Research Labs

This page shows research openings for students and the research interests of the faculty in the Department of Psychology.

Department of Psychology:

Student Research Opportunities | Faculty Research Interests | Student Research

 

Student Research Opportunities

A "yes" under openings for students means that the faculty member will consider allowing you to work in his/her lab. Please contact that individual faculty member to discuss further.

Department of Psychology

Faculty Name	Lab Name	Openings For Students
		Undergraduate	Graduate
Krisstal Clayton	Applied Planning and Performance Lab	Yes	Yes
Pitt Derryberry	Research of Ethical and Social Topics (REST) Lab	Yes	Yes
Lisa C. Duffin	The Academic Quality (TAQ) Lab	Yes	Yes
Rick Grieve	Clinical/Applied Research (CAR) Group	Yes	Yes
Sally Kuhlenschmidt	Abilities Research Group	No	Yes
Elizabeth Jones	Emotional Issues of Children and Youth Research Group	Yes	Yes
Tony Paquin		Yes	Yes
Jenni Redifer	Attention and Memory Lab	Yes	Yes
Steve Wininger	Motivation Lab	Yes	Yes
Qin Zhao	Metacognition Lab	Yes	Yes

 

  Faculty Research Interests

Pitt Derryberry
My research interests pertain to socio-cognitive development during adolescence and the college years with specific emphases on the development of moral judgment and self-understanding.
Lab: Research of Ethical and Social Topics (REST) Lab

Lisa C. Duffin
My research interest spans the factors that impact academic quality at many different levels (i.e., program-level, group-level, and individual-level) and in many different contexts (i.e., university, K-12 schools, lab).
Lab: The Academic Quality (TAQ) Lab

Rick Grieve
My research interests lie in the area of eating disorders, and right now I am investigating men's eating disorders, especially muscle dysmorphia. I am also interested in sport fan behaviors. I have a number of studies going in both areas through the Clinical/Applied Research (CAR) Group. 
Lab: Clinical/Applied Research (CAR) Group

Sally Kuhlenschmidt
I have a variety of research interests that engage me in many types of projects.  In terms of populations older adults are a special focus with a sample graduate student project being mindfulness in older adults. I enjoy evaluation of psychological assessments and also examining aspects of learning as manifest in the educational system, particularly college/adult learners. Currently I am working on a project on disputing learning styles.   Other projects I have been engaged in with students include procrastination and parenting style and social anxiety and online gaming.
Lab: Abilities Research Group

Elizabeth Jones
My research focuses on emotional issues experienced by children and adolescents. One area of investigation is the assessment of depression, the relative effectiveness of existing measures in assessing depression and anxiety, and the relationship between anxiety and depression in youth. Another area of investigation is nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in youth. Areas of investigation within the area of NSSI include the relationship between nonsuicidal self-injury and other high risk behaviors, teacher knowledge and perceptions, peer perceptions, influence of the internet/social media, and emotional correlates of self-injury.
Lab: Emotional Issues of Children and Youth Research Group

 

Tony Paquin
My research interests are: 1. The impact of culture on workplace behavior (e.g., productivity/organizational effectiveness, leadership, and incivility) in traditional and nontraditional organizations. 2. Psychometric issues in the translation and design of cross-cultural instruments. 3. Rater agreement in the context of performance appraisal.

Jenni Redifer
My research examines cognitive factors related to student learning and achievement. I am interested in how working memory capacity (the limited attentional resources we have available during effortful tasks) influences problem-solving and retrieval of information from long-term memory. Part of this work investigates methods for teaching effective strategies to individuals with low working memory capacity (i.e., fewer attentional resources).
Lab: Attention and Memory Lab

Steve Wininger
The majority of my research interests are in motivation, specifically in teaching people to self-regulate. My research spans three different contexts: exercise, learning, and sport. The three central outcome variables are exercise adherence, self-regulated learners, and peak sport performance. 
Lab: Motivation Lab

Qin Zhao
My research interests include metacognition, self-judgment, and self-regulation. Currently, the metacognition lab is examining how cognitive, motivational, and social factors influence metacognitive judgment of performance.
Lab: Metacognition Lab 

For additional research opportunities in the Department of Psychological Sciences, see http://www.wku.edu/psychological-sciences/research.php