Psychology Commons^™

How Social Media Is Perceived To Affect Romantic Relationship Satisfaction, Hannah S. Shockley

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This research discusses the perceived effects of social media on relationship satisfaction. It was hypothesized that social media is perceived to affect romantic relationships in a negative way, especially in the form of jealousy and mistrust, with increased usage. Past research about monitoring romantic partners on social media, the fear of missing out in relation of social media, social media addiction, and mental and psychological effects of social media were explored in relation to the research being presented. Participants took an online survey through Qualtrics which resulted in statistically significant data that partially supported the hypothesis. The perceived effects of …

Video Responsiveness: Reactive In Motor Function, G. Adam Martz

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This is a research proposal for a study on the empathetic imitation of models on television. Imitation as an extension of social conformity and learning through mimicry is one of the deepest assumptions of modern social-psychological theory. There has been much evidence in recent years to support that mirror neurons, the biological factor that allows human and ape brains neurologically interpret and incorporate the actions of others, are situational in what actions they empathetically attempt to encode (Hodges, 2014; Subiaul, 2016). Previously, empathetic imitation was thought to occur only through interactions but in recent years several studies have established that …

Students’ Perceptions Of Body Image, Noor Fons

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

A primary problem with the current criminal justice system in the United States is that it almost solely relies on a jury to determine whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty of committing a crime. While this system has been in place for many years, it is flawed because it ignores the fact that people tend to make judgments based on extralegal factors, or variables that are not related to a case, which may lead them to have implicit biases toward or against an alleged offender. Previous findings indicate that extralegal factors that impact juries include gender, race and …

What’S Your Motivation?, Jacob Klein

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Motivation is the backbone of reasoning as to why human beings accomplish any task. This makes it essential that we study the effects of different styles of motivation. There is a large amount of supporting evidence that claims intrinsic motivation can be more beneficial to quality of performance than extrinsic motivation. (Pink 2012) This is exactly why I conducted this study. Going to a university that is so keen on athletics, motivation is a very hot topic. What motivates us can be an important factor to being successful in any endeavor. This research studied the effects of both intrinsic and …

Perceptions Of Coaches And Athletes On Motivation Methods, Tereza Melicharkova

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study is to compare the coaches’ and athletes’ perception on motivational techniques. The interest of this study was to see if the coaches’ perception on the motivational techniques match with the perceptions of the athletes. Therefore, I used two different surveys; one for coaches and one for athletes. These surveys were really similar to each other. However, they differ in one section where coaches were asked to answer questions about motivational techniques that they apply to their athletes. Whereas the athletes were asked to give their personal opinion on the coaches’ motivational techniques. My hypothesis was …

Does Lyrical Music Affect Cognitive Performance?, Andrew Stone

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Many students listen to music while studying or doing homework, and many are looking for ways to maximize this time. Students at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO were asked to take two different basic math tests. One was taken with normal, lyrical songs playing in the background. The other was taken with the instrumental versions of these same songs playing in the background. I hypothesized that students would take longer to complete the test with the lyrical music in the background than with the instrumental music playing. The results showed no significant difference in the completion times between those …

Music’S Effects On Memory, Madyson Carroll

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Many people believe that studying while background music is present enhances their eligibility to remember the criteria better. The effects of music on memory was examined through the completion of a memory card game. Young adults were asked to take part in this task twice. One game included background music, while the other did not include background music. Throughout each game, the amount of time it took the participant to complete the game in seconds, was measured. I hypothesized that the inclusion of background music will have a positive influence on one’s performance when completing a memory card game. However, …

Correlation Of Myers-Briggs Personality Traits Inventory And Moral Decision Making, Kamden Havens

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Myers-Briggs personality trait inventory was examined against modified moral scenarios by philosopher, Victor Grassian. The research conducted was a non-directional correlational study between personality types, extroversion/introversion, observation/intuition, thinking/feeling, judging/prospecting and the five moral scenarios presented. There was no significant correlation between any of the personality traits and any of moral scenarios.

Correlational Study Between Conservatism And Altruism, Aleksander Mansdoerfer

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study was designed and executed with the intention to discover if there was a relationship between the amount of altruistic acts they have performed, and the attitudes towards political topics. Participants were registered voter’s in the United States and were not asked any demographic questions. This study purely focused on the responses to an Altruism Personality Assessment and a Political Attitudes Questionnaire. This study concluded with the discovery of no correlation between the amount of Altruistic acts they have performed in their life and their political opinions. It was discovered this study used an Altruism Assessment Scale that incorrectly …

Presence Of Daily Routine On Frequency Of Bizarre Dreams, And Online Study, Kevin Mcgowan

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

In the hopes to further our body of knowledge on the effects of daily routines on dream content, my study aimed to measure both bizarre content in dreams and the routineness of participants’ day prior to dreaming. The method I am using to distinguish bizarre dreams from usual dreams was developed by Revonsou and Samilvalli (1995). Following this method, I first identified dream elements by categorized them into 14 categories; and then scored those dream elements for their bizarreness according to four types of bizarreness (Non-bizarre, Incongruous, Vague, or Discontinuous). I hypothesized that bizarre dreams would occur more frequently after …

Mental Health And College Students, Katie Olson

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The present study aims to explore the mental health of college students regarding anxiety, stress, and depression. Pursuing higher education can be difficult and can have a negative impact on your mental health if there is a lack of social support from school, friends, and family. The hypotheses stated that there would be a relationship between the number of hours worked and the symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression. Another hypothesis stated that there would be a significant positive relationship between the method of payment for school and anxiety, stress, and depression. The present study used a demographic survey and …

