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Psychology Capstone Project Judges
The Undergraduate Program Committee and Psi Chi thank the following individuals who served as judges at this year’s symposium.
Faculty Judges
401 - Cort Rudolph, Ph.D.
488 - John Chambers, Ph.D.
487 - Janet Kuebli, Ph.D.
490 - Mindy Shoss, Ph.D.
Psychology Capstone Courses and Instructors
PSY 401 Advanced Statistics & Research Methods Kristin K. Kiddoo, Ph.D.
PSY 487 Human Services Practicum Project
PSY 488 Capstone Research Project
PSY 490 Critical Thinking Project
Graduate Student Judges
Priscilla Fernandez, M.A.
Marissa Roffler, M.S.
Ursula Sanborn, M.S.
Abbie Harris, M.A.
Katelyn Poelker, B.A.
Wells Ling, B.A.
Honore Hughes, Ph.D.
Terri Weaver, Ph.D.
Bryan Sokol, Ph.D.
Jillon Vander Wal, Ph.D.
Mindy Shoss, Ph.D.
David Kaufman, Ph.D.
Tony Buchanan, Ph.D.
Michael Ross, Ph.D.
Challis Kinnucan, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Program Committee
Janet Kuebli, Ph.D. – Chair
Kristin K. Kiddoo, Ph.D.
A.
Michael Anch, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Gfeller, Ph.D.
Richard Harvey, Ph.D.
Mindy Shoss, Ph.D.
Challis Kinnucan, Ph.D.
Lucy Headrick, Undergrad Committee Chair
Psi Chi Officers
Chelsi Creech – President
Lucy Headrick – Vice-Pres
Leigh Kunkle and Michelle
Monehan – Secretaries
Chelsea DeLeon – Activities and Publicity
Emma Brett – Office Manager
Sara Reitz – Psi Chi Newsletter
Editor

POSTER A-1 Effects of Reputation and Need for Cogniton on Impression
Formation in the Context of Online Instructor
Authors:
Reviews: Examining the Influence of RateMyProfessors.com
Andrew Mertens, Michelle Monehan, & Sarah Reitz
Studies have shown that instructor reputation can impact impression formation in students, but few have measured this effect in a modern context. The present study examined the effects of instructor reputation and the need for cognition of students on impression formation in the context of the instructor evaluation website RateMyProfessors.com.
Individuals with high need for cognition tend to prefer to think and make judgments for themselves. Fabricated RateMyProfessor.com profiles were used to expose participants to negative or positive instructor reputations. After watching a short video lecture, participants completed an instructor evaluation based on institutional instructor evaluations and main attributes measured on RateMyProfessors.com. A Need for Cognition Inventory was administered to determine participants’ need for cognition. It was predicted that the impressions of students with high levels of need for cognition would be less impacted by instructor reputation compared to those of students with low levels of need for cognition.
POSTER A-2 Resiliency of Self-Esteem: The Effect of Peer Achievement and
Authors:
Feedback
Danielle Mungenast, Sara Mallatt, & Jeanette Nguyen
Previous research defines self-esteem as a stable trait that is not influenced by the context of any given situation. However, an influx of current research suggests a malleable and contextdependent form of self-esteem termed state self-esteem. This study examined the impact of verbal feedback and perceived peer achievement on state self-esteem. Participants completed a resume worksheet outlining personal accomplishments and then received positive or negative feedback in order to initiate the participant’s comparison to a peer with either a high or low achieving resume before measuring state self-esteem. The researchers predicted a main effect of feedback, in which positive feedback would elicit higher self-esteem than negative feedback, and a main effect of peer achievement, in which perceived low achievement results in higher self-esteem than perceived high achievement. However, participants who view a high achieving peer will be more strongly affected by the feedback than participants viewing a low achieving peer.
