Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Does The Anthropocene Require Us To Be Saints?, Bennett B. Gilbert

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation is one of several salients for thinking through the place of moral life and thought in human temporality and historicity, including that of future history, such as the Anthropocene, and in particular questions about personhood in a milieu in which non-human species might have moral claims upon us. I hope to launch your further consideration of these matters in your work on the Anthropocene and anti-anthropocentrism.

Serving Motherhood: Analyzing The Balance And Justice Of Foodwork In The Lives Of Working Moms, Kaitlyn Paige Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the foodwork that working mothers do at work and at home in order to support and provide for their families. It explores how women in low-paid food service jobs talk about and manage the work of feeding their families at home and customers at work in order to better understand the gender dynamics of this work and the conditions necessary to achieve “work-family justice”—structural solutions to work/family conflict. The study is based on qualitative semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 12 mothers who are between the ages of 24 and 43 from Mississippi and Arkansas. While some held …

Revitalization In The Alabama Black Belt: Cultivation Of A New Civic Hegemony In Rural Main Street America, Martha Grace Lowry Mize

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One Alabama Black Belt community has sought to re-imagine itself as a future affluent space for new families, tourists, and diasporic communities—despite regional challenges—by supplanting traditional discourses and centering a new civic hegemony within local revitalization efforts. This research and thesis draws upon qualitative ethnographic methods: participant observation and interviews conducted in Marion, Alabama. Located in Perry County, Marion has approximately 3,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom are African-American. Marion was designated as a Main Street Community (June 2017) and began a series of revitalization initiatives to increase community pride and project confidence about future growth. The National Main Street …

Raise Your Voice To Promote Childhood Vaccines: Vaccines Save Lives, Janice Hawkins

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] The current pandemic has increased our awareness of the importance of vaccines. As COVID-19 spread across the globe, the world raced to fight the disease. Vaccines rolled out in record time, and mass vaccination clinics are underway.

The Connection Between Body Modification And Personality, Taylor Ann Shoemaker

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has been inconsistent in its findings regarding the associations between body modifications (e.g., piercings, tattoos, augmentation, scarification, split tongue) and the Big Five personality traits (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism). All traits have been found to be significantly correlated with body modification in at least one study, but their significance differed from study to study. The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between body modification and each domain of personality concurrently to add to the literature surrounding differences between modified and unmodified individuals. To participate in this study, participants were asked …

Perceptions Of Covid-19, Information Seeking Behavior, And Political Orientation, Bailey Dodd, Sean Rife

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

COVID-19 was declared an international pandemic in March 2020 and infected millions of people globally in less than six months. Research suggests that a large amount of both accurate and misinformation exists on the pandemic, and it would be expected that an individual’s political orientation would influence their perception of the virus and the information that they endorse. Based on past research, it would be expected that both liberals and conservatives would be equally concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic and endorse similar measures. However, Republicans downplayed the pandemic and were more likely to consider it a hoax, while Democrats exaggerated …

Cultivation Theory: Media Effects Toward Consumer Evaluations Of The Criminal Courts, Lindsey Dale Elliott

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

A substantial body of literature connects media effects to consumer perceptions of the criminal justice system. Research on the topic of cultivation theory has highlighted that an increased fear of crime within the general populace, due to an exaggeration of violence and criminal activity in the mass media, has spurred increased support for punitive policing, harsher sentencing, and positive feelings toward capital punishment. However, no research exists to explicate the cultivation of consumer perceptions toward the criminal courts. This study examines the impact of media consumption through television, the internet, and social media on consumer evaluations of the criminal courts. …

How Divorce, Interparental Conflict, And Parenting Styles Relate To Young Adult Emotional Regulation, Madison Jernigan

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Emotional regulation has been linked to one’s ability to establish social relationships, as well as the onset of multiple psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depressive disorders. Researchers are beginning to better understand the development of emotional regulation; however, there is still debate surrounding what role familial factors play in this development. This study sought to better understand three factors that impact families: divorce, interparental conflict, and parenting styles. Specifically, this study hypothesized that participants whose parents are divorced and experienced high levels of interparental conflict would experience poor emotional regulation. Additionally, this study hypothesized that participants who perceive their …

Personal Technology Use, Social Media, And Daily Affect In Emerging Adults, William Crabtree

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Personal social and communication technology has been widely adopted by the world in the 21^st century. With this widespread worldwide adoption, significant controversy exists debating the effects these social technologies have. Specifically, there is a strong debate in the scientific literature over the psychological effects of social technologies, smartphones, and social media usage. Some arguments are made that modern technology can help improve psychological well-being, whilst others claim it has destroyed a generation of adolescents and merging adults. The present thesis aims to address this debate by exploring the current research from a variety of methodologies about social technology …

