Research and Scholarly Activities

Undergraduate Research

All psychology majors participate in research through Behavioral Research I and II. Psychology majors taking Behavioral Research II present their projects at the end of the semester in a symposium. Students can also present research posters at the Tristate Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference in the fall or the Pioneer Creative Activities and Research Day in the spring. In addition, some of our students have traveled to Chicago to present posters at the Midwestern Psychological Association’s annual meeting in the spring. Attending a conference is a great opportunity for students to gain valuable experiences, and it is important for those students who are interested in attending graduate school as well. 

The UW-Platteville psychology department also has two active research labs and several faculty members who conduct research with students outside of class for independent projects, credit, or as a paid research position. As a result of these experiences, students have presented at regional and national conferences and published their research in peer-reviewed journals.

Platteville Emotion and Decision Making Lab

The Platteville Emotion and Decision Making (PEDL) lab investigates judgment and decision-making. Specifically, PEDL examines factors that relate to, predict, or influence decision-making in the following domains: economic decision-making, moral judgment, substance use and health-related behaviors, and conservation/environmental decisions. We also measure physiology associated with decision-making, such as heart rate variability and spontaneous eye blink rate. 

Pioneer Law and Applied Memory Lab 

The Pioneer Law and Applied Memory Lab (PLAM) investigates factors that influence memory – particularly in applied settings. For instance, the PLAM lab investigates factors that influence the accuracy of eyewitnesses – such as the explanatory nature of misleading details and whether question type at the final test influences accuracy. In addition, the PLAM lab is investigates misinformation in the news: the influence of social media on belief in fake news, how repetition influences belief in fake news, and factors that influence the efficacy of correcting misleading information in the news.