Students take their research to Montreal
This past July, Professor Jaime Settle and four students, Nick Oviedo-Torres (’20), Alex Bulova (’19), Laurel Detert (’20), Emily Saylor (’20), from the Social Networking and Political Psychology Lab (SNaPP Lab) traveled to Montreal to share their research at an international conference. Titled Politics, Physiology, and Cognition: Advances in Theory and Method, the conference brought together experts in political physiology from across the United States and several international locations.
At the conference, Prof Settle presented ongoing research about political contention. Within the lab, students conduct experiments to better understand the psychological underpinnings of political behavior. When engaged in conflict, individuals react very differently. Some become engaged while others shy away. In conversations specifically about politics, individuals can become entirely disengaged from political conversation if they avoid conflict, and therefore be disengaged from our political system. Since democracy is based on the idea that all citizens are able to voice their opinions, this disengagement poses a threat to the true realization of a democratic society. Experiments done in SNaPP Lab aim to understand these shifting dynamics to support the political engagement of all citizens.
With the recent incorporation of Virtual Reality to simulate contentious interaction, Prof Settle used the conference as a chance to share early findings and receive feedback on how to best incorporate VR to an experimental protocol.
Incorporating the feedback and knowledge gained from the conference, SNaPP lab is excited to continue their studies and learn more about the political landscape. With their findings, perhaps we can all be inspired to be more engaged, active citizens.
From left to right, Nick Oviedo-Torres (’20), Alex Bulova (’19), Laurel Detert (’20), Emily Saylor (’20), and Professor Jaime Settle in Montreal
