Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

Individual Differences In Adolescents’ Driving Practice During The Learner Stage, Yinan Zhao

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) policies has reduced the rate of car crashes among adolescents. However, limited research has focused on adolescents’ supervised driving during the learner permit stage of GDL. The study aimed to describe supervised driving practice during the learner permit stage and to test predictors of individual differences in the amount and the quality of supervised driving. 183 adolescents (M age = 16.4 years, 54.1% female) and their parents (84.1% mothers) participated. Adolescents reported driving an average of 25 minutes per day. Adolescents living in single-parent households, with less family income, and with a …

Correlates Of Appearance And Weight Satisfaction In A U.S. National Sample: Personality, Attachment Style, Television Viewing, Self-Esteem, And Life Satisfaction, David Frederick, Gaganjyot Sandhu, Patrick J. Morse, Viren Swami

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We examined the prevalence and correlates of satisfaction with appearance and weight. Participants (N = 12,176) completed an online survey posted on the NBCNews.com and Today.com websites. Few men and women were very to extremely dissatisfied with their physical appearances (6%; 9%), but feeling very to extremely dissatisfied with weight was more common (15%; 20%). Only about one-fourth of men and women felt very to extremely satisfied with their appearances (28%; 26%) and weights (24%; 20%). Men and women with higher body masses reported higher appearance and weight dissatisfaction. Dissatisfied people had higher Neuroticism, more preoccupied and fearful attachment …

The Relationship Between Mortality Salience And The Two Subtypes Of Narcissism, Rianna H. Yung

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that a psychological conflict (“terror”) is created when human beings are reminded of their own mortality (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991). This experimental study examines whether the impact of mortality salience on self-esteem is moderated by individual differences in narcissism. There are two subtypes of narcissism, namely grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism. Grandiose narcissism is associated with higher self-esteem, whereas vulnerable narcissism is associated with lower self-esteem. Participants (N = 437) completed an online survey that consisted of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Inventory, the Pathological Narcissism Inventory, a mortality salience manipulation or the control task, …

Understanding Identity And Personality Authenticity Of Engineering Students, Kylie D. Stoup

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Women are underrepresented in engineering, with 18-20% of engineering students being women¹. We, therefore, used the framework of identity theory and self-concept differentiation to better understand female and male engineering student retention. An exploratory approach is used to measure freshman and senior engineering students’ personality and authenticity of personality across engineering and non-engineering contexts. First, we found personality profiles among engineering freshmen and seniors in engineering settings, and then compared them to their personality in nonacademic settings for authenticity purposes. Big 5 Personality and Authenticity scale were methods used through a survey to determine personality and authenticity in …

The Achievement Gap And Students Living In Poverty: The Role Of Core Self-Evaluation And Transformational Leadership In Teachers, India Harris

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Research has shown that the combination of locus of control, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and emotional stability is a good predictor of life success. Until now, this second order factor, called core self-evaluations (CSE) has only been studied in adults. Findings from this study, showed levels of CSE were significantly and positively connected with academic achievement for middle and elementary aged students. CSE appears to play to a similar role between students and academic achievement as it plays with adults and job performance. In this study, the dimensions of transformational leadership were applied to teacher behaviors and students were grouped based on …

Diagnoses By Gender: The Consequences Of Treatment Of The Mentally Ill In Virginia Woolf's The Waves And Mrs. Dalloway 2016, Erika Nichole Jackson

Master's Theses

“Insanity is purely a disease of the brain…The physician is now the responsible guardian of the lunatic, and must ever remain so.” Sir John Charles Bucknill (1897)

Mental illness has consistently been and continues to be a subject that is viewed as taboo by society, especially when it comes to diagnosing a patient. Instead of acknowledging a person’s actions, thoughts, and words, society continually disregards mental illness as something that is negative and to be feared. The fact that this area of medicine can be difficult and distressing makes it all the more important to continue research. It is true …

