Psychology Research Area

Dr. Camille Buckner’s research centers around the topics of gender and sexual identities; stereotypes and discrimination; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and best practices in teaching and learning. She actively engages Marymount students in research and enjoys teaching them about the research process from start to finish. A social psychologist by training, Dr. Buckner is the co-author of a textbook entitled The Psychology of Sex and Gender, currently in its second edition. She is also the lead investigator on Marymount’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center grant from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).

Dr. Linda Cote’s research explores the influence of parenting on children’s development among immigrant families in the United States. Topics addressed include the influence of mothers’ cultural beliefs on their parenting beliefs and caregiving behaviors, immigrant children’s social and cognitive development, and bilingual language acquisition. This research uses a longitudinal and multimethod design (e.g., naturalistic and structured behavioral observations, cultural and parenting questionnaires, semi-structured interviews). Her research collaborations with students include summer research projects, conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and Honors theses.

Dr. Catherine Diaz-Asper’s research program is broadly concerned with memory and language in aging and dementia. She have funding to develop a screening tool for cognitive decline in older people that uses speech recorded over the telephone. The speech is analyzed using natural language processing and machine learning and can predict whether someone has dementia or not with better accuracy than humans and standard screening tools.

Dr. Linda Gulyn’s general area of research concerns social perceptions of individuals with developmental disabilities. This population is at highest risk for sexual abuse and exploitation, yet most are deprived of school-based sexuality education. To explain this, she is exploring the explicit and implicit attitudes held by school teachers, service providers and administrators across the U.S. regarding sexuality among young adults with intellectual disability.

Dr. Stacy Lopresti-Goodman combines her passion for teaching students and advocating for animals with her professional expertise in psychology. She has three main areas of research, all of which involve student collaborators. The first focuses on understanding the enduring negative impact that confinement, social isolation, and physical abuse have on the psychological well-being of animals rescued from laboratories, including chimpanzees, monkeys, and dogs. Second, she conducts research on alternatives to the harmful use of animals in research and education. Lastly, she is interested in understanding factors influencing public opinion on animal experimentation.