Psychology Commons^™

Investigating The Eeg Error-Related Negativity In College Students With Adhd, Anxiety, And Depression, Mariacristina Canini

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential elicited by the commission of errors. It appears as a negative deflection peaking between 50ms and 100ms after an erroneous response. Previous literature demonstrated that individuals who suffer from either anxiety or depression display a higher ERN amplitude compared to a control group. It has also been shown that people with ADHD display a lower ERN amplitude. Based on these findings, we investigated the relationships between these three disorders and their effects on the amplitude of the ERN. We recruited thirty-one students at East Tennessee State University and gathered data on their level …

The Design Of Tiny Homes And Their Significance To Simplistic Living, Monica Garcia-Guzman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines the design of tiny homes and the importance they play in the lives of those that would usually have not been able to afford a house. The research will also focus on designing a tiny home with the use of design software to fully understand the extent of the characteristics of a tiny home. The design of these small dwellings, usually about 400-500 square feet, allows for a minimalist lifestyle that can be very low cost. The same materials that are used in traditional constructed homes are used for tiny homes because it makes them more durable …

Oxytocin Receptor Genotype And Serotonin Transporter Genotype As Mediators Of Social Behavior: A Rhesus Macaque Model, Ryno Kruger

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Studies suggest that sociality plays a major role in physical and mental health, with loneliness, hostility, and aggression contributing to ill health. Genetic variation functions as a foundational basis for positive sociality, as well as antisocial behaviors such as social alienation and aggression. It is widely believed that the central serotonin and oxytocin systems are two neurotransmitter systems that play important roles in sociality and antisocial behavior. In this study, we investigate the genetic impact of the serotonin transporter gene (SERT) and a recently discovered oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene on social isolation and antisocial behavior using a rhesus monkey model …

Attitudes And Perspectives Towards Undocumented Immigration In The United States, Nicole Morgan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Undocumented immigration has been a historically controversial political topic in the United States and is much discussed under the current Trump Administration. The Latinx population, specifically Mexican, has received much negative speculation under the current political platform. While past articles have suggested that prejudice and xenophobia may play a role in attitude and perception of immigration, not many articles look at whether ethnicity influences perception in relation to Haidt and Graham’s Moral Foundation Theory (MFT). MFT looks at moral belief on a multi-dimensional level and reflects scores as more conservative or liberal for five categories. This study aims to look …

Pyschosocial Well-Being And Efforts To Quit Smoking In Pregnant Women Of South-Central Appalachia, Brittney Stubbs

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A sample of 1,031 pregnant women from five prenatal practices participated in Tennessee Intervention for Pregnant Smokers (TIPS), an expanded 5A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) program. Stress, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating were hypothesized to differ among three groups: pregnant women who never smoked, pregnant women who smoked but quit prior to birth, and pregnant women who smoked and did not quit prior to birth. Smokers who quit were lower in stress and higher in self-esteem than those who did not quit. Non-smokers were lowest in stress and depression, and highest in self-esteem. These findings may lead to …

Trauma-Informed Care: Implementation Efforts In Northeast Tennessee, Kaelyn E. Bishop, Andrea D. Clements, Valerie Hoots

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Trauma has been found to be highly prevalent and associated with many negative health and social outcomes (i.e., heart disease, higher suicide risk, high-risk behaviors) in the general population. Despite these associations, trauma detection is relatively rare in service-providing organizations. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a proposed solution that encourages trauma detection, understanding the symptoms associated with trauma, and treating trauma while actively avoiding re-traumatization to the service user. Although research about TIC efficacy has been fairly limited, there are some promising potential benefits of the practice to the client, provider, and the population as a whole. For this study, we …

Self-Rated Health, Healthcare Satisfaction, Healthcare Adherence, And Medical Mistrust: The Moderating Role Of Rurality, Stephanie Alu

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study is part of a broader study called the Women’s Reproductive Health Survey (WRHS) which aimed to examine various aspects of women’s life experiences. This study examined the moderating effect of rurality on several factors of healthcare in a sample of women between the ages of 18 and 50. Self-rated health (SRH) was hypothesized to predict healthcare satisfaction, healthcare adherence, and medical mistrust. Furthermore, rurality was hypothesized to weaken the relationships between SRH and healthcare satisfaction and adherence; it was further hypothesized to exacerbate the relationship between SRH and medical mistrust. A survey containing a single-item measure of …

