Left to right: Michaels, Cobb, and Darracott

Recently, Presbyterian College students Sophie Cobb and Christy Darracott had their Summer Fellows research project, “Can Your Cognitive Style Influence Your Faith?: Religiosity’s Association with Cognitive Flexibility and Action Identification” accepted for presentation at the 2016 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Convention.

The SPSP, founded in 1974, is one of the largest organizations of social psychologists and personality psychologists. Its annual convention regularly attracts over 3000 attendees from various universities and colleges to present and discuss the latest research findings,as wella s develop professional networks, creating opportunities for SPSP members to collaborate on other projects together.

Cobb and Darracott’s research project was selected from a pool of nearly 2000 poster submissions. Dr. Jay Michaels, assistant professor of psychology and Summer Fellows mentor to the two students, was thrilled to hear of their selection into the SPSP Convention.

“I’ve been attending this convention since 2009 and have only rarely seen undergraduate presenters, even as co-authors. Sophie and Christy are the lead authors on the poster they will present—an impressive feat and testament to the high quality research they’ve performed,” said Michaels.

Interest in the project began when Cobb and Darracott heard about the Summer Fellows Program and of Michaels’ current study on cognitive processes and religiosity. Both Cobb and Darracott have religious backgrounds and interests in pursuing careers in public health, so they joined Michaels as his research partners for the summer.

“We found this topic to be especially interesting because of the mystery behind the link of certain health benefits to religiosity,” said Cobb and Darracott in an email. “This topic is also one that has little past research, so the idea of working with a new area of study was fascinating to us as well.”

During the summer, Cobb and Darracott read multiple literary reviews on the subject and analyzed data collected from PC students who had taken surveys before the summer program and from quasi-experimental methods. Michaels assisted the two with data analysis and research design, while Cobb and Darracott developed their own research questions and determined the meaning behind the project’s results.

“This study examined the relationship between religiosity and two cognitive processes, cognitive flexibility and action identification. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to think fluidly in changing situations. Action identification is the way people understand their actions. Religion is the organized and institutional part of faith traditions, whereas spirituality is the way a person seeks and expresses meaning about life and existence. Religiosity is religion and spirituality combined,” Cobb and Darracott explained.

Their hypotheses stated that the lower levels of these cognitive processes in individuals correlates to an individual’s preference for more institutionalized religion, as opposed to higher levels correlating to a preference for more abstract spirituality.

The originality of the study and the understanding of the results led to Michaels, Cobb and Darracott deciding to submit the research for presentation at the annual SPSP convention. Last week when Michaels heard the news of their acceptance, he had been talking with the two students in the hall outside his office.

“Sophie checked her email and saw the notification,” said Michaels. “I remember her shouting ‘I can’t believe it, we’re going to San Diego!’”

Both Cobb and Darracott are senior psychology majors with minors in biology and are on the pre-physical therapy track. Cobb is from Columbia, S.C., and Darracott is from Augusta, Ga. They will present their research findings at the 17th Annual SPSP Convention to be held on January 28-30, 2016 in San Diego, Calif.

Written by Allison Cooke, a junior English major, media studies, journalism track minor from Winnsboro, S.C.