-1.png)
FABB LAB
Family Affect, Beliefs, and Behaviors Lab
UNDERGRADUATE INFORMATION
Halberstadt Family Affect Beliefs and Behaviors Lab
Our work focuses on how parents’ and teachers’ behavior and beliefs about emotion impact children’s emotion-related behaviors and their understanding of others’ emotion-related behaviors. We are increasingly aware of the powerful effects of culture, and how cultural messages infuse our thinking, even when we are not aware of those messages. We explore these questions with multiple data sets focusing on multiple positive and negative emotions with collaborators from Chile, China, Japan, and Russia. Our Color of Emotion, COVID-19, and Positive Racial Climate studies focus on how teachers' beliefs and ideologies influence how they teach children in the elementary school classroom. In these studies, we are very interested in teachers' support of children's learning and connectedness in school, and the persistent, specific, and cumulative ways in which inadvertent racism slips in, largely as a function of cultural messages and racialized anger bias, as well as consequences for youth.  Please also read our other tabs on this website!
Lab Participation
Through participation in our research lab, you will learn and use several kinds of skills, including recruiting teachers, parents, and children for participation, helping to run participant sessions, transcribing children’s and parents’ interviews, developing and then coding complex forms of data, conducting data analyses, and conducting library research on parental or teacher socialization of emotion, cultural similarities and differences, and various ways in which racism slides right into our thinking.
Determining the time commitment in research is always challenging because research demands sometimes happen in bunches, and the work is not always entirely controllable (e.g., several parents sometimes become available in the same week and then no one is available for research the next week). But overall, we need you to commit to about ten hours weekly, and you will receive 3 credit hours (PSY 499). We also have a weekly one hour meeting that you are required to attend. Some semesters we also ask you to leave open Mondays or Fridays at that time for small group meetings. This is a very exciting time in our lab! Thank you for your interest, and feel free to contact me, Amy Halberstadt or any of the graduate students for further information.
How to Apply
If you are interested in gaining undergraduate research experience, please complete the application form below.
We generally require a 3.6 or better for your total GPA or your Psychology GPA, and at least one faculty member or graduate student to speak for you. Including their name on your application is considered an agreement that we can contact them for a conversation about your abilities (they do not need to write anything on your behalf).
WHEN TO SUBMIT
Fall and Spring Semesters
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters. In general, we do not accept applications after the first week of the semester. Sometimes, however, we find we have openings mid-semester due to a study beginning off-schedule, so it is always fine to inquire.
​
Summer
If you wish to work with us over the summer, please submit your application by the last day of classes in the Spring semester.
