Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Walking Threat: Traits Of Pathogen Avoidance, Pathogen Threat Proximity And Functional Flexibility, Lahai Alexander Massaquoi Wicks

Doctoral Dissertations

The threat of infection to humans is unwavering, and it is increased through social interaction, which human life is based around. This has been demonstrated through the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, where social distancing was recommended to prevent the spread of the virus. Therefore, it is important to understand both the behavioral and physiological defenses that we possess against illness. However, the characteristics of the relationship between the behavioral immune system (BIS) and the physiological immune system (PIS) are still murky. This dissertation sought to better understand how the BIS considers the costs of mounting an immune response via functional flexibility …

New Geographies Of Electronic Commerce: An Appraisal Of Omni-Channel Strategies In The United States Grocery Industry, Connor Reed

Doctoral Dissertations

This body of doctoral research investigates the unique geography of e-commerce [electronic commerce] offerings among major grocery chains in the contiguous United States. Prior research has made efforts to understand the demographic and spatial dynamics that may influence consumers’ decision to shop online or in-store. Far less emphasis, however, has been placed on how firms have made key strategic decisions across space regarding e-commerce. This work leverages spatial econometric modeling and machine learning to understand how the characteristics of trade areas inform grocery chains’ decisions about whether to offer pickup, delivery, both, or no offering at a given store location. …

The Role Of Awe In Risk-Taking And The Exploration Of The Unknown, Matthew Thomas Richesin

Doctoral Dissertations

Much has been learned about awe through scientific inquiry in the last twenty years, however, few researchers have looked to understand the adaptive function. Recent work has suggested that the function of awe is cognitive in nature. This view argues that the function awe plays is linked to how individuals respond to uncertainty. This approach proposes that awe should be linked to various epistemic dispositions such as curiosity, impulsivity, intolerance to uncertainty, and existential thinking. It further suggests that awe will have a distinct effect on risk-taking behaviors compared to fear and curiosity. The current project consists of three studies …

The World Reborn: A Phenomenological Study Of 12th Unnamed Cave, Tennessee Through Photogrammetry, 3d Gis, And Archaeoacoustics, Jordan L. Schaefer

Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional methods for analyzing rock art locations within caves tend to rely on two-dimensional (2D) mapping methods. While useful, these techniques do not effectively capture the phenomenology, or experiential characteristics, of caves as physical spaces. This dissertation therefore adopts a three-dimensional perspective to study the distribution of rock art inside 12th Unnamed Cave, a dark-zone cave art site in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau region, with the goal of identifying why certain types of images appear in their respective contexts. Photogrammetry is used to produce a three-dimensional (3D) model of the cave’s interior, on which surveyed rock art locations are georeferenced for …

Three Essays In Environmental Economics, Ryan Swartzentruber

Doctoral Dissertations

The first chapter of this dissertation analyzes how policy uncertainty affects electric utility investment rates. Policy can either positively or negatively impact firm profits, as seen in the difference between subsidies and taxes. Using a real option theoretical model, I show how uncertainty over these two types of policies can have positive or negative impacts on investment rates. Empirical results using investment data for electric utilities provide evidence in support of differential effects of uncertainty. I find a positive effect of policy uncertainty on electric utility investment rates using my preferred measure of policy uncertainty. This suggests that policies applicable …

Discriminative Nursing Care Practices Towards Patients With Opioid Use Disorder In The Hospital Setting: How Knowledge And Social Attitudes Impact Care Delivery, Jeanne Adam Bernier

Doctoral Dissertations

Discriminative nursing care (DNC) practices towards patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) is a current phenomenon negatively affecting patient care and patient outcomes. It leads to delays in care, insufficient pain control, and feelings of guilt and shame, and it is linked to self-isolation, social isolation, social rejection, and even unemployment and housing disruption which perpetuate a dangerous cycle of inequity that is hard to overcome. In some cases, OUD stigmatization even increases morbidity and mortality rates. OUD stigmatization and discrimination are real problems in today’s health care climate due to the vast number of people affected by OUD and …

