Social Psychology Commons^™

Can Motivated Cognition Exacerbate A Bias?, Luis O. Camacho, Saera R. Khan

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This study examined the relationship between the need for cognition and impression formation, particularly with common biases. Upon listening to a speaker with either a heavy Japanese or Los Angeles accent, participants rated the speaker on how well-informed they believed she appeared to be on the subject she spoke about and on intelligence. Despite the need for cognition, speakers with a Los Angeles accent were rated less favorably on intelligence, compared to Japanese accented speakers. However, the high need for cognition participants utilized a stereotype in impression formation, as their ratings for both speakers resonated with the speaker’s respective stereotype. …

The Relationship Between Emotional Contagion And Mood State, Kayleigh-Farrell Crow

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

Emotions can often be transferred from one person to another. It has been assumed that the strength and impact of contagious emotions can depend largely on the susceptibility of the individual. This concept has led to the idea of emotional contagion, or “the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures and movements with those of another person, and consequently, to converge emotionally”, as defined by Hatfield, Cacioppo & Rapson (1992). The present study will examine the influence of certain emotions and the increased probability for contagion to occur. Specifically, this study will explore the emotional strengths of …

Academic Success And Christian Affiliation In College, Eden M. Broberg, Mathea J. Krogstad

Undergraduate Research Symposium 2015

The goal of our study was to provide a more thorough understanding of the relationship between religious attitudes and academic success, and will provide direction for future research in this domain. Our research examined the relationship between Christianity, academic achievement, and mediating variables in college-aged students. Past studies regarding religion and academic success have found that in some communities, academic success is positively correlated with religious involvement. However, these studies primarily looked at academic success in relation to involvement in a religious community, and not to personal attitudes regarding religion. To gain a better understanding of the role of personal …

Mindfulness, Self-Regulatory Capacity, And Regulation Of Health Behaviors - 2015 Award Winner, Elizabeth Mccrary

Russell Library Undergraduate Research Award

Mindfulness, the trait or state of heightened attention and awareness of the present moment, has been connected to a wide variety of self-regulatory behaviors, including health behaviors. Specifically, mindfulness has been linked to smoking cessation (Heppner et al., 2015), reduced alcohol misuse (Murphy & MacKillop, 2011), and reduced substance abuse (Witkiewitz & Bowen, 2010). Additionally, mindfulness-based dialectical behavior therapy has been successful in teaching affect regulation skills to patients with binge eating disorder (BED). BED patients were also more adept in using these regulation skills during negative affect experiences (Kristeller, Baer, & Quillian-Wolever, 2006). Even though research links mindfulness to …

The Traumatic State Of Psychology: An Investigation Of The Challenges Psychologists Face When Aiming To Help Trauma Survivors In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Rohan Arcot

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project will sought to investigate the difficult role that psychologists play in post-apartheid South Africa, particularly when they are trying to create meaningful change for trauma survivors from the apartheid era. Many survivors found the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) unsatisfactory, and thus still suffer from trauma (Kagee, Naidoo, & Van Wyk, 2013). There is a clear need in the present society of South Africa for a system which helps these trauma survivors find reconciliation and make peace with the atrocities of the past. Part of this system is the counseling psychologists that focus on the …

The Effect Of Regional Airline Attendance Policies On Pilot Self-Removal From Duty For Illness Or Fatigue, David R. Freiwald Ph.D., Csp, Michael F. O'Toole Ph.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The purpose of this paper was to study the effect of current regional airline attendance policies on the willingness of crewmembers to remove themselves from duty when ill or fatigued. This study sought to determine if the current punitive attendance policies are encouraging crewmembers to operate contrary to federal regulation. A survey was given to current pilots of four regional airlines with similar attendance policies. The responses were correlated with supplied demographic and experiential data. The goal of the paper was to examine the major areas of concern and suggested solutions. The overwhelming majority of respondents felt that their companies’ …

Seeing People, Seeing Things: Individual Differences In Selective Attention, Miranda May Mcintyre

Open Access Theses

Individuals differ in the extent to which they attend to their physical and social environments, but little empirical work has measured these differences at a cognitive level. To address this gap, two studies explored the association between attentional processes and Person and Thing Orientations. The first study measured visual selective attention toward person- and thing-related image components. In the second study, participants provided written responses about a set of images; linguistic analyses were conducted to assess attentional bias toward interest-congruent content. The results from both studies support motivated attention as a process through which interests in physical and social environments …

Less Than Human: Dehumanization Underlies Prejudice Toward People With Developmental Disabilities, Laura Ruth Murry Parker

