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Fine Motor Skills, Ashley R. Strong, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Fine motor skills are defined as the ability to control and coordinate muscles of the hand for precise movements. These skills play an enormous role in daily activities of independent living, including dressing, feeding yourself, and self-care. Examples of fine motor skills include cutting with scissors, tying shoelaces, and writing. Gross motor skills, on the other hand, are defined as larger movements of the arms and legs. Additionally, fine motor skills typically depend on coordination between the hands and the eyes. The development of fine motor skills is dependent on the development of gross motor skills, cognitive skills, and visual …

Maria Montessori, Vanessa Braun, Donna Devaughn Kreskey

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Maria Tecla Artemesia Montessori (born August 31, 1870, Chiaravalle, near Ancona, Italy – died May 6, 1952, Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands) was an Italian educator.  She is commonly remembered for the many schools around the globe that bear her name and implement her educational methods, the Montessori system. Maria Montessori was a scientist, educator, activist, and advocate for children.

Mamie P. Clark, Jayla Hill, Simon Howard, Kalen Kennedy

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Mamie Phipps Clark (born July 14, 1914 Hot Springs, Arkansas – August 11, 1983, New York City, New York) was an American developmental psychologist best known for her work on the development of African American children’s sense of self, specifically through a series of experiments conducted with her husband Kenneth Clark known as the “Doll Studies.” These studies would be instrumental in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education court decision in which school segregation was declared unconstitutional.

Psychological Development: Cognition, Emotions, Personality, Anita Knight Kuhnley, Kelly Carapezza, Gary Sibcy

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Adolescence is considered the age that bridges childhood and adulthood, Erik Erikson, who has contributed much to our understanding of the developmental stages described adolescence as, “the age mediating between childhood and adulthood (Erikson, 1997, p.xi).” Adolescence includes the sometimes tumultuous years between the ages of 11 and 21, and the Eriksons addressed this as one stage (Newman and Newman, 2013). Some authors attribute the fact that adolescence is such a trying time to the fact that adolescents lose synapses in the brain specifically in the primary visual cortex at a rate of 5,000 per second (Bears, Connor, and Paradiso, …

Representative Sampling, Jessica Choe, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

The research process begins with an initial observation that scientists or researchers of various backgrounds want to engage in and understand, which prompts them to formulate theories and hypotheses, collect data, and use statistical procedures to organize, summarize, and interpret gathered data. Research conducted through questionnaires or surveys are often utilized to determine the nature of a population or the interests of members in a particular group.

Stephen J. Ceci, Rachel Zachar, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Stephen J. Ceci was born on March 22, 1950, and while not much information is available on his early years, his life’s work has focused on studies surrounding the validity of children’s courtroom testimony, gender studies, and intelligence. Ceci received his bachelor’s degree in general psychology from the University of Delaware in 1973, earning his master’s degree in developmental psychology two years later in 1975 from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his doctoral degree in developmental psychology in 1978 at the University of Exeter in England.

Adolescent Social Development, Randall E. Osborne

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Views about the manner and nature of human development have changed across time (Psyking.net 2016). Some of these views have been religious (e.g., creationism) and some of these views have been more biological (e.g., preformationism).  Regardless of the focus of the view, how we believe human beings develop has a profound effect on our expectations for those beings.  One early view of human development from a biological perspective was Preformationism.  This is explained as, “A notion that was widespread among pioneer biologists in the 18th century was that the fetus, and hence the adult organism that develops from it, is …

Psychological Development During Childhood, Meg Milligan, Kanessa Miller Doss, Sherrionda H. Crawford

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Childhood is a time of tremendous psychological development. Our personalities, cognitive capabilities, and emotions expand and transform us from infants to adolescents. In some ways we exhibit continuous development, while others are more accurately described as stages. The following pages present some of these significant changes that occur during early and middle childhood.

