Digital Commons Network^™

Conceptions Of Heroic Leadership In Civil Society, Theresa A. Thorkildsen

Heroism Science

While nations face multiple disruptions to civil society, individuals in late adolescence and early adulthood are overlooked for heroic leadership opportunities in some cultures. An underestimation of individuals’ abilities is sometimes fostered by biological definitions of human development that align competence with physical changes in the brain (Blakemore, 2012). Prolonged exposure to such disregard can encourage individuals to restrict the information they notice, fostering distortion in the intentions that support leadership readiness (Pratkanis, 2007). Studies of individuals’ conceptions of how the world operates can improve leadership readiness if such evidence is used to verify that individuals notice essential information. Using …

A 20-Year Ecotone Study Of Pacific Northwest Mountain Forest Vulnerability To Changing Snow Conditions, Todd R. Lookingbill, Jack Dupuy, Ellery Jacobs University Of Richmond, Matteo Gonzalez, Tihomir S. Kostadinov

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Background: Global climate change is expected to significantly alter growing conditions along mountain gradients. Landscape ecological patterns are likely to shift significantly as species attempt to adapt to these changes. We evaluated the extent to which spatial (elevation and canopy cover) and temporal (decadal trend and El Niño–Southern Oscillation/Pacific Decadal Oscillation) factors impact seasonal snowmelt and forest community dynamics in the Western Hemlock–True Fir ecotone region of the Oregon Western Cascades, USA. (2) Methods: Tsuga heterophylla and Abies amabilis seedling locations were mapped three times over 20 years (2002–2022) on five sample transects strategically placed to cross the ecotone. Additionally, …

Exploring The Impact Of Public Health Messaging On Maternal Health Engagement In The Us: A Focus On Racial Disparities And Persuasive Evidence; By Shelby Mokricky; April 29, 2024, Shelby A. Mokricky

Honors Theses

With the current rise of maternal mortality rates in the United States, particularly among Black women, this project aimed to understand more about how the content of maternal health campaigns affects participants' desire to create action and change. We examined two factors, the type of persuasive evidence presented, anecdotal stories or statistical information, and whether the message discussed the racial disparities in maternal mortality or not. Using Cloud Research’s Connect Platform 500 survey participants were randomly assigned to read one of four public health campaigns, then asked to complete a series of questions relating to their support of combating maternal …

The Impacts Of Identity On Perceptions Of Safety On A Predominately White Campus, Rebecca Delrosso

Honors Theses

This quantitative study examines the relationship between students’ marginalized identities of race, gender, and sexuality and their perceptions of safety at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Survey data collected from undergraduates at a small liberal arts university reveal associations between minority identities and feelings of discomfort, insecurity, discrimination, and vulnerability on campus. The findings highlight the need for PWIs to prioritize secure and inclusive environments through policies, practices, and support systems.

(Re)Constructing Race: How Essentialist Beliefs Shape Social Justice Support, Abbey Alvarado

Honors Theses

The political climate and social discourse around social justice has grown increasingly tense and hostile in recent years. The current study investigated potential predictors of the opposition to support for racial equity and social justice reforms. Research illustrates that a biological conceptualization of race (“essentialism”) has powerful implications on information processing and social-psychological outcomes regarding issues of race and racism. In the current study, we conducted a survey of 164 University of Richmond undergraduate students. The survey examined the interplay of essentialism and beliefs about systemic racism and white privilege on social justice support. The results showed that essentialist beliefs …

Defending The Role Of A Principle Of Proportionality In Just Punishment, Emma Mecklenburg

Honors Theses

What makes a punishment just or unjust is a familiar topic that the public and scholars alike recognize as an important question. Many factors are involved in conversations surrounding the just length of sentences, but this paper will specifically investigate two central questions: First, what makes a punishment just, and second, what role does a principle of proportionality play in thinking about just punishment.

Immigration Level And Its Impact On The United States Labor Market Tightness, Khai Quay La

Honors Theses

This research investigates the complex interplay between immigration labor and market equilibrium in the United States, focusing on the period from 2000 to 2019. By examining the correlation between the rate of net international migration and the unemployment-to-vacancy ratio (U/V) across 51 states, the study uncovers significant relationships that shed light on immigration dynamics in response to labor market conditions. The findings support the hypothesis that a decrease in the U/V ratio leads to an increase in immigration in the following period as immigrants seek improved job employment prospects.

