Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Volume 3, Full Contents

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

The Portrayal Of Child Soldiers In Documentaries And Hollywood Film, Jessica Tassava

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

People in the United States are becoming increasingly mindful of child soldiers, with film being a critical means of bringing about awareness. However, awareness can be dependent upon media representation since most individuals in the U.S. do not have direct experiences with child soldiers. The purpose of the present study is to discover how the media has portrayed child soldiers in Hollywood films and documentaries, with an emphasis on the portrayal of violence, the role of women, and the reintegration experiences of child soldiers that are shown. Through a combined qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this study explores the depictions …

Gender Differences In Participation In And Motivations For Sexting: The Effects Of Gender Role Attitudes, Masculinity, And Femininity, Katie M. Springston

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Sexting, the exchange of sexually explicit messages, images, and videos through mobile phones, has in recent years become an increasingly publicized and common occurrence in our technologically advanced society (Strassberg, Rullo, & Mackaronis, 2014). The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of gender, gender role attitudes, and self-perceptions of masculinity and femininity on participation in and motivations for sexting. Using a cross-sectional design, a self-administered questionnaire was given to 222 Butler students during the early part of the spring 2016 academic semester. This questionnaire included items regarding demographics, the activity of sexting, personal participation in sexting, self-perceptions …

Problematizing Europe’S Borders In The Context Of The Recent Refugee Crisis, Liam A. Simmonds

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

The fundamental problem of Europe’s borders is how a bounded social reality is to be organized, primarily meaning who is to be included and who is to be excluded. The present refugee crisis has only served to expose and intensify this raison d'être of borders as exclusionary mechanisms which carry great political, economic, and symbolic weight, frequently much to the detriment of those excluded by them. Primarily drawing from the international political sociological work of Didier Bigo and affiliated scholars, I present a theoretical paper coupled with relevant empirical examples to present a critique of the exclusionary modes of operation …

Incremental Strategy-Oriented Feedback Promotes Positive Leadership Perceptions And Feedback Reactions, Lauren D. Murphy

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

In our lab experiment, participants who received negative strategy-oriented feedback associated with an incremental theory had more positive perceptions of a feedback deliverer and the feedback itself compared to recipients of comfort-oriented feedback associated with an entity theory.

Social Relevance And Innovation In Public Radio, Malak Habbak

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since its founding, National Public Radio has been denied steady funding by the government and has therefore been focused and reliant on its audience for funding. This study explores National Public Radio’s (NPR) efforts to appeal to audiences by staying relevant and innovative in the face of changing technology and new media. The study content analyzes five years of news media coverage of NPR stations for news values and key messages. Out of 1,853 articles that were analyzed, about 23 percent were related to the stations’ efforts to remain socially relevant and innovative. Those articles were then examined using descriptive …

Women’S Work: Labor Market Outcomes And Female Entrepreneurship In Ghana, Loretta Agyemang

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper is an investigation of female entrepreneurship in Ghana. It seeks to answer the following question: Why are Ghanaian women so heavily concentrated in microenterprise in the informal economy? The literature review explores labor market trends for women on three different scales including an overview of developing countries, Sub-Saharan Africa regional, and Ghana-specific analysis. After exploring issues women face in formal employment, the study delves into business operations of informal, urban-based market participants by analyzing data pertaining to Ghanaian microenterprise. Additionally, the paper details the experiences and views of female entrepreneurs through in-depth interviews and participant observations with thirty …

Table Of Contents

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Front cover, a list of the article contents in this issue, and editorial information.

Jiass Reviewers And Referees (2010-2011), Jiass Staff

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Gratitude and appreciation is expressed to the following persons who served as reviewers and referees for papers. The publication of this journal would not be possible without their professional dedication and support. THANK YOU!

Author Biographical Notes, Jiass Staff

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Author biographical notes in order of appearance

Frankenstein: The United States In Afghanistan During The 1980s And 1990s, Michael R. Szymanski

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

For nearly the past quarter century, the United States has been involved in covert operations in a region of the world that most people could not locate on a map. Invisible wars being fought by the United States and other foreign intelligence agencies in Afghanistan sowed the seeds for the attacks on September 11, 2001. From the Soviet invasion in 1979 to the summer of 2001, intelligence agencies from around the globe have had a stake in supplying, training, and funding the very same people who carried out those terrible attacks. In the middle of this chaotic time period, Osama …

Case Study Of “Hot-Spot” Apartment Complexes In North Central Indianapolis, Sarah R. Simpson

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This case study focused on a defined apartment complex hot spot, which includes apartment complexes receiving Section 8 funding, in the north-central region of Indianapolis, Indiana. The study identified social, environmental, and management characteristics possibly associated with concentrated levels of crime at Section 8 apartment complexes. As previous studies have shown, crime is concentrated at a few apartment complexes with a number of common characteristics such as a large minority population and a large amount of litter at the complex. In addition, a perspective of the effectiveness of hot-spot policing was obtained from beat officers who are familiar with the …

