Social Psychology Commons^™

Camouflage Romance: Same-Gender Romantic Relationship Quality And Effects On Military Commitment, Karen Tannenbaum

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Military life comes with a host of challenges for romantic relationships. Romantic partners withstand the pressures of deployment and geographical relocations (i.e., military transitions) to support their service members’ careers and play a critical role in swaying service members’ decisions to remain committed to the military beyond contractual obligations. Prior work has primarily focused on experiences of heterosexual dyads, with scant literature elucidating experiences of sexual minority military personnel in same-gender romantic relationships. Informed by work-family conflict and stress spillover, this research effort used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory approach to explicate how military transition-related stress (TRS) affects romantic relationship quality, …

Tools For Collective Thought: Augmenting Collaborative Sensemaking, Jacob Zimmerman

Pomona Senior Theses

As some pioneers of personal computing argue, we have yet to reach the potential that computing offers to enhance our cognition. Some modern scholars of tools for thought give a prerogative to develop transformative tools for thought (Matuschak & Nielsen, 2019), recognizing that the tools we may use enable new thought patterns and thus new cognitive abilities. As cognition is mediated both by our tools and by the minds of others, I evaluate the current state of literature on tools built to support collaborative sensemaking, a domain of collective cognition characterized by various interdependent cognitive processes. To apply and test …

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 …

Ableism In Education: Professor Perpetuation Of Disability Discrimination Through Accommodation Non-Compliance, Kasey Bumgardner

Scripps Senior Theses

This proposed study aims to explore factors that may decrease professor compliance with their disabled students’ documented academic accommodations, including pre-existing ableist beliefs held by professors, race of the disabled student, and visibility of the student’s disability. Participants will consist of undergraduate professors from colleges and universities across the United States, varying in size and geographical location. Participants will complete scales to assess their ableist beliefs, and will be asked to report their likelihood of complying with, or fully meeting, various disabled students’ documented accommodations. It is expected that results will reveal that professors who hold more ableist beliefs tend …

Reactions To Others With Depression: An Investigation Of Responsibility And Deservingness Judgments, Tara Parnitvithikul

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Judgments of responsibility and deservingness are two cognitive appraisals that independently predict other-directed moral emotions and helping judgments. The current research integrated theories of responsibility and deservingness to investigate a novel approach for increasing support to individuals with depression. Study 1 used a correlational design to identify patterns of relationships among the variables of interest. Responsibility and deservingness were positively correlated, and both appraisals were positively associated with anger and negatively associated with sympathy and willingness to help. When responsibility and deservingness were considered as simultaneous antecedents of emotional responses in the same model; however, only responsibility predicted lower levels …

Recognize And Accept Me: Consequences Of The Drive For Social Identity Validation, Eunice U. Choi

CGU Theses & Dissertations

According to uncertainty-identity theory (Hogg, 2021a) one of the benefits of group identification is uncertainty-reduction. To reap this benefit fully, it is posited that people also are motivated to have their identities validated, especially if the identity is one that is important to a person’s sense of self. However, people receive various feedback about their identities, and feedback about one’s identity does not come solely from one’s ingroup. While past research has demonstrated that feedback and source of feedback are important factors in social identity validation processes (see Choi & Hogg, 2020b), the current research proposes that uncertainty also may …

The Anatomy Of A Controlling Message And The Impact Of Reactance On Attitude Certainty, Thomas Vincent Staunton Jr.

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Psychological reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) has helped guide research on resistance to persuasion for over a half century. The theory holds that individuals value their freedom to make their own decisions, and when presented with a persuasive message, may perceive threat to their autonomy and react adversely to the message. Impersonal or mass disseminated messages, particularly those in pro-social or health related contexts, often must communicate in a manner that is direct and forceful to get a clear point across as efficiently as possible. Such messages can be characterized as high controlling (HC) and are generally constructed by using explicit …

Malcontents In The Middle: Uncertainty-Identity, Extreme Religious Groups And Leader Rhetoric, Jared K. Chapman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Because religious extremism can set people on a path of aggression and violence toward others, sometimes in the form of terrorism (Moghaddam, 2005), identifying factors that increase susceptibility to religious extremism is essential to ending terrorism. One possible factor that acts as a catalyst leading people to religious extremism is uncertainty (Hogg et al., 2010a). To test this possibility, Chapman (2012) conducted an exploratory study assessing the effects of religiosity (defined as group, ritual, extrinsic, or external religiosity), spirituality (defined as individual, spiritual, intrinsic, or internal religiosity), and uncertainty (low, high) on a number of proxies for religious extremism, finding …

