Cupids, candy, roses and love letters - an annual phenomenon

It's that time of year again when the heart-shaped candies are out in your local Target and there is a dazzling display of red and pink everywhere you look. Is it any wonder that with all this advertising Valentine’s Day has become the second best moneymaker for the greeting card industry? It is beat only by Christmas. Although, there is an interesting pattern within the frenzied card buying, 85% of all cards bought on Valentine’s Day are bought by women. Okay, so I’m not a math major, but something about that percentage doesn’t seem fair. Regardless of who does the card buying, this holiday is about expressing your love, towards friends, family, and significant others. For the most part this February holiday has always been about love.

Speaking of Valentines.....

-- by Kim Assad

What could be better than escaping below zero in the middle of a Minnesota winter? Why, escaping to a warm winter haven where you were able to immerse yourself in psychology, of course! I had the opportunity to do just that this past January term by presenting research I had done this summer at the national conference for the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in New Orleans. In addition to enjoying the sights of New Orleans, such as the infamous Bourbon Street, the cemeteries, and Mardi Gras World, I spent three days learning about different areas in social and personality psychology. In addition to the poster sessions, which included studies on several different topics, I was able to attend symposia on such topics as ostracism, sexual attraction, and personality assessment (beyond the questionnaire). It was so fascinating to hear professional psychologists discuss some of their research, especially after having read some of their articles in class.

In addition to learning about psychology, it was a great professional opportunity as well. While examining some of the poster sessions, I met a graduate student from the University of Rochester where I had applied to graduate school. I asked her some questions about her current poster and research, and was then able to obtain some first hand information about the graduate program at Rochester. The student took down my name and email and said she would tell her advisor, who is the very same professor that I applied to work with at the program, that I had stopped by. The same student forwarded me additional articles to look up that were relevant to her research when I arrived back to GAC.

In addition to meeting this graduate student, I also had the opportunity to meet a few other interesting people. While walking to dinner with Dr. James Grice from Oklahoma State (the professor I had done research with this summer), a man stopped me in the middle of the sidewalk and asked me what I was wearing. At first I thought he was making fun of me for wearing a sweatshirt when it was warm out (by warm, I mean warm to us Minnesotans) and I said that it might be cold in the restaurant we were going to. The man laughed at me and said he meant, why was I wearing a GUSTAVUS sweatshirt in New Orleans. I was shocked and said that I was a senior there. The man introduced himself as Mark Sutterlund, and then introduced his wife Katie. It turned out that they both were Gustavus alum that had both been advisees of Dr. Mark Kruger! I felt an instant connection to both of them and they promised to stop by my poster the following day. This was the first time I got to experience the “Gustavus connection” first hand away from the hill.

Even more exciting, the following day during my presentation, another man stopped to look at my poster and introduced himself to me. This was none other than Dr. Brent Donnellan from Michigan State University, another professor that I had applied to work with for graduate school. We talked a little about the program at Michigan State and he examined my poster. A few minutes later, Mark Sutterlund stopped by my poster and told me how proud he was of me as an alum. We then got to talking about my future plans, and I mentioned that Dr. Donnellan had just stopped by my poster. It turns out that Mark lives about 45 minutes away from Michigan State, and he told me that if I ended up going there for graduate school, he would be happy to give me advice about where to live, good places to eat, etc. Even more surprisingly, it turned out that he was familiar with Dr. Grice’s work and had a very interesting discussion with him about past research, which eventually lead to a free software deal. I just thought it was so amazing how we did not even know each other less than 24 hours before, yet we had made such a great connection. I know it sounds hokey, but I really think that this is what the magic of Gustavus is about.

Going back to the conference, it was such a great opportunity to learn about psychology, and to meet some important people. As I have heard from multiple people in a variety of fields, connections are everything. It was really great to start making connections. Even if you are not presenting a poster or giving a talk, I think that going to a professional conference is a great experience. By just meeting other psychologists, you can make connections that may help you as you apply to graduate programs. If you are interested in learning more about the next SPSP convention and how you can attend, go to www.spsp.org. There also are different organizations for other areas of psychology. If you’re interested in what they are, please contact one of your professors.

