CSULB Psychology Department
Master of Arts - Psychological Research Program's
Special Call for
Spring 2009 Applications

Due Date for Applications:
October 15, 2008
 

The CSULB MA-Psychological Research program is currently taking applications for a special Spring 2009 entry.  Department applications will be due on Thursday, October 15, 2008.  Please note that students applying for Spring 2009 must have a bachelor's degree by program entry (CSULB students must graduate by Winter 2009 session).  (Also note: There is no Spring application/entry for the MSIO program.)

Please use the special MA-Psychological Research Spring 2009 department application, which is printable on-line, available from the Psychology department front office or by written request (please include mailing address).  Please be sure to use the Spring 2009 application, rather than the generic Psychology department application (which lists all three programs at the top of page one).  All items required for regular Fall entry consideration will also be required for the special Spring 2009 application period as well.  This includes GRE General Test scores. 

*** Please note: A special list for Page 2, Part D of the MA-PR application, where applicants are asked to name possible faculty mentors, is posted below (a PDF version is also available).  Please use faculty members from this list when filling out your application. ***

Students not already accepted to CSULB as a graduate student ("Conditionally Classified") must submit a university application by October 1, 2008 to the Enrollment Services office for Spring 2009.  University applications may be submitted via the www.csumentor.edu web site.  Current CSULB undergraduate students must graduate by Winter 2009 and have applied again to CSULB using the CSU Graduate application by the December 1st deadline.  Please note: the sooner you apply to the university for Spring 2009 (beginning August 1, 2008) and complete your university application, the sooner you will be processed for registration once offered a position by the department.

Please contact the Psychology department's Graduate Advisor, Diane Roe, if you have any questions: droe@csulb.edu or 562-985-5000.

Young-Hee Cho: Judgment and decision-making; The interplay of cognition and affect; Time orientation/perspective.

Chi-Ah Chun: My broad area of research interest is in minority mental health. Currently, I have two active research programs. The first one examines the role of cultural values and attribution in the stress and coping process in Korean immigrants. The second study investigates how cultural beliefs influence coping with symptoms of PTSD in Cambodian refugees.

David Dowell: program evaluation, psychology and social issues, applied social, social policy, organizational, social identity theory and community psych. www.csulb.edu/~ddowell/ or www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/planning_enrollment/

Martin Fiebert: Interracial dating; meditation; men as victims of domestic violence.

Dennis Fisher: Areas of interest include the following: Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse and Infectious Disease, Reliability and Validity Studies, Cluster Analysis, Survival Analysis, Logistic Regression, and Clinical Trials. My publications have mostly been in the area of drug abuse, hepatitis and needle exchange, with a secondary interest in psychometrics.

Diane Lee: Primary areas of interest: Psychology of Learning, Biological Psychology, and Cognitive Ethology. Specifically, my research efforts address the role that the birth of new neurons (neurogenesis) plays in learning and memory using birds as the primary animal model. By integrating techniques, research can range from field and laboratory investigations of learning to the neurobiology mediating learning and memory formation. The research is currently directed along three basic lines of inquiry. First, when and where in the avian brain does adult neurogenesis occur? Second, what types of learning experiences and/or fluctuations in hormone levels influence the rate at which neurogenesis occurs and the direction new neurons take? And third, how does neurogenesis influence subsequent learning and memory?

Kevin MacDonald: I am interested in developmental research with children in virtually any area of social and personality development. I am also interested in personality research on adults as well as any area of research related to evolutionary perspectives on psychology.

William Pedersen: I have 2 general interest areas: (1) the factors that impact aggressive behavior (specifically displaced aggression), and (2) an evolutionary perspective on gender differences in mating preferences and strategies. More detailed information on each of these topics is available on my website: www.csulb.edu/~wpederse

Sherry Span: My research to date has focused on the relation among the following:
    1. Risk factors associated with alcohol/substance abuse
    2. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
    3. Clinical Neuropsychology

Robert Thayer: Interests: Mood, including psychological and physiological connections. Particular interests include relationships between mood and exercise, food, health, stress, biological cycles, and self-perception. Also of interest is self-regulation of mood, and especially associations with drugs, food, and exercise. Negative mood states such as moderate depression and positive mood states such as calm-energy are of interest as well. Note particularly Thayer’s three books: The Biopsychology of Mood and Arousal (Oxford Univ Press, 1989), The Origin of Everyday Moods (Oxford Univ Press, 1996), and Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise (Oxford Univ Press, 2003). More information on web site: www.csulb.edu/~thayer 

Dustin Thoman: I have always been curious about how and why people come to develop interest and motivation for specific academic domains, careers, and other lifelong pursuits. Through research I aim to understand how individuals develop and maintain motivation, including how motivation is influenced by proximal (e.g., relationships, interpersonal interactions) and distal (e.g., culture, stereotypes) factors in one’s social context. I am interested in understanding the social nature of intrinsic motivation, the development of interests and integration of interests into identity, and how stereotypes and discrimination influence interest, motivation, and choices.

My current research focuses on how subtle forms of modern discrimination affect the development of activity and career interest for stigmatized individuals. This research is a natural outgrowth of two lines of work: one of which focuses on the effects of unfair and gender-biased feedback on students’ interest and motivation, and the other focuses on the role of social interactions (e.g. conversations) in interest development. Each of my specific lines of research contribute to understanding, from different angles, the more general question of how individuals develop and maintain motivation, particularly for long-term pursuits, and how this motivation is influenced by the individual’s social context. This program of research directly encompasses several literatures including: intrinsic motivation, development of interest, stereotypes and social stigmas, self-regulation, development of self and identity, attributions, and evaluation. Although much of my research occurs in the lab, I am passionate about the applied aspect of this research, as well as how these processes function across cultures. Thus, my training is grounded in social psychology, but my research interests also strongly overlap with developmental and educational psychology.

Guido Urizar: Dr. Urizar’s research in the area of Health Psychology has focused on examining psychosocial, behavioral, and physiological factors associated with mental and physical health outcomes. A number of grants from NIH, and other Federal and State agencies have supported this work. Specific areas of his research include cardiovascular disease prevention and recovery, examining the efficacy of behavioral medicine in hospital– and community-based settings, impact of stress on health outcomes and health behaviors, predictors of maternal and infant health development, and psychoneuroendocrinology. The primary objective of his research has been to identify at-risk groups for chronic health problems and to develop and test community-based interventions that are designed to promote chronic disease prevention and management in low-income, ethnic minority, and other medically underserved populations.

Bianca Wilson: My general areas of research are sexual health and health promotion research. I study the role of culture, oppression and identity in health behaviors and health care access. I primarily work within ethnic and sexual minority communities, and am particularly interested in the strategies we use to incorporate knowledge about a community’s culture into the development of health programs.