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The Sexual Objectification Experiences Of Non-Binary People, Lee R. Pradell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Transgender people are a historically marginalized and disenfranchised group, leading to discriminatory interpersonal treatment such as sexual objectification experiences (SOEs), a type of objectification. Women look at themselves the way men look at them, reducing themselves to objects for someone else’s viewing. This flattening of oneself to value your bodily presentation over functioning increases dissociative states and promotes disordered eating behaviors. Non-binary people experience additive stressors within objectification experiences as people with less social power than cisgender women. This thesis is composed of three separate studies aimed at understanding the SOEs of non-binary people.

The first of three studies recruited …

Perceiving The Poster: How Suspicion Of Motives May Impact Perceptions Of Potential Allies Engaging In Online Activism, Kathrina Z. Durante

Honors Theses

Social media posts signaling support for various social and racial justice movements have emerged as an important aspect of social media use. However, little research has investigated how these posts and the social media users behind them are perceived by members of disadvantaged groups﹘those the messages are presumably intended to “help.” Though the post’s content and poster’s identity are likely important, the primary aim of this study is to investigate an individual difference variable in the perceiver, specifically disadvantaged group members’ Suspicion of Motives Index (SOMI) scores, which measure a general tendency to perceive White individuals’ attempts at non-prejudice to …

Assessing The Dynamic Amongst Self-Compassion, Connection To Nature, And Well-Being, Yueyi Fan

Honors Theses

In 2015, the United Nations deemed promoting individual well-being of paramount importance, along with seventeen other sustainable development goals (to be achieved by 2030). Unfortunately, overall mental health has taken sharp declines with the unprecedented onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD, 2021). According to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the prevalence of anxiety and depression has increased globally; it has doubled or more than doubled as compared to previous years (OECD, 2021). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported increasing levels of adverse mental health conditions, substance use, and suicidal …

Dance And The Self: An Analysis On The Psychological Impacts Of Dance, Morgan Etzinger

Honors Projects

Professional dancers spend numerous hours immersed into dance culture every single day, learning new technique, practicing choreography, and exercising to stay fit. This study explores how dance affects the self-confidence and self-esteem of dance students. Utilizing surveys, the self-confidence and self-esteem of dance students at BGSU is compared to non-performing arts students. The study of psychology allows for proper analysis on the differences between the two groups, why a difference might occur, and how self-confidence and self-esteem is affected. After gathering data on emotions, perfectionism, comparison, group versus individual performances, personal thoughts, and body image, it was found that dancers …

Toxic Positivity And Perceptions Of Mental Health, Madeline E. Feltner

Senior Theses

My thesis concerns how toxic positivity, especially the type we commonly see on social media, can affect perceptions and stigma around mental health issues on college campuses. Toxic positivity is the belief that a person should always maintain a positive mindset, no matter what situation they are in, and invalidates negative emotions. Previous research shows that toxic positivity can have a negative effect on mental health, but in this thesis, I study how toxic positivity affects perceptions about others with mental health issues, willingness to interact with those with mental health issues, and self-perception. It is important to research this …

An Exploration Of The Social And Economic Factors That Influence The Mental Health Of Lgbtq College Students, Alexandria Mh Fossum

Senior Theses

LGBTQ individuals face a much higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders and mental health issues than their heterosexual, cisgender counterparts. The added academic pressures of college introduce a unique set of challenges that LGBTQ students face. This thesis includes a review of academic literature and data examining the intersections between social isolation, institutional discrimination, and financial insecurity and the effects they have on the mental health outcomes of LGBTQ college students. The paper is accompanied by a documentary consisting of a set of interviews of LGBTQ college students, giving a more personal insight into the multitude of factors that affect their …

Inner Work Community: Shadow Work As Spiritual Formation, Michael Simmons

Doctor of Leadership

The NPO statement surrounding this doctoral project is that A theological, practical, and community-centered framework for shadow work is disconnected from Christian spiritual formation. This doctoral project is the culmination of a three-fold process: discovering the need for shadow work in the context of spiritual formation, designing multi-faceted virtually-based opportunities to address this need among individuals and groups, and delivering those opportunities via online courses, one-on-one shadow work, and digital content such as essays, articles, and podcasts. My vocational context is my unofficial organization, and MVP, Inner Work Community, which provides these opportunities. Inner Work Community is extended through partnerships …

The Case Of The Disappearing Owner: Do Dogs Show Behavioral Evidence Of Violation Of Expectation?, Rita Kanagat

