CEPO 2016 Booklet

CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Program

New Orleans, Louisiana March 30th - April 2nd 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Welcome to SEPA 2016! It is with great satisfaction that we present this book of abstracts for the 2016 CEPO/ Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Sessions. These sessions are a joint creation of the Committee for the Equality of Professional Opportunity (CEPO) and Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. Both organizations are committed to the advancement of student research in the discipline of psychology.

Submissions to this session were reviewed by multiple faculty members and were selected for presentation based on the high quality of the research. The work represented in these abstracts reflects hours of effort on the part of undergraduate authors and their mentors. We would like to acknowledge the outstanding mentorship that characterizes our region and to congratulate these exceptional students for engaging in this professional presentation experience.

We are also excited to add a new session this year – an oral presentation session. After the abstracts were reviewed, the students with the top scores were invited to present their research during an oral paper session. We are excited about this new venture and expect to continue to provide a platform for top-performing undergraduates to showcase their research in this manner.

We also would like to thank the reviewers who evaluated abstracts this year. These individuals, many who have reviewed undergraduate abstracts for several years now, rated over 215 abstracts on multiple dimensions, demonstrating their commitment to the undergraduate research enterprise. The service of the reviewers is invaluable.

The success of this year’s CEPO/Psi Chi Undergraduate abstract program could not have occurred without the contributions of: • • • •

Dr. Amy Lyndon – CEPO Chairperson Dr. Al Finch - SEPA Administrative Officer Amy Limehouse-Eager - SEPA Administrative Assistant Kyle Stockard – Undergraduate Student Assistant

Finally, Dr. Merry Sleigh deserves a special recognition for her willingness to collaborate, push, cajole, put in extra-long hours, and do WHATEVER possible to bring this programming to fruition. Dr. Sleigh completes her second term as the Southeastern Regional Psi Chi Vice-President this summer. The progress that has occurred with the undergraduate poster session could not have happened without her assistance and support. Because of Dr. Sleigh, we moved the abstract submission from a paper format to an online process; to a two-step submission process to a one step process; to having the abstracts reviewed on-line; to having the schedule available on-line, and to having the citations included in the SEPA program. Managing the undergraduate programming, while still exhausting, is now a much more reasonable process. Dr. Sleigh has been a wonderful colleague and will be missed greatly in this role. Thank you for allowing us to serve in this leadership role. We are honored to be in the company of such outstanding professionals and student researchers.

Sincerely, Rihana S. Mason, PhD Chair, CEPO /Psi Chi Undergraduate Program Associate Professor Department of Psychology Emmanuel College

Linda Jones, PhD Co-Chair, CEPO/Psi Chi Undergraduate Program Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychological Science Belmont University

Merry Sleigh, PhD Southeastern Regional Psi Chi Vice-President Professor Department of Psychology Winthrop University

Undergraduate Abstract Reviewers William Aitken Pamela G. Banks Kanika Bell Barbara Blatchley Stefanie Boswell Lyn Boulter Ty Boyer Alicia Briganti Sheila Brownlow Gordon Cappelletty Mary Jo Carnot Gabriela Carrasco Vernessa Clark Cherie Clark Amanda Clark Tara Collins Jimmy Davis Bryan Dawson Jennifer Friday Celeste Gaia Jeffrey Gibbons Leilani Goodmon Jana Hackathorn Matthew Hayes Jameson Hirsch Michelle Horhota Jennifer Hughes Walter Isaac Lisa Jackson Shannon Kundey Amy Luna Angie Mackewn Rihana Mason Meg Milligan Mustapha Mouloua Ivelina Naydenova Donna Nelson Maureen O'Brien Sandra Patterson Terry Pettijohn Bryan Poole Chris Qualls Lillian Range Chris Reilly

Georgia State University Jackson State University Clark Atlanta University Agnes Scott College University of the Incarnate Word Catawba College Georgia Southern University Dalton State College Catawba College Lenoir-Rhyne University Chadron State College University of North Alabama Virginia State University Queens University of Charlotte University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Winthrop University Clark Atlanta University University of North Georgia Georgia Gwinnett College Emory & Henry College Christopher Newport University Florida Southern College Murray State University Winthrop University East Tennessee State University Furman University Agnes Scott College Georgia College Schoolcraft College Hood College Georgia Southern University University of Tennessee at Martin Emmanuel College Troy University University of Central Florida Gardner-Webb University Winthrop University Christian Brothers University Spelman College Coastal Carolina University Lee University Emory & Henry College Our Lady of Holy Cross College Sperduto & Assoicates

Undergraduate Abstract Reviewers Darren Ritzer Chuck Robertson Christina Sinisi Jeannine Skinner Jeanne Stahl Jutta Street Medha Talpade Susan Thorson-Barnett Kerry Towler Mary Utley Maria Vazquez Brown Erin Wood Carole Yue Tammy Zacchilli

Winthrop University University of North Georgia Charleston Southern University Vanderbilt University Medical Center Morris Brown College Campbell University Clark Atlanta University Northwestern State University of Louisiana Tennessee Wesleyan College Drury University Murray State University Catawba College Covenant College Saint Leo University

Inaugural Oral Presentation Session Chandler Bowersox Mood and Personality Predictors of Art Preference Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes Laura Briggs Evaluating Effectiveness of a Sexual Assault Prevention Seminar: The Role of Presenter and Audience Gender Piedmont College Faculty Sponsor: Megan Hoffman Seth Daly Stennis Ethnic Differences in Self-Efficacy Southern Adventist University Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Williams Analisa Johnson Social Support and Coping Styles of Depressed and Suicidal College Students Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Stephanie Miller But What about Me? Coping Strategy Differences among Bereaved Adults after Parental Death Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Richard Medlin Kathryn Mitchell Bilingual and Monolingual Performance on an Attentional Blink Task: Working Memory Effect Maryville College Faculty Sponsor: Chad Schrock Geoffrey Mode The Relationship between Masculine Characteristics and Self-Perceived Leadership Ability.

The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina Faculty Sponsor: Lindsay Greenlee

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Thursday Presentations SpongeBob Squarepants Shaping Children One Patty Flip at a Time: A Content Analysis of Sexual Themes in Children’s Animated Cartoons While Exploring a Comparison of Shows Watched from 1999-2008 vs. 2010-2015 Addair, D. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: Celeste Gaia On average, children watch 1,680 minutes of television a week or 87,360 minutes a year (Herr, 2007).

Research has shown that by spending so much time in front of a television, children are influenced by what they view. For instance, studies have shown that children often imitate what they observe on television (Kirshe, 2006). Research on the effects of children viewing aggression and violence has indicated that children are more aggressive when they view violent acts (Eron, 1987; Turner, Hesse, & Peterson-Lewis, 1986). In a longitudinal study, Eron and Huesmann revealed that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both men and women (Huesmann, MoiseTitus, Podolski, & Eron, 2003). Underlying these findings is Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which states that observation may lead to imitation of behaviors (Bandura, 1997). Though research has investigated the effects of children viewing violent media, few studies have focused on the amount of sexual themes included in children’s animated cartoons and how this behavior also may be emulated.

Furthermore, studies have indicated that adolescents and young adults who view sexual content are more likely to engage in sexual behaviors at a younger age when compared to those who do not view such content, but there is limited research on the sexual content included in younger children’s shows (O'Hara, Gibbons, Gerrard, Li, Sargent 2012). Building on previous research analyzing the degree of violence embedded in children’s shows, the present study explored the sexual content included in animated cartoons rated Youth 7 (Y-7) that target children between the ages of 6-11. The purpose of the present study was (1) to determine the frequency of sexual content in animated cartoons viewed by today’s 6-11 year olds, (2) to compare this number to the frequency of sexual content included in cartoons that college students report they watched when they were ages 6-11, and (3) to explore the accuracy of the ratings provided for children’s television shows. Local elementary school classes reported the top three animated television shows they viewed, reflecting animated cartoons watched between the years of 2010-2015. College students reported the top three shows they viewed during the ages of 6 to 11, reflecting the most popular animated cartoons during the years of 1999-2008. Using a random sample of three episodes of the most popular shows during the targeted time periods (a total of 18 episodes), three independent raters indicated the frequency of the following 11 adult themes adapted from Fyfe (2006): Adult subtext, Sexual innuendo, Double entendre, Nudity/partial nudity, Crossdressing, References to homosexuality, Puberty issues, Promiscuous behavior, Sexual activity/implied sexual activity, Scant/revealing/inappropriate clothing, and Underwear shown. Overall, results indicated that the five most common sexual themes found in the cartoons were (1) the showing of underwear/scant clothing, M=11.34, (2) implied sexual activity, M=9, (3) nudity/partial nudity, M=5.67, (4) double entendres, M=5.33, and (5) promiscuous behavior, M=3.67. Less often, cross-dressing occurred, M=1.67(inter-rater reliability .91). There were also seven instances of sexual content that did not fall into the categories. When comparing shows from the two time periods, there were significantly more references to promiscuous behavior, implied sexual activity, and homosexuality in the newer shows (ps < .001). Findings indicated that though the Y7 rating is meant to prohibit sexual themes, there are shows that included such content, suggesting that the ratings may not accurately reflect show material. The difference between shows watched in 1998-2008 and 2010-2015 suggests that the frequency of sexual themes in children’s favorite cartoons has increased over the past 15 years. Future research should explore whether content in other children’s shows includes sexual themes and the possible consequences of the inclusion of sexual themes in the shows children watch.

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Investigating Time Urgency as a Moderator of Stress During Commuting Alexander, C. & Camden, A. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Jennifer L. Hughes Commuting can be stressful for some people but not others. More research needs to be conducted to investigate factors that lead to commute stress. Koslowsky (1997) proposed a commute model specifying time urgency as a moderator, so the goal of this research was to test time urgency as a moderator of commute stress. The sample for this study consisted of 544 drivers who drove alone to and from work.

Of those 232 were males and 311 were females. The study participants were asked for the average amount of minutes it took them to commute to and from work and the mileage each way. They also were asked about commute stress and time urgency. A snowball sampling technique was used for this study.

In order to take the online survey, commuters had to commute for at least10 minutes and be employed.

The first goal of this study was to determine if gender differences exist for commute stress or feelings of time urgency. For commute stress to work, women reported greater stress than men, t(525) = 2.46, p = .014, d = .30. For feelings of time urgency to work, women reported greater feelings of time urgency than men, t(525) = 3.94, p = .001, d = .20. Gender differences were not found for traveling from work for commute stress or feelings of time urgency. The second goal was to investigate whether longer commutes are related to increased commute stress and time urgency, and whether the negative effects of at commutes to and from work. Moderated regression analyses were used. Commute stress was used as the outcome variable, while commute length, time urgency, and the interaction between the two served as predictor analyses. We predicted there would be a significant interaction between commuting length and time urgency on participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; commute stress for both to work and from work. First, we looked at commuting to work. In the model, the first step shows that we obtained a main effect for commute length, R2 = .07, F(1, 518) = 38.04, p < .001., so we know commute stress to work is predicted by commute length. However, commute length does not account for much variance (6.8%) and therefore is not a strong predictor. In the second step, feelings of time urgency was found to also significantly predict commute stress, R2 = .33, F(1, 517) = 200.28, p < .001. Feelings of time urgency accounted for 26.0% of the variance in commute stress to work. This means that one predictor of commute stress to work is feeling time urgent, but there would be other predictors as well. In the third step, the interaction term of commute length and time urgency did not prove to be significant, R2 = .33, F(1, 516) = .008, p = .93.

Therefore, time urgency is not a moderator for commute length and commute stress to work like Koslowsky (1997) predicted. Second, we looked at commuting from work and found similar results. In the model, the first step shows that we obtained a main effect for commute length, R2 = .08, F(1, 518) = 44.95, p < .001., so we know commute stress from work is predicted by commute length, but again it does not account for much variance (8.0%). In the second step, feelings of time urgency was found to significantly predict commute stress from work, R2 = .33, F(1, 517) = 196.26, p < .001. Feelings of time urgency accounted for 25.3% of the variance in commute stress from work. In the third step, the interaction term of commute length and time urgency did not prove to be significant, R2 = .33, F(1, 516) = .63, p = .43. Therefore, time urgency again is not a moderator. These results indicate that commute length, although related, was not a strong predictor of commute stress, whereas time urgency was found to be a significant predictor of commute stress both to and from work. This topic is important to research because commute stress has been linked to decreased driver performance and safety (Matthews et al., 1997).

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The Effects of Colored Lights on Instrumental Learning in Female Betta Fish Allyn, V., Chandler, B., Wheeler, J., Bausum, K., & Isaac, W. Georgia College Faculty Sponsor: Kristina Dandy Betta splendens, commonly known as Betta fish, are used to investigate a variety of learning mechanisms (e.g., Dzieweczynski & Buckman, 2014), however relatively little is known about the range of visual cues the Betta fish is capable of discriminating. Research has indicated that Betta fish may be sensitive to certain wavelengths of color (Blakeslee, et al. 2009). For instance, male Betta fish responded more aggressively to conspecifics when the coloration of the conspecific was unlike that of their own color (Thompson & Sturm, 1965). To investigate the extent to which color can mediate learning in the Betta fish, we investigated if colored LED lights could serve as an instrumental cue for reinforcement.

Specifically, we assessed the proficiency of Betta fish to locate food reinforcement in a plus maze when cued by varying wavelengths of lights. We hypothesized that speed of learning would be impacted by LED color. Based on pilot data from our lab which suggested prior experience with light cues affected proficiency of learning, we also hypothesized that fish habituated to lights before testing would select the illuminated arm that signaled food at a faster rate than fish not habituated to the lights prior to testing.

Four female Halfmoon Betta splendens served as subjects, as prior research has shown that females respond more strongly to food reinforcers than male Betta fish. Subjects were randomly assigned to different habituation conditions. Half of the fish underwent habituation trials in a plus maze with one of four illuminated colored LED lights (red, blue, green, yellow) placed at the ends of each arm of the maze.

The other half of the fish underwent habituation training in the maze in the absence of any light cues.

Following five consecutive days of habituation training, instrumental learning was assessed. Subjects were tested daily in the maze, whereby only one of the four LED lights was illuminated. LED color was counterbalanced across fish and light placement was counterbalanced across trials. Once fish entered the illuminated arm, food reinforcement (Micro Floating Betta food pellets) was delivered at the end of that arm. Fish were tested on each LED color until they became proficient at locating food reinforcement.

Days to proficiency served as the main dependent variable. Proficiency was defined as no more than one error by day three of testing with no increasing or decreasing trends in behavior. Results of a two-way ANOVA revealed no main effects of habituation condition, F(1,15), = .200, p = .698 or LED color, F(3,15) = .625, p = .291 on the number of days to reach proficiency. Lack of statistical significance may be attributed to the fact that the fish made very few errors at all during testing. Because a single light was the only visible cue in the maze, fish may have approached the light due to its salience and not as a cue for food, creating a floor effect. Further, since fish quickly became proficient at the task regardless of LED color, results do imply that female Betta fish are capable of perceiving a wide range of wavelengths.

These findings serve as a step towards developing a better understanding of the scope of stimuli that control Betta fish behavior and open the door for research investigating the reinforcing effectiveness of stimuli in the fishâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural environment. There is clearly more to investigate regarding the effect that the presence of light has on the behavior of Betta splendens. Therefore, we are currently conducting a followup study to assess the ability of these fish to associate a specific wavelength of color with reinforcement when all four LEDs are illuminated. This will help determine if performance in the current study was a function of stimulus salience or a learned association between light and food. The results of the follow-up study will build the framework for continued research on the ability of female Betta fish to discriminate among reinforcement cues.

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Trip Hazard Assessment: A Survey Method Bartholomew, Z., Bensch, A., Boyd, R., Grossman, A., Kirstein, S., Sicilia, N.,& Taffer, A. Clemson University Faculty Sponsor: Benjamin Stephens Sudden elevation changes that cause trip-and-falls in public areas such as walkways are a significant source of injury. Kwasniak and Cuadrado (2012) asked patrons in parks to assess several elevation changes at expansion joints along existing sidewalks Participants judged higher elevation changes to be more hazardous, and most participants judged heights greater than 0.7 inches to be a tripping hazard.

They also rated walking condition more poorly as elevation height increased. In addition to elevation height, "minimum foot clearance", estimated to average between 10-20 mm (Begg and Best, 2007), is implicated in trip events. The results of the trip hazard estimates imply that participants judge an elevation change to be hazardous if it exceeds their minimum foot clearance. However, examination of the distribution of minimal foot clearances indicates that even a 0.25 inch (6.35 mm) elevation change is greater than a substantial number of observed minimal foot clearances (Begg and Best, 2007). The goal of our study is two-fold; 1) to evaluate the validity of a survey technique to measure hazard perception of trips, and 2) to explore the connection between participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; judgements of trip hazards and their plan to obtain a sample of 50 participants from the departmental participant pool. Data collection and analysis should be completed by late February, 2016. Each participant will be informed, via survey, of the definition of trip hazard, trip and fall, minimum foot clearance, and elevation change. They also will be presented with two practice assessments for elevation changes at a potential trip site - a zero inch elevation change and a 7.75 inch elevation change, depicted as a profile printed on the survey. After viewing each profile, they are asked a) to indicate if the profile represents a hazardous situation, b) to estimate the height of the profile, c) to rate the walking condition on a 6 pt scale; d) whether they would report the condition to the University, and e) to estimate the number (out of 1000) of people who would trip on the depicted profile. Participants will then rate each of eight profiles, ranging from 0.12 to 1.5 inches, on the items listed above. Then participants will be asked to indicate how often they trip in a given year, and how close their swing foot comes to a surface during walking. A series of one-way ANOVAs will be conducted to identify the effect of profile height on ratings for items b), c), and e). Based on our pilot data, and the data reported by Kwasniak and Cuadrado (2012), we expect all three measures will show a significant increase with profile height increase. We will also explore correlations among estimated minimum foot clearance and responses to a) and e). Our results could indicate that participants are not aware of the hazard that lower evaluations can potentially cause. The results of this study will help us to explore the connections between judgements of hazard perception for elevation changes and estimates of minimal foot clearance. A survey technique for these assessments could provide an efficient and valuable method to explore a variety of factors that pedestrians believe may contribute to trip-and-fall events.