Piaget's Conservation Experiments, Motolani Shenbanjo, Heidi Kloos

Essays in Developmental Psychology

When it comes to assessing the magnitude of a quantity, the mind has several options. For example, to determine the amount of juice in a glass, one could merely look at the height of the juice in the glass; or one could incorporate both the height and the width of the glass. The latter would be the correct approach: The height alone can be misleading, for example when the glass is very narrow. Thus, in order to behave rationally, one has to look past the salient dimension of height and instead focus on integrating several dimensions. According to Jean Piaget, …

Fictional Failures And Real-World Lessons: Ethical Speculation Through Design Fiction On Emotional Support Conversational Ai, Fayle Kollig, Jessica Pater, Fayika Farhat Nova, Casey Fiesler

Health Services and Informatics Research

Conversational artificial intelligence (CAI), which replicates human-to-human interaction as human-to-machine, is increasingly developed to address insufficient access to healthcare. In this paper, we use design fiction methods to speculate on ethical consequences of CAI that offers emotional support to complement or replace mental healthcare. Through a near-future news article about a fictional, failed CAI, we explore safety and privacy concerns associated with mismatches between what an emotional support CAI is advertised to do, what it technically can do, and how it is likely to be used. We pose the following questions to researchers, regulators, and developers: How might we jointly …

Nervous System, Ashley R. Strong, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

There are two major subdivisions of the nervous system: the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. Whereas the PNS consists of the nerves outside the CNS. These nerves bring sensory information to the CNS and transmit commands (i.e. motor information) from the CNS to the body. The PNS has three components, the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), somatic nervous system (spinal nerves), and the cranial nerves.

Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen), Mithra H. Pirooz, Jonathan B. Santo

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham was an Arab Muslim born around 965 CE and died circa 1040 CE in current-day Iraq.  A scientist, astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician, he is particularly known for his work in astronomy, mathematics, visual perception, and optics.  In medieval Europe, he was referred to as the “Second Ptolemy”.  As the first to determine that vision results from light being reflected from an object to the eye, he is often referred to as “the father of optics”.  He is also praised for being among the first theoretical physicists.  He was one of the first scientists …

Learning Disabilities Summary, Michael L. Woodward, Lisa L. Persinger

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Learning Disabilities are the most prevalent category of special education within the United States. Recent U.S. Department of Education statistics indicate over 2.3 million school-aged (ages 6-21) students are currently eligible for special education services under the category of a Specific Learning Disability. These students encompass 3.5% of the U.S. school-aged population, and nearly 40% of all students eligible for special education services.

Romance Scam Victimization: A Survey-Based Examination Of Financial, Psychological, And Reporting Factors, Ld Herrera

Research & Publications

Romance scams are a growing type of cybercrime in which perpetrators develop and exploit fraudulent romantic relationships with victims to obtain financial resources. These schemes cause substantial economic and psychological damage, yet they are significantly underreported. Official 2022 reports indicate only \$1.3 billion lost to romance scams in the US, but the true financial toll is likely much higher.

Using survey data from 366 victims, this study examines the financial and psychological toll of romance scams, reporting patterns, obstacles to seeking help, and victims' perceptions of received help. Most of the victims (60.9\%) did not seek help from any source, …

2025 Acssc Program, Acssc Planning Committee

Annual Celebration for Student Scholarship and Creativity

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Impact Of Media And Information Literacy On Creative Video Content Production, Reem M. Al-Zou’Bi

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study explores the impact of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) on developing creative video production skills among undergraduate students at Al al-Bayt University, Jordan. The sample consisted of 60 students divided into an experimental group (MIL course) and a control group (Educational Foundations course). Using a quasi-experimental design, students’ video production skills were evaluated using a rubric covering nine key criteria, weighted based on expert input. Results showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in creative video production, highlighting MIL’s role in enhancing these skills. Notably, both groups emphasized content integrity similarly, while the MIL group …

Assessing Media And Information Literacy: Scale Development And Measurement Among College Students, Erlis Cela, Alban Tufa, Melsena Danglli

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is a topic discussed by many authors in recent years. Several authors have developed measurement scales and validated them mainly among students and teachers who have media and information literacy knowledge. Although no evidence is tracked for any research conducted, MIL has been an unexplored field in the Western Balkans region. This article delves into developing and testing a scale for measuring the level of Media and Information Literacy among students in Albania. Firstly, it employs an exploratory qualitative approach, with the use of focus groups, the results of which contributed to the design of …

Effects Of Wikipedia Knowledge, Algorithm Awareness, And Reading Comprehension On Undergraduates’ Preference For And Use Of Lateral Reading Strategies To Evaluate Information, Arshia K. Lodhi, Patricia J. Brooks, C. Donnan Gravelle, Jessica E. Brodsky, Maryam Syed, Donna Scimeca

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Internet users are bombarded with information and need strategies to evaluate its trustworthiness. Expert fact-checkers rely on lateral reading, which involves investigating sources, finding better coverage, and tracing information back to original contexts. This study contrasted college students’ preference for and use of lateral reading to evaluate online content, and examined factors associated with variation in preference and use. Undergraduates (N = 483) often selected lateral reading as the preferred strategy for evaluating content (multiple-choice items) without demonstrating use of lateral reading (open-response tasks). Use of lateral reading was associated with higher Wikipedia knowledge, algorithm awareness, and reading comprehension; …

Volume 16, Maggie Duncan, Madeline Little, Alicia Hoffman, Megan Livesay, Gabrielle Quaresma, Serenity Allen, Laina Pfountz, Ainslie Allred, Sabrina Robles, Nicholas J. Duellman, Trinity L. Deguzman, Melissa H. Savage, Margaret Dudley, Jocelyn Escobar, Olivia Hildreth, Olivia Hopkins, Benjamin Gettier, Lee Kassay, Jade Riddle, Ashley Seiders

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber, Director, Office of Student Research

From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

Artist’s Statement Maggie Duncan

On Mentoring Dr. Lee Millar Bidwell

The Hujum Campaign in Uzbekistan and its Consequences by Madeline Little

Wet Cupping Compared to Dry Needling for Treatment of Patients with Low Back Pain: A Critically Appraised Topic by Alicia Hoffman and Megan Livesay

Optimization of eDNA Air Sampling Via 3D Printed Fan by Gabrielle Quaresma

Beyond the Classroom: A Qualitative Study of Teacher Attrition and Retention by Serenity Allen and Laina Pfountz

The Treatment of Subacromial Impingement Syndrome with Platelet-Rich plasma Injections Verses …

Anxiety- And Compulsivity-Linked Differences In Reinforcement Learning In A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Game, Tessa Medeiros

Neuroscience Program Student Scholarship

Tessa Medeiros ’26, Biology & Psychology major

Faculty mentor: Dr. Andra Geana, Psychology and Neuroscience

Reinforcement learning (RL) mathematically describes how agents learn to maximize the reward of their environment by understanding and comparing their choice options. This project investigates how anxiety and compulsivity impact the selection of these options and to what extent a text-based, narrative (rather than a game-like environment) changes RL processes in humans.

Analysis Of Skeletal Trauma: Examining Current And Potential, Maia Stevenson

D.U.Quark

Skeletal trauma is an important component of death investigations which is often discovered through postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) scanning. The analysis of skeletal trauma is a key process in the medicolegal field which could provide information on the cause and manner of death of the individual. Though PMCT provides useful imaging data for discovery, there is a lack of reliable technological tools for analyzation of such data. More definitive skeletal reconstruction tools and injury mechanism categorization tools would increase the efficiency of the post-mortem examination process. This review observes the current methods of discovering skeletal trauma through PMCT and surveys …

Economic Effects Of The Separation Of Serbia And Montenegro, Marko Balic

Business and Economics Presentations

The desire of sovereignty is deeply rooted in the history of the Balkans. From the battle of Kosovo in 1389 to the Bosnian War in the 90s there have been numerous instances of redrawing lines on a map and reclaiming land. This paper revisits one of the most recent separations, the one between Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, and explores implications the split had on each economy. More specifically, using a Bayesian Structural Time Series Model, we constructed a counterfactual series to investigate how Serbia and Montenegro would have developed economically had they remained a unified state after 2006. Using …

Two-Stage Least Squares Estimation In A Spatial Lag Model Under A Complete Bipartite Network, Badi H. Baltagi, Long Liu

