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Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
A Relational Investigation Of Political Polarization On Twitter, Tyler Walton
A Relational Investigation Of Political Polarization On Twitter, Tyler Walton
Masters Theses
Over the last several decades there has been a debate among social scientists on whether the United States has become, or is in the process of being, politically polarized. These conversations started with discussion of the “culture wars,” moved to the discussion of selective exposure and media outrage, and currently involve concerns about online radicalization and the spread of online misinformation. Throughout these themes one characteristic has remained constant: a lack of systematic evidence despite anecdotes and feelings of animosity between the two parties. Today researchers are beginning to shift from operationalizing political polarization as growing divides in attitudes towards …
Dissonant Forms: Landscape, Nature-Love, And Art, Taylor F. Benoit
Dissonant Forms: Landscape, Nature-Love, And Art, Taylor F. Benoit
Masters Theses
As artists continue the long and storied lineage of Landscape, are there aesthetic responsibilities that come with representing the forces that afford you the capacity to do so? As we delineate spaces into places, endless interconnectivity into knowable “systems”, and living matter into thing based taxonomies, who do these delineations serve and with what intentions do we proceed? My studio art practice explores what it means to give form to our Former—the Former being that from which we came, the here and now, our explicit ecological reality, the stuff of what we call nature. …
Understanding Shame And Guilt In Chinese Culture, Se Min Suh
Understanding Shame And Guilt In Chinese Culture, Se Min Suh
Masters Theses
Research on shame and guilt has mainly been conducted in individualistic Western cultures. Some qualitative research, however, examined shame and guilt experiences in Chinese culture. Bedford (2004) identified 7 terms that represent emotional experiences of “shame” and “guilt.” We report 3 studies examining Mandarin Chinese speakers’ recalled experiences of negative self-conscious emotions and their related appraisals and motivations. Results reveal that instead of categorizing negative self-conscious emotion terms into 2 superordinate categories of “shame” and “guilt,” 3 clusters are more suitable based on their correlations and associated characteristics. Implications for cross-cultural studies on self-conscious emotions are discussed.
Food And/As Communication, Leda M. Cooks
Food And/As Communication, Leda M. Cooks
Sustainability Education Resources
This is a two-semester, eight-credit Communication Honors Thesis Seminar focusing on the ways we create and reflect meanings made about food. The seminar delves into the material and social meanings of food and implications for identity, culture and social justice. Students will have the opportunity to research food in the context of the meanings made about it in various institutions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, neighborhoods, cultures and communities. The first semester HONORS 499 CL (Fall 2020) will 1) introduce students to food as a vehicle through which society and social life is communicated; 2) introduce methods and tools for conducting survey …
Framing The Crisis In The Merrimack Valley: The Opioid Epidemic, White Despair And Authoritarian Populism On The New England Borderlands, Gyuri Kepes
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation examines how discourses and ideologies about the opioid crisis were framed, produced and constructed in the geographic specificity of the Merrimack Valley in the period leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Applying the theoretical and methodological frameworks offered by the cultural studies tradition, this dissertation project attempts to map out the complex interplay between the news media, law enforcement, policymakers, and citizens in producing, circulating, amplifying, framing and sustaining public anxiety about the opioid crisis in the Merrimack Valley and beyond. Employing a mix of qualitative and quantitative forms of inquiry, including interpretation of data collected through …
‘A Better Country To Die In’: Self-Determination, Drugs, And The Limits Of Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Wendy Pringle
‘A Better Country To Die In’: Self-Determination, Drugs, And The Limits Of Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Wendy Pringle
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation examines Canada’s legalization of medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Specifically, it focuses on how the debates surrounding the legalization process, the cultural history of euthanasia drugs, and the ethical dimensions of disability shaped assisted dying outcomes in the country in the period between the precedent-setting February 2015 Carter v. Canada Supreme Court case and the legislation, passed in June 2016, that enacted legalized MAiD. This mixed methods project uses discursive analysis of media texts, pharmacological history, and rhetorical analysis of first-person testimonies. The first analytic chapter, “Self-Determination, Euthanasia, and the Right to Die,” considers how the shift toward …
Racial Differences In Perceptions Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Behavior, Sungha Kang
Racial Differences In Perceptions Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Behavior, Sungha Kang
Masters Theses
