Social Psychology Commons^™

Test Of Personal Intelligencemini-12 (Topi Mini-12): Brief Manual And Test (9th Edition), John D. Mayer, Abigail T. Panter, David R. Caruso

UNH Personality Lab

Personal intelligence can be defined as the capacity to reason about personality and to use personality and personal information to enhance one’s thoughts, plans, and life experience (Mayer, 2008, p. 209). It is a “hot” intelligence in the sense of operating on information that is personally relevant and of importance to the individual.

The gold standard for measuring intelligences is through the use of ability scales. The Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI), a 134-item ability measure, has been developed over three versions (1.0, 1.1., and 1.2) to test the existence of personal intelligence and to provide for its measurement (Mayer, …

The Psychology Of Performance In Elite Youth Soccer Players, Matthew Best

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study is a holistic assessment of psychological mindsets, which are one’s attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions, in elite youth male soccer players between the ages of 13 and 18 and the exploration of the relationships between these mindsets and performance outcomes. The mindsets that were assessed were expectancy, growth mindset, value, goals, belongingness, grit, and self-regulation, and the performance outcomes were minutes played, goals scored, and goals allowed. The mindsets were selected through a review of research in education and sport. I conducted Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient analyses to assess the validity and reliability of the …

The Role Of Dialect Words In Children’S Social Decisions, Madison Rose Myers-Burg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent research suggests that young children are capable of distinguishing between phonetically dissimilar spoken accents, yet have difficulty distinguishing between phonetically similar accents (Wagner, Clopper, & Pate, 2013). The present study aimed to determine whether the presence of dialect-specific vocabulary enhances young children’s ability to categorize speakers. Participants completed four training trials in which they were familiarized with photos of two children: one of whom used American English labels for test objects and one of whom used British English labels. After training trials, participants completed eight test trials in which they were asked to infer which target child would use …

Race, Social Class, And Child Abuse: Content And Strength Of Medical Professionals’ Stereotypes, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Kimberly M. Bernstein

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Black and poor children are overrepresented at every stage of the child welfare system, from suspicion of abuse to substantiation. Focusing on stereotypes as a source of bias that leads to these disparities, the current study examines the content and strength of stereotypes relating race and social class to child abuse as viewed by medical professionals. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals (Study 1: N = 53; Study 2: N = 40) were recruited in local hospitals and online through snowball sampling. Study 1 identified stereotype content by asking participants to list words associated with the stereotype that …

The Expression Of Gratitude As A Contributor To Marital Strength, Kandace R. Palmer

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Abstract

Gratitude is an important positive emotion for personal and social growth. Because of innate human needs, gratitude strengthens and builds interpersonal connections (Carnegie, 1936/1981; Johnson, 2008; Lambert & Fincham, 2011). In light of more recent research on the expression of gratitude in dyadic relationships, gratitude is considered to be an essential emotion for communicating “responsiveness” and for marriage survival (Algoe, Fredrickson, & Gable, 2013; Algoe, Kurtz, & Hilaire, 2016; Algoe & Zhaoyang, 2016). When spouses express appreciation, sincerity is necessary for gratitude to strengthen a marriage (Gordon, Arnette, & Smith, 2011; Leong, 2012). Furthermore, insincere gratitude, or a belief …

An Exploration Of Names In Social And Professional Settings For Persons With Ethnically Identifying Names, Paige Whitney Johnson

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The overarching purpose of this collected papers dissertation was to explore the perspectives and experiences related to names in social and professional settings for persons with ethnically identifying names. The first paper was an integrative literature review. The second paper was a qualitative study utilizing the phenomenological approach. Both studies utilized self-presentation theory, while Study #2 added social penetration theory and social identity theory. Self-presentation theory posits that people put forth a public face to show that they possess desirable characteristics to observers. Social penetration theory is centered on the concept of self-disclosure and the notion that people carefully construct …

Social Dominance Orientation And Emotion Regulation: A Parallel Multiple Mediator Model Of Instigated Incivility Moderated By Workgroup Civility Climate, Fabiana Brunetta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While most of the existing research on the topic of workplace incivility has focused upon its consequences on employee and organizational well-being, researchers are recognizing the need for research on predictors, mediators, and moderators of uncivil workplace behavior. The current study contributes to this new wave of workplace incivility research by emphasizing the links among variables not previously explored in incivility research. This nonexperimental correlational study (N = 1027) developed and tested a parallel multiple mediator model of instigated incivility. The model examined the mediation of the emotion regulation strategies – cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression – on the …

