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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Social Context Of Nonverbal Behaviour, Alexa S. Clerke Nov 2022

The Social Context Of Nonverbal Behaviour, Alexa S. Clerke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although nonverbal behaviour has long been a topic of research, it is often studied in isolation from social partners and the social environment. This work presents three empirical chapters that reintroduce the social environment to the investigation of nonverbal cue exchange, focusing on the value of social rewards and the perceptive and affiliative functions of nonverbal communication. Findings reported in Chapter 2 indicate that the subjective value of social rewards changes as a function of social media use saliency. Specifically, thinking about a recent social media post, but not a synchronous conversation, increases the value of social rewards, such that …


Development And Validation Of The Fat Microaggressions Scale, Megan Lindloff Aug 2022

Development And Validation Of The Fat Microaggressions Scale, Megan Lindloff

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Much of the discrimination that higher-weight people face takes the form of microaggressions, which have yet to be quantitatively measured. Across five studies, I describe the development and validation of the Fat Microaggressions Scale (FMS). In Study 1, I created the initial item pool through examining previously published measures of experienced weight stigma, qualitative studies, and tweets using the #FatMicroaggressions hashtag. In Study 2, I conducted a Delphi review with fat activists and scholars to receive feedback on the scale. In Study 3, I provided initial evidence for a four-factor structure of the FMS through an exploratory factor analysis. In …


A Demonstration Of The Utility Of Formalizing Theory: Mapping, Evaluating, And Testing The Theory Of Devaluation Of Alternatives, Rebecca Koessler Aug 2022

A Demonstration Of The Utility Of Formalizing Theory: Mapping, Evaluating, And Testing The Theory Of Devaluation Of Alternatives, Rebecca Koessler

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Devaluation of alternatives is often identified as a key relationship maintenance strategy that is used to combat the threat of attractive alternatives. However, since the theory was proposed by Johnson and Rusbult (1989), few efforts have been dedicated to evaluating the progression of the theory and assessing the quantity and quality of the existing evidence that claims to corroborate it. The present research fulfilled this need by formalizing the theory of devaluation of alternatives using a metatheoretical approach that involved categorization, deconstruction, reconstruction via theory mapping, and evaluation (Chapter 2). P-curve meta-analyses were used to determine whether p-hacking …


How Do Individuals In Intercultural Romantic Relationships Use Communication Strategies To Maintain Their Relationship? A Qualitative Analysis., Adira Daniel Aug 2022

How Do Individuals In Intercultural Romantic Relationships Use Communication Strategies To Maintain Their Relationship? A Qualitative Analysis., Adira Daniel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Intercultural relationships—romantic relationships where one partner is outside the other’s racial, ethnic, religious, and/or language group—are a growing sociodemographic group. Individuals in such relationships must navigate their cultural differences to mitigate the negative effects of the challenges they face and ameliorate the benefits of their relationship. Culture can impact preferences in communicating about these differences and consequently relationship maintenance. Yet little is known about how intercultural couples communicate about their cultural differences to effectively maintain their relationship. To address this gap, I conducted semi-structured, virtual, interviews with 23 intercultural couples and found that intercultural couples’ overall preference and efficacy …


Virtual Reality, Mindfulness And Their Associations To Personality Traits, Somer Schaffer Aug 2022

Virtual Reality, Mindfulness And Their Associations To Personality Traits, Somer Schaffer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mindfulness, conceptualized as actively noticing and engaging with oneself and one’s surroundings with a nonjudgmental mind, is associated with many positive outcomes such as healthy relationships, stress reduction, performance engagement, and increased well-being. Virtual reality (VR) technologies offer people immersive experiences to engage with novel environments for entertaining and therapeutic purposes. While in any VR environment, participants may perceive themselves as if they are in the scenes, that is, they experience moment-to-moment awareness and immersion in these virtual environments. Thus, practicing mindfulness meditation with technologies like smartphones and VR has become increasingly popular over the past decade. However, little research …


A Psychological Profile Of The Digitized Economy: Who Buys Cryptocurrencies, Nfts, And Meme-Stocks (And Why)?, Nicole Wolfe Aug 2022

