Dr. Margaret Signorella, professor of psychology and women's studies at Penn State Greater Allegheny, was recently awarded an associate editorship with the research journal, Sex Roles. Sex Roles is an interdisciplinary behavioral science publication offering a feminist perspective. As associate editor, Dr. Signorella will work to review developmental research submissions to the journal. Gender schemas and development has been a focus of Dr. Signorella's research since the early 1980's.
Editor-in-Chief of Sex Roles Irene Hanson Frieze, recruited Dr. Signorella for the associate editor's position. Dr. Frieze and Dr. Signorella have coauthored articles on gender schemas in college students and the interrelations of gender schemas in children and adolescents. Dr. Signorella has previously served as a reviewer for Sex Roles. Her articles, "Remembering gender-related information" (1992), ?Cognitive consequences of personal involvement in gender identity" (1984), and "Sex-typing and spatial ability: The association between masculinity and success on Piaget's water-level task" (co-authored with W. Jamison - 1980) have appeared in the publication.
Dr. Signorella previously served as a consulting editor for Child Development, and as a reviewer for Developmental Psychology, two journals which are considered premier developmental research outlets.
As associate editor, Dr. Signorella will review all areas of study in developmental research submitted for publication to Sex Roles. It will be Dr. Signorella's responsibility to recruit reviewers for the submissions, review the criticisms from those reviewers, and serve as the intermediary between the reviewers and the editor of the journal as the article is prepared and possibly changed for publication.
Dr. Signorella's doctoral dissertation focused on the association of gender schemas with cognitive performance in college students. Her thesis adviser was Dr. Carolyn Wood Sherif, a pioneering social psychologist whose multidisciplinary approach to psychology significantly affected the field. It was while obtaining her doctorate that Dr. Signorella also began studies on applying gender to memory, many of which were co-authored with Dr. Lynn S. Liben, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Penn State and former department head.
Dr. Signorella served for seven years in the position of director of Academic Affairs at Penn State Greater Allegheny. In January, 2008, Dr. Signorella made the decision to return full time to the classroom and her research. She currently teaches psychology courses both online and at the campus, and heads the Applied Psychology Degree program for the University College. Dr. Signorella earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in psychology from Penn State. She joined the University faculty in 1982.