological functioning following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan. Emotion, 14, 235-240.
Fitzpatrick, P., Vander Hart, N., & Cortesa, C. (2013). The influence of instructional variables and task constraints on handwriting development. The Journal of Educational Research, 106 (3), 216-234.
Fitzpatrick, P., Lampi, A., Campbell, S., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2017). The Influence of Social and Motor Context on Communication and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Autism. Paper presented at the 7th Joint Action Meeting, London, England, July, 2017.
Gomes, L. Kearney, A., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2017). Exploring the relationships between social, motor, emotional, and sensory development in childhood. Poster presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), Boston, MA, October, 2017.
Kalpidou, M., doCurral, A. Kuersten-Hogan, R., & Deligiannidis, K (2017, April). A Microgenetic Study of Parental Depression and Infant Development at 3 Months Postpartum. Poster presented at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Research in Child Development. Austin, TX.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Charbonneau, J., Shea, A., Tortora, D., Kalpidou, M., & Deligiannidis, K. (May, 2018). Prenatal risk factors for coparenting dynamics and infant functioning at 3 months postpartum. In R. Kuersten-Hogan (chair): The role of coparenting and family-level risk factors in child and family functioning. Symposium presented at the conference of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Rome, Italy.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Olson, H., Shea, A., Charbonneau, J., Kalpidou, M., & Deligiannidis, K. (May, 2018). The role of parental depression in family expressiveness across the transition to parenthood. Poster presented at the conference of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Rome, Italy.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Spillman, C., & Folan, K. (2018, March). Serenity and Stereotypic Thinking. Poster presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., doCurral, A., Visconti, M., & Nguyen T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A Shift in Cognitive Processing associated with Serenity. Poster presented at the annual meeting of at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.
Volungis, A. M., Morse, E., Fox, L., & Doerfler, L. (2018, March). High school suicide prevention: Follow-up to a psychoeducation program pilot study. Poster presented at the 89th annual conference of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Peck, M., & Gordon, L. T. (March, 2018). Can Mindful Meditation Enhance Eyewitness Memory? Poster presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association.
Thomas, A. K., Gordon, L. T., Cernasov, P., & Bulevich, J. B. (2017). The effect of testing can increase or decrease misinformation susceptibility depending on the retention interval. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2 (45), 1-10.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Gostkowski, R., & Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster presented at the annual meeting of at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.
Bretanha, L., & Kuersten-Hogan, R. (2017, March). Emerging adults’ expectations of longevity in their romantic relationships. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Caruso, G., Cavicchi, A., Henderson, S., Hickey, R., & Parmley, M. (2016, March). Impact of personality characteristics on task performance. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York, NY.
Cerbo, A., Clark, H., & Zimmerman, M. (2016, October). Course of depression and anger in an acute intensive treatment setting. Poster presented at the Annual New England Psychological Association Conference, Worcester, MA.
doCurral, A. & Kalpidou, M. (2015, October). Age-related Changes in Sensory Processing and Attachment to Comfort Objects. Poster presented at the Annual New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
doCurral, A. & Kalpidou, M., & Kuersten-Hogan, R., (2016, May). Coparenting and Temperament Predict Fathers’ Responsiveness in Father-Infant Interactions from 3 to 12 months. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL.
doCurral, A., Parmley, M., Zhang, F., & Knight, B. (2015, October). Global versus local processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with yoga. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
Fitzpatrick, P., Frazier, J. A., Mitchell, T., Cochran, D., Coleman, C. & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Exploring the Behavioural and Neural Processes of Joint Action in Individuals with and without Social Deficits. Paper presented at the 6th Joint Action Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, July, 2015.
Fitzpatrick, P., Mitchell, T., Frazier, J., Cochran, D, Coleman, C., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Exploring the behavioral and neural processes underlying social synchronization of individuals with and without social deficits. Poster presented at the 18th International Conference on Perception and Action, Minneapolis, Minnesota. July, 2015.
Fitzpatrick, P., Mitchell, T., Frazier, J. A., Cochran, D., Coleman, C., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Behavioural and neural processes underlying social synchronization provide insights for understanding autism. Paper presented at The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 62nd Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, October, 2015.
Fitzpatrick, P., Schmidt, K., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Perceiving movement synchronization differences in autism. Poster presented at the 18th International Conference on Perception and Action, Minneapolis, Minnesota. July, 2015.
Kalpidou, M., doCurral, A., & Kuersten-Hogan, R., (2016, May). Coparenting and Temperament Predict Fathers’ Responsiveness in Father-Infant Interactions from 3 to 12 months. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL.
