1. education
2. graduate school

PACE UNIVERSITY
PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE
May 9, 2015
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PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
Brief Paper Presentations (10:00am – 11:35am)…………..…………………………………………....…………....... page 1
Poster Session (11:30am – 12:30pm)….…………………………………………………………………………………....page 7
BRIEF PAPER PRESENTATIONS
10:00am – 11:15am
________________________________________________________________________________
10:00-10:15am
Comparing Russian Psycho-physiological Theory and American Behaviorism
Shandra Grantham-Powell
Room A (Student Union)
TCI College of Technology, New York
The Paper compares Watsonian and Skinnerian Behaviorist Theories with Pavlovian understanding of reflexive
behavior. These theories are explained on the examples of the author's childhood and the movie"Taken." Behaviorist
concepts are employed for Psycho-emotional analysis.
Realabilities: Fostering Positive Perceptions towards Disabilities through a TV Show and Comic Book Series
Alicia Ferris, Nava R. Silton, Kristina Keyser, Carol Wagner, Michael Corning, Michael Rojas, and Danielle
Schlough.
Room B (Student Union)
Marymount Manhattan College
Realabilities is a children’s television show and comic book series which features five characters with disabilities who
harness their special strengths to save their school from bullies. Aligned with Affect/Effort Theory (Rosenthal, 1989),
the Realabilities TV Show and Comic Book Series attempts to enhance the positive expectancies of children with
disabilities by portraying their strengths on-screen and through graphic novels. A total of 152 participants (79 male
[53.7%] and 66 female [43.4%]) in second, third and fourth grades participated in the Realabilities intervention. Paired
Sample T-tests revealed that children improved their behavioral intentions on the SAQ and their cognitive attitudes on
the ACL towards children with autism, t(125)=-4.033, p <.001, blindness, t(132)=-.912, p=.364, deafness, t(128)=3.146, p< .01, and paraplegia t(130)=1.962, p <.05 following the Realabilities intervention. ANCOVA analyses revealed
that compared to males, females in every grade reported significantly more positive adjectives to describe children with
disabilities following the intervention.
Linguistic Stereotyping in the Media: Trivialization of Dialect Variation
Rosangela Catalano, Jennifer Perez, Kaitlyn Clark
Room C (W615)
Marymount Manhattan College
Our research focuses on the creation and reinforcement of overgeneralized and inaccurate depictions of language
behavior, as found in social media and Internet sources. Subjective descriptions of the linguistic traits of various
demographics -- gender, race, socio-economic class, and nationality--are thus perpetuated by these sources.
Misrepresentation of how segments of the population use language spreads throughout society by daily exposure to such
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 1
unchallenged stereotypes and has an impact on our daily interpersonal interactions. Linguistic research, which generates
objective data, helps combat stereotypes. We present explorations of social and academic websites that both reinforce
and reject the marginalization of non-standard dialects. Further, we explore the ways linguistic analysis, both acoustic
and perceptual, can challenge media messages. Ultimately, we posit that scholarly research serves as the antidote to
overgeneralized misinformation about language in the mass media, and that such research should be disseminated
beyond academic journals and higher education.
Women's Dietary Habits and Food Choice: Does the Presence of a Male Change Dietary Choices?
Alexandra Blanchard, Madeline Dunton, and Kelly Willis
Room D (W616)
Pace University
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the presence of an attractive male immediately affects college-aged
women's food choices. This experiment consists of two groups. All participants are college-aged females. One group
will be administered a dietary survey by an attractive male confederate. Additionally, in participants immediate view are
healthy or unhealthy food options, which they are allowed to eat. The control group will be administer the dietary
survey by an attractive female confederate. By using the participants survey results as a means of comparison, we will
determine if their food choice during the survey (healthy or unhealthy) in the presence of a attractive confederate (male
or female) affected their dietary decisions. By analyzing our results, we can gain further understanding into the
implications that a male presence has on women's self-image and dietary decisions.
Interaction between Creative Potential and Parental Support: Effects on Academic Achievement in Adolescence
Kristen Piering
Room E (W617)
Pace University
Academic achievement is a crucial determinant of an adolescent’s future life. Understanding the factors that support
achievement is a critical research issue. It is established that supportive parenting is an important predictor of
achievement, but there are other factors that may contribute and compensate for a lack of parental support. Creative
potential (CP) may be one such factor. This study sought to explore how adolescents’ CP and perceived parental support
influence academic achievement. 501 students (mean age = 12.53; SD = .67) completed three CP tasks and a parental
support measure and grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained. A person-centered approach was used to cluster
adolescents based on their level of CP and perceived parental support. Four profiles were extracted. Results suggest that
CP may represent a compensating factor, supporting students with poor perceptions of parental support to ultimately,
perform well enough in school. Implications for education are discussed.
10:20-10:35am
Diagnosing ADHD: Can Students Easily Fake Symptoms on a Standardized Measure of ADHD”
Nicholas Catania, Michael Grey, and Gabriel Estevez
Room A (Student Union)
Pace University
The purpose of this experiment is to determine if students can "fake" the symptoms of ADHD on a commonly used
measure of ADHD, the Connors Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS). There were two groups. One group, the "clinical
group" was provided with the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ADHD and given the CAARS. Those participants were
instructed to pretend that they had ADHD and to complete the CAARS accordingly. A control group was asked to
complete a fake measure that ostensibly assesses personality called the Cambridge Attitude and Aptitude Survey for
validity purposes. Participants were unaware that they were actually completing the CAARS. Over 600 participants
were sampled. Since many of the symptoms of ADHD are self-reported to clinicians, we predict that participants in the
"clinical group" will be able to generate a CAARS profile that is consistent with a diagnosis of ADHD.
The Relationship Between Upbringing and Interracial Attraction
Ana Lomidze, Helen Teslia, and Annie Zhong
Room B (Student Union)
Pace University
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 2
The purpose of this study is to determine how the background and upbringing of people affect their attraction towards
other races and ethnicities. Attraction in our speed dating experiment can be broken down in two components: physical
attraction and communication. In the two moments the participants have with each other, they will decide whether they
are attracted to the people to whom they are talking. The study will be conducted in a setting where individuals will be
participating in speed dating activity. During the session, participants will be paired up based on their sexual preference
and each “couple” will have 2 minutes until the timer goes off to engage in small talk. After the speed dating session,
each participant will write down their top picks of who they were most attracted to, then they will be given our survey
which will include an attraction scale, questions on their demographics and upbringing, etc. We will then use this
information to asses if their choices are connected to their upbringing, which will be recorded, by our survey.
Relationship Between Immigration Status, Academic Performance and Psychological Distress Among NYC
Public College Students.
Ahmed Alif and Riya Ahmed
Room C (W615)
Pace University
12 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S, with approximately 13,000 enrolling into colleges every year.
Most undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of deportation, being separated from their families, and losing
everything they had worked hard for. Their status may be associated with a number of psychological consequences. The
goal of this research is to examine levels of psychological distress and academic performance among New York City
Public College Students with stable, at-risk and temporary statuses. Does fear of deportation for family members, grades
students usually get in college and psychological distress differ across immigration statuses (stable, at-risk of
deportation status, and temporary status)? Does self-esteem mediate the relationship between fear of deportation and
anxiety among undocumented immigrants? Finding indicates that “at-risk of deportation” participants had the highest
fear of deportation for family member, alienation and anxiety, followed by “Temporary status” group and “stable
status” group. We see a reverse pattern for depression, and there was no significant difference in academic performance.
Furthermore, self-esteem as indicator for resiliency mediated the relationship between fear of deportation and anxiety
for undocumented immigrants.
Violent Crime Bias and Labeling Theory
Helen Haidemenos, Nicole Mazzara, and Laura Rodriguez
Room D (W616)
Pace University
The purpose of this study is to determine if participants racial biases, gender biases, and negative attitudes towards
criminal behavior committed by a fictional superhero versus the same crime being committed by a “non-fictional”
criminal affects their judgments. We created a fictional story about a superhero for one group and a non-fictional story
about an inmate for a second group. The main plot details of both stories are identical. After participants read the
vignette, they responded to opinion questions about the main character’s socioeconomic status, race, gender, etc, as well
as a potential punishment for the "criminal act." We predict that participants will show leniency and empathy toward a
person having committed a crime when the justification for the action is rooted in helping/avenging others.
