Youth Services intern receives research award

During their Human Factors and Applied Psychology conference recently, Historic City News learned that Flagler College graduate Frankie Lawton was named the winner of Embry-Riddle’s “Excellence in Undergraduate Research” award.

Lawton, who graduated with a double major in psychology and public relations, won the award based on his paper “Preferences in Leadership related to the Five Factor Model and Gender,” co-authored by Flagler adjunct Tracy Litzinger and assistant professor Dr. Jeremy Krause.

Lawton is currently applying for his PhD in Psychology and interning with St. Augustine Youth Services.

The paper focuses on identifying the personality types of political leaders in the United States and how these types affect their public perception.

Lawton hypothesized that there would be a correlation between a participant’s opinions of a given leader based not only on their personality similarities, but also on gender correlation.

He also researched and reported on the importance of understanding how even negative traits, such as neuroticism, play a role in public opinion of leaders.