Honors Program, UNL
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
Accessibility Remediation
If you are unable to use this item in its current form due to accessibility barriers, you may request remediation through our remediation request form.
First Advisor
Rachel Azima, Department of English
Date of this Version
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Citation
Hansen, E. 2026. Psychological Principles in Writing Center Consulting & AI. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
A third of those ages 18 to 24 have engaged with ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025). The newest form, ChatGPT-4, is better at generating more plausible long-form essays and creative writing than ever before (Imran & Almusharraf, 2023), meaning that AI-assisted writing is prevalent at higher education institutions (Cardon et al., 2023) and in writing centers (Goulet, 2025). Limited research has investigated the impact of this on writing center consultants. This multidisciplinary study investigated how consultants feel about large language model artificial intelligence (LLM AI) and how it can impact the consulting process, through the lens of three psychological principles: empathy, social learning theory, and emotional expression through language. A Qualtrics survey was distributed nationally, with a total of 56 participants. The survey found that consultants have mixed views surrounding AI, though a majority of respondents did not have confidence in AI’s ability to use empathy and encourage self-expression through language.
IRB Project ID #: UNL-00025157
Keywords: artificial intelligence, consulting, writing process, empathy, social learning
Comments
Copyright Ella Hansen, 2026.