Voluntary Engagement And College Retention: Does The Type Of Engagement Predict Retention For Different Types Of Students?, Sarah Louise Coley

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined whether voluntary engagement activities are associated with increased student retention rates at college to a subsequent semester. It was theorized that this association would owe to engagement enhancing the ostensible value of students’ college experience. Additionally, another theoretical idea was examined: Specific activities may be particularly beneficial for specific types of students. For example, students may have certain motivational needs, such as those identified by self-determination theory (SDT; i.e., competency and belongingness). Fulfilling those needs through engagement may promote retention. For the current study, student record data and student self-report data were sampled from a Midwestern …

The Potential Benefits Of Using Humor To Reduce Prejudice And Violence, Ethan Radatz

Masters Theses

In the field of social psychology, there have been multiple sources of research demonstrating the proposed links between prejudice and humor. The breadth of this research appears to hold the common theme of observing how the use of negative humor can disenfranchise different outgroups, or groups that seem to be at the bottom of the social ladder (e.g. the poor, marginalized ethnic/racial groups, sex, gender, and so on). Furthermore, the concepts of prejudice, as well as humor have been rarely observed through any nonviolence framework. The present study examined any relationship between humor (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating), nonviolence (physical …

A Photo Illicit Study Of Black Women's Sense Of Belonging At A Predominately White Institution, Kayla Alexandria Slusher

Masters Theses

This qualitative study sought to examine how Black women define and create their sense of belonging while attending a predominately White institution using a photovoice approach. The women took photographs of spaces that they frequently occupy and then engaged in a face-to-face interview to discuss the photographs. The researcher also investigated four Black women, ranging from junior to graduate level, to identify how they developed a sense of belonging at the research site institution. Results of the study showed that a feeling of comfort was most important when identifying belongingness in a space. The participants were able to create a …

Social Anxiety And Drinking Behaviors In College Students: Mediated By Alcohol Outcome Expectancies Specific To Social Situations?, Toby Board

Masters Theses

Understanding the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking is a difficult task. Studies examining this relationship have commonly found a positive correlation between social anxiety and drinking behaviors, although the literature is marked by mixed results. If social anxiety does positively predict alcohol use, then what accounts for this relationship? Some researchers posit that alcohol outcome expectancies may be a mediator for this relationship. Alcohol outcome expectancies specific to the context of social evaluative situations may be a stronger mediator than general alcohol outcome expectancies. A study to test this mediation was conducted with xxx undergraduate students. Results showed …

The Relationships Between Weight Stigma, Ethnic Identity, And Acculturation In Latinas, Catherine Rodrí­Guez Torres

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Weight stigma has negative psychological and physical consequences including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, and lower quality of life. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore the relationships between weight stigma, ethnic identity, and acculturation in Latinas. The intersectional theory provided the framework for this study. A sample of 154 Latinas over the age of 18 living in the United States or 1 of its territories was gathered through social media, a fat acceptance organization, and a research participant pool. The online survey consisted of 3 psychometric tools-Modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale, Multi-Group Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised, and …

What's Wrong With Being Single: Lowered Relational Value Bias Toward Single People, Darian Farrell

Master's Theses

This study examined the perceived relational value of single individuals (compared to that of coupled individuals). I hypothesized that, participants would be more likely to make the conjunction fallacy in the single condition vs. the coupled condition, when asked whether or not it was more likely that the target person from the condition was a single teacher vs. teacher. The data supported my hypothesis: participants in the single condition were significantly more likely to make the conjunction fallacy than participants in the coupled condition. My study also tested whether or not the need to belong acted as a moderator for …

Self-Compassion, Social Connectedness, And Interpersonal Competence, Jacob H. Bloch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Self-compassion has consistently been found to be related to well-being (Barnard & Curry 2011). Most research has focused on the intrapersonal benefits of self-compassion, such as its positive relationships with happiness, optimism, positive affect (Neff & Vonk, 2009), and life satisfaction (Neff, Kirkpatrick, & Rude, 2007). In contrast, little research has addressed how engaging in self-compassion may be beneficial to one’s relationships. There is strong evidence that social connectedness (e.g. Lee, Draper, & Lee, 2001; Lee & Robbins, 1998; Mauss et al., 2011; Neff, 2003b) and interpersonal competence (e.g Fiori, Antonucci, & Cortina, 2006; Berkman & Syme, 1979; Delongis, Folkman, …

Developing A Social Media Behavior Scale, Heather O. Cissel

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When the topic of social media usage arises, the connotation is usually negative, with a focus on the negative impact both on the individual and on society (Greysen, Kind, & Chretien, 2010). In response to these perceived negative effects, some researchers have created a Social Media Disorder Scale (Van Den Eijnden, Lemmens, & Valkenburg, 2016) in order to address a diagnostic cutoff for social media disorder. However, relatively less research has been focused on measuring the potentially positive effects of social media on the individual and on society. In an effort to address this issue, the aim of the present …

Exploring Illusions Of Height In Suit Design, Michael P. Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Objective: The goal of this research was to explore how the design of clothing, specifically the design of the suit, can create height illusions.

