Social Psychology Commons^™

Self-Forgiveness In Romantic Relationships: The Impact On The Perpetrator And The Relationship, Jaclyn M. Moloney

Theses and Dissertations

Two studies were conducted to determine how self-forgiveness and other perpetrator reactions influence the perpetrator and the victim after a romantic relationship transgression. Study 1 used a longitudinal design to determine how guilt and shame predicted the trajectory of self-forgiveness, self-excusing, and self-punishing in participants who had recently been the perpetrator of a romantic relationship transgression.

Those experiencing higher guilt at baseline had higher self-forgiveness starting out and those lower on guilt starting out had a greater change in self-forgiveness. Those experiencing more guilt at baseline experienced less change in self-forgiveness over time. Shame was not significantly related to self-forgiveness …

The Bamboo Ceiling: A Study Of Barriers To Asian American Advancement, Emily Cheng

UROP Posters

The idea of cultural diversity in the workplace is a popular one, generating much discussion about the inclusion of and affirmative action toward minorities. However, these conversations rarely involve Asian Americans, who despite above-average levels of educational achievement, household income, and employment, find themselves underrepresented in and shut-out of upper-level management positions. In this project, I investigated the stereotype of East-Asian Americans as a model minority (created by non-Asians) to find out why East-Asian Americans are underrepresented in upper-level management in corporate workplaces, a phenomenon known as the “bamboo ceiling.” I explored a variety of scholarly sources that analyzed the …

Demographic Variables As Moderators Between Benevolent Sexism And Relationship Satisfaction, Dawna Jeanette Campbell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Romantic relationship satisfaction relates to better overall health, and identifying factors that affect relationship satisfaction could lead to better understanding of romantic relationships. This study examined the correlation between benevolent sexism, a subtle form of sexism resembling chivalry and relationship satisfaction; gender, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, education, and length of time were also considered as moderators. The ambivalent sexism theory, which posits that sexism is ambivalent and ranges from hostile to benevolent sexism was the theoretical framework guiding this study. Previous research indicated benevolent sexism may predict relationship satisfaction. However, there remained an important gap in the literature; the demographic …

Happiness Index Methodology, Laura Musikanski, Scott Cloutier, Erica Bejarano, Davi Briggs, Julia Colbert, Gracie Strasser, Steven Russell

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

The Happiness Index is a comprehensive survey instrument that assesses happiness, well-being, and aspects of sustainability and resilience. The Happiness Alliance developed the Happiness Index to provide a survey instrument to community organizers, researchers, and others seeking to use a subjective well-being index and data. It is the only instrument of its kind freely available worldwide and translated into over ten languages. This instrument can be used to measure satisfaction with life and the conditions of life. It can also be used to define income inequality, trust in government, sense of community and other aspects of well-being within specific demographics …

Social Psychological Approaches To Women And Leadership Theory, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon

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

In this chapter, we take a social psychological approach to understanding gender and leadership. In doing so, we explain how both the social context and people’s perceptions influence leadership processes involving gender. The theoretical approaches taken by social psychologists are often focused on one of these two questions: (1) Are there gender differences in leadership style and effectiveness? and, (2) What barriers do women face in the leadership domain? We begin our chapter by reviewing the literature surrounding these two questions. We then discuss in detail one of the greatest barriers to women in leadership: the prejudice and discrimination that …

"You're Doing Fine, Right?": Adolescent Siblings Of Substance Abusers, Cynthia E. Clarfield

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There has been a rising interest in addiction medicine and addiction treatment in both the medical and behavioral health science fields. Research suggests having a family member with a substance abuse problem has negative impacts on both physical and mental health (Orford, Copello, Velleman, & Templeton, 2010a). Despite advances toward understanding the experiences of family members affected by a loved one's addiction, the siblings of substance abusers have been largely excluded from scientific research and literature. As a result, little is known about how siblings experience the impacts of a brother or sister's addiction; even less is known about the …

Black Police Uniforms Implicitly Increase Hostile Perceptions And Behavior, Amber Kristin Lupo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Use of excessive, and sometimes deadly, force by U.S. law enforcement officers is a critical and costly problem. An enclothed cognition framework suggests that clothing, such as a uniform, can implicitly affect cognitive processing and behavior of the wearer (Adam & Galinsky, 2012). Previous research demonstrated that darker clothing implicitly affects judgments and behavior in two ways. First, persons who wear darker clothing are perceived more negatively (Vrig, 1997; Vrig & Akehurst, 1997). Second, actors wearing darker colored clothing demonstrate greater aggressive behavior than actors wearing lighter colored clothing (Frank & Gilovich, 1988; Peña, Hancock, & Merola, 2009). The present …

