Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Implicit Theories Of Relationships : Prediction Of Dating Strategies And Relationship Initiation, Heather Stone

Honors Theses

The present study aimed to merge research on initial attraction and implicit theories of relationships by examining how beliefs about relationships influence dating strategies. Research has examined role of implicit theories in the functioning of existing relationships but there is much room for growth in the area of initial attraction and dating strategies. Results revealed that destiny theory (theory that relationships are either meant to be or not) predicted increased likelihood of internet dating, a lower frequency of dating, and dating to avoid loneliness and missing opportunities. Growth theory (theory that relationships improve by cultivation and development) predicted dating to …

Maternal Experience And Alzheimer's Disease : Degenerative Differences In The Female Rat, Lindsay W. Victoria

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disease found in many aging adults. The presence of amyloid precursor protein (APP) is an early indicator of the onset of Alzheimer’s, primarily in memory-related brain regions like the hippocampus. Hormones accompanying pregnancy, such as estrogen, may provide the female brain with protection against neurodegeneration and deposits of APP. The present study will compare concentrations of APP in the brains of parous and nulliparous animals and examine the interaction of APP with estrogen receptor beta (ERβ). Young and aged animals will also be compared to determine any early effects of APP or ERβ. It is …

The Influence Of Auditory Stimuli On Judgements Of Word Valence, Chris E. Chandler

Honors Theses

The present study examined the link between affect and auditory stimuli in three parts. The first sought to determine the affective norms for the auditory stimuli. The second assessed the influence of a musical note’s register on the evaluation of a positive or negative word, while the third assessed the influence of harmonic musical intervals. Participants were simultaneously presented with auditory stimuli and a word, and their task was to judge as quickly as possible whether the word was positive or negative by pressing a corresponding key. It was hypothesized that congruence between auditory valence and word valence would facilitate …

Social Perceptions Of Underdog Job Applicants, Maggie Place

Honors Theses

Research demonstrates that there are several characteristics that could render someone an underdog as a job applicant, including gender, race, able-bodied or disabled, immigrant status, and age. Study 1 used a between-subjects design to examine support for the underdog and the top dog in a low-consequence and high-consequence scenario. The underdog was given more support in low-consequence than high-consequence scenarios, but most participants indicated a neutral response instead of offering more support for either when asked to choose between the two applicants. Study 2 employed a forced-choice task on SuperLab in which participants chose which applicant they would hire in …

Market Efficiency : Testing Price Discovery In The Bond And Credit Derivative Markets, Justin M. Polselli

Honors Theses

Recent developments in credit markets over the past few months have seen credit spreads widen dramatically for a range of debt products. Almost overnight, credit spreads for both investment grade and high yield bonds jumped as news continued to worsen about credit quality. The speed with which credit spreads increased this past summer led many investors to ask if markets were efficient in conveying material information, and to see if there were any indications prior to the credit crunch that the market for credit was going to tighten. New products such as credit derivatives have increased the number of indicators …

Forest Fires In Southern Europe : An Econometric Investigation Of The Existence Of Economic Incentives For Fire Arson, Radoslava Dogandjieva

Honors Theses

Devastating forest fires during the summer of 2007 resulted in an unprecedented level of destruction in the Mediterranean forests, prompting widespread speculation about profit-motivated arson as one of the principal causes of the fires. Forest protection laws essentially create a scarcity of land, making arson potentially profitable in several ways: the clearing of land for development and construction, expansion of farm size, and salvage logging (Economist 2007). This study seeks to evaluate the validity of these accusations by examining the relationship between land, wheat, and timber prices and incidence of forest fires in four countries: Spain, Greece, Italy, and Bulgaria. …

Nuclear Vs. Coal In Bulgaria, Peter B. Manchev

Honors Theses

In early 2005 the government of Bulgaria commissioned the construction of a new nuclear power plant (NPP) near the town of Belene on the Danube border with Romania. The € 4 billion project will be executed by a consortium appointed in October 2006 by the National Electric Company led by the Russian Atomstroyexport. The work will be overseen by the architect-engineer of the plant, the American company WorleyParsons. The endeavor received a “green light” in December 2006 when the Nuclear Regulatory Agency of Bulgaria approved the Belene site for the construction of a new nuclear power plant.

