POE Lab
Existential risks are events that can seriously reduce humanity's potential. Understanding lay judgments about catastrophic threats is important because these perceptions influence support for protective measures. The Psychology of Existence (POE) Lab investigates existential risk judgments as well as related existential concepts (e.g., death anxiety). The lab also conducts research on artificial intelligence (AI), including but not limited to its relation to existential risks.
Lab Members
Vincent Medina
Principal Investigator
vmedina1@uca.edu
Mackenzie Criner
Graduate Research Assistant
mcriner@cub.uca.edu
Lila Demirel
Graduate Research Assistant
ldemirel@cub.uca.edu
Mei Ishimura
Graduate Research Assistant
mishimura1@cub.uca.edu
Ashley Maestas
Graduate Research Assistant
amaestas@cub.uca.edu
Sophia Brooks
Research Assistant
sbrooks9@cub.uca.edu
Patrick Carpenter
Research Assistant
pcarpenter@cub.uca.edu
Zoe Carpenter
Research Assistant
zcarpenter@cub.uca.edu
Regan Cate
Research Assistant
rcate1@cub.uca.edu
Kade Newton
Research Assistant
knewton@cub.uca.edu
Honey Norfolk
Research Assistant
nnorfolk@cub.uca.edu
Xavier Parker
Research Assistant
xparker@ualr.edu
Sidney Severns
Research Assistant
sseverns@cub.uca.edu
Anna Temple
Research Assistant
atemple@cub.uca.edu
Not pictured:
Jordan Miller, Graduate Research Assistant, jmiller56@cub.uca.edu
Erika Calderon, Research Assistant, ecalderon@cub.uca.edu
Kayla Evans-Kennard, Research Assistant, knovak@cub.uca.edu
Joel Ferringer, Research Assistant, gferringer@cub.uca.edu
Lexi Figueroa, Research Assistant, lmays3@cub.uca.edu
Laci Garrett, Research Assistant, lgarrett7@cub.uca.edu
Makayla Gildon, Research Assistant, mgildon@cub.uca.edu
Kaylani Hancock, Research Assistant, khancock3@cub.uca.edu
Mrityunjay Mohan, Research Assistant, mrityunjaymithranmohan@gmail.com
Lucille Jeffery, Research Assistant, ljeffery@cub.uca.edu
Justin McMinn, Research Assistant, jmcminn@cub.uca.edu
Kellirae Perrine, Research Assistant, cperrine1@cub.uca.edu
Emma Rehm, Research Assistant, erehm@cub.uca.edu
Abbey West, Research Assistant, awest18@cub.uca.edu
Flora Williams, Research Assistant, fwilliams@cub.uca.edu
Kaitlyn Wright, Research Assistant, kwright21@cub.uca.edu
Lab Pets
Annie Carpenter
Sheeda Maestas
Momma P Norfolk
Griffin Parker
Phoenix Parker
Lucy Temple
Noodle and Scarlett Temple
Active Research
Existential Psychology
Improved methodology for measuring existential risks
Cross-cultural predictors of moral judgments about existential risks
Improved methodology for measuring death anxiety (in collaboration with Cody Mashburn at Kennesaw State University)
Intergenerational discounting (in collaboration with Stylianos Syropoulos at Boston College and other co-authors internationally)
AI
AI for improving research methods
AI existential risks
AI in higher education (in collaboration with Evan Faidley, Allison Freed, and Leticia de la Garza at University of Central Arkansas)