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PsychNotes
www.psychology.ccsu.edu/psychnotes
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Welcome to the PsychNotes Website!!
PsychNotes, a regular publication of the Psychology Department at Central Connecticut State University, is intended to inform members of the Psychology community (faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, alumni) about current happenings in the Department.
Congratulations to Dr. Moises Salinas and Dr. Carolyn
Fallahi for being nominated for the Excellence in Teaching Award and making it
to the Teaching Honor Roll!
We
have three new faculty members on our staff.
Please welcome
Ms. Caroline Tyler, Dr. Peter Marcus, and Dr. Rebecca Wood.
Ms.
Tyler grew up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and received her BA from Gettysburg
College in Psychology with a minor in Art History.
In August of 1997, she began her graduate program at the University of
North Carolina – Chapel Hill. She
is currently working toward her doctorate in Developmental Psychology and
anticipates receiving this degree in December of this year.
As a graduate student, Ms Tyler worked on projects examining children’s
memory for events and those variables that influence their suggestibility.
She examined normative changes in young children’s memory and language
skills from 18 to 42 months as well as mother’s communicative styles and how
these two things influenced the development of children’s strategies as they
transitioned into school. Her
general research interests include: children’s memory, eyewitness testimony,
and selective looking strategies.
Dr.
Wood received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah in
1993. Prior to entering graduate
school, she spent a year at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where she was
Project Coordinator for a study of parent-infant interactions during peek-a-boo
games (Project Director, Dr. Susan A. Holt).
She earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of
Connecticut in 2002. Her graduate
research (under the direction of Dr. Gwen E. Gustafson) explored acoustic and
contextual influences on adults’ responses to infants’ cries.
Dr. Wood has just completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Infant
Vision Laboratory (Director, Ann. M Skoczenski) of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Center, where she conducted research on the relation between visual acuity and
dyslexia in 6 – 16 year-old children. Dr.
Wood’s research interests include Communication development in early childhood
and perception.
Mark
your calendars! On Wednesday,
November 12th, from 11:00-12:30, please join the psychology faculty
for a luncheon in the Constitution Room. The
faculty department sponsors this event every year! Join us for good food and get to know your psychology
faculty.
Please
mark your calendars! On Wednesday,
November 4th, the famous MIT Linguistics professor, Noam Chomsky,
will come to Central. Dr. Chomsky is well known for his theories on how children
develop language. Do you remember
learning about the language acquisition device?
That is Noam Chomsky’s work. Dr.
Chomsky will present a talk on “Factors in the Design of Language” at 3:30
p.m. in Torp Theater, Davidson Hall. This
lecture is free and open to the public. He
will lecture later that evening on Middle East Policies and Politics when he
speaks on “The Grand Imperial Strategy in the Middle East.”
This lecture is at 7:00 p.m. in Welte Auditorium.
This talk is free, but requires a ticket, which you might be able to
obtain from one of your psychology professors.
We have limited seating.
Please
mark your calendars! On Wednesday,
October 29th, at 2:00, in Room 1849 Student Center, come hear Dr.
Rebecca Wood speak on Acoustic Correlates of Adults’ Perceptions of Infant
Distress.
Why do we respond to babies’ cries?
The answer appears obvious, but it is not.
Our perceptions of and responses to crying are influenced by many
factors, including how distressed the infant sounds, and our recent care-giving
activities (e.g., time of last feeding, diaper change, etc.).
In this presentation, Dr. Wood will discuss how adults’ judgments of
infant distress relate to acoustic characteristics of cries, how these relations
change over the course of a long cry bout, and how information about the
care-giving context (“this baby needs a nap!”) affects adults’ responses
to crying. Dr. Wood will also
present preliminary evidence for individual differences in cry acoustics, and
for the notion that adults may calibrate their perceptions of distress to the
cries of a particular infant.
Please
mark your calendars! On Monday,
November 17th, at 2:00, in Room 1849 Student Center, come hear
Professor Caroline Tyler lecture on factors that affect children’s memories.
