|
2005 Abstracts By Titles: Accuracy of memory as a function of arousal. Apology and Inclusion: Effective means for restoring threatened needs. Argument order and attitudes regarding capital punishment: Primacy versus recency effect. Attitudes toward prenatal genetic screening. Battle of the sexes: Impact of gender on perceptions of domestic violence.
Body image and the media: Using the social
comparison theory to explore the effects of clothing
Clarifying the relationship between religiosity and prejudice. Comparing self-perceptions and meta-perceptions: Why I think less of me than I believe you do. Conspecific discrimination in budgerigars.
Crying and the satisfaction of belongingness needs. Do our perceptions affect the quality of relationships we have? Does Caffeine effect controlled attention? Effect of student behavior patterns on their view of possible alcohol abusers. Effects of humorous commercials on product recall. Effects of parental divorce on intimate relationships. Effects of unrealistic images on self-esteem and appearance schemas in women.
Exploring the Stroop effect: The effects of congruent and incongruent background colors. How the elderly perform on the misinformation paradigm. Homophonic Interference in Identifying the semantic relatedness of pairs of words.
Imitative learning among budgerigars. Impact of affective focus on judgment accuracy and cue use awareness. Intellect through Internet: Effects of electronic educational tools. Interference differences in short-term memory using three distracter tasks. It Is whether you win or lose: The effects of competition and perceived performance. Leisure activities and napping as methods of managing stress. Letter manipulation speed and phonological errors predict reading level in adult readers.
Media effects, gender, and jealousy in relationships. Predictions and reflections: A fun new method for measuring interpersonal perception accuracy.
Relationship Between Future Uncertainty and Self-Esteem. Remember the Pentagon?: Differential Memory for 9/11 Events. Superheroes in ourselves: Similarities between character preferences and personality. The effect of background music on expert video game performance.
The effect of self-esteem and feedback on stress as a function of heart rate.
The elderly, misinformation and social desirability. The influences of social norm theory and religiosity on volunteerism among college students. The impact of role and task difficulty on emotional contagion.
Whose voices are being heard? Gender stereotyping in the workplace. Working memory decay and relevance specificity in college students and faculty. By Institution:
Author: Brett Wells
Previous research has found a positive correlation between
religiosity and prejudice. However, these studies have used a definition
of religiosity that emphasizes a personal relationship with God (vertical
religiosity). Yet to many individuals, being religious also entails a
sense of compassion and concern for others (horizontal religiosity). In
the present study, we used an Internet survey to administer traditional
(largely vertical) religiosity scales to 593 self-described Christians
from across the world, as well as the Faith Maturity Scale, which
differentiates between vertical and horizontal religiosity. In addition,
we administered three measures of prejudice toward/stereotyping of the
poor, and one measure of materialism. We also augmented the FMS with
additional horizontal and vertical beliefs and behaviors. Results suggest
that the horizontal dimension significantly adds to our understanding of
the relationship between prejudice and religiosity. The various measures
of religiosity employed yielded very different relationships with the
criterion measures.
Author: Kristen Oates Title:
Conspecific discrimination in budgerigars. ABSTRACT Budgerigars were trained with a simultaneous discrimination procedure to choose the side of a test chamber that was associated with one stimulus budgerigar(S+) but not the other (S-). After learning the task, numerous tests were given in which either the S- or S+ was replaced by a new bird. A chi-square analysis showed the birds chose correctly significantly more than chance on all five tests. The present study corroborates previous research and suggests birds learn both what is correct and what to avoid.
Authors: Sarah Konfirst and Meaghan Bychowski Title: Does Caffeine effect controlled attention? Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Corts ABSTRACT The subjective alertness people report with caffeine use may be due to neurochemical changes in the anterior attention network of the frontal lobe. It is hypothesized that caffeine will increase attention for rapid and sustained information processing tasks leading to quicker reaction times and fewer errors. Participants completed two attention tasks (the Stroop test and a letter discrimination test) after consuming 0, 100, or 200 mg of caffeine in a within-subjects design. Caffeine did not affect attention in this study as indicated by a lack of significant main effects or interactions.