Personality And Longevity In The Profession Of Athletic Training, Tyler Harris

All NMU Master's Theses

A survey was sent to 10,000 certified athletic trainers in various settings to examine personality characteristics and their relationship with satisfaction, intent to leave, and years practiced in the profession. The Employee Personality Inventory, included in the survey, separated respondents into five personality categories: communicators, directors, organizers, soothers and thinkers. Of the 1102 analyzed respondents, 216 were communicators, 51 were directors, 427 were organizers, 331 were soothers, and 77 were thinkers. The distribution of athletic training setting were as follows: academic instruction, 67; administration, 16; clinical medical, 53; clinical rehabilitation, 52; collegiate athletics, 331; high school athletics, 378; other, 65; …

Love On - The Life Of A Suicide Survivor: A Performance Autoethnographic Study, Patricia R. Wheeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide touches the lives of millions of people each year in this country alone, yet conversations about suicide loss and survival after a loss remain taboo and often do not happen. The story I performed for this performance autoethnographic study centers on my life as a survivor of suicide. It provides a starting point for dialog regarding trauma, grief, and suicide loss. The narrative was constructed directly following the sudden death of my father, which had a direct effect on my ability to produce artistic work. The development, staging and performance of the story were altered to account for the …

Interdependent Mechanisms For Processing Gender And Emotion: The Special Status Of Angry Male Faces, Daniel Harris, Vivian Ciaramitaro

Honors College Theses

While some models of how various attributes of a face are processed have posited that face features, invariant physical cues such as gender or ethnicity as well as variant social cues such as emotion, may be processed independently (e.g., Bruce & Young, 1986), other models suggest a more distributed representation and interdependent processing (e.g., Haxby, Hoffman, & Gobbini, 2000). Here we use a contingent adaptation paradigm to investigate if mechanisms for processing the gender and emotion of a face are interdependent and symmetric across the happy-angry emotional continuum and regardless of the gender of the face. We simultaneously adapted participants …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Students' Creativity Characteristics, Serap Gurak-Ozdemir

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Theses

Teachers’ perceptions of an ideal student were investigated in terms of their FourSight preferences (i.e. Ideator, Clarifier, Developer, and Implementer). Based on these preferences, 275 teachers who were currently working in Western New York region described their “ideal” student with 66 adjectives of Torrance Ideal Child Checklist. Results showed that for each of FourSight preferences, teachers have a tendency to support characteristics associated with their own preference. More specifically, teachers with a stronger Ideator tendency encouraged the students’ Ideator characteristics more compared to Developer and Implementer styles. Teachers with a Clarifier tendency do not seem to favor students’ Ideator characteristics …

Dance And Well-Being In Older Adult Communities: Exploring Efficacy As A Mediator, Beth M. Mcgowan

Honors Thesis

As the population of older adults expands, it becomes increasingly important to develop effective interventions to ensure high levels of well-being. Previous research in a variety of populations has shown that dance produces broad benefits including improving physical mobility, social relationships, autonomy, and self-image. Given this, the present study attempted to clarify the mechanisms through which dance might lead to these improvements. Specifically, this research examined the role of self-efficacy, or beliefs that one can accomplish certain tasks, have in explaining the psychological benefits of dance. I hypothesized that when dance is a social activity it instills a sense of …

The Role Of Child Anxiety In Parent Sick Role Reinforcement, Sarah Ann Bilsky

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A large body of evidence suggests that parents can facilitate offspring anxiety in response to bodily arousal. These learning experiences are referred to as “sick role reinforcement,” and are particularly important during adolescence, given the profound bodily changes (e.g., puberty) that characterize this period. Sick role reinforcement is likely important in the context of panic disorder (PD). Panic theorists suggest that parents may enhance panic vulnerability by increasing the threat value of bodily sensations. Although a sizeable body of work has examined the role of parent behavior in these processes, few have examined offspring factors in this process. Additionally, little …

Developmental Traits And Patterns Emerging From Dependent Nurturing Individuals In Narcissistic Relationship, Gregory D. Roberts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The concept of personality theories and personality disorders has developed in modern times from deep roots in philosophy and psychodynamic theory. This theory orientation has evolved to diagnostic and treatment application. Much of the literature has focused on personality disorders as independent and singular constructs. Phenomenological discussions and deeper understandings of dysfunctional relationships between the two specific disorders of dependent personality and narcissistic personality are lacking. Significant longsuffering, abusive, and pathological behaviors at times are observed among dependent personality types in bad relationships. The objective of this study was to gather data from a sample of dependent types to discover …

