{"id":63,"date":"2021-10-10T16:52:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T23:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/psaurs\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2021-10-10T16:52:06","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T23:52:06","slug":"ross-tomita","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/psaurs\/archive-interviws\/ross-tomita\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Tomita"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Akshara Rajeshkannan and Muthaira Abid<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

M: Could you tell us where you\u2019re from?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I\u2019m from Vancouver<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: What are your preferred pronouns?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: He\/Him<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: Tell us one fun fact about yourself.<\/b><\/p>\n

R: Before COVID 19, I was in a band at UBC and we were called the Pacific City Runs. I played the guitar and was the songwriter in the band \u2013 I liked to do a mix of different things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: So, can you give us a short overview of your independent research with Dr. Rivers? Starting off with what your research topic is.<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I\u2019m very interested in why people believe things despite overwhelmingly contradictory evidence. I started looking into research on \u2018end of the world\u2019 cults by the works of Dr. Festinger, where they would infiltrate the cult till their perceived \u2018end of the world\u2019 would come, and see how they would react when the world didn\u2019t end. The basic premise I started with was why do things like anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers exist? Surprisingly, what they found was that people believed even more in their leader\u2019s divine power, and believed that he saved the world from ending. So this leads to the topic of\u00a0cognitive dissonance<\/i>, which is one of the pillars of social psychology. If I go around and preach recycling but I don\u2019t actually do it, that is a form of dissonance, because what I\u2019m saying doesn\u2019t match my actions. So this pillar gave me my null to frame my research around.<\/p>\n

I also then looked into the idea of\u00a0misattribution<\/i>, which is when you apply your feelings\u2013whether it be arousal, anger, etc\u2013 to a different source. So then my research was to explore if cognitive dissonance itself could then be misattributed to a different source, and does this paradigm actually exist?<\/p>\n

There was a study testing insomniacs and sugar pills, to see how they could help insomniacs sleep. It was a test for a misattribution for arousal, which this particular study certainly presents a very strong case for.\u00a0 This was the first study that connected cognitive dissonance and misattribution. The insomniacs were either given arousing or relaxing pills. The pills themselves were meaningless \u2013\u2013they were just sugar pills. But what they found was that when given the \u201crelaxing\u201d pills, the insomniacs attributed their lack of sleep and feelings of arousal to their insomnia, but when given the \u201carousing\u201d pills, rather than attributing their feelings of insomnia to their insomnia, they attributed it to the pill, and that seems to alleviate their insomnia and they were able to go to sleep. There were many other experiments like this using sugar pills and cognitive dissonance, using counterattitudinal essays. They wanted to see whether the participants would feel less cognitive dissonance if they attributed those dissonance feelings to the arousal experienced from the pill rather than to the counterattitudinal essay. So my specific research question was \u201cis misattribution of cognitive dissonance a real thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Is there anyone in the field who has inspired you?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: My high school psychology teacher actually. He was just so passionate that I completely got entrenched.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: What has been your favourite part of the process?<\/b><\/p>\n

R:\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0If you can\u2019t tell already, it was the discussion part of my paper where I put it all together. It was like a mystery I was trying to solve and putting the pieces together was such a high. I also just enjoyed the research in general and being a part of pushing the boundary of this body of knowledge a little further.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Is there anything you can share with us about the results that you found? What trends\/conclusions did you observe?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: One thing I noticed that was pretty funny was that you can really tell when you start to read the research really deeply, especially older research from the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s\u2013\u2013like for the Stanford Prison experiment, you really start to get a feel for the mindset and attitude of people at the time. I find it so funny to read the methods, especially because scientists back in the day really tried to make their experiments really dramatic and as crazy as possible, with a lot of manipulation, and back then, people didn\u2019t even question it. Nowadays it\u2019s more straight to the point and a lot more ethical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: What was the most surprising observation from your study?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: Firstly we wanted to conclude whether the research was susceptible to publication bias, but we concluded that it was very unlikely, so misattribution in cognitive dissonance is very likely to be real. Secondly, we wanted to see what could mediate the effects of dissonance and misattribution through our birds eye view of the studies. One thing I didn\u2019t expect to find is that basically there are 2 ways to induce cognitive dissonance\u2013\u2013induced<\/i>\u00a0hypocrisy<\/i>, and\u00a0counterattitudinal essays<\/i>. We did find dissonance effects in misattribution in particular, using counterattitudinal essays are a significantly better way to increase misattribution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Have you had the chance to compare your results with existing literature?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: As far as I\u2019m concerned, there are no other meta-analyses on misattribution of cognitive dissonance. There was one on induced hypocrisy, and that showed that in terms of affecting cognitive dissonance, induced hypocrisy could be a robust way to do so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: What did you do with your data and conclusion? How did you present it?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I was going to present it at the undergraduate showcase, but the virus happened so i didn\u2019t get the chance. Y current plans are to submit it to the next round of the Psych undergraduate journal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: How do you see the results of your study being applied in the real world?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I\u2019m extremely interested in politics, especially American politics! I feel like if you wanted to change someone\u2019s behaviour, it had nothing to do with the content and how objectively true the information that they are presented with. It is all about how it is presented. Moreover, people tend to stick with the beliefs they are comfortable with and do not want to understand other beliefs. Misattribution helps people to not address the truth in plain sight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: If you could do your study again, what would you do differently and why?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I am a visual person, so I would have drawn out the schematics of the experiments when reading. This method would have helped me to navigate through the literature texts that could get extremely technical at times. Additionally, I would have taken more statistics courses before I started my research as it would have helped to understand the results in the literature better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: How has working with Dr. Rivers helped you, both personally and professionally?<\/b><\/p>\n

