Psychology Commons^™

Getting The Dunce Cap: Examining The Effects Of Authority And Rejection On Self-Esteem, Chloe Whitfield

Honors College Theses

Social rejection has been defined as any instance in which an individual is excluded socially or fails to maintain a social relationship (Jiang & Ngai, 2020). To describe the tendency to worry about, anticipate, and overreact to social rejection, the term rejection sensitive was coined (Feldman & Downey, 1994). The present study was specifically interested in rejection sensitivity and its various influences on behavior and self-esteem, especially in an instance of receiving rejection from a person of academic authority (i.e., a professor). The study was also interested in identifying recurring personality traits in rejection-sensitive individuals. After completing an online pre-test …

Intercultural Competence And Personality In Study Abroad Students, Wilkes W. Jones

Honors College Theses

This study aimed to replicate and extend on previous research demonstrating that international study-abroad experiences can alter a plethora of culturally related views and attitudes associated with intercultural competence. Moreover, studying abroad has been shown to make students more knowledgeable of, compassionate toward. and skilled when working with people from other cultures. Additionally, previous research has provided evidence that some Big Five personality traits can predict scores on intercultural competence measures, suggesting that some individuals may be more open to the potential benefits of studying abroad more than others. For this study, I hypothesized that from before to after studying …

Peer Perceptions Of Parent-Students Seeking Higher Education, Alexandria M. Wall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With a growing number of parents pursuing academia, it is imperative that researchers understand the social environment in which parent-students function. Stereotypes of parent-students may be held by peers, faculty, and other educational supervisors. Across two previous independent studies, evidence and rationale were provided to suggest that both positive and negative perceptions of parent-students exist, with noted differences between gender. The purpose of the current 2x2x2 between-subjects study was to analyze the social perceptions of students enrolled in higher education as varied by parenthood status, age, and gender. The social perceptions included measures accounting for perceptions of intelligence and academic …

The Big Five And Dark Triad: The Role Of Personality In The Development Of Passion, Hannah Behar

Honors Theses

The present work explored the connection between personality and the Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP) and weather psychological safety moderated this relationship. The first study comprised 109 Introduction to Psychology students at the University of Richmond, and the second study measured 128 MTurk participants. The web-based survey administered to both samples consisted of measures assessing Harmonious Passion (HP), Obsessive Passion (OP), the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits, and Psychological Safety (PS). Due to reliability concerns, only OP and the Dark Triad traits could be used to assess the MTurk sample. Results from regression analysis showed that among MTurk …

The Indirect Association Of Personality With Perceived Stress As Mediated By Humor In University Students During Covid-19, Jacqueline Sterghos

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Humor is known to be an effective coping strategy due to its stress-reducing capabilities (Overholser, 1992; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). However, more recent research into humor has revealed it can also lead to increased levels of stress (Fritz et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2003). Extraverts tend to have positive emotions and are better able to cope with stressful emotions (Ford et al., 2016). However, individuals higher in neuroticism are more likely to engage in maladaptive types of coping strategies and humor (Greengross et al., 2011), putting them at a higher risk for increased stress levels. The current research utilized …

Virtual Reality, Mindfulness And Their Associations To Personality Traits, Somer Schaffer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mindfulness, conceptualized as actively noticing and engaging with oneself and one’s surroundings with a nonjudgmental mind, is associated with many positive outcomes such as healthy relationships, stress reduction, performance engagement, and increased well-being. Virtual reality (VR) technologies offer people immersive experiences to engage with novel environments for entertaining and therapeutic purposes. While in any VR environment, participants may perceive themselves as if they are in the scenes, that is, they experience moment-to-moment awareness and immersion in these virtual environments. Thus, practicing mindfulness meditation with technologies like smartphones and VR has become increasingly popular over the past decade. However, little research …

Exploring The Divergent Social Dimensions Of Ceo Narcissism On Internal Firm Outcomes, Andrew Brandon Blake

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I move away from the common clinical conception of narcissism in management to a novel two-dimensional concept and measurement of narcissism. Because these dimensions are shown to have divergent motives, goals, social strategies, and behaviors, I theorize that these differences in narcissism will have diverging effects on the firm. Then, I shift the conceptual focus of CEO narcissism research from the CEO as an agentic decision-maker seeking external praise for firm consequences to an implicit social strategist who prioritizes short-term interpersonal interactions in service of narcissistic supply. I examine four internal outcomes likely to be influenced by …

The Impact Of The Covid Pandemic On First Year Students' Locus Of Control, Self-Efficacy And Well-Being, Alexandra E. Bishop

