Raneem Baalbaki, Verrazzano Class of 2026, completed a major in psychology with a minor in critical criminology and social justice
I
joined Florette Cohen's lab two years ago because I found her research on
Terror Management Theory intriguing. The theory is the idea that when we as
humans are reminded about our own mortality, it causes us psychological anxiety
leading us to cope with our world views and values.
When
deciding what I wanted to research for my honors/capstone project, I knew I
wanted to focus on aggression, as I am studying to become a forensic
psychologist. I wanted to understand how far people were willing to go to
perform aggressive acts under the right conditions, such as a person in power
asking them to. Aggression has always interested me because the act itself is a
choice and I’ve wanted to understand why some people choose aggression while
others don’t. With the help of Dr. Cohen, we were able to create an experiment
that tested Terror Management Theory as well as aggression in participants to
develop my thesis.
I
expected this project to involve hard work and extensive research; however, I
never expected to thoroughly enjoy the process and have fun with it. It was
definitely challenging at times, but I learned so many valuable skills and
discovered how to overcome challenges in research.
My
research has many aspects that could be further expanded in the future, such as
why Terror Management Theory seems to be losing its effect and why non-voters
scored higher on aggression than voters, and I'm excited for the opportunity to
expand on these ideas.
One
of the main things I took from this experience is that while research is a long
and difficult process, I am capable of doing it. Not only am I capable, but I
genuinely enjoy it and will continue to love this work.
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