Violence, Creativity and Divergent Thinking in Juvenile Delinquents: The Cardboard Box Task
Matthew Berler, Alexandra Blanchard, Jessamin Cipollina, Baptiste Barbot, Ph.D.
Room E (W617)
Pace University
Previous research on divergent thinking (DT) and creativity supports relationships between violent behavior and
creative expression. The purpose of this research is to evaluate violent content expressed in DT production and how it
relates to positive and negative outcomes. Juvenile delinquents (N=60) completed an alternative uses verbal DT task in
which they listed creative uses for a cardboard box. Responses were scored for creativity and violence and correlated
with participants’ self-reports in various aspects of adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Results indicate that creativity in
DT production is negatively correlated with life satisfaction and peer delinquency. Moreover, violence in DT production
positively correlates with unsupportive parenting, peer delinquency, and externalizing problems, and negatively
correlates with prosocial behavior and academic self-esteem. These results indicate a relationship between creativity and
adaptive and maladaptive outcomes that warrant future research in defining how creative expression can be used for
intervention purposes.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 3
10:40-10:55am
Type of Appeal and Tendency to Donate: An Experimental Study of Altruism
Nicholas Mulvihill, Fatima Ahmed, Osiris Walls, Sabrina Khawaja
Room A (Student Union)
Pace University
Researchers have studied both altruism as well as strategies that may influence altruistic behavior. In this experiment we
sought to contrast the effectiveness of two strategies by measuring the degree of altruistic response evoked in the form
of a hypothetical monetary donation toward the cause of homelessness. 113 participants were randomly assigned to one
of the appeal conditions. The two types of appeal strategies presented to participants excluding the control groups were
an emotionally driven vignette and a statistically driven vignette. Results showed that participants who were exposed to
the emotionally charged vignette were more likely to donate significantly larger sums of money to the cause of
homelessness than those who read the statistically driven vignette (F (2,110) = 3.641, p = .029, partial eta squared
=.062). Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between self-reported altruism and amount donated
r(111)= .198, p < .01.
Seals of NYC: Challenges to Communication and Survivorship
Wendy Ochoa, Catherine Payne, Kevin Woo PhD
Room B (Student Union)
Center for the Study of Pinniped Ecology and Cognition, St. Francis College and Metropolitan Center, SUNY
Empire State College
Anthropogenic activities transformed the urban environment and species that wish to live in these areas must adapt to
local challenges. We aim to examine the annual changes in wintering populations of seals (Phocidae), and to consider
the impacts of anthropogenic activities, particularly the production of environmental noise, on their behavior and their
willingness to use NYC as a stable location. First, we established a self-report survey in which people were asked about
their knowledge of local fauna, particularly marine mammals, which may be found in NYC. Consequently, we
conducted naturalistic observations of seals over the last five years in select NYC locations to record demographic
information, identification, conspecific interactions, and responses to anthropogenic activity. In addition to in situ
observation, we conducted experiments in the laboratory to test a comparative pinniped’s cognition and sensory
perception. Psychophysical tests allow us to ask our subjects about how they perceive the sensory world in their ability
to respond by discriminating between sensory stimuli. Here, we can mimic the conditions of the natural environment,
and selectively isolate important signals for communication against elements of noise. By pairing both naturalistic
observations and controlled laboratory tests, we are able to build a more complete picture of how seals may actually
negotiate the challenges of a noisy habitat, particularly an urban environment. Moreover, this is important for
understanding the overall health of our local ecosystem.
Aspirations, Life Goals & Perceptions of Success: Do Various Generations Define Success Differently? (A
Comparison of Generation X & Millennials).
Anthony Desiderio
Room C (W615)
St. Francis College
According to Taylor and Gao (2014) at PEW research, Generation X is defined as anyone who was born between 1964
and 1980. According to Taylor and Gao (2014) at Pew Research Center, Generation Y is defined by someone who was
born between 1981 and 2000. The present study compared motivation for success using the Aspirations Index (Kasser
& Ryan, 1996). Results indicated that millennials are motivated by creating a strong self-image to define themselves as
successful. A highly significant difference in sense of community was also reported, with generation X scoring higher
on life goals in the category of community than millennials. Results suggested if millennials were to help someone out,
it would be to create a positive image for themselves, whereas those born during Generation X might help those in need
to build stronger relationships.
Validation of the French version of a Multidimensional Self-Esteem and Self-Concept Clarity Scale
Jamie Kalff, Krystina Sanchez, and Baptise Barbot, Ph.D
Room D (W616)
Pace University
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 4
This study aimed to validate a French adaptation of Campbell’s (1996) self-concept clarity scale (SCCS) and the
Multidimensional Scale of Self-Esteem (EMES) including six domain-specific self-esteem scales (creative, social,
academic, physical, future, and emotional self-esteem). The sample consisted of 388 French adolescents (206 females/
145 males) between age 15.0 and 19.8 (mean = 17.14), with a sub-sample (n = 59) completing a retest two weeks later.
Participants completed the translated SCCS, the EMES and the Self Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA; Harter,
1988). Reliability was strong throughout all scales with a Cronbach’s alpha of .837 and a test/retest correlation of .813
for the SCCS; Cronbach’s alpha from .604 to .802 and test/retest correlations from .737 to .836 for the EMES.
Exploration of criterion validity of the EMES using SPPA as criterion supported both convergent and divergent validity.
This study provided psychometrically sound scales for future research on Adolescent’s Self.
11:00-11:15am
Development and Validation of two Stimulus-Free Divergent Thinking Tasks
Alexandra Blanchard, Jessamin Cipollina, and Dr. Baptiste Barbot
Room A (Student Union)
Pace University
Many creativity studies to date have relied on measures of fluency in divergent thinking (DT) tasks showing high taskspecificity due to the stimuli used, thus limiting their generalizability. We developed two DT graphic tasks eliciting the
flow of idea generation across 18 visual stimuli derived from manipulated “seed” shapes (e.g., triangle): one
reproductive (drawing objects from a given category using the stimuli) and one generative (no given category), and
piloted them on a convenience sample (n = 18). Responses were time-stamped to elicit the average idea generation time
in response to each stimulus throughout the divergent production. Findings showed (1) individual differences in
generation speed, (2) overall increasing response times regardless of stimulus composition, and (3) main effect of
“seed” shapes used which can ultimately be controlled. This new approach to DT measurement can prove less taskspecific than classic fluency measures, improving external validity of cross-sectional and longitudinal DT studies.
MET: Compositional Styles of Novice Musical Composers and Their Effects on Creative Products
Jessica Harlow, Dr. Baptiste Barbot
Room B (Student Union)
Pace University
Creative thinking in musical composition received little attention in the psychology of arts and creativity, because few
measures exist that adequately measure the compositions of individuals without prior musical training, limiting research
on this topic. In this study, 102 adolescents participated in the Musical Expression Test (MET; Barbot & Lubart, 2012),
a multi-method assessment technique which involves the systematic observation of musical exploratory behaviors as
well as product based assessment of short musical piece composed using computer-based recordings and a set of diverse
and playful instruments. During the composition process of each adolescent, units of observation of exploratory
behavior as well as indicators of compositional elaboration were coded and quantified, to ultimately identify typical
“styles” in the compositional processes. We present these typical styles and their associations with measures of
creativity of the final product. Implications for creativity research and creativity-based interventions are discussed.
Childhood Adversity, Perceived Social Support, Resilience and Life Satisfaction Among Young Adults
Genna Giordano, Amanda Vaccaro, and Weihua Niu, PhD
Room C (W615)
Pace University
One hundred participants (57 females) aged 18-­‐21 yrs old were recruited to complete surveys on childhood adversity, perceived social support, resilience, and life-­‐satisfaction. The results revealed that males had higher childhood adversity than did females. In addition, it also demonstrated childhood adversity was negatively associated with social support, resilience, and life satisfaction, while social support was positively associated with resilience and life satisfaction. Two HMR Analysis were performed to examine the relative contribution of gender, childhood adversity, and social support in regard to resilience and life satisfaction. The results showed that for resilience, gender explains 15.6% of variance and adversity can explain an additional 1%, whereas social support explains an additional 42%. Similarly, for life satisfaction, gender explains 10 % variance and adversity can explain an additional 8%, whereas social support explains additional 40%.. Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
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POSTER SESSION PRESENTATIONS
11:30am – 12:30pm
Multipurpose/Bianco Room
(Posters must be set up by 9:30am)
Poster #1
College Students Attitudes Towards Mental Illness Portrayed in the Media
Samantha Kienemund
Pace University
The present study is designed to evaluate mental illness and the media. The following questions are addressed: 1.) What
is the correlation between exposure to mental illness in the media and attitudes towards mental illnesses in college
students? 2.) What is the correlation between empathy and the influence of media towards mental illnesses? 3.) Will
films with positive portrayals of mental illnesses lead to a higher recall rate? 4.) What is the correlation between the
presence of mental illness one's life and recall rates of film that portrayal a mental illness? As seen in the article Public
attitudes towards people with chronic mental illness, Yankelovich, 1990, the mass media which includes television and
broadcast news are primary sources of information about mental illness for many Americans. Mental illness is
stigmatized by our society. This leads to the viewers reacting to such stigmas portrayed on film and formulating their
own views on mental illnesses.
