All posts by Patty Van Cappellen, Ph.D.

Recruiting for TWO positions!

More info and application here: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/24794

I am hiring for two full time lab manager-type positions at Duke University to work on grant-funded projects in the psychology of religion as well as to assist with managing the Duke Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research Center that I direct. The position is perfect for someone wanting to apply for grad school in the next couple of years. The lab manager will be involved in every part of the research process and have the opportunity to participate in conferences. My current projects revolve around religion and empathy, intergroup prejudice, and the psychology of hope.

For best consideration, apply by May 26. Start date between August 1st and September 1st.

Current and former BABLab members off to grad school!

This year was full of good grad school news for current and former BABLab members! All start in Fall 2023 and I look forward to a fun BABLab reunion next year at SPSP! I am very proud of these women whose talents will only shine further in grad school.

Amanda Bernal who is currently Lab Manager will (sadly!) leave the lab to go to the University of Arizona Social Psychology PhD Program under the supervision of Matthias Mehl. She is interested in researching the different relationships a person can have (romantic, familial, abstract (like with one’s God), and how language use can relate to the way people think, feel, and behave. She is also interested in examining these topics using novel methods (like the use of electronically activated recorders and ecological momentary assessments).

Abbie Clapp who was BABLab manager until recently will be doing a joint PhD in Social Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies at UW Madison in Dr. Sara Chadwick’s lab. She will be working on research topics related to sexuality and objectification from a feminist psychology perspective primarily using mixed methods.

Maria Naclerio who did her graduation with distinction with me at Duke (even got an award and publication out of it!) will go UCLA’s Social Psychology Ph.D. program to work with Dr. Naomi Eisenberger.

Kerry O’Brien who was my lab manager is going to the Basic & Applied Social Psychology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center and working with Dr. Catherine Good.

Job alert! Stay tuned!

I will soon be hiring for 2 full-time positions at Duke University! These positions will be ideal for someone who just graduated from undergrad, would like to go to grad school in psych, but wants a bit more research experience before applying. I hope to have these positions officially posted soon, for a Summer start date (interested candidates can email me and I’ll send the link to apply when it’s available).

Here is the unofficial job description:

The Belief, Affect, and Behavior Lab (BABLab), directed by Dr. Patty Van Cappellen at Duke University seeks a full-time lab manager/data technician for a 12-month funded position. The lab manager/data technician will work closely with the PI to perform the research activities of grant-funded projects in the psychology of religion and emotions working on topics related to hope, empathy and intergroup prejudice/prosociality. For more information on the lab, the PI’s research, and the specific project on empathy, see: https://sites.duke.edu/bablab/.

In addition, the lab manager will also be involved in facilitating research at the Duke Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research Center (IBRC), which Dr. Van Cappellen directs. The IBRC is a large interdisciplinary research facility serving faculty and students in social and behavioral sciences. The IBRC provides the infrastructure (laboratory space), equipment (laptop, software, cameras), support (training, research assistant program), participant access (community participants pool), and limited funding to facilitate social and behavioral research. You can find more information here: https://ibrc.duke.edu/

This position is ideal for individuals who wish to go to grad school in the near future. I am looking for someone who is passionate about research and has interest in the lab’s topic. I give the opportunity to my staff to present at conferences and to become co-authors on journal manuscripts. We will do a lot of research together as a team and you will be involved from start to finish on most projects! Start date can be arranged with me and is expected to be around September 1st, 2023. *it is expected for the candidate to move to NC and be in person, in an office on Duke campus.*

Work Performed:

– Assisting in designing and running a series of experiments with human subjects related to multiple grant-funded projects

– Maintaining IRB records

– Managing and training a team of undergraduate research assistants

– Cleaning and analyzing data

– Assisting in writing manuscripts

– Assisting with media outreach

– Assisting in general administrative activities as requested including planning lab meetings

– Support research activities of the IBRC including registering new lab users, approving studies and resource requests, and scheduling lab rooms.

– Maintain a database of community members and students who wish to participate in paid research at the IBRC.

– Manage funds for payment of participants.

Preferred Qualifications: Ideal candidate will have a strong undergraduate background in psychology with previous research experience, including SPSS or R and scientific writing. Experience with the following is desirable, but not required: Excel, Qualtrics, CloudResearch or Prolific, Psychophysiology data collection software and equipment such as Mindware or Biopac. Seeking candidate with excellent time-management skills, attention to detail, interpersonal, communication, and writing skills, extremely efficient in email correspondence, ability to work independently, and ability to juggle multiple varied tasks.

New publication!

New publication stemming from our grant-funded project on the scientific study of gratitude to god!

Van Cappellen, P., Clapp, A., & Algoe, S. (in press). God of the good gaps: Prevalence, eliciting situations, and demonstrations of gratitude to god as compared to interpersonal gratitude. Journal of Positive Psychology.