POSTER A-3 The Role of Observer Effects and Feedback on Performance
Authors: Ratna Garigipati, Mallory Stumpf, Victoria Stake, & Mark Tapia
Feedback is important in academic settings and forms a crucial facet of most teacher-student relationships. Research suggests that both negative feedback from an instructor and being placed in a situation of potential evaluation by observers worsens subsequent academic performance. The current study aimed to combine the concepts of feedback and observer presence to explore their effects on arithmetic task performance. Participants were asked to

imagine a hypothetical scenario in which they had failed to complete an assignment and prepare a defense, after which either positive or negative feedback was given either in the presence or absence of an observer. It was predicted that performance on the math task would be lower with negative feedback than with positive feedback. Additionally, it was predicted that an observer would lead to lower performance, but only when the participant was given negative feedback.
POSTER A-4
Authors:
Music and Test Anxiety on Short-Term Memory Task
Performance
Meredith O’Neill, John Shahan, & Sasha Williams
Previous research shows that music and anxiety negatively affect memory performance.
Research has also determined that vocal has a more negative effect than non-vocal music on short-term memory performance. Furthermore, research has shown that music generally reduces anxiety levels. The current study examined the relationship between music and test anxiety on short-term memory. Music was manipulated by playing either vocal or non-vocal music through a speaker. Participants filled out the STABS test-anxiety scale before the memory task; their responses placed them in the anxious or non-anxious group. Short-term memory performance was determined based on a delayed free-recall memory task. It was predicted that participants high in test-anxiety would perform better on the memory task when listening to non-vocal music instead of vocal. Furthermore, it was predicted that there would be no difference on performance for either vocal or non-vocal music when it came to the low anxiety group.
POSTER A-5
Authors:
The Interaction Effects of Powerful and Technical Language on
Individual Juror Decision-Making
Ashley Locher, Rachel Blain, & Jill Hind
In the United States judicial system, attorneys use strategic language to sway juror decisionmaking. The current study assessed how varying the power and technicality of the prosecutor’s language in a mock trial affected the jurors’ perceived likelihood that the defendant committed the crime. Participants were administered one of four vignettes varying in linguistic technicality and power used by the prosecutor and asked to choose a verdict and report likelihood of the defendant’s guilt. It was predicted that the prosecutor’s use of powerful language would result in a greater reported likelihood than powerless language, and that the prosecutor’s use of technical language will result in a higher likelihood than nontechnical language. Furthermore, because powerful language is indicative of prosecutorial competence, it was predicted that the prosecutor’s use of technical (vs. non-technical) language would only have an effect when the language was powerless.
POSTER A-6 Stressful Intentions: The Effects of Gender and Stress on
Adopting Healthy Eating Practices
Authors: Elizabeth Kunkle, Samantha Abraham, & Nicole Fetcho
Previous research has demonstrated negative correlations between stress and healthy eating and females have been shown to experience higher levels of stress. The present study examined the effects of gender and stress on a person’s intentions towards adopting a healthy

diet. Participants read an overview of a healthy diet and then were given a timed (high stress) or untimed (low stress) math task, Participants then completed a series of surveys including a scale addressing items from the Theory of Planned Behavior and Self-Efficacy. Based on previous research of the negative effects stress has on health, it was predicted that women would indicate lower healthy eating intentions in the experimental condition than men and women would indicate higher healthy eating intentions in the control than men.
POSTER A-7
Authors:
Sex Differences in Justification of Jealous Behaviors
Amina Niksic, Jessica Harvey, & Shaili Shah
Past research has shown that, in general, it is difficult to recognize mildly (vs. overtly) abusive behaviors. As a result, mild abusive behaviors are less likely to receive judgment in cases of intimate partner violence. Due to jealous behaviors being a type of abuse within literature, the present study examined the effect of the gender of a hypothetical jealous partner on the amount of justification their jealous behavior will receive. To assess justification, participants completed the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale and a Likert scale questionnaire containing eight hypothetical vignettes depicting either a male or female jealous partner committing a mild or extreme jealous behavior. It was predicted that, due to
Social Identity Theory, vignettes that display a mild jealous behavior and jealous partner who matches the gender of the participant would receive the most justification.
