Psychological and Brain Sciences

Professor Catherine Caldwell-Harris seeks interns for any of four psychology projects on internet use, neurodiversity, bilingualism and sarcasm comprehension.

In all four of these projects, there will be opportunities for study design, running participants, analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, reviewing the literature, and writing reports, including for conference/journal submission. 

You will work with a team of students. You have the opportunity to choose what you work on. There is no set number of hours per week, because I value creativity, energy, knowledge, skills, and students who can get work done. I value students who can take on tasks independently, set their own schedules, their own tasks and todo-lists, and effectively contribute towards team goals. The goals are to develop and complete important projects that will make a difference, and can be published in academic journals. 

Email Prof C-H at charris@bu.edu with your resume, which project you prefer, and your background relevant to the specific project, as well as your skills in psychology and data management, analysis, and interpretation. 

1. Does childhood exposure to nature protect teenagers and young adults from compulsive media use? 

– This project is 2 years old and we just finished collecting 120 surveys and interviews. We need help analyzing the collected data and organizing a second study with updated materials. 

2. What makes Discord communities thrive?

– This study is being designed and administered by Prosper Health, a telehealth clinic that serves autistic adults from a neurodiversity-affirming framework.

– The Prosper Health researchers seek to co-create knowledge with autistic Discord users to identify what fosters connection, what sustains harm or exclusion, and what futures we can build together. The goal is not only to describe but to transform online community experiences as places of healing and empowerment.

– Prof C-H’s group will provide support to the study designers in the form of BU interns who will conduct interviews via Zoom and analyze data. The BU team has the option of gathering our own data from BU students who use Discord.

3. Bilingualism, culture, and frame-shifting. How does the language you speak and your culture affect your emotions and your moral reasoning?

– Prof C-H has several ongoing studies on this topic, including studies on Mandarin, Turkish, Russian, and Hindi speakers.

4. Perspectives on understanding sarcasm. Sarcasm can sometimes be challenging to understand if you are from a different culture or speak a different language.  Neurodiverse people also sometimes find sarcasm difficult, such as those with autism or ADHD.  Help our team analyze existing data of BU students who were interviewed about their experiences with sarcasm and who watched videos with different types of non-literal language.