Digital Commons Network^™

Is Inclusion The Answer?, Jacqueline M. Hewins

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Inclusion is the method by which many school districts meet the requirement of educating students with disabilities in the “least restrictive environment”. While it is an established practice, supported by the educational community and most families alike, there is a gap in the literature regarding how students feel about being in inclusion classes. In order to learn more about the student experience, five students with special education needs from a rural high school were interviewed about their involvement in inclusion. Students were asked about whether they felt included, if they socialized with peers from the inclusion class, and if they …

Holistic Student Development In Higher Education: Perspectives And Practices Of Holistic Student Development At A Public California University, Francisca Ann Crutchfield

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Within traditional American public colleges and universities, there is an emphasis on academic student success within the structures and values of educational programs, and the lack of a holistic approach to higher education may be negatively impacting college student development and well-being. By balancing academic knowledge with other areas of knowledge, including a heightened sense of community and mental and emotional well-being, higher education can cultivate students who apply their skills with reduced stress, a sense of belonging, and freedom of expression. This qualitative phenomenological study seeks to identify characteristics, educational priorities, and programming approaches of university student service programs …

Collective Efficacy: Gaining The Perspective Of Teachers, Ashley R. Lankila

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' view of collective efficacy at their schools, the key events teachers cite when discussing their views, and their views on how collective efficacy can be built at their schools. Certificated personnel from three rural schools in Northern California participated in this study. Key findings indicate teachers view communication, collaboration and accountability as key factors to justify their views of collective efficacy at their schools.

Collective Healing Within Queer Paradoxes: Deconstructing Emotional Abuse In Lgbtq2sia* Communities To Cultivate More Accountable And Compassionate Worlds, Alexia Siebuhr

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Emotional abuses within LGBTQ2SIA* communities are rarely acknowledged as existing or often normalized. Through care and anti-oppression works, transformative justice models such as community and self-accountability have helped carve out ways of addressing harm directly and breaking cycles of violence. The research in this thesis has been through mixed qualitative methodologies including semi-structured interviews and surveys. The participants' along with other authors, artists, activists and scholars’ narratives draws upon the experiences of emotional abuse lived within structural and social surveillance. The settler colonial state sanctioned projects have responded to harm by perpetuating violence upon those most marginalized. Deconstructing emotional abuse …

Cuteness As A Prime To Enhance Emotional Recognition, Andrew Diaz

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The ability to recognize emotional expressions has important implications for survival and cooperation. Failing to recognize emotions indicative of some form of threat (anger, fear, disgust) may be particularly costly given these emotional expressions communicate a potential source of danger in the environment. Previous studies have shown that people tend to recognize threatening emotions faster and more accurately than non-threatening emotions. Infantile characteristics (kindchenschema) readily capture the attention of adults and have been shown to influence a variety of behaviors associated with caretaking; viewing cute stimuli increases behavioral carefulness on various visual and motor tasks. The current study …

Reinventing High School: Understanding The Challenges And Successes Of Transforming Education To Meet Student, Society, And Industry Needs, Scott R. Bartholomew, Greg J. Strimel, Anne M. Lucietto, Mesut Akdere

Faculty Publications

Efforts to revamp existing educational systems and approaches result in various new models in STEM education. Accordingly, a new urban public charter school, located in a Midwest state in the United States, was established in partnership with the state’s land-grant university to create a transformed integrated STEM educational environment characterized by industry-focused and design-based learning to help prepare students for the future of work and learning. This article presents findings from an exploratory study that examined the experiences of teachers and administrative staff of this innovative high school (IHS) during the first year of school operation. A purposive sample of …

Emotion-Related Socialization In The Classroom: Considering The Roles Of Teachers And Peers, Carlos Valiente, Jodi Swanson, Dawn Delay, Ashley M. Fraser, Julia H. Parker