Background: Taller people enjoy many advantages, such as increased income and perceived attractiveness. These advantages motivate people to try to appear taller than they actually are, and clothing experts provide advice on how to accomplish this. However, there is little empirical evidence to validate the illusory effects clothing might have on overall height perception. The few studies that have explored illusions of body size created by clothing design have been limited in two important ways – …

A Place Among The Stars? The Influence Of Religion And Creationism On Attitudes Towards Space Exploration And Beliefs In Extraterrestrial Life, Sarah R. Schiavone

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Space exploration continues to expand humanity’s understanding of the universe. And, while Americans have widely favorable attitudes towards efforts to explore outer space, certain religious beliefs appear to be associated with more negative attitudes towards space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. The current study explored the role of religion and creationism on attitudes towards space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Priming techniques were used to test whether increasing the accessibility of religious and creationist concepts led to more negative attitudes towards space exploration and beliefs about extraterrestrial life. Participants (N = 230) encountered an explicit …

Gender-Based Harassment In Early Adolescence: Group And Individual Predictors Of Perpetration, Michelle Jennine Tam

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The current study examined gender-based harassment in early adolescence and the characteristics of individuals who perpetrate such harassment (specifically, experiences with witnessing gender-based harassment and gender identity). Students in seventh and eighth grade (n = 483; 247 girls, 236 boys) completed surveys containing measures of gender identity (perceived same and other-gender typicality, felt pressure to conform to gender norms, and gender contentedness), and questions about witnessing and perpetrating teasing, bullying, and rejection because of a peer’s gender typicality or atypicality. Results revealed that the more GBH an individual had previously witnessed in their classroom, the more likely they were …

Political Essentialism And Affective Polarization, Chase Wilson

Dissertations

Affective polarization, the phenomenon of liberals and conservatives treating each other as disliked outgroups, is increasingly intense (Iyengar & Westwood, 2015; Pew, 2016). In the present research, I used the construct of psychological essentialism (Medin & Ortony, 1989) to help understand this intergroup phenomenon. Specifically, I measured political essentialism, or the belief that political ideologies are strongly determined, informative, discrete and/or immutable, and tested the relationship between these beliefs and affective polarization. I approached this question with both correlational and experimental methods. In a correlational study, political essentialism overall is found to covary positively with affective polarization and social avoidance …

Actor's And Partner's Self-Discrepancy As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Negative Events And Reflected Appraisals: A Daily Diary Study Examining The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model In African American Couples, Natalie J. Hallinger

Dissertations

Self-worth influences how individuals perceive the health of their romantic relationships

in response to adverse experiences, especially interpersonal threats. Though explicit

self-esteem is often used as an indicator of self-worth in investigations of relationship

functioning after interpersonal threats, particularly those focusing on perceptions of felt

love and acceptance, actual:ideal self-discrepancy is an evaluative aspect of the self

that may have more direct impacts on romantic relationship functioning after negative

events that are unrelated to the relationship. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence

Model to analyze dyadic data from 150 African American couples using multilevel

regression models, the current study’s results were contrary …

The Loyola Experience: Increasing Belonging And Retention Among Underrepresented Students, Michelle Seli Aku Adzido

Master's Theses

Retaining underrepresented (e.g. first-generation and ethnic minority) students remains a challenge within higher education. Fostering a sense of belonging on campus is key to successfully retaining and increasing academic performance among underrepresented students. Peer-to-peer and faculty mentoring provides opportunities to form social bonds and potentially increase belonging. Mentoring may also connect students from underrepresented backgrounds with campus resources, thus contributing to their knowledge and utilization of campus resources, or self-advocacy. I recruited 95 racial minority and first-generation participants. They reported self-advocacy, belonging, grade point average (GPA), and retention intentions. I test whether participation in a mentoring program (versus control) operated …

Effects Of Affiliative Motivation And Confrontation Style On Anti-Black Attitudes And Social Consequences, Jamie Patrianakos

Master's Theses

Anti-Black racism occurs on a daily basis and comes with both physical and psychological costs to its targets. One effective way to reduce discrimination is through confrontation, which could come in the form of a hostile accusation of racism (hot confrontation) or a polite emphasis on egalitarian values (cold confrontation). However, confronting often has social costs that may include damaging the relationship between the confronter and the perpetrator. This research determined whether social relationships can reduce anti-Black bias while also serving as a buffer against the social consequences of confronting. Participants (n = 168) were randomly assigned to a 2(affiliative …

The Stigmatization Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder As Influenced By Gender, Evelina Alex

