UMass Boston

Research & Impact

The following represents a sampling of some of the recent publications that have come from work completed by faculty, both current and emeritus, from the Psychology Department.

A sampling of recently published books:

Levitt, H. M. (2018).   Reporting qualitative research in psychology: How to understand and meet journal article reporting standards.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4316189.aspx?tab=3

Okun, B. F., & Suyemoto, K. L. (2012). Conceptualization and Treatment Planning for Effective Helping. Belmont, CA: Cengage

Orsillo, S. M., & Roemer, L. (2016). Worry less, live more: The mindful way through anxiety workbook. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Sigala, N. & Kaldy, Z. (Eds.). (2017). The cognitive neuroscience of visual working memory. Lausanne: Frontiers Media. doi:10.3389/978-2-88945-168-5

Soto, T. W., Ciaramitaro, V. M., & Carter A. S. (2017). Sensory Over Responsivity. In C. Zeanah (Ed.), Handbook of infant mental health, 4th edition. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 

A Sampling of  Recent Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

Chow, H. M., & Ciaramitaro, V. M. (in press). What makes a shape ‘baba’? The shape features prioritized in sound-shape correspondence change with development. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Eustis, E. H., Hayes-Skelton, S. A., Orsillo, S. M., & Roemer, L. (2018). Surviving and thriving during stress: A randomized clinical trial comparing a brief web-based therapist assisted acceptance-based behavioral intervention versus waitlist control for college students. Behavior Therapy 49(6), 889-903. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2018.05.009

Guillory, S. B., Gliga, T., & Kaldy, Z. (2018). Quantifying attentional effects on the fidelity and biases of visual working memory in young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 167, 146-161. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.005

Hunter, R. G., Seligsohn, M. A., Rubin, T. G., Griffiths, B. B., Ozdemir, Y., Pfaff, D. W., ... & McEwen, B. S. (2016). Stress and corticosteroids regulate rat hippocampal mitochondrial DNA gene expression via the glucocorticoid receptor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(32), 9099-9104. doi:10.1073/pnas.1602185113

Kaldy, Z., Giserman, I., Carter, A. S., & Blaser, E. (2016). The mechanisms underlying the ASD advantage in visual search. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(5), 1513–1527. doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1957-x

Király, I., Takacs, S., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2017). Preschoolers have better long‐term memory for rhyming text than adults. Developmental science, 20(3), e12398. doi:10.1111/desc.12398 

Levitt, H. M., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J. W., Frost, D., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, Carola. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for qualitative primary, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board Task Force report.  American Psychologist, 73(1), 26-46. doi:10.1037/amp0000389

Mason, B., Rollins, L. G., Asumadu, E., Cange, C., Walton, N., & Donaldson, S. T. (2018). Nesting Environment Provides Sex-Specific Neuroprotection in a Rat Model of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, 221. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00221

McInnis, C. M., Bonthuis, P. J., Rissman, E. F., & Park, J. H. (2016). Inheritance of steroid-independent male sexual behavior in male offspring of B6D2F1 mice. Hormones and Behavior, 80, 132-138. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.02.003

Pantalone, D. W., Valentine, S. E., Woodward, E. N., & O’Cleirigh, C. M. (2018). Syndemic indicators predict poor medication adherence and increased health care utilization for urban HIV-positive sexual minority men. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, 22(1), 71-87. doi:10.1080/19359705.2017.1389794

Raposa, E. B., Erickson, L., Rhodes, J., & Hagler, M. (2018). How economic disadvantage affects the availability and nature of mentoring relationships during the transition to adulthood. American Journal of Community Psychology 61(1-2), 191-203. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12228

Slade, N., Eisenhower, A., Carter, A., & Blacher, J. (2018). Satisfaction with Individualized Education Programs among parents of young children with ASD. Exceptional Children, 84(3), 242-260. doi:10.1177/0014402917742923

Welker, K. M., Roy, A. R. K., Geniole, S., Kitayama, S. & Carré, J. M. (in press). Taking risks for personal gain: An investigation of self-construal and testosterone responses to competition. Social Neuroscience. doi:10.1080/17470919.2017.1407822

Research Opportunities for Students

Research Training: Learning through laboratory experience

An important part of preparing for Masters and PhD programs in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Cognitive Science is getting involved in research while you are an undergraduate. Most faculty maintain active research labs on campus that include students as assistants and collaborators.

You can earn course credit for research by doing a Research Apprenticeship (Psych 286 or Psych 486). A Research Apprenticeship is a 7 hour per week commitment, but the time demands and schedule will vary from lab to lab and are often flexible.  Exactly what you will be doing during your apprenticeship - helping to monitor the eye movements of infants while you perform tests of their memory? helping to identify the genetic changes, in an animal model like the mouse, that accompany stress? - will depend on the lab in which you work.

Next steps

  1. View a list of faculty looking for a Research Apprenticeship, Directed Study, and/or Honors Research student. Make sure to look at research interests and backgrounds of the psychology faculty to see where you think you’d be a good match.
  2. Typically, if the faculty member has an opening, an application and contact information will be provided. If not, feel free to reach out the faculty member directly (contact information is available on the faculty page).
  3. The faculty member will reply with further details. Be prepared to provide additional information (e.g. other experience/skills, your goals, your transcript, etc.). Please note that submitting an application is not a guarantee that you will be offered a spot. Often, there are more applicants than openings and sometimes there are prerequisites. You may need to apply to another lab and/or reapply in another semester.
  4. If you do find a potential match, you and the faculty member will agree on a ‘learning contract’ that will outline your duties (these will vary from lab to lab, but might include helping with data collection and interpretation) and how you will be assessed for a grade (again, this will vary from lab to lab, but might include presentations, evidence of professional development, and/or a research paper).
  5. Ultimately, the faculty member will provide you with a permission number that you can use on Wiser to sign-up.

Psych 286

Introductory Research Apprenticeship

Description:

Prerequisites: PSYCH 100, or PSYCH 101, and PSYCH 201

The course, a 200-level Research Apprenticeship (PSYCH 286) is designed for students who are interested in being involved in hands-on research, but who are still at the beginning of their studies in the major. Students who are enrolled in this course work with faculty members on topics related to the faculty member's research interests. Course Catalog.

Psych 486

Research Apprenticeship in Psychology

Description:


Prerequisite: PSYCH 100, or PSYCH 101, PSYCH 201, or PSYCH 370, and THREE additional PSYCH courses

This course is designed to provide undergraduate majors in psychology with opportunities to participate in empirical research under the direction of a full-time faculty member. Students may be involved in all aspects of research including review of the literature, selection of tasks and measures, preparation of experimental protocols, data collection, coding and analysis. This course is open only to psychology majors. Course Catalog.