“All Men Are Created Equal?”: Insights And Implications Of Intersectional Precarious Manhood, Cleopatre M. Thelus

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Manhood that is characterized in terms of dominant culture in the United States includes strength, power, status, affluence, and occupational success (Vandello et al., 2008). However, men who are not members of dominant culture, such as Black men in the United States, often are excluded from access to characteristics of masculinity framed by dominant culture due to potential negative consequences that can result when they perform behaviors that symbolize strength and power (Bush & Bush, 2018; Katz, 1995; Staples, 1982). Precarious Manhood Theory (PMT) is a social psychological theory that explores the social category of gender (men/manhood/masculinity) as relates to …

Social Support, Self-Esteem, And Levels Of Stress, Depression, And Anxiety During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Candace Ying Tsai

Scripps Senior Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented disruptions to daily routines and social connections, which negatively impacted the mental health and well-being of many. Unsurprisingly, the most utilized coping strategy during the pandemic involved social support. However, those low in self-esteem seem to question others’ positive regard and continued acceptance, and overall perceive others’ behavior more negatively than those with high self-esteem (Murray, Holmes, et al., 1998). The proposed correlational study will examine the effects of social support and self-esteem on stress, anxiety, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as investigate whether one’s self-esteem affects the influence that social …

Parent-Prompted Dysregulation: Do Parents Serve As Cues For Dysregulation In Some Children?, Daniel Lee

Pitzer Senior Theses

Children occasionally encounter dysregulation when interacting with their parents in relatively neutral or positive scenarios. Given that the cause of dysregulation is usually relational, meaning it is often cued by someone who is seen to have power or control over the person, children could be particularly susceptible to dysregulation in the presence of their parents. However, when examining the existing literature, there appeared to be a lack of research and knowledge concerning this topic, with much of the literature focusing on the effect of child stressors on parental dysregulation. As a result, the term parent-prompted dysregulation was developed to refer …

Attitudes Toward Immigrants As A Function Of National Identity Distinctiveness Threat And Imagined Contact, Alicia S. Davis

CGU Theses & Dissertations

As immigration rises, frequent and positive intergroup interactions with immigrants are increasingly necessary to ensure smooth and harmonious societal and community functioning. However, immigrants are often perceived to threaten the host population’s distinctive national group identity, motivating negative reactions including dehumanization, ethnocentrism, and a shift toward extremism, reducing opportunities for positive intergroup interaction. Researchers have shown that intergroup contact has been effective in improving outgroup attitudes by reducing intergroup anxiety. However, with increasing polarization, more recent research has indicated that contact interventions may not be effective in all cases. Given research identifying social identity-based distinctiveness threat as a driver of …

Source Credibility And Persuasive Communication: Effects On Social Media Influencers, Influencer Marketing, And Consumer Attitude Change, Isabelle Jia

CMC Senior Theses

Social psychology has long been researching how source credibility influences persuasive communication. With the world transitioning into a society interested in digital consumption, communication, and connection, this paper serves as a literature review of how different characteristics of source credibility can aid influencer credibility through various modes of social media messaging. The examination of three source credibility characteristics: 1) expertise, 2) trustworthiness, and 3) likability showcase how social media influencers can establish credibility with their consumers and build further connections with them. The results underline the importance of source credibility in influencing consumer attitude change and behavior over continued exposure …

#Mentalhealthmatters: Mental Health Awareness Campaigns In Media And Its Effectiveness On Stigma Reduction In Third Culture Kids, Airi Sugihara

Scripps Senior Theses

The recent amplified attention towards mental health and overall wellbeing has been accelerated by awareness campaigns in media, which are culturally and regionally tailored to encourage efficacy and positive attitude changes. Some of these mental health awareness campaigns are disseminated on the social media platform Instagram, which is contradictory to Instagram’s corporate lack of acknowledgement towards its addictiveness and negative impacts on user mental health. The aesthetic and influencer culture surrounding social media empowers its systemic problems, which is exacerbated by modern society’s media dependency. Within its discriminatory and oppressive algorithm, mental health awareness campaigns created by Instagram represent corporate …

How To Increase Elaboration Levels: An Adapted Elaboration Likelihood Model, Alex Mcdonald

CMC Senior Theses

Persuasion is a topic that has been debated for centuries, yet scientific literature surrounding the topic has been almost non-existent until 50 years ago. A popular persuasion model thus far, the Elaboration Likelihood Model, provides a framework for studying persuasion but lacks ease of application. I suggest an improvement to the model by including self-referencing and interaction to clarify how to apply the research and provide a real-world application with this adapted model.