The Effects Of Reinforcement Sensitivity And Effortful Control On Anhedonia And Valued Living, Houston Howard

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Research has begun to uncover how individual temperamental and self-regulatory differences relate to certain psychopathological symptoms. Specifically, the current literature is expanding the view of how anhedonia, effortful control (EC), and reinforcement sensitivity may relate to one other. The aim of this study was to examine these relationships and explore models that might explain how these variables interact to predict valued living. Specifically, it was hypothesized that 1) greater anhedonia would be associated with lower levels of valued living, 2) the behavioral activation system (BAS) would moderate the effect that anhedonia has on valued living by decreasing its impact, with …

Examining The Relationship Between Inclusivity And Well-Being In The Gender, Sexual, And Romantic Minority Community, Sarah E. Weekes

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Research has established that higher levels of inclusivity promote increased levels of well-being in GSRM populations (Yoder & Mattheis, 2016); however, there is a lack of research exploring a moderating effect of psychological flexibility on this relationship. Previous research has also demonstrated that psychological flexibility is related to increased quality of life (Walloch & Hill, 2016); however, the relationship between psychological flexibility and inclusivity remains largely unexplored in GSRM populations. The purpose of this study was to explore how inclusivity, psychological distress, and psychological flexibility correlate with well-being among a sample of 198 individuals who identify as GSRM. This study …

Exploring Taiwanese Creative Arts Therapists' Professional Identity After Returning Home From Studying Abroad, Rhona Jung Jung Chang

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study aimed to document Taiwanese creative arts therapists' career experiences after studying abroad and returning home, and how they perceive their professional identity as creative arts therapists in Taiwan. This qualitative study explores the experience of eight female professional Taiwanese creative arts therapists, including two art therapists, two dance/movement therapists, two drama therapists, and two music therapists. Interviews were conducted, and the participants were asked about their personal experience of art-making, the practice of creative arts therapies in Taiwan, and the understanding and awareness of their professional identity.

Data from this study was gathered by the interviews' transcripts and …

Integrating Persuasive Messaging Strategies Into Higher Education Early Alert Interventions To Improve Student Academic Behaviors, Joseph Gayheart

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Higher Education is at a critical juncture as both public and private institutions seek to attract, retain, and graduate students. Institutions of higher education have traditionally developed communication and engagement strategies that become part of early warning/alert systems intended to increase student positive academic behaviors and improve student success. Persuasion can be a powerful tool in improving communication—especially when persuasive messages are deployed within the complex and ever-changing media landscape. Communication and persuasion scholars, for example, have applied persuasive messaging interventions in a variety of contexts but have yet to substantially apply these persuasive tactics in a higher education setting. …

“It’S The Only Thing We Have”: Whisper Networks Among Women Theatre Actors, Richard Edward Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Women who secretly warn one another via informal communications about men in their environment who may engage in some kind of misconduct are participating in a whisper network. This dissertation employs the narrative paradigm to understand how these networks function in the context of professional actors. Interviews conducted with actors who have worked in a variety of communities were analyzed in order to better understand how whisper networks function as warning systems that must be created because conventional means of protection may not exist or be trusted in their industry.

A Multiple Goals Perspective On Burnout Disclosure And Support Among Attending Physicians, Alison N. Buckley

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Burnout is a common experience among physicians and has been identified as a precursor to substance abuse and suicide ideation. When not addressed, burnout can have many negative personal, relational and professional consequences. Research about the burnout experience is limited due to the taboo nature of the topic. The present study used a multiple goals theoretical perspective to examine how physicians disclose burnout in order to access social support. Attending physicians from various specialties (N = 30) participated in one-on-one interviews and were asked to discuss their burnout experience, conversational goals during burnout disclosure, catalysts and barriers for disclosure, and …

Exploring Health And Risk Information Seeking In The Context Of Covid-19: Testing The Comprehensive Model Of Information Seeking And Risk Information Seeking And Processing Model As Competing Explanatory Models, Xianlin Jin

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Facing a pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the public feels uncertainty and fear. To cope with the pandemic and reduce uncertainty, the public needs accurate and prompt information. By theoretically and empirically comparing the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS) and the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP), this dissertation aims to unpack the core mechanism of health and risk information seeking. Built on the two models, the author proposed an Integrated Model and explored which variables are the significant predictors of health and risk information seeking.

