Social Psychology Commons^™

Body Part Structure Knowledge In Infancy, Rachel Jubran

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Human faces, bodies, and hands convey critical social information (e.g., emotions, goals, and desires). Infants, like adults, are sensitive to such social information. Unlike infants’ knowledge of the structure of the human face and body, not much is known about infants’ knowledge of hands and feet. The current study tested infants for their preference between intact hand images and ones in which the same hands were distorted (i.e., location of at least one finger was altered to distort the typical structure of the hand). Infants at 3.5 months of age had a preference for the reorganized hand image, demonstrating that …

Doing Envy Justice: Examining The Politics Of Envy, Charles E. Hoogland

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Conservatives and liberals disagree about the underlying motivations driving opposition to concentrated wealth. Liberals contend that such objections are often driven by legitimate fairness concerns, whereas conservatives frequently cite envy instead. Research and theory suggest that two particularly important contextual questions with respect to emotional reactions to wealth are its source (inherited or earned), and how that wealth is put to use, which could interactively and differentially influence liberals’ and conservatives’ reactions to affluent individuals. The current study aimed to empirically address whether liberals actually are more prone to envy than conservatives, both in general and in response to specific …

The Effect Of Victim Religion On Juror Perceptions Of Hate Crimes, Casey Magyarics

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The present study investigated mock juror perceptions of hate crimes in the courtroom, specifically whether a victim’s religion (Atheist, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim) influenced the likelihood that a mock juror would render a hate crime verdict. I employed a mock juror methodology where participants read an assault trial summary, rendered a verdict, and answered a series of rating questions about the victim and defendant. Two theoretical explanations were proposed to explain the main effect of victim religion on participant verdict decisions; that participants would be most likely to render a guilty verdict when the victim is considered an in-group member …

Pulling The Trigger On Disarming Domestic Violence Abusers: Implementing Gun Confiscation Policy In Urban And Appalachian Kentucky, Kellie R. Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The present study investigated why communities differing in culture and resources are willing and able to implement gun confiscation as part of a protective order. Specifically, this study explored whether the perceived risk of intimate partner homicide and gun violence, benefits to engaging in gun confiscation, barriers to gun confiscation, community norms about guns, and community readiness to implement gun confiscation: (a) differ in urban and rural communities, (b) are perceived differently by victim service and justice system key professionals within urban and rural communities, and (c) are related to if a community is able and willing to consistently implement …

Explore The Relationship Among Lung Cancer Stigma, Social Support, And Psychosocial Distress, Lisa Maggio

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

There is longstanding causal relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Smoke-free policies and anti-smoking campaigns have been linked to the decline in smoking acceptance and contribute to the unintended consequence of stigmatizing smokers. Lung cancer is viewed as a self-inflicted disease and patients’ feel judged in a manner different from other cancers affecting social interactions between family, friends, and healthcare professionals. Lung cancer stigma contributes to depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem, guilt, shame, blame, threatens a person’s social identity, and limits social support that deeply affects patients and their support persons.

This dissertation contains a review of the literature related …

Adolescents' Gender Typicality, Psychological Well-Being, And Experiences With Teasing, Bullying, And Rejection, Jennifer A. Jewell

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The current study examined whether adolescents’ gender-based victimization experiences (i.e., teasing, bullying, and rejection) mediated the association between gender typicality and psychological well-being. The current study also investigated whether daily experiences with the three types of gender-based victimization negatively impacted adolescents’ immediate emotional reactions. Participants were 570 seventh and eighth grade students (49.5% boys, 50.5% girls). During four visits over the course of two weeks, participants completed surveys about their own gender typicality, their psychological well-being (i.e., depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and body image), their experiences with gender-based teasing, bullying, and rejection, and their emotional responses to experiencing this victimization. Results …

Delicious Justice: Schadenfreude Toward Atheists Bound For Hell, Maxine Najle

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In the wake of the death of a prominent atheist figure in 2011, an especially unsavory side of anti-atheist prejudice became evident as many celebrated the death of a prominent atheist, rejoicing that he would be in hell. The current study explores how these attitudes reveal a sense of schadenfreude in anti-atheist prejudice previously unexplored in the literature. Potential origins of this schadenfreude are discussed, and a study to experimentally explore this phenomenon was carried out. Using the repeated taste-test paradigm, this study gave participants atheist primes and hell primes between identical drinks and measure perceived taste after these manipulations, …

