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Articles 31 - 60 of 177

Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology

Covid-19’S Effects On Mortality Salience, Death Anxiety, And Worldview Defense, Sahvannah K. Shavers May 2022

Covid-19’S Effects On Mortality Salience, Death Anxiety, And Worldview Defense, Sahvannah K. Shavers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since late-2019, the world has been trying to overcome an invisible killer: COVID-19. With near constant reminders of the virus the knowledge that a tiny viral particle has potential to harm or even kill has become overwhelming for many. Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that when individuals are reminded of their own death people take part in culturally appropriate activities and defend their own culture as ways to alleviate this increased death anxiety. The current study aims to identify whether 1) reminders of COVID-19 prime death thoughts, 2) reminders of COVID-19 increase death anxiety, and 3) increased death anxiety from …


The Comparative Effects Of Three Virtual Nature Exposure Methods On State Social Motivation: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Samantha A. Castelblanco May 2022

The Comparative Effects Of Three Virtual Nature Exposure Methods On State Social Motivation: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Samantha A. Castelblanco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is well established in the research literature that exposure to nature positively affects physical and mental health. However, research regarding the effects of nature exposure on social health is less developed. Prior research found that watching a video of nature improved state social motivation. Building on this research, the current study compared the effects of three methods of virtual nature exposure on state social motivation in a randomized controlled trial. In this 3X3 between-subjects experiment, participants (N = 426) 18 to 73 (MAge = 27.69, SD = 12.19) were randomly assigned to experience 3-minutes of nature …


Digital Manipulation Of Human Faces: Effects On Emotional Perception And Brain Activity, Martin Knoll May 2022

Digital Manipulation Of Human Faces: Effects On Emotional Perception And Brain Activity, Martin Knoll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of human face-processing has granted insight into key adaptions across various social and biological functions. However, there is an overall lack of consistency regarding digital alteration styles of human-face stimuli. In order to investigate this, two independent studies were conducted examining unique effects of image construction and presentation. In the first study, three primary forms of stimuli presentation styles (color, black and white, cutout) were used across iterations of non-thatcherized/thatcherized and non-inverted/inverted presentations. Outcome measures included subjective reactions measured via ratings of perceived “grotesqueness,” and objective outcomes of N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) measured via encephalography. Results of subjective …


Development Of A New Measure To Assess For Poverty-Based Stress: The Poverty-Based Stressor Scale (Pbss), Brianna N. Allen Jan 2022

Development Of A New Measure To Assess For Poverty-Based Stress: The Poverty-Based Stressor Scale (Pbss), Brianna N. Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Poverty, typically measured by economic well-being or depravation, is the result of systemic flaws built into the structure of society that adversely impact multiple dimensions of health and well-being. The specific stressors that disproportionately impact low-income individuals are called poverty-based stressors, and they encompass multiple categories of risk including physical, psychosocial, and financial risks. Currently, there is not an adequate measure of poverty-based stressors for low-income adults in the United States (U.S.), which restricts our ability to accurately determine the effects of poverty on important health-related outcomes. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of …


“You’Re Not My Leader.” The Impact Of Gender And Ethnic Stereotypes On Leadership Evaluations, Arief B. Kartolo Jan 2022

“You’Re Not My Leader.” The Impact Of Gender And Ethnic Stereotypes On Leadership Evaluations, Arief B. Kartolo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effectiveness of a leader is important to the success of an organization across many levels. Because the effectiveness of leadership is subject to the evaluation and perception of followership, it is often influenced through biases and expectations – such as stereotypes. Although ample studies have demonstrated the impact of stereotyping on leadership roles, several gaps still need to be addressed in the literature. First, the literature tends to focus on the impact of gender stereotypes, while fewer studies have considered the impact of ethnic stereotypes on leadership roles. Second, few studies have investigated the impact of stereotypes based on …


Showcasing Strengths Of People With Disability To Stimulate Social Change, Kelly Carr Jan 2022

Showcasing Strengths Of People With Disability To Stimulate Social Change, Kelly Carr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to understand the potential to stimulate social change through exposure to strengths-based contexts where people with disabilities displayed their skills. Through the intentional dismissal of a traditional, deficits-based approach to disability-related research, this dissertation highlighted the strengths of people with impairment as a means to resist disabling assumptions. As such, the actions of people with disability within these studies exist outside of imaginable possibilities produced by dominant social structures, and possess the capacity to shape the social world. By examining the impact of exposure to these three contexts, this dissertation sought to …


Exploring Sport, Exercise, And Performance Psychology Practitioners’ Attitudes On Attire, Claire Harding Jan 2022

Exploring Sport, Exercise, And Performance Psychology Practitioners’ Attitudes On Attire, Claire Harding

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has revealed that attire has an influence on one’s self-perceptions, self and socially prescribed adjective traits and behavior (Adam & Galinsky, 2012; Lubker et. al, 2008; Peluchette & Karl, 2007). The present study aims to explore the influence of attire on perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of SEPP (Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology) practitioners during their applied work. Specifically, these factors were investigated through various demographic lenses such as gender, experience level, and age in order to describe the population. SEPP graduate students (n = 49) and early career professionals (n = 82) were asked to participate in a questionnaire, …


Impostorism On Campus: The Effects Of Stereotype Threat On State Inauthenticity And State Anxiety In Two Samples Of African American College Women, Gabrielle Y. Johnson Jan 2022

Impostorism On Campus: The Effects Of Stereotype Threat On State Inauthenticity And State Anxiety In Two Samples Of African American College Women, Gabrielle Y. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the growing education levels of Black women, negative stereotypes of Black women persist and undermine the confidence of African American/Black college women in the classroom. Experimental evidence supports that stereotype threat, the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group when being evaluated by others, undermines the performance of high achieving Black students (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Research has found the impostor phenomenon to be experienced as thoughts of inauthenticity, in conjunction with fear of failure and being exposed as a fraud (Ibrahim et al., 2020). Therefore, being continuously exposed to situations that create feelings of state inauthenticity, …


Using A Team-Based Approach To Psychological Skills Training With An Esports Team, Erkin-Gadzhi Zuluev Oct 2021

Using A Team-Based Approach To Psychological Skills Training With An Esports Team, Erkin-Gadzhi Zuluev

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The popularity and commercial success of videogames in the current era has given rise to a new type of competition: electronic sports (or esports). While the debate to determine whether esports deserve to be included under the larger umbrella of “sports” is ongoing (Jenny et al., 2016; Wagner, 2006), researchers have proposed that esports would benefit greatly from research in traditional sport psychology (Murphy, 2009; Pedraza-Ramirez et al., 2020). Since team building and psychological skills training (PST) programs have been employed within traditional sport settings to enhance the performance and outcomes of sport teams (Bruner et al., 2013; Munroe-Chandler & …


Women’S Experiences Of Self-Objectification And Sexualization And Their Impact On Attitudes Towards Online Sex Work, Storm Balint Oct 2021

Women’S Experiences Of Self-Objectification And Sexualization And Their Impact On Attitudes Towards Online Sex Work, Storm Balint

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current research suggests that women students may be increasingly turning to sex work to help finance their education due to increased economic demands. However, for this to be considered a viable work option, increased acceptance of student engagement in sex work is also necessary. To date, no research has examined empirically the influence of societal factors such as sexualization, objectification and the proliferation of digital technology as factors potentially increasing positive attitudes toward sex work. This exploratory study examined whether the type of sex work influenced young women’s attitudes and if the internalization of sexualization and objectification affected their attitudes. …


Working Through Lingering Anger Following Interpersonal Grievances: Examining Mechanisms Of Change In Rumination, Reappraisal, And Identification Of Unmet Needs, Michael Arend Strating Oct 2021

Working Through Lingering Anger Following Interpersonal Grievances: Examining Mechanisms Of Change In Rumination, Reappraisal, And Identification Of Unmet Needs, Michael Arend Strating

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many clients present to psychotherapy with lingering feelings of anger, bitterness, or resentment in response to interpersonal grievances. The current project sought to compare the effects of cognitive reappraisal and needs identification interventions on lingering anger while determining whether intervention effects occur through shared or distinct mechanisms of change. Using an experimental, therapy-analogue design, 197 undergraduate participants (Study 1) completed a brief, self-guided online intervention involving either anger rumination (comparison condition), cognitive reappraisal, or needs identification. This design was replicated in a clinical sample of 31 participants (Study 2) who were recruited from local mental health clinics using the same …


Rejection Sensitivity, Relationship Quality, And Adjustment In Late-Adolescent Romantic Relationships And Friendships, Laura A. Foster Aug 2021

Rejection Sensitivity, Relationship Quality, And Adjustment In Late-Adolescent Romantic Relationships And Friendships, Laura A. Foster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rejection sensitive (RS) individuals are at greater risk for emotional maladjustment across the lifespan, with consistent links identified with depression and social anxiety. Yet little is known about interpersonal factors that may affect this association for late adolescents, especially with their romantic partners and close friends. The present study examined relationship qualities of support and negative interactions with romantic partners and friends as moderators of the link between RS and internalizing symptoms. Given the differences between male and female social relationships and experiences, these associations were expected to be further moderated by gender, with RS females in poorer quality relationships …


