Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Impact Of Mindfulness Practices On Positive Habit Formation And Individual Well-Being: A Literature Review, Lori Barnes

2024 Student Academic Showcase

Mindfulness practices have been recognized as an important tool for cultivating positive habits and enhancing overall well-being. This literature review begins with a brief overview of what mindfulness practices are and explores a wide range of research demonstrating the effectiveness of mindfulness practices on personal growth and well-being. Furthermore, various aspects of well-being, including mental health, stress reduction, emotional regulation, and physical health are examined in relation to mindfulness practices. Additionally, this review discusses the use of technology applications to facilitate mindfulness practices and explores the utility of mindful practices during high stress times such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Personality, Mandy Galli

2024 Student Academic Showcase

The current project is a proposal for a study that will help clarify the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and trait emotional intelligence (TEI) and assess how achievement motivation relates to TEI. Participants will be adults recruited from social media and the Lindenwood Participant Pool. Variables will be measured through questionnaires on Qualtrics. Correlational analyses will be conducted to assess the relationship between personality traits and TEI as well as the relationship between achievement motivation and TEI. Additionally, t-tests will be conducted to evaluate the relationship between TEI and both exposure to childhood discussions of emotion and current …

An Exploration Of Companion Robots, Annelyse Lockhart

2024 Student Academic Showcase

Japan and the United States have a drastically different view towards artificial intelligence and smart machines. Within my project, I did an exploratory analysis of robotics within the United States and Japan, and posed the question as to why Japan has substantially more robotics within their day-to-day life. I took an in-depth look at Japanese robotics that do not exist within the United States, as well as explored the biases behind smart machines in both cultures. Judging Category: Exploratory

Understanding The Relationship Between Choice Of Pet And Priorities In An Intimate Relationship - A Research Proposal, Kaitlyn Guthrie

2024 Student Academic Showcase

This proposed research study aims to see if an individual’s choice of pet reflect the things that they value most in an intimate relationship. Pets have become more popular over the years, and a common theme for choosing a pet is whether or not the animal will be a good fit for the individual’s lifestyle. Since dogs are known to be social and affectionate creatures, I believe that individuals who have pet dogs may require more physical affection and a sense of togetherness in an intimate relationship in order to feel satisfied. I believe that individuals who own cats, though …

Relationship Experiences And Parenting Attitudes, Mckayla Overton, Colleen Biri

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Attachment styles are a popular topic of study in psychology. Despite there being a lot of research available on how one’s attachment style as a child influences other relationships, there is a lack of research available on the relationship between one’s attachment style and one’s subsequent parenting attitudes. To study this, an online survey was distributed containing questions about attachment style and parenting attitudes. This study hypothesized that participants with a secure attachment style will score higher on both the warmness scale and rules scale of the parenting attitudes section of the survey. Data was collected from 164 respondents. Results …

Music Training And Cognitive Function, Madilyn Waters, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Music training is defined as the instruction on a musical instrument, and it requires the simultaneous use of several cognitive functions: perception, memory, attention, and learning, in particular. I set out to determine if any associations exist between music training and increased cognitive function. After extensive research on various topics, I discovered that there are several significant associations between cognition and music training. Dementia, as well as other cognitive impairments, were shown to occur less in individuals that participated in music training. Attention, working memory, and intelligence showed significant positive associations with music training. Also, music training can also be …

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Children, Shannon Troy, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

2023 Student Academic Showcase

This research paper looks into Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, specifically in children. ADHD is a disorder that influences one’s attention span and overall concentration in individuals and is a significant diagnosis involving children in the United States. This disorder has noticeable informalities regarding cognitive functions, as well as brain structure, in both adults and children with ADHD. Along with cognitive abnormalities, it also showed ADHD hinders a child’s educational experiences, making it hard for them to take in and remember information. With these stunts on the child’s cognitive, educational, and social abilities, it is imperative that the child is not …

Mental Health In Japan And The United States: A Look At Differences And Similarities, Whitney Ford, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Not only has research into mental health in Japan and the United States highlighted the differences between these two countries, it has also shown the many similarities they share as well. This research paper focuses on the top three disorders that were reported for each country, a comparison of disorder prevalence between the two countries, preferred treatment types, and degree of stigma expressed within each culture. The research concluded that Japan and the United States share two of their top three diagnosed mental health disorders and they also share similar preferences for treatment options. The notion that suicide rates in …

