Psychology Commons^™

Essences And Transformations In Objects, Animals, And Humans, Alicia Brooke Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research as to how humans group natural kinds, such as animals, is essential to understanding categorization processes. However, it lacks conventional application and generalization to everyday life. Humans are social beings that encounter a wide array of individuals on a daily basis. In these situations, we are required to consider various properties that make up these people. As Keller (2005) suggests, the way we categorize is shaped by our theories about the world. Therefore, when we determine the rationale behind people’s social categorization processes, we are better able to understand people’s perceptions of their social environment. Moreover, when we conduct …

Intersecting Contexts: An Examination Of Social Class, Gender, Race, And Depressive Symptoms, Amy Claxton

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined whether commonly used social class indicators (occupational prestige, education, and income) had direct or indirect effects on mental health, and whether these relationships varied by gender, race, or family structure. To this end, 597 working-class participants were interviewed in the months before they had a child. Findings indicated that income, and not occupational prestige or education, had a direct effect on mental health, in that it was related to fewer depressive symptoms. Additionally, education and race interacted, such that for People of Color, more education was related to more depressive symptoms. Furthermore, occupational prestige and education, and …

Perceived Racial Expectations Of Children, Jessica Roessleain

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This is a proposed research study concerning the presence of prejudice among children, especially concerning ambiguous everyday situations. Racism can be a source of chronic stress, mental health issues, and physical health issues for those involved, and everyday acts of prejudice can be even more harmful that overt acts of racism. These acts can cause health problems as serious as cardiovascular disease. Therefore this study aims to identify racial preferences among children, in the form of everyday ambiguous situations by having them identify what is occurring in a picture involving ambiguous interactions between white and black children on a playground. …

What Fits The Crime: Does Factors Influence In A Person’S Judgment?, Amanda Vance

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose and rationale for this experiment is to distinguish if factors such as race, prior offences, type of crime, level of seriousness of the crimes plays a role in a person’s judgment based on the type and severity of punishment. For this study participants were to state the type of punishment that the criminal were to be given for committing a certain crime. There were two independent variables used for the study, the independent variables were the race of the criminal was changed and if the criminal had prior offenses or were a first time offender. The hypothesis was …

Correlates Of Attitudes Toward Diversity Among White College Students, Amanda G. Sobottka

Honors Projects

Previous research illustrates numerous benefits of diversity, notably in college. Despite the benefits, not all students have positive attitudes toward diversity initiatives. Specifically, research suggests that White college students are less likely to engage in diversity-related experiences. Fostering positive diversity attitudes and general awareness about diversity-related constructs might enhance the benefits of a diverse campus. This study examined the relations of gender, year in school, openness to experience, diversity experiences, colorblind racial attitudes, and diversity attitudes. Participants were White undergraduate students from a small, private, liberal arts college. The main finding was that color-blindness negatively related to positive attitudes toward …

The Role Of Racial Information In Infant Face Processing, Angela Nicole Hayden

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The present research addressed the development of specialization in face processing in infancy by examining the roles of race and emotion. An other-race face among own-race faces draws adults’ attention to a greater degree than an own-race face among other-race faces due to the “other-race” feature in other-race faces. This feature underlies race-based differences in adults’ face processing. The current studies investigated the development of this mechanism as well as the influence that this mechanism has on emotion processing in infancy.

In Experiment 1, Caucasian 3.5- and 9- month-olds exhibited a preference for a pattern containing an Asian face among …

Do You See What I See? : Testing The Effects Of Race And Social Class On Therapists' Recognition Of And Attributions For Intimate Partner Violence, Susana Blanco

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

An estimated 5.3 million intimate partner violence (IPV) victimizations occur among U.S. women each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). Because of the high prevalence, Harway and Hansen (2004) recommended that therapists assume that all women presenting for therapy may be at risk for violence. However, assessment for IPV is not standard practice. In fact, studies repeatedly indicate that therapists tend to under-identify IPV (e.g., Harway & Hansen, 1993).

Perceived Racial Expectations Of Children, Jessica R. Roesslein

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Racism is an ever-evolving aspect of our society. Although the overt racism of the past may be behind us, indirect discrimination still prevails today. The proposed study aims to reevaluate race in today’s youth so as to fill the gap of current, relevant research, especially in children. Racism can cause a host of detrimental mental and physical health effects ranging from cardiovascular disease in adults to ADHD in children. It is not only overt acts of racism that cause these effects, but ambiguous acts of racism as well. Therefore, my proposed study aims to identify prejudices in children through the …

Not So Black And White: The Color Of Perception In Corporate Layoffs, Carole A. Isom

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research addressed the question of whether or not the perception exists that African Americans are disproportionately impacted during layoff periods within corporations. Portraiture was the selected method of inquiry for this research as it captures the experience of the participants and enables storytelling which is based upon perception as opposed to hard, quantitative data. Additionally, portraiture’s autobiographical roots supported my autoethnographic position, encouraging the artistic process while including aesthetic aspects. Portraiture allowed for the voice of the researcher everywhere: in the assumptions, preoccupations, and frameworks brought to the inquiry; in the questions asked; in the data gathered; in the …