Effects Of Gender Stereotypes On Judgments Of Career Tracks, Scott Frankowski

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Occupational gender role stereotypes may impact how others evaluate the career choices of women and men. Women more so than men are employed in occupations that are viewed as communal. Men more so than women are employed in occupations that are viewed as agentic. In the first experiment, participants evaluated the career paths of male and female targets when the targets were considering a career change to a gender role congruent, incongruent, or gender role neutral career path. Female targets' career choices were evaluated more favorably in gender role congruent versus incongruent career tracks. Female targets' career choices were also …

Sexy, Thin, And White: The Intersection Of Sexualization, Body Type, And Race On Stereotypes About Women And Women's Body Dissatisfaction, Ellen A. Stone

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The vast majority of media images present one idealized type of woman: she is thin, sexualized, and White. While research has shown that there are stereotypes associated with sexualized women, research has not addressed whether these stereotypes vary based on other characteristics such as body type and race. The current study aimed to examine the stereotypes associated with women who varied in body size, sexualization, and race. Additionally, the current study examined whether exposure to differing portrayals of women was related to endorsement of gender stereotypes and body dissatisfaction. College-aged students (n = 226, 161 women) rated four traits …

Are Cultures Of Honor Our True Protectors?, Brian Enjaian

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Men from a culture of honor often use physical aggression in response to threats as a way of restoring lost honor. These threats can range from being called an offensive name to someone flirting with their romantic partner. However, cultures of honor form to protect society against threats. Once society no longer needs protection, cultures of honor dissipate. In three studies, the protective qualities of a culture of honor were examined by comparing aggression levels when romantically attached men were threatened to when their significant other was threatened. Study 1 (N=114) consisted of hypothetical scenarios while Study 2 (N=260) and …

Too Pretty For Homework: The Academic Correlates Of Sexualized Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescent Girls, Andrew A. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Girls grow up in a culture of ubiquitous female sexualization, and this culture propagates stereotypes that could interfere with their academic outcomes. The current study examined the academic correlates of these sexualized gender stereotypes (SGS) among early adolescent girls. Girls (N = 99) aged 11 to 14 (M_age = 12.4 years, SD = .57 years) completed a survey assessing their academic performance, attitudes, and beliefs. The survey also assessed the degree to which girls believed that boys and girls should act in accordance with these sexualized gender stereotypes. Results indicated that higher endorsement of sexualized gender stereotypes …

God On Trial: Are Our Moral Judgments Different Based On Whether We Are Judging God Or Humans?, Ben Kok Leong Ng

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Past work in moral psychology has demonstrated that individuals’ judgments of other humans in hypothetical moral scenarios can be influenced by variables such as intentionality, causality and controllability. However, while empirical studies suggest that individuals similarly hold nonhuman agents such as robots morally accountable for their actions to the extent that they are perceived to possess humanlike attributes important for moral judgments, research is scant when God is introduced as a nonhuman agent. On one hand it is proposed that because people anthropomorphize God, our moral intuitions of humans and God tend to show similar effects. In this case, both …

Intersections Of Culture And Trauma: Understanding Identities And Experiences Of Salvadoran Refugee College Students, Janette Linares, Cara Maffini

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Perceived Partner Sexism And Stigma Consciousness: How 'Prince Charming' Undermines Relationship Satisfaction, Danielle Lauren Kellogg

Master's Theses

Perceived discrimination (outside of the relationship) relates to negative relationship outcomes, moderated by stigma consciousness (DeHart, 2017). Women who report higher (versus lower) levels of perceived partner benevolent sexism (i.e., perceptions of one's partner's endorsement of sexist attitudes) experience more negative relationship outcomes as well (Hammond & Overall, 2013; Hammond & Overall, 2014; Hammond & Overall, 2015). In addition, relationship partners adopt more traditional gender roles after becoming parents, which fosters benevolent sexism (Trillingsgaard, Baucom, & Heyman, 2014). In this study, married or cohabiting women with children were randomly assigned to either a sexism manipulation or control condition, prior to …

Intersectional Stereotypes Of Race, Gender, And Facial Structure And Evaluative Judgments Of Leadership Ability And Workplace Fit, Avery Nichole Waklatsi

Master's Theses

Though the labor market is highly competitive and diverse, minority groups only hold 26.7%, of board positions, in companies on the Fortune 500 list (Alliance for Board Diversity Census, 2013). When tasked with hiring managers whom are presented with equivalent job qualifications, evaluators may rely on their subjective impressions in making an employment decision. The evaluator's subjective impressions may be informed by stereotypes of the groups to which applicants belong. The current study tests how stereotypes pertaining to race, gender, and facial structure inform evaluator judgments of managerial applicants' leadership ability and workplace fit. Leadership ability and workplace fit are …

The Relationship Between Self-Esteem, Ambivalence, And Relationship Outcomes Within Romantic Partnerships, Victoria J. Schriber

