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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

What Causes Participation In International Non-Governmental Organizations?, Sophia Mann Dec 2020

What Causes Participation In International Non-Governmental Organizations?, Sophia Mann

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Participation in non-governmental organizations allows individuals to volunteer their time in the name of service. Public participation in non-governmental organizations can be garnered from all corners of the globe and regions of the world for various indirect reasons. There is a focus in this study on humanitarian and human right organizations.


Mental Health In College Students: Disclosure & Seeking Support, Abby R. Smargon Dec 2020

Mental Health In College Students: Disclosure & Seeking Support, Abby R. Smargon

Honors Program Theses and Projects

A study was conducted through Bridgewater State University in order to better understand the mental health and help seeking behaviors of college students. The data collected served to provide information regarding what specific types of mental health difficulties are reported by college students.


Success In Transition Preparation For Post-Secondary Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Sophie Scrimgeour Dec 2020

Success In Transition Preparation For Post-Secondary Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Sophie Scrimgeour

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Students with disabilities face a wide range of barriers in their transition from school-to-work that their family and community can help them to overcome. The transition from school-to-work has become a heightened topic of interest, especially when it comes to the transition of a student with a disability.


Factors Impacting Students’ Perceptions Of Mathematics, Amber Souza Dec 2020

Factors Impacting Students’ Perceptions Of Mathematics, Amber Souza

Honors Program Theses and Projects

I want to be able to present math in a positive light to all of my future students, regardless of race, gender, and math background. However, for teachers as a whole to be able to take this important step, they must first develop a deeper understanding of why math is a sore spot for many students.


Law Enforcement’S Use Of Facial Recognition Software In United States Cities, Samantha Jean Wunschel Dec 2020

Law Enforcement’S Use Of Facial Recognition Software In United States Cities, Samantha Jean Wunschel

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Facial recognition software is something we use every day, whether it’s a suggested tag on our Facebook post or a faster way to unlock our phones. As technology becomes increasingly pervasive in our lives, law enforcement has adapted to utilize the new tools available in accessory to their investigations and the legal process.


On The Eco-Gender Gap, Haley Normandin Dec 2020

On The Eco-Gender Gap, Haley Normandin

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The pressing focus on sustainability and the importance of climate action impels this project to examine whether and how gender and gender socialization shape perceptions of these issues. Drawing on survey data, from the 2016 American National Election Studies (ANES), I examine environmental awareness and activism, primarily through gender socialization.


The Frequency Of Stereotypical Media Portrayals And Their Effects On The Lesbian Community, Arienne Annati May 2020

The Frequency Of Stereotypical Media Portrayals And Their Effects On The Lesbian Community, Arienne Annati

Honors Program Theses and Projects

An abundance of research has shown that sexualized and stereotypical portrayals of women in the media have a negative impact on women’s body image overall. However, previous research has not primarily focused on lesbian women. There is a gap in the literature regarding the portrayal of lesbian relationships in media, specifically in the eyes of the lesbian population. Limited research has shown that lesbians portrayed in the media are sexualized and stereotyped, falling into one of the six following categories: the hot lesbian, the out lesbian, the closeted lesbian, the butch lesbian, the feminine lesbian, and the bisexual lesbian. The …


The Prevalence Of Rape Myths On A Mid-Sized, Public College Campus, Meghan Lewis May 2020

The Prevalence Of Rape Myths On A Mid-Sized, Public College Campus, Meghan Lewis

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This paper aims to examine implicit beliefs regarding rape myths, and the effects of rape myths, on a mid-sized, public college campus. The current study employs an anonymous survey that contains questions regarding victim blaming, rape denial, rape myth-misinformation, as well as the effects of rape culture and rape myths. Results from the collected data support previous literature which has noted a relationship between gender and rape myth endorsement (Rollero and Tartaglia 2018; Bernard, Loughnan, Marchal, Godart, and Klein 2015), as well as a relationship between gender and feelings of safety on campuses (Fairchild and Rudman 2008). More specifically, the …


‘Awe’Some Choice: An Expansion Of The Broaden And Build Theory, Mary Tang May 2020

‘Awe’Some Choice: An Expansion Of The Broaden And Build Theory, Mary Tang

Honors Program Theses and Projects

According to Broaden and Build Theory, positive emotions expand the scope of attention, cognition, and actions, as evidenced by more creative and elaborate responses to problems. While some research suggests that awe, defined as the emotion that arises when one encounters something strikingly vast, may be an extension of positivity, it has not been tested within the context of Broaden and Build Theory. The current study was modeled after and utilized methods from previous research on how positive emotions affect decision-making and expanded on them to include materials demonstrated to inspire awe. Participants viewed emotion-eliciting videos, responded to writing prompts, …


​The Case Of The Melting Pot: How Does Opinion Bias Affect One’S Understanding Of Immigration In The Us?​, Mary Ankomah May 2020

​The Case Of The Melting Pot: How Does Opinion Bias Affect One’S Understanding Of Immigration In The Us?​, Mary Ankomah

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In such a delicate political climate the complete acceptance of legal immigrants in the United States seems too often to be a challenge carried to many native-born Americans. Feelings of displeasure, annoyance and anger are repeatedly cultivated by many American citizens towards immigrants. News media and social media platforms have displayed this kind of negative behavior towards legal immigrants, in which they are often accused of “stealing jobs,” “trying to suppress a certain ethnic population,” or “infesting” the area. This study analyzes the political-psychological reason behind this learned reaction, while focusing on factors that have sponsored this level of intolerance …


