Psi Beta Schedule @ APA, August 13-14

APA Schedule Download (Word Docx)
APA Schedule Download (PDF)

Be sure to attend the PT@CC and Psi Beta Awards and Reception on Friday, August 13 from 5 to 6:50 PM in the Manchester Grant Hyatt Hotel, Madeleine Room C and D. 

Then, on Saturday August 14th from 3 to 3:50 PM attend the Psi Beta Student Research Feedback Poster Session in Convention Center Exhibit Hall ABC.

Synergy Conference 2010! Oct. 29-31, Denver, CO

The 2010 Synergy Conference will be held October 29th through 31st in Denver, Colorado on one of the most beautiful and unique campuses in the world: the Auraria Campus.  This campus houses the Community College of Denver (CCD), Metropolitan State College, and the University of Colorado, Denver (UCD).  The conference will be co-hosted by the Psi Beta chapter at CCD, and the Psi Chi chapters of Metro and UCD. Click here for flyer and form.

We are so excited to announce our keynote speaker for Synergy 2010: Positive Psychology is Sonja Lyubomirsky. Dr. Lyubomirsky has a reputation as a wonderful speaker. Her most recent book is “The How of Happiness”.  Her website is http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~sonja/ .

The conference events should prove to be a valuable educational experience for Psi Beta advisors and their students.  Friday’s ‘welcome’ will include dinner and roundtable discussions on building and funding your chapter, leadership, and service. The roundtables will be led by Psi Beta and Psi Chi members and will include national leaders and other experts on the topics being discussed.  In addition, opportunities for networking and brainstorming between members will be part of all the events. On Saturday, a full day of speakers and workshops are planned and lunch will be provided.  An optional dinner will be held that night for those interested.

The Sheraton and The Curtis Hotel, both located in downtown Denver, will offer conference rates as low as $90.  Both hotels are within walking distance of the campus.  However, shuttle and light rail service is also available.  Booking information will be forthcoming and will be available when the registration forms are released.

For those wishing to extend their stays or opting to take late flights out on Sunday night, a ski package is being arranged with A Basin, who reportedly has had snow by this weekend every year thus far.  In addition, self-guided tours are being arranged to highlight the local cultural sites.

CLICK HERE: Flyer and application form. This also contains link to an online form.

Two New Career Development Videos for Psi Beta Members!

Two new career information resources are now available for on-demand viewing. Each
presentation includes videos and a specially prepared PowerPoint. We are grateful to two
Psi Beta advisors for these excellent presentations.

Considering and Getting Into Graduate School – Kari Tucker
Kari Tucker, PhD, speaks on Considering and Getting in Graduate School: Information and
tips that I wish I had as an early undergraduate psychology student. Dr. Tucker is the
primary chapter advisor at Irvine Valley College. She was honored in 2006 as Psi Beta’s
national advisor of the year!
Date of Taping: Friday, March 05, 2010, Duration: 1:28:29
Link: http://irvinevalleycollege.mediasite.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=35402c8da8c04d8f89de14c52c003895 
PowerPoint: Dr. Tucker’s PowerPoint

The Curriculum Vita - Bari Rudmann
Bari Rudmann, MS Counseling, speaks on How to Develop and Maintain a Curriculum Vita.
This presentation includes information critical to your development as a professional
psychologist. In 1992, professor Rudmann co-founded the Irvine Valley Chapter of Psi Beta.
Date of Taping: Friday, March 05, 2010, Duration: 00:46:12
Link: http://irvinevalleycollege.mediasite.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=282433f75951474f9bfb4165576bc7b3
PowerPoint: Bari Rudmann’s PowerPoint

Please note that Internet traffic can sometimes slow down a video. If so, you may notice
a tendency for the PowerPoint portion of your picture to refresh. If you find this distracting,
you can select “full screen” on the video. Recent tests have found that MACs are less vulnerable
than PCs to the refresh tendency. Again, however, if you find yourself with a slower
connect speed, you can avoid the screen refresh by selecting full screen on the video.

Zimbardo Lucifer Effect Video

On May 3rd, 2009 legendary psychologist Dr. Phil Zimbardo visited the Psi Beta Chapter at Irvine Valley College to talk about his book, The Lucifer Effect, and the heroism project he has initiated. IVC Chapter advisor, Dr. Kari Tucker, conceived of this event and made arrangements to invite and honor holocaust hero Ida Brookhouse. Dr. Tucker also worked her magic to persuade Dr. Zimbardo to come and speak. We are pleased to present the following videos taken during that event. Special thanks to Sonya Bangston for making these outstanding videos!

Title: Good and Evil: Psychological Factors that Influence Both (Part 1)
Introduction/Welcome/Narrative and “Meet Ida Brookhouse” by Dr. Kari Tucker
(Duration: 00:40:18)
Title: Good and Evil: Psychological Factors that Influence Both (Part 2)
Presentation by Dr. Phil Zimbardo Psychologist & Author (Duration: 1:24:01)

Jerry Rudmann, Executive Director, Psi Beta

Special thanks to:
Sonya Bangston – Television Production Specialist
Irvine Valley College, TV Dept-PIO/Marketing
5500 Irvine Center Dr. Irvine, CA  92618 ph: 949-451-5454

National Research Project (2009-2010)

Background – This research project supports the research component of Psi Beta’s mission: Professional development of students through promotion and recognition of excellence in scholarship, leadership, research, and community service. Psi Beta will provide participating chapters with the research instruments, a beginning list of references, an informed consent form, and a suggested hypothesis. Individual Psi Beta students, working through their local chapter, can use the database derived from this project to test several hypotheses.

