 Topics in Psychology PSY 344-001 Psychophysiology - Mark Kruger With the advent of new research technologies, increasing attention is being paid to examination of the physiological correlates of important psychological processes such as attention, information processing, learning, emotion, and stress. Understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these research tools will be developed through hands-on experience and discussion. Students will be given an opportunity to learn to use computer-based data acquisition tools to collect and analyze responses such as heart rate, skin conductance, electromyographical responses, electrical activity of the brain, skin temperature, and blood pressure. Students will write a review paper which focuses on the use of psychophysiological correlates in an area of psychological research or clinical application which they choose and complete a project which demonstrates what they have learned about psychophysiological data collection and analysis. Topics in Psychology PSY 344-002
The ability to develop and use language is perhaps the attribute that most distinguishes humans from other animals. We will try to understand how and why this is the case. First, what are the cognitive capacities that support language learning and use? Second, fundamental psychological questions such as nature vs. nurture will be explored with respect to language. Further topics include: models of memory, story grammars, bilingualism, language acquisition, and the biological substrates of language. Students will explore a topic of interest (translation, mental models, pragmatics, tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, "Spoonerism" "Freudian Slips" etc..) in a written paper and presentation. For those of you interested in a research project, we
have PSY 390 Directed Research which is for students working with
an individual faculty member on a research project. Credit depends
on your level of involvement. To register for this course you will
need permission. See Dr. Kruger if you have questions.
 Back in the Day....
While I was doing research for a previous
article I wrote for Emil's Epilogue, I came across a Gustavus catalog
and got to see how different Gustavus was way back when. The most
interesting information was how much tuition was. And
that's how I came up with the idea to write an article
showing how Gustavus has increased tuition over the
past century.
1920
 The Whole Nine Yards
Scream 3
The Green Mile
 Carl Emil Seashore, our namesake, was a Gustie grad whose contributions to the field of psychology were great and numerous. He maintained a wide spectrum of interests and took a holistic approach to his studies, making contributions in the disciplines of speech and hearing, child psychology, abnormal behavior, psychological testing, and the psychology of music. Seashore began his life in Sweden, emigrating to the U.S. at age 3 with his parents and a brother. The family settled in Iowa where 'Emil' developed his love for music and capacity for hard work. By the age of fourteen, he was organist for his church and a disciplined worker on the family farm. He completed his preparatory work at Gustavus in two years and graduated at the top of his class in 1891. After completing his professional education at Yale, 'Emil' returned to Iowa and became a professor at the University of Iowa. There, he developed a program in psychology that was among the best in the nation. It integrated applied psychology into higher education through research programs such as "Child Culture versus Corn Culture," a study of child psychology in rural Iowa. His broad interests served him well, and he made significant contributions to several fields of psychology during this time. Seashore served as dean of the Graduate College for many years and even served one term as president of the American Psychological Association. Still, Seashore's legacy is far more than that of a zealous academic. He was a loving husband and father of four boys, three of whom went on to pursue careers related to psychology. 'Emil' also inspired his students and was known as a kind-hearted mentor. It is no wonder, then, that he was chosen as this publication's namesake. Carl Seashore, who we know as 'Emil,' truly embodies the Gustavus ideal and gives evidence to our cheers that, indeed, "Gusties will shine." If you have any questions or comments for "Dear Emil,"
email them to Dear Emil
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 Psi Chi serves two major goals - one immediate and visibly rewarding to the individual member, the other slower and more difficult to accomplish, but offering greater rewards in the long run. The first of these is the Society's obligation to provide academic recognition to its inductees by the mere fact of membership. The second goal is the obligation of each of the Society's local chapters to nurture the spark of that accomplishment by offering a climate congenial to its creative development. For example, the chapters make active attempts to nourish and stimulate professional growth through programs designed to augment and enhance the regular curriculum and to provide practical experience and fellowship through affiliation with the chapter. In addition, the national organization provides programs to help achieve these goals, including national and regional conventions held annually in conjunction with the psychological associations, research award competitions, and certificate recognition programs. Also, the Society publishes a quarterly Psi Chi Newsletter which helps to unite the members as well as to inform and recognize their contributions and accomplishments. What are the benefits?
