Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Guan And Shaming Among Chinese Families In The United States: The Moderating Effects Of Perceived Cultural Normativeness, Jason Chiang

Dissertations - ALL

This study utilized a confluence of propositions within interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory, the developmental niche model, model of acculturation strategies, and the cultural normativeness hypothesis to examine links between shaming and training parenting strategies, and psychological and academic outcomes among children of Chinese immigrants living in the U.S. The sample consisted of 51 Chinese ninth and tenth grade children and their mothers residing in the Cleveland metropolitan area. Mothers and children were asked to complete the Parental Training Scale, Critical Comparison and Shaming Questionnaire (CCS), and also asked about their perception of the normativeness of these parenting practices in their community. …

The Role Of Approximate Negators In Modeling The Automatic Detection Of Negation In Tweets, Norma E. Palomino

Dissertations - ALL

Although improvements have been made in the performance of sentiment analysis tools, the automatic detection of negated text (which affects negative sentiment prediction) still presents challenges. More research is needed on new forms of negation beyond prototypical negation cues such as “not” or “never.” The present research reports findings on the role of a set of words called “approximate negators,” namely “barely,” “hardly,” “rarely,” “scarcely,” and “seldom,” which, in specific occasions (such as attached to a word from the non-affirmative adverb “any” family), can operationalize negation styles not yet explored. Using a corpus of 6,500 tweets, human annotation allowed for …

A Phenomenological Look At The Life Hacking-Enabled Practices Of Individuals With Mobility And Dexterity Impairments, Jerry Robinson

Dissertations - ALL

Human-computer interaction and assistive technology research and practice are replete with examples of mostly non-disabled individuals trying to empower individuals with disabilities through the design and provision of accessible products. This study asks one overarching question: what can these communities learn from the self-driven embodied experiences of individuals with disabilities who address accessibility, impairment, and everyday life concerns for themselves? The goal of this dissertation is to examine the underexplored adaptation, modification, and design-like activities of individuals with mobility and dexterity impairments as well as the implications of these activities for researchers, designers, and individuals with disabilities. This phenomenological study …

The Setaweet Way: An Articulation Of Ethiopian Feminism, Samrawit Alemayehu

Theses - ALL

In Ethiopia, women’s organizing and mobilization is not new, however, outward claims of feminism and vocal allegiance to feminist ideals is a movement that has recently taken traction within the country. Despite following its own timeline, this resurgence in Ethiopia also takes place amongst the feminist movements found in the different nations on the continent. In Ethiopia, this contemporary iteration connects to broader discussions of the significant factors of migration, immigration, globalization, capitalism, modernity, and the new technological age. Subsequently, most of the scholarship pertaining to women’s socioeconomic issues takes the cultural or anthropological mode of exploration. More recently, scholars …

“When Our Crops Burn, We Burn”: Household Cultivation, Inattention And Exclusion In Tajikistan's Water Management Reform, Katherine Jeanette Macdonald

Theses - ALL

The Republic of Tajikistan possesses the largest amount of internally produced surface water in Central Asia; however, poor irrigation management has led to water shortages in agrarian communities. In support of government efforts to reform water management, international development actors have established Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) throughout the country. WUAs are non-governmental groups of irrigation water users responsible for local infrastructure maintenance, conflict resolution, and scheduling water distribution. These groups are expected to increase participation in irrigation management, the equity and efficiency of water supply to agricultural plots and by extension, crop yields and food security. Drawing on interviews with …

The South Central Soundscape: Understanding The Sounds Of The Streets As Social Commentary In Postindustrial Los Angeles, Kevin Prescott Morris

Theses - ALL

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Black popular music sonically represents urban, ghetto landscapes through lyrics, timbres, tones, tempos, and samples as forms of social commentary and signifiers of an authentic Black experience. This project adopts the concept of the soundscape in order to tease out the ways music artists and producers sonically recreate their social environments, specifically understood as “the streets,” in order to provide nuanced social critiques about the social forces that dictate daily life. The project is situated in the South Central section of Los Angeles, California and follows a sonic chronology that traces …

Black Or Black-Ish: Decoding Black-Ish And Its Place In The Conversation Of Diversity, Jasmine Vickers

Theses - ALL

Diversity in television in film is an ongoing debate. The recent exclusions of minority-led television shows and films from award shows like the Emmys and Oscars have ignited complaints and debates from inside and outside the entertainment industry. Some networks responded with more inclusive programs and diverse cast leads and cast members. In 2013, Paul Lee, former ABC executive, introduced a diversity initiative that was a part of a rebranding strategy for the network, and to show different experiences in America. The initiative resulted in three new shows for the 2014-2015 season: Black-ish, Fresh Off the Boat, and Cristela. All …