A Multivariate Analysis Of Consumers’ Beliefs, Attitudes, And Behaviors Associated With Locally Produced Food And Farmers’ Market Patronage, Sara Williamson

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

While farmers’ market vendors rely on loyal and frequent patrons to purchase their products, it is unclear how the intrinsic differences among farmers’ market shoppers serve as indicators of potential shopping frequency at farmers’ markets. The objectives of this thesis are to identify consumers’ intrinsic values associated with characteristics of local foods, examine how these values are reflected in consumption behaviors among farmers' market shoppers, and explore the relationship between consumption activities and shopping frequency at farmers' markets. Results suggest that the differences between frequent and infrequent farmers’ market shoppers could be explained by the individual’s levels of high and …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Three Interventions Designed To Enhance Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Sexual Minorities, Jamye Banks

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Sexual minority students’ encounters with discrimination and harassment are increasing in school settings. Per the research, the discrimination and harassment they experience partly stems from teachers’ negative attitudes toward sexual minorities and a lack of understanding of the needs of these individuals, which can negatively impact students’ psychological well-being and create an unwelcoming environment (Dessel, 2010; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs, Rosenthal, & Smith-Bonahue, 2011). Teachers are responsible for ensuring a safe environment for students that promotes mental and physical health (Larrabee & Morehead, 20’10; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs et al., 2011). Therefore, it’s vital to determine ways to …

Using Inoculation Messages To Protect “Stay In The Market” Beliefs During Financial Crises, Lindsay Lyles Dillingham

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This paper focuses on the problem of collapsed “stay in the market” (SIM) beliefs during financial crises. The primary purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether or not inoculation messages represent a viable communication strategy to preemptively protect SIM beliefs during forthcoming financial crises. Ancillary purposes of this study were to further investigate the role of print and video crises, explicit instructions regarding post-inoculation talk (PIT), and gain and loss frame inoculation messages on the inoculation process. This study used a between subjects factorial design (3 x 2 plus four additional conditions) to explore ten hypotheses. Data collected from …

Do We Know Who We Are By Knowing Who We Are Not?: The Effects Of Including Disliked Others In The Self-Concept, Stephanie B. Richman

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

People include other people in their self-concept. Research has examined the causes and effects of including liked, but not disliked others into the self-concept. Liked others are included because of a motivation to affiliate and get closer to the other person. The current investigation examined whether disliked others are included as a result of a motivation to differentiate and distinguish oneself from the other person. It also examined how self-concept inclusion of disliked others affects self-concept clarity. First, I tested whether people include disliked others into their self-concepts by showing a memory bias for disliked others similar to that of …

Juror Bias In Perceptions Of Lesbian Intimate Partner Violence, Nesa Elizabeth Wasarhaley

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Homophobic attitudes pervade our society and specifically our justice system, which negatively impact legal protection for lesbian victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Juror stereotypes about IPV victims and perpetrators as well as their biases based on sexual orientation may be a hindrance to IPV cases being reported and successfully prosecuted. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the impact that mock jurors’ attitudes toward homosexuals and gender roles, and their acceptance of myths about domestic violence had on their perceptions of lesbian IPV. Heterosexual undergraduate students (N = 259) read a trial summary in which the defendant …

Be Ye Fruitful And Multiply: Does Religious Activation Increase Reproductive Desire?, Erik M. Lund

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

While many norms sustain or destabilize certain religions, one domain is particularly relevant to the survival of some religions over others: norms about fertility and reproduction. Thus far, several ethnographic and correlational studies have found a positive association between religiosity and fertility rate, but there is a dearth of laboratory investigation utilizing experimental methods to isolate causation. In Study 1, I found that experimentally activating religious concepts led to an increased desire to have children (N = 462). In Study 2, the focal study, I attempted to replicate and extend the previous study by examining implicit behavior (N …

