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Department of

Psychology

Linderman Library Rotunda stained glass dome
Douglas Kowalewski, teaching assistant professor at Lehigh University

Douglas Kowalewski

Teaching Assistant Professor

dok525@lehigh.edu
Education:

Ph.D., Social/Personality Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY

M.A., Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY

B.A., Psychology & History, Gettysburg College

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Additional Interests

  • Music Perception and Cognition
  • Motivation
  • Empirical Aesthetics
  • History of Psychology

Research Statement

While my primary focus is on teaching, I’ve also been interested in researching the psychological processes that surround music making, listening, and engagement. Some of the questions/themes I’ve explored in the past include:

  • How do motivation and music training interact to predict both musical and general cognitive performance?
  • What musical and social factors characterize and/or precipitate the urge to move along (i.e., dance) to music?
  • What combinations of psychoacoustical features best predict individual, social, and cultural patterns in music preference?

Biography

Professor Kowalewski joined the Lehigh faculty (returning to his home state of PA) in Fall 2025, immediately following his doctoral training at the University at Albany (SUNY). While completing his dissertation research program, he took simultaneous teaching positions at both SUNY Albany and nearby Skidmore College. Teaching at these institutions not only galvanized his longstanding passion for providing effective college-level instruction, but also allowed him to garner considerable experience teaching courses on a wide variety of subjects (Introduction to Psychology, Educational Psychology, Psychology of Preference, Memory and Cognition, Learning, Social Psychology, Research Methodology, and History of Psychology) and in varying class sizes (2-250+ students), levels (first-year undergraduates to masters students), and institution types (large, research-focused state schools and small liberal arts colleges). He utilizes a combination of backward course design, team-based classroom activities, reflection exercises, and project-based summative assessments to motivate students to think like expert psychologists by meaningfully engaging with psychological research. His favorite course to teach is Introduction to Psychology (in fact, he hasn’t gone a single semester without teaching it since he began his teaching career!), where he relishes the opportunity to help guide students as they formally encounter and grapple with – for the first time – the psychological phenomena that surround everyday life. He also has complimentary interests in academic advising, teaching training and professional development for graduate students, and promoting evidence-based teaching and learning strategies in the psychology classroom.

When not teaching (which is rare!), Professor Kowalewski enjoys listening to the Great American Songbook, collecting vintage/antique Christmas decorations, playing the saxophone, cooking, doing trivia, playing video games (everything from Mario to Dark Souls), and spending time with family and friends.

Recent Publications

Friedman, R.S., & Kowalewski, D.A. (2024). Interactive effects of presentation mode and pitch register on simultaneous consonance. Musicae Scientiae. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241255693

Kowalewski, D.A. (2023). The sound of manufactured music: Reviewing the role of artificial stimuli in music cognition research. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 33 (1-4), 70-91. https://doi.org/10.1037/pmu0000304

Song, S.E., Kowalewski, D.A., & Friedman, R.S. (2023). Preference for harmony: A preference for structural simplicity, familiarity, or both? Empirical Studies of the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374231216033

Friedman, R.S., Kowalewski, D.A., Song, S. (2023). Reexamining the effects of ratio simplicity and familiarity on abstract pattern learning in dyad sequences. Empirical Musicology Review, 17(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v17i1.8446

Kowalewski, D.A., Song, S.E., Friedman, R.S., & Vuvan, D.T. (2022). Musical contingent self-worth moderates the association between music training and tonal working memory. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000553

Song, S., Kowalewski, D.A., & Friedman, R.S. (2022). Preference for harmony: A link between aesthetic responses to combinations of colors and musical tones. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 32 (1-2), 33-45. https://doi.org/10.1037/pmu0000290

Kowalewski, D.A., & Friedman, R.S. (2022). Investigating the moderating role of presentation mode on simultaneous consonance. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain,32 (1-2), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/pmu0000282

Friedman, R.S, Kowalewski, D.A., Vuvan, D., & Neill, W.T. (2021). Response to invited commentaries on “Consonance preferences within an unconventional tuning system”. Music Perception, 38, 340-341. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2021.38.3.340

Friedman, R.S, Kowalewski, D.A., Vuvan, D., & Neill, W.T. (2021). Consonance preferences within an unconventional tuning system. Music Perception, 38, 313-330. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2021.38.3.313

Kowalewski, D.A., Kratzer, T., & Friedman, R.S. (2020). Social music: Investigating the link between personal liking and perceived groove. Music Perception, 37, 339-346. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.37.4.339

Kowalewski, D.A., Friedman, R.S., Zavoyskiy, S., & Neill, W.T. (2019). A reinvestigation of the source dilemma hypothesis. Music Perception, 36, 448-456. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2019.36.5.448

Recent Conference Presentations

Kowalewski, D. (2024, November). The sound of manufactured music: Reviewing the role of artificial stimuli in music cognition research. Talk presented at the 23rd Annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting (APCAM). New York, NY.