Authors: Laura Keene and Tim
Grubb ABSTRACT
Authors: John Parkhurst and
Aaron Boulton ABSTRACT The present study was designed to explore the effects of outcome (win/loss) and subjective self-evaluations of performance on mood states. Past research in the competitive sporting environment has found a distinct relationship between winning and mood elevation. The literature has also found an association between decreased mood and losing. However, previous studies failed to take into account the effects of an athlete’s perception of his/her performance on the established mood and outcome correlation. The present study administered the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and a perceptions of performance questionnaire to 51 college-aged intramural soccer participants (M= 34, F=17). Results of a multivariate analysis of variance did not reveal a significant interaction between outcome and subjective judgments on mood states. However, there was a significant effect of gender. Methodological limitations and future concerns for further research in competitive sports are discussed.
Authors: Brandy Koontz,
Esther M cCarthy, and Bricelda Vazquez ABSTRACT This study examined the effects of background (asynchronous) music on performance in video games. We hypothesized that a person would finish a video game faster and would show more agressive game play while listening to angry/fast asynchronous music compared to when listening to calming/slow asynchronous music. Fifty-three expert gamers from Culver-Stockton College and Quincy University participated in the experiment. The results showed that people performed better when calm asynchronous music was played than when angry asynchronous music was played. The results conflict with previous studies that suggested that fast asynchronous music may help a person compleate a familiar and demanding task much sooner then slower more relaxed asynchronous music.
ABSTRACT A study was performed at Culver-Stockton College on whether or not celebrity status had an effect on the consumer’s interest in purchasing a product. Thirteen undergraduate psychology students were shown nineteen different advertisements, eight of which contained either a celebrity’s photograph or a celebrity’s name and the remaining eleven contained only a product or a picture of a person with no celebrity status. Participants were then asked to rate the advertisements on likelihood of purchase on a 7-point Likert-scale. The result of this experiment showed the consumer’s interest in the product; based on whether a celebrity was or was not endorsing the product, had no effect on the consumer’s likelihood of purchasing a product. Implications about the use of celebrity endorsements of a product will be discussed.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this experiment was to test whether humorous commercials affected a person’s ability to remember products. The participants watched a 10-minute video, which resented humorous, non-humorous, and neutral commercials. After the video, the participants were given a list of products or companies that the video contained and were told to circle the one’s they saw. The results suggested that the more humorous the commercials the better the recall.
ABSTRACT This experiment tested to see if distractions have an effect on a cognitive task. The distractions used were three videotapes including: flashbulb memories (footage of 9/11 attacks on the U.S.), a significant historical event (bombing on Pearl Harbor), and a regular newscast that was about Terri Chiavo. The hypothesis was that distractions based on flashbulb memories and significant historical events would interfere with performance in a cognitive task compared to the control: the regular newscast. One-hundred and eight participants solved anagrams while different distractions were displayed. The results showed that individuals solved far fewer anagrams (p =.066) during the playback of historical events compared to the other two conditions. Implications of this study will be discussed in terms of the effect of distractions on cognitive performance.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this experiment was to see if older and younger participants differ in their views about factors of success and attractiveness of older adults shown in photographs. Participants were shown fifty photos of attractive and unattractive people aged forty and over. They were given a questionnaire and asked to rate the individuals in the photos on their successfulness in various areas of life, and on their overall attractiveness. The results showed that participants aged 40 and over rated the people shown in the pictures as being less successful in life and more attractive, whereas younger adults (college students) rated the individuals in the photos as being more successful in life but less attractive. Implications of these results will be compared to a previous study by Dion and Berscheid (1972) Titled: “What is beautiful is good.”
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine effects of
self-esteem and feedback on stress as measured by heart rate. College
athletes voluntarily completed a self-esteem questionnaire. The
participants ran on a treadmill for three trials. Each trial was two
minutes long and heart rate was measured three times per trial. The
participants were given three levels of feedback: positive, negative, or
neutral (control, no feedback). The results do not support the hypothesis
that feedback and self-esteem affect heart rate. Although a significant
main effect of self-esteem was present, F(1,14) = 136.92, P < .0001; no
other significant effects or interactions were found.
Authors: Rebeccah Dixon and
Jackie McNabb ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of
argument order on attitude change. The hypothesis was that the final
spoken argument would most influence subjects’ attitudes toward capital
punishment. The participants (N=39) completed a pre-test revealing their
initial views on capital punishment. They returned a week later to hear a
10-minute presentation on capital punishment consisting on pro and con
arguments. The post-test measured participants’ memory for the arguments
and their current views on capital punishment. The main effects of order
and time of testing were non-significant. However, the interaction between
the two variables was marginally significant. Arguments heard more
recently affected opinions more strongly. These results suggest that order
makes a difference in persuasive situations, which is important in many
professional settings.
