Copyright (c) 2013 Macalester College All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors Recent documents in Honors Projects en-us Thu, 23 May 2013 01:44:58 PDT 3600 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/31 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/31 Tue, 21 May 2013 12:02:33 PDT Research has demonstrated support for objectification theory and has established that music affects listeners’ thoughts and behaviors, however, no research to date joins these two fields. The present study considers potential effects of objectifying hip hop songs on female listeners. Among African American participants, exposure to an objectifying song resulted in increased self-objectification. However, among White participants, exposure to an objectifying song produced no measurable difference in self-objectification. This finding along with interview data suggests that white women distance themselves from objectifying hip hop songs, preventing negative effects of such music.

]]> Ellen S. Nikodym http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/30 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/30 Tue, 21 May 2013 12:02:28 PDT Previous research has found that being lied to makes a person more likely to respond with deception in a reciprocal manner. I hypothesize that lying instead creates a descriptive norm. Thus, a person being lied to will lie not only to the person who lied to them, but in new conversations with new people. Within a mock job interview, participants were lied to by one confederate, and then given the chance to lie to a second confederate. Being lied to did not produce significantly more lies, favoring existing theory that lying is reciprocal and not transitive.

]]> William F. Johnson http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/29 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/29 Tue, 21 May 2013 09:50:51 PDT The current research examines the relationship between sense of community and business improvement districts (BIDs) in urban neighborhoods. Study 1 employed the method of imagined scenarios to distinguish sense of community ratings between hypothetical neighborhoods with and without BIDs. This study found that participants in the imagined BID neighborhood scenario reported higher sense of community than those in the imagined non-BID neighborhood scenario. In Study 2, residents of two neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York, one with a BID and one without a BID, were surveyed on their neighborhood experience and sense of community. This study found no difference in sense of community between neighborhoods. The overall findings suggest that resources of BIDs, held in isolation, can relate to sense of community, but in a neighborhood with many additional characteristics, such as susceptibility to social change or natural disaster, the presence of a BID does not necessarily contribute directly to sense of community.

]]> Bo Scarim http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/28 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/28 Fri, 17 May 2013 14:35:47 PDT Social exclusion negatively impacts health behaviors such as eating, and new research suggests that individual difference variables can influence the strength of its effects. Two studies examined whether prior experience with bullying is an individual difference variable that could influence ostracism’s impact on food consumption. I hypothesized that people with a history of bullying would be more likely to eat unhealthy foods than healthy foods after experiencing social exclusion, and that this group would likely consume more food after experiencing social exclusion. Neither study found that prior experience with bullying impacted the strength of ostracism’s effect on food consumption, although Study 2 demonstrated that Rejection Sensitivity plays an important moderating role in participants’ response to social exclusion.

]]> Karen M. Ramos http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/27 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/27 Tue, 15 May 2012 13:32:45 PDT Controversy exists over whether facial expression recognition is a holistic or feature-based process. The present research explored whether stimulus format (photographic vs. schematic) affects the type of processing used. In a composite/noncomposite expression recognition task, holistic processing was observed for photographic stimuli and feature-based processing was observed for schematic stimuli. Moreover, holistic processing in the photographic condition increased when more than one individual was presented. Results suggest that facial expression processing is holistic under natural viewing conditions and provide a potential resolution to the previous controversy. Such findings may be corroborated by an ongoing follow-up study using gaze-contingent stimulus presentations.

]]> Emily R. Prazak http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/26 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/26 Thu, 10 May 2012 09:30:47 PDT I investigated the importance of cognitive exposure and social interaction for group-to-individual transfer for low-and high-demonstrability tasks. I tested the hypothesis that transfer occurs for high-demonstrability tasks with or without social interaction, but transfer for low-demonstrability tasks only occurs if subjects engage in social interaction. During the transfer phase, subjects either worked in a small group, which permitted social interaction, or viewed a video of a yolked group, which only permitted the transfer of cognitive processes. Analysis of subjects’ pre-post performance difference indicated that transfer is constant regardless of the level of demonstrability. However, overall transfer for the high demonstrability task exceeds transfer of the low demonstrability task.

