Digital Commons Network^™

Age In Relation To Diversity, Sirina Tyler

Student Presentations

Diversity is a growing issue in our society. However, little is known about how people make judgments about and define “diversity”, which is a broad term. The aim of this research was to help us understand how people define diversity— for example, whether a person narrows down the definition of diversity versus having an ambiguous definition of diversity. We hypothesized that there would be an association between age and definitions of diversity, such that older people define diversity differently than younger people.

Genuine And Narcissistic Altruism Are Differentially Related To Anger-, Shame-, And Joy-Related Dispositions, Kylie Earing

Student Presentations

Whereas greater genuine altruism (doing good without expecting benefits to the self) was most associated with reduced propensities for anger and shame, greater narcissistic altruism (doing good to receive benefits like admiration) was most associated with higher propensities for and rumination on anger. Neither was particularly associated with joy dispositions.

Exploring The Association Between Goal Difficulty And Well-Being, Hope Duppler

Student Presentations

Goals are important sources of motivation and well-being, but not all goals are made alike. In this research, we investigate the effects of difficult goals on well-being. College students completed a series of four self-report surveys to track their goal progress and well-being over the course of a semester. In the first survey (Nт1=150), participants were asked to describe and rate various features of a goal they had for the semester. In the fourth and final survey (Nт4=48), they indicated their well-being, specifically life satisfaction and affect balance. Regression analyses indicated no significant main or interactive effects of goal difficulty …

Effects Of Social Media Use On Emotional Well-Being And Life Satisfaction, Lauren Chiappetta, Amelia Wilcox

Student Presentations

Social media is a largely prevalent, but understudied aspect of life. The Facebook Experiment conducted by Tromholt found statistical evidence that Facebook use negatively affected well-being and life satisfaction (2016). This study was a replication of the Facebook Experiment that was altered to use the social media platform, Instagram, instead. The study was conducted in one week with seven participants, four females and three males, with ages ranging from 20-22, all were white. The study examined the effects that Instagram has on well-being and life satisfaction. Participants were asked to take a survey to measure their well-being and life satisfaction …

Self-Esteem And Feelings Of Guilt And Shame In Undergraduate College Students, Chelsea Puetz

Student Presentations

In the present study, we sought to examine guilt and shame in relation to an individual’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is an evaluative construct that is vital to one’s self-concept and plays an important role in an individual’s positive progress (Metalsky et al., 1993). In both social and personality psychology research, this construct is one of the most frequently measured (Gray-Little et al., 1997). Both guilt and shame are feelings evoked by distressing personal transgressions, oftentimes used interchangeably, as they both relate to one’s self-concept, aiding in self-regulation in service of social expectations (Gray-Little et al., 1997). Low self-esteem has been linked …

Unraveled Winter 2022, Southern Adventist University

Unraveled - School of Education and Psychology Newsletter

The Winter 2022 issue of Unraveled features the articles on The Power of Monday, the reshaping of the counseling program, departmental changes, and a message from the dean.

Drawing The Invisible: Comics As A Way Of Depicting Pscyhological Responses To The Pandemic, Edward Whatley

Library Faculty Scholarship

This graphic article explores the sensory world in the context of pandemic-related mental health issues. While comic artists work in abstract and impressionistic styles to varying degrees, most comic art has been representational. While many artists are adept at rendering facial expressions and body language, these are merely outward manifestations of a character’s mood or emotions. This article explores conveying states of mind less literally, using my own psychological reaction to the pandemic as its subject. I employ visual metaphors, icons, symbols, abstraction, and simplification rather than realistic or highly rendered images in the hopes of better relaying thoughts and …

The Effect Of Fractal Dimensionality On Behavioral Judgments Of Built Environments, William Andrew Stalker

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the effects of fractal dimensionality on ratings of beauty, relaxation, and interest, when these patterns are incorporated in a built space. Previous findings suggest that fractal patterns can be used to mimic the beneficial psychological and physiological effects that arise from viewing nature. This research focuses on studying the impact of fractal patterns when presented within urban environments. The findings here are primarily consistent with previous research. Medium D patterns are preferred over the other pattern complexities. Low D patterns are consistently rated as more relaxing. High D patterns are rated as being more interesting over low …

Effects Of Dissociation And Hyperarousal On Item And Association Memory, Naomi M. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dual representation theory (DRT) asserts that when an individual experiences an acutely stressful or traumatic event, encoding of memory of individual parts of an event (i.e., items) is enhanced, while connections between parts of an event (i.e., associations) is impaired due to peritraumatic changes in cognitive functioning. The current project sought to refine understanding of DRT by examining the differential effect of dissociation and hyperarousal, two common peritraumatic cognitive reactions, on memory for item and association information. Method: Using experimental methods from the cognitive study of memory, two studies evaluated how individual differences in cognitive states (Study 1) and experimentally …

