Keaton Smith

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1. Where are you from originally? Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a tiny town in the northwest corner of Michigan's lower peninsula called Suttons Bay.

2. Who is your faculty mentor?
Dr. Joel Freund

3. What is the topic of your honors thesis?
We are investigating the cause of the Expanded Retrieval effect, which has shown that studying a word pair multiple times at increasingly longer intervals may promote better retention than studying a word pair the same number of times over equally spaced intervals.

4. What is it like to work on an honors thesis in psychology?
It is time consuming, but very interesting. Definitely worthwhile for those going to graduate school.

5. What kinds of resources for conducting your research are available to you?
Dr. Freund has been an invaluable resource, but other than him, I have used the library's search engines (PSYCinfo, mainly) quite frequently, and it has worked quite well for me.

6. What has been your favorite psychology class so far and why?
I thought the topics of Social Psychology were very interesting, so that would probably be my favorite.

7. What attracted you to the University of Arkansas?
The academic scholarships that they offer, and once I visited, the city of Fayetteville, the campus, and the area.

8. Why did you decide to major in psychology?
The academic scholarships that they offer, and once I visited, the city of Fayetteville, the campus, and the area.

9. What is it like living in Fayetteville?
I love the city of Fayetteville. The hills, the campus itself, the greenery, Northwest Arkansas and the Ozarks, Dickson St, I love it all. It's not a major city, but there are plenty of things to do, and now that ASG has started getting big name musicians to come to Fayetteville, we have the only thing we've been missing (although George's has great shows, as well). 

10. What kinds of things do you do for fun?
I love to hang out with friends, and I've transformed from a diehard Michigan fan to being obsessed with the Razorbacks in less than 4 years!

11. What do you hope to do after graduation?
Probably just find a job, but I am definitely considering graduate school (Psychology or Business) down the road.

12. What advice do you have for students thinking of getting involved in research in the psych department?
You absolutely can't learn this stuff in a class. Experience is invaluable, especially if you are even thinking about applying for grad school in Psychology.