Psychology Honors Theses
Students in the Psychology Department regularly complete Honors Theses. Students who complete an Honors Thesis have the opportunity to develop and carry out a year-long empirical research project to investigate a psychological topic of interest. Thesis students work closely with a faculty adviser who supervises all aspects of the research. Thesis students first write a thesis proposal that is submitted for approval to the Honors Board of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. They then have the opportunity to apply for a thesis grant from the Holcomb Undergraduate Committee to fund their thesis research. If necessary, thesis writers apply for permission to conduct their research from the Institutional Review Board. When they have all the necessary approvals, thesis students then collect and analyze their data, write a formal report on their project, and present their results either at the Butler Undergraduate Research Conference or at a national psychology conference. By completing an Honors Thesis, students gain invaluable experience for graduate study in psychology.
Below is a list of psychology majors who have completed an Honors Thesis in recent years.
| Name | Grad date | Title |
| Catherine Bain | 2020 | Do Differences in Teaching Evaluations Really Matter? An Investigation into What Constitutes a Meaningful Difference in Evaluations of Professors |
| Hannah Bolander | 2020 | Rockin’ the GRE: The Effects of Preferred, Non-preferred, and Classical Music On College Students’ Cognitive Test Performance |
| Jaclyn Boyer | 2020 | Impairment or underestimation? Negative illusory bias in depressive symptoms and theory of mind, |
| Melissa Evans | 2020 | Anxiety-Inducing Effects of Alcohol and Caffeine in C57BL/6J Mice |
| Shreya Patel | 2020 | The Effect of Color, Preference, and the Interaction of Color and Preference on Short-Term Memory |
| Ellen Rispoli | 2020 | Poor and unpopular: How verbal ability and theory of mind predict peer rejection in a socioeconomically diverse environment |
| Anna Thomas | 2020 | Remember that party last night? Examining the effects of binge-like alcohol on memory |
| Maddie Wright | 2020 | The Impact of Nurse Stress, Job Distress, and Job Satisfaction on Patient Outcomes |
| Roua Daas | 2021 | Signaling Organizational Identity-Safety Through The Use Of Gender Pronouns |
| Katherine Hussey | 2021 | The Effects of Documentary Interviews on Perceptions of Interrogations |
| Keegan Grace Sawin | 2021 | Painting a Pretty Picture: The Role of Social Desirability in the Memory Self-Efficacy of Young and Older Adults |
| Mary Allison Stazinski | 2021 | Effects of Personal Relevance and Consensus Information on Feminist Self-Identification |
| Sara Katherine Taft | 2021 | Masked Emotions: Studying the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic On the Emotional Regulation in College Students and Beyond |
| Kaitlyn C. Thornton | 2021 | The Effects of Consensus Information on Perceptions of Children with Autism |
| Cassidy Marie Tiberi | 2021 | Determinants of Subjective Memory In First-Degree Relatives and Care Providers of Individuals with Dementia |
| Abiodun Akinseye | 2022 | Art, Race, and the Carceral System: Perceptions of Criminality in Artful Expression |
| Kathryn Aldstadt | 2012 | The Climate Crisis: How Communication and Norms Interact with Attitudes and Actions |
| Presley Elizabeth Fletcher | 2022 | Effects of Intermittent Alcohol and Nicotine Cc-consumption in C57BL/6J Mice, |
| Rebecca Lynn Greenberg | 2022 | A Moody Memory: The Impact of Affective State on Source Memory and Reality Monitoring |
| Natalie Simpson | 2022 | The Effects of COVID-19 Induced Stress, Anxiety and Depression on the Eating Behavior of College Women |
