2013 Cohort

Javier Arteta

Supervisor: Dr. Davis

My research interests include the areas of forensic and social psychology. I am interested in psychopathic traits, authoritarian traits, aggression and their interactions with peer group influences which bring about criminal and delinquent behavior. I am currently investigating the possible influences of these factors on hazing in college campuses. Future areas of research will examine the biological correlates of these factors.

Theis Title:  The Dark Tetrad of personality, Social Dominance Orientation, and their relationship in hazing behaviors of college students
 

Joe Bassili

Supervisor: Dr. Kelemen

My main research interest involves understanding factors that influence cognitive processes. For example, research suggests that exercise not only improves cognitive performance, but that it may also offset the decrease in performance typically observed during non-optimal times of the day. My thesis will examine these areas, especially in regard to metamemory (i.e., one’s ability to monitor and control one’s own memory). My current focus in metamemory is in using judgements of learning (JOLs) to measure the accuracy of memory monitoring. My thesis research will examine whether exercise affects the time of day memory effect, as well as how time of day and exercise impact the accuracy of JOLs.

Thesis Title:  How Physical Activity and Time of Day Influence Free Recall and Judgements of Learning

Michael Bell

Supervisor: Dr. Mendez

I have many research interests in the fields of social and cognitive psychology. During my undergraduate years at Texas State I have done work on attitudes, social cognition, and impression formation. For my thesis, I am studying the impact of sensational news media on people’s attitudes, memory, and comprehension of the material.

Thesis Title:  Effects of Sensational News on Memory and Attitudes
 

Angie Carballo

Supervisor: Dr. Osborne

I'm mostly interested in researching anything that has to do with social psychology. I love it all. I intend to research the possibility that humans are cognitively wired to categorize people but this categorization is mediated (e.g., strengthened or weakened) by certain cognitive processing tendencies.
 

Thesis Title:  Cognitive complexity, ambiguit,y tolerance and racialscenario acceptance

Ricardo Castaneda

Supervisor: Dr. Howard

Research Interests: Chronic Pain and Major Depression, Mood disorders, behavioral neuroscience, sports psychology.

Thesis Title:  Psychosocial Variables Predicting Functional Restoration Treatment Outcomes for Patients with Chronic Occupational Musculoskelital Disorder
 

Jaime Chambers

Supervisor: Dr. Howard

I have a BA in Psychology from Texas State University and a BA in Communications from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My primary focus is in Quantitative Psychology, with special focus in psychometrics and statistical analysis.  My research interests are in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Occupational Health Psychology, specifically techniques and strategies to improve the workplace and related occupational health factors.

Thesis Title:  Factors that Contribute to Attrition of Teachers within Texas' Public Schools

Reginald Clark

Supervisor: Dr. Ceballos

My research interests include multicultural and diversity issues, personality, development, and counseling psychology. I am interested in understanding relationships between family dysfunction and first generation status and academic performance.

Thesis Title:  Factors influencing academic success in first generation college students
 

Briana Cobos

Supervisor: Dr. Haskard-Zolnierek

My research interests include health psychology and clinical psychology. My thesis focuses on how depression affects medication adherence.

Thesis Title:  The Relationship between Psychological Disorders and Medication Adherence
 

Natalie N. De Leon

Supervisor: Dr. Schepis

My primary research interests include coping, substance use, and substance abuse prevention and therapy. Additionally, I am interested in data collection techniques employed in real-time, natural environments as opposed to questionnaires given in a lab setting. My thesis will explore prescription drug misuse in young adults using Ecological Momentary Assessment.

Thesis Title:  Assessing Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants Using an iPhone Application

Haley Harris

Supervisor: Dr. Westerberg

Research interests include cognition and biopsychology, memory in particular. My thesis will examine the influence of pain and anticipation of pain on brain activity and memory performance.

Thesis Title:  Pain Anticipation and Memory: An ERP Study
 

Chris Hawkins

Supervisor: Dr. Westerberg

I'm interested in memory, sleep, and cognitive neuroscience in general. My thesis examines visuospatial memory consolidation.

