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Dr. Buchholz's Research Lab

Research Interests

My research focuses on the self and consciousness. More specifically, I am interested in how self-awareness affects wellbeing as well as how to find meaning and purpose in our lives. The broad fields my research pulls from are social psychology, positive psychology, and evolutionary psychology. Both graduate and undergraduate students predominantly work on projects relating to the research areas listed below but have some flexibility in exact topics based on shared interests and motivation.

Topics I am currently investigating include:

  • The effects of mindfulness practice on wellbeing, meaning, and purpose
  • The effects of awe experiences in nature on wellbeing and purpose in life
  • The effects of self-compassion interventions on wellbeing
  • The evolutionary roots of consciousness and self-awareness
  • The evolutionary roots of empathy, theory of mind, and morality

Topics I have previously investigated include:

  • The effects of psilocybin on self, meaning, and purpose
  • Prejudice and stereotyping during the COVID-19 global pandemic
  • Empathy, political affiliation, and moral decision making
  • The role disgust and disease avoidance play in outgroup prejudice & discrimination
  • The effects of ingroup-outgroup membership on moral decision making

Working with Graduate Students

Graduate students working in Dr. Buchholz’s lab will gain valuable research experience that will culminate in the completion of a master’s thesis. Students will have access to funding to support their research projects as well as fund travel to professional conferences. If you are interested in working with Dr. Buchholz, please contact him to see if he has openings in his lab at buchholz@roanoke.edu. 

Working with Undergraduate Students

Students working in Dr. Buchholz’s lab work on a variety of tasks, including data entry and coding, literature reviews, study design and recruitment, data collections, data analysis, and, for students progressively working on more independent tasks, study presentation in various forums.

Interested students should be hard working, self-sufficient, and in good academic standing (but can be any level of student, from freshman to upperclassmen). If you are interested in working with Dr. Buchholz, email him at buchholz@roanoke.edu. 

See Undergraduate Research for more information about opportunities, expectations, and course credits.