Authors: Jayne Shurling and
Allissa Santoro ABSTRACT The Social Comparison Theory was explored by examining if body image was worsened or improved by exposure to clothing catalogs featuring ideally thin or plus-sized, female models. The Body Shape Questionnaire was used to measure 30 female participants’ body images before and after exposure to clothing or control catalogs. The medians revealed that subjects’ body image improved after looking at plus-sized model catalogs. Exposure to catalogs containing ideally thin models and furniture and office supplies did not have an effect on subjects’ body image. These findings imply that college females may feel better about themselves after being exposed to models not portraying an ideal figure. Furthermore, these results explain how the body image struggles of women today could be improved by using models closer in size to the average American woman.
Authors: Michael Price and
Cari Fever ABSTRACT Does prayer or the knowledge of being prayed for affect a person ’s performance? The effect of prayer was explored with 18 subjects using a memory test and a dart throwing test. Subjects were randomly grouped into four groups: told prayed for/actually prayed for, told prayed for/not prayed for, told not prayed for/prayed for, and told not prayed for/not prayed for. Findings showed a significant main effect of the “Told” factor on physical task performance. There was also a significant main effect of the “Actual” factor on mental task performance. The connections of these findings to research on prayer and healing will be discussed.
Authors: Amanda Pieper and
Julianne Smith Effects of awareness of depression on reported levels of
depression as assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory. ABSTRACT The reported number of college students seeking help for
depression has increased dramatically in recent years. One possible cause
for this trend is the increase in awareness of depression. Our hypothesis
is that increasing college students’ awareness of depression will elevate
their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. Participants in the
experimental condition received a 10-minute presentation on the diagnostic
criteria of major depressive disorder and dsythymic disorder; those in the
control condition received a 10-minute presentation on an unrelated
subject. Both groups then completed the BDI-I, answered questions about
the presentation, and answered three questions about their emotional
state. Whereas the median BDI-I score for the experimental group was
higher than that for the control group, the difference was not
statistically significant. Increasing awareness does not seem lead to an
increase in self-reported feelings of depression. Implications of these
Authors: Linda Bailey and Lisa Emmerling ABSTRACT Further research on the Stroop Effect was conducted by adding a background color distraction. Participants (N=75) stated the ink colors of printed words in four conditions defined by combining color names, ink colors, and background colors. All participants also receiving a control condition in which word, ink color, and background color were congruent. Naming times were slowed in all conditions, most strongly when background color and ink color were congruent. Implications regarding the automaticity of reading will be discussed.
Authors: Crystal Downs and
Rebecca J. Hoerr ABSTRACT The relationship between Instant Messaging (IM), Cell
Phone (Cell), Land Line (LL), and Face to Face (FF) communication and the
quality of friendships was explored. Surveys consisting of questions about
a particular friendship, preferred mode of communication, loneliness, and
anxiety were given to 32 college students. Results showed that
participants preferred FF communication most often; however, all modes of
communication (IM, Cell, LL, and FF) showed a positive association with
perceived quality of friendships. Loneliness and anxiety were positively
related to commitment in friendships and to length of FF and IM
conversations. The results imply that whereas FF communication is most
preferred to enhance friendships, other modes of communication are used
for convenience and are found to strengthen friendships rather than weaken
them. This study extends recent research regarding the effects of newer
modes of communication on relationships by addressing friendships at a
micro level.
Author: Zach Rothschild ABSTRACT Terror Management Theory says that people use defensive processes to buffer their anxiety about death. When death is made salient people respond with increased death-thought defenses. Two studies were conducted to test the effects of implicit and explicit self-esteem on various symbolic death buffering defenses (worldview defense and self-esteem striving) in response to a mortality salience presentation. Although study 1 failed to show any significant effects, study two revealed the basic MS effect as well as significant interactions for MS x Implicit SE, MS x Explicit SE, and Implicit SE x Explicit SE. The overall direction of these interactions was not in the predicted direction with high explicit and high implicit self-esteem participants showing the greatest increases in defensiveness in response to a MS prime.
Author: Heather Kolber ABSTRACT This study examined the performance of 24 healthy elderly subjects with a modified version of the misinformation paradigm. Subjects watched a video, read either a leading or misleading narrative then completed a forced choice memory test with source attributions. Results indicated that the misled group performed significantly worse than the control group but the social desirability of the perceived author of the narratives did not have a significant effect. There were significant correlations between increased age and fewer sources remembered correctly and increased age and fewer non-misleading questions answered correctly. Findings are discussed in light of memory degeneration and comparisons to children’s memory abilities.
