Social Psychology Commons^™

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Effects Of Dehumanization And Disgust-Eliciting Language On Attitudes Toward Immigration: A Sentiment Analysis Of Twitter Data, Katherine S. Wahrer, Cynthia J. Najdowski, John V. Passarelli

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Attitudes towards immigration have been shown to be driven by dehumanization and disgust. The more people dehumanize immigrants and the more disgusted they feel, the more negative attitudes they tend to have toward immigrants. However, little is known about how exposure to social media content that links dehumanization, disgust, and immigration influences users’ attitudes on this issue. This is important to consider because the majority of adults in the United States are on social media. We used Twitter data, machine learning, and sentiment analysis to investigate whether exposure to dehumanizing or disgust-eliciting tweets about immigration impacts users’ own sentiment toward …

Investigating Various Personality Factors As Predictors Of Poor Belief Updating Regarding Controversial Political Issues, Eric E. Haseman Jr

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Belief updating is a research area investigating how individuals refine or fail to refine their preexisting beliefs when confronted with corrective sources. Understanding the various drivers of poor belief updating in a political context is essential to maintaining an informed democracy, as the ideal voter in a democratic nation updates political misconceptions and false beliefs when presented with corrective sources. Despite the importance of this topic, the literature examining potential factors that could contribute to poor belief updating in a political context remains particularly limited. I aimed to address this limitation by recruiting undergraduates from the University of Central Florida’s …

Opportunity Discrimination: Resettlement Efforts Made By Ngos In The United States, Sarah Rauf

Capstone Collection

Social identity plays a key aspect in life. This research tests whether homogeneity between refugees and their host communities correlates to the immigration process and resettlement success. The analysis helps form a conclusion that people want to help those who look like themselves before those who appear more foreign. This is related to the central theories of social identity and prejudice stemming from stereotyping. Data collection comes from interviews with staff at a number of NGOs in the United States. The immigration and resettlement policies of these NGOs have been researched, and members were interviewed on the reformation of their …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Conservative And Cultural Clashes With Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Bryan Z. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the multifaceted debate over the use of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in United States public schools, while also emphasizing the ways in which withholding CSE is a strategy to uphold the white supremacist patriarchy. The work begins by historically framing the evolution of sexuality education through the United States’ history. This leads to the current discourse around CSE and the ways in which it is the optimal support for American youth today. After setting this foundation, the thesis looks at conservative figures and groups who are seeking to prevent public school adoption of CSE standards, as well …

The Politics Of Expertise And The Articulation Of Authority In Democracy: Cognitive Style And Intelligibility In The Education Of Problem-Solving And Professional Decision-Making In The Domain Of Law, Michael W. Raphael

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Computational complexity refers to the representational aspect of problem-solving. This representational aspect is commonly understood to describe the regularities that organize the definition of the problem-situation, the qualities that designate its difficulty, either in terms of the process of arriving at a definition of the problem or in the process of arriving at a solution. It is for this reason, that it is commonly said that “representational design precedes computational efficacy.” The point of this maxim is to serve as a reminder that an efficient use of resources begins with the design of near decomposability, the specification of the properties …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Caitlyn Aldersea, Justin Bravo, Sam Allen, Anna Block, Connor Block, Emma Buechler, Maria De Los Angeles Bustillos, Arianna Carlson, William Christensen, Olivia Kachulis, Noah Craver, Kate Dillon, Muskan Fatima, Angel Fernandes, Emma Finch, Colleen Cassidy, Amy Fishman, Andrea Francis, Stacia Fritz, Simran Gill, Emma Gries, Rylie Hansen, Shannon Powers, Jacqueline Martinez, Zachary Harker, Ashley Hasty, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Kathleen Hopps, Adelaide Kerenick, Colin Kleckner, Ci Koehring, Elijah Kruger, Braden Krumholz, Maddie Leake, Lyneé Alves, Seraphina Loukas, Yatzari Lozano Vazquez, Haley Maki, Emily Martinez, Sierra Mckinney, Audrey Mitchell, Kipling Newman, Audrey Ng, Megan Lucyshyn, Andrew Nguyen, Stevie Ostman, Casandra Pearson, Alexandra Penney, Julia Gielczynski, Tyler Ball, Anna Rini, Christina Rorres, Simon Ruland, Helayna Schafer, Emma Sellers, Sarah Schuller, Claire Shaver, Kevin Summers, Isabella Shaw, Madison Sinar, Claudia Pena, Apshara Siwakoti, Carter Sorensen, Madi Sousa, Anna Sparling, Alexandra Revier, Brandon Thierry, Dylan Tyree, Maggie Williams, Lauren Wols

