Monday, April 27, 2026 - Madison Union Ballroom
Schedule
Field Placement, Internship, & Practicum
Barriers by Design: Recognizing Resource Gaps in Victim/Witness Advocacy
Emily Bousquet
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Field Placement Experience at The Fairfield Center
Zachary Ginsberg
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Field Placement Experience at Sentara Hospice
Justyne Robidoux
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Underfunded and Overlooked: Why Sexual Assault Crisis Centers Need Systemic Support
Juliana Lassiter
Advisor: Dr. Yanbin Li
Undergraduate Research
Understanding Moral Blindspots: A Signal Detection Story
Katie Bridges and Jack Flanagan
Advisor: Dr. Dan Holt
Social Roles, Family Structure, and Monetary Risk-Taking in College Men
Natalia Bozyn and Keira McCabe
Advisor: Dr. Monica Reis-Bergan
Sexual Orientation Shapes Avoidance, Redirection, and Confrontation (ARC) Responses to Discrimination
Cierra N. Bolster, Autumn E. Rudick, and Savannah K. Hughes
Advisor: Kala J. Melchiori
ADHD Affects College Freshmen’s Social Engagement Through Boredom
Lily Schumacher and Allison DiCarlo
Advisor: Dr. Ashton Trice
Caffeine Desensitizes Conditioned Responding Reactivity to US Magnitude Change
Jack Giroux, Carsey, Kaylin Carsey, and Amelie Beckett
Advisor: Dr. Curtis Bradley
Exploring the Role of US Magnitude on Incentive Salience Attribution
Gavin Short, Sofia Yeshtokina, Emily Wesley, and Jackson Feysa
Advisor: Dr. Curtis Bradley
Salience of Vocal Versus Facial Ovulatory Cues Across Menstrual Phases and Hormonal Status
Shannon Brown, David Kinzer, Yasasvi Paleti, Laura Paschetag, Jackson Proctor, and Ella Rosenzweig
Advisor: Dr. Melanie L. Shoup-Knox and Dr. Krisztina V. Jakobsen
Sexual Orientation Influences Females' Attractiveness Preference Across the Menstrual Cycle
Yasasvi Paleti
Advisor: Dr. Melanie L. Shoup-Knox and Dr. Krisztina V. Jakobsen
Student Parents in Navigating Emerging Adulthood
Jessica Tocci, Mary Flanagan, Chiamaka Madu, Angela Laszlo, and Riley Morese
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Stereotypes About Generational Groups: Initial Evidence from College Students
Chloe Bloom, Arshia Dhinesh, and Kyleigh Morris
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Salvatore
Sweet Beginnings, Bitter Ends: Can Manipulating Time Perspective Enhance Savoring?
Noel Aldrich, Kiersten Culleton, Angel Enfinger, Victoria Ibarra, Katie Ogilvie, and Emily Simon
Advisor: Dr. Jaime Kurtz
From Attachment to Enforcement: How Place Centrality Predicts Support for Immigration Enforcement
Zach Ginsberg, Victoria Amaya-Rodriguez, and Emma Grant
Advisor: Dr. Ben Blankenship
Stable Places, Strong Positions: Place Identity and Foreign Conflict
Hana Mahyoub, Victoria Amaya-Rodriguez, Skylar Curran, Kieran Martin, and Twinkle Shah
Advisor: Dr. Ben Blankenship
Ethical Reasoning as a Skill: Examining Components of Everyday Decision Making
Bridgette Ertel
Advisor: Dr. Dan Holt
Adolescent Parenting and Friendship Quality as Predictors of Adulthood Workplace Burnout
Stephen Dick
Advisor: Dr. David Szwedo
Fan Involvement & Sports Betting Behaviors in College Males
Riley Thompson and Emma Westfall
Advisor: Dr. Monica Reis-Bergan
Attention Checks: Differences Between Online and In-Person Data
Berkley Smith and Emma Roberson
Advisor: Dr. Kala Melchiori
Nobody Understands My Pain: How Chronic Pain and Access to Care Shape Wellbeing and Meaning in Life
Sulayman Haq, Brielle Lampf, Evenlyn Hess, Emily Arthur, Lily Alexander, and Kendall Cole
Advisor: Dr. Lindsey Harvell-Bowman
