Beth Giguere presents at the annual conference of the Eastern Psychological Association

Beth Giguere (’14), a psychology major, recently presented at the annual conference for the Eastern Psychological Association, held in New York City, on research that she is currently conducting with Julie Longua Peterson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychology.

Beth’s presentation, titled “Including Others in the Self Predicts Stable Implicit Evaluations Following Conflict” reveals that conflict in the roommate relationship influences implicit (automatic, unconscious) evaluations of roommates.  Her research suggests that people who do not include their roommates in their sense of self will unconsciously and automatically devalue their roommate following a conflict.  However, people who include their roommates in their sense of self are able to maintain positive implicit evaluations of their roommate, suggesting that including others in the self may help assure people that their relationships can endure a moderate amount of conflict.