Psychology Department

College-aged individuals are at an increased risk for mental health issues, as well as poor sleep. There is a rich body of research on the negative consequences of poor sleep for cognitive, physical, and mental functioning. Furthermore, several studies provide support for the importance of three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) for optimal mental well-being. Less well understood, however, is the issue of “directionality” between basic psychological needs and sleep as students transition across semesters. “In other words, it is not clear whether an individual’s perceived fulfillment of these basic psychological needs predicts improvements in sleep later on;…

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In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Wesleyan in the News The New Yorker: "The Shapeshifting Music of Tyshawn Sorey" "There is something awesomely confounding about the music of Tyshawn Sorey [MA '11], the thirty-eight-year-old Newark-born composer, percussionist, pianist, and trombonist," begins this profile of Sorey, assistant professor of music. Sorey was recently featured in the Composer Portraits series at Columbia University's Miller Theatre. 2. The Register-Mail: "Video Slots Take Heavy Toll on Some Players" In this article exploring the expansion of video slot gaming in a region…

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H. Shellae Versey, assistant professor of psychology, is the author of "A tale of two Harlems: Gentrification, social capital, and implications for aging in place," published in Social Science & Medicine, Volume 214, October 2018. In this paper, Versey discusses the impact of gentrification on features of the social and cultural environment. "While research generally describes gentrification as a phenomenon of housing shifts and neighborhood migration, I argue that gentrification is more so a process of slow violence that increases housing scarcity and social isolation, disrupts neighborhood social capital, and decreases a sense of belongingness, particularly among older adults and…

Ten Wesleyan seniors and recent alumni are the recipients of 2019-20 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships (ETA) and Fulbright Open Study/Research Awards. The English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Programs place Fulbrighters in classrooms abroad to provide assistance to local English teachers. ETAs help teach English language while serving as cultural ambassadors for the U.S. The age and academic level of the students varies by country, ranging from kindergarten to university level. Applicants for Open Study/Research Awards design their own projects and will typically work with advisors at foreign universities or other institutes of higher education. The study/research awards are available in approximately…

In the first of a continuing series, Sara McCrea '21, a College of Letters major from Boulder, Colo., reviews alumni books and offers this selection for those in search of insight and inspiration. The volumes, sent to us by alumni, are forwarded to Olin Library as donations to the University's collection and made available to the Wesleyan community. In 2004, Susan Lanzoni ’85 read an O Magazine interview of then U.S. Senator Barack Obama, in which he said that, more than America’s budget or trade deficit, he was concerned about an “empathy deficit” in our country. The use of the…

Natural disasters are becoming more common all over the world. While the focus is often on restoring physical damage, these disasters also impact residents of the affected region psychologically in ways that are less well understood. In a paper published in the journal Traumatology on Feb. 7, Assistant Professor of Psychology Royette Tavernier, along with five student coauthors, examined the psychological impact of tropical storm Erika, which hit the Caribbean island of Dominica in August 2015. The data analyzed was based on a sample of 174 college-aged individuals who completed survey-based assessments of several psychosocial variables six months after the storm.…

For his accomplishments in research and scholarship, the University of Minnesota's Department of Psychology is honoring Professor of Psychology Scott Plous with a Distinguished Alumni Award. Plous graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1980 with a BA degree in psychology, summa cum laude. He later completed a PhD in psychology and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. At Wesleyan, Plous's research focuses on judgment and decision-making, prejudice and discrimination, and the human use of animals and the environment. The University of Minnesota's alumni awards honor distinguished alumni from the undergraduate and graduate programs. Nominations are solicited from alumni, faculty,…

Assistant Professor of Psychology Kyungmi Kim, Youngbin (Amabel) Jeon ’19, Alexis Banquer ’20, and Danielle Rothschild ’19 are coauthors of a study published in the October 2018 volume of Consciousness and Cognition. In the paper, "Conscious awareness of self-relevant information is necessary for an incidental self-memory advantage," Kim and her students examine the relative contributions of conscious vs. unconscious self-processing to the incidental self-reference effect. The incidental self-reference effect refers to a memory advantage for items simultaneously presented with self-relevant information (e.g., one’s own name) over those presented with other relevant information (e.g., someone else’s name) when the task at…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News 1. Inside Higher Ed: "Voting Is Good, but Higher Ed Must Do More" In this op-ed, President Michael S. Roth writes: "In a year when inducements to political violence have become normalized at the highest level, colleges and universities must do more than just encourage our students to vote." It is crucial that colleges actively work to protect free expression, free inquiry, and fact-based discussion, Roth argues. (more…)

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Study by Dubar, Students Published in Sleep Health Journal

Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division Hosts Celebration of Science Theses

Wesleyan in the News

Psychology Department Hosts Research Poster Session

Versey Authors Paper on the Impact of Gentrification, Moderates Panel

10 Wesleyan Students, Alumni Win Fulbrights

“You Just Have to Read This…” 3 Books By Wesleyan Authors

Tavernier, Students Coauthor Paper on Psychological Trauma of Natural Disasters

Plous Honored with Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota

Kim, Students Coauthor Paper on Self-Memory Advantage

Wesleyan in the News

Stemler Participates in CTNext’s Entrepreneurship Retreat