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Current honours students

  • Caroline Camateros

    I was born and raised in Quebec City, but moved to Montreal in order attend McGill University where I am currently enrolled in a B.A of psychology with a minor in education. I completed my first Honours research project in Dr. Rosberger’s health psychology lab where I participated in research on decision making regarding the HPV vaccine. My interest in working with disadvantaged groups has led me to the Taylor lab for my second project where I will be working with Benjamin Giguère. My honours research this year will focus on group norms and their influence on problem behaviours.
     

  • Christine Gros

    Having experienced immigration as a pre-teen, I became well acquainted with the idea of identity and its inevitable molding to fit social surroundings. Also, traveling to far-away lands with Water Polo Team Ontario and Team Canada, I was able to observe striking contrasts between various identities and ways of life. Naturally, I became interested in social psychology when I realized that my experiences could be studied scientifically. When I arrived at McGill, I was especially intrigued by the strand of social psychology studied in Don Taylor’s IRAP lab. I am currently in my first year of the Psychology Honors Program, and I’m very much enjoying studying the fascinating psychology of terrorism with Michael King. Together we are working on disentangling the elaborately interwoven psychological justifications of such collective violent acts, and how these are associated with group identity. Such investigative work is truly revealing about the complexities of human nature.
     

  • Frank Kachanoff

    I was born and raised about an hour and a half from McGill on a small horse farm. My passions in life are my horses and making music. I am in my first year of honours, and am lucky to be currently working with Julie Caoutte in the Taylor Lab. My interests in social psychology are looking as how cues in an environment can implicitly cause changes in people’s behaviour. As well, I am interested in some theories that have emerged from evolutionary psychology. Currently, we are looking at combining cues and priming stimuli with some theories from Evolutionary Psychology, and see how this take contrasts with present priming theories that are based on social learning theory. Some researchers, who have interested me so far, are Leonard Berkowitz, David Buss, Todd Shackelford, and Claude Steele.
     

  • Jessica Gallinger

    I'm in my last full year as an undergraduate here at McGill and time has gone by very quickly.  In my first year I took a psychology course out of interest, not imagining that I would EVER want to pursue a psychology related career.  However, I've found that the field of social psychology offers me an opportunity to pursue two great passions of mine; I can mold and craft new ideas and I can pursue social justice.  I'm in a Joint Honours program in English literature and Psychology, and I intend to pursue graduate studies in social psychology when I complete my degree.  This year I'll be working on an honours thesis with Mike King and we will be investigating some of the claims of System Justification Theory.
     

  • Paumalū Oili Cassiday
     
    ʻIke i ke au nui me ke au iki.'
     (Know both the big currents and the little currents.)
    -ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (Hawaiian Proverb)
     

    Originally from the Hawaiian Islands, I came to Canada for the opportunity to receive a McGill education. In my first semester, I became fascinated by the field of social psychology. A year and half later, I was granted the chance to begin my research career under Professor Don Taylor. In collaboration with Benjamin Giguère we are currently exploring how norm clarity can be used to effect behavioral regulation in members of disadvantaged social groups. Our research may also lead us to examine the processes by which these norms are internalized, and how they are related to individuals’ social identities.

    My overarching interest is in designing effective interventions for Aboriginal people. This is especially important to me due to my own identity as an indigenous person. I am Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). My life goal is to develop culturally relevant programs that address the profound social challenges faced by my community. My specific focus is rehabilitation for substance abusers and dependents. I hope that, through my educational pursuits, I will be able to gain a wealth of knowledge. Knowledge that I can one day bring back home, and incorporate with the traditional knowledge passed down by my kūpuna (ancestors). It is through the joining of these two knowledges that I intend to achieve my ambitions.

     

  • Sinthujaa Sampasivam

    I am currently a third year Honours Psychology student at McGill University. Broadly speaking, my areas of interests include intergroup relations, minority groups, and cross-cultural psychology. These areas of interest were influenced by my experiences as an immigrant and minority group member from Sri Lanka. My previous research experiences include working with Dr. Aboud and her doctoral student Philip Johnson concerning variables that might facilitate the effectiveness of prejudice reduction programs with children. Presently I am working with Dr. Taylor and his graduate student’s Régine Debrosse on immigrant groups and the acculturative strategies they use.