Exploring The Impact Of The Achievement Gap On Shame And Resilience In African American College Students, Brittany R. Thomas Aug 2021

Exploring The Impact Of The Achievement Gap On Shame And Resilience In African American College Students, Brittany R. Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The achievement gap refers to the stark difference that occurs between racial or gender groups, as one group performs significantly higher than the other. An achievement gap has the propensity to produce psychological distress, as well as buffering techniques that are necessary for survival and success. Growing research shows that African American college students experience unique levels of trauma, shame, hardship, macro, and micro-aggressions, suggesting that these students learn to self-preserve as early as 10 years old. This study used a Pearson correlation, Independent T-Test, and a Moderated Multiple Regression to explore the impact of the achievement gap on shame …


Interpersonal Needs And Suicide Risk: Examining Indirect Effects Of Internal Hostility And Feeling Forgiven, Kelley C. Berto Aug 2021

Interpersonal Needs And Suicide Risk: Examining Indirect Effects Of Internal Hostility And Feeling Forgiven, Kelley C. Berto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is a national public health concern, and unmet interpersonal needs (i.e., perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness) may contribute to enhanced risk. However, mechanisms of action and certain protective variables are not well understood. The present study examined simple mediation models, with internal hostility as a mechanism of action between interpersonal needs and suicide risk. Additionally, our study examined the moderating role of various aspects of receiving forgiveness on the association between interpersonal needs and internal hostility in these simple mediation models. A community-based convenience sample was surveyed (N=712). Our findings indicated that internal hostility partially mediated the association …


Forgiveness, Gratitude, Humility, And Spiritual Struggle: Associations With Religious Belief Status And Suicide Risk, Benjamin B. Hall Aug 2021

Forgiveness, Gratitude, Humility, And Spiritual Struggle: Associations With Religious Belief Status And Suicide Risk, Benjamin B. Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Religion is a known contributor to suicide risk, with both positive and negative effects. Negative religious experiences, such as spiritual struggle, can exacerbate suicide risk. Alternatively, religion may promote positive psychological characteristics associated with reduced suicide risk, such as forgiveness, gratitude, and humility. However, research has yet to assess how religious changes, including conversion and deconversion, affect the linkage between religious risk and protective factors and suicidal behavior. We conducted three studies assessing these associations across four belief status groups: life-long religious believers, former religious non-believers who now believe, life-long religious non-believers, and former religious believers who no longer believe. …


Git (Gender-Informed Trauma) In Black N Blue Boys / Broken Men: How Concepts Of Gender Restrict The Black Male Actor’S Creative Process And The Methods He Can Use For Creative Freedom., Tyler Tate Aug 2021

Git (Gender-Informed Trauma) In Black N Blue Boys / Broken Men: How Concepts Of Gender Restrict The Black Male Actor’S Creative Process And The Methods He Can Use For Creative Freedom., Tyler Tate

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how the black male actor’s creative process can be affected by historical and cultural constructions of masculinity connected to race, sexuality, and physical movement. My research on black men’s experience with gender identity finds that social and cultural forces lead black men to reproduce behaviors that mirror a prescribed masculine ideal through physical movement. This prescribed masculine behavior is typically coded in terms of stiffness or lack of expression. This study explores how self-imposed restrictions reiterated by social standards of masculine behavior limit the creative freedom in the black male actor’s creative process. Specifically, black male actors’ …


Positive Body Image And Cognitive Processing Style, Brittney Dumas Jul 2021

Positive Body Image And Cognitive Processing Style, Brittney Dumas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social media use among young people is ubiquitous and has been associated with body image concerns. Though prior work has overwhelmingly focused on “screen time,” increasing evidence highlights the role of subjective social media experiences in driving this association, rather than mere frequency of use. In the current study, body appreciation was tested as a trait-level variable that may protect women from the negative impact of appearance-focused fitspiration images, which have become common in social media platforms. Appearance schema activation and appearance-related self-discrepancy were examined as two social-cognitive processes in which self-protective tendencies may emerge. Fitspiration exposure predicted appearance schema …


Hot Or Not? The Effects Of Fitspiration Images On Body Dysmorphic Concerns, Kayla Ramsey Jul 2021