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Betta Fish Color Discrimination Learning in a Plus-Shaped Maze Beacham, C., Barrett, M., & Dandy, K. Georgia College Faculty Sponsor: Walter L. Isaac Pilot studies involving LED lights and the discriminatory learning abilities of Betta splendens (unreported research by Dandy & Isaac, 2015) led us to explore their ability to discriminate different presentations of colored stimuli. We hypothesized that associating a specific color with food reinforcement would lead to the subjectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to learn to discriminate between the assigned color and the other non-reinforced colors presented in a plus-shaped maze. Learned association was operationally defined as no more than one erroneous arm entry per day for two consecutive days. For this small-n within subjects design, we purchased three female Betta splendens from PetSmart and housed them individually in three separate plastic containers (2.24 L each). Subjects were fed Micro Floating Betta Pellet Food daily in their home container prior to testing. The campus Animal Care Committee approved all aspects of this project.

Testing occurred in a plus shaped maze with each arm measuring (20 cm long, 8 cm wide and 10 cm deep). The apparatus was composed of white Plexiglas vertical walls with a transparent Plexiglas floor.

The base of the apparatus was raised so that a primary colored Plexiglas rectangle (14.5 cm long and 9.5 cm wide) could be placed underneath the final (10.5 cm) of each arm. A different color sample was placed underneath each arm of the maze during testing. The colors were rotated on a daily basis to prevent place or pattern learning. Each daily placement of the color stimuli was determined by a balanced Latin Square. We placed the subjects into the maze and allowed them to swim freely until they located their designated primary colored Plexiglas piece where they were reinforced. Testing began with habituation for five consecutive days. Habituation included containers being transported on a rolling cart to the testing room. Fish were taken from their home containers by a plastic cup and gently poured into the apparatus. They were then allowed to swim freely for five minutes. Food was delivered at the end of each arm daily, ensuring subjects fully explored the maze. Discrimination learning began with the subjects seeking out their designated color associated with food reinforcement. After the food reinforcement was given, the subject was removed from the apparatus and transported back to the fish colony. This procedure continued for 17 test days with no fish meeting criterion. The procedure was altered to increase testing to four trials per day. Using the Latin Square, the colors were rotated in their arm placements for each trial. No subjects met criterion in 11 days of testing. Lastly, maintaining four trials per day we added a vertical colored stimulus to the horizontal colored stimulus presented at the end of each arm. Two fish met learning criterion under these conditions. Shifting from one trial per day to four trials per day did not alter the number of errors per day (Fish 1, M = 2.53, SD = 2.69; Fish 2, M = 3.00, SD = 4.42; Fish 3, M = 3.35, SD = 2.69), nor did it change the mean number of seconds necessary to complete trials (Fish 1, M = 80.82, SD = 73.53; Fish 2, M = 68.59, SD = 65.97; Fish 3, M = 89.00, SD = 80.46). When vertical inserts were included in the maze, the number of errors dropped across days allowing two out of three subjects to meet criterion. The average number of seconds required to complete the task dropped (Fish 1, M = 16.63, SD =14.64; Fish 3, M = 9.25, SD = 11.98). Fish 2 did not acquire the task and its error rate and time per trial remained unchanged. These results support the idea that female Betta Fish are able to accomplish discriminatory learning between primary colored Plexiglas slides using food as reinforcement. When studying Bettas, placement of visual stimuli is a major concern. A future step could entail also exploring placing the visual stimuli above the correct arm. A future study could also utilize male betta fish to explore gender differences. An alternative form of reinforcement might also to be considered.

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The Effects of Abstinence Commitments on Future Sexual Activities and Sexual Desire Bové, M. Emmanuel College Faculty Sponsor: Rihana Mason The United States has funded abstinence-only education in schools for a decade (Stranger-Hall, 2011).

However, the results of the Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (www.cdc.gov 2014) reports that nearly half of American high school students have had sexual intercourse. This rate of risky sexual activity in high school students has led to the on-going debate of whether abstinence education and abstinence commitments have an impact on individuals’ future sexual activities (i.e., kissing, sending/receiving nude photos, engaging or not engaging in the touching of genitals, oral sex, anal sex and sexual intercourse). Religious commitment has been demonstrated to influence whether an abstinence commitment was kept or not. Landor and Simons (2014) found that high levels of religious commitment were related to adherence to abstinence commitments. To date, there are no previous studies that have examined adherence to abstinence commitments, future sexual activities, depth of religious commitment (i.e., religiosity) and level of sexual desire. The purpose of the current study is to determine the relationship between making/not making a commitment to abstain from sexual activities, keeping the commitment, sexual activities one has participated in, one’s level of sexual desire, and one’s religiosity. It was hypothesized that if students made a commitment to remain sexually abstinent, they are more likely to refrain from sexual activities than those who did not make a commitment. It was also hypothesized that students who have remained sexually abstinent would have lower levels of sexual desire than those who did not remain sexually abstinent. It was expected that religiosity would differ between those who adhered to commitments and those who did not. Participants (N=141) were recruited from college and university communities across the United States. The majority of participants were female (63%) and of typical college age (M=19.89 years, SD=2.07). A four-part survey was administered using Qualtrics. The survey included questions pertaining to making or not making an abstinence commitment, individuals’ sexual beliefs and activities, religiosity, and items from the Sexual Desire Inventory- 2 (SDI-2; Spector, Carey, & Steinberg, 1996). The independent variables included making an abstinence commitment (i.e. make/not make) and keeping the commitment (i.e., kept fully, partially kept, and did not keep). Total SDI-2 scores, sexual activities and religiosity were used as dependent variables. Results of a one-way ANOVA revealed that the level of sexual desire was greater for individuals who did not make a commitment (M=47.91, SD=24.59) compared to those who made a commitment (M=35.91, SD=22.16), F (1, 131) =8.02, p=.005. An additional ANOVA confirmed our hypothesis that the level of sexual desire was lower among those who kept their commitment (M=23.29, SD=16.09), compared to those who partially kept their commitment (M=46.12, SD=23.39), and those who did not keep their commitment (M=52.07, SD=20.85), F (2, 128) = 29.73, p=.000. Commitment to refrain from engaging in sexual activities was also demonstrated by the observation that fewer individuals who made a commitment engaged in oral sex [ χ2(1, N=141) = 8.17, p=.004] and sexual intercourse [χ2(1 , N=141)= 17.39, p=.000 compared to those who did not make a commitment. Making an abstinence commitment was not related to engaging in kissing, sending/receiving nude photos, or engaging in anal sex. Those who kept their abstinence commitment fully (M=14.66, SD=3.33) or partially kept their commitment (M=15.35, SD=2.31) had higher levels of religiosity than those who did not keep their commitment (M=11.98, SD=3.50), F(2, 136)=13.83, p=.000. Our results demonstrated new findings to support the positive impact of making an abstinence commitment. Sexual desire levels and the decision to engage in risky sexual activities was lower in those whose made and adhered to their abstinence commitment. Furthermore, religiosity was higher in these same groups. Taken together, our findings are consistent with Stein's (2008) argument that making a commitment to abstinence is not impactful enough to change an individual's behavior; there must be a personal conviction in order to have an effect. Future studies should explore the development of sexual desire levels and whether low levels are present before one’s commitment to abstinence. Implications of this research may help health educators update abstinence education programming.

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The Effects of Religion & Career Priming on Problem-Solving Persistence in College Students Boytos, A. Coastal Carolina University Faculty Sponsor: Terry Pettijohn The current study investigated the ways in which religion as opposed to career and family could be used to ameliorate effects of a control-depletion task. Participants primed with either religion or family and career were predicted to have more self-control after a control depletion task than participants that were not primed. The study used problem solving to measure self-control which is defined as the ability to continue to pursue an overarching goal despite more alluring temptations (Duckworth & Gross, 2014; Fishbach & Shah, 2006; Koestner, Powers, Milyavskaya, Carbonneau, & Hope, 2015). The problems used were borrowed from the Archimedes Laboratory Project (Sarcone & Waeber, 1997). Participants were primed by taking the religion or career and family implicit association tests (Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998), which also acted as a self-control depletion task, before attempting to solve three creative analytical problems. Amount of time spent trying to solve the problems was used to measure selfcontrol. Participants in the control condition completed a neutral pairing activity using colors and shapes in place of the implicit association test. After solving or attempting to solve all of the problems, participants completed surveys measuring locus of control (Rotter, 1966) and importance of religion, career, and family in their daily life (Brown, Nesse, House & Utz, 2004). Sixty college students were recruited from an online participation system and were given credit for participation. The riddles given to participants were chosen because they each require extensive thinking and often many trials and errors before reaching the solution. All tasks were done on a computer, and participants were told a cover story that the experiment was studying the effects of using technology on problem-solving ability. At any point, the participants were able to give up and ask to see the solution to the riddles. The experimenter timed how long each student spent on the riddles. A 3 (condition: control, career or religion) x 2 (locus of control: internal or external) ANOVA revealed that after being primed with either religion or career, participants worked longer on the problems before giving up than participants in the control condition, F(2,53)=5.46, p=.007. While locus of control did not influence the time participants spent on the problems, time spent on the problems was correlated with daily importance of religion, r(60)=.27, p=.05, and grade point average, r(60)=.23, p=.10. Results indicate that while strong religious beliefs can enhance self-control and lead college students to work longer on solving problems, briefly priming participants with either religion or career can also have similar effects irrespective of religious backgrounds and beliefs. These findings also suggest that religious influence may provide motivation compatible to that of desired grade point average to work harder in school. The study has implications for academic motivation and ways to enhance studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-control in the classroom. Future studies may consider ways to incorporate these findings during tests and other practical applications.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Collectivistic and Individualistic Personality Traits and the Perception of Women in Military Contexts Brand, L. Loyola University New Orleans Faculty Sponsor: Evan Zucker This study was conducted to assess the relationship between collectivistic versus individualistic traits and the perception of women in the military. With the integration of women into the infantry for the first time in the Army’s history, it is important to investigate the stereotypical claims that the military holds traditional views on women while promoting collectivistic attitudes. For the purpose of the study, “traditional views on women” was defined as believing women are lacking of the qualities of “maleness” established by the USNA in 1845, which are masculinity, the ability to lead, and adherence to authority (Kurpius & Lucart, 2000). The hypothesis is the ROTC Cadets would score higher on the collectivistic scale than the civilian student population. It is further hypothesized that the civilian undergraduate population would have less traditional views on women then the ROTC cadets, measured by attribution of credit or blame in military contexts. From Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane ROTC (which includes students from Loyola University New Orleans, University of New Orleans, Dillard University, and Tulane University), 89 students were recruited and participated by completing surveys on paper or online. Out of the 21 ROTC Cadets, 6 were females and 15 were males. From the sample of Loyola University New Orleans’ undergraduates, 56 were females and 12 were males. All of the participants were full time students. This study tested the relationship between individualistic and collectivistic culture and perception on women, specifically women in the military. The study employed a quasi-experimental design, as participants could not be randomly assigned. All of the participants completed an informed consent form, a demographic questionnaire, the Self-Construal Questionnaire (SCQ: Singelis, 1994), and evaluated credit or blame in four military-relevant vignettes. The first vignette dealt with sexual assault suggesting male blame. The second one had to do with refusal to build a bridge, resulting in an enemy attack and suggested female blame. The third vignette involved a successful mission catching terrorists from the United States’ most wanted list and was suggestive of male credit. The fourth vignette was the destruction of a village resulting in demolition of enemy weapons and was suggestive of female credit. Participants assigned amount of blame or credit to each character, and chi squared tests were done based on which character received the most blame or credit (male or female). There was no significant difference between the ROTC cadets and civilian students on SCQ collectivistic and individualistic scores. All ROTC Cadets attributed blame to the female military officers in the second vignette, where the civilian population varied the gender of the officers to whom they attributed blame to. Furthermore, in the second vignette, male participants, regardless of group, significantly attributed more blame to female military officers than female participants did (p<.05). The civilian student sample ascribed significantly more credit to the females than the ROTC cadets (p<.01). The data collected provided evidence to accept the hypothesis that the ROTC students still hold more traditional views on women than the general population. Two limitations to the research were a small sample size of ROTC cadets and majority of the civilian population used were female. Future research should find a more comprehensive way to establish individualistic versus collectivistic attitudes/personality traits and investigate how these attitudes might contribute to evaluating others in various contexts, including other military contexts.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

9

Factors that Cause Instability in Couples Broadway, R. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Tara J. Collins According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 851,000 divorces a year (CDC, 2015). This is commonly caused by relationship instability, which is when individuals in a relationship have thoughts about ending that relationship (Booth, Johnson, & Edwards, 1983).

Relationship instability can be predicted, for example instability can be created by depression, conflict, and alternative partners to a relationship (Khaddouma,Norona, & Whitton 2015). Past research states that if there is a higher level of conflict between two individuals in a relationship there will be a higher chance for the relationship to end due to an increase in relationship instability (Kurdek, 1994). The evidence also did not suggest any difference between heterosexual and non-heterosexual couples (Kurdek, 1994). Higher levels of relationship satisfaction and poor levels of alternative relationships caused an increase in the likelihood that an individual will stay in their relationship (Rusbult, 1983). Past studies show that depression is associated with low levels of relationship satisfaction in heterosexual and non-heterosexual couples (Khaddouma, Norona, & Whitton 2015). Furthermore, studies show nonheterosexual couples experiencing higher levels of depression than heterosexual couples (Mayer, 2003).

Our purpose was to determine whether depression, conflict, and alternative relationships lead to relationship instability. We also hypothesized that instability would be predicted by more conflict, more depression, and fewer alternatives. Furthermore, we were interested in whether heterosexual participants and non-heterosexual participants differed in the three variables. We hypothesized that non-heterosexual couples would experience higher levels of depression, equal levels of conflict, and equal levels of relationship alternatives compared to heterosexual couples. We used a survey with five scales to measure relationship instability (Johnson & Edwards, 1987), conflict (Straus, 1972), alternatives of different partners (Rusbult, Martz & Agnew, 1998), depression (Randolff, 1977), and demographics. One hundred forty-nine participants, primarily from a Southeastern University, took the survey. Participants either saw the survey on Facebook, were given a survey in a history class, or were given the survey while attending the a University club meeting. We used multi-linear regression to test our hypothesis. We found alternatives (= .20), conflict (= .23), and depression (= .32) to all be significant predictors of instability, F(3,87) = 12.37, p < .05, R2 = .30. We examined differences between heterosexual and nonheterosexual couples in the predictors of instability. We found heterosexual participants (M = 4.87) to indicate significantly less alternatives than non-heterosexual participants (M = 5.58), t(143) = -2.97, p < .05. Heterosexual participants (M = 1.83) also reported significantly less depression than nonheterosexual participants (M = 2.15), t(139) = -2.15, p < .05. Heterosexual and non-heterosexual participants did not significantly differ on conflict, t(137) = -.57, ns. These findings allow society to focus on helping individuals with depression and promote more marriage counselling to prevent these variables from causing relationship instability. Also, these results increase awareness about the implications of these factors on relationships, while also helping psychologists better understand couples who are having relationship turmoil or are seeking help as a result of a breakup. Some limitations were present. We had a limited amount of people who took our survey and we were unable to have a significant amount of participants who were in non-heterosexual relationships.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

10

Effects of Textual Cues on Passage Recall Bryars, C., & Siegenthaler, E. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue Textual recall is a highly tested cognitive process. Many of the variables that have an effect on recall are visual. For example, page layout, color coding and textual cues such as bolded, italicized and underlined words are all visual cues that have been shown to aid in memory. Though there are mixed findings on the effectiveness of textual cues on memory, most teaching tools do employ textual cues. For example, textbooks bold key terms and have section headings bolded or underlined. To learn more about the effectiveness of this practice, we tested how textual cues affect passage recall. To answer this question, we tested not only retention, but comprehension and application of the newly learned material. College students participated in our within-subjects experimental study in exchange for partial course credit. We had two passages that the subjects were to read and eventually be tested on: Passage A, which did not contain textual cues; and Passage B, which contained bolded sectional headings and underlined key terms. To be sure that carryover effects were being controlled, we counterbalanced the order in which the passages were read, as well as which passage contained textual cues. Upon receiving the passages, subjects were told that there was to be a test on the provided material. Subjects were given 5 minutes to read the material. Following this study period, the subjects were given a five-minute distractor period, in which they were asked to list as many U.S. presidents as they could recall. After the distractor period, subjects were given a multiple choice test to assess overall comprehension and application of the newly learned material. The test aimed to evaluate if textual cues simply aided in simple recall or if they added in more complex processes, such as comprehension and application. Test scores will be analyzed using a two-way ANOVA, with both passage cueing and type of test serving as within-subjects factors. The data collection and data analysis will be completed by the time of the conference in March. We predict that subjects who receive the passage with textual cues will recall the overall structure of the passage and in particular the emphasized terms, but lack in depth comprehension and ability to apply the newly learned material. Furthermore, subjects who receive the passage without textual cues will have a stronger overall comprehension and ability to apply the material. We suggest the lack of textual cues will require the subjects to identify the significant terms and concepts individually as they read and process the new material, as well as interact with the passage as a whole, instead of focusing attention on specified terms.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

11

The Relationship of Personality and Gender with Metacognition Bunnell, E. Campbelsville University Faculty Sponsor: Craig Rogers Problem: Personality type is one of the most fascinating subjects within psychology. The rise of cognitive psychology has brought with it the interesting topic of metacognition. Since connections between different disciplines of psychology can help us gain broader perspective, it’s interesting to see how personality and cognition meet on the topic of metacognition. Metacognition has been positively correlated with good performance in academics and the work- place, and so have certain personality types. The aim of this study is to see how metacognition and personality are related. Method: Participants were 185 undergraduate students. They were asked to fill out a questionnaire online. The questionnaire consisted of: The Big Five Inventory (BFI), and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). They were also asked a few questions concerning demographics, this included: race, gender, age, and GPA. Results: A hierarchical linear regression with backward elimination was performed on the data. With the dependent measure of overall metacognition the reduced model contained the following predictors: openness (β = .197), agreeableness (β = .122), and conscientiousness (β = .435). (F (3,181) = 22.94, p < .001, R 2 = .28). This indicates that individuals who scored high on openness, agreeableness, or conscientiousness, also tended to score high on the overall metacognition inventory. In regards to declarative knowledge (a sub-scale of metacognition) the following predictor was found to be significant: Conscientiousness (β = .461). (F (1,183) = 49.46, p < .001, R 2 = .213). This demonstrates that participants who scored high on conscientiousness also scored high on the declarative knowledge sub-scale of metacognition. In the metacognition sub-scale of planning, the following predictors were found to be significantly related: conscientiousness (β = .519) and openness (β = .111). (F (2,182) = 33.70, p < .001, R 2 = .27). This shows that scoring high on conscientiousness and openness were good predictors of scoring high on the metacognition sub-scale of planning. These results show that a high score on the conscientiousness scale was very likely to come with high scores in metacognition, and some of its various subscales.

