TACTS
Treatment and Assessment Center for Traumatic Stress
Mission Statement
The mission of the Center is to conduct research on the assessment, treatment, and prevention of trauma and its subsequent effects. Besides research, members are involved in educating the community on issues regarding trauma and mental health. The lab values communicate a need to combine scholarship with practice.In addition to educating the community and conducting research that is beneficial to academics and society, the overarching mission of the lab is to foster a team of committed, educated individuals for mutual support, acceptance, and education. The lab is committed to the education of graduate and undergraduate students in the nuances of the empirical study of psychological phenomena. It is also committed to encouraging their participation in all levels of research from conducting a comprehensive literature review to the development of empirical questions to the presentation of empirical findings either at regional and national conferences or in peer-review journals. It is the philosophy of this lab that by sharing the workload, working as a cohesive team, and supporting one another, we can accomplish more as a team than we can individually.
Our Current Projects
Risk and Resilience (Lab project)
This study will be examining factors that predict risk and resilience among college students experiencing differential life stress, including traumatic life events and daily stressors. Specifically, we will examine the influence of factors such as hardiness, coping, affect regulation, and ego resiliency on psychological well-being, academic functioning, and life satisfaction.
Arousal and Behavioral Regulation (Risch, E.)
I am currently beginning my dissertation project examining arousal and behavioral
regulation difficulties in methamphetamine exposed two year olds during a novel problem
solving task.
Student Life: Risky and Pro-Social Behavior (Robertson, L.)
Aims to understand the risky and pso-social behavior college undergraduates engage in, in general
and in relation to group identification. The goal is a better understanding of
student life and development of better educational programs regarding risky behavior.
News framing effects on readers (Tiegreen, S.)
I have researched current literature on the disproportionate nature of
news coverage (i.e. homicide is disproportionately represented in crime news for it's
actual occurrence rates compared to other crimes), and how news framing may affect
readers (e.g. inducing unnecessary amounts of fear). I am currently exploring
experimental procedures for directly testing the effects of the "public health model
of reporting" on readers, which is a framing model that places news events within
context and provides base rate and prevention information.
© 2006 TACTS.