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University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Honors Theses

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Disney's Postfeminist Follies: Disney’S Postfeminist Portrayal Of Women In The Age Of Fourth Wave Of Feminism, Morgan Crafton Dec 2024

Disney's Postfeminist Follies: Disney’S Postfeminist Portrayal Of Women In The Age Of Fourth Wave Of Feminism, Morgan Crafton

Honors Theses

In 2022, Disney CEO Bob Chepak spoke out against the "Don't Say Gay" bill signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis’ supporters derisively labeled Disney as “woke." However, the company does not warrant the label. Though Fourth Wave feminism has broadened Disney’s idea of a woman, the entertainment company largely operates with a postfeminist lens that prevents its heroines from being feminist representations of women. Audiences see this in "Frozen," (2013), "Moana" (2016), "Encanto" (2021), and "Turning Red" (2022). Disney’s postfeminist rhetoric allows it to portray supposedly progressive women without challenging societal notions of misogyny. Thus, Disney’s criticisms for “wokeness” …


Smart Cities And How They Affect Those With Disabilities, Kassie Dover May 2024

Smart Cities And How They Affect Those With Disabilities, Kassie Dover

Honors Theses

This study investigates how to further improve the lives of people with Autism and Cerebral Palsy when it comes to the development of Smart Cities. This is an effort to provide a glimpse into the perspective of those with these disabilities when it comes to technological advancement. The focus of this study was Chattanooga,Tennessee and Los Angeles, California. These two cities are respectively on the East and West side of the country. Thus, there is of course a difference when how these two cities function. This was done through research under the guise of a question and answer methodology. The …


Autism On The Net: An Autoethnographic Appraisal Of Literature On Online Socialization, Empowerment, And Kinship Of Autistic People In Digital Spaces, Lennox Le Vine-Miller May 2024

Autism On The Net: An Autoethnographic Appraisal Of Literature On Online Socialization, Empowerment, And Kinship Of Autistic People In Digital Spaces, Lennox Le Vine-Miller

Honors Theses

In a world that is increasingly becoming more and more active online, social groups formed on the basis of interests and passions have the propensity to intersect with communities of those who experience marginalization, in this case, autistic people. As such, this work seeks to examine what the basis of an autistic cultural identity is, and how the social factors that it is built on, those being belongingness, social connectedness, and political connectedness, and how they manifest among various online communities, whether it be cosplay fandom, fanfiction communities, or virtual worlds within Minecraft and Second Life. These online communities illustrate …


Better Understanding The Risks And Costs Of Motherhood In The Post-Roe United States, Mackayla Wall May 2024

Better Understanding The Risks And Costs Of Motherhood In The Post-Roe United States, Mackayla Wall

Honors Theses

This paper reviews the literature on the risks and costs of motherhood. The paper compares and analyzes various studies conducted between 1990 and 2023 relating to family planning, pregnancy, and maternal health in America. Changes in healthcare legislation and policies, as well as access to contraception and abortion, have all had an impact on the economic costs of pregnancy and motherhood. These changes emphasize the importance of better understanding the economic costs of pregnancy and motherhood in all its stages— from timing pregnancy to recovering from pregnancy and birth and experiencing childrearing costs. When analyzing previous studies, I discovered that …


How To Get Away With Insider Trading And How To Stop It?, Blade H. Kisler May 2024

How To Get Away With Insider Trading And How To Stop It?, Blade H. Kisler

Honors Theses

The realm of investing, while promising, is often clouded by complexity and opacity, exacerbated by the prevalence of insider trading. This unethical practice allows select individuals to amass vast fortunes by exploiting confidential information unavailable to the public. Particularly alarming is the possibility of insider trading within Congress, where lawmakers wield privileged access to non-public information and could possibly engage in lucrative stock transactions. This paper delves into specific coincidences of Congressional stock trading to underscore the systemic nature of this phenomenon among influential figures.


Multidisciplinary Literary Review: The Relationship Between Social Media And Empathy, Mayra E. Salgado May 2024

Multidisciplinary Literary Review: The Relationship Between Social Media And Empathy, Mayra E. Salgado

Honors Theses

This literary review examines the different psychological perspectives on the relationship between social media usage and empathy. Specifically, it discusses the association by expanding on the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, clinical psychology, and some evolutionary psychology. I define empathy and discuss its developmental journey, its cognitive functions, its neurobiological processes, its possible damage caused by social media usage, and its effects on physical and mental health. Lastly, I argue that research focusing on high levels of social media usage and its relationship with levels of empathy should focus on creating an elaborate longitudinal study to gain more information on …


Potential For United States Participation In The European Union’S Digital Services Act, Catherine Hatfield May 2024

Potential For United States Participation In The European Union’S Digital Services Act, Catherine Hatfield

Honors Theses

The regulation or lack thereof of social media has become a hot-button issue in the majority of the Western world. Although the United States has made several attempts to pass widespread regulation of misinformation online, they have seen little success. Contrastingly, the European Union's recently passed Digital Services Act has already seen some success and is shaping up to be an effective piece of legislation. As such, it is worth exploring the possibility of the United States adopting this legislation, and examining how a potential partnership could aid both the United States and the European Union in furthering their goals …


Microfaunal Remains From The Ryan-Harley Site, Savanna Caylor May 2024

Microfaunal Remains From The Ryan-Harley Site, Savanna Caylor

Honors Theses

The Ryan Harley site is located in the Wacissa River basin in northern Florida. It is one of the few sites in the southeastern United States to contain a Suwannee point artifact. Several excavations in 2015 and 2017 showed extinct and extant faunal remains within and around the Suwannee component. The geoarchaeological data showed that whether these remains were in situ or not is inconclusive. This paper will focus on the microfloral and faunal remains to draw conclusions about the environment encountered during the Younger Dryas (12,900-11,700 cal B.P). The relationship between floral and faunal species present will help to …


Far From First Kill: Sapphic Fan Campaigns + The Fight For Queer Television, Lake Best Apr 2024

Far From First Kill: Sapphic Fan Campaigns + The Fight For Queer Television, Lake Best

Honors Theses

Over the decades, LGBTQ+ media has had a long history of, despite getting better, more popular, more powerful each time, being canceled, delayed, even simply never seen again. This has led to justified anger, sorrow, + distress from the queer fandom communities, who, already inspired by the sense of activism that their community is founded on, have created over 8 years of online fan campaigning to fight back, maybe even bring the shows from the grave to a new life. This case study will examine 6 of those campaigns, ranging from the birth of modern queer fandom in We Deserve …


Fighting Aids With No Help: Radical Solidarity And How Community Organizations Overcame A Neglectful Federal Government, Sophia Kennan Dec 2023

Fighting Aids With No Help: Radical Solidarity And How Community Organizations Overcame A Neglectful Federal Government, Sophia Kennan

Honors Theses

Community organizations have forever shaped the history of the United States. As de Tocqueville noted in a visit to the US in the 19th century, volunteerism and forming associations is a way of life ingrained in American society. The way that these community organizations operate in relation to government action is incredibly important to understanding democratic processes in the US, and one such period that is of note is the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. During this time, the government was infamously silent and neglectful on themes surrounding the epidemic, and this inaction greatly informs how community organizations operated during …


Does Social Organization, Litter Size, Sexual Dimorphism, And Phylogeny Influence Multiple Paternity In Mammals?, Madison Roberts Dec 2023

Does Social Organization, Litter Size, Sexual Dimorphism, And Phylogeny Influence Multiple Paternity In Mammals?, Madison Roberts

Honors Theses

Animal social systems are complex and the dynamics of one component could influence the dynamics of another. The aim of this literature search research was to determine the interrelatedness between mammalian social organization and mating system, two components of social systems. The mating system was represented by multiple paternity, the number of litters with more than one father, as genetic analysis tells which individuals reproduced with who. Variables that might influence multiple paternity amongst extant mammalian species included in this study are variable social organization, male social organization, mean litter size, sexual dimorphism, and phylogenetics. Analysis was conducted using 56 …


Urban Understandings: Exploring Potential Coercion In Lincoln Park’S Gentrification Process, Jacob Price May 2023

Urban Understandings: Exploring Potential Coercion In Lincoln Park’S Gentrification Process, Jacob Price

Honors Theses

While much research has been carried out on the topic of gentrification over the past several decades, little to no economic research has been conducted on the potential presence of coercion within the process. In this paper, we define coercion as any attempts by third parties, whether government or private entities, to artificially accelerate the natural housing cycle. In studying this, we examine Lincoln Park as a case study, a Chattanooga neighborhood that was once a bastion of culture and security for the Southern African American community, by employing a two-pronged approach. On the qualitative front, we interview community and …


Women, Populism, Democracy: A Comparative Study Of Democracy And Populism In Turkey And The United States, Ashton Jolley May 2023

Women, Populism, Democracy: A Comparative Study Of Democracy And Populism In Turkey And The United States, Ashton Jolley

Honors Theses

The rise of populism is a global phenomenon, and its impact on democracy is a significant concern. Populist leaders typically portray themselves as outsiders and champions of the working class, often using emotive and divisive language to resonate with their supporters. These leaders frequently scapegoat marginalized groups and institutions, categorizing them as distant from the people. Right-wing populism, in particular, emphasizes nationalism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and a rejection of globalism. Leaders often target the perceived threats posed by globalization and the loss of jobs to foreign countries while emphasizing traditional values and gender roles. In Turkey and the United States, religion …


The Effects Of Tiktok's Covid-19 Content On Anxiety In Young Adults, Nicholas Fontaine May 2023

The Effects Of Tiktok's Covid-19 Content On Anxiety In Young Adults, Nicholas Fontaine

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic spiked generalized anxiety worldwide. The onset of the pandemic also coincided with TikTok’s rise to popularity in the social media landscape, especially among young adults and children. As a result, COVID-19-related content rose to prevalence on the platform as it became a common outlet for users to share their thoughts and opinions on the pandemic while also feeding a growing audience in need of information and diversion. Given the connection between COVID-19 and anxiety, along with temporal ties between TikTok’s rise to popularity and the COVID-19 pandemic, this study set out to determine whether young adults would …


Perceptions Of Stress: A Gendered Comparison Of Undergraduates In Stem, Molly Martin May 2023

Perceptions Of Stress: A Gendered Comparison Of Undergraduates In Stem, Molly Martin

Honors Theses

Students enrolled in undergraduate universities face numerous stressors every day. Outside of stress from their academic studies (i.e., homework, studying for exams, writing papers), they also encounter daily life stressors relating to self-sufficiency, career choices, families, housing, and many other areas. While every student deals with stress coming from multiple areas of their life, women tend to place more stress on themselves than men due to social pressure to perform well and the feeling of societal expectation to have a high stress load from which to derive personal value. Within the field of Science, Technology and Math (STEM), —a field …


The Relationship Between Voter Perceptions Of Frequency Of Police Use Of Excessive Force And Support For The Death Penalty, Amelia Collins May 2023

The Relationship Between Voter Perceptions Of Frequency Of Police Use Of Excessive Force And Support For The Death Penalty, Amelia Collins

Honors Theses

Differing opinions of the death penalty continually conflict with the criminal justice system regarding support or opposition. Previous studies have described how sex and race influence one’s perception of the death penalty, whereas this study emphasizes various contributing predictors aside from sex and race. This study utilizes binary logistic regression to examine the relationship between voter perceptions of police use of excessive force and support for the death penalty along with voter demographics. Secondary data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) 2020 Time Series Survey was incorporated into the data set of this study. The current study is composed …


Iran's Involvement In The Syrian Civil War Before And After Jcpoa, Kaitlin Coulter May 2023

Iran's Involvement In The Syrian Civil War Before And After Jcpoa, Kaitlin Coulter

Honors Theses

The Syrian civil war has been going on for over a decade and has caused the death of over 500,000 people and the displacement of thirteen million more. Ending the war has been difficult for policy makers worldwide due to the number of outside actors involved in the conflict. The most prominent actor that has made this task so difficult is Iran. Syria and Iran have been staunch allies since the inception of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Despite religious differences, their support for each other through the decades has proven extremely beneficial for both countries. When the Syrian civil …


Neurotypes: Do Ocd, Adhd, And Autism Play A Role In Life Satisfaction?, Morgan Mcleod Evans Dec 2022

Neurotypes: Do Ocd, Adhd, And Autism Play A Role In Life Satisfaction?, Morgan Mcleod Evans

Honors Theses

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) are neurotypes that impact every aspect of life, including daily activities and socialization, which is why they have been shown in prior studies to negatively impact life satisfaction. This study compared the levels of life satisfaction now and before the COVID-19 pandemic in young adults (n = 324) with typical neurotypes, those with only ASD (autism), with only OCD, with only ADHD, with two of the neurotypes, and with all three neurotypes. Contrary to predictions from prior research, life satisfaction did not decrease after the onset …


Study Of Collective Self-Esteem And Academic Motivation Examining Perceptions Of Academic Statistics Of Black Traditional Undergraduate Students Attending A Pwi, Ariyah Robinson Dec 2022

Study Of Collective Self-Esteem And Academic Motivation Examining Perceptions Of Academic Statistics Of Black Traditional Undergraduate Students Attending A Pwi, Ariyah Robinson

Honors Theses

College enrollment for black traditional college-age students has been on the rise. Matriculation experienced a seven percent increase from 2000 to 2018 (NCES, 2020). However, Cokley et al. (2013) found that black students exhibit the highest minority stress among college students. Researchers also found that students may feel pressured to break stereotypes and perform well academically (Smith & Hope, 2020; Brooms, 2019; Mary et al., 2018). As more black students enroll in colleges nationwide, there is more than reasonable cause to continue examining how the matriculation of black students into predominantly white institutions impacts black students and their perceptions of …


Sexual Harassment In An Overlooked Occupation: Experiences Of Cna And The Influence Of Nurses, Audrey Pennington Dec 2022

Sexual Harassment In An Overlooked Occupation: Experiences Of Cna And The Influence Of Nurses, Audrey Pennington

Honors Theses

The prevalence of sexual harassment (SH) in health care facilities has been documented in previous research, but few studies have focused on Certified Nursing assistants (CNA; Burgess et al., 2018; Dean, 2020; Deery et al., 2011; Hibino et al., 2006). The purpose of this study is to explore SH that CNA experience from their patients and what influence supervising nurses may have in impacting the negative outcomes of SH. Participants (N = 95) were recruited to take an online survey through social media and snowball recruiting. The hypotheses of this study were not supported by the data, but results may …


#Blacklivesmatter: Critical Political Implications Of Twitter Discourse In The Wake Of George Floyd, Jillian C. Waterhouse May 2022

#Blacklivesmatter: Critical Political Implications Of Twitter Discourse In The Wake Of George Floyd, Jillian C. Waterhouse

Honors Theses

As we move forward into a digitalized age of communication, social media becomes increasingly powerful with each passing day. Digital forms of interaction foster an active political discourse and influence the behavior of both the public and government officials. The freedom to deliver public statements at will has been effectively utilized by individuals, local activists, and representatives of the legislative branch to interact in discourse concerning current events, therefore furthering the mobilization of social media to shape the American public policy stage as a whole. As a result of the accessibility of the internet, social media has become the most …


Media Sexualization And Its Impact On College Aged Women, Madelyn Moncrief May 2022

Media Sexualization And Its Impact On College Aged Women, Madelyn Moncrief

Honors Theses

Social and traditional media are often studied in relation to women’s perceptions of sex. However, they are often studied separately instead of together, missing the overall connection of media on attitudes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between media consumption, specifically social media and television, and college-aged women's levels of internalized sexualization. The findings of this study found a significant positive correlation between time spent consuming romanced-based reality television and romantic comedies and higher levels of internalized sexualization in college-aged women. This study also found there to be a significant positive correlation between college women’s usage …


Reimaging Take-Up In Challenging Times: Determining The Predictive Value Of Publicly Available Socio-Demographic Data For Social Assistance Programs, Margaret Dempsey May 2022

Reimaging Take-Up In Challenging Times: Determining The Predictive Value Of Publicly Available Socio-Demographic Data For Social Assistance Programs, Margaret Dempsey

Honors Theses

Social assistance programs throughout the nation have experienced major obstacles to both funding and service provision related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examines one strategy that a local Chattanooga nonprofit organization, Chattanooga Endeavors, explored to increase the rate of participation in a 21-day online program that assists justice involved individuals to address goals related to employment, education, and public assistance. The organization has access to judgment orders from Hamilton County (TN) Criminal Court and has used this information to identify individuals who have been sentenced to serve a prison term and who are eligible for an outreach program …


Belongingness Needs, Personality, And The Influence Of Virtual Socialization, Katrina Johnson May 2022

Belongingness Needs, Personality, And The Influence Of Virtual Socialization, Katrina Johnson

Honors Theses

Social belongingness is a part of everyday life. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how personality and the use of virtual socialization interact with feelings of belongingness and subjective well-being. The findings of this study indicate that belongingness and well-being are significantly and positively correlated with extraversion. We also found that belongingness and social media used for maintaining friendships were significantly correlated. Further, in a regression analysis, extraversion consistently and significantly positively predicted perceived belongingness. These findings suggest that personality and modality of socializing interact with perceived belongingness.