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

Locus of control, self-efficacy, and well-being are well-studied personality concepts, but the change in these variables, and their relationships, over extremely stressful and uncontrollable periods, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, has not been assessed. The current study evaluated change in locus of control, self-efficacy, and well-being, as well as their relationships with one another, in a sample of students by comparing current data to data collected before the Covid-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that locus of control would become more external, self-efficacy would increase slightly, and well-being would decrease. Results revealed that locus of control became significantly more external, while …

Exploring The Impacts Of Student Classification On Perceptions Of Success, Mackenzie Richmond

Honors Theses

There are several definitions of success, and everyone has their own personal take. Some define success as receiving honors, rewards, or having good relationships, while researchers have their own success vocabulary. Although there is a battle between logic and sociality for perceptions of success, it is commonly agreed that success is linear and multifaceted. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of student classification (undergraduate and graduate/professional students) on perceptions of success. Knowing how someone perceives success offers insight into that person. Such insight can equip therapists on ways to personalize a therapeutic approach, including goals and …

Individual Differences In Response To Hostile And Benevolent Sexism In A Stem Interview Context: The Moderating Role Of Behavioral Activation, Elizabeth Kiebel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women continue to face sexism in workplace contexts, especially those that are male dominated, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, women often fail to confront the sexism they experience, despite confrontation being an effective way to cope with and prevent future harassment (Fitzgerald et al., 1995; Magley, 2002). To date, no one has assessed the potential moderating role of personality differences related to approach motivation on women’s confrontation of sexism. In this study, women were exposed to either a hostilely sexist or benevolently sexist question during a mock job interview that was purportedly being conducted as part …

Overcoming The Odds: The Effects Of The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity, Lifetime Trauma, And Resiliency On Empathy And Conscientiousness, Victoria West Staples

MSU Graduate Theses

This research sought to understand the connection between trauma and the development of resiliency while examining the effects of that relationship on empathy and conscientiousness. Specifically, this study was created to answer four main questions: (1) Does early childhood adversity predict later life trauma? (2) Does childhood adversity and cumulative lifetime traumatic experiences impact the development of resiliency and its subconstructs (i.e., interpersonal resiliency and intrapersonal resiliency)? (3) Is empathy impacted by the presence of resiliency, specifically examining its effect on cognitive and affective empathy (using questionnaires and galvanic skin response)? (4) And is conscientiousness related to resiliency subconstructs? There …

Exploring A Mediational Model Of The Relationship Between Skin Color And Mate Selection In Desi Young Adults, Rabiya Ahmed

Dissertations and Theses

Skin color bias is present in South Asia and is especially apparent within the Desi (i.e., South Asian) marriage market, where explicit preferences for fair-skinned marital partners are made and lighter skin is perceived as more attractive. It is also known that, through the halo effect, attractive people are perceived to possess positive personality traits. The present study aimed to determine if skin color is associated with long-term mate preference among U.S.-based Desi adults as it is among Desi in South Asia, and if so, if that relationship is mediated by perceived attractiveness. It also aimed to determine if, in …

How Fast Are “Fast-Friends”? Do People Make Accurate Friendship-Relevant Judgements Of Strangers Within The First Minute Of Interaction, David Koehn Benson

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Impression formation involves the use of swift, automatic judgements in combination with slower controlled processing of incoming information to adjust those judgements. “Thin-slice” literature has also shown us that humans are capable of surprisingly accurate interpersonal judgements from small snippets of expressive behavior. Although friendship does take time to develop, assessing others along dimensions that seem to be related to friendship development during the acquaintance process often involves interpersonal judgements. This researcher sought to determine whether interpersonal judgements made in the first minute of zero-acquaintance interaction (strangers meeting) are accurate and resilient enough to resist adjustments made after a subsequent …

Attitude Formation And Malleability In Response To Visual Cues And Counterattitudinal Information, Tyler W. Mueller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this research is to investigate how individuals form attitudes based on the appearance of another person and how malleable those attitudes are when the individual is presented with new information about the other person. The predicted effect from this study was that participants would form attitudes about another person's agreeableness based on visual information and that when presented counterattitudinal information would be more likely to change attitudes than information that matches their initial attitude. It was also expected that negative first impressions would be harder to change. METHOD: Participants (N = 109) were presented one …

It Is In The Cards: An Analysis Of Greeting Card Selection Through Identity And Personality, Emily Topilow

Honors Projects

In this exploratory study, personal and social identity were analyzed for their effect on how consumers choose greeting cards. Factors, including personality, relationships, and identity will be qualitatively analyzed to understand people’s buying habits. Certain factors, including gender, personality, relationships, type of card, and frequency of receiving and giving cards, will be qualitatively analyzed for frequency. The two theories analyzed were the Social Identity Theory (SIT) and the Identity Theory (IT).

