Presenters: Jade Sanchez, W. Matthew Collins, and Leanne Boucher
Students in an advanced psychology capstone course participated in a hands-on research study designed to provide them with experience with each step of the scientific method, from generating a hypothesis to presenting results. Acknowledging that many undergraduate students lack the opportunity to participate in laboratory research, this course emphasized study design while addressing a timely topic: the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on creativity. To begin, students reviewed and summarized the existing literature on AI and creativity, which informed the development of their hypotheses and study design. They hypothesized that greater AI use would negatively affect creativity. In their experiment, participants completed online surveys measuring creativity and AI usage, as well as the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) as an objective measure of creativity. Results supported the hypothesis, revealing a negative relationship between AI usage and creativity across both survey and AUT measures. Throughout the project, students gained hands-on experience with research methodology, including completing an IRB application, designing online data collection tools, analyzing and interpreting results, and writing a full APA-style research report. Several students continued the project beyond the course, presenting their findings at the undergraduate student symposium. This project allowed students to contribute to a growing area of research and fostered the development of essential academic skills and experiences. Both faculty and student perspectives on the assignment will be discussed.