Openness and agreeableness were also found to be, to a slightly less degree, linked with high metacognition scores. Extroversion and neuroticism were not found to be linked with high metacognition scores, or high scores on any subscales of metacognition. Interpretation: The results of the study indicate that participants who scored high on conscientiousness tended to score higher on metacognition.

Conscientiousness was also related with higher scores in two different sub-scales of metacognition.

These sub-scales were declarative knowledge and planning. To a degree openness and agreeableness were also found to be linked with high scores on overall metacognition. With this information, we can take our knowledge about the characteristics of conscientiousness and possibly understand more about metacognition, and how the two interact. With research already showing that conscientiousness and metacognition each correlate with good academic and work-place performance, understanding their connection could be beneficial, and could help us understand how to perform better in these areas. With a better understanding of how to thrive in academics and work, we can help people become more capable of meeting their goals and finding success.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

12

Effects of Mitragnya speciosa on Open Field Activity in Crickets Callahan, J., & Hindman, B. Georgia College Faculty Sponsor: Walter L. Isaac Mitragyna speciosa, commonly known as Kratom, is a plant indigenous to Southeastern Asia. Kratom, which binds with opioid receptors, has been traditionally used by Thai workers as both a stimulant at low doses and a painkiller at high doses (Babu, McCurdy, & Boyer, 2008). Studies of Kratom have isolated mitragynine as the primary alkaloid in the plant and have understood it to induce a dose-dependent, antinociceptive effect (Shamima, Fakurazi, Hidayat, Hairuszah, Mohd Moklas, & Arulselvan, 2012). We hypothesized dose dependent changes in locomotor activity in crickets treated with one of four doses of Kratom. We housed 40 adult House crickets (Acheta domesticus) in male-female pairs in wire barrel cages for identification purposes. Organic romaine lettuce and sliced red potatoes were available ad libitum. We also provided Flukerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cricket Quencher at all times as a water substitute. Lights were maintained on a 12 hr light â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12 hr dark schedule with light onset at 7:00 a.m. The Institutional Animal Care Committee approved all procedures. We used a blind mixed design in which subjects were assigned to one of four drug doses of Kratom with water as our control treatment (0 mg/ml, 4.7 mg/ml, 9.4 mg/ml, 18.75 mg/ml). Each treatment was delivered for absorption across the cricket exoskeleton using a spray bottle that delivered 0.1 ml of liquid for each spray. The research advisor coded the spray bottles containing the four concentrations of Kratom and the student researcher was unaware of each bottleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contents. Open field test sessions were recorded using a digital video camera for later analysis and occurred across three consecutive days. The open field measured 12 cm x 12 cm and was subdivided by lines forming 2 cm square grids. Treatment began with a cricket being placed in a shot glass and then being sprayed with 0.2 ml of the assigned drug solution. The cricket remained in the shot glass for 30 seconds with the liquid. Then the cricket was placed in a small dry beaker for one minute prior to being put into the open field. The cricket was allowed to move freely about the open field for five minutes. Upon removal from the open field, the cricket was returned to its home cage. Treatments resulted in the death of 26 crickets during testing resulting in a reduced sample size for the current analyses. Video recordings were viewed and lines crossed were counted for each minute of testing across days. Examining our preliminary data, a three-way mixed analysis of variance with two repeated variables (minutes and days) revealed no significant difference between our Kratom doses (F(3, 11) = 3.15, p = .068), a significant effect across minutes (F(4, 88) = 23.36, p = .0001) was observed, and no significant difference across days of testing ((F(2, 88) = .54, p = .58) was found. No interactions were found. We are currently repeating our open field research increasing our sample size of subjects for testing. Additionally, we are collecting data on context learning by pairing Kratom with exposure to ultraviolet light as one context. We are pairing water with green light as the second context in experimental groups. Control subjects are treated with water in both ultraviolet and green light conditions. Conditions are being counterbalanced ensuring sequence of treatments is not a relevant variable. Testing uses a Grice box with ultraviolet light at the end of one arm and green light at the end of the other arm. Crickets select which light condition to approach for escape from the apparatus. Given the potential for abuse of Kratom, research characterizing its behavioral effects and its ability to become associated with environmental cues is relevant. At this time, Kratom is not a controlled substance and is readily available both on the internet and in an array of small businesses.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

13

Cross-Cultural Analysis of Ethnocentrism Relative to Political Party, Gun Rights, Policing & War Calvert, S., & Hill, S. Brevard College Faculty Sponsor: Dan Moore Ethnocentrism has previously been found to be an important construct in terms of sociopolitical questions (Moore, 2014). Of interest in the study were the relationships between ethnocentrism and sociopolitical issues relative to party affiliation, culture and gender. The Ethnocentrism Scale (Moore et al., 2009) has been shown to be robust in terms of such controversial topics (Calvert, 2014). Respondents were asked to answer questions about the belief that the police should do anything they need to do to keep order, the belief that every citizen should carry a hand gun, and the belief that war is necessary. All items on the questionnaire regarding police order, guns, and war were measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale. The sample consisted of 138 respondents, 80 men and 55 women, with a mean age of 35.4 years. Surveys were completed by 35 residents of South Africa, and 101 residents of the USA. Using a series of one-way ANOVA procedures, a significant interaction was found between country and political party affiliation in terms of the levels of ethnocentrism F(3,127) = 3.5, (p < .05). Those from the United States who were conservative (M = 81.21, SD = 15.93) were much more likely to show higher levels of ethnocentrism than non-political Americans (M = 57.18, SD = 11.67), conservative South Africans (M = 69.88, SD = 6.20), and non-political South Africans (M = 73.10, SD = 11.95). Conservative Americans also showed higher levels of ethnocentrism than liberal Americans (M = 65.56, SD = 16.34), centrist Americans (M = 71.48, SD = 13.01), liberal South Africans (M = 71.44, SD = 10.39), and centrist South Africans (M = 75.86, SD = 10.43) (see figure). Another significant interaction was found between gender and high verse low levels of ethnocentrism in terms of the belief that every citizen should be allowed to own a hand gun, F(1,131) = 4.58, (p < .05). Men who scored low in ethnocentrism (M = 4.32, SD = 1.95) were much more likely to agree with the assertion that every citizen should own a hand gun than women who scored low in ethnocentrism (M = 2.50, SD = 1.85), ethnocentric men (M = 3.56, SD = 2.18), and ethnocentric women (M = 3.28, SD = 1.95) (see figure). Using a series of one-way ANOVA procedures and high verses low ethnocentrism as an independent variable, those high in ethnocentrism were more likely to believe that sometimes war is necessary than those that were low in ethnocentrism (M = 4.64, SD = 1.62 vs. M = 3.79, SD = 1.97), F(1,136) = 7.66, (p = .006); and more likely to believe that the police should do anything they need to do to keep order than those who were low (M = 3.70, SD = 1.76 vs. M = 2.81, SD = 1.55), F(1,136) = 9.98, (p < .002). South Africans were much more likely to believe that the police should do anything that they need to do to keep order than Americans (M = 3.89, SD = 1.68 vs. M = 3.03, SD = 1.67), F(1,136) = 7.19, (p = .008). Americans were much more likely to agree with the assertion that every citizen should be allowed to own a hand gun than South Africans (M = 3.54, SD = 2.03 vs. M = 2.35, SD = 1.80), F(1, 136) = 9.90, (p. = .002). These findings suggest that ethnocentrism is still an accurate predictor of one’s political identity in the United States. Similarly gender and levels of ethnocentrism play a factor in one’s beliefs towards gun ownership. Americans have a much stronger view towards gun ownership than South Africans. South African’s are much more likely to endorse police doing anything they need to keep order as opposed to Americans. Personality is an apparent important factor regarding these issues.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

14

Wrongful Convictions and Stereotypical Black Features: When a Face-type Facilitates Misidentification Capodanno, M., & Clevinger, A. Georgia State University Faculty Sponsor: Heather Klieder-Offutt, PhD Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions and Black men, more than other racial groups, are affected by this memory error. A sub-group of Black men who retain ‘stereotypical Black’ facial features (i.e., dark skin, wide lips & nose) are associated with the criminal-Black-manstereotype more than their non-stereotypical counterparts (Knuycky, Kleider-Offutt, & Cavrak, 2014). To date, stereotypical features have increased biased sentencing judgments, expectations of criminality and misidentification in lab studies (Blair et al., 2004; Eberhart et al., 2006, Kleider et al., 2012; & Knuycky et al., 2014), but the link to misidentifications in actual court cases has not been tested. The Innocence Project (IP) maintains a publically-accessible database of DNA exonerate cases which include: factors that led to conviction and the race of both the victim/eyewitness and defendant, including photographs of the exonerate. Access to this database provides the information needed to conduct a test into whether face-type may contribute to misidentifications in actual trials. In the current study, we tested whether Black men, exonerated through the IP and convicted based in part on eyewitness identification, possess the stereotypical face-type consistent with those faces found to be ‘criminal’ in laboratory studies. We also investigated whether this identification bias was influenced by the race of the eyewitness/victim who misidentified the exonerate. We hypothesized that if the connection between Black stereotypical features and criminality contributes to misidentifications and biased judgments in laboratory studies, the same would follow for exonerates in actual trials. That is, we expected that Black men convicted based in part on eyewitness evidence would retain more stereotypical Black facial features than those convicted for reasons other than eyewitness identification, and that this may be especially pronounced in cross-race misidentification cases. To test this, we presented undergraduate students (N = 97) with photos of Black IP exonerates. The participants provided ratings of stereotypicality and attractiveness of each IP photo, completed a measure of prejudice and provided demographic information. We conducted a repeatedmeasures ANCOVA with incarceration reason (eyewitness misidentification only, eyewitness with additional reasons (‘mixed’), and other) and participant ethnicity (Black, non-Black) as independent variables. Incarceration reason was the repeated measure, and stereotypicality rating was the outcome variable of interest. Prejudice and attractiveness ratings were entered as covariates. As expected, a main effect of incarceration reason was found wherein Black men incarcerated due purely to eyewitness misidentification (M = 5.39) and mixed reasons (M = 5.40) were rated as significantly more stereotypical than Black men incarcerated due to other reasons (M = 5.15), regardless of participant race or prejudice attitude. Further analysis showed that the face-ratings were unrelated to the race of the eyewitness in the actual case. The current findings suggest that the relationship between criminality and face-type previously revealed in laboratory studies has real-world implications. Face-categorization and associated stereotypes may contribute to the risk of misidentification and wrongful conviction for people who best represent the ‘criminal’ type.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

15

Effectiveness of an Engaged Mind in Wilderness Therapy: Exploratory Research Chapman, J., Groark, S., Herzer, K., Salzberg, C., & Crespo, N. Georgia College and State University Faculty Sponsor: Lee Gillis This research focused on the relationship between mindfulness scores and group engagement scores of clients in wilderness therapy for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) in an Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare program. Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) is a growing field that combines the use of the outdoors with therapeutic interventions to promote positive change in those with mental health issues (obhcouncil.com). This research compares the relationship between mindfulness and engagement for clients who completed the program and those that did not complete. We examined several individuals from Shunda Creek whose quantitative and qualitative data support our hypothesis, as well as some individuals whose data do not support our hypothesis. The use of case studies does impose certain limitations on this study, such as low internal validity because of the ambiguity of precise influences responsible for change. At the same time, case studies also offer a more detailed account of the treatment progress through detailed narratives from both clients and staff. Method: Data collected for this study was from a SUD treatment program in Alberta, Canada called Shunda Creek, which is a voluntary, 90-day residential treatment program for young adult males. Shunda Creek utilizes mindfulness-basedexperiences that help the client be more aware of their treatment program, and thus be more involved with their progress. Clients completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006), which measures trait mindfulness, before and after treatment.

Clients also completed the Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ), which measures client's perception of the group’s climate (MacKenzie, 1983), every two weeks during treatment. Clients also completed a visual analog scale rating state mindfulness at various times throughout treatment. The GCQ asked clients to rate their opinion on the truth of statements such as “The members tried to understand why they do the things they do, tried to reason it out” in order to determine the group members’ perception of the group climate. This research focused on the engagement subscale of the GCQ, which assesses the level at which the client is engaged with the group. To assess the relationship between mindfulness and group engagement a data analysis was run using the mindfulness scores from the analog scale and the engagement score from the subscale in the Group Climate Questionnaire. Results: When scores for those who completed treatment were aggregated, FFMQ scores at intake were predictive of GCQ Engagement scores (r(83)=0.219, p<0.05). In addition, a correlation approaching significance was found between the visual analog scale mindfulness scores and the GCQ engagement scores (r(83)=0.209, p=0.058). One client’s story illustrates this relationship between mindfulness and engagement during treatment. Client 3EH scored a 109 at intake on the FFMQ and throughout treatment scored in the 4 to 6 range, which is relatively high, on the visual analog scale of engagement. At discharge he scored a 134 on the FFMQ, illustrating the relationship between high levels of engagement and increases in mindfulness scores. Conclusion: The results indicate a predictive relationship between trait mindfulness at intake and engagement throughout treatment. This, in addition to the correlation approaching significance between state mindfulness and group engagement, warrants further study into the use of mindfulness and OBH in SUD treatment.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

16

The Influence of Extraversion on Creativity Observed in Pairs Chase, K., & DuMont, H. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue Group settings are generally believed to be a benefit to learning, but the studies are inconclusive. Some research supports the idea of working in groups to improve academic performance (Haberyan & Barnett, 2014), and other research illustrates the opposite effect, claiming that memory inhibition occurs when students work together (Barber, Harris, & Rajaram, 2014). While these studies have explored if it is beneficial to work in a group rather than working individually in terms of test scores, little research has been done to explore how personality factors might interact in a group to affect overall group creativity. In this experiment, we are examining the effects of differing levels of extraversion on creativity in pairs of students. From previous research, a relationship has been found between higher levels of creativity and an individual’s level of extraversion. Namely, introverts tend to have higher levels of creativity than extraverts (Feist, 1998). Group projects are frequently used in educational and/or occupational settings, however, so research looking at the relationship between creativity and group members’ individual extraversion levels would be beneficial in creating the most productive types of groups. Therefore, we are interested in observing if there is a significant relationship between a pairs’ extraversion levels and their resulting levels of collective creativity. For our study, we paired students together to examine the observed change in their levels of creativity based off of the students’ varying or similar levels of extraversion. Participants were selected from college student volunteers, who received credit for a psychology course in exchange for their participation. At the beginning of the experiment, participants took the BFI-10 test, and their results were scored immediately (Rammstedt & John, 2007). We placed each participant into one of three pairs based on their results: two introverts, two extraverts, and mixed pairs. Each pair was then given a remote associates test (RAT) to measure creativity (Lee, Huggins, & Therrialt, 2014). This test asks subjects to find a relationship between three words that are only remotely associated. An example of this would be: “Cottage”, “Swiss”, and ‘Cake”; for which the correct word in common would be “Cheese.” Twenty word groups of this kind were given to each pair of students, and they were told to write their responses next to each word group. They each had 20 minutes to complete the test, and the number of correct answers served as their creativity score. We will use a one-way ANOVA to analyze our results. We predict the mixed groups will fare better because they can balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Our research has the potential to provide a better understanding of the effect of extraversion on creativity in group settings, such as in education and business situations.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

17

The Effect of Priming on the Perception of Different Regionally Accented Speakers Claudia, C., & Tambling, C. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue One form of prejudice in society is the negative perception of differently accented speakers. Research shows that accents may act as a proxy to stereotypes and that regional accented speech affects peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perception of the speaker in terms of pleasantness and competency (Herk, 2012). Speakers of the Southern American accent are frequently rated higher on pleasantness, but lower on competence when compared to a Northern American or Standard American English (SAE) accent, possibly due to existing stereotypes about the culture that is tied to the accents (Fuertes, Gottdiener, Martin, Gilbert, & Giles, (2012). However, little is known about how priming positive or negative stereotypes may play a role in the process of evaluating speakers with distinctive regional accents. Our experiment will investigate the effect of such priming on the perception of the pleasantness and competency of a speaker of two regional accents (Southern and Standard American English). The participants are traditional undergraduate students attending a college in the Southeastern United States. They will be divided into three groups; one will be primed with a passage conveying positive stereotypes of American Southerners, another will be primed with a passage conveying negative stereotypes of American Southerners, and the third group will not be primed and act as the control group. Each group will listen to two recordings of a passage, one read by a female speaker with Standard American English (SAE) accent and one read by a female speaker with a Southern American accent, with the order of speakers counterbalanced. The participants will then be instructed to rate each speaker based on her competence and friendliness on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = low; 5 = high). We predict our results will indicate that although the ratings show that the participants in all groups rated the SAE speaker higher than the Southern accented speaker, the participants who are primed positively will give higher ratings of friendliness of the Southern American accent when compared to participants who are primed negatively and those who are not primed. These results would indicate that priming has an effect on the perception of speakers of regional accents and that the nature of accents as a proxy to stereotypes is subject to stereotypical manipulation. If priming can impact the perception of these stereotype-heavy accents, then prejudice based on regional accents may be more due to stereotypes instead of the inherent linguistic properties of each accent. Furthermore, positively primed participants rating the southern-accented speakers as more competent than negatively primed participants would support the idea that prejudice against this accent is based more on previous bias and social connotations than grammatical errors in the speech. We hope this research will contribute to the growing academic conversation on linguistically-based prejudice.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

18

Systemic Administration of IGF-II Facilitates Memory Enhancement In Rats With Decreased TrkB Receptor Activity In The Brain Connor, T., & Graham, J. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: Kimberly Baranowsky One of the most identifiable symptoms of Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Disease (AD) and other types of dementia is a decline in cognitive function with memory impairment (Cansino, 2009; Foster & Kumar, 2007; Harada, Natelson, Love, & Triebel, 2013; Kim & Oh, 2013). Brain derived-neurotropic factor (BDNF) and its receptor trkB have been shown to play a critical role in this process as animals lacking BDNF show impairment in long term potentiation, learning, and memory formation. A decrease in BDNF has also been observed in the AD brain (Korte et al., 1995). Other studies show an injection of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-II) into an AD mouse model improved memory and decreased the accumulation of amyloid plaques observed in the hippocampus (Mellot et al., 2014). This study focuses on the ability of systemic injections of IGFII to reverse memory deficits observed in rats administered ANA-12, a trkB receptor antagonist. There were four groups of rats, the control injected with saline, the ANA-12 injected with the trkB receptor blocker, the IGFII group, and a group injected with both ANA-12 and IGFII (Both). Twenty minutes after injections, rats were trained in a novel object recognition task, engaging the perirhinal cortex after short-term time intervals and the dorsal hippocampus for long-term object recognition. Rats were tested as one of the presented objects was changed after 4 hours and 24 hours, and memory retention was measured in terms of time spent encountering the novel object. Spontaneous alternation, a maze task that measures successive entries into each of the three maze arms in triplet sets, was used to test working memory at 20 minutes and 4 hours after the injection. Preliminary results indicate a main effect for novel object recognition at both 4 hours [F(3,9)=4.529, p=.034] and 24 hours [F(3,10)=9.853, p=.002] with significant differences observed between the ANA-12 group [M=.404, SD=.114] and the IGFII group [M=.793, SD=.03] at 4 hours and between the control [M=.472, SD=.149] and the IGFII group [M=.752, SD=.049], the control and the Both group [M=.776, SD=.018], and the ANA-12 group [M=.501, SD=.077] and IGF-II group at 24 hours. This would indicate that the IGF-II resulted in memory enhancement at 4 hours relative to the ANA-12 group, and at twenty-four hours the IGF-II group displayed memory enhancement relative to the control group and the ANA-12 group. In addition, there was a main effect for spontaneous alternation [F(3,12)=7.879, p=.004] after 20 minutes such that the control group [M=.236, SD=.061] differed significantly from the IGF-II group [M=.402, SD=.08] and the Both group [M=.391, SD=.056]. The ANA-12 group [M=.272, SD=.034] differed significantly from the IGF-II and Both groups.

