Psychology Commons^™

The Beautiful Math Of Everything And You Included, E. Ozie

The STEAM Journal

This a reflection on how there is beautiful math to everything. An author's interpretation of matrices and mechanics in its relationship to someone's identity.

An Exploratory Mixed Methods Approach To Implicit And Explicit Identification With Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, Stephanie Jarvi Steele, Kayla Furbish, Thröstur Björgvinsson, Lance P. Swenson

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background and objectives: Identification with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is uniquely related to NSSI behavior and predicts future NSSI. This exploratory, mixed methods study used implicit and explicit approaches to further understanding of NSSI identity. Methods: Participants included 15 treatment-seeking adults (60% female, 87% Caucasian) with lifetime NSSI. Participant age ranged from 19 to 38 years (M = 25.33, SD = 6.10). Implicit tasks were completed at two time points in a test-retest design, followed by a qualitative interview. Results: Qualitative data suggest that explicit NSSI identity is relevant to some individuals with NSSI history. Mixed methods analyses indicate that individuals …

The Queer Agenda: A Fluid Education, Charlee Corra

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Throughout this paper, I weave together various aspects of my identity in order to investigate how fluidity and questioning form an undercurrent of my being and therefore of the way I teach. Through metaphors and narratives of my experiences within environmental education and experiential learning I seek clarity and expansiveness rather than definitive answers, leaning into the certainty that change is inevitable and there are rarely any static answers. Using queerness, Judaism, and my scientific background as the layers of my unique identity lens and positionality, I explore the ways in which the power of questioning, critical thinking, democratic education …

The Trabant And The Mercedes: A Psychological Analysis Into The Disjunction Of German Reunification, Faith Morris

Senior Theses

Ostalgie, a combination of the German words Ost (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia), is the psychological phenomenon that describes former East Germans’ longing for a return to aspects of life from the period of communist rule. This paper explores the phenomenon of Ostalgie in reunified Germany in relation to psychological constructs of nostalgia and collective identity.

Ostalgie is essentially both a means and an end. This paper seeks to prove Ostalgie is a means of creating identity, formulated by the interplay of nostalgia and certain social conditions that combined with and aided the failure of democratic capitalism for former East …

Creatively Exploring Self: Applying Organic Inquiry, A Transpersonal And Intuitive Methodology, Larisa J. Bardsley Phd

The Qualitative Report

This article explores the merit of using Organic Inquiry, a qualitative research approach that is most effectively applied to areas of psychological and spiritual growth. Organic Inquiry is a research approach where the psyche of the researcher becomes the instrument of the research, working in partnership with the experiences of participants and guided by liminal and spiritual influences. Organic Inquiry is presented as a unique methodology that can incorporate other non-traditional research methods, including intuitive, autoethnographic and creative techniques. The validity and application of Organic Inquiry, as well as its strengths and limitations are discussed in the light of the …

The Impact Of Racial Salience On The Perception Of Natural Hair, Chance S. Carter

XULAneXUS

The purpose of this experimental study investigates whether racial salience in Black populations determines one’s liking of Black women’s natural hair through a sample of 33 male and female college students. Racial salience is a predictor of racial identification. Furthermore, racial identity in ethnic minorities is positively correlated with self-esteem. Because racial identity is associated with self-esteem, individuals who do not have adequate self-esteem are less likely to reject imposed Eurocentric beauty standards and will therefore struggle to embrace Afrocentric phenotypes such as natural hair. For these reasons, I hypothesize participants exposed to a Black racial identity stimulus will report …

Identity Development In Adolescent And Young Adult Cancer Survivors, Rachel M. Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated identity development among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. We examined the relationship between identity development with body image, self-esteem and self-perception. Results suggest that AYA survivors’ sense of self (how they perceive themselves, and how much they like themselves) is associated with their identity status.

Redefining Gender & Gender Expression Through Self-Perceptions & Self-Reflections, Deborah O. Ade

Publications and Research

As societies evolve policies are developed to recognize and formalize these changes. One current context for change is New York City and the concept that has undergone significant change is gender. Many individuals no longer identify with the traditional binary distinction of male or female. Subsequently, new gender categories have emerged (e.g., bi-gender, pan gender, androgynous). Indeed, a total of 31 gender categories have been recognized by the NYC Commission of Human Rights. The goal behind this acknowledgement is to encourage equitable treatment and respect of all individuals within the workplace. NYC businesses that do not accommodate individuals identifying with …

Exploring Connections Between Social Anxiety And Social Media Use In College Students, Alexandra Deman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

When young adults enter college their identity and self-esteem are tested in a novel environment. Interacting, forming new relationships, having some sense of independence for the first time, and often living in a new area can take a toll on someone who has not sufficiently developed a stable identity. This, in-turn, may create a negative outlook on one’s self and the individual’s capabilities to participate in social interaction, or ultimately a desire to avoid them altogether. If such a negative view further intensifies and remains present, it may develop into social anxiety disorder. Social media can either alleviate or escalate …

