Is Snapchat a Judgment Free Zone?

By Dr. Strohmetz

Snapchat is great, isn’t it? But why is so great? Researchers at Texas Tech University wondered why Snapchat is so popular among college students.  In a survey study of 500 students, they found that it is the simplicity and brevity of Snapchat that makes is so appealing. Because posts only last 10 seconds, students thought that people can be more like their real selves as what they share quickly disappears.  No need to worry about creating the right impression with the perfect post or the best selfie.  You can just be yourself.  Heck, if it turns out bad, poof – it’s gone in 10 seconds!  No wonder why the researchers found that students believed that Snapchat posts can increase our trust in the other person.

This brevity can also make us less apprehensive about posting our views on social media because it won’t be around to bite us in the future.  This lack of apprehension make help explain why posting on Snapchat seems to be more addictive than Instagram or Twitter as we may feel less accountable for expressing our viewpoints.  Besides, we need to keep our Snapchat streak going, no? But just remember, are Snaps really ever gone forever if the other person knows how to take a screenshot of your Snap?

Learn more about this study:

Snapchat users motivation, level of interest

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170929133553.htm

 The simplicity of the platform and brevity of posts are key factors in determining how students can become very regular users.

Dr. Dinella's Gender Development Lab

by Maryam Srouji

Last week was International Day of the Girl. You might have seen posts about it all over social media, but did you ever wonder why there's a push to celebrate girls? What makes girls different from (or similar to) boys? Those are some questions we study in Dr. Dinella's Gender Development Lab. We study the effects of media and toys on young children's gender development. Specifically, we want to see how factors such as the color of a toy (did you know pink gives girls permission to play with a toy?) and how being told a toy or activity is for a girl or for a boy (even if it's not a toy, they'll only play with it if it's for their gender!) influences how children play, the friendships they make, and what career paths they choose. Dr. Dinella has presented everywhere from Toys R Us to the White House, and she's a great mentor when it comes to research. She pushes us to do our best and helps us realize that we can do what we never thought we were able to. In short, whether it's discovering how block toys influence girls and boys' spatial abilities differently to watching videos in honor of Day of the Girl, being in Dr. Dinella's lab is a one of a kind experience!

For more information on Dr. Dinella or her lab, click here:

http://lisadinella.com/

Midterm Troubles? Here Are Some Study Tips (Hack #2)

by MK O'Rourke

Fall break usually means friends wanting to see you, extracurricular activities and clubs hosting events, . . .  don’t forget your family obligations . . .  oh you also have work . . . and you need to eat healthy and exercise . . .

Am I missing something? Hm . . . oh yeah, studying.

Studying for midterms can be more challenging than most times because you know it is the half way mark of your semester. Your mind is thinking about a thousand different things, so it's hard to maintain great studying techniques to keep you focused on working as hard as you have up until this point of the semester.

The advice a lot of people hear is, “You should study 3 hours for every credit you have” and it's hard to disagree. But I get it: you’re tired, you’re hungry, and all you want to do is watch Netflix and eat ice cream. But, push yourself. It will be worth it in the end.

·   Keep energy levels high. You need to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night to be able to do well on an exam.

·   The 50-10 rule. Every 50 minutes that you study, take ten minutes to clear your mind, go on Facebook, kiss your dog, anything.

·   Write your notes by… dare I say… HAND. Writing your notes by hand, compared to typing on your computer or tablet, will help you learn your material in a more quality way.

·   Buy a pricier/nice notebook and pens. By doing this, you will want to keep your notebook organized and neat because you spent your money on a nicer notebook.

·   DO NOT take notes by writing word for word. To do well on an exam, you need to able to explain a concept to someone as if they know nothing about your topic. If you take notes in a way you understand, than you’ll have a much better chance of fully grasping your topic rather than memorizing it.

·   Read through your notes pretending you are the professor writing exam questions. Even if the professor doesn’t ask the exact question, the question that you asked yourself might help you remember the topic.