Theses and Dissertations

The What the Fluff challenge became a series of viral YouTube videos that started in 2018. In the videos, a person stood behind a blanket in a doorway in front of their dog and lifted and lowered the blanket revealing and obscuring themselves, and finally disappearing with a final blanket drop. The dogs’ reactions were varied but were suggestive of a violation of expectation response. We conducted a community science study that employed methodologies consistent with the What the Fluff Challenge paradigm that were conducted in the owners’ homes with their dogs. Each owner was required to run a control …

Wylder And Wynona: A Graphic Novel Retelling Of The Grimm's Fairy Tale "The Little Brother And Sister", Abigail W. Pannell

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

This thesis provides insight on the psychoanalysis of fairy tales, namely the Grimm fairy tale, “The Little Brother and Sister.” The critical analysis defines theories about the human mind popularized by Sigmund Freud and especially Carl Jung. Modern psychologist Paul Moxnes applies Jung’s theories about character archetypes in fairy tales to his modern study about “deep roles” which solidifies the important relationship between human psychology, fairy tales, and fairy tale retellings. With a deeper understanding of the psychological implications of character archetypes, the creative retelling portion of this thesis rewrites the old version of the brother and sister characters from …

Generational Cohort Membership And Career And Organizational Commitment Among Law Enforcement Officers, Erinn Elizabeth Vranches

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Career and organizational commitment are topics of interest in multiple fields, including law enforcement. With the exodus and transition of generational cohorts, there is a need to understand generational differences to address the recruitment, training, and retention of officers. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between generational cohort membership, career commitment, and organizational commitment among law enforcement officers. Two theories were used for the foundation of this study: Manheim’s theory of generations and Super’s developmental self-concept theory. The study method was quantitative and the design, correlational. A survey containing demographic questions and items from the Occupational …

A Phenomenological Study Of Executive Coaching For African American Leaders, Barrhonda White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American leaders face inequalities in executive leadership development support such as executive coaching. This phenomenological qualitative study explored the lived experiences of African American leaders that worked with a leadership coach. The intention of the study was to gain insight into factors that led African American leaders to seek assistance from a leadership coach, preferences regarding leadership coach demographics, and goals from coaching. The theoretical foundation for this research was Self-Discrepancy Theory. The study utilized two research questions related to a) the lived experiences of African American leaders that work with, or have worked with, an executive coach, and …

Differences In Criminal Behavior Based On Experiences Involving Parental Incarceration, Brooke Bowie Fitzgerald

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parental abandonment, a form of abuse and neglect, can be experienced due to various factors, including incarceration. When parents are incarcerated, children may face factors such as housing instability, financial strain, behavioral problems, mental health issues, and criminal justice involvement. Due to little research that is available, there are challenges in terms of providing programs to children in this position that could focus on preventing negative impacts of parental incarceration in order to combat substance abuse and criminal behaviors, promote better adjustment to stressors, and support mental health treatment. The attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and Blatz was used …

Lived Experiences Of Job-Hopping Millennials During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Dottie Dancy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Millennials, also known as “the job-hopping generation,” are on the brink of becoming the largest generation in the workforce by 2025. In March 2020, a global pandemic was declared due to the spread of the virus known as COVID-19, which led to more than 5.3 million deaths globally. Prior research has been conducted concerning the job-hopping tendencies of Millennials, but previous studies have not incorporated the life-changing event of the global pandemic and how it may have changed the beliefs and attitudes of the Millennial generation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the voluntary job-hopping beliefs and …

Observing The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Overall Health, Anxiety, And Sleep, Brianna Chicas

Honors Undergraduate Theses

College students' mental health has been researched for some time. In particular, the correlation between physical activity and mental health symptoms has been researched. The study examines the relationship between physical activity and anxiety, sleep, and overall health. College undergraduate students at the University of Central Florida took an online survey that measured all of these variables. A Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess correlations. Positive correlations were found between anxiety and sleep, anxiety and social desirability, sleep and social desirability, and strength training and vigorous physical activity. Negative correlations were found between overall health and physical activity, overall …

The Relationship Between Semantic Search And Semantic Priming, Lily Rachel Mencarini

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Memory is an essential skill for survival but also very complicated. Semantic memory is an aspect of long-term memory that consists of words and facts about the world. This study aims to see if there is a relationship between semantic priming and semantic search. There were 57 participants with full data who took both the Remote Associates Test (RAT) and a primed lexical decision task (LDT). The RAT tests for semantic search abilities and the primed LDT tests semantic priming ability. It is hypothesized that participants who get faster reaction times (RTs) on correct trials of the RAT will have …

