Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

Color Me, Please: How Color-Emotion Pairs Affect Our Perceptions, Russell T. Rogers

Honors College Theses

Color-emotion pairings are part of everyday experience, and they develop in early childhood. Emotional experiences are typically much stronger when emotional stimuli (e.g., pictures or videos) are paired with sensory stimuli (e.g., sights or sounds). Since the presence of these sensory stimuli seems to heighten the emotional experience of emotion-evoking visual stimuli, it should be the case that such pairings will allow the manipulation of color-emotion pairings through the presence of a color (a visual stimulus) during an emotional situation (such as watching a video). In this study (N = 44), we paired both a positive and negative video …

Human Resources’ Role In Avoiding Conflict In The Workplace, Brad Morris

University Honors Program

Psychologists have proven there are many causes of conflict; the vast majority of these causes can find their roots in displaced anger or a buildup of stress that leads to an unhealthy release, such as a display of hostility. Human Resource professionals are expected to find a way to limit, control, and eliminate these situations before they become a problem. Avoiding situations of work place conflict, especially violence is one of the most important duties for a corporation; these issues can be avoided by the Human Resource Department with relative ease by hiring the right people, as to ensure the …

Grandiose And Vulnerable Narcissism: Where Do The Emotional Differences Lie?, Katherine E. Wolven

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Narcissism can be conceptualized as existing on a continuum between grandiose and vulnerable phenotypes (Pincus & Lukowitsky, 2010). Previous studies found differences between narcissistic phenotypes in terms of behavioral task performance (Wallace & Baumeister, 2002) and emotional reactions to threatening conditions (Besser & Priel, 2010; Zeigler-Hill, Clark, & Pickard, 2008); however, research on emotion dysregulation was lacking in narcissistic populations. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to explore the subjective and objective emotional differences between the grandiose and vulnerable phenotypes of narcissism. In a laboratory manipulation, participants (N=63) completed self-report questionnaires, read emotionally-evocative vignettes describing achievement failure and …

The Extent And Nature Of Bullying In A Christian School, Brian Hazeltine, David A. Hernandez

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Bullying is a problem that has been studied in schools worldwide, but there is little research on bullying within Christian schools, a dearth which may stem from the assumption that Christian schools teach character traits that are inimical to bullying. Yet understanding the extent and nature of bullying in Christian schools may lead to a better understanding of ways to address the problem in all schools. Guided by social identity theory, which allowed for a focus on moral and character development, this study examined the extent and nature of bullying among 347 students in Grades 3 through 10 in a …

Effects Of Personality Preferences And Perceptions Of Others' Conflict Styles Impact On Roommate Satisfaction, Candice Morgan

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

The researcher sought to determine if personality preferences influenced perceptions of others’ conflict styles in roommate relationships. It was hypothesized that perceptions of conflict styles would impact satisfaction. Personality preferences for extraversion-introversion and thinkerfeeler were measured along with perceptions of the roommate’s conflict style and overall satisfaction with the relationship. Surveys were distributed and completed at the end of first semester by 133 first-year students living in college residence halls. Results partially supported the prediction that personality preferences would impact perceptions of roommate’s conflict styles. Consistent with previous studies, participants perceived the conflict styles of integrating, compromising, and obliging to …

Personality Profiles Of 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates, Aubrey Immelman

Forum Lectures

Aubrey Immelman and his summer research assistant Joe Trenzeluk present summaries of the psychological profiles of Republican contenders in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (including Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and Scott Walker) and outline the leadership implications of those profiles. In addition, the presenters discuss the personality profile of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and compare the candidates’ scores on the locally developed Personal [Presidential] Electability Index (PEI). The PEI, which has accurately predicted the outcome of every presidential election since 1996, projects that Trump will win the election.

