Psychology
Dr. Frank Hassebrock
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Dr. Hassebrock came to Denison in 1983 and teaches courses in cognitive psychology, memory, adult development and gerontology, and research methods. His research interests include the study of expertise in memory, problem solving, and decision making; in particular, the cognitive skills used by physicians in diagnostic reasoning. Other research interests include age and gender differences in autobiographical memory and the cognitive organization of memory for personal experiences, significant life events, and keepsake objects.
Research
My research interests in cognitive psychology include attention, memory, problem solving, and decision making. Several of my studies have investigated how these cognitive processes contribute to skilled performance in medical problem solving and diagnostic reasoning by physicians with different amounts of training and experience (i.e., novice, intermediate, and expert comparisons). Currently, I'm preparing an article on the types of autobiographical memories recalled by pediatric cardiologists who were asked to remember previous patients. These physicians' memories were quite vivid and rich in contextual and emotional content, and contained many items of specific temporal and event information. In addition, the memories were often presented in a narrative organization where multiple events and encounters were recalled for each patient.
The temporal and narrative organization of autobiographical memories is also key factors that I have explored in another set of research studies. For example, in three studies, I have compared memories of young and middle-aged men and women who recalled personal experiences in life domains such as education, family, work, and friendships. Recently, I have collected autobiographical memories associated with keepsake objects (i.e., souvenirs, mementos) from a large sample of adults between 30 and 85 years of age. These data are being examined to determine if the recalled experiences fit a "reminiscence bump" for particular decades of the participants' lives. These studies have been conducted with the collaboration of Denison students over the past few summers and I anticipate working with students on this line of research for the next few years.
Within adult development and gerontology, I have conducted research on older adults' meta-memory skills and on psychological aspects of care giving, stress, and cognitive appraisal. This line of research has involved psychology students who have conducted Senior/Honors Research under my supervision over the past several years and is a topic that could also be explored with students in the future.
Collaborative Research with Students
Yeager, L., & Hassebrock, F. (May 2005). The effects of recall mode and cognitive interview mnemonics on eyewitness memory. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Assocation.
Hassebrock, F., & Shipley, J. (May, 2004). Older adults' memories of keepsake objects. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, Chicago.
Hassebrock, F., & Hamel, S. (March, 2003). Reminiscence "bumps" for autobiographical memories of keepsake objects. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore.
Hassebrock, F., & Griffith, S. (June, 2002). Functional directives in the organization of autobiographical memories. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, New Orleans.
Pfleeger, J., & Hassebrock, F. (May, 2002). Metamemory Beliefs and Caregiving Appraisal in Caregivers of Alzheimer's Disease Patients. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
Shackelford-Klyop, C., Thios, S. J., & Hassebrock, F. (August, 1997). Relationship between moral development and attitudes toward people with disabilities. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago.
Bono, E., & Hassebrock, F. (April, 1997). Attentional style and competitive anxiety in intercollegiate athletes. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
Matthews, K., & Hassebrock, F. (August, 1992). Adolescents' autobiographical memory of prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Shaffer, D., & Hassebrock, F. (August, 1992). Memory for script actions: Effects of context and context reinstatement. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Fedeli, L., Snyder, R., & Hassebrock, F. (August, 1991). Orienting task and relatedness effects on memory for pictorial stimuli. Paper presented at a poster session of the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco.