Psychology Commons^™

Wilderness, Kathryn E. Bucolo

Celebration

The collection of short stories I have written focuses on how people process (or do not process) tragedy, especially as related to themes of grief, memory, and faith. Most of the stories I have written are dysfunctional narratives in that they do not necessarily provide solid conclusions or solutions for the characters or readers, reflecting current trends in literature to move away from the didactic and moralistic in favor of the ambiguous and unstable, the hopeless and sorrowful. In "Wilderness", one of the pieces I wrote for my collection, Robert struggles with the death of his wife when he realizes …

Male Hypergamy And Social Status, Cedric N. Floyd

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

Male hypergamy, a social pattern rarely observed, has been prevalent throughout history as a symbol of social status for men. Hypergamy is the act of marrying into a higher social class or caste. This paper analyzes a few exemplary men ranging from the Italian Renaissance to Twenty-First Century America to make note of this pattern and attempts to understand how it affects the social order in middle-to-upper class society. The research, gathered from various books on class and society, presents an idea of various men who have, in some way or another, used their marriages as a social asset and …

Biology, Culture, And The Origins Of Pet-Keeping, Harold Herzog

Human-Companion Animal Relationships Collection

Attachments between non-human animals of different species are surprisingly common in situations involving human agency (e.g., homes, zoos, and wildlife parks). However, cross-species animal friendships analogous to pet-keeping by humans are at least rare and possibly non-existent in nature. Why has pet-keeping evolved only in Homo sapiens? I review theories that explain pet-keeping either as an adaptation or an evolutionary by-product. I suggest that these explanations cannot account for the wide variation in the distribution and forms of pet-keeping across human societies and over historical time. Using fluctuations in the popularity of dog breeds in the United States, I show …

Traditional Masculinity & Advertising Image Approval, Danielle W. Kailing, Peggy Cantrell Phd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project investigates the relationship between adherence to traditional masculinity and approval of selected advertising images. Because traditional masculinity includes characteristics supportive of aggression and dominance; I hypothesize that an increase in adherence to traditional masculinity will correlate with approval of the violence found in some print advertisements. Participants include 259 men who completed an anonymous, online, survey. Adherence to masculinity is measured using the Male Role Norm Inventory-Revised (MRNI-R) (Levant, et. al, 2007). Each picture is scored on a 5-point Likert Scale. As hypothesized, an increase in total MRNI-R score, is significantly correlated with an increase in the approval …

Toolset For Visual Creative Conflict Management, Robert H. Frantz

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Conflict is neuro-physiologically processed by emotional faculties of the human
brain, similarly to pain processing (Lack & Bogacz, 2012). Pain causes an "away-reflex", and so does conflict. Most of us, therefore, try to avoid pain and likewise conflict. Some of us are drawn into conflict, either as an active party or a referee, against our will, while others of us must handle conflict as a matter of life role. Because of this away-reflex to conflict, we often try to resolve conflict in a single step in order to "get it over with" as quickly as possible. Many people expect to …

Exploring Student Perceptions Of Resident Advisors, Shyneice C. Porter

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The purpose of this study was to determine students’ misconceptions about the resident advisor (RA) role and to further examine the effects of those misconceptions on attitudes toward RAs. The research also aimed to shed light on stereotypes about RAs and ascertain the implications of those stereotypes. Typical misconceptions about RAs include the notions that they lack time for social activities and lead lives that revolve solely around their duties as resident advisors. Stereotypes have consequences, and the possible consequences of these misconceptions include lack of appreciation for the position, displays of disrespect, negative perceptions and judgments toward RAs, and …

Development Of A Personal Visioning Guidance System, Mariano Tosso

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The primary intent of this project was to formulate a novel guidance system to help individuals gain clarity and understanding of their "inner vision" of a desired future state. My secondary goal was to enrich the palette of resources and tools available for coaching individuals in their discovery and crafting of personal and/or professional visions. Initially, I conducted an extensive literature review that inspired my approach. Then, I followed a process for assessing existing visioning tools and then imagining new opportunities to create, conceptualize, and craft at least five novel visioning tools.

