College
Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences
Date of Last Revision
2024-01-17 10:16:00
Major
Psychology
Honors Course
PSYC 498 - 002
Number of Credits
2
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Date of Expected Graduation
Fall 2023
Abstract
My fellow research assistants and I attempted to replicate Seli and colleagues’ (2016) original study that first distinguished between unintentional and intentional mind wandering. Additionally, I conducted my own research study regarding gender differences in mind wandering intentionality. I hypothesized that men would report higher levels of unintentional mind wandering than women. Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions of the sustained attention to response task (SART): difficult and easy. Using data collected from 29 undergraduate psychology students, we validated that the difficult SART is harder than the easy SART, we found no significant difference in overall mind wandering rates in both SART conditions, and we found a significant main effect of mind wandering type. However, we were unable to replicate a significant interaction between mind wandering type and condition that the original researchers had found. I analyzed the same data for my supplemental study and found no difference in unintentional mind wandering between men and women. I found that men had higher variability in the unintentional probe response, which may be notable when considering gender differences in mind wandering intentionality. Future studies should be conducted to identify possible gender differences and variations in mind wandering.
Research Sponsor
Jennifer Tehan Stanley
First Reader
Nikolina Kravljaca
Second Reader
Julia Brooks
Honors Faculty Advisor
Charles A. Waehler
Proprietary and/or Confidential Information
No
Recommended Citation
Smith, Samira, "Gender Differences in Mind Wandering Intentionality" (2023). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 1779.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1779