The Effect Aromatherapy Has On A Woman’S Perception Of Her Body And Menstrual Cycle, Michaela Demattio May 2020

The Effect Aromatherapy Has On A Woman’S Perception Of Her Body And Menstrual Cycle, Michaela Demattio

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Stress-reduction techniques, specifically aromatherapy, have many benefits to the person practicing them, but it is unclear how they affect a woman’s perception of her own body and menstrual cycle. The purpose of this project was to investigate the effects that aromatherapy has on a woman’s perception of her body and menstrual cycle. It was hypothesized that the aromatherapy would provide stress-relieving effects and increase a participant’s positive perception of her body. Participants were recruited through Bridgewater State University’s SONA system with the requirement that they were over the age of 18 and assigned female at birth. Participants completed an interview …


Understanding Sovereignty And The Us Constitution: A View From The Massachusetts And Virginia State Ratifying Conventions, Hannah Novotny May 2020

Understanding Sovereignty And The Us Constitution: A View From The Massachusetts And Virginia State Ratifying Conventions, Hannah Novotny

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Eighteenth-century American politics does more than simply provide us with the US Constitution. According to Gordon Wood (1991, 32), the stakes of eighteenth-century historical arguments are very high, as they deal with “nothing less than the kind of society we have been, or ought to become.” Barry Shain (1994, xiv) concurs with Wood, arguing that an understanding of the American founding “defines how Americans understand themselves as a historical people, as well as constraining what they might become.” As Wood and Shain indicate, an understanding of eighteenth-century American political thought shapes how we understand our past and informs the decisions …


The Modern Man: A Transgender Perspective, Alan Stamper May 2020

The Modern Man: A Transgender Perspective, Alan Stamper

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Gender identity has often been assumed to be a simple dichotomous mechanism where an individual is labeled as either a man or a woman. However, this simple mechanism has been shown to be more complex within the transgender population. The purpose of this project was to understand how transindividuals navigate masculine norms through their gender identity development. Nine transgender (2 transwomen, 3 transmen, 2 gender fluid, 1 nonbinary male-aligned, 1 nonbinary female-aligned) college students aged 18 to 28 (M = 20.89, SD = 3.33) were recruited for a one-hour life-story interview focused on their gender development. These interviews were …


Experiences Of Transgender Adults Navigating Healthcare Access In Massachusetts, Nic Tompkins-Hughes May 2020

Experiences Of Transgender Adults Navigating Healthcare Access In Massachusetts, Nic Tompkins-Hughes

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Recent research studies regarding Transgender individuals’ experiences of discrimination in health care settings strongly recommend the value of qualitative data, and the need for research into how transgender patients find, obtain, and access medical care, preventatively and as needed. However, despite calls for qualitative data, limited qualitative studies have focused on medical access and experiences of transgender patients as of 2019. This exploratory qualitative study utilized semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted between May 27th, 2019 through August 10th, 2019 to ask about the experiences of transgender individuals as it pertains to accessing health care services in Massachusetts. …


A Retrospective Study: Investigating The Role Of Childhood Experience And Parenting Style In The Development Of Narcissism, Haleigh Ewing May 2020

A Retrospective Study: Investigating The Role Of Childhood Experience And Parenting Style In The Development Of Narcissism, Haleigh Ewing

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Levels of narcissism among college students have increased steadily across generations over the past few decades (Twenge & Foster, 2010). The subtypes of narcissism, grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, both take root in self-centeredness and entitlement. However, an overconfidence and inflated sense of self characterize grandiose narcissists, who often use their charm as a source of agency and control over others, while vulnerable narcissists are insecure, defensive and suspicious yet dependent on others due to their perceived lack of control (Hansen-Brown & Crocker, 2017). Research is needed to explore the inciting influential factors in narcissism development, as well as what influences …


The Relationship Between Trait Narcissism And Perceptions Of Control, Sean Stephan Sullivan May 2020

The Relationship Between Trait Narcissism And Perceptions Of Control, Sean Stephan Sullivan

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Current research supports two variants of narcissism: grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Although each variant shares a common core comprised of an antagonistic personality and an inflated sense of entitlement, the Perceived Control Theory of Narcissism (PCTN) identifies perception of control as the distinguishing factor between the two narcissistic subtypes. This study utilized self-report measures to examine the relationship between trait narcissism, locus of control, exploitativeness, and personal sense of power to test the predictability of the PCTN. Additionally, we explored whether social context affects trait narcissists’ expressions of exploitativeness and power. As expected, we found vulnerable narcissism correlated with an …


Diversity And Social Justice In The Massachusetts Classroom: Teachers Implementation And Students Reflections, Josephine Ciatto May 2020

Diversity And Social Justice In The Massachusetts Classroom: Teachers Implementation And Students Reflections, Josephine Ciatto

Honors Program Theses and Projects

As public school classrooms have become increasingly diverse and complex, the curriculummust reflect this to prepare students for their futures. When shaping the curriculum that ourstudents receive, it is important to ensure a well rounded, multicultural education even if theclassroom itself does not reflect a diverse community. This qualitative and quantitative, mixedmethod research study looked at the Massachusetts state guidelines concerning diversityeducation and compared it to what teachers say they are implementing in the classroom as wellas with what students say they learned. This mixed method design includes teacher surveys (n=78), teacher interviews (n=4), and student surveys (n=289). The student …