"Casting Aside That Ficticious Self.": Deciphering Female Identity In The Awakening 2015, Anne L. Dicosimo

Master's Theses

Kate Chopin’s female protagonists have long since fascinated literary critics, raising serious questions concerning the influence of nineteenth-century female gender roles in her writing. Published in 1899, The Awakening demonstrates the changeability of the various representations of woman. In the nineteenth century, the subject of women may be divided into two categories: the True Woman and the New Woman. The former were expected to “cherish and maintain the four cardinal virtues of piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” (Khoshnood et al.), while the latter sought to move away from hearth and home in order to focus on education, professions, and political …

A How-To Guide To Single-Parent Ministry: An Inside Look To The Single Parent World In The Christian Community, John E. Walker Ii

Senior Honors Theses

The status of the family dynamic in the church has changed significantly, but the cultural understanding of ministers regarding the dynamic has changed little to none. As a result, the church’s ministry has become ineffective to the single-parent community because of ignorance. The goal of this thesis is to help educate Christian ministers and lay staff on the single-parent family condition and ministry opportunities to serve this demographic. This proposition includes information gained from interviews of single-parents, and ministers with experience regarding single-parents by someone with a single-parent upbringing. Overall, the single-parents interviewed stated that the Christian church is missing …

The "It" Factor, Ann Gallagher

Leadership Hour at Otterbein University

Gaining the Competitive Edge by Boosting Your Executive Presence

Have you ever known a leader or top executive who has got “it?” Well “it” is executive presence, and having “it” is the difference between moving up the ladder to leadership and being stuck on the middle rung. So have you got “it?”

The Beast Inside: Trauma Theory And William Golding's Lord Of The Flies 2015, Emily Paccia

Master's Theses

Following World War II and the horrible devastation in Europe, especially in London, Britain began to rebuild. The country was attempting to come back from war, and the culture reflected a bleak, disheartening feeling. Literature written during this time period, which so often reflects the culture directly, showed that very same bleakness. British novelist, and one who lived through that time, William Golding, writing in the 1960's, recreated the dystopia brought into European countries from living through the destruction of the war. Creating a vision of the future -- one of dysfunction and chaos -- Golding’s characters from Lord of …

Self-Compassion As A Predictor Of Loneliness: The Relationship Between Self-Evaluation Processes And Perceptions Of Social Connection, Taylor A. Lyon

Selected Honors Theses

Loneliness is a common and painful experience related to a multitude of negative health outcomes. The current study examined the relationship between measures of self-compassion and measures of loneliness in order to explore whether a self-compassionate mindset might alleviate feelings of social isolation. Because prior research has indicated a relationship between self-evaluation processes and perceptions of social connectedness, the study was conducted with the hypothesis that there would be a negative correlation between self-compassion and loneliness constructs. The sample consisted of 198 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25 at a small Christian university in the Southeast U. …

Can Authoritarianism Lead To Greater Liking Of Out-Groups? The Intriguing Case Of Singapore, Arne Roets, Evelyn W. M. Au, Alain Van Hiel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Authoritarianism refers to the individual’s willingness to submit to authorities that are perceived as established and legitimate and to conform to social norms and traditions endorsed by society at large, as well as a general aggressiveness toward groups that deviate from the modal norm (Altemeyer, 1981). Since the publication of The Authoritarian Personality, the seminal work by Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford (1950), numerous empirical studies have consistently demonstrated the seemingly inextricable link between authoritarianism and negative attitudes about out-groups (for a meta-analysis, see Sibley & Duckitt, 2008). Indeed, in the authoritarian mind, minorities are readily perceived as “bad, disruptive, …

Examining The Relationship Between Leadership Decision Making Styles And Personality Type Within The Department Of Defense, Antoine Lamont Prince Sr.