As this task is a way of measuring working memory, a significant difference in the control group from the IGF-II and Both group shows that IGFII did enhance working memory in these two groups. The ANA-12 group also alternated at a significantly lower percentage than the IGF-II and Both group showing that IGFII does also enhance working memory in rats that have lower BDNF levels. While there was not a significant deficit in the ANA-12 group relative to control as seen in previous research, there was a promising trend in the ability of IGF-II to enhance memory. This has important implications for the treatment of AD and other types of dementia.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

19

Menstrual Cycle Effects on Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Fear Potentiated Startle Corey, M. Thurman, T., & Skeete, C. Kennesaw State University Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ebony Glover Women are two times more likely than men to develop an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. One factor that is not well understood is the underlying biology associated with sex disparities in mental health. Previous research suggests that gonadal hormones, especially estrogen, may play an important role in emotion regulation in women. The goal of the current study is to characterize the effects of menstrual cycle phase and hormonal contraceptive usage on autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and fear potentiated startle. Participants (n = 26, 21 women and 5 men, Mage = 22.9, SD = 3.43) were recruited from Kennesaw State University via an online research participation system. Based on self-reported responses to a Menstrual Cycle Questionnaire women were divided into menstrual cycle phases (luteal vs. follicular) or contraceptive user groups according to what day they fell on the menstrual cycle at the time of testing.

All participants completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index and the Perceived Stress Scale. They were then presented with a series of positive and negatively valenced images while measurements of their physiological levels of arousal were taken via the galvanic skin response (GSR). Because low estrogen has been previously associated with deficits in emotion regulation, it was hypothesized that women in the follicular phase (low estrogen) of their menstrual cycle will score higher in self-reported anxiety and show increased ANS activity relative to women in the luteal phase (high estrogen), women on contraceptives, and men. A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and GSR. There was a strong positive correlation between the two variables, r=0.828, p=0.000. One-way ANOVAs comparing anxiety sensitivity and GSR across hormonal groups showed no significant differences among groups, F(2,22)=.903, p=.456 and F(3,11)=.290, p=.832, respectively. However, data trended in the direction of our hypothesis, showing that females in the follicular phase (low estrogen) showed higher arousal and reported higher anxiety sensitivity than females in the luteal phase (high estrogen), women using contraceptives, and men. A continuation of this study is now investigating the hormonal effects on fear potentiated startle and fear extinction. It is understood that those with anxiety disorders, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, have difficulty extinguishing fear.

However, what is not understood is how gender differences contribute to extinction deficits. The same methodology was used for recruitment and measures for Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma were administered to participants through an online survey system Qualtrics. Participants were then fear conditioned using an array of images with some paired with air blasts to the throat. Fear potentiated startle was measured throughout both the conditioning and extinction phases through Galvanic Skin Response, and eye blink.

Data will be analyzed using a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma measures and GSR. Additionally, One-way ANOVAs will be used to analyze the relationship between GSR, Stress, Anxiety, and Trauma across hormonal groups. If our predictions are accurate, those with higher scores for Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma measures as well as women in the follicular phase, will demonstrate higher deficits in extinction compared to males, women on contraceptives, and women in the luteal phase. This study is important in determining how hormonal effects may contribute to emotional response and the ability to extinguish fear.

By understanding how hormones effect the psychophysiology of women, better treatments, including both medical and behavioral, can be developed that take into consideration the hormonal fluctuations of women.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

20

The Effects of Source and Priming on the Recognition and Believability of Headlines Davis, S., Thomas. T., Nierle, H., Bouldin, B., Aberman, T., Dyce, C., Shriver, L., Dearce, N., Epstein, M, Boyer, C., & DeLucia, D. Christopher Newport University Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Gibbons Previously we conducted an experiment that examined the relationship between news source and skepticism on the believability and recognition of both news source and tabloid headlines (Epstein et al., 2013). The results of the experiment supported past findings that unbelievable headlines were found to become more believable over time (Gibbons, Lukowski & Walker, 2005). These results suggested that headlines labeled by a tabloid source were more believable and better recognized than headlines labeled by a news source. The current experiment expands on these findings by examining the relationship between sources of headlines, skepticism, and priming conditions on media skepticism and the believability and recognition of both believable and unbelievable headlines. The current experiment gathered data from 135 college students, over two separate study sessions conducted in a two day period. On the first day of the two-day experiment, participants read and signed a consent form, completed both a general skepticism and a media skepticism questionnaire. Participants then completed one of four priming conditions, which included reading The Washington Post, The National Enquirer, Twitter or a control (math problems). After the participants read one of the four priming conditions they rated the believability of 24 different headlines (12 believable and 12 unbelievable) on a scale ranging from -3 (extremely unbelievable) to 3 (extremely believable). Participants were then debriefed. Two days later, the participants returned and rated the believability and recognition of 48 headlines (24 headlines repeated from time 1 and 24 new headlines) and completed both religiosity and spirituality questionnaires. In order to test for headline recognition participants were asked to circle the headlines that they recognized from time 1. Results indicated that participants primed with The Washington Posted showed a lower media skepticism than those primed with the control (math problems). The priming also affected recognition as those primed with The Washington Post showed low recognition scores relative to those in other priming conditions. As previously found by Gibbons et al. (2005), unbelievable headlines were recognized more accurately and rated as less believable than believable headlines. Although initial believability ratings were not affected by the media primes, source did affect these ratings as The Washington Post headlines were rated as least unbelievable. In addition, believability ratings changed at time 2 when the source was removed and Washington Post headlines changed from being slightly believable to slightly unbelievable.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

21

Alcohol Use: Frequency, Intensity, and Consequences Eddleman, P., Sebastian, B., & Kelley, M. Indiana University Southeast Faculty Sponsor: Rodney Roosevelt Background: Unhealthy alcohol consumption among college students, including fraternity men contributes to accidental death, injury, risky sexual behavior, sexual assault, and hazing. Quality of aspirations predicts a wide range of health outcomes, including alcohol consumption. Aspirations can be conceptualized as being either extrinsic or intrinsic in nature. Intrinsic aspirations are goals that are desired for their own sake, whereas extrinsic aspirations are goals that serve as a way to obtain a secondary object or state. The present study: Research Goals: (1) characterize intensity, frequency and consequences of alcohol consumption among fraternity men, (2) characterize the nature of alcohol consumption patterns, on the basis of safe drinking (non-binge drinking), binge drinking, or pathological dependence, and (3) determine the relationship between quality of aspirations and intensity, frequency, and consequences of drinking patterns. Methods. To characterize the nature of alcohol consumption among fraternity men as safe (non-binge drinking), binge drinking, or alcohol dependence, we assessed intensity, frequency, and consequences of drinking. Also a scale based on DSM-V substance dependence criteria was developed. The scale assesses four domains of dependence: impaired control (consuming more or for longer than intended), social impairment (failure to perform at work, home or school), risky use (continuing to use even if it puts them in danger), and pharmacological dependence (the need to drink more to get the effect they want and experiencing withdraw or hangover relieved by drinking). Intrinsic and extrinsic goals were measured using the Aspirations Index (AI), which assessed ratings of how important participants perceived different goals. The instrument was administered online to approximately 10,000 members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity with 12.5% completing the survey.

Results: Three patterns of drinking emerged: those members who drink in a healthy (or at least nonpathological) manner, binge drinkers, and alcohol dependent drinkers. Approximately 10% of reported fraternity members appear to binge drink at a higher frequency than can be explained by weekend drinking alone. Sixty-five percent reported at least one binge drinking episode (six or more drinks) in the last 30 days. Hangovers (50%), nausea (39%), passing out (28%), and missing classes (18%) were reported to be the most common consequences of drinking. Approximately one quarter of the respondents reported having tried to reduce drinking over the last year. Of that group, 83% say they were successful in doing so. Approximately 20% reported having driven when they had been drinking and 27 % reported having ridden in a car with a driver who had been drinking. Results for DSM-V criteria of substance abuse by risk grouping, suggested more than 50%, of the fraternity members had 0-1 of the symptoms, while 20% reported having 4 or more symptoms, meaning that 20% of the fraternal population tested are of concern for alcohol dependence. Intrinsic aspirations correlated negatively with social impairment (-0.181, p = 0.0001) and risky use (-0.131, p = 0.018), and that extrinsic aspirations correlated positively with impulse control/overuse (0.129, p = 0.019) and pharmacological dependence (0.127, p = 0.021). Discussion: Two distinct patterns of problematic drinking were observed. Further, intrinsic aspirations appear to have a protective effect whereas extrinsic aspirations were associated with higher degree of dangerous drinking and pathology. Taken together, these findings suggest that encouraging intrinsic aspirations through prosocial educational programing may reduce risky drinking behavior among college students.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

22

Associations Between Social Media and Psychosocial Characteristics Among College Students Edwards, J. Clark Atlanta University Faculty Sponsor: Medha Talpade The purpose of this survey is to test the theory of behaviorism that explains the association between posts on social media and psychosocial characteristics. According to the theory of behaviorism, behaviors can be understood by objectively quantifying behaviors that respond to environmental feedback.

Psychosocial characteristics, which include personality traits such as Extroversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling, Perceiving/Judging and body self esteem, will be assessed and their relationships to the characteristics of posts made on instagram will be examined. The role of feedback to the social media posts will also be determined. Past research (e.g., Barry, Vogel, & Unger, 2015; Warren, 2013) indicates that psychological traits and self esteem have an impact on social media posts. For example, individuals with narcissistic psychological traits, post more photos and revealing photos on social media, and those with low self esteem tend to edit their photos and post more often than those with higher self-esteem. Furthermore, the theoretical framework of behaviorism may explain the relationship between the feedback to the social media posts and an individual’s self-esteem. That is, since feedback impacts behaviors, social media responses to posts may impact an individual’s self-esteem. Also, social media allows for social comparison, which may also have and impact on self-evaluation and self-esteem.

This study is unique because for the first time associations between body image self esteem personality traits, images posted of self on social media site is being assessed. This is important because with the evidence of this study social media sites can be used as an observable source to identify people’s personality type and level of self-esteem, which can contribute to more research that will develop better ways to promote confidence in social media users. The hypothesis of the present study is that there is a significant correlation between social media posts, personality traits, and body self-esteem. Personality traits were assessed by the Myers-Briggs test (Jung & Myers, 1923); Body self-esteem was assessed by the scale composed by Franzoi and Shields (1984). Both the assessments have acceptable reliability (cronbach’s alpha = .75-.85). Characteristics of posts on instagram were assessed via self-report to 11 questions. The qualtrics online survey tool was used to administer the questionnaires. The participant pool included undergraduate students at a historically black university. To date, 102 participants have responded to the survey. The target sample size is N = 140, based on a power analysis with an r = .45, 1β = .80. Results indicate an interaction between a specific personality trait (Extroverted/Intuitive/Thinking/Judging) and body image self-esteem, and characteristics of self-image posts on instagram. The results of this study can contribute to the field of clinical and counseling psychology by increasing our understanding of the interrelationships between personality traits, selfesteem, and social media post of self. Social media posts can thus help identify at risk individuals and target self-esteem boosting interventions.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

23

Social Networking Sites and Cheating Ellis, D., Montanye, M., & Dickey, J. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Tara J. Collins A recent study found that one third of marriages now begin online (Cacioppo, Cacioppo, Gonzaga, & VanderWeele, 2013). Contemporary generations are using the Internet now more so than ever to communicate, formulate and maintain relationships online; the internet may also be used to commit acts of infidelity. Docan-Morgan and Docan (2007) conducted a study to analyze which types of acts by significant others could be considered infidelity. From their findings, they defined Internet infidelity as acts or actions engaged via the Internet by someone in a committed relationship, outside of that primary relationship. This act or action constitutes a breach of trust or a violation of norms that had been agreed on by the partners and is perceived as severe by one or both of the partners. In the current study, perceptions of potential acts of infidelity were examined in relation to Social Networking Site (SNS) use.

We hypothesized that a higher frequency of SNS use would lead to a greater perception of superficial/informal acts of infidelity. These superficial/informal acts were defined by Docan-Morgan and Docan (2007) as emotional cheating, casual conversations such as joking around and catching up with others, compared to involving/goal directed acts of infidelity, which were defined as types of physical cheating. Examples include disclosing love, flirtatious behavior, and seeking intimate involvement with someone other than your romantic partner (Docan-Morgan & Docan, 2007). Participants were a convenience sample of 24 men and 151 women who were recruited via email, Winthrop University, and Facebook. In this study, we saw a variety of ethnicities, Caucasian (81.4%), African-American (7.3%), and Hispanic (4.0%). The median age was 37, with a range of 18 to 72. Participants completed a selfreport online survey that examined topics relating to frequency of use of SNS, superficial/informal acts of infidelity, and involving/goal directed acts of infidelity. (Docan-Morgan & Docan, 2007). We computed the correlation between frequency of SNS use and perceptions of superficial/informal acts of infidelity As predicted, SNS frequency and perception of superficial/informal acts of infidelity were significantly correlated, r (164) = .15, p < .05. We also examined the frequency of SNS use and perceptions of involving/goal directed acts of infidelity. The correlation between SNS frequency and perception of involving/goal directed acts was not significant, r (155) = -.08, ns. The more frequent participants use SNS the more likely to rate perceived superficial/informal acts as infidelity. Our research findings support Docan-Morgan and Doncan’s (2007) definitions of physical and emotional infidelity and how they vary depending on such interactions being online or face-to-face. The goal of this study was to analyze changing perceptions of the different types of infidelities due of the current shifts in technology use in intimate relationships. Some limitations to our research were our lack of knowledge of participants’ own experiences of infidelity, the time allotted to gather data, and the lack of male participants. Further research could expand on this topic by comparing men and women’s perceptions of infidelity and frequency of SNS use.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

24

Who’s to Blame for Revenge Porn? Exploration of Victim Blame and Ambivalent Sexism Eyer, J., Baird, N., & Hoppenworth, S. Flagler College Faculty Sponsor: Ryan Darby In recent years, information is being shared more frequently through electronic sources such as texting and social media. With the rise of electronic communication comes the appearance of a phenomenon referred to as revenge porn. The term “revenge porn” refers to the sharing of nude images of one’s ex romantic partner. The purpose of this research is to explore responsibility in such situations; specifically, the variables that mediate victim blaming. Because of the recent increase in technology use, it is important that we understand victim blaming situations in the context of this technology. Additionally, understanding the nature of victim blaming is vital for our court systems as the legal systems debates the legality of revenge porn, and the rest of society debates the morality of it. The variables related to victim blaming will be explored through the use of a questionnaire. Eighty participants will fill out an inventory and answer questions to assess their hostile and benevolent sexist attitudes, which we hypothesize will mediate the degree of victim blame in some situations. After filling out this inventory, participants will be randomly assigned to read one of four vignettes. In each condition, the scenario describes a couple that had been dating, the man in the relationship (Will) acquired nude pictures of his significant other during the relationship (Emily), and then spread the nude photos throughout social media after the relationship ended. The only difference between the vignettes will be the woman’s willingness to have her nude picture taken: offered willingly, pressured, not aware, or freely distributed. Participants will then be asked questions related to their reactions and degree of victim blame. We hypothesize that degree of victim blame will be predicted by the woman’s willingness to take the photo and the participant’s own hostile and benevolent sexist attitudes. We expect that benevolent sexism will only predict victim blame when the woman willingly gives the photo. Hostile sexism should predict victim blame regardless of the woman’s willingness. Some results have been gathered. Ratings of hostile sexism were strongly correlated with a tendency to blame Emily, r(14) = .622, p < .05. Ratings of hostile sexism were also correlated with minimal feelings of sadness felt towards Emily, r(14) = -.531, p = .051, and ratings of hostile sexism were strongly correlated with high levels of contempt felt towards Emily, r(14) = .573, p < .05. Ratings of hostile sexism also correlated with minimal feeling of contempt felt towards Will, r(14) = -.561, p < .05.