Perceptions Of Parental Care And Overprotection In Childhood: Influences On The Neurobiological Adaptation To Motherhood, Leah Grande

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recalled memories of caregiving in childhood are especially salient during the postpartum period and inform mothers’ conceptualization of her new parenting role. Positive perceptions of care received from one’s parents are related to improved maternal-infant bonding and positive parenting behaviors, whereas negative perceptions of care convey risk for maladaptive parenting. Few studies have investigated neural and biological mechanisms contributing to observed associations between childhood care and the adaptation to motherhood. The following studies address this gap by examining how perceptions of childhood parental care and overprotection are related to maternal behavior, oxytocin levels, and neural response. Methods: Perceived childhood maternal …

"What Works For Whom" In Family Support Programs: Leveraging Administrative Data To Improve Precision Matching, Elly M. Miles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Family support programs (FSPs) are designed to stabilize and strengthen families on a range of outcomes to promote well-being. Paradoxically, families with the greatest need are more likely to drop out or experience reduced benefit on average. This study examines patterns of differential benefit for families experiencing elevated stress through a cross-program evaluation of “what works for whom” in FSPs.

Family Resource Center Family Development Services (FDSs), Colorado Community Response (CCR), Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF), Head Start (HS), and SafeCare Case Management Pilot (Safe CMP) contributed data on 15,771 participants enrolled in services from 2014-2020. Program samples were …

Emotion Dysregulation And Intimate Partner Aggression During Pregnancy: Leveraging Both Partners’ Experiences With Dyadic Data, Victoria M. Atzl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) during pregnancy is a significant public health problem that has negative consequences for maternal and fetal health. This study examined emotion dysregulation as a potential predictor of IPA during pregnancy from a dyadic perspective. Participants were 113 couples expecting a baby and included 113 mothers (MOBs; Mage = 27.50 years, SDage = 5.53, rangeage = 19-40; 38.1% White, 24.8% Latinx, 15.9% African American, 14.2% biracial/multiracial, 3.5% Asian American/Pacific Islander, 2.7% Native American and .8% other) and 113 fathers (FOBs; Mage = 29.83 years, SDage = 7.61, rangeage = 18-55; 38.1% White, 22.1% African American, 20.4% Latinx, …

Evaluating The Impact Of Individual And Couple Relationship Education On Postpartum Depression, Maggie O’Reilly Treter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluated the impact of relationship education on postpartum depression using data from two randomized controlled trials of relationship education for individuals and couples who were pregnant or recently had a baby. Paper 1 focused on a well-established relationship education program for low-income couples in Oklahoma City, Family Expectations. Key findings from Paper 1 demonstrated that being randomized to Family Expectations was associated with lower odds of experiencing depression in the first 12 months after having a baby among both mothers and fathers, though this effect was only marginally significant, and that the program had the strongest impact among …

Lights, Camera, Confidence: The Effects Of Theatre On Self-Esteem, Morgan Savatgy

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Theatre serves as a creative outlet and an escape for designers, actors, and directors. It is also often a cathartic experience for audience members to be fully immersed in, and escape into, a theatrical production. Knowing that theatre can have such a great impact on an individual's state of mind, how exactly does theatre affect self-esteem? According to my research, the presence of theatre and the dramatic arts positively affects the lives of participants in many groups. One of these is elementary school students, who are taught theatre in order to create a space within which to learn foundational skills, …

Interrupting Holistic Processing May Improve The Detection Of Deceptive Emotional Facial Expressions, Christopher A. Gunderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a growing body of evidence suggests that genuine and deceptive facial expressions differ, previous work is mixed as to whether observers can discern between them. One explanation is that cues to deception on the face are subtle and not readily perceived by observers. I argue that the way people process faces may obscure these cues, making them ‘unseen’ by observers. In the current work, I pit two hypotheses against each other to test whether interrupting holistic processing improves or impairs the ability to identify deceptive emotional expressions. Since people process faces holistically, one region of the face may interfere …

Experiences Of Chinese American Psychology Trainees In Multicultural Education, Helen Weng-Ian Chao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although research has established that students of color have unique experiences in their multicultural training, few studies have examined the experiences and needs of specific subgroups of students of color. This study examined Chinese American psychology trainees’ experiences in multicultural education. Qualitative data was collected from individual semi-structured interviews with Chinese American doctoral students (N = 6). Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand participants’ perceptions of their experiences in multicultural courses. Data analysis resulted in four themes: the (1) burden of being minoritized, (2) Chinese American identity inflection points, being (3) sidelined by whiteness, and (4) …