| Name | Grad date | Title |
| Nicholas Denney | 2017 | Using the Placebo Effect as a Potential Mediator for Stereotype Threat |
| Brennen Duke | 2017 | Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine in a Three Bottle Choice Paradigm in Mice |
| Emily Farrer | 2017 | Play it Again Sam! Using Individualized Music Listening to Improve the Social Interactions of Dementia Patients |
| Ariana Hays | 2017 | What am I Thinking Right Now? Social Anxiety Symptomology and its Impact on Theory of Mind Ability |
| Kathryn Kincaid | 2017 | Why Can’t a Woman Fail Like a Man? Gender Differences in Perceived Competence Following a Mistake |
| Stephanie Kuhlman | 2017 | Disordered Eating Habits and Theory of Mind in Undergraduate Students |
| Natalie Nusinow | 2017 | Episodic Salutary Experiences (ESG): A New Type of Positive Affect and Its Relationship to Physical Health |
| Trevor Spelman | 2017 | Can You Feel It? How Asking Influences Experiences of Psychophysiological States |
| Brett DeWitt | 2018 | Emotional Effects on Retrograde Memory |
| Jessica Dupree | 2018 | Memories of Trump’s Election: Flashbulb Recall |
| Hannah Faccio | 2018 | What a Difference a Course Makes: Early College Experience Fosters Flexible and Transcendent Self-Identities |
| Ashley Lane | 2018 | Are the Highly Religious Better at Resisting Temptation |
| Julia Machado | 2018 | The Social Behavior of African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Juveniles |
| Amanda Wallace | 2018 | Matched vs. Mismatched Gender and Course Subject Effects of Learning |
| Katherine Benson | 2019 | Drinking in the Dark: Voluntary Co-Consumption of Nicotine and Alcohol for Binge-Like Drinking Behavior in Mice |
| Bri Borri | 2019 | Disordered Eating Habits, Emotion Regulation, and Theory of Mind in Undergraduate Students |
| Hannah DeGroot | 2019 | E-Books: Cognitive and Visual Effects |
| Emily Flandermeyer | 2019 | The Effect of Cognitive Flexibility on Career Indecision and Anxiety |
| Montana Jenkins | 2019 | “Wide-Awake Drunk”: Observing the Effects of Combined Alcohol and Caffeine on Somatic Withdrawal Signs in c57Bl/J Mice |
| Brandon Knepper | 2019 | Gait Development in African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Calves |
| Amanda Rosenfeld | 2019 | Who’s Your Hoosier? How External Factors Affect Judgement When Choosing Romantic Partners at Indiana Colleges |
| Sammy Ruppert | 2019 | Sex Differences in the Play of African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Calves in Captivity |
| Name | Grad date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Julie Erwin | 2016 | The Effects of Sleep Quality on Theory of Mind |
| Dan Evans | 2016 | Effects of Exogenous Moving Cue on Reaction Time and Response Error Rates |
| Emily Farrer | 2016 | Play it Again, Sam! Using Individualized Music Listening to Improve the Social Interactions of Dementia Patients |
| Colleen Frank | 2016 | If They’re Happy, Do You Know It? A Direct Comparison of the Emotion Recognition Abilities of Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease Patients |
| Katie Kirkham | 2016 | Hay, What’s That Smell? The Effects of Barn-Associated Odors on Equestrians and Non-equestrians |
| Lauren Murphy | 2016 | Good Leaders Give Good Feedback: How Distance and Implicit Theories Affect Feedback Reactions |
| Natalie Nusinow | 2016 | Episodic Salutary Experiences (ESG): A New Type of Positive Affect and Its Relationship to Physical Health |
| Paige Poure | 2016 | The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Students’ Creativity |
| Laura Beer | 2015 | How Social Relationships Develop for an African Elephant Calf (Loxodonta Africana) under Human Care |
| Elizabeth Davis | 2015 | Let’s Talk About Sex: Sexual Health and Communication in Romantic Partners Based on Attachment Style |
