Liberal Arts & Sciences

Marla Jorgensen

Chair of LAS/ Professor of Psychology Email Memorial Hall, Room 135
Dr. Jorgensen holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology with a focus in child development. Her main research interests examine parenting and moral development with a particular interest in how parental lying influences moral reasoning, as well as an interest in children's understanding of parental fairness. Dr. Jorgensen has also studied divorce and how it influences parental bonding and attachment style in early adulthood. Through work with colleagues she has conducted research looking at celebrity worship, conspiracy beliefs, and anti-vaccine attitudes. Dr. Jorgensen has been a full-time member of the Psychology Department since 2013 and was an adjunct faculty member for many years prior. She is currently both a member of the Psychology Department and the Chairperson of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department. 

Courses Taught

PSY 101 - Introduction to Psychology
PSY 232 - Child Development
PSY 234 - Social Psychology
PSY 252 - Adult Development
PSY 253 - Lifespan Development
PSY 315 - Abnormal Psychology
FYE 101 - Freshman Experience

Education

  • PhD, Psychology (Developmental), The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, 2013
  • MA, Psychology (Industrial/Organizational), George Mason University, 1997
  • BS, Psychology (Honors Psychology), University of Maryland, 1995
  • AA, Liberal Arts and Science, Farmingdale State College, 1993

Publications

  • Brian Colison, Lynn McCutheon, Jeanne Edman and Marla Johnston, Gender, age, marital status, and selection of a favorite celebrity of the opposite gender, Current Psychology, 41 2020, 1936-1942.
  • Brian Colison, Lynn McCutheon, Marla Johnston and Jeanne Edman, How Popular are Pop Stars? The False Consensus of Perceived Celebrity Popularity, Psychology of Popular Media, 2020.
  • Sayeedul Islam, Vahe Permzadian, Rownak Choudhury, Marla Johnston and Maria Anderson, Proactive personality as a predictor academic performance and citizenship behaviors among undergraduate students, Learning and Individual Differences, 65 2018, 41-49.
  • Marla Johnston and Herbert Saltzstein, “That’s not fair!”: Children’s judgments of maternal fairness and good/bad intentions, Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 10(1) 2016, 82-92.
  • Marla Johnston, Children’s judgments of moral behavior and maternal fairness in transgression encounters, North American Journal of Psychology, 18(3) 2016, 577-596.

Presentations

  • Marla Johnston, "Kahoot! Review Predicts Child Development Exam Scores", Poster at Celebration of Scholarship Event, Poster presented to the Farmingdale State College, on November 5, 2019.
  • Marla Johnston, Maria A. Guaqueta and Michaela Porubanova, “Adult Children of Divorce: The Unexpected Relationship of Parental Overprotection with Self-Esteem.” Poster accepted at the Association for Psychological Science, Boston on May 28, 2017.
  • Dana G. Gerasimovich, David Brocker, Haaziq T. Walker, Marla Johnston and Michaela Porubanova, “Flashbulb Memories for the 2016 Presidential Election.” Paper presented to the Association for Psychological Science, Boston on May 27, 2017.
  • Dana G. Gerasimovich, David Brocker, Haaziq T. Walker, Marla Johnston and Michaela Porubanova, “Flashbulb Memories for the 2016 Presidential Election.” Poster presented at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference, Suffolk Community College, NY on April 21, 2017.
  • Marla Johnston, “Parental bonding, anxiety, and stress: The impact of Mom versus Dad.” Poster presented at the 28th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL on May 28, 2016.
  • Marla Johnston, “Parental bonding, anxiety, and stress: The impact of Mom versus Dad.” Poster presented at the 30th Annual Teaching of Psychology Conference: Ideas and Innovations, Tarrytown, NY on April 2, 2016.
  • Marla Johnston, “Parental bonding, anxiety, and stress: The impact of Mom versus Dad.” Poster presented at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Poster Forum, Albany, NY on February 24, 2016.
  • Marla Johnston, “Preparing Undergraduates for the Real World: Graduate Training Course and Mentoring an Undergraduate Research Lab.” Presentation to the 29th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, Tarrytown, NY on March 27, 2015.
  • Marla Johnston, “A path analysis of the effect of perceived weight discrimination on college student retention.” Poster accepted at the International Convention of Psychological Science (ICPS), Amsterdam, The Netherlands on March 12, 2015.
  • Sayeedul Islam, Vahe Permzadian, Rownak Choudhury and Marla Johnston, “A path analysis of the effect of perceived weight discrimination on college student retention.” Poster presented at the International Conference on Psychological Science, Amsterdam on March 12, 2015.
  • Marla Johnston, High School Research: Where To Begin, Presentation presented to the Port Washington, NY, on November 9, 2014.
  • Sayeedul Islam, Vahe Permzadian, Rownak Choudhury and Marla Johnston, “Self-efficacy as a moderator between perceived weight discrimination and undergraduate social adjustment.” Poster accepted at the Association for Psychological Science, on May 23, 2014.

Awards & Honors

  • Golden Key International Honor Society Honorary Member; Chosen by students to be inducted as an honorary member at the Spring 2017 induction ceremony, 2017.
Last Modified 2/2/22