Maria Parmley, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Psychology

508-767-7586 mparmley@assumption.edu Kennedy Memorial Hall - Room 124

Degrees Earned

B.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst
M.A., Ph.D., Brandeis University

Undergraduate Courses Taught

General Psychology
Interpersonal Communication
Research Methods
Research Seminar
Social Psychology
Statistics
Stereotypes & Prejudice
Women’s Images

Publications & Editorships

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Colburn, K. L., & *Georges, N. (2015). Fluctuations in female attention to male facial expressions of emotions across the menstrual cycle. In A. Freitas-Magalhaes (Ed.), Emotional expression: The brain and the face. (Vol. 7). Porto, Portugal: Edições Universidade Fernando Pessoa (pp. 147-179).

Zhang, F., & Parmley, M. (2015). Emotion attention and recognition of facial expressions among close friends and casual acquaintances. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32, 633-649.

Zhang, F., Parmley, M., Wan, X. A., & Cavanagh, S. (2015). In-group advantage for recognition of emotional facial expressions varies by intensity, emotion, and cultural background of the decoder. Motivation and Emotion, 39,¬ 309-319.

Parmley, M., & Zhang, F. (2015). Your face says it all: Closeness and the perception of emotional expressions. Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 127-142.

Parmley, M., & Cunningham, J. G. (2014). She looks sad, but he looks mad: The effects of age, gender, and ambiguity on emotion perception. Journal of Social Psychology, 154, 323-338.

Zhang, F., & Parmley, M. (2011). What your best friend sees that I don’t see: Comparing female close friends and casual acquaintances on the perception of emotional facial expressions of varying intensities. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 28-39.

Parmley, M., & Cunningham, J. G. (2008). Children’s gender-emotion stereotypes in the relationship of anger to sadness and fear. Sex Roles, 58, 358-370.

Conferences

Parmley, M. (Chair), *doCurral, A., *Teylman-Cashman, N., *Martin, C., & *Price, L. Harris O’Brien, D. (Discussant) (2016, October). Psi Chi chapter leadership exchange: Welcome to Assumption College. Presentation at the New England Psychological Association Conference, Assumption College, Worcester, MA.

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Gostkowski, R., & *Reynolds, N. (2017, January). The serene mind: Serenity and holistic perception. Poster presented at the 17^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *doCurral, A., *Visconti, M., & *Nguyen, T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with serenity. Poster presented at the 28^th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.

Zhang, F., Parmley, M. (co-first author), *Gostkowski, R., & *Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster presented at the annual meeting of at the Annual Association for Psychological Association.

Zhang, F., Parmley, M., *Nguyen, T., & *Visconti, M (2017, January). Who are the serene people? Individual differences in the experience of serenity. Poster presented at the 17^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.

Presentations

Parmley, M., & *Dunn, J. (2019, May). The impact of community service in the classroom setting. Poster presented at the 30th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Washington, DC.

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Kelley, M. (2019, February). Inducing Serenity: Exploring a New Method. Poster presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Spillman, C., & *Folan, K. (2018, March). Serenity and Stereotypic Thinking. Poster to be presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

Zhang, F., & Parmley, M. (2018, March). Serenity and Global Thinking Style. Poster to be presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

Soysa, C. K., Zhang, F., Parmley, M., &. Lahikainen, K., (2017, August). Novel, Integrative Dimensions of FFM-Mindfulness and Serenity Predict Stress and Well-Being. Poster presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Washington, D.C.

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *doCurral, A., *Visconti, M., & *Nguyen, T. (2017, May). Global vs. Local Processing: A shift in cognitive processing associated with serenity. Poster presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.

Zhang, F., Parmley, M., *Gostkowski, R., & *Cavicchi, A. (2017, May). Individual differences in the experience of serenity and regulation of emotions. Poster presented at the 28th Annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, Boston, MA.

Parmley, M., Zhang, F., *Gostkowski, R., & *Reynolds, N. (2017, January). The serene mind: Serenity and holistic perception. Poster presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.

Zhang, F., & Parmley, M., *Nguyen, T., & *Visconti, M (2017, January). Who are the serene people? Individual differences in the experience of serenity. Poster presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.

Doerfler, L. A. (Chair), Kuersten Hogan, R., Kalpidou, M., & Parmley, M. (2016, October). A collaboration model as a means to balance teaching and scholarship demands. Presentation presented at the Northeast Conference of Teachers of Psychology, Assumption College, Worcester, MA.

Wang, A. (Chair), Jones, L., McCormick, M., Otto, N., Parmley, M., Segool, N. (2016, March). Everything you wanted to know about being a Psi Chi advisor. Symposium panel presentation at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference, New York, NY.

Recent Publications

Zhang, F., & Parmley, M. (2015). Emotion attention and recognition of facial expressions among close friends and casual acquaintances. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32, 633-649.

Parmley, M., & Zhang, F. (2015). Your face says it all: Closeness and the perception of emotional expressions. Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 127-142.

Research Projects

My research program has focused on how we come to understand those around us and interpret their emotional cues. We live in an increasingly diverse world, and understanding communication in this diverse world is important. How we interpret others’ emotional cues is important because our interpretations impact how we behave toward them. My collaborators include psychologists from Assumption College, Brandeis University, Tsinghua University, and Worcester State University.

Here are descriptions of my current research collaborations and programs.

Emotion Perception

Of the many factors that impact how we interpret others’ emotional cues, I have examined how contextual ambiguity and stereotypes impact this process in both adults and children and, more recently, how the closeness of interpersonal relationships, culture, and physiology impact how we read the emotional expressions of others.

My collaborators for these studies:

Sarah Cavanagh, PhD, Department of Psychology, Assumption College

Joseph Cunningham, PhD, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University

XiaoAn Wan, PhD, Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University

Fang Zhang, PhD, Department of Psychology, Assumption College.

Serenity

Unlike research on other emotions, research on serenity is still in its infancy in the field of psychology. My colleagues and I are interested in examining the underlining mechanisms involved in serenity to better define it. In particular, we are interested in exploring how serenity is related to mindfulness and how the induction of serenity might impact how we process social information