Senior Independent Study Theses

The current study analyzes self-esteem and the apparent mood of one’s partner as predictors of perceived responsibility, level of felt rejection, and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships. The study hypothesizes that ambivalence will act as a moderating variable between self-esteem and romantic relationship outcomes. Previous research on the topic suggests that self-esteem is associated with how participants react to their romantic partner when they are in a specific mood. The current study will be one of the first to examine how ambivalence affects self-esteem’s effect on romantic relationships. The results replicate previous research, showing that self-esteem interacts with partner’s mood …

The Role Of Afrocentric Features In Mental Healthcare Utilization And Counselor Preferences In Black College Students, Randl B. Dent

Theses and Dissertations

Though mental health issues are prevalent in Black young adults, they underutilize mental healthcare services. This research examined the role of feature-based discrimination in mental healthcare (under)utilization. Study 1, a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, provided no evidence supporting a link between skin tone and mental healthcare utilization, when controlling for depression diagnosis. However, when controlling for depression symptoms, there was a trend such that Black young adults with darker, as opposed to lighter, skin tone utilized healthcare less. Study 2, an experimental study with 33 Black college students, showed 73% of the …

The Justification Of Prejudice Toward Childfree Women, Annalucia Bays

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research suggests that women without children are perceived negatively by others and experience adverse outcomes in various settings. This study investigated psychosocial justifications of prejudice toward childfree women. Participants (N = 891) completed measures of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), the internal (IMS-S) and external (EMS-S) motivations to respond without sexism, and prejudice toward childfree women (i.e., perceived disadvantages of being childfree, evaluations of childfree women, and perceptions of childfree women’s warmth). Most participants also completed one or more justification measures of hostile sexism (HS), benevolent sexism (BS), gender-specific system justification (GSSJ), and femininity ideology. Results indicated that greater RWA …

Bridging The Empathy Gap: Effects Of Brief Mindfulness Training On Helping Outgroup Members In Need, Daniel R. Berry

Theses and Dissertations

Witnessing others in need can be felt similarly to experiencing it oneself (empathy) and motivates assistance of those in need (prosocial action). It is well-documented that empathy can occur automatically, but when those in need are not members of a social ingroup, empathy and prosocial action are undermined. One major ingroup—outgroup division in American and in other countries is based on race. Although most condemn racial discrimination, empathy and prosocial action are often lower, however unintentionally, in interracial contexts. In light of this empathy gap, it is important to identify psychological factors that could bolster empathy and prosocial action toward …

To Help Or Not To Help? Assessing The Impact Of Envy And Gratitude On Prosocial Behaviors, Anna Maria C. Behler

Theses and Dissertations

Envy is an other-oriented but negative emotion; no research has examined the influence of envy on prosocial behavior. Study 1 examined whether envy and gratitude would promote or inhibit prosocial behavior. I hypothesized that envy would result in less helping behavior than a neutral condition, whereas gratitude would increase helping behavior. Results supported the hypothesis that envy inhibits prosocial behavior. There was not enough evidence to suggest that gratitude promoted helping.

Study 2 examined how envy and gratitude affected prosocial behavior when participants were given the choice to help or harm others. I hypothesized that experiencing envy would result in …

The Role Of Mindfulness In The Regulation Of Behavior Among Those Prone To Negative Urgency, Alexandra M. Martelli

Theses and Dissertations

Negative emotions can be challenging to regulate, and for some individuals can lead to failures of behavior regulation. The present study is an initial effort to explore the role that mindfulness may play in fostering effective behavior regulation among those prone to high negative urgency (NU). Eighty undergraduate students were recruited based on their high or low scores of NU. First, participants completed a self-report measure of mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; MAAS), an Emotional Go/No Go task in an fMRI scanner, and then reported alcohol consumption. Results showed that those with high in NU had low levels of mindfulness …

Psychological Consequences Of Genetic Testing, Jack Allen

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing describes genetic testing which is done using online or mail in services, without the direct supervision of a counselor or physician. Individuals can order information about their ancestry, trait information, and even disease risk information. Online testing services have previously been prevented from offering certain types of genetic self-knowledge to consumers due to government regulation, however, there is little information available about how genetic self-knowledge may affect consumers. The present study evaluated whether simply believing oneself to be genetically disadvantaged could cause an individual to perform poorly on a working memory task.