Senior Independent Study Theses

Children who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder are inherently more vulnerable to stigma in ways that children without this diagnosis are. The current study was an experimental study in which attitudes towards children with and without Autism were measured through a vignette along with an attribution questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire, modified from Ling, Mak, & Cheng (2010) was to analyze peoples’ perceptions about the actions of children with and without Autism. The questionnaire examined sympathy, helping behavioral intention, punitive behavioral intention, perceived controllability, and anger. Disability status was defined as the first independent variable, with gender being …

An Analysis Of The Ego-Depletion Effects Of Emotion Versus Attention Draining Tasks: Even Emotionally Arousing Depletion Tasks Do Not Show An Ego-Depletion Effect, Savannah Binion

Senior Independent Study Theses

The theory of ego-depletion has come under intense scrutiny within the past few years. Beginning around 2010, researchers conducted meta-analyses and large replication studies that have investigated this topic, and found a wide range of evidence for and against the existence of an ego-depletion effect. Although the goal has been to determine whether this effect exists or not, the research has proved that the answer may be more complicated than that. The purpose of the current research was to examine the different theories about self-control, and to test two specific depleting tasks against a control group. The depleting tasks were …

Food For Thought: The Effects Of Past And Present Food Insecurity On Subjective Well-Being And Child Behavior, Jena C. Styka

Senior Independent Study Theses

Food insecurity arises when one does not have physical, social, or economic access to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (2016), food insecurity affects 15.6 million U.S. households. Its effects go beyond the physical consequences that might arise from not having adequate nutrition, influencing subjective well-being and behavior in both adults and children. This 2 x 2 quasi-experiment investigated how current and prior food insecurity influenced depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction, and happiness in parents, as well as how it influenced child behavior. Results indicated that prior experiences of food insecurity resulted in …

Attachment Style And Romantic Satisfaction As Predictors Of Relationship Visibility On Facebook, Amanda I. Wells

Senior Independent Study Theses

The current study investigates the influence of adult attachment style on romantic posting behaviors on Facebook. Attachment theory has been widely used to examine behaviors and attitudes within romantic relationships, but little research has been done to extend these findings to the context of social media. A survey of 212 participants was conducted using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The results of a linear regression analysis showed that attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety predicted lower levels of romantic satisfaction, a finding reflective of previous attachment research (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). Two separate regression analyses were conducted to examine possible predictors of participants’ …

That’S Not Funny: The Effect Of Exposure To Sexist Or Feminist Humor On Rape Myth Acceptance, Gina Romano

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This study examined the role humor plays on the acceptance of rape myths in college students. This study sought to determine if the type of joke (sexist, feminist or neutral) and the reception method (reading or listening) had an impact on how much an individual accepts rape myths. Participants either read or listened to five jokes from one of three joke categories: sexist, feminist, or neutral. The participants then answered questions regarding joke hilarity and took a rape myth acceptance measure.Type of joke and reception method did not affect rape myth acceptance although participants did find the neutral jokes to …

Contextualizing Lgbtq Faculty Experiences: An Account Of Sexual Minority Perceptions, Travis Dimitri David

All Theses And Dissertations

The well-being of faculty is susceptible to influence from intrinsic and extrinsic occupational characteristics. Heterosexism or hostile environments can be associated with decreased satisfaction amongst sexual minorities. As such, this transcendental phenomenology examined perceptions from tenured lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) faculty of their workplace conditions. Eight participants reflected on experiences from within higher education, academic settings. This study purposefully probed how sexual orientation and sexual minority status impacted their overall job satisfaction. Through providing context for social interactions in a traditionally heteronormative environment, cultural and attributional behaviors associated with affecting LGBTQ faculty in higher education was analyzed. …

Stigma And Its Reduction: The Role Of Knowledge, Causal Attribution, And Mental Disorder Type, Jesica N. Ferguson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Abstract

Research has shown undeniable evidence of mental illness stigma. Stigma has been shown to reduce treatment seeking and negatively impact emotion and cognition in individuals with mental illness (Livingstone & Boyd, 2010). By discovering the driving forces behind stigma, treatment seeking and quality of life can be improved for individuals with mental illness. This study investigates the effect of knowledge, disorder type, and causal attribution on mental illness stigma. Specifically, participants were assigned to one of two conditions, knowledge or no knowledge. Knowledge conditions included information about a disorder (schizophrenia or depression, depending on disorder condition) such as definition, …

Investigating Racial Bias In Perceptions Of Free Will, Courtney J. Alderson

Theses and Dissertations

The overarching goal of this study was to examine whether perceptions of others’ free will would differ depending on perceiver race as well as target race. The current study proposed that such a racial bias may be one mechanism by which racial disparities in medical treatment recommendations arise. By bridging findings from four different lines of research (i.e., the literatures on racial health and medical treatment disparities, racial bias, free will beliefs, and social identity), it was hypothesized that: (1) participants would perceive greater amounts of free will for a hypothetical racial ingroup patient than an outgroup patient; (2) such …