The need for …

An Analysis Of Tuition And Enrollment In Higher Education : Measuring Price Elasticity, Adam C. Wright

Honors Theses

The hierarchical nature of higher education, in which schools compete in small enclaves for the best students, and competition for higher rankings among private, non-profit liberal arts colleges has prompted some schools to drastically increase their tuition in order to correspond with the price changes of rival institutions. Since top liberal arts schools operate with sizable excess demand for enrollment spots, significant tuition alterations generally do not affect the quantity of enrolled students at these schools. However, the extent to which increases in tuition affect the quality of enrolled students has not been thoroughly examined. This study directly analyzes the …

Crisis Rhetoric : A Theory Of Communication In Times Of Crisis, Eric D. Loepp

Honors Theses

We conducted an experiment to assess the effect of presidential rhetoric in a time of crisis. Our study was based in part on terror management theory, which posits that subtle reminders of death (mortality salience) lead to increased support of leaders an authority figures. Subjects were randomly placed in either a mortality salient condition or control condition. We also composed two speeches - one charismatic and one non-charismatic - and subjects were randomly assigned to hear one of the two. Based on elements of terror management theory, we hypothesized that in a time of crisis the charismatic speech would be …

Democracy In The Workplace : Leadership In Cooperative Business, Jordan Wade

Honors Theses

It is the intent of this thesis to explore alternatives to the current methods of corporate governance and to examine business models that apply democratic ideals in the economic sector. Specifically I address one normative and three empirical questions. First, why should democratic principles and ideals be a part of the economic sector? After addressing this normative question by presenting several theoretical responses, I address three practical questions related to worker-participation: Is it possible for democratic and alternative businesses to function successfully in the capitalist market? What would a democratically organized firm look like to the common laborer? What type …

The Interaction Of Nuclear Fiction And Leadership Studies, Kathryn Elberson

Honors Theses

This project is not solely a commentary on leadership studies, nor is its significance exclusive to the field of English. Rather, it is an effort to unite the two fields in a way that offers valuable contributions to both areas of study while pointing out the necessity of further interaction between the topics of leadership and literature. The few works which are traditionally regarded as having something to contribute to leadership studies are those which are either included in the canon of English literature, or those which directly demonstrate a leader-follower relationship and have a particular lesson to teach about …

Fostering Leaders For Social Justice : Ally Identity Development And Efficacy, Allison M. Duval

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to develop a conceptual understanding of ally identity and effective and sustainable ally behaviors in order to analyze ally development at the University of Richmond and synthesize brief recommendations for practical applications for cultivating allies. This first chapter on "Enduring Inequality and the Need for Allies" defines allies, explores privilege and constructions of difference in terms of race and gender, exposes the reality of current injustices, and demonstrates the need for allies as leaders of dominant social groups to work alongside leaders of non-dominant social groups in effecting broad social change. The second chapter …

The Impact Of The Common Agricultural Policy On Agricultural Productivity, Flemming Schneider Rhode

Honors Theses

In 2004 10 new countries, primarily Eastern European countries, joined the European Union (EU) with much media speculation concerning how this would affect their economies. This paper will look at how the Common Agricultural Program (CAP) affects agricultural productivity by measuring four independent variables and by using the 2004 entry as a natural experiment. The paper will estimate how the CAP affects the average farm size, fallow land area, proportion of farming dedicated to organic farming, and GOP growth. This is expected to impact agricultural productivity through increasing returns to scale, input availability, efficiency of land use and the Environmental …

Textbook Bundling : Is It Really Worth The Sum Of Its Parts, Kati Simmons

Honors Theses

Studies have been conducted examining the impact of commodity bundling on company profits and the premium prices charged for these bundles. With recent news of the skyrocketing costs of higher education, it is critical to highlight the specific effects of commodity bundling on the prices of textbooks. A study performed by the Government Accountability Office in 2005 cited that a main cause of increasing textbook prices is the recent inclusion of textbook supplements such as software and workbooks. This paper investigates the impact that different types of supplements have on the overall price paid for the bundle. Aggregate sales data …

Integration Of The Stereotype Content Model And Implicit Theories : A Dynamic Understanding Of Stereotyping Against Obese Individuals, Jenna Sorge

Honors Theses

The current paper integrated Fiske and colleague’s (2002) Stereotype Content Model (SCM) with the implicit theoretical approach to investigate the stereotyping process against obese individuals. Two studies evaluated the proposition that implicit theories of weight, the belief that weight is fixed (entity theorist) versus malleable (incremental theorist), and implicit person theories, the belief that human attributes are fixed or malleable, will predict how people categorize and discriminate against obese individuals. A pilot study found that entity and incremental theorists of weight have equal knowledge of societal stereotypes against obese individuals. Study 1 revealed those whose endorse an entity theory of …