Hot Or Not? The Effects Of Fitspiration Images On Body Dysmorphic Concerns, Kayla Ramsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite positive intentions, research suggests that fitspiration causes a multitude of negative effects on body image. This study will expand on previous work by examining the effects of fitspiration on body dysmorphic concerns, appearance-based rejection sensitivity (appearance-RS), and intentions to exercise, as well as the differences in these effects by sex. The first hypothesis is that participants will report more body dysmorphic concerns and appearance-RS following exposure to fitspiration compared to travel images. Second, it was hypothesized that compared to males, females will be more prone to the negative impact that fitspiration images have on body dysmorphic concerns and appearance-RS. …


Identity-Specific Positive Psychology Intervention For Sexual Minorities: A Randomized Control Trial, Sarah Job May 2021

Identity-Specific Positive Psychology Intervention For Sexual Minorities: A Randomized Control Trial, Sarah Job

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minorities experience mental and physical health disparities in comparison to heterosexual individuals due to minority stress (Branstrom et al., 2016; Kerridge et al., 2017; Meyer, 2003). Positive psychology interventions have improved mental and physical health (Antoine et al., 2018; Lambert D'raven et al., 2015), and therefore these interventions have potential to address health disparities. The current study tested an identity-specific intervention (n = 30) to a general positive psychology intervention (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) among sexual minorities. This built on a recent pilot study which tested the efficacy of an …


The Loss-Processing Framework, Lawrence Childress May 2021

The Loss-Processing Framework, Lawrence Childress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The circumstances of responding to loss due to human death are among the most stressful experiences encountered in life. Although grief’s symptoms are typically considered essential to their gradual diminishment, possible negative impacts of complications related to grief are also well known, and have been associated with detriments to mental and physical health. Grief, however, can also generate transformative positive change. Thus, albeit ineludible, responding to loss is not uniformly experienced, expressed, or understood. It is also culturally-shaped, making attempts to define “normal” grief, as well as to label some grief “abnormal”—and to medicalize it—possibly problematic. Bereavement (the situation surrounding …


The Effects Of Virtual Nature Exposure On State Social Motivation, Samantha A. Castelblanco May 2021

The Effects Of Virtual Nature Exposure On State Social Motivation, Samantha A. Castelblanco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social health is an important predictor of overall health. Yet, it is an often neglected area of research. Strikingly, social connectedness is associated with a 50% reduction in risk of early death. While a plethora of research evidence supports the beneficial impact of nature exposure on physical and mental health, literature regarding the beneficial impact of nature exposure on social health is scant. In fact, no research to date has investigated the causal influence of nature exposure on social motivation, a construct comprised here of three measures (State Motivation to Foster Social Connections, State Positive Affect, and State Anxiety). The …


It’S Not All Aces: The Role Of Negative Parental Influences And Criminal Thinking In Juvenile Offending Behaviors, Branna Humphrey May 2021

It’S Not All Aces: The Role Of Negative Parental Influences And Criminal Thinking In Juvenile Offending Behaviors, Branna Humphrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and criminal thinking in causing criminal behavior has been explored extensively in criminal justice research. Based on the concepts of ACEs and the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Scale, the negative parental influences and criminal thinking styles of 1,354 juvenile offenders were examined to establish that negative parental influences and criminal thinking are separately associated with juvenile problem and offending behavior, and that criminal thinking mediates the relationship between negative parental influences and juvenile problem and offending behavior. Analyses showed support for criminal thinking as a pathway from negative parental influences to juvenile …


Intrinsic Religiousness And Its Relation To Health Outcomes, Joseph Barnet May 2021

Intrinsic Religiousness And Its Relation To Health Outcomes, Joseph Barnet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Religiousness, broadly defined, has been shown to be predictive of a variety of health outcomes. Past literature surrounding religiousness research has utilized different definitions and measures for the meaning of religiousness. How religiousness is defined can influence its relationship in relation to health outcomes. The present study utilized a measure for intrinsic religiousness, which is defined as an internalization of the tenets of a particular faith. The present study examined whether intrinsic religiousness predicts problematic or illicit substance use or pornography use in a sample of participants that included mostly undergraduate students from the Appalachian region, as well as some …


Anger Bias In The Evaluation Of Crowds, Diana Mihalache Jan 2021

Anger Bias In The Evaluation Of Crowds, Diana Mihalache

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although people are good at classifying emotions, they also make mistakes. These errors tend to be negatively biased and potentially serve a protective function. Research on biases in emotion perception has largely focused on perception of individual faces and little is known about biases in evaluations of crowds. In the first investigation, I conducted six experiments, evaluating anger bias—a tendency to judge facial expressions as angry—in the context of single faces and emotionally homogenous crowds. I found that observers were biased to classify faces as angry, especially when evaluating crowds. This amplified bias emerged in the context of perceptual uncertainty …