Author: Kathryn Lambert ABSTRACT This study examines how unrealistic body images in the
media affect women’s self-esteem and their appearance schemas, or
attitudes about appearance. Responses to the Rosenburg Self-Esteem Scale
and the Appearance Schema Inventory were examined to see if there is a
relationship between the scores and viewing pictures of attainable and
unattainable body images. While the findings did not support the
hypothesis that women viewing models with unattainable body types will
have a decrease in self-esteem and a negative change to appearance
schemas, a woman who viewed average looking models displayed a significant
increase of positive attitudes about her appearance. This finding suggests
that looking at women who the viewer may perceive of as being less
attractive will improve how one views herself. Author: Karli Murphy Faculty Sponsor: Frank
McAndrew ABSTRACT: Eighty-seven male and female athlete and non-athlete students filled out a survey in which they were asked about the lives of college student athletes. The survey asked about perceptions of academic, social, and emotional states of an athlete in season compared to out of season. It was found that males tend to benefit more from involvement in sports in that they get more sleep, are happier, get along better with their friends, and are more sexually active in season in comparison to female athletes. It was also found that athletes are less sexually active, less stressed out, miss fewer classes, and complete more of their homework in season than non-athletes think they do.
Author: Heather Kolber Title: The elderly, misinformation and social desirability. Faculty Sponsor: Heather Hoffmann ABSTRACT This study examined the performance of 24 healthy elderly subjects with a modified version of the misinformation paradigm. Subjects watched a video, read either a leading or misleading narrative which they believed was written by someone with either high or low social desirability, then completed a forced choice memory test with source attributions. Results indicated that the misled group performed significantly worse than the control group but the social desirability of the perceived author of the narratives was not significant. There were significant correlations between increased age and fewer sources remembered correctly and increased age and fewer non-misleading questions answered correctly. Findings are discussed in light of memory degeneration and comparisons to children’s memory abilities.
Author: Ashley Noelle Craigen Faculty Sponsor: David Devonis Title: Remember the Pentagon?: Differential Memory for 9/11 Events. ABSTRACT Remember the Pentagon: Differential Memory for 9/11 Events. The hypothesis for this study is that the Pentagon is being overlooked when events of September 11, 2001 are mentioned. To investigate this hypothesis, 91 people aged 18-72 were asked to take one of two versions of a survey relating to recent historical events. Each survey contained the following question: "What occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001?" Version 1 limited responses to two-sentence descriptions in response to this question, while version 2 provided unlimited time for free response. Overall, the Pentagon was mentioned by 33% of the respondents: in the response-constrained condition, 19% mentioned the Pentagon, compared to 48% in the free response differences were significant at the .01 level. Results are discussed in terms of media saliency of the Pentagon vs. the Twin Towers and other 9/11 events.
Author: Marissa F. Heern ABSTRACT Participant (n=132) opinions of four potential alcohol abusers (young male, young female, older male, and older female) were compared. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled at a Midwestern private college or a public junior college. Participants completed a survey consisting of demographics, the Type A Self-Rating Inventory (Blumenthal et al. 1985), and questions relating to a vignette depicting a possible alcohol abuser. Results indicate female vignette characters were rated significantly more likely than males to have an alcohol problem, be sexually coerced, drink to manage emotional distress, be romantic, and communicate feelings. Individuals who rate themselves high on Type A Behavior Pattern characteristics, are significantly more probable to rate a character as likely to be assertive than individuals with neither Type A nor Type B characteristics. Bower’s associative network theory appears to play a role in the results and provides further implications.
Author: Warren Bowles III ABSTRACT The increasing prevalence of divorce rates in this country has recently become a concern for social scientists. The purpose of this study was to determine what ramifications this trend might have regarding trust for adult children of divorce. A modified version of the Dyadic Trust Scale, originally designed by Larzelere and Huston (1980), asked questions concerning the probability participants would have successful relationships or marriages to evaluate the levels of trust between adults whose parents had divorced during childhood and adults from intact families. Survey questions also included trust involving friends, parents, and relationship partners. The results were used to determine if their parent’s divorce had any impact on their trust in adult relationships. The research showed that participants from divorced family backgrounds indicated greater fear of being hurt and/or rejected (P = .04). This research has important implications for counselors relating to levels of trust towards parents.
