Taylor Bolton Proposes Dissertation

man typing on computer in the dark
Taylor Bolton, a student in her third year of the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program, successfully proposed her dissertation this week. Taylor’s dissertation, “Assessing the effects of psychopathy, sadism, aggression, and boredom proneness on cyber aggression perpetration in emerging adults: Is moral disengagement to blame?” will test a theoretically derived model in which the effects of dark personality traits, aggressiveness, and boredom proneness on cyber aggression will be examined. Moral disengagement will be included as a predicted mediator of these relationships.

Taylor recently completed her master’s project on cyber aggression and is expanding this work into her dissertation. She is one of the first students in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab to focus on electronic aggression, and we are very interested to see what her dissertation research will reveal.

Congratulations to Taylor on the successful dissertation proposal!

Savannah Merold Defends Thesis

balloons floating in the air
Savannah Merold, a student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully defended her master’s thesis last week. Savannah’s thesis, Psychopathic traits as a moderator of the relationship between social intelligence and relational aggression, examined the relationship of social intelligence, psychopathic personality traits, and other variables to relational aggression in a college student sample.

Social intelligence and psychopathic traits were related to the perpetration of relational aggression, with social intelligence having a negative relationship and psychopathic traits having a positive relationship. Psychopathic traits moderated the relationship between social intelligence and relational aggression so that it became stronger as psychopathic traits increased. Some of Savannah’s findings differed from what was predicted, but since she included some additional variables beyond what we used for her thesis, we hope to run some additional analyses to learn more about the possible role of social intelligence and psychopathic traits in relational aggression.

Congratulations to Savannah on the successful thesis defense!

What is Anger?

angry face
Anger is something with which we are all familiar from our extensive personal experience with it. And yet, anger seems to be a bit more complex and multifaceted than most of us realize. Emotionally, we experience anger as a range of feelings from minor frustration or annoyance to intense rage or fury. This emotional experience is what most readily comes to mind when we reflect on a recent anger episode. Anger also involves characteristic physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components.

At the physiological level, anger involves arousal of the autonomic nervous system. This is typically experienced as a rush of adrenaline, muscle tension, increased heart rate, and other sensations which are part of how our bodies prepare us for action. Some people experience this sort of physiological arousal more intensely than others, and some experience it over a longer period of time than others. This combination of intense and long-lasting arousal can be a risk factor for a number of health problems.

Cognitively, anger often involves the perception of some sort of threat to ourselves, our property, our self-image, or other areas with which we identify. During an angry episode, we are likely to perceive even neutral events as being intentional, unfair, and undeserved. Not surprisingly, this usually has the effect of making us angrier. It turns out that how we think about events in our environment is very important to why we become angry initially and how our anger is maintained over time.

The behavioral component of anger includes the manner in which it is communicated. Some people tend to suppress their anger, holding it inside until they feel like they are going to boil over. This is sometimes described as an “anger-in” style of anger expression. Others express their anger outwardly in uncontrolled displays of yelling, slamming doors, threatening others, or even aggressive behavior (i.e., an “anger-out” approach to anger expression). Both of these anger expression styles can lead to problems, and both can be contrasted with healthy anger control.

At the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab, we are interested in trait anger (i.e., one’s general propensity to experience angry feelings), anger expression and control, and a number of closely-related topics (e.g., anger rumination, hostility, emotion regulation, aggression). At mild to moderate levels, anger can have a number of beneficial effects; however, anger that is excessive, chronic, or associated with maladaptive behaviors can lead to a number of problems and deserves attention.

Skylar Hicks Proposes Dissertation

stack of books
Skylar Hicks, a doctoral student in her fourth year of the program, successfully proposed her dissertation this week. Skylar’s dissertation, Romantic relational aggression among college students: A moderated mediation study of attachment style, romantic jealousy, mate value, and relationship investment, will test a theoretical model aimed at improving our understanding of relational aggression in college students’ romantic relationships.

Skylar completed her master’s thesis in the Spring and has been gaining clinical experience as she prepares to apply for internship this year.

Congratulations to Skylar on completing this important milestone!

Philip Stoner Defends Thesis

Philip Stoner's thesis defense
Philip Stoner, a student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully defended his master’s thesis this week. Philip’s thesis, Vulnerable narcissism, self-criticism, and self-injurious behavior: Emotion regulation as a moderator, explored the relationship of vulnerable narcissism and difficulties in emotion regulation to self-criticism and self-injurious behavior in a college student sample.

He found that vulnerable narcissism was positively related to both self-injury and self-criticism and that difficulties in emotion regulation moderated the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism. Specifically, the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism was stronger at higher levels of emotion dysregulation. Although some of Philip’s results were unexpected and may lead us to carry out additional analyses on his data, his thesis should be useful in informing the development of his dissertation. For his dissertation, Philip has expressed interest in studying the constellation of personality traits referred to as the Vulnerable Dark Triad (i.e., borderline personality, vulnerable narcissism, and secondary psychopathy).

