Sampson Community College made history last week by hosting actual ongoing psychological research from a senior institution on the SCC campus.
A majority of the students in SCC psychology instructor Paul Wolf’s PSY 150-0A class volunteered to undergo strenuous individual mental exercises lasting for hours in order to assist UNC-W Professor Dr. Zara Melikyan’s cross-cultural study between Russia and the United States of America.
Dr. Zara Melikyan, Ph.D., who works at UNCW in clinical psychology and who administered tests on the SCC students, said the goals of the research were to learn more about cultural differences in people’s attitudes towards standardized psychological testing and professional work of psychologists.
Specifically, Melikyan is most interested in studying rural versus urban differences in cognition. Melikyan selected Sampson County to serve as a USA/Rural sampling site thanks to Kimberly Hicks, an SCC student who served as a liaison between UNC-W researchers and SCC students.
Through the study, UNC-W obtained crucial data for a landmark international psychology study and SCC students gained the valuable experience of participating in ongoing psychological research. This is the first time Sampson Community College has had this opportunity.
Melikyan is still seeking additional USA/Rural volunteers, especially males between the ages of 30 and 60 who have lived the vast majority if their lives in a locale with a population under 50,000. If interested in participating and to be rewarded with a gift card for the interview, please contact Wolf at [email protected] or 592-8081 (ext. 5501).