Riley Davis, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully proposed her dissertation last week. Riley was working in Dr. Ashley Batastini’s Correctional & Forensic Psychology Lab before she took a job at the University of Memphis, and Dr. Batastini continues to supervise Riley’s dissertation work. This is why Riley’s dissertation, “Race, risk, and confinement: An examination of offender race on post-conviction placement and mandated treatment decisions within the context of an actuarial violence risk assessment,” appears to be outside our typical scope.

Riley’s dissertation will build on her master’s thesis and aims to extend the literature on how race may influence legal decisions involving post-conviction placement and perceived risk based on information about dangerousness.

Congratulations to Riley on her successful dissertation proposal!

Tags: culture, forensic psychology

Two doctoral students working in the lab, Ali Poor and Savannah Merold, recently presented posters based on their mater’s theses at the Mississippi Psychological Association’s virtual conference. The references for their work, including links to the posters, are below.

Congratulations to Savannah and Ali for disseminating their findings!

Merold, S., Dahlen, E. R., Madson, M. B., & Nicholson, B. C. (2020, September 24-October 9). Psychopathic traits as a moderator of the relationship between social intelligence and relational aggression [Poster session]. 71st Annual Convention of the Mississippi Psychological Association, Bay St. Louis, MS, United States.

Poor, A., Dahlen, E. R., Leuty, M. E., & Nicholson, B. C. (2020, September 24-October 9). Relational aggression and trait anger: The mediating role of anger rumination [Poster session]. 71st Annual Convention of the Mississippi Psychological Association, Bay St. Louis, MS, United States.

Tags: relational aggression, social intelligence, psychopathy, anger rumination

Savannah Merold, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully proposed her dissertation today. Savannah’s dissertation will examine the role of mate-seeking and status acquisition motives, along with dark personality traits (psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism), in the use of direct and indirect aggression.

Building on her thesis work, she plans to use vignettes to activate mate-seeking and status motives and examine how the dark personalty traits predict participants’ responses. Gender will also be included, as it is expected that women and men may respond differently.

Congratulations to Savannah on the successful proposal!

Tags: dark personalities, gender, indirect aggression

Philip Stoner, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab at the University of Southern Mississippi successfully proposed his dissertation this week. Philip’s dissertation will test some aspects of Hooley and Franklin’s (2018) benefits and barriers model for understanding non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among college women.

Of particular relevance to our work in the lab and building on his prior thesis work, Philip plans to incorporate grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as potential moderators of some of the expected relationships he will be testing between theoretically relevant predictors and NSSI.

Much like Ali’s recent thesis defense, Philip’s dissertation proposal took place online through Microsoft Teams. Everything worked as intended, and one would never had guessed that he hadn’t presented like this before.

Congratulations to Philip on the successful proposal!

Tags: narcissism, suicide

The Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab at the University of Southern Mississippi is happy to welcome our newest master's student: Hailee Buras. Hailee is completing her B.A. in Psychology at Southern Miss and has been working with us since 2018. She presented some of her work at the 2019 American Psychological Association convention in Chicago and recently completed her honors thesis through the lab, “Anxiety Moderates the Relationship Between Peer Exclusivity and Peer Relational Aggression Among College Students.”

Congratulations to Hailee on her admission to the Counseling Psychology Master's Program! We are looking forward to continuing to work with you.

Tags: relational aggression

Alison Poor, a 2nd year doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab, successfully defended her master's thesis this week. Her thesis examined trait anger, anger rumination, relational victimization, and vengeance as predictors of relational aggression among college students.

Ali examined two research questions separately due to the expected overlap between some of her variables and differences in the theoretical rationale for the models she tested. First, she found that anger rumination mediated the relationship between trait anger and relational aggression. Second, she found that vengeance did not mediate the relationship between relational victimization and relational aggression, although both relational victimization and vengeance predicted relational aggression.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ali's thesis defense was conducted online through Microsoft Teams. Fortunately, everything worked well and the online format was not an issue.

Congratulations to Ali on a successful thesis defense!

