At the 86th Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) Conference earlier this month, 24 Arcadia students and alumni presented on 15 topics ranging from the power of marketing for bottled water to drug interactions in the brain. Faculty members Dr. Steve Robbins, Dr. Christina Brown, Adam Levy, Dr. Josh Blustein, Dr. Elaine Jones, and Dr. Erica Fortune assisted the presentations.

The conference aims to give “psychology away beyond the boundaries of academia,” according to the EPA. Founded in 1896, the EPA is the oldest of the regional Psychological Associations and recognizes a wide and varied range of psychology fields and psychologists as members.

Aromatherapy: Does it really work?
Maria D’ Abbene ’15, Amber McCabe ’15, Adam Levy

College students’ social perceptions of hypothetical atypical characters
Tara M. Nuzzo ’14, Dr. Elaine Jones

Do detectable physiological effects boost placebo responding?
Veronika S. Bailey ’14, Dr. Steven J. Robbins

“Do you act like yourself?” Investigating power’s effect on attitude convergence
Yevgeniy (Eugene) M. Olkhov ’14, Dr. Christina Brown

Evaluating treatment threshold and medical decision making in gambling and non-gambling populations
Kiara Hunter Buccellato ’15, Jessica Shotwell ’16, Erica E. Fortune

Open arms, open doors: Investigating the effects of physical priming on disclosure
Christine Bondira ’15, Tatianna Lebron ’15, Kelsey Robl ’15, Aashika Suseendran ’15

Perception of competence: Examining the effect of familiarity and attractiveness
Jaclyn Corse ’15, Tatianna Hagerty Lebron ’15, Marcous Harold Marchese ’15

Self-concept structure predicts ease of switching between different self-aspects
Veronika S. Bailey ’14, David D. Castellano ’15, Yevgeniy M. Olkhov ’14, Harrison Stoll ’13, Aashika Suseendran ’15 , Dr. Christina Brown, Allen R. McConnell

The effect of attractiveness and reciprocity on compliance
Amber Marie Devito ’15, Victoria Peers ’14, Adam Levy, Thomas Wagner

The effect of branding on perceived water quality
Dale Kratz ’15, Eric McGuckin ’15, Christopher Miller ’16,  Dr. Joshua E. Blustein

The effects of 5 HT3 antagonist a bemestron on cocaine-induced place preference
Jin Zhao ’13, Dr. Joshua E. Blustein

The efficacy of descriptive versus injunctive norms in promoting recycling
Zoryana Mahlyak ’15, Aashika Suseendran ’15,  Adam Levy

The role of ingroup identification and group meaningfulness in intergroup retaliatory aggression
David D. Castellano ’15, Dr. Christina M. Brown, Adam Levy

The role of mood in speed of processing of stereotypic information
Emily R. Daniels ’14, Dr. Christina M. Brown