Lab Welcomes A. J. Qureshi

The Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab is pleased to welcome Afzal “A. J.” Qureshi, a student who will be entering the Counseling Psychology Master’s Program at the University of Southern Mississippi this Fall. A. J. completed his B.A. in psychology at the University of Florida. He has obtained research experience in multiple faculty labs, and his interests in aggression and intimate relationships make him a good fit for the lab. He’s interested in an academic/research-oriented career and hopes to pursue a doctorate in Counseling Psychology.

Congratulations to A. J. on his admission to the master’s program! We are looking forward to working with you.

Niki Knight Defends Dissertation

writing hands
Niki Knight successfully defended her dissertation on Friday. Her study explored the relationship of two comparison-based traits (envy and contingent self-esteem) and two cognitive vulnerabilities (fear of negative evaluation and anger rumination) to indirect and displaced aggression. While there was reason to suspect that these variables would be related to aggression in general, little empirical evidence linked them directly to these particular forms of aggression.

Niki found that envy and anger rumination were positively related to indirect and displaced aggression. Fear of negative evaluation had a more limited role in that it was associated with some components of displaced and indirect aggression but not others. Surprisingly, contingent self-esteem did not appear to play a role in indirect or displaced aggression. Overall, her findings suggest that envy, fear of negative evaluation, and anger rumination likely have utility in understanding more subtle forms of aggression.

Congratulations to Niki on her successful defense!

Niki is currently completing her predoctoral internship at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and has accepted a psychology postdoctoral residency next year at the Kansas City VA Medical Center.

Lab Welcomes Alison Poor

Photo of chalkboard with welcome written on it
The Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab is pleased to welcome our newest doctoral student: Alison Poor. Alison will be entering the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program at the University of Southern Mississippi in the Fall and joining us in the lab.

Alison is completing her B.S. in Psychology at Louisiana State University. During her undergraduate career, she was an ASPIRE Scholar and worked in Dr. Paul Frick's Developmental Psychopathology Lab. She is interested in juvenile corrections, working with mentally ill offenders, dark personalities, and relational aggression.

Congratulations to Alison on her admission to the doctoral program! We are looking forward to working with you.

Skylar Hicks Defends Thesis

Photo of book on a table
Skylar Hicks, a third-year student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully defended her master’s thesis this week. Skylar’s thesis, The role of emotion regulation in the relationship between trait anger and relational aggression, explored the role of general negative affect, trait anger, and difficulties in emotion regulation in peer relational aggression among college students.

She found that trait anger and difficulties in emotion regulation were positively related to peer relational aggression. That is, students with a higher propensity to experience angry feelings and difficulties regulating their emotions were more likely to report engaging in relationally aggressive behavior in their peer relationships. Contrary to what was expected, difficulties in emotion regulation did not moderate the relationship between trait anger and relational aggression. We will likely conduct additional analyses to determine why this might be the case and how best to incorporate emotion regulation in future studies.

Approach to Mentoring Graduate Students

mentoring graduate students
When it comes to providing research mentoring to graduate students, I describe my approach as collaborative, developmental, and individualized. What follows is a brief description of what this looks like in application.

My approach is collaborative in that I believe that the research process is most effective when a lab model is utilized. Graduate students receive support around their thesis and dissertation research while also providing support and assistance to others in the lab. Students who are making progress on their thesis/dissertation work often have the opportunity to participate in collaborative team projects.

My mentoring approach is developmental in that I recognize that every graduate student enters the program with a unique background, comfort level, and skill set around research. Some have already had considerable research experience working in a variety of faculty labs; others have not. Thus, it is important that research training goals take students' previous research experiences into account and build on student strengths.

Finally, my approach is individualized around students' career goals. For example, a doctoral student hoping to pursue an academic career will need a different set of experiences than a master's student aiming to pursue licensure as a professional counselor. Thus, an important part of mentoring involves recognizing that each student will have somewhat different needs.

At the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab, we utilize a lab model where I meet regularly with all students throughout the Fall and Spring academic semesters. These lab meetings allow students to be involved in idea development, strategizing research design, planning statistical analyses, troubleshooting problems, and dissemination. Senior graduate students are expected to take on a peer mentoring role to assist more junior graduate students, and some graduate students (especially those seeking academic careers) will be encouraged to train and mentor undergraduate research assistants.

Student success is a top priority and is critical to lab productivity. I strive to set clear expectations and challenge students to develop their research competencies and critical thinking skills. Similarly, I challenge myself to provide meaningful support and timely feedback. The guiding principle is that we work better when we work together and support one another.