Author: Heather A. Wagner ABSTRACT This research was designed to investigate the influence of
gender and previous exposure to abuse on perceptions of domestic violence.
Participants were students at a small Midwestern liberal arts college.
Participants were given scenarios that included storylines about people
who murdered their spouses and were asked to choose the most appropriate
sentences for the murder suspects. The participants were then administered
a survey that inquired about previous exposure to domestic violence and
perceptions of gender differences and equality. The research indicated
that while females were slightly more sympathetic toward abuse victims,
they were also more gender biased than males. Participants who had
associated with abuse victims were also slightly more sympathetic toward
victims in the scenarios than those who had not. This research might be
helpful in better understanding abuse victims and in the development of
therapy for victims of domestic violence. Author: Rebecca Tadlock Title: Intellect through Internet: Effects of electronic educational tools. ABSTRACT Electronic communications appear to be a growing form of interpersonal communication among collegian individuals. Two questionnaires were constructed to survey college student’s thoughts concerning electronic forms of contact and its role in interpersonal communication in an educational environment. Participants were asked to fill out either a 36 or 62 question survey which contained questions concerning demographic information, e-mail habits, communication preferences, and self-esteem inventories. Results from study one indicate that electronic communications enables students to initiate interaction with both faculty and staff. Study two suggests that educational tools such as Blackboard encouraged students to consider their own personal opinion on class topics. Based upon the research findings, it seems as though electronic forms of communication enhanced communication abilities which leads to higher frequency of communication and higher group identity among the peers in the classroom.
Author: Adam Thomas Biggs ABSTRACT Participants (n=222) were asked to select their favorite choices among the categories of Superheroes, Villains, and Superpowers. These preferences were then compared to self-reporting personality inventory based upon the criteria set forth by the Cattell 16PF with special attention on areas regarding social interaction. Because character perceptions were ascertained from recent adaptations, the survey was administered primarily to those between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. The hypothesis proposed that character partiality would originate from fundamental parallels between the personality traits of the individual and the Superhero or Villain. Results indicate substantial gender preferences such as men preferring male Superheroes and women preferring female Villains while significant confirmation of the hypothesis was found. For instance, Superman suggests high scores of Warmth while Poison Ivy signifies higher Promiscuity. Explanation includes fulfillment of needs based upon Freudian ideals of Superego (Superhero) and Id (Villains) with emphasis upon cognitive interpretation of observed behaviors.
Author: Heather M. Janik ABSTRACT Perceptions differ based on gender; furthermore, due to these differences individuals project on to others their views of gender stereotyping. In an effect to determine the role that gender stereotyping plays in the workplace 80 employees of 6 local Midwestern companies completed one of two surveys. The surveys differed in that one referred a man and the other a woman in a workplace situation. Results from the survey referencing a woman suggests that individuals between the ages of 18-25 were more likely to indicate that co-workers will not disapprove of them receiving personal phone calls at work; in addition, receiving personal phone calls will not hindrance a possible promotion. Future analysis of workplace situations should take into consideration that gender stereotyping might exist. Management training should address this issue; and Human resources departments and managers should be aware of gender stereotyping that may take place in the work force.
Author: Ryne Sherman ABSTRACT A nation-wide study examining how people feel about themselves and how they perceive that others feel about them. Results indicate that individuals feel worse about themselves than they perceive that others feel about them. At a multitude of institutions, individuals perceived themselves and others differently. Finally, an interaction between institution and feeling reveals that individuals at various institutions perceive themselves and others differently on measures of self and other perception. One implication of these findings may be that individuals perceive themselves more negatively than they believe others perceive them because the individual knows everything about him or herself, whereas the individual believes that his or her perceivers see him or her more positively because they have limited access to the individual due to behavioral modifications and because of the individual’s effort to present oneself in the best possible light.
Author: Tiffany Dismuke ABSTRACT
Researchers examined which of three types of perception
(perceived similarity, dyadic similarity, and similarity of
self-perceptions) would correlate best with rapport. Perceived similarity
was expected to be the best predictor of rapport. 24 groups of 6
participants completed a packet of surveys including a self-measure of
personality and acquaintance measures. Next, participants played a game.