University students participated in a …

Pupillometric Response To Implicit Social Exclusion, Jared Balbona, Grace Hwang, Lori Markson

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Previous research suggests that people are highly sensitive to rejection, and may even display physiological reactions, such as increased pupil dilation, when they are explicitly rejected by others compared to when they are accepted (Silk et al., 2012). To our knowledge, no research to date has investigated pupil dilation in response to implicit social exclusion. To address this gap, we obtained pupillometric values using a Cyberball paradigm, in which 11 participants were either included or indirectly excluded while playing an online ball game. Participants were told before each game that they would be playing with either human players (i.e., other …

An Examination Of The Most Recent Episode Of Molly Use Among College Students, Amy L. Stamates, Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael, Brynn E. Sheehan, Perter D. Preonas, Cathy Lau-Barraco

Psychology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE--The current study examined event-level characteristics (e.g., contextual factors, risk behaviors) during the most recent episode of Molly use among a sample of college students who reported previously using Molly.

PARTICIPANTS--Participants (N = 151; 66.7% female) were drinkers aged 18 to 25. Data were collected from October to November 2014, February to April 2015, and September to November 2015.

METHOD--Participants completed measures regarding typical Molly use and items related to context and behaviors during their most recent episode of Molly use.

RESULTS--Findings revealed that our sample most commonly reported using Molly earlier in the evening while hanging out with friends …

Socio-Cognitive Factors And Perceived Consequences Associated With Alternative Forms Of Alcohol Use, Abbly L. Braitman, Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael, Amy L. Stamates, Cathy Lau-Barraco

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: Popular media have highly publicized alternative forms of alcohol use (eg, eyeballing, inhaling alcohol vapor) among college students as a growing concern, possibly associated with severe health risks. Formative research indicates rarity of use.

Participants and Methods: College students (Study 1: n = 411; Study 2: n = 687) completed an online survey.

Results: Findings confirmed infrequent use of alternative methods of alcohol use and low likelihood of trying them in the future (Study 1). Participants indicated varied reasons for possibly trying each alternative form of alcohol use, but consistently perceived consequences for all forms (ie, health concerns), as …

Journey To Success: Lessons From Successful Same-Sex Couples, Jeni L. Wahlig

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Therapists are often called upon to support same-sex couples along their journey to success. Yet, only limited information is available for understanding what success means for same-sex couples, what the journey to success might look like, and how we might support them in navigating that journey. In this dissertation, I seek to begin to fill this gap in knowledge by conducting an extensive literature review of factors that affect same-sex couple relationship success and a qualitative research study. In the study, I use narrative inquiry to explore the challenges and life-events important to couples’ journeys toward success; the resources and …

The Effects Of Gender And Perception Of Community Safety On Happiness, Jennifer K. Daffon

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Income-based indicators of happiness have been shown to be limited in their ability to predict happiness. Alternative measures of happiness have been gaining prominence in happiness research, and two predictors of happiness were investigated in the current study. The extent to which happiness (measured by affect, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being) could be predicted by gender and perception of community safety was investigated with 19,644 participant responses to The Happiness Alliance Survey. Multiple linear regression models indicated that gender and community safety are significant predictors of affect, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. The effect of the predictor variables was similar …

Attune With Baby: An Innovative Attunement Program For Parents And Families With Integrated Evaluation, Sara Beth Lohre

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Infants speak in their own language; sounds, screeches, cries, and howls that help them to communicate their caregiving needs. Unaware, parents may develop a checklist of caregiving approaches to the baby. The infant tells the adult directly what they need, and waits for the parent to respond. Infant talk may change from soft and quiet to loud and aggressive; coos and cries become crying and screams as the infant’s caregiver—communicating the intensity of emotion, urgency of their request, or their frustration with varied and sometimes inadequate, failed, or missing caregiving patterns the infant has no choice but to accept. When …

Reducing Adolescent Anger And Aggression With Biofeedback: A Mixed-Methods Multiple Case Study, Jedidiah S. Savard

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Adolescent anger, aggression, and violent outbursts are social problems significantly affecting each of us. Individual therapeutic management of pathological anger is treated in various ways depending on practitioners’ theoretical orientations and competency levels. Popular psychological individual and group therapies addressing anger and aggression in adolescents focus primarily on cognitive-behavioral techniques that manage anger’s symptoms. Evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapies often require clients to self-identify emerging antecedents of anger without assistance; such therapies employ predetermined strategies to assist the client to emotionally de-escalate prior to an angry or aggressive episode. However, cognitive responses to an emotional upheaval stemming from an emergence of anger …

The Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment And Sexual Coercion Proclivity In Women, Christina Renee Dean

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have explored the effects of sociocultural factors on male and female sexual expression, as well as the relationship between sexual objectification and overall sexual well-being; however, few scholars have focused on how, when combined with early experiences of childhood maltreatment, such factors can result in increased long-term risks for a variety of concerns that may impede the development of healthy relationships in women. This quantitative study explores the relationship of childhood maltreatment and sexual coercion proclivity in adult women. The purpose of this study was to measure self-reports of 1 or more experiences with childhood maltreatment (i.e., physical, sexual, …