Social Psychology Commons^™

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …

The Association Between Parental Relationships And The Marital Views, Attitudes, And Relationships Of College Students, Emma Oswald

Honors Theses

Divorce is a prevalent issue in the United States, even though research suggests that a healthy marriage is beneficial to children’s development and well-being (Ribar, 2015). Children having divorced parents (Potter, 2010) and parents in unhappy marriages are associated with more difficulties with the psychological well-being of children (Bannon, et al. 2018). The goal of the present study was to determine whether parental divorce and relationship quality are associated with the marital views, attitudes, and relationships of college students. Participants were asked to complete a series of online survey scales measuring parental relationship status, age of parental divorce (if divorced), …

The Relationship Between Alexithymia, Callous Affect, Aggression, And Emerging Adulthood, Grace Sutz

Honors Theses

Emerging adulthood is a term used to define a time of development for college-aged (i.e. aged 18-29 years) individuals experiencing a period of identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling ‘in-between’, and a time of possibilities and optimism (Arnett, 2014). During emerging adulthood, it is common for young adults to experience elevated levels of psychopathic traits (Smits, et al. 2011). Psychopathic traits such as callous affect, impulsivity, and narcissism have been known to be a risk factor for aggressive behaviors (Marsee, et al. 2005). It was expected that higher levels of callous affect and Borderline Personality traits would be associated with higher …

Birth Order, College Major, And Social Behavior, Gianna D'Aconti

Honors Theses

There are many risk factors for antisocial behaviors. For example, birth order has been linked to personality traits, such as aggression and stubbornness (Fagan & Najman, 2003), and these personality traits have been identified as risk factors for antisocial behaviors, such as callousness (lack of empathy and emotionality) and psychopathy (personality traits associated with being a psychopath; e.g., Frick & White, 2008). These traits can be found in sibling interactions and are correlated with birth order (Odudu et. al, 2020), as well as with college majors when including Machiavellianism (Tang & Chen, 2008). Using Paul Frick’s work on studying callous …

Jlootbox: An Agent-Based Model Of Social Influence And Gambling In Online Video Games, Lila Zayed

Honors Capstones

Loot boxes are digital treasure chests that players spend real money to purchase, wherein the contents are randomly generated. Since players spend money on the pretense they might receive something valuable, many comparisons have been drawn to gambling behavior as the reward is up to chance. To explore this phenomenon, agent-based modeling will be used to simulate this behavior. Agent-based modeling allows us to create heterogenous agents who follow simple rules so that we may observe emergent behavior in a population. An agent-based model was created using Repast Simphony for this end.

Parameters included the player’s internal decision strategy around …

Practical Skill Building And Application Of Sketchnoting And Visual Thinking, Troy Schubert

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Projects

Practical Skill Building and Application of Sketchnoting and Visual Thinking

In the ever-quickening stream of information flowing toward us, how do we connect and engage with that stimulus in meaningful ways? Where does the new information fit in the mosaic of knowledge we already hold? Sketchnoting and visual thinking are methods that work in harmony with the way our brains work, allowing for deeper absorption and recall. The goal of this project was to build foundational skills in sketchnoting and visual thinking, and then find opportunities to begin applying those skills in real-world situations. This document chronicles the journey and …

Impact Of The Attractiveness Bias On Acceptance Of Interracial Relationships, Jackelyn Castaneda

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Even though interracial marriage became legal in 1967 changes have been slow (Field, Kimuna, & Straus, 2013): e.g., Interracial marriages have increased from roughly .7% in 1970 to about 3.9% in 2008 (U.S. Census Bureau). However, Americans have slowly become more accepting, and according to the U.S census (2010), there are over 5.3 million interracial couples in the United States. There are many factors that could have influenced this change, one of them may reside in a well-studied phenomenon that is our tendency to perceive those who are attractive as “good” (Lemay Jr., Clark, & Greenberg, 2010); that is, the …

The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Attachment Styles On Digital Sexual Coercion In College-Aged Adults, Laura Elizabeth Stanley

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Race On The Evaluation Of Quarterbacks, Kian R. Sohrabi

Psychology Honors Projects

Black quarterbacks have faced stereotypes and biases about their performance for decades. While Black quarterbacks are more common in the NFL nowadays, it is not clear whether their performance is being evaluated without bias. Black quarterbacks are often discussed in ways that emphasize their physical abilities but criticize their mental attributes. This current study sought to investigate the effect of race on quarterback evaluation. Study 1 examined the effect of race on fans’ evaluations of quarterbacks; Study 2 looked at the effect of race on evaluations by high school football coaches. Participants completed an online experiment in which they were …

Algorithms Vs. Human Nature: A Tale Of Selective Exposure, Dené E. M. Wamsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The public’s turn towards news websites and social media for news consumption has sparked anxiety over echo chambers, avoidance of opinion-challenging content, and potentially fragmentation and polarization among sociopolitical groups. Algorithms have specifically been blamed for increasing the ease of filtering out counter-attitudinal online content and potentially exacerbating selective exposure tendencies. However, longstanding classic psychological research has demonstrated the ubiquitous phenomenon of cognitive dissonance and selective exposure far before the internet became the primary tool for news consumption. Research investigating how algorithms directly influence online approach and avoidance behavior is unfortunately scarce. This dissertation work aimed to analyze the impact …