Working with Dr. Rivers has helped me have a very deep appreciation for science and the scientific method. Doing the research practically \u2013 you understand the deeper underlying forces and the idea that everything is connected. There is some order to the universe and we can detect that using the scientific methods!<\/p>\n

I also feel like when approaching things my perception has changed. For example, when you start writing stories, you feel like it is impossible. But once you finish you kind of realize that the next thing you choose to do \u2013 you can do it! While I\u00a0 struggled with statistics, I was still able to figure it out and I completed my research. I would say that if anyone wants to do research and feel like they are limited, their curiosity of the subject and need to solve mysteries would make it possible for them to achieve their goal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: What course(s) do you think were most helpful in gaining background knowledge about your research topic?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: Doing a research project any earlier than second year is probably not as feasible, because I would highly recommend taking PSYC 217 in year 2, because it\u2019s really important to help you figure out how to interpret statistics properly. And besides that, curiosity about a certain topic is all you really need, especially for a lit review like mine., and just let the excitement carry you forward<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Have you been a part of any other research related projects?<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m very curious about behavioural change, so I\u2019m forming this idea for an experimental paradigm for cognitive dissonance and fluid effects. I\u201dm really excited about it. If you perceive something to be less true because of the form it\u2019s been presented, could it affect whether you believe in it? One form of fluidity is if you say something over and over again, and you can see this play out with the US elections \u2013\u2013if you constantly say that the elections are rigged\u2013\u2013 it seems to be more true.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: Tell us about how you stay organised and manage your time while doing your research. How do you prioritise? How do you motivate yourself?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I was so fascinated and knew I was in it for the long game. Like I said, if you are curious\u00a0 it is totally doable and can be carried out in under a year. I would say that it was my passion motivating me and making sure that I made time.\u00a0 In the beginning it took me a while to narrow down the question I wanted to focus on, but after getting the feel of literature and building knowledge on dissonance I was on the right track. While reading the literature for the focus of my research, I would try to read a paper a week and that took about three to four hours. I read about 14 to 16 papers, and 16 weeks later I was able to complete the data I needed for my analysis. From there on, I just had to write and edit it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M: How do you network within the psychology community, and where have you made your most valuable connections?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I have mainly networked with other students and I have not actively intended to meet more people so far. It is also difficult to network right now due to everything being online. However, I was in a lab for\u00a0 a year and I was able to see how graduate students work and the working environment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: What was the most challenging part about doing an independent study? What was most rewarding?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I guess at times it gets a bit hard\u2013\u2013especially when reading research from like 40 or 50 years ago\u2013\u2013 to get used to the jargon used, and staying motivated to continue is tough at times. But meeting Dr. Rivers every couple weeks and telling him everything I found was the biggest motivator for me. Also, I was just taking PSYC 218 while doing my analysis, so it was a bit tough to understand the statistical analysis at the start.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: How did you approach Dr. Rivers?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I just sort of sent him an email with my idea. If you\u2019re down to do the research and put in the work and the time, I think most professors are down to help.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Do you have any other interests outside of Psychology? If so, are you a part of any other clubs?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: I\u2019m a pretty eclectic person, I love music and I love writing\u2013I\u2019m trying to get a book published (currently editing the final draft of a science-fiction adventure story that i\u2019ve been working on since I was in high school). I also love politics and religion. Also the relationship between 21st century physics and neuroscience and eastern philosophy is something that interests me quite a bit. From what I have gathered about it, the more mystic a given religious tradition becomes, the more it comes into accord with what scientific knowledge points to. I think there\u2019s a little bit too much going on in my head.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: What are your professional goals and plans for the future? What do you see yourself doing in 5 years time? 10 years time?<\/b><\/p>\n

R: As of now, I\u2019m very interested in clinical psychology. I would love to go to graduate school. I think my overarching goal for now is clinical work, because I love helping people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Is there anything important you\u2019d like to say that I haven\u2019t asked you about?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

R: All I really think I had to bring to this project was very strong curiosity. Curiosity and fascination is the only thing you need. If you just have that sense of wonder, you don\u2019t have to be worried about not knowing statistics and all, you\u2019ll learn it if you have the motivation to learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Akshara Rajeshkannan and Muthaira Abid M: Could you tell us where you\u2019re from? R: I\u2019m from Vancouver   M: What are your preferred pronouns? R: He\/Him   M: Tell us one fun fact about yourself. R: Before COVID 19, I was in a band at UBC and we were called the Pacific City Runs. … <\/p>\n

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