POSTER A-8 The Influences of Parenting and Teaching Styles on Student
Engagement
Meerah Walia, Nicole Yong, Paul Brown, & Alec Carstens Authors:
Previous research has indicated the importance of parenting styles on social and academic development. More recent research has expanded the breadth of research surrounding parenting styles to teaching styles, which also appears to have a relationship with academic performance. The present study sought to extend this research by examining the relationship between parenting and teaching styles on student engagement in the classroom. Participants completed a survey about the way in which they were parented, read a vignette describing a professor with either an authoritative or authoritarian teaching style, and indicated their likelihood of engagement on a Student Engagement Scale. It was predicted that both authoritative parenting and teaching would demonstrate higher levels of student engagement than authoritarian styles. In addition, it was predicted that participants would report higher engagement if they read about a teaching style that was the same style in which they were parented.
POSTER A-9
Authors:
The Effects of Caffeine on Emotional Responses to Stress
Sam Peter, William Harris, & Sarah Whitman
Caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the United States. Many individuals begin regular caffeine ingestion in college. Research on caffeine’s effects beyond those of enhanced cognitive functioning has yielded conflicting results. It has been reported to increase aggression in response to hostile situations and anxiety in response to stress, but also enhance positive mood perception in users. The present study aimed to discover what effect,

if any, stress has on habitual caffeine users. College students were assigned to categories of high and low habitual caffeine use based on a self-report weekly caffeine inventory, and assigned to either take a timed arithmetic test (stress) or not (non-stress). The PANAS-X was used as the dependent variable to measure positive, negative, hostile, jovial, and serene affect scores following the manipulation. It was predicted that the affect scores of the high-caffeine users would be more affected by the stress manipulation.
POSTER A-10
Authors:
Can you be happy for me? How listening to others’ positive events may provide intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits
Lucy Headrick & Allie Kramer
Previous research has found that sharing positive events, labeled capitalizing, serves as a mechanism to increase positive affect. Additionally, an enthusiastic response promotes the development of trust and prosocial orientation toward the responder. Although prior research has established the interpersonal and intrapersonal benefits of sharing positive events for the capitalizer, there has been little research on the benefits for the responders. In this presentation, we report results from an experiment conducted to examine whether the receiver of capitalization also benefits from another’s sharing of positive life events and the conditions that influence a listener’s (or receiver’s) ability to gain from another’s capitalization. The two factors examined were the type of positive event (personal or achievement related) and the closeness of the relationship between the sharer and the receiver.
POSTER A-11
Author:
Mistake Bias in Mentalizing Abilities in Social Anxiety
Rose E. Hodes
The literature on social anxiety indicates that a negative bias adversely affects the processing of social situations in individuals with social anxiety. The role of self-focused attention
(SFA) in these disruptions has not been examined. This study examined bias towards certain valences (positive, neutral, or negative) on a mentalizing and recognition task. Ninety-seven undergraduates with low or high social anxiety ( M age
=19) participated in this study. A 2x2 design (anxiety level x induced SFA) was utilized to examine bias in the mistakes made on mentalizing tasks. There were no significant effects or interactions for the mentalizing or recognition task. However, there was a trend towards an effect of anxiety on positive bias for the mentalizing task, F (1,93) =2.676, p =.105, and a trend towards an interaction effect on neutral bias in the recognition task, F (1,93) =3.004, p =.086. Clarification of the role of SFA in biases may inform the treatment of social anxiety.
POSTER A-12
A uthors:
Synesthesia and Sensory Conflict: An Event-Related Potential
Study of Color-Grapheme Associations
Summer Issa, Deepa Patel, & John Carney
Synesthesia is a condition that involves the blending of two or more senses. The present study was designed to investigate the neural correlates of synesthesia, using event-related potentials (ERPs) to measure brain processes associated with color-grapheme processing.
