FSU psychologist earns Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science
A 糖心vlog faculty member has earned an early career award from an international psychological organization for his research into how people perceive or process threats.
David March, an assistant professor in the , received a Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) this spring alongside 56 other psychologists from around the world for their innovative research, which has already led to advancements in the field of psychology.
鈥淏eing recognized internationally by APS is particularly fulfilling because it means my research has broad appeal,鈥 March said. 鈥淭his award reinforces my belief that my research can be widely influential inside and outside the field of social psychology.鈥
APS is an international non-profit organization that aims to promote and advance the interests of scientific research in psychology, disseminate psychological science to the public and promote the application of psychological science in public policy.
鈥淢y research focuses on the ways that threats uniquely influence how people perceive information, how they store information and how they express this information,鈥 March said. 鈥淢y own research and the March Research Laboratory鈥檚 work explores how an individual鈥檚 expression of this information manifests in a wide variety of interesting phenomena, such as biases and fears.鈥
鈥淧art of my success is accredited to the environment that has been fomented here at FSU and in FSU鈥檚 psychology department.鈥
鈥 David March, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology
Much of March鈥檚 research originates from a project he developed during his graduate studies, examining how processes that often operate outside of our awareness influence attitudes that drive behavior. While earning his doctoral degree from the University of Tennessee in 2019, March developed a theoretical model that challenged existing dual-process models of evaluation, which focused on valence, or the range of positive or negative values associated with a stimulus. The new dual-implicit processing model that March created focused on uncovering a distinction between the influence of negativity and threat in specific situations rather than a narrow focus on perceived positivity or negativity.
鈥淎s a graduate student, I noticed several different negativity-ascribed phenomena that I thought could more specifically be explained by threat instead of negative valence,鈥 March said. 鈥淚 wanted to clarify the influence of threats beyond negativity by making the distinction that although threats are always negative, not all negative things are threatening.鈥
Each year since the association鈥檚 establishment in 1988, APS has presented the Rising Star Award to outstanding APS members in the early stages of their research careers. Significant publications, major discoveries and broad impacts are some of the criteria considered by APS in the selection of rising stars.
鈥淧art of my success is accredited to the environment that has been fomented here at FSU and in FSU鈥檚 psychology department,鈥 said March, who joined FSU鈥檚 faculty in 2019. 鈥淭he faculty is fantastic and has been very supportive of my research, and this environment is very helpful in terms of staying productive. FSU is a great place to be a faculty member.鈥
Brad Schmidt, Department of Psychology chair and a distinguished research professor of psychology, has seen March鈥檚 contributions to the advancement of psychological theory on social cognition firsthand.
鈥淒avid is a remarkable young scholar who is doing important work in social psychology,鈥 Schmidt said. 鈥淭he Association for Psychological Science鈥檚 Rising Star Award is one of the top international awards in psychology, so this is an incredible honor and recognition of David鈥檚 impact on the field.鈥
To learn more about March鈥檚 work and research conducted in the FSU Department of Psychology, visit .