Poster #2
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Beliefs about Society Wanting to Limit Reproduction in Minority Communities:
Implications for Anticipated Pregnancy-Specific Stress
Jessica Bendert, Lisa Rosenthal, and Marci Lobel
Pace University
Poster #3
College Students Attitudes Towards Mental Illness Portrayed in the Media
Samantha Kienemund
Marymount Manhattan College
Poster #4
The Effect of Body Image and Physical Attraction on Mate Preferences: Is Self-Esteem the “Third Wheel”?
Wendy Ochoa, Kathryn Blais, Sheighla Bemberry, Bibiana Mancero, Chrissi Wilson, Janet Zumba & Dr.
Marisa Cohen
St. Francis College
Physical attractiveness plays an influential role for both genders when forming romantic relationships (Swami &
Furnham, 2008). This study examines the ratings of physical attractiveness of the self and others using images. The
participants completed measures of mood, self-esteem, and body image. The participants also rated five facial and five
body images. Based on previous research it is hypothesized that levels of self-perceived bodily attractiveness would be
positively related to self-esteem for both genders (Swami et al., 2009). The researchers also hypothesize that women
will perceive themselves less physically attractive than men perceive themselves (Paap et al., 2011). The third
hypothesis is individuals with a positive body image will rate individual images higher than those with a low positive
body image (Lee et al., 2008). We are in our final stages of data collection.
Poster #5
The Effect of Paper Versus Computerized Assessments on Math Performance
Shanice Lawrence, Claribel Lizardo, Florica Placide, Gisbel Acosta, Bart Boryszweski, Lianna Futterman
St. Francis College
This study will examine the effect of paper versus computerized assessments on math performance skills. The
participants will be students of St. Francis College and will be participating as a requirement for a specific psychology
course. The students will be expected to complete a math test either on paper or on a computer. The researchers are
expecting to see higher mean scores on the paper version of the math test.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 6
Poster #6
Without you my life is incomplete, or is it?: The importance of psychological well- being in romantic relationships
Dunia Gragui / Marisa T. Cohen, PhD
St. Francis College
Being in a romantic relationship does not necessarily mean that an individual is not lonely; the couple may be in a long
distance relationship,they may have busy work schedules,or they may even spend all of their time together.However, if
there is a lack of communication in a relationship, that can cause a partner to feel disconnected from the other, creating
loneliness.Loneliness is defined as the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person’s network of social relations
is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qualitatively (De Jong Gierveld,Broese van
Groenou,Hoogendoorn, &Smit,2009). In a society where there is such prevalence on being in a relationship to feel
complete, the purpose of this research is to decipher whether loneliness affects ones overall well being, in turn
impacting their romantic relationship.
Poster #7
Social Media and Online Dating
Shanice Lawrence
St. Francis College
This study will examine the relationship between social media and online dating. The participants who are asked to take
part in this study will come from different cultural backgrounds and age groups. Each participant will be expected to
complete a survey related to social networking sites and online dating services. The researcher hypothesized that social
media and online dating are positively correlated.
Poster #8
Latent Typologies of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Manifestations in World Trade Center First Responders
Hadi Najam
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Post-traumatic stress disorder, otherwise known as PTSD, has been shown to be prevalent in many World Trade Center
(WTC) first responders. Research has shown that PTSD may be a heterogeneous disorder, characterized by different
subsets of symptomatology. Our methodology consisted of surveying, monitoring, and analyzing 10,835 WTC workers,
using a five-factor model. Classification of the leading PTSD typologies can help inform etiologic models of PTSD, as
well as personalize approaches to treatment for catastrophe responders. For the “anxious re-experiencing” subset
for non-traditional responders, we found that exposure to human remains, and being present in a dust cloud, were two
substantial predictors of PTSD symptomatology. Our results can help develop research efforts on the complex etiology
of PTSD, as well as, inform treatment matching efforts for WTC first responders with PTSD. We can help better the
mental, and physical health care of individuals suffering with PTSD, and pursue advancement of treatments.
Poster #9
Learning Concept Pairs based on Memory Strategy Type: Implications for Classroom Teaching
Lucio Forti, Richard Velayo Ph.D., Mercedes McCormick Ph.D., Sarika Persaud, and Llenell Paz
Pace University
This experiment examined the effectiveness of learning instructional material (in the form of "pairs of concepts") by
using certain kinds memory strategies. Each of the 243 participants was randomly assigned to one of five strategy
conditions - repetition, visualizing, storytelling, commonality, and choosing a preferred strategy. The task was to
remember 40 slides of concept pairs using the strategy. Immediately thereafter, a 30-item memory test was given in
which they had to determine the missing concept when only one of the concepts is presented. Results showed the
following: (1) one preferred strategy is significantly more effective than using repetition, (2) storytelling is significantly
more effective than using repetition. No other statistically significant memory strategy group differences were found.
Additionally, significant positive correlations were found between anticipated performance prior to learning the pairs,
performance after learning the pairs, and the actual memory score received. Implications for teaching and suggestions
for future research are presented. /
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
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Poster #10
Shamanic Healing Techniques: An Exploratory Case Study on Its Implications To Western Approaches to Therapy
Wallis Back, Richard Velayo, PhD.
Pace University NYC
We are in the midst of a multifaceted internationalization of society, extending to fields of psychology, neuroscience
and education alike. Researchers worldwide are collaborating on projects, fostering cross-cultural questions and
suggestions for future studies. Recently, there’s been a growing interest within modern Western society to explore
implications of ancient Eastern practices and traditional Shamanic healing techniques. Preliminary research has
emerged on the benefits of mindfulness practices such as mediation and herbal alternatives to pharmaceutical
medication. There lacks research however, on the importance of improving spirituality and the significance of
incorporating techniques into the psychological healing process. A review of the current academic literature on the postpsychological effects of a traditional Shamanic ayahuasca ceremony and the perceived importance of a deeper sense of
spiritual connection, suggest a viable means of integration into Western therapy. In addition, a personal explorative case
study will be conducted in order to assess pre and post quantitative measures of neurotransmitter levels, quantitative
measures of anxiety, depression, spiritual connection and overall subjective well-being after participating in a traditional
Shamanic ayahuasca ceremony in Peru.
Poster #11
Academic Dishonesty: The Effects of Monetary Rewards and Social Influence on Cheating Behavior
Dechen Dolma, Mary Francisquini
St. Francis College
In a world where dishonest behavior is headline news, it is important to know what factors influence and/or inhibit such
behaviors. Previous research indicates a link between dishonest behavior and academic dishonesty. In this experiment,
participants were placed in one of four conditions (high or low stakes; social influence or no social influence). In the
high stakes conditions, participants were offered a gift card for the best performance and in the social influence
conditions a confederate openly cheated in front of the participant. Results supported the hypothesis that participants in
the high-stakes/social influence condition reported the most amount of cheating behavior whereas, participants in the
low-stakes/no social influence condition showed the least amount of cheating behavior. Results also indicated a
significant relationship between one’s general attitudes toward money and academic integrity.
Poster #12
The Effect of Music on Learning
Priscilla Anselmo, Johnny Arcuri, Krystal Contreras, Audrey Sanders, Corinne Tully
St. Francis College
Context dependent methods has been used to explore the effects of music on learning. The study consisted of (n=51)
undergraduate students who were given a passage from a previous ACT exam. Participants were tested in either the
same or different context in which the information was learned. Correct recalls, errors, mood, and effects of music were
measured. The researchers hypothesized that the students who studied with music, and took the test with music, would
perform significantly better than those who took the test without music. The results suggested that there was not enough
significant evidence to reject the null hypothesis.