Thesis Topic:  The Selective Consolidation of Declarative Memories
 

Velia Hernandez

Supervisor: Dr. Oberle

My research interests are in risks of poverty, financial decisions, optimum learning abilities in children, media and technology effects on the brain, and the psychology of food advertisements to parents and obesity in children. My thesis is on risks and resilience of poverty in relation to having children or delaying parenthood.

Thesis Title:  Linking Academic Entitlement with Work Values, Work Ethics, and Job Entitlement
 

Anna Kobee

Supervisor: Dr. Graham

Research interests: psychopathy, forensic psychology, anger outbursts in children with ADHD, psychopathic tendencies, family involvement, and high risk behaviors (e.g., drinking, promiscuous behavior, violence).

Thesis title: Correlation between psychopathy and problem behaviors among college students
 

Adrienne M. Koller

Supervisor: Dr. Graham

Interests – My interests include psychological and behavioral disturbances as they apply to delinquent behavior in children and adults, psychopathy, and neuropsychological and forensic assessments of criminals. My thesis will examine the experiences of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed former students of Bruno Bettelheim's Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School.

Thesis Title:  Surviving the "Yellow Door" - An Analysis of Post-treatment Psychosocial Resilience
 

Matthew Light

Supervisor: Dr. Graham

My research interests include visual attention with regard to emotional salience, especially the negativity effect (the fact that attention is attracted to and held by negatively-valenced objects). My thesis will examine individual and mood differences in eye movements to complex scenes that contain arrays of emotionally and visually salient objects competing for visual attention.

Thesis Title:  Individual Differences in Emotional and Motivational Salience for Complex Scenes
 

Rachel Price

Supervisor: Dr. Howard

I am interested in researching stress and somatic symptoms. My thesis will examine the effects of stress on gastrointestinal somatic symptoms in teachers in Texas.
 

Thesis Title:  Gastrointestinal Disorder and Stress in Texas Teachers

Chris Prickett

Supervisor: Dr. Graham

My research interests focus on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Specifically, I am studying nonverbal emotional recognition in those diagnosed with ASD as it pertains to body posture and gross and fine motor skills.

Thesis Title: The relationship between motor performance and emotion recognition in children with autism Spectrum Disorder

Eric Salas

Supervisor: Dr. Osborne

My current research interests are in the field of Sports Psychology. Specifically, I am interested in examining the role of psychological rehabilitation in return from an athletic injury. In my thesis I would like to determine if there is any correlation between specific personality traits and recovery time. This extends to being physically cleared and psychologically ready to return to play.
 

Thesis Title:  Recovery and Response to  Athletic Injury

Andrew Santana

Supervisor: Dr. Deason

My research interests revolve around cognition and memory. Previous research that I have conducted examined the effects of aerobic exercise on recall and metamemory accuracy. Currently, I am working with my advisor to expand on her previous work with music, memory, and Alzheimer’s disease. We will be assessing the effects of sung or spoken lyrics on a participant’s memory, utilizing ERP as a means to understand the neural correlates of these memory processes. For future research, I intend to gain expertise in the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease in order to develop potential treatments to either inhibit disease onset or aid in the rehabilitation of those already diagnosed with the disease.

Thesis Title:  Music and Memory:  An Assessment of Recognition Memory Utilizing an ERP Analysis
 

Kyle Thurin

Supervisor: Dr. Graham

My research interests are focused on biopsychology and clinical psychology, especially substance abuse and prevention. My thesis will examine event-related potential correlates of attentional biases toward alcohol-related images in college binge drinkers in the hopes of adding new insight into the cognitive functions of individuals with risky drinking behaviors. The outcome will hopefully help in the development and implementation of more successful prevention programs.
 

Thesis Title:  Alcohol Preferences and Event-Related Potential Indices of Cue Reactivity to Alcohol Images

Shannon Wilder

Supervisor: Dr. Mendez

My research interests include social psychology, psychology of women, human sexuality, decision making, and statistical methods. For my thesis, I am studying the frequency of contraceptive use in college women who do not intend to become pregnant and how it might be related to perceptions/attitudes toward pregnancy (e.g., perceived susceptibility, value of motherhood, and ambivalence toward pregnancy).

Thesis Title:  Explanations of non contraceptive use in college women, who are not planning on getting pregnant: Susceptibility, ambivalence, and motherhood