Open Access Theses

The present research examined the nature of prejudice toward people with developmental disabilities, its underlying root in dehumanization and implication for opposition to social policies, and the efficacy of two strategies for reducing this bias. In Study 1 and Study 2, dehumanization significantly predicted both greater prejudice and greater opposition to social policies benefiting people with Autism and Down Syndrome. Furthermore, prejudice significantly mediated the effect of dehumanization on social policy support. Dehumanization predicted greater prejudice, which led to less support for social policies. Building on the consistent association between dehumanization and prejudice in the first two studies, Study 3 …

Being Out Of The Loop On Pop Culture, Nicole Elizabeth Iannone

Open Access Dissertations

Being out of the loop is a form of partial ostracism that leads to lower need satisfaction (Jones, Carter-Sowell, Kelly, & Williams, 2009). Research has shown that people experience lower need satisfaction when they are out of the loop on pop culture (Iannone, Kelly, & Williams, in preparation). Five studies expanded on previous research by exploring theoretical issues and potential boundary conditions. Study 1 developed a new method and explored theoretical foundations of being out of the loop on pop culture - whether being unfamiliar makes people feel worse or whether being familiar makes people feel better. This study also …

Exclusion From Gender Counter-Stereotypic Activities: Proximal And Distal Effects, Megan Kathleen Mccarty

Open Access Dissertations

The current work explored whether an incidence of exclusion is experienced differently depending on the activity from which one is excluded. Specifically, we investigated whether exclusion from gender stereotypic vs. counter-stereotypic activities affects both how threatening the experience is and beliefs about gender stereotypes. The effects of exclusion activity on need threat and beliefs about gender stereotypes were explored in a series of four studies using multiple methods: participants relived exclusion or inclusion instances from their real lives (Study 1), imagined exclusion or inclusion scenarios (Study 2), were excluded from a virtual ball toss game (Study 3), and were included …

Reading Between The Lines: Cultural Sexual Scripts And Collegiate Sexual Behaviors, Lauren Yadlosky

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Cultural sexual scripts provide individuals with a general understanding of how to respond in sexual situations given their environment. College students navigate the college culture keeping various elements of these sexual scripts in mind. Utilizing 1,007 undergraduates, the researcher investigated the current relevance of traditional sexual scripts and the relationships between various levels of cultural sexual scripts (i.e., the collective versus individual perceptions of them) and their relation to reported sexual engagement. Researchers also explored factors that predict these relationships. Results suggested current sexual scripts still largely reflect traditional ones, depending on the sexual behavior being assessed. Individual perceptions of …

The Role Of Attention In Retrieval Practice, Joshua W. Whiffen

Open Access Theses

Dividing attention during encoding is detrimental to learning. In contrast, dividing attention during retrieval appears to have very little effect on recall. However, very few studies have investigated whether dividing attention during initial recall has an impact on subsequent retrieval attempts. ^ Research on retrieval practice has clearly shown that retrieval is an active process that leads to important changes in memory that ultimately enhance long term retention. However, it has yet to be established exactly how retrieval practice derives its benefits. One possibility is that retrieval involves the reinstatement of temporal context, which leads to the updating or encoding …

The Role Of Acculturation Differences And Acculturation Conflict In Latino Family Mental Health, Kathryn E. Lawton

Dissertations (1934 -)

>In order to help address the mental health disparities that exist for Latino families in the U.S., the current study sought to examine the acculturation-mental health link within the context of the Latino family and to identify potential mechanisms for intervention to alleviate mental health problems in this population. Specifically, our goal was to examine how parent-adolescent acculturation differences were related to mental health in Latino adolescents and their parents and to understand the role of acculturation conflict and family functioning within the Latino family. Participants included 84 adolescent-parent dyads recruited through bilingual middle schools. We found partial support for …

Ambivalent Sexism And Positive Illusions Of Physical Attractiveness In Heterosexual Romantic Relationships, Michaela Engdahl

Dissertations (1934 -)

While considerable research has been devoted to the impact that the mainstream media and parents have on body image, less is known about how romantic partners' beliefs and perceptions impact individuals' evaluations of both their physical selves and their relationships. This study examined the influence of individually-endorsed cultural sexism on romantic partners' tendency to hold positive illusions about their significant others' physical appearance and the impact of sexism and positive illusions of physical attractiveness on body esteem and relationship satisfaction. Evidence of positive illusions of physical attractiveness was found, but there was no significant association between gender and positive illusion …

The Validity Of Sex-Differentiated Mate Preferences: Reconciling The Seemingly Conflicting Evidence, Norman P. Li, Andrea L. Meltzer

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Across decades and cultures, researchers have found that men prefer physical attractiveness in their romantic partners more than women do, whereas women prefer social status and resources in their partners more than men do. From an evolutionary perspective, these sex differences are important as they reflect hypothesized psychological mechanisms that evolved in response to different adaptive challenges faced by ancestral men and women. Social psychologists, however, have recently challenged the validity of mate preferences and thus, this evolutionary perspective. Indeed, recent speed-dating studies (e.g., Eastwick and Finkel, 2008) and a meta-analysis (Eastwick, Luchies, Finkel, and Hunt, 2014) demonstrate that the …