Poster #13
To Facebook or Not to Facebook: Social Media and Online Dating
Shanice Lawrence
St. Francis College
This study examined the relationship between social media and online dating. Furthermore this study investigated the
relationship between the how lonely a person deems themselves and whether or not they used online dating services.
Sixty-three people from a variety of states and countries participated in this study. The participants were expected to
complete a self-report questionnaire consisting of a multitude of questions that inquired about social media usage and
frequency of online dating. It is interesting to investigate the relationship between social media and online dating
especially because social media has become a core part of technology usage. The results showed that there was no
significant correlation between how lonely a person feels and whether they used online dating services (r=.215, p=.093).
Furthermore, the results showed that there was no significant correlation between how often people visited social
networking sites and how often people visited online dating sites (r=.033, p=.894).
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 8
Poster #14
Perception of Environmental News and Sustainable Attitudes
Rose Deng, Kenny Wen, Darren Lin, & Mindy Engle-Friedman, PhD
Baruch College
Media portrayals of environmental issues can influence sustainable attitudes (McKenzie-Mohr 2011). To understand the
influence of media on sustainable attitudes (SA), 225 undergraduate students were assessed using 40 items from the
Sustainable Attitudes and Behaviors questionnaire (Engle-Friedman et al., 2010), and 5 items measuring perceptions of
media portrayals of environmental issues (EI). Participants were grouped according to their beliefs: media portrays EI
accurately, as bigger problems than they are, or as smaller problems than they are. Those who believed media portrayed
Global Warming and Climate Change as bigger problems than they are had significantly lower SA than those who
believed media portrayed these issues accurately. Belief Perseverance (Ross et al., 1975) may explain the difference
between the groups. Belief Perseverance asserts that people hold onto beliefs even when presented with opposing
evidence. Despite widespread availability of climate change information, skeptics believe these issues are not
problematic and report lower SA.
Poster #15
The Need for Paraprofessionals as Effective Reading Tutors
Kathrynne Li, Dr. Jennifer F. Samson
Hunter College
Students at-risk for reading failure due to minority status, poverty, disability, and limited English need intervention
support at school. However, limited finances and staff lead schools to depend on paraprofessionals versus teachers to
provide reading interventions. While previous research indicates that paraprofessionals can be effective tutors, it is
unclear whether they can be effective with disadvantaged students who need it the most. This descriptive study analyzes
existing empirical studies effective reading interventions provided by paraprofessionals with a specific focus on whether
at-risk students were included in the studies. Research questions included: 1) How many empirical studies on reading
interventions provided by paraprofessionals included students from diverse backgrounds (minority, disability, poverty,
and ELLs); 2) Among these empirical studies how many from each subcategory were included and in what grades? /
Research methods: for this study included conducting online database searches of EBSCO, PsychInfo, Google Scholar,
and Web of Science and drawing data from articles that met specific criteria. Empirical studies from 1978-2013 that
included the terms paraeducator, paraprofessional, tutoring, reading intervention, and literacy were data sources. This
search yielded only 15 empirical studies that were included in our analysis. Findings show that there 570 participants
from grades K-9. Among these studies, most were focused on early grades (K-3) with minority and low-income
students. Few were focused on ELLs and students with disabilities. This suggests the need for more studies of
paraprofessionals as reading tutors for ELLs and students with disabilities who are often the most at risk for reading
failure.
Poster #16
Multigenerational Employee Awareness and Management
Ruth Sanchez
Pace University
Organizations are constantly facing structural modifications due to rapid market changes, globalization, and
technological advancements. While focusing on these aspects, many have disregarded another prominent change, an
increased generational diversity in the workplace. For the first time, organizations have to manage multiple generations,
each with a unique set of ideas, purposes, goals, and working tactics. If organizations don’t employ the time to
investigate and address generational differences in the workplace, their interactions with one another, and their effect on
the organization, they will confront an inevitable decay. The purpose of the following research is to address the three
most prominent generations in the workplace, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y (Millennials), their
unique characteristics and the best management tactics in order to have an improved culture, recruitment, retention,
employee engagement, and customer service.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 9
Poster #17
Do Birth Order and Locus of Control Affect our Level of Aspiration?
Aline Filipe, Alana Miller, Samantha Slavkin, Hillary Lewin Tuvia
Pace University
This study explores the effect of birth order and locus of control on level of aspiration. The sample consists of 200
participants (52 male, 147 female) Mean age = 21.7 years. Participants completed an online survey, which collected
demographic information and included the Rotter Locus of Control Questionnaire (1966) as well as the Aspiration
Index (1983). Birth order was ranked using the Adlerian method that accounts for four positions: only child, first born,
middle born and last born. Data was analyzed using a 4x2 between subjects factorial ANOVA. Analyses showed
significance between locus of control (internal versus external) and levels of aspiration F (3,1) = 4.65, p < .05. Analyses
showed no significance between birth order and levels of aspiration F (3,1) = 0.48, p > .05. Further analyses will be
discussed in the results section.
Poster #18
If you're happy and you know it
Erica Crespo, Suveyda Dumanli, & Christina Raton
Pace University
This study measures levels of happiness among college students from different cultural backgrounds (individualist
versus collectivist). This study included 79 undergraduate students (76% females) and was conducted at Pace
University. Results from a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA indicated there was no statistical significance in cultural background
or cultural identification on happiness F (3, 1) = .98, p > .05. Further analyses using a Chi Square test of independence
indicate individualist participants were more consistent in their responses to individualistic ideas than collectivistic
individuals were to collectivistic ideas X2 (1, N = 79) = 4.37, p <.05. Results suggest participants from individualistic
backgrounds are more individualistic compared to those who come from collectivistic backgrounds, but do not identify
as so. The results support the notion that living in an individualistic culture such as the United States may affect
one’s ability acculturate coming from a collectivistic culture.
Poster #19
Is it a Man’s World or Herstory?: Examining Attitudes Toward Traditional versus Contemporary Gender Roles
Sareny Rodriguez, Courtney Drew, Kristen Sheridan, Hillary Lewin-Tuvia PhD.
Pace University
In this experiment, participants took a personality test that revealed if they are more masculine or feminine. Test results
were randomly assigned to participants regardless of their responses to the test. The researchers hypothesized male and
female participants would agree strongest to the masculine test result. Participants (44 males; 49 females; Mage = 19.9)
were undergraduates from Pace University. Results from a one way between groups ANOVA indicate significance
between levels of agreement for the assessment results F (3, 89) = 3.91, p = .01). Results suggest males who were
assigned a feminine test result disagreed stronger (M = 6.20, SD = 2.16) than males who were assigned a masculine
result (M = 4.70, SD = 1.62) and females who were assigned a feminine result (M = 5.76, SD = 1.66) disagreed stronger
than females assigned a masculine result (M = 4.91, SD = 1.21).
Poster #20
Creative Potential Across Domains: A Predictor of Self-Concept Clarity and Self-Esteem
Alana Miller
Pace University
This study addresses the controversy of domain-specificity versus generality of creativity as well as the relationship of
self-esteem and self-concept clarity to creative potential. Specifically, we examine 1) whether creativity is a generalized
or domain-specific ability, and 2) the relationships between creativity in different domains and dimensions of the self.
Our hypothesis is that creativity is mainly domain-specific, and each domain shows different patterns of association
with different aspects of the self. The sample consists of 170 adolescents (74 male, 96 female) with an average age of
16.2 years old. Participants completed a multi-dimensional self-esteem measure including a self-concept clarity scale. In
addition, participants completed tasks yielding creative productions in three domains: Visual arts and Writing (using the
Evaluation of Potential Creativity; EPoC), and Music (using the Musical Expression test; MET). Productions were
scored using the consensual assessment technique (CAT) by psychology of creativity experts. Implications will be
discussed.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 10
Poster #21
Reading Readiness Skills of Preschoolers from Varying Socioeconomic Backgrounds
Samantha Kienemund, Kathryn Smolen, Melissa Mobley, Margaret T. Kamowski-Shakibai
Marymount Manhattan College
Many abilities are shown to be predictive of later reading abilities, (i.e., decoding and aural comprehension). These
reading readiness skills include phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automized naming (i.e., speed of
naming numbers, letters, colors, objects), vocabulary knowledge, and ambiguity detection (describing two meanings of
“I see a bat”) (Cairns, et al., 2004; Caravolas, et al., 2012). Studies have shown that socioeconomic background
may influence components of development, such as cognition, vocabulary acquisition, and reading skills, (e.g., HortonIkard & Weismer, 2007) due to differences in resources, stressful environments, and parental knowledge, goals,
attitudes, values (Garcia-Coll et al., 1996). This study aims to determine reading readiness skill levels of preschoolers
from varied socioeconomic backgrounds. Household income, parental education, and language background were
considered. Preliminary findings will be presented. Early identification of children at-risk of reading difficulties will
lead to earlier intervention, which could eliminate or alleviate the need for later long-term reading support.
