Claremont, Calif. (September 22, 2011) — Pitzer College students and alumnus Sophie Beiers ’13, Jessica Bowler ’11, Daniel Feinberg ’12, Ramon Flores ’11, Jyoti Gautam ’11, Abigail Kramer ’13, Jordan Myint ’13, Madison Noble ’12, Jason Rivera ’06, Mariana Schmalstig ’10, Jaime Tokioka ’11 and Timothy Williamson ’13 from the Research Practicum in Psychology course, co-taught by Professors Leah Light and Norma Rodriguez, presented at the 91st Meeting of the Western Psychological Association in Los Angeles.
Flores, Feinberg, Rivera and Schmalstig presented The Generation Effect in Learning of Statistical Concepts, a research that investigates whether constructing a workbook could activate the “generation effect,” a memory effect that has been widely replicated in psychological research and to what extent this activation may play a role in student retention of statistical information.
Bowler, Kramer, Myint, Noble and Tokioka presented Betrayal in Past Relationships Affects Current Experiences in Jealousy, a study that assessed reactive, possessive and anxious jealousy within dating couples. It examined how aspects of one’s current relationship, such as trust may be related to level of satisfaction with one’s relationship. The research showed that higher level of trust in one’s current relationship was associated with greater satisfaction. It concludes that females had higher levels of anxious and possessive jealousy than males. However, no gender differences were found in regards to reactive jealousy. Additionally, levels of reactive jealousy were substantially higher than possessive or anxious jealousy for both males and females.
Gautam, Tokioka and Williamson presented The Role of Culture in Perceived Jealousy, a research study which examined sexual and emotional jealousy in relation to collectivism and individualism. The students found that those who identified highly with a collectivistic cultural value system reported higher levels of both sexual and emotional jealousy in response to jealousy-inducing scenarios. In addition, those who identified highly with an individualistic cultural value system reported higher levels of wanting to end the relationship in response to the same jealousy-inducing scenarios.
Professor Leah Light and Professor Norma Rodriguez teach psychology at Pitzer College.
The Western Psychological Association was founded in 1921 for the purpose of stimulating the exchange of scientific and professional ideas and, in so doing to enhance interest in the processes of research and scholarship in the behavioral sciences.