Seeing Through Woke-Washing: Effects Of Projected Diversity Values And Leader Racial Diversity On Equity In Workplace Outcomes, Adrienne M. Kafka

CMC Senior Theses

The presence of multicultural values, emphasizing the appreciation of distinct cultural identities in companies’ promotional materials, versus colorblind values, which minimize cultural distinctions, may affect Black/Hispanic/Latinx (BHL) vs White individuals’ cognitive ability employment selection test scores and likelihood of applying to an organization differently depending on the company’s demonstrated leader racial diversity (LRD). Participants (N = 419), recruited via Amazon MTurk, read a hypothetical job application call and mission statement with a specific diversity ideology emphasized (multiculturalism, colorblind, control, Black Lives Matter (BLM)) and viewed headshots of the company C-suite either with low LRD (mostly White) or high LRD before …

Information Prioritization: A Comparison Between Utility Maximizers And Probability Matchers, Yusuf Ismaeel

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the differences between probability matchers and utility maximizers in their preferences for information sources in a lab environment. In this paper, we consider the best source of information to be the most connected one. We conducted several linear probability model type regressions along with logit regressions. Furthermore, we also attempted to control and fix any potential misclassifications in classifying the cognitive strategy by using instrumental variables. The results show that utility maximizers will almost always choose the most informed node. Probability matchers, on the other hand, do not exhibit such a behavior as the probability matching strategy …

The Internet-Extended Mind: The Psychological Ramifications And Philosophical Implications Of Cognitive Offloading, Gloria Choi

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I explore the internet-extended mind through both philosophical and psychological lenses in order to investigate the questions “To what extent is the mind extended onto the internet and, more generally, outside our bodies?” and “How will an increasingly internet-extended brain change the ways in which humans communicate, remember, and behave?”. First, I introduce the idea of a mind that extends out into the world, instead of lying solely in the brain. Then, I outline existing research that introduces the challenges and implications of an internet-extended mind in an ever-changing internet landscape. Next, I discuss how the internet …

The Beautiful Math Of Everything And You Included, E. Ozie

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This a reflection on how there is beautiful math to everything. An author's interpretation of matrices and mechanics in its relationship to someone's identity.

Who Should Lead? Effective Influence As A Product Of Group Context And Group Purpose, Nicolas Barreto

CGU Theses & Dissertations

One of the most important features of any group is who is most influential, who leads. Expectation states theory (EST) and the social identity theory of leadership (SITL) both make predictions about which group member will have the most influence. EST argues that group members follow whomever they believe will lead the group to success. SITL states that the individual who best embodies the group’s defining attributes has the most influence. This dissertation proposed that influence and leadership in a group are dependent on group features, and it tested two such features: (a) a group’s social context and (b) a …

Making Us Look Bad Vs. Making Us Uncertain: Examining The Motivations Underlying Derogation Of Ingroup Deviants, Mark Jeffrey Rinella

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Subjective group dynamics theory posits that groups favorably evaluate normative members and derogate deviant members to restore or maintain the subjective validity of their group’s norms. Research supports this explanation; however, the pattern of evaluations differs depending on how deviants are defined. Some research has defined deviants as group members who violate generic, socially valued prescriptions (generic norm deviants), while other research has defined deviants as members who diverge from specific group defining norms (oppositional norm deviants). This dissertation proposes that two different social identity motives—self-esteem and uncertainty reduction—underlie the derogation of these different types of group deviants. Specifically, it …

Can Instagram Do #Good? The Effect Of Instagram Advertising On Positive Body Image, Dhara Singh

CMC Senior Theses

Research on the effects of social media and advertising on body image has predominantly focused on the negative impacts, with limited studies exploring the effects on positive body image. This study investigated whether body positive Instagram advertising images, which aim to promote body acceptance, increase positive body image compared to ideal or neutral (landscape) images. One hundred and thirty participants (66.2% female) were randomly assigned to an image condition and shown a series of neutral, ideal, or body positive Instagram images. Participants’ positive body image was then measured using the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) and Functional Appreciation Scale (FAS). A …

The Future Self: Promoting Prosocial Decision-Making Through Motivated Episodic Simulation, Su Young (Kevin) Choi