Do As We Do, Not As You Think: The Effect Of Group Influence On Individual Choices In A Virtual Environment, Rebecca Rayburn-Reeves, Jennifer Wu, Sara Wilson, Beth Kraemer, Philipp Kraemer

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

Second Life (SL) is a virtual world application that enables users to create virtual representations of themselves and interact with other users. SL is increasingly being used to study important psychological questions. The current project sought to replicate within SL Asch’s (1951) classic finding of group influence, in which participants often respond in accordance with choices expressed by other members of a group, regardless of the accuracy of those choices. Participants were given a series of perceptual judgment trials, in which they chose one of three stimulus alternatives that matched the length of a target stimulus. Participants were tested either …

The Enemy Within: Sexual Assault And Rape In The Us Armed Forces, Dahlia D'Arge

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

This paper follows my personal journey in learning about this problem, its legal repercussions for individual soldiers, its history within the United States, the actions which are being taken to remedy it, and its cost to the US military as a whole. By taking a more personal approach and by using my personal experience as an intern as a US Army Judge Advocate Corps office, this paper intends to educate the wider college populace about this issue and its current handling by the US Army from the perspective of an insider.

Emotion, Community Development, And The Physical Environment: An Experimental Investigation Of Measurements, George E. Boone

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

A wide range of research fields have studied how emotions and behavior are affected by the physical environment. This gestalt theorist approach of experimental research as well seeks to measure emotion (using the valence-arousal scale) and micro-scale community development interactions when weighted physical environment factors are adjusted. Community development (CD) interactions at the micro-scale have received but slight attention from scholars in the CD research field and this study aims partially to investigate developing objective measures from social observations. CD interactions from recordings along with self-reported emotion through surveys in four quasi-experimental groups (where the environments were constructed based on …

Identity Making Process Of Individuals With Mild Intellectual Disabilities, Carolee Kamlager

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

The shadow of stigma theory typically surrounds the research investigation of the lives of individuals with mild intellectual disabilities. McAdams’ life story theory and methodology provide a human development framework as an alternative to the prevailing framework in the field of disability. This study moves out of the shadow of otherness and examines the personal identity making process of twelve individuals with mild intellectual disabilities in the light of human development theory. Findings dispel the assumption that individuals with mild intellectual disabilities construct their lives solely through their disability. Rather, the identity making process includes the influences of socio-cultural events, …

Change In Envy As A Function Of Target Likeability, Chelsea M. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Envy is a painful emotion that can negatively impact one’s self-worth. It is also a shameful, socially undesirable emotion, implying both inferiority and hostility. Some scholars suggest that these features of envy lead to a need to cope with the emotion. Thus, over time, envy tends to be transformed into more socially acceptable responses such as resentment or dislike. The present study tested this claim. First, envy was manipulated by asking participants to read an article containing an interview with either a high- or low-envy target. The second article manipulated the likeability of the target by varying whether or not …

Great Sexpectations: The Application Of Sexual Social Exchange Theory To Date Rape, Kellie R. Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In a two-part study, dating sexual expectations will be evaluated and the sexual social exchange theory will be investigated in a date rape trial. In Part 1, participants (N = 100) will be presented with one of two fictional date scenarios that will differ only on the cost of the date (i.e., $30 or $175). Participants will then indicate what behaviors (sexual and not sexual) are appropriate at the end of a first date and then a fifth date. It is predicted that all participants will expect sexual intercourse more on the fifth date than the first, and that …

Forgiving Warriors: Does Outgroup Threat Reduce Ingroup Aggression Among Males?, David Chester

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In order to defend against outgroups, males and females respond to outgroup threat with different strategies. Specifically, males have been shown to respond to outgroup threat with increased ingroup solidarity and cooperation which is likely reflective of their ancestral role as warriors. What remains unknown is whether this cooperative warrior mindset among males not only increases ingroup prosociality, but also decreases ingroup aggression. Aggression against ingroup members under outgroup threat would likely disadvantage the ingroup by reducing the ingroup’s collective formidability. Further, prosocial motivations inhibit aggression. As such, I hypothesized that sex and outgroup threat would interact such that males, …