Generation Z And Corporate Social Responsibility, Sharon Uche

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the attitudes and perceptions held by Generation Z regarding a brand or brand’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication efforts. This thesis uses the stakeholder theory, relationship management theory, ethical consumerism and corporate reputation theory to frame the importance of brand’s understanding how to effectively communicates CSR to its stakeholders. This study evaluates variables including progressive values, diversity, pro-social behaviors, attitude toward a brand, perceived credibility, ulterior motives, commitment, perceived trust, word of mouth intentions, purchase intentions. This study will also examine how the influence of CSR communication efforts varies within Gen Z depending on gender, race and …

Temporal Attention Processing In Individuals With Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, Justin Kopec

Theses - ALL

Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11DS) is a genetic syndrome characterized by a variety of cognitive impairments, including difficulty with attention. Methodological confounds within the research investigating visual attention in individuals with 22q11DS make it difficult to understand temporal attention processing both in isolation and in a developmentally meaningful way. The current study addresses limitations of previous work by studying a specific temporal visual attention phenomenon, the attentional blink (AB), within a categorical rapid serial visual presentation task, and by utilizing developmentally appropriate sample matching procedures. Findings reveal that AB performance in individuals with 22q11DS is on par with two groups …

The Patient-Provider Relationship And Hiv Medication Adherence: Indirect Effects Of Medication Beliefs, Travis Stewart

Theses - ALL

Research examining variables that influence medication adherence among HIV-positive individuals remains an important priority. The patient-provider relationship may influence HIV medication adherence, though findings have varied across studies and there is a paucity of research examining mechanisms that may account for patient-provider influences on adherence. One potential mechanism that may explain this relationship is patient’s beliefs about medications, specifically how patients weigh the necessity of medications relative to concerns about negative side effects. Using data from a sample of 116 HIV patients recruited during outpatient care, this study aimed to (a) examine the effect of the patient-provider relationship on both …

American Parasocial Interactions With Fictional Latter-Day Saints, Justin John Zarian

Theses - ALL

Despite increased media coverage, the American public’s opinion towards the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has stagnated. Most LDS media studies consist of self-contained content analyses or on the impact of real world individuals, with few academic findings on the impact fictional LDS characters have on audiences. This study was to see if exposure to fictional LDS affected attitudes towards real-life members. Building upon the parasocial contact hypothesis, rooted in the intergroup contact hypothesis, subjects were split into groups where they may or may not fill out a pre-test questionnaire. They then viewed video reels featuring LDS characters …

Is Self-Other Overlap A Malleable Predictor Of Willingness To Work With People With Disability?, Michael Ioerger

Dissertations - ALL

Nearly 1 in every 5 Americans have some form of disability, creating a high demand for professionals who are interested in working with people with disability (PWD). However, many people are uncomfortable working with PWD, or are unwilling to put in the additional effort that may be necessary to meet their needs. As a result, PWD face many barriers when seeking services. Interventions to address this issue typically focus on changing attitudes or increasing empathy. While these components influence people’s behavior in the short-term, they do not completely account for the variability in people being willing to make sacrifices to …

Mindfulness, Self-Compassion And Threat Related Attentional Bias: Implications For Social Anxiety And Loneliness In Late Adolescent College Students., Kimberly Raymond

Dissertations - ALL

The present study examined associations among mindfulness, self-compassion, social anxiety, loneliness and attention bias toward threat in a community sample of undergraduate university students (n = 176). Of interest was whether threat bias would mediate the independent effects of mindfulness and self-compassion on social anxiety and loneliness. Threat bias is characterized by the display of exaggerated attention toward threatening cues in the environment and has been repeatedly linked to the origin and continuation of anxious symptoms. Given the focus of contemplative practices on attentional awareness and control, this study examined whether mindfulness and self-compassion may contribute to decreased levels of …

Insist, Persist, And Resist: Feminist Activism And Political Violence In Antioquia, Colombia, Carolina Arango-Vargas

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation presents a political ethnography of the dynamics of feminist activism among organized mujeres populares –working-class and rural women– in the province of Antioquia, Colombia, and sheds light on the development of political agency and transformation of subjectivity. The study investigates how feminist frameworks enable grassroots women to combat the simultaneous effects of violence, poverty, and trauma by analyzing the processes of collaboration between grassroots and professional feminist organizations and the effects of political violence in their communities. Drawing on political anthropology and transnational feminist scholarship, the dissertation examines these processes against the backdrop of a regional hegemonic project …

Production, Efficiency And Managerial Selection Of Workers Into Peer Networks, Hyunseok Jung

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation develops empirical models that account for worker interactions, managerial selectivity, and technical inefficiency in the production process.