·   RELAX. Being tense and high strung is the worst thing for you. If you go to class regularly, take quality notes, engage in class, and review the material as much as you can, there is nothing else you can worry about.

So friends, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed, but if you follow these steps and create unique ones of your own, you’ll do great! Study hard, enjoy school, and do not stress. Before a test to destress, imagine skipping through the park with your celebrity crush . . . you’ll feel invincible.

Are You Scared of IT?

by Rich Felicetti

         The most popular film of summer 2017 has been Andres Muschietti’s It, which focuses on an interdimensional malevolent entity that terrorizes the children of Derry, Maine. The being assumes the role of each child’s primary fear. It most commonly masquerades as Pennywise, a frightening clown, given that most young children fear clowns. It is also seen as a leper when assailing a germophobic child and a werewolf when abducting one child that is petrified of the wolfman. With each child that goes missing, It grows substantially stronger.

From a psychological standpoint, the children are paralyzed by their fear of Pennywise. One common method of reducing fear is exposure therapy, or repeated interaction with the aversive stimulus. After facing Pennywise for an extended period of time, they learn that without his power over them, he is incredibly weak. As the children’s fear begin to fade, It disintegrates, and the children reign supreme. Thus, after repeated exposure, the fear was no longer paralyzing, and the evil Pennywise was thwarted.

So face your fears this weekend and go check out this movie.

What It's Like to Research Pets for a Living

by Liz Roderick

Two weeks ago, Dr. Nancy Dreschel decided to visit Monmouth University to speak about her research on the world of animals. She is a professor at Penn State University where she teaches Companion Animal Science. Essentially, she gets to live out her days studying the bonds and interactions between people and their pets. She’s worked with everything from dogs and cats, to horses. One of her main interests is in the bond between Service Dogs and their people. She actually did a study with sniffing dogs and their trainers to see how stressed both parties were on a practice run versus the field test. She’s also looked at dog stress levels during thunderstorms, and how human presence can help dogs that are afraid! In her research, Dr. Dreschel often uses measures such as heart beat and cortisol (the “stress hormone”) to gauge stress levels. Her work is fascinating because it looks more deeply at human-animal bonds than any other work I’ve read, and it is done in such creative ways. Having Dr. Dreschel speak here was truly and honor!

Are Smartphones Ruining Teenagers' Friendships?

 by Dr. Strohmetz

“Kids today!  They spend all of their time either texting or taking selfies!  No one actually TALKS to each other anymore!”  I’m sure that you have heard these complaints from your parents or other adults, lamenting how smartphones are ruining millennials’ relationships with each other.  However, is there evidence that advances in technology have impacted the quality of teenagers’ friendships?  Is this really the case?  Is social media lowering the quality of friendships?  A recent review suggests this might not be the case. Yau and Reich (2017) found that the online interactions we have with our friends may actually enhance the quality of our friendships. Conversations continue day and night without bothering others and the ability to think about a text before sending it may actually prevent unnecessary arguments from happening.

Click here to read more:

Teens’ online friendships just as meaningful as face-to-face ones

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927105416.htm 

Dr. Strohmetz's Social Influence Lab

by Norelle Bondar

 

The Social Psychology Influence lab is run by Dr. Strohmetz with the help of three lab assistants: myself, Kristi Pannone, and Paige Kaercher. One of our current research projects is looking at whether incorporating appeals to one’s self-expansion motivation can influence the persuasiveness of a message.  We also examining factors that influence one’s decision of not only whether to tip but also how much to tip restaurant servers. 

This lab is a fun, laid back working environment since Dr. Strohmetz makes it feel that way. When we all meet as a group, he always starts off by asking how our own research method classes are doing and he always offers to help us. He is like our father figure in a sense in this lab by trying to give us good advice on life or even just buying us food for the lab. Working in this lab really helps us in the research sequence and helps us grow as leaders. I could not picture myself working with anyone else!

For more information about the lab, click here: 
https://www.davidstrohmetz.com/social-influence-lab