I feel very welcome here. I got a lot of help from everyone in the lab. Now I feel a lot more comfortable.
Sarah Coelho, ’26, once felt intimidated about tackling college-level research. But Sarah used that trepidation as motivation to step outside her comfort zone by joining a psychology research lab at Bridgewater State.
The experience turned out to be transformative.
“I feel very welcome here,” said Sarah, a BSU psychology major and social work minor from Berkley who is on track to finish her degree in December. “I got a lot of help from everyone in the lab. Now I feel a lot more comfortable.”
Under the mentorship of Dr. Nesa Wasarhaley, Sarah and her three lab mates study how extralegal factors (such as someone’s demeanor, race or gender) affect mock jurors’ perceptions. While juries are instructed to decide cases solely based on facts presented at a trial, other factors can play a role – especially when the facts are ambiguous.
The researchers write fictional cases and intentionally modify specific details. Study participants are randomly assigned a version of the case and asked to render a verdict and answer questions about their thinking.
Wasarhaley, an associate professor of psychology, focuses on stalking, rape, intimate partner violence, sex trafficking and other cases where women and people from marginalized identities tend to be disproportionally victimized. These cases also often have ambiguous facts.
“We’re interested in trying to understand what kinds of attributes or behaviors are viewed as more credible or blameworthy to tip the scale,” Wasarhaley said. “We’re examining individual behaviors on average and not trying to make predictions about how one type of jury might decide a case.”
Wasarhaley’s students complete all aspects of research including reading relevant academic literature, designing and executing studies, analyzing data, and presenting findings. The group recently traveled to Puerto Rico for the American Psychology-Law Society’s annual conference.
“It’s rewarding to put in all this work and share it. I’m really grateful to have had this opportunity,” said Kristina Lambert, ’25, a psychology and criminal justice major from Norton. “The connections you have with people in your lab extend outside of it. These aren’t just my classmates. They’re my friends.”
In addition to forming a tight-knit community, the students shine a light on topics such as sex trafficking that are not often studied. They also aim to bring evidence from psychology into the legal realm.
“The two systems have to interact, but they don’t always understand each other,” said Alex Ray, ’25, a psychology major from Norton. “Our research is almost like a translator between the two fields.”
All of the students working in Wasarhaley’s lab aim to further their education in graduate school. Undergraduate research provides a critical foundation for pursuing advanced degrees, said Cassandra Santos, ’26, a psychology major from East Providence, Rhode Island, who expects to finish her undergraduate degree in December.
“PhD programs are very research heavy,” said Cassandra, who hopes to study social psychology in graduate school. “This will definitely help me with my future plans.”
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