Poster #22
Examining the Risk-Taking Behaviors of International Students
Ammarah Fadoo
New York University
International students (IS) are increasingly attending universities in the United States. However, prior research has
found that relocating to the United States may bring about social and academic challenges for IS, which can promote
acculturative stress. Acculturative stress is defined as the general discomfort one faces when moving to a new cultural
atmosphere and can be alleviated by a strong social support system. The current study was one of the first to examine
how acculturative stress and social support separately influence international students‚ risk-taking behavioral patterns.
This study assessed international students’ participation in two common risk-taking behaviors- alcohol use and
casual sex. As hypothesized, a stronger social support system led to less involvement with alcohol drinking and casual
sex. Interestingly, higher levels of acculturative stress also resulted in less participation in alcohol drinking and casual
sex. Findings from this study are critical for the implementation of useful interventions and educational strategies for
this understudied population.
Poster #23
Acculturation, Enculturation or Faith: The Pathway of Chinese Christian Youths in Hawaii
Natasha Edwards
St. Francis College
The objective of this study was to investigate whether acculturation, enculturation, or faith has led Chinese converts to
Christianity in Oahu, Hawai’i. This paper explored the prevalence of Christianity in an Asian dominated society
through investigating the motive behind the converted pathway. Relationships were examined between participants’
faith and their knowledge of biblical account, in addition to their introduction toward Christianity. This study suggested
that faith had a dominant role in participants becoming Christians. Likewise, it was also seen that in merging and
adapting through acculturation, Chinese youths found the pathway to Christianity.
Poster #24
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Birth Control-Related Societal Mistrust: Implications for Contraception Use and
Anticipated Pregnancy Stress
Jessica Bendert, Marci Lobel, Lisa Rosenthal
Pace University
There are racial disparities in birth outcomes: only 10.5% of births to White women in 2013 were preterm compared
with 17.3% of births to Black women. The current study investigated racial/ethnic differences in beliefs that society
wants to limit reproduction in poor communities and communities of color, and the association of these beliefs with
anticipated pregnancy-specific stress and contraception methods used. This is important to study because a pilot study
revealed racial/ethnic differences in the endorsement of these beliefs and an association between these beliefs and
anticipated pregnancy-specific stress. These beliefs have also been associated with lower likelihood of getting birth
control from a health-are provider. Diverse adult women participants are currently completing surveys online. We will
report results of analyses testing for differences between White versus Black/Latina women in their endorsement of
these beliefs, and associations of those beliefs with contraception use and anticipated pregnancy-specific stress.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 11
Poster #25
Perceived Artistic Ability as a Function of Extraversion-Introversion Level
Krystal Voltaire, Tara Griffo, Nikola Kudrna, Mariah Beato
Pace University
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the extraversion-introversion levels on perceived artistic
ability. There were 70 participants and each were randomly assigned to read one of the three vignettes describing a
hypothetical individual varying in extraversion-introversion trait dimensions. The 70 participants were derived from text
messages, email, and facebook. The traits of the hypothetical individual in the randomly assigned vignettes were
extraverted, introverted, or ambiverted. The participants were then shown artworks described to be created by the
hypothetical individual, and asked to assess the perceived artistic ability of the individual. The results were not
significant for the dependent variables: cognitive stimulation, negative emotionality, expertise scores, self-reference
scores, artistic quality scores, and positive attraction scores. The positive attraction scores were found to be marginally
significant. F (2, 67) =2.716, p=.073, partial eta squared = .075. Practical implications of this study are presented.
Poster #26
Perceptions of and Responses to Sexual Stereotypes about Black and Latina Women
Kirsten Dagrosa, Amani Mathis, Helen Haidemenos, Ashleigh Deosaran, Stephanie Hern√°ndez, Tashuna
Albritton, Nicole Overstreet, Christopher Godfrey, & Lisa Rosenthal
Pace University
We recruited 75 18-35 year old, Black and Latino/a men (35) and women (40) to participate in focus groups on sexual
stereotypes. Several questions were asked, including: “What do you think are some of the existing stereotypes in society
about Black women and/or Latina women (Black men and/or Latino men) that relate to sex?”; “How do you think that
these societal stereotypes related to sex affect you?” Data coding is underway, but during preliminary examination of
data, some themes emerged. Some of the stereotypes participants identified about Black and Latina women were that
they are sexually promiscuous, have children at a young age, and have sex in exchange for resources. In reaction, many
women expressed wanting to separate themselves from those stereotypes. In particular some of the younger women
described choosing abstinence to distance themselves from those stereotypes and avoid difficult sexual situations.
Poster #27
Ability to Cope with Stress and Academic Performance in College Students
Elizabeth Skeete, Marissa O'Brien, Krystina Sanchez
Pace University
College students face specific stressors that can impact their academic performance. Examples of these stressors are
financial, social and academic challenges. Ability to cope with these stressors may have an impact on students’ GPA.
One hundred twenty participants (male = 40, female = 80) were assigned to read a vignette describing financial, social
or academic stress. Students were asked how well they think they could cope with the given stressor using the Perceived
Coping Ability Scale. It was hypothesized that these stressors and coping ability would impact GPA. A 3x2 between
subjects factorial ANOVA was conducted and yielded no statistical significance among these variables F (5,1) = 1.35
p> .05. Further analysis using a Pearson’s correlation indicated a positive relationship between perceived coping ability
and GPA r (120) = .26, p<.05. Results suggest students with higher perceived coping ability, regardless of the condition
they were assigned to, have higher GPAs.
Poster #28
Working memory as a facet of embodied cognition
Marta Billan, Marzena Bochnak, James Chung, Lauren Haropulos, Ramon Perez, Niree Pough / Dr. Marisa
Cohen
Saint Francis College
Previous research in the growing field of embodied cognition has shown that abstract concepts such as interpersonal
warmth and emotional heaviness can be based on metaphors that are grounded in bodily experiences. Most of these
studies have been based on the association between literal and abstract concepts (e.g., physical temperature can signal
feelings of interpersonal warmth and physical heaviness can signal feelings of importance). This evidence suggests that
abstract concepts that are embodied might have an effect on working memory. Accordingly, the current study aims to
prove that abstract concepts that are embodied, such as heat and weight, will be better remembered in the presence of
physically hot and heavy stimuli. In study one, it was hypothesized that the presence of physical heat will increase the
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 12
likelihood of recalling literal and emotionally “hot” words on a memory test. In study two, it was hypothesized that the
presence of physical heaviness, in terms of weight, will increase the likelihood of recalling literal and emotionally
“heavy” or “important” words. There was no statistically significant effect of weight (F (1,30) = 2.964, p= .095) or
temperature (F (1,35) = .201, p= .656) on the performance of participants in the working memory task at the p < .05
level for the two conditions. /
Poster #29
Nonparametric and Variance Stabilizing Methods of Correcting Heterogeneity of Variance.
Ahmed El-Razi & Cheryl Harding, PhD
CUNY Hunter College
Every year, research conferences like this one are held in countless schools, hospitals, and convention centers around
the world. Statistical knowledge is a vital part of any research project. It takes trained eyes to review the data and draw
sound conclusions from the numbers. The purpose of this study was to examine instances in which datasets do not
conform to the assumptions of parametric hypothesis testing, specifically the assumption of homogeneity of variances.
Previous researchers found that outlier removal, data transformation, and running nonparametric hypothesis tests were
some of the most effective ways to correct violations of this type. Data were collected from mice performing an
elevated plus maze (n = 24) task as part of a study at Hunter College. The results showed that outlier removal when
paired with a log transformation not only mitigated the impact of differing group variances, but also resulted in highly
significant differences between groups.
Poster #30
Measuring Trust and Commitment in Long Distance Relationships
Stephanie Fevrier & Marisa T. Cohen, Ph.D.