Benevolent sexism has not demonstrated any correlation with degree of blame. Ratings of benevolent sexism did correlate with high levels of contempt felt towards Emily, r(14) = .531, p = .051.The results thus far indicate that hostile sexism can predict a propensity to blame the victim, and both hostile and benevolent sexism can predict feelings of contempt towards that victim.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

25

Relations Among Social Media Use, Relationship Quality, Depression, and Anxiety Ferguson, G. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Social media sites are a commonly used communication tool for young adults (Sponcil & Priscilla, 2013).

One way that social media is used is for the development of romantic relationships (Stevens & Morris, 2007). However, some users end up feeling more socially connected while others experience psychological distress (Baek, Bae, & Jang, 2013). Recent research revealed that young adults’ use of Tinder and Snapchat predicted negative romantic relationship outcomes; however, the use of Facebook did not predict such outcomes (Ferguson, Sample, Steele, & Sleigh, 2015). The current study sought to further understand the connection between social media use and romantic relationship quality, as well as to assess whether social media use was simultaneously impacting young adults’ emotional stability.

Participants were 86 young adults with a mean age of 21.53 (SD = 3.33). Participants in romantic relationships responded to an online survey that measured their relationship satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988) and commitment (Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998). Participants also responded to the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, 1996), and a Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Zung, 1971). Then, participants responded to six questions to assess frequency of social media use, as well as level of offense and sexual content related to their social media use (based on Ferguson et al., 2015). The six questions were repeated for three specific types of social media: Facebook, Tinder, and Snapchat. Results revealed that the more frequently adults used Tinder, the greater their intention of having sexual encounters with people they met through social media, r(84) = .24, p = .025. Frequent use of Tinder was also associated with both anxiety, r(83) = .32, p = .003, and depression, r(84) = .33, p = .002. The more participants reported interacting with Snapchat, the higher their anxiety, r(84), p = .04. The more frequently participants interacted with people they met on Snapchat, the higher their depression score, r(85) = .32, p = .003. In contrast, more frequent interaction with Facebook was not related to negative psychological states and predicted participants’ increased commitment to staying with their romantic partners, r(81) = .23, p = .04. We compared men and women using an independent t-test. Compared to women, men were more likely to have sexual encounters as a goal of using social media, t(83) = 4.68, p < .001, and to have had sexual encounters with people they met through social media, t(83) = 3.05, p = .003. The more frequently adults had sexual encounters with people they met online, the lower their romantic relationship commitment, r(82) = -.24, p = .03, and the lower their attachment to their romantic partners, r(81) = -.26, p = .02.

Participants with more sexual encounters also rated themselves as less honest, r(85) = -.24, p = .028, and were more ashamed of themselves, r(84) = .25, p = .02. In sum, Tinder and Snapchat were associated with negative relationship outcomes, as well as increased anxiety and depression. Perhaps this is due to the tendency for these sites to be used for sexual purposes, such as soliciting short-term sexual partners. In contrast, Facebook was associated with positive relationship outcomes, perhaps because Facebook is targeted to a broader audience for broader purposes. Participants who used social media for sexual reasons, most often men, felt more shame, admitted to being less honest, and were less invested in their romantic relationships. Taken in conjunction, our findings demonstrate that social media use can impact romantic relationships, self-perceptions, and psychological health, with the impact dependent on the type of social media and the user’s goals.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

26

The Effect of Identification with and Perception of Fandom on Helping Behaviors Fields, B. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carol Yue An identification with a social group increases in-group bias and social competiveness and enhances group solidarity. Furthermore, a secure social identity will cause an individual to engage in behaviors that are thought to be beneficial for the collective unit (Amiot & Sansfaçon, 2011). Because fans identify with fandom in a similar manner to other individuals who identify with other social identities (such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or religion), the social identity of fandom can be understood from the perspectives on and theories of social identity or in-group bias. However, little quantitative research exists on fandom.

Although some studies have surveyed the perception of fandom behavior or the perception of male or female fans, no clear link has been established between perception of the normality of fandom and how that perception affects actions towards people who identify with fandom. Therefore, this research should add to the literature by exploring how the perception of the normality of fandom affects helping behaviors toward individuals who identify with fandom, give insight into fan behaviors and thinking, and set a base experiment to test other phenomenon, such as aggressive behavior among fans or how to increase intergroup helping among fandoms. Consistent with previous research on fan behavior and helping behavior, I hypothesize that individuals will be more likely to help the character whose fandom identification most closely resembles their own. For example, a participant who primarily identifies as a Science Fiction movie fan will be most likely to help the Science Fiction movie fan. Further, participants will be more likely to reward those whose fandom identification they view the most positively. In order to ascertain the relationship between fandom identification, perception, and helping behaviors, two studies have been completed and one more is in progress. In Study 1, two scenarios were presented to the participants. The first scenario (the normal condition) asked participants to rank from one to five (one being the highest) which fictional person they wanted to receive an award. Each person had a profile that included a favorite outdoor activity, level of education, and the movie genre casually watched in social settings. There was one control profile that did not include a specific movie genre, and every profile featured a female. The second scenario (the extreme condition) had the same instructions, but the scenario described more committed fandom (e.g., going to conventions). After the participants ranked the fictional people, they took the Adapted Sports Fandom Questionnaire (Wann, 2002). Spearmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rank order correlations revealed that, in partial support of my first hypothesis, participants who identified with certain fandoms were more likely to reward fans from that same fandom: Science Fiction fandom in the normal and extreme conditions (p=.001; p=.006, respectively), Young Adult fandom in the extreme condition (p=.035), and Comic Book fandom in the extreme condition (p=.001) The second study used the same materials as the first study but removed the level of education because participants seemed to focus on that variable more than on the fandom. Results from this study were mostly non-significant, but the first hypothesis was supported by the Disney fandom in the extreme condition (p=.002). A third study will test music genres as the fandom and test helping behavior more directly, but will use the same adapted questionnaire in order to test an area that people may be more emotionally connected to and more likely to show variability in likelihood of helping. The data from all three studies will be analyzed in the same manner as in previous studies to explore the relationship between fandom identification or fan perception and helping behaviors.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

27

Distraction Effects from Cell Phone Use in the Classroom Flowers, K., Mitchell, J., & Ledford, T. Dalton State College Faculty Sponsor: Alicia Briganti People often assume they have more attentional capacities than they actually possess, and this assumption has been shown to have a significant negative impact on students’ performance in the classroom when students use their phones during lecture (Stothart, Mitchum, & Yehnert, 2015). Since the usage of cell phones in the classroom is becoming more common as it allows students to constantly stay connected, it is important to assess the impact cell phone usage has on both the student using the phone as well as other students in the classroom. Thornton, Faires, Robbins, and Rollins (2014) found that even the mere presence of a cell phone can reduce performance on a cognitively demanding tasks. Other studies have shown that cell phone usage in the classroom during lecture impairs students’ ability to recall information presented during the time of cell phone use and decreases the overall quality of notes taken during the lecture. For example, Kuznekoff and Titsworth (2013) found a significant negative correlation between texting and/or posting to social media during lecture and performance on testing. In one research questionnaire, 76% of university students regarded cell phones as a distraction in the classroom rather than a helpful tool (Jackson, 2012). Texting in the classroom has also been shown to impact short-term memory while they try to perform multiple tasks, and this can lead to negative learning outcomes (Wei, Wang, & Klausner, 2012). Wei, et al. concluded that students that text during class often overestimate their attentional capacities thus sacrificing cognitive learning opportunities in the classroom.

One goal of the current research was to look at the effects of a ringing cell phone on students’ ability to recall information presented by the professor during the time the cell phone was ringing. To do this, we attempted to replicate a study conducted by Shelton, Elliot, Lynn and Exner (2011) who found that the distracting effects of a cell phone decreased performance on quiz questions pertaining to information presented during the time the cell phone went off during class. Furthermore, we are interested in determining if there is an extended effect of distraction on quiz performance on material presented even after the cell phone was turned off. For the purpose of this experiment, we used three Introduction to Psychology course sections for our three test groups. Our control group had class as usual with no interruptions. One experimental group had class as normal with the exception of the confederate’s phone ringing for 60 seconds during a set point during the lecture. For the second experimental group, the confederate’s cell phone rang at the same set point during the lecture for 60 seconds while the confederate pretended to search through her bag to find it, creating an additional distraction. At the end of each class, students were given a pop quiz consisting of questions on material that was presented before, during (target questions), and after the cell phone distraction. We hypothesize that test performance will be lowest for the target questions in the experimental group with the greatest distraction and highest in the control group with no distraction.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

28

Racial Differences in Relationship Labeling Foster, A. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Tara J. Collins Previous research has identified racial differences in relationship experiences; for example, Patterson (1998) found that differences in SES were associated with black individuals being less likely to marry than white individuals. Similarly, black students have been found to be less likely than their white peers to have experience with hook-ups (Knox & Zusman 2009; Owen, Rhoades, Stanley, & Fincham, 2010).

Knox and Zusman (2009) also found that the black respondents were much more likely hold to absolutist sexual values (e.g. believing that sex prior to marriage is always wrong regardless of circumstances). This suggests that black students have more negative perceptions of hook ups compared to their white peers.

Based on these differences in relationship patterns, there may also be potential racial differences in the language employed to describe various relationships. There is currently no literature examining racial differences in the language used to describe relationships, there is also very limited literature about language and relationships overall. This could be a contributing factor to the lack of data about hooking up among students of color, and it highlights the need for more research. The current study focuses on racial differences in the language used to describe and label relationships. This study seeks to address a gap in the literature about possible racial differences in the language used to describe hook ups and other non-traditional relationship styles. It is hypothesized that there will be a significant difference between the language used to describe hook ups cross-racially. One hundred eight people, predominantly Southeastern college students participated in this study online. The survey asked participants to selfidentify racially and only the results of those who identified as either white (n = 76) or black (n = 32) were included in the analysis. Participants read three vignettes that described: a committed relationship scenario, a friends with benefits scenario, and a booty call relationship scenario, the order of the presentation of scenarios was randomly assigned. Participants were asked “How would you label this type of relationship (i.e., what would you call it)” and responded in an open-ended textbox. Open-ended responses were coded separately by each author and disagreements were discussed. The results were analyzed using Chi Square test of Independence, examining the use of different relationship labels across the racial groups (black or white). No significant racial differences were found for the label used to describe the Friends with Benefits Scenario a χ²(1, n = 94) = .49, ns. The Booty Call scenario also showed no significant racial differences in the label used χ²(1, n = 103) = .51, ns. The Committed Relationship scenario did show a significant racial difference with a χ²(1, n = 83) = 6.70, p = .01. The white participants were more likely to use the “dating” label than black participants. Black participants were more likely to label this scenario as a “committed relationship.” Similar to Knox and Zusman (2009), we found some differences in how different racial groups conceptualize relationships. Our results suggest that black students may expect more commitment in their close romantic relationships than white students. It is possible that the relatively smaller dating pool of African American students affects their expectations and labeling of relationships. Future directions for this research could include a study assessing whether or not African American students are less likely to be in relationships than their white counterparts and perhaps interviews with students to get more qualitative data on possible racial differences in conceptualizations of relationships.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Relationship Between Adult Attachment Style and Postural Aggression in Intimate Partner Relationships Fowler, H. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: R. Christopher Qualls Among its many uses, adult attachment theory has been found to provide a means by which to understand human behavior in close relationships, including the occurrence of aggression in romantic relationships (Bookwala, 2002). For example, insecure attachment patterns have been found to be associated with lower levels of satisfaction in romantic relationships (Wilson et al., 2013). Also, prior research has shown that preoccupied or anxious/insecure attachment style is significantly related to the incidence of aggression in dating relationships (Bookwala & Zdaniuk, 1988). However, little research has been conducted that examines whether insecure attachments are associated with greater amounts of postural aggression. Postural aggression has been defined by Parrott & Giancola (2007) as “non-verbal acts that do not require physical contact with the victim” (p. 10). Postural aggressive acts may include such behaviors as making threatening or insulting faces at a partner, not allowing a partner to leave a room or get out of a vehicle, or invading a partner’s personal space during a discussion of a problem. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether there is a relationship between adult attachments and the levels of postural aggression in intimate relationships. Our specific hypothesis was that individuals who scored higher on anxious/insecure attachment styles would be more likely to engage in postural aggression towards their partners. The participants were 138 undergraduate students with a mean age of 20.02 years (SD = 1.34) from a small, liberal arts college in Southwestern Virginia.

Participants were given questionnaires measuring relationship satisfaction, postural aggression, and adult attachment style. The results indicated that participant gender did not influence postural aggression, with men (M = 15.44; SD = 3.66) endorsing the same use of postural aggression as women (M = 15.92; SD = 3.02), t(112) = -.75, p = .45. Findings from an initial correlational matrix indicated a significant positive correlation between the Anxiety subscale and the Postural Aggression scale, r(105) = .29, p = .003), which suggests that the more concerned individuals are about being rejected in their relationships, the more likely they are to use postural aggression. Consistent with our hypothesis, multiple regression analysis further indicated that score on the anxious attachment scale were the only significant predictor of postural aggression (Beta = .30, p = .01), with scores for anxious attachment styles explaining 7% of the variance associated with postural aggression (small to medium effect size). Neither the closeness nor dependency measures of attachment predicted a significant amount of postural aggression. Interestingly, the amount of postural aggression in relationships did not affect one’s satisfaction with that relationship (Beta = .12, p = .13). Findings from the study may be interpreted in the light of previous research that suggests that anxiously attached individuals tend to react more aggressively towards their partners (Wilson et al., 2013), possibly due to individuals with anxious attachment patterns fearing abandonment and having doubts about their ability to be loved. As a result, individuals with anxious attachment styles may utilize postural aggression in an attempt to make their partners feel guilty in an effort to keep them in the relationship. The second key finding that postural aggression was unrelated to relationship satisfaction may indicate that partners in romantic relationships do not see postural aggression as unusual or negative, but rather just part of a normal relationship and thus the presence of postural aggression does not change the overall view of their satisfaction. One possible implication of this study’s findings is that reducing the level of anxious attachments may decrease postural aggression in romantic relationships. However, the findings of the current study should be replicated in a more diverse sample before they are seen as valid.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effect of Position on Perception of Others’ Work Motivation Gardner, E. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue Work motivation has long been researched as a way to understand one of the key motivations behind a worker’s success. But how do workers perceive a coworker’s work motivation? And does the employee’s current job influence how they perceive others’ work motivations? This investigation looks at undergraduate students who work part time and evaluates their work motivation and their perception of coworkers’ work motivations. To test these questions, participants will be randomly selected from two groups of work study students based on the type of job they perform for their for their work study. One group will be made up of workers who perform manual labor (e.g., Facilities, Grounds, Maintenance) while the other group will consist of workers with desk jobs. Participants in each group will be given the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (Gagne et al., 2015) to measure their own work motivation. This will be done in order to assess how much a worker’s own work motivation affects their view of others’ work motivation. After completing the scale, each group will be given a list of six scenarios: three that describe a desk worker who has low, medium, or high work motivation, and three that describe a manual laborer with low, medium, or high work motivation. The scenarios will be designed so that within each type of job, the only significant difference between each scenario is the work motivation (and associated characteristics) shown by each employee. All scenarios will describe a male employee to avoid a potential confound of gender. The results of the study will be analyzed with a 2 (job of participant: desk, manual) x 2 (job described: desk, manual) x 3 (level of work motivation described: low, medium, high) ANOVA. Perceived work motivation will then be used as the dependent variable. We predict that although participants will accurately identify differences in level of work motivation within job types, they will rate the work motivation of others in their own job type (manual or desk) higher than those who are not in their line of work. We hypothesize that this effect could be caused by in-group bias. These results could provide insight into how an employee’s perception of others is influenced by their current job, which could have ramifications for how employers can best facilitate positive work place interactions.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Education vs. Experience in the Hiring Process Graham, B. Charleston Southern University Faculty Sponsor: Christina Sinisi Students completing their undergraduate degrees are going through a phase in their life where what they do in their undergraduate career is what they will carry over with them into the career world once they graduate. In regards to undergraduate students and their preparation for their future careers, previous studies have been completed in order to determine if an individual’s post-graduate career places more emphasis on their educational background or their prior experiences. One study found that many employers value a student’s prior work experience, with a strong preference for those completing an internship (Green, Graybeal & Madison, 2011). Another study done in Canada has revealed that the value in formal education has increased depending on the type of job an individual goes for upon application (Hunter, 1988). A final study was conducted and showed that, when looking at academic qualifications and work experience, students believed that their academics were more important in the application process, while managers believed that the students’ work experience in their undergraduate career was more valuable (Singer & Bruhns, 1991). With so much debate between college students and their employers over which aspect should be valued higher, it is difficult to determine whether the main focus of the student should be on academics or their internships and prior experience. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find two hypotheses: to determine if an individual’s education level has higher preference over their work experience in regards to the hiring of post-graduate applicants in an entry-level position; and to determine if current college students are prepared for their careers post-graduation based on their attitude towards their prior undergraduate experience. In this study, 94 students were given four resumes created with alternating circumstances for the applicants, varying from High Education/High Experience, High Education/Low Experience, Low Education/Low Experience, and Low Education/High Experience. The objective of the resumes is to determine if students choose the resume that is most similar to their own background when answering the survey questions. The participants then proceeded to take a self-perceived survey which measures their responses regarding self-employability on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). This study will not only determine which job-related criteria is more important, but also where the focus should be directed in regards to future college graduates. The data is collected and run through SPSS. The data analysis is not complete at this time but will be at the time of the conference.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Understanding Attitudes Toward Transgender Individuals Greenburg, J. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: Celeste Gaia Transgender is a term that describes individuals whose gender identity does not coincide with the sex they were assigned at birth. Previous research has found that transgender individuals often experience discrimination on the basis of their gender identity (e.g., Grant, 2011). However, because transgender orientation is still an emerging topic, relatively few studies have exclusively examined predictors and correlates of attitudes toward transgender individuals. Among those studies that have examined correlates of anti-transgender attitudes, or “transphobia,” several pertinent variables have been identified.

