Student-Faculty Research

Dr. Terigele is interested in exploring how people interact with individuals from different social groups in both direct and digital settings. Her research aims to understand why we differentiate between “us” and “them,” how social identities shape and change our perceptions even before we interact, and the real impact of DEIB efforts on underrepresented employees. Her projects also examine how media narratives influence intergroup attitudes and whether generative AI could surpass human efforts in fostering a more inclusive world.

Dr. Fisher’s primary area of research is focused on gender similarities and differences regarding sexual behaviors and attitudes. She also does studies on ways to enhance honesty when reporting sensitive behavior. She has supervised Sewanee student research on sexual identity, sexual decision making, sexual assault, and sexual pain.

Professor Morgan’s research explores civic and sociopolitical identity development. Through her research, she seeks to understand how young people come to see themselves as change agents in their communities. She employs community-based participatory research methods, studying youth civic power within school-based interventions, within empowering community contexts, and across the lifespan.

Dr. Silver’s research is within two domains. The first domain is within attitudes toward diversity by high-status groups. In other words, exploring the attitudes of those in power and typically the numerical majority and how they perceive diversity initiatives influencing their perceived power and status. The second domain is in the field of psychology of religion with an emphasis on social cognition as it applies to religious identity, attitudes, and personality research. Dr. Silver’s research has explored personal images of Jesus in their mind and religious risk rituals such as the Serpent Handling Sects of Appalachia. Currently, Dr. Silver is working with an international team to explore how concepts of faith and meaning change over time.

Dr. Reppert investigates the relationship between motor control and perceptual decision making. He uses eye movement metrics to ask questions such as: Why do some people make consistently faster movements than others? Why do we often make more errors when we are pressed for time? His work focuses on how motivational state and attentional control shape behavior.

Dr. Yu’s current research focuses on judgment and decision making. In particular, she seeks to better understand the under-studied yet foundational aspect of decision making known as option generation: How do we determine what our alternatives are in any choice situation, especially given that many important real-world decisions do not present us with a clear set of options, and that the options we do and don’t consider drastically impact our choices? How can a better understanding of option generation guide us toward more cognitively kind approaches that lead to better decisions? 

Dr. Cammack’s research explores how drugs of abuse impact behavior. Specifically, she is interested in how abused drugs alter normal brain processes like learning, memory, and motivation; how sex differences and hormones alter drug seeking; and why similar individuals respond differently to the same drug. Her current research explores how prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, cause short- and long-term changes to motivation-related circuits in the brains of males and females.

Sewanee students conduct research alongside our Psychology faculty during the academic year and summer. These co-curricular opportunities build core competencies in undergraduate psychology education and career readiness, including analytic and scientific thinking, an understanding of rigorous and responsible conduct of research, communication skills, professionalism, and leadership. Many of our students have published their work in peer-reviewed journals and/or presented their work at scientific conferences.