Faculty Publications

The goal of this paper was to apply aspects of the heuristic model advanced by Eisenberg, Cumberland, and Spinrad (1998)to the study of socialization that takes place in preschool and elementary school classrooms. Investigating socialization in this context is important given the number of hours students spend in school, the emotional nature of social interactions that take place involving teachers and students, and the emotions students often experience in the context of academic work. Guided by Eisenberg and colleagues’(1998) call to consider complex socialization pathways, we focus our discussion on ways teachers, peers, and the classroom context can shape students’ …

The Lengthening Transition To Adulthood: Financial Parenting And Recentering During The College-To-Career Transition, Joyce Serido, Ashley B. Lebaron, Lijun Li, Emily Parrot, Soyeon Shim

Faculty Publications

Using longitudinal data collected from a college cohort in the United States (N = 922), we examined the associations between systemic and structural factors (gender, race/ethnicity, family SES, and first-generation college status), financial parenting (teaching, and modeling behavior), and emerging adults’ financial behavior. We conducted a series of one-way repeated measure ANOVA analyses (GLM) to assess patterns of average change in financial parenting and financial behavior in the first year in college, fourth year in college, and two years after college and found evidence suggestive of recentering—a gradual transfer of responsibility during emerging adulthood from parent-directed behavior to self-directed behavior; …

Romantic Attachment Orientations, Financial Behaviors, And Life Outcomes Among Young Adults: A Mediating Analysis Of A College Cohort, Xiaomin Li, Melissa A. Curran, Ashley B. Lebaron

Faculty Publications

Guided by the Vulnerability-Adaption-Stress model (Karney and Bradbury 1995), we used data from 635 college-educated young adults to examine associations between romantic attachment orientations (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and young adults’ life outcomes (i.e., financial satisfaction, life satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction; Aim 1). We also conducted a mediating model to examine indirect associations from romantic attachment orientations to life outcomes via young adult’s own financial behaviors and perceived partners’ financial behavior (i.e., each young adult’s perception of their partner’s financial behaviors; Aim 2). For Aim 1, high attachment anxiety and/or high attachment avoidance was associated with low life …

Religion As A Source Of Tolerance And Intolerance: Exploring The Dichotomy, Quinn Galbraith, Alexandra Carlisle, Ben White

Faculty Publications

Previous research on tolerance and intolerance in religion has focused on individuals’ internal religious commitment and their relationship within religious groups. In exploring religion’s ability to generate both tolerance and intolerance, this qualitative study draws on data from interviews with 220 highly religious individuals living in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2016 in order to suggest how religious individuals see themselves interacting with tolerance and intolerance in their daily lives. Many of our subjects identified themselves as tolerant people while viewing others as intolerant of their religious beliefs. An analysis of our findings and prior research suggests that religious …

Surviving Secular Society: How Religious Families Maintain Faith Through Community And Parenting Practices, Quinn Galbraith, Christina Riley, Alexandra Carlisle, Heather Kelley

Faculty Publications

In pluralistic society, religious families may struggle with adapting to non-religious culture. This can be concerning for religious parents who attempt to raise their children to be religious in a non-religious environment. This study draws upon qualitative interviews with 130 highly religious individuals in Ireland and the UK to analyze what perceived challenges religious families experience in secular society and what coping mechanisms they employ to counteract secular influences. Researchers identified three common challenges: outside pressure to conform, media misrepresentation, and immoral messages in media. They identified three potential coping mechanisms: controlling access to media, building religious community, and teaching …

Does Inhibitory Control Training Reduce Weight And Caloric Intake In Adults With Overweight And Obesity? A Pre-Registered, Randomized Controlled Event-Related Potential (Erp) Study, Scott A. Baldwin, Alexandra M. Muir, Whitney D. Allen, Kaylie A. Carbine, James D. Lecheminant, Chad D. Jensen, C. Brock Kirwan, Michael J. Larson