Examining Variability In And Contextual Predictors Of College Student Belonging, Yangyue Li

Honors Theses

The purpose of the study is to examine disparities in belonging and whether contextual factors predict a higher sense of belonging among fourth-year undergraduate students at UR. My findings suggest that 1) underrepresented students (with racial/ethnic minority, low-income, and first-generation identities) reported lower belonging compared to their majority peers, 2) inclusive campus climate and contact with peers from different backgrounds predicted greater belonging, and 3) first-generation status moderated the association between contact with diverse peers and sense of belonging.

Black Lives Matter: Is It Political?, Caroline O. Glaser

Honors Theses

The present research focused on foster ing greater support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement by examining factors that predict support for the movement, and possible mechanisms implicated in this relationship. The BLM movement was founded in 2013 following the death of teenager Trayvon Martin, and reached a remarkable height of media attention in the summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. Since then, support for BLM has fluctuated, becoming a highly politicized movem ent that has faced much public debate.

Our study focused on factors that predict support for BLM in the current politic al climate. …

The Value Of Prison Education: Evaluating The Impact Of Education Through Desistance, Cheryl Chan

Honors Theses

The United States faces an epidemic of incarceration, draining resources, disrupting families, and hindering societal participation. Prison education emerges as a method to address this cycle, with vocational and academic programs being pivotal. While vocational programs are more common, their long-term efficacy remains uncertain. Academic education, exemplified by programs like the Bard Prison Initiative, provides incarcerated individuals with an opportunity to change. Typically, the success of these programs are measured using recidivism. However, recidivism has become too narrow of a measure to properly capture the nuances of an education. There has been an emerging body of scholarship studying desistance and …

Black And Blue All Over: Whose Lives Matter?, Bella Purvis

Honors Theses

This study investigated the influence of beliefs about race on support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Blue Lives Matter (BluLM) movements, mediated by attitudes towards police and beliefs about white privilege. Utilizing a sample of undergraduate university students, data were obtained through a survey measuring beliefs in the biological and social constructs of race, support for police, belief in white privilege, and attitudes toward BLM and BluLM. Results indicated that individuals who perceive race as a biological construct are less likely to support BLM and more likely to support BluLM, while beliefs in white privilege and attitudes towards …

Examining The Link Between Autistic Personality Traits And Processing Of Metonymy, Miranda Moe

Honors Theses

Previous research has investigated the real-time processing and offline interpretation of metonyms. This work has generally shown that readers experience longer processing times for metonyms versus control nouns because of the extra time needed to access the figurative sense of a metonym. Recent research has also demonstrated different processing patterns on nonliteral language for individuals with autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developing participants. The current study was designed to explore whether previous findings on the processing of metonymy are modulated by individual differences in autistic personality traits. Through an eye-tracking during reading experiment, participants read sentences in which factors …

Trading Perspectives: The Impact Of Gender In Shaping National Trade Policies, Katherine Kwiatkowski

Honors Theses

Economic and political factors have been shown to influence the trade policy decisions of national leaders. The impact of a national leader’s gender on their trade policy preferences remains an underexplored area of research. The increasing share of female national leaders raises the question of whether their policy preferences vary from those of male leaders because of their gender. In this study, I utilize the gender of a nation’s leader to implement a two-way fixed effects regression that analyzes the impact of gender on a leader’s trade policy preferences. Controlling for factors that could also impact a leader’s trade policy …

Divided Discourse: Analyzing Abortion Rhetoric In The 2016 Presidential Debates, Ella Hayes

Honors Theses

How did the party affiliation of the speaker affect the rhetoric used to talk about abortion in the 2016 American presidential election? Using computer-assisted qualitative analysis and coding for instances of framing, metaphors, and bridging rhetoric, I look at debate transcripts during the election cycle from the American Presidency Project, tracing both Democratic and Republican primaries into the general election. I argue that across all debates and speeches, Democrats invoke the“morality as empathy metaphor and the Nurturant Parent model in their arguments more than Republicans. In contrast, I argue that Republicans invoke the“morality as strength" metaphor and the Strict Father …

Longitudinal Associations Between Peer Victimization And School Belonging In Elementary-Aged Children, Bridget E. Mcguiness

Honors Theses

Belonging is crucial for children’s social adjustment, and peer victimization has the potential to threaten belonging. Alternatively, it is possible that low levels of belonging can elicit higher victimization. My study determined the directionality of the relationship between peer victimization and belonging and whether gender moderated the relationship. There was no evidence that peer victimization was associated with decreases in classroom belonging, but low belonging was associated with higher levels of peer victimization. Gender did not moderate the relationship.

