Social Psychology Commons^™

Is Cognitive Fatigue Pushing Peripheral Group Members Towards Extreme Attitudes?, James E. Robinson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Both cognitive fatigue and group membership impact how individuals respond to persuasive messaging. Cognitively demanding tasks cause mental fatigue, lessening the ability to effortfully consider persuasive messaging and increasing the likelihood of making automatic decisions based on heuristics (Schmeichel et al., 2003). Additionally, self-perception of prototypicality (i.e., level of group membership) impacts motivation to identify with and engage in group normative behavior (Hohman et al., 2017). This research project aimed to further the understanding of how prototypicality and cognitive fatigue interact and come to impact attitude and the effortful elaboration of persuasive messaging.

Understanding The Effects Of Organizational And Individual Level Motivations On Impression Formation For Persons With Disabilities In The Workplace, Lauren Francesca Luchetti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, organizations have begun paying more attention to hiring people with disabilities because of evidence supporting direct and indirect benefits to the organization. The business case for disability outlines the economic benefits for hiring those with disabilities, such as lower rates of turnover and absenteeism. Despite the motivations to hire those with disabilities, this population continues to suffer from higher rates of unemployment and underemployment. The current project attempts to shed light on the mechanisms that can improve the effectiveness of hiring motivations and disability hiring rates. In two experimental studies, the effect of the business case on …

Social Gender Norms And Depression In College Students, Derek Deeney

Masters Theses

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a relationship between the conformity to social gender norms (masculine and feminine) and depression among male and female college students at a mid-sized, four-year public institution in the Midwest. A secondary purpose was to investigate if there was a difference in depression between males and females, and if a there was a difference in conformity to social gender norms (masculine and feminine) between males and females. Understanding the trends in social norm conformity and depression can lead to changes in how faculty and staff in higher education …

Further Psychometric Examination Of The Late Adolescent Social Support Inventory, Nicole Shaffer

Masters Theses

The current study set out to provide validity evidence for the Late Adolescent Social Support Inventory (LASSI), a scale designed to measure the perception of the availability of social support. Participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses at Eastern Illinois University. There were 69 participants who completed the LASSI, an alternative measure of social support (the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, shortened version; ISEL – 12), measures of depression, anxiety and stress (the subscales of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, short version; DASS – 21), and a measure of satisfaction with life (the Satisfaction with Life Scale; SWLS). All scales demonstrated …

The Effect Of School Uniforms On High School Students’ Feelings About School And Their Communities, Maggie Vavrik

Masters Theses

What you wear can feel like a defining aspect of who you are as a person. For high schoolers especially, how they look on the outside, can affect other factors such as their sense of belonging and safety both within their school and their community. In this study, I conducted focus groups at a high school which requires uniforms to be worn. Through the focus groups, I was able to learn how wearing a uniform impacted them on a daily basis. During the study I was also able to observe at the school for a day and note the trends …

Does Gossip Predict Desire For Apologies?, Teddy Schupack

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Gossip and reputation contribute to the smooth functioning of society. Apologizing after a transgression is one way people can repair their relationships and reputations. The current research proposed that reputation concern would promote the desire to apologize after a transgression among those who would be the targets of gossip to an interdependent recipient. The results from the current study, however, did not support the hypothesis. There was no observed difference in the desire to apologize when people believed their behavior would be gossiped about to a related person versus an unrelated person.

It Takes A Village: Impact Of Lgbtq+ Community On The Relationship Between Parenting Stress, Parent Mental Health, And Child Adjustment, Kevin Mcaweeney

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

While LGBTQ+ parented families are largely the same as their cis-het parent counterparts, they still experience unique factors exclusive to them. One such factor is access to the LGBTQ+ community. While research has emphasized the importance of community within the family system, the role the LGBTQ+ community can play for LGBTQ+ parented families is largely unexplored. Additionally, LGBTQ+ research examining parents of adolescents is similarly lacking. Utilizing a sample of LGBTQ+ parents with adolescent children, and informed by ecological systems theory, self-determination theory, and the parenting stress model, I examine the influence parent’s sense of LGBTQ+ community has on the …