Help-Seeking Tendencies And Motivations Among College Students In The Utilization Of Professional Psychological Services, James Louie Cartee Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines and analyzes the help-seeking motivations of college students who experience psychological distress. Many young adults consider and utilize professional psychological services in these decision-making moments. The process behind these motivations and decisions warrants investigation to successfully assist students in hopes of avoiding tragic outcomes, such as suicidal ideation. Multiple forces affect why individuals choose to utilize professional services or otherwise avoid them.

Through a grounded theory approach, twenty-eight young adults were interviewed based on specific criteria that established two sets of questions. One set of questions addressed the five participants who only seriously considered the use of …

Introjection, Mentalization, Ego Functioning, And Lacan’S “Name Of The Father”, Chloe T. Cohen

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychoanalytic literature has traditionally focused on the theoretical explanations of psychological phenomena rather than empirical research to support those ideas. One such theory is Lacan’s “Name of the Father” (NOF), which recast Freud’s Oedipal situation, positing its representation in language use and situating it even earlier in psychological development. Lacan suggested that the NOF construct (establishing psychological structure and preventing psychosis) was best represented by metaphor use and linguistic structure. The current study attempted to measure the NOF construct (1955) through linguistic structure and metaphor use. We examined the relationship between an indirect measure of NOF functioning and overall personality …

The Opposite Of Subaltern Agency Is Not Agency, It’S Listening: Self-Guided Anti-Racism Investigation For Aspiring White Anti-Racists, Lauren Elaine Specht

Doctoral Dissertations

This research project examines the rhetorical relationship between oppressed and privileged communities, first to look at how oppressed communities can have more success in their outreach to change privileged points of view, then to examine that “success” of social advocacy is as bound up in the listener’s ability to hear as it is in the speaker’s ability to persuade and that the oppressed community is already using the most successful rhetorical tools available—privileged audiences are just not participating. To complete the first process, I used textual analysis to understand how an oppressed rhetor—represented by Toni Morrison—thinks of privileged perspectives in …

Topics In Energy, Trade And Environmental, And Public Economics, Ivan Peter Anich

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three papers, one each in energy economics, the environment and trade, and public economics. The first chapter generalizes the classical concept of the Lindahl allocation, a normative standard by which a theoretical provision of public goods is judged. The generalization, called a Generalized Lindahl Equilibrium (GLE), requires a personalized tax schedule to be assigned to each consumer, rather than a single personalized tax. This allows for non-linear taxation, redistribution of consumer surplus, and a more `just' provision of public goods. The second chapter studies how trade policy and environmental policy affect the timing of adoption of …

Someone To Keep Me: Emotions, Labor, Trauma, And Orphanhood In Haiti, Hannah Mackynzie Archer

Doctoral Dissertations

In Haiti, the orphan occupies an important place in humanitarian discourse and practice as the key figure underlying the institution of the orphanage. Crucial to the orphanage and the orphan is work done by house mamas as nannies for the children, drawn primarily from the same communities and economic backgrounds as orphans. This ethnography explores how interactions between orphans, nannies, and volunteers are woven into a system of emotions produced by orphans, managed by nannies, and consumed by volunteers. Furthermore, how the intricacies of racial, gendered, and age-based inequalities, underlying these emotional exchanges, presume to reproduce discourses about the proper …

Rapport And Collective Attention: How We Predict Others Will Share Knowledge, Andrew S. Heim

Doctoral Dissertations

When we observe people playing cooperative games together, there are several factors such as their rapport, attention, and theory of mind reasoning ability that might influence the information we think they will prioritize. On the one hand, we might expect players to clear up uncertain information. On the other hand, we might expect them to instead share information that is unknown to their partner. Participants observed two players in a cooperative game and predicted how the players would choose to go about prioritizing the sharing of information. We found that participants generally chose to discuss private knowledge. Additionally, it appears …