Media Sexualization And Its Impact On College Aged Women, Madelyn Moncrief

Honors Theses

Social and traditional media are often studied in relation to women’s perceptions of sex. However, they are often studied separately instead of together, missing the overall connection of media on attitudes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between media consumption, specifically social media and television, and college-aged women's levels of internalized sexualization. The findings of this study found a significant positive correlation between time spent consuming romanced-based reality television and romantic comedies and higher levels of internalized sexualization in college-aged women. This study also found there to be a significant positive correlation between college women’s usage …

Utilization Of The Fundamental Attribution Error With Increased Immune System Inflammation, John Odom

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Immune system inflammation is associated with sickness behavior, depressive mood, and alteration of decision-making processes. Because of these cognitive effects, inflammation may also lead to increased use of heuristics, for example the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). In the current research, inflammation was experimentally increased using the influenza vaccine, with participants receiving either the vaccine or a placebo injection and completing a measure that tests for the FAE. There were no significant differences between the two conditions regarding the number of personal, situational, or overall attributions made by the participants in the measure that would indicate use of the FAE. However, …

Prospective Person Memory In The Case Of Missing Persons: A Coffee Shop Study, Cara Bascom

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Prospective person memory (PPM) is the process of remembering to perform some action after encountering a target individual, such as identifying and reporting a missing person sighting after viewing a missing person alert (Moore et al., 2021). Research has shown that identification rates generally tend to be low in simulated missing person studies (Lampinen & Moore, 2016b). The purpose of the current research is to determine how to improve missing person recognition rates. This project explores the potential effects of using videos in missing person reports as compared to using static images. We also consider differences between rigid and non-rigid …

The Association Between Adolescent Dating Violence And Internalizing Symptoms: Insecure Attachment As A Moderator, Jasmine Blake

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines whether insecure attachment styles moderate the relationship between adolescent dating violence (ADV) victimization and internalizing symptoms. It was hypothesized that an insecure attachment style would strengthen the existing relation between ADV victimization and internalizing symptoms. It was also hypothesized that this association would be stronger for girls than boys. One hundred and fifty-two adolescents participated in this study (M age = 15.61 years, SD = 1.086, 74.3% girls) and were asked to complete a survey that assessed ADV victimization, internalizing symptoms, and attachment style. Bivariate correlations did not reveal a significant associations between ADV victimization and …

Relationship Between Pet And Human Separation Anxiety On Owners’ Anxiety And Physical Health, Noah Ross

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pet ownership has always been thought to be beneficial, but some recent studies have not been consistent with this statement. A possible explanation for this is an unhealthy overdependence that pets and pet owners have developed as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. In this paper, I examine whether separation anxiety from pets, people, and separation behavior of pets could be predictors of anxiety and physical health. The first prediction was that pet and non pet owners differed demographically. Also, it was hypothesized that separation anxiety from humans, separation anxiety from pets, but not pet separation behaviors predicted anxiety and …

#Metoo: The Literary And Social Impact Of Sexual Violence Narratives, Aura Comer

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

To fully understand the severity of sexual violence and its pervasiveness in America, I will present statistics of rape and sexual assault, as well as available legal court statistics of justice and punishment for offenders (or a lack thereof). However, there must be an acknowledgment of the disparity in information and representation pertaining to indigenous, LGBT+, immigrant, and minor communities. Note that these statistics do not speak to the complete pervasiveness of rape and sexual assault in the United States, given the negligent protection and lack of belief in victims, which results in victim silencing and a lack of reporting.

Art, Race, And The Carceral System: Perceptions Of Criminality In Artful Expression, Abiodun Akinseye

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Prior research suggests that rap music is viewed as more “criminal” than other musical genres. Furthermore, juries are likely to attribute criminal stereotypes to rappers, in part due to assumptions of guilt and innocence based on race (Smiley, 2017; Smiley & Fakunle, 2016). Recently courts have used rap lyrics as a form of confessionary evidence against rappers in the courtroom (e.g., McKinley Phipps v. Tim Wilkinson, 2001), but this practice does not extend to other art forms, such as stand-up comedy. This interdisciplinary paper utilizes a mixed-methods approach to research, using both content analysis and experimental methods to develop an …

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 …

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 …

Inducing Cognitive Reflection And Its Impact On Contradictory Beliefs., Margaret Powers

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Currently, there is extensive research within psychology about two distinct processing models where one is fast, automatic, and relatively effortless and the other is slow, systematic, and effortful. One mechanism of effortful processing is cognitive reflection which is one’s ability to reflect on their intuition. While there is research on explicit instructions of certain cognitive mechanisms and implicit induction of cognitive reflection, there is a lack of research on the explicit induction of cognitive reflection specifically. In this study, two techniques were investigated to see if cognitive reflection could be explicitly induced. Participants either read a prompt before beginning the …