A Laboratory Study Of Stress Reactions To Witnessing A Police Killing Of An Unarmed Black Man: Discrimination, Distress Tolerance, Ethnic Identity, And Risk-Taking, Michael A. Trujillo

Theses and Dissertations

Black individuals have been disproportionately targeted by law enforcement, most notably in shooting deaths at the hands of police, and has contributed to a general distrust of law enforcement. A rise in citizen journalism has helped document excessive use of force by police on video; however, little is known how individuals respond to viewing this type of media. A history of race-based stress is likely to contribute to an expectation of racism and may impact how individuals respond to videos of the treatment of unarmed Black men at the hands of police, with some evidence suggesting ethnic identity may moderate …

License To Ill: Slang And Uncertainty As Motivational Accounts For Group Identification, Benny Chu

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

People use verbal communication with other group members as unique social identity markers. Individual’s word choices adjust and change based on the group to which the individual belongs. For example, regional slang allows for people to view themselves as a distinct group represented in a particular geographic location (e.g., Northern Californians and the term “hella”). As a result, when individuals recognize the informal language (slang) of their fellow group members, they should feel confident and included in their group. However, when individuals hear their peers communicate norms by using slang with which they are unfamiliar, it should create …

Differential Predictors Of Opposition To Same-Sex Marriage And Sexual Prejudice, Latishia E Y Jett-Dias

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study investigated attitudes toward same-sex marriage and its beneficiaries from the frameworks of social dominance orientation (SDO) and political conservatism. Unlike past research that focused mainly on sexual prejudice, the current paper explicitly examined both opposition to same-sex marriage and sexual prejudice. Additionally, the current study explored subcomponents of SDO (i.e., opposition to equality [OEQ] and group-based dominance [GBD]). Study One examined relationships and predictive difference between attitudes toward same-sex marriage and its beneficiaries before California legalized same-sex marriage. Study Two addressed attitudes before and recently after California legalized same-sex marriage. OEQ, GBD, and conservatism predicted opposition to same-sex …

A Grateful Mind: The Impact Of Felt Fluency On Subjective Well-Being, Renee Hunt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The practice of gratitude has become increasingly prevalent in popular culture as a self-help intervention aimed at improving individuals’ happiness and overall well-being. Although a great deal of empirical work has promoted the benefits of practicing gratitude (see Davis et al., 2016 for a review), less work has been conducted examining the conditions under which the traditional gratitude interventions are less effective, or even entirely ineffective. One potential boundary condition that may be associated with the benefit individuals report after engaging in the practice of gratitude is fluency – an individual’s subjective experience of ease or difficulty. When tasks are …

Boundaries Of Fostering Happiness: Implicit Theories Of Happiness Predict Reactions To Positive Psychological Interventions, Esther Abel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) are activities designed to facilitate greater psychological well-being through building cognitive and behavioural habits and skills (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). However, there may be individual differences that play a role in the effect PPIs have. The present research evaluated how individuals’ implicit theories regarding happiness as being controllable or not controllable (Howell, Passmore, & Holder, 2016) may predict their responses to and participation in PPIs, and in turn if those beliefs may be linked to the positive outcomes of the activities. In four online studies, the relationship between implicit theories of happiness and PPIs …

"The Way To Become A Man": The Influence Of Commercial Sex On Male Psychosocial Development, Adrian Deluna Garcia

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Hegemonic masculinity and the negative consequences that it has on men and women continues to gain increasing attention in research and in popular culture. Particular attention is paid to the sexual violence that is perpetrated by men towards women, however, the research on men’s sexual development and its relationship to this sexual violence focuses largely on biological explanations. The feminist literature, however, on sexual violence offers a differing perspective, which includes the socialization processes that men undergo in their sexual development that lead them towards normalizing sexual violence. One of these processes is the existence and normalization of the commercial …

Imaginary Alternatives: The Impact Of Mental Simulation On Powerless Negotiators, Michael Schaerer, Martin Schweinsberg, Roderick I. Swaab

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The present research demonstrates that negotiators can act powerfully without having power.Researchers and practitioners advise people to obtain strong alternatives prior to negotiating toenhance their power. However, alternatives are not always readily available, often forcingnegotiators to negotiate without much, or any, power. Building on research suggesting thatsubjective feelings of power and objective outcomes are disconnected and that mental simulationcan increase individuals’ aspirations, we hypothesized that the mental imagery of a strongalternative could provide similar psychological benefits to having an actual alternative. Ourstudies demonstrate that imagining strong alternatives causes individuals to negotiate moreambitiously and provides them with a distributive advantage: negotiators …