Factors That Contribute To Perceptions Of Police-Civilian Interactions, Shelby Wynne

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Perceptions of police-civilian interactions have been found to be impacted by the perspective in which they are viewed, with first-person perspectives eliciting negative perceptions of civilians and positive perceptions of police. However, the nature of the relationship between race and camera-perspective has not been fully explored. Black people are more likely to harmed by police at a disproportionate rate compared to White people, and consequently, have more negative perceptions of police. Three studies investigated what factors informed perceptions of police encounters, particularly when camera perspectives differed. Results showed partial support for my prediction that Black people are as not susceptible …

The Effect Of Cytomegalovirus Infection On Daily Stress Processes In Early Adulthood, Elana Gloger

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Chronic stress increases risk for disease, poor health, and early mortality. Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common latent herpes virus, may promote neurological changes that increase vulnerability to chronic stress by way of self-regulatory deficits, though this has yet to be directly tested. Investigating CMV at younger ages is crucial to understand the effect of CMV across the lifespan and identify modifiable health-factors for future anti-aging interventions. The present study aimed to investigate how, and for whom, CMV associates with daily stress processes in early adulthood.

Participants (N = 108, M_age = 19.7, 83.3% female, 72% White) completed an in-person lab …

Performance Activism Versus Collective Action, Grace Belt

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Collective action is how groups can change society. According to the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA), facets of group identification can motivate or discourage collective action. However, no current research has focused on motivations for engagement in performance activism (i.e., displaying support for a mobilized group without engaging in mobilization) from an ingroup perspective. The current study investigates this literature gap, focusing on the dynamics of group membership, specifically feelings of self-prototypicality, as motivation to engage in performance activism or collective action. Participants (N = 189) were made to feel they were core members (prototypical) or fringe …

Midas’ Children: Affluent White Families And The Effects Of Parental Bias On Child Outcomes, J. Sema Bruno

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Navigating parental biases within White affluent homes assumes family dynamics as yet unexplored within family therapy praxis. This dissertation examines parental biases directed toward domestic laborers employed in affluent White homes and how these biases might affect the parent-child relationship and the emerging values of children in these homes. Research from other fields demonstrates that domestic laborers experience social bias within the workplace; what this highlights is the likelihood that children in these settings are navigating unspoken subtleties of racism and classism in the context of developing socio-emotional maturity and family relationships. The first article within this dissertation critically reviews …

Ideals Of Benevolence, Acts Of Dysconsciousness: White Women's Pursuit Of Diversity In Nonprofits, Tessa A. Fulmer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Recent political movements such as the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements have brought renewed attention to the social roles of White women and their unique position of intersectional privilege and oppression. White women experience the benefits of whiteness while simultaneously experiencing the gendered oppression of womanhood. However, there is a lack of research exploring how White women conceptualize and respond to their own positionality as both White individuals and as women. This study utilizes constructivist grounded theory to examine how White women navigate their social location within the context of working in the nonprofit sector, a space wherein White …

The Development Of Internalized Sexism In Young Adult Women, Kylie Schwabe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The present study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in order to examine the lived experiences of young adult, cisgender women and the development of internalized sexism. Eight participants completed semi–structured interviews focused on their relationships with other women and subsequent views of womanhood. Themes found were (a) womanhood is taught by women throughout the lifespan, (b) women are sexually responsible for men, (c) women are emotional caregivers, (d) there are biological bases of womanhood, (e) women are expected to “do it all,” (f) expectations of women are fueled by media portrayal, (g) traditional femininity is seen as oppositional to the feminist …

Parasocial Relationships In Variety Live Streaming: How It Can Affect Attitudes And Buying Intention Toward Sponsors, Megan Burroughs, Deborah Diazgranados

UROP Posters

Online streaming and video platforms have become a popular form of entertainment as opposed to traditional media like movies and TV shows. Similar to traditional media, viewers often relate to and form one-sided relationships with actors/creators, known as parasocial relationships. Actors and creators can then leverage that relationship to advertise and market products to their audience. The primary objective of this study was to understand if perceived credibility and loyalty towards a streamer fuel parasocial relationships and how perceived credibility and parasocial relationships with an online live streamer influence attitude towards a sponsored brand and purchasing intention. It was predicted …