Psychology And Criminology Students' Attribution Of Factors Contributing To Criminal Behaviors, Ava Marie Leahy

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the attribution of contributing factors to criminal behaviors between psychology and criminology majors. To gauge participant perception, a carefully crafted vignette was presented to participants accompanied by questions asking participants to what extent eight variables (conformation to labels, hostile attribution bias, rational choice based on circumstances, poor attachments, mental illness, upbringing, insufficient deterrence, and learned behavior through observation) contributed to the perpetrator’s criminal behavior and for participants to rank-order these same variables from the largest contributors to the least. Participants were also asked to provide a sentencing recommendation for …

How Gender And Victim Blame Impact The Identification Of Human Trafficking Victims, Rudee Colleen Hanna

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Human trafficking is a worldwide phenomenon that uses fraud, force, or coercion to subjugate human beings into a modern form of slavery. Male and transgender victims have been excluded from previous research and as a result, the numbers of victims identifying as male, and transgender is unknown. This study examined the impact of gender and victim blame on the identification of human trafficking victims, particularly male and transgender. The theoretical frameworks of feminist theory and belief in a just world theory supported the study and supported the hypotheses. The research questions focused on the impact of gender and victim blame …

Generational Cohort Membership And Career And Organizational Commitment Among Law Enforcement Officers, Erinn Elizabeth Vranches

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Career and organizational commitment are topics of interest in multiple fields, including law enforcement. With the exodus and transition of generational cohorts, there is a need to understand generational differences to address the recruitment, training, and retention of officers. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between generational cohort membership, career commitment, and organizational commitment among law enforcement officers. Two theories were used for the foundation of this study: Manheim’s theory of generations and Super’s developmental self-concept theory. The study method was quantitative and the design, correlational. A survey containing demographic questions and items from the Occupational …

Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On College Student Brain Health, Asia Alegre

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being and subjective cognition in college students. The purpose of this study as well was to investigate if those who had tested positive for COVID-19 in the past had lower levels of subjective cognitive health and if students who were affected more during the pandemic experienced more disruptions to their wellbeing. Participants (N = 105) were recruited online via the Prolific platform and took part in an online survey administered on Qualtrics. A correlational analysis was performed to examine the effects of the pandemic, …

Attention, Working Memory, And Adaptive Functioning In Emerging Young Adults With Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Parth Nakirikanti

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Schizotypy, a complex construct linked to schizophrenia-related traits, encompasses positive, negative, and disorganized symptoms. This study offers a review of the concept of schizotypy, including its historical evolution, tracing it from Bleuler's early mention in 1911 to Meehl's continuum model. Embracing a dimensional perspective, this research underscores the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding schizotypy. Deficits in sustained attention and working memory within schizotypy remain underexplored, with prior studies yielding inconsistent results. Adaptive functioning deficits in individuals with schizotypy are also inadequately understood. Examining a college student population, this investigation utilized scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire …

Evaluating The Effects Of Feedback On College Students' Self-Reports Of Alcohol Consumption And Standard Drink Free-Pours, Alondra Del Real

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Excessive alcohol consumption is a widespread concern among many college campuses. Most of the data on the prevalence and adverse consequences associated with college drinking are gathered from self-report surveys, which require respondents to have a knowledge of standard drink sizes. Unfortunately, the reliability and validity of these data are questionable because college students are typically unable to define or pour standard drinks. Efforts to improve college students’ self-reported alcohol consumption are warranted. Some researchers suggest that we can improve self-reports of alcohol consumption by providing college students with feedback on the accuracy of their standard drink free-pours (White et …

Mind Over Body: A Comparison Of Psychobiological Versus Physiological Focused Distance Runners, Adam Laurence Beach

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Previous research has shown that psychology can have significant effects on endurance performance. According to exercise physiologist Samuele Marcora all performance gains in endurance racing are due to a reduction of perceived effort at a given pace (Sherman, 2021). The proposed study will compare athletes focusing on reducing perceived effort at a given pace over a four month training period with athletes focused on improving physical fitness over the same period. The fitness group will complete workouts designed to maximize physiological indicators while the perceived effort groups will complete workouts designed to reduce perceived effort while running at a given …

Lived Experiences Of Job-Hopping Millennials During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Dottie Dancy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Millennials, also known as “the job-hopping generation,” are on the brink of becoming the largest generation in the workforce by 2025. In March 2020, a global pandemic was declared due to the spread of the virus known as COVID-19, which led to more than 5.3 million deaths globally. Prior research has been conducted concerning the job-hopping tendencies of Millennials, but previous studies have not incorporated the life-changing event of the global pandemic and how it may have changed the beliefs and attitudes of the Millennial generation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the voluntary job-hopping beliefs and …