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

The Effect Of Uncertainty On Explanatory Preference, Eli Schwartz-Yermack

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous research on political extremism has led to two competing perspectives. One views extremists as being more knowledgeable and informed about politics than moderates, while the other claims it is moderates who know more. These two views appear to have arisen from studies that examined different types of political knowledge. This phenomenon could be explained by extremists and moderates having different preferences when it comes to their consumption of political information. We hypothesized that participants indirectly manipulated to feel more extreme conviction in their political views by manipulating them to feel uncertain would prefer more simple explanations of political issues …

Intercorrelations Between Essentialist Beliefs And Religious, Political, And National Identities, Truman Deree

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Research on essentialist beliefs has largely focused on a few identities associated with biological traits that have socially constructed significance and meanings placed on them (e.g., skin color for race or voice pitch for gender). Identities that are more choice-based (e.g., religion or politics) or otherwise non-physical (e.g., nationality) have been underrepresented in research on essentialism. The concept of essentialism is important because the action of regarding natural biological factors as immutable and determinant has been found to lead to racial and political discrimination. The current study surveyed participants on their national, religious, and political beliefs to investigate the relationships …

Blending Reproductive Justice Into General Education Courses, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Adelle D. Monteblanco

Feminist Pedagogy

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, there is still work to be done by reproductive justice advocates. As educators, we can integrate reproductive justice topics into our existing courses or we can create new courses. In this paper we briefly define reproductive justice and provide some learning resources for educators. The bulk of our paper describes our special topics Introduction to Sociology: Sociology of Reproduction course as an example and potential model for educators as we urge them to think about how they might integrate reproductive justice into their existing courses and texts, such that students …

Less Meat, Less Heat: Analyzing Meat Consumption Through The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Identity, Past Behavior, And Conservatism, Madeleine Powers

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Meat reduction is a largely underutilized means of combatting climate change that warrants further investigation. The current study utilized an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to predict intention to eat red meat. In addition to traditional TPB components of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, this study adds to the literature by including meat-eating identity, past meat-eating behavior, and conservatism as predictors of meat consumption intentions. 744 participants were recruited via Mturk and compensated $1 for completing surveys assessing the extended TPB constructs related to meat consumption. The sample was 57% men, and 81% white, …

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …

Ukrainian Women Refugees In Italy And Their Risk Of Sexual Violence: An Interview With Luisanna Porcu, Lepa Mladjenović

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Moral Values, Social Ideologies, And Threat-Based Cognition: Implications For Intergroup Relations., Brandon D. Stewart Phd, David S. M. Morris

Faculty Publications

Moral foundations theory (MFT) has provided an account of the moral values that underscore different cultural and political ideologies, and these moral values of harm, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity can help to explain differences in political and cultural ideologies; however, the extent to which moral foundations relate to strong social ideologies, intergroup processes and threat perceptions is still underdeveloped. To explore this relationship, we conducted two studies. In Study 1 (N = 157), we considered how the moral foundations predicted strong social ideologies such as authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) as well as attitudes toward immigrants. …

U.S. Extremism And Media: How The New Age Of Politics Speaks To Media Usage, Josephine R. Haneklau

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

On January 6th, 2021, the nation watched from their television screens as a group of extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. An interesting emotion fell over the U.S. public – it was both shocking and not shocking at all. The attack on the Capitol was a by-product of years of internal division, catapulted by Trump’s presidency. Between racial divisions and the progression of Black Lives Matter, the advancement of COVID and its governmental policies, and Trump’s divisive nature of president at a peak, it seemed almost inevitable that an offense like this would occur.