Kalpidou, M., Volungis, A., Bates, C, & Mamott, E. (2016, August). Childhood Adversity and College Adjustment. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Denver, CO.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Bui, P., & Boisvert, R. (2015, September). Coparenting dynamics across the transition to parenthood and infant-parent gaze patterns at 3 months postpartum. Poster presented at the European Conference for Developmental Psychology, Braga, Portugal.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Kalpidou, M., Boisvert, R., & Bui, P. (2016, June). The role of infant gaze patterns in triadic family interactions at 3- and 12 months postpartum. Poster presented at the World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Prague, Czech Republic.
Kuersten-Hogan, R., Molinaro, M., Manteuffel, J., LaForce, J., Kalpidou, M., & Deligiannidis, K. (2016, October). Parental depression and coparenting dynamics predict infant functioning at 3 months. Poster presented at the New England Psychological Association, Worcester, Massachusetts.
LaForce, J., & Kuersten-Hogan, R. (2015, October). Prenatal depressed mood and coparenting expectations in pregnancy couples. Poster presented at the New England Psychological Association, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Lampi, A., Fitzpatrick, P., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2016). Evaluating the role of social and motor engagement for reducing restrictive and repetitive behaviors in autism. Poster presented at the 2016 International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Baltimore, MD, May 2016.
Lampi, A., Fitzpatrick, P., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Evaluating the role of social and motor engagement for reducing restrictive/repetitive behaviors in autism. Poster presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), Fitchburg, MA, October, 2015.
Nguyen, T., Visconti, M., Parmley, M., & Zhang, F. (2015, October). Promotion of well-Being: Effects of Serenity and Emotion Regulation. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Fitchburg, MA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K. L., Georges, N., & Lincoln, C. (2015, May). Attentional bias across the menstrual cycle: Emotional expression matters. Poster presented at the 27th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, New York, NY.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Colburn, K. L., & Georges, N. N. (2014, February). Decoding facial expressions across the menstrual cycle: Support for the evolutionary perspective. Poster presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Lincoln, C., Colburn, K. L., Georges, N. (2015, March). Emotion perception across the menstrual cycle. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., doCurral, A., Visconti, M., & Nguyen, T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with serenity. Poster to be presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.
Parmley, M., Zhang, F., Gostkowski, R., & Reynolds, N. (2017, January). The serene mind: Serenity and holistic perception. Poster to be presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.
Parmley, M. (Chair), doCurral, A., Teylman-Cashman, N., Martin, C., & Price, L. Harris O’Brien, D. (Discussant) (2016, October). Psi Chi chapter leadership exchange: Welcome to Assumption University. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Assumption University, Worcester, MA.
Price, L., Crockett, L., & Gordon L. (2017, March). Preventing the misinformation effect: Using mindful meditation to enhance eyewitness memory. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Schmidt, K., Fitzpatrick, P., Romero, V., Amaral, J., Richardson, M. J., & Schmidt, R. C. (2015). Perception of movement differences in autism spectrum disorder. Paper presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), Fitchburg, MA, October, 2015.
Soule, C. Kalpidou, M., Commors, M., Correia, S. & Palmer, S. (2016, March). The Relationship between Smartphone Dependency, Loneliness, and Social Anxiety. Poster accepted for presentation at the Annual Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York, NY.
Sullivan, E., Bylsma, A., Allard, B., Parmley, M. (2016, March). Self-esteem, self-disclosure, and Facebook: A replication of Forest and Wood (2012). Poster presented at the Eastern psychological association conference, New York, NY.
Tortora, D., Kuersten-Hogan, R. (March, 2017). Couples’ birth narratives and coparenting dynamics during the transition to parenthood. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Volungis, A., Knight, B., Joyce, M., & Popores, C. (2017, March) Suicide prevention in adolescents: Implementation of a high school-based psychoeducation program. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Colburn, K., Georges, N., Walker, A., & Gjemnica, F. (2014, July). Experiencing serenity. E-poster presented at the 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Paris, France.
Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Gostkowski, R., & Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster to be presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.
The Psychology Department has state-of-the-art research facilities to conduct research in mental health, biological psychology, developmental psychology, social, cognitive, and affective science, and learning and memory. Because Assumption is an undergraduate institution, you will have the distinct benefit of working side-by-side with a faculty member rather than a graduate student or post-doc when you engage in research at Assumption. In addition, students have the unique advantage of being able to present research as a co-author at regional, national, and international professional conferences in psychology or become a co-honor on a professional publication.
Students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned in class by getting involved in psychological research. Students benefit from one-on-one mentoring with faculty and have opportunities to present research on campus at the Undergraduate Research Symposium or at regional or national psychology conferences. Students also can become co-authors in professional publications.
