Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Vysion Software, Isaias Hernandez-Dominguez Jr, Chander Luderman Miller

2024 Symposium

Vision loss presents significant challenges in daily life. Existing solutions for blind and visually impaired individuals are often limited in functionality, expensive, or complex to use. Vysion Software addresses this gap by developing a user-friendly, all-in-one AI companion app that provides features including text summarization, real-time audio descriptions, and AI-enhanced navigation. This project details the development plan, initial functionalities, and future vision for Vysion Software.

Alcohol And The Resulting Consequences Of Delirium Tremens, Nicasio L. Santos

2024 Symposium

Alcohol is a depressant drug, inhibiting the function of the central nervous system (CNS) and neurons in the mind (Greenberg, 1953). This results in physiological effects that are typical of an inhibited CNS; slowing of the heartbeat and breathing, and decreasing blood pressure (Scorzelli & Chaudhry, 2009). However, this inhibition of both the CNS and the neural chemistry develops a tolerance, and in turn withdrawal symptoms (Polli et al., 2023). These withdrawal symptoms are the inverse of the inhibition caused by the depressant effects of alcohol (i.e., an overactive CNS, increased activity of neurons; Smith-Alnimer & Watford, 2004). In extreme …

Atmospheres Of Ableism: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Everyday Encounters, Kelly Parke

2024 Symposium

Campbell and Nario-Redmond explain that ableism entails explicit and implicit biases that manifest at every level of social life. At the same time, Taussig describes ableism as "the atmosphere we breathe." Disability Studies scholarship has done much to identify how ableism operates in the everyday lives of disabled and non-disabled people alike; however, little work has been done to articulate it in terms of the atmospheric quality that Taussig discusses.

Building on Taussig's assessment of ableism in conjunction with Casey's similar articulation of the atmosphere of emotion, this paper addresses the findings of an online qualitative survey distributed to adults …

Improving Elder’S Overall Well-Being., Samantha-Garcia Sanchez-Garcia

2024 Symposium

Identifying risk factors for social isolation is essential to determine the potential solutions to improve older adults’ overall well-being. Therefore, implementing an intervention (e.g., befriending services) that supports the development of social skills, increases access to social interactions and social support, and helps people change unhelpful thoughts about social situations through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is an evidence-based psychotherapy that is successful in assisting people to change unhelpful social cognitions; all these components can contribute in increasing the likelihood that it will lessen social isolation and loneliness within this demographic. Until recently, there is no reliable information on the …

Impacts Of Nostalgia Intervention On Wellbeing Over Time: A Proposed Study, Josh R. Burdick

2024 Symposium

Research indicates that nostalgia, “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past,” increases perceptions of social support and meaning in life. The proposed study is intended to complement the existing cross-sectional studies via examination of nostalgia’s effects over time. This study will measure the effects of weekly nostalgia interventions on loneliness and well-being over a period of three weeks.

Participants will engage in three weekly nostalgia interventions in which they write about and reflect upon a personally significant nostalgic memory. After each weekly session, participants will complete measures for loneliness as well as two key areas of well-being: perceived …

Effects Of Internalized Stigma On Quality Of Life And Stress In Undergraduate Students With Chronic Health Conditions, Kevin R. Criswell Phd

Psychology Faculty Publications

Students with mental and/or physical chronic health conditions (CHCs) are at risk for diminished quality of life (QoL) and greater stress. Internalized stigma (the incorporation of a negative stereotype into one’s identity) may help explain this quality of life (QoL) and stress disparity. While prior work demonstrated that internalized stigma affects health outcomes, studies tend to examine single or small sets of outcomes, and studies of internalized stigma in students with mental and/or physical CHCs are sparse. The present study examined the effects of internalized stigma in three cohorts of students with mental and/or physical CHCs (2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23; n …

The Influence Of Anesthesia And Nicotine On Dopamine Signaling In The Rat Dorsal Striatum, Gracie E. Rosenbaum

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The striatum is highly innervated by dopamine neurons and is involved in movement control (dorsal striatum) reward learning (ventral striatum). Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) is a technique that uses microelectrodes (diameter ~5 μm, length ~150 μm) to monitor dopamine signaling in the brain. Although urethane and isoflurane anesthetics are commonly used in in vivo studies, isoflurane’s potential influence on dopamine signaling has not been thoroughly investigated. In addition to this, the addictive nature of nicotine indicates the importance of understanding its impact of dopamine neurotransmission within the different striatal subregions. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus) 300 – 450 grams were …

The Impact Of School-Based Support Services On Mental Health And Academic Performance, Joshua A. Kent

2023 Symposium

Background: There has been a continued presence of mental health issues among high-school aged youth. As a result, many have a diminished ability to be successful in school. It is a societal problem as discussed in the literature. Legislation within the last 23 years has created more access for students but there is still a gap in services. This gap is mostly seen by not having enough personnel to address the amount of students that need assistance. There is also an inconsistent use of school-based health centers and other school-based interventions. Too many schools are using different interventions and …

Work-Life Balance Is Imperative For How We Spend Our Time At Work And With Family, Terreca M. Defehr, Jillene Seiver

2023 Symposium

Work-life balance is imperative to how we spend our time at work and with family, and it appears to matter whether we have a job or career, which of our roles we value most, and our degree of responsibility for our children.

Effects Of Procrastination And Intrinsic Motivation On Academic Performance And Life Satisfaction In Upper Division Courses, Koby Hines

2023 Symposium

Traditional procrastination has been defined as an intentional delay in starting an act, which often leads to a negative outcome. Procrastination has been shown to be related to poor academic performance. However, some have argued that one type of procrastination – active procrastination (AP) – can sometimes provide benefits, as individuals intentionally use time pressure to increase motivation. Active procrastination predict better academic performance, whereas passive procrastination (PP) – avoiding the task and trying to act as if there were no task looming – predict poorer academic performance.

The hypothesis for the current study were that higher AP would be …

Economics Over All: How Neoliberalism Affects Our Paradigms Of Identity And Relationships In The 21st Century, Richard R. Murphy

2023 Symposium

Not much is more heavily debated in the realm of social sciences than the phenomenon of Neoliberalism. Philosophers and academics alike, from the lectures by Michel Foucault in the latter half of the 20th century, to the publications of David Harvey and Wendy Brown today, the only constant is that Neoliberalism is a complex and nuanced system of internal governmentality. These fundamental changes to our paradigms trigger an evolved adaptively plastic mechanism that regulates our inclusive and exclusive moralities. By analyzing the mechanic structure of Neoliberalism and how it changes our paradigms of identity and relations, we may begin to …

Confidence And Exercise: Is There A Link Between Exercise And Percieved Confidence?, Jocelyn I. Simpson, Tatum R. Dickison

2023 Symposium

High self-confidence is crucial in social, work, and academic settings. Previous research suggests that individuals with greater confidence tend to be healthier and happier. (ŞAHİN et al., 2016).

PURPOSE: To investigate whether exercise intervention (resistance training (RT), aerobic training (AT), no exercise (NE)) could increase perceived confidence levels before an academic test. It was hypothesized that participants who exercised before the test would have higher perceived confidence levels compared to those who did not.

METHODS: Eastern Washington University students (n=18, 12 males), between the ages of 18-40 were recruited. Participants were randomized into one of the interventions (AT, RT, NE). …

Estimating The Minimum Number Of Individuals (Mni) For Skeletal Collections With Consideration To The Introduction Of Procurement Bias, M. Elizabeth Dyess, T. Heil

2023 Symposium

Of the competing methods for the estimation of the number of individuals represented within a skeletal assemblage, variations of the calculation of MNI (Minimum Number of Individuals) are most often employed. This presentation provides the preliminary results of an exhaustive study designed to determine the minimum number of individuals represented within a collection of 1,065 skeletal elements and fragments, belonging to the Eastern Washington University Anthropology Program. Results produced by established methods of computation were reinterpreted to account for the introduction of Procurement Bias in the calculation of MNI.

The Use Of Research For Evidence Informed Practice, Harper Williams, Kennedy Boyes, Mark Phillips, Shelby Rowley

2023 Symposium

Providing effective treatment is an ethical imperative for behavioral health practitioners and the Evidence Informed Practice (EIP) process is a vehicle for this purpose. The EIP decision-making process incorporates the best available research evidence with practitioner wisdom and client values, preferences, and needs. Steps in the EIP process include: (1) formulating an answerable EIP question; (2) Locating research evidence to answer the EIP question; (3) Critically evaluating the evidence based on it’s quality and rigor; (4) Identifying treatment options that have the strongest research support; (5) Deciding with our clients which treatment best fits their values, preferences, and needs and …

Potential Associations With Nostalgia Proneness, Emily Collins, Megan Minlletes, Pamela Ordona De Colebi, Julie Swets , Phd

2023 Symposium

Nostalgia—an emotion defined as a sentimental longing for the past—is associated with many well-being outcomes, such as meaning in life, social connection, and a sense of belonging. Nostalgia proneness is the extent to which people typically experience and value the emotion. In this exploratory study, we will examine some understudied benefits correlated with nostalgia proneness: specifically attachment to objects and belongings, expected success in life, and reflections on past relationships with parents. We expect to find that higher nostalgia ratings will be positively correlated with a higher tendency to acquire possessions, positive memories of parental bonding, and expected success in …

Bitcoin Price Dynamics: A Multiple Regression Analysis Of Market Variables, Zachary S. Biedscheid

2023 Symposium

Bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency (property), has gained significant attention recently as a potential alternative to traditional financial systems. This research project aims to explore the market variables of Bitcoin by conducting a multiple regression analysis. The literature review highlights market dynamics and the impact of Bitcoin in economics and finance, specifically in banking and monetary systems. It explores Bitcoin's decentralized nature and limited supply as a more secure and stable form of money, contrasting it with the flaws and inefficiencies of centralized banking systems. The dataset provides information on the Bitcoin market from July 23, 2010, to April 16, …

"I Am Not Sexist:" Application Of The Dunning-Kruger Effect To Perceptions Of One's Own Sexism, Marysa K. Rogozynski

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

In America, a large population of people believe that sexism does not exist, while sexism researchers would disagree with this sentiment. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect states that individuals may experience insufficient knowledge about a subject to recognize and acknowledge their own deficits in that domain. Thus, individuals who lack an understanding of sexism may be unable to recognize it in themselves and others. The current study extended prior research (West & Eaton, 2019) to examine whether the Dunning-Kruger effect applies to sexism in this manner. In doing so, this study examined …

Meeting Children's Needs Through Trauma-Informed Care In A Crisis Nursery Setting, Elizabeth M. Fix

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Using Lidar To Estimate Carbon Sequestration Of Evergreen Trees At Eastern Washington University (Ewu) Campus, Cheney, Washington, Kristy A. Snyder

2022 Symposium

EWU contains a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees across its campus, providing several benefits. However, no comprehensive record exists of the total number, location, species, or ages of these trees. This knowledge can inform facilities of proper care for individual trees and can be used to estimate carbon sequestration on campus. Traditional on-the-ground methods for assessing trees require tree cores or clinometers, making trees susceptible to pests or disease and leading to inaccurate results. Remote sensing using lidar data is a noninvasive, more precise method to measure tree height and subsequently assess tree age. This poster explores using point …

Water Politics: A Case Study Of Hydro Politics Among Nile River Stakeholders, Badradin I. Mohammed

2022 Symposium

Access to water is a critical aspect of human survival; we have seen an increased tension over transboundary water over the years. In the northeast of Africa, the Nile River is among the most vital source of water and a source of conflict among three of its major riparian countries (Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia). For downstream states (Egypt and Sudan), the river serves as a lifeline, but for upstream states (rest of equatorial states), it provides an opportunity for economic growth. Historically Egypt has been the regional hydro-hegemon in the Nile Basin through historical treaties and agreements. However, the independence …

Causal Attribution, Personal Responsibility, And Regret In Lung Cancer Survivors, Justin Ulland, Anthony Cortez-Morales, Kevin R. Criswell

2022 Symposium

Introduction: Lung cancer is the second-most common cancer for males and females and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are associated with a smoking history. Less is known about (a) how lung cancer survivors with and without smoking histories attribute their cancer to secondhand smoke and (b) how those attributions may be associated with personal responsibility, regret, and stigma from medical staff/professionals. This secondary data analytic study examined 196 lung cancer survivors.

Method: Paper surveys included (a) whether secondhand smoking caused their cancer, (b) whether they perceived control …

Sex Work, Haili M. Poss, Jillene Seiver

2022 Symposium

Studies have shown that attitudes towards sex work and individuals that are sex workers holds significant influence on social policies and social work. This is important to the field of psychology because understanding the attitudes towards this topic can help us form policies and provide resources with the goal of reducing stigma that comes along with this issue.

I propose to conduct a survey to determine whether people with higher sex guilt hold more stigmatizing attitudes towards sex workers and/or sex work. Respondents will be recruited from psychology classes. Level of sex guilt will be measured by the Mosher Sex-Guilt …

How Positive And Negative Emotions Are Regulated By And Associated With Stigma In University Students With And Without Mental And Physical Chronic Health Conditions, Katherine Crisp, Zlata Krisyuk, Kevin R. Criswell

2022 Symposium

Introduction: Over one-third of undergraduate students report having at least one mental or physical chronic health condition (CHC). Stigma is associated with undesirable emotion/mood, worse quality of life, and diminished academic performance. Less is known about (a) whether emotional experiences may be regulated differently between students with and without CHCs and (b) whether negative and positive emotion regulation are differentially associated with stigma awareness and internalized stigma in students with CHCs. The present study examines cross-sectional survey data from Fall 2020 quarter.