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Leadership is perhaps the single most important function within the Department of Defense. While the old cliché “everyone is a leader regardless of position” may hold moral meaning, personnel in leadership positions are key. Under the umbrella of leadership is decision making. What leadership is to an organization, decision making is to leadership. Yet, despite this knowledge, unsound decisions are readily conducted. There are various theories as to why this holds true, one of which is personality type. Research however, shows that there is a limited amount of relevant knowledge to determine if there is in fact a …

Cross-Sectional Assessment Of Safety Culture Perceptions And Safety Behavior In Collegiate Aviation Programs In The United States, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, Julius Keller, Micah Walala, John P. Young, Cody Christensen, Randal J. Demik, Gary J. Northam Ph.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

A cross-sectional quasi- mixed-method approach was used to determine the relationships between safety culture perceptions and safety reporting behavior among flight students with and without certified flight instructor (CFI) ratings. Respondents (n=259) were recruited from five collegiate aviation programs in the US and took part in the study. Survey Items adopted from the Collegiate Aviation Perception of Safety Culture Assessment Survey (CAPSCAS) were validated using factor analysis analyzed for reliability before use in the study. Researchers sought to find out if the safety reporting behavior (reporting frequency) of respondents could be predicted from their safety culture perceptions. Pearson’s …

Wearing Memories: Clothing And The Global Lives Of Mourning In Swaziland, Casey Golomski

Anthropology

This article situates a cultural phenomenon of women’s memory work through clothing in Swaziland. It explores clothing as both action and object of everyday, personalized practice that constitutes psychosocial well-being and material proximities between the living and the dead, namely, in how clothing of the deceased is privately possessed and ritually manipulated by the bereaved. While human and spiritual self-other relations are produced through clothing and its material efficacy, current global ideologies of immaterial mortuary ritual associated with Pentecostalism have emerged as contraries to this local, intersubjective grief work. This article describes how such contrarian ideologies paper over existing global …

Apples And Oranges: An Argument For Psychopathy As A Formal Diagnosis, Katherine K. Mcmann

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

When one thinks of the psychopath, an image of one of the notorious serial killers of the 1980s generally pops in their head- Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, or the Green River Killer. While still rare, psychopaths encompass much more than just serial killers, and they have a unique presentation that lies outside the confines of any current diagnosis. Characteristics such as lack of empathy, impulsivity, grandiosity, and poor behavioral controls are included in various personality disorders. The Narcissist will show lack of empathy and grandiosity while the Borderline will have poor behavioral controls and impulsivity, for example. However, the construct …

Testing Theory Of Planned Behavior And Neo-Socioanalytic Theory Models Of Trait Activity, Industriousness, Exercise Social Cognitions, Exercise Intentions, And Physical Activity In A Representative U.S. Sample, Phuong T. Vo, Tim Bogg

Psychology Faculty Research Publications

Prior research identified assorted relations between trait and social cognition models of personality and engagement in physical activity. Using a representative U.S. sample (N = 957), the goal of the present study was to test two alternative structural models of the relationships among the extraversion-related facet of activity, the conscientiousness-related facet of industriousness, social cognitions from the Theory of Planned Behavior (perceived behavioral control, affective attitudes, subjective norms, intentions), Social Cognitive Theory (self-efficacy, outcome expectancies), and the Transtheoretical Model (behavioral processes of change), and engagement in physical activity. Path analyses with bootstrapping procedures were used to model direct and …

Children's Responses To Cooperative And Competitive Games: A Person X Situation Analysis, Thomas David Mulderink

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined the relations between goal structure, task-completion order, time, and individual differences in agreeableness for school-aged children completing a tower building task. The tower building task (Graziano et al., 1997) allows for the study of in-game behavior during competitive and cooperative tasks with a similar structure. Children completed a total of 13-trials (six per goal structure) under two different goal structures in order to observe changes both prosocial and destructive behaviors over time. Results revealed that children engage in more destructive behaviors over time under contrient goal structure conditions after working together relative to groups that completed contrient …

Bright Or Dark, Or Virtues And Vices? A Reexamination Of The Big Five And Job Performance, Christopher M. Castille