As political conversations …

An Analysis Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Students At The University Of South Dakota, Alexandra J. Buss

Honors Thesis

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly took over the United States (US) in the beginning of 2020. Nationally, damages to finances, housing, and mental health have impacted many. Despite being one of the least densely populated states, South Dakota quickly rose to some of the highest rates in the nation and was identified as a national hotspot. While there have been significant reports on the effects of COVID-19 on certain communities (healthcare workers, small business owners, parents), more research is needed on the effects on university students. In this report, I aim to assess damages based on financial status of students, mental …

Great Men Are Almost Always Bad Men: The Cultural Revolution Of The Techno-Totalitarians, Gregory S. Mckenzie

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.

People Remember Liked Political Policies As Having Been Attributed To Their Own Party, Dalton Thomas Bailey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A robust finding in psychology shows that people tend to like information more when it supports their existing beliefs, or comes from their own ingroup, a finding known as motivated reasoning. These findings are especially prominent in a political context. Quite consistently, research suggests people increase their liking of political information like political policies when they are attributed to their own party. What is unknown, however, is if people also tend to attribute personally liked information to their own party. These studies were conducted to investigate this question.

Two, within-subjects studies were conducted. In both, participants (undergraduate students) saw various …

Did The Political Climate Exacerbate The Pandemic In The U.S.?, Brittany T. Morin, Joanna Gyory, Anthony F. Morin

Master's Theses and Capstones

The global pandemic that began in the United States in early 2020 continues to be a topic of controversy. The added aspect of affect polarization in the country’s political realm may have exacerbated the effects of COVID-19. In their published article in Nature Human Behaviour, Gollwitzer et. al. found that it was possible to link voting partisanship, physical distancing, and COVID-19 outcomes showing that a county’s partisanship might be used to predict the degree to which that county would socially distance and then, therefore, the rate of cases and fatalities in that error on a lagged timescale. This researcher attempted …

Backlash Against The #Metoo Movement: How Women’S Voice Causes Men To Feel Victimized, Jaclyn A. Lisnek, Clara L. Wilkins, Megan E. Wilson, Pierce D. Ekstrom

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Three studies examined whether perceived increase in women’s “voice” (i.e., being heard and taken seriously about sexual assault) contributes to perceptions of bias against men. In Study 1, both men and women who perceived women to have a greater voice related to sexual assault, perceived greater victimization of men. This relationship was stronger for relatively conservative participants. In Study 2, relatively conservative (but not relatively liberal) participants who read about #MeToo perceived greater men’s victimization than those in the control condition. Study 3 examined responses to perceiving that men are victimized by #MeToo. For relatively conservative (but not liberal) men, …

Growth Mindsets Of Anxiety: Do The Benefits To Individual Flourishing Come With Societal Costs?, Crystal L. Hoyt, Jeni L. Burnette, Emma Nash, Whitney Becker, Joseph Billingsley

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Believing anxiety can change is a predictor of wellbeing, in part, because such beliefs – known as growth mindsets – predict weaker threat appraisals, which in turn improves psychological functioning. However, feeling a sense of personal threat facilitates social activism, and thus growth mindsets may undermine such action. Across six studies (N = 1761), including cross-sectional and experimental approaches (3 pre-registered), growth mindsets predict flourishing, including wellbeing, resilience, and grit. We find that growth mindsets indirectly predict reduced activism against social threats through reduced threat appraisals, which are critical motivators of activism. The total effect linking growth mindsets to activism …

Political-Pedagogical Character Of The Collective Actions Of The Popular Bars, Magda Victoria Díaz Alzate Sra, Juan Pablo Menjura Acosta Sr, Maria Clara Fonseca Echeverri Sra

The Qualitative Report

Barrismo is a complex phenomenon and cannot be defined universally. Social representation is based on deficient conceptions that relate it to the use of psychoactive substances and violence. This article presents qualitative research evidence based on the epistemological assumptions of social constructionism, a hermeneutical phenomenological design and the use of qualitative interview and documentary and audiovisual review, to understand the political-pedagogical character of the collective actions of the popular bars of the city of Medellín, Colombia, as practices that contribute to the transformation of the territories. Categories found: i. Bars as popular movements: transition from the brave bar to the …

