Psychology Commons^™

Perceptions Of Religious Accommodations In The Workplace, Kelsey Ciagala

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Although all forms of religious discrimination are understudied (Ghumman et al., 2013), we examined how Christian Americans, the dominant religious group in the U.S., perceive the fairness of religious workplace accommodations. We examined and two potential correlates of their perceptions: religious fundamentalism and prejudice towards outgroup religions. In one session, participants completed measures of religious fundamentalism and prejudice. Approximately three days later, they read three target and five filler descriptions of an employee requesting a workplace accommodation. Participants indicated how fair the request was to the employee, how fair the request was to the employee’s coworkers, how reasonable the request …

Benevolence Toward Men And Political Conservatism Among Married And Never-Married Women, Tara Goering

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Research indicates that sexism allows women to justify men’s privileged status; indeed, sexism has predicted women’s conservative vote choice (Cassese & Barnes, 2018). Less is known about how women’s attitudes towards men affect political preferences. Benevolent attitudes toward men (BM) are based in beliefs about women and men’s interdependence (Glick & Fiske, 1999). Married women may experience greater interdependence and may desire to preserve beneficial structural power systems and their benefits. The present research examined the relationship of BM to political conservatism among married and never-married women. We expected that married (vs. never-married) women would more strongly endorse BM and …

The Moderating Role Of Coping Resilience On The Relation Between Total Role Demands On Daytime Sleepiness In Working College Students, Emily Mcquade

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The Moderating Role of Coping Resilience on the Relation Between Total Role Demands on Daytime Sleepiness in Working College Students

Emily A. McQuade & Lisa Scherer, Ph.D. (Faculty Mentor)

University of Nebraska-Omaha

Working college students are confronted with several life roles that are physically and psychologically demanding, which has led to an increase in poor sleep health and daytime sleepiness. Research related to sleep health and daytime sleepiness found that 74% of college students claimed to not get enough sleep and 50% claimed to experience daytime sleepiness (Hershner & Chervin, 2014). Adopting the Job-Demands Resources (J-DR) theory (Bakker & Demerouti, …

The Moderating Role Of Coping Resilience On The Relation Between Total Role Demands On Daytime Sleepiness In Working College Students, Emily Mcquade

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The Moderating Role of Coping Resilience on the Relation Between Total Role Demands on Daytime Sleepiness in Working College Students

Emily A. McQuade & Lisa Scherer, Ph.D. (Faculty Mentor)

University of Nebraska-Omaha

Working college students are confronted with several life roles that are physically and psychologically demanding, which has led to an increase in poor sleep health and daytime sleepiness. Research related to sleep health and daytime sleepiness found that 74% of college students claimed to not get enough sleep and 50% claimed to experience daytime sleepiness (Hershner & Chervin, 2014). Adopting the Job-Demands Resources (J-DR) theory (Bakker & Demerouti, …

A Melting Pot Of Medications: Issues Regarding Over-Prescribing In Dementia Populations, Angela Gifford

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Over-prescribing is an issue faced by many in the older population, but dementia patients statistically experience higher prescribing rates of potentially inappropriate medications compared to their peers. There are currently no FDA approved medications available for the direct treatment of dementia, but drug classes like anticholinergics and psychotropics are used for the management of behavioral symptoms associated with the disease. These drugs can cause negative side-effects in the dementia populations including gastrointestinal issues, neurological issues, increased hospitalizations, and increased mortality rates within this group. Most troubling, the benefits that are supposed to occur from taking these drugs have been show …

Mapping Core Processes Of Creativity To Teams: The Development Of A Behavioral Coding Scheme, Salvatore Leone

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The study of creativity is of particular interest to modern organizations competing in a dynamic environment. Creativity is defined as the generation of novel ideas, solutions, and products that are both high quality and highly original (Amabile, 1996). Quality refers to the usefulness of the proposed idea, while originality refers to the uniqueness of an idea, and both standards must for high creativity (Mumford & Gustafson, 1988; Runco & Jaeger, 2012). Reviewing conceptualization of creative models, three core processes emerge: problem construction, idea generation, and idea evaluation. While much is known about how the three core processes operate at the …

Is There A Gender Bias In Creative Evaluations?, Payge Ehrp, Nadine Maliakkal

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Creativity has become an increasingly important skill in today’s world. Because society increasingly values creativity, it is critical that women and men are evaluated equally in terms of their creative output. Unfortunately, previous research indicates that men tend to be perceived as more creative compared to women. The present study investigates this phenomenon further by examining whether participants view the same exact ideas as more creative when they come from a man compared to when they come from a woman. To test our hypothesis, participants will be given a vignette scenario that poses an ambiguous problem. Participants will be given …

