Digital Commons Network^™

Consciousness And The Reality Of Monsters In Horror Movies: Dehumanization And What Monsters In Horror Films Say About Us, Leila Kincaid

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This essay responds to Carroll’s The Nature of Horror from the perspective of transdisciplinary phenomenological film theory, largely developed by Edgar Morin in the 1950s. It argues that Carrolls’s reduction of the phenomenological value of horror films to an unreal category minimizes and even dismisses the inherent value of horror films. Morin, Allan Combs, and others offer more integral and transdisciplinary methods for art interpretation and functionality. They help us understand how monsters in horror films can stand as mirrors and reflections of the monstrous in ourselves and society. Thus, the transformational function and value of film is revealed and …

The Psychology Of Realistic Characters: Utilizing Psychological Theory In The Character Creation Process, Sophie Mcfarlane Holmes

Masters Theses

When creating characters for a story, authors should seek to make them as realistic and relatable as possible to their respective audiences. In order to achieve that, authors need to understand humanity and why humans behave the way they do. Psychology offers insight into the human mind, and covers all aspects of personality, socialization, and development within humanity. These same three areas can be used when crafting characters for a story. By utilizing personality tests, social backgrounds, and developmental life stages, authors gain an understanding of how and why people may act the way they do. This knowledge can in …

All In The Image: Nightmares, Posttraumatic Stress, And Expressive Therapy: Critical Literature Review, Emma Geller

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper reviews the therapeutic potential of combining expressive therapy approaches with dreamwork protocol in treating recurrent nightmares seen in populations with PTSD. The intersection between the dreaming state, nightmares, dreamwork, and trauma can provide important insights into the purpose of dreaming, subconscious processing of trauma, and effective treatments for individuals struggling with nightmares. Clinical implications of dreamwork are considered in working with posttraumatic stress disorder along with this condition’s connection to recurrent nightmares. In working with trauma and the arts at a sensory and affective level of experience, there is potential for individuals to explore and process their recurrent …

The Influence Of Play As Positive Emotion On Engagement And Self-Regulated Learning In An Online Higher Education Classroom, Kim Frost

Interdisciplinary Studies

Student demand for online learning is at an all-time high, making the identification of practical strategies for supporting student success in online learning more vital than ever. Positive emotion has been shown to promote self-regulated learning (SRL) and engagement, both evidenced predictors of student success. However, little is known about designing online learning environments to elicit positive emotion in students. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of play-infused learning design on SRL and engagement in an online, higher education classroom. This study is based on the premise that play is a positive affect emotional system that …

Exploring Teacher Emotions In A University Esl Writing Classroom, Matt Ford

Linguistics

Second language acquisition research has been steadily moving towards recognizing the importance of emotions as they relate to language teaching and learning. Indeed, the language classroom - especially in the context of English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction - is often an intensely emotional place for both teachers and students. This study explores the following question: As a university ESL teacher in a writing classroom, what emotions do I experience in the classroom, and what emotional work do I put in to address these emotions? Using autoethnographic methods in my own classroom, including reflexive journals, classroom observations, and student …

"All Hail The Real Queens Of The Universe”: The Impact And Lived Experience Of Social Media On Body Dissatisfaction And Mood., Rosemary Porter, Katie Lingmai

Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement

Limited research has evaluated comments' effects on social media posts. Prior investigations have narrowly focused on negative body image measures after viewing idealized bodies. We extended this work to examine the impact of non-ideal images among 557 cis-gender women and 49 gender-diverse individuals (MAge=23.49). Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions in the 2 (time:pre/post) X 2 (image: deal/non-ideal) X 4 (comment:no comment, reinforcing, challenging, reinforcing+challenging comment) mixed-model design. After completing pre-test measures, participants viewed 13 Instagram-like images standardized in a pilot study to be similar in age, attractiveness, and photo quality, but differing in body shape/size. Comments …

Teacher Voices: Stress And Coping Mechanisms Among The Teaching Profession, Jasmine Suttles

Education | Master's Theses

Stress is a natural response that occurs in our body when we feel overwhelmed, and it can manifest in both positive and negative instances. The teaching profession is not exempt from this phenomenon, as it is unique in that educators have multiple roles to play and have to manage and interact with many students simultaneously. Teachers have been described as "exasperated by heavy loads of emotional labor in the classroom" (Ferguson et al., 2022). This "heavy load" can place the teaching profession at risk of stress and burnout if self-care is not addressed or mental health resources are not offered. …

The Power Of Words: Unpacking Language's Role In Educational Inequities, Zara Yokohama, Liz Beccari, Malcolm Jasmin