525 college-aged students were surveyed to examine their purchasing habits of greeting cards. The results showed that the identity of the card giver and the identity of the card …

Differential Mating Motives' Influence On Preferences For Facially Communicated Extraversion, Mitch Brown

Dissertations

Human facial structures communicate personality from which one can infer another’s behavioral intentions, forming a basis for mate selection. One particularly detectable trait through facial structures is extraversion. Extraversion is a trait associated with heightened interest in promiscuous mating strategies and preferred among individuals similarly interested in short-term mating, implicating extraverted mates as ideal trait for short-term mating. Nonetheless, behavioral repertoires associated with extraversion may also pose risks, particularly in long-term mating, as their increased promiscuity may undermine their fidelity to a specific partner, thereby potentially reducing biparental investment in any offspring produced. Thus, a preference for introversion (i.e., low …

The Influence Of Personality On Organ Donation Attitudes And Behaviours., Shianne Brackenbury

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

This study investigated the influence of personality, specifically conscientiousness, on organ donation attitudes (ODA), organ donor status and future registration intentions in an exclusively female sample. Forty-four female undergraduate students completed five questionnaires which measured the following variables: The Big Five personality dimensions, religiousness, organ donation knowledge, organ donation attitudes, altruism, social desirability, self-reported donor status, and intent to register as an organ donor. The results found no significant effect of personality on donor status or intent. However, ODA and religiousness significantly influence donor status and intent in female university students. Results offer valuable insight for how health professionals and …

The Impact Of Childhood Trauma And Personality On Kinkiness In Adulthood, Kaitlyn Hillier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, kinky sexualities and sexual behaviors have been understood as pathological or perverse. Such misunderstandings and misrepresentations have contributed to the development and perpetuation of kink stigma. The aim of this retrospective, cross-sectional, correlational research study was to explore the potential relationship(s) between pathology, personality, and kinky sexual behaviors/roles in adulthood. Guided by queer-feminist theory, the research questions addressed whether personality traits, experiences of childhood trauma, or a combination thereof, were predictors for kinky behaviors/roles in adulthood. A multi measure, anonymous, and confidential survey was distributed online including the Childhood Traumatic Events Scale as a childhood trauma questionnaire, the Mini-IPIP, …

Everyone Has A Dark Side: How Personality And Empathy Impact Men’S Sexual Aggressive Persistence On Dating Apps, Samantha Holland

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

In the world of online dating, there is a major issue of men not respecting clear no-signals from their matches. A no-signal is simply when a woman removes her consent to continue in the conversation. In terms of consent, there has been plenty of research into how men misinterpret ambiguous consent for approval to engage in a sexual act, but there has been very little research examining why men persist through non-ambiguous no-signals. There needs to be more research into this area because these behaviors of disregarding no-signals may lead to more serious behaviors such as rape and sexual assault. …

Understanding Burnout In Undergraduate Students: The Role Of Social Media, Paige Walker

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

This study investigated different factors relating to undergraduate burnout and whether social media could act as a protective factor. The study group was comprised of 66 female undergraduate psychology students at Brescia University College. Participants completed one questionnaire with seven subscales which measured the following variables: subjective well-being, student subjective well-being, personality traits, social support, stress, online support, and burnout. The participants were divided into three groups based on their burnout scores. The results of the ANOVA indicated that there were significant differences between the three burnout groups on: subjective well-being, student subjective well-being, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, social support, and …

Not All Bad: Exploring The Link Between Psychopathy And Success, Lily Constance Harker

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Does Personality Similarity In Bottlenose Dolphin Pairs Influence Dyadic Bond Characteristics?, Kelsey R. Moreno

Master's Theses

Social structures are critical to the success of many species and have repercussions on health, well-being, and adaptation, yet little is known about the factors which shape these structures aside from ecology and life history strategies. Dyadic bonds are the basis of all social structures; however, mechanisms for formations of specific bonds or patterns in which individuals form which types of bonds have yet to be demonstrated. There is a variety of evidence indicating personality may be a factor in shaping bonds, but this relationship has not been explored with respect to bond components and is yet to be demonstrated …

A Cultural Comparison Of The Facial Inference Process, Janine Swiney

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare emotion and personality trait attributions to facial expressions between American and Asian Indian samples. Data were collected using Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants in this study were asked to infer the emotions and personality traits shown in three facial expressions (scowling, frowning, and smiling) of young white females and males in six photographs. Each picture was randomly presented for 10 seconds followed by four randomized questions about the individual in the picture. The first question asked participants to identify the emotion shown from a list of six emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, …

