Evolutionary Social Psychology Laboratory

Spring 2026

• August Namuth was inducted into the Graduate Student Hall of Fame, Congrats!

• August Namuth successfully defended his Doctoral Dissertation titled, "The Relationship Between Empathy and Scientific Experience on Agreement with Information Hazard Based Retraction", Congrats, Dr. Namuth!

• Clyde Raible successfully defended his Master's Thesis titled, "Volunteer Spotlighting: Costly Signals to Promote Volunteerism", Great job, Clyde!

• Saba Shahid successfully defended her Doctoral Dissertation titled, "Attitudes Towards Embryo Disposition: Role of Personhood, Religious Beliefs, and Political Conservatism", Congrats, Dr. Shahid! 

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Fall 2025

• Clyde Raible and Olajuwon Olgabegi both competed in the 3 Minute Thesis Competition at the University of Southern Mississippi. Clyde Raible was selected as a finalist and won $500! Good job!

• Saba Shahid presented her research titled, "Religious, Moral and Political Influences on Abortion Support: Role of Financial, Emotional and Partner Justifications", at the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Global Psychological Science Summit! Great job, Saba!

• Saba Shahid paper, "Religious, Moral and Political Influences on Abortion Support: Role of Financial, Emotional and Partner Justifications" was accepted for publication in Studia Psychologica: Theoria et praxis! Great work, Saba!

• Isabella Rainey joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Welcome, Bella!

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Spring 2025

• Zach Buckner defended his Doctoral Dissertation titled, "The Influence of Online Dating Pool Size Variability on Mate Selection Satisfaction and Investment", Congrats, Dr. Buckner!

• Zach Buckner accepted a role as a visiting instructor at the University of Southern Mississippi! Great work!

• August Namuth received the $165 APPE Conference Graduate Student Scholarship to present his work, "The Relationship Between Empathy and Scientific Experience on Agreement with Information Hazard Based Retraction" at the APPE Conference! Great work, August!

• Clyde Raible successfully proposed his Master's Thesis titled, "Volunteer Spotlighting: Costly Signals to Promote Volunteerism", well done!

• August Namuth successfully proposed his Master's Thesis titled, "The Relationship Between Empathy and Scientific Experience on Agreement with Information Hazard Based Retraction", well done!

• Saba Shahid successfully proposed her Doctoral Dissertation titled, "Attitudes Towards Embryo Disposition: Role of Personhood, Religious Beliefs, and Political Conservatism", well done!

• August Namuth won the $100 Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award from the School of Psychology, great job, August!

• August Namuth was elected as the President of the Experimental Psychology Student Government (ESPG) for 2025 - 2026! Great work!

• Olajuwon Olagbegi was elected as the Vice President of the Experimental Psychology Student Government (ESPG) for 2025 - 2026! Great work!

• Clyde Raible was elected the Fundraising Chair of the Experimental Psychology Student Government (ESPG) for 2025 - 2026! Great work!

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Fall 2024

• Clyde Raible officially joined the lab as a graduate student, welcome!

• Travel Awards: Saba Shahid received a research travel award from the graduate school to present at a national conference! 

• Saba Shahid officially joined the lab as a graduate student, Welcome!

• Saba Shahid defended her Master's Thesis Titled "Assessing the Independent Role of Moral Foundations in Attitudes Toward Various Justifications for Abortion", Congrats!

• Clyde Raible and Saba Shahid both won the $500 Proposal Project grant from the Graduate School, Good

• Olajuwon Olgabegi presented at her Internship at the National Science Foundation, good work!

• Olajuwon Olgabegi competed in the 3 Minute Thesis Competition at The University of Southern Mississippi

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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)