SDTIC Spotlight Series! Featuring Justin and Alice

[Robyn Ilten-Gee]

 Dear SDTIC community,  

The Communications Team has launched an initiative aimed at keeping us connected with each other.  Three times a year, we will feature two researchers (one junior, one senior) from our community and shine a light on their latest projects, partnerships, and ideas. We hope this fuels collaboration and illuminates the broad scope of SDTIC researchers' interests and passions! If you would like to nominate someone or yourself for this Spotlight Series, feel free to email [robyn_i...@sfu.ca].

 

March SDTIC Spotlights: Justin Martin & Alice Guo

Name: Justin Martin, Ph.D. Institution: Whitworth University

What research questions are you wrestling with right now?

Currently, I am exploring the intersection between features of superhero media (comics, tv series, and films) and sociomoral development, with the latter primarily situated within a SCDT framework. Taking comics as an example, I am exploring ways narrative features within the genre (e.g., the use of time-travel, alternate universes, and origin stories) may afford opportunities for older children, adolescents, and adults to explore sociomoral issues via processes consistent with moral-nonmoral distinctions, informational assumptions, and moral-nonmoral coordination. Recently published scholarship bearing on this question has been theoretical, but I plan to resume some empirical projects with a small research “lab” in Fall ’23.

What classic articles have you returned to?

They are not articles, but within recent years I have returned to Asch’s (1952) Social Psychology and Turiel, Killen, and Helwig’s (1987) book chapter. I have found both texts particularly influential in my thinking concerning most of my recent scholarship as well as my teaching.

Asch, S. E. (1952). Social psychology. NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Turiel, E., Killen, M., & Helwig, C. C. (1987). Morality: its structure, function, and vagaries. In J. Kagan & S. Lamb (Eds.), The emergence of morality in young children (pp. 155–243). University of Chicago Press.

What new course have you developed / taught recently that excites you?

In addition to my winter term course, Moral Development, I am currently co-teaching a course (Morality in Marvel) with a sociology professor that explores morality within the marvel universe. This is our second time teaching the course, and the required texts (comics) thus far have focused on superheroes rooted within a specific community (e.g., Matt Murdock/Daredevil and T’Challa/Black Panther). Next spring, instead of teaching Morality in Marvel I plan to pilot a course on the Marvel Comics event Civil War (2007), where students will explore the merits and limitations of the characters’ varying positions concerning whether superheroes should register with, and be regulated by, the government. The hope is to use assessment data from the class as the basis for a publication related to teaching scholarship.

Name: Alice Guo Institution: University of Missouri Link to Lab Website:  Family Relationships and Adolescent Development Lab (https://psychology.missouri.edu/people/campione-barr)

What is your latest /major research project?

I am currently working on a project that examines the associations between technology-mediated communication and relationship quality within multiple close relationships during the first and fourth years of college. I'll also be looking at how these both impact the feelings of stress and competence as college students approach graduation and transition to adulthood.

Another current major project examines disclosure frequency over time during adolescence, again to multiple close relationship partners. We are using SDT to categorize disclosure topics into different domains (e.g., about personal issues, prudential issues, etc.), and we are interested in how disclosure in each domain differs between relationships and how it impacts relationship quality and individual adjustment.

 

What conferences have you recently applied to / plan to apply to / are involved in organizing?  

I will be attending the Society for Research on Adolescence Annual Meeting in April! My poster presentation is on the first project above, and my mentor, Dr. Nicole Campione-Barr, will present on the second project above.

What professional experiences have you had recently that you’d like to share with the community?  

This is more professional development, but our area brownbag recently invited a panel of speakers to talk about their experiences going into industry jobs after grad school. I've become more interested in alt-ac career paths and have been attending events/seeking out information over the last year or so. It's a path I'm seriously considering as I get closer to finishing my graduate program, and I'm glad it's been getting more attention and acceptance in recent years (the pandemic certainly didn't help the academic job market!)

Sincerely,

SDTIC Communications Team

Robyn Ilten-Gee (she/her)

Assistant Professor in Education

Simon Fraser University | Burnaby, Canada

robyn_i...@sfu.ca

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We work on the unceded Traditional Coast Salish Lands of the Səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.