Persistence And Achievement In Academics, Robert L. Altman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the most valuable commodities in modern society is a college education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2016), an estimated 20.5 million students enrolled in American colleges and universities during the fall of 2016, with the majority enrolled in undergraduate programs. When assessing undergraduate success, many studies focus on academic achievement, with grade-point average (GPA) serving as the most common measure. Other studies utilize persistence to graduation as the primary measure of success. Based on the available literature, college success can be predicted by several domains, including personality, motivational influences, and social variables. In the …

Fear Of Missing Out (Fomo) And Personality: Their Relationship To Collegiate Alcohol Abuse, Kristen D. Webb

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This study serves to examine the effects Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and personality have on alcohol-related consequences in collegiate students. To investigate these relationships, a survey was distributed to Butler University students via their daily email listserv, and 101 students’ responses were recorded. Using multiple regression analyses, no relationship was found between an individual’s degree of experienced FoMO and alcohol related consequences; however, neuroticism was found to be strongly correlated with FoMO. Additionally, extroversion inversely predicted more alcohol-related consequences, and Greek affiliation was found to be a significant predictor of one’s consequences as well.

The Dark Triad And Hexaco Model Of Personality In Relational Aggression, Niki M. Knight

Master's Theses

Past research has linked relational aggression (RA) to many forms of psychological maladjustment among children and early adolescents. Although less is known about RA among emerging adults, there is a growing body of research demonstrating a number of adverse correlates. This literature has sparked an interest in examining the role of personality in RA. Most investigations to date have focused on the Five Factor Model; however, the six factor HEXACO model of personality (Ashton et al., 2004) may offer some advantages in studying RA. Moreover, the manipulative and often covert nature of RA among emerging adults has theoretical overlap with …

Socializing In The Internet Age: A Comparison Of Virtual And Traditional Groups In Terms Of Self-Definition, Self-Investment, And Personality, Christopher T. Jurgens

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

As individuals find more of their social identity defined in the virtual sphere, it is important to understand the functions and structures of virtual communities. Yet, a comprehensive comparison between virtual groups and traditional groups has yet to be conducted. This study investigated structural and functional differences and similarities between virtual and traditional communities. Participants (N = 63) in four groups (traditional social/virtual social and traditional professional/virtual professional) were compared on measures of function (as defined by their self-definition and self-investment) and structure (as defined by their personality traits). Three hypotheses were tested: 1. Virtual and traditional groups would not …

Generation Rated X: Personality Traits, Sexual Attitudes, And The Effects Of Sexually Explicit Media On Attraction Among Men, H. Christopher Eckstein

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Previous research has indicated that exposure to pornography, or sexually explicit media (SEM), can lead married men to express a stronger desire for sexual intimacy (Staley & Prause, 2013). However, SEM exposure has also resulted in decreased physical attractiveness ratings among men evaluating their spouses (Kenrick, et al., 1989). Only a small amount of research has investigated the effects of SEM on attraction among unmarried males. The current study examined the effects of SEM in a sample of 108 heterosexual, undergraduate males. Participants evaluated pictures of 15 unknown women’s faces for physical attractiveness. They were then exposed to five minutes …

A Latent Profile Analysis Of Romantic Relationship Quality And Its Associations With Personality, Partner Support, And Psychological Well-Being, Samantha Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The current study investigated the number of relationship quality profiles that emerge from a latent profile analysis and subsequently examined the nature of each subgroup using predictors of partner social support and personality, as well as outcomes of psychological well-being. The application of latent profile analysis resulted in three profiles of low, moderate, and high relationship quality among a sample of university students. Additionally, predictors and outcomes of profile membership were incorporated to provide a greater descriptive understanding of the latent profiles. Results showed that the relationship between intimacy and passion and the relationship between relationship satisfaction and received esteem …

Cyber-Psychopathy: Examining The Relationship Between Dark E-Personality And Online Misconduct, Andrew D. Nevin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Currently, there is a lack of research investigating how the unique structural conditions of cyberspace may influence the expression of ‘dark’ personality and the role of such e-personality in explaining instances of online misconduct. Using a theoretical framework of context-dependent personality, this study seeks to fill a gap in the literature by using self-report survey data to explore whether the internet may decrease, increase, or intensify the expression of psychopathy. Quantitative data analysis in this study shows that when controlling for social context, internet users exhibit higher levels of psychopathy online than offline, which is especially pronounced in male subsamples. …