Picturing Failure And Negative Self-Talk: A Perfect Combo For Choking, Corbin Barnett, Maia Busi

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Athletes and performers can experience a phenomenon called ‘choking’ whereby skill execution and performance decrease beyond self-expected standards due to factors such as performance anxiety. We explored the relationship between choking and how athletes/performers feel their inner experience influenced their choking experience. Participants (N = 63) were recruited to complete an online Qualtrics survey measuring mental imagery and their possible experience of choking in performance. Narrowing down to just those who reported choking (N = 19), participants were asked how much they believed various internal factors influenced the choking event to occur. A repeated-measures ANOVA found that picturing failure and …

Bilingualism: A Cognitive Superpower, Maia Busi, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

2023 Student Academic Showcase

An investigation of bilingualism in terms of the acquisition of a second language (L2), the cognitive benefits shared by people who are bilingual, and academic outcomes of English Language Learners (ELL). Lenneberg’s critical period hypothesis (CPH) is applied to early life acquisition of L2 as well as both means of later life L2 acquisition. Cognitive benefits are shared in moderation by people in every category of bilingualism, and are discussed in depth with regards to executive function processes of working memory and cognitive flexibility. These benefits can be linked back to the process of code-switching, which involves switching between languages …

Sociology Of Sport: Art Analysis "The Shadows Below", Marissa Mcgraw, Suzanne Stoelting

2023 Student Academic Showcase

My painting represents a multitude of different aspects related to the sociological perspective of the issues pertaining to professional sport. These “easter eggs” throughout the painting are reflective of specific readings we discussed in Sociology of Sport class taught by Suzanne Stoelting. I chose these topics to highlight in the piece because I felt as though they had the most impact on me and how I see the world of professional sports in general. Themes such as the theoretical lens of critical and conflict theory, classism, and sexism are what I chose to focus on as they are what I …

Review Of The Effects Of Attributional Styles On Competitive Athletes, Luke Zuelke, Stephanie Afful

2023 Student Academic Showcase

This review is focused on the effects of different attributional styles for competitive athletes. Attributional style refers to the tendency of individuals to attribute behavior to several types of factors. This review analyzes the impacts of six attributional dimensions: external, internal, global, stable, intentional, and controllable (Hanrahan, et al. 1989). These dimensions, most commonly measured via the Sports Attributional Style Scale or SASS (Hanrahan, Grove, & Hattie 1989), each uniquely contribute to an individual’s perception of both individual and team performance. Attributional styles are known to effect athlete’s competitive performance and training, and current studies have indicated that four of …

Mental Imagery And Its Connection To The Universe, Alea Farmer, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

2023 Student Academic Showcase

This poster displays the concept of mental imagery and its relationship to spirituality and religion. Mental imagery is first defined, and its usages and functions are explained. The five principles of mental imagery by Finke (1989) are discussed to understand the complexity of mental imagery. This poster showcases the neurological side of mental imagery, including the role of the cerebral cortex and the pineal gland. It also explains what can stimulate and inhibit mental imagery. The overarching connection between mental imagery and spirituality is shown. Research on ancient religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism is described to show how concepts …

Assertiveness Or Antibiotics?: Self-Assertiveness As A Predictor Of Sexual Health, Zoe Sweaney

2023 Student Academic Showcase

The following study investigated the relationship between various psychological correlates and sexual health. Data was supportive of a significant negative correlation between assertiveness as a personality trait and risky sexual behaviors, indicating that the more confident individuals are in asserting themselves both in general social contexts and within intimate relationships, the less likely they are to be exposed to or engage in high-risk behaviors. The implications for college campuses are significant: future research should explore the effect of scripts and other educational resources on student assertiveness and sexual health. Although our data did not replicate the gender discrepancies found by …

Post Roe V. Wade: Evaluation Of Abortion Attitudes, Justice Jones, Rumbidzai Chisango