The project outcome includes a Personal Visioning Guidance …

Bullying: Prevention/ Intervention Strategies With High School Students, Chloe Blau

Senior Honors Projects

Bullying has been a prevalent issue within the public and private school systems for as long as they have existed. There have always been students who were victimized for various reasons, or for no reason at all, but this generation has become much more vicious when it comes to the lengths to which they will go to hurt someone. Many methods have been used in an attempt to create both prevention and intervention plans for these horrible acts, but it is quite difficult to change a person’s behavior. So what if instead of trying to alter the mind of the …

Differential Extinction Of Disgust And Anxiety Among Victims Of Sexual Traumatization, Christal Badour

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging evidence suggests that in addition to fear, traumatic event-related disgust reactions may be integral to understanding the sequelae of sexual traumatization. Importantly, evidence broadly suggests compared to fear, disgust may be resistant to extinction. As such, conditioned disgust reactions may not evidence the same pattern of extinction observed with fear-based reactions. This may have important implications for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As such, the current study sought to fill an important gap in the existing literature by examining specific processes and mechanisms that are likely to affect outcomes of exposure-based interventions following sexual traumatization. Specifically, 72 …

The Threat Of An Innocent Victim: How Perspective-Taking And Mood Affect Perceptions Of Victims, Reid A. Searls

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Previous research on the phenomenon of victim blaming indicates a significant interaction of just-world beliefs and perspective-taking, such that imagining oneself in the situation of a victim causes a significant threat to the self. This in turn leads to moral judgments that reduce this threat and restore just-world beliefs. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of mood on individual tendencies to blame victims of human trafficking. While the results failed to fully support the connection between mood, perspective, just-world beliefs, and blame, a weak, though significant, relationship was found between just-world beliefs and victim blame. Implications …

The Influence Of Bystanders In Subsequent Bullying Behavior, Jenny Lane Morris

Dissertations

Aggression that is targeted towards an individual or a group of individuals who is at a disadvantage to respond is known by several terms in the literature, including bullying, harassment, and mobbing. There has been much interest in this sort of targeted aggression among school-aged children and, therefore, a large body of literature on the topic exists. In adult populations, especially in workplace environments, much research has focused on the respective roles of the victim and bully in this adverse social dynamic, with less information available on the role of the bystander, which has emerged as an important part of …

Procedural Due Process In Modern Problem-Solving Courts: An Application Of The Asymmetric Immune Knowledge Hypothesis, Leah C. Georges

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Problem-solving courts, such as drug and mental health courts, function under the model of therapeutic jurisprudence—the idea that legal policies and procedures should help and not harm clients, within the confines of the law (Winick & Wexler, 2002). Although it would seem that the lack of procedural due process in most problem-solving courts is in direct opposition to the best interests of a client, it is possible that observers find this more of a problem than do the court clients themselves. This two-experiment study applied Igou’s (2008) AIK hypothesis to problem-solving courts’ practice of sanctioning in the absence of due …

An Examination Of The Role Of Social Support, Coping Strategies, And Individual Characteristics In Students’ Adaptation To College, Arleen Bejerano

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adaptation, or adjustment, is a psycho-social process that occurs when an individual accepts and integrates into his or her life a transition from one situation to another situation (Schlossberg, 1981). Many individuals struggle with transitions because transitions involve changes in the environment, roles, routines, and/or ways of looking at the world. The present investigation examines the transition from high school to college, and explores the interpersonal and individual ways that students manage the changes accompanying this transition. Using Transition Theory as a framework, students’ social support networks, coping strategies, self-esteem, and depression are posited to influence students’ adaptation to college …

Who Will Defy Authority? Personality Features And Destructive Obedience In The Milgram Paradigm, Ashton Caroline Southard

Dissertations

The present study examined the potential role of individual differences in personality in the likelihood of engaging in destructive obedience to authority within a modified version of the Stanley Milgram paradigm (Milgram, 1963, 1974). Personality features examined included the Big Five dimensions of agreeableness, openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion, and the dimensions of the Dark Triad, which consist of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Participants were 39 undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology classes who participated in exchange for partial fulfillment of a research requirement. Data were collected in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of online completion of …

Understanding The Role Of Trust In Cooperation With Natural Resources Institutions, Joseph A. Hamm

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation investigates the role of trust in predicting cooperation with a natural resources management institution. It begins with an exploration of the legal landscape against which the relationship between land owners and natural resources management institutions is contextualized, presents a review of the often ostensibly disparate trust literature and a framework for its integration, and proposes and tests a model of trust and cooperation in the natural resources context. The results provide mixed support for the model as proposed but confirm the importance of trust in this context and suggest implications for policy, especially the potential importance of increasing …

Perceptual Symbols Of Creativity: Coldness Elicits Referential, Warmth Elicits Relational Creativity, Hans Ijzerman, Angela K. Y. Leung, Lay See Ong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research in the cognitive and social psychological science has revealed the pervading relation between body and mind. Physical warmth leads people to perceive others as psychological closer to them and to be more generous towards others. More recently, physical warmth has also been implicated in the processing of information, specifically through perceiving relationships (via physical warmth) and contrasting from others (via coldness). In addition, social psychological work has linked social cues (such as mimicry and power cues) to creative performance. The present work integrates these two literatures, by providing an embodied model of creative performance through relational (warm = relational) …