]]> Adam J. Freedman http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/25 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/25 Mon, 02 May 2011 07:25:17 PDT Historically, zoos rarely feature mixed taxa exhibits including multiple primate species; the Minnesota Zoo opened such a unique four-species exhibit featuring Rock hyraxes, Red River hogs, Colobus monkeys, and DeBrazza’s monkeys in May, 2010. Because of potential problems associated with territoriality and aggression, primates in mixed-taxa exhibits are generally non-breeding. However, the DeBrazza’s monkeys at the MN Zoo are a breeding pair with a juvenile offspring. The intent of this study was to design an ethogram with the purpose of calculating the effects of a mixed taxa exhibit on the behavior of this breeding group, and to compare their behavior before and after the birth of an infant. Pre-birth behavioral observations established activity budgets for the DeBrazza’s with the adult male spending 71% of his time resting and 14% of his time in food related activities. The adult female spent 85% of her time resting and only 4% in food related activities, and the juvenile spent 25% of her time resting and 35% of her time in food related activities. Post birth, the adult male spent 68% of his time resting, and 16% of his time with food, the adult female spent 85% of her time carrying the infant, and the juvenile spent 34% of her time resting and 28% of her time with food. Each animal also spent different amounts of time near the other animals. Significant differences in amount of time that the adult female and the juvenile spent near each other were found, as well as differences in the amount of time the adult male spent near the Colobus. These differences and the animals’ activity budgets illustrate how these species interact in this zoo exhibit as well as identify areas for future research with these populations.

]]> Rachel Diamond http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/24 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/24 Wed, 05 May 2010 13:11:18 PDT The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state is generally described as the feeling that one knows a target word and recall of this word is imminent, although the word is currently unrecallable. Research suggests participants’ beliefs about their own knowledge affect the level and type of curiosity experienced while in a TOT state. This study examined the interaction between demand characteristics and specific types of curiosity experienced while in a TOT state. Demand characteristics were expected to affect the type of curiosity experienced, with participants in the high-demand group experiencing more negative forms of curiosity and the low-demand group experiencing more positive forms of curiosity. Participants in each demand condition completed a trivia task designed to elicit TOT states, a personality questionnaire, and a multiple-choice recognition task for the same trivia items from the first task. Overall, the low demand group experienced higher levels of curiosity for most feeling-of-knowing states and a more positive form of curiosity then the high demand group. Results are partially consistent with the approach-gradient theory of curiosity, but also indicate that demand characteristics may differentially affect the two types of curiosity examined.

]]> Chelsea Voskuilen http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/23 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/23 Tue, 04 May 2010 07:27:22 PDT Positive psychology has related gratitude to positive outcomes for individuals. The purpose of the current study was to apply gratitude journaling to the athletic domain, specifically volleyball. It was hypothesized that participants journaling about things they were grateful for at each practice would result in heightened athletic performance, measured through vertical approach and block jump, team win/loss percentage, and satisfaction with performance, especially when compared to participants who journaled about neutral practice events. Results showed a significant difference between groups in athlete satisfaction with individual and team performance; however, participants who journaled about neutral practice events displayed higher levels of satisfaction.

]]> Marie B. Godwin http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/22 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/22 Mon, 03 May 2010 12:48:03 PDT I conducted two studies that investigated Facebook and its relationship to college students’ social experiences. The first study focused on the associations between Facebook use and homesickness and friendsickness, while the second study explored the Facebook status and its relationship to the personality characteristics shyness, loneliness and a sense of belonging. Participants included 220 college students. Higher levels of Facebook use were related to higher levels of friendsickness and a greater connection to the Facebook status was related to higher levels of loneliness and shyness. Overall, Facebook had a negative relationship with college students’ social experiences.

]]> Carolyn L. Klingensmith http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/21 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/21 Mon, 03 May 2010 09:15:53 PDT This study sought to extend the concept of coaching efficacy by exploring all four factors identified in Bandura’s model of self-efficacy as potential sources of coaching efficacy: enactive mastery experience, verbal persuasion, vicarious experience, and physiological and affective state. A total of 224 high school and college coaches completed an online survey. The present study accounted for over twice the variance predicted in past studies on sources of coaching efficacy. The most potent source of coaching efficacy was physiological and affective state, suggesting that coaches derive their efficacy beliefs based on the perception of autonomic arousal.

]]> Alison C. Phillips http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/20 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/20 Mon, 03 May 2010 09:04:14 PDT Materialist theories of mind are disturbing for those who endorse the idea that an immortal soul is distinct from the material body. Many argue for a uniqueness of the human spirit that transcends bodily qualities. The present research focuses on the rejection of human evolution from the perspective of disgust, which has both a physical (body) and moral (soul) component and is elicited by objects that remind us of both death and animals. Study 1 asked whether those primed to feel disgusted would show an implicit preference for creationism over evolution on an Implicit Associations Test but failed to find significance. Studies 2 and 3 found that disgust motivates a preference for the view that humans are unique from animals but failed to disambiguate the disgust emotion from an overall negative affect. Implications for the broader role of disgust as a body-soul emotion, especially as it relates to rejecting evolution and scientific reductionism, are discussed.

