Experiences & Opportunities

Our psychology students have been published in scientific journals. They've presented research at conferences and won prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowships for graduate study. And, they're having fun while exploring questions that are important and interesting to them.

Research and Creative Work

There are many opportunities to undertake research in psychology. Take full advantage of research in an area of personal interest through Independent Study. Complete a Senior Capstone, a project for psychology majors designed and undertaken in close, individual consultation with a faculty mentor.

And for a few dedicated students, there is College Honors, an advanced research project pursued over the course of a year and presented and defended to a faculty committee that includes a distinguished outside examiner. These outside examiners regularly say that our students' Honors projects are typically equivalent to a master's thesis in scope and quality. Here are a few projects:

• "The Effect of Incarceration on Self-Concept Clarity and Recidivism," Minnie Kang, '21
• “Is Green Consumption an Effective Mating Signal?”, Karina Khanna ‘21
• “Tripping on Positive Emotions: The Role of Awe and Self Compassion in Psychedelic-assisted Psychotherapy” Jassmine Jassmine ‘20

Our student research is regularly published in peer-reviewed journals or presented alongside Ph.D. students at professional conferences. Here are a few recent publications and presentations:

• "Examination of the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism, incompleteness, and harm avoidance in college students", co-authored by Jon Schneider '22, Sara O'Brien, and others in Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy (2021).
• "The transdiagnostic nature of disgust propensity: An examination of its associations with anxiety and obsessive compulsive-related disorder symptoms", co-authored by Jon Schneider '22, Nafisa Rahman '20, Jeremy Schmidt '17, and Sara O'Brien in the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders (2021).
• "Adoption and the perception of access to mental health care: outcomes of depression in adulthood", Maddie Tucker '22. Talk presented at the Annual Midstates Consortium’s Biological Sciences and Psychology Research Symposium (2021).
• "Substance user-self fit perception salience causes identification as a user of that substance" poster co-presented by Irein Thomas '20, Becca Gadiel '22, and Andrew Hertel.
• “On the Nature of Creepiness,” co-authored by Sara Koehnke ‘12 and Frank McAndrew in New Ideas in Psychology.
• “Sex Differences in Jealousy Over Facebook Activity,” co-authored by Sahil Shah ‘12 and Frank mcAndrew in Computers in Human Behavior.

Off-Campus Study

Our students take advantage of the more than two dozen off-campus study programs. Many of our students use our global, national, and local programs to collect data for cross-cultural research projects or to supplement their classroom studies. Most recently our psychology majors have been to Barcelona, Besancon, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Denmark, Florence, Germany, India, Japan, and Tanzania.

Clinical Term

Clinical Psychology Term students are in the same setting as clinical psychologists, counselors, and social workers. They work with individuals with chronic mental illness, those with developmental disabilities, families and children experiencing a variety of difficulties in adjustment, and women and children who are survivors of domestic abuse.

Internships

There's no better way to explore the possibilities of life after Knox than internships. Here are a few of our students' recent internships:

In Galesburg:

• Center for Youth and Family Solutions
• Galesburg Rescue Mission
• Heartland Healthcare Center
• Henry Hill Correctional Facility 
• KCCDD
• Lutheran Social Services
• Safe Harbor Family Crisis Center
• Salvation Army
• St. Mary's Square Living Center 
• Seminary Manor
• Central Illinois Neurosciences
• Grounded Perspectives
• The Consultants
• DD Homes

Outside of Galesburg

• Loyal Joe (Marketing)
• Allstate Insurance (Human Resources)
• WEDIKO Children's Services