Recent Experimental Psychology News
Drs. Jeff Vancouver and Kim Rios Named Presidential Research Scholars
Two of our faculty, Jeff Vancouver and Kim Rios, were recently named Presidential Research Scholars.
Dr. Vancouver holds the William C. Byham Chair in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and focuses on self-regulation—the processes individuals use to maintain or achieve needs and goals—to understand human behavior.
With funding from entities such as the John Templeton Foundation, Dr. Rios has researched people’s responses to threats to their self-concepts and social identities.
Psychology Faculty in the News
BRG Quotes Dhanani on Relationship between Research on Media Consumption & COVID Knowledge
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New Occupational Health Psychology Opportunity
An expansion of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) training project grant at Ohio University means new opportunities for Ph.D.-level training in Occupational Health Psychology for psychology students and Occupational Safety for engineering students.
The $1.2 million grant renewal creates an interdisciplinary hub for Total Worker Health (opens in a new window)® at OHIO focused on training students to become the next generation of Occupational Health and Safety practitioners, researchers, and academics. These growing fields have an immediate need for more Ph.D.-level training, and OHIO students will focus their training and research on the holistic elements of preventing injury and promoting worker health exemplified by the NIOSH Total Worker Health® initiative.
Psychology Opportunities: In the College of Arts & Sciences, students in the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program (opens in a new window) specializing in Health Psychology or Industrial-Organizational Psychology can now add an Occupational Health Psychology training concentration (opens in a new window).
Psychology Faculty Researching Diversity
The department has several faculty members who are dedicated to understanding diversity and inclusion through their research and training.
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Dr. Kimberly RiosDr. Rios’ program of research centers on studying socialidentities including race/ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, andsocioeconomic status. In particular, Dr. Rios is interested in how people withmajority and minority identities stereotype one another and respond to threatsto their identities.
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Dr. Lindsay DhananiDr. Dhanani’s research focuses primarily on understanding discrimination in the workplace and what can be done to improve the experiences and well-being of minority employees. She examines what motivates people to engage in discriminatory behaviors, the predictors and consequences of personally experiencing discrimination, and how bystanders respond to instances of discrimination.
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Dr. Peggy ZoccolaDr. Zoccola’s recent and ongoing research aims to address health disparities observed among sexual and gender minorities (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] individuals) by focusing on stress and resiliency processes. Minority stress, or the experience of and responses to stigma and discrimination, may lead to poor mental and physical health outcomes as a result of heightened or dysregulated physiological stress responses and increased negative health behaviors.
Recent Psychology Grants
Dr. Linsday Dhanani Awarded Anti-Racism Grant
Dr. Lindsay Dhanani was recent awarded an Anti-Racism Grant from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology to examine empathy gaps in responses to racial microaggressions.
Dr. Peggy Zoccola is a co-Investigator on a project recently funded by the National Endowment for the Arts: “The Impact of Music-Based Interactive Strategies on Caregiver Stress Levels and Caregiver/Infant Attachment Behaviors: Demonstrating Feasibility Among At-Risk Families”. (PI: Dr. Kamile Geist, College of Fine Arts). This grant builds on initial pilot work that was recently accepted for publication:
Geist, K., Zoccola, P. M., Geist, E., Andary, N., Dogbey, D., Tuttle, B., Williams, L. A., (in press). A randomized pilot study of rhythm-based music with movement strategies on stress and interaction behaviors of infant caregivers. Music and Medicine.
Dr. Kimberly Rios was recently awarded two grants for which she is the PI, one of which is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the either is co-sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin and the Templeton Religion Trust. She was also recently awarded the Outstanding Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity.