Digital Commons Network^™

Representations Of Women And Minorities Groups In Comics, Laticia Donelle Marshall

Master's Theses

The focus of this research is to examine the representation of women and minority groups within comic books. Comic books are a cultural product that involves many actors when it comes to changing the representations of women and minorities. Therefore, this research focused on examining not only literary works but also the actions and contributions of producers and consumers throughout the publication of American comics. In the chapters, I examined the various representations of women, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians in comic books. To conduct my research on changing cultural productions, I used the method of textual analysis …

Reforming Beauty: The Casa Delle Zitelle And Female Asylums In Early Modern Venice, Kelly Renee Cricchio

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the Casa delle Zitelle (the House of Unmarried Girls), a female asylum created to care for poor, beautiful young girls who were at risk of becoming prostitutes in early modern Venice. The institution was founded, as well as funded and administered, by a group of pious patrician women in 1559. The Casa delle Zitelle was not only sponsored by and for women, but also the predominant patrons of the institution were Venetian women. The institution’s commitment to transform the zitelle (unmarried girls) into the sixteenth century ideal of womanhood was best articulated in the design of the …

A Comparison Of The Relationship Between Gender Adherence, Sex, And Attitudes Toward Individuals With A Mental Illness, Brooke Reimer

Master's Theses

Attitudes toward persons with a mental illness consist of four main dimensions: Authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community mental health ideology. Attitude differences on these dimensions have been found among many types of groups, including age, race, and educational attainment. Sex and gender adherence have been cited as other such factors, but two major issues are present: past researchers have reported inconsistent findings regarding attitude differences and the terms are used interchangeably in research literature despite conceptual differences. Using data from 187 individuals from a survey, the current study tested sex differences and gender adherence differences in attitude toward mental …

The Interactive Effects Of Sex Of A Sender And Gender Role On Liking And Perceived Competence In Online Email Communication, Megan Opfer

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study was to examine how evaluations of an email sender would be influenced by gender role and sex of the sender. It was hypothesized that male senders would be liked more and perceived as more competent than females and that agentic male and communal female senders would be liked more and perceived as more competent than communal male and agentic female senders, respectively. Senders would also be ranked in the following order from most positive scores to least: agentic males, communal females, agentic females, communal males. Using a 2 (sex of participants: male vs female) …

The Relationship Between Perceptions And Actual Use Of Workplace Flexibility And Employee Engagement, Katherine Baer

Master's Theses

Previous research has identified both perceptions of the availability of flexible work arrangements and use of these arrangements as a predictor of engagement (Richman, Civian, Shannon, Hill, & Brennan, 2008; Ten Brummelhuis, Bakker, Hetland, & Keulemans, 2012). However, no studies have looked at the incremental effect use of flexible work arrangements have on engagement, above and beyond actual use. Very few studies have looked at how gender moderates the relationship between perceptions of flexible work arrangements and use of flexible work arrangements and engagement. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the relationships between perceptions and actual …

Trust, Reciprocity, Fairness, And Mind Reading Under Stress, Charles Jia Yao Xie

Master's Theses

Some hypothesized that when stressed, females activate tend-and-befriend, a stress response that enhances social abilities. Yet, critics argued this stress response is not exclusive to females and others suggested that males and females have different stress responses associated with social skills. This study intended to address these criticisms by testing whether males exhibit prosocial responses to stress and if particular stress responses improved social skills. To do this, 70 healthy introductory psychology students from a large public university in northern California were recruited to participate. Using random assignment, half of these individuals were exposed to an acute stressor and another …

The Effects Of Gender, Physical Attractiveness, And Socioeconomic Status On Initial Attraction, Sherrie Jagolino

Master's Theses

The tradeoff threshold model posits that in a heterosexual relationship, high socioeconomic status (SES) can compensate for physical unattractiveness in men, whereas physical attractiveness can compensate for low SES in women. In the present study, we attempted to provide evidence for the tradeoff threshold model. Ninety-six heterosexual participants viewed eight high and low attractive male or female stimuli photographs each attached with high or low SES descriptions. Average physical attractiveness ratings were analyzed in a 2 (physical attractiveness: high and low) x 2 (SES: high and low) repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each gender. Women rated low SES …

Self-Presentation And Social Media: A Qualitative Examination Of The Use Of Instagram By Amateur Npc Female Figure Competitors, Victoria Michelle Lupinetti

Master's Theses

Mainstream media representations of women have shaped the concepts of femininity and have influenced the way women view and present themselves in various contexts. Erving Goffman’s (1959) Theory on Self-Presentation described how individuals perform roles to project a desired impression to others. Currently, social media platforms allow women to share their lives and interests with a wide-reaching audience. Within this historic context, the purpose of this study was to examine the lives and experiences of amateur female figure competitors who represented themselves and their interests in fitness via photographs on Instagram.

Eight women who shared their fitness journeys on social …

Assessing Lesbian Gay Bisexual Resistance In Core Team Sports, Kevin Edward Lynch

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine how sport and lesbian-gay-bisexual resistance intersect with economy, media, religion, politics, education, and race and whether those institutions reinforce the hegemonic masculinity gender construction embedded in sport. Through a review of literature, I explore whether the aforementioned institutions are incorporating sociologist Eric Anderson’s inclusive masculinity or whether they are stuck in the hegemonic form mainly in the core team sport of basketball, baseball, football and hockey. Also, I investigate if Allport’s contact hypothesis has played any role in the movement from hegemonic masculinity to inclusive masculinity. Religion, education, and economy all seem …

Individual Differences And Pet Ownership Status: Distinguishing Among Different Types Of Pet Owners And Non-Owners, Shannon Marie Merrill

Master's Theses

Research examining potential differences between pet owners and non-owners is prevalent in the scientific literature, but findings have often been inconsistent. Although some researchers have incorporated animal preference into their investigations of pet ownership, such research is scarce and inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences that may systematically vary based on pet ownership status, pet preference, and gender. It was predicted that the interaction of these variables would demonstrate differences among and between groups of pet owners and non-owners, which could help to explain some of the ambiguity of previous research.

A large sample of …

Social Support And Gender Effects On Academic Confidence In Foster Youth, Carolyn Suzanne Gillard

Master's Theses

Finding the predictors for academic success is critical for foster youth to become productive citizens as adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social support in the academic confidence of transitional foster youth. Because the literature suggests men and women benefit from social support differentially, I also examined gender as the moderating variable for social support and academic confidence. A sample of 82 foster youth (15-18 years old) from San Joaquin County's Human Service Agency volunteered to participate. Participants were given the Student Perceived Availability of Social Support Questionnaire (SPASSQ) to assess their perceptions of …

Deception: Analysis Of The Lying Cues Observed By Men, Women, The Self, And Others, Alysha Khavarian Kadva

Master's Theses

Lying cues observed by men and women were investigated by a combination of a 2x2 mixed subjects design and a correlational design. Fifty-nine male and 68 female fluent English-speaking college students older than 18 years of age were tasked with completing a 64-item questionnaire and observing two video clips. The participants completed the questionnaire for a self-assessment of the perception of their own lying cues, observed the video clips, and then completed the questionnaire for an assessment of the lying cues observed in the videos. Independent sample t-test results indicated that, for self-assessment of lying cues, there was a statistically …