July 24, 2026
Earlier in the week, I learned that I was going to be the honors advisor for my department. I've been in this role before (for the 2017-2018 academic year), so it's not a new experience. But it's been a while. Also, I realized that I've never written in detail about our honors program, and it was time to write a few entries about the process.
The department has an honors program website. It gets updated every August, so what is on the website right now is not fully up to date, especially all of the due dates (which are all from 2025-2026). This will get updated soon, certainly before the start of the Fall semester. The program doesn't change that much, and I don't intend to make many changes to the structure (although some things will change), but there are a few things that students should know (IMHO):
What is the Honors Program in CPSY?
OK, most of this is reiterating the website. But basically, the honors program is a two-semester independent study in which you conduct an experiment or similar investigation (building computational models, performing qualitative analysis, reanalyzing archival data, etc.). It is more than a literature review (although a literature review is part of the process). Students are required to take CPSY1980 in semesters 7 and 8 (this is non-negotiable) under an advisor. That will involve a weekly meeting with your faculty member during the semesters. It will involve writing assignments with hard deadlines. It will involve a final presentation at the end of the year.
Please note that my discussion of the honors program is going to cover honors in Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Cognitive Neuroscience. Honors in Behavioral Decision Sciences has a slightly different flavor, and it is absolutely necessary that you talk with both the BDS advisor (who is currently David Levari) and the honors advisor (me). Yup, it's an extra step. And yup, the requirements are slightly different.
Just FYI, it is best to have an advisor in the CPSY department or a member of the faculty who is part of the CPSY department (the website is here; there are a lot of titles (primary, research, affiliate, secondary, emeritus, etc. As long as the person is listed on this website, it's OK). Note: If the person is not listed on the website, it *MIGHT* be OK, but you have to get permission and that's a process. And the process takes a little time. Contact the honors advisor in the semester before you begin to start that process. Don't wait until the summer before your senior year. Do it when you're a junior).
Also note: Honors should not be a decision that you take lightly. Typically, students start planning this in semester 5 or 6, at the latest.
Why go honors?
There are two reasons to go honors. One is good. One is bad.
And when I say bad, I mean really bad. I mean disastrous. Like horrible and you should do something different.
The good reason to go honors is because you are interested in answering a question. Maybe you read a paper in a class, and you thought that the conclusions were wrong, and you wanted to do an experiment to show that those conclusions were wrong. Maybe you read a paper, and really liked the ideas, but thought there was something missing, so you designed a study to expand the ideas. Maybe you read two papers and thought that both of them were great, but they didn't talk to each other, and you wanted to combine them in some way, so you worked to do it. Great. All of these threads involve YOU having ideas that motivate some kind of scientific investigation. You know you want to do research. You know you want to engage in the scientific process. You have a question that motivates you.
And you also have an advisor who has agreed to take you on. That last bit is really important. I've written a little bit about finding research opportunities in the department, but I realize that I have to dedicate some more entries to this. Coming soon.
OK. So that's the good reason. What's the bad reason. It's simple:
I want my diploma to say Honors on it.
By itself, this is not a bad reason to go honors. If you're covered by the good reasons above, this is fine. It's fine to be recognized for doing work. That's what the honors designation is. It's also OK to want credit for your effort.
But if you're only doing it because you think it will help you get in to graduate school or you want something fancy by your name, this is not a good way for you to spend your time. More importantly, it is not a good way for you to use department resources (and yes, time and effort of your faculty is a department resource). Honors isn't something you should check off a checklist - I have to do X, Y, and Z in order to achieve a goal (graduate school, medical school, etc.). This is one of the easiest ways not to succeed, both in the honors program, and in ultimately obtaining that goal.
Alright, it's not that cut and dry. What if you know you want to do research, but don't have a well-formed question, or you have a well-formed question but you're worried that some one else has already asked and answered that question? What if you don't know you want to do research because you never had the opportunity, and you're rising into senior year, and this is the last chance?
Let's take those one at a time:
1) You don't have a well-formed question. This one is simple - figure out the ballpark of the question (think about what introductory class is it most related to?) Go talk with that faculty member in their office hours. Remember, faculty hold office hours. During such hours, they are usually bored and would like some company. They are also human beings whom you can talk to. Go talk to them. Tell them that you're interested in research, but you don't have a well-formed question. See what happens.
2) You have a well-formed question, but you are afraid someone has done it. Yup. Welcome to research. Everyone has this concern. We do the work anyway. Unless you are directly stealing an idea from someone else, it's unlikely that someone else has done it exactly the way you would do it. And, even if that were true, here's the secret: It doesn't matter. You will still get honors even if on the day before your final you realize that someone else did the exact project you conducted.
3) You don't know if you want to do research? This is the hardest one. Honors is a big investment. Often, if you have an advisor (particularly an advisor in the department), you can just do an independent study (CPSY1980) for one semester. This could serve as the capstone of your concentration (This is becoming more of a popular option). And, it might not be as involved as an honors project, but it still can be an independent project. What's important is that you talk with your advisor before you do it about the guidelines and expectations for the project.
Alternatively, you can start the honors process, and assess where you are at the end of the first semester (which you will have to do anyway). There are some people who go through the first semester, and just want to do something else. That's OK. You will still get a 1980 experience, and it can still be a Capstone requirement for the department. It just won't be honors. And that's OK.
Final note on this entry: There's a lot of discussion around honors and graduate school. Many students will say that they have to go honors to get into graduate school. It's just a lie. It's just false. What's important for graduate school is not honors. It's research. It's a letter of recommendation. It's a general knowledge of what you want to study and why. A lot of the early entries on this blog are about this.
A successful honors experience will help with these things. It might even lead you to publish a manuscript (as of today, I've published peer-review journal articles with 17 different undergraduate students; my guess is that's average for someone who's been at Brown as long as I have. My point is that it definitely happens). But going honors just to chase that goal doesn't always work. Research experience, good letters of recommendation, and general good vibes from a lab can all be obtained in a lot of ways, not just the honors program.