Prevalence, Types, Risk Factors, And Course Of Intimate Partner Violence In Appalachian Pregnant Women, Tifani Fletcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy can lead to a myriad of poor physical and psychological outcomes for both mother and child. There is a paucity of research examining IPV risk factors for rural pregnant women and on information regarding the course of the specific types of IPV throughout pregnancy. The current project was an investigation of the prevalence of IPV and IPV risk factors for different types of IPV in an Appalachian pregnant sample that contained women from both rural and nonrural locations (Study 1), and was an examination of the occurrence of any IPV and the different types …

Stupid Doctors And Smart Construction Workers: Perspective-Taking Reduces Stereotyping Of Both Negative And Positive Targets, Cynthia S. Wang, Gillian Ku, Kenneth Tai, Adam D. Galinsky

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Numerous studies have found that perspective-taking reduces stereotyping and prejudice, but they have only involved negative stereotypes. Because target negativity has been empirically confounded with reduced stereotyping, the general effects of perspective-taking on stereotyping and prejudice are unclear. By including both positively and negatively stereotyped targets, this research offers the first empirical test of two competing hypotheses: The positivity hypothesis predicts that perspective-taking produces a positivity bias, with less stereotyping of negative targets but more stereotyping of positive targets. In contrast, the stereotype-reduction hypothesis predicts that perspective-taking reduces stereotyping, regardless of target valence. Three studies support the stereotype-reduction hypothesis. Perspective-taking …

What's Age Got To Do With It? Examining How The Age Of Stimulus Faces Affects Children's Implicit Racial Bias, Erica Cheree Noles

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Discrepant results regarding the emergence of children's implicit racial bias suggest additional research is needed to understand the developmental timeline of racial bias. Investigations using established explicit racial bias measures and the implicit association task with children demonstrate racial bias in young children (Aboud, 1988; Baron & Banjai, 2006). These findings do not corroborate the only known developmental use of the affective priming task (APT) to measure racial bias, which suggests implicit racial bias does not emerge until adolescence (Degner & Wentura, 2010). Variations in the task demands, the types of stimuli used to represent the construct of race, and …

Breaking The Prejudice Habit: Automaticity And Control In The Context Of A Long-Term Goal, Patrick S. Forscher, Patricia G. Devine

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In what follows, we will describe the problem that motivated the development of the prejudice habit model, namely, that even people who report beliefs and attitudes that are opposed to prejudice can act in discriminatory ways. We will then review the prejudice habit model and how the model uses the distinction between controlled and automatic processes to understand lingering group disparities. We will end our discussion with a review of topics for further research and the implications of the prejudice habit model for other dual process theories.

Sexual Motivations And Ideals Distinguish Sexual Identities Within The Self-Concept: A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis, Celeste Sangiorgio, Warren A. Reich, Andrea C. Vial, Mirko Savone

Publications and Research

Many studies explore when and how young people make sexual choices but few empirical investigations link their sexual motivations with their inner conceptions about their sexual identities. We used multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis to connect young adult participants’ (N = 128) self-descriptions of twelve identities to their sexual motivations and ideals. Identities clustered along two semantically distinct dimensions: Dimension 1 was anchored by family identities on one side and non-family identities on the other; Dimension 2 was anchored on one side by friend/romantic relationships and achievement-based social identities on the other. Those who cited intimacy (e.g., sex as an expression …

High School Students Tell All: Analyzing Facebook Confession Sites, Chelsea Conrad

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Social media sites are gaining popularity, giving teenagers a venue to anonymously post secrets, rants, and insults. Recently, anonymous high school related Facebook confession sites have emerged. These sites, while not endorsed by the school, often contain the school’s name, mascot and location creating a forum for anonymous social interactions among high school students. Facebook confession sites have gained attention over concerns about cyber bullying and the potential negative influence on the reputation of schools. The purpose of this study is to analyze the language of Facebook confession sites to determine the degree of positive and negative emotionality as well …

The Benefits Of Exposure To Animals For Persons With Dementia: A Literature Review, Stephanie Bennett

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This literature review was performed to assess the current standing of the use of animals as a therapeutic agent for individuals suffering from dementia. This area of study is currently broad; therefore the intent of reviewing the current literature was to establish what has been studied at this point in time and to recommend future research directions in the field. The literature search was performed on three academic search sites (PsycINFO, PubMed, and AgeLine) using four search terms (“Pet therapy Alzheimer’s,” “Pet therapy dementia,” “Animal therapy Alzheimer’s,” “Animal therapy dementia”); search results were verified by having a second researcher independently …