The game involved guessing which participants gave which answers to a list
of questions. Following the game, the participants completed another
packet of surveys, including personality measures for the other
participants and a measure of rapport. The type of perception best
associated with rapport appears to be dependent on the trait being
measured. Author: Mindy Arreola ABSTRACT Previous research has demonstrated modest levels of judgment accuracy when rating dyadic rapport (Grahe & Bernieri, 2002). However, there was little shared agreement about rapport between the interactants, which could be an obstacle to perceiver accuracy. Grahe, Sherman, Weck, and Nelson (2004) attempted to increase interactant agreement to remedy this problem, while studying constructs beyond dyadic rapport. If low interactant agreement interferes with judgment accuracy, perhaps constructs with greater interactant agreement would yield more perceiver accuracy. The present study evaluated perceiver judgment accuracy for enjoyment and frustration, which demonstrated greater agreement. Additionally, this study tested the established finding that perceivers are more aware of subjective than objective cue use across different types of cues (Grahe & Bernieri, 2002).
Authors: Jenn Stover and Sarah Zanger ABSTRACT This experiment examined the effects of three distracter tasks on memory recall of a trigram. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) recall would be better in the count condition, then in the story condition, and last the alphabet condition, and (2) recall would be better at shorter delays compared to longer delays. Results of the study showed better recall in the story condition than in the count and alphabet conditions. Results also showed better recall at shorter delays than at longer delays. Three two-way interactions were found expressing an improvement in recall in the alphabet condition in the second trial, a larger decrease in recall in the second trial compared to the first trial at the 18 second delay, and a sharp decrease in recall was shown at the 12 second delay in the story condition, whereas in the count and alphabet conditions a sharper decrease occurred at the 18 second delay.
Author: Tiffany Dismuke ABSTRACT Often interpersonal perception research is plagued with
obstacles hindering the validity of the research. Unmotivated judges, the
use of passive vs. active perceivers, and creating an objective accuracy
criterion are all problems which interpersonal perception researchers must
tackle. This talk introduces Predictions and Reflections (PAR), a fun new
method of measuring interpersonal perception that motivates judges to be
successful, uses active perceivers, and an objective accuracy criterion.
Results thus far reveal that PAR is an effective method for measuring
interpersonal perception accuracy and that perceivers make accurate
judgments above chance. Judges performed above chance in both conditions
where targets were motivated to be guessed incorrectly and guessed
incorrectly, but judges were more accurate in the motivated to be guessed
correctly condition. Finally, this presentation describes ways in which
PAR and other interpersonal perception research tools can be improved, as
well as important areas needing further investigation.
Author: Krisha Otto Faculty Sponsor: James E. Winchip Title: The impact of role and task difficulty on emotional contagion. ABSTRACT Previous research has indicated that emotional contagion can occur at an unconscious level through vocal, postural, and facial mimicry (Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Raspson, 1994). The current experiment examines how emotional contagion can be influenced by role and task difficulty. The current experiment examines dyads, in which one participant is exposed to an emotion-eliciting movie clip (happy, sad, or angry), while the other is exposed to a neutral clip. After the movies, participants were randomly assigned to either the role of leader or worker in order to facilitate the completion of a puzzle task (Grahe, Bernieri, Gada-Jain, 2001). They worked together on a set of puzzle tasks that were either easy or difficult. The leader was instructed to coach the blindfolded worker on how to complete the puzzle.
Author: Christine Del Re ABSTRACT This study investigated working memory decay and word relevancy in college students and faculty’s ability to freely recall word lists. Participants included 57 students from a private, Midwestern, Liberal Arts College and 17 faculty members employed at the same institution. Participants were presented with a word list, given a distracter task, and then asked to complete the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, which tested their abilities for correct and false memories. This study aimed to support theories stating that memory decays with increased age. Findings suggested that students were less susceptible to false recall and correctly identified more words than faculty members. Results indicated that faculty members might already be showing evidence for memory decay.
Authors: Melissa L. Cordova, Kathryn D. Gondek, Kristin M. Jefferson, and Alexander C. Whitman Title: Accuracy of memory as a function of arousal. Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Kristine M. Kelly ABSTRACT This study examined the effects of arousal situations on eyewitness memory. While completing a bogus personality test, participants experienced one of two arousal-inducing situations.; Half the participants were exposed to a low-arousal argument (i.e., a discussion about extra credit forms) between a confederate and the researcher. The other half of the participants were exposed to a high-arousal argument (i.e., hostile conflict about extra credit forms) between the confederate and researcher. Five minutes after the argument, participants were asked to recall specific information about the confederate. We expect that the low arousal participants will have more accurate memory than the high arousal participants.
