Dr. Phil Dunwoody's Lab

 

As a political psychologist, I focus on understanding support for antidemocratic attitudes and political violence. I collaborate with Dr. Territa Poole, associate professor of psychology, and Dr. Dennis Plane, professor of politics, frequently.

Specifically, I focus on how authoritarian ideology, perceptions of "others" as threatening, and conspiracy-oriented propaganda undermine democracy and ultimately lead to support for violence. I‘m interested in understanding why some people support hate-crimes and other forms of terrorism and oppression.

 

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Dr. Kyle Jaquess' CAM Lab

 

My research is broadly focused on understanding factors related to high-level human performance, also known as expert performance, from a cognitive-affective-motor (CAM) neuroscience perspective.

• What makes an expert an expert? 
• How do experts achieve such a high level of ability? 
• What factors contribute to performance success or performance failure?  

These are the types of broad questions that the lab explores in our investigations.  

To conduct such investigations, we use the tools of psychology and physiology.  In addition to sampling the "normal" population, we have also utilized certain special populations in previous investigations including athletes, military personnel (active duty and veteran), first responders, and aviators as exemplars of high-level human performers.

 

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Dr. Poole's PLAD-Eq Lab

 

I am an Educational Psychologist by disciplinary training. Educational Psychology is the study of 'Learners', 'Learning Processes', and 'Learning Environments', and people who work in this field typically do research in the areas of Motivation & Emotion, Learning Science, and Human Development.  

My lab is a ‘hub’ lab; I do mixed-methods, quantitative, and qualitative research at the intersections of Personality, Learning Science, Affective Science (aka, Emotion Research), Human Development (with an emphasis on the Social and Cultural Foundations of Behavior) and Equity.  Students who join my lab engage in collaborative interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects.  Students learn to apply concepts, methodologies, and tools of psychological science (e.g., CPAR,  Qualtrics, Jamovi, SPSS, Eye Tracking, and ExpiWell), and  also have the opportunity to take the lead in designing, conducting, and presenting their own  research ideas (e.g., at Juniata’s annual LAS and also at national conferences, such as the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Problems/SPSSI).  

My goal is to get students excited about research by connecting our investigations to phenomena that are not just interesting to me, but more importantly, to things that are personally meaningful and relevant to the lives of the people who join the lab.

 

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Dr. Kathryn Westcott’s Lab

 

I am a school psychologist, which is an applied field of psychology that works with children, families and school systems to promote optimal learning for all students. Recently, my research has focused on the transition to college and well-being. In addition, I have been active with a variety of community health initiatives in the Huntingdon community. 

This year, the main focus of my lab is linked to a National Science Foundation grant that explores a range of factors, including self-efficacy, goal attainment, and family support, and how they may connect to low-income students’ retention in STEM fields and pursuit of STEM careers. This is a mixed methods study with opportunities to work with both quantitative and qualitative data sets.  

Also, a three-year project, supported by an Americorps VISTA , has focused on examining barriers to mental health services in the Huntingdon county community. This work has resulted in a range of data collection and outreach services to better understand the landscape of mental health services, from both residents and practitioner viewpoints.  This project includes the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data and has opportunities for resource development and community outreach.

 

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Dr. David Widman's JCEvoLab

 

My lab is focused on evolutionary explanations for current human behavior.  Currently we are investigating the evolutionary influences on human dating and mating behavior.  Recent lines of investigation have pursued issues of intrasexual competition in women and men, sexual fluidity in women, perceptions of men and women showing possible sexually significant physical features, and trust of individuals who have been either sexually or emotionally unfaithful to a significant other. 

To investigate these topics using a variety of methods, including survey procedures with Qualtrics, eye-tracking technology to examine where participants direct their gaze, and various cognitive tasks using stimulus presentation software.  

Student researchers typically are responsible for running participants in the lab.  As students gain experience, students are given more responsibility for the research and can eventually propose senior thesis research with sufficient experience.