The Morris County Psychological Association offers its annual Dr. Joshua Zavin Psychology Award open to all high school students in Morris County who are taking classes related to the behavioral sciences.  Classes include psychology, human and/or animal behavior, child development, and sociology.  The purpose of the award is to stimulate and encourage the study of the behavioral sciences among high school students.

       Students submitted papers previously written as part of their regular course work.  Each entry was judged independently by three doctoral level psychologists on a set of nine criteria, including:

• Awareness of social and cultural issues in the behavioral sciences
• Awareness of theoretical and technical issues in the study of behavioral sciences
• Clarity of written expression
• Originality of the study

Twenty-three students from six different Morris County schools submitted entries, which were then judged by twenty-seven psychologists.   There were three top scores, which were the 2022 winners, and three additional exceptional entries which were given honorable mention.

The winners, honorable mention awardees, their teachers, and their parents attended an awards reception via zoom at on June 1, 2022. The winners were:

FIRST PLACE WINNER:

Callista Oliveira of Succasunna, Roxbury High School, teacher Aristea Theodoropoulos 

How the Cold Parenting Styles Impact the Period of Denial in Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

SECOND PLACE WINNERS–2 (tie):

Caitlin Joyce of Chester, West Morris Mendham High School, teacher Jennifer Brown

Reconstructive Memory of Children

Shannon Carratura of Long Valley, West Morris Central High School, teacher Erin Feltmann

Self Confidence or Competitiveness: An Analysis of the Effects of Personal Factors on Competitive Anxiety and Athletic Performance

HONORABLE MENTIONS–3

Eden Zumbrun of Mendham, West Morris Mendham High School, teacher Jennifer Brown 

A Social Dilemma: The impact of growing social media popularity on social anxiety in teenagers 

Michael Catrambone of Chester, West Morris Mendham High School, teacher Jennifer Brown  

Toxic Masculinity & Major Depressive Disorder

Daniel Catrambone of Chester, West Morris Mendham High School, teacher Jennifer Brown

An Analysis of Applied Behavior Analysis therapy’s ability to reduce problem behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Judges were Drs. Michael Zito, Jayne Schachter, Aaron Welt, Nancy Sidhu, Hayley Hirschmann, Morgan Murray, Randy Bressler,  Brenda Stepak, Sarah Dougherty,  Paul Yampolsky, Marc Gironda, Beverly Tignor, Marilyn Lyga, Isabel Lerman, Debra Roelke, Zachary Infantolino, Corrine Kalafut, Lisa Hahn, Ashley Gorman, Melissa Klika, Christine Ghilain, Debra Fisch, William Neigher, Lauren Becker Komal Dutt; doctoral candidates Erica Vieira, Anthony Ferrer

The Psychology Awards Committee members were Drs. Aaron Welt, Lauren Becker, Nancy Sidhu, and Susan Neigher (chair)

For more information, please visit the MCPA website, www.mcpanj.com.