St. Francis College
Long distance romantic relationships and geographically close romantic relationships have been intriguing topics of
research in the Relationship Science field. Studies have examined predictors of satisfaction (Lee & Pistole, 2012) and
attachment (Roberts & Pistole, 2009) in both types of relationships. However, the factors of trust and commitment
within these two relationship styles have not been examined in detail. This study focused on the two facets of trust and
commitment specifically in long distance romantic relationships. Results demonstrated no significant difference in
levels of trust and commitment in long distance romantic relationships compared to geographically close romantic
relationship.
Poster #31
Political Thinking in Two Dimensions: People Intuit A Coherent Distinction between the Open-To-Change vs.
Conservative Divide and the Power-and-Ego vs. Benevolent-Justice Divide.
Sarah Hoosein, Ian Hansen, Ph.D
CUNY York College
Many political psychologists explain political divides in one dimensional terms: the liberal left vs. the conservative
right. Yet ordinary people may intuitively resist one-dimensional thinking. We exposed 138 York College students to
Schwartz’s famous set of core values (which Schwartz visually presents as a two-dimensional circumplex). The sample
expressed a preference for a 2-dimensional over a 1-dimensional way of understanding their own values. They also
categorized a number of social-political issues as either more about openness-to-change (OtC) vs. conservation (Con) or
more about self-enhancement (SE) vs. self-transcendence (ST). Their preferences formed thematically coherent
categories. Participants classed matters of religion, gender, sexuality, and aesthetics as OtC vs. Con issues, and classed
matters of war, oppression, violence, poverty, and the environment as SE vs. ST issues.
Poster #32
Conservatism Convergent and Divergent: Predicting Support for Social Domination, Moralistic Violence, Torture,
and Religious Intolerance from Religiosity and Authoritarianism
Rosaury Marte, Co-author :Ian Hansen
York College
Many political psychologists consider conservatism to be a coherent construct and yet its elements do not always work
towards the same ends. 398 York College students completed measures of intrinsic religiosity and authoritarianism, as
well as the following criterion measures of interest: Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Support for Torture, Support
for Moralistic Violence (killing “the wicked”) as well as Religiously-Based Moral Antipathy and Political
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 13
Intolerance. In contrast to previous studies (Hansen and Norenzayan, 2006) religiosity and authoritarianism were both
independent positive predictors of Religiously-based Moral Antipathy and Political Intolerance. However, religiosity
and authoritarianism were opposing predictors of SDO, Support for Torture, and Support for Moralistic Violence. We
will discuss the implications for the theoretical and empirical coherence of the “conservatism vs. liberalism”
construct.
Poster #33
Different Visual Models of Values Affect How People Put Their Values Together
Zuhra Ullah, Ian Hansen
CUNY York College
What affects the way people align their values? We randomly assigned 138 York College students to three different
ways of visually organizing values, all values adapted from the Schwartz Value Scale. Participants either put all values
on a line (one dimensional, or 1-D), put them on a two-dimensional grid (2-D) or put them into empty slices of a pie
chart (circumplex 2-D). They also assessed how much they endorsed these values (these scores were centered around
the average scale mean). Principle components analysis of the centered values yielded two factors, the first running
from benevolent-conformist-security values to power-hedonism-stimulation values; the second running from
achievement-self-direction-hedonism values to universalist-traditionalist values. These two factors were positively
correlated in the 1-D condition, orthogonal in the 2-D condition, and inversely correlated in the circumplex 2-D
condition. The correlations differed significantly by condition.
Poster #34
Across All Levels of Authoritarianism, Religiosity Is Negatively Related to Social Dominance Orientation and
Torture
Karen Ruiz
CUNY York College
Hansen (2012) found in various samples that when controlling for Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), religiosity is
negatively related to Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). This finding is puzzling, however, because religiosity often
has a positive zero-order correlation with SDO. We therefore used a large dataset (Graham, 2011) to examine the zeroorder correlation between religiosity and SDO at five different levels of RWA. At each level of RWA, the zero-order
correlations between religiosity and SDO were negative, and at least marginally significant. Religiosity was also
significantly positively related to opposition to torture in 4 out of 5 RWA groups. These results suggest that the negative
independent relationship found between religiosity and SDO is not a statistical artifact, but is a robust independent
relationship across various levels of authoritarianism.
Poster #35
Imagining a Broadly Moralistic vs. Non-moral Divide Can Increase Authoritarianism Yet Decrease Support for
Torture
Nwenna Chisholm & Ian Hansen
York College
Most research finds authoritarianism correlated with support for torture. Yet the same manipulation might stimulate
authoritarianism while reducing support for torture. We randomly assigned 398 York College students to imagine one of
two moral divides: (1) a broadly moralistic vs. non-moral divide (where people either simultaneously embraced Care,
Fairness, Loyalty, Authority and Purity or none of these); or (2) a divide between a liberal moral-amoral mix vs. a
conservative moral-amoral mix (Care-Fairness but not Loyalty-Authority-Purity vs. Loyalty-Authority-Purity but not
Care-Fairness). We then assessed a variety of measures, among them Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and support
for torture. There was greater authoritarianism and less support for torture among participants assigned to Divide #1
than participants assigned to Divide #2. RWA was uncorrelated with support for torture in this this support when
controlling for experimental condition.
sample, but predicted Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 14
Poster #36
Can You Count? Conformity and Cultural Orientation
Amy Chen, Oldine Saint-Hilaire, Taia Kathleen Thomas
St. Francis College
Past studies that focused on collectivists and individualists on the level of conformity have shown people who were
collectivistic to conform more (Oh, 2013). We used time as an independent variable to see whether collectivists and
individualists would still conform based on the time condition they were placed in. We predicted that collectivists will
conform more than individualists regardless of time constraint. Using a PowerPoint with ten simple math questions and
three confederates in each condition, we found a main effect on time that made the participants to conform but not due
to one’s cultural orientation. The majority of our participants were born and raised in the United States, which explains
why there was no significance on cultural orientation and conformity.
Poster #37
Violent and Aggressive Indicators within Creative Expression
Wallis Back
Pace University
Recently recognized for its therapeutic implications, creativity has been gaining attention in psychological research. A
pilot study was conducted in order to create an objective scoring rubric for scoring violent and aggressive elements in
creative drawings. drawings 207 - After developing rubrics for eight general violent content themes (e.g., generated
weapons, self-harm), violent elements within the drawings were quantified by two independent raters. High inter-rater
reliability coefficients were obtained for each scoring rubric and the total score. The total score correlated with the
subjective negative emotion score (r= .810). This research showed promise for recognizing violent elements within
creative expression, which can lead to interventions for at-risk individuals, as well as for incorporating creative
activities in school and therapy programs.
Poster #38
Facing Reality with Mobile Applications: Helpful or Harmful?
Fortesa Veselaj, Nicole Rochetti, Michelle Rodriguez, Weihua Niu
Pace University
Two hundreds participants (137 females) aged 16-69 yrs old participated in a study examining the relationship among
usage of mobile applications, self-monitoring, time management, and self-control. It is hypothesized that mobile app
usage would positively associate with self-monitoring, time-management, and self control. It is also hypothesized that
people would generally view mobile applications as an asset in their lives. The results did support the second
hypothesis, but not the first one. More specifically, there was a negative association between mobile application usage
and self-monitoring as well as self-control. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis further demonstrated that age
explains 3.5% of variance for self-monitoring, whereas using mobile application explain addition 7.2 percent of
variance. Similarly, it was also found that age 4% of variance for self-control, whereas using mobile application
explains additional 6% of variance. Poster #39
Individual Difference in Usage of Social Media, Anxiety, and Depression
Alejandro Cervantes, Carly Gottfried, Leesage Perez, Jennifer Trujillo-Armijo, and Weihua Niu
Pace University
A total of 119 participants (approximately equal in gender) aged 18-70 years old were recruited to participate in a study
to examine the relationship between time usage on social media and an individual’s level of anxiety and depression. It
was hypothesized that there would be a positive association between the time one spends on social media websites and
self-reports on anxiety and depression. Results partially support the hypothesis, in which social media usage is only
positively associated with depression, but not with anxiety. In addition, the study also revealed that gender is
significantly associated with both anxiety and depression, with female participants reporting, on both, higher levels than
males. Females also reported to posting more personal information on their social media pages than males. Hierarchical
Multiple Regression analysis was performed and the results demonstrate that gender significantly predicts depression.
