Social Psychology Commons^™

Stressful Scriptures: Gender Role Ideology, Gender Role Stress, And Christian Religiosity, Tess A. Lommers-Johnson

Scripps Senior Theses

The Gender Role Stress paradigm asserts that individuals experience distress when they cannot or do not want to live up to the roles prescribed to their gender, and this stress is related to Gender Role Ideology. Within American Christian culture, gender roles are socialized and shaped according to tradition and the Bible. To investigate the intersection of these factors, Christian adults will respond to questionnaires about their Gender Role Ideology, Gender Role Stress, and religiosity. Significant positive correlational relationships between Gender Role Ideology and Gender Role Stress, between religiosity and Gender Role Ideology, and between religiosity and Gender Role Stress …

Persuasion In The Health Field: Framing The Message For Attitude Change, Kelley Ogami

Scripps Senior Theses

The process of persuasion, the changing of a person’s attitudes, has often been applied to health communications designed to promote healthy behavior. Manipulation of aspects of the persuasive message can influence persuasion and the likelihood of attitude change. For a long time, the existing persuasion research had yet to examine how different types of message framing and intervention targets directly and in interaction with one another act as predictors of health attitude change. Therefore, this thesis addressed this lapse using an online survey to assess participants’ attitude towards the health issue of hypertension after reading a health message. This health …

Social Comparison And Self-Presentation On Social Media As Predictors Of Depressive Symptoms, Janet L. Uhlir

Scripps Senior Theses

Social media, an online arena for social behaviors such as self-presentation and social comparison, may have effects on users’ mood and mental health. Favorably presenting oneself is linked to positive outcomes such as higher self-esteem, whereas social comparison, in general and specifically upward social comparison to higher-performing others, is related to feelings of inadequacy, envy, and depression. Social comparison may explain the “Facebook depression effect,” acting as a mediator between time spent on social media and depressive symptoms. A correlational study is proposed that will ask 200 participants to report their time spent on various social media sites, self-presentation of …

The Influence Of Advertisement Music On Gender Identity And Sex Stereotyping In Young Girls, Ellen S. Pelos

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper proposes a study that investigates whether manipulating pitch and tempo in children’s toy advertisement music has an effect on gender identity and sex stereotyping in preschool-aged girls. This particular intersection between advertisement, persuasion, gender identity, and sex stereotyping scholarship has not yet been explored. However, past research does suggest that high pitch and fast tempo have a significant positive impact on mood and arousal, two factors associated with more susceptibility to persuasive messages. The 3- to 4-year-old female participants will be randomly assigned to one of the nine advertisement conditions. The music in the ads for each condition …

Does The Pain Of Rejection Promote The Pleasure Of Revenge? A Neural Investigation Of Cingulo-Striatal Contributions To Violence, David Chester

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Aggression is a dynamic and costly feature of human behavior. One reliable cause of aggression is social rejection, though the underlying mechanisms of this effect remain to be fully understood. Previous research has identified two psychological processes that are independently linked to aggressive retaliation: pain and pleasure. Given recent findings that pain magnifies the experience of pleasure, I predicted that the pain of rejection would promote the pleasure of aggression and thus, aggression itself. I also expected that this indirect effect of aggressive pleasure would only be observed among individuals with weaker self-regulatory abilities that are necessary to cope with …

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 …

Relationship Among Motivation, Emotion Regulation, And Psychological Well-Being Of Sophomore And Senior Level Nursing Students, Aryene Delgado, Douglas Garner, Nicole Langhals

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Nursing education and professional work involve stressful circumstances that may lead to attrition, which can further contribute to the projected nursing shortage. This study examines the relationships between motivation, emotional regulation, psychological well-being and academic performance in baccalaureate sophomore and senior level nursing students at a Midwest urban university in the United States. The non-experimental, correlational study is guided by Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory and uses an online survey data collection and convenience sampling. Measures include: motivation, emotional regulation, psychological well-being (burnout; inauthenticity), and academic performance (GPA), and will be measured using Deci and Ryan’s scale, the Emotion Regulation …

The Exploration Of Machiavellianism, Logan Taylor Penticuff

Online Theses and Dissertations

Dyads, whether in an academic or practical setting, are commonplace. Workforces and academic settings alike are often comprised of groups of two or more individuals working together towards a common goal. As these interactions continue to be prevalent and important in the various settings, the context in which these interactions takes place and the people involved, influence the efficiency of these pairings. More specifically, the realm of business harbors more individuals considered high in a personality trait referred to as Machiavellianism (i.e., Mach) than other common professions. To better understand how Machiavellianism influences commonplace dyads in settings applicable to everyday …