Spatio-Temporal Distribution Of Negative Emotions In New York City After A Natural Disaster As Seen In Social Media, Oliver Gruebner, Sarah R. Lowe, Martin Sykora, Ketan Shankardass, Sv Subramanian, Sandro Galea

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Disasters have substantial consequences for population mental health. We used Twitter to (1) extract negative emotions indicating discomfort in New York City (NYC) before, during, and after Superstorm Sandy in 2012. We further aimed to (2) identify whether pre- or peri-disaster discomfort were associated with peri- or post-disaster discomfort, respectively, and to (3) assess geographic variation in discomfort across NYC census tracts over time. Our sample consisted of 1,018,140 geo-located tweets that were analyzed with an advanced sentiment analysis called ”Extracting the Meaning Of Terse Information in a Visualization of Emotion” (EMOTIVE). We calculated discomfort rates for 2137 NYC census …

Positive Affect And Health: What Do We Know And Where Next Should We Go?, Sarah D. Pressman, Brooke N. Jenkins, Judith T. Moskowitz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Positive affect (PA) is associated with better health across a wide range of physical health outcomes. This review reflects on why the study of PA is an essential component of our understanding of physical health and expands on pathways that connect these two variables. To encourage forward movement in this burgeoning research area, measurement and design issues in the study of PA and health are discussed, as are the connections between PA and a range of different health outcomes. Plausible biological, social, and behavioral pathways that allow for positive feelings to get under the skin and influence physical wellness are …

Understanding People-Centered Intelligences, John D. Mayer

UNH Personality Lab

No abstract provided.

Advancing Research On Psychological Stress And Aging With The Health And Retirement Study: Looking Back To Launch The Field Forward, Alexandra D. Crosswell, Madhuvanthi Suresh, Eli Puterman, Tara Gruenewald, Jinkook Lee, Elissa S. Epel

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was designed as an interdisciplinary study with a strong focus on health, retirement, and socioeconomic environment, to study their dynamic relationships over time in a sample of mid-life adults. The study includes validated self-report measures and individual items that capture the experiences of stressful events (stressor exposures) and subjective assessments of stress (perceived stress) within specific life domains.

Methods

This paper reviews and catalogs the peer-reviewed publications that have used the HRS to examine associations between psychological stress measures and psychological, physical health, and economic outcomes.

Results

We describe the research to date …

Bias-Motivated Homicides: Toward A New Typology, Lindsey Sank Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite significant progress towards equal protection under the law for women, LGBT individuals, and people of color in the United States, hate crime remains a pervasive problem, and rates appear to have increased in recent years. Bias-motivated homicide – arguably the most serious form of hate crime – is statistically rare but may have far-reaching consequences for marginalized communities. Data from the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey have suggested that, on average, fewer than 10 bias-motivated homicides occur in the United States per year; however, data from open sources indicate that the rate of bias-motivated homicide …

A Weight–Related Growth Mindset Increases Negative Attitudes Towards Obese People, Nic Hooper, Alison Crumpton, Michael D. Robinson, Brian P. Meier

Psychology Faculty Publications

In implicit personality theory, people with entity views or a fixed mindset perceive characteristics (e.g., intelligence) as uncontrollable, whereas people with incremental views or a growth mindset perceive characteristics as controllable. In addition to other benefits, the literature sometimes suggests that having a growth mindset will protect against prejudice, which the current two studies examine in terms of negative attitudes towards obese people. Participants (total N = 501) were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire assessing attitudes towards an obese or non-obese person and a self-theory questionnaire also assessed ideas about body weight. People with a growth mindset, and not …

Jonestown: The Psychological Massacre, Alexis A. Wiles

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

Jim Jones was the leader of the Peoples Temple and led the organization to many places. Jim Jones used psychological tactics in order for them to do what he wanted. With those psychological tactics, he got many of their personal belongings, time, and in the end their lives.

The People We Like: Do Introversion-Extroversion And Commitment Affect Evaluation Of Potential Partners?, Naquan Ross

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The present study assessed whether similarity of a hypothetical partner on Introversion-Extroversion, along with partner preference for long-term or short-term relationships, might vary according to participants’ own Introversion-Extroversion. MANOVA results suggest three important points. First, ratings by extrovert participants showed higher levels of romantic interest for extroverted, rather than introverted, hypothetical partners; introvert participants’ ratings did not differ between introvert and extrovert partners on this dimension. Second, the similarity of the participant and the hypothetical partner on Introversion-Extroversion appeared to influence interpersonal interest, romantic interest, and commitment potential. Last, the partner’s commitment level may drive participants’ non-platonic interest and potential …