As
of Spring 2003 Semester, all psychology majors will be required to take a
“Standardized Psychology Achievement Test” in order to graduate.
The test will be administered according to the following guidelines:
· All students
with Senior standing (86+ credits) will be eligible to take the test
·
The test will be administered two (2) times per semester. The dates for testing sessions will be posted outside of the
Chair’s Office, Room 212-Marcus White Hall, the first week of classes every
semester
·
Eligible students will register to take the test with the department
secretary, Room 211-Marcus White Hall, at least one week before the scheduled
exam date
We
strongly recommend that you plan ahead and register to take the test with enough
time to avoid being denied graduation because of this requirement.
Psychology Achievement Testing Sessions for Fall 2003 include:
Friday, 11/14 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in FD Auditorium (Room 001) or Friday,
11/21 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in FD Auditorium (Room 001).
The Psychology department in combination with the
Psychology club recently sponsored a two-part brown bag series luncheon
featuring Dr. Michelle Williams, a clinical psychologist from UCONN, speaking on
“Getting Into Graduate School”. Her
talk was well received. She focused
on the need for clearly understanding the different types of programs,
submitting application materials early, and getting practical experience in the
field of research prior to applying in order to enhance the chance of getting
accepted.
It
is important that you meet with your academic advisor to plan your academic
program at CCSU, to prepare your class schedule, to ask any questions that you
may have, or to assist you in planning your future career.
To help you get in touch with your advisor, a directory of psychology
faculty that contains their telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and office
hours has been placed in our web page this Spring Semester. If you don’t have
an advisor, please see the secretary to be assigned one.
The
Spring 2004 academic advising begins on Monday, October 27 and goes through
Friday, November 7th. Registration
begins on Monday, November 10th.
The Psychology Department will have an Advising Table in operation during
the week of November 3 to November 7 (located across from Marcus White Lounge).
Faculty will be available in this Advising Table from 8:00 a.m. through 4:00
p.m. Come up and see an advisor and pick up your PIN.
Do not forget to bring your personal information, e.g. psychology
booklet, tentative list of courses, audit (if Senior) from the university, etc.
All
Psychology majors are encouraged to join the Psychology Club.
The club meets several times each semester, and sponsors a number of
events including speakers and an annual trip to a psychology conference.
The Faculty Advisor to the club is Dr. James Conway (office: Room
215-Marcus White Hall, phone: (860) 832-3107, e-mail: ConwayJ@ccsu.edu). The 2003-2004 Psychology club president is Chelsea Gaynor.
To contact Chelsea regarding the Psychology club, please email her at:
ccsupsychclub@yahoo.com.
Psychology
Majors are invited to join Psi Chi – The National Honor Society in Psychology.
The purpose of Psi Chi is to encourage excellence in scholarship of the
individual members, and to advance the science of psychology.
We have had a chapter of Psi Chi at CCSU for over 30 years.
The criteria for joining are:
·
Each candidate must have completed at least 12 semester hours in
Psychology including Psychology 221 (Research Methods I)
·
The candidate must have an overall GPA of 3.25 and a GPA in Psychology
courses of 3.5.
Dr. Fallahi is the advisor for the CCSU chapter of Psi
Chi. For further information about the Society, contact her:
Office: Marcus White Room 208
Phone: (860)
832-3114
E-mail:
fallahic@ccsu.edu
Mail:
Psychology main office in Room 211-Marcus White Hall (second floor).
Our
newly elected officers for the 2003-2004 academic year include:
President
Robert Fellows
Vice President Shahin
Shaikh
Treasurer
Shannon Broderick
Secretary
Taryn Miller
Congratulations
to the executive officers!
Psi
Chi has been meeting weekly on Friday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. in 208 Marcus
White Hall. The members of Psi Chi
are currently working on individual and group research projects to submit to the
Eastern Psychological Association and other conferences/journals.
If you are interested in participating with this group, please contact
Dr. Fallahi. Please note, you do
not have to be an active member of Psi Chi to join our research group!
All are welcome!
Francisco
J. Donis, Chairperson
Psychology Department