Synesthetes were recruited to complete a Stroop-like task in which letters were presented in congruent and incongruent colors. The stability of synesthesia associations was also tested

with a learning task in which specific color-letter pairs were viewed for an extended period of time. Healthy controls without synesthesia completed the same experimental procedures, in order to determine if extended viewing of specific color-letter pairs would mimic the effects of synesthesia. We predicted that synesthetes would show alterations in reaction time and conflict processing in ERPs (e.g., P3 component) for incongruent stimuli. Healthy controls were also expected to show these patterns following the extended viewing task, but to a lesser extent than synesthetes.
POSTER A-13
Author:
Associations between cognitive abilities and empathy for stress
Kavya Thyagarajan
Research has shown that the mere observation of stressful behavior in others can elicit a physiological stress response in observers. One potential mechanism for this stress contagion is the cognitive ability to take another’s perspective; however, a link between cognition and empathy has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between cognitive measures and trait and state empathy. First, participants completed cognitive tests gauging working memory updating, response inhibition, and facial affect recognition. Next, heart rate, respiration, skin conductance, and facial electromyography were measured while viewing a video of an actor delivering a stressful speech defending himself against a shoplifting allegation. After viewing the video, the
Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Emotional Response Questionnaire were administered to assess trait empathy and state empathy, respectively. Associations between cognitive measures, physiology, and questionnaire measures of empathy will be reported.
POSTER A-14
Author:
Antecedents of Seeking Social Support in the Workplace
Jessie Kuehler & Ashley Nussbaum
A correlational study was performed using a survey to analyze the relationship amongst personality factors of agreeableness and extraversion and Internal Locus of Control on behaviors relating to giving, receiving, and seeking social support in the workplace. The data obtained from the survey shows correlations amongst the personality factors of agreeableness and extraversion as well as Internal Locus of Control and their relation to giving, receiving, and seeking social support in the workplace. These findings assist in providing further knowledge behind the use of social support in the workplace setting. Additionally, this study inspires future research to investigate the reasoning behind these individual differences.
POSTER A-15 Positivity Bias, Working Memory, and Sleep Quality in Healthy
Author:
Adults
Andrew Mertens, Jacob Losey, & Travis Wolfangel
Emotionally biased attention can have dramatic effects on everyday cognitive functioning.
With increasing age, adults tend to exhibit a growing positivity bias in which attentional preferences and memory selectivity favor positive emotional events over those that are negative. Other factors critical for cognition also change across the lifespan, including working memory capacity. This study examined the relationships between positivity bias and working memory in a sample of healthy adults. High density EEG was acquired while participants completed an N-back task that measured working memory capacity for

emotional faces, while questionnaires assessed participants’ self-reported levels of positive affect. It was predicted that positivity bias would be associated with extended cognitive processing of positive stimuli during the working memory task (e.g., larger and more sustained P3 amplitudes). By contrast, negative stimuli were expected to receive less sustained processing in individuals reporting high levels of positive affect.
POSTER A-16 EEG Correlates of Imitative Gestures
Author: Michelle Monehan, Meghan Murray & Catherine Stachniak
Social imitation represents a critical aspect of healthy development that gives rise to effective communication skills. In order to better characterize individuals with deficits in this area, there is a need for greater understanding of the biological basis of social imitation. The present study examined EEG correlates of imitative gesture, in which 50 letters from the
English alphabet were presented visually as participants traced the letters on the screen with their finger. High-density EEG data was collected in order to examine electrophysiological frequency patterns associated with imitative gesture. Consistent with prior research, it was predicted that mu rhythms (8-13 Hz) would be attenuated in the tracing task, relative to resting state EEG. A letter viewing condition was also expected to be associated with suppressed mu rhythms. Results from these findings will help to inform future research investigating neural mechanisms of social communication deficits in disorders such as
Autism Spectrum Disorder.
POSTER A-17
Authors:
Humor and Positive Affect
Alen Skopljak & Jimmy Harrison
Recent research has indirectly shown that humor can increase an individual’s positive affect through being involved in the telling of a humorous event. However, past research has failed to look into who benefits more from the humorous story, the teller or the audience. In the current study, we examined the benefits on positive affect for both the teller and audience in a humorous story. The results were expected to show that the teller of the humorous story had a stronger increase in positive affect than the audience and control samples. However, the increase in positive affect was expected to be moderated by how funny the audience found the humorous story to be.
