Article archive / July 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 10.
Dr. Emily Sandoz and members of the Louisiana Contextual Science Research Group from the University of Louisiana–Lafayette presented their work and chaired activities at the recent 39th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. The convention was held May 24–28, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The group presented 14 papers, chaired six symposia and four panels, and provided one training workshop at the conference.
“All of our work is focused on the psychological flexibility model, and the learning processes that contribute to flexibility and inflexibility,” Sandoz explained to the Times. “The research we presented this year included the application of the flexibility model and related learning processes to understanding a broad range of human behaviors including body image disturbance, valued living, parenting, stigma academic anxiety, and community response to local tragedy.”
“I think it's incredibly important for students being trained as scientists to experience the process of research from conceptualization to publication,” Sandoz said. “This means that the same students who collect data for my workgroup have the opportunity to present those data at scholarly conferences, and to work with me on writing those data up for publication. This allows them to not only directly experience the tedium, frustration and incredible gratification that are part of the research process, but to contextualize those experiences in the broader context of our international scientific community.”
Those attending the conference this year for the UL Lafayette group were: Skylar Fusilier who presented research, Shiloh Eastin who presented research and chaired a symposium, and Emmie Hebert who presented a conceptual paper, co- authored several research presentations, and chaired a symposium.
Stephanie Caldas, Michelle Jeanis, Jhuan Marcantel, Danielle Moyer, Kevin Murray, and Sunni Primeaux all presented research and chaired either a symposium or panel.
Emmy LeBleu, Ashlyne Mullen, Emily Squyres, and Katie Thibeaux presented research or conceptual papers.
Also attending from the larger ULL community were Rick Perkins, Ph.D., Dave Greenway, Ph.D., and Jillian Jocobelli.
“Every research project we do shares the same theoretical orientation––all from perspective of the psychological flexibility model, Relational Frame Theory,” Dr. Sandoz explained to the Times. But then each student chooses a topic that is of interest to him or her individually.
“I believe this contributes to their investment in the work, and their success as student scientists. I think so far, this is supported, as 10 of the 15 undergrads who have worked with me in the past two years are currently in graduate school, and my first graduate student was just placed in a PhD. program in Clinical Psychology,” Sandoz noted.
“And as far as scientific communities go, ours are pretty amazing,” she said.
Louisiana Contextual Science Research Group (LCSRG) was founded three years ago by Dr. Emily Sandoz with the mission to support the personal and professional development of its affiliates through training scientific inquiry and skills in keeping with the Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS) model, and in doing so, to make a contribution to the alleviation of human suffering. Affiliates of the LCSRG include undergraduate research assistants, graduate research assistants, and research affiliates. All affiliates play a key role in research development, analyzing their own experiences from a CBS perspective to devise specific research questions. They also design research protocols, collect and analyze data, and disseminate the lab’s research through scholarly presentations and publications.
Dr. Sandoz is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Associate Editor of the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.
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