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Personality Is The Main Issue: Presidential Election-Outcome Forecasting, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article argues that conventional presidential election-outcome forecasting models based on situational and structural economic and political variables can be refined by acknowledging the pivotal role of personality in contemporary presidential campaigns and incorporating candidate personality variables as publicly perceived into predictive models.

Using the 2000 U.S. presidential election as a case study, it is contended that George W. Bush’s “dispositional advantage” effectively neutralized Al Gore’s “situational advantage” with respect to electability.

Portrait Of George W. Bush As A “Late Bloomer”, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This essay documents some of the enduring personal characteristics that provide an empirical basis for assessing George W. Bush’s outgoing, adventurous personality pattern.

The Character Of Hillary Clinton, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This essay documents some of the enduring personal characteristics that provide an empirical basis for assessing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s dominant, ambitious personality pattern from a psychobiographical, psychohistorical perspective.

The Political Personalities Of 2000 U.S. Presidential Candidates George W. Bush And Al Gore, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of indirect psychodiagnostic assessments of the political personalities of Texas governor George W. Bush and U.S. vice president Al Gore, putative Republican and Democratic nominees in the U.S. presidential election of 2000, from the conceptual perspective of Theodore Millon.

Information concerning George W. Bush and Al Gore was collected from published biographical and autobiographical accounts and political reports in the print media, and synthesized into personality profiles using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The …

The Possibility Of Impossible Pyramids, Thomas Q. Sibley

Mathematics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Abnormal Pigmentation In A Franklin's Gull, Philip C. Chu

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Near Confinement: Pregnant Women In The Nineteenth-Century British Novel, Cynthia N. Malone

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rhombic Penrose Tilings Can Be 3-Colored, Thomas Q. Sibley, Stan Wagon

Mathematics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Cherokee Phoenix And The Nation It Represents: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Role Of Minority Press, Michele M. Brezinski

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The Cherokees are among the most well-known Native American tribes in the United States today, largely because of their removal from Georgia along the Trail of Tears. Most American history books depict them as down-trodden victims, yet the Cherokees version of the pivotal events of 1831, as found in their newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, indicates otherwise. The rhetorical strategies used by Elias Boudinot, editor of the Phoenix, in his column suggest that the Cherokees were active players in their own fate. Through the use of contrasting images, irony and logos, and by discrediting the language of paternalism, Boudinot …

Evaluation Of Fish Population Estimation By Removal Sampling In King's Creek, Kansas, Hope Phillips

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Population estimation is an integral part of fisheries science. Using electrofishing to conduct a multiple-pass depletion-removal method to estimate population parameters is common. However, this method is time consuming and labor intensive. Recent research suggests that, under certain circumstances, reliable population estimates from a single-pass electrofishing event can be obtained. The objectives of this study were 1) to determine if fish density and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) from a single-pass electrofishing event is correlated with population density estimates obtained from the depletion-removal method and 2) to describe relationships among habitat variables and probability of capture from electrofishing. The study was conducted on …

Sustainable Development And The State: Analyzing Costa Rica And Nicaragua's Experiences, Rebecca Reibestein

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

This paper examines the role of the state in the implementation and success of sustainable development. It first argues there are certain concepts (capacity building, community participation, and empowerment) inherent in any type of successful development. These concepts need to be realized and addressed by the state in order for sustainable development to be long-term and successful. The examination of both Costa Rica and Nicaragua's progress in sustainable development in light of their respective political and economic development proves how integral these concepts are. Throughout the paper the issue of NGO/IGO versus state involvement in sustainable development is brought up. …

Competitive, Cooperative, And Individualistic Group Environments: Effects On Job Satisfaction And Performance, Erin Marie Steinbach Welters

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The effects of task interdependence (competition, cooperation, and individualism) on job satisfaction and performance were investigated. Students from two Catholic, liberal arts colleges completed a creative thinking task in one of four conditions: group competition, cooperation, individual competition, and individual. Rather than supporting the hypotheses, the results indicated that students in the competitive conditions had superior performance to students in non-competitive conditions, and job satisfaction was generally unaffected by the condition students participated in. Trait competitiveness of the participants was also measured in order to determine whether it had a relationship with performance and job satisfaction. A strong relationship between …

