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Sexually Suggestive Songs And Singers: Music Media And Its Effects On The Sexualization Of Women, Jessica Brandt Dec 2013

Sexually Suggestive Songs And Singers: Music Media And Its Effects On The Sexualization Of Women, Jessica Brandt

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between music and the sexualization of women. The study focused on 450 participants, both male and female, belonging to various ethnic backgrounds, ages 18 and up. It was hypothesized that a participant’s exposure to sexually suggestive music would impact their views of women. Specifically, exposure to sexual explicit or suggestive music would relate to more sexist views towards women. Results indicated that there were relationships between music and the sexualization of women. The breakdown of each genre of music and the different measures proved to be surprising, as some genres …


Social Networking And Users: The Interaction Of Personality And Motivation To Post On Facebook, Theresa Kessler Dec 2013

Social Networking And Users: The Interaction Of Personality And Motivation To Post On Facebook, Theresa Kessler

HIM 1990-2015

Facebook is the reigning king of Social Networking Sites (SNSs). Due to Facebook’s impact on current culture, researchers have been focused on how it interacts with its members on a variety of issues including well-being, personal identity, personality type, and motivation. While the topics of personality type and motivation have been investigated separately, their possible relationship has not been examined until now. Participants consisted of 415 students from the University of Central Florida were surveyed with an International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), a Facebook Intensity Survey, and a Facebook Motivation Scale. Results showed that the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, …


The Role Of Expectations In The Perceived Usefulness And Acceptance Of Virtual Reality As A Preventative Technique For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Christine Kreutzer Dec 2013

The Role Of Expectations In The Perceived Usefulness And Acceptance Of Virtual Reality As A Preventative Technique For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Christine Kreutzer

HIM 1990-2015

Expectancy theory is based on the subjective probability (expectancy) and projected value (valence). Based on this notion, an individual chooses his or her behaviors based on the interaction between the valences perceived to be associated with the outcomes, and the appraisal of the probability of that behavior resulting in those outcomes. Expectancies have been found to be predictive of many outcomes, such as treatment outcomes, behavioral change, and training reactions. The goal of the present study is to empirically investigate this issue within the mental health field. While virtual reality appears to be a promising preventative technique for posttraumatic stress …


Psychometric Differences In Motor Functioning, Ashley Mcwaters Dec 2013

Psychometric Differences In Motor Functioning, Ashley Mcwaters

HIM 1990-2015

Clinical experience has shown that patients performing the Grooved Pegboard Test have difficulty maintaining the manualized right-to-left placement strategy with their left hand. This study sought to investigate possible differences in placement time on the Grooved Pegboard task between participants using the standardized left hand approach and a reversed manualized left hand placement strategy (i.e., left-to-right). The participants included 63 male and female undergraduate volunteers between the ages of 18 and 25 years. All participants had no history of neurologic disease/trauma, or conditions that would affect motor functioning of the right and left upper extremities. Data were analyzed using a …


The Relationship Between The Big Five Personality Traits And Paranormal Belief, Autumn Perdue Dec 2013

The Relationship Between The Big Five Personality Traits And Paranormal Belief, Autumn Perdue

HIM 1990-2015

Studies into paranormal belief and the effects thereof have been gaining more attention. This study looked at the Big Five Personality Traits and how they could relate to belief in the paranormal, specifically which personality traits, if any, lended themselves to paranormal belief more than others. Four hundred forty-six college-age participants completed a Big Five survey as well as the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. Results from a multiple regression showed a significant relationship between gender, religion, level of education achieved by the participant's mother, extraversion, and neuroticism (emotional stability) in relation to paranormal belief. Implications and elaboration of findings are …


The Impact Of Media On Attitudes Toward Women And Sexual Attitudes In Emerging Adults, Melissa Patrick Dec 2013

The Impact Of Media On Attitudes Toward Women And Sexual Attitudes In Emerging Adults, Melissa Patrick

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between exposure to media variables and emerging adults' attitudes toward women and sex. Previous research indicated that exposure to media variables can influence the thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes of those exposed. The current study examined how age at exposure to media variables impacted attitudes about sex and attitudes toward women. Six-hundred and ninety four college students were given a questionnaire containing an attitudes toward women scale, a sexual attitudes scale, and a media viewing questionnaire. ANOVAS and linear regressions were performed on the data and results for the study were …