Prototypicality And Need To Belong: How One’S Standing In The Group Affects Parochial Cooperation, Huidi Yuan

Honors Theses

This study explores the dynamics of parochial cooperation within intergroup social dilemmas, specifically examining the roles of harm, prototypicality, and the need to belong (NTB). Utilizing an experimental design and an adapted investment game, the study investigates how these factors influence individuals' decisions to engage in cooperation that is biased towards their own group, especially when such actions potentially harm outgroup members. The findings reveal a strong preference for parochial cooperation over universal cooperation and free-riding, consistent with previous research on ingroup favoritism. Notably, this preference is significantly moderated by the harm condition, where participants reduced their parochial investments when …

Opioid Policy Solutions: Administrative Law, Legislation, And Constitutional Reform, Trevin Stevens

Honors Theses

I have written three separate policy briefs addressing issues in the pharmaceutical industry that allowed for the opioid epidemic to reach the magnitude that it has in the last three decades. I examined public policy regarding labeling, drug diversion, and misuse, as well as marketing. By studying existing policies, I was able to provide insight into possible reforms, while accounting for potential obstacles to systematic reform, such as constitutional concerns regarding free speech.

Shifting Grounds: Movement And Continuity In Mustang, Nepal, Lauren Carter

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the socio-cultural and economic transformations in the Mustang region of Nepal. Drawing from fieldwork conducted over a month, this study examines how traditional economic activities, particularly yak herding, are being replaced by tourism and agriculture due to shifting socio-economic conditions and global influences. The concept of 'adaptive traditionality' is introduced to describe how the community in Mustang actively engages with both internal pressures and external changes to reshape their socio-cultural landscape. This adaptability is evident in the transition from nomadic pastoralism to more sedentary agricultural practices and tourism, which not only reflects a survival tactic but also …

A General Model Of Good Executive Leadership In Policy Contexts, Thad Williamson

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

This commentary stipulates a general model of policy leadership, encompassing decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. The model stresses attaining clarity about the nature of the issue being addressed, the values at stake, and the possible outcomes of alternative courses of action. While focused on the context of elected executives in municipal government, the stipulated model has broader applicability to other contexts. The article contends that following the model may both improve the effectiveness of political leaders and help build consensus (or compromise) among distinct political actors.

College Students’ Loneliness, Feelings About Social Media, And Depressive Symptoms During Covid-19: Between And Within-Person Temporal Associations, Karen Kochel, Catherine L. Bagwell, Samara Rosen

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

During COVID-19, many institutions of higher education implemented health protocols that reduced college students’ in-person interactions and prompted an uptick in their social media use. Although social media has often been implicated in the development of psychosocial difficulties, we tested an alternate hypothesis – that, during the pandemic, students’ feelings about social media for interpersonal connection (i.e., FSMIC), would contribute to reductions in loneliness and depressive symptoms. To investigate temporal associations between loneliness, FSMIC, and depression, we estimated random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM), permitting the disaggregation of between- and within-person effects. Participants (N = 517 undergraduates, M_age = …

The Flying Ace As A Hero: An Analysis Of The Representations Of Douglas Bader And Erich Hartmann, Arash Heydarian Pashakhanlou

Heroism Science

This study develops a four-factor framework (4F model) based on fear, suffering, values, and characteristics for analyzing depictions of physical-risk martial heroism. Specifically, this framework is applied to assess representations of two World War II flying aces, the Royal Air Force pilot Douglas Bader and his German contemporary from the Luftwaffe, Erich Hartmann. On investigation, it is revealed that Bader and Hartmann are either described as fearless or capable of continuing their heroic journey despite their fears. Moreover, the literature contends that both these pilots experienced immense suffering but eventually overcame them. Regarding values, Bader is portrayed as a conservative …

