Georgetown College. Georgetown University.

Senior Meredith Sprengel's work with Dr. Moghaddam includes an investigation of voter apathy. (Photo: Roland Dimaya)

By Dayo Akinwande

Meredith Sprengel, a psychology honors student in her senior year at Georgetown, points to some unsettling statistics about the United States’ electoral system for the past century. Since the presidential election of 1896, the percentage of citizens who have voted in a national or state election has never been more than 80 percent. Only half of the eligible voters in the presidential election of 1988 actually voted—a trend that has continued to this very day. Based on a survey of 22 industrialized nations, only Switzerland surpasses the United States in low voter participation. It is a culture of the “apathetic mindset” that Sprengel intends to reverse.

“Understanding how a citizen perceives the act of voting, either as a right or a duty, can shed new light on why the average United States citizen so often approaches the electoral process with apathy,” says Sprengel.

Such is the nature of her work with Dr. Fathali Moghaddam: investigating the lack of participation among United States citizens in relation to the country’s electoral system. Sprengel suggests that the relationship between the government and its citizens can be strengthened by the latter getting a better understanding of their rights and duties, and then exercising them.

“A ‘right’, as defined by Dr. Moghaddam, is what an individual perceives as voluntary as well as discretionary,” says Sprengel. “It is the individual’s option whether or not to participate according to the group he associates himself. Conversely, a ‘duty’ is an activity which an individual feels is his responsibility because of his group association. Participation is incumbent upon him—either by choice or by force—by relation to the group he participates in.”

Currently preparing her ethics proposal for submission to the institutional review board, Sprengel cannot wait to begin her research in which she will interview people on whether or not it is their right or duty to vote. The end result will be a research paper. For now, though, patience is key.

“At the moment, although I am sure this will change, writing the thesis for my research sounds fun to me,” says Sprengel. “To compile all my research and have a paper that I have written about my research will fulfill a dream of mine.”

Since the age of nine, a career in psychology had always appealed to Sprengel, even if such an aspiration ebbed during her early undergraduate years. Listening to a tape of M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled in her father’s car ignited her interest. But a stint at University of Maine left her dissatisfied with psychology, finding her classes “less than inspiring.” Switching to foreign relations gradually became an appealing alternative.

Still, there was a lining of hope. When filing transfer applications to colleges in Washington, D.C., and Virginia prior to her junior year, she was also looking into their psychology programs. She was drawn to one in particular.

“While I was exploring Georgetown's Department of Psychology, I saw Professor Moghaddam's profile and a description of his work, which he gave in an interview posted on the psychology website,” says Sprengel. “So, I decided to order his books Great Ideas in Psychology and The Psychology of Rights and Duties. I really found the books much more enlightening than the dribble and mundane topics studied in my undergraduate courses. So I decided if I got into Georgetown, I would try one more semester as a Psychology major.”

It was a decision that eventually led her to work directly with Dr. Moghaddam. Sprengel got into one of his courses, Multiculturalism, Democracy, and Intergroup Relations. After finding out that Dr. Moghaddam did not have an honors student for the next school year to work with him, she filled the vacant position. By the next semester, she was doing an independent study with him, “Rights, Duties, and Human Relationships,” and that allowed her to start research for her honors thesis.

“I must say I really feel privileged to work with him because he has put a lot of time and effort into developing me as a student as well as my research project,” says Sprengel of Dr. Moghaddam. “He is also a ton of fun to work with because he has really neat stories and has lived a fascinating life.”

More specifically, Sprengel is intrigued by a unique approach that Dr. Moghaddam adopts in psychology study.

“Professor Moghaddam believes that you cannot actually tap into what someone thinks or feels,” explains Sprengel. “When you are performing a study, all you can expect to learn is the thought or feeling someone reports which is not necessarily reality. It is crucial for the field of psychology to acknowledge this.”

Sprengel’s experiences with Moghaddam have prepared her for her future endeavors. She aspires to get a Ph.D. in social psychology—she plans to focus on political conflict—and enjoy a lifelong career in research and academia. She credits Dr. Moghaddam with honing her expression of ideas and admires his writing prolificacy.

“He told me that he gets it all done by putting two solid hours of work in each day when he can,” she says. “I still find it incredible he manages to juggle the research projects he is involved in, and the projects which he is investigates on his own.”

Sprengel grew up in Long Island, New York, and moved to Maine when she was thirteen. Outside of school, she plays the classical and jazz flute, and as a self-admitted “political junkie,” she loves to read political books and newspapers.

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