Ph.D., New York University; Associate Professor, 1991. Affectionately known by his students as "Behaviorist Bob", Prof. Allan is the strongest advocate of the Skinnerian position within the department. His research with pigeons has students flocking to his laboratory. Using creatively constructed conditioning chambers outfitted with computer touch screens, he and his students study the control of the accuracy of pigeon's pecking behavior, the stimulus control of response location, various aspects of conditioned reinforcement, and control of the gape response in the birds. Click here to see the Learning Class page.
For fun, have a look at some laboratory and animal pictures:
Ph.D., Brandeis University; Professor and Department Head, 1977. Prof. Basow is a clinical/social psychologist with a special interest in the psychology of gender. She has conducted research on the effects of gender on people's perceptions of others, especially in such evaluative contexts as student ratings of professors. She has also examined such diverse topics as eating disorders and achievement motivation and performance. Much of her work has attracted national attention in the media including features on CNN. She is currently working on the fourth edition of her very popular text, Gender: Stereotypes and Roles for Brooks/Cole Publishers.
Ph.D., University of Tennessee; Associate Professor, 1980. After serving a four year stint as Dean of Academic Services, Prof. Childs has recently returned to the department. Trained as a social psychologist, his recent research interests have been in the area of medical practice, especially in patient-practitioner interactions and the factors which affect critical medical decisions on the part of practitioners, patients, and their families. He is currently working on a manuscript for a textbook in health psychology.
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Professor Emeritus, 1958 (Retired, 1995). To many students over the past thirty seven years, Prof. Gallup has epitomized the devotion of the psychology faculty to the discipline. Long an advocate of the Personalized System of Instruction developed by Fred Keller, Prof. Gallup's recent research interests have been in the area of learning and memory, especially how language is stored, and in areas of perception, particularily the famous Stroop Effect and time estimation.
Ph.D., University of Washington; Associate Professor, 1989. Prof. Hill's "niche" in the department is as the physiological and comparative psychologist. She is interested in both the physiological bases of behaviors, as well as animal ethology. In particular, she has examined the significance of prenatal nutrition to the posthatch development of birds, primarily in domestic chickens, Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis), and Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia gutta). Her other area of research explores the neurological mediation of aggression and antipredator responses in domestic chicks. Prof. Hill and her students have conducted studies employing various psychoactive drugs to determine the specific neural influences over social aggression, distress vocalizations, and tonic immobility responses.
Ph.D., Catholic University; Associate Professor, 1985. The developmental psychologist in the department, Prof. McGillicuddy-Delisi has two primary areas of research. First, she is interested in the development of spatial knowledge in children, and second, in the influence of family environment factors on the development of children and the development of adults. A recent article examined how children's moral judgements about how rewards should be allocated to a group when the members of the groups are either strangers or friends.
Ph.D., Princeton University; Assistant Professor, 1993. Prof. McGlone's recent work has focused on the relationship between language and reasoning. In particular, he has investigated the influence of linguistic devices such as analogy, metaphor, euphemism, and equivocation on people's choice behavior in game-oriented and professional settings. A related line of research explores the distorting influence of language on memory for faces and visual scenes.
Ph.D., Kent State University, Assistant Professor, 1996. Prof. Neuhoff's current research examines the perception of dynamic auditory stimuli, and the perception of sound sources in motion. Research goals include specifying invariant natural properties and determining the heuristics with which observers utilize these invariants. He is also interested in defining integral and separable perceptual dimensions in a dynamic setting. Goals of this work include specifying the nature of selective attention in a dynamic setting and the dynamic nature of information access in multidimensional perception. Another project examines differences in the processing of pitch and loudness between musicians and non-musicians.
John Shaw
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Assistant Professor, 1997.
Ph.D., Iowa State University; Assistant Professor, 1996. Prof. Swiatek is a counseling/clinical psychologist who is interested primarily in child and adolescent psychopathology. Her main research interests are not clinical, however; she studies intellectual giftedness, particularly in adolescents. Her current research focuses on two main issues: 1) the concurrent validity of intelligence tests and college entrance exams in identifying gifted individuals and 2) the coping strategies used by gifted adolescents to overcome negative social stereotypes.
Ph.D., Memphis State University; Associate Professor and Assistant Head, 1989. Prof. Vinchur is always "on the job", as he is the department's specialist in industrial and organizational psychology. His specific research projects have included personnel selection, job analysis, individual and organizational productivity and performance. A history buff, Prof. Vinchur is preparing an article for a future newsletter which will explore the history of psychology at Lafayette. Contributions from Alumni are welcome and encouraged.