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The language used to describe racial disparities in education may inadvertently influence how we address them. Framing such disparities as “achievement gap” rather than as “inequality in educational outcomes” assumes a deficit thinking mindset, shifting focus from the structural injustices contributing to education disparities to individuals, resulting in decreased prioritization of racial equity (Quinn & Desruisseaux, 2022). We aim to replicate this prioritization effect, specify the language driving the effect, and examine the impact of frames on perceptions of how to achieve racial equity. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions framing racial equity concerns as: a racial achievement gap, racial …

The Psychological Conditions Of Pregnant Women During The Covid-19 Outbreak In Lebanon, Ibrahim Kadamani, Ali Samaha, Maya Gebbawi, Najwa Yahfoufi, Hanadi Mohamad Nur Steitiyeh, Abbas Samaha

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

In Lebanon, the psychological conditions of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been reported, which creates the need to conduct this study that aims to evaluate the psychological conditions of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional design was adopted to reach the aim of this study. The study sample was reached through OBS/GYN clinics to be able to contact the pregnant women in the community, where a convenient sampling technique was followed. The total number of participants was 360 pregnant women: 101 (27.77%) first trimester, 140 (38.88%) second trimester, and 119 (33.33%) third trimester. There is …

Mindful Instincts: Exploring Differences In Intuition Amongst Men And Women, Adam Bornstein

Honors Projects in Psychology

Intuition, or the ability to quickly interpret a situation and make a decision without the use of the conscious mind, is a phenomenon that has gained a lot of popularity amongst psychologists over the last couple of decades. The phenomenon, which has been a part of human life since neanderthal days, gained a lot of popularity in the early 20th century, thanks to the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Studies have shown differences in levels of intuition amongst various groups. The most profound differences observed have been those between men’s and women’s levels of intuition. This paper dives …

Can Vice Make Us Virtuous? The Effects Of Greed Reminders On Charitability, Hayley Pitts

Honors Theses

Historically, society wishes to encourage people to be good – but also warns against being bad. There is little comparison between the two of which works: the threat of damnation through vice, or the promise of salvation through virtue. This study examines how each of these affect donation behavior. There are two studies within the present research, each with 149 participants randomly assigned into three categories: control, vice, and virtue. Participants were distracted then asked to view an image based on their randomly assigned category, followed by a donation question: would participants donate a $1.00 bonus to a local charity, …

Work And Psychological Recovery Experiences Of Asian American And Pacific Island Workers In Higher Education, Christine M. Beceril

Student Research Symposium

Individuals from Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) backgrounds constitute the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. job market - comprising 6.7% of the U.S. population and expected to reach 15% by 2065 (United States Census Bureau, 2022). Despite their rapid growth, there has been a scarcity of literature in industrial-organizational psychology, with limited research on how AAPI workers engage in psychological recovery after work. This is a critical, yet unexplored area as previous research on psychological recovery from work has been investigated with homogenous White samples. Additionally, AAPI workers play integral roles in the U.S. higher …

Online Or In-Person: What Mode Of Conversation Makes People Feel The Most Socially Connected?, Nathan P. Gheorghita, Cynthia D. Mohr, Maryann Samson, Sheila Mccabe, Julia Lynch

Student Research Symposium

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been spending significantly more time online. Today, people spend an average of 6 hours and 58 minutes online every day, and much of this time is spent socializing via various platforms. Many studies have examined the benefits and risks of socializing online, but few studies have examined online conversations specifically. In this study I aim to uncover the differences in perceived social connection based on the medium of conversation. To do this, I will administer the Connectedness During Conversations Scale (CDCS) to a sample of Portland State University students (N=80). The …

Exploring Attrition And Linguistic Shifts: The Impact Of Covid-19 And Anti-Asian Discrimination On The East And Southeast Asian Diaspora, Sam Mutschler-Aldine, Amy Wan-Ling Lin, Natalie Robison, Milntra Raksachat, Carolyn Quam

Student Research Symposium

This study investigates language and identity among speakers of East Asian and Southeast Asian languages in the United States, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the concurrent rise in anti-Asian hate. We adopt a mixed-methods approach guided by three research questions exploring: (1) changes in language use since pandemic onset, (2) changes in perspectives on language identity since pandemic onset, and (3) effects of geopolitical climate, specifically the rise in anti-Asian hate, on language use and perspectives on language identity. Qualitative methodologies allowed us to capture a diverse range of language experiences. Many (but not all) participants indicated …

