John Yost, PhD
Associate Professor - Psychology
Expertise: Social Psychology
Teaching interests
My personal research interests are in the areas of prejudice, implicit cognition, andTerror Management Theory. However, the major focus of my research efforts over thelast several years has been in mentoring students and encouraging them to pursue theirown research interests. Over the past 10years, I have mentored over 170independent undergraduate research projects and over 20 Honors Theses at AVUniversity.
In addition, I have mentored over 70 student conference presentations,including the sponsoring of 10 Midwestern Regional Psi Chi Research Award winners(competitive awards traditionally given to top 3% of over 600 submissions each year).
Sample of Midwestern Regional Psi Chi Award Winners Mentored:
- Koepke, Juliette. (April, 2020). Effect of threat and Conservatism on simplicity and certainty. To be presented at the 92ndannual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Sayers, B., Djakovich, H., & Valentine, A. (May, 2018). That’s Not Me: Distancing Reactions to Stereotype Threat Involving Sexual Assault. Presented at the 90th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Otis, Z. (May, 2017). Fear of a Woman President: The Effect of Precarious Manhoodon the 2016 Presidential Election. Presented at the 89th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Corridoni, G. (May, 2016). Twitter vs. Textbook: Differences in Source Memory andthe Bizarreness Effect. Presented at the 88th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Palmieri, S. (May, 2014). The Effect of Collective Self-Esteem on HeterosexualAssessment of Same-Sex Relationship Quality. Presented at the 86th annual meeting ofthe Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Polasky, S. (May, 2013). Obama’s Digging My Grave: Worldview Threat Reduces Predicted Age of Death. Presented at the 85th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Benich, M. (May, 2008). Recategorization Due to Disability Information: A Test of the Continuum Model. Presented at the 80th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Widman, S. (May, 2007). Rationalizing Away Guilt: The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in Academically Dishonest Behaviors. Presented at the 79th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Williams, A. (May, 2007). Rape Myth Acceptance and the Unobtrusive Presentation of Sexually Degrading Images. Presented at the 79th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
Selected Research Presentations by Mentored Students:
- Floss, H. (May, 2019).Peer Pressure as a Barrier to Reporting Date Rape.Presented atthe 91st annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago
- Koepke, J. (May, 2019).The Effect of Threat on Need for Certainty in Conservative Males.Presented at the 91stannual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- DuBois, R. (May, 2019). A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The Effect of Gender and Political Ideology on when “No” means “No.” Presented at the 91st annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- McVay, T (May, 2019). Perceptions of Coach’s Response to Stress on Football Player’sQuality of Experience: A Test of Cognitive Resource Theory. Presented at the 91stannual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Djakovich, H (May, 2019). Effect of Participant and Perpetrator Gender on Reactions to Verbal vs. Physical Sexual Harassment. Presented at the 91st annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Gebhardt, B. (May, 2017). Effect of Vicarious Learning on the Career Self-Efficacy of Adolescent Females in Rural Honduras. Presented at the 89th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Trautman, K. & Simonovic, N. (May, 2016). Smells Like Summer: Scent of Sunscreen Implicitly Primes Body-Image Words. Presented at the 88th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Farrell, K. (May, 2015). The Scent of Summer: Implicit Activation of Body-Image Concerns. Presented at the 87th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Berry, B. (May, 2014). Ego-Depletion in the Context of Stereotype Suppression. Presented at the 86th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Yost, J.H., & Sauter, M.J. (May, 2011). Tombstones in the Rocks: Biased Attention to Mortality-Salient Stimuli. Paper presented at the 83rd annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
- Ph.D., Social Psychology, Washington University
- B.A., Psychology, Temple University