The first chapter, entitled "Stochastic Frontier Models with Network Selectivity," develops a model where workers produce output through peer-effect networks, while managerial selectivity of workers affects worker inefficiency. The intuition behind this model is that managers may consider optimal combinations of workers to produce the best results, and this selectivity in the worker network may affect worker productivity.

The second chapter, entitled "Network Competition and Team Chemistry in the NBA," models simultaneous interactions between multiple networks where agents cooperate with peers …

The Effect Of Urban Transportation Systems On Employment Outcomes And Traffic Congestion, Jindong Pang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation comprises two papers that examine the effect of urban transportation systems on employment outcomes and traffic congestion. The first paper evaluates the labor market effects of subway systems on low-skilled workers. A model of labor supply predicts that this should improve search and employment outcomes. The empirical findings confirm that improved subway access increases low-skilled labor force participation. Related effects for light rail and bus service are much smaller. For low-skilled men without a car, a 10 percent expansion in subway, rail, and bus service increases labor force participation by 3.0, 0.3, and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. Improved …

Experiential Journalism: Presence, Emotion, And Sharing Behaviors In News Delivered By Virtual Reality, Television, And Internet In Korea And The United States, Sung Yoon Ri

Dissertations - ALL

This research has three overarching purposes. First, this dissertation aimed to test VR’s capability as a news medium compared to TV and Web. Second, this research attempted to identify differences in Koreans and the U.S. respondents to VR news, TV news, and Web news. Third, this formulated a theoretical model regarding media user’s news information processing across VR, TV, and Web: Model of Interactive News Consumption Across Media (MINCAM). A 2 x 2 x 3 mixed design study was conducted using the between-subjects factors of country (Korea/the U.S.) and story proximity (Seoul, Korea/Syracuse, New York) as well as the within-subjects …

Three Essays On Public Policy And Health, Jessica E. Sauve-Syed

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is comprised of three essays on health and public policy. My research examines how regulations and targeted programs impacted health outcomes.

The first two chapters use the unexpected shock of water borne lead in Flint Community Schools’ classrooms to estimate the causal impacts of lead on students’ cognitive and behavioral outcomes. The first paper focuses on the short-run academic achievement of elementary school children. At the average level of lead exposure, conservative estimates find that the share of students scoring proficient on statewide standardized exams drops by 6 to 9 points in math and drops by 12 to …

Studies On Housing Market Dynamics And Cointegration Analysis With Latent Factors, Shulin Shen

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation consists of two essays on housing market dynamics and cointegration analysis with latent factors. The theme of this dissertation is housing market dynamics, with the first essay an application of advanced panel time series models to the studies of housing market dynamics, and the second essay a theoretic derivation of an econometric tool on cointegration analysis with latent factors that can be applied to the housing market analysis.

This first essay develops a parsimonious dynamic model to study the impact of a common demand shock in the housing market on housing prices and construction activities across a set …

Microcelebrity Practices: A Cross-Platform Study Through A Richness Framework, Sikana Tanupabrungsun

Dissertations - ALL

Social media have introduced a contemporary shift from broadcast to participatory media, which has brought about major changes to the celebrity management model. It is now common for celebrities to bypass traditional mass media and take control over their promotional discourse through the practice of microcelebrity.

The theory of microcelebrity explains how people turn their public persona into media content with the goal of gaining and maintaining audiences who are regarded as an aggregated fan base. To accomplish this, the theory suggests that people employ a set of online self-presentation techniques that typically consist of three core practices: identity constructions, …

Three Essays On Occupational Safety And Labor Market Outcomes, Ling Li

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation comprises of three papers on occupational safety and health. Occupational injuries and illnesses are prevalent and costly. To reduce workplace injuries and the associated costs, the government uses workplace inspections and the associated penalties as the primary enforcement tool. This dissertation examines the direct effect of the government enforcement on workplace injuries as well as the indirect effect on labor market outcomes and firm dynamics.