Indirect & Displaced Aggression: The Role Of Comparison Based Traits And Cognitive Vulnerabilities, Niki M. Knight

Dissertations

The present study explored the relationships of contingent self-esteem, dispositional envy, and two cognitive vulnerabilities (i.e., anger rumination and fear of negative evaluation) to indirect aggression (IA) and displaced aggression (DA) in a college student sample (N = 346). Despite the theoretical relevance of these personality and cognitive factors to aggression, there is little empirical evidence linking them to the perpetration of IA and DA. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical multiple regression were used to test the utility of these constructs in accounting for unique variance in IA and DA and to assess the potential role of participant gender. Participants …

Transformative Reminiscence Training For Older Adults: Increasing Self-Positive Reminiscence During Self-Directed Life Reviews, Deena Gayle Hitzke

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

For this dissertation, I tested whether Transformative Reminiscence Training is a viable alternative to facilitated life reviews for older adults. Facilitated life reviews involve structured reminiscence, which is designed to enhance the self-positive functions of identity consolidation, problem solving, and meaning-making death preparation (Korte, 2012). Transformative Reminiscence Training combines life review methods with consciousness raising. It is based on Paulo Freire’s critical theory (2000) and includes psychosocial, perspective transformation, and narrative identity life review education. Using a pre-posttest, randomized experimental design, I explored whether Transformative Reminiscence Training would result in (a) the completion of a self-directed life review, (b) increased …

Attitudes Towards Racism In Kkk Forums: Denouncement, Avoidance, And Neutralization, Natasha R. Wood

Student Theses

Recent research has attempted to better understand the complexity of modern terrorism, which seems evermore present in our worldview. However, the scope of the literature lacks representation of far-right ideology, and that of White supremacists within the campaign. Specifically, the potential fear of being labeled as a racist has been recognized as both an obstacle to communicating racial issues and as a potential driver behind the self-imposed social exclusion of White supremacists, which may further contribute to their radicalization rigidity around race-relevant political issues. The current study is an inquiry into the internal perceptions and conceptualizations of racism among members …

The Psychopolitics Of Taboo, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores the construct of taboo within the contexts of human psychology and politics.

Democidal Thinking: Patterns In The Mindset Behind Organized Mass Killing, Gerard Saucier, Laura Akers

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

We derived a model identifying observable attitudes among perpetrators of democides - mass-killing programs associated with governments that cost over 160 million lives in the last century. These attitudes, evident in rhetoric mobilizing support for killing, have previously received too little systematic study. Content-analysis of text from 20 prominent, diversely sampled cases of democide from around the world yielded 20 typical features of democidal mindset, present in most cases. These prominently included essentialist beliefs in out-group inferiority, dehumanization and moral exclusion, a paranoid-thinking style, and certain forms of nationalism, among numerous other features. These can function to facilitate the inculpation …

Social Work Trauma Interventions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Kassie Baumann

Senior Honors Theses

According to Lynne Weilart (2013), in her article on the reasons why people seek out therapy, trauma is the number one reason people attend counseling. Many different trauma-informed approaches are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. Some of these approaches are as follows: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT);Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT); Trauma Systems Therapy (TST); Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP); and Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) (de Arellano, Danielson, Ko, & Sprauge, 2008). The effectiveness of each trauma intervention will be examined. DBT is one of these trauma interventions that is growing …

When “Right Makes Might”: Moral Superiority And Its Effects On Decision-Making For Others, Emily Shakal

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Within the psychological literature of morality, little research has been done on the concept of moral superiority. The aim of this study was to determine whether a self-perception of moral superiority led to increased severity of judgment toward social issues and harsher moral action against perpetrators. Participants in the experimental condition were given a moral identity prime prior to all tasks. The results showed that the moral prime was not effective in increasing a sense of moral superiority in comparison to the control condition. Severity of judgment also did not differ between groups. There was no difference between groups on …

Childhood Development: How The Fine And Performing Arts Enhance Neurological, Social, And Academic Traits, Katherine Rowe

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

Childhood development has always been a major topic when studying psychology and biology. This makes sense because the brain develops from the time a child is conceived to the time that child has reached around the age of twenty-seven. Doctors, psychologists, and sociologists look at numerous things when studying childhood development. However, how common is it for researchers to study how the fine and performing arts affect childhood development? Sociologists tend to be extremely open and mindful of all aspects of things such as culture, sexuality, religion, and even age. By taking a sociological standpoint when studying the arts …

The Narration Of Conflicting Accountabilities In The Era Of High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation, James Christopher Head

