Dr. Peter McLaughlin
First-gen scholar, brain-based questions, and an old-school lab for a new world
A psychology/neuroscience professor at PennWest Edinboro, Dr. McLaughlin leads an
apprenticeship-style research lab and teaches critical thinking for an AI-heavy world.
Dr. Peter McLaughlin
First-gen scholar, brain-based questions, and an old-school lab for a new world
A psychology/neuroscience professor at PennWest Edinboro, Dr. McLaughlin leads an apprenticeship-style research lab and teaches critical thinking for an AI-heavy world.
"My students are told by mentors, 'Wow, you already are on the level of like a second or third year PhD student because of the experiences you had as an undergraduate at PennWest.'"
As a first-generation student, Peter McLaughlin thought the brain might simplify psychology. It didn’t—but the complexity became the calling. Now a 20-year faculty member at PennWest Edinboro, he teaches psychology and neuroscience and runs a behavioral pharmacology lab that models graduate-level training for undergraduates.
The lab’s rhythm is apprenticeship: read the literature, craft a question, build the protocol, collect the data, argue with the results. Students emerge fluent in methods and mindset—able to transfer skills across domains, from animal care to troubleshooting equipment to co-authoring posters. Many step into doctoral programs with a second- or third-year grad-student toolkit.
McLaughlin’s courses emphasize critical thinking and statistical humility. He warns against “cognitive offloading”—letting tools make meaning for you. In an era of algorithmic answers and AI-shaped media, he teaches intellectual stance: start with humility, notice your feelings, interrogate what’s missing, and then decide. He volunteers with the Center for AI & Emerging Technologies, aiming to prepare students for both opportunity and noise.
For him, psychology remains a hub field—touching education, organizations, persuasion, and mental health. The throughline is stewardship: be the human in charge of the tool, not the other way around. That philosophy animates his mentorship and the lab’s outcomes.
McLaughlin’s story is also a template: curiosity, discipline, and durable skills. It’s the kind of academic home where undergraduates learn to do real work and carry it forward—one of the quiet strengths students discover at PennWest.