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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Western University

2015

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Impersonal Is Personal: Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Through The Lens Of Roberto Esposito’S Third Person, Claire Windsor Jan 2015

The Impersonal Is Personal: Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Through The Lens Of Roberto Esposito’S Third Person, Claire Windsor

2015 Undergraduate Awards

This essay explores the issue of Missing and Murdered Women (MMIW) in Canada from a perspective that problematizes not only the racializing and gendering of indigenous women, but the normative conception of the human ascribed to settler Canadians as well. By examining these processes as part of a greater juridical-biological constitution of ‘the human,’ the ways in which this differentiation works to valorize the lives of some humans whilst simultaneously devaluing the lives of ‘others’ are revealed. This hierarchy is explored through the lens of Roberto Esposito’s book Third Person in order to illustrate how the subject-formations that have occurred …

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The Technologization Of Politics: The Internet And The Electronic Citizen, Charlotte Yun Jan 2015

The Technologization Of Politics: The Internet And The Electronic Citizen, Charlotte Yun

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Dramatic shifts in technology have transformed the structures of civic participation and communication in the latter half of the 20th century, and optimistic presumptions purporting the global establishment of “e-democracy” has become a commonly understood concept. But reality has failed to demonstrate this ideal and has instead proven otherwise: whether online or offline, it is politics as usual. This paper explores the ramifications of online platforms for political engagement from a critical perspective. The author argues that sustaining political activity online in “user-powered,” democratized digital spaces is ultimately fruitless without offline mobilization. While contemporary Web 2.0 platforms for political activity …

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Effects Of Caffeine In Operant Learning And Locomotor Activity, Daniel Kharlas Jan 2015

Effects Of Caffeine In Operant Learning And Locomotor Activity, Daniel Kharlas

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Caffeine is widely considered to be a reinforcer in humans, but this effect is difficult to measure in non-human animals. This study extended the understanding of the effects of caffeine on reinforcement and locomotor activity by testing rat animal models. A group of 24 adult male Long Evans rats was split into three groups, caffeine (15mg/kg), Scopolamine (spatial learning inhibitor) or a NaCl control. Each drug was administered 15 min prior to behavioural testing. The rats were given one habituation session to familiarize with eating the reinforcing agent, one baseline session before testing and on test day were monitored for …

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Solidarity Is For White Women, Aramide Odutayo Jan 2015

Solidarity Is For White Women, Aramide Odutayo

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Can a simple hashtag constitute a social movement? The answer is a resounding yes. Using the definition of a social movement proposed in the Blackwell Companion to Social Movements as a framework, this paper illustrates that #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen is a perfect example of how social media and social movements have intersected to inspire profound change. Created by blogger and black feminist scholar Mikki Kendall, #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen highlighted the justified resentment that many black feminists have against the white liberal feminist movement. This paper contends that Kendall’s hashtag activism satisfies the fundamental characteristics of a social movement, because it was a coordinated, collective, …

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Facebook: Social Benefit Or Social Problem?, Ana Ruiz Pardo Jan 2015

Facebook: Social Benefit Or Social Problem?, Ana Ruiz Pardo

2015 Undergraduate Awards

The present study investigated the impact of type of Facebook use on well-being. Participants who spent time viewing and updating their own profiles were hypothesized to report higher life satisfaction and happiness than participants who spent time viewing other people’s profiles. Self-reported Facebook use and personality trait measures were also investigated. A total of 56 female students enrolled in Psychology 1000 at Brescia University College participated in the study. Participants completed six questionnaires (personality assessment, self-esteem scale, narcissism scale, Facebook use questionnaire, satisfaction with life scale, and subjective happiness scale) and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions consisting …

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An Evidential Review Of Police Misconduct: Officer Versus Organization, Emma Rose Bonanno Jan 2015

An Evidential Review Of Police Misconduct: Officer Versus Organization, Emma Rose Bonanno

2015 Undergraduate Awards

This paper explores the critical societal issue of police misconduct. Though a vast amount of literature surrounds the issue of police misconduct, conclusions regarding the correlates of police misconduct remain inconclusive. Previous research that attempts to explain police misconduct has consistently shown to be divided based on either individual or organizational correlates. Thus, the crux of the debate has become whether police misconduct is the product of a "bad apple" (individual or micro-level correlates), or a "bad barrel" (organizational or macro-level correlates). The aim of this paper is to explore existing empirical evidence, and discover which factors most strongly correlate …

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The Silver Bullet To Ontario’S Organ Shortage: The Case For Presumed Consent For Post-Mortem Organ Donations, Taylor Rodrigues Jan 2015

The Silver Bullet To Ontario’S Organ Shortage: The Case For Presumed Consent For Post-Mortem Organ Donations, Taylor Rodrigues

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Over 85% of Ontarians would like their organs to be donated after they die.1 Yet strangely, less than 25% of Ontarians are registered organ donors and Ontario law assumes that unless the deceased registered to be an organ donor prior to their death they did not want their organs to be donated after their death.2 As a result, every year, hundreds of Ontarians die awaiting an organ transplant while thousands of healthy organs from individuals who are in favour of organ donation, but failed to register as organ donors, are disposed of instead of transplanted.3 This situation is tragic, preventable …

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Effects Of Caffeine On Memory In Rats, Cisse Nakeyar Jan 2015

Effects Of Caffeine On Memory In Rats, Cisse Nakeyar

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Caffeine is typically used to counter the effects of fatigue by enhancing performance for cognitive tasks, it is also known to suppress appetite. The current study is conducted to determine if caffeine would have an effect on memory. Twenty-four male Long Evans rats (375-425g) were used, they were randomly assigned to one of three groups: saline control (0.9% saline), caffeine low dose (15mg/kg), and caffeine high dose (50mg/kg). Testing was conducted in a Skinner box with a retractable lever that dispensed food when pressed. Rats were trained for five consecutive days for 10-15 min sessions. Then, two days of baseline …

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The Westray Mine Incident: Corporate Violence And Governmental Crime As The Roots Of Disaster, Melissa Hughes Jan 2015

The Westray Mine Incident: Corporate Violence And Governmental Crime As The Roots Of Disaster, Melissa Hughes

2015 Undergraduate Awards

This paper addresses the catastrophic Westray mine disaster that rocked the East Coast of Canada in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, in May 1992 and outlines the causes and factors of the deadly explosion that resulted in the death of 26 miners. From a perspective of white-collar crime, particularly governmental crime and corporate violence, this paper asserts that the negligent actions of inspectors from the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and managers from Curragh Resources Inc., the corporation in charge of the Westray mining operation, led to the conditions in the mine that caused the explosion to occur. Despite there being no …

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Not In My Name, Brittany Lynn Cartwright Jan 2015

Not In My Name, Brittany Lynn Cartwright

2015 Undergraduate Awards

In exploring discourse regarding religious groups, the term ‘radical’ comes up frequently. Furthermore the term ‘radical’ comes up relative to both ideas and groups. Although it may be presumed that groups or individuals who are radical are so because they embody an ideology defined as such, this is not always the case. The “Not In My Name” social movement is called radical because it stands opposite to the ideology held by ISIS. This debate though, for once, does not exist on a spectrum; there is no ‘extreme right’ and ‘extreme left’. Through past examples of similar situations and scholarly analogy …

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