Digital Commons Network^™

Can We Reduce Social Comparison And Fear Of Missing Out With Labels On Instagram?, Taylor Martinek

Departmental Honors Projects

The rapid rise in social media platforms has led to an increase of research surrounding its uses and effects. Thus far, results are heavily mixed with researchers finding both positive and negative effects. Activist campaigns, such as Status of Mind, have chosen to highlight negative outcomes such as increased social comparison and fear of missing out (FOMO). They have proposed platforms introduce a label to be placed on edited posts to help remind viewers they have been altered and are not an accurate depiction of reality. The current study examines whether labels are effective in reducing social comparison and …

Cyber Violence: What Do We Know And Where Do We Go From Here?, Jillian K. Peterson, James Densley

College of Liberal Arts All Faculty Scholarship

This paper reviews the existing literature on the relationship between social media and violence, including prevalence rates, typologies, and the overlap between cyber and in-person violence. This review explores the individual-level correlates and risk factors associated with cyber violence, the group processes involved in cyber violence, and the macro-level context of online aggression. The paper concludes with a framework for reconciling conflicting levels of explanation and presents an agenda for future research that adopts a selection, facilitation, or enhancement framework for thinking about the causal or contingent role of social media in violent offending. Remaining empirical questions and new directions …

Delinquency, Depression, Religiosity, And Social Support In The Prediction Of Substance Use: Findings From Add Health, Nicholas Francesco Heimpel

Departmental Honors Projects

Delinquency, depression, religiosity, and social support have been demonstrated to relate to substance use in adolescence. We examined relations between these factors and substance use (cigarette use, marijuana use, frequency of intoxication using alcohol, and lifetime substance use) using the National Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (ADD Health), a large-scale nationally representative epidemiological study (N = 6504). Our results suggested that: 1) in simple correlations, delinquency and depression appeared to be related to higher levels of all forms of substance use, whereas religiosity and social support appeared to be inversely related with all forms of substance use, 2) in …

Human Vision Inspires Cortisol And Immune Behaviors, J. Forrest Olsen

Departmental Honors Projects

Ten-minute slideshows of disease stimuli were presented to human participants who donated saliva samples before and after its completion. Much to our surprise, this research found cortisol decreased upon the visual perception of a disease threat, a response depicting the physiological consequences of Behavior Immune System activation. Even subliminal exposure to disease stimuli, totaling only 0.5 seconds over the ten-minute slideshow, was found to elicit a cortisol response.

Motivational Effects Of Non-Contingent Reinforcement In Children, Alexandra S. Leaskas

Departmental Honors Projects

Non-contingent reinforcement is random and non-informative feedback. Berglas and Jones (1978) first reported that non-contingent reinforcement leads to self-handicapping in adult males. Self-handicapping can be described as a premeditated adaptive behavior that protects against negative attributions to the self after failure. The purpose of this study is to explore whether or not the same effect will be found in children of both sexes. Participants (children in first and second grade) received contingent (informative) or non-contingent (non-informative) reinforcement while playing the children’s game “I Never Forget a Face.” Children were given the opportunity to self-handicap immediately after reinforcement. After the opportunity …

Psychopathy: What Mental Health Professionals Need To Know, Jillian K. Peterson, Jerrod Brown

College of Liberal Arts All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Psychopathy In The Criminal Justice System, Jillian K. Peterson, Jerrod Brown

College of Liberal Arts All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

College Students’ Knowledge Of Suicide Risk Factors And Prevention Strategies, Joshua Mitchell

Departmental Honors Projects

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among college aged students (Hirsch & Barton, 2011). Several risk factors for suicidal ideation have been identified, but little work has focused on awareness of suicide prevention resources. The focus of this study is to assess a college population’s knowledge on suicide risk factors and determine whether they feel strongly about one method of prevention over another. This study is focused on assessing individual knowledge of risk factors and identification of appropriate prevention strategies. It was hypothesized that participants who are more successful at identifying risk factors will be more knowledgeable …

Activating The Biological And Behavioral Immune Systems, Julia Christensen

Departmental Honors Projects

Psychology recognizes two distinct facets of the immune system: the biological immune system (BIO), covering all processes of the typical immune system, and the behavioral immune system (BEH), a set of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to environmental stimuli. Research on this dual immune system indicates that each is capable of influencing the other (Schaller & Park, 2011). For example, perception of illness in others can activate the sympathetic nervous system (Schaller, Miller, Gervais, Yager, & Chen, 2010). Furthermore, evidence suggests that these two systems are capable of influencing moral judgment (Inbar, Pizarro, & Bloom, 2008). This study aims to …

“The Autism Adventures Of Watson & Holmes”: Puppet Theatre To Improve Elementary Students’ Knowledge Of And Attitudes Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarah N. Simon

Departmental Honors Projects

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a growing concern in schools across the nation. More students with high functioning autism are being mainstreamed, and students on and off the spectrum are being exposed to a wider variety of behaviors and new opportunities for friendship in school. Many students who fall on the autism spectrum suffer from the stigmatizing attitudes of their peers, and this stigmatization often stems from a lack of early education about mental health. Puppetry has been proven to captivate young audiences while teaching important messages in an entertaining and relatable way. The purpose of this …

Women Struggle To Reach The Top: Gender Disparities In The Workplace, Shannon E. Doherty

Departmental Honors Projects

Abstract

The study examined the degree to which gender role expectations, anticipated role conflict and same-gendered role models are related to women’s career centrality. It was predicted that women who adhere more to male norms than female norms will indicate more career centrality than women who adhere more to female norms; women who anticipate less work-family conflict will indicate more career centrality; women will identify female role models more often than male role models; and women who identify female role models will report those individuals to have a higher degree of impact on their career centrality. There were 97 students …

Peers, Parent-Child Conflict, And Familial History In The Prediction Of Substance Use In College, Angela M. Holth

Departmental Honors Projects

Using a cross-sectional study design, we examined whether peer relationships, parent-child conflict and family history of substance problems predicted substance use (frequency and quantify of alcohol, nicotine and marijuana use, age at first and alcohol and marijuana use, and maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24 hour period) in a sample of college students (N=194). Our findings suggested the following: 1) deviant peers and deviant substance using peers were significantly related to increases in all substance use measures, and a decrease in age at first alcohol, use but not age at first marijuana use. 2) there were no gender …