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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Terror Management And The News: An Exploration Into The Effects Of Framing On Mortality Salience, Peter Montwill
Terror Management And The News: An Exploration Into The Effects Of Framing On Mortality Salience, Peter Montwill
Masters Theses, 2020-current
The present study explores the link between Terror Management Theory and the use of its principles within news media. Political news media in the digital age undergoes a variety of framing effects, more specifically episodic and thematic frames of stories. To induce mortality salience, college-aged participants were presented with stories framed from the perspective of an individual’s experience or a general theme of experiences regarding the controversial pro-life topic and a non-controversial hiking topic. These stories are presented in the style of Instagram posts to mirror how college-aged people consume news media. The stories also contain wording designed to induce …
Taking The Social Out Of Social Media: Social Media Induced Loneliness As A Mechanism For Elevated Depression During The Pandemic, Samara Rosen
Honors Theses
During the COVID-19 pandemic health protocols limited in-person interactions, interrupting the undergraduate experience and prompting students to find virtual ways to connect with their peers. A key goal of this study was to assess whether college students’ social media use was a viable replacement for in-person interactions during the pandemic, reducing risk for psychological difficulties that ordinarily accompany social isolation. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate loneliness as a potential mediator underlying the longitudinal relationship between social media use and depression. Self-report data were collected in November 2020 (T1), February 2021 (T2), and May 2021 (T3). The …
Self-Diagnosis & Pathologizing Normality During The Information Age, Chelsey Eaton
Self-Diagnosis & Pathologizing Normality During The Information Age, Chelsey Eaton
Murray State Theses and Dissertations
Self-diagnosis has become a concern for medical and mental health diagnoses. More people are engaging in self-diagnosis based on information that was obtained from the internet, including websites, social media platforms, and online forums. There are several reasons one may choose to self-diagnose. Some common reasons outlined in research are the desire to fit in with others who share similar characteristics and having a label to explain one’s experiences. Past research has shown that people frequently search for mental health information online, but they may not understand or may misinterpret the information that is found. This study aimed to address …
Inspirational Bullshit: The Good, The Bad, And The Vacuous, Esther Abel
Inspirational Bullshit: The Good, The Bad, And The Vacuous, Esther Abel
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
There are myriad methods offered in the “self-help industry” and on social media promising to improve happiness. Some messages are evidence-based, often drawn from positive psychology research, and suggest actions requiring time and effort, while other messages may offer feel-good platitudes that are devoid of meaningful guidance; we label this latter type of content “inspirational bullshit.” Across two manuscripts, we investigate the predictors of liking different kinds of positive self-help content, from meaningless randomly-generated phrases to vacuous positivity to evidence-based advice. In the first manuscript, across three studies, bullshit receptivity (a tendency to judge pseudo-profound statements as profound) and people’s …
The Power Of Dissent: Mitigating False Polarization And Cross-Party Dislike In Online Interactions, Victoria Parker
The Power Of Dissent: Mitigating False Polarization And Cross-Party Dislike In Online Interactions, Victoria Parker
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
While actual polarization is on the rise in the United States, perceived polarization (i.e., false polarization) is growing at an even faster rate, contributing to increased cross-party hostility. A meaningful amount of out-party dislike may be produced by partisans’ dramatic overestimates of the prevalence of extreme, undesirable views among political opponents. In the current research, we examine whether exposing people to out-party dissenters who challenge their copartisans’ extreme views might help reduce people’s misperceptions of their opponents’ extreme views, and possibly mitigate animosity. Across five studies (N = 3789), we explore how seeing public ingroup dissent (in the form of …