Digital Commons Network^™

Drama Therapy As An Intervention For Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Potential Benefits For Youth And Adulthood, Ella S. De Castro

Scripps Senior Theses

There are many interventions commonly used for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, one that has not been researched as often is drama therapy. Though there are not many studies on drama therapy and ASD, the ones that do exist seem to indicate positive results. The goal of this proposed study is to assess whether drama therapy could be a good intervention for ASD and if it could potentially be a better option compared to applied behavioral analysis (ABA). The proposed study is broken into two smaller studies. The first study explores the potential benefits of drama therapy for …

Effects Of Child Sleep, Maternal Sleep, And Covid-19 Related Stressors On Maternal Stress, Jocelyn Chang

Scripps Senior Theses

Research has shown that poorer sleep quality can lead to increased stress and worse psychological functioning. In the parent-child dyad, sleep disturbances of both the child and parent can significantly affect parental functioning. However, in the context of parent-child relations, the contributions of maternal and child sleep to maternal outcomes are much less understood, especially in the context of a worldwide pandemic and global stressor such as COVID-19. Moreover, relations between stress and biological indicators have not been extensively studied, with most studies using self-reported measures of stress. This study aims to extend the findings of previous research by including …

Ableism In Education: Professor Perpetuation Of Disability Discrimination Through Accommodation Non-Compliance, Kasey Bumgardner

Scripps Senior Theses

This proposed study aims to explore factors that may decrease professor compliance with their disabled students’ documented academic accommodations, including pre-existing ableist beliefs held by professors, race of the disabled student, and visibility of the student’s disability. Participants will consist of undergraduate professors from colleges and universities across the United States, varying in size and geographical location. Participants will complete scales to assess their ableist beliefs, and will be asked to report their likelihood of complying with, or fully meeting, various disabled students’ documented accommodations. It is expected that results will reveal that professors who hold more ableist beliefs tend …

Music Therapy: Structural Music Modulation On Reducing Symptoms Of Generalized Anxiety Disorder., Isha Kaur Singh

Scripps Senior Theses

The present study examines whether modulating musical structural elements in therapeutic treatment reduces the severity of symptoms among individuals diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. Music therapy has recently become a more utilized non-traditional treatment modality for anxiety. However, the specific elements of music that trigger relaxation responses alongside prevent rumination spirals has not received significant attention in literature thus far. This study aims to assess what type of music allows for the most effective treatment in reducing anxiety. Using a 2 (tempo: adagio, allegro) x 2 (timbre: string instrumental, vocal) x 2 (key: C major, D minor) between participants experimental …

La Sagrada Medicina De La Madre Tierra: Traditional Ancestral Preservation In Pomona, Ca Community Gardens, Lizbeth Valdivia-Jauregui

Scripps Senior Theses

For thousands of years before colonization, Indigenous ancestral knowledge has preserved, honored, and nurtured the sacredness of Mother Earth through kin-based institutions knitted together in a cosmic web of lineages and tribes (Henrich, 2020). The purpose of this grounded theory community-centered study was to examine how traditional ancestral knowledge is transmitted within community gardens in the city of Pomona, CA. Participants (N = 16) were interviewed using open-ended qualitative interviews that followed Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory framework, in order to explore participants’ perspectives and personal experiences in possibly viewing community gardens as spaces of cultural transmission (Charmaz, 2014). …

Trans Joy: A Transgender Perspective On Positive Psychology, Abigail Gothard

Scripps Senior Theses

There is a variety of research showing that transgender people report less well-being than their cisgender peers, higher stress and increased likelihood of suicide attempts. There are models to explain this minority stress; however, they focus on sexual minorities and lack information about gender minorities. Positive psychology is a field that focuses on increasing well-being and changing small parts of daily life to increase well-being. One method is gratitude interventions; weekly reflection on what you are thankful for. Also, social support is a potential moderator of the relationship between positive psychology exercises and well-being. There is very little research on …

Early Intervention In Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Longitudinal Study, Chloe Boxer

Scripps Senior Theses

Obessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychological disorder that causes significant distress for millions of people, but it is under-researched and often misunderstood by both the general population and clinicians. In pediatric OCD, life outcomes like symptom severity and duration of the disorder are typically negatively impacted. Previous research has demonstrated that early intervention of pediatric OCD has positive outcomes, but the adverse side effects of common medications along with the lack of comprehensive effectiveness in traditional psychotherapies for OCD suggest that new and potentially better options must be explored. A 2x4 Mixed Model ANOVA design will compare CBT and EMDR …

Interpersonal Emotions As Emergent Phenomena: Social Neuroscience Beyond Western Cultural Constructions, Kaitlyn Penchina

