Independent Study

» Psychology Department I.S. Titles

Psychology majors begin the Independent Study (I.S.) process in their junior year with a one-semester project that culminates in an extensive literature review and a proposal for a psychological experiment that may be conducted in the senior year. Junior I.S. requires students to combine the methodological and reasoning skills they have acquired in earlier courses and prepares them for the challenge of senior I.S.

In the senior year, students work with a faculty mentor to plan and execute a research project that involves data gathering and is grounded in studies from the experimental, personality, developmental, social, or clinical literature. In the past two years, students have investigated a wide range of topics, including eyewitness testimony, sleep deprivation, musical pitch discrimination, strategies for reading comprehension, and the effect of stereotypes on willingness to help others.

Some seniors have presented papers on their I.S. projects at meetings of the Ohio Academy of Sciences, the American Society of Primatologists, the Ohio Undergraduate Research Conference, and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). Others have had papers based on their I.S. research accepted for publication in psychological journals.