Najdowski, C.J., & Kowalewski, D. (2024, October). Passive membership vs. active engagement: The (qualified) benefits of instructor-managed Facebook groups for undergraduate students taking courses in psychology and criminal justice. Poster presented at the 2024 Northeast Conference for Teachers of Psychology (NECTOP). Springfield, MA.

Kowalewski, D., Song, S., Friedman, R., & Vuvan, D. (2024, October). Musical contingent self-worth moderates the association between music training and tonal working memory. Talk presented at the 2024 New England Psychological Association (NEPA) Conference. Springfield, MA.

Friedman, R.F., Song, S., & Kowalewski, D. (2024, July). Cross-modal commonalities in evaluative responses to musical and visual complexity. Talk presented at the 2024 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Banff, Canada.

Friedman, R.F. & Kowalewski, D. (2024, July). Interactive effects of presentation mode and pitch register on simultaneous consonance. Talk presented at the 2024 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Banff, Canada.

Kowalewski, D., Song, S., Friedman, R., & Vuvan, D. (2024, February). Musical contingent self-worth moderates the association between music training and tonal working memory. Research spotlight presented at the 2024 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Annual Convention. San Diego, CA.

Kowalewski, D. (2023, October). How much consciousness is out there, really? Teaching demonstration presented at the 2023 Northeast Conference for Teachers of Psychology (NECTOP). Worcester, MA.

Kowalewski, D., Song, S., Friedman, R., & Vuvan, D. (2023, August). Musical contingent self-worth moderates the association between music training and tonal working memory. Talk presented at the Joint Conference of the 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) and the 7th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (APSCOM). Tokyo, Japan.

Song, S., Friedman, R., & Kowalewski, D. (2023, August). Preference for harmony: A link between aesthetic responses to combinations of colors and musical tones. Talk presented at the Joint Conference of the 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) and the 7th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (APSCOM). Tokyo, Japan.

Kowalewski, D., Song, S., & Friedman, R. (2022, August). Investigating the moderating role of presentation mode on simultaneous consonance. Talk presented at the 2022 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Portland, OR.

Kowalewski, D., Friedman, R., & Song, S. (2022, August). Motivated music makers: A basis for musical contingent self-worth. Poster accepted to the 2022 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Portland, OR.

Song, S., Kowalewski, D., & Friedman, R. (2022, August). Preference for harmony: A link between aesthetic responses to combinations of colors and tones. Poster accepted to the 2022 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Portland, OR.

Song, E., Kowalewski, D., & Friedman, R. (2021, July). Exploring individual differences in the preference for harmony across musical chords and color combinations. Talk presented at the Virtual 16th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition.

Kowalewski, D.A., Friedman, R.S., & Vuvan, D. (2021, May). Motivated music makers: A basis for musical contingent self-worth. Talk presented at the 2021 Association for Psychological Science Virtual Convention.

Kowalewski, D.A., Friedman, R.S., & Vuvan, D. (2021, March). Motivated music makers: A basis for musical contingent self-worth. Talk presented at the 2021 Eastman/UR/Cornell/Buffalo Music Cognition Virtual Symposium.

Kowalewski, D.A., Kratzer, T., & Friedman, R.S. (2021, March). Social music: Investigating the link between personal liking and perceived groove. Paper presented at the 2020-21 Future Directions of Music Cognition Virtual Conference.

Kowalewski, D.A., Friedman, R.S., Zavoyskiy, S., & Neill, W.T. (2019, August). A reinvestigation of the source dilemma hypothesis. Talk presented at the 2019 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. New York, NY.

Friedman, R.S, Kowalewski, D.A., Vuvan, D., & Neill, W.T. (2019, August). Harmonicity and consonance within an unconventional tuning system. Talk presented at the 2019 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. New York, NY.

Kowalewski, D.A. (2019, May). Social music: Investigating the link between personal liking and perceived groove. Talk presented at the 6th Annual Social Psychologists Around Western New York (SPAWN) Meeting. Syracuse, NY.

Kowalewski, D.A. (2019, March). A reinvestigation of the source dilemma hypothesis. Talk presented at the 2019 Eastman/UR/Cornell/Buffalo Music Cognition Symposium. Rochester, NY.

Teaching

Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 001)
Research Methods and Data Analysis (PSYC 201, 202, 203)