A Psychological Profile Of The Digitized Economy: Who Buys Cryptocurrencies, Nfts, And Meme-Stocks (And Why)?, Nicole Wolfe

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

As the global digital economy continues to grow in interest and financial worth, it is imperative to harvest data to gain early information on this nuanced economy. Already, we have witnessed billions of dollars in losses and wins at the blink of an eye, encouragement to invest from well-known celebrities and politicians, and high anxiety from the newness, power consumption, and potential outcomes of this nuanced system. Stemming from the lack of solid evidence in this emerging field, we hope to gain more insight on the early players and variation within the digitized economy. Similarly, we hope to identify specific …


Teaching Psychology In V2: To Stream Or Not To Stream, That Is The Question, Andrew L. Vincent Mr. Aug 2022

Teaching Psychology In V2: To Stream Or Not To Stream, That Is The Question, Andrew L. Vincent Mr.

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

University education has historically occurred in face-to-face settings such as the traditional campus lecture hall. However, university teaching has increasingly been instructed online, especially since the recent lockdowns that took place during the COVID19 pandemic. During the pandemic period, many post-secondary institutions took to online teaching formats which often included asynchronous lessons provided by pre-recorded video or synchronous lessons conducted over video conferencing software. Unfortunately, online courses potentially limit the amount of communication possible between student and professor and therefore the engagement between the two may have been limited. Due to this, concerns have been expressed that students may feel …


A Qualitative Look Into Repair Practices, Jumana Labib Aug 2022

A Qualitative Look Into Repair Practices, Jumana Labib

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research poster is based on a working research paper which moves beyond the traditional scope of repair and examines the Right to Repair movement from a smaller, more personal lens by detailing the 6 categorical impediments as dubbed by Dr. Alissa Centivany (design, law, economic/business strategy, material asymmetry, informational asymmetry, and social impediments) have continuously inhibited repair and affected repair practices, which has consequently had larger implications (environmental, economic, social, etc.) on ourselves, our objects, and our world. The poster builds upon my research from last year (see "The Right to Repair: (Re)building a better future"), this time pulling …


Connecting The Hostile Attribution Bias With Habit Formation, Mackenzie C. Smith Aug 2022

Connecting The Hostile Attribution Bias With Habit Formation, Mackenzie C. Smith

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Within Social and Personality Psychology, we have not done a good job of integrating the knowledge base of habit formation into our theoretical models, even though it is clear that habits fall within the larger domain of traits. This project reviewed the literature on the hostile attribution bias as well as habits, and found a connection between these two topics that has scarcely been explored. Both context cues and self control were found to be important for the development of bad habits as well as the presence of the hostile attribution bias. Based on the connections made, habit formation may …


Characteristics Of Those Who Identify As ‘Incels’, Amelia Hamilton Aug 2022

Characteristics Of Those Who Identify As ‘Incels’, Amelia Hamilton

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

‘Incels’ are an online community of single men who endorse toxic worldviews about women stemming from their dissatisfaction with singlehood. Approximately 50 deaths have been tied to the incel community. Incels have been identified as an emerging domestic terrorism threat in Canada, the US and UK. Yet, little is known about the characteristics of this community, the potential level of threat, or what we can do to prevent this threat from escalating. In an online study of 1714 single individuals, we examined what personality traits are associated with one’s identification as an incel. Participants completed a survey consisting of various …


Understanding Emergent Team States And Wellness In Small Groups: A Systematic Review​, Simran Dhaliwal Aug 2022

Understanding Emergent Team States And Wellness In Small Groups: A Systematic Review​, Simran Dhaliwal

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This poster highlights the beginning stages (introduction, methods) of a systematic review project that looks at the relationship between team emergent states and individual wellbeing in small task-performing groups.


