Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Smartphones: Addiction, Or Way Of Life?, William E. Thompson 8865136, Mica L. Thompson

Journal of Ideology

Due to the widespread popularity and seeming dependence on smartphones, especially by millennials and post-millennials, many parents, teachers, and even medical professionals have expressed concern that an entire generation may be addicted to these devices and the various social media to which they provide access. Sociologically, however, it may be more insightful to apply some of the well-established theories related to social change and adaptation to technology, to describe, analyze, and better explain the massive popularity and widespread use of this particular phenomenon as a way of life and its impact on human behavior, social interaction, culture, and society.

The Shifting Discourse On Third Places: Ideological Implications, Mark N. Wexler, Judy Oberlander

Journal of Ideology

Within the social sciences, literature on third places attempts to assist in the construction of a social concept of “place”. This notion of a place is an idealization of the bridging space with home and family on one side, and work with the rule-based impersonality of life in mass society, on the other. Like the idea of work-life balance—as seen through the vocabulary of placemaking—third places provide people with a place in which there is a balance between the emotive attachments of home and family and the challenge striving for merit and reward in the marketplace. To date, third places …

How To Start A Riot: A Theory Of Collective Action, Cory Cambridge Alpert

Senior Theses

This paper will also augment existing theory by stating that lowered barriers to engagement and interaction with the social movement and social movement organization will increase the likelihood of both initial and sustained participation. Each section of the paper will condense the claims made into explicit theoretical statements and arguments, which are presented at the end of each section. Finally, a formal theory will be presented in Appendix I, which combines all of the presented theoretical claims and explain connections between propositions. Each section will have a title bolded, as well as a clear proposition (or multiple propositions) in italics …

Dreaming Big And Living Small: Examining Motivations And Satisfaction In Tiny House Living, Lauren Michelle Boeckermann

Senior Theses

The tiny house movement advocates for downsizing and a moving into smaller

residences.1 While living in smaller homes is in no way novel, the roots of the current trend is

somewhat contested as some attribute it to the “Back-to-the-Land” movement of the 1970’s or

Thoreau’s plea to live simply and deliberately.1 In 2002, the first company dedicated to solely

building tiny houses was founded and called Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.2 Jay Shafer,

the owner of Tumbleweed, and several tiny house advocates joined together to create the Small

House Society to serve as a community of like-minded individuals with information sharing …

Music And Gender, Chris Buckman

Senior Theses

The purpose of this research project was to conduct a study on the correlation between gender and music listening habits. Based on the results of a music survey, the author tested four hypotheses: females have wider genre preference range than males, females spend more time listening to music, males and females listen to music for different reasons, and males and females prefer different genres of music. Analysis was performed using a variety of hypothesis testing methods in R. Only one hypothesis was rejected out of the four—that males and females prefer different genres. Discussion is presented on why this is …

A Study Of Apocalyptic Themes In Japanese Popular Culture, Thomas M. Coar

Senior Theses

While consuming Japanese popular culture, it is easy to notice the reoccurring themes of the apocalypse though they are often very different in their presentation to the audience. Through investigation, the study found that the Japanese people draw their understanding of the apocalypse from many different religions and ideologies, also known as religious pluralism. An influential aesthetic inspired by the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence in Japan is mono no aware which is the idea of seeing the beauty in the chaos and destruction, with sadness and compassion, including the apocalypse. Stemming from the ideologies of reincarnation and masse, the Japanese …

Gatekeeping: Women, People Of Color, And The Video Game Community, Bonnie Harris-Lowe

Senior Theses

Gamers are a large, diverse group of people, but they are not treated as such within their own community. AAA video games are designed largely by and for white men at the expense of women and racial minorities. These groups are grossly underrepresented in video games and are often poorly depicted when they do exist in virtual spaces. Stereotypes and other negative attitudes towards these groups are exacerbated and furthered by their portrayals in video games. The wide quantitative and qualitative gaps between female characters and characters of color compared to white male characters has contributed to a toxic culture …

The Woman Card: Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential Campaign As A Case Study On America's Gendered Politics And Their Impact On Female Presidential Campaign Efficacy, Skylar Mcclain

Senior Theses

I posit that the gendered American cultural expectations for women, although they are not as rigid as they once were, inhibited the efficacy of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and impacted voter behavior. By assessing the indicators most commonly used in gender stereotypes; personality traits, domestic behaviors, occupations, and physical appearance, it is possible to construct a realistic portrait of Clinton’s public gender persona and the resulting electoral response.

Context Matters: Evaluating Social Judgments Of Acquaintance Rape Myths, Michelle E. Deming

Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of my dissertation are to: 1) determine the social psychological factors affecting rape myth judgments and, 2) develop an instrument that utilizes realistic social contexts to measure acquaintance rape myth adherence among undergraduate students. The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA; McMahon and Farmer 2011; Payne et al. 1999) was used to create acquaintance rape vignettes using factorial surveys (Rossi and Anderson 1982). I manipulated factors known to be associated with victim-blame such as alcohol, a previous sexual relationship, if the woman is dressed provocatively, the type of relationship (e.g., acquaintance versus friend), if the woman verbally protested, …

The Enforcement Of Moral Boundaries Promotes Cooperation And Prosocial Behavior In Groups, Brent Simpson, Rob Willer, Ashley Harrell

