Psych Insight Issue #2, March 8, 2013

Spring Fest Keep an eye out for more details! Sign up sheets to help will be in the department.

What is WPA? Written by Ashley Clements

You have probably heard your psychology professors and the department buzzing about WPA and received countless emails from the Psych Club officers bugging you to sign up for it. But you may be asking, “What exactly is WPA?” WPA stands for Western Psychological Association. It was established in 1921 for the purpose of “stimulating the exchange of scientific and professional ideas.” The association holds an annual convention where it provides students with networking opportunities and a chance to present their research, as well as talk with students from other schools about their interests in Psychological research. In addition to the student presentations, lectures on hot topics and recent findings in psychology are given by leading psychologists throughout the weekend. The convention also features workshops and a WPA film festival, as well as a “psychology marketplace,” with psychology books and apparel galore (I recommend checking out “The Psych Store”). Renowned psychologists often make appearances to give lectures and presentations on their work. Some favorite appearances include Eliot Aronson (Jigsaw Classroom study), Philip Zimbardo (Stanford Prison study), and Elizabeth Loftus (False Memory research). This year’s annual convention will take place at the Grand

Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. It will be an exciting year, as it will feature over

30 distinguished

speakers. Some of the

convention highlights include: “How Language Shapes Thinking” given by Standford’s Lera Boroditsky, “Teachers and Students: Psychology’s Odd Couple” given by Princeton’s Ronald Comer, “Ethnicity And Mental Health: The Strange Case of Asian

Upcoming Events

Spring Quarter

April 12

May 19

April 25-28

Psychology Club Car Wash Haven’t finished your fundraising participation? Want to help out your club? Come and join us at our 3rd and final car wash of the school year!

WPA This year’s annual WPA convention will be held in Reno April 25-28. By this time you should have signed up and paid hotel room fees. We look forward to hanging out and seeing your poster presentations!

“The only normal people are the one’s you don’t know very well.” – Alfred Adler

Americans” given by Palo Alto’s Stanley Sue, and “The More Who Die, the Less We Care: The Twisted Arithmetic of Compassion” given by Paul Slovic. Keep an eye out for more highlights to come on the Psychology Club Facebook page! WPA is a great experience. Our club has an annual dinner at WPA where we all get together to talk and laugh over great food. Going to the convention gives you a chance to bond with your Psych major friends, meet students from other schools, and gain knowledge of the happenings in psychology. If you are interested in going to WPA, talk with one of the Psychology Club officers to find out what you need to do in order to attend.

Psych Insight Issue #2, March 8, 2013

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Psychology Major Fieldwork Placements

Danielle Nelson, PUC Elementary School

With busy schedules and demanding core classes, one-credit courses can sometimes seem trivial. However, as a part of my coursework this winter, I have taken the class Fieldwork in Psychology to broaden my knowledge and hands-on experience within the field. There were many internship opportunities presented at the beginning of the course, however I decided on being an educational mentor at PUC Elementary. To merely say that the experience has been rewarding would be an understatement beyond all measure. The children that I work with are precious beyond belief and the breadth of their knowledge is astounding. Children come with unique identities and being able to observe their behavior so closely is educationally invaluable. If you choose to take this course, the chances of you regretting it are slim to none. The knowledge you’ll reap is priceless and the people you meet along the way will help broaden your understanding and interest within the field. Working with these children has given me a sense of reassurance in my decision to work with children as a career. This course helped me to solidify my decision-making and gave me an opportunity to learn in a structured, experiential way. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything and I’d highly recommend the course to anyone who has a desire to learn and serve the greater community.

Jenny Lee, Moving Forward Towards Independence

Moving Forward Towards Independence is a nonprofit organization for young adults with cognitive disabilities. This residential program helps people of our age or older by teaching them a variety of skills so that they would be able to move out of the program and live independently. Those who enter the program live with a group of people who are at the similar level of functioning, and their goal is to learn different skills so that they would become capable of living independently, and move out to the community. As an intern, my job is to help them specifically with learning and practicing social skills, by playing games, taking walks, and holding general conversations among others. In a typical day at Moving Forwards, I spend the first hour just hanging out with the residents. If the residents are willing, we go out for a walk in the neighborhood, chatting as we go around the block. If not, we play board games or card games. The second hour is reserved for classes; I attend the classes with the residents as they learn specific skills. In the third hour, we have dinner together as we carry out conversations, keeping up the continual practice of social interactions. Being at Moving Forward is such a valuable experience for me; I feel like I’m learning more than the residents. Fieldwork is a great way to see in real life what you learn in the textbook, and to get a feel for what will be required of us as we pursue careers related to psychology.

Through the Camera Lens

Two weeks ago Psychology and Social Work students got together to discuss the recent psychological thriller “Side Effects”. Dr. Fulton led out the discussion and pie and ice cream were served at Black Bear Diner in Napa as compliments of the Psychology Club. Thanks to all who came and participated in the discussion!

Psych Insight Issue #2, March 8, 2013

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What is PSI CHI & How Can You Become a Member?

Psychology Alumni, Where are They Now?

Name: Fabienne Leaf Age: 24 Hometown: Fallbrook, CA Graduate school: Loma Linda University What are you studying at Loma Linda University? I am in the Psy.D doctoral program and am specializing in Clinical Health Psychology.

