Evolutionary Social Psychology Laboratory

Spring 2024

• Graduation! Senior graduate student, Dr. Kaitlyn Boykin graduated with her PhD. Second year graduate students, August Namuth and Olajuwan Olgabegi, also graduated with their Masters!

• Awards: Kaitlyn Boykin received the Outstanding Researcher Award and August Namuth received the Outstanding Masters Student award.

• Undergraduate student Ais'jah Hicks won the Outstanding Senior Award! 

• Olajuwan Olgabegi received a Summer Scholar Internship from the National Science Foundation, Congratulations! She also received a Psi Chi Travel grant to attend the SEPA Conference in Orlando!

• Ais'jah Hicks was also awarded the Eagle SPUR Research Grant to fund her research project!

• August Namuth was awarded the APPE Conference Graduate Student Scholarship to attend the APPE Conference in Cincinnati!

• August Namuth also received the Graduate Student Spotlight for March!

• Kaitlyn Boykin was inducted into the Graduate Student Hall of Fame, Congrats!

• Clyde Raible was accepted into the lab as a graduate student, welcome!

• Zach Bucker was voted as a finalist for Student Organization Outstanding President of the Year, Congrats!

• Zach Bucker was re-elected as the President of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2024-2025 school year.

• Olajuwon Olgabegi was selected as the Fundraising Chair of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2024-2025 school year.

• August Namuth was selected as the Vice President of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2024-2025 school year.

• Olajuwon Olgabegi successfully defended her Master's Thesis titled "The Impact of Target Sex Typicality on Participant’s Willingness to Engage in Prosocial Behavior", Congrats!

• August Namuth successfully defended his Master's Thesis titled "Effects of Identity and Competency-Rejection and Acceptance on Online versus Face to Face Reaffiliation Preferences In Adults", Congrats!

• Zach Bucker successfully proposed his Dissertation, Congrats!

• Publication: Sacco, D., Namuth, A., Macchione., A, Brown, M., (2024) Differences in Support for Retractions Based on Information Hazards Among Undergraduates and Federally Funded Scientists. Journal of Academic Ethics, 1-16.

• Kaitlyn Boykins successfully defended her Dissertation, Congrats Dr. Boykin!

• August Namuth presented his project "Should Behavioral Misconduct be Used as a Basis for Scientific Retractions?" at the APPE Conference in Cincinnati!

• Olajuwan Olgabegi presented her project "Language Framing Influences Prosocial Behavior Intentions" at SEPA!

• Zach Bucker presented his project "Ambiguous Red Flags? Don't Say I Didn't Warn You" at NEEPS in Niagra Falls.

• August Namuth and Olajuwan Olgabegi presented their projects at the USM Graduate Symposium.

• Zach Buckner and August Namuth served as Moderators for the USM Undergraduate Symposium.

• Publication: Buckner, Z., Namuth, A., Brown, M., Sacco, D., (2024) The signaling function of vaccine status and masking in evaluations of online dating profiles. Experimental Psychology Society, 1-12. 

• Publication: Namuth, A., Bruton., S, Wright, L., Sacco, D., (2024) Behavioral Misconduct as a Basis for 
  Scientific Retraction. Journal of Academic Ethics, 1-12. 

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Fall 2023​

• August Namuth and Olajuwan Olgabegi were awarded the Project Proposal Grant ($500).

• All members of the lab received funding ($500) from the department to use to travel to their conferences in the Spring! Congrats!

• Publication: Namuth, A., Brown, M., Macchione, A., Sacco, D., (2023). Assessing the Online Scientific Community's Support for Various Reasons for Article Retraction: A Preliminary Survey. Ethics in Progress, 14(2), 50-67. 

• August Namuth and Olajuwan Olgabegi both competed at the 3 Minute Thesis Competition at the University of Southern Mississippi!

• Megan Goulette and Kami Kirkendall both joined the lab as undergraduate RA's!

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Spring 2023

• Graduation! Senior graduate students, Drs. Alicia Macchione and Kelsey Drea graduated with their PhDs. Second year graduate student, Zach Buckner, also graduated with his Masters!

• Awards:  Graduate students Kaitlyn Boykin and August Namuth received 3rd and 1st year Outstanding Graduate Student awards, respectively. Additionally, undergraduate student Ais'jah won the Outstanding Research Award! 

