Research Opportunities

Research Experiences for Undergraduates

The department's exceptional facilities include an eight-room observational laboratory equipped with one-way mirrors for research in developmental and social psychology, as well as thirty laboratory rooms equipped for research in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, social/personality psychology, and clinical psychology.

Many students collaborate with faculty on research; each year, two dozen or more psychology students are involved in supervised research or independent (honors) research. Many students present their research at professional conferences and/or publish their results in professional journals. Take a look at some Hope students in action at a recent undergraduate research symposium.

During the past few semesters Hope students have conducted research on a variety of topics, including

• the effects of certainty of forgiveness on depression
• the impact of double standards on perceptions of sexual behaviors
• the relationship between ethnicity, body image and eating disorders
• the relationship between alexithymia and juvenile delinquency
• the effect of spousal expectancies on the outcome of treatment for alcoholism
• the effects of phonological similarity on the use of mutual exclusivitiy bias in bilingual children's word learning
• preschooler's cognitive strategies that influence the use of mutual exclusivity in word learning

APA Undergraduate Research Links