The author recruited 729 adult participants and analyzed 394 completed …

Gender Violence On Television: Insights And Implications From Female Audiences Of Drama Series, Mary Celeste Clark

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Gender-based violence is pervasive across many television shows that are targeted toward a variety of audiences and cover a range of genres and settings, yet there is a dearth of literature regarding gender violence in fictional television drama series and how female audiences interpret and react to the depictions of gender violence in those programs. For this study, I spoke with 13 women about their experiences viewing programs with depictions of gender violence. The data was analyzed qualitatively using a phronetic iterative approach and demonstrates why these women watch these shows, what affective responses they have, and how they interpret …

Understanding Struggles And Triumphs Of Widows In Central Nigeria: A Path To Communication And Economic Empowerment, Meredith Annette Garrison

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

One in ten African women age 15 or older are widows. Approximately 8 million widows live in Nigeria with many living in extreme poverty. Throughout the nation, widows are subjected to physical and psychological harm from their families and communities following the deaths of their husbands. Women are marginalized across Nigeria, but widowed women often experience ostracization and oppression that leads to poverty. Most widows rely on informal business and petty trading to survive but these ventures typically only bring in less than a $1 a day for a family. This dissertation critically examined the situation of widows in a …

I Need To See Me On Tv: Parasocial Affirmations Of Sexual And Gender Identity Development Of Lgbtq+ Mass Media Consumers, Donald I. Lowe

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This dissertation presents a new cycle model of media usage by LGBTQ+ community members in the United States that reveals a purpose previously unnamed and undefined. While parasocial contact, parasocial interaction, and parasocial relationships have been present in the academic literature for quite some time (as early as 1956 when Horton and Wohl first wrote of the phenomenon), use of media to parasocially affirm one’s LGBTQ+ status is unique to this study. This study used qualitative methods to examine a specific mass media audience, LGBTQ+ individuals, and asked them, in one-on-one interviews, how they utilize mass media to assist with …

The Consent Of Man: An Examination Of Privacy Awareness, Surveillance, And Privacy Policy (Mis)Use, Will Reilley Silberman

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The problem of privacy is nuanced, pervasive, and requires an elevated approach. Given the lack of consistency with regard to privacy’s conceptualization and operationalization, research is needed that examines variables related to privacy to better understand how privacy operates in the present day. This dissertation aims to better understand nuances of privacy by gauging knowledge of online privacy, technological affordances related to privacy, and knowledge of surveillance. In this study, human subjects from a large southern University were presented with an opportunity to use a privacy-invasive smartphone application. After doing so, they viewed one of three privacy policies. Finally, they …

Communication Strategies To Intervene In Intimate Partner Violence Among Young Adult Couples, Kaylee Marie Lukacena

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social and behavioral health issue of importance among the young adult population (Cupp et al., 2015). IPV includes acts of physical violence, sexual violence, psychological aggression, and stalking enacted by an intimate partner (Smith, Zhang, Basile, Merrick, Wang, Kresnow, & Chen, 2018). In the United States., approximately one in three women and one in ten men experience IPV during their lifetime (Smith et al., 2018). Furthermore, over more than 70% of women who experience indicate that the first act occurred before the age of 25. One approach to preemptively address IPV on college campuses …

An Examination Of Communication Sequencing In Enacted Support Interactions For People With Major Depressive Disorder, Madison Adams

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Social support is integral to helping one manage Major Depressive Disorder [MDD], but enacted social support, or the supportive behavior itself, is not always beneficial. Using a normative theoretical perspective on social support and theory related to sequencing as guiding frameworks, in this thesis I examined common sequential patterns of enacted support between support providers and individuals with MDD. Moreover, I investigated how individuals with MDD evaluated the helpfulness of each of the different sequential patterns. To examine the sequential patterns and how individuals with MDD evaluated their helpfulness, I interviewed 20 participants who had been diagnosed with MDD. The …

The Persuasive Power Of Instagram Metrics: Examining How User-Generated Cues Affect Consumer’S Perception Of Influencer Credibility, Madison Lea Wallace

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Since 2019, Instagram has been testing the removal of a visible like count on posts. This change particularly pertains to social media influencers whose popularity is visibly displayed through the number of likes and comments their posts receive. Therefore, the present study experimentally investigated how varying levels of the like (i.e. hidden, approximate, and exact) and comment (hidden and exact) display on Instagram’s Explore page affect user’s credibility evaluations of unknown influencers. Guided by the Heuristic Systematic Model, MAIN Model and Warranting Principle, this study conducted a 3 (like display: hidden likes, approximated number of likes, and exact number of …

