People | Graduate Students
Mona Malacane
Information:
Department of Telecommunications
monamala 'at' indiana 'dot' edu
Links:
CV
Biography:
I graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Psychology with a research focus in social psychology. My broad research interests focus on adolescence and media. More specifically, I am interested in how media messages influence adolescents' development of gender stereotypes, sexual schemas, and body image. Do the media portray stereotypical views of women? Do the media affect girls' expectations in male-female relationships, making them more willing to objectify themselves? I am also interested in how these messages have changed over time. What cultural norms are being communicated to adolescents about sexuality? In what ways have these ideals changed in the past decade? I focus on adolescence because it is such an influential developmental stage and I find it fascinating! Most of my non-academic pursuits and jobs have involved working with children in some way. After completing my masters, I plan to pursue a PhD and stay in academia as a professor.
Between scholarly pursuits, I had the opportunity to work with children with special needs for a little over a year. I developed a deep passion for teaching and enjoyed working with such amazing children in a unique program. Outside of academia, I enjoy reading, watching sports (go Dawgs!), running with my dog, traveling, and hugging trees.
