Adams Expands Research Flock with Latvian Fulbright Experience

October 23, 2024 by Logan Judy

Adams Expands Research Flock with Latvian Fulbright Experience

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Embrace Endless Opportunities

May 9, 2024 by Logan Judy

Embrace Endless Opportunities

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by Randall Brown

Rachel Laribee came to UT Knoxville from Arlington, Tennessee, near Memphis, and will graduate this spring with not just a double major in psychology and women, gender, and sexuality studies, but also a double minor in neuroscience and sociology.

Laribee participated in a project of great cultural significance during her studies, working on the Social Action Research Team with Professor Patrick Grzanka, divisional dean for social sciences within the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Rachel has been an indispensable part of the Social Action Research Team this year,” said Grzanka. “Her commitment to producing rigorous scholarly research on pressing social issues is unparalleled. All the graduate students on the team and my faculty co-investigator came to value Rachel’s precision, attention to detail, and keen analytic insight over the past two years. Her future as a clinician and advocate for youth is the brightest.”

Team members investigated undergraduate emerging adults’ attitudes towards abortion and reproductive rights following the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade. 

“Not only was it a topic that I was deeply interested and passionate about, but it also enabled me to be directly involved in a study from the ground up,” said Laribee. “It made me significantly more confident as a researcher.”

The next stage in Laribee’s career will be working toward her master’s degree in child studies, on a clinical and developmental research track, at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Then, onward to a PhD program.

She encourages future Vols to embrace projects that take them beyond the classroom.

“I would say that the best thing you can do for your education is engage in diverse research projects,” said Laribee. “I’ve worked with faculty in the College of Nursing, the College of Education, and the College of Arts and Sciences, and all these projects have been incredibly fulfilling and allowed me to learn new things about myself and my interests for a future career. Be brave about reaching out too!”

The College of Arts and Sciences congratulates Rachel Laribee for successfully navigating her interdisciplinary blend of majors and minors and exemplifying the Volunteer Spirit.

Phillip McGarry Published in ‘The Conversation’

February 1, 2024 by Logan Judy

Phillip McGarry Published in ‘The Conversation’

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Republicans and Democrats consider each other immoral – even when treated fairly and kindly by the opposition

Both Republicans and Democrats regarded people with opposing political views as less moral than people in their own party, even when their political opposites acted fairly or kindly toward them, according to experiments my colleagues and I recently conducted. Even participants who self-identified as only moderately conservative or liberal made the same harsh moral judgments about those on the other side of the political divide.

Psychology researcher Eli Finkel and his colleagues have suggested that moral judgment plays a major role in political polarization in the United States. My research team wondered if acts demonstrating good moral character could counteract partisan animosity. In other words, would you think more highly of someone who treated you well – regardless of their political leanings?

We decided to conduct an experiment based on game theory and turned to the Ultimatum Game, which researchers developed to study the role of fairness in cooperation. Psychology researcher Hanah Chapman and her colleagues have demonstrated that unfairness in the Ultimatum Game elicits moral disgust, making it a good tool for us to use to study moral judgment in real time.

The Ultimatum Game allowed us to experimentally manipulate whether partisans were treated unfairly, fairly or even kindly by political opponents. Participants had no knowledge about the person they were playing with beyond party affiliation and how they played the game.

In our experiments, even after fair or kind treatment, participants still rated political opponents as less moral. Moreover, this was true even for participants who didn’t consider themselves to have strong political bias.

Other psychology studies suggest that conservatives are more politically extreme, being more likely to adopt right-wing authoritarianism and more sensitive to moral disgust. However, in our experiments, we found no differences in party animosity and moral judgment between liberals and conservatives, suggesting political polarization is a bipartisan phenomenon.

Why it matters

Our experiments illustrate the magnitude of current political polarization in the United States, which has been increasing for at least the last four decades.

Americans with different political opinions could once cooperate and maintain friendships with one another. But as political attitudes begin to coincide with moral convictions, partisans increasingly view each other as immoral.

My colleagues and I are particularly interested in this topic, as we worry about the potential for political polarization based on moral convictions to descend into political violence.

What’s next

My colleagues and I believe that a controlled scientific approach, rather than speculation, could help find ways to mitigate political polarization. Currently, we are running experiments to explore how online interaction – for example, through social media – can foster psychological distance between partisans. We’re also investigating how emotions such as disgust can contribute to the moral component of partisan animosity, and how the evolutionary origins of morality may play a psychological role in political polarization.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Phillip McGarry, Ph.D. Candidate in Experimental Psychology, University of Tennessee

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.