Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Storm Is Coming: Analyzing The Belief In Q-Anon, Hillary Copeland

Scholars Week

The Storm is Coming: Analyzing the Belief in Q-Anon

Conspiracy theories can broadly be defined as constructed attempts to provide monocausal explanations for high-profile social and political events with a premise of secretive malicious intent to further push the agenda of powerful, evil-minded groups that seek to pursue goals in direct opposition of less powerful groups (Douglas, Sutton, & Cichocka, 2017; van Prooijen & van Vugt, 2018). One conspiracy theory which has recently gained prominence is known as Q-Anon. Proponents of Q-Anon believe that criminals have risen to power who abuse children and take advantage of Americans to advance their …

Put Yourself In Their Shoes: Empathy And Thinking Patterns, Tyler Robinson

Scholars Week

Fewer social maxims are repeated more than to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.” This sentiment encourages empathy by prompting one to change their entrenched thinking patterns. Empathy can be thought of as an active attempt to understand another’s perspective or the visceral sensation of identifying with another's emotions (i.e., cognitive or affective empathy; Davis, 1983). Recently, research has identified a relationship between empathy and self-serving cognitive distortions (Grieve & Panebianco, 2013). Cognitive distortions refer to predictable and inaccurate patterns of thinking. Self-serving cognitive distortions are a form of distorted thinking patterns that are steeped in self-centered attitudes, thoughts, and …

Can It Be Done? Examining Stereotype Threat With Fake Stereotypes, Jessica Hodges

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Stereotype threat refers to the risk of conforming to a stereotype regarding a group one belongs to. This threat has been heavily studied with negative stereotypes on performance-based tasks (e.g., math), and encompasses the anxiety one may feel due to being associated with the negative stereotype (Steele & Aronson, 1995). The present project sought to expand upon current literature in several ways. First, this project sought to assess whether fake stereotypes elicit stereotype threat like real stereotypes do. Second, this project examined whether fake stereotype threat works with positive stereotypes as well as negative. Third, this study examined how group …

Perceptions Of Covid-19, Information Seeking Behavior, And Political Orientation, Bailey Dodd, Sean Rife

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

COVID-19 was declared an international pandemic in March 2020 and infected millions of people globally in less than six months. Research suggests that a large amount of both accurate and misinformation exists on the pandemic, and it would be expected that an individual’s political orientation would influence their perception of the virus and the information that they endorse. Based on past research, it would be expected that both liberals and conservatives would be equally concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic and endorse similar measures. However, Republicans downplayed the pandemic and were more likely to consider it a hoax, while Democrats exaggerated …

Personal Technology Use, Social Media, And Daily Affect In Emerging Adults, William Crabtree

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Personal social and communication technology has been widely adopted by the world in the 21^st century. With this widespread worldwide adoption, significant controversy exists debating the effects these social technologies have. Specifically, there is a strong debate in the scientific literature over the psychological effects of social technologies, smartphones, and social media usage. Some arguments are made that modern technology can help improve psychological well-being, whilst others claim it has destroyed a generation of adolescents and merging adults. The present thesis aims to address this debate by exploring the current research from a variety of methodologies about social technology …

Examining The Relationship Between Inclusivity And Well-Being In The Gender, Sexual, And Romantic Minority Community, Sarah E. Weekes

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Research has established that higher levels of inclusivity promote increased levels of well-being in GSRM populations (Yoder & Mattheis, 2016); however, there is a lack of research exploring a moderating effect of psychological flexibility on this relationship. Previous research has also demonstrated that psychological flexibility is related to increased quality of life (Walloch & Hill, 2016); however, the relationship between psychological flexibility and inclusivity remains largely unexplored in GSRM populations. The purpose of this study was to explore how inclusivity, psychological distress, and psychological flexibility correlate with well-being among a sample of 198 individuals who identify as GSRM. This study …