Abstract:

Gratitude for another person’s actions has received exponential attention from the scientific community for its many benefits. Yet, this research is virtually silent on one key target of gratitude god despite billions of people believing in a personal, intervening, and benevolent god. In a large multimethod study, we sampled U.S. Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and Christians (N=1270). First, we document the prevalence of spontaneous mentions of god as the target of a gratitude expression following a personal success. Only 16% of our religious participants did mention god but priming god increased this number to 29%. Second, we documented a wider array of eliciting situations of gratitude to god (GTG) compared to gratitude to another person (GTO) and particularly for broad good things in life that don’t have a clear agent. Finally, we documented ways that GTG vs. GTO is demonstrated, suggesting that GTG sustains religious practice and builds morality.

Wishing the best to Abbie Clapp!

Abbie Clapp, BABLab manager, is off to new adventures as a Data Analyst working for Wilder Research in Saint Paul, MN. Wilder Research partners with community organizations to research a wide variety of topics relevant to improving quality of life for people in the community, including community safety, education, public health, housing & homelessness, etc. Abbie will use her statistical chopsticks to clean and analyze data as well as consult with clients. She will be missed but we are thrilled for her!

New publications!

Lots of announcements to make!

First, we published two papers providing needed empirical data on Christian prayer postures and how they connect to emotions and the religious experience more generally.

Van Cappellen, P., & Edwards, M. (in press). Emotion expression in context: Full body postures of Christian prayer orientations compared to secular emotions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. Pre-print

Van Cappellen, P., Cassidy, S., & Zhang, R. (in press). Religion as an embodied practice: Organizing the various forms and documenting the meanings of Christian prayer postures. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Pre-print

Second, we are super proud to announce Maria Naclerio’s first publication! Maria did her senior thesis with us when she was an undergrad at Duke. She even earned the 2019-2020 Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for this research! Preprint to come, check out our list of publications.

Naclerio, M., & Van Cappellen, P. (in press). Awe, group cohesion, and religious self-sacrifice. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion.

Third, stay tuned for a new book chapter summarizing the latest research, including research from our lab, on positive emotions and religion/spirituality. Happy to send a private copy if you email me.

Van Cappellen, P., Zhang, R. & Fredrickson, B. L. (forthcoming 2022). The scientific study of positive emotions and religion/spirituality. To appear in W. Davis, E. Worthington, & S. Schnitker (Ed.), Handbook of positive psychology, religion, and spirituality. Springer.

We are hiring!

*update: it looks like the position does not show up anymore on the duke careers website, please email me directly your application and when duke HR reopens the position online, I will ask you to submit your documents there as well.*

The Belief, Affect, and Behavior Lab (BABLab), directed by Dr. Patty Van Cappellen at Duke University seeks a full-time lab manager/data technician for a 12-month funded position (possibility to extend contingent on funding). The lab manager/data technician will work closely with the PI to perform the research activities of grant-funded projects in the psychology of religion and emotions working on topics related to gratitude, embodiment of emotions, and intergroup prejudice/prosociality. For more information on the lab, the PI’s research, and the specific project, see: https://sites.duke.edu/bablab/.

This position is ideal for individuals who wish to go to grad school in the near future. I am looking for someone who is passionate about research and has interest in the lab’s topic. I give the opportunity to my staff to present at conferences and to become co-authors on journal manuscripts. We will do a lot of research together as a team and you will be involved from start to finish on most projects! Start date can be arranged with me and is expected to be around August 1st, 2021. *it is expected for the candidate to move to NC and be in person, in an office on Duke campus. I am anticipating in person data collection to resume in the Fall and interactions with RAs to be in person as well*

Work Performed:

– Assisting in designing and running a series of experiments with human subjects related to multiple grant-funded projects

– Maintaining IRB records

– Managing and training a team of undergraduate research assistants

– Cleaning and analyzing data (including psychophysiology data)

– Assisting in writing manuscripts

– Assisting with media outreach

– Assisting in general administrative activities as requested including planning lab meetings

Preferred Qualifications:

Ideal candidate will have a strong undergraduate background in psychology with previous research experience, including SPSS and scientific writing. Experience with the following is desirable, but not required: Excel, Qualtrics, MTurk, Psychophysiology data collection software and equipment such as Mindware or Biopac. Seeking candidate with excellent time-management skills, attention to detail, interpersonal, communication, and writing skills, extremely efficient in email correspondence, ability to work independently, and ability to juggle multiple varied tasks.

It is the expectation that all staff members will demonstrate exceptional workplace behaviors in the execution of their specific position responsibilities. These behaviors are customer focus, collaboration, creative problem solving, continuous learning, and a commitment to diversity.

Application Process:

All applicants must apply through the Duke Human Resources system at http://www.hr.duke.edu/jobs/

Requisition number is 51039463.

Please submit a cover letter describing relevant past research experience and interests (especially regarding stats, coding of participants’ open ended responses, RA traning, psychophysiology), a writing sample (it can be your honor’s thesis or a research paper you wrote), a CV, email and phone numbers for three professional references and your relationship to them. If you have any issues uploading some of these documents through Duke HR, please send them to me by email (patty.vancappellen@duke.edu).

Education: Work requires a bachelor’s degree in a field related to the specific position.

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.