Pressures To Comply Or Defy: How Social Values Influence Perceptions Of Healthcare Workers As Villains, James K. Beggan, Scott T. Allison

Heroism Science

During the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians, the media, and the public labeled frontline workers as heroes. The goal of this article is to examine how certain aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic—such as the nature of the Covid-19 virus, coupled with insufficient governmental and institutional responses—created a situation where it became possible for people to characterize healthcare workers as villains. This approach to medical professionals is rather novel in heroism studies and social sciences. A qualitative review of available data sources provided evidence that frontline healthcare workers were perceived negatively. Experiencing a lack of cooperation from patients and their families, healthcare personnel …

Mill's Harm Principle: A Study In The Application Of 'On Liberty', Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

English philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill argued that people learn by choosing: this is how they become creative and productive individuals. For this reason, and because he felt that individuals are typically the most capable people to make their own choices, Mill was highly skeptical of restrictions on choice placed by a third party, such as the state.

Mill famously separated actions into two categories: (1) self-regarding actions that do not affect others; and (2) other-regarding actions that do affect, and may harm, others. In the former category he placed thought and discussion, tastes and pursuits, and association, …

Gender Based Violence And All It's Erasure, Ana Sofie Martinez

Honors Theses

Part one of three

of a radical act

against

gender-based violence

Debt And The Medicare Eligibility Discontinuity: Disparate Effects Across Households, Olivia Falck

Honors Theses

Public health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid have been shown to help reduce household debt caused by healthcare costs. The impact of health insurance literacy makes the relationship between public health programs and debt more ambiguous. The increasing complexity of Medicare raises the question of whether cost savings associated with enrollment might be mitigated by the complexity of choosing the ideal plan for those with low health insurance literacy. In this study, I utilize the Medicare eligibility cutoff at age 65 to implement a regression discontinuity design that analyzes the impact of Medicare eligibility on household debt and out …

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 …

The Big Five And Dark Triad: The Role Of Personality In The Development Of Passion, Hannah Behar

Honors Theses

The present work explored the connection between personality and the Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP) and weather psychological safety moderated this relationship. The first study comprised 109 Introduction to Psychology students at the University of Richmond, and the second study measured 128 MTurk participants. The web-based survey administered to both samples consisted of measures assessing Harmonious Passion (HP), Obsessive Passion (OP), the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits, and Psychological Safety (PS). Due to reliability concerns, only OP and the Dark Triad traits could be used to assess the MTurk sample. Results from regression analysis showed that among MTurk …

“... I Thought You Were Black .” An Autoethnographic Exploration Of The Fragmentation Of Identity And Culture., Sherley Arias-Pimentel

Honors Theses

"If anthropology doesn't break your heart, then you're not doing it right." - Ruth Behar Writing this thesis has been a trying experience. Within these pages, you will find the therapeutic expedition of a caramel-colored, Spanish-speaking, second-generation black Dominican woman from Newark, NJ who took advantage of this research opportunity to better understand the racial and ethnic parts of her identity which have caused her much turmoil and low self-esteem. Centering myself, my identity, and my story in this research and grappling with the complexities of the subject matter has been an exhausting yet liberating experience. I have contemplated many …

Dungeons & Dragons: Fractals Of The Human Self, Katie Anderson

Honors Theses

Dungeons & Dragons at its core is roleplay based storytelling, which implies the idea that the game is a work of fiction. While the world of Iad and the Free States of Tarvan does not exist on planet earth, the experiences and emotions felt by the players and their characters within the world are very much real. Players use extensions of themselves, their characters, to interact with the world around them, forging relationships and new lines of fate and destiny. Characters are fractals of their out of game personas, attached to one’s base personality and expanding outwards. The development of …

Food Related Intrusive Thoughts: A Pilot Study, Hoor Ul Ain

Honors Theses

Food related intrusive thoughts (FRITs), a type of intrusive thoughts, might be associated with greater frequency of food intake, greater anxiety and distress, and negative affect in general. However, little is known about the experience of FRITs in the moment. I hypothesized that (1) momentary food related intrusive thoughts or FRITs would be positively related to momentary negative affect and (2) that time since eating will moderate this relationship such that people with more time since eating will show a stronger positive relationship between FRITs and negative affect. These relationships were not found to be significant; however, there was a …