The Dark Triad And Hexaco Model Of Personality In Relational Aggression, Niki M. Knight

Master's Theses

Past research has linked relational aggression (RA) to many forms of psychological maladjustment among children and early adolescents. Although less is known about RA among emerging adults, there is a growing body of research demonstrating a number of adverse correlates. This literature has sparked an interest in examining the role of personality in RA. Most investigations to date have focused on the Five Factor Model; however, the six factor HEXACO model of personality (Ashton et al., 2004) may offer some advantages in studying RA. Moreover, the manipulative and often covert nature of RA among emerging adults has theoretical overlap with …

Parenting Practices And Young Adults’ Emotional Distress: The Moderating Roles Of Family Structure And Race, Nathan Alexander Winner

Master's Theses

Authoritarian parenting practices are more common among African American families, and appear to include fewer disadvantages in regards to child outcomes compared to White/non-Hispanic families who use these same practices. Little is known about why these racial differences occur, although family structure may play a role. The present study sought to understand the role of family structure and race in moderating the effects of parenting practices on college student mental health outcomes. College students reported on the parenting practices of their caregivers, as well as their race, family structure, characteristics of their familial environment, and socioeconomic status. Levels of depression, …

The Effects Of Gender And Self Construal On Perception Of Racism, Lauren S. Schapiro, Anne M. Schoenfeld, William C. Thomas

Celebration

When looking into the idea of if one's gender and their self-construal has an effect on how they perceive racism, we hypothesize that women will take a more interdependent self-construal and men will take a more independent self-construal. Based on how they identify, we believe that those in the interdependent condition will perceive more racism and those in the independent condition will perceive less racism.

The Peacock Effect: The Influence Of The Opposite Sex On Aggressive Behavior, Kira J. Mason

Celebration

Most widely-accepted models for aggression do not explicitly address an important variable that roots in evolutionary psychology: the presence of a potential mate. The current research investigates whether the presence of an attractive or unattractive member of the opposite sex influences hypothetical aggression. Participants (N = 1035) imagined themselves in front of an attractive or non-attractive member of the opposite sex (accompanied by pictures of corresponding attractiveness levels), and indicate their aggressive intentions after a provocation, or not. Results from the 2(sex) x 2(attractiveness) ANOVA showed that males viewing an image of an attractive female aggressed more when provoked than …

The Effect Of Historical Narratives And Flag Type, Maher A.R. Bigley, Alexandra E. Casella, Marike S. Sevigny-Morrissey, Amy E. Violante

Celebration

This research will examine the effect of mainstream or marginalized historical narratives and the Confederate or American flag on temporal distancing, patriotism, perception of injustice, and assimilationist national identity. We expect that participants exposed to marginalized narratives will indicate higher perceived distance, especially when exposed to the Confederate flag. We expect that participants exposed to mainstream narratives will be highest on blind patriotism, especially when exposed to the American flag. We expect that participants in the American flag marginalized narrative condition would perceive the most racism and would reject more assimilationist conceptions of national identity. For the dependent measures of …

Unmasking Penn Face: Measuring The Phenomenon And Its Relationship To Other Personality Constructs, Meagan A. Lupolt

Celebration

This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure the phenomenon known in the media as “Penn Face”. The scale was simultaneously administered with established measures to gauge its association with personality constructs that were expected to be associated with it (or not). Given that this phenomenon has yet to be empirically investigated, research for scale development relied heavily on the media, internet blogs, and individual student accounts. The finalized measure elicited promising reliability and was correlated with a number of expected personality traits, especially: anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and perfectionism. Our findings suggest that Penn Face …

Relational-Interdependence And Life Transitions In College: Study Abroad, First-Year, And International Students, Shelby R. Weisen

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

The current study examined the sojourner adjustment of U.S. college students studying abroad, international college students studying in the States, and first-year students adjusting to life in the first semester of their undergraduate careers. An online survey was distributed to 412 college students; it included the Sojourner Adjustment Measure (SAM), the Lifelong Learning Scale (WielkLLS), the Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal Scale (RISC), the Brief HEXACO Inventory of Personality, and the Social Media Use Integration Scale (SMUIS). The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships among major emerging adulthood transitions and various measures of adjustment to college. Results suggest that students …