Dr. Megan Strain

Associate Professor

Office: COPH 320E   |    Phone: (308) 865-8239   |    Email: strainml@unk.edu

Dr. Megan Strain

Courses Taught

  • Behavioral Statistics
  • Experimental Social Psychology
  • Psychology of Humor
  • General Psychology
  • Psychology of Gender
  • Research Methods
  • Psychological Inquiry

Research Interests

  • Humor targeting various groups based on membership (e.g., gender, race, political affiliation)
  • Gender attitudes toward and among women and men in various contexts

Honors and Awards

  • UNK CAS Faculty Mentoring of Student Research Award, 2021

Publications

Strain, M. L. & Moen, K. C. (accepted). Enhancing instructor and student experiences: A guide to successful capstone research courses. Teaching of Psychology.

Miller, S. S., Hutson, J. P., Strain, M. L., Smith, T. J., Palavamäki, M., Loschky, L. C., & Saucier, D. A. (2023). The role of individual differences in resistance to persuasion on memory for political advertisements.Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1196209

Saucier, D. A., Strain, M. L., O’Dea, C. J., Sanborn, M., & Martens, A. L. (2020). Don’t laugh it off: Gender differences in perceptions of women’s responses to men’s use of sexist humor. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2019-0100

Saucier, D. A., Webster, R. J., McManus, J. L., Sonnentag, T. L., O’Dea, C. J., & Strain, M. L. (2018). Individual differences in masculine honor beliefs and support for war and aggressive security policies. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 24, 112-116. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000303 

Saucier, D. A., Strain, M. L., Miller, S. S., O’Dea, C. J., & Till, D. F. (2018). “What do you call a Black guy who flies a plane?”:  The effects and understanding of disparagement and confrontational racial humor.HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 31, 105-128. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2017-0107

Strain, M. L., Martens, A. L., & Saucier, D. A. (2016). “Rape is the new black”: Humor’s potential for reinforcing and subverting rape culture. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2, 86-95. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000057  

Saucier, D. A., O’Dea, C. J., & Strain, M. L. (2016). The bad, the good, the misunderstood: The social effects of racial humor. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2, 75-85. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000059  

Saucier, D. A., Strain, M. L., Hockett, J. M., & McManus, J. L. (2015). Stereotypic beliefs about masculine honor predict perceptions of rape and women who have been raped. Social Psychology, 46, 228-241. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000240

Strain, M. L., Hockett, J. M., & Saucier, D. A. (2015). Precursors to rape: Pressuring behaviors and rape proclivity. Violence and Victims, 30, 322-341. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-13-00051

Strain, M. L., Saucier, D. A., & Martens, A. L. (2015). Sexist humor in Facebook profiles: Perceptions of humor targeting women and men. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 28, 119-141.https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2014-0137

Strain, M. L. (2014). Aggressive and harmless humor. In S. Attardo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Humor Studies. (Vol. 1, pp. 15-18). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Saucier, D. A., Webster, R. J., Hoffman, B. H., & Strain, M. L. (2014). Social vigilantism and reported use of strategies to resist persuasion. Personality and Individual Differences, 70, 120-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.031