Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Body Language In The Classroom: Effects Of Gesturing, Maia Rolfe

Scholars Week

Body Language in the Classroom: Effects of Gesturing

This study was designed to give some insights into how body language could interact with teaching. This study tested if active gesturing (pointing) had an effect on the amount of a story that was remembered and on how likable someone who is presenting the story was perceived as being. Male and female participants watched a female presenter read a short story projected on a screen while either pointing to key words or not pointing. Then they wrote down as much of the story as they could remember and rated the likeability of …

Autistic Traits And Executive Functioning, Meagan Smith

Scholars Week

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a term used to encompass all of the varying degrees of the developmental disorder known as Autism. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder struggle with areas of executive functioning such as cognitive flexibility, planning, visual/visuo-spatial working memory, and verbal fluency compared to typically-developing individuals. This research project seeks to measure the amount of Autistic-like traits/tendencies of individuals who are not diagnosed with Autism Spectrum disorder and compare their level of Autistic tendencies to their ability to perform various cognitive tasks. Participants will first take the Autism Quotient--a questionnaire determining their level of autistic-like traits. Following this, participants …

The Few And The Proud: Examining The Need For Belonging And The Need For Distinctiveness In Regards To Sport Choice, Thomas Derossett

Scholars Week

According to Sheldon and Bettencourt, feeling like you belong to a group has a significantly positive impact on mood. This directly relates to research which discusses how sport fans are more likely to consume sport if they feel like they belong. The sense of belonging drives the individuals to be a part of a group.

Distinctiveness is also an important part of personality. This is the concept that you stand out amongst the crowd. Much like belonging, it has been directly correlated to positive outcomes on mood. It is an innate biological need which drives individuals to form groups (Eastwick, …

My Best Friend Is A Smurf: Assessing Racism Through Children's Cartoons, Asheley M. Roberts, Morgan Owens, Tommy Derossett

Scholars Week

Modern racism, compared to old-fashioned racism, is more implicit due to modern pressures regarding racially sensitivity. Although the notion of being multicultural is positive, the pressure is problematic as it hinders psychologists’ ability to measure self-reported racism. That is, when Caucasian individuals are given measures regarding racial bias, they tend to answer in socially desirable ways in order to appear less racist. However, those socially desirable answers are then used as evidence of their prejudice. The current study is examining the notion that explicit self-report measures are flawed because they initiate stereotype threat. This threat occurs when an individual is …

Who Should I Marry: Advice From Parents, Robert Tucker

Scholars Week

When getting married people may worry about whether their parents will approve of their choice in a spouse. On the other hand, parents may want to be involved in their children’s choice. This study was centered on the question: Is there a correlation between adult children’s perceptions and feelings about their parents and their willingness to accept parental advice on marriage choices? A sample of 248 university students completed a set of questionnaires that measured their willingness to accept parental marriage advice, their overall feelings about their parents, and the health of their family relationships. Willingness to accept parental marriage …

I'M With Us, But Not With Them: A Study Of In-Group Bias And Political Party, Quinn Lambert

Scholars Week

The purpose of this research is to test the interaction of in-group/out-group bias and political parties. This research is especially necessary and timely due to the unstable and somewhat unorthodox political climate surrounding our country this year. Research by Olivola, Sussman, Tsetsos, Kang, and Todorov (2012) shows that voters identifying as Republicans showed a greater preference for candidates who fit the physical stereotype of a Republican (an older white male) even if that candidate was not a Republican. My research asks if in-group biases apply to perceptions of attractiveness and trustworthiness. I hypothesized that participants will be more likely to …

Attitudes About Nudity And Sexuality, Morgan Owens, Kesia M. Casey

Scholars Week

Nudity is the subject of art in sculptures and paintings, or more controversial pieces that include photography. Few studies have examined why society deems nudity as scandalous or negative. One study by Beggan, and colleagues (2014) compared perceptions of “adult” photos based on the target’s gaze. They discovered females who made eye contact with the camera were deemed more vulnerable and more objectified than males, which suggests, in addition to gender differences, it is the implied sexual content for which people are reacting. The current study investigated relationships between attitudes towards nudity and individual difference variables (e.g., political ideology, relationship …

I’M Bad & Mad! Predicting Interpersonal Sabotage In The Workplace, Kendrick Settler Jr

Scholars Week

On April 13, 2016, Verizon announced that thousands of customers would receive diminished or potentially non-existent services due to the equipment sabotage in a wake of a worker’s strike (CNN.com). Unfortunately, sabotage conducted by employees is not uncommon. This two part study investigated the relationship between likelihood to sabotage and other negative workplace behaviors. Study one focused on investigating whether hostility mediated the relationship between organizational deviance and sabotage, using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2012-2016) for SPSS. The results indicated that the indirect effect (SE = .24, CI [.08 to .50]) was significant. That is, organizational deviance is only related …

Same Words, Different Impressions: How Accent Upstages Words In Communication, Alexandria Farris

Scholars Week

The current study investigated how different non-native accents of English are perceived. A person's accent can be used to take the place of the individual's race or any other marker used to make judgements (Shuck, 2006). Participants listened to a recording of one out of five non-American female speakers of English from Mexico, Russia, Germany, India, or China, or a female native speaker of American English; the participants heard either a formal or informal text and then evaluated the speaker on factors of competence, caring/goodwill, and trustworthiness. Demographic data on age, gender, languages spoken, extent travelled, and time lived in …