I was fortunate to attend an undergraduate psychology program that strongly encouraged research. During my sophomore year, I was involved in my first study whereby we investigated whether or not a visible tattoo affected the credibility of an expert witness. Within this project, I had the opportunity to recruit and run subjects, enter data and analyze data, and write-up the results. The results indicated that the credibility of an expert witness with a visible tattoo was not skewed. However, participants who did had a tattoo viewed the tattooed expert witness as slightly more credible than the non tattooed expert witness. Overall, my first research experience provided the foundation for my research interests.
Based on the abovementioned research experience, I became interested in how individuals’ decision-making and judgment can be
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In addition, it reinforced my desire to research and work with athletes. As such, my research interests shifted towards program development, whereby I could create curriculum that would directly help athletes. For my dissertation, I have proposed to develop a program that aims to assist athletes with an unexpected transition out of sports, which I am tentatively scheduled defend on January 15th 2018. The program utilizes an empirically-based, holistic model that focuses on social support, identity enhancement, occupational skill development, holistic wellness skill development, as well as maintenance and generalization post- program completion. The goal is that this program will provide a viable option for athletes who have experienced many of the issues associated with unexpected athletic retirement, as there is a lack of empirically-supported programs available for this population in the