After surviving a debilitating car accident, MU senior Jerry Mitchell found himself on an unexpected path.
Guided by an interest in understanding the changes he experienced in his own brain after the accident, Mitchell began to pursue knowledge in the field of psychology. Nine years later, Mitchell, an MU McNair Scholar, has already begun conducting studies with professor Laura King, his faculty mentor, and the MU psychology department.
Mitchell’s research explores the connection between intuition, mood and creativity in four preliminary studies.
“The research falls under the subcategories of personality and social psychology,” Mitchell said. “Right now, we’re looking mostly at positive affect, which is basically happiness and intuition. We’re studying the relationships they have with emotional and cognitive outcomes.”
Because of the novelty of his research, Mitchell said the results have the potential to expose a previously unrealized branch of psychology.
“If intuition does moderate the relationship between mood and creativity, it opens up a whole new area for mood research.” Mitchell said. “A lot of traditional research doesn’t take personal differences into account, like whether people trust their gut or their brain more when making decisions. If we’re right about the role of intuition, we have a lot more studies to do.”
Mitchell said the study developed slowly. He and King began brainstorming about a year ago. He said a continuous stream of new ideas fuels the research process.
“We originally started talking about it last year,” Mitchell said. “The conceptualization and just coming up with ideas took longer than anything else, because you want to make sure you think of the best way to put the study together before you implement it. Actually running the studies has only taken two semesters.”
The studies have proved to be more time-intensive than was expected, and Mitchell said the research is a bit behind schedule. Despite minor delays, he anticipates the project to end successfully.
“We bit off a lot with the studies,” Mitchell said. “But it’s going really well, and we are three-fourths of the way done with collecting data. Because of the way we set the studies up, we’re already able to start analyzing data.”
Mitchell said his experience working with King has been extremely beneficial, and her guidance has encouraged him to continue doing psychology research in the future.
“Some mentors like to be super in control, but (King) runs things more as an open forum,” Mitchell said. “It’s really collaborative, almost like a research family. It feels good to be a part of it.”
The McNair Scholars Program was founded to prepare undergraduate students for future doctoral research by providing opportunities to become involved with research and other related activities. Jeremy Bloss, the student services adviser for the McNair Scholars Program, said Mitchell’s success exemplifies the purpose of the organization.
“The McNair Program expects two things from students that participate — to do quality, in-depth research and to apply to graduate schools,” Bloss said in an email. “Thus far, Jerry has done both of those. He has shown that he has a passion for his field and that continuing on to graduate school and obtaining his PhD is a goal he is going to accomplish.”