UPEI Students to Discuss Revenge at National Psychology Conference
Nine undergraduate researchers from Professor Stacey Nairn's social psychology classes at UPEI are getting ready to enjoy a remarkable opportunity; one that is rarely offered so early in a student's academic career. They have been invited to share their research findings with professional psychologists from across Canada. The students are preparing to make presentations at the prestigious Canadian Psychological Association Conference, to take place June 7 to10 in Calgary. Their research topic is "revenge."
"Our findings hit on groundbreaking material which has not yet been touched on in the realm of social psychology," says Jeff Villard. "All of us are ecstatic at being part of this nationwide experience, which would not have been attainable without UPEI challenging our creativity. We would not be allowed the same experience if we were attending a larger university. Much admiration goes out to our amazing professor, Dr. Stacey Nairn, for giving us this opportunity."
Recent research about conflict in interpersonal relationships has focused on the topic of forgiveness. In many circumstances however, people choose to withhold forgiveness and want to "get even" or seek revenge for the harm they experience. "We need to understand what revenge is, how it works, and how we can circumvent its potentially negative consequences in our own lives," explains Professor Nairn. "These projects were designed to begin to examine these issues."
Her students examined three types of situational variables that may influence people's perceptions of the acceptability of revenge or retaliation. Study one addressed the influence of the gender of those involved in a transgression/revenge cycle, while study two examined "how much is too much" when it comes to retaliatory actions. The third study investigated the impact of talking about transgressions and revenge with others.
"Our small class of 14 students broke off into even smaller groups where we ran three separate studies, which all had an underlying theme of revenge. Eventually these studies were brought together and here we are now," explains Amy Douglas. "We are almost overwhelmed with how well we have done with our research as a group. It's great to have so much support from our school and we are excited to represent our university."
"Attending this conference will be an important stepping stone in terms of graduate school applications and will afford these high-achieving undergraduate researchers the opportunity to meet with potential graduate supervisors, some of whom have already been contacted and are looking forward to speaking in person with these students," adds Professor Nairn.
The students are raising funds to travel to the conference and have already received significant support from Lou MacEachern, a native Prince Edward Islander who now lives in Calgary. After they return from the Canadian Psychological Association Conference, Professor Nairn will present an expanded version of her students' revenge research at the International Conference on Personal Relationships in Greece.