Essays On The Economics Of Federal Programs, Diego A. Guerrero

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays in public economics and the political economy of the public sector. The document contributes empirical evidence on the impact of public policies on households, firms, and government. This first essay revisits the evidence on the intergenerational effects of the earned income tax credit (EITC) on the adult income of individuals who received the tax credit during childhood. The empirical strategy exploits formulaic changes localized across socioeconomic status in the tax schedule, and finds that tax credit transfers during early childhood increase adult income between 1.7 and 2.7 percent per \$1,000. Furthermore, the paper links …

A Relational Ontological Framework For Identifying Unstated Assumptions In Scientific Datasets, Kathryn Elizabeth Knight

Doctoral Dissertations

Every field of modern science relies on data as something foundational, the basic material that provides researchers with evidence of all recordable phenomena. Data carries an epistemic weight, linking various sensory experience as proof to our propositions, supporting scientific pursuit to get to the truth of something and justify scientific belief. However, to measure or count amounts to categorization, and the categories we create emerge from the models and cognitive schemes constructed in the minds of human beings. Our data is collected, measured, divided, and otherwise organized according to how we think about the world, and retains inherent unstated assumptions …

The Role Of Psychological Distance On The Antecedents And Consequences Of Political Outgroup Moral Derogation, Phillip P. Mcgarry

Doctoral Dissertations

Political polarization in the United States has continually increased at least across the past 40 years. Political partisans now regard out-party members as immoral. I employed three experiments (Experiment 1: n = 1070; Experiment 2: n = 402; Experiment 3: n = 392) to explore the antecedents and consequences of moral derogation in an inter-party context using the Ultimatum Game (UG) paradigm. Psychological distance was manipulated in Experiment 3, by randomly assigning participants to play the UG either in the same room or an adjacent room as a confederate. Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 were conducted online and served as …

Bridging Biological Systems With Social Behavior, Conservation, Decision Making, And Well-Being Through Hybrid Mathematical Modeling, Maggie Renee Sullens

Doctoral Dissertations

Mathematical modeling can achieve otherwise inaccessible insights into bio-logical questions. We use ODE (ordinary differential equations) and Game Theory models to demonstrate the breadth and power of these models by studying three very different biological questions, involving socio-behavioral and socio-economic systems, conservation biology, policy and decision making, and organismal homeostasis.

We adapt techniques from Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) epidemiological models to examine the mental well-being of a community facing the collapse of the industry on which it’s economically dependent. We consider the case study of a fishing community facing the extinction of its primary harvest species. Using an ODE framework with a …

Opioid Use And Borderline Personality Disorder Features: Implications For Postpartum Maternal Self-Efficacy, Andrea Gorrondona

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study sought to understand and explore the experiences of pregnant individuals who use opioids as previous research has mainly focused on identifying potential negative implications (Ryan, Marsh, Testa, & Louderman, 2006; Choi & Ryan, 2007; Grella, Needell, Shi, & Hser, 2009; de Bernabe et al., 2004). The initial sample included 178 total participants recruited from a high-risk pregnancy clinic during their pregnancy. Borderline features, approximation of borderline personality disorder (BPD) diagnosis (determined using a cutoff score of self-reported features, Kurt & Morey, 2001), opioid use status in pregnancy, and postpartum opioid use status were evaluated as potential predictors …

Economics In Transition: Issues Applicable To Climate Change, Odysseus Bostick

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents three essays on topics that characterize the challenges of the energy transition. The first two focus on mitigating the worst impacts of climate change while the final hones in on adapting to climate change.