Anger In The Courtroom: The Effects Of Attorney Gender And Emotion On Juror Perceptions, Christian B. May

Honors College Theses

This study sought to examine the effects of gender stereotypes of emotional expression on jurors’ perceptions of an attorney’s competence. Participants watched a video of a closing statement of a male or female attorney expressing either anger or neutral emotions and were asked to give a verdict and rate the attorney’s competence. Participants rated an angry male attorney highest in competence and an angry female attorney lowest in competence. Results also showed that participants who viewed a male attorney were more likely to attribute the attorney’s emotions to the situation compared to participants who viewed a female attorney. The implications …

The Consequence Of Freedom: A Sociological Analysis Of The Suicide Epidemic In Luthuania, Kyle Kaminski

Honors Theses

Lithuania has the highest global suicide rate at 40.2/100,000, according to the international suicide statistics provided by WHO (2004). Lithuania's suicide rate is over 2.5 times more than the global average. The top five countries in terms of suicide rate are Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Hungary (Ibid). All of these countries were previously under the Soviet Union's control from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War in 1989. Lithuania has not always been at the top of the rankings for global suicide rates. Lithuania's suicide rate spiked almost 20 percent during the years …

Possible Psychosocial Benefits Of Having A Sibling With A Disability, Jenna M. Talbott

Senior Honors Theses

Possible psychosocial benefits resulting from exposure to siblings with disabilities are investigated in the current study. Previous literature has generally overlooked the possibility of psychosocial benefits by exclusively focusing on the negative effects of having a sibling with disabilities. Contact theory suggests that the increased exposure to individuals with disabilities should increase positive attitude toward those who are struggling with disadvantages. This investigation hypothesized that this tendency would be manifested as elevated empathy and compassion in individuals who have siblings with disabilities, and that these traits would be influenced by certain demographic variables. A survey was distributed, and the responses …

Attitudes Toward Monsters, Jonathan R. Gaber, Suma Mallavarapu, Beth Randi Kirsner

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The concept of monsters is ubiquitous across cultures, but there has been little research on monsters themselves and what factors shape people’s attitudes toward them. Kennesaw State University undergraduate psychology students (N = 450) read unbiased, positively biased, or negatively biased reports of one of 15 fictional monsters before all participants read identical stories about an encounter with the monster. Questionnaire responses indicated that reading a negatively biased report results in significantly more negative attitudes toward a monster than reading an unbiased report, that attitudes toward animals positively correlate with attitudes toward monsters, and that attitudes toward monsters differ depending …

Attachment Representations And Mother-Child Dialogue, Baiba Barene

Open Access Theses

With the emerging linguistic competencies of the child, dialogue becomes a regular part of mother-child everyday interactions, and may serve as one of the mechanisms of transmission of attachment in early and middle childhood. The goal of this study was to investigate the hypothesis about the co-constructive nature of children's knowledge of secure base script. Formation of the secure base script is a result of child-caregiver interactions that have been consolidated into a unit of knowledge available for use in attachment related situations. Individual attachment narratives and mother-child co-constructed narratives were collected from 86 mother-child dyads when children were 3.7 …

Applying Sex Offender Registry Laws To Juvenile Offenders: Biases Against Adolescents From Stigmatized Groups, Jessica M. Salerno, Margaret Stevenson, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Tisha R.A. Wiley, Bette L. Bottoms, Liana Peter-Hagene

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

The need to protect children from dangerous sex offenders has led to policies that require juvenile sex offenders to register on public online registries. It is important to determine the implications of these laws for the wellbeing of child victims and also for juvenile offenders on these registries. Is the application of these laws—designed for adult offenders—to juveniles appropriate, necessary, and supported by public sentiment? The chapter reviews current sex offender registration policies and psychological research addressing whether the assumptions underlying these laws are supported by research, public sentiment toward these laws, factors that might drive biases against stigmatized youth …

The Effects Of Religious Coping And Drinking To Cope On The Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms And Alcohol-Related Problems, Adrian J. Bravo

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present research examined the moderating effect of religious coping (positive or negative) on the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems. Furthermore, the current study examined the moderating effects of positive and negative religious coping in the context of the confirmed mediation of drinking to cope on depression and alcohol related problems (i.e., moderated-mediation). The study consisted of 294 religious undergraduate student drinkers from a large southeastern university. The majority of participants identified themselves as Christian (n = 257, 87.4%), were female (n = 218, 74.1%), and reported a mean age of 21.85 (SD = 5.57) …