A Phenomenological Study Of Executive Coaching For African American Leaders, Barrhonda White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American leaders face inequalities in executive leadership development support such as executive coaching. This phenomenological qualitative study explored the lived experiences of African American leaders that worked with a leadership coach. The intention of the study was to gain insight into factors that led African American leaders to seek assistance from a leadership coach, preferences regarding leadership coach demographics, and goals from coaching. The theoretical foundation for this research was Self-Discrepancy Theory. The study utilized two research questions related to a) the lived experiences of African American leaders that work with, or have worked with, an executive coach, and …

Origins Of Fear Of Intimacy: The Effects Of Parental Involvement And Attachment Style, Victoria M. Perez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The present study explores the origins of fear of intimacy, specifically assessing parental involvement and attachment style. Correlations between each variable were analyzed and a mediation model was explored as well. Participants in this study (N = 372; mean age = 25.78; 86% female) completed scales to measure parental care, parental overprotection, attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and fear of intimacy. Data was analyzed to reveal correlational results that support the hypotheses. Negative correlations were found between parental care and attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and fear of intimacy. Parental overprotection was positively correlated with attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and fear of …

Biological Versus Social Factors Of Juvenile Sex Offenders: A Meta-Analysis, Katherine M. Phillips

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Juvenile sex offending is not a new phenomenon but is one of limited research, with only a slight increase in research in the past decade. This meta-analysis used 5 articles to determine which holds a greater influence on juvenile sex offenders, biological or social factors. Biological factors were divided into impulsiveness, psychosis/mental health diagnosis (excluding paraphilic disorders), and sexual deviance/paraphilia. Social factors were divided into antisocial behavior, prior criminal activity, prior exposure to sexual activities/pornography, and history of being sexually abused. This meta-analysis found that biological factors have a slightly greater effect on Juvenile sex offenders, but it was not …

The Misattuned Music Industry: An Intersubjective Perspective On The Music Industry's Mental Health Crisis, Jonathan Fricke

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Research shows that professional musicians tend to experience higher rates of mental health challenges compared to the general population. While there are a number of underlying factors and historical experiences that may help us to better understand these psychological struggles, I will be examining the relational system between musician and the music industry beginning at the time in which an amateur musician transitions to the professional realm. With this transition comes incredible demand and pressure from the industry. Professional musicians are at the mercy of grueling tour schedules where they spend months away from loved ones, must be "on" at …

Identification With All Of Humanity, Uncertainty, And Beliefs Toward Animals, Andrea Michelle Wilson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The current study aims to expand on the human-animal relations literature through a social identity lens, using 231 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Americans consume large amounts of meat, yet many people feel morally conflicted by enjoying meat, yet killing animals. These feelings can be tied to one’s identity, through identifying as a vegetarian, meat-eater, or animal lover. Humans tend to attach themselves to a social group, act on behalf of that group’s norms and values, and use their groups to reduce feelings of uncertainty by adopting group normative attitudes and behaviors. People who identify strongly with all of …

A Systematic Review Of Training Programs For Mental Health Professionals Who Are Treating Eating Disorders, Shir Zion

Theses and Dissertations

Eating disorders are among the most dangerous mental health disorders, and the prevalence rates for them are on the rise. However, the literature is lacking when it comes to quantitative training recommendations for mental health professionals who wish to learn how to screen for, prevent, and treat individuals with eating disorders. This systematic review identified, reviewed, and synthesized the findings from studies (n = 14) concerning the impact of various training modalities on professionals and students who specialize in eating disorder prevention, screening, and treatment, on their knowledge, attitudes/beliefs, and skills. The aim was to identify training recommendations, across various …

Growing With Our Heroes: Utilizing Hero Narratives In Therapy To Foster Psychological Resilience And Posttraumatic Growth, Reagan Overby

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

With the rise of positive psychology, clinical psychologists and other helping-professionals have rightly begun to emphasize the importance of psychological factors that predict human flourishing rather than studying risk factors and psychopathology alone. This new emphasis has largely driven research into constructs such as psychological resilience and posttraumatic growth (PTG); both manifestations of the human ability to survive or grow following experiences with extreme adversity that are often traumatic. The current standards of care for those who have experienced a trauma include asking these individuals to voluntarily discuss and confront their traumatic experiences; a task made challenging by nature of …