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NEWS
NEWS
We're looking forward to a great URD 2025! Among the other wonderful psychology presentations, the PDL has 2 poster presentations to share with everyone:
Emma Heffron, Kim Oacan, & Daniel Saba: "The Effects of Positive Priming on Body Image"
Fatima Casiano-Agosto, Javier Oliver, Daniel Saba, Emma Heffron, Emily Fair, & Judy McDonald: "Exploring Adaptive & Maladaptive Risk-Taking behaviors among Emerging Adults"
Looking for research experience to add to your own positive development? Check out the options!
There are still positions available for Fall 2025!
CUA students (BA/BS, MA, PhD) --> 📧 Email Dr. Degnan your resume/CV and a brief description of your specific interests in the PDL
to register for credit (1 credit = 4-5 hrs per week) for any academic session [ask Dr Degnan for permission to enroll]
to volunteer (1-3 hrs per week)
Non-CUA students or CUA Alumni may also volunteer (3+ hrs per week) - Contact Dr. Degnan to discuss options
Summer volunteer positions are also available!
Development and Psychophysiology Lab (DAP Lab) is a collaboration between Drs. Degnan & Cardinale, along with many graduate students - come join us!
In collaboration with Dr. Cardinale's Laboratory on Affective Neuroscience & Development, the EEG system is up and running!
SUMMER 2025 -- We will be moving our setup to a new lab space and working to integrate our physiology system with EEG for multi-system recording capabilities! Want to get involved in this research - start this summer by helping us setup & test everything!
A big WELCOME to our new Developmental Psychology students!
A big WELCOME to our new Developmental Psychology students!
Please welcome Emily Fair and Emma Heffron as they begin their 1st year as Ph.D. students in our DP program! It's an exciting time to be joining the Positive Development Lab as we begin our new collaboration with the DAPL group.
Also, welcome to Maddie Schulte - a new Clinical student with LAND - and all of our new MA and BA/BS students!
Summer is for Traveling...to conferences!
Summer is for Traveling...to conferences!
Summer '24, Elisabeth & Judy presented research findings and represented the PDL at the JCCAP Future Directions Forum!
Harris et al., Talking About Emotions: Does Language Use Between Moms and Kids Have a Lasting Influence?
McDonald et al., Tugging at Heartstrings: Psychophysiological Foundations of Emotion Regulation and Risk-Taking in Emerging Adulthood.
Spring/Summer 2025 - members of the PDL will be traveling again:
Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in Minneapolis, MN
12th meeting of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) in Charleston, SC
CONGRATULATIONS to our 2024 PDL graduates!
Dr. Meredith Karam defended her dissertation project on the joint influences of parent-child, teacher-child, and parent-teacher relationships on pre-K social skill development
Elisabeth, Kaleigh, Melvin, Mwela, Safa, & Vanessa completed their M.A. degrees in Psychological Science
Angela, Anna, Annie, Kathryn, Mackenzie, Maggie, & Orine completed their B.A. Psychology or B.S. Psychological & Brain Sciences degrees
We'll miss you - Please keep in touch!
PDL presents at University Research Day!
PDL presents at University Research Day!
2024 Poster Presentations:
Mwela Lufumpa, Judy McDonald, & Elisabeth Harris, "Multifaceted Relations Among Personality, Physiology, and Emotion Regulation in Emerging Adulthood"
Elisabeth Harris, Melvin Elvira-Contreras, Javier Oliver, & Mackenzie Cart, "Sharing an Emotional Memory with Mom in Childhood: Stressful or Cathartic?"
Brigid McGroarty, Maggie Dressman, Kaleigh McDonald, & Orine Rosario, "The Effects of Positive Priming on Body Image"
Kathryn Degnan & the PDL, "Individual Characteristics Differentiating Positive & Negative Risk-Taking in Emerging Adults"
Director: Kathryn A. Degnan, Ph.D.
Students throughout the Department of Psychology at The Catholic University of America collaborate in the PDL!
BA Psychology or BS Psychological & Brain Sciences undergraduate majors
Psychological Science MA Program
Developmental, SCAN, or Clinical Psychology PhD programs
Interested in furthering your education in positive development?
Consider applying to our MA program in Psychological Science
or one of our PhD programs in Developmental, SCAN, or Clinical Psychology!
Apply for fall 2025! (Deadlines: CL - Dec 1; DP/SCAN - Feb 1; MA - June 1)
Catholic's psychology programs (and the PDL) offer a personalized approach to learning within a supportive environment,
mentoring students towards their specific career goals.
To explore the wide scope of the PDL's research, click on Projects, above. Applicants whose research interests clearly fit with our current/future research goals will be considered for admission. Experience in these areas or with similar research methods is even better!
Temperament and regulatory functions
Psychophysiological measures (i.e., RSA, PEP, EEG, ERPs) & Eye-Tracking (available in the new DAP lab!)
Development in infancy through young adulthood
Adaptive (i.e., positive) social-emotional outcomes
Sociocultural contexts (i.e., relationship factors and cultural expectations)
Multi-domain assessments across levels of analysis (e.g., biological, psychological, social, cognitive, behavioral)
Did you know the Psychology Department at Catholic University is over 130 years old?
"In 1889, a 26-year old priest with a doctoral degree in sacred theology came across a secondhand copy of Wilhelm Wundt’s 1874 Principles of Physiological Psychology at a Paris bookstore. His name was Edward Pace and he was so inspired by Wundt’s ideas that he resolved to study with the author at the University of Leipzig in Germany, becoming the first Catholic priest and one of only six Americans to have studied directly with the founder of experimental psychology..."
See more about our rich history in Psychological Science here.
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