Is The Relationship Between Early Life Stress And Attachment Modulated By Dna Methylation Of The Oxytocin Receptor Gene?, Lidia Boghean

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Early life stress (ELS) has been linked to endocrine dysregulation, insecure attachment styles, and adult psychopathology. The enduring effects of ELS are likely regulated by epigenetic mechanisms in which the environment influences gene transcription and protein expression. We investigated oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) methylation as a potential underlying mechanism by which early life stress affects stress reactivity and attachment later in life in a dog model system. 47 dog-owner dyads were grouped by dog early life history (ELS and non-ELS) and provided blood and saliva samples. Dyads participated in a behavioral attachment paradigm. ELS dogs showed increased methylation at one …

Comparing Individual Perceptions Of Food Desert With Quantitative Measures In Omaha, Nebraska., Hector N. Samani, Bradley Bereitschaft

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Food deserts have been linked to an increase in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, due to lower access to affordable and healthy foods. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) outlines various methods and variables for defining food deserts, in attempts to standardize what constitutes a food desert or their characteristics. The USDA identifies the state of Nebraska as having both rural and urban food deserts, with an increase of food insecurity from 1.1% – 3.0% between 2007 and 2012 and warns of further increase of food deserts and its impact if measures are not taken. However, there …

Role Of Resilience In Buffering The Effect Of Work-School Conflict On Negative Emotional Responses And Sleep Health Of College Students, Brandon Wood

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

More than 70% of college students are employed while taking classes, and juggling these demands create a strain on students, with strain manifesting itself in several ways including lower academic achievement (Markel & Frone, 1998), increased prevalence of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety (Mounsey, Vandehey, Diekhoff, 2013), and the inability to maintain proper sleep hygiene (Augner, 2011). This trend of working a significant amount of hours while taking college classes is unlikely to change, fostering a research emphasis on identifying factors that facilitate college students’ ability to handle the stress of these multiple competing demands. Resilience is …

Experienced Sexual Harassment In The Military: Why Soldiers Aren't Reporting, Jacqueline Jaramillo

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The prevalence of U.S. military personnel experiencing sexual harassment is a significant problem that must be addressed. Recent estimates suggest that 26% of female service members and 7% of male service members experience sexual harassment in the military (Bell, Dardis, Vento, & Street, 2018). One purpose of this study is to review the research to determine the extent to which the culture of reporting in the military influences why soldiers demonstrate a strong tendency to not report sexual harassment they have experienced. A second goal of this research is to explore the evidence for soldiers’ fear of retaliation for reporting …

The Effects Of Leader Support And Leader Gender On Subordinate Creative Problem-Solving Performance, Nadine Maliakkal

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This research draws on role congruity theory to examine whether the well-studied relationship between leader support and subordinate creativity differs when the leader is a man or a woman. Utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk participants, the research employs experimental vignette methodology to examine (1) whether high (vs. low) leader support results in better subordinate creative problem-solving, (2) whether subordinate creative problem-solving is better under male (vs. female) leaders, and (3) whether the positive effect of support on subordinate creativity is greater for male than female leaders.

What Makes A Good Therapy Dog? Identifying Factors Associated With Calm Behavior In Therapy Dogs, Kristen Cunningham, Zachary L. Darwish, Rosemary Strasser

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Dogs offer a variety of benefits to society, including the use of therapy dogs to provide therapeutic and physiological benefits, enhancing the lives of a wide range of recipients. Unlike service or emotional support animals, therapy dogs provide support to a multitude of individuals, often in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, or other venues. While many studies have examined behavioral assessments of service dog programs, little research has investigated the factors that make a good therapy dog. Therapy dogs must undergo strategic training before becoming certified. The present study seeks to illuminate what factors might distinguish therapy dogs from pet dogs …

If I Had Something To Add, I Would: Meeting Topic Competences And Participation, Isaac Lindquist

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Most employees participate in workplace meetings, and their experiences in the meetings can vary greatly, which can lead to positive or negative effects on both job attitudes and behavior. In this study, we examined the effect that a meeting attendee’s competence in the meeting topic had on their participation in the meeting and their perception of meeting effectiveness. Results indicated those with higher levels of competence in the meeting topic were more likely to participate and through participation found their meeting more effective, and this relationship was stronger when employee dissent in the meetings was high. Leaders should ensure that …

The Role Of Need For Cognition In Creative Thinking Processes, Vignesh Murugavel, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Victoria Kennel

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Expanding on past findings, we examined the effects of need for cognition on different cognitive processes of creative problem-solving. We assessed need for cognition (NFC) and creative abilities of 180 undergraduates in problem construction, idea generation, and idea evaluation tasks. Regression analysis was used to test the effects of NFC on measures of creativity. Our findings indicate that NFC positively relates to the core creative processes of problem construction, idea generation, and idea evaluation. The theoretical and practical implication of our findings are discussed.