The Effects Of Stress On Distance Perception, Monica Rosen Dec 2013

The Effects Of Stress On Distance Perception, Monica Rosen

HIM 1990-2015

Although there has been a great deal of research on binocular distance perception (Foley, 1980; Gogel, 1977), a number of questions remain unexplored. One such question involves how our ability to perceive distances is influenced by fitness and stress (internal and external). Previous research has shown that kinesthetic stress (via backpack weight) influences a person’s ability to accurately guess distances (Proffitt, Bhalla, Gossweiler, & Midgett, 2003). This research did not only attempt to replicate previous work, but also extend it by exploring potential interactions between fitness level and mental stress on distance perception, a combination that is often encountered by …


Assessing The Second Born: The Role Of Competitiveness And Extrinsic Motivation In Birth Order, Melissa D. Thye Dec 2013

Assessing The Second Born: The Role Of Competitiveness And Extrinsic Motivation In Birth Order, Melissa D. Thye

HIM 1990-2015

Birth order may represent one of the most influential environmental factors that directly impacts personality development and even life outcomes. The present study sought to expand upon the existing literature by examining the motivational and dispositional differences between first born and second born individuals. Research indicates that first born children show significantly higher levels of academic achievement and lifelong attainment due to experiencing higher parental expectations as well as increased financial support. As a result, the second born child is likely to compare him/herself with the first born sibling and develop a greater level of competitiveness. Additionally, this desire to …


Predicting Cognitive Workload With Measures From Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (Fnirs) And Heart Rate, John Duany Aug 2013

Predicting Cognitive Workload With Measures From Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (Fnirs) And Heart Rate, John Duany

HIM 1990-2015

The objective of this study was to assess low to high levels of Cognitive Workload by measuring heart rate and cortical blood flow in real-time. Four conditions were implemented into a within-subjects experimental design. Two conditions of difficulty and two conditions of trial order were used to illicit different levels of workload which will be analyzed with psychophysiological equipment. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) has become more prominent for measuring the blood oxygenation levels in the prefrontal cortex of individuals operating in hazardous work environments, students with learning disabilities, and in research for military training. This is due to the fNIR …


Exploring Tacit Knowledge In Organizations, Andrea Plazas Aug 2013

Exploring Tacit Knowledge In Organizations, Andrea Plazas

HIM 1990-2015

There has been a growing prevalent interest to explore the role of knowledge in organizations. Bhardwaj and Monin (2006) identified the knowledge of individuals' as a valuable source of competitive advantage. An organizations well-rounded institutional memory- the organizations collective experiences (Rothwell & Poduch, 2004), fosters competitive advantage. There is a prevailing need to scrutinize the role of tacit knowledge in organizations and how it's hard to articulate nature makes it difficult for organizations to acquire and preserve institutional memory value. The aim of this review is to illustrate that tacit knowledge contributes significantly to the institutional memory value, expansion and …


Generation And The Google Effect: Transactive Memory System Preference Across Age, Jessica Siler Aug 2013

Generation And The Google Effect: Transactive Memory System Preference Across Age, Jessica Siler

HIM 1990-2015

A transactive memory system (TMS) is a means by which people may store information externally; in such a system the task of remembering is offloaded by remembering where information is located, rather than remembering the information itself. As Sparrow et al. (2011) suggest in the article Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips, people are beginning to use the internet and computers as a TMS, and this use is changing the way people encounter and treat information. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether preference for TMS type (either with books or with …


The Effects Of Bullying And The Mediating Role Of Attachment And Humanity-Esteem On Self-Esteem And Behavioral Outcomes, Lovina Bater Aug 2013

The Effects Of Bullying And The Mediating Role Of Attachment And Humanity-Esteem On Self-Esteem And Behavioral Outcomes, Lovina Bater

HIM 1990-2015

Any type of bullying can become a traumatic event for a child, leading to lasting negative effects. Specifically, victimization may lead to numerous behavioral problems and lowered self-esteem. Also, the quality of attachment may have a predictive relationship with the victimization and the negative outcomes it may cause. Other research implied that a similar relationship may be found between retrospective bullying and humanity-esteem. Despite the collective research done on these variables, no study, until now, has looked at retrospective bullying, humanity-esteem, attachment, behavior problems, and self-esteem all together. This study not only looked at the relationships among these variables but …


Truly Accomplished: Exploratory Study Of Success Map Development, Dorey Chaffee Aug 2013