Coercive And Deceptive Predictors Of Sexual Risk: The Moderating Role Of Self-Esteem, Morgan Barker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Risky sexual practices can lead to concerning public health issues, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy. Coercive or deceptive behaviors by one’s partner to engage in risky practices may be one factor contributing to sexual risk. This study examined experiences of sexual risk coercion and deception, including partner sexual infidelity, coerced condom nonuse, and fear of negative partner reaction to condom request, as predictors of engagement in sexual risk behaviors, including condom use, safer sex communication, and lifetime number of sexual partners. Self-esteem was examined as a moderator. College students (N = 216) were recruited through the …

Mindfulness And Religiosity/Spirituality As Protecting Factors For Internalizing Symptoms Associated With Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Moderated Moderation Model, Kayla Heineken, Diana Morelen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events during a person’s early life that can influence their later mental health, physical health, and wellbeing. Internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression are common mental health outcomes associated with these events. Two factors, religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and mindfulness, are possible protecting factors to help lessen the effect of traumatic experiences on later mental health. This study examined whether R/S and mindfulness are protective factors in the relationship between ACEs and future internalizing symptoms. Further, this study examined whether the impact of R/S was influenced by an individual’s mindfulness (moderated moderation). Participants (N = …

Relationship Between Joint Attention And Language In Multiparous And Uniparous Households, Hannah C. Manis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The present study was designed to examine differences in the effect of the number of children in the household (also known as “parity”) on the relationship between initiating joint attention (IJA) and language development. We reasoned that infants who are only children (i.e., in uniparous homes), relative to infants who have one or more siblings (i.e., in multiparous homes), would have more opportunity to engage in IJA, and would, therefore, acquire a larger number of object labels. We tested the hypotheses that: 1) there would be a positive correlation between the number of IJA bids and language overall, and 2) …

How Diet Choices And Weight Change Person Perception, Nicole Tibbits

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous studies have explored the negative perceptions of overweight targets along with the specific physical and psychological characteristics commonly used to describe them. The current study extends this literature by experimentally investigating the effect that both weight and diet choices have on the characteristics attributed to an individual. Participants were exposed to one of four scenarios that involved exposure to an image (overweight or average) and a short description of the target with the diet manipulation (healthy or unhealthy) embedded. As expected, overweight targets with unhealthy diets were rated lowest on perceptions of physical health and independent of weight, targets …

Meditating In Virtual Reality: Psychotherapeutic Applications Of Vr Beyond Exposure Therapy, Divya Mistry

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Literature supports the efficacy and acceptability of VR exposure therapy (VRET) for the treatment of phobia and trauma-related disorders, although not all trauma-related mental health problems are of a phobic or avoidant nature, therefore may not be amenable to VRET. The current study intends to transition past the scope of VRET to expand the application of commercially available VR to areas of psychotherapy that are instead associated with increasing positive emotions and wellbeing to target mental illness such as depression, anxiety, and stress.

Specifically, the current study compared participant (n=80) affective, satisfaction, and meditative responses to VR guided meditation (VRGM) …

Screen Time Effects On Pediatrics, Lindsay Michelle Mccracken

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the positive and negative effects of technological screen use by children ages zero to eighteen. The literature reviewed for this research covered the following topics; screen time effects on children ages zero to five years, screen time effects on children ages six to twelve years, screen time effects on children ages thirteen to eighteen years, type of technology type, progression of technology, and purpose of technology. Most of the literature examined for this research involved the comparison of positive and negative effects of screen use over various time frames. No conclusions were …

Seeing The World Through Humility-Tinted Lenses: Exploring Social Cognitive Explanations For Outcomes Of Humility, Chayce Baldwin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Past research on humility has focused largely on describing the what of humility, but has made little headway in terms of explaining the why of humility. In describing humility, psychological research has accrued evidence suggesting that humble people are more prosocial and characterized by low self-focus. One group of researchers has even described humility as the core value that “binds society together” (Worthington et al., 2017, p. 3). Understanding why humble people act differently may help provide insight into the essence of humility and what factors can help solve important social issues and, indeed, “bind society together”. One reason why …

Depictions Of Genetic Research In Film Across Film Genres, Jennifer Lund

Undergraduate Honors Theses

When people do not have personal experience to draw on, the experiences of characters in film can serve in the mind as a substitute. This research sought to determine what kind of impression films depicting genetics research leave on the audience. These genres were romance (Code 46, 2004), horror (Splice, 2009), thriller (Children of Men, 2006), and drama (Gattaca, 1997). Scenes from the films were analyzed to determine their likely effect on the audience perception of genetics. The researcher hypothesized that the drama and romance films would portray genetics research as neutral, but the science …