Standards For Conducting An Iflora: Using Inaturalist To Conduct A Vascular Flora Of The Charles B Henson Cave Preserve In Dade County, Georgia, Alana Hicks May 2022

Standards For Conducting An Iflora: Using Inaturalist To Conduct A Vascular Flora Of The Charles B Henson Cave Preserve In Dade County, Georgia, Alana Hicks

Honors Theses

Today’s rate of biodiversity loss in the face of climate change and human disturbance urges scientists to quickly capture as much biodiversity data as possible. Citizen science is a tool with great potential for aiding scientists in the collection of this information. The citizen science platform iNaturalist simultaneously enables mass data collection and establishes a digital database accessible to scientists anywhere, anytime. The standardization of floras has been a focus of botanists, including Palmer (1995), who listed a complete set of the requirements that all botanists are urged to follow to maximize both data point cohesiveness and broader data quality. …


Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Immigrants In The United States, Isabelle Koslin May 2022

Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Immigrants In The United States, Isabelle Koslin

Honors Theses

When it comes to diversity research, immigrants have a long history of falling into an "invisible" group of people. This paper serves as an important first step into the vast amount of research that has yet to be done in regard to the lived experiences of immigrants that are legally living and working in the United States. Research for this project included open-ended, semi-structured individual interviews that took place with five immigrants. The participants immigrated to the U.S. on different visas, work in different industries, and are from different countries - thus allowing the interviews to reveal patterns of lived …


Community Schools: Effectiveness Of Addressing Barriers To Education In Suburban Communities, Tiffany Patterson May 2022

Community Schools: Effectiveness Of Addressing Barriers To Education In Suburban Communities, Tiffany Patterson

Honors Theses

Over the years, the once thought of as stable suburban community has seen a significant increase in poverty and homelessness which has impacted students in similar ways as it has students in urban area schools and has resulted in the implementation of community school programs. According to Pew Research Center in 2020, there were 37.2 million people living in poverty, 16.2 million live in the suburbs, 15.1 million reside in urban communities – and collectively 11.6 million are minors. Community school programs have grown in popularity as an intervention in urban communities to address challenges that students have encountered which …


The Combined Influences Of Race, Sexuality, And Gender On Perceptions Of Sexual Harassment, Courtney House Dec 2021

The Combined Influences Of Race, Sexuality, And Gender On Perceptions Of Sexual Harassment, Courtney House

Honors Theses

The current research examines the perceptions of sexual harassment based on the influence of the victim’s gender, and the race of both the victim and the perpetrator, and perceiver’s feminist beliefs. By using vignettes (a brief description of an event), we manipulated a) the gender of the victim (man or woman), b) the race of the victim (POC or white), and c) the race of the perpetrator (POC or white). Our hypotheses were as follows: a) vignettes depicting same-sex harassment will be less in line with the definition of sexual harassment; b) vignettes portraying the victim as a woman of …


Effects Of Gender And Sexual Orientation On Perceptions Of The Bereaved, John Dickinson Dec 2021

Effects Of Gender And Sexual Orientation On Perceptions Of The Bereaved, John Dickinson

Honors Theses

The loss of a spouse is different for everyone who experiences it. There is no universal pattern for bereavement, and there is a wide variation in what is considered normal or healthy grieving (Hooyman & Kramer, 2010). Researchers have found that spousal bereavement is associated with increased risk of mortality, decrements in physical health, and diverse psychological reactions; some experience ongoing, disabling levels of stress, some experience symptoms that gradually decrease over time, and many experience little to no interference (Bonanno et al. 2004; Stroebe et al., 2007). The loss of a spouse or romantic partner affects most individuals at …


“A Penny For Your Thoughts:” Developing An Adapted Stimulus Reward Association – Stroop Task To Assess The Impact Of Individual Difference Factors On Cognitive Control, Mia Melone Dec 2021

“A Penny For Your Thoughts:” Developing An Adapted Stimulus Reward Association – Stroop Task To Assess The Impact Of Individual Difference Factors On Cognitive Control, Mia Melone

Honors Theses

Limited studies have examined the effect of feedback sensitivity and intrinsic motivation on cognitive performance. The present study serves as a pilot project for a study at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga that examines the modulating role of external, monetary reward incentives and cognitive intrinsic motivation on cognitive control. For the present study, the relationship among cognitive performance outcomes (reaction time and accuracy) on an adapted Stimulus Reward Association Stroop Task will be explored. Two main hypotheses were tested in the present study: H1 Reaction time on congruent trials will be significantly faster than reaction time on incongruent trials. …