Truly Accomplished: Exploratory Study Of Success Map Development, Dorey Chaffee

HIM 1990-2015

The current study examined Truly Accomplished (TA), an intervention designed to help individuals develop personalized systems to measure and improve behavior by utilizing well-established principles and research on motivation, participation and feedback. This study focused on participation during Success Map development (an integral step in the TA process) and the impact of using experts to develop Success Maps in the TA system. Using the context of fitness, 40 female participants were randomly assigned to either complete the regular TA process, developing their own Success Maps, or the modified TA process, using expert-developed Success Maps. A repeated-measures design with one between-subjects …


Exploring The Linguistic Styles Of Students With A Propensity For Alcoholism And Students With Symptoms Of Depression, Sarah Sanders May 2013

Exploring The Linguistic Styles Of Students With A Propensity For Alcoholism And Students With Symptoms Of Depression, Sarah Sanders

HIM 1990-2015

The present study investigated whether participants with a high propensity for alcoholism demonstrate the same linguistic pattern previously established for depression in response to a personal essay. It was hypothesized that students with a higher propensity for alcoholism would display a similar linguistic style when compared to those with symptoms of depression; specifically students with a higher propensity for alcohol abuse or dependence would use more first person singular pronouns and less first person plural pronouns. They were also hypothesized to use more negative emotion words similar to those with symptoms of depression. Participants completed a writing exercise that was …


The Role Of Parenting And Attachment In Identity Style Development, Kaylin Ratner May 2013

The Role Of Parenting And Attachment In Identity Style Development, Kaylin Ratner

HIM 1990-2015

Due to the significant relationships between parenting style, attachment, and identity formation found in previous literature, this study investigated the possibility of attachment playing a mediational role in the relationship between parenting and identity style. A total of 264 students from two high schools participated in this study. Although not mediational, significant relationships between maternal responsiveness, attachment, and the normative identity style were found. An outstanding and unexpected finding of this study was that the attachment and responsiveness measurements, although thought to be assessing different variables, are now suspected to be looking at constructs that are almost one-in-the-same. Extending to …


Examination Of The Relationship Between Sport Concussion And Long Term Neurodegenerative And Psychological Disorders: A Literature Review, Vivian Rivera May 2013

Examination Of The Relationship Between Sport Concussion And Long Term Neurodegenerative And Psychological Disorders: A Literature Review, Vivian Rivera

HIM 1990-2015

Background: According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1.6 to 3.8 million Americans suffer a sports related concussion each year. Concussion is defined as a transient alteration of the brain structure caused by a direct or indirect force. During the last decade, a vast amount of clinical research on the long term effects of repetitive head trauma has occurred, especially on the subject of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), depression and dementia. Objective: The purpose of this literature review is to examine the literature pertaining to multiple concussion and the long-term effects of multiple concussion such as neurodegenerative …


Personality And Interpersonal Aspects Of The Work Environment, Roseann Swiden Wick May 2013

Personality And Interpersonal Aspects Of The Work Environment, Roseann Swiden Wick

HIM 1990-2015

Workplace arrogance has emerged as a research focus area for many industrial-organizational psychologists. Employees who demonstrate arrogance tend to demonstrate poor job performance, executive failure and poor overall organizational success. The present study investigates arrogance measured by the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS: Johnson et al., 2010) in relation to the Honesty Humility facet of the HEXACO Personality Index-Revised (HEXACO PI-R: LEE & Ashton, 2004). A total of 273 participants completed the WARS and HEXACO PI-R Honesty-Humility Facet of the HEXACO. Results show significant, strong negative correlations between the Honesty-Humility subfacets and the overall Honesty Humility facet score with the WARS …


Stress And Performance In Uncertainty-Avoiding Individuals: An Introductory Literature Review, Kimberly Stowers May 2013

Stress And Performance In Uncertainty-Avoiding Individuals: An Introductory Literature Review, Kimberly Stowers

HIM 1990-2015

Uncertainty avoidance as a cultural construct has been known to affect worker stress and performance in organizations, but a review of these findings has not been done up until this point. In effort to clarify the relationship between uncertainty avoidance and stress and performance, a comprehensive literature search was performed. Findings from articles on this topic have been presented. In addition, organizational practices for accommodating uncertainty avoidance and other cultural dimensions have been explored. This review shows that uncertainty avoidance appears to be linked to higher stress, while its relationship to performance appears to depend on other factors. Best practices …


I Am A Critical Thinker: Exploring The Relationship Between Self-Concept And Critical Thinking Ability, Melissa Antler May 2013