Revisiting Cognitive Dissonance: A Closer Look At The Core Assumptions Of A Classic Theory, Mikayla V. Colthirst-Reid Aug 2022

Revisiting Cognitive Dissonance: A Closer Look At The Core Assumptions Of A Classic Theory, Mikayla V. Colthirst-Reid

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cognitive dissonance is a well-established and highly cited psychological theory. However, many of its basic assumptions have come under recent criticism concerning methodological design, variable manipulation, and measurement of dissonance as a unique psychological phenomenon distinct from general negative affect. A within-subjects design compared measures of dissonance-related affect at baseline to the same affect measures across varying magnitudes of belief-behaviour inconsistency via a counter-attitudinal task. The study also measured belief change in response to dissonance conditions and explored relationships between dissonance experience and individual difference variables (extraversion, religiosity, and political orientation). Results did not support an increase of dissonance relative …


Making Mindfulness Matter With Arabic Speaking Families: A Process Evaluation Study, Amal M. Baobaid Aug 2022

Making Mindfulness Matter With Arabic Speaking Families: A Process Evaluation Study, Amal M. Baobaid

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Arabic-speaking refugees experience a significant amount of trauma in their pre-and post-migration journey in Canada, which can negatively impact their well-being. Mindfulness programs have demonstrated wide-ranging benefits for children and youth, but there is a gap in the literature on providing culturally based mindfulness programs to refugee families. The present study conducted a process evaluation for the culturally adapted version of the Making Mindfulness Matter (M3) program (an 8-week concurrent parent and children mindfulness intervention), to assess program successes and challenges with families. Three groups were run, and a total of nine families recruited from the Muslim Resources Centre for …


Co-Rumination In Social Networks, Samantha M. Jones Jun 2022

Co-Rumination In Social Networks, Samantha M. Jones

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although co-rumination is associated with positive relationship perceptions, individuals that engage in this behaviour often report fewer friends and peer difficulties. Those with a tendency to co-ruminate also report elevated levels of internalizing symptoms. Thus, the tendency to co-ruminate may put individuals at risk of depressive and anxious symptoms as well as social problems as they make the challenging transition to university and build new social networks. I analyzed social network data from 458 first year undergraduate students during their first university semester. Co-rumination within a particular relationship was associated with greater tie strength and socio-emotional multiplexity. Co-rumination was positively …


The Predictive Validity Of Intimate Partner Violence Warning Signs, Nicolyn H. Charlot May 2022

The Predictive Validity Of Intimate Partner Violence Warning Signs, Nicolyn H. Charlot

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is harmful and prevalent, but leaving abusive partners is often challenging due to investments (e.g., time, cohabitation). Identifying warning signs of abuse is one primary prevention strategy to help people avoid abusive relationships. The present research sought to identify thoughts, feelings, and behaviors which are not considered abusive (Study 1), appear before abuse occurs in relationships (Study 2), and predict abuse (Studies 3 and 4). Study 1 distinguished potential warning signs of abuse from abusive behaviors using the ratings of professionals with experience in IPV. Study 2 established a timeline of when violent behaviors and possible …


The Impact Of The Covid Pandemic On First Year Students' Locus Of Control, Self-Efficacy And Well-Being, Alexandra E. Bishop Apr 2022

The Impact Of The Covid Pandemic On First Year Students' Locus Of Control, Self-Efficacy And Well-Being, Alexandra E. Bishop

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

Locus of control, self-efficacy, and well-being are well-studied personality concepts, but the change in these variables, and their relationships, over extremely stressful and uncontrollable periods, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, has not been assessed. The current study evaluated change in locus of control, self-efficacy, and well-being, as well as their relationships with one another, in a sample of students by comparing current data to data collected before the Covid-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that locus of control would become more external, self-efficacy would increase slightly, and well-being would decrease. Results revealed that locus of control became significantly more external, while …


More Than Just Virtual Communication: Examining Canadian Volunteers’ Virtual Contact Experiences With Refugees, Maria Besselink Apr 2022

More Than Just Virtual Communication: Examining Canadian Volunteers’ Virtual Contact Experiences With Refugees, Maria Besselink

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Canada plays a key role in addressing the ‘global refugee crisis’ as it accepts more refugees per capita than any other country. Although Canadians increasingly view support for immigration and multiculturalism as integral components of their national identity, the number of immigrants and refugees Canada accepts yearly is an increasingly polarized issue. In line with the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, the current study investigated how Canadian volunteers’ repeated virtual contact experiences with refugees affected their generalized attitudes towards refugees over time. Our findings did not suggest that the quality and quantity of participants’ virtual contact experiences affected their attitudes. The findings …