POSTER A-18 Examining Physiological Responses to Observing a Stressed
Speaker
Anh Tran A uthor:
Previous research shows that participants show altered physiology in response to watching video clips designed to elicit fear or sadness. This study examined the physiological responses of participants watching a video of a person performing a speech while under stress or not under stress. Heart rate, corrugator and zygomatic electromyography (EMG), skin conductance, and respiration were recorded while participants watched a stress or nonstress speech. A baseline recording was established prior to the speech video. Participants then completed the Emotional Response Questionnaire (ERQ) to determine how the participant felt and her/his impression of how the person in the video felt. It is hypothesized

that there will be a significant difference in the physiology between participants shown the stress video compared to the non-stress video along with a significance difference in responses to the ERQ between groups.
POSTER C-1 ALIVE and Psychological Abuse: Finding Meaning in an Invisible
Threat
Laurel Cronin Author:
While interning at ALIVE (Alternative to Living in Violent Environments) I worked with interpersonal violence victims. A common trend was pulled from each conversation with clients and that was that psychological abuse was present in 100 percent of the relationships.
Terms concerning psychological abuse were taken from a research study conducted by
Brackley and Queen (2009). These include captivity, defining moments, dissociation from self, fixing, taking a stand, mindful manipulation and relentless terror. These are combined with journal entries recorded during my time at ALIVE to analyze further the common trends in the relationships that involved psychological abuse alone. ALIVE offers counseling services to victims dealing with all forms of abuse, including psychological abuse. My time at ALIVE and further research has opened my eyes to the severity of psychological abuse and its effects. I feel a call to action to further help advance societies knowledge concerning psychological abuse and research on this often difficult to measure construct.
POSTER C-2
Authors:
Be Courageous! An Exploration of Bravery and Perseverance
Mauriel Blakeley , Katie Schirmer , & Echo Zhang
Courage is the ability to do something even though it is frightening or dangerous. Bravery
(the quality of fearlessness associated with courage) and perseverance (the ability to move forward despite obstacles) are two of its main contributing character strengths. Hardship is simply part of life. Bravery and perseverance allow individuals to continue growing despite hardships, contributing to their own wellbeing and resilience, as well as to societal growth and improvement. We witnessed aspects of courage in three different practicum contexts, which we report as brief case studies ranging from the loss of a family member, to advocating for disability rights, to seeking help from domestic violence.
POSTER C-3 Humanity in Action: An Experiential Analysis of Love,
Kindness,and Social Intelligence
Authors: Nicole Fetcho, Kendra Howze, & Fahd Yasin
Humanity is a virtue found within interpersonal relationships and manifested as awareness and recognition of others’ emotions and values. Love, kindness, and social intelligence are identified as character traits contributing to the virtue of humanity. In psychology, humanity is explored as attachment, altruism, pro-social behavior, and social performance. To examine

this virtue further, our group volunteered at various practicum sites: observing love at Crisis
Nursery, kindness at Ronald McDonald House, and social intelligence at Centerpointe
Hospital. Humanity is beneficial to understand because of its impact on the wellbeing of individuals and communities. Our analysis demonstrates how humanity is exemplified through others' actions.
POSTER C-4 Transcendence: An Exploration of Gratitude and Hope at Three
Practicum Sites
Authors: Selma Avdagic, Rebecca Chiles, & Kristian Hines
Transcendence is a virtue that includes a variety of character strengths, particularly gratitude and hope. Gratitude is a sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift whether tangible or not, and it may be as diffuse as a moment of peacefulness sparked by the experience of natural beauty. Hope, or what some call optimism or future-mindedness, represents a positive cognitive, emotional, and motivational stance toward the future. People with hope act in ways that make them more likely to achieve their goals. Our group explored the character traits of gratitude and hope through an analysis of our experiences at three practicum sites: The Bridge-St. Louis, Ranken-Jordan Pediatric Hospital, and Queen of Peace
Center. Transcendence, as a virtue, contributes to the wellbeing of individuals and society because it helps all of us stretch beyond the normal limits of our physical being, beyond the limits of ordinary experience.