Author: Melissa Norwick and Jennifer Harmon ABSTRACT According to belongingness theory (Baumeister & Leary,
1995), individuals have a need to form and maintain social bonds with
other people. When one’s sense of belonging is threatened, people
experience a variety of outcomes, such as anxiety, loneliness, and
depression. One behavioral response that has received little empirical
attention is crying, which we hypothesized would encourage responses from
others which re-establish one’s sense of belonging. Thus, the purpose of
the current study was to examine the effects of crying on indicators of
belongingness. Participants first engaged in a chat room discussion with a
confederate who disagreed with them on a controversial topic.
Subsequently, they were introduced to the confederate who was either
crying or not crying. After engaging in a task with the confederate,
participants rated the confederate on likeability, responsibility,
cooperativeness, and intelligence. Results indicated that the crying
confederate was perceived more favorably across all ratings than the
non-crying confederate.
Authors: Audrey Corey and Delores Barton ABSTRACT Prenatal genetic screening is quickly becoming a common form of prenatal health care. This increasing popularity has made it imperative to understand the influences that affect the attitudes people hold about prenatal genetic screening. This study focused on the influence of the type of disorder (physical or mental) and the prevalence of a recessive gene associated with the disorder on likelihood of obtaining prenatal genetic screening. Participants were instructed to read one of six scenarios which served as manipulation of two independent variables (type of disorder and prevalence of recessive gene). They then answered one question that measured the likelihood that they would engage in prenatal genetic testing in the given situation. We expect that a high prevalence of genes indicating a physical disorder will be associated with greater probability of genetic testing.
Authors: Katerina Koscova Faculty Sponsor: Kristine M. Kelly Title: Apology and Inclusion: Effective means for restoring threatened Needs. ABSTRACT According to William’s (1997) Needs Threat Model, human beings have four psychological needs (self-esteem, need to belong, meaningful existence, and control) that are threatened when an individual is ostracized. While researchers have investigated ways in which to threaten the four needs, few have tried to help individuals regain their threatened needs. In past studies, apology and future inclusion were successful in helping participants recover their four needs using hypothetical scenarios. The following study investigated whether apology and future inclusion would be equally useful in a realistic situation by using a chat-room rejection paradigm. It is predicted that apology and future inclusion will help participants recover their psychological needs.
Authors: Jaime Woitas, Jessica McVey, and Stephanie Ferry ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between individuals’ need to belong and accuracy in judging a stranger’s personality. Participants completed measures of the need to belong and the “Big Five” personality traits (conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and extraversion). They subsequently interacted with a stranger for five minutes and then rated the other person on the same five personality traits. Accuracy was calculated by computing the absolute value of participants’ self-ratings minus their partner’s ratings on each of the five personality traits. Thus, lower scores indicate more agreement (accuracy). Results of a correlational analysis revealed that people scoring high in the need to belong were more accurate at identifying a stranger’s neuroticism but not agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion.
Authors: Aimee Bequette and Ashleigh Semplowski Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ray Majeres Title: Homophonic Interference in Identifying the Semantic Relatedness of Pairs of Words. ABSTRACT A test of the dual pathway theory of reading was conducted by having college students decide whether pairs of words were semantically related under two conditions. The experimental condition involved lists of high homophonic interference pairs (i.e. flew-illness; flu-bird). The control condition had lists of non-homophonic pairs (i.e. car-drive; zero-flame). It was predicted that if words automatically activate their respective phonology, the experimental condition would take longer to complete and would result in checking more unrelated pairs. The results confirmed this prediction, suggesting word recognition involves automatic activation of phonological codes that access word meaning. Males made significantly more false positive errors on the experimental condition. Poor reading scores were associated with a high rate of failures to recognize related pairs.
Authors: Jennifer N. Benson, Aimee D. Bequette, Rhiannon M. Lock, Meghan J. Strazar Faculty Sponsor: Kimberley A. McClure Title:
The influences of social norm theory and religiosity on
volunteerism among college students. ABSTRACT In 1988, 71 percent of American households contributed to charity, 45 percent volunteered, and 65 percent were members of religious organizations (Hodgekinson, Weitzman, and Kirsch, 1990). A quasi-experimental 2-factor design examines whether religion and social norm theory play a role in a person’s willingness to volunteer. Participants were divided into 3 social norm condition groups and completed 2 surveys on religion and volunteering. These surveys were scored to determine each participant’s level of religiosity and volunteerism. The data concluded that neither factor influenced volunteer participation. Organizations and programs all over the world depend on people to volunteer their time and money to achieve goals, and with research in this area they will be better equipped to find and retain those volunteers. Authors: DeAnne Price, Elizabeth Shudy, Evelynann
Davis, and Maya Dobrzynski ABSTRACT College students are faced with stress on a daily basis.