The database derived from this study will be shared ONLY with the participating chapters who have complied will the conditions listed below. Data will be released upon the request of the participating chapter advisor.  Data from this study can be used to write an APA-format research paper that could be used to compete for the national research paper award, and to prepare and present a research poster at a local, regional, and/or national psychology conference.

Conditions for Chapter Participation – Each chapter must notify Psi Beta that it intends to participate. Notify Jerry Rudmann, Psi Beta’s Executive Director, by email – jrudmann@ivc.edu. The notification must be received on or before December 15, 2009. The application must be sent by the primary advisor of the local Psi Beta chapter. By sending the application, the chapter commits to the following guidelines for chapter participation:

1. MUST GATHER DATA FROM AT LEAST 30 PARTICIPANTS – The chapter will submit data from a minimum of 30 different participants. Data from more than 30 participants is highly encouraged, but not required. The data-gathering script must be used to help standardize the study’s data-gathering procedure.

2. INFORMED CONSENT – Each participant must sign the informed consent form prior to completing the study’s assessment instrument.

3. DEBRIEF PROCEDURE – After each participant completes the paper version of the assessment battery, researchers from the participating chapter will debrief all participants using the debriefing script.

4. ELECTRONIC DATA SUBMISSION – After gathering the data using a paper version of the assessment battery, each chapter will submit data to the Psi Beta National Office electronically by keying-in each of its participant’s responses to the Psi Beta online data-input form. This form is designed especially for this study and will be provided to participating chapters on the Psi Beta website.

5. DATA SUBMISSION DUE DATE – All data must be submitted no later than February 28, 2010.

6. RESEARCH DATABASE – The database will be released in two formats: Excel and SPSS. The entire database will be made available by March 10, 2010.

7. IRB – The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Irvine Valley College has approved this study and this approval includes participation of all Psi Beta chapters that comply with the participation conditions stipulated here.

8. INSTRUMENTATION – The research instrument for this study consists of set of scales developed by psychologists who have been studying personal happiness. The scales are designed to measure:

* Appreciation (Tucker, 2007),
* Gratitude (Emmons & McCollough, 2003),
* Happiness (Lyubomirsky & Lepper,1999),
* Satisfaction With Life (Diener, Emmons, Larson, & Griffen (1985),
* Self-Esteem (Rosenberg, 1965),
* Optimism (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 2001).

9. SCRIPTS – The following scripts must be used to standardize the procedure used to gather research data for the study: instructor recruitment script, data-gathering script, and the debriefing script.

10. HYPOTHESIS – Research hypothesis: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s happiness and that of his or her best friend. Statistical hypothesis: There is no relationship between one’s happiness score on the Subjective Happiness Scale, and the participant’s rating of his/her closest friend on the Subjective Happiness Scale. Note that the operational definition of happiness, for the purposes of this study, will be scores on the Subjective Happiness Scale. This scale has been published and administered in many countries. There may be several ways to test the hypothesis – one being to examine the correlation between self-reported happiness and participants’ estimated happiness for their close friends, for participants who score below the average happiness score and again for participants who score above the average happiness score.

Additional hypotheses can be developed from the database produced by this study. Below are several of many possible hypotheses that could be researched using the database to which you will have access:

  • Gratitude and happiness are positively related.
  • The correlation between one’s own happiness of that of one’s best friend will be stronger for female than male participants.
  • There is an inverse relationship between self-esteem and appreciation.
  • Age and gender are related to happiness.
    The purpose of including these extra assessment instruments is to provide local Psi Beta students with enough data to enable them to conduct several different studies.

Resource Documents
Study Abstract
Instructor Recruitment Script
Assessment Instrument (make copies of this for your participants to complete)
Consent Form
Data-Gathering Script
Debriefing Script
References
Data-Entry Link (use this to input participant data to Psi Beta)
NOTE: The data entry period has now closed. If you are a participating chapter
(i.e., your chapter contributed data), please contact Jerry Rudmann at jrudmann@ivc.edu
to obtain your data file. Thank you!

Johnson/Cousins Building Bonds Collaboration Award

Following the passing of Ruth Hubbard Cousins, the Psi Beta National Council early in 2007, decided to honor the memory and work of this exceptional leader by developing a new national Psi Beta award. A major purpose of the award was that it be reflective of Ruth’s pioneering spirit and professional passion.

The purpose of the Ruth Cousins Building Bonds Collaboration Award is to recognize and formally acknowledge the efforts and outcomes of a Psi Beta chapter which, in collaboration with Psi Chi members, have had a significant impact at the local, state, regional, or national level. The collaborative efforts may focus on scholarship, leadership, research, and/or community service. This unique award was the brainchild of Dr. Alberta Johnson, Psi Beta’s outstanding President (2006-07). Therefore, the National Council insisted on calling this the “Johnson/Cousins Building Bonds Collaboration Award”.

For full details about the award please visit the Building Bonds Award page.