Doctoral Dissertations

Personality research in industrial/organizational psychology has been dominated by the description of personality traits and outcomes as either bright or dark. Unfortunately, research has shown that bright traits have dark outcomes and vice versa, suggesting that a paradox is plaguing the literature. To resolve this paradox, I propose that a different heuristic stemming from positive psychology be utilized: virtues and vices. Virtues refer to exercises of human excellence while vices refer to actions of human failure. Drawing on the virtue ethics concept of the Aristotelian mean, dark traits are viewed as extreme or elevated levels of bright personality traits, allowing …

Success Indicators Of College Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Megan M. Prickett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the executive functioning skills as students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) entered college. The participants consisted of 95 college students with ASD who attended the Kelly Autism Program (KAP) on Western Kentucky University’s campus in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The individuals in the sample were categorized three groups: individuals who graduated from college, individuals who were still attending college, and individuals who dropped out of college. The results indicated that the executive functioning skills of inhibiting and initiation were statistically significantly different between the three groups and additional skills were significantly different when comparing only the group that …

Cultural Context's Influence On The Relationships Between Leadership Personality And Subordinate Perceptions, Victoria J. Smoak

Doctoral Dissertations

Fascination with leadership and the pursuit of its understanding have been common across disciplines throughout history (Bass & Stogdill, 1990). Studying leadership in an organization provides value in understanding its relation to outcomes such as employee attitudes (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, & Bommer, 1996), individual performance (Tierney, Farmer, & Graen, 1999) and organizational performance (Day & Lord, 1988; Sully de Luque, Washburn, Waldman, & House, 2008). Leadership is suggested to be the underlying human factor key to organizational effectiveness (Hogan & Kaiser, 2005). In spite of the vast body of literature, much remains to be understood, especially understanding context (McCall & Hollenbeck, …

Making The Connection Between Disordered Personalities And Interpersonal Dysfunction: A Relational Study, Meggie P. Rowland

Doctoral Dissertations

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a constantly evolving record of the conceptualization of mental problems. With each new edition, researchers seek to come ever closer to defining complex dysfunctional human behaviors as they occur in nature. Significant evidence suggests that the current conceptualization of personality disorders (PDs) as defined in the DSM-5 is not adequately capturing these disorders, leading to inaccurate diagnosis and ineffective treatment outcomes. This evidence has led to the formation of a new diagnostic model of PDs which is outlined in Section III of the DSM-5 under conditions requiring further study. Several …

Examining The Measurement Invariance Of The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form Internalizing Specific Problem Scales In African- American And Caucasian Men, Megan Anne Brokenbourgh

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Test bias has long been an area of investigation in the personality assessment literature, including the MMPI-2-RF. Research on previous versions of the MMPI and MMPI-2-RF has pointed to mixed results. The current study aims to examine test bias on the MMPI-2-RF’s nine Internalizing Specific Problem Scales by examining measurement invariance using MIMIC modeling and investigating differential item functioning (DIF). After removal of invalid protocols, the first sample consisted of 2,980 protocols from various settings requested from Pearson (255 African American and 2,755 Caucasian protocols). The second sample consisted of 1,379 valid protocols from psychiatric inpatient settings (1,245 Caucasian and …

Investigating Hostility In A Retail Setting, Carlos D. Martinez

Communication Studies

Although there have been many changes in the way Americans shop, particularly the increase in eCommerce, studies have shown that 90% of all United States retail sales still happen in stores. This statistic highlights the continued importance of the in-store experience for the customer. Retail stores constantly rely on atmospherics to try and persuade the customers to make purchases and this study focuses on the use of mirrors to see if they can influence a customer’s attitude when a customer has encountered an unsettling situation.Specifically, this study was designed to investigate the possibility of using mirrors to aid in the …

