Grace Pedersen, a senior majoring in psychology, used HN 400 as a platform to launch her future. HN 400 gives students the ability to complete an individual project with faculty support and guidance.

For her project, Grace designed a study that gains insight into how individuals can garner more positive attitudes from men about abortion access. This project aims to investigate different pro-choice arguments and determine their ability to sway men’s viewpoints on the issue. It will specifically focus on if men are swayed more by self-interest arguments than by arguments based on the rights and benefits of abortions for women. 

She also hopes the project will give insight into how gender interacts with psychological procession like empathy when discussing abortion.

Grace found this especially essential to examine because of the importance of the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

“This research has the potential to inform more inclusive and effective advocacy strategies for reproductive justice and gender-based issues,” she said. 

This project has a lot of meaning for Grace. “I loved being able to work on something that I’m so passionate about. It made it very easy to find the motivation to work,” she said. 

The best part of the HN 400 class was the “independence and control” Grace had over her project. “I think this whole process has really empowered me to feel like I have the capacity to conduct my own research and implement my own project ideas.” 

For Grace, this class felt like a culmination of all the skills she had learned throughout her time at Whitworth. 

Once the research is completed, Grace hopes to present it at a conference and get it published in undergraduate journals. 

Right after graduation, Grace is going to spend a gap year working as a counselor at Frontier Behavioral Health while applying for PhD programs in clinical psychology.