Exploring Dietary Sacrifice In Intimate Relationships For Couples With Celiac Disease, Lindsey Marie Alley

Dissertations and Theses

Prior research on eating behaviors has shown that romantic partners actively merge their dietary preferences throughout the course of a relationship and find significant value in cooking and eating the same foods together at the same times. Yet, little is known regarding the impacts of specific dietary support processes involved in maintaining said communal diet when one partner drastically alters his or her eating patterns. The current study defined dietary sacrifice as a phenomenon within the context of Celiac Disease (CD): a chronic illness that requires strict adherence to the gluten-free diet (GFD). Drawing from existing research on sacrifice within …

2015 Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar, Emily M. Douglas Ph.D., Melinda Gushwa Ph.D., Licsw, Martha J. Henry Ph.D.

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Mission Critical: Reforming Foster Care and Child Protective Services is the sixth Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar. It is designed to emphasize a family perspective in policymaking on issues related to reforming foster care and child protective services in the Commonwealth. In general, Family Impact Seminars analyze the consequences an issue, policy, or program may have for families.

The Relationship Between Religiosity And Friendship Quality, Namele Gutierrez, Cindy Miller-Perrin, Elizabeth Krumrei-Mancuso Dr.

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The study’s objective was to examine a possible relationship between religiosity and friendship quality through the relational model. We hypothesized that higher levels of religiosity would positively enhance friendship quality. Young adults (N = 118) from a small, Christian university participated in an online survey. We observed a main effect for religiosity of the participant and religiosity of the best friend in predicting greater support and depth as well as an interaction between the participants’ religiosity and best friend’s religiosity in predicting support. Specifically, for participants low in religiosity, having a friend with higher levels of religiosity was associated …

Supporting The Aging Workforce: The Impact Of Psychosocial Workplace Characteristics On Employees' Work Ability, Jennifer Rae Rineer

Dissertations and Theses

It is estimated that by 2020, 25% of the US labor force will be aged 55 or older. Along with this demographic shift, Americans and employees in other industrialized nations are now working longer than before, either out of preference or financial necessity. Therefore, it is essential that we understand how to support employees so that they can continue working in a healthy, happy, and productive manner as they age. The construct of work ability (the extent to which people perceive they can meet the mental and physical demands of their jobs) has the potential to guide research and practice …

Creating A Motivated And Engaged Workforce, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

All a company needs to do is fulfill employees’ need for three things: competence, relatedness, and autonomy

Lay Theories About Social Class Buffer Lower-Class Individuals Against Poor Self-Rated Health And Negative Affect, Jacinth J. X. Tan, Michael W. Kraus

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The economic conditions of one’s life can profoundly and systematically influence health outcomes over the life course. Our present research demonstrates that rejecting the notion that social class categories are biologically determined—a nonessentialist belief—buffers lower-class individuals from poor self-rated health and negative affect, whereas conceiving of social class categories as rooted in biology—an essentialist belief—does not. In Study 1, lower-class individuals self-reported poorer health than upper-class individuals when they endorsed essentialist beliefs but showed no such difference when they rejected such beliefs. Exposure to essentialist theories of social class also led lower-class individuals to report greater feelings of negative self-conscious …

Positive Affect Facilitates The Effect Of A Warning On False Memory In The Drm Paradigm, Hwajin Yang, Sujin Yang, Stephen J. Ceci, Alice M. Isen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Increasing evidence that positive affect enhances associative processing has lent weight to the idea that positive affect increases false memory for information that is thematically interrelated. Using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm, we examined whether mild positive affect facilitates monitoring processes in modulating false memory for associate words. When participants in the warned condition – in contrast to those in the unwarned condition – were overtly warned about possible false recognition of the critical lure, we found that positive affect, compared to neutral affect, significantly enhanced monitoring through a warning and reduced false recognition. Signal detection analyses suggest that when a warning …

Young Activists, New Movements: Contemporary Chinese Queer Feminism And Transnational Genealogies, Wen Liu, Ana Huang, Jingchao Ma

Graduate Student Publications and Research

As young, diasporic feminist activist–scholars involved in queer feminist move- ments across China, Taiwan, and New York City, we reflect on the emergent ‘‘new’’ queer feminism in China today, with its amorphous cohesion and dramatic impact, as highlighted by the subway protest. Drawing on transnational feminism, we are part of this latest ‘‘new’’ response to growing global inequalities and neo-colonial feminist discourses that calls for a critical re-engagement with global politics (Grewal & Kaplan, 2001). However, as activists who center our political involvement in Asia, ‘‘transnationalism’’ is not only a vision, but an already exist- ing state, as we see …

