Pitt-Bradford student and professor present at eastern psychological association

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford senior Alexandra Asp and Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Rebecca McHugh have been researching how witnessing or being a target of prejudice affects high school and college students.

Asp, a psychology major from Bradford, and McHugh presented their findings at the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia last month.

The pair found that these kinds of incidents are fairly common, at least among the pilot sample. Thirty participants reported on 32 codable targeted incidents in high school, particularly sexual harassment or witnessing incidents in high school of racism, anti-LGBTQ+ and sexual harassment. In college settings, 18 participants reported on 23 targeted incidents, predominantly sexism, and 13 participants reported witnessing 24 incidents in college settings, particularly racism and ableism. 

Looking at what the participants wrote about their responses, several trends are emerging or becoming apparent in how people responded to these incidents.

Many people chose to react with outreach, contacting someone in authority for help. However, some responded that they didn’t react because they were naive to the situation’s implications (especially in high school), or that they were shocked that it happened at all (particularly in college settings). A number also reported that they did not respond because they did not believe it would do any good.

McHugh said that Asp came to her with the topic, and the two designed a directed study project. After Asp conducted a literature review – reading current research literature on related topics -- they designed a survey broadly distributed through personal connections and social media.

The survey sought to determine how often students faced prejudice, whether it was affecting them and to what degree. Further questions asked students how they responded to the incidents. The researchers also captured demographic data such as participants’ ages.

With 110 respondents in the pilot study, McHugh and Asp then combed through the data looking for trends. They plan to continue this research even after Asp graduates this spring.

“It’s been a lot more work than I expected it to be,” said Asp, adding that she now has a better understanding of what goes into such research.

McHugh also made a separate presentation at the conference on using students’ desire to seek justice as a way to inspire them to conduct research, which just happens to be how McHugh and Asp’s project evolved.

“Many students in psychology are hesitant to conduct research because they find statistics and research in general intimidating or uninteresting,” McHugh said. “Encouraging student research is vital. Capitalizing on moments when students are frustrated with an observed injustice can be used to launch research projects.”

In addition to Asp, six other members of the university’s Psychology Club attended the conference to learn more about current research and practices.