Faculty Publications

The threat of free-riding makes the marshalling of cooperation from group members a fundamental challenge of social life. Where classical social science theory saw the enforcement of moral boundaries as a critical way by which group members regulate one another’s self-interest and build cooperation, moral judgments have most often been studied as processes internal to individuals. Here we investigate how the interpersonal expression of positive and negative moral judgments encourages cooperation in groups and prosocial behavior between group members. In a laboratory experiment, groups whose members could make moral judgments achieved greater cooperation than groups with no capacity to sanction, …

Empirical Reflections On Women Students In Usa Nonprofit Academic Programs And Realizations About Ideological Influence, Norman A. Dolch

Journal of Ideology

This research reports on the beliefs of a select sample of women and men faculty across the USA regarding women in nonprofit organization academic programs. The main differences were on professional orientation among graduate students, difficulty with quantitative oriented courses, and portrayal of women in coursework. To eliminate these differences, beliefs (ideologies) among faculty and students need to be altered. Sanberg’s book Lean In is especially informative about changing beliefs about career orientation for both men and women to what she calls a belief in sustainable and fulfilling positions. Another valuable resource for faculty concerned about these issues is Creating …

Ideology, Race, And The Death Penalty: "Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics" In Advocacy Research, Anthony Walsh, Virginia Hatch

Journal of Ideology

We use the literature on race in death penalty to illustrate the hold that ideology has on researchers and journalists alike when a social issue is charged with emotional content. We note particularly how statistical evidence become misinterpreted in ways that support a particular ideology, either because of innumeracy or because—subconsciously or otherwise—one’s ideology precludes a critical analysis. We note that because white defendants are now proportionately more likely to receive the death penalty and to be executed than black defendants that the argument has shifted from a defendant-based to a victim-based one. We examine studies based on identical data …

Framing Perceptions Of Justice In A Public Goods Dilemma, Hatice Atilgan

Theses and Dissertations

Provision of public goods often requires sufficient contributions from group members, and improper contributions are likely to produce feelings of injustice. Building on previous research, I develop a justice theory that explains how framing social comparisons in particular ways will make actors more or less sensitive and reactive to departures from fair contributions. In turn, this is predicted to impact justice-restoring behaviors such as reducing subsequent contributions to a public good, punishing group members, or exiting the group. This integrated theory shows how varying the way key pieces of information are framed affects fairness perceptions and subsequent behaviors in social …

The Dynamics Of Prosocial Leadership: Power And Influence In Collective Action Groups, Ashley Harrell

Theses and Dissertations

This project bridges insights from theories of collective action, power, and influence to address the conditions under which group leaders solve collective action problems. Specifically, I show how group leaders’ behaviors impact the success of collective action groups as a whole via both power and influence processes. The results of a laboratory experiment support the prediction that other-regarding (prosocial) leaders increase their contributions to the group after ascending to leadership, while selfregarding (proself) leaders reduce their contributions. Further, I show that rank and file group members are influenced by their leaders’ contribution behaviors; as a result, prosocial-led groups as a …

Early Economic Hardship, Maternal Support, And Depressive Symptoms Among Black Young Adults, Mia Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

Substantial associations between childhood economic hardship and adult mental health have been acknowledged within social science research. However, there is a scarcity of research examining this relationship among Black Americans, as well as the sociocultural factors that may assist Black Americans in dealing with the effects of childhood economic hardship. This study suggests that family structure, specifically maternal support, may be a significant resource for Black Americans in the face of early economic adversity and mental health outcomes. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, this study outlines …

The Effects Of Power On The Processing Of Identity Threat, Matthew Facciani

Theses and Dissertations

Identity theory provides a useful foundation for understanding how social factors influence the acceptance of evidence. This is because identity theory provides a framework of how we process information from other people depending on what social positions we occupy. The current study explored how the perception of power impacts the processing of an identity threat with college student participants (N=217). High power was predicted to decrease acceptance of identity-threatening information, and low power was predicted to increase acceptance of identity-threatening information. However, the study yielded non-significant effects of power on the acceptance of identity-threatening information. Results did show that individuals …

Governing Terrorism Through Preemption: A Comparative Analysis Of Radicalization In Three Western Liberal Democracies, Derek M.D. Silva

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, issues related to terrorism and counterterrorism are increasingly being understood through the construct of ‘radicalization.’ At its most basic level, radicalization is most often conceptualized as a transition from “normal,” conventional political, religious or otherwise ideological beliefs towards extremist views and ultimately violence. The process is now adopted by governmental officials and politicians, police authorities, journalists, and even scientists to justify various forms of governmental intervention, such as policing, social and public policy, education, and surveillance. Notably missing from the scholarly literature is a distinctly sociological understanding of the implications of the proliferation of radicalization discourse in …

What We See Depends On Where We Stand: Distorted Perception Of Social Income Inequality, Jingwen Zhong

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates how individuals’ structural positions affect their justice perceptions of income distribution. Several previous studies have found the effect of socio-economic status along with other factors on people’s preference for how much more high-prestige occupations should be paid than low-prestige occupations. However, there is not much effort on exploring theoretical explanations for those empirical findings. To provide explanations for the effect of structural position on perceptions of income inequality, two potential theoretical perspectives are examined: self-interest theory and Wegener’s illusory perception theory. The study uses Chinese General Social Survey data to investigate the impact of individuals’ income on …