Center for Policy Research

This paper considers a spatial lag model with a complete bipartite network weighting matrix which is important in network theory. We show that two-stage least squares is equivalent to ordinary least squares and both estimators are inconsistent for the cross-section data case. This result has also been derived for the spatial lag model with an equal weight matrix by Kelejian and Prucha (2002). We also show that the fixed effects two-stage least squares estimator is consistent in case we have panel data and the spatial lag model includes time fixed effects. This is different from the result for an equal …

Studying Cultural Change With Transhistorical Semantic Directions, Travis Daichi Ashby

Theses and Dissertations

This study advances the use of diachronic word embeddings in cultural sociology, contributing both methodologically and substantively. Methodologically, it synthesizes best practices for constructing semantic directions and addresses challenges arising from diachronic embeddings, including missing data and semantic drift. Substantively, it examines historical changes in schemas and conceptual metaphors related to "processing." By analyzing the changing associations between processing-related words (e.g., "raw" and "refined") and evaluative categories like authenticity, valence, and aesthetics, the study examines whether word-level changes amongst schematically-related words indicate deeper cultural shifts at the schematic level. Findings indicate a growing association between processed states and inauthenticity, a …

Volume 9 Complete Issue, James W. Gallagher

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 9 Complete Issue

Residential Subdivisions: Underlying Themes And Associated Forms, Christopher D. King, Geoffrey Wall

The Geographical Bulletin

Land is one of the most important resources available to man. Man's activities take place upon the land and his buildings are, of necessity, firmly rooted in the ground. The way in which these buildings are arranged has changed through time in response to the changing aspirations of society. Perhaps the most basic use of the land is residential. We spend most of our time at home and the environment in which we dwell influences our performance in all phases of life. In urban situations the means of utilizing the land resource is the process of land subdivision. The term …

An Assessment Of Reilly's Model Of Consumer Behavior, Patricia L. Drews

The Geographical Bulletin

All human behavior occurs in space and can therefore be studied in a manner that emphasizes the locational components of that behavior. One tenent fundamental to spatiallyfocused studies is that decisions related to spatial behavior are perceived as rational. This paper exam'ines a model of a particular type of spatial behavior involving decisions-the shopping behavior of rural people when buying retail goods or services that are relatively ubiquitous. William J, Reilly's law of retail gravitationl and the related breaking-point equation, derived mathematically from Reilly's law and explicitly stated byPaul D. Converse and associates2 , provide a model that predicts which …

The City At The Bottom Of Lake Michigan, Lawrence G. Wolf

The Geographical Bulletin

The New York Times, Sunday, February 17, 1974, reported a subterranean heat source extending from Mexico to above the Salton Sea. If subterranean geothermal sources can be gotten out of the air over the Salton Sea, what next? A week later a radio announcer was heard saying a balloonist was lost over the ocean below Morocco. If the ocean is now beneath Morocco, no wonder he was lost! Journalists are not the only ones living in an unreal world. The United Nations and the Population Reference Bureau end the North American continent at the Rio Grande! The continents of North …

The Search For Spatial Theories: On The Role Of Conceptual And Computational Models In Geographic Research, Daniel A. Griffith

The Geographical Bulletin

At present academic inquiry is guided by various research paradigms, the most popular ones being those affiliated with metaphysics, phenomenology and positivism, while the literature to date lacks an explicit structural typology identifying and interrelating these formats. As a result, numerous peculiar classification schemes have been created. For example, Kerlinger indicates that reesearch in general is comprised of three different modes, namely behavioral, historical and methodological~ Harvey, following ' Hempel, distinguishes between deductive-nomological and inductive-systematization, viewing the hypothetico-deductive system as a special case of this former type2 Olsson talks about formal as opposed to substantive research~ And Relph, exemplifying a …

Military Geography: An Investigation Of Qualification, Bruce G. Graves

The Geographical Bulletin

Comprehension of the meaning of military geography is far more complex than it first appears. Traditionally military geography loosely encompasses the whole field of geographic activity required for the direction of organized military forces. The term "military" includes activities by which man performs characteristics that are generally referred to as soldierly in practice. The weight of this definition is magnified by the importance of strategy exercised at a given time. Scholars who perceive a sub-discipline as having a distinctive characteristic that is basically a sub-division of a whole field of academic study, may at first glance, see a direct relation …