Redefining Legitimate Authority: Just War In The Era Of Terrorism, Christopher D. Mercado

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Recent attempts by political philosophers to determine if terrorism can be morally justified have analyzed terrorist groups from a just-war perspective; however, many times, these philosophers have subordinated the principle of legitimate authority to the other just-war principles or have neglected legitimate authority outright. Thus, the issue of who decides when, under what circumstances, and how to make war has been relegated to a secondary interest behind the issue of how war is made. This article fills the resulting hole in contemporary just-war literature by reevaluating the principle of legitimate authority. A proper, up-to-date definition of legitimate authority is here …

Using The Family Systems Model To Investigate The Relationship Between Parental Sensitivity And Infant Attachment, Diane E. Wille

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This study investigates the relationship between mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity and infants’ attachment relations within the context of the family. Family Systems models (crossover model and circular causal model) were used to assess the transaction of parental sensitivity across the family subsystems (i.e., mother- infant and father-infant) boundaries. Sixty-six families with infants participated in two home visits to test these models. When infants were six months old, their parents’ sensitivity was assessed using multiple measures: standardized observation, self rating (efficacy), and rating by the spouse. At 18 months, infants’ attachment security was assessed using the attachment Q-sort (Waters 1987). Parental …

The Effect Of Online Quizzing On Understanding Of Key Concepts In An Introduction To Psychology Course, Russell G. Coulter-Kern, Kelly L. Fogle, Harrison M. Sibert

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology were required to complete online chapter-review quizzes as part of their course. Using a within-subjects experimental design, we compared the students’ understanding of key concepts during a week when they were required to take an online review quiz to their understanding of key concepts during a week when an online review quiz was not offered. Results suggest that online quizzing improves understanding of key chapter concepts.

Chinese-Built Dams, Africa, And Economic Growth: Is There A Role For African Ngos?, Matthew Todd Bradley

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This paper will investigate the impact of Chinese-built dams in Africa, the economic and political impacts, and what roles African NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) play. As the continent of Africa continues to shed its “paper tiger” status in the postcolonial era and continues to become a potential economic powerhouse, what role will African NGOs play? The primary goal of this paper is to discern the role of African NGOs in the face economic growth, especially in the area of Chinese-built dams (a growing segment of economic growth in Africa as “engines” of industrialization).

Rebelling Against Lawful Authority? The Vaccination Controversy During The Smallpox Epidemic At Muncie, Indiana, 1893, Kelly Hacker Jones

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This article will explore the ways in which compulsory vaccination was resisted or protested in Muncie, Indiana, during an outbreak of smallpox in that city in the summer and fall of 1893. It will examine previous analyses of anti-vaccination sentiment at the end of the nineteenth century, discuss the actions taken in Muncie to prevent the spread of smallpox, and describe the ways in which Muncie citizens resisted compulsory vaccination. This article will also trace the spread of anti-vaccinationist sentiment across the state and outline the arguments used for and against compulsory vaccination. It is the author's contention that resistance …

Demand For Government-Provided Job-Training Programs: Evidence From The Illinois Policy Survey Data, M. Solaiman Miah

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This paper examines the determinants of the demand for public job-training programs in Illinois. A first objective is to determine the personal characteristics that influence the support for a spending increase for publicly provided job- training programs for the unemployed across various income groups in Illinois. We test for a U-shaped relationship between income and the demand for publicly provided job training. A second objective is to examine the role of local economic conditions in influencing the demand for job-training programs in Illinois. We use data from the 1995 Illinois Policy Survey supplemented with regional-level data (including the unemployment rate, …

Optimal Enforcement Of Uniform Pollution Standards When Marginal Pollution Damage Costs Differ Among Firms—The Epa’S New Cafo Rules, Robert S. Main, Peter Z. Grossman

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

The EPA’s 2003 and 2008 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System for Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) expanded the scope and stringency of the regulation of CAFOs but provided few if any additional enforcement resources. Enforcement of earlier regulations was poor, and the new regulations are likely to worsen this problem because they embody the usual approach of imposing one-size-fits-all rules. Because the likely damages from effluents vary greatly among CAFOs, depending on location, a system of emission fees that depend on likely damages would be more efficient. Alternatively, regulators could tailor enforcement efforts to probable damages. This paper provides a …

The Effect Of U.S. Import Tariff Reductions On Expanded Wage Inequality, Hisaya Kitaoka

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

There is still considerable disagreement among researchers whether trade liberalization can explain the rising wage inequality. The wage inequality between skilled workers and unskilled workers expanded in the U.S. manufacturing industries during 1980 through 2000. Meanwhile, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has provided us with the opportunity to observe the effect of significant tariff reduction during the same period. The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of the reductions of U.S. import tariffs from NAFTA countries Canada and Mexico to that expanding wage inequality during 1980 through 2000. Based on the essential idea of Stolper and …