I Am A Critical Thinker: Exploring The Relationship Between Self-Concept And Critical Thinking Ability, Melissa Antler

HIM 1990-2015

Critical thinking is an academically coveted skill important to all areas of education (Halpern, 1998). The ability to think critically requires an individual to question and possibly reject accepted ideals and authorities. A strong self-concept may play an important role in this process. The present study hypothesized a positive relationship between total self-concept and critical thinking ability. An additional purpose of this study was to explore whether self-concept accounted for more of the variance in critical thinking than other correlates of the ability, such as metacognition (Halpern, 1998; Magno, 2010) and openness to experience (Clifford, Boufal, & Kurtz, 2004). The …


The Effects Of Music On Anxiety And Depression In Emerging Adults, Kendra Bartel May 2013

The Effects Of Music On Anxiety And Depression In Emerging Adults, Kendra Bartel

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of the current study was to observe how music affects the mood of those who suffer from anxiety and depression and those who do not. While previous research has examined this many of the previous studies have induced either physical pain or mood in participants in order to measure the impact of music. The current study, however, intends to examine how music affects mood without attempting to induce mood in participants. Six-hundred and seventy college students were given a questionnaire containing an anxiety questionnaire, depression scale, demographic questionnaire, and music listening questionnaire. Intercorrelations, ANOVAS, as well as linear …


Effects Of Abortion On College Women's Mental Health, Estefany Bologna May 2013

Effects Of Abortion On College Women's Mental Health, Estefany Bologna

HIM 1990-2015

Since the legalization of abortion, some research studies have argued that abortion has a neutral effect when considering other coexistent factors (e.g. Adler et al., 1990; Major et al., 2000; Steinberg & Russo, 2008). Other studies have concluded that abortion has a negative influence on women's psyche (e.g. Congleton & Calhoun, 1993; Cougle, Reardon, & Coleman, 2005; Hamana et al., 2010). College populations have been generally excluded from abortion research, even though, in 2007, 57% of women obtaining abortions were between the ages of 20 and 30 years (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). This study intended to measure the influence of …


The Role Of Mentoring On The Development Of Ethnic Identity As It Relates To Body Image Concerns In Ethnic Minority Women, Raven Cokley May 2013

The Role Of Mentoring On The Development Of Ethnic Identity As It Relates To Body Image Concerns In Ethnic Minority Women, Raven Cokley

HIM 1990-2015

Emerging literature emphasizes the importance of mentoring in the development of minority youth. In particular, mentoring influences the development of youths' sense of self and self-concept. By examining the conceptual frameworks of both mentoring and racial socialization, this study summarizes the theoretical processes associated with youth development and how such development relates to young women's ethnic/racial identity including their body image. The mentoring relationship is examined with a small pool of ethnic-minority, college-aged female participants to explore whether there is a relationship between having received positive mentoring and the participant's current body image perceptions.


Temporary Barriers Reduce Rubbernecking And External Distraction On Roadways, Nicholas Colon May 2013

Temporary Barriers Reduce Rubbernecking And External Distraction On Roadways, Nicholas Colon

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of the current study was to empirically examine the effects of accident scenes on eye movement as well as driving behavior. Fifty-four participants drove in a driving simulator wearing a head-mounted eye-tracker in three experimental drives, one of which had an accident scene. The participants were put into one of three different conditions (no barrier, partial barrier, or full barrier). The results showed significant main effects of distraction (accident vs. no accident) on dwell frequency and duration, average speed, and root mean square error of the steering wheel angle during the drive with the accident scenes. In addition, …


Examining Social Loafing Within Virtual Teams The Moderating Influence Of A Team's Collective Orientation, Seth Cotter May 2013

Examining Social Loafing Within Virtual Teams The Moderating Influence Of A Team's Collective Orientation, Seth Cotter

HIM 1990-2015

Social loafing is a growing concern for modern organizations. With advancement in computer technology, virtual tools are used more frequently to communicate, which may allow social loafing to occur in new and unfamiliar forms. The intent of this thesis is to examine social loafing through the use of virtual tools, and to analyze whether collective orientation has a moderating influence on the relationship between social loafing and virtuality. 30 teams, each containing four participants, were randomly assigned to a condition of virtuality (i.e., instant messaging or videoconferencing). Participants then completed a computer simulation task in which social loafing, collective orientation …


An Examination Of Psychological Disorders, Social Anxiety, And Perfectionism In High-Achieving Undergraduate Students, Amy Elliott May 2013