**Concrete advantages of membership include:
Climaxing the benefits mentioned above is knowing that many individuals, by their caring, dedication, perseverance, and hard work , have made it possible to encourage young persons interested in psychology to strive for excellence--to reach toward that attainable star. The ultimate test of the value of any membership organization lies in the accomplishments of its members. In each year of Psi Chi's history, more and more members have undertaken graduate studies. And now in its 63rd year, Psi Chi is well represented in the professional ranks of all the behavioral sciences. The Membership Directory of the American Psychological Association is studded with the names of Psi Chi members, both active and alumni. This is only one example demonstrating that the Society's purposes are being fulfilled.  Dr. Martin's love for learning began during his college years when he began to really enjoy his classes. He graduated from St. John's University with a major in History, and was accepted at graduate schools for both Psychology and Law. Unsure of what he really wanted to do, he chose the Psychology program due to a more appealing starting date, which proved to be an excellent choice for him. He began a program for Clinical Psychology, but quickly realized that he could not foresee that as his career. He was given the opportunity to do some research working with some results found by Piaget, and discovered that it was Developmental Psychology that really fascinated him. This stimulated a change in programs one year into graduate school, and led to earning a degree from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Most of the research that Dr. Martin has done happened
during his graduate school years. His study of memory on infants
was his first to be published in a journal. He is currently working
diligently at writing a textbook in Adult Development and Aging, which
his Adult Psychology students have had the opportunity to use. He
began this project about two years ago with the desire to write a more
satisfying text on adult development and hopes to be finished with the
rough draft by next January. Although this has been a big time commitment
for him, he has found it to be a very worthwhile and thoroughly enjoyable
experience. Good luck to you Dr. Martin!
Congratulations to Dr. Martin
for completing 30 years of service at Gustavus Adolphus College!
 Dr. Ohnesorge and Dr. Van Lancker hypothesized that the right hemisphere may be good at familiar (i.e. meaningful) stimuli. They conducted a series of experiments to test this hypothesis. The first experiment was set up to find out if the right and left hemispheres are differently adept at identifying proper and common nouns. Hundreds of proper and common nouns were generated by students and the researchers used the ones they found most often. They selected quadruplets of nouns of similar length and appearance, two common and two proper nouns in each quadruplet. The participants focused on a fixation point on a computer and the stimuli were flashed four degrees to the left or right of this fixation point (which would be processed by either the right or left hemisphere). They were asked to press a key on the computer representing either proper or common nouns. The results of the experiment show that for proper nouns, the right and left hemisphere performed approximately the same, but for common nouns, the right hemisphere performed considerably worse than the left hemisphere. Experiment two asked "does the right hemisphere capacity
extend to attributes or dimensions within a class?" In this experiment
participants had to judge between male and female proper nouns or natural
and artificial objects. The researchers found that this reduces the
right hemisphere's ability to deal with the nouns but the that left hemisphere
actually does better at this task than the one in experiment one.
In another experiment, the researchers asked "can the right hemisphere
equal the left hemisphere at identifying a stimulus attribute (gender)
for famous proper nouns?" In this experiment they discovered that
the right hemisphere can not do dimensional processing.
 FYI: Thank you and Best Wishes...
Best wishes to Barb Rodning as she begins her
new position as Administrative Assistant in Lund Center. Barb originally
started work for the Psychology Department in September, 1998 when she
temporarily assumed the office duties from Brenda Deblieck. Barb
officially became department secretary in September of 1999 and has been
instrumental in efficiently managing the department's daily tasks.
Barb's skills as facilitator and editor of the department's newsletter,
"Emil's Epilogue" have been exemplary. Thank you, Barb, for all of
your hard work. We wish you the very best in your new endeavor!
The second set of four photos are from the Psychology
and the Law course taught by Dr. Jennifer Ackil. The photos are the results
of their team projects.
Humor for the Month
"You need to use 'big people' words," she'd always remind them. She asked Wendy what she had done over the weekend. "I went to visit my Nana." "No, you went to visit your GRANDMOTHER. Use big people words!" She then asked Joey what he had done. "I took a ride on a choo-choo." he said. "No, you took a ride on a TRAIN. Use big people words!" She then asked Eddie what he had done. "I read a book."
he replied. "That's wonderful." the teacher said. "What book did you read?"
Eddie thought about it, then puffed out his chest with great pride and
said, "Winnie The Shit."
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"OUR" STUDENTS  Sara reports that she is excited for this semester and believes that it may be her best yet. Her classes are more thought and discussion oriented than the many lecture classes that she's taken in the past. One of her current classes is Health Psychology. The class is small (there are only 3 students) but fits into Sara's interest in the mind-body connection and her intentions to pursue a career in health psychology. Ideally, she'll work in a hospital setting and counsel patients who are dealing with life changing, sometimes terminal, diseases. Consistent with her interest in health psychology, Sara is also developing a research program examining the relationship between optimism and health, which she will complete before she graduates. Many of Sara's other activities at Gustavus are service related. She is a coordinator for the Big Partners program, an APO member, and a volunteer at the Regional Treatment Center through Wednesday Friends. In addition, she was recently certified as a Hospice volunteer, something that she plans to become more involved with once she graduates. Sara is drawn to service because it reminds her that "all people are connected by our basic need for compassion." Other activities that Sara enjoys are traveling, various fitness activities, reading, and anything that lets her spend time outdoors.