Understanding The Personalistic Aspects Of Jola Ethnomedicine, Theo Randall

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This paper discusses the contemporary expression of the personalistic aspects of Jola ethnomedicine. Ethnomedicine pertains to the culturally specific health- associated beliefs and behaviors of a society. Personalistic pertains to medical beliefs and practices that associate disease with direct or intentional factors of a social and supernatural origin. The inherent personalistic aspects of contemporary Jola ethnomedicine are heavily associated with the contemporary religious beliefs and practices of the Jola. In the Gambia, Jola religious beliefs and practices reflect a synthesis of traditional Jola religion and Islam. Contemporary Jola religious beliefs and practices manifest themselves in contemporary Jola ethnomedical beliefs and …

Toward A Holistic, Intercultural, And Polyphonic Perspective On Health Care: A Brief Prologue To The Paper Titled “Understanding The Personalistic Aspects Of Jola Ethnomedicine.”, Fernando Paulo Baptista

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

As a prologue to the paper titled “Understanding the Personalistic Aspects of Jola Ethnomedicine,” the present essay provides a brief anthropologico-philosophical reflection, starting with classic Roman philosopher Seneca and his dictum that “each passing day we die,” and continuing on to the profound existential questions pondered by more contemporary thinkers, including Heidegger and Levinas, about life, death, being, time, totality, and infinity. These agonically deep questions are intimately related to the universal human angst about health, illness, and death and the seeking of a restoration to a functional corporal and mental harmony and well-being through various means and methods, whether …

The Great Recession: Impacts On Indiana And Beyond, James B. Dworkin

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This speech was given by Dr. James Dworkin at the Annual Meeting of the Indiana Academy of Social Scientists held in Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 15, 2010.

Based on a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center and on statistics gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the speech focuses on how the current recession has affected all aspects of society. It highlights such things as unemployment, spending habits, family dynamics, home ownership, education, and labor unions. The recession continues to affect all of these with many consequences. It may take several years before the economy and joblessness return …

Table Of Contents, Jiass Staff

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

A list of article contents for this issue.

Editor's Note, Kenneth D. Colburn Jr

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This fourteenth issue of the Journal is the first published under my term as editor and represents a significant departure from the format and editorial-review process of previous years. For one thing, we have moved to an online version of the journal in conjunction with the development of our new Web site (www.iass1.org). All members will be able to access the journal online. Second, the print version of the journal will be a spiral-bound 8.5” X 11” issue available for members to pick up at the next annual meeting, as we will no longer be mailing hard copies to members. …

Board Of Directors, Jiass Staff

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Listing of the 2010 Board of Directors

Jiass Reviewers And Referees (2010-2012), Jiass Staff

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Gratitude and appreciation are expressed to the following persons, among others, who served as reviewers and referees for papers. The publication of this journal would not be possible without their professional dedication and support. THANK YOU!

Cultural Definitions Of Health Care: A Case Study Of Burmese Refugees In Indianapolis, Marielena White

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

As a result of ongoing civil war and civil unrest in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, every year, the United States accepts increasing numbers of refugees from Burma, of which there is a population of significance within the greater Indianapolis area. When considering options for health care, Burmese refugees may opt for self care instead of care from a health care professional as a result of clashing cultural factors or fears of the unknown.

This study aims to uncover how members of the Chin ethnic group have been challenged or confronted by the social, cultural, and political institutions surrounding …

College Greek Life: Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, And Queer (Lgbtq) Students, Emily Welter

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This is a qualitative study conducted at a small, private Midwestern university to gain an understanding of the social climate of Greek sorority and fraternity houses as it relates to the acceptance of sexual diversity. In-depth interviews with 11 LGBTQ students were conducted to gain an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of gay students with the Greek system. A number of themes emerged, including general decisions to join a Greek fraternity or sorority; the impact of sexual orientation; aspects of the sorority and fraternity lifestyle; gender norms and perceptions of sexuality: males versus females; Greek-Affiliated LGBTQ students: in-house experiences; …

Experiential Learning In Industrial/Organizational Psychology: A Case Study, Amy Luthanen, Harrison Sibert, Holly Morris, Whitney Ohmer, Rebecca Lowden, Jordan Garber, Russell G. Coulter-Kern

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Experiential learning is considered a powerful tool for learning in college. Community-based research is one type of experiential learning that has been used to learn research skills in a variety of social science disciplines. The current case study was conducted as an experiential learning research project. A team of six students and a professor from a small Midwestern college conducted community-based research with a large agribusiness company headquartered near the college. The goal of the project was to create an effective employee-selection process for this firm and to provide an effective learning experience for students. This included development of a …