[Kim Assad is a senior honors psychology major, a regular contributor to this newsletter, psychology department academic assistant, and department research assistant.]

-- by Chris Rozek

Many students at Gustavus are able to use J-Term to gain valuable experiences at an internship. This January I got to work in 3M’s Human Resources Measurement Systems department. Many people asked me what a psychology major was doing at 3M, but the HR Measurement Systems department is basically a psych department. Three of the employees have PhD’s and several others have master’s degrees in I/O (Industrial/Organizational) psychology. I have always wanted to see psychology in the real world and in a non-clinical setting, so this was my chance!

I met with everyone in my department over Christmas break and started work January 3rd, the first Monday in January. I got off easy and did not have to work quite as long hours as everyone else, but adjusting to the new hours was something I had to get used to at 3M. Work started at 7:30 am every day and ended at 4:30 or 5:00. Life in a cubicle all day is very different from life at school. The experience of getting to work in an office was something worth doing in itself.

A lot of interns spend their time getting people coffee or filing papers, but I did not have to do much of that at 3M. I got to work on many of the real assignments that they do in the department. The HR Measurement Systems department is in charge of all of the testing of employees at 3M all around the world. This includes many different tests for applicants applying to get jobs (jobs that ranged from factory worker to scientist to sales and marketing), the company opinion survey that all employees do every two years (in areas all across the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America, Africa…pretty much the entire world!), and tests to discover employees with high potential or who are ready for advancement. Some of these tests are basic cognitive ability tests or subject tests in different areas (math, etc.). Other tests contain sections about personality as well. Psychologists are needed to create these tests, score them, validate them, and write reports about what they mean. It is a lot of statistics, but if you do not mind numbers, it is very interesting.

I got to see and try parts of the whole process. I corrected and entered scores of some tests, helped with the validation and creation of another test, took some of the tests, made new databases of information, organized reports into groups, and analyzed and wrote reports about some of the surveys. I also saw how the process of working with the vendors that supply the tests works. I am not sure how fun all of that sounds, but much of it was actually fun and exciting to do, and all of it was interesting and a good experience.

Besides working on normal work stuff, I got to have informal interviews with employees from all over the company about their jobs and what they did to get there. I talked to as many people as I could in many different fields (including the I/O psychologists in my department, the clinical psychologists in the employee assistance resource center, sales employees, and people with many different types of degrees in talent management and human resources). I was able to learn about all different types of jobs along with experiences in grad school. Everyone gave me advice that should be very helpful in the future.

All in all, I had a great time working at 3M this January! The experience I gained was invaluable, but the best part was the people I got to work with. 3M has a reputation for being a great environment to work in with exceptional people, and I found this to be very true. Everyone was very helpful and never minded taking time away from their work to answer any question I had, whether it was about work, their experiences, or anything. I recommend that anyone who wants to see psychology in the real world apply for this internship. You will learn a lot, meet great people, and have lots of fun!

[Chris Rozek intends to graduate in the Spring of '06 with a psychology honors major and coaching minor]

-- by Kim Assad

This fall, members of two of the special topics classes had a very unique opportunity to conduct research. While many psychology students have had a chance to develop their own research projects in the research methods class, the groups do not consist of more than three people. The research experience shared by members of Dr. Ackil’s class, Remembering Our Past, and of Dr. Walker’s class, The Self, was one that involved thirteen members on one research team. Both classes met together throughout the semester in order to come up with a research idea, collect data, discuss the results, and combine these aspects of the project into a presentation.

Because there were so many different ideas from the individuals involved with the research, many different variables were examined in the experiment. Variables examined in the study included gender, year in college, identity status (foreclosed, moratorium, achieved, diffused), major, and birth order. Both under- and upperclassmen were studied in this experiment and were either recruited through general psychology classes, upper level classes, or through direct contact with one of the experimenters. Each participant had to write about a personally significant memory from the first month of college in addition to completing a questionnaire.