What do you intend to do with your degree? Once I obtain my degree, I intend to work in a medical environment, likely in a hospital or family medical center. I am also looking into conducting neuropsychological assessments part time as this area is of particular interest to me.

What is the most challenging aspect of graduate school? Learning to accept your limits. Once you start seeing clients and/or join a research lab, you will need to balance several different obligations. While it is important to show initiative and to gain experience in a lot of different areas, be careful not to overdo it because the quality different quality of your work (and sanity) will suffer. What is the most rewarding aspect of graduate school? Getting the chance to practice what you’ve only been able

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Psi Chi is the national honors society for those who have made psychology one of their main interests. The goals of Psi Chi are to motivate students to maintain “excellence in scholarship, and [to advance] the science of psychology.” For those of you who are interested in becoming a member of Psi Chi, there are a few requirements that need to be met. The Psi Chi Constitution requires that undergraduate student applicants to Psi Chi: •Must be enrolled as a student at PUC •Must have completed be at least 64 quarter hours of college credits •Must be enrolled as a major or minor in psychology •Must have completed at least 14 quarter hours of

to experience in textbooks and finding out the unique gifts that you bring to the table. Nothing feels better than doing what you love.

Is there anything you did not do, but wish you had done as a psychology student at PUC? Not really. I feel that my studies at PUC prepared for graduate school. I’ve noticed that many students in my program had little to no exposure to certain topics in their undergraduate programs that we studied extensively at PUC. In addition, PUC offers students the chance to volunteer through the fieldwork class, which is a great way to prepare for graduate school since you get some exposure to the populations you’ll be working with.

What did/do you do to relieve stress as a student at PUC/graduate school? Both at PUC and in graduate school I read a great deal when I felt the need to take a break from studying. I also make time to socialize with friends and family. Because you’re in a high stress environment in graduate school, it is important to break up that stress by doing things that help recharge your cognitive batteries, so to speak, so you can keep going.

What’s your number one piece of advice for undergraduate psychology students at PUC? Really take time to inform yourself about the different opportunities available to you if you pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology and be ready to change your mind once you actually start. It’s important to go in with an open mind because you will likely change your mind about what you want to do.

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psychology courses (PSYC prefix) •Must have an overall GPA that is in the top 35% of their class (this is usually between 3.3 and 3.4) •Must have a psychology GPA that is at least 3.00 on a 4-point scale Membership Fee is $45.00 (paid to the national office, one-time, lifetime fee) must have paid dues to local club for 2012-13 year in scholarship, and further the science of psychology. For more information please visit psichi.org.

Psych Insight Issue #2, March 8, 2013

Major Memory for Microblogs Summarized by Carolina Meza

Psych Insight

PUC Psychology Club One Angwin Ave

Angwin, CA 94508

Facebook. Some people love it. Others hate it. It is a form of communication in which individuals express something they feel should be shared with others. Why is it that sometimes we are more able to remember a post than the material we try to study for an upcoming quiz? Mickes, Darby, Hwe, Bajic, Warker, Harris, and Christenfeld (2013) proposed a new phenomenon they named the "incredible memorability of microblogs". The first experiment was broken up into two sections. The first section compared memory for random sentences in books and memory for Facebook posts, and the participants were also asked how confident they were about having seen the post or sentence. The Facebook posts were more accurately and confidently remembered than the memory for the book sentences. Mickes et al conducted a second study in order to determine whether people had a better memory for Facebook posts or pictures of faces. They found that of the 200 Facebook posts, the accuracy of memory was higher than for the 200 pictures of faces. Mickes et al points out that Facebook has an advantage over books the way healthy individuals have an advantage over amnesic individuals. Follow-up experiments were conducted to better understand why Facebook post memory is so superior to book and facial memory. Experiment 2 was created in the context of social thinking or social elaboration. They conducted a 2 x 2 design (shallow vs. deep processing and book sentences vs. Facebook posts). They found two main effects: First, that Facebook posts were again better remembered than sentences in books and second, that

deep encoding produced better memorability. Mickes et al concluded that social elaboration is not the cause of good memory for Facebook posts. Experiment 3 looked into the content: headlines, sentences, and comments from CNN's Breaking News and Entertainment News

sections. They found that headlines were remembered more than random sentences; gossipy reports were even more memorable than news stories; the random sentences from entertainment news were more memorable than breaking news articles; and, comments were more memorable than either random sentences in an article or headlines from the same article. Mickes et al said word length is not an explanation for the memorability differences because the best-remembered stimuli were not the headlines, which are short in length, but the stimuli best remembered were intermediate in length. Mickes et al ended saying that the gossipy nature of Facebook posts could contribute to its memorability. My conclusion? Maybe we should start writing our assignments out as our Facebook posts and we’ll have them memorized in no time!

Laura Mickes, Ryan S. Darby, Vivian Hwe, Daniel Bajic, Jill A. Warker, Christine R. Harris, Nicholas J. S. Christenfeld. Major memory for microblogs. Memory & Cognition, 2013; DOI: 10.3758/s13421-012-0281-6

Redrawn by Jordan Thornburgh