Interpersonal Skills In A Sociotechnical System: A Training Gap In Flight Decks, Kimberly Perkins, Sourojit Ghosh, Crystal Hall

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

This research analyzed the perceptions of interpersonal skills on established aviation safety models, Crew Resource Management (CRM), and Threat and Error Management (TEM) using feedback from industry pilots. The flight deck is a sociotechnical system where much research has focused on the technical aspect, whereas we spotlight its socio aspect. The aviation industry must invest in training pilots on interpersonal skills to enhance safety through increased efficacy of safety models integrated throughout existing training programs. A 34-question survey was disseminated across both commercial and business aviation pilots (N=822). We explored three research questions regarding pilots’ perceived training on interpersonal skills …

'I’M A Pilot First, Female Second': Why Flight Deck Gender Imbalance Persists And The Case For Allyship, Kimberly Perkins, Rachael H. Merola, Sourojit Ghosh, Cecilia Aragon

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Why is there greater gender parity for long-haul truck drivers, astronauts, and paleontologists than for women airline captains? This study uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the underlying causes of the gender imbalance in the United States aviation industry, in which only 3.6% of airline captains are women. Two polls and one survey gather data from professional pilots (N=1093) on their experience with stereotyping, gender bias, and allyship. Direct comments were analyzed to shed light on the results of the survey. Results suggest that, contrary to prevailing perceptions, the persistent gender imbalance in the flight deck can largely be attributed …

Exploring Collegiate Athletes' Experiences With Cliques, Cora G. Dodson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

A significant body of literature examines team processes as they relate to the team as a collective unit (Eys et al., 2019). However, smaller units present within a team, such as cliques or subgroups, warrant further scientific exploration and dissemination (Wagstaff & Martin, 2018). Existent literature on cliques in an athletic setting established that intra-team groups are inevitable, while also highlighting their emergence and formation, and their relative consequences at the team level (Martin, 2020; Wagstaff & Martin, 2018). Despite the scientific advancement at the group level, research concerning cliques is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was …

Masculine Vs. Feminine Women: Verdict, Blame, And Punishment Outcomes In The Legal System, Alaina Helmerichs

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

It is commonly recognized that sentencing disparities exist between men and women who are accused of the same crime—with men often receiving harsher judgements than women. However, research explaining why this disparity exists is incomplete. Research suggests that higher levels of facial masculinity in men is tied to higher levels of criminality (Estrada-Reynolds et al., 2017); however, little research looks at this pattern amongst female defendants. The current study investigated whether the gendered appearance (masculine vs. feminine) of female defendants in different types of cases (child negligence vs. medical malpractice) affects mock jurors’ judgments about verdict, punishment, and internal blame …

Exploring Social Inclusion And Community Participation Opportunities For Adults With Developmental Disabilities, Arilyn Jewel Baldowski

Honors College Theses

Social Inclusion and community participation among adults with developmental disabilities (DD) have remained critically underexplored, despite their essential role in promoting equal opportunities and access to fulfilling lives. This study addressed a significant gap in the literature by investigating the experiences of individuals within the population. The research aimed to explore social inclusion and community participation opportunities on adults with DD. Participants were recruited through an organization that offers residential camp programs to adults with developmental disabilities, and an online survey was used to collect data on the availability of opportunities, the extent of involvement, and the perceived impacts on …

Internal And Social Sources Shape Judgments About The Mental And Physical Nature Of An Experience, Jacinth Jia Xin Tan, Alexander Karan, Dolores Albarracin

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although humans are intuitive dualists, little is known about whether they hold lay beliefs about the origins or sources of their intuitive perceptions of what is physical and what is mental. Drawing on theories of the sources of phenomenological experiences, we examined if people hold beliefs about the internal and social origins of judments that their experiences are physical or mental. In Study 1, participants provided physical or mental judgments about a range of personal experiences, and reported relying on both internal (i.e., examining own body and thoughts) and social (i.e., observing others) sources as information for their judgments. To …