Faculty Publications

A cognitive intervention that may reduce weight and caloric intake is inhibitory control training (ICT; having individuals repeatedly withhold dominant responses to unhealthy food images). We conducted a randomized controlled trial where 100 individuals with overweight or obesity were assigned to complete a generic (n = 48) or food-specific ICT (n = 52) training four times per week for four weeks. Weight and caloric intake were obtained at baseline, four-weeks, and 12-weeks. Participants also completed high-calorie and neutral go/no-go tasks while N2 event-related potential (ERP) data, a neural indicator of inhibitory control, was measured at all visits. Results …

Association Between Exposure To Air Pollution And Total Gray Matter And Total White Matter Volumes In Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Bruce L. Brown, Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Jacqueline E. Anderson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Total brain gray-matter and white-matter volumes can be indicators of overall brain health. Among the factors associated with gray-matter and white-matter volumes is exposure to air pollution. Using data from the UK Biobank, we sought to determine associations between several components of air pollution—PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxides—and total gray-matter and total white-matter volumes in multivariable regression models in a large sample of adults. We found significant inverse associations between PM2.5 concentration and total white-matter volume and between PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxide concentrations and total gray-matter volume in models adjusted for age, sex, …

Association Between Exposure To Air Pollution And Thalamus Volume In Adults: A Crosssectional Study, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges, Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Jacqueline E. Anderson

Faculty Publications

Background: Air pollution has been associated with cognitive function and brain volume. While most previous research has examined the association between air pollution and brain volume in cortical structures or total brain volume, less research has investigated associations between exposure to air pollution and subcortical structures, including the thalamus. Further, the few available previous studies investigating associations between air pollution and thalamic volume have shown mixed results.

Methods: In this study, we evaluated the association between PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxides and volume of the thalamus in adults using the UK Biobank resource, a large community-based sample, …

In An Era Of Uncertainty: Impact Of Covid-19on Dental Education, Wendy C. Birmingham, Man Hung, Frank W. Licari, Eric S. Hon, Evelyn Lauren, Sharon Su, Lori L. Wadsworth, Jane H. Lassetter, Tyler C. Graff, William Harman, William B. Carroll, Martin S. Lipsky

Faculty Publications

Purpose/Objectives:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemicarguably represents the worst public health crisis of the 21stcentury. However,no empirical study currently exists in the literature that examines the impact ofthe COVID-19 pandemic on dental education. This study evaluated the impactof COVID-19 on dental education and dental students’ experience.Methods:An anonymous online survey was administrated to professionaldental students that focused on their experiences related to COVID-19. Thesurvey included questions about student demographics, protocols for schoolreopening and student perceptions of institutional responses, student concerns,and psychological impacts.Results:Among the 145 respondents, 92.4% were pre-doctoral dental studentsand 7.6% were orthodontic residents; 48.2% were female and 12.6% students livedalone …

Cognitive Impairment No Dementia And Associations With Health Literacy, Self-Management Skills, And Functional Health Status, Derin J. Cobia, Rebecca M. Lovett, Laura M. Curtis, Stephen D. Persell, James W. Griffith, Alex Federman, Michael S. Wolf

Faculty Publications

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND) among a diverse, community-based population, and establish associations between CIND and health literacy, chronic disease self-management and functional health status.

Methods: 863 primary care adults without dementia aged 55–74. Adjusted logistic and linear regressions were used to assess associations between CIND (None, Mild, Moderate/Severe) and outcomes.

Results: 36% participants exhibited CIND. It was strongly associated with limited health literacy (Newest Vital Signs: Mild [OR 3.25; 95% CI 1.93, 5.49], Moderate/Severe [OR 6.45; 95% CI 3.16, 13.2]; Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults: Mild [OR 3.46; 95% CI 2.08, …

Feeling Activated And Acting Unethically: The Influence Of Activated Mood On Unethical Behavior To Benefit A Teammate, Elizabeth E. Umphress, Richard G. Gardner, Adam C. Stoverink, Keith Leavitt