2023 Student Academic Showcase

With the recent overturning of Roe v Wade, abortion is at the forefront of many political discussions. This study aims to investigate how exposure to a politically charged topic (abortion) versus a general heath topic (Cancer) affects a person’s bias and social identity. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: abortion or cancer and then completed measures on collective self-esteem, global self-esteem, Conservatism, in-group bias, and demographics. The younger group rated republicans more favourable (t(198) = 2.48, p < .01)., had less abortion knowledge (t(103) = -2.51, p < .01)., and were higher in core conservatism ((t(200) = 2.9, p < .01) compared to the older group. Republicans (in a forced choice question) rated themselves higher and democrats lower, were higher in conservatism, but were lower in prochoice attitudes and abortion knowledge (all p’s < .001). There were no significant differences in conservatism, pro-choice attitudes, and political bias when comparing states with legal abortion access versus illegal abortion laws.

Mixed Methods Analysis Of Perceived Gender Identity In Heterosexual And Lesbian Couples, Ximena Gutierrez, Evan Struempth

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Despite wanting an independent identity we cannot deny that our perceived identity is heavily influenced by who our partner is. Our previous research found that black partners were perceived as significantly more black in intraracial couples (pictured with a black partner) than compared to interracial couples (Grembocki & Afful, 2019). We applied similar methodology to examine how an individual’s perceived identity varies in lesbian relationships when manipulating gender expression via clothing and posture. Our 156 participants were randomly assigned a picture of a couple followed with a short vignette in order to rate compatibility, perceived gender identity, and heteronormative attitudes. …

An Early Enriched Diet And Its Effect On Invertebrates (Blaberus Discoidalus), Diego De Gregorio

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Research with multiple animal species suggests that experiencing enriched diets and environmental conditions during early development facilitates positive outcomes in neurogenesis, associative learning, and memory (Cayre et al., 2007; Maegele et al., 2015; Mallory et al., 2016), social behavior (Oddi et al., 2015), and sensory system function (Leong et al., 2015). Whether the developmental gains that enriched environments provide apply similarly to all invertebrate species remains unknown. This study will help close this gap in the literature. To answer our research question, 120 nymph cockroaches were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions (40 subjects per condition) in which …

Gingerbread House Making With Patients With Dementia, Laney Fenton, Alicia Stahlschmidt, Ashley Richard, Elliott Irwin, Zachary Martin

2023 Student Academic Showcase

As part of the LU Memory Makers for PSY 33000:Learning & Memory, we helped set up, participate, and clean up a special event for patients with dementia. This service-learning experience consisted of connecting with a community partner and engaging with older individuals who suffered with dementia and also their caregivers. Not only did we observe the process of building gingerbread houses with people with dementia, but also how they interacted with us as strangers and with their peers who also have dementia. We had a real world experience of material covered in our learning and memory class.

Lu Memory Makers: Dementia And Fine/Gross Motor Skills, Mackenzie Holtman, Raphaelle Margueron

2023 Student Academic Showcase

LU memory makers was a Service-Learning project for PSY 33000: Learning & Memory which allowed us to organize an event for the dementia community. For our event, we had activities that used fine and gross motor skills so that the participants were able to practice these movements that would benefit their physical and mental health. We used knowledge we learned in class on how dementia affects the brain and how physical changes occur over a lifetime to enhance our understanding of people living with this disease.

Guilty By Reason Of Vanity?: The Relationship Between Jurors’ Socioeconomic Status And Trial Outcome, Zoe Sweaney

2022 Student Academic Showcase

The present study investigated the relationship between a juror’s socioeconomic status (SES) and the likelihood that they would convict a defendant. I hypothesized that a participant of a higher SES would be more likely to convict a defendant than would a participant of a lower SES. To investigate the validity of this hypothesis, participants posing as jurors completed an online survey in which they were tasked with evaluating the details of five different court cases void of any identifiable and/or demographic information about the defendant (and victim(s), if applicable) and submitting their final verdict on the case (guilty or not …