Atrapados Y Sin Salida: Explotación Delictiva De Niñas, Niños Y Adolescentes Venezolanos Migrantes Indocumentados En Colombia, Nicolasa M. Durán Palacio, Katy L. Millán Otero Srita

The Qualitative Report

Este texto devela las prácticas de explotación delictiva de niñas, niños y adolescentes migrantes venezolanos, sin estatus legal en Colombia, por parte de grupos armados ilegales y de las bandas de crimen organizado, especialmente en las fronteras colombo-venezolanas, lugar de tránsito de la población migrante indocumentada. A través de una revisión documental con diseño cualitativo, se identifican las lógicas de victimización de la población infantil migrante sin estatus legal, los riesgos a los que se enfrentan y los obstáculos legales migratorios que les afectan negativamente y que no pueden encarar, dada su condición de indocumentados y sin amparo de su …

The Conspiracy Theory Defense In Response To Whistleblower Accusations: Turning A Hero Into A Villain, James K. Beggan

Heroism Science

Whistleblowers can be viewed as heroic actors who reveal institutional misdeeds. In contrast, conspiracy theorists are seen as members of a marginalized element perpetuating misinformation. Despite this apparent difference, the present analysis focuses on how similarities between the two constructs can allow a target to discredit a whistleblower accusation by countering that the whistleblower is operating as part of a conspiracy. More generally, this paper considers how the difficulty inherent in disproving conspiracy theory claims facilitates their utility as a defense. The case study of President Donald Trump’s responses to whistleblower accusations are considered to illustrate the arguments.

Young People’S Perception Of Opportunities To Participate In Democratic Governance, Jennifer Nga Yu Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations General Assembly, 1989) accords all young people the right to be heard and make decisions on matters affecting them. Despite the fact the United States remains the only country in the world not to have ratified this document, a number of American cities have nevertheless begun to engage young people in community decision-making (e.g., in neighborhood associations or community boards). However, as of yet there are few actual opportunities for youth to participate fully in the governance of their cities. This study examined the perspectives of young people …

Victim Impact: The Manson Murders And The Rise Of The Victims’ Rights Movement, Merrill W. Steeg

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Big Five Personality Traits And Political Orientation: An Inquiry Into Political Beliefs, Ian E. Phillips

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Personality research centered on the Big Five personality traits has heavily impacted our understanding in regards to what forces orient a person on a political spectrum. Examining how personality differences interact with political orientation, this research seeks to provide information on what makes someone either more or less likely to be liberal or conservative based on their temperament. In this paper, previous personality research is synthesized into one discussion, centered on what the effects of each trait are and how they impact political orientation, the heritability of personality, and what implications there are for such research in the realm of …

Lolita In The Contemporary American Classroom: Pedagogical And Learning Approaches, Jasmine Revels

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study is to discover effective collegiate-level teaching and learning strategies for Vladimir Nabokov’s 1958 novel Lolita in the midst of the current American political and social climate. Some of the factors of the current political and social climate in the United States thought to have an effect on the teaching of Lolita, and were thus considered for further inquiry, were cancel culture, the Me Too Movement, and trigger warnings. Primary research was collected from college students and English college professors. To obtain this research and the opinions of respondents regarding this topic, a combination of both …

Emotional Motivation: How Anger, Fear, Hope And Pride Impact Women’S Political Participation, Ashley Martin

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Despite the great strides the United States has made since passing the 19th amendment, a woman’s emotions continues to become relevant in political discussions. Research has supported that emotion has a place in motivating political involvement, however, additional evidence has shown that for women and People of Color, the display of certain emotions disparage their abilities to influence. Because of these determinations, the present questions stand, is emotion effective in motivating women to participate in politics? If so, does that apply to all women, and to what extent? I utilized the American National Election Studies Cumulative Time-Series dataset to determine …