Previous research has suggested there may be racial differences in how adults perceive and rate children’s ADHD behavior (i.e., inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity). The current study examined these differences between African-American/Black (AA/B) parents and European-American/White (EA/W) parents and teachers. Participants watched video clips of children in classrooms and rated their ADHD behaviors and their likelihood of having ADHD. Results showed that EA/W parents and teachers rated African-American boys’ ADHD behaviors and their likelihood of having ADHD higher than AA/B parents. Mechanisms by which these differences exist were explored, including beliefs about stigma related to ADHD, values in movement and expressiveness, experiences …
The Role Of Culture In Close Relationships: East-West Differences In Communication And Emotion Regulation, Feiran Ge
Doctoral Dissertations
The current research examined the role of culture in shaping two interpersonal processes that occur within romantic relationships – i.e., (a) how individuals communicate emotional messages with their romantic partner and (b) how they help each other regulate emotions. I addressed these two processes by focusing on national culture, comparing behaviors between European American and Chinese partners in romantic relationships. Chapter I (Studies 1-4) investigated the extent to which European Americans and Chinese prefer direct vs. indirect communication styles with their romantic partners. Studies 1 and 2 found that Chinese were more indirect (vs. direct) than European Americans when they …
A Tale Of Two Courses: Challenging Millenials To Experience Culture Through Film, Katie Kirakosian, Virginia Mclaurin, Cary Speck
A Tale Of Two Courses: Challenging Millenials To Experience Culture Through Film, Katie Kirakosian, Virginia Mclaurin, Cary Speck
Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series
In this article, we discuss how adding a final film project to a revised 'Culture through Film' course led to deeper student learning and higher rates of student success, as well as increased student satisfaction. Ultimately, we urge social science educators to include experiential projects in their courses that connect to all learning styles. Such projects should also challenge students to 'create', a task that requires generating ideas, planning and ultimately producing something, which, according to Bloom's taxonomy, engages students in the highest cognitive process (Anderson and Krathwohl 2000). Although this class focused on the intersections of culture and film …
Friends With Benefits: Plausible Optimism And The Practice Of Teabagging In Video Games, Brian Myers
Friends With Benefits: Plausible Optimism And The Practice Of Teabagging In Video Games, Brian Myers
Communication Graduate Student Publication Series
Recent scholarship in gaming studies has challenged the field to investigate and critique the hard core gaming audience (stereotypically seen as straight, White, cis-gendered male gamers) in a way that does not reinforce either the perceived marginalization of gamers or broader social hierarchies of gender, sexuality, and class. This article demonstrates a way to acknowledge the complexity of this audience without dismissing its most virulent tendencies via practice theory and weak theory. Using data drawn from a qualitative survey of 393 self-identified first-person shooter video game players, this article looks at the specific practice of “teabagging” in online competitive gaming …
Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar
Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar
Doctoral Dissertations
Turkey has experienced important structural and social changes that would be expected to facilitate women’s participation in market work. Social attitudes toward working women have changed in recent years; women are becoming more educated; they are getting married at a later age; and fertility rates are declining. Despite these factors, women’s labor force participation rates are very low in comparison to the countries at a similar development stage. This dissertation analyzes the underlying causes of low female labor force participation in Turkey. In addition to a background chapter (Chapter 2) analyzing structural transformation and employment generation patterns, the dissertation has …
Culture, Inequality, And Health: Evidence From The Midus And Midja Comparison, Jiyoung Park, Carol Ryff, Yuri Miyamoto, Jennifer Boylan, Christopher Coe, Mayumi Karasawa, Norito Kawakami, Chiemi Kan, Gayle Love, Cynthia Levine, Hazel Markus, Shinobu Kitayama
Culture, Inequality, And Health: Evidence From The Midus And Midja Comparison, Jiyoung Park, Carol Ryff, Yuri Miyamoto, Jennifer Boylan, Christopher Coe, Mayumi Karasawa, Norito Kawakami, Chiemi Kan, Gayle Love, Cynthia Levine, Hazel Markus, Shinobu Kitayama
Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series
This article seeks to forge scientific connections between three overarching themes (culture, inequality, health). Although the influence of cultural context on human experience has gained notable research prominence, it has rarely embraced another large arena of science focused on the influence social hierarchies have on how well and how long people live. That literature is increasingly focused psychosocial factors, working interactively with biological and brain-based mechanisms, to account for why those with low socioeconomic standing have poorer health. Our central question is whether and how these processes might vary by cultural context. We draw on emerging findings from two parallel …
Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent
Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent
Doctoral Dissertations
What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …
Subjective And Objective Hierarchies And Their Relations To Psychological Well-Being: A U.S./Japan Comparison, Katherine B. Curhan, Cynthia S. Levine, Hazel Rose Markus, Jiyoung Park, Mayumi Karasawa, Gayle D. Love, Christopher L. Coe, Yuri Miyamoto, Carol D. Ryff
