HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A student-faculty collaborative research project earned a regional award for excellence from the Midwestern chapter of Psi Chi – The International Honor Society in Psychology.
Graduating Hope seniors Tiffany Bell of Bartlett, IL, and Marny Ehmann of Sun Valley, CA, received the award during the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) held in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday-Saturday, April 11-13, 2019. They were honored for the abstract of their presentation “The Influence of Implicit-Explicit Mate Preference Discrepancies on Relationship Outcomes,” which highlighted research that they conducted with Dr. Carrie Bredow, associate professor of psychology.
Hope students have won the highly competitive awards during 17 of the past 20 years, with multiple awards in nine of those years. Only about 20 entries are honored each year from among more than 250 submissions.
Bredow’s research examines how discrepancies between what people say that they want in a romantic partner and what they unconsciously desire in a romantic partner relate to whether or not a romantic relationship is successful.
The team recruited 200 partnered individuals for the study, and asked them to indicate the importance they placed on traits related to attractiveness/vitality, status/resources and warmth/trustworthiness; had them rate their partner on the same traits; tested their implicit standards for the three dimensions; and evaluated their relationships.
Ehmann and Bell checked in after three months, six months, a year, and two years to determine whether people’s implicit and explicit standards was related to more positive relationship outcomes. With the data collection recently completed, Bredow’s team continues to work on the primary analysis.
Bell and Ehmann were among several students and professors participating in the conference. Hope students made 15 research presentations during the event regarding research that they had collected collaboratively with members of the faculty, with Hope professors leading or co-leading another three sessions.
Psi Chi – The International Honor Society in Psychology recognizes and promotes excellence in the science and application of psychology. Founded in 1929, the society has more than 1,130 chapters at colleges and universities across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Ireland, New Zealand, Egypt, Guatemala, and Russia.
The honor society’s chapters are grouped within six regions: Eastern, Midwestern, Rocky Mountain, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. The Midwestern Region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.
Hope’s chapter was chartered in 1965. Dr. Lindsey Root Luna, associate professor of psychology, who advises the college’s chapter, is vice president of the Midwestern Region, with responsibilities that include planning the Psi Chi programming during the MPA convention.