Inconspicuous Victims, Itay Ravid

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Recent debates on racial inequalities in the criminal justice system focus on offenders while neglecting the other side of the criminal equation—victims of crime. Such scholarly oversight is surprising given the similarly deep racial disparities in the treatment of victims, manifested in different stages of the criminal justice system. Delving into the underexplored territory of racialized victimization, this project bridges that gap and exposes the roots of the disparate treatment of Black victims in the American criminal justice system. These unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial tensions bring to the fore questions about governmental allocation of resources and …

American Exceptionalism At Its Finest: “Soft On Crime” Now A Vote-Winner In The World’S Largest Incarcerator, Mirko Bagaric, Gabrielle Wolf, Daniel Mccord, Brienna Bagaric, Nick Fischer

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Anyone with even a remote interest in criminal justice was stunned by the “soft on crime” Republican Party advertisement at Super Bowl LIV in 2020, especially during a presidential election year. The United States of America has pursued an unrelenting, merciless “tough on crime” approach for half a century, resulting in it being the world’s largest incarcerator by a massive margin. It was an unshakable political ideology that “tough on crime” was a vote winner. This resulted in incarceration levels increasing fourfold in four decades, with more than two million Americans ultimately behind bars. Legal and criminology scholars had argued …

“I See What Is Right And Approve, But I Do What Is Wrong”: Psychopathy And Punishment In The Context Of Racial Bias In The Age Of Neuroimaging, Alison J. Lynch, Michael L. Perlin

Lewis & Clark Law Review

In this Article, we first consider the relevant differences between antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and psychopathy. Then, we look at the meager cohort of federal sentencing cases in which the issue of psychopathy is even raised, and consider decision-making in this context from the perspective of implicit racial bias. Next, we present some background on the controversy of “psychopathy” diagnosis; here, we share what we call the “inside baseball” about the debate— on the differences between psychopathy and ASPD—that has rocked the world of the psychology academy. We will also analyze how our current ideas about punishment and recidivism could …

Differences Between Asians And Pacific Islanders In Mental Health Stigma And Help-Seeking Behavior, Kycel Butters

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mental health stigma is prevalent among U.S. minority groups. Minorities are found to have higher stigma towards mental illnesses and exhibit lower help-seeking behaviors compared to the majority (Narendorf, et. al, 2018). Among these minority groups, Asians and Pacific Islanders are two populations often grouped together despite their cultural differences. Due to this generalization, many of the data for Pacific Islanders are overlooked by their Asian counterparts. To address the differences between the two groups, the current study compares Asians and Pacific Islanders against each other on their attributions and attitudes towards mental health stigma and help-seeking behaviors. Participants ( …

Assimilating The Dominican Tourist: What Maps Tell Tourists In Puerto Plata About The Processes Of Capitalism And Imperialism, Amy Duncan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The tourism industry in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic is dominated by foreign enterprise. Given the history of colonization in the Dominican Republic, the social dynamics in the tourism industry are imperialist by nature. This thesis seeks to understand how tourist maps are used to assimilate tourists into the social dynamics of Puerto Plata. To do this, it unravels existing literature on tourism in the Caribbean, the nature of the tourism industry in the Dominican Republic as well as its foreign benefactors, and foundational works on the sociological aspects of tourism.

The findings of this paper are that tourist maps seek …

Texas Silver-Haired Legislature Foundation And Texas Silver-Haired Legislature 2021 And 2023 Amended Bylaws, Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

Texas Silver-Haired Legislature Foundation and Texas Silver-Haired Legislature 2021 and 2023 Amended Bylaws.

“Eyes In The Home”: Addressing Social Complexity In Veterans Affairs Home-Based Primary Care, Elizabeth Catherine Hulen, Avery Laliberte, Sarah S. Ono, Somnath Saha, Samuel T. Edwards

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND: Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC) has demonstrated success in decreasing risk of hospitalization and improving patient satisfaction through patient targeting and integrating long-term services and supports. Less is known about how HBPC teams approach social factors.

OBJECTIVE: Describe HBPC providers’ knowledge of social complexity among HBPC patients and how this knowledge impacts care delivery.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Between 2018 and 2019, we conducted in-person semi-structured interviews with 14HBPCproviders representing nursing,medicine, physical therapy, pharmacy, and psychology, at an urban Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center. We also conducted field observations of 6 HBPC team meetings and 2 home visits.

APPROACH: We …