POSTER C-5 Painting Dreams: Fostering Creativity, Sense-of-Belonging, and
Social Change Awareness at St. Louis ArtWorks
Emily Drenovsky Author:
St. Louis ArtWorks is a creative arts work training program for young adults in the greater
St. Louis area. The teen artists, known as “apprentices,” create commissioned works of art for public auction and display throughout St. Louis. Apprentices learn not only art skills but also business and life skills. Goals of the program include stimulating and enhancing an environment of creativity, as well as fostering a sense of belonging and social change awareness . My volunteer work began in January 2014 and primarily consisted of assisting in the facilitation of the work sessions led by outside teaching artists. Also, I organized and led a series of Art Journal prompts that sought to encourage creative thinking, personal awareness, and well-being of the apprentices. Overall, the experiences gained through this volunteer opportunity enabled me to make vital connections between psychological themes and artistic creation, a notion vital to my aspirations for a career in Art Therapy.
POSTER C-6
Author:
Edgewood
Karen Rolwes
For this practicum project I worked at Edgewood school, which specializes in behavioral health services, treatment, education, and prevention. My primary tasks in this project were to help the children with schoolwork, provide positive attention and feedback, and help promote positive peer interactions and social skills. My goals for this project were to gain direct, hands-on experience working with children with behavioral disorders, to learn and

practice various intervention techniques in a classroom setting, and to help provide positive support to the children. As a result of this project, I have gained a great deal of knowledge and insight in regards to the treatment of children with behavioral health disorders and learning disorders within a classroom setting. This project has allowed me to explore future career paths in the field of psychology, and develop an understanding and compassion for the challenges these children have to face on a daily basis.
POSTER D-1
Authors:
Sports Psychology: How to Transform Athletes through
Collaboration
Adam Cruz, Alen Skopljak, Caitlin Laverdure, & Theresa Tracy
Whether it is a player or coach, sports, or more specifically, losing in sports, can have a psychological impact. Additionally, how a coach implements strategies after a negative outcome affects all of these individuals. The current issue at hand is whether a coach needs to be more involved with an athlete or allow a player to remain self-motivated after a loss. We will ask coaches which specific strategies (such as mental preparation, goal setting and competition strategies) are effective. We will also consider solutions to this issue prevalent in a broader setting, such as in a business or a marketing team. Players, coaches and a parent from a variety of levels (ranging from little league to college) will be interviewed to gain personal perspectives on the issue. Lastly, we will review empirical evidence to make recommendations to coaches on their best course of action after a loss.
POSTER D-2 A Comprehensive Action Plan For High School Success
Authors: Jenna Badanowski, Morgan Irons, James Nolle & Pierre Louis
As of the 2008-2009 school year, public schools in the St. Louis City District had a graduation rate of 45.1% (Saint Louis Public Schools, 2009). With less than half of students graduating, the St. Louis public school system is struggling to keep students enrolled and active in the school system. There is controversy about how many resources should be used in facilitating higher graduation rates and how those resources should be allocated. Ideally, every child should have access to an equal education regardless of socioeconomic status, but in reality, this is not happening. This issue directly affects children in low-income areas of St.
Louis as well as the community. Group members conducted interviews with educators, students and student advocates to obtain perspective on the factors influencing graduation rates and student success. Recommendations about what schools, families and the community should do to address this problem were considered and an action plan was created.

POSTER D-3
Authors:
How To Make “Educational Television” Educational
Kathleen Goldman, Elizabeth Koop, Juan Molina, & Catherine Paez
It is reported that 43% of children under the age of two watch television every day (Kaiser
Family Foundation, 2005). The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under two (AAP, 2011). Experts state that a child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years, and that young children learn best by interacting with people. Many parents and professionals believe that television can help with development and education. Empirical literature on child development and technology as well as interviews with parents and professionals in the field will provide support for multiple perspectives on this topic. The purpose of this project is to develop an evaluation of current television shows and a criteria to help inform parents which shows are beneficial to their child’s development at a particular age, between the ages of zero and five.
