The Psi Chi Research Awards Committee, the Psi Chi National Council, and APS are pleased to announce the winner—Deah Lawson, University of Alabama in Huntsville—of the 2006-07 Psi Chi/APS Albert Bandura Graduate Research Award. The winner was awarded travel expenses up to $1,000 to attend the 2007 APS National Convention to receive the award; a three-year membership in APS, including subscriptions to all APS journals; and two engraved plaques, one for the winner and one for the psychology department as a permanent honor.

Bio: Deah Lawson is from Hartselle, Alabama. She will be completing her master's degree in experimental psychology in May from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Currently, under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Neuschatz, she examines psycho-legal issues related to eyewitness identification and jury decision making. She has recently been presented with the Department of Psychology Thesis Award for Outstanding Graduate Achievement. In addition to her academics, she is very involved in extracurricular activities. Ms. Lawson serves as the campus representative for APSSC (APS Student Caucus) and works as an APSSC undergraduate mentor. At UAH, she is president of Psi Chi and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Kappa Delta, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Kappa Delta. She coordinates blood drives, Habitat for Humanity events, and food drives. In the fall, she will pursue a PhD in social psychology at Iowa State University under the direction of Dr. Gary Wells.  After she graduates from Iowa State, she would like to work in an academic setting and conduct research on issues related to psychology and law.

The Mitigating Effects of Suspicion on Postidentification Feedback
Deah Lawson, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Scott Neuschatz, PhD

Abstract: Postidentification feedback has been shown to cause a confidence inflation for witness retrospective reports of certainty. When participant witnesses are made suspicious of the post-identification feedback given by the lineup administrator, they do not demonstrate the confidence inflation effects typically associated with the feedback. This research was extended to examine whether these effects generalize to a target present photo lineup. The results replicated previous feedback studies as well as suspicion studies.