Sacred Heart Academy senior Sophia Fitzpatrick's article, "When guilt is good: Can employing anthropomorphism in PSA’s improve climate change awareness and activism?" has been accepted for publication by The Whitman Journal of Psychology (WJP), a Maryland-based, peer-reviewed academic journal for the nation's best secondary behavioral research (Summer 2021).
Sophia was mentored by Sacred Heart Academy Research Director, Dr. Stephen Sullivan.
The brief abstract of her article reads as follows: "The main barrier to combating climate change is indifference towards the issue. This study found that an effective manner to spur pro-environmental action is by creating PSAs that utilize images of animals and through climate education. This works by eliciting both negative and positive emotions that increase willingness to take action."
Sophia's publication is Sacred Heart Academy's fourth such accomplishment in 20 months. Fiona Marren '20 and Sofia Di Scipio '20 were published in the WJP in Fall 2020. Carmela Musso '21 will have her work published alongside Sophia's this June.