When the predictability of gender is controlled, the added contribution of social media usage is not significant. These
results imply that the association between usage of social media and depression may be largely attributed to the factor of
gender. Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 15
Poster #40
The Impact of Undergraduate Leadership Experiences on the Post-Graduate Transition Year
Madisen Kegans and Rosangela Catalano
Marymount Manhattan College
The current case study focused on the developmental impact of undergraduate student leadership experiences on an
emerging adult. The participant was interviewed at two points in time: first while she was an undergraduate, and later,
after her graduation and during her “transition” year after college. As an undergraduate, the participant had served as a
teaching assistant for several semesters. In the initial interview, the participant described that experience primarily in
terms of the effect on her overall self-development, with some additional attention to building a good rapport with the
professor and a connection to her later life. In the follow-up interview six months post-graduation, the participant’s
responses paralleled Arnett’s (2015) description of the school-to-work transition. Arnett described this transition as
encompassing a “quarter-life crisis” with the “tyranny of freedom” to choose, and the challenge of finding identitybased work. The researchers are currently re-examining previous data with these concepts as a theoretical basis.
Poster #41
The Effect of Source of Information on Beliefs About MDMA
Amani Mathis
Pace University
Research on controlled substance use suggest that young adults learn about the risk and rewards of illicit substance
through their social environment. Gamma et al. (2005) claims that the way one learns about MDMA risks will effect
their beliefs and subsequent use of MDMA. The purpose of this study is to examine which sources of information
(media, peers, parents) on MDMA are most likely to affect young people’s beliefs about MDMA. A sample of 227
adults, 18-25yo, completed an online survey which assessed beliefs about MDMA, personality traits, and how useful,
likely, and accurate the participant believed various sources of information were. The results indicate that a friend who
has experience with MDMA, a non-government website, and a health professional were considered the most useful,
accurate, and likely source of information on MDMA.
Poster #42
Sexual Assault Policies on College Campuses and Their Effects on Students' Willingness to Report Incident
Vanessa Vitiello
Pace University
Abstract: Sexual assault on college campuses is one of the most underreported crimes in America. College sexual
assault policies are seen as potent tools for increasing reporting. The current study examines college students’
willingness to report based on the quality of universities’ sexual assault policies (poor/adequate/good). 111
undergraduate students were randomly assigned to read one of three mock policies and then decide whether victims in
three fictional sexual assault scenarios should report the incident. We found that informativeness of the policy did not
have an effect on students’ willingness to report a sexual assault incident. However, in each scenario more than 25% of
participants were not willing to report sexual assault incidents regardless of the policy received. Future research may
benefit from asking students about their beliefs about policies and intention to report an incident.
Poster #43
Who chooses my future? The role of Personality and Acculturation in First and Later Generation College Students’
Career Decision Making
Gema Gutierrez Alcivar
Pace University
Career choice is often reflected by a student’s choice of major. Personality, vocational interests, and cultural influences
are also significant factors in the process of choosing a major. For Latino students, maintaining cultural norms is an
important part of career choice, although the influence of cultural norms tends to decrease from first to later generations.
The current study examined the influences of acculturation and personality (introversion/extraversion) among 57
Latino/Hispanics students: first-generation immigrant students, those who migrated to the US during
childhood/adolescence, and later generation students. We hypothesized that later-generation students are more likely to
major in business and social sciences, while first-generation students would be more likely to major in STEM. We
found that 75% of first-generation students were business majors; while only 24.49% of later-generation students were
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 16
business majors. Among both groups personality appears to be is more closely related to choice of major than
acculturation.
Poster #44
The Misogyny in Video Games and the Effect on Women
Kaiyan Griffith
Pace University
Research in the gaming industry has focused solely on male perception of sexist images and sexual stereotyping in
video games. There has been scant research on women’s perceptions of sexist images. The current study examines the
influence of sexist images in video games in young women’s self-perception. We hypothesized that women who play
games with sexist content are more likely than women who play non-sexist games to have a lower self-perception.
Thirty women from an urban university were randomly assigned to play a sexist game, non-sexist game, or a neutral
stimulus then complete measures of sexism in gaming. Women assigned to sexist and non-sexist groups scored higher
positive self-perception than those in the control condition.
Poster #45
Personality, Daily Activities, and Time Management
Kaitlin Eitz, Kirstie Valdez, and Weihua Niu
A total of 102 participants (74 females) aged 18-69 yrs old completed surveys examining the relationship among
personality, daily activities, and time management. It was hypothesized conscientiousness would positively associate
with time management skills whereas neuroticism negatively associate with time management. The study also explored
how different daily activities such as working hours, study hours, and exercise associated to time-management. The
results showed agreeableness, extraversion, openness to experience are positively associated with time management.
The results also demonstrated that hours spending in working and exercise during the weekdays positively associated
with time management. Hierarchical Multiple Regression analysis was performed to examine the interpretability of
daily activities and personalities in time management. The results showed that daily activities can explain a total of
31.5% of variance, and personality can explain additional 13.8% of variance of time management.
Poster #46
Sleep Deprivation Influences Engagement in Effortful Activities
Gina Marie Mathew, Rose Deng, Anastasia Martinova
Sleep loss may be associated with a reduction in social activities (Carney et al., 2006). We assessed whether sleepdeprived participants would be less likely to engage in social activities than control participants. Eight participants
experienced 24 hours of sleep deprivation, while nine slept normally at home. Preliminary results suggest that sleepdeprived individuals are significantly less likely to participate in certain social activities than control participants. That
is, they are less likely to play a sport or go to the movies. In findings that did not reach significance but had high effect
sizes, sleep-deprived participants were less likely to go to an amusement park, go to a party (both social activities), or
read (solitary activity) than control participants. A larger sample size is needed for adequate power to detect differences
between groups. Nonetheless, these preliminary findings suggest that sleep deprivation results in reduced applied effort,
for both social and solitary activities.
Poster #47
Reminding Participants of Religiosity Reduces Support for Oppression and Militarization
Abayomi Are, Ian Hansen, PhD, Valerie Jackson
Since religiosity and authoritarianism are correlated (Altemeyer, 1988), does this imply that stimulation of either type of
conservatism will inevitably have identical effects? 157 York College students completed measures of religiosity (R),
authoritarianism (A) and support for oppression and militarization (OM). Participants were randomly assigned to three
question orderings: (1) R items first (then OM, then A), (2) A items first (then OM, then R) and (3) OM items first (then
R, then A). There was a statistically significant experimental effect: participants supported OM most in the A first
condition and least in the R first condition. Also, though R and A were correlated, they made opposing predictions of
OM in the control condition. Results imply that religiosity and authoritarianism, despite their positive correlation, can
have opposing effects on support for oppression and militarization.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 17
Poster #48
People Support Torture More to Punish Wrongdoing Than To Obtain Information
Katherina Parks, Ian Hansen, PhD
In three studies, we replicated the finding by Callaghan and Hansen (2015) that when presented with two detainees with
contrasting backgrounds, people support using more torture techniques on the detainee described as violent but unlikely
to have life-saving information than on the detainee described as nonviolent but highly likely to have such
information. One study counterbalanced the order in which detainee scenarios were presented and found that order did
not impact the within-subjects preference for torturing the violent over the informed detainee, and that the within
subjects preference for torturing the violent detainee was also found between subjects. Presentation order also affected
overall support for torture. Those presented with the violent detainee first supported torturing both detainees more. We
discuss the implications for understanding the motivations for supporting torture.
Poster #49
Imagining a Detainee as Violent Increases Support for Information-Seeking, But Only By Increasing Support for
Punishment
Krista Smith, Ian Hansen, PhD
Do people claim an interest in getting information from detainees when they really just want to punish them? Three
studies found that a detainee described as violent but uninformed elicited less support for seeking information from him,
and more support for punishing him, than a detainee described as informed but nonviolent (within group comparison).
However, the order in which we presented detainee scenarios (between groups) impacted both of these variables in a
revealing way—there was generally a greater interest in both punishing and seeking information from detainees when
the scenario of the violent detainee was presented first (before the scenario of the informed detainee). However,
scenario presentation order affected punitiveness even when holding informational concern constant, but there was no
effect of presentation order on informational concern when holding punitiveness constant. This suggests that the
difference in informational concern between conditions was due entirely to a difference in punitiveness, and not vice
versa.
