Congratulations to Arla Good on her successful PhD defence!

Aug 16th, 2016

AGood1

Arla’s dissertation focused on the capacity of joint music making to influence intra-
and inter-group relations. Her hypotheses were derived from diverse literatures including social identity theory, music cognition, and embodied social cognition. These hypotheses were tested in experimentally controlled conditions in the lab as well as in ecologically valid conditions in the community, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Across studies and methods, her results consistently demonstrate that joint music making is capable of promoting collective identity and cooperative behaviours across intergroup boundaries.

A special thank you to Arla’s Examination Committee, Dr. Kathleen Peets (Early Childhood Education), Drs. Becky Choma and Eric Hehman (Psychology), Dr. Paul Moore (Sociology), and Dr. Laurel Trainor (external examiner from McMaster University). Drs. Peets and Choma also served on Arla’s supervisory committee. Thanks also to Dr. Miljana Horvat (Architecture), who chaired the defence.