Barrett

Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.

Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.

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Accuracy in Spotting Misinformation about COVID-19: A Pilot Intervention and the Role of Political Affiliation

Description

In the past year, considerable misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic has circulated on social media platforms. Faced with this pervasive issue, it is important to identify the extent to which people are able to spot misinformation on social media and ways to improve people’s accuracy in spotting misinformation. Therefore, the…

In the past year, considerable misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic has circulated on social media platforms. Faced with this pervasive issue, it is important to identify the extent to which people are able to spot misinformation on social media and ways to improve people’s accuracy in spotting misinformation. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate people’s accuracy in spotting misinformation, the effectiveness of a game-based intervention, and the role of political affiliation in spotting misinformation. In this study, 235 participants played a misinformation game in which they evaluated COVID-19-related tweets and indicated whether or not they thought each of the tweets contained misinformation. Misinformation accuracy was measured using game scores, which were based on the correct identification of misinformation. Findings revealed that participants’ beliefs about how accurate they are at spotting misinformation about COVID-19 did not predict their actual accuracy. Participants’ accuracy improved after playing the game, but democrats were more likely to improve than republicans.
ContributorsKang, Rachael (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Bunker, Cameron (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05

Developing and Testing an Intervention to Promote Future Self-Connectedness Among Premedical Students

Description
This study was designed to develop and test an intervention to increase future self-connectedness among students considered on the pre-medical career path at Arizona State University. Recent research has identified organic chemistry as one primary reason pre-med students change their major during undergraduate studies. Difficulty connecting to one’s future self…

This study was designed to develop and test an intervention to increase future self-connectedness among students considered on the pre-medical career path at Arizona State University. Recent research has identified organic chemistry as one primary reason pre-med students change their major during undergraduate studies. Difficulty connecting to one’s future self and low academic self-efficacy are also reasons that help explain the large numbers of students changing majors. This study proposed and tested an intervention to increase future self-connectedness in order to help keep students in the pre-med pathway. It was predicted that the proposed intervention would be successful at promoting greater future self-connectedness and academic self-efficacy across all students, with significant results hypothesized for women and members of minority groups. It was further hypothesized that this intervention would be successful at decreasing stress levels and increasing persistence when given sample MCAT questions. 78 undergraduate participants from organic chemistry classes completed this study, 37 in the intervention and 41 comprising the control group. The intervention consisted of a guided thought exercise that walked participants through a day in the life of a medical resident. Results were found indicating a significance between the mean scores for the intervention group and increased future self-connectedness, as well as academic self-efficacy as compared to the control. Results also indicate that lower levels of initial future self-connectedness and academic self-efficacy were associated with higher levels of change in levels of future self-connectedness following the intervention. Additionally, high initial academic self-efficacy was correlated with lower levels of perceived stress and higher overall grade point average, as hypothesized. Results indicate that the intervention was successful at increasing future self-connectedness and academic self-efficacy among pre-med students, especially among women and minority groups, however the intervention was not successful at decreasing levels of perceived stress within the intervention group. Given the small sample size future studies are needed to further verify the generalizability of these results.
ContributorsDimmick, Kaileine (Co-author) / Truong, Rodney (Co-author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Patock-Peckham, Julie (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05