Honors Experiential Learning Project Proposal Form Research Project Information 1.

. Provide a brief overview/abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project. As a psychology major, I am very interested in learning how people react to certain external stimuli and what causes them to think a certain way. I have always been fascinated by the human psyche and learning about how people think and what makes a certain person think a certain way. However, psychology is not the extent of my interests. While deciding what I should major in, I was torn between psychology or zoology. I love animals, and I see this as a perfect opportunity to blend my interests. I will be conducting an experiment to determine if animal calls can elicit an appropriate response, voluntary or not, from a human listener. In nature, animals use very rudimentary forms of vocalization to communicate both negative (distress and fear) and positive feelings (pleasure or excitement) with one another. I am curious to see if these animal calls can affect humans in some way. To do this, I will have three identical groups take an authentic happiness test once a day for two weeks; these tests evaluate responses given to judge the authentic happiness level of the person being examined. One group will merely come in everyday and take the test; they will act as the control. Another group will listen to animal calls that communicate positive emotions before they take the test; and the third group will listen to animal calls that communicate negative emotions before they take the test. After the two weeks are up, another week can be take so the data can be fully collected and analyzed to determine if the animal noises had any effect on the subjects. We can also use this week to reflect on the data and what it means now that we have it. 2. Clearly state how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work Connection to Learning Outcomes Within Research One learning outcome I can work for within my experiment is to think beyond the just completed research and articulate how my world view has been impacted by the experience. In this experiment, I am learning about communication between humans and animals. If I learned that we can communicate more easily with animals than I thought or that animals affect us more than I had previously known, I think I would look at animals in a different light. The data from the experiment might change how I view animal rights or the treatment of animals. Another learning outcome is the ability to identify and apply appropriate methodologies to design research, study, and collect and analyze data. Throughout the experiment, I can pay close attention to see what might create an extra variable or cause an anomaly in the data. For example, I know that questions can be worded to manipulate a desired response. I can be vigilant for

anything to might cause a hiccup in the experiment, and try to prevent it or learn from it. Another learning outcome is disseminating the research results from the knowledge gained. At the end of the experiment, I must analyze the data and glean the meaning of those results. There is a difference between what the experiment shows and what the experiment means. When I analyze the data, I will have to remove any biases I have and just read what the data tells me. I will have to go over the data until I completely understand it; after I understand the data I can understand the meaning behind it. Connection to Academic Goals and Theories As a psychology major, I want to learn as much as I possibly can about my field. This experiment would delve into the field of human/animal interpersonal relations, which is something that admittedly I know little about. Academically, I want to continue to broaden my horizons and knowledge in psychology. This research experiment would also look very impressive on a resume for when I am searching for a job, and might help give me an edge over competition later on down the road. It can also allow me to interact with people who are high up in the psychology department and put my name out there. I also genuinely want to know more about this subject and see if the animal calls do have an effect on people. There are many articles that can be found concerning animal communication. I am choosing to use the book Animal Communication Theory: Information and Influence because this book includes discussion on similarities in animal signals and human language, and takes into account the mental capacity that different animals have and display in their calls. In language, the term prosody is used to describe the rhythm of speech, or how a persons voice changes with inflection or stressing certain sounds. This is how we convey emotions in speech. By hearing certain cues a person adds, we can pick up on the emotion they are trying to convey with their words. Prosody is instantly recognizable by us; for example, a person could be describing something happy, but if they kept using the high, wavering voice of someone who is upset and about to cry, we would know that they are upset. I want to see if humans can pick up on the prosody in animal calls and respond appropriately, even though we do not understand the actual message. Initiative, Independence and Creativity I have designed the experiment, and I will be the one conducting the experiment and administering the three groups and the animal noises they hear, as well as collecting the data. The experiment is completely my own, and could be done with absolutely no outside help. I have an interest in all parts of this experiment, and this will cause me to work harder and be more thorough than someone who only cared about one piece of the research. Reflection

My reflection will be at the end of the experiment, after all the data has been collected and analyzed, and I can confidently say that I fully understand the data. It will be in the form of a video. I find that I reflect best when talking instead of writing; I believe this is because I just say what i am thinking, without editing myself or trying to form a well-structured paragraph. I feel that with a video reflection, I will be able to truly flush out how I feel and what I learned from the experiment. I can reflect on the experiment and think about what aspects of it worked and what aspects didnt work. I can reflect on what the data means for the field of animal communication or humananimal interactions. Dissemination After my experiment has been completed, I can post all information about it online. I could also give in-class presentations in my psychology classes or in my Gateway to University Honors class. I believe that information should be free, so I will share my findings publicly on the internet. Advisor Dr. David McDonnell Professor, Jammin With Laptops mcdonndb@mail.uc.edu