Subjective And Objective Hierarchies And Their Relations To Psychological Well-Being: A U.S./Japan Comparison, Katherine B. Curhan, Cynthia S. Levine, Hazel Rose Markus, Jiyoung Park, Mayumi Karasawa, Gayle D. Love, Christopher L. Coe, Yuri Miyamoto, Carol D. Ryff
Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series
Hierarchy can be conceptualized as objective social status (e.g., education level) or subjective social status (i.e., one's own judgment of one's status). Both forms predict well-being. This is the first investigation of the relative strength of these hierarchy-well-being relationships in the U.S. and Japan, cultural contexts with different normative ideas about how social status is understood and conferred. In probability samples of Japanese (N=1027) and U.S. (N=1805) adults, subjective social status more strongly predicted life satisfaction, positive affect, sense of purpose, and self acceptance in the U.S. than in Japan. In contrast, objective social status more strongly predicted life satisfaction, …
Self-Talk As A Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters, Ethan Kross, Emma Bruehlman-Senecal, Jiyoung Park, Aleah Burson, Adrienne Dougherty, Holly Shablack, Ryan Bremner, Jason Moser, Ozlem Ayduk
Self-Talk As A Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters, Ethan Kross, Emma Bruehlman-Senecal, Jiyoung Park, Aleah Burson, Adrienne Dougherty, Holly Shablack, Ryan Bremner, Jason Moser, Ozlem Ayduk
Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series
Does the language people use to refer to the self during introspection influence how they think, feel, and behave under social stress? If so, do these effects extend to socially anxious people who are particularly vulnerable to such stress? Seven studies explored these questions (total N = 585). Studies 1a and 1b were proof-of-principle studies. They demonstrated that using non-first-person pronouns and one's own name (rather than first-person pronouns) during introspection enhances self-distancing. Studies 2 and 3 examined the implications of these different types of self-talk for regulating stress surrounding making good first impressions (Study 2) and public speaking (Study …
Negative Emotions Predict Elevated Interleukin-6 In The United States But Not In Japan, Jiyoung Park, Jennifer Morozink Boylan, Christopher L. Coe, Katherine B. Curhan, Cynthia S. Levine, Hazel Rose Markus, Shinobu Kitayama, Norito Kawakami, Mayumi Karasawa, Gayle Love, Carol D. Ryff
Negative Emotions Predict Elevated Interleukin-6 In The United States But Not In Japan, Jiyoung Park, Jennifer Morozink Boylan, Christopher L. Coe, Katherine B. Curhan, Cynthia S. Levine, Hazel Rose Markus, Shinobu Kitayama, Norito Kawakami, Mayumi Karasawa, Gayle Love, Carol D. Ryff
Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series
Previous studies conducted in Western cultures have shown that negative emotions predict higher levels of pro-inflammatory biomarkers, specifically interleukin-6 (IL-6). This link between negative emotions and IL-6 may be specific to Western cultures where negative emotions are perceived to be problematic and thus may not extend to Eastern cultures where negative emotions are seen as acceptable and normal. Using samples of 1044 American and 382 Japanese middle-aged and older adults, we investigated whether the relationship between negative emotions and IL-6 varies by cultural context. Negative emotions predicted higher IL-6 among American adults, whereas no association was evident among Japanese adults. …
Error-Related Brain Activity Reveals Self-Centric Motivation: Culture Matters, Shinobu Kitayama, Jiyoung Park
Error-Related Brain Activity Reveals Self-Centric Motivation: Culture Matters, Shinobu Kitayama, Jiyoung Park
Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series
To secure the interest of the personal self (vs. social others) is considered a fundamental human motive, but the nature of the motivation to secure the self-interest is not well understood. To address this issue, we assessed electrocortical responses of European Americans and Asians as they performed a flanker task while instructed to earn as many reward points as possible either for the self or for their same-sex friend. For European Americans, error-related negativity (ERN)-an event-related-potential component contingent on error responses--was significantly greater in the self condition than in the friend condition. Moreover, post-error slowing--an index of cognitive control to …
Clarifying The Link Between Social Support And Health: Culture, Stress, And Neuroticism Matter, Jiyoung Park, Shinobu Kitayama, Mayumi Karasawa, Katherine Curhan, Hazel L. Markus, Norito Kawakami, Yuri Miyamoto, Gayle D. Love, Christopher L. Coe, Carol D. Ryff
Clarifying The Link Between Social Support And Health: Culture, Stress, And Neuroticism Matter, Jiyoung Park, Shinobu Kitayama, Mayumi Karasawa, Katherine Curhan, Hazel L. Markus, Norito Kawakami, Yuri Miyamoto, Gayle D. Love, Christopher L. Coe, Carol D. Ryff
Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series
Although it is commonly assumed that social support positively predicts health, the empirical evidence has been inconsistent. We argue that three moderating factors must be considered: (1) support-approving norms (cultural context); (2) support-requiring situations (stressful events); and (3) support-accepting personal style (low neuroticism). Our large-scale cross-cultural survey of Japanese and US adults found significant associations between perceived support and health. The association was more strongly evident among Japanese (from a support-approving cultural context) who reported high life stress (in a support-requiring situation). Moreover, the link between support and health was especially pronounced if these Japanese were low in neuroticism.