Applicant Reactions To Gendered Wording In Job Advertisements, Sahra Kaboli-Nejad, Eric Scheller, Carey Ryan

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Women account for only 28% of the STEM workforce (Neuhauser, 2014). One contributing factor may be gendered wording in advertisements (e.g., the use of more masculine wording in male-dominated fields). Masculine wording may discourage women from applying for male-dominated STEM careers. Research has shown, for example, that participants perceive there to be more men in occupations that use more masculine than feminine wording in their advertisements, resulting in women finding the jobs less appealing (Gaucher et al., 2011; Horvath & Sczesnya, 2016).

The present research examined whether gendered wording in an advertisement for a male-dominated STEM career affects perceptions of …

An Investigation Of Stimulants: Reviewing Their Effects On The Brain, Including Memory And Microglia, Michael Douchey

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Stimulants are a class of drugs that have a variety of effects on the brain, including changes in receptor activity in the brain areas responsible for- memory, attention, emotion, motor control, and the reward pathway. Stimulants may be generally classified by their availability. For example, prescription stimulants, which include drugs such as methylphenidate (Concerta™, Ritalin™) and mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall™), must be prescribed by medical professionals. Another regulated stimulant, albeit one available without a prescription, is nicotine; a highly addictive chemical that is age-restricted by the U.S. federal government. Nicotine is found in tobacco products, and in tobacco-free alternatives including …

Stress Experiences And Appraisals Influence Global Perspectives On Meeting Satisfaction, Emily Adams, Joseph Allen

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Meetings are inherently group activities, yet perceptions of meeting outcomes may vary by individual stress appraisal. This study explored the relationship between global meetings-related stressor experiences and meeting satisfaction as moderated by stress appraisals. Results are interpreted in light of occupational health theories and meetings science.

Empathetic Nurses And Their Reactions Towards Hostile Patients, Rebecca Marselle

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Nurses and other medical personnel are frequently victims of what the Department of Labor defines as Type II Violence, or customer-to-employee violence, with 80% of health care workers have reported that they have experienced some type of physical aggression at some point in their career (Clements, DeRanieri, Clark, Manno, Kuhn, 2005). Patient aggression consists of direct physical assaults (with or without weapons), written or verbal threats, physical or verbal harassment, and homicide (Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA, 2015). The purpose of this study is to review both organizational factors and personal qualities of medical personnel that influence their responses …

Experienced Sexual Assault In The Military: An Exploration Of The Organizational Factors Influencing Under-Reporting And Consequences When Victims Report, Medicine Flower Blue Star

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Sexual assault of both male and female service members is a pervasive and serious problem. In 2017, based on data from the U.S. Department of Defense, 5,200 service members reported sexual assault, representing a 10% increase from 2016. Scholars, military and government leaders are concerned that the prevalence of sexual assault is underestimated due to under-reporting. O’Brien, Keith, and Shoemaker (2015), for example, point to a 2013 report by the U.S. Department of Defense, which estimates that 67% of women and 81% of men do not report their military sexual assaults. One purpose of this study is to explore the …

Marmosets Respond Consistently To Threats Across Contexts, Sarah Carp

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Behavioral traits, such as how adventurous an individual is, can vary both across individuals and within an individual across contexts. However, there is evidence that individuals are stable across time in how they respond to certain stimuli. This consistency in behavioral responses to similar environments is termed a behavioral syndrome, or set of correlated behavior. We assessed the degree to which individual marmoset monkeys were consistent across four behavioral tests that measured different aspects of novelty seeking. The four tasks included exposure to a novel object in a familiar environment, exposure to a novel environment, behavioral flexibility in response to …

Electronically Monitored Youth: Perceptions Of Stigma, Marijana Kotlaja

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study examines the stigmatizing effects of electronic monitors (EM) among youth currently enrolled in an EM program. EM is viewed as a sanction that is less punitive than incarceration, more cost-effective and provides advantages over other alternatives. A total of 140 participants were randomly assigned to conditions (stigma salient vs. stigma non-salient) for an experiment in which they will be told the purpose of the study is to learn more about their thoughts and behaviors related to wearing an EM. This study can be deemed one of the first assessments to assess stigma consciousness and self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) as …

Modeling And Predicting Serious Cwbs Using Improved Analytic Methods, Benjamin Thomas, Kyle Kercher

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Research seeking to study and prevent serious forms of employee misbehaviors has been stymied by low incident rates and non-normal responses. Polychoric (cf., Pearson) correlation -based analytic methods offer solutions to these kinds of data. This 2-study (N = 172; N = 454) research provides support for these analytic methods in building models that distinguish serious and minor CWBs.