These variables include beliefs about gender, interpersonal contact, religiosity, and attribution of transgender orientation (Claman, 2007; Nagoshi et al., 2008; Norton & Herek, 2012; Tee & Hegarty, 2006). The aim of the present study was to provide further support for these predictors in a sample of undergraduates. Based on the extant literature, it was hypothesized that (H1) higher degrees of interpersonal contact would be associated with lower levels of transphobia, (H2) greater acceptance of stereotyping behaviors and gender roles would be associated with higher levels of transphobia, and (H3) that being female, attributing transgender orientation to biological factors, and expressing less religiosity would be associated with lower levels of transphobia. Undergraduate students (N = 110) responded to an online questionnaire to assess attitudes toward transgender individuals, beliefs about stereotyping, levels of religiosity, interpersonal contact with transgender individuals, and beliefs about transgender orientation.

The questionnaire consisted of the revised Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS-R; Tebbe, Moradi, & Ege, 2014), the Gender Role Stereotype Scale (GRSS; Mills, Culbertson, Huffman, & Connell, 2012), the Acceptance of Stereotyping Scale (Carter, Hall, Carney, & Rosip, 2006), Rohrbaugh and Jessor’s Religiosity Measure (Rohrbaugh & Jessor, 1975), questions pertaining to interpersonal contact and attribution of transgender orientation, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS; Crowne & Marlowe 1960). All hypotheses were confirmed. Significant correlations were found between transphobia and all variables, all ps < .05. Additionally, a regression analysis found a five-factor model to be the strongest predictor of transphobia, R2 = .66, p < .01. The most predictive variables of transphobia levels were acceptance of male gender roles and general stereotyping, biological attribution of transgender orientation, religiosity, and direct social contact. These variables accounted for 66% of the variance. One-Way ANOVA results revealed that men, when compared to women, had greater acceptance of stereotyping behaviors, F (2,90) = 11.66, p < .01, η2 = .20, greater belief in male gender roles, F (2, 97) = 13.39, p < .01, η2 = .22, and lower attribution of transgender orientation to biological factors, F (2, 92) = 5.97, p < .01, η2 = .11. A marginally significant difference was found between men and women for direct social contact, with women reporting slightly more interaction with transgender individuals, F (2, 93) = 3.01, p = .05, η2 = .06. However, there was no significant difference between men and women for religiosity, F (2, 93) = .967, p > .05. Overall, results converged with previous literature assessing attitudes toward transgender individuals. Additionally, the significant positive association with belief in a biological basis of transgender identity provides interesting insight into the conceptualization of transphobia. This finding could have an important impact in reducing discrimination against the transgender community should future research find more definitive answers about the biological nature of transgender identity.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Attachment Style and Accessible Memories Influence Optimism about Romantic Relationships Grant, M. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Donna Nelson Researchers interested in interpersonal relationships have often relied on attachment theory as a framework for understanding. Individuals differ in their characteristic attachment behaviors and scholars have identified two robust, dysfunctional attachment styles. Persons with attachment anxiety have a fear of being neglected or abandoned. Persons with attachment avoidance have an aversion to interpersonal intimacy and reliance on others (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007). Anxious or avoidant attachment tendencies have been linked to negative perceptions of interpersonal interactions and difficulties in intimate relationships (Meyer et al, 2005). Our aim was to explore mechanisms whereby those with anxious and avoidant tendencies may become more optimistic about romantic relationships.

Research suggests that individuals can tap into prior memories of success to raise their optimism about an upcoming stressful event (Nelson & Knight, 2010). This finding raises the possibility that a positive recall intervention may help to change pessimistic expectations and perceptions about relationship challenges. We hypothesized that those high (versus low) in attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety would exhibit more pessimistic expectations and attributions about interpersonal conflicts, but that a positive recollection intervention would help to eliminate those effects. Twenty-two male and fifty-nine female undergraduate students responded to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Experiences in Close Relationship Scale-Short Form (ECR-S)â&#x20AC;? to measure attachment tendencies (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007). Participants then recalled either a neutral event or a previous time in which they experienced great happiness in a romantic relationship. Next, they read scenarios that described romantic relationship difficulties and then responded to questions to assess their level of optimism about the future of the relationships and the extent to which they made pessimistic, dispositional attributions about negative behaviors described in the scenarios. We conducted a 2X2 between subjects ANOVA on optimism scores with two levels of recall (positive and neutral) and two levels of attachment avoidance (high and low). This analysis yielded the predicted interaction effect, F(1,78)= 6.89, p<.01. In the neutral recall condition, those high (versus low) in attachment avoidance reported lower optimism about the relationships. However in the positive recall condition, no differences in optimism emerged for those high (versus low) in avoidance. A similar pattern of results was observed in relation to attribution scores. A 2 X 2 between subjects ANOVA yielded the predicted interaction effect between recall condition and level of attachment avoidance F(1,80)= 14.75, p<.001. Planned comparisons revealed that in the neutral recall condition, those high (versus low) in attachment avoidance had a greater tendency to make pessimistic attributions. However in the positive recall condition, no differences in attributions emerged for those high versus low in avoidance. As predicted, avoidant attachment was linked to lower optimism and a greater tendency to make pessimistic, dispositional attributions for negative relationship behaviors. However, these effects disappeared when participants completed a positive recall intervention prior to reading the scenarios. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find significant effects of attachment anxiety on scenario optimism scores or attribution scores. Future research should investigate the subtle distinctions for attachment avoidance in comparison to attachment anxiety. Our findings suggest that moment-to-moment optimism can be influenced by efforts to control accessible memories. Furthermore, state-like optimism can result in more favorable interpretations of relationship behaviors and positive expectations about future relationship outcomes, even for individuals with attachment avoidance tendencies.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Social Media and its Effects on Self Esteem Gonzales, J., Bates, R., Ingle, A., & Salter, A. Dalton State College Faculty Sponsor: Jonathan Gulledge Previous research has indicated that one’s social media behavior might indicate personality tendencies which may affect self- esteem (Barry, Doucette, Loflin, Rivera-Hudson & Herington, 2015). This study analyzed data from students to determine whether self-displays to a virtual audience (selfies, groupies, traditionals, and group traditionals) influence self- esteem on Instagram. We examined narcissistic traits, such a grandiose and nonpathological narcissism, within a group of students who demonstrate high use of social media applications. We predicted that our data would indicate that higher social media feedback from other users would correlates with self- esteem. For the purpose of this investigation, we observed participants on Instagram and examined their social media sharing trends. Participants must have been active on Instagram prior to this study. On Instagram, users gain followers who make up their virtual audience. Users may also follow other Instagram accounts who may be of interest to the user. Users are not required to reciprocate or “follow back.” The average Instagram user tends to have a similar ratio of followers and following. Average users, our control group, follow other users that share common interests and mutual friends. Users with high followers and low following of at least a 2:1 ratio will be considered “super users.” “Super users” were compared to the average Instagram accounts in our control group. We analyzed all data using 2- sample and paired t-test. Our study consisted of 40 participants that mirror Dalton State College’s gender ratio (60 % female and 40% male). Once consent had been obtained, we administered personality inventories (NPI, Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and our own survey). The participants were then asked to provide their Instagram username. Over the course of 90 days, photos on each participant's Instagram account were evaluated by our team on subject, theme, and comments.

Social media permeates most aspects of life. We believed that participants would forget that they are being observed after the first week and their behavior would return to normal. The participants were not aware of what aspects of their social life we were examining. Postings of each user were coded via a point system. One point was awarded if the posting depicted the owner of that Instagram account. If a point was awarded, the photograph was then assigned to one of four categories. The photos were categorized as either Selfie, Group Selfie, Traditional, or Group Traditional. If the photo was taken by the owner of that Instagram account, the photo is considered a selfie. If the photo was taken by the owner of that Instagram account and he or she was accompanied by at least one other person, the photo was classified as a group selfie. The photo was considered traditional if the photo was not taken by the Instagram user but still depicted the participant. The photo was considered group traditional if the photo was not taken by the Instagram user but still depicted the participant with at least one other person. Each participant was given a subject number for confidentiality so that no one outside of the raters could decipher the data. We prompted the participants with instructions for the study. We only proceeded with observations once all participants had understood the procedure and have had their questions answered.

We are still in the process of analyzing our data and results.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Comparison of Technology Use Between Collectivistic and Individualistic Cultures Gordon, A., & Maxwell, M. Flagler College Faculty Sponsor: Angeleina Semegon This is a cross-cultural study intended to observe the use of technology and how it effects social interaction in individualistic cultures such as America as well as collectivistic cultures such as China. The hypothesis tested was that technology use in America is more isolated due to its individualistic culture were as China shares technology more due to its collectivistic culture. This observational study collected data from participants in China and America. The independent variable in this study is the location in which the data was collected. In America, data was collected in the cities of Jacksonville and Saint Augustine, Florida. In China, data was collected in the cities of Shanghai and Beijing. The dependent variable of technology use was divided into three categories of usage: isolated, partial, and shared.

Technology shared is defined as playing a game together or watching a video/television at the same time, on the same device. Technology isolated is defined as texting, calling, laptop use alone, iPad use alone, headphones in ears and any technology use without peer interaction. Technology partial is defined as isolated tech use with minor social interaction or sharing the phone and then returning to isolation. The participants in this study were subject to random sampling and time sampling with no compensation for participation due to the observational nature. A total of 200 groups participated in this study. Ninety-eight groups were observed in China and 102 groups were observed in America. The procedure used in data collection occurred in restaurant settings where every other group of two to six individuals were observed for two consecutive minutes. During those two minutes the researchers recorded the location, time, dynamic of the group, number in the group, gender using technology, number people in the group using technology, and the type of technology use. A Chi-Square Test Analysis was conducted to measure the relationship between how individualistic and collectivistic cultures use technology. There was a significance noted between technology use and Chinese and American cultures (x2= 12.650, df= 1, 3, p= .0025). In China there were a total of 35 isolated users, 10 partial users, 19 shared users and 34 not using technology. In America, there were a total of 24 isolated users, 19 partial users, 8 shared users, and 51 not using technology. The results demonstrate that American groups participate in less shared technology use compared to Chinese groups. American groups were also observed using no technology more frequently than Chinese groups. The hypothesis that isolated use of technology would be more frequent in America was not supported. The hypothesis that shared use of technology would be more frequent in China was supported. Future research should include larger sample sizes including groups from varying city sizes and locations. In both locations, China and America, researchers were subject to time restraints, which led to the limited types of locations. This study demonstrates the importance of communication. Cultures may have their own prescribed way of socializing. This research is valuable for conducting proper business as well as political interactions between individualistic and collectivistic cultures.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Mindfulness and Health Behavior: Construal as a Mediator Gouge, N., Moore, S., & Price, T. Georgia College Faculty Sponsor: Whitney L. Heppner Mindfulness, the trait or state of heightened attention and awareness of the present moment, is linked to a number of health behaviors that require self-regulation. In a preliminary experimental study (McCrary & Heppner, 2015), we found that inducing a mindful state through meditation reduced the number of tempting foods participants ate following a cognitive depletion task. However, in this study and other previous research, the specific mechanisms by which mindfulness improves self-regulation have not been identified. Thus, the current study seeks to replicate the finding that mindfulness meditation improves self-regulation for eating behavior, and, importantly, explores a novel set of potential mediators of this effect. Previous research has demonstrated that a global (i.e., “big picture”) focus, compared to a local (i.e., “details”) focus, helped regulate eating behavior in that participants were able to choose a healthier alternative despite the presence of tempting, unhealthy food options (Juergensen & Demaree, 2015).

Following from this and broader research on the role of construal level (i.e., global vs. local focus) in selfregulation (e.g., Fujita, Trope, Liberman, & Levin-Sagi, 2006), we hypothesize that a mindfulness mediation task will benefit self-regulation of eating behavior by creating a shift from local to global focus.

Participants in this ongoing study complete several personality measures and are randomly assigned to one of three conditions: “no cognitive depletion,” “cognitive depletion,” or “cognitive depletion plus mindfulness.” In the no depletion condition, participants complete a simple crossing out letters task, while in the depletion condition, participants complete a complex crossing out letters task resulting in cognitive depletion. In the depletion plus mindfulness condition, participants complete the same effortful crossing out letters task followed by a brief mindfulness meditation task. Global-local focus change will be assessed at the beginning of the study as well as after each induction using the Navon letters task (Navon, 1977) and Action Identification Scale (Hunt and Hoyer, 1993). At the end of the study, participants have the opportunity to eat a snack, and will have a variety of healthful and unhealthful foods from which to choose (e.g., granola bars and chocolate chip cookies). We expect that those in the depletion plus mindfulness condition will exhibit healthier eating behavior than those in the depletion only condition. Furthermore, we expect this effect to be mediated by global focus These findings will potentially replicate the effect that mindfulness meditation restores the capacity to self-regulate a health behavior and may provide a cognitive mechanism for this effect.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Love Me Tinder or Mis-Match.com: Free vs. Paid Online Dating Sites Grom, E. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Darren Ritzer According to Nielson, an audience tracking firm, in 2009, online dating websites had 27.5 million unique visitors in one month. This is twice as many people who visited job-placement websites during the same period, which coincided with the recession (Comstock, 2009). Nearly 50 million individuals in the United States have used an online dating website or app, making it a $1.8 billion industry (Statistic Brain, 2015).

Recent research shows that online dating is changing society in more profound ways than we imagine by embracing pretty much every demographic and allowing anyone—young, old, straight, gay, and even married—to search for exactly what they want and connect with more people (Slater, 2013). Our study assessed the expectations of people who chose to use free dating sites versus dating sites that required a fee. We also measured individual characteristics of participants to better define profiles of dating site users. We hypothesized that individuals who used free dating websites would be more likely to prefer casual relationships (i.e., “hooking up”) to a committed relationship. Participants were recruited from college classes, social media, and other online postings. They responded to an online survey that measured dating site usage, ideal partner characteristics (adapted from Boyes, 2013), and risk taking.

For the final sample of 221 participants, the average age of participants was 24.86 (SD = 8.932) with 78% of participants identifying as women and 22% identifying as men. Fifty-three percent of participants had used online dating websites or apps. The main hypothesis was supported. The expectations of free versus paid dating sites were different. For free sites, 70% of participants expected to see their dating options and then date as many people as possible. Only 28% of people expected to meet their perfect match on a free site. Six percent of participants who used free sites expected to only hook up once. For participants who used paid sites, the expectations of finding a perfect match were much higher. Sixty percent of paid sites users expected to meet their perfect match and less than 1% expected to just hook up once. The more free sites an individual used, the more frequently that individual reported engaging in risky behaviors, such as drinking and having unprotected sex [r(55) = .31, p < .05]. More men used free dating websites or apps than women [t(109) = 2.49, p < .05]. There was a significant positive correlation between age and number of paid sites used, with older participants reporting having used a higher number of paid sites in the past [r(99) = .25, p < .05]. Race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation did not predict dating site usage. In sum, we found that people who were not necessarily seeking long-term relationships were more likely to use free sites and these users engaged in more risky behavior. Online dating is rapidly growing and becoming more commonplace. There was an increase of 53% of single individuals using online dating sites or apps from 2005 to 2014 (Smith, 2014). From a purely marketing perspective, a better understanding of the expectations and characteristics of users could be quite valuable. Knowing that the expectati[ons for more serious, long lasting relationships are higher for paid dating sites has implications for site design, marketing, and advertising. Likewise, given the more casual expectations for free dating sites, a more light-hearted approach might speak to potential users.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Most Dramatic Poster Ever: Expectations and Behaviors of Successful and Unsuccessful Relationships on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette Grom, E. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Darren Ritzer Intimacy is a quality of being close in a relationship, in which emotional closeness becomes embodied in a high level of comfort with physical touch (Mosier, 2006). Recent research has shown that less satisfying relationships were associated with less intimacy (Wight, 2008). The number of reality television shows showcasing intimacy has increased over the decades, with The Bachelor franchise being one of them. For our study, we selected four seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, a reality series in which one man or woman is given the opportunity to select a romantic partner from a large group of potential candidates over the course of a television season. Two of these ended with the final couple becoming married (considered successful), and two ended with the final couple either breaking up or not staying engaged (considered unsuccessful). We created categories for mild to intense levels of physical contact and neutral to romantic verbal interactions. Two raters then watched each episode and categorized the behavior for each individual. Preliminary analyses revealed that kissing was a significant indicator of a successful relationship. A positive significant correlation was found between intense kissing sessions and length of time that the final contestant stayed on the show [r(18) = 0.52, p < .01]. Similarly, we found that the more the couple engaged in romantic discourse, the longer the final contestant stayed on the show [r(18) = .55, p < .01]. We also found relations among these dependent variables. More kissing related to more physical touch in general [r(18) = .58, p < .01], and to more frequent romantic discourse [r(18) = .562, p < .01]. Additionally, to assess if “real life” relationships show the same patterns of behavior, a second research project is underway. We are collecting data from participants recruited online. Participants are responding to questions to assess the importance of specific qualities in romantic relationships and satisfaction using Hendrick’s Relationship Assessment Scale (1988). This data collection is nearing completion. Overall, this research may help identify patterns in relationships and behaviors that may lead to a more satisfying and/or longer lasting relationship. Results will help lead to an understanding the typical early decline of relationship quality after the honeymoon period if physical contact and romantic verbal interactions were present very early in the relationship and then declined (Hendricks, 1988).

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Psychopathy and Leadership in College Students Harrison, L. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Darren Ritzer A natural next step in the measurement of psychopathy, or antisocial personality disorder, is the translation of the personality construct into behaviors. Specifically, psychopathy in business and classroom settings may manifest itself in interesting ways. In order to measure psychopathy, Hare (1985) developed a Self-Report Psychopathy scale. Smith & Lilienfeld (2012) found increased rates of psychopathy in the upper levels of the business. Westerlaken & Woods (2012) found that psychopathy in the workplace may have a negative effect on the atmosphere for employees, thus decreasing productivity. This study is particularly interested in psychopathy and how it displays itself in leadership roles in workplace settings and in college organizations. The paper and pencil survey consisted of 105 questions measuring demographics, narcissism, psychopathy, and included 12 real-life scenarios for participants to rate. The 12 situational scenarios were devised by the researchers. These 12 questions reflected situations that the average college student might witness while on campus or in the work place.