| Catherine Geanon | 2015 | To Be or Not to Be…Greek: A Study of Theory of Mind and Moral Development in Greek and Non-Greek Students |
| Leah Gerber | 2015 | An Information Intervention: Examining the Roles of Hedonic and Endaimonic Happiness on Environmentally Sustainable Behavior |
| Ian Katz | 2015 | Give It to Me Straight: Examining Implicit Theory Fit and Feedback Environment in Undergraduate Research Relationships |
| Ellen Kendall | 2015 | Stereotype Threat and OCD: The Impact of Messy vs. Clean Environments on Cognitive Test Performance |
| Nicole Lyons | 2015 | The Social Relationships of a Captive African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) Calf |
| Karsen McCloud | 2015 | Investigation of the Correlation Between OCD Symptomatology and Theory of Mind Ability |
| Bella Manfredi | 2015 | Does Multisensory and Active Learning Facilitate or Interfere with Memory for Individuals with ADHD Symptomology? |
| Renato Puga | 2015 | The Effects of Tylenol in Non-Social Emotional Memory Effects |
| Alexandra Robinson-Norris | 2015 | Memory on Ice: Retrograde Enhancement of Thematic Information |
| Gabrielle Tatara | 2015 | The Effects of God Primes on Prosocial Behavior After Ego-Depletion |
| Zach Walter | 2015 | The Outer Limits of Cognitive Processing Patterned Matrices |
| Kaylin Beckwith | 2014 | The Power of Art to Improve Mood in Grieving Children: An Analysis of Collaborative Art Versus Individual Art |
| Jack Buckley | 2014 | Verbal Overshadowing in Earwitness Testimony |
| Rebekah Hale | 2014 | Take It But Don’t Fake It: Making Self-Monitoring Apparent to Reduce Fabrication on Personality Tests |
| Karina Hamamouche | 2014 | The Effects of Tylenol and Social Reception on Memory |
| Kelsey Hurm | 2014 | Substance Use and Subclinical Psychosis Symptoms |
| Sara Kern | 2014 | Evaluating Agentic Female Job Candidates: The Effects of Gender and Qualification of Comparison Candidates |
| Alix McLaughlin | 2014 | Good Mood in Spanish, Bad Mood in English: Is Mood Language-Dependent? |
| Michelle Miller | 2014 | Performance Evaluations: What Do You Remember? |
| Angeline Modesti | 2014 | Chronic Versus Acute Threats: Cancer Patients’ Memories of Their Diagnoses |
| Alaina Rodriguez | 2014 | The Effects of Mood on Exhibiting and Experiencing Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors from the Perspectives of Faculty, Staff, and Students |
| Chris Thompson | 2014 | Mindfulness, Flow, and the Performance and Emotional Outcomes That Distinguish Them |
| Gabrielle Weber | 2014 | Private Flashbulb Memories: The Case of Coming Out Memories |
| Katherine Adams | 2013 | The Long-Term Effects of Positive Affect During Goal Adoption |
| Anthony Bergamini | 2013 | To Live is to Die: The Effect of Mortality Salience on Memory and Comfort with Death |
| Christine Fisher | 2013 | Flashbulb Memories for Sexual vs. Emotional Infidelity in Men and Women |
| Jasmen Rice | 2013 | Election 2008: Flashbulb Memories of Barack Obama’s Election to the Presidency |
| Amber Sapp | 2013 | Semantic and Phonological False Memories in Adults’ First and Second Language |
| Eileen Toomey | 2013 | Perceptions of Emotional Labor During Negative Feedback Role Play in an Academic Setting |
| Danielle Vaclavik | 2013 | Romantic Milestones: The Effects of Evolutionary Impulses and Foreknowledge on Memories of First Kisses, First Sexual Encounters, and Marriage Proposals |
| Dominic Atkinson | 2012 | Emotion Yields Isolated Tunnel Memory, but Collaborative IMAX. |
| Claire Brownson | 2012 | Self-regulation: An ‘Active Ingredient’ in the Spirituality-Health Relationship. |
| Elizabeth Jennings | 2012 | African Elephant Calf Locomotion: Gait and Speed |