Faculty Publications

Research on the effects of mood in organizations tends to focus on the valence dimension of mood (positive vs. negative), overlooking the activation dimension (activated vs. deactivated).We suggest that activation level prompts unethical behavior. Based on the affective infusion model (AIM; Forgas, 1995), we predict that positive activated and negative activated moods facilitate unethical behavior to benefit a teammate, via the mediating mechanism of a creative mindset. We test our fullmodel using an experience sampling method over 2 weeks, in which mood and creative mindset were assessed in the morning and unethical behavior conducted that day was assessed in the …

Consciousness And Criminality, Paula Baniotaite

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

To what extent are we responsible for the actions performed in our dreams? If I hurt someone while I’m sleepwalking, should my behavior be excused? In cases of multiple personalities, if one identity commits a crime, should the main identity be accountable? We can raise such questions in courts today due to early psychological research in consciousness and awareness. I will begin by reviewing the early notions that have been explored in psychology, such as sleep, repression and even hypnosis that all tie back to theories of consciousness. I will then review various disorders that involve irregularities in consciousness: sleep …

A Fairy Without Wings, Mckenzie King

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

The Fae have become targets for hunters in search of profit, due to various media sources quickly spreading false rumors to the population. A Fairy Without Wings is an Urban Fantasy novel-in-progress that follows the active kidnapping of two female Fae: Melli and Bridge. Melli and Bridge, unlike many others, make no attempts to hide their Fae features. This made the girls easy targets for poachers. The novel-in-progress uses the theory of evolution in relation to the fantasy race known as Fae in an urban setting to demonstrate the impact of misinformation from the media on social climate. This demonstration …

Synesthesia And Thin Boundaries Of The Mind, Samantha M. Mayernik

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which the lines between senses are blurred, suggesting permeable boundaries in the mind. This notion of boundary permeability is inherently linked with Openness to Experience, one of the Big Five personality traits. Conversely, some people are characterized by heavy boundaries and thus a lack of Openness. Since the 1930s, the relationship between Openness and boundaries has been important in political psychology, as previous research has established that conservatives tend to be low in Openness, while the opposite is true for liberals. Authoritarianism can be seen as the embodiment of a mind with thick boundaries, while …

Defining Relatedness While Crossing State Lines: Changes In The American Cultural Construction Of Incest, Elizabeth May

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Incest is known in Anthropology as a social construct that is defined as the prohibition of sex or marriage between certain genetic or affinal relatives. It was once believed that incest was an instinctually avoided behavior in humans, but that hypothesis is no longer supported. Because incest is a culturally constructed idea, the specific nature of its defining boundaries changes across cultures. To build upon the idea that incest is a cultural construction, I investigated the notion that not only do laws defining incest vary between cultures, but they also show variance within the same society. I showed this by …

Personality And Geographical Psychology, Marina N. Perez

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

This exploratory analysis aims to examine personality in relation to geographical location. As opposed to grouping participants by state, participants are grouped based on cultural regions outlined by Colin Woodard in American Nations (2012). By taking into account the sub-nations that exist in the United States and the history of their settlements, we can illustrate a more comprehensive and complete picture of the people who live there. In order to examine geographical regions according to personality scores, Colin Woodard’s American Nations data was used in conjunction with William Revelle’s and Lorien Elleman’s SAPA data and corresponding code. Participants were divided …

Understanding America’S Modern Political Polarization Through Media History, Frank Sauro

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Political polarization in the United States has rapidly developed into a key source of division within the country’s electorate. Though the clashing of contentious political ideologies has historically served as the catalyst for beneficial political, social, and economic change in America, modern political discourse is threatening to propel the country towards regression. Academics, politicians, and commentators have accused the media of perpetuating division through incendiary rhetoric and biased reporting. This project seeks to evaluate the validity of such accusations through the analysis of America’s media history and its impact on the country’s electorate. Following an overview of media’s developmental timeline, …

The Death Positive Community And Change In American Mortuary Ritual, Taylor Sharrard