Finding And Developing The 21st Century Scientific Pioneer, Brent Roberts, Gregory Feist, Rodica Ioana Damian, Rodrigues Fabretti, Nathan Kuncel, Gregory Crawford, Cosima Crawford, Ernst Fehr

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Research on the personality of creative scientists is revisited using the Neo-Socioanalytic model of personality psychology as an organizing framework. Past research shows that creative scientists, largely from the 20th century, were distinguished by high levels of openness to experience, dominance, ambition, intelligence, and low levels of agreeableness. Contradictory findings for environmental influences highlighted the potential importance of both supportive and adverse diversifying experiences. Developmental trends also run contrary to the likelihood of scientific creativity occurring later in life, which is consistent with the life span models of creativity. Based on this review, we highlight much needed updating to the …

Urban Harmony: Exploring The Interplay Of New Urbanism Qualities On Economic Prosperity And Psychological Wellbeing In Contemporary Cities, Crew T. Borgeson

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Now that most people live in urban places, answering which urbanism best provides citizen well-being becomes increasingly important. After nearly a century of suburban development, the significant drawbacks of urban sprawl are widely documented, namely the unsustainability and social impacts they incur. Many American cities, however, continue to chiefly expand in this way. What if cities were to make decisions not based on the status quo of today’s building codes but instead drew inspiration from great historical cities, applying their lessons to the unique challenges of the 21st century?

The New Urbanism movement aims to identify and incorporate the elements …

Review: Implementation Of Video Documentation In Lessons Learned System In Construction, Jainil Patel

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Organizations employ Lessons Learned Systems (LLS) to manage knowledge and capture valuable project experiences to improve future performance. However, the construction industry has yet to adopt such systems widely, presumably due to its sluggish tech integration and risk-prone characteristics. Of the numerous fragmented obstacles that impede LLS adoption, one noteworthy obstacle would be the challenge faced during the text documentation of experiences. Traditional text inputs are labor-intensive and time- consuming. Hence, video documentation can be a more efficient replacement with its quick and modern recording features. The technological advancement and the preference shift of younger generations from text to video …

Reinvestigating The Role Of Observational Contexts In Learning Hard Nouns, Kosta Boskovic, Sumarga Suanda

Honors Scholar Theses

Developmental scientists have long been fascinated by children’s prodigious word learning capacities and by patterns in the composition of children’s early vocabularies that reveal that certain types of words are learned earlier than others. One notable pattern has been that words that denote more abstract concepts (e.g., “story”) are learned later than words that denote concrete objects (e.g., “ball”). In fact, prior studies have concluded that different kinds of abstract words, including nouns whose referents are not whole, concrete objects (or “hard nouns”; Kako, 2005), are not learnable from observational contexts alone and necessitate linguistic information to be learned. In …

An Analysis Of Child Valence Bias Trajectories As A Result Of Parental Factors: A Longitudinal Perspective, Kaylee Brooke Donner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Valence bias is an important part of how individuals perceive the world around them, and this is especially influential in terms of children’s development. This study used data from longitudinal data collection surveys consisting of 197 participants, ages 6-17, to investigate correlations between valence bias, puberty, parental conflict, emotion regulation, temperament, interpersonal regulation, trait anxiety, and personality. This research provides much sought-after knowledge in terms of how parental factors impact children’s development, specifically children's valence bias development. Previous research has shown that emotion regulation in parents, along with different parenting styles with equal levels of discipline and loving support largely …

Caring For The Aging In The Twenty-First Century: A Principlist Approach To Psychiatric Care For Geriatric Patients, Gabriella Agostaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the field of psychiatry continues to expand, the importance of equitable care continues to remain apparent. Geriatric patients with psychiatric conditions experience a heightened rate of discrimination in care facilities and psychiatric symptoms are often left untreated or individuals are forcibly treated against their will. While these patients typically present with a handful of physical comorbidities, gaps in care typically result from a lack of resources delegated to the aging population and an extreme lack of education for clinicians dealing with psychiatric patients.

Clinicians and additional members of the medical team have typically prioritized a paternalistic approach to the …

Our Author Is Crazy, Zani A. Meaders

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis delves into the realm of young adult (YA) fantasy literature, exploring how its meta-narrative elements, fast-paced story beats, and relatable characters can facilitate the acquisition of healthy coping mechanisms among its readers. In the preface, I discuss the importance of providing YA audiences with narratives that not only entertain but also serve as tools for navigating the complexities of adolescence. Drawing upon psychological theories and literary analysis, I argue that meta-awareness in YA fantasy can offer readers a unique perspective on their own struggles and encourage them to develop resilience and coping skills.