Child Abuse And Revictimization: Improving Models Of Revictimization Risk, Julie M. Olomi Jan 2021

Child Abuse And Revictimization: Improving Models Of Revictimization Risk, Julie M. Olomi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Child abuse (CA) puts women at risk for later victimization by a different perpetrator, referred to as revictimization (RV); however, how this risk is conveyed is not well understood. CA is associated with a diverse set of negative sequelae (e.g., posttraumatic symptomology, emotion regulation difficulties), many of which could plausibly affect risk for RV. To date, most empirical studies of RV have mainly compared groups of women with and without abuse and RV histories using variablecentered approaches. This approach has led to a focus on differences between abused and non-abused women on a few CA-related variables tested at a time. …


Your Presence Threatens Me! Experimental Examination Of Intergroup Threat Theory To Assess Prejudice Towards Muslims, Sukhmani Pal Jan 2021

Your Presence Threatens Me! Experimental Examination Of Intergroup Threat Theory To Assess Prejudice Towards Muslims, Sukhmani Pal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prejudice towards Muslims has been longstanding and is on the rise in the World. To address this prejudice, it is important to understand the associated underlying mechanism. Intergroup Threat Theory (ITT) suggests that prejudice is motivated by the perceived symbolic and/or realistic threat a group represents. To date, the relationship between threat and prejudice towards Muslims has primarily been examined correlationally rather than experimentally. This project experimentally examines ITT to understand the role of threat in prejudice towards Muslims. Across three studies, I examine how manipulating the salience of threat leads to prejudice, support for harsh policies, and violence towards …


Do The Age And Drama Type Of Individuals Affect Their Perceived Social Status?, Bradly A. Mcginnis Jan 2021

Do The Age And Drama Type Of Individuals Affect Their Perceived Social Status?, Bradly A. Mcginnis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drama is a type of performative, interpersonal conflict where traditional victim/aggressor dynamics seen in most types of bullying does not always appear. Different personalities display different types of drama, which may have different levels of usefulness across development. I am interested in discovering whether the level of target social status changes for different drama types across the lifespan. This interaction between target social status and drama type was analyzed by a 2 x 3 design with an expected 2 x 2 interaction. Overall, there were non-significant main effects and a non-significant interaction in the 2 x 3 between subjects ANOVA. …


Influence Of Political Affiliation On Perceived Media Bias And Trustworthiness In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tabitha Lamberth Jan 2021

Influence Of Political Affiliation On Perceived Media Bias And Trustworthiness In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tabitha Lamberth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Partisanship and news source attribution may influence perceived media bias and trust in COVID-19 information. This study aimed to explore how the similarity liking effect relates to political identity and perceived credibility. Our main hypothesis was that individuals would find news sources that shared their political affiliation as more trustworthy than other news sources. To test our hypothesis, 216 undergraduate students participated in a study that measured participants’ trustworthiness of a news article with randomized source attribution from a liberal, conservative, and neutral source. A 2X3 ANOVA tested the relationship between our participants’ political affiliation, measured by the 12-item Social …


Applicant Religion And Work Qualifications Impacting Hiring Decisions, William T. Cagle Jan 2021

Applicant Religion And Work Qualifications Impacting Hiring Decisions, William T. Cagle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The underlying effect of religious bias towards Muslims has negatively impacted their chances of receiving equal employment opportunities. The current study attempts to observe this effect by having Christian participants pretend to be a boss of a company and asking them to evaluate a fictitious resume and rate the applicant on their suitability for the managerial job at hand. The applicants were either Christian or Muslim. Based on the justification-suppression model, we also attempted to observe the effect having different hiring qualifications had on the applicant ratings. To do this, applicants either had a high or low GPA, and they …


Which Toys Are Right For Boys? How Threat And Confirmation Of The Gender Hierarchy Impact Purchase Intentions For Stereotypical And Counter Stereotypical Products, Connor Samuelson Jan 2021

Which Toys Are Right For Boys? How Threat And Confirmation Of The Gender Hierarchy Impact Purchase Intentions For Stereotypical And Counter Stereotypical Products, Connor Samuelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social movements with potential to change the traditional gender hierarchy may be met with approval or disapproval, depending upon levels of status-legitimizing beliefs (SLBs). Under conditions of gender hierarchy change, one mechanism in which people may choose to fight or support such change is through their purchase of gender stereotypical or counter-stereotypical products. Community members completed a measure of System Legitimizing Beliefs (Levin et al., 1998) and then read one of two news articles about women in the workplace that suggested trends that either threatened or did not threaten the current gender hierarchy. Participants then imagined needing to purchase a …