 Many seniors might say that "confused" is the one word that describes them the best this year. We have worked long and hard for degrees in our specific areas of interest, but now we must figure out what we would like to do with the rest of our lives. This was the state of mind that I was in prior to January. I knew that I would be graduating from Gustavus with Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice, but what exactly did I want to do with this nice little piece of paper? I had given quite a bit of thought to numerous occupational areas within both the psychology and the law fields, but I just couldn't quite seem to find exactly what I was looking for. I had decided early in the year that I would like to do an internship in January to further explore some possible areas of interest. I was lucky enough to end up being chosen by the psychology department at Gustavus to serve as their repre- sentative for an internship with the Industrial/Organizational department within 3M Corporation in St. Paul. The department is referred to as the Testing and Measurements department, which is situated within the Human Resources branch of the company. In the specific area that I was working, there were three Industrial/Organizational psychologists, one psychology MBA, and two psychology graduates. Basically, the department is in charge of administering and validating all tests that are given throughout the company, not only in St. Paul, but throughout the world. Employees are given tests often upon entrance to the company, and then again occasionally when there is a possibility of advancement. They are also given job satisfaction surveys on a regular basis, which are then reported to the higher administration. The department is instrumental to the basic functioning that takes place within the company. 3M runs under the philosophy that hiring and advance- ment should be somewhat weighted by that person's intellectual abilities and psychological capabilities. Without the testing that my department did, there would be no basis by which the company could base its decisions. Although I was only in the department for the month, I was able to experience numerous tasks that take place on a regular basis. I was able to help administer two manager test batteries and one sales test battery. I also got to enter a good deal of data concerning the validation of a new test that was a possible replacement for the current sales test. I corrected tests that had been sent in from various part of the world, entered data and evaluations, and went to many meetings throughout the company that were able to give me a larger perspective concerning where my department fit into the whole company. 3M has a lot of meetings and it was really quite nice because you get to see what is going on in other departments as well as your own. All in all, I was kept quite busy throughout the month. There was always something there for me to do and each task exemplified further the importance of the group that I was working with and the knowledge that was held within the group. It was often joked that the testing/measurement team was quite possibly one of the most intellectually gifted departments within 3M and I think that joke might just hold true. I learned so much, not only about testing, but about working in a large company in general, from those within my department. I was amazed at the vast array of knowledge that I was able to walk away with at the end of the month. Although I loved working for the testing/measurement department, I think one of the greatest advantages to obtaining this particular internship was the opportunity to explore other divisions and departments within the company. 3M is so large and so diverse, that it offers significant opportunities for each ndividual. I realized this early on in the month and I spent some time throughout my internship looking at all of these other possibilities. My supervisor was kind enough to schedule a number of informational interviews with people in different areas, giving me a chance to get to know their department and also getting to know them. If anyone has every told you that opportunity revolves around the connections you make, they were right. By the end of my internship I had I met with people throughout the company and am now thinking of pursuing a job in the sales division within 3M. I had no inclination that this was even a possibility when I began the month, but as the internship progressed I realized that I really wanted to work for this company. It is a wonderful atmosphere with terrific people. I attended a new employee orientation session and I realized that it is true that they only hire "the brightest and the best". I decided that I wanted to be one of these select people. Although I still think that I would like to eventually go back to school for a degree in I/O psychology, I am now focused on getting my feet wet within the business world first and I cannot think of a better place to do it than 3M. I have not gotten the job yet, but the opportunity is there and I have to say that having an internship within the company did not hurt my chances any. I would encourage underclassmen with an interest in Industrial/Organizational
Psychology to look into this internship possibility
for future years. As you can see, it is not only a learning
experience within the psychology field, but in the business
world in general. It is an amazing opportunity and I encourage each
of you to take advantage of this wonderful connection
that Gustavus has established with 3M. Not only
did I learn a great deal, but I had fun! I think that is probably
the most important aspect of all.
 World Voices: the world united in song features
Gustavus Psychology alum, Cathy ten Broeke. See link to Minneapolis
Star Tribune article.
 Elise vonLuhrte believes that her claim to fame is that she became engaged while attending a black tie ball at Emperor Franz Josef of Austria's palace in Vienna, Austria. "Joblinski" told me that she can 'burp' on cue.
Needless to say, "Joblinski" is a code name for a psychology major.
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Personal finance -- "It was only two hours and I got to sleep until 10:30." -Laura Schultz- |
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Career Exploration -- I shadowed a music therapist. "It gave me the opportunity to see what a music therapist does." -Melissa Bateson- |
About Behaviorism -- "We got to train rats." -Erin Colon- |
| Calendar of Events
March 25-April 2 - Spring Break April 21-24 - Easter Recess April 26 - MAYDAY! Conference April 27 - Kendall Lecture Series May 6 - Honors Day May 19 - Finals Begin May 28 - Commencement Previous Issues of Emil's
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 Back Row: Dr. Richard Martin, Chris Kwasniewski, Jaime Peterson, Emil (behind Jaime), Sara Lindberg, Barb Rodning; Front Row: Jennifer Pratt, Becky Goughnour, Jessica Franken. To Email: Click on name. |
