Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Art-making can increase positive affect, well-being, and optimism and reduce negative affect. During the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been shown to increase negative feelings and mental health, it is uncertain whether these benefits of art-making can be applied. This study examined the effects of art-making on participants’ mood, optimism, and overall well-being specifically during the time of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Participants (N = 8) were randomly assigned to one of two groups in which they either completed a task about any negative life events that have occurred over the past year, including that of the COVID-19 pandemic (the negative-emotion task), or a grocery list for a typical week (the neutral-emotion task). Participants completed this initial task as well as five days of art-making for at least 30 minutes per day. Mood, Optimism, and overall Well-being were assessed by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), respectively. The hypotheses were partially supported in that the negative-emotion task did decrease positive affect and short periods of art-making increased positive affect and overallwell-being for most participants over the five days. However, negative affect and optimism fluctuated across participants, with some experiencing a positive, negative or no change after the negative-emotion task and subsequent art-making activities.

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