]]> Sara G. Gottlieb http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/19 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/19 Mon, 03 May 2010 06:10:13 PDT Handedness can be used as a marker for interhemispheric interaction, which can produce memory benefits. Bilateral saccadic eye movements can be used to manipulate levels of interhemispheric interaction. This study measured the effects of handedness and bilateral saccadic eye movement on memory using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. This study predicted a memory advantage for left-handers and mixed-handers without eye movements and an advantage for right-handers with the eye movements. The results do not support these predictions but do suggest that handedness is a factor in episodic memory performance. The analyses for this study were run using A’ to compare false alarm rates for critical lures and for unrelated new items. Mixed-handers were less susceptible to the DRM paradigm, as the made fewer critical false alarms than both left-handers and right-handers. The bilateral saccadic eye movements increased the number of critical false alarms for left-handers but did not affect right-handers or mixed-handers. Reaction times data indicated that participants treated critical lures like old items.

]]> Lisa Weinberg http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/18 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/18 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:10:47 PST Skin tone bias is the inclination to perceive or behave towards members of a racial group based on the lightness or darkness of their skin. Previous research has demonstrated that the lightness or darkness of one's skin tone plays an important role in person perception. However, skin tone bias has yet to be fully explored in a political context. This study investigates the relationship between skin tone and the perception of Black political candidates. Eighty eight participants took a skin tone IAT and were asked to evaluate a newspaper article featuring a Black candidate, differing only in skin tone. The hypothesis that participants would rate the dark skinned candidate less positively than the light or medium skinned candidate was not confirmed.

]]> Lisa Herndon http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/17 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/17 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:35:54 PDT Flow is a psychological state that is associated with optimal performance. Sports such as basketball are conducive to an individual experiencing flow because they have rules that structure and focus attention. Past research indicates that sports related mental imagery practice improves athletic performance; however few studies to date have systematically included the characteristics of flow in their sports mental imagery interventions. The present study compared the efficacy of a ―flow‖ and a standard basketball mental imagery intervention at improving performance on a basketball-shooting task. No significant differences were found between groups, but both reported increases in flow experiences.

]]> Evan Welo http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/16 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/16 Fri, 08 May 2009 07:04:32 PDT Research on Hmong Americans is limited even in relation to the most prevalent and excessively studied stereotype affecting Asian Americans: the model minority stereotype. The present studies investigated the relationship between the stereotype and students of Hmong descent. Data from 94 students in the first study indicated that belief in and endorsement of the stereotype is related to psychological well-being and achievement motivation. In Study 2, 98 students completed a 2 (prime) x 2 (fit) experimental study. Study 2 concluded that fit (whether or not a person fits the description of a “model minority”) influenced state self-esteem and state shame. There were no significant differences between females and males; however, slight differences existed between 1.5 and second-generation Hmong students.

]]> Mai Youa Moua http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/15 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/15 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:34:03 PDT Despite all of the advancements women have made in the field of mathematics, the negative stereotype regarding women’s mathematical competence persists. Stereotype threat research demonstrates that the negative stereotype contributes to significant gender differences in attitudes, academic achievement, and educational and career attainment in math. The current longitudinal study focused on stereotype threat as an explanation for how a negative gender stereotype influences the mathematical performance of middle school girls in math in a single-sex setting. In particular, the study examines how the girls’ gender identification moderates the effects of stereotype threat. The results of the study indicate that stereotype threat does operate in a single-sex setting and that participants’ math performance varies significantly depending on their overall gender identification.

]]> Erin E. Twamley http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/14 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/14 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:23:32 PDT Body image has been the subject of much study recently, as the prevalence of eating disorders is an issue of increasing concern, especially among women. Comparatively few studies have examined male body image. Researchers have argued that men are more likely to exhibit muscle dysmorphia than eating disorders in response to body dissatisfaction. The present study consists of two studies: Study 1 compared etiological similarities between disordered eating and muscle dysmorphia; Study 2 explored the phenomenon of self-objectification in men. Results specify the parallels and differences in the ways in which men and women develop and experience body image.

]]> Kathryn Smith http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/13 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/13 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:01:19 PDT Procrastination is part of the daily experience of many people, especially students, who may procrastinate as much as 70% of the time (Knaus, 1973). This study sought to establish differences in affective and academic outcomes depending on the type of procrastinatory activity one engages in. More specifically, we looked at whether social vs. nonsocial forms of procrastination (e.g., going out with friends vs. watching TV alone) were associated with different consequences. The social distinction was further divided into invited (i.e., responding to others' invitations) vs. sought-out (i.e., initiating a social activity) domains. Participants completed both quantitative and qualitative measures. The sought-out social condition had more positive outcomes than the invited social and non-social conditions.

]]> Allison Palmer http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/12 http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/psychology_honors/12 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:18:29 PDT Traditional localist theories of semantic memory use spreading activation to explain short-term priming. Rival distributed accounts use incremental learning to explain both short and long-term priming. This experiment examined the possibility of a long-term negative priming mechanism in semantic memory. The results supported the existence of long-term priming. The results did not support the existence of any negative priming mechanism, but did lead to a follow up experiment that will investigate a possible role for negative priming in semantic memory.

]]> Matthew Olson