Mental Health Research
The Laboratory for the Evaluation of Psychopathology and Psychosocial Interventions does research to focus on practice-based research by collaborating with mental health professionals in the community. The data for this research is usually generated through the course of routine clinical services or activities and addresses questions that are important to practicing clinicians.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Leonard Doerfler, Dr. Adam Volungis
The Psychosocial Outcomes for Multi-Stressed Youth (POMSY) Lab explores predictors of positive mental health outcomes of high-needs, at-risk youth. Youth that are served in various care systems, including the healthcare and foster care systems, are studied.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Alison Stoner
Developmental Research
The Child and Family Studies Labs (CAFS) contain a real-life living room with a one-way mirror and state of the art observation cameras, coding software, a computerized doll simulating the responses of a real baby, and equipment to record body movements. This allows for unobtrusive data collection when interviewing families or observing children performing motor tasks or engaging in free play or social interactions. Our developmental research also involves observations outside of the lab, such as in schools, preschools, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and during home visits with families. Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Amy Cirillo, Dr. Paula Fitzpatrick, Dr. Maria Kalpidou, Dr. Regina Kuersten-Hogan
Biopsychology Research
The Laboratory for Cognitive and Affective Science (LaCasa) houses equipment designed to measure precise reaction times to experiments, present multimedia stimuli, and record a range of psychophysiological measurements (such as heart rate and skin sweating). Past research projects have investigated the impact of fiction reading on emotional response, attentional bias under states of anxiety, and whether nostalgia helps or harms recovery from sad mood states.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Sarah Cavanagh
Emotion and Social Cognition Research
The Emotion and Social Cognition Lab, investigates emotions and facial expressions by exploring how culture, social, and physiological factors, such as gender, stereotypes and hormonal changes, influence recognition of facial expressions and how various emotions can impact information processing. We use morphing software to manipulate facial expressions and behavioral experiment software to present images and record individuals’ responses.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Maria Parmley, Dr. Fang Zhang
Learning and Memory Research
Research conducted in the Learning and Memory Lab employs a variety of experimental methods to better understand how we acquire and use information in a number of contexts and how that work can be applied in the real-world. For example, one area of research explores how the distribution of attentional resources during learning impacts memory accuracy and memory errors. This has important implications for classroom and eyewitness memory scenarios. Other projects include exploring how learning history influences people’s willingness to cooperate with others in a shared task, teaching methods that result in better development of symbolic relations, and best practices in training service delivery staff to implement teaching programs to children with autism.
Affiliated Faculty: Dr. Leamarie Gordon, Dr. Karen Lionello-Denolf
Psychology students who are members of the Honors Program complete an Honors Thesis in Psychology as one of the requirements for the Honors Program. Students work with the close supervision of a faculty mentor while doing independent research. Students who are not part of the Honors Program but who wish to conduct independent research have the option of completing an independent study as an Honors Thesis with departmental approval.
Sample of Some Recent Honors Theses:
- Julie Dunn, Class of 2018, (Mentor: Maria Parmley). The Impact Community Service Can Have on Classroom Learning
- Holly Olson, Class of 2018, (Mentor: Regina Kuersten-Hogan). Emotional Expressiveness in Families at Risk for Postpartum Depression
- Mariah Peck, Class of 2018, (Mentor: Sarah Cavanagh). Fiction and Affect
- Lauren Bretanha Class of 2017, (Mentor: Regina Kuersten-Hogan). Emerging Adults’ Expectations of Longevity in Romantic Relationships.
- Shannon Campbell, Class of 2017, (Mentor: Paula Fitzpatrick). The Influence of Social Context on Communication and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism.
- Anna doCurral Class of 2017, (Mentor: Maria Kalpidou). A Microgenetic Study of Parental Depression and Infant Development at 3 Months Postpartum.
- Lauren Price Class of 2017, (Mentor: Leamarie Gordon). Does Mindful Meditation Prevent the Misinformation Effect?
- Deanna Tortora Class of 2017, (Mentor: Regina Kuersten-Hogan). The Role of Couples’ Birth Experiences in Coparenting Dynamics During the Transition to Parenthood.
Assumption offers students several options for applying for paid summer research internships. Summer research students work directly with a professor for 10 weeks during the summer break. These competitive positions are full time commitments for the entire 10 week period and give students a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in research.
Research internships are available through the Psychology Department, Honors Program, and Center for Neuroscience.
Sample of Some Recent Summer Research:
- Fitzpatrick, P., & Lampi, A. Honors Program Summer Fellowship: Evaluating the Relationship Between Social and Motor Engagement, Self-Stimulation, Joint Attention and Theory of Mind in Autism.
- Fitzpatrick, P., & Hickey, R. Psychology Department Summer Research Internship, Evaluating the neural mechanisms underlying social synchronization and measuring social communication dynamics in autism.
- Kalpidou, M., Kuersten-Hogan, R., & doCurral, A. Department Summer Research Internship: Postpartum depression, transition to parenthood, and attachment to comfort objects.
- Kuersten-Hogan, R., & LaForce, J. Honors Program Summer Fellowship: The relationship between coparenting and depression.