A Critique Of Functionalist And Rhetorical Social Movement Theory: A Case Study Of China's 1989 Democracy Movement, Lia M. Veenendaal

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Current Communication-based social movement theory provides an excellent framework for analyzing social movements at a superficial level, but it neglects to include one important aspect that influences social movements – the culture in which a social movement takes place. The dominant theories used to evaluate social movements are written with a Western, North-American bias and thus are inadequate tools for explaining social movements that occur in other cultures. This work uses a non-Western social movement – China's 1989 Democracy Movement – as a case study to demonstrate the Western bias that Communication-based social movement theory holds, as well as to …

Putting Objectivity To The Test: A Study Of How The Kurdish/Turkish Issue Is Represented In The News, Jennifer L. Valorose

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Although the public generally thinks of the news media as sources of factual, complete and objective information, due to the routines of production through which journalists are trained to use to present and gather news, they cannot be objective. The sources journalists rely on for information, and the choices they make in deciding what is newsworthy and how to frame stories influences what and how information is portrayed to the public. Thus, the media can unintentionally influence the way in which audiences understand the events and the knowledge they have to question the decisions being made. Studies have shown that …

Narratives Of Those Who Were Labeled Mentally Ill Due To Sexual Orientation, Michelle Gricus

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Prior to the printing of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980, mental health practitioners who treated homosexual clients were encouraged by the American Psychiatric Association to define these individuals as mentally ill. The label of mental illness had lasting, damaging effects on many of the people who were categorized mentally ill because of their homosexual orientation. The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative study was to examine the impact of being labeled mentally ill due to sexual orientation from the perspective of labeling and ecological theories. The study showed that the ability …

Romantic Relationships: Beliefs Reflected, Reinforced, And Created In Popular Song Lyrics And Musical Content, Heather J. Meierhofer

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Language and music work together in popular songs to portray messages that help construct listeners' reality. As humans, we understand and interpret the world through the language and images provided for us in our symbolic universe. Mass media – particularly those forms that distribute popular music – help to create and reflect the ideologies, or common sets of beliefs, within a culture. Thus, popular music is an important artifact for examination. Popular music is a mass media form in which messages concerning romantic relationships abound. This study's examination of the Billboard top eight popular songs from 1990 to 1995 provides …

Applying Machine Learning Algorithms To Othello, Kristopher Glesener

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The goal of this project was to apply unsupervised machine learning algorithms to the board game othello. We used eight genetic algorithms to develop eight different othello strategies. Each genetic algorithm played 2.5 million games to develop one of the eight strategies. Each strategy was then tested against the other seven strategies, as well as other computer players and human players. The results show that most of the strategies play at the level of a beginning player, with the best strategies on par with a slightly experienced player. We also implemented a reinforcement learning algorithm in order to improve on …

The Media Mirror: The Coverage Of The Nato Bombing Of The Chinese Embassy In The China Daily And Usa Today, Kevin Thomas Clancy

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

May 7, 1999 – A U.S.-supported NATO mission bombs the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Within hours the two countries are in the midst of political strife and cultural misunderstanding. As Chinese and U.S. media illustrate, there is one bombing and two very different stories. How correct is the media picture? The question lies at the heart of this research. Consequently, in an attempt to shed light upon black and white journalistic frames of China, this study applies ideological analysis to the China Daily and USA Today coverage of the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy. The goal of this comparative …

Aeromycological Spore Loads At A Newly Activated Compost Facility, Steven R. Mcgreevy

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Composting facilities, because of the processes that occur there, may be associated with increased fungal spore loads in the air. We monitored the spore loads present at a newly activated composting facility (Mississippi Topsoils, Inc.; Cold Spring, MN) before and after its activation during October and November of 1999. Petri dishes were arrayed on the downwind side of the compost site and exposed for a range of time periods. The exposed petri dishes were incubated for 48 hours and the number of yeast-like, filamentous, and total fungal colonyforming-units (CFUs) was recorded. The spore load data were also compared to weather …