Four students in Oglethorpe’s Adult Degree Program presented their original research at the 2015 meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) in Hilton Head, S.C. Twain Carter, Mary Kathryn Brown, Yeisi Alvarado-Santana and Chelsea Ventura, all students in Dr. John Carton’s spring 2015 Theories of Personality course, each represented their respective class group at the conference. The students explained their groups’ work to other conference attendees, learned about different areas of research, and interacted with students and professors from other universities.

Three of their projects involved using personality variables to predict juror behavior, while the fourth involved testing how preconceptions about Sigmund Freud’s theory influence willingness to endorse his ideas on human nature.

Three additional groups from Dr. Carton’s fall 2015 Theories of Personality course have been invited to present their research at the spring 2016 SEPA conference in New Orleans. Two of the projects involved additional research on predicting juror behavior with personality variables and the third involved testing whether handwriting produces better recall of material than does typing.

Advanced training in research is one reason why the OU Psychology Department has a strong record of placing students into graduate programs.