How Adult Christians Incorporate Their Faith With The Psychology Of Forgiveness: A Qualitative Methods Study, Sonia Marta Pinero Lucci

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines Christian adult’s perceptions, practices of, and tendencies towards the phenomenon of forgiveness. Research in the field up to this date is valuable in understanding forgiveness theory, efficacy of forgiveness models, as well as the impact of religion and spirituality on forgiveness. However, research has progressed to reduce forgiveness, as well as religion and spirituality to its parts, thus research has moved away from the complete, whole concepts of forgiveness and faith. Lately, research has attempted to fill this gap by understanding how people of faith forgive, though faith groups likely perceive and practice forgiveness differently. Therefore, the …

Does Aging Identity Moderate The Impact Of Experiences With Familial Ageism On Well-Being?, Emily E. Kinkade

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to begin investigating the effects of ageism in the family context. The current literature has documented the negative impacts that negative stereotypes and negative perceptions of aging has on older adults’ health, mortality, and well-being (Levy, 1996; Levy, 2003). However, the majority of extant research on ageism focuses on age discrimination in the workplace and in healthcare despite the majority of peoples’ time being spent in the family context. Therefore examining experiences of ageism sourced from family members merits study. Walker, Bisconti and Kinkade (in preparation) found evidence that the experience of ageism within …

Social And Individual-Level Identities And College Male Alcohol Use Behaviors: Examining The Utility Of Protective Behavioral Strategies, Robert Bearden Whitley

Dissertations

Recent literature has consistently identified conformity to traditional masculine norms as motivating hazardous drinking behaviors of college men. Given the high prevalence of hazardous drinking among college men and the particular negative consequences that emerge secondary to it, additional research is needed in this area to better identify possible intervention targets. The present study sought to better elucidate the proximity of male norm conformity to drinking behaviors through including a specific identity factor related to alcohol use: drinking identity. Secondary to this goal, this study also sought to examine how these factors of identity predicted the safe drinking behaviors of …

Identity Centrality's Influence On The Relation Between Disclosure And Mental Health Stigma, Samantha Ege

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that disclosing one’s mental illness to another individual has reduced one’s feelings of self-stigma. However, there are gaps concerning the reasons why the act of disclosing for some decreases self-stigma, whereas the act of disclosing increases self-stigma in others. This study purported to fill this gap by investigating the influence of identity centrality on the relation between disclosure and self-stigma and positive regard’s moderation of identity centrality’s influence. Students from Illinois State University were recruited through e-mail and SONA and were asked to complete a series of questionnaires regarding distress, disclosure, identity, positive affect, and self-stigma. …

The Role Of Ethgender Identity In The Relationship Between Gendered Racism And Activism Among Black Women, Maha Baalbaki

Dissertations (1934 -)

Black women face a unique intersectional form of discrimination, termed gendered racism (Essed, 1991). The purpose of this study was to determine whether experiences with gendered racism predict activism among Black women and to explore the roles of emotions and identity in this relationship. An online, national sample of 112 Black women provided self-reports of frequency of experiences with overt and covert forms of gendered racism and associated emotional responses, ethgender identity centrality, and activism. Results revealed that experiences with covert gendered racism predicted activism. Emotional responses to gendered racism were not found to predict activism. Ethgender identity was found …

The Change In Classification Of Asperger Syndrome: An Exploration Of Its Effects On Self-Identity, Stephany Huynh, Adam Mccrimmon, Tom Strong

The Qualitative Report

Recently, the American Psychiatric Association eliminated Asperger Syndrome (AS) and introduced the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnostic framework. This change in nosology socially implicates people who self-identify with and derive personal meaning from their AS diagnosis. The current study explored the opinions of adults with AS regarding their identity related to the diagnostic terminology of ASD. Twelve adults with AS completed a semi-structured interview that was transcribed and analyzed qualitatively using Thematic Analysis. The analysis revealed six themes: (a) Derived Meaning, (b) Knowledge and Understanding, (c) Perceptions and Labels, (d) Social Identity, (e) Opinions and Reactions to ASD, and (f) …

Investigating Identity Development And “Finsta” Use Amongst Emerging Adults, Sara Holsing

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Finstas, which stands for “fake Instagram,” are a new type of social media. Past research has found that self-presentation and social comparison are important on social media and may have implications for Finstas use and identity development for college-aged adults. In our first study, we hypothesized that social media self-presentation would relate to the content posted on Finstas, the current state of a participants' identity, and what comparison style they engaged with most on their public Instagram. One hundred twelve college-aged participants took an online survey and answered questions to four scales and also a Finsta survey created by the …

Ethnic-Racial Identity And Psychological Adjustment: An Examination Of Identity Coherence And Identity Confusion As Mediators, Cara Allen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current dissertation project investigated relationships among ethnic-racial identity, identity coherence, identity confusion, and self-esteem in an ethnic minority sample. Consistent with previous research, ethnic-racial identity was related to identity coherence. Also consistent with previous research were the findings that identity coherence and identity confusion are differentially associated with self-esteem. Mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between one form of ethnic-racial identity, ethnic-racial identity commitment, and self-esteem was mediated by identity coherence. This mediated relationship was not moderated by gender, ethnicity, or immigration status. However, the relationship between identity coherence and self-esteem was moderated by college experience.