Executive Function And Parenting Among Latinx Caregivers Of Young Children, Amy Dominguez Fabatz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Supportive and responsive parenting is vital to the healthy development of young children. Parenting behaviors are determined by many factors, including caregivers’ cognitive resources and abilities such as executive functioning (EF). The present study investigated how two core dimensions of EF, working memory and set-shifting abilities, are related to parenting behaviors in a sample of Latinx caregivers of young children experiencing low income. Positive parenting was measured using a multi-method approach including video-coded observations, parent self-report, and evaluation of the home environment. Findings from hierarchical regressions indicated that caregiver working memory, but not set-shifting, predicted positive parenting as measured by …

From Print To Podcasts : The Impact Of News Consumption On Bias Toward Forensic Evidence, Whitney A. Cleeton

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Building on previous legal psychology research in the areas of the CSI Effect and cultivation theory, this study explored variables related to news consumption habits and their possible impact on survey respondents’ valuation of forensic evidence. Regression models were analyzed using both sociodemographic controls and news consumption habits and preferences. Several sociodemographic controls were found to impact reliance on forensic evidence at a level of statistical significance including university affiliation category, gender identification, and experience working or interning in a criminal justice setting. Additionally, the model considering sources of news was found to relate to reliance on forensic evidence. Analysis …

Computer Enabled Interventions To Communication And Behavioral Problems In Collaborative Work Environments, Ashutosh Shivakumar

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Task success in co-located and distributed collaborative work settings is characterized by clear and efficient communication between participating members. Communication issues like 1) Unwanted interruptions and 2) Delayed feedback in collaborative work based distributed scenarios have the potential to impede task coordination and significantly decrease the probability of accomplishing task objective. Research shows that 1) Interrupting tasks at random moments can cause users to take up to 30% longer to resume tasks, commit up to twice the errors, and experience up to twice the negative effect than when interrupted at boundaries 2) Skill retention in collaborative learning tasks improves with …

Indirect Effects Of Social Stressors, Emotional Labor, And Voice Facets On Attitudinal And Behavioral Outcomes Through Burnout, Maria Alejandra Flores Espina

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Though researchers have found that burnout results in lower performance and can lead to employee turnover, this research has mainly examined main effects. It is important to study both additional antecedents and outcomes of burnout to better understand how to recognize burnout symptoms early, why they are occurring, and how to mitigate burnout. Also, it is important to examine underlying mechanisms and moderating effects between antecedents of burnout, burnout, and attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. I examined indirect effects of customer-related social stressors and emotional labor on job attitudes and withdrawal behaviors through burnout and moderation effects of voice perceptions on …

Eye-Movements Of Vocal Performers Across Experience Levels, Charlotte Kelly

Honors Program Theses

Expertise, such as music expertise, is commonly studied through an analysis of eye-movements. Experts typically have fewer fixations, longer saccade amplitudes, and thus greater perceptual spans when reading music than non-experts. Most musical expertise literature is focused on instrumentalists and sight-reading. The current study aimed to extend the research to include vocalists and to see if there are still expertise effects when both experts and non-experts are familiar with the piece of music. Participants were recruited to sing a piece from their choir once when they had first started learning the piece and again right before their concert. They were …

Social Media Use, Acculturation, And Self-Esteem Of Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Adults, Taylor A. Paglieri, Caroline Kobek Pezzarossi Ph.D, Deborah Schooler

JADARA

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become increasingly popular in modern society; however, research into the impacts of SNS use on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) individuals is lacking. Through an online survey completed by 217 D/HH adults, we examined the demographic predictors of SNS use and how frequent SNS use relates to self-esteem. Deaf acculturation, age, attending a mainstream school with support services, and education level were significant predictors of SNS use for D/HH adults. Furthermore, D/HH adults with increased Deaf acculturation and frequent SNS use reported higher self-esteem.

Quality Of Life For Deafblind Individuals: Comparing The Effect Of Living With And Without Support Service Providers, Sheridan K. Whitworth, Jaime Wilson

JADARA

The current study examines the quality of life for DeafBlind individuals who have support service providers (SSPs) compared to those who do not have SSPs. A measure of quality of life (KIDSCREEN Survey, 2004) was administered to 56 DeafBlind individuals (N=58), ages 18 years and older. Half of the individuals (n = 28) participated in the group with SSPs, and the other half participated in the group without SSPs. Results from the quantitative survey indicate that DeafBlind individuals with SSPs have consistently higher positive responses than those without SSPs.

