Submitted by Heidi Lawson on January 8, 2004.In exactly 29 days, I will be in Miami, meeting for the first time the group of people with whom I will spend the next four months studying in Nicaragua. I've never met any of them, and I've never done anything that I could compare to this trip. I will be away from everyone I know and everything familiar for a semester, broadening my horizons and learning new and wonderful things. Including how to wash all my clothes by hand and how to eat sea turtle (yeah, the endangered one). I will go where few speak English and Americans are known as imperialists, as well as rich targets for thieves and beggars. I can't claim that I'm not scared. But I am also filled with an excitement greater than I've ever known. This will be an adventure. I will finally have stories worthy of telling my grandchildren. The focus of my studies will be the political and cultural histories and situations there, but from a psychological perspective, there will also be an incredible amount to learn, both from myself and from others I encounter. I hope to incorporate psychology into my independent study project and perhaps learn about the development of some of the poorest children in the second poorest nation in the Western hemisphere (Haiti is first). It will be both enlightening and heart wrenching. And there is not even the slightest possibility that I will not come back fundamentally changed. But one step at a time. ¿Alguien habla inglés?

Gustavus Psych Majors hear Psych Alumni Presentation..

[Dr. Kathleen Vohs, the Canada Research Chair in Marketing Science and Consumer Psychology at the Sauder School of Business, Marketing Division, at the University of British Columbia presented "The Impact of Threat to Self-Esteem on Social Interactions on Wednesday, November 29. Dr. Vohs is a 1996 Gustavus graduate earning her Ph.D. in 2000 from Dartmouth College. She had recently completed a 3 year NIMH Post Doctoral Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Utah.]

On November 19, 2003, Kathleen Vohs, a 1996 Gustavus graduate and psych major, came to campus to present the first Psychology Alumni Presentation. She spoke to a number of psychology classes about her life after Gustavus and about how she arrived at where she is in her career. She is now working at a business school in Canada. She is a remarkable person, highly energetic, and loves psychology.

In Dr. Vohs' class visit -- she had some great advice for Gusties going to grad school. She stated that, first of all, you should get to know your professors because they are the ones who will be writing your recommendations. She also mentioned that research in general is good experience and especially important if you are planning on going into research. When looking at grad schools, she advised to look for professors who you would want to work with. She suggested that you search out professors who are still enthusiastic about their work and interested in the same general topics that you are. This is important for working on research with them.

When Dr. Vohs went to grad school she made it through very quickly because she was knowledgeable in research and was involved in many projects each semester.

In her evening presentation, Kathleen Vohs talked her research on self-esteem. The specific experiment she talked about was discussing the role of threat in the likeability of high and low self-esteem people. The main findings of her experimentation were that people with high self-esteem are less likable then people with low-esteem when their ego has been threatened. Under normal conditions (no threat) both are equally likable. It was interesting research and I'd recommend to those who might be interested.

Dr. Vohs has conducted a great deal of research after graduating from Gustavus. Any one of us, as psychology majors, could go on to do just as much -- especially by following her advice. Who knows, maybe a few years down the road you could be coming back for a Psych Alum presentation?!

By Marie Woog

Female Psychology Student Behind Bars?

By: Nicole Fuerstenberg

From the photo, it would appear that I have a first hand knowledge of women and crime but despite the incriminating photograph, I actually did not earn myself a spot behind bars, but that is beyond the point. I must, however, finish my studies in the J-Term course, “Women, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System,” to find out the truth behind women’s involvement in the criminal justice system. This course is offered by the sociology department, but I think that it can have direct relevance to the interested psychology student.

A full course description can be found on the Gustavus Web site, however, the four main areas of the course focus on are the theoretical perspectives on gender and crime, women as criminals, women as victims of crime, and women and the criminal justice system. In addition, the course examines how the media helps shape the constructions of gender and how they portray women and men criminals. Even though there is a great deal of significant material in this course that I could highlight, I will focus on two areas in which I see direct psychological implications. (Please remember, however, that this merely reflects my own opinion – you may agree or disagree.)

One topic that the course covered was about women who murder their children. First, it is important to recognize that the majority of women do not kill their children. However, when they do, the media places a vast amount of attention on the case. Relative to men who kill their children, women seem to receive a greater amount of time in the press, which may be directly related to the idea that the woman is acting against society’s view of what a good mother is like. There is a social construction for women to be good, nurturing mothers. If the woman breaks out of this traditional gender role, it comes as a shock to society and thus receives a lot of attention. The Andrea Yates case in 2001 is a prime example of a woman who killed her kids and received a tremendous amount of media attention. For more information on this topic, you can visit this Court TV website: http://www.courttv.com/trials/yates/.

It is particularly interesting that Yate’s criminal behavior has been linked to a psychological illness, namely postpartum depression. Psychology may look at whether criminals who have psychological illnesses should be in prison or whether they should receive help at a psychiatric hospital. As one can see, this issue has a direct tie to the field of psychology.

The second area of the course that has direct connection to the psychology arena is about women as victims of crime. Rape and spousal abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional) seem to be the two most commonly committed crimes against women. While men also suffer from being victims of these kinds of crimes, this J-term course focuses on women as victims. Victims of these crimes suffer from extreme amounts of trauma, and usually need help recovering from their experiences. Psychology can aid in the process of understanding how to best help the victims of these types of crimes by studying a variety of appropriate resources available, including sexual assault services and clinical psychology. Additionally psychology may also be applied in the creation of programs that assist in the rehabilitation of the person convicted of a specific crime.

Appreciating how this course places an emphasis on how the media portrays men and women at all levels in the criminal justice system, it is important for society to understand the relationship between, and differences among, reality and commonly held stereotypes. An understanding of the four key topics in this course provides a strong foundation in which to begin an exploration in a variety of topics. In the end, crime is an extremely interesting topic to study from either a sociological or psychological viewpoint.

Children and Church... Overheard in church of a 3-year-old: "Our Father, Who does art in heaven, Harold is His name. Amen." A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers off the neighbor's wife." ...and one particular four-year-old prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets." A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year-old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore where a seagull lay dead in the sand. "Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked. "He died and went to Heaven," the Dad replied. The boy thought a moment and then said, " Why did God throw him back down?" Celibacy... Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by environmental encounters: While attending a Marriage Encounter Weekend, Walter and his wife Ann, listened to the instructor declare, " It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other." He addressed the men, "Can you name and describe your wife's favorite flower?" Walter leaned over, touched Ann's arm gently and whispered, "Pillsbury All-purpose, isn't it? And thus began Walter's life of celibacy.

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