Scripps Senior Theses

Because science as it exists today is a cultural construction of the West, studies of neuroscience have often been limited by Western perspectives. In particular, the Western proclivity towards individualism has led to a field of neuroscience which has historically focused on studying single individuals, as opposed to social or collective neuroscience. For the most part, it has just been assumed that collective phenomena such as interpersonal emotions must be able to be reduced in terms of individual phenomena such as individual emotions. However, closer review reveals that interpersonal emotions have emergent properties that individual emotions alone do not account …

Improving Critical Thinking In Written Assignments: Human Vs. Chatgpt Tutor In Socratic Questioning Intervention, Katia Martha

Scripps Senior Theses

The purpose of the proposed study is to trial a short Socratic Questioning (SQ) intervention in the writing process, facilitated by either a human or ChatGPT tutor, and explore the effects that this may have on students’ critical thinking (CT), which will be coded from their written responses. Participants will be undergraduate college first years in the local California area who are fluent in English and have no learning disabilities. This study involves two visits, spaced a week apart, to gather pre- and post- test data for evaluating the effectiveness of the SQ intervention in improving CT. Both visits will …

Who’S To Blame For Shame? Interpersonal Influences On Self-Conscious Emotions In Early Adolescence, Elsie Dank

Scripps Senior Theses

Theories of self-conscious emotional experience suggest that shame and guilt arise as a result of negative self-appraisals surrounding one’s conformity to social norms; however, shame focuses on whole-self appraisal while guilt focuses more specifically on the actions one has taken. As a result, shame tends to be associated with more negative aspects of behavior, mental health, and wellbeing. Thus, it is valuable to examine possible aspects of development that influence individuals’ tendencies toward shame or guilt. Some evidence suggests that negative parenting styles are associated with shame, and positive parenting styles with guilt. This study aims to investigate whether the …

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …

Mental Health Stigma In South Asians With Crohn’S Disease, Bansi Patel

Scripps Senior Theses

Chronically ill individuals often face comorbid mental illnesses. Mental illness symptoms can cause their chronic illness symptoms to worsen; the converse is also true. Such is the case with Crohn’s disease (CD) patients. The present literature lacks research on the relationship between CD and mental illness symptoms. Additionally, the literature lacks chronically ill participants who are South Asian Americans (SAA). SAA often face more mental health stigma than their white peers which can worsen one’s mental illness symptoms. This study examines the impact that mental health symptoms have on the psychological distress faced by SAA who are diagnosed with CD. …

Efficacy Of Adapted Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program In Treating Patients With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Kate Whipple

Scripps Senior Theses

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been applied in many contexts, and has been found to be a helpful therapeutic intervention for people dealing with both mental and physical struggles. In recent years, studies exploring the effects of using MBSR in the neurorehabilitation people with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have emerged. However, these studies are primarily pilot studies with very few participants. This proposed study will explore whether an adapted version of the MBSR program is effective in reducing apathy and improving motivation to recover in participants with mild TBIs (mTBIs). The proposed study will have 76 participants and will uses …

Who Votes And Why: Economic And Psychological Predictors Of Political Participation, Rhea Malhotra

Scripps Senior Theses

At the centre of democracy lies the right to vote. The United States of America is considered to be an emblem of democracy, so voting is naturally a topic of discourse in colloquial spheres especially given the long fight for equal voting access. In general, voting is a way for citizens to advocate their needs, interact with contemporary society, and prove their affiliation with their country. That being said, the individual reasons to vote differ from citizen to citizen, but patterns may still exist which is why it is important to explore which variables can predict voting outcomes. By doing …

#Mentalhealthmatters: Mental Health Awareness Campaigns In Media And Its Effectiveness On Stigma Reduction In Third Culture Kids, Airi Sugihara

Scripps Senior Theses

The recent amplified attention towards mental health and overall wellbeing has been accelerated by awareness campaigns in media, which are culturally and regionally tailored to encourage efficacy and positive attitude changes. Some of these mental health awareness campaigns are disseminated on the social media platform Instagram, which is contradictory to Instagram’s corporate lack of acknowledgement towards its addictiveness and negative impacts on user mental health. The aesthetic and influencer culture surrounding social media empowers its systemic problems, which is exacerbated by modern society’s media dependency. Within its discriminatory and oppressive algorithm, mental health awareness campaigns created by Instagram represent corporate …

The Impact Of Self-Affirmation On Individuals’ Stress Levels And Performance - A Longitudinal Study, Tarana Jhunjhunwala