Stigma And Criminalization Of Mental Health In An Inpatient Versus Jail Setting, Zachary C. B. Dumay, Jessica T. Harnais, Christina M. Cerminara

The Graduate Review

Stigmatization is the perceived, negative stereotype assigned to a group of individuals. This stigmatization has contributed to the criminalization of mental health, meaning that individuals with mental health issues are more likely to be arrested for behaviors that are not criminal. This project examines mental health stigma toward an individual in a psychiatric setting and a correctional setting. We hypothesized that when reading a vignette about an individual experiencing a mental health crisis, participants will stigmatize them more if they are incarcerated than if they are in a psychiatric facility. Results showed that participants exhibited a higher level of discrimination …

Mental Health Advocacy For Kids: A Social Media Campaign, B Rangel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Abstract

Mental health in children has important, life-long effects on the child (Ghandour et al., 2018; Underwood & Washington, 2016). Because it is not always easy for parents to access important mental health resources and information (CDC, 2022b), I wanted to investigate whether social media is a viable way for parents to learn more about their child’s mental health. I created and distributed ads aimed at parents on three common mental illnesses diagnosed in children: anxiety, depression, and ADHD. My ads had high levels of engagement, thus allowing the possibility that social media could be important avenue for reaching parents.

Exploring Diversity With Statistics: Step-By-Step Jasp Guides, Ruth Walker, Ashlyn Moraine, Hannah Osborn, Kristen J. Black, Asia Palmer, Kendra Scott, Leigh Humphrey, Julie Madden, Erin Prince

Open Textbooks

These resources were created to complement our undergraduate statistics lab manual, Applied Data Analysis in Psychology: Exploring Diversity with Statistics, published by Kendall Hunt publishing company. Like our lab manual, these JASP walk-through guides meaningfully and purposefully integrate and highlight diversity research to teach students how to analyze data in an open-source statistical program. The data sets utilized in these guides are from open-access databases (e.g., Pew Research Center, PLoS One, ICPSR, and more). Guides with step-by-step instructions, including annotated images and examples of how to report findings in APA format, are included for the following statistical tests: independent samples …

The Expression Of Satanist Identity: Does Visible Identification Of Satanism Predict Discrimination And Depression?, Allyson Dudley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The current research examines the relationship between visible expression of religion, identification within Satanism, experiences of discrimination, and depression in a sample of modern Satanists (n = 1,272). Historically, Satanism has been scrutinized as immoral and a threat to public safety. The current research attempts to challenge that viewpoint by employing culturally competent methods and understanding of modern Satanism. Findings indicate a negative relationship between expression of Satanism and discrimination, expression of Satanism and depressive symptoms, in-group ties and discrimination, and identification (in-group ties and in-group affect) and depressive symptoms. Results show a positive relationship between identification with Satanism and …

Towards A Psychological Science Of Abolition Democracy: Insights For Improving Theory And Research On Race And Public Safety, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Phillip Atiba Goff

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes …

Using Metaperceptions To Evaluate Conscientiousness And Predict Gpa, Montana R. Woolley

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Personality measures have been used for decades to predict many important workplace outcomes, however, the literature reveals weak predictive validities (Barrick et al., 2001; Morgeson et al., 2007). This study investigates metaperceptions, or an individual’s belief about how others perceive them (Laing et al., 1966), to determine if they are a more effective predictor of behavioral outcomes than the typical self-report measures used today. Metaperceptions capture a different perspective than classic self-reports and other-reports, and therefore may measure a different source of construct relevant variance. Using a student sample (N = 181), we tested three main hypotheses: (1) combining self-ratings, …

Body Image Mediating The Relationship Between Personality Factors, Emotionality And Extraversion, And Psychological Well-Being In A Gender-Diverse And Queer Sample, Rachel Jones

Senior Independent Study Theses

Research has examined the relationship between personality factors, body image, and psychological well-being. Some researchers look at how the three variables interact and relate to each other. Previous research shows how different levels of Emotionality and Extraversion influence one’s body image and psychological well-being (Allen & Celestino, 2018; Kokko et al., 2013; Lie et al., 2015; Swami et al., 2008). One’s body image also influences their psychological well-being. Additionally, personality factors, such as high Emotionality and low Extraversion can lead to someone having worse body image and worse well-being (Allen & Celestino, 2018). In a questionnaire that was made up …