Does Botox Buffer The Negative Effects Of Social Rejection?: A Test Of The Facial Feedback Hypothesis, Vicki Sharif

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Can a common facial cosmetic procedure buffer against the negative impact of adverse social interactions? This pilot tested the hypothesis that an injection of botulinum toxin (Botox) to the corrugator supercilii muscles used in anger, compared to a placebo injection to the same location, will reduce the impact of social rejection on mood, self-esteem, control, meaningful existence, and aggression. Freezing facial musculature was hypothesized to alter the first physical signal of negative emotional reactions, thereby reducing the impact of social rejection on distress and aggression. This was the first study using Botox to examine the effects of reduced facial feedback …

Transmission Of Antisocial Behavior Across Generations: The Role Of Psychophysiology, M. Brooke Razor

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

The Design Of A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility In Wheelwright, Kentucky Serving Adolescent Males, Jenna Clem

Kaleidoscope

During the spring semester of 2010, I have been working on the design of a psychiatric residential treatment facility in Wheelwright, Kentucky as part of the requirements for ID 659, Interior Design Graduate Studio. I am a senior, but was allowed permission to enroll in this class because of my interest in research-based design. The facility will offer therapy services in a home environment for seven adolescents between the ages of ten and seventeen. This paper describes the process that I followed throughout the design process and the specific issues that were addressed in the final solution. The design process …

Shame, Guilt, And Knowledge Of Hpv In Women Recently Diagnosed With Hpv-Related Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (Cin), Sarah E. Flynn

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The current study investigated the relationships between state shame, guilt, and disease knowledge in women recently diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Recent research has indicated that diagnosis of HPV can elicit negative self-directed affect, including persistent experiences of shame. Studies have also shown that knowledge of HPV is low in the general population, even though it is the most common sexually transmitted infection. It is important to understand how shame affects those with HPV because shame is related to a decline in important immune parameters that may be essential in HPV clearance. A …

When Battered Persons Kill: The Impact Of Gender Stereotypes On Mock Juror Perceptions, Emily Catherine Hodell

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The present experiment investigated the role of gender stereotypes in cases in which a battered person kills his or her abuser. Regression analysis revealed an overall gender bias such that mock jurors were more likely to convict a man defendant who had killed his abusive wife than they were when a woman defendant who had killed her husband. Mediational analyses indicated that the relationship between abuser gender and verdict was partially mediated by sympathy toward the victim, and fully mediated by sympathy toward the defendant. Regression analysis also revealed an effect of abuser height, such that conviction rates were higher …

Toward A Model Relating Empathy, Charisma, And Telepathy, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Telepathy is often dismissed because it is judged to be so weird as to be counterintuitive. This article argues that telepathy may be interpreted as phenomenologically impressive events of a social psychological process which in less dramatic instances would be termed empathy and charisma. Such an equation, however, herein called the "possible world model," would perhaps normalize telepathy, and lessen the opprobrium attached to its study. A first step is taken to validate the model when a comparative literature search finds that telepathy and empathy relate very similarly to other experimental variables.

Charisma, Empathy, And The Experience Of Telepathy, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A critique is offered of the preference of parapsychology for physical explanatory models for telepathy. Discussion shows this trend emerging from the combined effects of historical accident. An alternative explanatory model is offered which draws upon the rich but underutilized psychological foundations of parapsychology. Emphasizing telepathy's original definition as a communication event, two other phenomena are held to fall into the same class of events: charisma and empathy. Concepts traditionally used to understand charisma and empathy are shown to be equally suited for modeling telepathy. Experimental, theoretical, and especially philosophical implications of this "possible world" model are addressed throughout.

A Charisma Model Of Telepathic Communication, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This paper opened by making some general criticisms of the state of parapsychological research: that it suffered from a lack of external validity and from uncritical acceptance of a flawed paradigm. The charisma model was offered as an attempt to rectify these problems. It allows for laboratory experiments to be designed which closely approximate genuine human interactions by shifting the paradigm for telepathy from that of energy transfers to one of communication events.