PSYC 491 and 492
During the Research Team experience, a small group of students (typically, 4-5) will study a particular topic in psychology in depth. Over the course of the academic year, the team works closely with their instructor to develop a hypothesis, design a study to test that hypothesis, submit an Institutional Review Board (IRB) application for approval to conduct the study, analyze the data collected following execution of the study, and report the study. In addition, the team reports their study orally at both local (i.e., the departmental Psi Chi Symposium and the university-wide Research and Creativity Day) and regional (i.e., the Virginia Psychological Association conference) venues. Typically, students produce an APA-style paper based on the project suitable for submission to a professional journal also. Last, the group may decide to produce a poster for presentation at a national conference, and may decide to prepare and submit a paper to a professional journal.
Research teams are populated during the spring semester prior to the start of the PSYC 491 course during the subsequent fall semester, and students commit to taking both PSYC 491 that fall and PSYC 492 the following spring. Professors who will supervise a research team present their topics and ideas at a “Research Showcase,” and if you find a professor whose research interests match your own, you may ask to be a part of that professor’s research team.
Students who complete the Research Team experience enroll in PSYC 491 – Individual Study for 3 credits in the fall semester, and PSYC 492 – Individual Study for 3 credits in the spring semester. Prerequisites for PSYC 491 include PSYC 261 – Introductory Statistics for Psychology, PSYC 362 – Research Methods for Psychology, and permission of instructor.
Scroll to read more about our current and future research team topics!
2025-2026 Research Team Instructors and Topics:
Dr. Marcus Leppanen
Students interested in being on my research team should have a broad interest in cognitive
psychology. In general, my research interests include memory, attention, emotion, and how
individual differences are related to those processes (e.g., handedness or mindfulness). My
research teams conduct in-person laboratory experiments to collect behavioral and self-report
data. This year I plan on conducting an experiment using eye tracking technology. Students on
my research team (or not) have the opportunity to work on a project with me during the Arts,
Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Institute (AHSSSI) which would occur during the first
summer session (May 19th to June 18th). I will provide more details about this experience during
the in-person meeting. You should email me with questions before you indicate interest in
AHSSSI on your application if you cannot attend so you know what it entails. Membership on
my research team is a preference but NOT a requirement for participation in AHSSSI. While I
want my team to develop a project using the eye tracker as one piece of our methodology, I am
open to student interests directing the 491/492 project. One thing I am interested in studying next
is the relationship between handedness and memory. Research has shown that consistency of
handedness is related to the impact of eye movements on memory performance. Is there a
relationship between handedness and how we direct our attention with eye movements that
underlies that effect? That is a question my summer project will start looking into, but does not
have to drive the 491/492 experience. My students tend to present their work at a regional or
national conference each year
Dr. Virginia Mackintosh
Menstruating is something half the population does yet discussing it is often considered taboo,
and there is surprisingly little research on its psychological impact. I’m interested in views on
menstruation across the lifespan – from people’s stories of their first periods (menarche), to
feelings of shame/pride regarding menstruating, to attitudes about aging associated with
menopause.
Dr. Jennifer Mailloux
Over the past few years, I have been studying how certain variables are related to sexual
satisfaction suing self-report data. One of the variables I have studied is cognitive distraction
during sexual activity. Individuals can be distracted during sex by focusing on whether one’s
body will look pleasurable to one’s partner and/or whether one will behave in a way resulting in
one’s partner’s sexual pleasure. Distracted individuals may not focus on themselves, including
the pleasurable sensations and feelings that may occur during sex, which may result in low
sexual satisfaction. Other variables I have investigated that appear to be related to sexual
satisfaction include body consciousness, body shame, and body esteem and, most recently,
sexual sensation seeking. This is not an exhaustive list of variables that can influence sexual
satisfaction! Also, in the past, I have limited my research to heterosexual women, albeit across a
range of ages. Most recently, I have included men, as well as individuals with different sexual
orientations, in my research. These investigations revealed many interesting differences involving sexual satisfaction between these groups. For example, I found body esteem influenced sexual satisfaction in younger, but not older, women. Also, I found that sexual satisfaction was positively related to sexual sensation seeking in homosexual, but not heterosexual, men and women. In the future, there are a lot of directions to go with this research, including examining other types of variables (behavioral or physiological) that might influence sexual satisfaction.
Dr. Erin Palmwood
My research examines different aspects of romantic relationship functioning in order to determine
what factors contribute to relationship success and distress. In the past, I have worked with
students to conduct studies exploring:
• The impact of romantic relationship threat on emotion regulation ability
• Inhibitory control problems as a predictor of engagement in infidelity
• The link between positive relationship characteristics and attention allocated to romantic
partners
• The impact of unsupportive partner behaviors on reactivity to making mistakes
I typically use electroencephalography (EEG) to examine these phenomena (e.g., inhibitory
control, emotion regulation, attention allocation, reactivity to mistakes) at the neural level, and I
hope to do this with my research team next year. However, the specific study that my team
conducts, including the methodology of that study, will be determined by student interests.
Familiarity with brain research is not necessary to join my team! I particularly enjoy working with
students who are highly organized, conscientious, and excited about research.
Dr. Holly Schiffrin
The majority of my research focuses on the intersection of parenting and well-being. For the past
10 years, I have focused on the impact of helicopter parenting on emerging adults’ well-being.
Helicopter parenting refers to a developmentally inappropriate level of parental involvement and
control that limits the autonomy of adult children. Helicopter parents tend to “hover” over their
children to monitor their decisions around school, social interactions, etc. with the intention of
preventing harm or failure. However, this involvement seems to have a paradoxical effect and is
associated with decreased well-being. Some of my prior teams have examined the outcomes of
helicopter parenting in emerging adults such as anxiety, depressive symptoms, satisfaction with
life, prosocial behaviors, growth mindset, academic burn out, and eating disorders. I am interested
in following up some of these topics as well as examining different outcomes that have not been
explored in the literature. The final project pursued will depend on the research interests of
members of the team. Whatever the final topic, I am interested in working on applied issues related
to well-being that have practical applications. My research team will be involved in designing the
study as well as developing data collection instruments, collecting data, analyzing data, as well as
writing reports and making presentations to summarize the findings. Depending on the outcome
of the study, we may also submit the results of our investigations for presentation at a national
conference or publication in an appropriate journal. If you have questions or are interested in
learning more about these projects, stop by my office (Mercer 329) or send me an e-mail
(hschiffr@umw.edu).