Implications of Racial Stereotypes on Police Officer Decisions to Shoot
B. Michelle Peruche, Florida State University
First-Place Guilford Award Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. E. Ashby Plant

The recent shooting deaths of unarmed African American suspects such as Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, and Malcolm Ferguson have prompted researchers to investigate whether the race of a criminal suspect influences a police officer’s decision to shoot. The current work addresses this issue by investigating how individuals respond to the faces of African American and Whites males when the faces are paired with guns or neutral objects.
     Participants had a tendency to respond more quickly to African American faces paired with guns compared to White faces paired with guns (p < .05). In addition, participants mistakenly chose to shoot at African American faces paired with an object other than a gun more often then White faces with similar pairings (p < .05). These results are discussed in terms of their implications for police officer’s responses in the field.

Are You Ready? A Controlled Study of a Graduate Preparation Program on Undergraduate Psychology Majors
Geoffrey A. Lee, University of Florida
Second-Place Guilford Award Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Greg Neimeyer

Despite the escalating number of psychology majors, surprisingly few studies have addressed the corresponding demand for graduate school information. Two studies were developed to assess and enhance levels of graduate preparation.
     In the first study, 248 undergraduates and 28 graduate students completed a new measure of graduate preparation, the Grad Prep Quiz. Results documented the psychometric utility and the predictive validity of the measure, with graduate students scoring significantly higher on this measure than the undergraduates.
     Using this measure, Study 2 provided the first controlled experimental study of a standardized, graduate preparation program. Compared to the wait-list control group, results demonstrated significant improvement in undergraduates’ knowledge regarding graduate school in psychology following the completion of a six-hour audiotape program. Results are discussed in relation to efforts to provide effective education and information in support of graduate school preparation.

The Prevalence of Sexual Addiction Symptoms on the College Campus
Jennifer A. Seegers, Liberty University (VA)
Third-Place Guilford Award Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Nancy A. Anderson, PhD

This paper discussed sexual addiction in both men and women, including the definition, etiology, categories, and prevalence. The purpose of this study was to do further research in an area that has been under-researched and to evaluate the presence of sexual addiction behaviors among men and women on the college campus. Young adults completed the Sexual Addiction Screening Test or Women’s Sexual Addiction Screening Test to determine the prevalence of sexual addiction behaviors among this group as well as the ratio of males and females who would be categorized as having this addiction. It was hypothesized that there would be an equal representation of males and females with scores suggesting sexual addiction.