Social Psychology Commons^™

Associations Between Grit And Academic Factors, Alexandra Bowen

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Grit has been identified as a promising area of research in social psychology for its association with various success outcomes. Given the connection between grit and success, researchers have begun to investigate factors associated with grit to better understand how gritty people achieve their goals. Other researchers have questioned if grit is unique from other related traits, like conscientiousness and self-control. This project sought to explore both of these questions: the factors associated with grit and the discriminant validity of grit. Specifically, this project looked at grit in relation to cognitive failures, fear of failure, and growth mindset to inquire …

Hell On Earth: An Exploration Into What Drives Evil, Samuel Taylor Hogan

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Evil abounds. Even the most cursory glance at the news yields harsh headlines about bombings, school shootings, acid attacks, murder, rape, sex slavery, torture, and the occasional mass genocide. The 20th century alone featured roughly 135 million military and civilian deaths due to war and democide (White & Pinker, 2013). Recently, a cultural narrative has emerged proselytizing that evil is an aberrant, caustic mutation of the otherwise unsullied human soul. Philosophers and sociologists, among others, contend that “civilization needs to believe that it does not have an inhumane or barbaric side, leading members of the mainstream to constantly project unacceptable …

Gratitude In Relationships: A Study On Gratitude, Attachment, And Relationship Satisfaction, Brittany D. Dioszeghy

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This study utilized Pearson correlations to assess for relationships between dispositional gratitude, attachment type, and relationship satisfaction. The survey was completed by 599 participants (77.57% female; 21.64% male; 0.63% other; 0.16% decline to state). Three separate instruments were used to assess for dispositional gratitude, attachment type (anxious/avoidant), and relationship satisfaction, respectively. First, it was hypothesized that anxious attachment would be negatively correlated with dispositional gratitude. Second, it was hypothesized that avoidant attachment types would be negatively correlated with dispositional gratitude. Third, it was hypothesized that anxious attachment would be negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction. Fourth, it was hypothesized that avoidant …

Literature Review And Proposal: Yoga As Group Exercise Involving Oxytocin Release For Positive Mood Improvement, Rachel Fenton

Honors Projects

A literature review discusses yoga and health involving oxytocin creates the premise for a proposal combining the knowledge of yoga and its health benefits along with oxytocin's potential involvement during group exercise, yoga specifically. The proposed study's results of oxytocin measures and questionnaires have the potential to develop an understanding of the possible impacts of yoga on mood, particularly relationships between group exercise and yoga, which may help develop forms of group exercise or implement group yoga to assist or replace treatment for stress-caused or stress-related disorders.

Social Work Trauma Interventions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Kassie Baumann

Senior Honors Theses

According to Lynne Weilart (2013), in her article on the reasons why people seek out therapy, trauma is the number one reason people attend counseling. Many different trauma-informed approaches are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. Some of these approaches are as follows: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT);Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT); Trauma Systems Therapy (TST); Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP); and Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) (de Arellano, Danielson, Ko, & Sprauge, 2008). The effectiveness of each trauma intervention will be examined. DBT is one of these trauma interventions that is growing …

Surprisingly Open Or Openly Surprised? That Is The Question; Using Surprise Experiences To Increase Openness To Experience And Tolerance Of Ambiguity, Anneke Veenendaal-De Kort

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Using Surprise Experiences to Increase Openness to Experience and Tolerance of Ambiguity

In the fast-changing world in which we are currently living, we constantly come across situations and problems that we have not encountered before. An open mind and the ability to tolerate ambiguity are important skills in uncertain times. People who embrace the unpredictable can develop their resilience and flexibility. Surprisologists Luna and Renninger (2015) have discovered that a great way of dipping into unpredictability is through surprise. For my Master’s Project, I designed experiences that transform people’s openness and tolerance for ambiguity through surprise. This paper begins with …

The Development And Validation Of Implicit Measures Of Emotional Intelligence, Ricardo R. Brooks

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Emotional intelligence (EI) has attracted much attention in the decades since Goleman’s (1995) claim that EI is important for success in a wide range of social and professional roles. With this interest has come much debate about whether EI should be defined and measured as a set of abilities or as a set of dispositional self-perceptions. The latter is typically assessed with self-report measures that are susceptible to contamination related to inaccurate self-knowledge and impression management artifacts – problems that may be mitigated by implicit measures. This research used Implicit Association Test (IAT) procedures to develop implicit measures of EI …