The first essay estimates willingness-to-pay (WTP) of electricity customers for rooftop solar within the Tennessee Valley Authority. Applying a conditional logit model, the probability of adoption rises with utility rates and emissions-reductions and declines with costs. Evidence of social contagion exists with adoption probabilities increasing 55 − 57% when respondents know someone with panels. WTP also rises. Comparing aggregated to regional WTPs confirms …

Essays In Microeconomics, Michael Charysh

Doctoral Dissertations

\chapter*{Abstract}\label{ch:abstract} The first chapter evaluates the effect of the passage of the Campus Save Act (as part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization in 2013) on reported incidents of crime on college campuses in the United States. This piece of legislation required colleges and universities to provide sexual assault awareness training and preventive education programs for all new students, faculty, and staff. I collect survey data from colleges and universities on their historical training efforts and available resources from 2010 to 2020. While previous studies have examined the relationship between sexual violence and future earnings or labor market …

Social Wellness Of Counselor Education And Supervision Doctoral Students Before, During And After Covid-19, Alexandria Barnette

Doctoral Dissertations

Counselor education and supervision doctoral students (CESDS) comprise a unique population with oftentimes strenuous and competing roles that may impact their social wellness and feelings of connection and support. The arrival and continued presence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic also heightened isolation and increased impediments to connection and support for many. Given some of the benefits of social wellness, research on recent CESDS experiences is timely. This two-manuscript dissertation begins with a literature review on the topic and ends with an empirical study to further knowledge on the experience of social wellness that CESDS had during their doctoral programs taking …

The Role Of Trait Mindfulness, Perceived Stress, And Impulsivity In Understanding The Relationship Between Stress Mindset And Psychological Intimate Partner Aggression, Sarah Joyanna Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

Perpetration of psychological intimate partner aggression is a pervasive health issue and has been estimated to occur in 60 to 90 percent of relationships. Effects of intimate partner violence on its victims has been demonstrated to have lasting physical and mental health issues. Psychological intimate partner aggression has been demonstrated to have particularly harmful effects, above and beyond those identified in physical intimate partner aggression. Psychological intimate partner aggression has been demonstrated to be impacted by impulsivity, stress-mindset, perceived stress, and mindfulness. The present study proposed to examine a path analysis model of the relation between stress-mindset and psychological intimate …

Sexual Violence And Psychological Distress: The Roles Of Coping Self-Efficacy, Self-Blame, Shame, Activism, And Feminism, Charlotte Strauss Swanson

Doctoral Dissertations

In the current study, we investigated potential direct, indirect, and moderated relations in the links between exposure to sexual violence and PTSD symptom severity and depression among a sample of 440 United States women who had experienced sexual assault in adulthood. We found that sexual violence exposure was both directly and indirectly related to PTSD symptom severity via less trauma coping self-efficacy, greater behavioral and characterological self-blame, and more shame. Sexual violence exposure was also indirectly related to depression via the same explanatory variables, except for behavioral self-blame. Contrary to our hypotheses, results indicated that involvement in anti-sexual activism and …

The Impact Of Guaranteed Income On Political Participation, Daniel Horn

Doctoral Dissertations

This three-paper dissertation examines the impact of guaranteed income (GI) and cash transfer (CT) programs on political participation, aiming to contribute to understanding how social policies can shape civic engagement. The first paper provides a comprehensive literature review on GI and CT programs, focusing on their potential effects on political participation. By analyzing existing studies, this paper identifies key findings and gaps in the literature, setting the stage for further empirical investigation. The second paper develops and tests a new instrument called the Brief Political Participation Scale (BPPS), designed to measure political participation concisely and reliably. The third paper presents …

A Path Model Of Scct Applied To The Rural Appalachian Community, Sean M. Murphy

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study investigates the relationship between variables in the Social Cognitive Career Theory model as applies to rural Appalachia. A path model was conducted in order to see which variables are significantly related, as well as which paths differ from the hypothesized model, in this population. Results suggest that there is a direct effect of college going self-efficacy (CGSES) on college planning behaviors (CPB), as well as direct paths from barriers and postsecondary supports (PSS) to pursuing a education after high school. Indirect effects were also found from PSS and Barriers to CPB through CGSES. Surprisingly, no direct path …