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

American mortuary ritual, including either embalming and burial or cremation, has largely gone unchanged since the Civil War. The growing movement of “death positivity” started by mortician Caitlin Doughty has been educating the American public about funeral alternatives that advocates believe are better for survivors of the deceased as well as the environment. I analyze past criticisms that have influenced Doughty to craft the death positive movement’s ideals and discuss these in terms of capitalistic greed as well as death denial culture. I describe the downfalls of the current embalming and cremation practices that the death positive movement opposes. Furthermore, …

The Liberty To Sell Sex: The Case For Regulation Of Legal Prostitution In The United States, Gianni Croci

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Prostitution is a controversial service which went through periods of legalization and criminalization in American history. The main problem is a social taboo which considers prostitution to be morally wrongful and a social nuisance. After the Progressive Era, Congress outlawed sexual acts it deemed immoral using Commerce Clause powers. Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, legislation regulating sex devolved to the states. Currently, prostitution is banned in forty-nine states. I argue that prostitution should not be abolished because it is not inherently harmful, it is not an immoral act, and it has liberty interests found within the United States …

Abortion Reexamined: A Closer Look At Moral Status, Katherine Hernandez

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Roe vs. Wade, a landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion, has been recently challenged. Although public opinion shows that most Americans oppose overturning Roe, various states have introduced legislation to force the court to reconsider the issue. Drawing on the work of philosopher Mary Anne Warren, I argue that while the fetus is worthy of moral consideration it is not yet worthy of personhood and cannot be granted greater legal rights than the mother; and that Roe as it stands today already provides an …

For The Love Of My Country: Investigating Predictors Of Anxious And Avoidant Attachment To The U.S.A., Sara Haman

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

National attachment refers to the emotional bond one forms with the abstract conception of a nation, similar to how one might imagine a relationship with a god. Although there is a multidisciplinary literature investigating the effects and antecedents of national attachment, there is a distinct lack of research into patterns of national attachment informed by attachment theory. I review the national attachment literature in order to frame the argument for why national attachment ought to be examined from an attachment theory approach. Then, I conduct a study with 217 American adults exploring the associations between two dimensions of national attachment …

Courtship And Mating In Drosophila Flies: The Effects Of Social Behavior On Mating Drive, Anita Nwiloh

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Courtship is the series of behaviors that fly pairs engage in before potentially mating. These behaviors play a huge role in the mating success between fly pairs and certain variables such as the courtship index is used to measure this relationship. This study will analyze the unblinded results of distinct fly pairs from different strains , specifically the Canton S. and Dahomey strains, after being isolated to test their mating success. The statistical data of the fly pairs’ courting and mating behaviors, which has been output from the Jupyter Python program, will be analyzed. Furthermore, the supporting tables and graph …

Assessing The Development Of Tolerance To Amphetamine Using C. Elegans, Dayana Torres Valladares

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Amphetamine (AMPH) is a potent psychostimulant and is a known substance of abuse, also used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. AMPH acts at the dopaminergic neurons through the dopamine transporter (DAT), and it leads to DAT-mediated efflux, resulting in an overall increase of dopamine (DA) in the synaptic cleft. It is known that exposure to AMPH may cause sensitization and/or tolerance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying tolerance to AMPH are not yet well understood. Because DA has an inhibitory effect in C. elegans’ locomotion, the animals fail to sustain their normal swimming behavior when exposed to AMPH and …

The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692: Bewitchment And Belief In 17th-Century New England, Kyle Owen

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

The Salem Witch Trials have perplexed historians for years. The true causes of these events remain uncertain. Causal theories have developed; around religious and occultist beliefs, ergotism, the Indian Wars, and village factionalism. This thesis explores each theory and concludes that religious and occultist beliefs were the main cause behind the hysteria that led to the bloodshed of the trials. Puritan theology involved belief in a literal Devil, which led to other occultist beliefs related to witches and witchcraft. Therefore, witchcraft and witch lore are a part of these occultist beliefs which were alive and well in Salem in 1692.