Congratulations to first-year Master’s student, Kaylie, on her successful proposal presentation, which has been approved by the committee. Recently, Kaylie presented an overview of her master’s thesis proposal titled, Psychological Mechanisms Behind Belief in Conspiracy Theories and Changing Conspiratorial Thinking. Kaylie’s proposal discussed what influences conspiratorial thinking in people, how to change those beliefs, and explored the relationship between mental illness, trauma, and conspiracy beliefs. Since there is no current research on trauma and belief in conspiracy theories, Kaylie hopes to use the data she gathers to establish a foundation for the literature. The results from the study could help push the boundaries of research into exploring different theories of thinking, such as Kahneman’s Dual Process Theory, as well as exploring different therapeutic styles to contribute to interventions designed to change conspiratorial thinking. Kaylie’s next step will be to submit her study protocol to the IRB to get approval, after which she will be ready to collect her data.
We also just heard that she was awarded Provost Research Grant! Congratulations!!
We are excited for Kaylie!
FF-PTG LAB 