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