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

The self-affirmation theory postulates that when an individual is faced with a threat, they have an inherent motivation to affirm the positive beliefs they carry about themselves. (Steele, 1988). The use of these affirmations has been shown to be extremely effective in academic environments, boosting performance in students and also reducing their stress levels. However, there is very little research on the long-term effects of Self-affirmations on performance, and negligible research on its long-term effects on stress. This present study will aim to further understand the immediate effects as well as the longitudinal impact of these affirmations on individuals …

Put On Your Dancing Shoes: Boosting Divergent Thinking In Older Adults, Megan Itagaki

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis will explore the influence of two dance modalities (dance improvisation and Zumba dance) on divergent thinking (i.e., an aspect of creativity) in older adults using a quasi-experimental design. Given the existing research on dance as a creativity intervention in the younger half of the population, this study may address a gap in the literature by extending these findings to older adults. Once prescreened to ensure cognitive competence and adequate physical mobility, participants will complete a divergent thinking task before their designated 20-minute dance intervention. After the intervention, participants will complete a divergent thinking task. It is hypothesized that …

The Moderation Effect Of Sensory Processing Sensitivity On The Relationship Between Prioritizing Positivity And Well-Being, Lauren Nicole Braswell

Scripps Senior Theses

Although many studies have established a significant positive correlation between prioritizing positivity and well-being, very little research has examined potential moderators of this relationship. The purpose of this proposed study is to investigate whether sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) impacts the relationship between prioritizing positivity and well-being. Using a correlational research design, this online study will ask college students to complete a battery of self-report measures assessing participants’ propensity to prioritize positivity, the corresponding level of SPS, and various facets of well-being. It is hypothesized that the impact of prioritizing positivity on well-being will be stronger for high-sensitive individuals than for …

Social Support, Self-Esteem, And Levels Of Stress, Depression, And Anxiety During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Candace Ying Tsai

Scripps Senior Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented disruptions to daily routines and social connections, which negatively impacted the mental health and well-being of many. Unsurprisingly, the most utilized coping strategy during the pandemic involved social support. However, those low in self-esteem seem to question others’ positive regard and continued acceptance, and overall perceive others’ behavior more negatively than those with high self-esteem (Murray, Holmes, et al., 1998). The proposed correlational study will examine the effects of social support and self-esteem on stress, anxiety, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as investigate whether one’s self-esteem affects the influence that social …

Pitch Perfect: Impression Formation And Impression Management In Women's Pitch Modulation, Grace A. Corrigan

Scripps Senior Theses

How does the pitch of a woman’s voice impact how she is perceived, and how might women change the pitch of their voices to fit the situation at hand? Study 1 examined whether pitch plays a role in impression formation. Participants listened to two women’s voices at three pitch levels (raised, unchanged, lowered) and rated the speakers’ personality traits. Ratings of speaker competence, confidence, and intelligence were significantly lower for the pitch-raised voices than for the unchanged or pitch-lowered voices. Additionally, ratings of speaker persuasiveness and attractiveness were significantly lower for the pitch-raised voices than for the unchanged voices. No …

Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing: Standard Versus Pain-Focused Treatment Protocols, Joni Walsh

Scripps Senior Theses

Typically used as a trauma therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) may be a promising intervention for chronic pain, given the relationship (and rates of comorbidity) between chronic pain and post-traumatic stress (PTS). The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate how EMDR therapy might best be implemented as an integrated treatment for chronic pain among individuals with post-traumatic stress symptoms. This study will be the first of its kind to directly compare the standard trauma-focused (TF) EMDR treatment to a popular emerging pain-focused (PF) EMDR treatment modification (Grant, 2000). This study will utilize a matched-participants design and …

Curarse En Salud: Mexican Curanderos In Mental Health, Angela Molina

Scripps Senior Theses

Also known as traditional folk healers, Curanderos’ name stems from the word “curar” which means “to heal” in Spanish. Curanderismo is the practice and Curanderos are the practitioners. Prior research has found there are significant barriers Latinx communities face when seeking mental health care in the U.S. Reasons include institutional barriers such as language, citizenship, and socio-economic status and cultural barriers such as lack of cultural competency by practitioners. Because of the holistic healing nature Curanderismo emphasizes, extensive research has been conducted to understand why these marginalized communities seek Curanderos’ treatment. Culture and psychopathology have a significant relationship because psychiatric …

Uncovering Object Categories In Infant Views, Naiti S. Bhatt

Scripps Senior Theses

While adults recognize objects in a near-instant, infants must learn how to categorize the objects in their visual environments. Recent work has shown that egocentric head-mounted camera videos contain rich data that illuminate the infant experience (Clerkin et al., 2017; Franchak et al., 2011; Yoshida & Smith, 2008). While past work has focused on the social information in view, in this work, we aim to characterize the objects in infants’ at-home visual environments by modifying modern computer vision models for the infant view. To do so, we collected manual annotations of objects that infants seemed to be interacting within a …

