The Interactive Measurement Group Goes to Psych Talks

by Asia Chapa

Mondays can be a drag, but one Monday during the Fall 2017 semester, UNLV’s Psi Chi chapter hosted an event called Psych Talks, during which undergrads presented their psychology research in front of psychology faculty and students. The Interactive Measurement Group’s three literature reviews were graciously accepted. One of those literature reviews was mine. That made this a Monday to remember. We had been working on our projects for two months and it was a proud and satisfying moment when we finally got to present, despite the nerves leading up to it. Overall, Psych Talks was an amazing event to witness and participate in and enriched my experience as a psychology undergraduate student.

A few weeks before the event, Psi Chi emailed us to say that the event was going to be held in UNLV’s Student Union Ballroom. I thought, “We’re not meeting at one of the little meeting rooms; we’re meeting in one of the big ballrooms!” This was a scary visualization. In addition to telling us to dress in professional attire, the email also stated that we should prepare to answer questions from a three-judge panel made up of UNLV Psychology Department faculty. When the day finally came, our lab’s three presenters, Sophia Carlson, Ying Huang, and myself, stepped into the event space, which immediately gave us a “Ted Talks” feel. Needless to say, it was a little nerve-wracking to think about 50+ people listening to me present my research.

Sophia was nervous, too. She said, “Before I knew it, it was my time to present. Although I had practiced the presentation of my literature review a handful of times before the conference, I was still extremely nervous when the day came. As I climbed the stairs to the podium, the spotlights were bright in my eyes, which made the audience and judges difficult to see.” Then she started to present. “Suddenly, I wasn’t so nervous anymore. I cleared my throat and presented my literature review. And honestly? It wasn’t nearly as bad as I built it up in my head. It was actually kind of awesome.”

I had a similar experience to Sophia’s. Walking up the podium, I was more nervous about tripping in my heels than the actual presentation. But after taking one deep breath and looking down at my notes, I whispered to myself, “You got this” and I realized that I just had to tell the audience what I knew and that everything else would take care of itself. It can often be daunting to think about presenting your research to people besides your close peers. However, the inspiring environment that Psych Talks fostered was just the thing that current and future psychology majors and minors need – we were simultaneously being encouraged and were ourselves encouraging others to conduct research in psychology.

References

Imahara, C., Frazee, J., & Huang, Y. (2017, November). These emotions are killing me: Low emotional awareness and unhealthy eating habits. Talk presented at PSYCHTalks, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Miles, L. & Carlson, S. (2017, November). Treating the untreatable: Emotion-based therapies for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Talk presented at PSYCHTalks, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Palmer, K., Chapa, A., & Barazza, K. (2017, November). Managing emotions to manage aggression. Talk presented at PSYCHTalks, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Asia Chapa has been a member of the Interactive Measurement Group (IMG) since Spring 2017 and served as lab manager from Fall 2017 to Spring 2018. As part of the IMG, she has co-authored a conference poster and literature review, supervised data entry projects, and taught workshops on exploratory factor analysis. In Fall 2018, Asia began her master’s in Legal and Forensic Psychology at UC Irvine. Her research interests include victimology and the coping mechanisms of criminals and crime victims.