Amanda Gagnon Presents Research Findings at fall 2016 Poster Session

2017 Jan 17

Amanda Gagnon, a Psychology major, is one of 12 Western New England University students who participated in research opportunities this fall. The work encompassed the methodology of psychological research from the conception of a hypothesis to the publication of the results.

Gagnon's research poject is titled "Implicit Attitudes, Explicit Attitudes, and Attributions Toward Drug Addicts." This study required participants to complete a categorization task that measured their implicit prejudices towards drug addicts, along with multiple questionnaires that measured their explicit prejudices. It was found that overall, people tend to have both negative implicit attitudes and explicit attitudes, as they do not feel a need to conceal their true feelings due to the fact that it is socially acceptable to have these negative attitudes. I will be continuing with additional data collection in the spring, and will be presenting my additional findings at the Association for Psychological Science in May.

"Actively participating in undergraduate research here at Western New England has provided me the most amazing hands-on experience, learning skills that simply cannot be learned in a classroom. My research experiences have truly helped me pave my path for my future in psychology, especially as I am applying to clinical psychology doctoral programs."