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The U.S. Government’s Race to the Top program inspired a wave of education reforms across the nation aimed at holding teachers individually accountable for their students’ “growth” on test scores. These individualized programs implemented new forms of audit technologies aimed at orienting teachers’ priorities toward the calculations produced by students, rather than towards students’ holistic growth and well-being. In so doing, these programs signify an ideological rupture for teachers in that their long-shared sense of interpersonal accountability is institutionally re-directed – and reinforced with consequences – toward calculative accountability. In this dissertation, I investigated teachers’ experiential navigation of the introduction …

Dancing, Mindfulness, And Our Emotions: Embracing The Mind, Body, And Sole, Alisha M. Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project examines dance, as an intervention and mindfulness practice that assists with managing our emotions. There is a need for dance therapy in social institutions such as, healthcare facilities, schools, and community centers. Dance therapy has the potential to reduce negative emotions, create mindfulness, improve self-expression, and promote a healthy well-being. I am proposing that dance therapy is applied as a regular practice in social institutions to develop mindfulness and promote emotional stability.

In this study, I argue that dance therapy can contribute to our well-being long term. In addition to this written thesis, a visual component of …

Persistence Of Cultural Heritage In A Multicultural Context: Examining Factors That Shaped Voting Preferences In The 2016 Election, Anna M. Schwartz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The prevailing discourse about the myth of the “melting pot” of American culture implies that heritage cultures are eliminated in favor of a homogenous “American” norm. However, this myth belies the persistence of our cultural heritage in forming our attitudes, morals, and habitual patterns of thought, each of which shape how we participate in our democracy through voting. By contextualizing voting predictors such as authoritarianism, social dominance, and sexism in developmental and ecological theories, this dissertation shows how they are shaped by culture and transmitted through consumption of media and interaction with members of one’s community and family. In an …

Understanding Burnout In Undergraduate Students: The Role Of Social Media, Paige Walker

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

This study investigated different factors relating to undergraduate burnout and whether social media could act as a protective factor. The study group was comprised of 66 female undergraduate psychology students at Brescia University College. Participants completed one questionnaire with seven subscales which measured the following variables: subjective well-being, student subjective well-being, personality traits, social support, stress, online support, and burnout. The participants were divided into three groups based on their burnout scores. The results of the ANOVA indicated that there were significant differences between the three burnout groups on: subjective well-being, student subjective well-being, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, social support, and …

Effects Of Self-Affirmation On Anti-Terror Related Worldview Defense Following Mortality Salience, Haley Jewel Ramsey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research has demonstrated that self-affirmation via values affirmations seem to buffer the self against perceived threats (Steele, 1988). An example of such a threat is opposing worldviews regarding civil liberties in counterterrorism policies. The present study uses the threat of worldview opposition in regards to counterterrorism policies in conjunction with an experimental induction of mortality salience to explore whether self-affirmation can attenuate increases in worldview defense following mortality salience. It was hypothesized that mortality salience would increase worldview defense, but that self-affirmation would decrease worldview defense following exposure to a worldview threat. When extremity of attitudes toward civil liberties …

Development And Validation Of The Single Item Trait Empathy Scale (Sites), Sara Konrath, Brian P. Meier, Brad J. Bushman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Empathy involves feeling compassion for others and imagining how they feel. In this article, we develop and validate the Single Item Trait Empathy Scale (SITES), which contains only one item that takes seconds to complete. In seven studies (N = 5724), the SITES was found to be both reliable and valid. It correlated in expected ways with a wide variety of intrapersonal outcomes. For example, it is negatively correlated with narcissism, depression, anxiety, and alexithymia. In contrast, it is positively correlated with other measures of empathy, self-esteem, subjective well-being, and agreeableness. The SITES also correlates with a wide variety of …

Middle Ground Approach To Paradox: Within- And Between-Culture Examination Of The Creative Benefits Of Paradoxical Frames, Angela K. Y. Leung, Shyhnan Liou, Ella Micron-Spektor, Brandon Koh, David Chan, Roni Eisenberg, Iris K. Schneider

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Thriving in increasingly complex and ambiguous environments requires creativity andthe capability to reconcile conflicting demands. Recent evidence with Western samplessuggested that paradoxical frames, or mental templates that encourage individuals torecognize and embrace contradictions, could produce creative benefits. We extendedthe timely, but understudied, topic by studying the nuances of for whom and whycreative advantages of paradoxical frames emerge. We suggest that people endorsinga middle ground approach are less likely to scrutinize conflict and reconcile withintegrative solutions, thus receiving less creative benefits of paradoxical frames. Fivestudies that examined individual and cultural differences in middle groundendorsement support our theory. Study 1 found that …