Pews to Polls: Gender, Religion, and Consequences for Political Attitudes
Zachary Ginsberg and Samantha Steele
Advisor: Dr. Ben Blankenship
Adaptive and Maladaptive use of AI at JMU
Adeline Soucek, Ann Marie Seybold, Brianna Briggs, Delia Gallagher, Emily Bousquet, Quinn Distler, Sean Cattie, and Sophia Narciso
Advisor: Dr. Kenn Barron
The Effect of Sleep on Undergraduate Student Mental Health and Academic Performance
Joseph Brazina
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Honors Theses
Whose Abuse is More Influential?: A Longitudinal Analysis of Mothers’ vs. Fathers’ Psychological Maltreatment in Adolescence on Adult Behavior
Allison Dobberstein
Advisor: Dr. David Szwedo
Perceived Parental Favoritism and Disfavoritism: Associations with Depression and Entitlement in College Students
Emma Hren
Advisor: Dr. Monica Reis-Bergan
Artwork
Views of the Forgotten: Neurodegeneration
Haydn Byrd
Psychology Organizations and Graduate Programs
JMU’s Graduate Program in Psychological Sciences
Current Psychological Sciences students
Advisor: Dr. Brian Leventhal
JMU’s Graduate Program in Assessment & Measurement
Current Assessment and Measurement students
Advisor: Dr. Christine DeMars
Psi Chi: Cultivating Minds, Building Futures
Leah Ballinger, Ally Beitzel, Victoria Osorio, and Paige Martinez
Advisor: Dr. Yanbin Li
Psychology Peer Advising
Ally Beitzel, Riley Thompson, Jeri DiBuono, Emma Westfall, Emma Constable, Zack Tribble, Teresa Andrews, and Preston Brown
Advisor: Dr. Monica Reis-Bergan
Psychology Club
Current PC Members and Officers
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Irons
11:50-12:05 - Saving Lives by Creating Purpose: Utilizing an Existential Approach to Design More Meaningful Airline Safety Messages
Payton Stavalone and Brielle Lampf
Advisor: Dr. Lindsey Harvell-Bowman
12:05-12:20 - Do Pregnant Women Recognize and Avoid Naturally Sick Faces?
Abby Novak
Advisor: Dr. Krisztina Jakobsen
12:20-12:35 - Field Placement Experience at Sentara Hospice
Savannah Hughes
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
12:35-12:50 - The Role of Emotion in Episodic vs. Semantic Memory
Tabitha Potter and Cadance Bartel
Advisor: Dr. Kethera Fogler-Moore
Field Placement, Internship, & Practicum
Field Placement at the JMU Counseling Center
Leah Ballinger
Advisor: Dr. Yanbin Li
Field Placement in Psychology - Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community
Kendall Cole
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Field Placement at Lacey Spring Elementary
Lena Csaszi
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Undergraduate Research
Exploring Sarcasm in Text Message Communication
Guliana Claro, Ada Phillips, Katie Tribiano, and Khalil Turner
Advisor: Dr. Sri Siddhi N. Upadhyay
An Intervention to Address Misperceptions Surrounding Social Connectedness at JMU
Alexandra Bartlett, Hannah Bassett, Julia Battaglia, Tina Hedrick, Maya Kollme, and Charles Watts
Advisor: Dr. Natalie Kerr
Parenting Aspirations Among Young Adults of Diverse Sexual Identities and Racial/Ethnic Identities
Sophie Blair and Lena Csaszi
Advisor: Dr. Yanbin Li
The Effect of Sleep Duration and Quality on Undergraduate Student Academic Performance and Mental Health
Joseph Brazina
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
Do Collaborative Learning Assessments in Large Classes Reduce Test Anxiety and Temptation to Cheat?
Sidney C. Alexander and Drew B.V. Bradford
Advisor: Dr. Robyn Kondrad
The Role of Semantic Relatedness in Proper Name Retrieval
Kasey Blakley and Cadance Bartel
Advisor: Dr. Kethera Fogler-Moore
Does Emotion Influence Relational or Contextual Memory?