An Examination Of Psychological Disorders, Social Anxiety, And Perfectionism In High-Achieving Undergraduate Students, Amy Elliott

HIM 1990-2015

There is a long-standing debate on whether high-achieving students experience a better or worse psychological well-being than their peers. This retrospective cohort study adds to the current literature by examining the differences in rates of psychological disorders, social anxiety, and perfectionism between high-achieving and typical undergraduate students. A convenience sample of 357 students was gathered from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Participants were asked to fill out a brief survey which included questions about demographics, grade point average (GPA), social anxiety, perfectionism, enrollment in The Burnett Honors College, inclusion in any childhood gifted programs, and diagnosis of psychological disorders. …


Subtypes Of Anhedonia And Facial Electromyography Response To Negative Affective Pictures In Healthy Adults, Lisa Kadison May 2013

Subtypes Of Anhedonia And Facial Electromyography Response To Negative Affective Pictures In Healthy Adults, Lisa Kadison

HIM 1990-2015

Flat affect (i.e., diminished expressivity) and self-reported anhedonia (i.e., lack of pleasure) are associated with many psychiatric disorders. There is a need to examine the relationship between specific anhedonia subtypes and flat affect in a non-clinical sample. Forty-seven undergraduate students (59% male; mean age 20.37; SD = 4.74) completed self-report questionnaires assessing four subtypes of anhedonia - consummatory/anticipatory by social/non-social. Participants then viewed 15 randomly-presented pictures (five neutral, ten negative) from the International Affective Pictures System while facial muscle activity (electromyography; EMG) was recorded. Male participants reporting a greater level of anhedonia, particularly consummatory social anhedonia, showed greater EMG activity …


Childhood Cat Bites And Disorganized Symptoms Of Schizotypy In Adulthood, Jenya Kolpakova May 2013

Childhood Cat Bites And Disorganized Symptoms Of Schizotypy In Adulthood, Jenya Kolpakova

HIM 1990-2015

During recent years of schizophrenia research, many etiologies have been emphasized, some of them implicating infectious and autoimmune diseases. Many different infectious agents have been examined, but the root seems to stem from the secondary autoimmune deregulation, which can be caused by different infectious agents. Among the effects that autoimmune deregulation has on the body, one prominent effect is on the brain, resulting in either severe or mild encephalitis. The mild encephalitis that has been implicated as one of the causes of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders has been associated with different pathogens, many of which can be transmitted by the household cat. …


Exploring Religious Bias And Perceptions Of Atheism, Raina Leckie May 2013

Exploring Religious Bias And Perceptions Of Atheism, Raina Leckie

HIM 1990-2015

Much research focuses on religious bias and in particular the marginalization of Muslims in America. What initially surprised post 9-11 researchers is that participants typically rank atheists lower than Muslims in the areas of private and public trust. Further research is needed to continue to understand the nature and extent of religious-based bias. The present study explores whether a job candidate's religion impacts perception of the candidate's "hireability" and source credibility, including elements of trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness. Participants were randomly assigned to review an identical version of a resume in which only the implied religion of the candidate was …


The Effect Of An Auditory Stimulus On Change Blindness, Shane Mccormack May 2013

The Effect Of An Auditory Stimulus On Change Blindness, Shane Mccormack

HIM 1990-2015

This research examined whether or not an auditory stimulus would affect rates of change blindness. Change blindness occurs when there is a failure to detect an obvious change to a visual scene. For this experiment 40 participants were asked to determine if a change occurred between two pictures. This involved an original picture shown for 1 second, a neutral screen shown for 50 milliseconds and then either a modified version of the original image or the same image for 1 second and then repeated. Participants then determined whether a change occurred in the visual display. For some participants a familiar …


Alleviating Obesity Bias: Does Information Content Matter?, Kimberly Mendoza May 2013

Alleviating Obesity Bias: Does Information Content Matter?, Kimberly Mendoza

HIM 1990-2015

Obesity bias has become the most acceptable form of prejudice in American society (Latner, O'Brien, Durso, Brinkman, & MacDonald, 2008). Stigmatization of the obese has tremendous social and economic costs both for the stigmatized population and for society as a whole. Few studies have been done to show effective ways to reduce obesity bias. This study looked to expand the research on effective ways to reduce obesity bias. Using a between-participants experimental design, the present study investigated whether multi-faceted information content about the causes of obesity (including psychological, social, and physiological causes) would be more effective in reducing obesity bias …