Guilty Stereotypes: The Social Psychology Of Race And Suspicion In Police Interviews And Interrogations, Sara C. Appleby

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over 300 people have been exonerated by post conviction DNA testing, unequivocally proving their innocence. Nearly 70% of these post conviction DNA exonerees are members of minority groups, and approximately 69% of those convicted as a result of false confessions are racial/ethnic minorities (www.innocenceproject.org). To date, there is little research on the role of race in police interviews and interrogations. The present research had two goals. First, we examined Black and White participants' experiences during a mock crime interview. Second, using the interviews from Study 1, we evaluated the role suspect race plays in police officers' veracity judgments. Using a …

`We Are All Stories In The End, I Want Mine To Be A Good One': College Students' Work-Family Expectations And The Role Of Educational Experiences, Chandra D. Mason

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While researchers have long been interested in the experiences of people who combine paid work with non-work roles (e.g., spouse, parent, eldercare provider), relatively little attention has been given to the expectations that people hold prior to occupying these roles, such as the amount of role conflict or fulfillment anticipated as a result of participating in both work and non-work roles. Even less is known about the factors that shape these expectations. For college students, these factors may include experiences of a college education (e.g., coursework that addresses gender roles, interacting with successful role models), yet, ironically, few studies have …

A Comparison Of Sexual Health And Sexual Pressure Among Young African American And Caucasian Women, Ann Gakumo

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction. Condom self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward condom use, condom negotiation skills, HIV knowledge, and self-esteem have been associated with decreased HIV risk behavior among young women, but few studies have examined racial disparities that may exist in these social health indicators. Moreover, sexual pressure (inclusive of both coercive and non-coercive pressures to engage in unwanted or unprotected sex) has been understudied in women of different racial groups.

Study Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare racial similarities and disparities in indicators of sexual health and sexual pressure in an urban sample of young African American and Caucasian women …

Friendship Chemistry: An Examination Of Underlying Factors, Kelly Campbell, Nicole Holderness, Matt Riggs

Psychology Faculty Publications

Interpersonal chemistry refers to a connection between two individuals that exists upon first meeting. The goal of the current study is to identify beliefs about the underlying components of friendship chemistry. Individuals respond to an online Friendship Chemistry Questionnaire containing items that are derived from interdependence theory and the friendship formation literature. Participants are randomly divided into two subsamples. A principal axis factor analysis with promax rotation is performed on subsample 1 (n = 688) and produces 5 factors: Reciprocal candor, mutual interest, personableness, similarity, and physical attraction. A confirmatory factor analysis is conducted using subsample 2 (n = 715) …

Do You Pursue Your Heart Or Your Art?: Creativity, Personality, And Love, Kelly Campbell, James Kaufman

Psychology Faculty Publications

We examined the associations between love, personality, and creativity for people in relationships of varying durations. Participants (N =1,529) from regions across the U.S. completed an online survey. Consistent with prior work, we found that relationship length was negatively associated with passion, positively associated with commitment, and did not exhibit a significant association with intimacy. For personality, agreeableness was positively associated with passion, intimacy, and commitment, and conscientiousness was positively associated with intimacy and commitment. Additionally, openness was significantly associated with passion and intimacy for men, and emotional stability was significantly associated with intimacy for women. Of note, artistic creative …

Why Is The Crowd Divided? Attribution For Dispersion In Online Word Of Mouth, Stephen He, Samuel Bond

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The widespread availability of online word of mouth (WOM) enables modern consumers to assess not only the opinions of others about products and services, but also the extent to which those opinions are consistent or dispersive. Despite longstanding calls for greater understanding of mixed opinions, existing evidence is inconclusive regarding effects of WOM dispersion, and theoretical accounts have relied primarily on the notion of reference dependence. Extending prior work, this research proposes an attribution-based account, in which consumer interpretation of WOM dispersion depends on the extent to which tastes in a product domain are perceived to be dissimilar, so that …

“She Can Be A Superhero, But She Needs Her Day Off”: Exploring Discursive Constructions Of Motherhood And Depression In Emerging Adult Talk Surrounding Maternal Depression, Leah Seurer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite studies demonstrating the impact of health on the family and the family on members’ health, research exploring this intersection remains scant in both family communication and health communication. This study explores the nexus of health and family by examining constructions of motherhood and depression in emerging adult talk surrounding maternal depression. Using relational dialectics theory as the theoretical lens, the study examined talk collected in 36 one-on-one interviews with emerging adults asked to describe their experiences of having a mother with depression. Participant talk surrounding motherhood voiced two primary discourses of motherhood: (1) the discourse of real mother …