In Your Face: Facial Expressions And Emotions, Sophia Lachance, Stephanie Afful

2022 Student Academic Showcase

Human beings process information in all different ways, but one of the first ways is through facial expressions. These facial expressions influence how we process information from infancy through adolescence, and how negative and positive stimuli affect our emotions. As we grow older other forms of stimuli, such as verbal and physical aspects, affect our emotions throughout our lifetime. As we gain recognition for these forms and understand how they affect the way we feel, the question is how can our understanding of other expressions be used as a mechanism for safety? This literary review discusses three types of ways …

Sleep Quality, Academic Performance, And Personality Examined, Marit De Lau

2022 Student Academic Showcase

I will be examining relationships between sleep quality, academic performance, and personality. Results showed that there was a negative correlation found between the PSQI score and conscientiousness (r = -.223) and between the PSQI score and emotional stability (r = -.445). There was no significant effect for the PSQI score t(76) = -1.6, p = .121, despite women (M = 8.06, SD = 3.49) attaining higher scores than men (M = 6.83, SD = 3.16). This study investigates whether there is a relationship between one’s sleep quality, personality traits, and academic performance.

• A negative relationship was …

Perceptions Of Happiness Through The Lens Of Age And Gender, Alea Farmer

2022 Student Academic Showcase

The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate how people of different ages and gender perceive happiness, or what their idea of happiness is. The study will be conducted via survey and participants will be recruited through social media platforms (Twitter and Instagram) and physical flyers distributed on the campus of Lindenwood University. Anyone who is an adult (18 years or older) will be allowed to participate in the study by completing the survey. The survey will begin by asking participants to identify their age and gender. Then, participants will be asked to complete the Conceptions of Happiness Scale …

Agreeableness And Covid-19 Safety Protocols, Brianna Huck

2022 Student Academic Showcase

The key role that agreeableness has played in human personality is to showcase how compassionate or cooperative a person can be. In this research, I used a person’s range of agreeableness to examine how likely they are to follow COVID-19 safety protocols through an anonymous survey, which included questions regarding safety policies, demographics, and an agreeableness scale. By using a Pearson's r correlation, I found that there was no significant correlation between level of agreeableness and compliance to COVID-19 safety protocols.

Hearing Productivity: Music And Productivity Study, Sydney Beins

2022 Student Academic Showcase

My study aim is to find which music genre increases one’s productivity the most. Participants listened to different genres of music: R&B, Classical, Latin, Rap while they typed as many nonsense words as they could in a minute. Participants were tested four times, each with a different genre of music playing. The preliminary findings will be discussed along with ways in which the results can be applied to everyday life.

Do You See What I See? Do You Hear What I Hear?, Camryn O'Neal, Miranda Brannum, Sydnie Hoyt

2022 Student Academic Showcase

This is a proposal for a research study to investigate how widely people vary on their inner experiences and how they are using them. We will evaluate people’s capability to have mental imagery (via the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire; Marks, 1973) and inner speech (from subscales from the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire; Andrade et al., 2014). We expect a positive correlation. Additionally, we intend to assess how people use mental imagery and inner speech by having them read a self-developed concrete ‘children’s’ story and ask how well they could visualize or hear the dialogue. This investigation has a non-directional …

Insight Into The Mind Of A Gifted Individual: A Research Proposal To Examine Opinions Of Adults Formerly Enrolled In Gifted Programs, Miranda Brannum

2022 Student Academic Showcase

This is a proposal for my study which aims to discover the opinions of adults formerly enrolled in gifted programs and/or assigned gifted Individual Education Plans (IEP) about these programs in general. I will investigate how they feel they may have been influenced by these programs, and any other comments they may have. The study is intended to be exploratory and provide information that could further future research. The results will give insight on first-hand interpretations of the gifted experience. My findings can potentially be used to reform gifted programs to better benefit those enrolled in them.

Social Media And Body Image, Sydnie Hoyt

2022 Student Academic Showcase

Social media is an ever-growing phenomenon, and while having the world at our fingertips proves convenient, it also has the potential to cause harm in the form of mental distress. Several studies have investigated whether the use of social media may be linked to body image issues. The present study further explored the potential link between social media and body image, specifically looking for a correlation between the number of hours spent on social media and intensity of body image concerns. Adult participants were recruited through the social media platforms of Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, and Facebook. Participants completed a survey …