Suggestibility And Test Anxiety, Lauren Martin

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This paper aimed to test the power of suggestibility and how it affected college students’ anxiety on tests. My hypothesis was that after students watch a motivational video, their anxiety about the test would decrease and their scores on the test would be better than participants who watched a video that did not have to do with motivation. Data from previous research shows that the higher stress levels one has, the lower their performance will be. I conducted an online survey with college students recruited from Lindenwood’s Participant Pool and through Facebook and Twitter. Participants agreed to an informed consent …

Racial Salience In Context: The Role Of Visual Information On Conviction Decisions, Krystia Grembocki

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Jurors arguably play the most influential role in determining the outcome of most criminal trials. The U.S. legal system relies on them to make unbiased, substantiated decisions based on evidence presented in court. The problem with this expectation is that jurors are ordinary people who are subject to the influence of extralegal factors – variables that are not legally related to a case (e.g. how a defendant looks). Unfortunately, when jurors hold implicit biases regarding the appearance of defendants, extralegal factors, such as race, tend to have at least some impact on their verdict (Maeder & Hunt, 2011; Mitchell, Haw, …

Social And Religious Factors On Subjective Well-Being, Eric J. Uhl

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Religion as it pertains to subjective well-being is a topic of debate as religion operationalized can undertake many forms. However, research has shown that religion is a form of social interaction and an inclusionary social institution. It is also noted in previous subjective well-being research that social support has a positive correlation with the condition of subjects. Thus, the facet of religion that could be the best measure in regard to subjective well-being is social support provided by religious institutions. In the interest of finding a better measure for religion, the use of a comprehensive survey asked respondents to report …

A Modern Analysis Of The Frequency Of Baumrind’S Parenting Style, Aimee Saffo, Jaidenlynn Rogers

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This research project explored Baumrind’s parenting styles - authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and neglectful - within our sample population. The primary investigators used a survey method to collect data and determine the frequency of each parenting style by scoring the participant's answers about perceived emotional warmth and control in childhood. The results were compared to the perceived age, gender, and socioeconomic status of the participant's primary caregiver as well as to the participant's age and gender to determine if there is a significant relationship. This study can help to understand what factors affect parenting styles used within society.

The Influence Of Color On Mood, Mariah Palmer

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Sensory stimuli, including color, may play a role in corresponding mood (Wells, 1910). Kaya and Epps (2004) showed participants attribute and associate colors with positive and negative emotions. Compared to previous research, in the present study, participants’ moods were measured while they were exposed to a color. The primary focus of the current research was to see if a color stimulus would influence mood. Secondarily, I also studied mood change among two groups: right-hemispheric and left-hemispheric dominant participants. I wanted to find out whether right-brained participants would experience more change in their mood than the left-brained participants. According to Matikas, …

Spotting A Criminal: Examining Perceived Racial Typicality In Violent And Nonviolent Crimes, Krystia Grembocki

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

As humans, we rely on our eyes to help us understand the world around us. While this seems like the ultimate asset, it is also detrimental because our eyes are often deceiving. Specifically, when we use visual information to draw conclusions about other people, our perceptions are shaped by what we see, and sometimes such information is misleading and inaccurate. The present study's purpose is to identify how visual information (i.e. race) influences our judgement of criminals who have committed violent and non-violent felony crimes. Participants were shown lineups containing headshots of four male criminals, which varied in race (i.e. …

The Connection Among Color, Lighting, And Anxiety, Mariah Palmer

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Color is a sensory stimuli that is encountered on a daily basis. There is a great deal of differing information pertaining to color research. Some of this research deals with color associations (Boyatzis & Varghese, 1994; Kaya & Epps, 2014). Other research studies the influence of color on emotional states or physiology (Jacobs & Suess, 1975; Kuller, Mikellides, & Janssens, 2008). Much of the prior research has concentrated on two primary colors; red and blue. The current study will look at the ways in which specific lighting conditions influence mood states, more specifically, anxiety levels. This research will have a …

Informative Disagreements: Associations Between Relationship Distress, Depression, And Discrepancy In Interpersonal Perception Within Couples, Lynne M. Knobloch-Fedders, Kenneth L. Critchfield, Erin M. Staab

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

This study evaluated the associations between relationship distress, depression symptoms, and discrepancy in interpersonal perception within couples. After completing a series of discussion tasks, couples (N = 88) rated their behavior using the circumplex‐based Structural Analysis of Social Behavior Model (SASB; Benjamin, 1979, 1987, 2000). Overall, couple members were strikingly similar in their interpersonal perceptions, and tended to see themselves as friendly, reciprocal in their focus, and balanced between connection and separateness. As hypothesized, however, perceptual discrepancy was related to relationship distress and depression. Relationship distress was associated with discrepancy regarding transitive behavior focused on the partner, while depression …

Need, Access, And The Reach Of Integrated Care: A Typology Of Patients, Ana J. Bridges, Bianca T. Villalobos, Elizabeth A. Anastasia, Aubrey R. Dueweke, Samantha J. Gregus, Timothy A. Cavell

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: In this paper, we report on a study exploring a potential typology of primary care patients referred for integrated behavioral health care (IBHC) services. We considered whether primary care patients could be grouped into meaningful clusters based on perceived need for behavioral health services, barriers to accessing care, and past-year service utilization. We also describe the development of a working partnership between our university-based research team and a federally qualified health center (FQHC).

Method: A total of 105 adult primary care patients referred for same-day behavioral health appointments completed a brief self-report questionnaire assessing past-year behavioral health concerns, …