President: Isabella Kuo
Year of Study: 4
Program: Psychology specialist
Interest/hobbies: Kickboxing/Muay Thai, re-watching shows that I’ve already watched, sewing (all my projects turn out wonky and my lines are never straight but it’s fun!), and desperately trying to keep my plants alive
A fun fact about me: I have a tattoo of a dragon! Haven’t seen the movie though
Favourite psych phenomenon: The Dunning-Kruger effect: incompetent people tend to overestimate their abilities. Very relevant in the current climate *side eye*
“I’m stoked to serve as the PSA President this year and look forward to seeing you (yes you) at our virtual events and office hours! This is undoubtedly a difficult year, so we’re doing our best to help alleviate any challenges you may be facing with a number of academic events + seminars + conferences that pick your brain, social events and office hours that help you stay connected, and more! We’re here for you 😌”
Vice-President: Elizabeth Chan
Year of Study: 3
Program: Psychology research specialist
Interest/hobbies: Jigsaw puzzles, yoga, watching basketball, traveling
A fun fact about me: I’ve volunteered to clean a gravestone
Favourite psych phenomenon: Sleeping with a romantic partner’s shirt improves sleep quality, and this effect is comparable to the effects of melatonin (Hofer & Chen, 2020)
Secretary: Kay Sun
Year of Study: 3
Program: I’m doing a program in indecision: psychology research specialist, criminology major, sexual diversity studies minor
Interest/hobbies: Watching YouTube, swing dancing, Minecraft, heavy metal, sleeping
A fun fact about me: I played the tuba!
Favourite psych phenomenon: People can identify narcissists by looking at their eyebrows 🤨
Secretary: Christie Lai
Year of Study: 4
Program: Psychology specialist
Interest/hobbies: I enjoy hiking, cooking, watching true crime documentaries, bringing my dog to dog parks, trying out new restaurants and going to spin classes (before COVID)
A fun fact about me: I forgot to bring my phone when I travelled across Europe for 2 weeks lol. My friends thought I was dead
Favourite psych phenomenon: Convincing yourself you slept well tricks your brain into thinking it did
Treasurer: Kyle Xue
Year of Study: 4
Program: Psychology major and mathematics specialist
Interest/hobbies: Collecting cards! I mostly collect playing cards and Pokémon cards
A fun fact about me: I don’t wear jackets in winter (I like the cold)
Favourite psych phenomenon: Erikson’s stages of development — his theory is what showed me that development doesn’t end when you become an adult but rather, you continue to develop throughout your life
Academic Coordinator: Sophia Zhao
Year of Study: 4
Program: Psychology and physiology double major
Interest/hobbies: Finding new restaurants to try, watching cute animal videos
A fun fact about me: When I first watch a show I like starting from a random episode
Favourite psych phenomenon: An interesting fact I like is that deception detection accuracy is similar for the average person and trained experts, both between 45-60%
Academic Coordinator: Sophia Qiu
Year of Study: 4
Program: Psychology specialist, cognitive science major, statistics minor
Interest/hobbies: cuddling my kitty, drawing
A fun fact about me: I named my cat after Albert Camus
Favourite psych phenomenon: I love to practice classical conditioning to see if I can train my cat to speak (maybe not).
Conference Coordinator: Isabel Bowman
Year of Study: 5
Program: Psychology specialist, cognitive science major, philosophy minor
Interest/hobbies: Watching video essays on film and games, learning about interaction design and UX, drawing
A fun fact about me: Favourite colour to wear is a slightly darker, mustard yellow
Favourite psych phenomenon: I don’t think I have one, but I’d really recommend ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ by Don Norman, and the 99% Invisible podcast!
Seminar Coordinator: John Cui
Year of Study: 3
Program: Psychology specialist
Interest/hobbies: Volleyball, Video Games, Fashion, Vintage clothing and Thrifting
A fun fact about me: I’m a pretty competitive person, so whenever I do something I always wanna be the best at it! Even in things out of my control, like height 😛
Favourite psych phenomenon: The paradox of perfectionism and pressure, where the more you’re expected to perform perfectly, the more likely you are to perform poorly. On the flip side, the less pressure you’re facing the more likely you are to perform perfectly. (Benson , 2003) and (Blatt, S. J. 1995)
Seminar Coordinator: Yusra Shafi
Year of Study: 2
Program: Psychology Specialist, Environment & Behaviour Minor
Interest/hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries and discovering fun gelato places!
A fun fact about me: I find it difficult to go to sleep and turn my brain off if I haven’t done some light, non-academic reading first 🙂
Favourite psych phenomenon: The bystander effect – when individuals are less likely to offer help if there are a lot of other people present. Scary to think if you ever need help, make sure it’s in Montreal or Vancouver, and not Toronto!
Social Coordinator: Rachel In
Year of Study: 3
Program: Psychology specialist
Interest/hobbies: Vlogging, bullet journaling, reading, and taking pictures of my friends
A fun fact about me: I went to live in Korea for a year and half!
Favourite psych phenomenon: Cool fact I learned in PSY220 on the misattribution of arousal! If you want your crush to like you more, take them to a suspension bridge! They may misattribute their physiological arousal from the fear of walking on the bridge to your attraction!
Social Coordinator: Janice Lee
Year of Study: 3
Program: Psychology minor, pharmacology specialist
Interest/hobbies: Travelling, painting and styling outfits
A fun fact about me: I only had a dog when I was younger, but I think I am more of a cat person now
Favourite psych phenomenon: In cross-cultural psychology, pathogen theory explained to me how COVID could make people more united and divided at the same time
Volunteer Coordinator: Ashley Yim
Year of Study: 4
Program: Psychology major and mathematics specialist
Interest/hobbies: Collecting cards! I mostly collect playing cards and Pokémon cards
A fun fact about me: I don’t wear jackets in winter (I like the cold)
Favourite psych phenomenon: Erikson’s stages of development — his theory is what showed me that development doesn’t end when you become an adult but rather, you continue to develop throughout your life
Volunteer Coordinator: Sophia Zhang
Year of Study: 3
Program: Psychology specialist
Interest/hobbies: Dancing, reading books and watching YouTube
A fun fact about me: I have practiced Chinese dance for 10 years 🙂
Favourite psych phenomenon: I really love the idea of chunk studying method learned in PSY260! It taught me to chunk the learning time and study consistently. I have benefited a lot from it as I can see substantial improvements in my learning efficiency once I started to try this method out. If you are struggling with loss of motivation or you do not know how to study efficiently, remember to try this out ;). Hope you will find it helpful as well!