Scenarios included workplace situations like handling a difficult employee and campus settings like dealing with a lazy group member on a group project. Each of these 12 questions had four answers associated with it, with each choice holding a different “weight” or “score” for what the researchers thought would be an accurate portrayal of different levels of psychopathy based on the past research.

Each chosen answer was scored by the researchers creating a total score for this section. Higher total scores on the leadership scenarios equated to more “psychopathic” choices. To measure narcissism and psychopathy, two published scales were used. Raskin and Terry’s (1979) 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory and Hare’s (1985) 58-item Self-Report of Psychopathy (SRP II) were included. The score from the Self-Report of Psychopathy was then compared to the score of the 12 scenario questions. The sample of 92 participants was 80.4% female and 19.6% male. The surveys were collected from a variety of students around campus. There were 62% white participants, 33% black, and 5% other. Out of the sample, 63% of participants had past leadership experience, and 35.9% did not. There were 21 participants majoring in psychology and 71 participants majoring in something else. The researchers first examined the correlation between the scenario scores and the Self-Report of Psychopathy scores. There was a significant relationship between the self-report of psychopathy score and scenario total score [r (90)=.34, p=<.001]. While there was no significant difference between genders on the Self-Report of Psychopathy, male participants were higher (M=165.44, SD=21.79) than female participants (M=150.01, SD=16.93), [t(90)=3.271,p>.05]. There was no significant difference between participants that had previous leadership experience and those that did not on the scenario total score [t(89)=1.33, p>.05].

Two scenarios were particularly important. One scenario that dealt with a new leader of a fraternity changing the rule and his brothers not complying with the rules he set in place and another that dealt with a resident assistant on campus who thinks highly of themselves and struggles between the idea of their residents thinking highly of them or their superiors thinking highly of them is more beneficial. This study supports the hypothesis that participants that score highly on the Self-Report of Psychopathy would also choose psychopath-like behaviors in real world scenarios. In other words, participants that scored high on the Self-Report of Psychopathy scale also see themselves handling situations in ways that line up with their personality type. Some possibilities for further research include, specifically targeting on-campus leaders. Because the researchers just asked if the participants had any leadership experience and did not define what leadership was on campus, the position of a leader may be interpreted in many different ways. Additionally, it may be useful to identify specific tactics of psychopaths in leadership roles. The assessment of psychopathy in leadership roles has important implications for leadership selection, training, and development.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effects of Major and Minor Key Music on Visual Stimuli Harrison, T. & Granberry, A. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue Music has been repeatedly shown to influence mood (Ellis & Simmons, 2005), but studies on multisensory processing suggest that the auditory input provided by music may have more extensive effects on perception. In the present study, we investigated the influence that music in major- and minorkeys has on one’s first impression of a stranger’s face. We decided to observe the effects that a major- or minor-key would have on how trustworthy and intelligent a person may appear. We predicted that while listening to a song in a minor-key, participants would rate others as less trustworthy and more intelligent than when listening to a song in the major-key. Our participants consisted of male and female students (ages 18-25) from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. We randomly assigned the participants into one of three different groups. In the control group, participants entered the room with no music playing and sat down in front of an example of the questions they would be answering. Each question asked participants to rate a person on four attributes—trustworthiness, attractiveness, intelligence, and friendliness—on a scale from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). The only two qualities we were interested in looking at were trustworthiness and intelligence; attractiveness and friendliness were used as distractors. We then explained to the participants how the study was going to be conducted and flashed twelve faces on a screen in front of them, providing a verbal cue to indicate when the next stimulus would appear. The faces were black and white photographs of Caucasian males, all with neutral expressions. Each face was flashed on the screen for three seconds and then removed. Once the face was removed from the screen we asked the participants to rate the face on each of the four attributes. We repeated this process twelve times, once for each face. The first two faces we used as practice, and therefore did not include those results in our data. The major key and minor key groups completed a similar process as the control group, with the exception that when they entered the room, there was already an instrumental, classical song in either a major or minor key playing in the background.

Participants in all groups were asked to complete the same tasks, with the only difference being the change in music. Each group was specifically asked to fill out the scale as quickly as possible, only writing down their first impressions. Results for trustworthiness and intelligence will be analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and Duncan’s post hoc tests to compare results.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

41

The Role Parental Divorce Has On Self-Esteem, Depression, And Intimate Relationships In College Students Hilt, M. & Doss, H. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: Celeste Gaia In 2015, the American Psychological Association reported that 40 to 50% of marriages end in divorce (American Psychological Association, 2015). Parental divorce has different effects depending on the individual and the attachment bond the child has with the parents. Prior research has shown that college students with secure attachment to parents have an easier time building and maintaining friendships, whereas students without secure attachments tend to develop mental health problems (Parade, Leerkes, & Blankson, 2010). Parental divorce may include fighting and custody battles, which may damage the attachment bond between a parent and child. These attachments could possibly play a role in a college student’s self-esteem, depression level, and intimate relationships. Previous research has shown that students with divorced parents experience lower levels of self-esteem (Goodman & Pickens, 2001).

Research has also found that depressive symptoms in college students could be a result of parental divorce (Short, 2002), and individuals with divorced parents may view intimate relationships more negatively (South, 2013). The purpose of this study was to investigate the role parental divorce has on self-esteem, depression, and intimate relationships in college students. Undergraduate students (N=161) responded to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg 1965), Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck, 1961), the Measurement of Attachment Qualities Scale (MAQ; Carver, 1997), and questions to determine whether their parents were divorced or not (referred to here as “family dynamic”). The MAQ assesses four different dimensions of attachment including secure attachment, avoidant tendencies, ambivalence worry, and ambivalence merger. A secure tendency demonstrates that an individual is not afraid to build close relationships with others, whereas an avoidant tendency shows that the individual avoids becoming close to people and therefore has weak attachments. An ambivalence-worry tendency shows that an individual is afraid of losing important people in life, whereas an ambivalence-merger tendency measures if a person has a difficult time getting others to become close. We hypothesized that Hypothesis 1 (H1): participants with parents who are divorced would report lower levels of self-esteem, Hypothesis 2 (H2): participants with parents who are divorced would report higher levels of depression, and Hypothesis 3 (H3): participants with parents who are divorced would report more negative intimate relationships. H1 was confirmed F(1,160)= 7.87, p= .006, η2= .047. Self-esteem was found to be lower in college students from divorced families in comparison to students from non-divorced families. Additionally, H2 was marginally significant, F(1, 159)= 2.95, p= .088, η2= .018, with participants who experienced parental divorce reporting higher levels of depressive symptoms. H3 was partially confirmed. Ambivalence merger F(1, 60)= 7.19, p= .008, η2= .043 and ambivalence worry F(1, 152)= 7.49, p= .007, η2= .047 were found to be higher in students who experienced parental divorce, while there was no significant difference in security (p= .81) or avoidance patterns (p= .404). Overall, the results indicate that family dynamic as measured in this study may negatively affect college students. This is consistent with research on parental divorce and lower self-esteem, increased depressive symptoms, and weakened attachment relationships. It is possible that students who have experienced parental divorce could possibly need extra support and attention from their significant others as well as authority figures. Future research could explore how children from divorced parents adjust to divorce as well as look at how divorce affects men and women differently.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

42

Effects of Housing Environment on Impulsivity as Measured by Delay-Discounting Hindman, B. Georgia College Faculty Sponsor: Kristina Dandy Previous research shows a rearing effect on impulsivity in rats (Hellemans et al., 2005; Kirkpatrick et al., 2013). However, housing requirements for rats across laboratories is not always uniform, implying that researchers replicate methodology but not always housing specifications when conducting studies.

Variations in housing and rearing environments could influence results of learning studies, specifically studies assessing impulsivity. The vivarium at our current institution recently modified housing conditions for rats. Specifically, standard housing conditions for the rats were updated from hanging cages with food hoppers and water bottles to hanging cages with a stainless steel filtration system, water dispensers, and food bowls. This change in housing lead to the current study assessing how laboratory rearing environments affect baseline performance on tests of impulsivity, namely delay discounting tasks.

Impulsivity is a widely studied paradigm in the area of animal learning, defined as the choice of a smallersooner (SS) reinforcer over a larger-later (LL) reinforcer. For the current study ten Sprague-Dawley rats (4 male; 6 female) were housed in either the former laboratory housing conditions (n = 5), or the newly updated housing conditions (n = 5). Subjects began living in their respective conditions post-natal 21 days and remained in these housing conditions until the end of the study. At 80 days of age, subjects were placed on food restriction (maintained at 85% ad lib weight) and were shaped to lever press in a standard operant chamber to receive food reinforcement. Following shaping, subjects were tested on a delay discounting procedure to assess baseline levels of impulsivity. During this task subjects completed between 33 and 37 choice trials daily within an hour testing session, whereby a single lever press on the SS lever lead to delivery of one food pellet immediately, and a single lever press on the LL lever lead to delivery of four food pellets after a predetermined delay (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, or 70 seconds). The proportion of choices made for the LL reinforcer relative to the SS reinforcer served as the main dependent variable, with smaller proportions indicating more impulsivity. Results of a two-way ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of delay, F(7,63) = 198.881 , p < .001, whereby choice for the larger reinforcer decreased as delay for that reinforcer increased, but no significant main effect of housing condition F(1,63) = 0.0561 , p = 0.821. However, results of an independent samples t-test revealed a significant effect of housing condition on total days to shape, t (6) = 2.828, p = 0.030. Specifically, rats reared in the new housing condition (M = 7.75; SD = 3.30) took significantly less days to shape compared to the rats housed in the old housing condition (M = 12.75; SD = 1.26). These results suggest that housing environment may impact learning in general, though not delay discounting specifically.

Alternatively, null findings could be attributed to small sample size; therefore, further testing is needed.

Overall, it is important to maintain consistent animal housing within a given laboratory in order to obtain comparable baseline data across subjects and recognize differences in housing requirements across laboratories when reporting findings.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

43

Cognitive Flexibility Partially Mediates the Relationship between Social Support and Depression Hokett, E. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Reiland This study examined the relationships among cognitive factors, perceived social support, and depression in 251 undergraduate students. Cognitive models of depression (e.g., Beck, 1967; Ellis, 1962) emphasize that an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thoughts regarding a situation are strong determinants of an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response to that situation. Social support (SS) may also be involved in resilience to depression. Cohen and Wills (1985) argue that SS promotes wellbeing and acts as a protective factor from stressful situations.

Numerous studies have found an inverse relationship between SS and depression (e.g., Pengilly & Dowd, 2000; Raffaelli et al., 2012). Previous research demonstrates that cognitive inflexibility and negative world beliefs are associated with greater depression in college students (Hokett & Reiland, 2015). Studies have also shown that distinct age groups may experience depression differently (Abela et al., 2004). Thus, we also included a pilot study that consisted of 15 older adults from local day centers. We collected data from the college student sample using online surveys. We created a questionnaire to collect basic demographic information; used the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS; Freeston et al., 1994) and World Assumptions Scale (WAS; Janoff-Bulman, 1989) to measure cognitive flexibility; the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) to determine SS levels; and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) to measure depression. Data collection for the older adult sample consisted of interviews with a modified questionnaire that assessed the same variables. We found that the majority of college students maintained relatively high WAS scores and low IUS scores, indicating more positive beliefs about the world and flexible thinking. Older adults also reported positivity about the world, but they expressed neutral to positive tolerances for uncertainty. Both groups indicated high levels of SS. Depression was considerably low in both the college students and older adults. SS and cognitive variables significantly predicted depression and explained 35.8% of variation in BDI scores in the student participants [F (3, 234) = 42.95, p < .001, R2 = .358]. Lower scores on the MSPSS predicted greater depression (b = -.156, p < .01). However, cognitive variables were stronger predictors of depression than SS. Higher intolerance of certainty (b = .344, p < .001) and more negative world assumptions (b = -.340, p < .001) were the strongest predictors of depression. Additionally, indirect bootstrapping results confirmed that both the IUS (point of estimate -.0374; CI: -.0869 to -.0030) and WAS (point of estimate -.1216; CI: .1855 to -.0709) partially mediated the relationship between SS and depression. Based on descriptive statistics, the older adultsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; responses generally reflected neutral to positive thoughts and high levels of SS, suggesting that SS may be particularly important in this population. Thus, we supported our hypothesis that cognitive factors are more strongly related to depression than social factors. We partially supported the hypothesis that cognitive factors explain the relationship between SS and depression. This study suggests that SS may be associated with cognitive flexibility, especially involving the way in which an individual perceives his or her external environment. Further, the older adult descriptive data demonstrates that older populations may benefit more from social factors than cognitive factors. Future research should continue investigating variables that affect cognitive flexibility and other resilience factors in different populations because experiences with depression may differ between age groups (Abela et al., 2004). This study is limited by its cross-sectional design and therefore cannot not determine the direction of the variables. However, understanding protective methods from depression in different populations could be helpful to individualize and improve therapy.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

44

Social Media and the Fading Affect Bias Horowitz, K., Singleton, C., Banks, R., Dunlap, S., Wilson, K., Lewis, T., Brown., H., Darugar, E., Thomas, T., Davis. S., Nierle, H., Shriver, L., Dearce, N., Bouldin, B., & Aberman, T. Christopher Newport University Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Gibbons There is previous research (Walker et al., 1997) that has shown that emotions that are related to unpleasant events fade more quickly than emotions that are related to pleasant events. This phenomenon is known as the Fading Affect Bias (FAB). Murray (1999) found that individuals tend to generate positive illusions of their imperfect romantic partners in order to maintain relationship satisfaction. This study examined Fading Affect Bias applied to social media related events. Participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; internet use and addiction was studied as well as their fading affect for pleasant and unpleasant events involving social media compared to pleasant and unpleasant events not involving social media. The participants used included undergraduate students at Christopher Newport University between the ages of eighteen and twenty five years old. The participants were asked to complete a series of questionnaires as well as self-report average hours spent online for each day in a typical week. Questionnaires included the Big Five Personality Test, Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, Internet Addiction Test, Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire, and the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. Participants were then asked to list two pleasant and unpleasant events associated with their social media activities as well as two pleasant and unpleasant events that occurred outside of their social media activities. The order of the event types that were asked for was randomized to control for any effects caused by a specific order. The questionnaires were labeled ABCD, BCDA, CDAB, or DABC to be distributed randomly. Participants were then asked to provide brief descriptions and dates of the initial event. Participants also provided a rating of their initial and current affect for each event, ranging from -3 (very unpleasant) to 3 (very pleasant). In addition, participants were asked to report when they felt an initial change in affect as well as when the change stabilized. All questionnaires were administered during a single session. Those participants who self-report high social media show larger FAB for social media events than for non-social media events.

The participants who self-report low social media show larger FAB for non-social media events than for social media events. Fading affect (FA) was larger for unpleasant events than for pleasant events, p < .001. FA was larger for social media events than for non-social media events, p = .013. The Initial Event Affect x Event Type interaction was statistically significant, p = .001, such that the FAB was larger for nonsocial media events than it was for social media events.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

45

The Effects of Media Exposure to Sports Aggression on College Students’ Levels of Aggression Hughs, H. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: Celeste Gaia Studies suggest that the culture of sport may be a predictor of aggression in some athletes (Mutz, 2012; Timmerman, 2007). For instance, a sport such as hockey consistently allows violence, resulting in more fights than many other sports. Baseball has a culture that allows for more subtle aggression, like sliding into players to knock the ball loose or purposefully hitting a batter with a pitch. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1977) states that individuals, especially children, learn and mimic the behaviors of others regardless of the perceived favorability of the characters (Bandura & Huston, 1961). This theory may be applied to the realm of sports in that participants who witness aggressive behaviors may learn to act more aggressively, especially in environments where aggression is positively reinforced. While athletes may experience greater levels of aggression due to the culture of sport, non-athlete viewers of sports aggression may also experience increased aggression (Anderson, Carnagey & Eubanks, 2003; Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011). In addition, studies have found that, in general, men are more aggressive than women (Archer, 2004; Bushman, 1995; Rohner, 2009). Evidence supports this finding across cultures and demographics (Rohner, 2009). The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of media exposure of sports aggression on levels of aggression in college students. I hypothesized that (H1) participants exposed to sports aggression through a video clip would report higher levels of aggression than individuals who were not exposed to sports aggression. I also hypothesized that (H2) men would report higher levels of aggression than women. Participants (N = 78; women n = 48, men n = 30) were undergraduates; 27% identified themselves as NCAA athletes (17 women and 5 men).

Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups or a control group. The experimental groups each viewed a video compilation of five sporting scenes with the only difference between the two experimental groups being the order of the sporting scenes, which was counterbalanced to control for positioning effects. Results from a pilot study showed that participants (N = 27) judged these scenes as aggressive. After viewing the video, participants completed the Anderson Word-Completion Task (Anderson et al., 2003) and the Buss-Perry Aggression Scale (Buss & Perry, 1992). The Word Completion Task consists of word stems that can be completed as aggressive or nonaggressive. For instance, the stem “K I _ _” could be completed as either “KILL” or “KISS.” The Buss-Perry measures four dimensions of aggression: physical, verbal, anger, and hostility. The control group did not view the video, but did complete the measures of aggression. A t-test indicated a significant difference between the experimental (M = 13.97, SD = 3.18) and control groups (M = 11.69, SD = 3.50) on verbal aggression, partially confirming H1, t (69) = -2.88, p = .006). These results suggest that visual exposure to sports aggression may increase verbal aggression in viewers, at least in the short-term. H2 was also partially confirmed, as men indicated higher levels of verbal aggression than women. Secondary analyses indicated that NCAA athletes reported higher levels of anger and physical aggression when compared to non-NCAA participants. This suggests that NCAA athletes may be more aggressive than non-athletes and more likely to become angry or manifest their aggression physically. The majority of the NCAA athletes in the study were women, suggesting that participation in sports may be a better predictor of aggression than gender. Overall, results provide insight into how viewing sports aggression may increase verbal aggression. Findings have implications for the consequences of viewing sports aggression and how viewing such aggression can influence select dimensions of aggressive behaviors (i.e., verbal aggression) but not others (i.e., physical, anger, hostility). Future studies should explore the role of trait aggression in reactions to viewing aggression in sports.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

46

Secure Attachment and Self-Esteem as Interacting Determinants of Preadolescents’ Externalizing and Internalizing Problems.