To Foster Change, Damon Tichenor

Online Theses and Dissertations

The current study intended to investigate the effects of increased similarity to upward, lateral, and downward comparison targets on changes to participants’ psychological well-being and self-aspect valence. Based on previous literature, hypotheses were proposed in regard to the effect of increased similarity to each direction of comparison. A sample of students in introductory psychology classes from Eastern Kentucky University were employed to test these hypotheses. All of the participants completed measures that captured their self-aspect valence and centrality, perception of comparison targets, and psychological well-being. The results of this study confirmed some of the hypotheses. The results showed that for …

When Focusing On Differences Leads To Similar Perspectives: A Replication Study Of Todd, Hanko, Galinsky, And Mussweiler (2011), Cassie Marie Whitt

Online Theses and Dissertations

Todd et al., (2011) found support for the hypothesis that participants primed with a difference mind-set were more likely to spontaneously adopt an other-oriented visual perspective than participants primed with a similarity mind-set or participants in a control condition. The current study was an attempt to directly replicate this finding using American and German samples collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The project utilized the ‘Replication Recipe’ (Brandt et. al, 2014) to facilitate the replication process and set the conditions necessary for replication access. The replication was deemed inconclusive; possible explanations are discussed.

The Effects Of Strong Ties On Socialization, Colton Alan Burgess

Online Theses and Dissertations

Organizations that successfully socialize newcomers benefit from effective workforces comprised of employees who experience higher job performance, satisfaction, and commitment. Organizational insiders, known as social agents, play an integral role in facilitating the socialization of newcomers, as these individuals make up the networks in which newcomers work. To better understand in what ways social agents help assimilate newcomers, a more thorough understanding is needed concerning how tie strength between individuals facilitates the socialization process.

This thesis has two objectives. First, two types of antecedents to strong tie development are explored: orientation practices deployed by organizations to promote interaction between newcomers …

Effects Of Priming The Concept Of Luck On Task Persistence, Koryn R. Haight

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Does feeling lucky influence the way we perform? Do we try harder and persist at tasks if we think luck is involved, or are we more prone to give up? To help answer these questions, this research examines the effect of priming the concept of luck on persistence. In particular, some participants completed a word descramble task designed to prime luck; others completed a neutral word descramble task. All participants then completed a set of reasoning puzzles, one of which they were told was ‘difficult’ but in reality was unsolvable. Persistence was measured by (a) the amount of time participants …

Slam Poetry: An Online Intervention For Treating Depression, Spencer J. Ruchti, Mercedes Becker, Cara Mckee, Austin Herron, Alex Swalling

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Given that depression is the “leading cause of disability worldwide,” and that less than 50% of people suffering from depression receive treatment, this study aims to provide support for a globally accessible depression treatment (WHO, 2012). The study conducted implemented an internet-based treatment for depression in which users were provided an opportunity to watch slam poetry videos related to mental health issues and write free responses regarding the content of the videos and their subjective experience of depression. Numerous studies provide support for the effectiveness of expressive writing, online mental health interventions, and slam poetry in particular for reducing symptoms …

Emotional Dysregulation And Adaptive Skills Among Siblings Of Bipolar Children, Nikki Marie Woller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to understand the effects of pediatric bipolar disorder on child siblings. A quantitative quasi-experimental research design was used. According to family systems theory, which was used in the formation of this study, all family members are interconnected and affect each other in a variety of ways. The research questions investigated whether children demonstrated more emotional dysregulation and fewer adaptive skills when a bipolar sibling was living in the home than when there was no bipolar sibling. The matched comparison study used 2 groups of children: those with bipolar siblings and those without bipolar siblings. …

Female Police Officers' Perceptions And Experiences With Marginalization: A Phenomenological Study, Dr. Arlether Ann Wilson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a lack of female police officer representation in police departments nationwide. Women's position, or lack thereof, in law enforcement is a topic of discussion in many police literature reviews. However, there were minimal studies detailing female police officers' personal experiences in the law enforcement profession. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and understand the perceptions and lived experiences of female police officers, as well as the impact those experiences had on their careers. Female participants from 3 police departments formed the purposive sample that included 8 full-time female police officers. The feminist theory helped to …

Social Justice And Worker Cooperatives, Gurveer Shaan Dhillon

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Social Justice (SJ) is an organizing principle of contemporary community psychology (CP); however, the concept and understanding of social justice in community psychology is undertheorized and narrow. Specifically, the concept of distributive justice, which has been a popular notion of social justice in community psychology discourse, does not translate well into transformative action. In order to address this issue, the research uses a qualitative approach to explore the understanding of social justice from the perspectives of worker-members of 5 worker cooperatives in Ontario, with the aim to contribute to an understanding of SJ that has transformative implications. A worker cooperative …

