Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

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 …

Getting Under Your Skin Until You Jump Out Of It: The Psychological Effects Of Music On The Experience Of Film, Clare Ellen Herzog

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Music is like magic. It can sweep you off your feet and spirit you away to places you never thought possible: it can serve as a teleportation device, achieve time travel, and let us read minds. Some pieces of music exist for their own sake, like Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, while others accompany different forms of media: ballets such as The Nutcracker and operas like La Bohème are instantly recognizable for their grandiose and immersive scores. For a moment in time, audiences can really believe that they are traveling to a magical world with Clara, and even without the …

Wandering Wombs And Wandering Truths: How Physician Dismissal Impacts The Self-Trust Of Patients With Endometriosis, Isabella Anna Pihas

Senior Projects Spring 2022

“Oh don’t worry these are normal cramps” “Have you been treated for anxiety?” “It’s just everyday aches, there’s no issue” These dismissive statements are too often said to patients with endometriosis, an often debilitating and painful disorder when attempting to diagnose their condition. Whereas the limited existing research on physician dismissal focuses mainly on the medical system, this study aimed to understand the experience of dismissal from the patient’s point of view. Namely, how does dismissal impact the way patients trust their physicians, but more importantly: themselves. The study employed a mixed-methodology approach utilizing the Trust in Physician Scale (Anderson …

Writing At The Horizon: How Producing Imagined Narratives Affects Mood, David Yu-Zhong Liang

Senior Projects Fall 2021

The present study explores the effect of three different writing activities and their subsequent effects on participant mood. Writing has been of particular interest for psychologists due to its use in interventions aimed at working through traumatic or stressful periods, and recent research has begun to explore the use of narrative in placing traumatic events and experiences in greater context. However, purely therapeutic, intervention-based writing exercises exclude a large amount of more expressive, imagined creations and narratives, which may have the capacity to reorient, contextualize, and otherwise positively affect a person’s mood. This study investigates whether employing the imagination may …

Undressing Evil: On The Language, Function, And Eradication Of Evil, Nelson Hilario

Senior Projects Spring 2021

How does one begin a discussion about evil? The question of evil is approached by different thinkers via fundamentally different routes, leaning on disparate methods, and asking distinct questions—the basis and intention of each inquiry differ. Nietzsche’s On The Genealogy of Morality shows us that the region of violence is language, that violence begins with language. This is Nietzsche’s categorical contribution to the study of evil: that “evil” belongs to the domain of language (in defining “evil,” contrasting “evil,” and developing a dialect to talk about “evil”). Furthermore, Nietzsche’s understanding of the role of guilt, and what one does to …

“Light Skin Is The Right Skin? And Long Hair Don’T Care?”: An Investigation Of Colorism And Texturism Amongst Black And Latina Women, Rakim Griffin

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Conversations related to slavery and colonization can be difficult, yet they are necessary in order to address the negative impacts they still have on people of color today. Racial phenotypicality bias is one lasting racist practice that originated during slavery and colonization periods in Latin America and the United States. This form of bias operates by favoring and praising eurocentric phenotypes (such as light skin and straight hair) compared to afro-centric phenotypes (such as dark skin and afro-textured hair). Colorism and texturism (C&T) are two primary forms of phenotype biases that are specifically related to skin and hair. These two …

The Pressure Cooker Of Higher Education: Multiple Predictors Of Pressure To Succeed Among Today's College Students, John Michael Richards

Senior Projects Spring 2021

This study was aimed at understanding the various factors that affect pressure to succeed amongst American college students, with an emphasis on the financial burden of tuition. Previous research on tuition costs demonstrates that the cost to attend university has steadily and drastically increased since the mid-1970s. Student well-being and satisfaction is considered in light of the many causes of stress in a student’s everyday life. The burden of tuition, familial pressure, and academic self-concept are discussed as dynamic factors in student pressure to succeed. Student well-being and the impact of stress on student learning is also introduced in the …

They Always Do What They Ought To Do: A Historical Analysis, And Exploratory Examination Of The “Woman Problem” And The Function Of Gender In American Psychology, Willa G. Baigelman

Senior Projects Fall 2018

The “woman problem” in America psychology refers to, “...the underrepresentation of women in the highest offices of psychology’s professional organizations and women’s general lack of eminence compared to men,” (Rutherford, 2015). It is a problem that seems to have existed from the beginnings of American psychology to the present day. This piece of writing seeks to better understand this problem, the function of it within American psychology, its origins and where it stands today. Through a historical analysis of Edwin Boring, Edward Titchener, Alice Bryan, Margaret Washburn, Eleanor Gibson, Mary Whiton Calkins and Mamie Phipps Clark, we can begin to …

The [E]Motionless Body No Longer: Tracing The Historical Intersections Of Mental Illness And Movement In The American Asylum, Holly Adele Herzfeld

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.

Can We Relate?, I Never Got The Message, Isabel Cottingham

Senior Projects Fall 2011

Artist’s Statement:

At the core, people are essentially the same. We are made from the same materials, with the same working parts, we need the same things in order to survive, we experience the same life cycle, and yet there is so much variety. I am interested in what defines people as who they are, what ingredients are in charge of creating an individual. I believe that, as people there are certain unifying aspects of our lives to which we are all able to connect. I am intrigued and challenged by the exploration of this. Fundamentally, I am fascinated by …