Implementing The Color Wheel System To Improve Individual Student Behavior And Reduce Repeated Teacher Directions, Jade Bennett

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers have demonstrated the Color Wheel System (CWS) to be a resource-efficient and effective classroom management system within various contexts; however, there is limited research examining the impact of the CWS on teacher behavior (i.e., reducing repeated teacher directions) and individual student in-seat behavior. Using a withdrawal (ABAB) design, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the CWS in decreasing repeated teacher directions and increasing student in-seat behavior. Momentary time sampling was used to record individual student in-seat behavior. Frequency recording over a 20-min time interval was used to record repeated teacher directions and frequencies were …

Domestic Violence Exposure And Legal System Involvement Experiences Of Young Adults: A Retrospective, Intersectional, Qualitative Study, Amie Kahovec

Doctoral Dissertations

Youth perspectives are missing from our understanding of the intersections between childhood interparental domestic violence exposure (CEDV) legal system interactions (e.g., law enforcement). To address this empirical and practical gap, this study applies intersectionality, theoretically and methodologically, to inform recruitment, data collection, and analysis of semi-structured interviews with 10 young adults with CEDV and subsequent legal system interactions. Intersectional multilevel analysis will guide the examination of how interlocking oppressive systems at multiple levels inform CEDV and legal system interaction experiences to inform empirically grounded recommendations for legal system providers, centering the needs and experiences of youth from historically and contemporarily …

An Electronic Validation Of The Test Of Memory Malingering (Tomm), Bonnie M. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Within the context of a counterbalanced design, 46 students from a large state university in the southeast were administered the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and the electronic version of the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM-E). The TOMM was developed by Dr. Tom Tombaugh in 1996 and was originally designed to be administered in a paper and pencil format. The objective of this study was to establish equivalence between the computer-administered TOMM-E and the traditional paper-based TOMM. Each assessment consists of two trials and simple random assignment was used to determine which assessment format was administered to participants first. Time …

The Impact Of Rebel Group Structure On Foreign Fighter Civilian Victimization, Jack Anthony Schwartz

Doctoral Dissertations

The modern foreign fighter (FF) came into prominence following the onset of the wars in Iraq and Syria in the early 2010s. The fact that there was a movement of over 20,000 foreign fighters to Ukraine in 2022 shows that this is a phenomenon that is not going away or slowing down. What makes this phenomenon more serious is the negative impact that FFs have on civilians. FFs have been shown to conduct disproportionate violence against the civilian population in the locations that they inhabit. For that reason, it is vital to not only understand the impact of these individuals …

Juvenile Probation Officers’ Lived Experiences Of Collaboration With Clinical Mental Health Counselors: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis., Henrietta Gantt

Doctoral Dissertations

Juvenile offenders (JO) are at high-risk due to significant mental health challenges. We review the importance of collaboration between the mental health providers and juvenile justice system (JSS) and identify that more research regarding collaboration experiences between clinical mental health counselors (CMHC) and juvenile probation officers (JPO) would be beneficial. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) we explored JPO’s lived experiences of collaborating with mental health professionals (MHP). The aim of the study was to unveil more nuance and description of collaboration efforts to better support JO. Our findings offer a systemic understanding of collaboration as well as the catalysts and …

Investigating The Transfer Of Learning, Psychological, And Neural Effects In Immersive Virtual Reality, Logan Taylor Markwell

Doctoral Dissertations

Achieving mastery or expertise requires a substantial amount of quality practice. Recent technological developments have introduced a novel approach to practice, virtual reality. Specifically, virtual reality offers a low-cost, customizable opportunity to practice while minimizing the risk of the individual. Given that some types of practice may not lead to the acquisition of a motor skill, or worse, lead to detriments of that skill, understanding the developing science of motor behavior in relation to virtual reality is imperative. The following literature review will begin with a brief historical account of the evolution of virtual reality. Next, some terms of virtual …