There were several significant findings in this experiment. For example, women were more likely to mention communal memories than men, yet women also used more self-words (I, me, mine) than men did. Additionally, older students were found to have more general memories than younger students, while younger students had move vivid memories than older students. If you would like to know about additional findings, please contact Dr. Ackil, Dr. Walker, or one of the other researchers.

This research experience was a great way to learn how to combine two different areas of psychology (cognitive with memory and personality since the memory had to be personally significant). It was also a great opportunity to get a variety of ideas from people with different perspectives, in addition to getting more exposure to the research process.

Now as I sit once again inside SSC, my second home, I think about the month I spent in a world many academics never see. I spent this January term exploring the world of offenders and probation through Nicollet County Court Services. As many psychology majors have an interest in criminal justice, this may be something for all you readers to consider, particularly if you:

• want to work with lawyers or in court
• have patience and assertiveness in dealing with individuals who may be very different from yourself
• enjoy working as part of a treatment team (i.e. with social services, treatment centers, the police, etc)
• maintain optimism in people's ability to change

This career field holds the potential to be rewarding, but often appears to be depressing and filled with pessimism, as offenders repeat criminal behaviors and are not often successful in attending meetings, completing treatments, etc. My internship director notes that within the confines of these walls, it is easy to forget about the majority of the world as law-abiding citizens, as one deals with the offenders day in and day out.

I was surprised that unlike many counseling-based internships, this position actually allowed you to sit in on meetings, find out about offenders' backgrounds and life situations, and make house visits, including to go out on night curfew checks. It also made me realize how many ways one can make a wrong decision, and how lucky I am to be where I am in life, working on my education and looking to a promising future, something many of these people may not soon see...

[Jamie Larson is an academic assistant in the psychology department, a senior honors psychology and sociology/anthropology major]

-- by Nicole Fuerstenberg

Dr. Barbara Simpson recently returned from a journey to India in which she assisted with the study abroad program - Social Justice, Peace, and Development: A Semester in India. As evidenced by the several trips that she has taken, Dr. Simpson has developed a passion for traveling to and learning about India.

As an extension of her work with Carl Rogers and working with people, Dr. Simpson became interested in traveling to a place where she could come to understand an individual from his or her point of view and in his or her own circumstances. She initially chose India as a destination to better understand individuals and human nature. Her interest in India was further piqued when she became involved with the India study abroad program. By sharing some of the things she has learned about the Indian culture, Dr. Simpson helped me to appreciate the advantages that can be gained from traveling to this colorful country.

Studying in India is a unique experience for students beause it is not a university-based program. Rather, students are immersed into the culture and obtain their learning experiences by meeting directly and interacting with government officials, social activists, and the people of India (from the very poor to the wealthy) as contrasted to classroom learning experiences.

Students interested in understanding social justice, social psychology, and social phenomenon gain knowledge about the organization of society and culture. Observing and participating in a new culture inherently leads people to understand how people live differently. For example, Dr. Simpson discussed the strong importance of family and family networking that exists in India. Individuals within a family depend upon one another for support and often do business (buy necessities from) with other families over many generations.

Dr. Simpson has traveled to India numerous times, beginning in the late 1990s. Each time she visits, she comes to appreciate another layer of the country. Accordingly, every student that returns from India has gained a truer understanding of diversity, as that is the way of life in India. Since there is no one common language, religion, or nation; diversity exists everywhere and is highly tolerated. Dr. Simpson said that returning students come back with minds that are unbelievably expanded as to what makes people and social systems operate within a country. She suggests that students who travel India return with an expanded tolerance for and heightened appreciation of diversity.

The study abroad trip to India is for four course credits. The course catalogue has an in-depth explanation of the exact courses that are available. Students who want to travel to India should know that a total of 15 students may go. The registration sign-up date is March 1, 2005. If you are interested in learning more about studying in India, you may contact Dr. Simpson directly.

[Nicole Fuerstenberg is a senior honors psychology and criminal justice double major, staff writer, departmental student assistant and academic assistant.]