Method: Students without CHCs (n = 51) and students with CHCs (n = 150) …

Remote Analysis Capabilities Of Digitally Rendered Models Of Human Remains: Obtaining Osteometric Data & Assessing Pathology And Taphonomic Alteration - Using Non-Human Animal Remains As An Analogue, M. Elizabeth Dyess

2022 Symposium

Computed tomography (CT), photogrammetry, and laser surface scanning technologies have enabled remote, noninvasive, and non-destructive analysis of skeletal human remains in various contexts. Such technologies have found applications in the disciplines of osteoarchaeology, forensic anthropology, the medical sciences, and other related fields of inquiry. This presentation will discuss the accuracy and reliability of osteometric data obtained from digitally rendered models, as well as the clarity and level of detail attained. Such qualifying standards are essential if practitioners are to reliably assess pathology and taphonomic alteration to the specimens from which the scans are modeled. The suitability of each of the …

The War On Drugs And Its Legal Effects On Black Americans, Alexia L. Howard-Mullins

2022 Symposium

The differences in treatment between Black and white Americans in the past fifty years has been a topic of thought in the minds of political and sociological scholars since the inception of the War on Drugs in 1971. These differences in treatment may lead to discrimination legally, resulting in longer prison sentences and a higher proportion of Black Americans in prison. This study analyzes the results of the War on Drugs that led to disproportionate imprisonment of Black Americans, including mandatory sentencing laws, drug classifications, and discrimination within law enforcement and the legal system. This study will use primary sources …

Stigma, Health, And Academic Performance In University Students With Physical And Mental Chronic Health Conditions: Baseline Data Report, Kevin R. Criswell

Psychology Faculty Publications

While physical and mental chronic health conditions (CHCs) may be rising in university populations and are associated with diminished health and academic performance, less is known about how students with co-occurring mental and physical CHCs compare to students with only physical and only mental CHCs on stigma, health, and academic performance. This cross-sectional study of 201 university students examined Fall 2020 baseline data from a longitudinal investigation of the effects of stigma on health and academic performance in university students with CHCs. When compared to students with physical CHCs, students with both mental and physical CHCs reported higher levels of …

The Role Of A Certified Child Life Specialist Within A Child Advocacy Center, Breanna E. Hintz

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Childhood abuse and neglect is currently a prevalent issue in our society. Children who do not receive adequate support and ongoing services experience lasting impacts on their mental health and ability to cope with future events. Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) are community-based agencies that promote the intervention of childhood abuse and neglect. This setting, paired with the tailored support of Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS), is an under-researched yet promising combination of services that can encourage the healing process for these children and their families. This study aims to understand the role of CCLSs in a CAC and how their …

Positive Motivational Self-Talk: The Influence Of Gender On Performance, Perception Of Self-Talk, And Performance Anxiety During A Disc Golf Putting Exercise Before And After A Self-Talk Intervention, Samantha L. Hennessy

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Modeling Document Classification To Automate Mental Health Diagnosis, William M. Tadlock

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The objective of this study is to determine if diagnosis documents can be used with document classification to automatically diagnose mental health conditions. Document classification allows text documents to be analyzed and organized into their appropriate classes based on the features and words presented in the text. One application of this is within the medical field to automatically classify different patient diagnosis based on medical or patient notes. This research applied mental health diagnosis documents to automatically diagnose a group of patients with a mental health condition based on text-based survey data. This classification was approached through several feature engineering …

Behavioral Differences In Urban Sciurus Carolinensis With Varying Human Exposure As A Model For Synanthropic Human-Animal Relationships, Tiffany M. Jordan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Synanthropic animals are considered a halfway point between wild and domestic animals that live in urban environments and depend on humans for their survival. Sciurus carolinensis, the eastern gray squirrel, symbolizes a distinctive coexistence between human and wildlife as they are commonly fed in parks and gardens. They are native to the eastern United States. Where they are invasive, they are found only in urban areas and not in rural or wildlife areas. This study examined how different levels of human exposure impact the behavior of S. carolinensis in its non-native range from two different perspectives by using flight initiation …