Psychology Commons^™

Gender As An Environmental Stressor In Individuals Genetically Predisposed To Mood Disorders: A Preliminary Analysis, Kara West

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

Given the recent ‘epidemic’ of mental health disorders, we urgently need to better understand who is suffering and how. One aspect of this that research has come closer to identifying is where symptoms and diagnoses are missed in certain individuals, especially based on gender. However, if certain genders are actually more likely to deal with certain disorders we need to understand why and where that comes from. There is a general consensus in the medical field that some individuals are simply genetically predisposed to various disorders based on sex, but there is limited evidence that sex actually determines genetic predisposition. …

Borderline Personality Disorder Stigmatization: Bias, Discrimination, And Prejudice In The Healthcare Field, Briana L. Kunstman

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder characterized by patterns of unstable moods, impulsive behaviors, and insecure relationships. Often misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder, BPD is difficult to diagnose due to its symptoms overlapping with many other conditions. There has been a reluctance to work with individuals who have BPD due to the surrounding stigma. In fact, healthcare workers tend to misunderstand BPD, and assume that those who have it are manipulative, aggressive, violent, and unable to be helped. This stigmatization has a profound impact on how BPD clients are seen in the healthcare field and furthermore how they receive …

"Moral Of The Story": How Children’S Books Regulated Race Relations Starting Before The Civil War To Today, Faleya Scales

History: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The relationship between the racial content displayed in children's books and the development of relationships between blacks and whites has consistently been one that has been overlooked. The purpose of this article is to address the correlation between the two topics while also explaining how racial propaganda in children's books has affected the psychology of those in the relationship. Children's books are key components of everyone's childhood and understanding how they have impacted how we think and behave in relationships with the other race is the key topic highlighted in this article. Not only do you get a perspective into …

Living With Moral Schizophrenia, Rachel Hecke

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

A response to Michael Stocker's essay titled "The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories". When attempting to follow an ethical theory, a dilemma is created between one’s justifications for action according to their chosen moral theory such as duties and obligations, and the motivations or desires behind the action. Although this dilemma can lead to a divide in one's psyche, especially in regards to personal relationships, this schizophrenia isn't all that bad to endure.

Avoidant Coping Mediates The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And Stress, Amanda Schar, Julia Fraterrigo, Emma Slattery, Alyssa Rogalski, Kathryn Steininger

Celebration of Learning

The current study will examine how socioeconomic status affects perceived social support and coping strategies and how these two factors affect stress levels and post traumatic growth. This could lead to developments in how to better educate people on the most effective ways to deal with stress and providing community resources to populations particularly vulnerable to stress. Perceived social support and coping have been shown to affect post-traumatic growth and stress. Differences in coping strategies and availability of support may be partly driven by an individual's socioeconomic status. Perceived social support is defined as the extent to which someone believes …

Sense Of Community And Space, Amanda Corona

Celebration of Learning

Sense of community (SOC) is defined as a person’s experience of a group or specific area (Kenkmann et al, 1996). Physical spaces can affect SOC; small colleges have higher SOC on average than universities (Lounsbury & DeNeui, 1996). A person’s identity, especially ethnic identity, can also influence SOC (Rivas-Drake, 2012; Liu, 2005). However, there is less work on the intersection of physical space and ethnic identity (Devlin et al, 2008). This raises the questions: how does the experience of a community space affect someone’s SOC, and would it vary by ethnicity?

The relationship between communal spaces and identity can be …

Fathers Are Helping, Mothers Are Hovering: Differential Effects Of Helicopter Parenting In College First-Year Students, Livy Zienty, Dr. Jamie Nordling

Celebration of Learning

Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1991) states that humans have three critical needs – autonomy, competence, and relatedness – that are necessary for optimal development. The current study posits that helicopter parenting (i.e., excessive parental involvement and attention) may interfere with the development of these needs; previous research has found links among helicopter parenting, greater mental health symptomatology, and decreased autonomy (Schiffrin et al., 2014). The current study focused on first-year college students who were experiencing significant changes in social and academic domains. It was hypothesized that first-year students with helicopter parents would be more likely to experience negative …

Social Support, Depression, And Life Stress: A Meta-Analytic Path Analysis, Kayli Ahuja, Melissa Hagerty, Jenny Townsend

Celebration of Learning

Previous research has shown a negative correlation between perceived support and depression. Findings regarding the association between received support and depression have been mixed. Some studies have observed negative correlations between received support and depression. Others have found no correlation or even a positive correlation between received support and depression. This study used meta-analysis to explore the difference between perceived support and received support with regard to their correlation with depression. Results showed that perceived support was negatively correlated with depression. However, received support was not significantly associated with depression. In order to understand the difference between these two correlations, …

Wrongful Convictions By Police-Induced False Confessions, Kayli Ahuja

Celebration of Learning

Wrongful convictions have two main negative effects on society: (1) innocent people are imprisoned, and (2) the real perpetrators are allowed to wander the streets. In order to analyze this issue, this presentation discusses police interrogation tactics (specifically when using the Reid Technique), the association between police interrogation tactics and false confessions, the association between false confessions and wrongful convictions, ways in which wrongful convictions affect communities and their members, and possible ways to mitigate this problem. Although current police interrogation tactics can be useful at eliciting confessions, interrogation methods must be reformed in light of evidence that police-induced false …

Memory And Music, Sean Harty

Music: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

A literature review of sources pertaining to Music and Psychology. Focusing on how the brain reacts to music, and how our brains change as we age. Relates these topics to practicing music therapists. Proposes future studies based on the collected research.

