The University of Arkansas students and our awesome mentor Dr. Mitch Brown!

Author: Evelyn Carroum | Major: Psychology | Semester: Summer 2025

I got the amazing opportunity to present my current research in evolutionary psychology at the NEEPS (Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society) conference. My research explores the underlying reasons for prosocial acts, such as altruism and egoism. In plain terms, this means I study why people help others. It is because helping other people helps you, or can the human brain be completely selfless? This research is important in evolutionary psychology because finding the underlying reasons for prosocial acts can help us to predict future actions. I conducted my research by running a study using undergraduate students. I used the statistics I got to produce results for the study. Once I have deeply researched my topic and analyzed the results, I can put all of my information on a presentation poster that can be presented at a conference.

This year, NEEPS was in Atlantic City, NJ. The conference was held at Stockton University, and all of the attendees were able to stay on the boardwalk. There were people from all over the world there, even famous psychologists. There was a small number of undergraduate students who attended. We were all able to meet each other and talk about our research. We were guided by mentors from our school and experts in the field. Most attendees had research ready to present, in the form of a talk or a poster. Learning so many new things in such a short period of time was incredible and gave me so many new research ideas. At first, I was intimidated to talk about my research to experts in the field, but everyone was so curiousand insightful. Presenting a poster is like attending a grown-up science fair project. You can stand with your poster and tell people about your research, or you can walk around and ask questions about other posters.

There was one particular keynote speaker who really stood out to me at the conference. It was an honor to listen to someone so smart and talented talk about topics I find interesting. His name was Dr. David Schmitt, and his talk was on How Not to Think about Evolved Sexuality: On Avoiding the “Toxic Tetrad” of Misunderstanding Evolution and the Generation of Gendered Psychology. Having unbiased knowledge and the understanding of all opinions, even ones different from your own, makes someone very wise. I felt this way about Dr. Schmitt. He was an inspiring speaker.

Having this opportunity is good for my professional development. It is very important to become accustomed to learning and speaking in a professional environment. Making connections to experts who have been in your position years ago is an invaluable experience. At this point in our academic careers, so many students are still unsure of what their future may look like. It is important to talk to professionals in your major/area of study so that you are certain that you want to pursue it in the future. Talking to psychologists in evolutionary psychology just reminds me of why I love psychology. I am so lucky to be able to study something I have such a passion for, and even more lucky that my university gives me the opportunity to travel, meet new people, and share research with professionals.