When “Right Makes Might”: Moral Superiority And Its Effects On Decision-Making For Others, Emily Shakal

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Within the psychological literature of morality, little research has been done on the concept of moral superiority. The aim of this study was to determine whether a self-perception of moral superiority led to increased severity of judgment toward social issues and harsher moral action against perpetrators. Participants in the experimental condition were given a moral identity prime prior to all tasks. The results showed that the moral prime was not effective in increasing a sense of moral superiority in comparison to the control condition. Severity of judgment also did not differ between groups. There was no difference between groups on …

Evaluating Implicit Self-Compassion In College Students, Emily Kutok

Senior Honors Projects

Typically, research on self-compassion and mental health has used the measurement tool of self-report (explicit) surveys to examine self-compassion. Implicit Association Tests (IAT) can be applied to a number of di erent constructs, some of which include racial biases, gender stereotypes, and suicidal ideation. ey are used to measure the strength of a person’s automatic association between two concepts (in this case, between self and compassion). By measuring implicit self-compassion, a researcher can expect less self-report bias related to self- presentational concerns and the limits of introspection, and they can capture psychological processes that occur without full conscious awareness but …

Why We Ask Why: The Ways In Which Control And Stereotyping Biases Affect Internal Attributions, Tia Francis

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since the idea of attributions was famously discussed by Fritz Heider (1958), a wide array of empirical research has focused on the phenomenon. Included within the sphere of attributional theories are internal attributions, which have been of particular interest to the psychological community for decades. Although there is no comprehensive theory for why people make these attributions, literature points to establishing control as a possible motivator. In addition, research suggests that people may make more extreme internal attributions about minorities, particularly when they are not aware they are relying on stereotypes. Participants (N = 377) observed a modified version of …

Dancing, Mindfulness, And Our Emotions: Embracing The Mind, Body, And Sole, Alisha M. Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project examines dance, as an intervention and mindfulness practice that assists with managing our emotions. There is a need for dance therapy in social institutions such as, healthcare facilities, schools, and community centers. Dance therapy has the potential to reduce negative emotions, create mindfulness, improve self-expression, and promote a healthy well-being. I am proposing that dance therapy is applied as a regular practice in social institutions to develop mindfulness and promote emotional stability.

In this study, I argue that dance therapy can contribute to our well-being long term. In addition to this written thesis, a visual component of …

Perceived Knowledge And Defense Of Political Attitudes, Matthew H. Goldberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Three experiments tested if perceived knowledge about a political issue predicted people’s willingness to engage with relatively weaker versus stronger belief-threatening information on that issue. Study 1 assessed people’s perceived knowledge on four political issues and, for each issue, manipulated whether participants chose between arguing against a weak versus moderate argument or a moderate versus strong argument. Only one issue provided some support for the primary hypothesis. When people believed they were not knowledgeable about the carbon tax, giving them a relatively stronger set of arguments to choose from (moderate versus strong) further increased their preferences for the weaker argument …

Racial Bias In Elementary School Children: Effects Of Skin Tone And Facial Features, Maya Alyse Rex

Honors Theses

This work examines whether explicit and implicit racial attitudes are driven primarily by skin tone, other features of facial physiognomy, or both in elementary school children (N = 108) between the ages of 5 and 12. Children evaluated faces varying in skin tone (from dark to light) and facial physiognomy (from Afrocentric to Eurocentric). In an explicit bias task, children rated how much they liked each face that appeared on the computer screen one by one. In an implicit bias task (a child-friendly version of the Affect Misattribution Procedure, Dunham & Emory, 2014), on each trial participants rated a Chinese …