The accompanying YA Fantasy story …

Bull Spit, Sirena Nieves, Sirena M. Nieves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

BULL SPIT, formally known as “It’s Bullshit!!”, is an exhibition consisting of seven sculptures, four installations, and one performance. The sculptures are informed by my research on low-income, working-class communities of color, analogous to the one I grew up in. The materials for my work include domestic objects such as bedsheets, hardware, uniforms, and miscellaneous items that reflect the contemporary dysfunctional dynamics between families and communities of low-income backgrounds. Cardboard, plastic bags, Styrofoam, and paper are disposable materials manipulated into abject forms to integrate the survival practice developed from the poverty culture of “making the most out of nothing.” …

Keeping The Home Front, Morgan Bergeron

Psychology Student Publications

This is a science communication article that covers the pros and cons of different communication styles and learning how to communicate in a long-distance relationship with a deployed partner from the perspective of a young, non-married couple, where the partner who is back home is the one speaking from her perspective.

Social Media Impact On Adolescent Mental Health, Jayla Owen-Lafontaine

Psychology Student Publications

This paper is about how social media has an impact on adolescents mental health. it discusses the negatives of social media on mental health as well as some positives.

Critical Review Of Media Addiction And Its Effects, Justine Vonasek

Psychology Student Publications

This paper is supposed to mimic a popular media article based from a scholarly article. It's supposed to be entertaining, informational, and informal.

Can Listeners Differentiate Varieties Using Prosodic Information? Lect Identification In A Persona-Matching Task, Nicole Holliday, Rachel Steindel Burdin, Paul Reed

Faculty Publications

Sociolinguists and lay people have long been interested in the mechanisms by which dialect and speaker identification occur. The current study aims to test whether realizational differences found in production studies are salient factors in identification of different lects, as well as to examine differences between groups in identification. In this study, listeners were instructed to match clips containing H* and L+H* pitch accents with specific personae who represented speakers of five lects of interest (African American English, Jewish English, Appalachian English, Southern English, and Midwestern English). Listeners from different groups (Appalachian, African American, Jewish, and those who were not …

Can Listeners Differentiate Varieties Using Prosodic Information? Lect Identification In A Persona-Matching Task, Nicole Holliday, Rachel Steindel Burdin, Paul Reed

Faculty Publications

Sociolinguists and lay people have long been interested in the mechanisms by which dialect and speaker identification occur. The current study aims to test whether realizational differences found in production studies are salient factors in identification of different lects, as well as to examine differences between groups in identification. In this study, listeners were instructed to match clips containing H* and L+H* pitch accents with specific personae who represented speakers of five lects of interest (African American English, Jewish English, Appalachian English, Southern English, and Midwestern English). Listeners from different groups (Appalachian, African American, Jewish, and those who were not …

Telling Stories Through Music—Music Without Words, Isabella Thomas

Composition/Recording Projects

This paper explores the study of listening modes associated with music with lyrics and instrumental music without words. Studies are explained in depth with explanations to current culture and society. The history of Neoclassical and Minimalist music in discussed in relevance to American culture. This background information leads into the creation of my own original compositions and how i have been inspired by life and culture around me.

Interaction Of High-Fat Diet And Brain Trauma Alters Adipose Tissue Macrophages And Brain Microglia Associated With Exacerbated Cognitive Dysfunction, Rebecca J Henry, James P Barrett, Maria Vaida, Niaz Z Khan, Oleg Makarevich, Rodney M Ritzel, Alan I Faden, Bogdan A Stoica

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Obesity increases the morbidity and mortality of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Detailed analyses of transcriptomic changes in the brain and adipose tissue were performed to elucidate the interactive effects between high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO) and TBI. Adult male mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks prior to experimental TBI and continuing after injury. High-throughput transcriptomic analysis using Nanostring panels of the total visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and cellular components in the brain, followed by unsupervised clustering, principal component analysis, and IPA pathway analysis were used to determine shifts in gene expression patterns and molecular pathway activity. Cellular …

Mindful Education: Strategies For Promoting Body Positivity Through Literature Works In The Classroom, Ellie Kronberg

Honors Projects

This project presents a comprehensive guide with a structured, yet flexible framework for educators to adapt into their curriculums, and is aimed at assisting in facilitating meaningful discussions about body image and diversity through a study of literature. Using mentor texts, this guide provides educators with practical strategies and resources to promote positive body image in their classroom. These mentor texts have explicit themes of body representation, positivity, and self-acceptance, which emphasize the importance of promoting body diversity and challenging stereotypes. This guide offers insights into how literature can serve as a powerful tool for addressing body representation in a …