PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE MA (2020-2022)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of Arizona.

Lauren graduated from Hiram College with a BA in Neuroscience and a minor in Biomedical Humanities, and completed her MA at CSU in 2022. Her research passions include existential isolation, terror management theory, and social cognitive neuroscience. She did her Master’s thesis on the effects of COVID-19 related threat and existential isolation on anxiety, perceived physical health, and hope.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2018-2020)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of Missouri.

Madhwa completed his BA in Psychology at the University of Mumbai in 2013, worked in higher education through 2018, and completed his MA at CSU in 2020. Broadly speaking, Madhwa is interested in investigating answers to the “big questions” like understanding existential motivations that drive various ideologies, belief systems, and moral systems. His thesis explored the effect of mortality salience on the expression of religious faith (or not) among religious believers and atheists. He also runs ongoing research projects investigating unconscious existential motivation underlying Hindu religious beliefs systems in India.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2018-2020)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of Arizona.

Alexis received her BS in psychology from Oklahoma State University in 2017, and completed her MA at CSU in 2020. Alexis’s research interests focus on terror management theory related to political orientation. Her thesis explored the effects of autonomy/self-determination and mortality salience on immigration policy opinions.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2017-2019)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of Arizona.

Dylan received his B.A. in Psychology from Minot State University in May of 2017 and his MA in psychology from Cleveland State University in 2019. Dylan is interested in the human existential condition and its influence on altruistic behavior, and his research is focused on the motivational factors that contribute to potentially biased interactions among various groups of people (e.g., race, religion, gender). His thesis work explored the impact of existential threat and growth oriented motivations on well-being.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2017-2019)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of Kansas.

Joe received his MA in psychology from Cleveland State University in 2019 and his BA in psychology from John Carroll University in 2016. Joe's interests focus on researching terror management theory and task performance. His thesis work examined the effects of existential threat and growth oriented motivation on cultural level defensive responding.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2016-2018)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of Otago (NZL).

Brett received his BA in psychology from Florida International University in 2013 and completed his MA at CSU in 2018. Brett’s research interests focus on terror management theory and religiosity. His thesis explored alternative sources of terror management for atheists.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2016-2018)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, University of South Florida.

Emily received her BA in psychology and biology from Cleveland State University in May of 2015 and completed her MA at CSU in 2018. Emily’s research interests focus on terror management theory and the impact of traumatic stress among various populations, such as veterans or victims of abuse. Her thesis work tested anxiety buffer disruption theory, investigating how traumatic stress affected otherwise effective terror management processes.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2015-2017)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, Texas Christian University.

Lauren received her BA in psychology from the University of Dayton in 2015 and her MA at CSU in 2017. Her research interests focused on applications of terror management theory to trauma (e.g., anxiety buffer disruption theory). Her master’s thesis investigated the impact of post-traumatic stress on existential motivation for closed- and open-mindedness.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2014-2016)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: PhD Program, Social Psychology, Texas Christian University.

Arielle received her MA in psychology from Cleveland State University in 2016. Her research interests focused on the use of eye-tracking to study terror management theory and personal growth. After CSU, she advanced to a PhD program at Texas Christian University where she investigated terror management theory and close relationships.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH MA (2014-2016)

SUBSEQUENT PLACEMENT: Industry, sports psychology.

Mark received his BA in psychology from Northwestern University in 2010 and his MA from CSU in 2016. Mark’s research interests at CSU were in terror management theory and the potential for positive trajectories of existential motivation. His Masters’ thesis work examined whether individual differences in goal orientations can determine whether people engage defense or growth oriented reactions to existential reminders