Psychology Program
Program Overview
Despite advances in technology and research, the way people study has remained largely unchanged for the past century. Research has shown that most students rely on intuition rather than evidence-based advice when it comes to studying, and only a small percentage receive guidance based on solid evidence. However, recent developments in the field of Self-Regulated Learning are focused on identifying effective study habits and correcting common misconceptions to help students achieve their full potential. Eureka Alumni from this program have received admission offers to some of the top National and Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States, such as Harvard University, Williams College, University of Chicago, and Cornell University, to name a few. Alumni from this program have continued to pursue majors in Psychology, Neurobiology, Biochemistry, Comparative Literature, and Economics.
The research experience and skills students receive at the Eureka Program have helped students get accepted to selective programs such as the Stanford Summer Humanities Institute.
Students from this program are also very engaged in their communities, sharing in volunteering activities and starting non-profit organizations to help the community. One alumni spends his free time volunteering at an organization that provides food and materials for those in need, while another student volunteers her time teaching migrant children music.
Many alumni from this program have received top awards like Scholastic Art & Writing National Awards, U.S. Presidential Scholars Awards, and various awards in their communities.
The below sections will provide more insight into the students that have attended this program and share their experiences and successes.
Research Topic Samples
Refining Tasks to Improve Planning Feasibility: A Study on Procrastination and the Planning Fallacy
"Procrastination" is a problem that many people face in today's world of efficiency, and the psychological phenomenon of "planning fallacy" explains why people tend to be overly optimistic and fail to complete their plans on time. Student H*, who was admitted to the University of Chicago, conducted an experiment to test whether listing specific tasks in a plan could help people overcome the planning fallacy. He created a questionnaire and randomly assigned participants to two groups: one group made a rough plan for the day. In contrast, the other group listed specific tasks and evaluated how much they could actually accomplish. Student H found that the group that listed specific tasks had a higher estimate of how much they could achieve, and they completed the tasks faster than the group that did not. Student H later improved the experiment by giving more specific instructions, and the results showed that "refinement of tasks can better realize the feasibility of the plan." This research could be helpful in our daily lives and in enterprise management, as specifying the process and details of each task in a plan could increase its feasibility.
*To protect the privacy of students, some names have been hidden.
College Admission Results
Attended Eureka
2021
High School Name
Semiahmoo Secondary School
Admission Offer Received
• (ED) Williams College
Eureka Research Title
High-Note Ending Increases General Willingness Towards Engagement In Future Effortful Learning Sessions
Attended Eureka
2020
High School Name
St. Paul's School
Admission Offer Received
• (REA) Harvard University
Eureka Research Title
How Does The Mood And Language Of A Song Affect Writing Productivity?
Attended Eureka
2020
High School Name
Culver Academies
Admission Offer Received
• University of Chicago
Eureka Research Title
Unpacking Planning Fallacy
Attended Eureka
2019
High School Name
The Hun School Of Princeton
Admission Offer Received
• University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
• Cornell University
Eureka Research Title
The Effect Of Volume And Lyrics On Reading Comprehension
Attended Eureka
2020
High School Name
Suzhou High School Of Jiangsu Province
Admission Offer Received
• John Hopkins University (JHU)
Eureka Research Title
The Effect Of Different Types Of Distractions On Long-Term Memory
Attended Eureka
2018 Summer
High School Name
Kent School
Admission Offer Received
• Northwestern University
• Rice University
Eureka Research Title
Attended Eureka
2018
High School Name
Culver Academies
Admission Offer Received
• Vanderbilt University
Eureka Research Title
Retrieval Cues In The Textbook Could Enhance Students' Accuracy In The Tests And The Understanding Of The Main Ideas From The Reading Material
Attended Eureka
2021 Summer
High School Name
St. Mark's School
Admission Offer Received
• (ED) Vanderbilt University
Eureka Research Title
Research Topic - Undisclosed
Attended Eureka
2018 Summer
High School Name
Culver Academies
Admission Offer Received
• Vanderbilt University
Eureka Research Title
Retrieval Cues In The Textbook Could Enhance Students’ Accuracy In The Tests And The Understanding Of The Main Ideas From The Reading Material
Attended Eureka
2020
High School Name
Nanjing Foreign Language School
Admission Offer Received
• (ED) Washington University in St. Louis
Eureka Research Title
Two Types Of Memory Sequence And Their Respective Influence
Student Experiences
Eureka Student Research: Implantation of a False Multi-Step Spatial Memory into a Mouse’s Brain
Eureka Research: Do Massed Presentations Make People Like Paintings More Than Spaced Presentations?
A Cell that Acts like a Pill: iPSC-derived Cholinergic Neurons for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment
Community Activities
The Stanford Summer Session - Happiness Program is a six-week summer program offered by Stanford University that explores the topic of happiness through various perspectives, including psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience. The program aims to help students develop a deeper understanding of happiness, its impact on individuals and society, and how to cultivate happiness in one's own life. A Eureka Alumni was admitted to participate in the Happiness Program to further their research into humanities.
A Eureka Alumni has spent his time outside of school volunteering at a local food distribution center. Hands of Hope is a non-profit organization that provides food to alleviate hunger and promote good nutrition and health while maintaining human dignity. Founded in 1992, the organization continues to operate as a food pantry/soup kitchen, Hands of Hope is committed to provide an efficient and effective system for distributing food to alleviate hunger in our community, one family at a time.
A Eureka student who was recently admitted to The University of Pennsylvania was also admitted into the University of California -- Santa Barbara Research Mentorship Program (UCSB RMP). The UCSB RMP summer program receives over 2,000 applicants each year, but only 75 are admitted. Among the few research projects offered, few of them accept humanities students, making it a competitive opportunity. By participating in the Eureka program, this student was able to earn a spot in the Research Mentor Program and pursue bioinformatics research at the Student Research Institute.