POSTER D-4 Addressing the Impact of Media Advertisements on Adolescent
Self-Esteem
Authors: Sundus Awan, Hunter Matzke, Nitin Tallam, & Anne Westermeyer
Dove’s Real Beauty campaign has brought attention to the negative impact of appearance based media advertisements on adolescent health and has sparked much debate. While companies continually portray unrealistic body image in their advertisements without regard to the effects on adolescent self-esteem, others, like Dove, have created campaigns to combat those effects. Diminishing self-esteem is associated with psychological problems such as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and depression. Based on empirical evidence and interviews with experts in the field, it is apparent that the issue of the negative effects that the media can have on adolescent self-esteem is becoming more and more prevalent. Our purpose is to combine the information from these sources in order to offer recommendations for the best way to address the issue.
POSTER D-5 How to Best Accommodate Students with Learning Disabilities In
Authors:
Academics Settings: An Action Plan for Student Success
Sneha Darsi, Aida Lin, Terk Thomas, & Rachael Reuter
Stigma and accommodations are not concepts that should commingle, but sadly in our society, they coexist frequently. Accommodations for students with learning disabilities has become a controversial topic of discussion in academic settings nationwide. It is sometimes considered costly, underdeveloped, and persisting as a prevalent issue with limited available solutions. While it is true that the average person also struggles to go about their day, by effectively managing and utilizing improved accommodations, those with learning disabilities will find ways to cope in their academic ventures. Development of skills are also crucial for later life success. Therefore, we will interview the Saint Louis University
Academic Success Center, Disability Services, and university students in order to serve as a basis for our study. Along with empirical articles, this will provide crucial information and allow us to also create an action plan to help students with learning disabilities excel in academic environments.

POSTER D-6
Authors:
Cyberbullying: Not all forms of abuse leave bruises
Hannah Schwartz, Joseph Hayes, Jordan Williams, & Sergio Maciel
Cyberbullying is a new form of bullying that many school-aged children and adolescents face today. Unlike traditional bullying, cyberbullies can follow their victims home via text messages and social media sites, which can mean constant harassment and mental anguish on a day-to-day basis for the victim. Unfortunately lawmakers, school officials, and parents are unsure of how to address cyberbullying. Our project aims to address these issues surrounding cyberbullying. We obtained information from various sources (e.g., cyberbullying victims, clinical psychologists, school officials, ect.) to better understand the effects of cyberbullying and ways to help victims. Ultimately, we hope to provide recommendations to the children and adolescents, their parents, school officials, lawmakers, and psychologists about ways to address cyberbullying.
POSTER D-7
Authors:
Striving to Solve the School Shooting Situation
Katherine Arnold, Shelly Gulhar, Jessica Kloeppel, & Wen Xiao
Within the last year, the nation has seen several highly publicized school shootings. Although there is no doubt that shootings like these should be stopped, the question ultimately concerns which method would be most beneficial in preventing such incidents. Thus, our project details an action plan that would be helpful in stopping further shootings in high schools. In addition to empirical research, our plan is detailed based on interviews from local experts, including a police officer, a crisis intervention planner, a victim of gun violence, and students from the St. Louis area. Recommendations and policy changes to promote safety and interpersonal relationships are made to the people most impacted: school officials, students, and parents of students. These recommendations can be extrapolated to other grade levels and areas in the nation to provide the highest chances of success.
The Senior Legacy Symposium is a celebration of outstanding undergraduate student work across the University. The Psychology Department selects three capstone projects to receive the high honor of representing Psychology at the Senior Legacy Symposium.
Selection is based upon review of the Capstone Impact Essay in conjunction with the
Capstone Poster Abstracts. The recipients are announced at the Psychology Capstone
Symposium Awards Ceremony.