The Search For Self-Fulfillment: How Individualism Undermines Community Organizing, Rachel Rybaczuk
The Search For Self-Fulfillment: How Individualism Undermines Community Organizing, Rachel Rybaczuk
Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
This paper focuses on the role of individualism in community organizing. My case study follows the organizing efforts of the Coalition for Affordable Northampton Neighborhoods (CANN) and residents’ attempts to save an affordable neighborhood from Smith College’s campus expansion. As a resident and co-founder of CANN I was particularly interested in identifying the reasons for our difficulty in organizing residents whose homes would be torn down. While attending community and city meetings, interviewing core activists and activists who left the organizing efforts, I observed individualism undermining community organizing and political involvement. People’s search for self-fulfillment was in conflict with the …
International Trade, Factor Mobility And The Persistence Of Cultural-Institutional Diversity, Marianna Belloc, Samuel Bowles
International Trade, Factor Mobility And The Persistence Of Cultural-Institutional Diversity, Marianna Belloc, Samuel Bowles
Economics Department Working Paper Series
Cultural and institutional differences among nations may result in differences in the ratios of marginal costs of goods in autarchy and thus be the basis of specialization and comparative advantage, as long as these differences are not eliminated by trade. We provide an evolutionary model of endogenous preferences and institutions under autarchy, trade and factor mobility in which multiple asymptotically stable cultural-institutional conventions may exist, among which transitions may occur as a result of decentralized and un-coordinated actions of employers or employees. We show that: i) specialization and trade may arise and enhance welfare even when the countries are identical …
Ethnographic Perspectives On Culture And Communication, Donal Carbaugh
Ethnographic Perspectives On Culture And Communication, Donal Carbaugh
Donal Carbaugh
No abstract provided.
Parenting Style Discrepancies: A Comparison Of Inter-Ethnic And Intra-Ethnic Couples, Dhara Thakar
Parenting Style Discrepancies: A Comparison Of Inter-Ethnic And Intra-Ethnic Couples, Dhara Thakar
Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
Parenting and family interactions are thought to play a critical role in children’s development and are often key targets in clinical interventions for children with behavioral problems. Multiple factors are thought to determine patterns of parenting behavior including child and parent characteristics as well as broader social and cultural factors (Abidin, 1992; Belsky, 1984; Maccoby, 1992). Because culture is thought to influence parenting, it is possible that inter-ethnic couples may experience a greater discrepancy than intra-ethnic couples in their parenting styles, but research considering the role of different cultural backgrounds and parenting has been sparse. The current study examined whether …
Cultural Variation In The Theory Of The Firm, Donald W. Katzner
Cultural Variation In The Theory Of The Firm, Donald W. Katzner
Economics Department Working Paper Series
This paper presents a model of the firm that includes the possibility of firm and employee-on-the-job decision making based on alternatives to profit and utility maximization. Such alternatives are relevant and significant when explaining firm activity in cultural environments in which self interest is not considered to be a primary force driving human behavior. Three types of firms are defined and their properties compared: the Western firm, the Japanese firm, and the clan. The third is a combination of the first two.