Psychology Student Research
One of the major foundations of Psychology is research. Knowing the importance of research, both undergraduate and graduate students are highly encouraged to conduct their own research projects. The end product of a number of those projects have resulted in presentations beyond Washburn University, at regional and international conferences. Here is a sampling of student research.
- O'Neill, S.M. & Russell, M.K. (2017). Impact of postural stability and modality on the perception of passage and surface climbing. Ecological Psychology, 29(1), 54-68.
- Schneider, B. W., Glover, J., & Turk, C. L. (2016). Predictors of family satisfaction following a child’s disclosure of sexual orientation. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 12(2), 203-215. doi: 10.1080/1550428X.2015.1037036
- Beims, L. & Wooldridge, C. (2017). The impact of the teacher-student relationship on learning. Oral presentation at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Brown, S. & Russell, M.K. (2016). Using sound to detect the presence of an occluding object: Can physics alone explain human perception? Poster presented at the annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting, Boston. MA.
- Brown, S. & Russell, M.K. (2016). Using echolocation to detect the existence of openings and object location. Poster presented at the annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting, Boston. MA.
- Day, K. & Russell, M.K. (2017). Perception of vertical gaps: Does perception equal action? Poster presented at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Elsbernd, A., Duncan, A., & Boydston, J. (2017). The relationship between ADHD presentations, sleep, & functional impairments. Poster presented at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Hallauer, C. & Duncan, A. (2017) An Exploratory Study of the Potential Psychological and Health Benefits of Pokemon Go. Oral presentation at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS. Awarded First Place.
- Higdon , N. & Schmalzried, R. (2017). #Old Lives Matter - Not!: The effects of ageism bias on millennials. Poster presented at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Joy, E., Stran., B., Moffitt., K., & Wooldridge., C. (2016). Student attitudes and outcomes related to types of quizzing. Oral presentation at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention. Kearney, NE.
- Misegadis, T. B., Turk, C. L., Gibson, L., Moser, J. C., Glynne, B. L., & Wold, K. A. (2016, November). Distract or reappraise: Regulating emotional responses in generalized anxiety disorder. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
- Moffitt, K., & Duncan, A. (2016). Mindfulness mobile applications: The impact on college student health and well-being. Poster submitted for presentation at the 2017 meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, San Antonio, TX.
- Moffitt, K., & Duncan, A. (2016). The impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) mobile applications on college student mental health. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY. Awarded Outstanding New Research Poster Award, Technology and Behavior Change Special Interest Group (SIG).
- Moffitt, K., & Joy, E. (2016). Effectiveness of mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) mobile applications: Focus groups with undergraduate college students. Poster presented at the 2016 Great Plains Psychology Convention, Kearney, NE. Awarded Second Place, Graduate Empirical Poster.
- Moffitt, K., Joy, E., Stran, B., Smalley, R., Hockett, J., & Provorse, D. (2016). Preventing sexual and relationship violence on college campuses. Poster submitted for presentation at the 2017 meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, San Antonio, TX.
- Newins, R., Secrest, K., & Schmalzried, R. (2017). #RIP: Exploring grief processing through social media apps such as Facebook and Snapchat. Poster presented at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Secrest, K. & Schmalzried, R. (2017). The positive impacts of art creation and meditation. Poster presented at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Smalley, R., Stran., B., Moffitt, K., Joy, E., Provorse, D., & Hockett., J. (2016). Development of psychoeducational groups addressing relationships and sexual assault with greek fraternities. Poster submitted for presentation at the 2017 meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, San Antonio TX.
- Welch, A., Qualls, W., & Gibson, L. (2017). Predicting domain-specific creative behaviors using assessments of divergent thinking. Poster presented at the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, Hays, KS.
- Wooldridge, C., Joy, E., & Stran, B. (2016). The reality of real classrooms: Implementing quizzing to improve student outcomes. Poster presented at the Annual Conference on Teaching through the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Atlanta, GA.
- Wooldridge, C., Joy, E., Stran, B., & Moffitt, K. (2016). Trading effectiveness for efficiency: Methods of classroom quizzing. Poster presented at the Society for the Teaching of Psychology Affiliate Meeting at the Midwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference. Chicago, IL.
- Wold, K. A., & Turk, C. L. (2016). Social anxiety and childhood bullying: Effect on perceptions of workplace teasing. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
Our students are encouraged to complete a thesis (Honor's thesis for undergraduate students and Master's thesis for our graduate students). The following links contain the list (year of publication, title, author) of theses completed by our amazing students!
- Theses published between 1978 and 1989
- Theses published between 1990 and 1999
- Theses published between 2000 and 2009
- Theses published between 2010 to now
- Master list of all published theses
Copies of the actual theses can be found in the Psychology department (Henderson, room 211).
GET IN TOUCH WITH Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Henderson Learning Resource Center, Room 211
Washburn University
1700 SW College Ave.
Topeka, KS 66621
Phone & Email
Phone: 785.670.1564
psychology@washburn.edu