| Emily Lazar | 2012 | Investigating the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Desire for Social Distance from Individuals with Mental Illnesses. |
| Michael Leider | 2012 | Gaps in Memories: Evidence of a Hippocampal Refractory Period. |
| Anna Lezon | 2012 | Sleep Deprivation and Delusion Proneness: Influence on Dream Bizarreness. |
| Toni Maraldo | 2012 | Expressed Emotion and Attitudes Toward Body Image and Food. |
| Angela Mion | 2012 | Linguistic Devices, Emotionality, and Memorability of Computer Mediated Communication. |
| Sarah Pajkos | 2012 | A Threat to Evolutionary Fitness: How Much More Do You Remember? |
| Kendall Sauer | 2012 | Marriage Proposals: Do the Good Memories Last? |
| Kristi Summers | 2012 | If You’re happy and You Know It, Concentrate! |
| Name | Grad date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Katie Berg | 2011 | What Do You Expect? An Investigation of How Caffeine Expectancies Affect College Students’ Cognitive Performance. |
| Elsa Carodenuto | 2011 | Arousal Effects on Memories of Romantic Relationships |
| Nicole Ehlert | 2011 | How Can Distance Make the Heart Grow Fonder?: An Examination of the Differential Relationships Between Facets of Trait Emotional Intelligence and Three Types of Romantic Relationships. |
| Laura Fels | 2011 | Affect and Consequentiality Effects on Remembering Important Childhood Events. |
| Sarah Gillot | 2011 | How Sweet it Isn’t: The Effects of Glucose on Retrieval of Narrative Memory. |
| Erin Good | 2011 | Effects of Mood on Using Analogies to Solve Problems and Reduce Conflict. |
| Laura Spice | 2011 | Induced Happiness Levels in the Classroom and their Effect on Academic Performance. |
| Walter Stamp | 2011 | Language Impairment in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease or Parkinson’s Disease. |
| Myles Trapp | 2011 | The Effects of a Brief Mindfulness Intervention on Impulsivity in College Students. |
| Katie Wainwright | 2011 | Positive Affect During Goal Adoption: Why Happiness Breeds Success. |
| David Briley | 2010 | The Impact of Imagined Reactions on Feelings about Disclosing Stigmatized vs. Non-Stigmatized Beliefs. |
| Alisha Cahue | 2010 | Positive Illusory Bias in College Students. |
| Nicholas Comotto | 2010 | Memories for Sexual Encounters: Sexual Attitudes, Personality, and Evidence for Personal Flashbulb Effects. |
| Rachel Jacks | 2010 | Influence of Contact on Grounded Attitudes Towards Homosexuals. |
| Eric Massey | 2010 | Memory Self-Efficacy’s Effect on Confidence Ratings and Susceptibility to Misinformation on an Eyewitness Memory Task. |
| Lauren McClure | 2010 | Investigating Collaborative Inhibition as an Artifact of the Testing Procedure. |
| Samantha Meints | 2010 | The Effects of Emotions on the Memory of Autistic Children. |
| Heather Sperry | 2010 | Jumping to Conclusions Bias and Attitudes Towards Body Image and Food. |
| Natalie Terry | 2010 | The Effect of Emotion on Working Memory and Retention in Older and Younger Adults. |
| Megan Vaupel | 2010 | Behavior Patterns of Smooth Dogfish Sharks (Mustelus canis) in Captivity, with an Emphasis on “Spy-hopping.” |
| Katie Watterson | 2010 | Does Religiosity Enhance Ability to Self-Regulate? |
| Josh Boeke | 2009 | So Many Choices, So Little Time: Religiosity and the Stress of Making Decisions. |
| Christopher Ketcham | 2009 | Do Physical Self-Efficacy, Health Self-Efficacy and Physical Self-Concept Differ Amongst College Students and Determine Physical Activity Levels Across the Life-Span? |
| Kaitlin Kiburz | 2009 | The Fate of Abandoned Answers. |
| Katie Krueger | 2009 | Sociological and Psychological Predispositions to Serial Murder. |
| Name | Grad date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Whitney Brockus | 2008 | The Evaluation of Men in Cross-Gender Majors |
