Psychology (West, Online)


Faculty Honors Advisors

Jeff Kassing

About this opportunity

New College’s School of Social and Behavioral Sciences is an interdisciplinary school that explores the intersection of human behavior and science. By exploring the human mind and behavior, students and faculty seek to understand how we communicate with one another, how and why we organize into cultural and political groups as it relates to vital causes and issues, and ultimately how we make sense of our world and the many places we occupy within it. Psychology majors in SBS engage in the scientific study of human behavior, which includes methodological and statistical training, as well as diverse content areas including — but not limited to — mental health and counseling, social psychology, cognitive science, health psychology, neuroscience and psychophysiology, decision-making, legal and forensic psychology.

Thesis

The thesis/creative project is the culminating experience of being a psychology major in the Barrett Honors College. Barrett students collaborate with psychology faculty members to produce a novel piece of scholarship. Barrett students will interact with nationally renowned researchers on a project within their expertise through their role as the student’s thesis director or committee member. The thesis project allows psychology majors to apply all that they have learned in their content courses, as well as their courses in methodology and statistics. The scope and form of the thesis/creative project is at the discretion of the thesis director. There are norms within the field of psychology that result in most thesis projects involving an original empirical research study or analysis of existing empirical data. Typically the thesis document is an APA-style research report/study. Barrett students defend their thesis during a presentation and meeting with their committee.

Academic Preparation

Students should complete all of the required methods and statistics courses before attempting to complete a thesis/creative project.

Recommended Timeline

Students should begin formulating an idea about their thesis/creative project during their sophomore year, or for transfer students early in their junior year.

Students also should explore potential faculty members who might serve as a director of their honors thesis project and as committee members. SBS psychology majors in Barrett have the opportunity to engage with psychology faculty conducting scientific research across a diverse set of topics. As a first step, students should look through the faculty profiles available on the SBS Faculty Directory page to see who is doing work related to their interests. Students also can refer to the SBS page that provides more information about Research Labs. The lab websites give a summary of the faculty member’s research interests and can help students learn what kind of research is being conducted by psychologists in SBS.

If students need assistance in finding a faculty mentor for their project, they should make an appointment with Barrett’s SBS Psychology Faculty Honors Adviser, Dr. Jeff Kassing (jkassing@asu.edu). The FHA can provide guidance regarding shaping and refining ideas and also can suggest suitable faculty for students to solicit based on their areas of interest.

Typically students write the thesis over two semesters during their senior year.

Other Honors Opportunities

Barrett students can also take advantage of other research and internship opportunities in psychology. Barrett students can participate in Supervised Research by working with a faculty member in their laboratory (PSY 399, PSY 499) that is not related to an honors course, enrichment contract, or thesis. For information regarding internship opportunities check the New College Internship page.

College

New College

Campus

Multiple

Academic Unit

School of Social and Behavioral Science