Cadance Bartel and Tabitha Potter
Advisor: Dr. Kethera Fogler-Moore
Associations between Parent-Child Relationships, Romantic Attachment, and Self-Worth in Adulthood
Sadaf Dalilaltojari and Nisa M. Khaldun
Advisor: Dr. David Szwedo
Child-Rearing Practices on Friendship Quality and Alcohol Use in Adulthood
Allison M. DiCarlo and Cameron M. Piper
Advisor: Dr. David Szwedo
The Impact of Environmental Influences on Mental Health Outcomes in Early Adulthood
Jada Mendez, Nisa Khaldun, and Cameron Piper
Advisor: Dr. David Szwedo
Sports Betting Sweet Sixteen
Sarah Chernesky and Josh Wieder
Advisor: Dr. Monica Reis-Bergan
Evaluating the Construct Validity of the Avoid, Redirect, and Confront Scale
Camryn Blair, Katherine Hogan, and Delia Gallagher
Advisor: Dr. Kala Melchiori
Race Impacts Avoidance & Redirection Following Discrimination
Maximilian Frutos and Caroline Praed
Advisor: Dr. Kala Melchiori
Identity, Work, and Well-being: Exploring the Impact of Identity-Based Work Alignment Across Cultures in Emerging Adults
Jordan Tan
Advisor: Dr. Haeyoon Chung
The Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Health Risk Behaviors Among College Students
Emma F. Puckett, Kasey Blakley, Michael Borja, Sophia Lillis, Josephine Smith, Ann Novinger, and Madison Brewer
Advisor: Dr. Jeff Dyche
Exploring the Effects of Caffeine and US Magnitude on Pavlovian Conditioned Approach in Female Rats
Gia Schmidt, Anna Vayo, Amarzaya Altankhuyag, and Holden Williamson
Advisor: Dr. Curtis Bradley
Diagnostic Accuracy of Parent Report Anxiety Measures in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adolescents.
Giselle Mouton, Sophia Alejo, Kate Buswell, Ella Dodd, Jean Kwon, and Maya Seymour
Advisor: Dr. Heather Yarger
Statistical Age Biases in Psychological Research
Laura Paschetag
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Salvatore
The Relationship Between Everyday Awareness of Wildlife and Psychological Well Being
Maggie Allen, Brooke Boynton, Ava Dirth, Sydney Jensen, Alaina Ratcliffe, and Jane Starling
Advisor: Dr. Suzanne Baker
Ethnocultural Empathy and Social Justice Behaviors in Psychology Majors
Cayden Chitwood, Ella Young, and Andrew Garlock
Advisor: Dr. Tracy Zinn
Goal Orientation, Growth Mindset, & AI Use in Psychology Seniors
Jane Starling, Ann Marie Novinger, Katherine Murray, and Inti Mooney-Guerra
Advisor: Dr. Tracy Zinn
Algorithmic Literacy and AI Use in Psychology Students
Andrew Garlock, Inti Mooney-Guerra, Cayden Chitwood, and Quinn Distler
Advisor: Dr. Tracy Zinn
Honors Theses
How Sexual Orientation Influences Sensitivity to Ovulation Cues
Yasasvi Paleti
Advisors: Dr. Melanie L. Shoup-Knox and Dr. Krisztina V. Jakobsen
Exploring Changes in Striatal Dopamine D1 Receptor Density in Relation to Incentive Salience Attribution in Male Rats
Mackenzie Kidwell
Advisor: Dr. Curtis Bradley
The Politics of Pity: Language-Induced Essentialism and Race on Attitudes towards Foreign Atrocity Victims
Hana Mahyoub
Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Blankenship
The Effects of Gender Identity and History on Hiring Discrimination
Daniel Parsons, Katherine Murray, and Inti Mooney-Guerra
Dr. Tracy Zinn
Artwork
Views of the Forgotten: Neurodegeneration
Haydn Byrd
Psychology Organizations and Graduate Programs
JMU’s Graduate Program in Psychological Sciences
Psychological Sciences students
Advisor: Dr. Brian Leventhal
JMU’s Graduate Program in Assessment & Measurement
Current Assessment and Measurement students
Advisor: Dr. Christine DeMars
Psi Chi: Cultivating Minds, Building Futures
Leah Ballinger, Ally Beitzel, Victoria Osorio, and Paige Martinez
Advisor: Dr. Yanbin Li
Psychology Peer Advising
Ally Beitzel, Riley Thompson, Jeri DiBuono, Emma Westfall, Emma Constable, Zack Tribble, Teresa Andrews, and Preston Brown
Advisor: Dr. Monica Reis-Bergan
Psychology Club
PC Members and Officers
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Irons
