20 Saint Rose students to have work presented at Eastern Psychological Association conference 

Twenty Saint Rose students will have their work presented at the annual Eastern Psychological Association meeting March 3 through 5. 

Students researched and co-authored six poster presentations, and six of the students will travel to New York City for the conference. Dr. Katlyn Farnum, assistant professor of forensic psychology, will also present the project she did with student Hannah Curran, titled “Was It Justified? Perceptions of Whistleblower Gender in Sexual Harassment Cases.” 

In addition, Matthew Gerson, a junior majoring in psychology, will receive the Psi Chi International Honor Society Research Award at the conference for his project titled “The Effect of Self-Deprecating Humor About Weight on Anti-Fat Attitudes.” Approximately 10 to 15 Psi Chi awards are given annually from a pool of more than 200 eligible undergraduate and graduate students. Gerson partnered with research advisor Dr. Nancy Dorr, professor of psychology, on the project. 

Since 2001, 32 Saint Rose students have received this prestigious award at the Eastern Psychological Association meeting. 

Gerson said the findings from his study suggest that jokes about weight can perpetuate anti-fat attitudes. In the study, college students were randomly assigned to view one of four comedy videos where an overweight male comedian either made jokes about his own weight (self-deprecating humor), made jokes about others’ weight (other-deprecating humor), made jokes about himself (but not about weight), or made jokes about others (but not about weight). Participants then answered questions that assessed their attitudes toward people who were obese and their perception that being overweight is caused by low willpower. 

“The discovery process was a long and rewarding road of learning how to apply my knowledge of research methods and statistics to the real-world problem of obesity prejudice,” said Gerson, who plans to one day continue his research in graduate school. “It took long nights, trial and error, and lots of hard work to develop the project to a point where it produced such interesting results. It also took the help of Dr. Dorr to run complex statistical analyses and make sure I was correctly designing the experiment.”  

Gerson said he was both surprised and gratified to see his work recognized by a professional organization like the Eastern Psychological Association. 

“This project has definitely enhanced my academic and overall experience at The College of Saint Rose. It has allowed me to expand the knowledge of obesity prejudice and has led to some important findings,” he said. “It has also allowed me to meet some great new people and make connections and friends that will last a lifetime. Winning the research award will allow me to share the findings of the project to a larger audience.” 

Dorr said Gerson’s project was impressive because he found an understudied topic and designed a true experiment to test his hypothesis, employing a study with two independent variables and examining moderating variables. 

“I believe he is excited about this research and his initial results, and we plan to conduct one or two follow-up studies to explore additional facets of these results,” she said. “In my opinion, students like Matthew are the reason faculty who teach research methods and statistics get up in the morning!” 

In addition to Gerson’s work and Curran’s presentation of “Was It Justified?” with Farnum, the other students whose research will be presented as part of the conference include: 

• Student Hannah Curran and faculty Katlyn Farnum: “Guilt Perceptions and Risk Assessment of Offenders”
• Student Shane George and faculty Nancy Dorr: “The Role of Self-Disgust, Self-Objectification, and Aging Anxiety on Body Image”
• Student Caleb Linder and faculty Katlyn Farnum: “Trust in the Catholic Church”
• Students Cole Norberg, Ian Bonila, Rachel Batizfalvi, Ryley Blasetti, Cali Buxton-Pham, Jenissa Encarnacion, Olivia Idzikowski, Shanelle Keyes, Alexislee Otanez, Makenna Peruzzi, Thalia Ralph, Sophia Rijo, Kathleen Ringler, Marielle St. Aubin, Mishal Tarik, and faculty Anne Gilman: “Variation in Music Genre Preferences for Different Emotion Regulation Purposes”
• Student Amanda Thomas and faculty Nancy Dorr: “Knowledge, Trust, and Perceptions of College Students Towards New Title IX”

“It is always a great pleasure every year to see a strong group of our students attend and present their research at the EPA conference,” said Dr. Rob Flint, chair of the Department of Psychology at Saint Rose. “We have a very long history of sending numerous students to research conferences every year which, without a doubt, gives them an advantage when it comes time to apply for graduate school. This group is no exception, and they should be extremely proud of their research accomplishments.”