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Korean Adoptees’ Multiple Minority Identities, Jared Utley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the end of the Korean War, Korean children have been placed for international adoption due to their marginalized status in South Korea. In the United States, Korean children have predominantly been adopted to White families through transracial adoption (Bergquist, 2003; Lee, 2003). Transracial adoption describes the process of children being placed in a home where there are racial differences with one or both adoptive parents. Through international transracial adoption, Korean adoptees may undergo events that impact the salience and development of multiple minority identities, including: racial, ethnic, cultural, and as an adoptee. These experiences may be shaped by interactions …

The Association Of Romance Movies, Gender, And Relational Identity Among Emerging Adults, Sara Hare

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emerging adults are motivated to form intimate relationships and explore their relational identity. Little is known, however, about the development of relational identity in emerging adults. Given that external influences such as movies can impact how people view relationships, and that emerging adults are more likely to watch movies than other forms of media, it is essential to explore the relationship between movies and relational identity in emerging adults. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to examine the relationship between relational identity, gender, and the preference for romance movies among emerging adults. The theoretical foundations for the study …

Associations Among Smoking, Vaping, Psychopathology, And Identity, Jacqueline A. Beretsky

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Although there has been progress in trying to decrease the use of cigarette smoking, a new method of smoking has evolved which is rapidly increasing, namely vaping. Adolescents who participate in smoking are more likely to increase smoking frequency if they believed that it is self-defining (“I smoke cigarettes” versus “I am a smoker”). While there has been evidence to support the claim that internal motives for smoking are correlated with smoker identity development, there has been none, to our knowledge, found for vaping identity. Due to the similarities of smoking and vaping, it is important to discover whether those …

Migration And Women’S Relationships To The Land And Food In Myanmar, Allison Joseph

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

In the 21st century, Myanmar has become the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. To achieve its economic and political goals, the government has conducted extensive confiscation and reallocation of communal lands, which has resulted in a growing class of landless and dispossessed citizens. Under the new laws, rural women are disproportionately impacted and more vulnerable to the processes of dispossession, often lacking the rights or resources of their male counterparts to fight for the land of their ancestors. This has resulted in the wide-scale disinheritance of Myanmar’s rural women from their land and food, as …

Trauma And Identity: A Reciprocal Relationship?, Steven L. Berman, Marilyn J. Montgomery, Kaylin Ratner

Faculty Publications - Graduate School of Counseling

Trauma can alter the course of identity development and destabilize existing identity commitments. Trauma, whether past or current, can also impact the resources a person brings to identity work. However, identity can also be a lens through which trauma is perceived and interpreted, helping to determine whether a traumatic experience results in posttraumatic stress disorder or posttraumatic growth. Despite the apparent implications each construct has for the other, the scholarship at the intersection of trauma and identity remains sparse. This Special Issue explores how and when trauma and identity influence one another by considering their association across various adolescent populations, …

The Impacts Of Migration On Myanmar Women’S Identity And Connectedness To The Land And Food, Allison Joseph

Scripps Senior Theses

In the 21st century, Myanmar has become the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (Kusakabe & Pearson, 2010). To achieve its economic goals, the government has prioritized the confiscation and reallocation of communal lands, which has resulted in a growing class of landless and dispossessed citizens (Franco, Twomey, Ju, Vervest, & Kramer, 2015). This has resulted in the wide-scale process of Myanmar’s rural women’s disinheritance from the land and food, as they are expropriated from the home of their ancestors and forced to migrate to urban centers to earn a livelihood. The proposed study will examine and …

Uncertainty And Support For Extremist Governments, Dennis Estrada

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Extremist governments and regimes have risen to power throughout history and the 2016 U.S. presidential election of Donald Trump raised concerns amongst scholars and politicians that the U.S. government is trending in this direction. Arguably questionable actions conducted by the Trump administration, such as the “Muslim Ban” or the inhumane treatment of migrants at the U.S. border, can be considered extremist in nature and at minimum they mimic the actions of extremist governments. What drives a populace to support extremist governments, particularly a populace raised in democracy? Previous literature and research suggests that under conditions of uncertainty, people are motivated …