Psychology majors Sarah Borowski ‘11, Brittany Bowers ‘12, Elizabeth N. Palmer ‘11, and Traci Weisberg ‘11 presented their research at the 36th annual Carolinas Psychology Conference on April 9. The conference - one of the longest running undergraduate research conferences in the nation - took place in Raleigh and was hosted by Meredith College.
Palmer and Weisberg presented “Read and think before you write: Level of print exposure and pre-response time influence writing production and quality.” The study investigated how the writing and editing of students who had comparatively richer reading histories responded differently than those with leaner reading histories when their planning time was constrained or increased.
Borowski, an Elon College Fellow, and Bowers presented “Project Emo: Influences of writing about personal experiences on content and production.” The study, supported by funds from Elon College Fellows, compared the emotional content and the revision of students who were asked to write about a positive, negative, or neutral personal experience that was caused by themselves or another person.
Both projects were mentored by L. Kimberly Epting, an assistant professor of psychology.