Previous research has indicated that two common ways they cope with stress
are by engaging in leisure activities or by taking naps. The purpose of
this study was to compare these two stress reduction methods. Participants
read a scenario depicting a student’s stressful day. By random assignment,
they received a version of the scenario where the student coped with
stress by engaging in an hour-long nap or by performing their favorite
leisure activity. Participants then rated the extent to which the activity
would relieve their stress. It is hypothesized that leisure activities
will be a more effective way to relieve stress compared
Authors: Christa Smith and Audra Choate ABSTRACT According to the double-deficit hypothesis of reading
disability (Wolf,1999), phonological deficits and deficits underlying
naming-speed processes represent two different sources of reading
disability. The present study examined these two components of reading in
normal adult readers using three different measures of symbol manipulation
speed with three degrees of memory load to assess the speed factor and a
word attack test to assess phonological skill. Results indicated that the
best predictor of reading level was the number of errors on the word
attack test, a measure of phonological skill. The only other significant
predictor was letter manipulation speed under high working-memory load.
These results were consistent with the double-deficit hypothesis and
extended the results to adult readers with very restricted deficits.
Author: Christine Banach ABSTRACT This study attempted to show that because of the overwhelming pressure from the media, women’s body images are lowered resulting in a higher level of jealousy in relationships. The independent variable in this study was exposure to attractive or unattractive media images. A control group was not exposed to pictures. The dependent variable was the level of jealousy reported. It was hypothesized that women’s levels of jealousy would increase after viewing pictures of attractive models and decrease after viewing the pictures of unattractive individuals. It was also hypothesized that men’s levels of jealousy would not be affected by picture attractiveness. However, the results showed that both men and women’s levels of jealousy were heightened after viewing both the unattractive and attractive pictures.
Author: Luke McIntyre Faculty Sponsor: Kristine M. Kelly Title: Relationship Between Future Uncertainty and Self-Esteem. ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and six components of uncertainty about the future (mortality, pathogen prevalence, instability of life factors, unstable parental dynamic, father absence, and unstable resources). Participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of self-esteem and future uncertainty. Correlational analyses revealed that self-esteem was related to transient but not stable dimensions of future uncertainty. ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and six components of uncertainty about the future (mortality, pathogen prevalence, instability of life factors, unstable parental dynamic, father absence, and unstable resources). Participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of self-esteem and future uncertainty. Correlational analyses revealed that self-esteem was related to transient but not stable dimensions of future uncertainty. Authors: Stephanie Drane and Ryan Hanninen
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate father-child relationship quality in terms of the consequences of losing a potential romantic partner. After being given a cover story concerning an online dating service, participants completed a measure of paternal rejection. They were then told that their profiles matched those of five members of the opposite sex in the (bogus) dating service database. They subsequently selected the one person with whom they wished to interact in a chat room. The chat room was used to manipulate an independent variable: acceptance or rejection. In the acceptance condition the participant received a message stating, “Thank you for choosing me as your number one choice, I am glad that I am going to get a chance to get to know you. rejection condition, the message stated, “I am sorry but you were not my number 1 choice, but thank you!” Participants then filled out a survey that measured six emotional responses. Results are expected to indicate that participants who felt rejected by their fathers will experience more negative reactions to romantic rejection than those who felt accepted by their fathers.
Authors: Lisa Suellentrop and Kevin Harris ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine how peer pressure affects college students’ decisions to participate in positive and negative behaviors. The participants were presented with five scenarios which depicted activities such as cheating on homework and volunteering for a charity. Participants were randomly assigned to receive scenarios where they were either alone or with friends. After reading each scenario they were asked how likely they would be to participate in the activity. Even though the results were not significant, the participants with friends were more willing to participate in both positive and negative activities than those participants who were alone. Author: Douglas Berry ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which individuals felt reduced threat to belongingness needs following a crying episode. Participants first wrote about a time when they cried and then answered a series of questions pertaining to this crying incident. These questions assessed reasons for crying and degree of threat to the person’s belongingness needs. Correlational analyses revealed that people with threatened belongingness needs were more likely to cry to elicit help and empathy from others. They were also more likely to cry out of frustration than their counterparts whose belongingness needs were not threatened.
|
