If you would like to email me I can be reached at mgerry@anselm.edu. 
 
 
In order to receive my diploma from this fine educational institution, I was required to write a senior thesis. My thesis involved looking at persuasion in the context of evaluating presidential candidates. As a psychology major, I am very interested in human behavior. I also am interested in politics and that is why
chose to examine persuasion in a political context. 
   

 
                                                                               Abstract
     This research examined persuasion in the context of evaluating presidential candidates. Due to an overall decline in political activity in citizens (Iyengar, 1997), the process by which individuals choose a candidate is an interesting one. The hypothesis of this research was that, in the process of deciding which candidates to vote for, individuals would be more persuaded by stories that focused on the candidate's image, rather than the candidates' stand on issues. It was thought that because of a lack of political interest and knowledge among the participants, they would use heuristics, or engage in peripheral processing consistent with the Elaboration-Likelihood Model in evaluation of the stories instead of a more systematic, central route of evaluation. 16 undergraduates (11 females, 5 males) from a small Catholic college in New Hampshire participated in this study. The participants used a general political background questionnaire developed by Dalto and Ossoff (1994) in order to evaluate the participants' political knowledge, activity, interest, and media usage. Also used were two stories about two stories about a fictional presidential candidate, one that focused on image, and one that focused on an issue, gun control. The participants did not know these stories were about the same fictional candidate. Significant results were found. Consistent with the hypothesis, levels of political interest, knowledge, activity, and media use were low. The participants found the image article to be more persuasive also consistent with the hypothesis. Although the sample in this research was small, the results were consistent with previous research. This research would be useful for both the American voting public and politicians. Understanding the  process of persuasion may help individuals make more informed decisions about their leaders.

Writing  this  thesis  was a good experience,
even though it was so stressful.
If I could tell future  thesis writers anything it would be : 
TIME MANAGEMENT!!!!!
That's actually a pretty good idea for anyone out there.

    This webpage just isn't all work, it's also fun, also in the words of Austin Powers

My resume is a lot of fun and at some point it will be on here. That way all sorts of companies will want to hire me.
 
These are websites that I really like and maybe you will too, especially if you like sports, music, and politics.

1. Of course #1 is good old    http://www.anselm.edu
2. Espn.go.com    I visit this site every day and if you want information on anything going on in sports it's right here baby.
3. Smallworld.com  If you're interested in playing fantasy sports for free, this is a good site.
4. Rollingstone.com An excellent site for music information. It has information on any band or singer out there. Great magazine too.
5. MTV.com Although MTV doesn't play complete videos anymore, or so it seems, it still is very popular with all the kids.
6. Whitehouse.org Not to be confused with the slightly less political whitehouse.com. This is the official website of the White House. You can email the prez and vice-prez. I did, and because I did, Bill sent me a picture of himself. He really feels our pain.
7. Msnbc.com
    This is excellent webpage for information on the latest news for what's going on in the world.
8. Astronet.com  If you're into astrology, even though it's not scientifically based, it's fun.
9. fiona-apple.com  I'm a big fan of Fiona's, no matter what you think of her, this is her offical site.
10. yahoo.com  Yeah, I know this is a common one but it will have information on practically everything you would ever want to know about.
11. lisa.nd.edu  For all you Fighting Irish fans, this site is the DomeCam at Notre Dame. It's on 24 hours a day.
12. abercrombie.com and gap.com  I think these sights are appropriate for the well dressed St. Anselm student.
 
 

       If you click on this icon, you'll hear that really cool Pentium chime!!!!!
 

Well that's my webpage. If you would like to contact me, my email address is up above. Peace, Love and Joy, and in the words of Wooderson from Dazed and Confused, " Just keep livin'"---Melissa