Student Presenter(s): Ariah Dull, Bakhtawar Shahbaz
Faculty Mentor: Melissa Huey
Department: Behavioral Sciences
School/College: College of Arts and Sciences, New York City

Mental health is often looked at as something we are able to control and compartmentalize when it comes to work. However, research shows that mood and psychological well-being play a significant role in overall performance (Hong-Yui, 2022). Our research works to understand the impact of positive self-talk on psychological well-being and academic performance. We hypothesize that with increased positive self-talk, confidence in test-taking and classroom psychological well-being will be improved.

Classes in the Behavioral Sciences Department will be asked to participate, and each class will be split into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group will be exposed to positive self-talk at the beginning of each class for 1-2 weeks of classes, while the control group will not receive any positive self-talk training. Each group will then be tasked with an academic achievement task and given a survey about their psychological well-being during class. We expect to find a positive impact of positive self-talk on psychological well-being and an increase in performance. These results can be applied to research on psychological well-being within class environments to help further identify how student performance can be enhanced through understanding personal factors that either inhibit or enhance a student’s education.