CMC Senior Theses

Vividly imagining the future self can help inform our present decisions. Given that most attempts aimed at understanding the prosocial effect of imagining future episodes have focused on sensory properties, little is known about how prosocial motivations can explain the link between episodic simulation and helping intentions. Here, the current research investigated whether altruistically and reputationally motivated simulation of helping behavior promote a willingness to help a person in need. The study found that imagining helping episodes increased willingness to help relative to a control manipulation, especially when reputational concerns were made salient. Path modeling analyses revealed that the prosocial …

I’M Sexy And I Know It: The Impact Of Sexual Self-Esteem And Body Satisfaction On Disordered Eating Behavior, Marissa Parks

Scripps Senior Theses

Rates of dieting, disordered eating, and eating disorders are continuing to rise in the United States. Many factors influence decisions to engage in problematic eating, including body satisfaction and self-esteem. This paper outlines two studies that examined these relationships and proposed an intervention to reduce disordered eating. In the first study participants were primed to think about a time when they had negative thoughts about their intelligence, their body, or their sexual self-esteem and then measured body image avoidance, self-esteem, sexual self-esteem, disordered eating behaviors, well-being, and depressive symptoms. Consistent with previous research, it was found that having participants recall …

Migration And Women’S Relationships To The Land And Food In Myanmar, Allison Joseph

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

In the 21st century, Myanmar has become the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. To achieve its economic and political goals, the government has conducted extensive confiscation and reallocation of communal lands, which has resulted in a growing class of landless and dispossessed citizens. Under the new laws, rural women are disproportionately impacted and more vulnerable to the processes of dispossession, often lacking the rights or resources of their male counterparts to fight for the land of their ancestors. This has resulted in the wide-scale disinheritance of Myanmar’s rural women from their land and food, as …

The Impacts Of Migration On Myanmar Women’S Identity And Connectedness To The Land And Food, Allison Joseph

Scripps Senior Theses

In the 21st century, Myanmar has become the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (Kusakabe & Pearson, 2010). To achieve its economic goals, the government has prioritized the confiscation and reallocation of communal lands, which has resulted in a growing class of landless and dispossessed citizens (Franco, Twomey, Ju, Vervest, & Kramer, 2015). This has resulted in the wide-scale process of Myanmar’s rural women’s disinheritance from the land and food, as they are expropriated from the home of their ancestors and forced to migrate to urban centers to earn a livelihood. The proposed study will examine and …

The Potential Benefits Of Japanese Mmorpgs For Japanese Learning Motivation, Shuting Xu

Scripps Senior Theses

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been found to have a negative impact on the motivation to learn foreign languages in many previous research studies. However, recent studies have found that massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) in particular provided an environment that positively impacted English as a second language (ESL) acquisition. However, there is a lack of study on the Japanese language and Japanese MMORPGs. Therefore, the current study aims to look at Japanese FLA and integrative motivation in a Japanese MMORPG learning environment as compared to a Japanese classroom learning environment with a sample of 132 English native speakers …

Evangelism, Social Media, And The Mum Effect, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The Mum effect is the natural human reluctance to share bad news with others, due to a desire to avoid a range of negative consequences, consequences affecting both self and the recipient of the bad news. Although the gospel is good news to those who believe, it may be viewed negatively by those who do not believe. Thus, Christians may be hesitant to share the gospel because of the negative consequences associated with the Mum effect. Because of the anonymity of the internet, social media is often filled with unre­strained criticism of Christianity. This may amplify the perceived negative consequences …

Cultural Tightness-Looseness: Its Nature And Missiological Applications, David R. Dunaetz

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The focus of much missionary work concerns sharing the gospel with others so that they may put their faith in Jesus Christ. However, members of some cultures are much more resistant to this than are members of other cultures. The concept of cultural tightness-looseness helps explain why some cultures are more closed to the gospel than are others. Tight cultures, in contrast to loose cultures, have strong social norms, violations of which are met with intense sanctions. Numerous recent studies reveal the antecedents, consequences, and the geographical distribution of cultural tightness-looseness. There are important missiological implications at the societal level, …

Depersonalization And Projection In Groups: Two Paths To Uncertainty Reduction, Jiin Jung

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation develops and tests a new integrative model, the depersonalization-projection model, which proposes that uncertainty reduction is a key motivation underlying depersonalization and projection processes in groups. The proposed model describes the conditions under which people in group contexts define themselves in terms of group attributes (depersonalization) and/or define the group in terms of attributes of themselves (projection). The locus of uncertainty (about the group, about self, about self-prototypicality/self-group fit) determines the directional flow of definitional information, as well as (a) effectiveness of uncertainty reduction, (b) strength of inference, (c) strength of identification, (d) information processing time, and (e) …