• Publication: Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., Buckner, Z. (2023) Cheesy Does It? Comparing Women’s Preferences for Men’s Use of Successful and Unsuccessful Humor Displays. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

• Zach Bucker was selected as the President of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2023-2024 school year.

• August Namuth was selected as the Professional Development Chair of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2023-2024 school year.

• Olajuwon Olgabegi was selected as the Masters Student Representative of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2023-2024 school year.

• Kaitlyn Boykin was selected as the Vice President of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Student Government for the 2023-2024 school year.

• Zach Buckner successfully defended his master’s Thesis project titled “The Implications of Sexual Assault Awareness on Sexual Overperception Bias”

• Alicia Macchione successfully defended her Dissertation Project titled “Comparing the Efficacy of Two Inclusivity Interventions on Willingness to Invest in Female- Versus Male-led STEM and Non-STEM Companies”

• Kelsey Drea successfully defended her Dissertation project.

• August Namuth successfully proposed his master's Thesis project titled "Effects of Identity and Competency Rejection on Online versus Face to Face Reaffiliation Preferences In Young Adults".

• Kaitlyn Boykins successfully proposed her Dissertation project.

• Olajuwon Olgabegi successfully proposed her master's Thesis project titled "Sex Typicality as a Predictor for Prosocial Behavior".

• Zach Buckner accepted an external graduate assistantship as an Esports Researcher with the Esports program at USM.

• August Namuth accepted an external graduate assistantship as a Graduate Assistant with the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) at USM.

• Olajuwon Olgabegi accepted an external graduate assistantship as a Graduate Researcher with the Division of Student Affairs at USM.

• August Namuth presented his project, "Individual Differences in Support of Retractions to Prevent Potential Information Hazards" at the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) conference.

• Zack Bucker presented his project, "Mask wearing perceptions on Tinder profiles" at the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) conference.

• Olajuwon Olgabegi presented her project, "The relationship between status motives and social activism" at the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) conference.

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Fall 2022

• Zach Buckner was awarded the Project Proposal Grant ($500).

• Publication: Macchione, A. L., Sacco, D. F, Brown, M., & Keefer, L. A. (in press). Company and perceiver characteristics influencing willingness to invest in female- versus male-led start-up companies in STEM and non-STEM fields. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

• Travel Awards: Alicia Macchione and Olajuwon Olgabegi both received research travel awards to present at a national conference. Congrats!

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Spring 2022

• Publication: Brown, M., D.F., Sacco, Drea, K. (2022). Ecologically contingent preferences for formidable coalitional allies as a function of conservative ideologies. Personality and Individual Differences.

• Publication: Macchione, A. L., & Sacco, D. F. (in press). The effect of workplace gender composition on investment interest in hypothetical companies. Psychological Reports.

• Zach Buckner successfully proposed his master’s Thesis project titled “The Implications of Sexual Assault Awareness on Sexual Overperception Bias”     

• Kaitlyn Boykin presented her project at the 2022 Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA)  regional conference in Hilton Head, SC

• Alicia Macchione successfully proposed her Dissertation Project titled “Comparing the Efficacy of Two Inclusivity Interventions on Willingness to Invest in Female- Versus Male-led STEM and Non-STEM Companies”

• Kelsey Drea successfully proposed her Dissertation project

• Zach Buckner presented his project titled “Over perception of Sexual Interest in Text Message Conversations” at the 2022 Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS) in Pittsburg, PA

• Kelsey Drea accepted a position as a Graduate Researcher with the Division of Student Affairs at the USM.

• Alicia Macchione received the Teaching Assistant of the Year award ($1,000). 

• Olajuwon Olgabegi & August Namuth were accepted in the ESPL as Graduate Students! Welcome!

• Kaitlyn Boykin was selected as the Professional Development Chair in the Brain and Behavior Psychology Student Government.

• Publication: Brown, M., Sacco, D., Barbaro, N., & Drea, K. (2022). Contextual factors that heighten interest in coalitional alliances with men possessing formidable facial structures. Evolution and Human Behavior.

• Kelsey Drea was selected as the President in the Brain and Behavior Psychology Student Government.

• Zach Buckner was selected as the Social Chair in the Brain and Behavior Psychology Student Government.

• Alicia Macchione presented her project, "Citation ethics: An exploratory study of norms and behaviors" at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) conference in Cincinnati, OH.

• Alicia Macchione presented her project, "The effect of CEO religion on investment interest in hypothetical companies" at the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) conference in Hilton Head Island, SC.

