Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-10-2024

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Education

First Advisor

Matthew Reysen

Second Advisor

Nicole Roberson

Third Advisor

Ann Monroe

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Moral convictions have been shown to impact learning about science topics, but there exists a gap in literature about whether education on the mechanisms of DNA technologies, such as the recently developed CRISPR-Cas9 system, can affect moral convictions and emotions regarding its use on humans. To investigate this relationship, we examined the results of how three-hundred and fifty-three introductory psychology students at the University of Mississippi rated their moral convictions and emotions on the subject before and after engaging with instructional material. The results indicated that a majority of participants originally had no position (48.2%) or were morally opposed (41.6%). After engaging, 37.61% of participants had no position, and 34.76% of participants were morally opposed to its use. We also saw a significant increase in positive emotions (curiosity, happiness, and surprise) and a significant decrease in negative emotions (anger, anxiousness, shame, boredom, fear, frustration, and hopelessness) after engagement. Moral convictions did not change significantly. Taken together, we have found that education on the workings of DNA technology can significantly change participants’ emotions and their moral stance regarding the use of it on humans.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.