Kaylee Phimmasene (left) presenting her thesis at the NEEPS conference

Author: Kaylee Phimmasene | Major: Psychology | Semester: Spring 2023

My name is Kaylee Phimmasene, and I was a senior majoring in psychology in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I started my honors thesis in fall of 2022 with Dr. Anastasia Makhanova of the university’s psychology department as my mentor. Since I have graduated, I plan to apply to programs in hopes of pursuing a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and conducting new research experiments.

In 2021, I took Dr. Makhanova’s social psychology course as well as became a research assistant in her lab. While I initially did not have an interest in researching social psychology, this quickly changed once I learned more about it. Through her course as well as assisting on various research projects within the lab, I was able to develop a more holistic understanding of social psychology and how it interacts with other domains such as biology and health, or more specifically, women’s reproductive health.

The intersection between social psychology and women’s reproductive health is what truly grabbed my attention and led me to create my honors thesis project. When I read into the existing literature, many researchers focused on investigating how women’s psychology changes as a result of the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle is a naturally occurring, monthly process that most women experience when they are of reproductive age. While menstrual cycle lengths vary from woman to woman, they all consist of three distinct phases: follicular, ovulatory, and luteal. During these phases, ovarian hormones such as estrogen and progesterone constantly fluctuate. Past studies examined these fluctuations as an underlying cause for changes in women’s psychology, namely the impact on women’s social perception (i.e., mate attraction and relationship quality). However, as I read into this material, my mentor and I noticed that there was a gap in knowledge for how the ovulatory and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle affect social affiliative behavior. As such, we created my thesis as a means to close this gap.

My thesis focused primarily on sociality (i.e., affiliative behavior) and broke it down further into two domains: romantic and platonic. Romantic sociality describes social interactions one has with their partner or a potential partner, whereas platonic sociality describes the social interactions one has with his or her family, friends, and strangers. I first hypothesized that the trend for general sociality would increase across both the ovulatory and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. My second prediction was that romantic sociality would increase during the ovulatory phase, then decrease once women approached the luteal phase. Finally, my third hypothesis was that platonic sociality would be lower during the ovulatory phase but increase as women approach the luteal phase.

I designed this experiment as a daily diary study so that I could easily capture how the menstrual cycle effects may differ depending on the target of affiliation. Women in the study completed a nightly survey that asked about their desire to socialize with either friends, family, strangers, or their current romantic partners. To determine the ovulatory phase and the subsequent luteal phase, I had participants wear Ava bracelets every night for one full menstrual cycle (~30 days) and sync the bracelet to the corresponding app the following morning. Ava bracelets collect biometric data (i.e., sleep, heart rate variability, and basal body temperature) that have been found to reliably predict the onset of ovulation.

I ran this study for two semesters and was able to get 30 participants. Despite this seeming like a low amount, I was able to gather so many data points per person due to the design of the study. In March of 2023, I analyzed this data and got preliminary results that showed support for my second hypothesis and partial support for my third hypothesis. This was just in time to create a poster and present my findings at the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Conference (NEEPS) the following month.

While at NEEPS, I was able to share everything that I had been working on up to that point. I had the opportunity to talk to peers about my work and network with others in the psychology community. More importantly, though, I got to talk to so many women about their menstrual cycles and how it affects their social decision-making. This led to meaningful conversations about the biological and psychological components that affect women’s social preferences which, in turn, helped women better understand how to navigate their social interactions.

This was an invaluable experience that would not have been possible if not for the Honors College Research Grant. The Ava bracelets cost roughly $300 a piece, so the grant allowed me to buy multiple bracelets which then allowed me to run more participants at a time. If I did not have this grant, this entire research project would not exist, and I would not have gotten the chance to share my findings and help women better understand their social decisions.

Though I have graduated, I plan to continue this project so that I may one day publish my findings. In the future, I hope that this project will be the first of many as I pursue a career as a researcher in experimental psychology.