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Emotion Regulation in Victims of Domestic Violence |
I currently work with graduate student Christine Chang-Schneider and Dr. Bill Swann at The University of Texas at Austin. My involvment with the Emotion Regulation Lab involves aiding in the development of experimental paradigms and running research participants. I also recruited and scheduled research participants in coordination with other research assistant schedules. Most recently, I have developed the national online version of the study using HTML and CGI/Perl. |
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Analysis of Stephen Sondheim's Company |
My research in musical theater history and criticism is under the direction of
Dr. Stacy Wolf in The Department of Theatre and Dance. For the past year, I
have been analyzing Stephen Sondheim's 1970 hit Company using social and
relationship psychology as a textual reference. Company centers on the
life of Bobby, a 35-year-old confirmed bachelor in New York City, his married
friends, and 3 girlfriends. The musical was a success in 1970 and met with even
greater applause when it was revived in 2007. My central research questions
revolve around: 1) What makes a successful musical revival? 2) What themes
in Company resonate with audiences of different eras? and 3) What
societal norms were in place when the musical was performed and later revived?
Through an analysis of music, lyrics, costumes, and set design as well as
a historical reading of popular psychology in 1970, I hope to answer these
questions for my senior thesis.
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Intimate Partner Violence |
In the summer of 2007, I worked with Dr. Eli J. Finkel in The Department of
Psychology at Northwestern University conducting research on the cognitive
mechanisms underlying Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). We attempted to learn
what thoughts are activated and how individuals react to provocation
(negative creative feedback) from either their romantic partner or a stranger.
My involvment with the project involved developing the lexical decision
word task, creating the study in MediaLab software, recruiting research
participants in pairs, and running experimental sessions. Additionally,
I presented my preliminary findings at The Committee for Institutional
Cooperation's annual summer research conference and at the Northwestern
University Summer Research Opportunity Colloquium.
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| Communication in Personal Relationships | I am interested in potentially studying positive communication behaviors in close personal relationships. In particular, I would like to examine how individuals communicate intangible ideas such as trust, forgiveness, and guilt to their partners through nonverbal cues and actions. Additionally, understanding why such cues and actions are necessary in romantic relationships is of interest to me. |
| Group Dynamics and Powers of Influence | In the business world, I am interested in learning more about how groups and teams function effectively. Also, I would like to examine the effectiveness of various power and influence tactics used by leaders. |