Congrats, Dr. Schotz and Dr. Doheny! - Adult Development & Decision Lab

Four people stand in front of a building and sign for the UCF Psychology Clinic, Rosengren Trauma Clinic, and Philosophy department on a sunny day.

This past week was an exciting one for our lab: Ph.D. students Jordan Schotz and Maggie Doheny both successfully defended their dissertations.

Jordan’s dissertation, entitled “Visual Cues of Human-Likeness, Not Salience, Impact Trust-Related Human-Computer Interaction”, focused on the complex, top-down social evaluations inherently tied to the perceived “humanness” of digital agents. (Committee members: Nichole Lighthall, Joseph Schmidt, Valerie Sims, Johnathan Mell)

Three people stand in front of a projected presentation slide titled "Visual Cues of Human-likeness, Not Salience, Impact Trust-related Human-Computer Interaction.

Maggie’s dissertation, entitled “Independent and Interacting Effects of Co-Presence and Social Media ‘Likes’ on Online Disinhibition”, highlighted the implications of physical distance and reinforcement of negative behaviors in digital environments. (Committee members: Nichole Lighthall, Mustapha Mouloua, Mark Neider, Jihyun Kim)

Two women stand side by side in a conference room. Behind them is a large screen displaying a research presentation on social media and online disinhibition.

Well done, Jordan and Maggie! Your academic journeys have been uniquely impressive, and the lab is very lucky to have benefited from your mentorship. We are so excited to see what you accomplish in your next steps.