An Examination Of Newcomer Integration Processes In Sport Teams: A Socialization Perspective, Alex J. Benson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In highly interdependent groups, the ability to swiftly and successfully integrate newcomers is an important component to maintaining functional team dynamics. The current dissertation explored how sport teams structure the nature and timing of events that newcomers are put through by implementing specific socialization tactics. In the first manuscript, a qualitative study was initiated to garner descriptive insights into the tactics that are used to socialize athletes into sport teams. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with coaches, veteran athletes, and newcomer athletes (i.e., individuals in their first year as a team member). Participant insights were thematically analyzed and compared to existing …

Exploring How Parents Influence Role Acceptance Of Youth Athletes Through Multiple Perspectives, Michael J. Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Role acceptance refers to the willingness of an athlete to fulfill expected role responsibilities (Benson, Eys, Surya, Dawson, & Schneider, 2013). Researchers have proposed several potential antecedents of role acceptance, one of which emphasized the influence of parents in this process (Eys et al., in preparation). With this in mind, the general purpose of the present study was to examine how parents influence the role acceptance process through multiple perspectives (e.g., parents, athletes, and coaches). To achieve this objective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 participants (7 parents, 7 athletes, and 5 coaches) from four different types of interdependent team …

Social Problems, Biomedical Answers? How Causes Of Social Problems Affect Choice Of Solutions, Bianca C. Dreyer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

With rapid advances in behavioural genetics, scientists are identifying an increasing array of genetic influences on human behaviour. Public misconceptions about the function of genes often lead to the oversimplification of the role of genes in behaviour (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011). To date, no study has systematically investigated whether simply learning about genetic causes of behaviour affects people’s preferred solutions to problematic behaviours. The present research program includes three studies that were designed to examine the psychological effects of exposure to genetic etiology for problematic behaviour, in particular aggression, and investigated how this information influences endorsement of solutions, rating of …

How Perceptions Of A Relationship Partner’S Self-Esteem Influence Support Seeking, Alexandra Hirniak

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Receiving effective social support is beneficial (Cohen & Wills, 1985); unfortunately people do not always seek support when they need it (Collins & Feeney, 2000). I hypothesized that perceptions of a partner’s self-esteem affect social support processes, such that people will be less willing to solicit support from low self-esteem partners for stressful events because they assume that low self-esteem partners will be unable to provide effective support. Results from four studies (Study 1A: N=116; Study 1B: N=201; Study 2: N=194; Study 3: N=196) demonstrated that perceptions of a romantic partner’s self-esteem were positively associated with people’s willingness to share …

Measuring Self-Reported Exercise, Motivation To Exercise, And Sexism In Women, Sydney C. Jensen

All Master's Theses

The harmfulness and pervasiveness of benevolent sexism is not a well disseminated issue, despite the belief that women are treated with equality in today’s society. The current study was designed to investigate whether exercise type and motivation to exercise would predict participants’ self-reported benevolent and hostile sexism, particularly in light of gender-related stereotypes about physical activity. A sample of 79 females completed an online survey that included questions about demographic characteristics, primary exercise type (i.e., cardiovascular exercise, weight-lifting, or hobbies), average number hours spent engaging in their primary exercise weekly, exercise motivations, and finally the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory which served …

The Influence Exposure Has On Consumer Behavior, Ryan M. Farney

CMC Senior Theses

Advertising has been around for thousands of years and has proven to be a valuable asset to company revenue. The methods used in advertising have been examined closely more recently, specifically from a psychological standpoint. The human brain reacts to advertisements in different ways. Low and high involvement advertisements stimulate the brain in the subconscious and conscious state effectively. While each of these advertising methods are useful, complex messaging techniques seem to stimulate recall more effectively than simple messaging. In the age of digital advertising, sponsors look to put new resources to use to ensure paid advertisements are doing their …

Singaporean Mothers' Perception Of Their Three-Year-Old Child's Weight Status: A Cross-Sectional Study, Tuck Seng Cheng, Et Al., Yee-Man Ivy Lau

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objective: Inaccurate parental perception of their child's weight status is commonly reported in Western countries. It is unclear whether similar misperception exists in Asian populations. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of Singaporean mothers to accurately describe their three-year-old child's weight status verbally and visually.