Chapter 1 examines the effect of workplace inspections on workplace safety, product quality, and worker productivity in nursing facilities. The identification strategy exploits the nationwide Site-Specific Targeting (SST) plan of the Occupational Safety …

Mapping Cuban Migration: The Art Of Spatial Storytelling, Madeline Lorang

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

There are millions of immigrants in the United States, each with stories and experiences to share. Sharing those stories provides benefits to the teller; it builds community bonds and creates a sense of belonging. In the case of immigration, storytelling enhances political awareness and breaks down stereotypes. La Casita, a Hispanic cultural center in Syracuse, New York, is trying to provide a platform for immigrants share their stories. The organization will partner with a group of Cuban artists to create an art installation about the Cuban immigrant experience. To enhance this experience and share more stories, I will be interviewing …

Fair Trade And Its Value In Today’S Globalized Economy, Kristen Unangst

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My capstone examines how fair trade can operate in today’s globalized economy and how it can aid in solving some of the large problems that globalization has created. This paper is structured in the following way. It first examines globalization and the ways that it has advanced the world today. Then, it ventures into the problems that globalization has created and how they can be repaired using fair trade. This paper also looks into how fair trade has been successful in the recent past and how it can be improved in the future. It especially highlights how profitable fair trade …

Combatting Political Polarization Through The Use Of Civic Games, Meredith Coccoluto

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

During the terms of the last two presidents, the term ‘government shutdown’ has become a familiar one, as the parties work right up to the deadline trying to find a compromise on bills like budget and healthcare. This is reflective of America’s voter base, where people are entrenching themselves more and more firmly with a party, rather than remaining moderate voters. As America’s current college base is more polarized than ever before, this situation will only worsen over time as these students become the country’s primary voter base.

If a democratic voter base usually looks like a bell curve, political …

The Psychology Of Consumer Resistance To Advertising, Chi-Ching Lam

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Advertising has been used for a long time to support the large amount of content that people consume every day. However, the negative stigma associated with advertising has lead to increasing amounts of consumer resistance towards advertising, such as the problem of ad avoidance. Through a literature review, this paper answers the following question: how can understanding consumer resistance inspire more effective advertising? First reviewing the psychology literature, this paper explores the the origin and manifestation of consumer skepticism in response to attempts at persuasion. Cialdini’s weapons of influence provide a basis for the persuasive techniques commonly used. Counterarguing, attitude …

911: The First First-Responders And America's Unsung Heroes, Lyla Rose-Barwick

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The 911 Dispatch Center of Onondaga County is a vital link to emergency response personel and the public. These unsung heroes are often unacknowledged as they operate behind the scenes of every emergency situation. The 911 Dispatch Center spends a great deal of money on their recruitment process due to the psychological screening portion of the process. In the past, many of their applicants have gone through the process only to discover that they are not cut out for this kind of work. My production crew and I volunteered to help create a new recruitment film for the 911 Dispatch …

Proximate Environment, Prominent Impact, Stephanie Portmann

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Proximate Environment, Prominent Impact looks closely at the history and development of learning environments, and, more specifically, early childhood classrooms. While there is much debate around teacher versus child centered learning and pedagogies that have developed in the past century, this capstone focuses on the immediate environments of classroom spaces. I use history, architectural case studies, and scientific research to discuss the ways the physical environment of early childhood education classrooms can impact learning, well-being, and behavior.

All My Friends: A Short Film, Derrick Owens

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The film that I chose to make as my capstone project is a slice-of-life comedy entitled, All My Friends. The idea for the film was originally conceived back in the summer of 2017, and the process towards creating a final production has gone through numerous script revisions, a two-week long casting session, the assembly of a large crew and extras, and an intricate editing process. The film was shot digitally and the style was meant to emulate some of the most filmmakers I admire most including Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, and Alfonso Cuarón. Like any collaborative creative work, the …

King For A Day, Joshua Feinblatt

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

King for a Day is a feature film script written by Joshua Feinblatt that follows a high school senior named Brian Fuller around as he becomes Principal for a day. Brian does not become Principal for a day because he wins a competition, rather, Brian takes over the office of his nemesis in the William Henry Harrison High School’s administration, Principal Valley. The script aims to be funny, clever, and playful, just like the main character. Brian is manipulative, cunning, and always one step ahead, but Principal Valley runs a tight ship and hasn’t missed a day in 30 years. …

Examining The Potential Of The “Csi Effect” To Create False Expectations In Jurors In Regard To Expert Testimony, Sarah Stewart

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The “CSI Effect” has been generally defined as the effect that watching forensic shows, such as the wildly popular, 15-season long television show CSI, has on the general public’s perception of forensic evidence presented at criminal trials. A major concern expert witnesses have is that the existence of the “CSI Effect” can affect the outcomes of the trials, over the strength of the case itself. Whether or not the defendant is guilty should not rest on how well the forensic evidence presented lived up to the jury’s expectations, and as such, the potential existence of this effect has been a …