Interested students should meet with their major advisors to discuss their desire to do a thesis. The department invites applicants for theses in the student’s junior year. In order to be considered for departmental theses, a students must have an overall GPA of 3.3 and a psychology GPA of 3.3 and complete a two semester honors thesis with a grade of at least B+. If you are accepted to do an Honors Thesis, you would enroll for two semesters of Psychology 500 (Individual Research Thesis) beginning in either the second semester of junior year or the first semester of senior year.
At end of your project, a committee of three (advisor, another member of psychology department and a faculty member outside the psychology department) will read your written thesis and attend a presentation in which you will describe your thesis answer questions about your work.
The following are some examples of recent Honors Theses by Psychology students:
2010
Keaney, Christine V. Mental Disorders in College: A Qualitative Study of Lived Experience.
Callanan, Rachel. Who is to Blame?: Responsibility Attributions for the Current State of the Economy.
Fahey, Kristen. Symbolic Play and Pre-Literacy Development in Preschool Children.
Donahue, Joseph. The Modern Man: Exploring Body Image in College-Aged Males.
2009
Carmody, Julia Kerins. Stress in Adolescents with Acquired Brain Injury: An Exploratory Study.
Moulton, Rachel. The Experience of Asexual Identity: A Q-Methodological Study.
Webb, Jessica Noelle. Long-term Effects of Stimulant Drug Therapies on College-Aged Students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
Meisner, Jessica. Effects of Gender Stereotyped Children’s Literature on Pre-School Children’s Attitudes.
2008
Perkins, Seth. Personality and Music: An Examination of the Five-Factor Model in Conjunction with Musical Preference.
Bosk, Abigail. Mating Induced Fos in Forebrain Neurons of Female Mice.
Skiba, Thomas. Students with Dyslexia in Higher Education: A Grounded Theory Approach.
Diaz, Jose. Names without Faces: The Interplay between Self-disclosure, Culture, and the Internet.
2007
Rusczek, Jacob R. The five-factor model of personality: A history and evaluation.
Peterson, Dana Nicole. Autism and social images in change blindness.
Phinney, Rachael. Muslim Americans and their experiences.
Scrimgeour, Meghan. Empathy and aggression: A study of the interplay between empathy and aggression in preschoolers.
Wallace, Derron J. R. Dem a bleach out dem skin: An exploratory study of skin bleaching among urban Jamaican youth.
Akerman, Sean P. The tortured artist in the age of anxiety.
2006
Brais, Elizabeth. Preschoolers aggression: A study of gender schemas and gender-typed behaviors.
Maizner, Rose Neily. The female Muslim immigration experience in the United States: A qualitative study.
Ganley, Colleen. Student experience of the Math MCAS test: gender, achievement, and grade level.
2005
Bresler, Rebecca. Gender differences in the utilization of social support: The influence of social support in the development of depressive outcomes in first-year college students.
Harshbarger, Heather Ann. Breaking the silence: A review of the psychological literature on self-mutilation.
2004
Mahar, Taylor. Choice or la vida: A transatlantic study in abortion perceptions.
Oettinger, Catherine M. A bug crawled inÃ/ £ a bug flied out: An exploration of children’s concepts and scripts of illness.
Neale, Kelly Lynn. Assessing health-related quality of life of children treated for brain tumors.
Cristiano, Lauren. The effect of cognitive style on individuals responses to infants: Implication for non organic failure to thrive.
Gavett, Gretchen. There was nothing there. Nothing: An analysis of the female body, gender, and performance in the space of the prison.
2003
Smith, Devon E. Risk and resilience in college students: Different pathways to success in resilient and normative populations.
Jones, Jessica R. Gender differences in uses of support in at risk college students: How support influences resilient and vulnerable outcomes during the transition to college.
Hagan, Casey. Predictors of college athletes cognitive appraisals in challenging athletic situations.
Litner, Lisa. Teaching social skills to children: A proposed investigation of sharing.
2002
Gove, Jared Fiske. An exploration of pluralistic ignorance and a subsequent intervention to correct it: Implications for smoking on college campuses.
Barents, Jill M. Sex differences in predicting depression: life events and problem-solving skills.
Follow this link for more Wheaton Honors Thesis information.