The Role Of Social Dominance Orientation And Patriotism In The Evaluation Of Minority And Female Leaders, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon

Psychology Faculty Publications

This research broadens our understanding of racial and gender bias in leader evaluations by merging implicit leadership theory and social dominance perspectives. Across two experimental studies (291 participants), we tested the prediction that bias in leader evaluations stemming from White and masculine leader standards depends on the extent to which people favor hierarchical group relationships (SDO) and their level of patriotism. Employing the Goldberg paradigm, participants read identical leadership speeches attributed to either a woman or a man described as either a minority (Black or Latino/a) or a majority (White) group member. Results show SDO negatively predicted evaluations of minority …

Solidifying Segregation Or Promoting Diversity? School Closure And Rezoning In An Urban District, Thomas J. Shields

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

Purpose: Layered with myriad considerations, school closure and rezoning processes in urban school systems are politically fraught with the potential for damaging consequences. This article explores the politics and impacts of a closure and rezoning process in Richmond, Virginia, through the lens of themes applicable to urban school systems and students across the nation. These include the intersection of closure and rezoning with growing White reinvestment in urban school systems, as well as the importance of focusing on diversity and equity during a time of intense pressure to close schools.

Research Methods/Approach: Drawing on the case of Richmond, Virginia, we …

The Netflix Effect And Defining Binge-Watching, Brenna C. Davis

UROP Posters

With the accessibility of television programs provided by popular streaming platforms, like Netflix, consumers can watch episodes or seasons of their favorite programming in just one sitting. This new practice of watching television has been referred to as binge-watching, and is defined by Netflix as watching two to six episodes of the same show in one sitting. Netflix’s definition is the most widely used definition of binge-watching, but does not account for the varying lengths of episodes for the different types of programming. There is a lack of standardization in what constitutes a television binge, like the standards that exist …

The Effects Of Eastern Versus Western Cultures On Women's Perceptions And Disclosure Of Mental Illness, Whitney Roxanne Sherrick

UROP Posters

Mental illnesses and the stigma that surrounds them have caused societal unrest since the development of the modern human. However, there remain differences in the way individuals perceive mental illness, allowing various levels of stigma to arise. The focus of this research is to determine the contrast between the views of Western and Eastern cultures concerning mental health status - exploring how cultural expectations for women affect their perception, and disclosure, of mental illnesses. This research involves studies that examined societal expectations for Western and Eastern cultures, and experiments measuring the perceptions of mental illness from individuals with various heritages. …

"Black People Don't Tip": Racism In The Restaurant Industry, Hortance E. Houngbeke

UROP Posters

Due to discrimination, waiters are less likely to provide good customer service to their black dinners solely based on the assumption that they are poor tippers. The theory of discrimination is the foundation of this observational study where attentiveness is measured to reflect waiters’ avoidance of African American diners. Assuming waiters start with their preconceived notions about Black customers, this research will use the critical race theory to determine if waiters are less attentive to African American diners. To further understand the subtle discriminatory behavior of waiters toward African Americans, this study analyzes observational data from a sample of waiters …

Promoting Prosocial Responsiveness Across Racial Divides Through Mindfulness, Chris J. Wall, Paul E. Plonski, Daniel R. Berry, Kirk W. Brown

UROP Posters

In interracial and other intergroup interactions, prosocial emotions and actions are often undermined (Cikara & van Bavel, 2014). Perceiving psychological separateness between “us” and “them” – which is often an automatic, unintentional process – is psychological kindling for lower prosocial responsiveness that leads to prejudice, discrimination, aggressive conflict (Cikara, 2015). Recent research has shown that mindfulness, an open and unconditional attention to one’s present experiences, is associated with decreased automaticity and racial bias (Kang, Gruber, & Gray, 2013; Lueke & Gibson, 2014), barriers that hinder prosocial responsiveness (Trautwien, Schmidt, & Naranjo, 2014). Two experiments investigated whether brief mindfulness training promoted …

The Effects Of Pet Ownership On Anxiety And Depression Among Trauma-Exposed College Students, Dung N. Nguyentran, Marlene A. Michniak, James J. Jung, Christine Q. Do

UROP Posters

Rates of anxiety and depression are prevalent in college students and can be attributed in part to stress and trauma-related events. However, studies suggest that pet ownership has the possibility of alleviating symptoms of anxiety, depression, negative emotions, and suicide. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between pet ownership and levels of anxiety and depression among those who have experienced a traumatic event. The sample was comprised of five hundred and forty-seven VCU students who completed an online survey from Spit for Science during their junior year. Linear regressions were performed to determine the nature and …