Ciara Jones Presents at Midwestern Psychology Conference

2018 Apr 17

Ciara Jones, a McKendree University fall 2017 graduate, presented a research poster at the Midwestern Psychological Association's annual conference in Chicago on April 14. Ciara presented the results of a project examining how people evaluate their real-life dating partners who have had mental illnesses. Her poster - Romantic Partners' Evaluations of People with Mental Illness as Mates - outlined two studies showing that people who have dated individuals with mental illness rate their former partners as having lower attractiveness as mates than people rating former partners who did not have mental illness. People who self-reported having mental illness were more likely to have had partners with mental illness but having dated someone with mental illness did not affect people's self-evaluations of their own attractiveness as mates.

Her grant-funded research was part of a directed study course called Research Practicum, taught by Dr. Guy Boysen. associate professor of psychology.