The Effect Of Group Music Therapy On Alleviating Depression In Older Adults, Rebekah Gohl

Music: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Depression and loneliness are significant psychological symptoms that often go unnoticed in older adults. Group music therapy with older adults provides an opportunity to alleviate depression through shared music making, reminiscing, and forming new connections with other individuals. This paper explores the implications of using music therapy to alleviate depression in an older adult population as found in prior research on this topic, advocating for group music therapy over individual therapy as a means to establish connections during old age.

Prescription Drug Abuse, Jiaxi Tian

Global Issues in Public Health

Prescription drug abuse is an action that portrayed as misuse or overuse of prescription drugs. It is a prevalent problem all over the world. U.S is a particular country that has drug abuse as a serious problem has several different causes of the drug abuse. In the U.S., most prescription drugs are pain killers. The outcomes of drug abuse vary but may lead to death.

The Relationship Between Exposure To Lead And Criminal Behavior, Margaret Meyer, Christine Rogers

2017-2018: Scott County, Iowa Health Department

In recent years it has been made apparent that exposure to lead is a significant problem for many individuals and families. Lead exposure–whether through the air, water, or by ingestion–has been linked to numerous physical, cognitive, and social problems (Chandramouli, 2009; Nevin, 2007). Furthermore, urban, poor and immigrant populations are at a higher risk for lead exposure (Bakhireva, et al., 2013). And increasingly a connection between lead exposure and criminal behavior has been identified through both correlation studies and experiments. The high cost of exposure to lead is apparent when looking at the effects of lead over a lifetime, and …

Impact Of Social Contact On Predator-Induced Fear Responses In Young Male Chicks, Jessica Czarnecki, Kristina Humphreys, Danielle Hurmis Ms., Colin Kalmes, Lauren Pasetes, Megan Steinhoff, Steven Todorov, Shara Stough

Celebration of Learning

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is thought to involve unusually strong associative memories between the intense fear felt during a traumatic experience and other environmental cues present at the time of the trauma. Our study uses an animal model to investigate social contact, one of the factors that can impact fear responses, to learn more about possible risk factors or interventions that may be relevant to humans who may experience PTSD. Freezing, or the cessation of movement, is a common fear response observed in laboratory animals in the presence of a perceived threat. We tested whether or not the degree of …

Investigating Trust And Trust Recovery In Human-Robot Interactions, Abigail L. Thomson

Celebration of Learning

As artificial intelligence and robotics continue to advance and be used in increasingly different functions and situations, it is important to look at how these new technologies will be used. An important factor in how a new resource will be used is how much it is trusted. This experiment was conducted to examine people’s trust in a robotic assistant when completing a task, how mistakes affect this trust, and if the levels of trust exhibited with a robot assistant were significantly different than if the assistant were human. The task was to watch a computer simulation of the three-cup monte …

Examining The Literature On Fluoxetine Treatment For Selective Mutism In Children, Kelsey West

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Published literature on the research on using Fluoxetine, a specific type of SSRI, for children who have selective mutism was reviewed and then critiqued to determine conclusions on this type of treatment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Binge Eating Disorder In Adolescence, Rebekah Gohl

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Eating disorders are among the most prevalent psychological disorders for the adolescent population. The onset of binge eating disorder (BED) occurs in late adolescence to early adulthood and affects numerous individuals who struggle with identity formation and social development. This paper critiques the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating binge eating disorder in adolescence. While evidence on the efficacy of this treatment is limited, all research supports the use of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating binge eating disorder. More research on treatment of binge eating disorder must be conducted as adolescence is a crucial time for identity formation.

Cultural Effects On Rape Trauma Syndrome: Evaluating The Claims, Kelsey West

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Body Image In Division Three Male Athletes: An Assessment Of The Effects Of Weight Pressure And Body Ideals On Body Image, Joshua J. Symbal

Celebration of Learning

Body image is how people think, feel and behave with regard to their own physical attributes (Muth and Cash, 1997). The ideal male body has gone from being very average during the 20th century to being almost unattainable in the 21st century. The turn of the century shows an ideal defined by hypermesomorphia, or an extremely muscular/sturdy body build. This pressure can be seen in studies that show that anywhere from 28% to 68% of “normal weight” adolescent boys and young men feel that they are underweight and want to gain muscle (McCreary and Sasse, 2000). The pressure to gain …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Within Refugee Populations And Its Effects On Acculturation Into The United States, Brittany Burk

Celebration of Learning

The focus of this Honors Capstone research was to better understand the process through which a refugee acculturates into U.S. society. To do this, the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, cultural differences, United States citizens’ perceptions of refugees, and other challenges were addressed. A survey was conducted involving citizens’ perceptions of refugees, and revealed that individuals’ perceptions were determined by refugee status, PTSD and/or situational differences, depending on the scenario being described. This research seeks to address the problems faced by refugees entering the United States and proposes some solutions to provide a better transition into the U.S. culture by …

Education, Crystal C. Gray

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

Education is a spoken word poem that explores many aspects of the African American struggle within (self-knowledge). It starts with an African American college student who is disappointed with the lack of courses about her culture. Most curricula in the United States tend to be from a Eurocentric perspective, leaving out a multitude of information about people of color. All groups of people of color have unique experiences, however, African Americans have the most known (or perhaps I should say, unknown) history. The standard explanation of their existence is often limited to the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, when …

The Cultural Manifestations Of Anorexia Nervosa, Aaron Volk

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

No abstract provided.