Photos & News

Spring 2026:

• We welcomed two new sophomore lab members, Charlie Stille and Elon College Fellow, Fiona Carcich

• Lila got IRB approval for her student-led research project on motivation and exercise

• Lindsay earned a Grants-In-Aid from Elon's Undergraduate Research office to fund her research project on understanding leader role model traits

• The lab got its first official t-shirts, designed by Lindsay

• The lab (with Charlie on point) co-hosted the Powering the Future Workshop as part of Elon's Spring Dialogue Series, in collaboration with Helen Joo from the Environmental Defense Fund and Andrew Moffa from the Kernodle Center

• Abram's study on understanding motivation and leader preferences was collected on Connect and analyzed

• Lindsay's study on understanding leader role model traits was collected on Connect and analyzed

• Sophie's study on investigating mate preferences was (mostly) collected on Connect and analyzed

• Lila launched her study on motivation and exercise on SONA and received IRB approval for a Connect version

• Dr. Wiezel started collaborating with Justice Wilbourn and Dr. Nic Bussberg on a project related to parenting and political attitudes; Justice earned a Sinclair Grant for this work, and will be formally joining the lab in Fall

• Abram and Sophie presented their research with the lab at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Richmond, VA

• Fiona began using evidence-based practices to help with the department Instagram, laying the groundwork for a more applied research project

• Lila, Lindsay, and Sophie finished coding and resolving all 91 videos for the conversation project

• Senior Sophie earned the Department of Psychology's Research Excellence Award

• Abram, Sophie, and Lindsay presented their research with the lab at Elon's Spring Undergraduate Research Forum

• The lab enjoyed its second ever end-of-year lab party with a senior student-chosen theme ("summer camp disco funeral"); Sophie once again won the costume contest at this event with her eclectic disco funeral summer camp outfit, all while still wearing her lab shirt! She also earned a prize for finding all the Smiskis hidden in the main rooms of Dr. Wiezel's house.

• The lab enjoyed its first ever senior night out with Sophie and Lindsay trying their hand at axe throwing during their senior sendoff

• Founding members Sophie and Lindsay, as well as Abram, graduated from Elon University in Spring 2026 

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Fall 2025:​

• Abram ​got IRB approval for his mentor-led research project on understanding motivation and leader preferences

• Lindsay got IRB approval for her project on understanding leader role model traits

• Sophie got IRB approval for her student-led project on investigating mate preferences

• Dr. Wiezel and Sophie had a co-authored, peer-reviewed book chapter on "How variations in age-based mate preferences illuminate universals of human live-history" in the Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology go into press

• Sophie served as a Teaching and Learning Apprentice for Dr. Wiezel's PSY 2970 class

• The lab got its first official stickers

• The lab enjoyed its second-ever annual Halloween costume contest (with Abram as the winner in his Hex Girls costume)

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Spring 2025:

• We welcomed one new junior lab member, Abram Darby

• The lab relocated from the PSY to the Lindner building

• The lab officially completed transcribing all video transcripts for the conversation project

• The coding team for the conversation project, Lila, Lindsay, and Sophie officially moved from practice coding to full-time coding and resolution meetings

• Sophie & Dr. Wiezel attended and presented at the Annual Convention for the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, in Denver, CO

• Lindsay introduced Dr. Wiezel at her Active Citizen Series event about political polarization, hosted by Elon's Kernodle center, and  attended by the full lab

• Dr. Wiezel presented on revisiting leader stereotypes vs. preferences as part of the Women of Elon Cohort Experience at Elon University, to alumna who were business executives in their respective fields

• The lab enjoyed its first ever end-of-year lab party with a student-chosen theme (Astrology, with some key points about how and why astrology is pseudoscience); Sophie won the costume contest at this event with her Leo costume

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Fall 2024:​

• The lab welcomed its inaugural, founding lab members, juniors Sophie Verrecchia and Lindsay Bialecki, and sophomore Lila Seiler

• The lab worked iteratively to put together a behavioral code-book for the videos from the conversation project, with feedback from BORG faculty affiliate, Dr. Shiota

• Dr. Wiezel had two peer-reviewed journal articles published in Evolution and Human Behavior with collaborators; one, "Stereotypes vs. preferences: Revisiting the role of alpha males in leadership" which received commentary from several expert scholars in the field, and another "Beyond stereotypes versus preferences: Sex, dominance and the functions of leadership," a follow-up response to that commentary

• The lab enjoyed its first-ever annual Halloween costume contest (with Lila as the winner in her Voldemort costume)