Laura E. Sockol, Ph.D.

Davidson College Laboratory for Risk and Treatment Studies (LabRATS)

How does criticism impact disordered eating?

Written by Isabella Pallotto ‘19 Athletes receive more critical comments about their body than non-athletes since their bodies’ shape and weight are seen as a factor in sport performance (Muscat & Long, 2008). Additionally, athletes will receive critical comments from more sources than non-athletes. Non-athletes typically hear body criticism from parents, friends, and significant others […]

Can Your Perfume Get You Hired?

Written by Emily Redler ’20 Almost everyone uses fragrances in their daily routine, whether it be a perfume, a cologne, or a deodorant. Putting on a fragrance is a common practice, and most people don’t think twice about how it may subconsciously affect how they are perceived by others. Fragrances are often gendered and perceived […]

Does perfectionism predict disordered eating?

Written by Isabella Pallotto ’19 Though perfectionism is often valued in the workplace or the sports field, perfectionism is associated with high rates of mental disorders. Perfectionists strive to meet impossibly high standards and measure their self-worth based on achieving these standards. Unsurprisingly, these characteristics of perfectionism are associated with high rates of eating disorders […]

How Does Faculty Rank Affect Workload?

Written by Emily Redler ’20 As mentioned in a previous post, academia is a strange profession in that career advancement is often based on how a professor distributes their time amongst their job activities. Of the three main components to a faculty member’s job (service, research, and teaching – see the previous post for a […]

How do eating disorders change over a collegiate sport season?

Written by Isabella Pallotto ’19 Do eating disorders disappear when college athletes are in-season? It is well established that eating disorders are present in collegiate student-athletes but not how (or if) eating disorder symptoms change throughout the collegiate sport season. The collegiate sport season is defined as the amount of time (typically demarcated by a […]

Faculty Workload and Gender

Written by Emily Redler ’20 Academia is an unusual employer; career advancement (in the form of tenure) is not directly related to amount of time spent on different activities, but on how “valuable” an activity is considered. Not all activities are considered equally “valuable” or prestigious. There are many aspects to a faculty member’s job […]

Skimpy uniforms may elevate risk for eating disorders in college cheerleaders

Written by Isabella Pallotto ’19 College cheerleaders are an understudied population in regards to eating disorder research. They are a particularly at-risk group for eating disorders because they are not NCAA athletes and are governed instead by private bodies like Varsity Brands, Inc. and the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches & Administrators. This means that […]

Summer Research

Written by Will Thurston Class of 2019 I have spent the past nine weeks on campus in the MAPLab and it has been a great summer research experience. I’ve had the opportunity to continue developing skills I had learned over my past year in the lab and take on new responsibilities. My primary task has […]

Summer in the MAP Lab: A Typical Monday in the MAP Lab

-Written by Katie Little ‘18 Working in the MAP Lab during the summer is completely different than it is during the academic year. During the academic year, research assistants must prioritize their schoolwork. The MAP Lab hosts weekly lab meetings to discuss tasks for the next week, but progress slows as students have limited time […]

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