 

Fall 2021:

• Megan Walters and Sarah Richert were awarded the Eagle SPUR award ($1000) for their project titled “The Impact of Snapchat Filters on Perceptions of Short and Long-term Mating Interest”

• Kelsey Drea and Alicia Macchione competed in the 3-minute Thesis competition at the University of Southern Mississippi

• Publication: Drea, K., Brown, M., & Sacco, D. F. (2021). Functional Perceptions of Relational Success and Infidelity Concerns for Violators of Gendered Naming Conventions in Marriage. Journal of Personal Relationships.

• Publication: Boykin, K., Brown, M., Macchione, A. L., Drea, K., & Sacco, D. F. (2021). Noncompliance with Masking as a Coalitional Signal to US Conservatives in a Pandemic. Evolutionary Psychological Science.

• Publication: Sacco, D. F., Brown, M., Macchione, A. L., & Young, S. G. (2021). No evidence for social surrogacy in fostering intentions to follow social distancing guidelines. Social Psychology.

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Spring 2021

• Kaitlyn Boykin successfully defended her thesis & graduated with her master’s degree.

• Publication: Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., Drea, K. (2021). Socially dominant women strategically build coalitions of strong men to acquire resources in resource-rich ecologies. Personality and Individual Differences.

• Publication: Drea, K., Brown, M., Sacco, D. F. (2021). Functional Altruism Among Agreeable and Narcissistic Donors: Evidence from Crowdsourced Fundraisers. Psychological Topics.

• Invited Book Chapter: Sacco, D. F., Brown, M., Boykin, K., Drea, K., Macchione, A. L., & Medlin, M. M. (2021). Female mate preferences. In T. K. Shackelford (Ed.). Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexuality. Cambridge University Press.

• Invited Book Chapter: Brown, M., Boykin, K., Drea, K., Macchione, A. L., Medlin, M. M., & Sacco, D. F. (2021) Male sexual signaling. In T. K. Shackelford (Ed.). Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexuality. Cambridge University Press.

• Zach Buckner was accepted into the ESPL as a Graduate Student! Welcome Zach!

• Kaitlyn Boykin was selected as the master’s Student Representative in the Brain and Behavior Psychology Student Government.

• Kelsey Drea was selected as the Vice President for the Brain and Behavior Psychology Student Government.

• Alicia Macchione accepted a position as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of Research Integrity.

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Fall 2020

• Kaitlyn Boykin successfully proposed her thesis

• Publication: Sacco, D., Holifield, K., Drea, K., Brown, M., & Macchione, A. L. (2020). Dad and mom bods? Inferences of parenting ability from bodily cues. Evolutionary Psychological Science.

• Alicia Macchione, Kelsey Drea, and Mary Medlin, graduate students in the lab, were each awarded a research award ($100) from USM's Brain & Behavior Psychology Student Government (BBPSG). The awards will be used to help support their individual research endeavors. Congratulations!

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Spring 2020

• Kaitlyn Boykin was accepted into the ESPL as a Graduate Student! Welcome!

• Kaitlyn Boykin graduated with her B.S. in Psychology where she was awarded an Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award. She will be continuing in the lab as a graduate student researching parental perceptions. Congrats Kaitlyn!

• Kelsey Drea successfully proposed her master’s Thesis, "Mitigating Negative Perceptions Due to Gender Norm Violation Through Adherence to Another Prevalent Gender Norm".

• Alicia Macchione successfully proposed her master’s Thesis, "Comparing the Efficacy of Two Affirmation Interventions to Reduce Stereotype Threat Effects on Women’s Math Performance". 

• Mary Medlin successfully proposed her Dissertation, "Reconciling Religious and Scientific Epistemologies: Leveraging Mutuality to Enhance Acceptance of Science and Respect for Religion". 

• Invited Book Chapter: Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., Holifield, K., Drea, K., & Macchione, A. L. (in press). Inferences of parental ability through facial and bodily features. In T. K. Shackelford & V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.). Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Parenting. Oxford University Press

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Fall 2019

• Kaitlyn Boykin was awarded the Eagle SPUR award ($1000) for her project titled “Perceived Parental Ability from Bodily and Facial Cues”

• Jesse McClary was awarded the Eagle SPUR award ($1000 ) for her project titled “Down is Up: Language Priming as a Means of Increasing Search Engine Result Utilization”

• Kelsey Drea & Alicia Macchione were selected as Fundraising Co-Chairs in the Brain and Behavior Psychology Student Government (BBPSG)