Tags: anger rumination, relational aggression, victimization, trait anger

The Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab is happy to welcome our newest doctoral student: Summer Boggs. Summer was admitted to the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program at the University of Southern Mississippi and will be joining us in the Fall. She comes to us from Kent State University where she earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology and worked with Dr. Ben-Porath.

Summer's research background includes work on self-esteem as a moderator of the relationship between perfectionism and demoralization. She is interested in risk factors for mental illness, including the identification of personality and individual difference variables that may contribute to an understanding relational aggression among emerging adults.

Congratulations to Summer on her admission to the doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi! We are looking forward to working with her.

Tags: admissions, self-esteem, relational aggression

Email is one of the most common ways college students contact their professors in between class or office hours. Unfortunately, many students write emails to professors like they write text messages to their friends. Needless to say, this is off-putting to many professors.

A basic understanding of email etiquette ensures that you will avoid common mistakes that can lead professors to form negative impressions of you. It can also help you present yourself in a positive manner in a variety of professional contexts. The good news is that appropriate email etiquette is simple to learn.

Here are some tips for college students to keep in mind when emailing a professor:

1. Before you start your email, make sure the answer to your question is not easily found in the course syllabus.
2. Send your email from your official university email account.
3. Use the subject line to describe the content of your email.
4. Never begin your message with the word "Hey" ("Hi" is fine).
5. Use an appropriate title followed by the professor's last name (e.g., Prof. Lastname, Dr. Lastname).
6. Identify yourself by name in the body of your message (e.g., "This is [Your name] from your [name or number of class] class").
7. Write formally, using standard punctuation, spelling, grammar, and capitalization. Always proofread and check your spelling before sending.
8. Avoid smiley faces, emoticons, and the sort of acronyms frequently used in text messages (e.g., LOL, u, idk).
9. Be polite, respectful, and think about what you are hoping to accomplish with your email.
10. Never send an email when you are angry.

These tips were assembled from the following sources, each of which provides additional information on the subject of email etiquette for college students:

• Re: Your Recent Email to Your Professor
• Wellesley College Project on Social Computing Netiquette Guidelines

Tags: student success

Yesterday was internship match day, which is the day when doctoral students in applied psychology programs learn whether they matched with predoctoral internship sites. Students in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi did very well, as we had another year with a 100% successful match rate.

Taylor Bolton, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab who recently defended her dissertation, will be completing her predoctoral internship next year at the Orlando VA Medical Center. This site was Taylor’s top choice.

Congratulations to Taylor on the successful internship match!

Tags: internship

One commonly recommended tip for college students involves getting to know at least a few of their professors. This is good advice for all students because it makes it easier to seek help when one needs it, but it is especially important for students who may need faculty to write letters of recommendation for them. Graduate school applications typically require 3 letters of recommendation, and it is usually a good idea to make sure at least 2 of them come from professors who are able to write about one's potential for success in graduate school. Aside from taking their classes or working in one of their labs as a research assistant, how might a student get to know some of his or her professors?

The Counseling & Wellness Center at the University of Florida shared some great information on how students can approach a professor for help, and much of what they recommend is useful in the broader context of getting to know one's professors. They suggest breaking the process down into four simple steps:

1. Identifying Reasons for Seeking Help
2. Determining When to Meet
3. Organize Your Talk with Your Professor
4. Talk with Your Professor

With regard to Step 1, it is okay to seek out a professor to introduce yourself even if you do not need help at the moment. For example, you might stop by during a professor's office hours to introduce yourself, reminding them which of their classes you are taking and telling them that you are thinking about applying to graduate school in a particular area related to their field. Even a brief conversation like this will make it easier for you to request a letter of recommendation at a later date should you decide to do so.

It is also a good idea to heed the advice presented in Step 4 about knowing your professor's name and appropriate title. This is good advice not just for face-to-face meetings but for all contact with them, including phone calls and emails. Emails that begin with "Hey [Firstname]" are unlikely to be well-received, and "Dr. [Lastname]" or "Professor [Lastname]" are safer bets.

Tags: student success