This page is an overview of the Minerva Psychology Group.

Overview

At research-intensive universities, one way undergraduates get exposed to research is by attending the weekly lab meetings of a research group. One of the central activities in many lab meetings is discussing research papers together. Each week, the research group might read a “general background paper” that someone has identified is relevant to the current activities and interests of the group, or a very recent paper that might be important for current and future research being conducted by the research group.

Each research group has a narrow focus, but the undergrads who join the group might not share that very narrow focus—for the undergraduates, the goal is often to get exposure to a real research group, and the narrow focus is less important (you might compare this with someone gaining an understanding of Forum and active learning by attending a sample Minerva class—the exact subject matter would be less important than experiencing the general setup that is consistent across most subject matters). Since I (Prof Sheskin) am organizing the launch of this Minerva Psychology Group, our specific focus will be developmental psychology, especially online methods for data collection. However, we are also likely to involve other topics over time, especially influenced by the interests of any profs/students in the group. We might lean into discussions of neuroscience (see sample Yates reading in list below), or lean into discussion of how to best advertise online child research opportunities, lean into discussions of how to build an app for parents to record research data about their child, etc.

Note that this group will definitely include discussions of papers. Over time, it is possible that we will be able to incorporate other features, such as a PhD student from a research university visiting to present research-in-progress and get thoughts and feedback from us.

If you are interested in joining this group, you should fill out the application at the bottom of the page. Students who end up joining the group should expect a commitment of two hours per week this semester: one hour for the actual meeting (scheduled at a time we are all available), and one hour of prep time before the meeting. There may be opportunities for additional engagement (e.g., with online research) over time. Note that the current setup is just for Spring 2021, and that Summer and Fall 2021 plans will be determined later (with no commitment to continue past the current semester, and no requirement to do Summer in order to return in the Fall—so definitely feel free to pursue other summer opportunities!).

Goals

  • Provide to students and professors an additional forum to discuss psychology research with each other

  • Provide to students additional experience reading and understanding primary literature in psychology

  • Provide to students an experience that can help inform potential decisions about applying to research graduate programs

  • Potentially provide to students a springboard for identifying and pursuing capstone projects in psychology

  • Potentially provide to students another substantive activity suitable for mention in applications and recommendation letters

Sample General Background Papers

Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D., & Simonsohn, U. (2011). False-positive psychology: Undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychological Science, 22(11), 1359-1366.

Boateng, G. O., Neilands, T. B., Frongillo, E. A., Melgar-Quiñonez, H. R., & Young, S. L. (2018). Best Practices for Developing and Validating Scales for Health, Social, and Behavioral Research: A Primer. Frontiers in Public Health, 6, 149. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00149

Sample “Current Research” Papers

Sheskin, M., Scott, K., Mills, C. M., Bergelson, E., Bonawitz, E., Spelke, E. S., ... & Schulz, L. (2020). Online developmental science to foster innovation, access, and impact. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(9), 675-678.

Amir D., & McAuliffe K. (2020). Cross-cultural developmental psychology: Integrating approaches and key insights. Evolution and Human Behavior.

Yates, T. S., Ellis, C. T., & Turk-Browne, N. B. (2021). Emergence and organization of adult brain function throughout child development. NeuroImage, 226, 117606.

Lapidow, E., & Walker, C. M. (2020). Informative experimentation in intuitive science: Children select and learn from their own causal interventions. Cognition, 201, 104315.

Application Form

Applications are closed for Spring 2021. Please check back later for any future Summer/Fall plans.