Gender Identity And Self-Esteem Within The Contexts Of The Same-Sex Peer Group, Nation, And Group Individualism And Collectivism, Mithra H. Pirooz

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Adolescence is a period of development during which needs and relationships shift (Sebastian, Burnett, & Blakemore, 2008). Issues of gender also become more salient, and gender identity has been related to different areas of psychosocial adjustment, such as self-esteem (Egan & Perry, 2001). The current study examined predictors of self-esteem among early adolescents in the context of a multilevel model. We considered felt pressure to conform to gender norms, gender typicality, and gender satisfaction as individual-level predictors within the contexts of the same-sex peer group, nation, and group levels of individualism and collectivism. Multilevel modeling was employed to account for …

Team Leadership Emergence And Team Outcomes, Ryan Royston

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Using sequential analysis, we observed how team problem solving and procedural communication differed by leadership (shared leadership, single leader, or leaderless). While all teams engaged in solution identification and elaboration, shared leader teams showed higher performance, and tended to draw more connections with solutions and engage in planning follow-up tasks.

Effect Of Mindful Meditation And Gratitude Journaling On College Student Stress And Well-Being Overtime, Stephanie N. Hines, Lisa L. Scherer

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

College students are stressed out! Majority of students tend to use maladaptive mechanisms to cope with stress, which can potentially impact their academics and career planning. This study focused on the potential benefits of two mainstream Mindfulness Training interventions in reducing stress for college students. Specifically, Mindful Meditation and Mindful Gratitude Journaling were implemented into two separate conditions, in which data was collected from 30 Organizational Psychology students online who were randomly assigned to each condition. Students were required to answer a series of questionnaires at times one (pre-test) and times two (post-test) that measured demographics, levels of stress, and …

The Moderating Effects Of Structure In Evaluation Criteria On The Relationship Between Tolerance For Ambiguity And Idea Evaluation Accuracy, Vignesh Murugavel

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study examined how participant’s tolerance for ambiguity affected the accuracy of their evaluations of ideas. Structure in evaluation criteria was used as a moderating variable. Participants assessed 15 solutions to an ambiguous problem and evaluated the originality of the solutions under three experimental conditions. Participants were either given no structure, limited structure, or more structure for evaluating solutions. Participants were also given a measure of tolerance for ambiguity. Tolerance for ambiguity had no bearing solution evaluation accuracy for the quality of a solution in any condition. Tolerance for ambiguity was negatively related to originality evaluation accuracy in the no …

An Exploration Of Employment Factors That Facilitate Or Hinder Working College Students’ Academic Success, Gabrielle M. Gergen, Lisa L. Scherer

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study was part of a larger study which investigated college student experiences, and how students negotiate multiple roles. This study specifically examined college students’ perceptions of how their employment facilitates versus hinders their abilities to meet the demands of other roles in life such as student, family member, significant other, volunteer, and extracurricular participant. We also assessed students’ suggestions for improving employment conditions to succeed in college. One-on-one interviews with 31 college students were conducted face-to-face, or via Facetime, or Skype. All interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim. Consistent with job facilitation theory, the results showed that students identified …

An Analysis Of Teacher Perceptions Of Student Behavior And Discipline In Schools Implementing Pbis, Lauren Drelicharz

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between staff perceptions of behavior and discipline and the implementation of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS). Despite studies that have found PBIS to be effective, research is needed to understand teachers’ perceptions of behavior and discipline in order to identify the needs and concerns of school staff. Identifying such needs and concerns may lead to improved implementation of PBIS. For this study, 292 teachers and other certified staff from a public school district were asked to complete a survey that addresses the perceptions, beliefs, and needs of school …

Who's Tweeting Whom: The Influence Of Rearing Condition On Social Integration In Zebra Finches, Zachary L. Darwish

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) are a gregarious species of finch. Previous work with zebra finches has demonstrated the long-lasting impacts of ear social environment on social behavior in adulthood. Zebra finch chicks were raised by either both parents (biparental) or their mother only (uniparental) and their behavior in an aviary was recorded using passive integrative transponders. Zebra finch ID numbers were recorded every time they entered a feeding station for 31 days. There was a trend for uniparental birds to engage in more visits to a feeding station per event than biparental birds, however, there was no difference …