39th Annual Student Research Conference
Positively Confounding: The Relationship Between Positive Affirmation, Phone Usage, and Memory
Marcia Humphreys
Dr. Robert Tigner, Faculty Mentor
In this study, we hypothesized that positive affirmations would have a negative relationship with people’s frustration levels but a positive relationship with memory test scores, while phone usage would have a negative relationship with memory scores. Participants were given short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory tasks both while they were encouraged to use their phone and while phone usage was banned. Additionally, half the participants were offered ongoing positive affirmations. Results unexpectedly showed that participants in the Positive condition had higher frustration levels than control. Very few of the participants reported using their phones during the Phone condition, but we did see a decrease in STM performance for participants in the Positive-Phone condition. No other memory differences were observed in the data, but participants self-reported an acknowledgement that phone usage negatively affects their academic performance.
Keywords: learning, memory, positivity, phone usage, positive affirmations
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: -2
Location: SUB 3202
Time: 10:45