Poster #50
Imagining a Liberal vs. Conservative Divide “Disappears” The Social Justice Inclinations of Religiosity
Denae Stallings, Ian Hansen, PhD
In five studies, we randomly assigned York College participants to imagine one of two societies: one divided between
those embracing five types of moral concern (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, purity) and those rejecting them; one
divided between those embracing care and fairness but not loyalty, authority and purity and those with the opposite
preference. These societies might be considered “moral vs. amoral” and “liberal vs. conservative” respectively. We
then ran multiple regressions in each condition predicting Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)—an anti-egalitiarian
measure—from these predictors: Intrinsic Religious Motivation (IRM) and Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). In
the “moral vs. amoral” conditions RWA positively predicted and IRM negatively predicted SDO—a pattern commonly
found in datasets that include all three variables (Hansen, 2012). In the “liberal vs. conservative” conditions, however,
the negative relationship between IRM and SDO disappeared. We discuss the implications for whether liberal vs.
conservative discourse obscures the social justice potential of religious witness.
Poster #51
Writing a counterintuitive story about values transitions increases “liberalism”
Tara Redden, Ian Hansen, PhD
133 York College students participated in a study that involved writing a story on values transitions. All participants
were asked to write a story about transitioning between the ten main values of the Schwartz Value Scale (Schwartz ,
1992). Participants were instructed to write about a hypothetical person shifting from one value to the next in the order
the values were presented. In one “intuitive” condition, the values were ordered in accordance with Schwartz’s
empirical research findings about value relationships. In the other “counterintuitive” condition, participants considered
the values in a random order (randomly assigned in Excel). We then evaluated how condition impacted “liberalism”
using ten different measures of the construct. There was a strong multivariate effect showing that participants expressed
more “liberalism” in the counterintuitive story condition. Condition at least marginally significantly affected 8 out of 10
measures of liberalism. We discuss the implications for how imagining counterintuitive transitions between values
might increase liberalism.
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 18
Poster #52
I Want To Believe: The Effects of Religiosity on Well-Being
Jessica Harlow
Many studies have examined the effects of religiosity and religious coping on well-being among older adults and adults
with terminal health conditions. However, few studies have been conducted on the differences between highly religious
and non-religious young adults. One hundred and twenty eight university students completed measures of religiosity,
religious coping and well-being. We hypothesized that those who report higher levels of religiosity and religious coping
will also report higher levels of well-being.
Poster #53
Development of an Infant-Caregiver Gaze Behavior Scale
Kristin Witcher, K. Mark Sossin PhD, Yael Moskowitz, Lucio Forti, Alvin Li, Cady Wullenweber
Pace University
Previous research in the field of infant/caregiver relationships explores nonverbal communication in relation to infant
temperament, caregiver personality, maternal stress and attachment patterns, including emotional availability. Key
features include gaze behaviors of infant and parent.Movement coding systems such as the Kestenberg Movement
Profile, Movement Psychodiagnostic Inventory and Laban Movement Analysis allows researchers to reliably code
interactions between infants and caregivers for nonverbal communication. However, existing movement profiling
instruments, which emphasize different qualities of bodily state and patterns of bodily movement within space, have not
been compared to or integrated with developmentally anchored systems for attending to infant-caregiver gaze
behavior. Early gaze behavior is linked to “joint attention,” which anchors early experiences of shared intentionality
(Tomasello & Carpenter, 2007). Beebe et al. (2002) have also observed differences in facial signaling and gaze behavior
for different attachment statuses in the dyad. The current study focuses on the development of a scale to code gaze and
joint attention between dyads of infants and caregivers. Inter-rater reliability is examined. Future research in the field,
including an ongoing study of the predictive powers of eye contact patterns and maternal emotional availability, will
benefit from the developed infant/caregiver gaze scale.
Poster #54
Examining Stress Behaviors in Therapy Dogs
Amanda Sullivan
St. Francis College
This study investigated stress behaviors exhibited by five therapy dogs visiting children at Ronald McDonald House
(RMDH). Dog handlers of these five dogs completed C-BARQs to obtain baseline temperament and surveys written by
the primary researcher to attain information on the dogs’ behaviors at home, in addition to four questions examining dog
handlers’ beliefs on canines’ emotions. Surveys were also distributed to 51 dog handlers affiliated with Pet Partners.
Results showed that therapy dogs from RMDH sample each exhibited at least four stress behaviors during interactions.
Results from the C-BARQs showed a significant difference between the dogs’ score and the breed average for nonsocial
fears and excitability. Results from the survey indicated that the majority of handlers disagreed that dogs slept, rested
and needed more private time on therapy days vs. nontherapy days. Further results revealed that the majority of dog
handlers’ responses opposed the beliefs of experts Bonnie Bergin and Gregory Berns.
Poster #55
Social Anxiety in the Modern Era
Katherine Behm
Pace University
The prevalence of internet use with the ubiquity of smartphones among young adults calls for closer examination of
Problematic Internet Use (PIU): dependence on and excessive use of the internet. Previous studies have shown that PIU
among young adults is associated with maladaptive emotions such as loneliness, depression, and social anxiety. One
hundred and fifteen college students completed surveys of social anxiety, inclination towards computer-mediated
communication and smartphone dependence. We hypothesized that smartphone dependence will be associated with
higher levels of social anxiety in college students.
________________________________________________________________________________
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 19
CONCURRENT AFTERNOON SESSIONS
2:15pm – 3:00pm
Session 1
The Changing Lives of More than 2.2 Billion Children:
A GLOBAL VIEW
Presenter: Uwe Gielen, Ph.D. (St. Francis College)
Room A
(Student Union)
Only 4 percent of the world’s children live in the USA yet most of the
information contained in American textbooks of child development relies
on American research. In order to provide a more representative account,
my presentation will provide an overview of children’s lives around the
world based on demographic, economic, sociological, and psychological
data and information. I will compare children’s lives in low-income
countries such as Mali (West Africa) and India with children’s lives in
high-income countries located in North America, Europe, and East Asia.
In addition, the presentation will compare the effects of globalization,
economic development, and schooling on the lives of younger children
and adolescents in low-income and medium-income countries when
compared to the lives of children living in high-income nations.
Session 1
The Changing Lives of More than 2.2 Billion Children:
A GLOBAL VIEW
Presenter: Uwe Gielen, Ph.D. (St. Francis College)
Room A
(Student Union)
Only 4 percent of the world’s children live in the USA yet most of the
information contained in American textbooks of child development relies
on American research. In order to provide a more representative account,
my presentation will provide an overview of children’s lives around the
world based on demographic, economic, sociological, and psychological
data and information. I will compare children’s lives in low-income
countries such as Mali (West Africa) and India with children’s lives in
high-income countries located in North America, Europe, and East Asia.
In addition, the presentation will compare the effects of globalization,
economic development, and schooling on the lives of younger children
and adolescents in low-income and medium-income countries when
compared to the lives of children living in high-income nations.
*****
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 20
CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE CELEBRATION
3:00pm – 5:00pm
Multipurpose/Bianco Room
Event facilitator: Weihua Niu, Ph.D. (Director, Confucius Institute, Pace University)
The Confucius Institute at Pace University (Pace CI) will celebrate six years of successful programming on
Saturday, May 9th, 2015 from 2:30-5:00 PM in the Aniello Bianco Room of One Pace Plaza.
From 2:30 to 3:30 there will be an open house with brief demonstrations of Mandarin lessons, taiji, and
Chinese music. The open house will also feature an exhibition, “More Than Words” organized by the Center
for All Abilities, displaying the visual art of young Chinese Americans on the autism spectrum.
From 3:30 to 4:45pm, there will be an academic panel on “Adversity, Resilience and Success—Chinese
American Perspectives.” Two prominent scholars in the fields of mental health and special education, Dr.
Irene Chung from Hunter College and Dr. Hsu-Min Chiang from Teachers College, Columbia University,
will share their insights on how Chinese American children and adolescents growing up in bicultural
households deal with special issues relating to mental health and disabilities. The panelists will also discuss
some specific challenges Chinese American parents, especially those who have recently immigrated, face in
raising bicultural and bilingual children; how they overcome cultural stigmas associated with mental health
and disabilities, cope with parental distress, adjust to different cultural expectations to parenting, and seek
resources and support to raise well-adjusted children. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Weihua Niu,
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Confucius Institute at Pace University. A cake-cutting ceremony
will round out the day’s activities. The event is free and open to the public.
CI Website: http://www.pace.edu/confucius/
Presentation Abstracts (2015 Pace University Psychology Conference)
page 21