The Comfort Watch: Psychology And Media Theory Perspectives On Nostalgia And Film, Sohni Kaur

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explored the relationship between nostalgia, film, and coping mechanisms,

using both media theory and psychological lenses. Nostalgia, a concept with roots in both media theory and psychology, is best defined as homesickness for a time rather than a place. Nostalgia, when combined with film, leads to the concept of “comfort watches”, a scarcely researched topic. From a psychological standpoint, research suggests that nostalgia and media usage are commonly used coping mechanisms, yet there has been little to no research combining the two. The psychological study included in this thesis was conducted online in the United States using 83 …

Perceptions Of Equality And Justice In African Americans: Implications For Well-Being And Success, Elaney C. Ortiz

Scripps Senior Theses

Focusing on the intersections of the perceptions of legal equality and justice and lived experiences of equality and justice in the Black Community, this study seeks to find an interaction between these different perceptions of equality and justice, and well-being and success for Black Americans. Grounded in theory, but taking an original approach to this field, it is hypothesized that increased perceptions of equality and justice in either realm will increase well-being and success. Distinctly, lower perceptions of equality and justice will contribute to lower levels of well-being and success. This research is critical, as it looks at the importance …

Effects Of Gender, Race And Age Matching On Client Ratings Of The Therapeutic Alliance, Campbell Griffin

Scripps Senior Theses

Identity matching between therapists and clients has been shown to affect the processes and the outcomes of psychotherapy. A quasi-experimental study will be conducted in which patients (n=300) in identity matched or identity mismatched therapeutic pairs will report their perception of the therapeutic alliance and their therapists’ engagement with multicultural orientation framework (MCO) variables. This study is expected to find that matching by gender, matching by race, and matching by age are all significantly correlated with participant ratings of the therapeutic alliance, such that matching predicts higher ratings of the therapeutic alliance across treatment. The results of this study will …

The Impact Of Constant Connectivity: Examining The Relationships Between Social Media, Loneliness, Anxiety And Avoidant Behaviors, Mia Baricevic

Scripps Senior Theses

Conflicting evidence has been found in the past regarding the overall effect of social media on mental health. Social media, when used as a means to combat feelings of loneliness and anxiety, may be a form of avoidance away from those considered undesirable feelings. Avoiding these feelings may ultimately intensify instead of minimizing them. The focus of this study is to examine the relationship between avoidant behaviors, loneliness, anxiety and social media use. It is predicted that social media use, loneliness and anxiety will all be predictors of avoidant behaviors. 150 college-aged participants will complete three previously established scales, measuring …

Stereotypes And Disparate Criminal Sentencing Of Native Hawaiians, Kawaiuluhonua Scanlan

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis consists of two studies that attempt to understand the stereotypes and disparate treatment of Native Hawaiians within the criminal justice system, for which existing research is limited. In Study 1, participants (n = 154) selected adjectives that they believed to be stereotypes of Native Hawaiians, as well as of American Indians and Black Americans. It was hypothesized that because the groups have similar histories of colonization and oppression, they may also consequently share stereotypes of criminality and inferiority, with the exception that Native Hawaiians would be uniquely marked as friendly and welcoming because of the tourism industry. Results …

Parental Stress In Asian American And Non-Asian American Families Of Children With Developmental Disabilities During Covid-19, Surina S. Bothra

Scripps Senior Theses

Past research has found higher levels of parental stress in Asian American families of children with developmental disabilities as compared to their non-Asian counterparts. This study examined whether this trend remains in the setting of the COVID-19 global pandemic, as well as considering the relationships between parental stress and COVID-19 stressors, the experience of discrimination during the pandemic, the type and severity of developmental disability, and child age. This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach to quantitatively measure parental stress in 48 Asian American and 62 non-Asian American parents, and qualitatively collect data regarding the specific personal experiences …

The Internet-Extended Mind: The Psychological Ramifications And Philosophical Implications Of Cognitive Offloading, Gloria Choi

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I explore the internet-extended mind through both philosophical and psychological lenses in order to investigate the questions “To what extent is the mind extended onto the internet and, more generally, outside our bodies?” and “How will an increasingly internet-extended brain change the ways in which humans communicate, remember, and behave?”. First, I introduce the idea of a mind that extends out into the world, instead of lying solely in the brain. Then, I outline existing research that introduces the challenges and implications of an internet-extended mind in an ever-changing internet landscape. Next, I discuss how the internet …