Dr. Jenna M. Marx’s, assistant professor of psychology, article, Perceptions of cigarettes and e-cigarettes: Does health literacy matter? was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of American College Health. Alyssa Miller ’20, Alexa Windsor ’19, Jasmine Locke ’21, and Emily Frazier ’21 co-authored the article with Dr. Marx. 

Experimental Psychology published the research of Dr. Michael Kitchens, professor of psychology. “Be Responsible? Priming “Responsibility” and the Bystander Effect in a Field Setting” in Experimental Psychology was conducted by Dr. Kitchens, Kristie E. Houck ’22, Sydney E. Petrasic ’22, Ethan H. Schultz ’21, Sierra S. Sheriff ’21, John O. Underwood ’21, Daymond N. Zweizig ’21, and colleagues and students from Gettysburg College.

Dr. Rachel Albert, associate professor of psychology, published “Teacher talk: Infant vocal cues affect non-lead infant teachers’ responding,” in Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Dr. Albert investigated how infants’ babble impacts teachers’ responses in childcare settings to see in what ways they are similar and different to mothers’ responses. Her results have potential impacts for thinking about infants’ opportunities for learning in childcare settings and how we educate teachers to work in infant classrooms.

Dr. Lou Manza, chair and professor of psychology, presented two sessions with students and alumni at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference in Boston, Mass. In the first, he presented with Ashley Doty ’21, Shelby Anderson ’22, Gina Ebersole ’20, and Sydney Petrasic ’22. In the second, Dr. Manza presented with Rebecca McIlhenny ’20, Molly Gavin ’20, Misty Snyder ’20, Bailey Harper ’22, and Mallory Anderson ’23.

Dr. Philip Benesch, chair of social sciences and associate professor of political science, announced that LVC students had a 100% success rate on the University of London law modules completed this summer. Five students—Samantha Paradise ’23 (psychology), Allison Jedrzejek ’22 (business administration), Ariana Genna ’22 (political science), Noah Tapp ’21 (political science), and Kaitlyn Reed ’21 (political science)— remotely completed the Legal System and Method 4 module. Jedrzejek, Genna, Tapp, and Reed also completed the Public Law module. This success will help these students accelerate their LVC graduation by transferring back credits for each module.

Dr. Michael Kitchens, professor of psychology, was quoted in a recent article, “When did people start making New Year’s resolutions? And how can we keep them?” Kitchens noted that “The success of your New Year’s resolution starts with your head,” and “Setting a specific goal can make all the difference…”

Dr. Stephanie Blanda, assistant professor of mathematical sciences, Dr. Ashley McFalls, assistant professor of neuroscience, Dr. Liz Sterner, assistant professor of chemistry, and Dr. Jenna Marx, assistant professor of psychology, attended an event at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion to honor Women in STEM Oct. 17. The event was sponsored by the STEM-UP Network, whose goal is to “deliver strategies, relationships, and a strong community to women so they can flourish, prosper, and advance personally and in their STEM careers.”

Dr. Jenna Marx, assistant professor of psychology, published “Nothing alien about it: A comparison of weight bias in preschool-aged children’s ratings of non-human cartoons and human figures” in the Journal of Obesity Research & Clinical Practice. Marx, a licensed clinical psychologist and the department’s internship director, noted that “media exposes children to weight-biased messaging by presenting overweight characters negatively.” Her study found that preschool children demonstrated weight bias when assigning personality characteristics to images, with “overweight figures consistently rated more negatively than non-overweight figures, regardless of gender, stimulus type, or novelty of the image.”

Dr. Rachel Albert, assistant professor of psychology and director of LVC’s Baby Lab, was the keynote speaker for a Mile High Early Learning fundraising event in Denver, Colo., in March. Mile High Early Learning, an organization that provides early childhood programs for low income families, raised $162,000 during the event, which was attended by Denver’s mayor, Michael Hancock, and the state’s Lieutenant Governor, Dianne Primavera. Dr. Albert’s research-based approach to language development, which has been featured on NPR and in Scientific American, focuses on the powerful impact that engaged, responsive adults can have on children.

One of the most popular podcasts in the U.S., NPR’s Hidden Brain, featured Dr. Rachel Albert, assistant professor of psychology, and her research on “Baby Babbling” conducted with colleagues at Cornell University. Dr. Albert’s interview starts about 9.5 minutes into the podcast.