Nicolas Furci and Nathan Yang are happy they spent some of their December break rehearsing their research presentation. The practice paid off earlier this month when this team of Roslyn High School juniors was named best in the Interdisciplinary Psychology category at the annual Long Island High School Psychology Fair.
“We were so thankful for being invited to this competition that we were determined to give it our all,” said Furci.
The team’s project involved looking at how a worker’s sex impacts the perception of his/her behavior. The boys found that when a male worker was described as disagreeable, people rated him as more intelligent and more likely to be promoted than when he was described as agreeable.
Being disagreeable had the opposite effect on a female employee, however, leading to the perception that she was less intelligent and less likely to be promoted.
Seniors Jessica Futoran (Health Psychology) and Tiffany Sun (Social Psychology) also earned Best in Category awards at the fair and David Jaslow, a senior, earned an Honorable Mention in the Interdisciplinary category.
Futoran investigated how front-of-package nutrition information affected purchase intentions. Tiffany sought to uncover implicit biases via the manipulation of a classic ethical dilemma known as the Trolley Problem. David studied how to present retirement savings plan so as to heighten participation rates and contribution amounts.
The students all did their work as part of Roslyn’s Science Research Program. Furci and Yang conducted their study while in a sophomore seminar class under the direction of Ms. Alison Morin, while the seniors have been working with Coordinator of Secondary Research, Dr. Allyson Weseley.
“All of these students worked diligently to prepare for the competition, and we’re gratified to see that hard work pay off,” said Weseley.
More than 70 students submitted projects to this year’s Long Island High School Psychology Fair. The top 36 based on a process of blind review were then invited to present in groups of six divided by the topic of their studies. A Best in Category and Honorable Mention prize were presented in each category.
“Psych Fair is one of the few research competitions where you have to get up in front of a room full of people and explain your entire project in a formal way,” said Futoran. “It forces you to polish a good performance that clearly presents your research.”
More information about the fair can be found at www.longisland psychologyfair.com/