| Laura Cobb | 2008 | Does Stereotype Threat Affect Intelligence Test Performance in Students with ADHD? |
| Delphia Flenar | 2008 | Examining the Effects of Self-Affirmation on Evaluations of Heterosexism |
| Adam Hilliard | 2008 | Everybody Hurts, Sometimes: Memories of Physical Trauma |
| Jasmine Khosravi | 2008 | Autobiographical Memories for Social Evens: Effects of Emotional Valence |
| Kara Shaneyfelt | 2008 | Flashbulb Memory: Private Memories for Car Accidents |
| Jenna Thomas | 2008 | Emotional Contagion and Gender Differences in Memory for First Kisses |
| Brett Agypt | 2007 | Memories of Parental Divorce Announcements |
| Susanne Biehle | 2007 | Social Judgments of the Grief Reactions of Men versus Women: Does Gender of the Griever Impact How Expressions of Grief Are Perceived? |
| Adam Congleton | 2007 | Overcoming Test Anxiety: Implanted Memories of Success |
| Ashley Gretencord | 2007 | Children’s Stereotypes about the Elderly: What Do Children Believe and How Do These Beliefs Develop? |
| Paul Hutman | 2007 | Elderspeak: Speech Accommodations to the Elderly |
| Megan Julian | 2007 | Measures of Flashbulb Memory: Are Extensive Memories Consistently Accurate? |
| Megan Mull | 2007 | Effect of Mood Induction and Language on Memory for Emotional Content in Bilinguals |
| Jade Presnell | 2007 | Interpreting Ambiguous Behavior: Impact of Mentally Ill and Racial Stereotypes |
| Andrew Butler | 2006 | Memory for Emotional Versus Neutral Images Over Time: Time to Recall Reveals Emotional Modulation of Memory with Evolutionary Implications |
| Jeffrey Conway | 2006 | Investigating the Relationship Between Seasonal Affective Disorder and Academic Performance Longitudinally. |
| Megan France | 2006 | Social Relations of Three Captive Southern White Rhinoceroses: Two Females Approaching Reproductive Maturity and a Male Peer |
| Marchion Hinton | 2006 | Romance Remembered: Consistency based on Arousal |
| Lacy Lesmiester | 2006 | Are Grad School Acceptances and Rejections Equally Memorable? |
| Mary Margaret Montgomery | 2006 | The Effects of Depressive Symptomology on Confirmation Bias |
| Taylor Moore | 2006 | How Students’ Feedback to Their Peers is Affected by Race and Self-Affirmation |
| Name | Grad date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Stephanie Barga | 2005 | The Effects of Time Zone and Distance on Flash Bulb Memory |
| Genny Davis | 2005 | Need for Cognition and Jumping to Conclusions |
| Drew Heckman | 2005 | Adult-Child-Adult Speech Sequences in Spanish-speaking Mothers |
| Alison Kozlowski | 2005 | The Influence of Style of Dress and Nature of Relationship on Female Perceptions of Another Female |
| Jennifer Money | 2005 | The effect of Course Exam Grade on Memory and Academic Self-Efficacy. |
| Amanda Kras | 2004 | Best Friends vs. Celebrities: How Interloper Salience Affects Relationship Members |
| Rachel Barnett | 2004 | The Social and Sexual Behaviors of Three Southern White Rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum simum) at the Indianapolis Zoo |
| Melissa Blitsch | 2003 | Caregiver Influence on Children’s Anxiety: Do Parents Help or Hurt? |
| Stephenie Chaudoir | 2003 | The Unobtainable Ideal: Examining the Impact of Thin-ideal Media Images on Self-objectification, Negative Affect, and Math Performance. |
| Kiara Flanders | 2003 | The Role of Facial Feedback on the Perceived Intensity of Categorical Emotions |
| Jared Linck | 2003 | Negative Evidence in Spanish: The Effects of Adult Corrections on the Grammaticality of Children’s Speech |
| Jennifer Skelding | 2003 | The Effects of Facial Expression on Face Recognition |
| Sarah Teague | 2003 | The Effects of Short-term Reduction of Social Internet Use on Self-esteem and Loneliness in College Students |