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: Kathy 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:
Program:
Interest/hobbies:
A fun fact about me:
Favourite psych phenomenon:
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 Coordinators: TBA
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!