Rejection Sensitivity, Perceived Power, And Hiv Risk In The Relationships Of Low-Income Urban Women, Kathy R. Berenson, Christine Paprocki, Marget Thomas Fishman, Devika Bhushan, Nabila El-Bassel, Geraldine Downey

Psychology Faculty Publications

The psychological processes associated with HIV infection in long-term relationships differ from those operative in casual sexual encounters, and relatively little research has considered the aspects of personality applicable in the ongoing heterosexual relationships in which women are at greatest risk. Sensitivity to rejection has been linked with efforts to prevent rejection at a cost to the self and, therefore, may be relevant to the health risks that many women incur in relationships. We examined the association of rejection sensitivity with women's sexual risk behavior in a sample of women at heightened risk for HIV exposure. Women in long-term heterosexual …

Researching Mbti Personality Types: Project Management Master’S Degree Students, Thomas G. Henkel, James W. Marion Jr, Debra T. Bourdeau

Publications

The purpose of this research study was twofold: 1) to explore if a university’s Master of Science in Project Management students’ MBTI® personalities differ significantly; 2) to gain a better understanding if the MBTI® personality traits of university students enrolled in a project management degree differ significantly from those MBTI® personalities of the general population. The goodness of fit test was used in order to test the hypotheses that the 177 graduate project management students (observed data) have the same MBTI® distribution as in the general population (expected data). Overall, the present study showed that the student population has 27.18% …

Psychosocial Motivators For Obstacle Course Racing: A Qualitative Case Study, Aracely Rodriguez

Master's Theses

This study explored the psychological and sociological motivations of adult female and male obstacle course racers. A qualitative case study approach was used to explore the views, experiences, and motivations of obstacle course racing (OCR) participants. Descriptive statistics and cross tabulation was used to interpret responses to the 297 online questionnaires. A content analysis approach was used to analyze the qualitative data gathered from three focus groups with a total of 20 obstacle course racers. Three theories formed the basis of the study: Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), and Social Leaning Theory (SLT). Overall, findings supported previous research …

What A ____ Thing To Do! Formally Characterizing Actions By Their Expected Effects, Dustin Wood, William Tov, Cory Costello

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A number of personality frameworks assume traits describe central tendencies of action-for instance, calling someone assertive indicates they have a tendency to perform assertive actions. But what makes it appropriate to characterize an action by terms like assertive, kind, or honest? We propose that actions are characterized by such terms in large part by having expected effects on the environment which match particular conceptual templates. In the present studies, we attempt to better identify the expected effect dimensions perceivers seem to utilize to make action characterizations related to the Big Five and HEXACO personality dimensions. To do so, a set …

Evaluating A Collaborative Ipad Game's Impact On Social Relationships For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Louanne E. Boyd, Kathryn E. Ringland, Oliver L. Haimson, Helen Fernandez, Maria Bistarkey, Gillian R. Hayes

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

This article describes how collaborative assistive technologies, housed on off-the-shelf, low-cost platforms such as the iPad, can be used to facilitate social relationships in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through an empirical study of the use of a collaborative iPad game, Zody, we explore how assistive technologies can be used to support social relationships, even without intervention from adults. We discuss how specific design choices can encourage three levels of social relationship: membership, partnership, and friendship. This work contributes to research on both assistive technologies and collaborative gaming through a framework that describes how specific in-game elements can foster …

The Adaptive Value Associated With Expressing And Perceiving Angry-Male And Happy-Female Faces, Peter Kay Chai Tay

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Facial expressions are valuable for conveying and understanding the inner thoughts and feelings of the expressor. However, the adaptive value associated with a specific expression on a male face is different from a female face. The present review uses a functional-evolutionary analysis to elucidate the evolutionary advantage in the expression and perception of angry-male and happy-female faces over angry-female and happy-male faces. For the expressors, it is more advantageous for men to show angry facial expression as it signals dominance, averts aggression and deters mate poaching; it is more advantageous for women to display happy facial expression as it signals …