"Triggers": Systematic And Social Cues For Black College Student Racial Self-Consciousness And Rejection Sensitivity, Race-Based., Leanna T. Luney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have examined black student well-being in varying ways including through the framing of race-based rejection sensitivity (Downey & Feldman, 1996; Mendoza-Denton, Downey, Purdie, Davis, & Pietrzak, 2002) and racial self-consciousness (Clark & Clark, 1939). Research shows that black students perform worse academically when they display high levels of race-based rejection sensitivity and racial self-conscious levels (Brannon & Taylor, 2015; Clark & Clark, 1939; Koehler & Skvoretz, 2010), and feelings of racial self-consciousness or rejection sensitivity stem from discriminatory and prejudicial experiences. However, research has not fully connected the broader context surrounding black students in college to their high levels …

Examining Generativity Development Among College Student Leaders Who Mentor, Hannah M. Sunderman

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the influence, if any, of age cohort on generativity among college student leaders who mentor. While previous research has revealed that college student leaders who mentor tend to demonstrate higher levels of generativity than other college student leaders and general college students (Hastings, Griesen, Hoover, Creswell, & Dlugosh, 2015), research as to the development of generativity among college student leaders who mentor has not been determined. Additionally, a need exists for further research on the antecedents of generativity (McAdams, 2001, p. 434). The current study sought to fill these gaps in …

“Room At Our Table": Analyzing The Efficacy Of Pro-Refugee Social Media Campaigns Based On Hospitality Values And Resource Sharing, Virginia Gallner

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Applying a theoretical framework of engaging hospitality values can reduce implicit bias. This research was implemented through a social media campaign called Room at Our Table, based around a series of webisodes that utilize the psychological concept of meal sharing as a community-building activity to change perspectives on hospitality toward refugees, via the reduction of implicit bias. Psychologically, aversion to welcoming refugees can also stem from identity threat and a desire to protect resources within a given group. Here in Nebraska, people are changing their minds about refugees based on personal interactions. In 2016, Nebraska resettled the most refugees per …

Interactions In Social Settings: The Relationship Between Alcohol And Sexual Assault Among College Students, Heather Lepper

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Research has linked alcohol to violence and sexual assault, especially within the college student population. Most of this research focuses on the effects of alcohol on victims or perpetrators of sexual assault and not on bystanders of such situations. This study examines how self-reported drinking behavior affects students' ability to recognize risk of sexual assault in written scenarios and the various barriers that would inhibit their willingness to intervene. A sample of 275 students (183 female, 92 male) were asked to read one of three scenarios and respond to a brief questionnaire adapted from Burn's (2009) Barriers to Bystander Intervention …

Violence And Aggression In School Settings, Barbara Katic

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Violence and aggression continue to cause harm to American schools and communities, which has been visibly illustrated by the continual perpetration of school shootings. In order to prevent these situations for occurring again, the etiology of violent and aggressive behaviors must be studied. Utilizing an ecological perspective, both the risk factors and protective factors of violence and aggression, also known as a dual strategy approach, are examined within an educational context. Specific risk factors reviewed include weapons exposure and social rejection, while protective factors reviewed include school connectedness and pro-social relationships. Implications regarding the prevention of violent and aggressive acts …

Persistence Of Cultural Heritage In A Multicultural Context: Examining Factors That Shaped Voting Preferences In The 2016 Election, Anna M. Schwartz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The prevailing discourse about the myth of the “melting pot” of American culture implies that heritage cultures are eliminated in favor of a homogenous “American” norm. However, this myth belies the persistence of our cultural heritage in forming our attitudes, morals, and habitual patterns of thought, each of which shape how we participate in our democracy through voting. By contextualizing voting predictors such as authoritarianism, social dominance, and sexism in developmental and ecological theories, this dissertation shows how they are shaped by culture and transmitted through consumption of media and interaction with members of one’s community and family. In an …

The Narration Of Conflicting Accountabilities In The Era Of High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation, James Christopher Head

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The U.S. Government’s Race to the Top program inspired a wave of education reforms across the nation aimed at holding teachers individually accountable for their students’ “growth” on test scores. These individualized programs implemented new forms of audit technologies aimed at orienting teachers’ priorities toward the calculations produced by students, rather than towards students’ holistic growth and well-being. In so doing, these programs signify an ideological rupture for teachers in that their long-shared sense of interpersonal accountability is institutionally re-directed – and reinforced with consequences – toward calculative accountability. In this dissertation, I investigated teachers’ experiential navigation of the introduction …