Irvine, T. & Aults, C. Florida Atlantic University Faculty Sponsor: Dave Perry, PhD At all stages of development, securely attached children show better psychological adjustment compared to children designated as insecurely attached. In conjunction with this view, it has been the prevailing theory that children branded as securely attached suffer less emotional challenges and face the world with confidence. However, there is not much available data to identify the other factors (apart from attachment style) that influence a child’s overall behavior. While secure and insecure attachment patterns have been shown to produce predictable associations, it is likely that there are other factors that act in combination with attachment styles to influence behavior such as self-esteem or prosocial behavior. Selfesteem has been shown to predict positive outcomes such as peer acceptance, academic improvement, and physical health (Harter, 2006), while prosocial behavior has been found to increase agentic and communal behavior among school-aged children (Eisenberg & Mussen, 1989). In this study, we set forth hypotheses to determine which variables would interact to produce a substantial effect on internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Externalizing problems, such as aggression and disruptiveness, and internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety, pose a fundamental risk to a child’s overall development, thus impeding healthy adjustment. For our hypothesis, we will probe interactions between self-esteem, prosocial behavior, and secure attachment to determine if a certain combination will lead to a reduction in externalizing and internalizing behaviors over time. We suggest that the combination of either high self-esteem or high prosocial behavior and secure attachment will forecast a decrease in externalizing and internalizing behaviors over the school year. Participants were 407 children (mean age 11.1 years; 213 girls) from the southeastern United States. Secure and insecure attachment styles were measured using the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ), which was adapted by Yunger, Corby, & Perry (2005) from Finnegan, Hodges, & Perry’s (1996) original scale. They were self-report questionnaires that revealed each child’s perception of their mother and their relationship with them.

Participants decided which kind of children they resembled more based on scenarios provided by the questionnaire. They then indicated whether this choice was "sort of true" or "very true" for them. An example of a measurement of felt security is, “some kids feel like their mom really understands them, but other kids feel like their mom does not really understand them.” Self-esteem is measured by Harter’s Global Self-Worth scale (1985). An example of a question measuring self-esteem is, “some kids are often unhappy with themselves, but other kids are pretty pleased with themselves.” Externalizing, Internalizing and Prosocial behaviors were measured with peer-nomination inventories. Children in each class were asked to nominate classmates who displayed certain characteristics of each behavior. For Externalizing behaviors, children were asked whether a classmate was “mean to other kids.” For Internalizing behaviors, children were asked whether a classmate “looked sad often.” For Prosocial behaviors, children were asked whether a classmate “helped other kids with problems.” Scaled scores for each child were calculated based on nominations. Longitudinal hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the hypothesis that the combination of secure attachment and high self-esteem interacts to reduce internalizing and externalizing behaviors over time. Following procedures recommended by Aiken and West (1991), results revealed that secure attachment was positively associated with reducing externalizing for children with high self-esteem (β = -.12, p = .045). Secure attachment was also positively associated with reducing internalizing behaviors for children with high self-esteem (β = -.12, p = .051).

These findings suggest that the combination of high self-esteem and secure attachment leads to a reduction in internalizing and externalizing behaviors over time. Thus, high self-esteem and secure attachment appear to be beneficial for children’s adjustment in interactive ways, more than just the independent contribution of each variable. Perhaps, self-esteem functions to maintain the benefits of a secure attachment that translates into positive experiences with peers.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

47

An Exploration of Personality, Gender, and Perception of Undergraduate Field of Study Jay, A., Pratt, K., & Calvert, S. Brevard College Faculty Sponsor: Dan Moore It is important for teachers and students alike to understand what makes college a valued and successful experience. Personality has been shown to be an important influence in many aspects of life. This study was designed with the intention to explore the relationship between a student’s choice of major and their personality. Several measurement scales were used along with specific target questions. A sample of forty-three students (male-20, female-23) were surveyed using the Scale of Interpersonal Cynicism (SIC), the Costa and McCrae Big Five personality scale (Costa and McCrae, NEO-PI), as well as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin, 1985). Target questions included questions on students’ interest in their major, whether they believed their personality influenced their decisions, their own interest in their major, and whether they planned to continue to graduate school following college. The target questions were scaled using a seven point Likert-type scale ranging from 1disagree completely to 7-agree completely. Using a one-way ANOVA a main effect was found that showed that males are more likely to agree that their major has nothing to do with their own interests than females (M = 2.90, SD = 2.29 vs. M = 1.57, SD = .78), F(1, 43) = 6.89, (p = .012). Males are also shown to be more likely to agree that they are planning to go to graduate school (M = 1.70, SD = .47 vs. M = 1.29, SD = .46), F(1, 39) = 8.08, (p = .007). There was a significant correlation between GPAs and personality influencing their decision, r(34) = .455 (p < .01). Those with higher GPAs also tend to find it easier to relate to the material they study, r(34) = .514 (p < .01). A significant correlation showed that those who find it easy to relate to the material they study in college tend to see themselves working in the field they are studying, r(43) = .457 (p < .01). The correlations also showed that those who find it easy to relate to the material they study in college are more likely to say they cannot see themselves studying any other topic than what they are studying, r(43) = .437 (p < .01). The initial results of this study have shown that a student who is able to relate to the field they are studying is more likely to identify with and see the future in what they are studying. These finding along with the others show the likelihood that a student's perception of their place in a field of study can be found in correlation to their success in that field.

Continued study may show more ways in which undergraduate study is related to personality as well as the relationship between students’ satisfaction with their field of study and their success in college. Data collection will be continued.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

48

Antisocial Personality Disorder and Adolescent Aggression: Does it Continue into Adulthood?

Jones, R. Cumberland University Faculty Sponsor: Jenny Mason Determining ways to predict Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is highly advantageous to the psychological community. A plethora of studies have been conducted over varying facets of the disorder in an attempt to ascertain which better predict an ASPD outcome. Those facets include gender, time of onset, behavior, co-morbidity, and childhood risk factors. Moffitt (1993) described a developmental taxonomy regarding time of onset and behavior subtypes. Early onset refers to antisocial behaviors that begin in childhood and persist throughout life. Adolescent onset refers to antisocial behaviors that begin and end in adolescence. In regard to behavior subtypes, aggression specific behaviors are most commonly associated with early onset, whereas rule-breaking behaviors are related to adolescent onset.

According to Moffitt (1993), early onset type is most predictive of ASPD. Conversely, adolescent onset could be developmentally and behaviorally normative. The current research addresses two questions: are aggression-specific behaviors prevalent in adolescence and do they continue into adulthood. IN the current study, it will be shown that aggressive behaviors, which peak in adolescence, will then disappear in adulthood, suggesting that adolescent behaviors are developmentally normative and not indicative of ASPD. The method of assessment includes two questionnaires, the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale (Farrell, Danish, & Howard, 1992) and the Buss-Perry Aggression Scale (Buss & Perry, 1992), both of which are self-report questionnaires intended to assess aggressive tendencies and problematic behaviors. The participant pool is made up of 40 young adult students from a small southwestern college in the United States. All participants are male, full-time students and at least 18 years old. Ethnic diversity will be lower with this sample as participants in the college of study are largely Caucasian. The assessment will take place in a typical classroom setting, creating a typical convenience sample for a study of this magnitude. Participants will be providing data on both current and past performance as the Problem Behavior Frequency scale will be answered based on behaviors expressed in adolescence, while the Buss-Perry Aggression Scale will be answered based on current behaviors in adulthood. It is expected that there will be a strong indirect relationship between aggression and delinquent behaviors in adolescence and aggression/delinquent behaviors in adulthood. The primary limitation for the current study is that of the time restraints, which somewhat limits the sample size and demographics. It would be desirable to have a much larger sample size if in fact significant findings are found. This research, therefore, is likely one that will be further replicated with further samples in order to diversify the research findings. Testing instruments for the current study were obtained through internet and library database searches. Future studies regarding this subject matter would benefit from a larger selection of available testing instruments. Specific findings will be provided pending the conclusion of this study and can be found on the accompanying research presentation poster.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Differences in EEG Patterns Between Concussed and Non-concussed College Students Keeler, M., Roll, B., Ford, C., & Oliveria, A. Campbell University Faculty Sponsor: Jutta Street Concussions can play a significant role in problems athletes face during and possibly after their active careers. Many individuals do not understand the effects of concussions on the brain, but due to increased attention to the potentially serious problems associated with concussions, players, coaches, and leagues involved with contact sports recently have started paying more attention to this issue, as have researchers. Previous research has shown that post-concussion symptoms persist for long periods of time after the injury (Slobounov, 2012; Stern, 2011). In some cases, the symptoms have been lifethreatening. Football injuries, in particular, have been receiving a lot of attention because of the nature of the game. They not only give and take big hits during a game, but also they take hits every day leading up to the game, in practice. Though research is currently increasing, the questions still remain. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between the brainwaves of concussed and nonconcussed collegiate football players and individuals who are not athletes. Our research questions were: (1) Will EEG patterns of concussed and non-concussed student-athletes show significant differences? (2) Will the EEG patterns of non-athletes show significant differences for the EEG patterns of non-concussed athletes? A convenience sample of 22 undergraduate students was recruited. There were 14 football players (of whom 5 had at least one diagnosis of concussion); 8 individuals were non-athletes (of this group, none had a previous diagnosis of concussion). After providing consent, participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; brain waves were recorded during individual sessions. At the beginning of the sessions, participants were given one of the pre-screening surveys. There were two forms of the pre-screening surveyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one form for the athletes, which asked for football background and incidence of concussion and one form for the non-athletes, which only asked about incidence of concussion. After completing the survey, the participants were fitted with an electroencephalograph (EEG) cap which measured their brainwave activity while participants watched a 5-minute video of a beach scene with ocean sounds. This activity was intended to induce a calm state. After completion of preliminary procedure and baseline recordings, groups were randomly divided and half were asked to stand with their eyes open during the 5-minute EEG recording while the other half was asked to stand with their eyes closed during the recording. After completion of the EEG measure, participants were debriefed. This study focused on Theta, Alpha, Beta1, Beta2, and Delta waves. The data showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the brainwaves of athletes and non-athletes. Only Alpha waves showed an interesting difference with athletes (M = 10.31, SD = .934) and non- athletes (M = 9.56, SD = .624), t(20) = 2.02, p = .057. A univariate ANOVA, performed on the athlete subgroup, suggested notable differences in Delta waves of athletes who had and had not been diagnosed with concussions, F(1,19) = 3.99, p = .060. We found no statistically significant differences between participants with their eyes open or closed. Even though our data were not statistically significant, this study pointed to some interesting brain wave patterns which were partially confirmed in comprehensive brain maps (images will be included on poster). More research needs to be done in order not only to gain more knowledge about the effects of concussions, but also to learn more about how the different brainwaves are affected by trauma even if it has not been diagnosed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Predicting Role Overload: Job Involvement, Work Stress, Work Hours, and Families Kiesling, A. & Alexander, D. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Jennifer Hughes Role overload can have many detrimental effects on employees, such as job dissatisfaction, lack of organizational commitment, and an overall negative psychological health. Most people experience role overload because they are involved in many different areas of life. Being a parent, employee, volunteer, or student is just a handful of many roles people experience. Employees, in particular, can experience high role overload. Having a career is a prominent area for many people and it can easily spill over into other areas of life. Some aspects of being an employee might cause higher role overload than others, such as job involvement, work stress, work hours, and families. Identifying what aspects are more detrimental to role overload will allow employees to decide why they are experiencing role overload and how they could possibly change it. A total of 663 employees completed this study, 498 were female and 165 were male. The age ranged from 18 to over 66 with the majority (37.5%) falling between the ages 18–25. Each participant lived in the United States and the majority of the participants had a Bachelor’s degree (40.4%) or a Master’s degree (25.4%). Participants in this study ranged from working 1 to more than 100 hours per week. The majority of participants (43%) worked 41 – 60 hours per week. To be considered for this study, participants had to be at least 18 years old and be a paid employee.

Employees were recruited using e-mail and social media. Participants were asked to complete a survey that asked for information about demographics (i.e. families, work hours, work stress) and employment (i.e., job involvement and role overload). Participation in this study was voluntary, but those who participated were given a chance to win 1 of 6 $50 Amazon gift cards. A linear multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate if job involvement, work hours, work stress, and families predicted role overload and each of the listed variables were statistically significant in predicting role overload, R2 = .21, p < .001. Job involvement, work hours, work stress, and having children predicted role overload.

However, some variables were stronger predictors than others. Job involvement was less statistically significant in predicting role overload, suggesting that job involvement does not have a huge effect on employees and their role overload. Work hours, work stress, and children all have strong statistical significance, suggesting these variables have a greater effect on employees and their role overload.

Although job involvement has less significance, the results provide evidence that each variable predicts role overload. Knowing what factors contribute to role overload can be useful for employees for many reasons. Learning about what predicts role overload is the first step to avoiding role overload.

Employees can make changes in their daily routine to decrease role overload and increase psychological health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Employees can start by working fewer hours, taking on less job tasks, creating a more positive work environment, or creating a role system within the family. This study provides evidence for employees that role overload is detrimental and specific areas that can create positive change it. Another beneficial application of this study can be beneficial for mangers or employees in leadership positions and their team. Although role overload might not affect these types of employees directly, it is important keep in mind that other employees on the team or in the office might be experiencing role overload. Some employees might not be able to identify their own role overload, so having upper level employees aware of what can predict role overload and the consequences that accompanied it can be helpful for the team overall. In conclusion, role overload is an important aspect to many people, especially employees. Researching more on role overload will help create a more positive job and life satisfaction. Each role is just as important as the next and being in control of one’s role overload will allow each person to receive the benefits of each role and not the consequences. Identifying the predicators of role overload will ultimately make life better for each person who experiences it.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Creationist Reasoning Mediates Relationship Between Intuitive Thinking and Knowledge of Evolution Klosson, C. College of Charleston Faculty Sponsor: Stephen Short Presently, the theory of evolution faces a considerable amount of criticism as well as denial by many individuals, notably in the United States. The U.S. is ranked 33rd in an examination of 34 prominent countries across the world for public acceptance of evolution (Miller, Scott, & Okamoto, 2006). Evolution is usually avoided by high school instructors (Berkman & Plutzer, 2011) and only receives a small percentage of instructional time during the school year (Rutledge & Mitchell, 2002). Moreover, in New York, nearly half of the teachers supported instructional time devoted to creationism (Nehm, Kim, & Sheppard, 2009). Resistance to scientific conclusions, including the theory of evolution, has been associated with one’s intuitive thinking (Gervais, 2015), which refers to quick heuristic responses, or “gut” feeling. Given this past research, one’s intuitive thinking may predict creationist beliefs. The current study examined if creationist reasoning mediated the relationship between intuitive thinking and knowledge of evolution. A sample (N = 116) of adults (M = 33.92 years old, SD = 9.35) from the United States was collected through the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk (i.e., MTurk). The sample consisted of 57 women and 59 men and the most common levels of education were a four-year college (39%), some college (19%), a two-year college degree (16%), and completing high school (15%). The sample was predominantly white (78%), African American (8.62%), and Asian (7.76%). Participants completed an online survey which included questionnaires measuring Intuitive Thinking (Pacini & Epstien, 1999; α = 0.95) Creationist Reasoning and Knowledge/Relevance of Evolution (Short & Hawley, 2012; α = 0.89 & 0.81, respectively) on 7-point Likert scales where higher scores indicated higher levels of the measured construct. Intuitive Thinking was a significant predictor of Creationist Reasoning (β = 0.33, p < .001), and Creationist Reasoning was a significant predictor of Knowledge/Relevance of Evolution (β = 0.65, p < .001). To test if Intuitive Thinking indirectly affected (i.e., mediated) Knowledge/Relevance of Evolution through Creationist Reasoning, the indirect effect was calculated by multiplying the above two regression coefficients. The Sobel test revealed the calculated indirect effect of -0.21, was significant (p < .001) and a 95% confidence interval was calculated using the recommended bias-corrected bootstrap approach (see Hayes, 2013) with 5,000 replications. The 95% confidence interval for the indirect effect [0.32, -0.11] did not contain 0, indicating that Creationist Reasoning significantly mediated the relationship between Intuitive Thinking and Knowledge/Relevance of Evolution. When the mediator, Creationist Reasoning, was present, Intuitive Thinking did not significantly predict Knowledge/Relevance of Evolution (β = -0.06, p =.22). These results indicate that individuals with higher levels of intuitive thinking style were more likely to agree with creationist beliefs, and in turn, know less about the theory of evolution. Although past research has highlighted intuitive thinking negatively predicting acceptance of evolution (Gervais, 2015), these results suggest the link between intuitive thinking and acceptance of evolution may be due to the effect intuitive thinking has on one’s acceptance of creationism. Researchers and educators interested in increasing individuals’ knowledge and acceptance of evolution may first want to address one’s intuitive thinking style and its potential link to creationist reasoning.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Does Committing to One Pro-Environmental Behavior Spill Over to Others?

Law, N. & Yeung, K. Georgia State University Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Turner Raging wildfires, massive hurricanes, fisheries collapses, and severe droughts are just a few of the major global environmental problems currently facing our world. Few resources are available to change behavior that causes environmental problems, so solutions that can increase the performance of multiple pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) would be greatly beneficial. Such strategies rely on positive spillover – where performance of one PEB increases the likelihood of performing similar, subsequent PEBs (Thøgersen & Olander, 2003). Individuals who see themselves as environmentalists are more likely to perform a multitude of PEBs and are theoretically more likely to display positive PEB spillover (Truelove, Carrico, Weber, Raimi, & Vandenbergh, 2014). Most people report having high environmental identities, making it difficult to further strengthen identity (Van der Werff, Steg, & Keizer, 2013) However, identity has been found to be more predictive of behavior when a commitment is made (Burke & Reitzes, 1991), because making a commitment increases the salience of environmental identity, leading people to behave in line with their identity. Research has found that public commitments (McKenzie-Mohr & Schultz, 2014) and specific (vs. general) commitments (Lokhorst, Werner, Staats, van Dijk, & Gale, 2011) are most effective for increasing PEBs. However only one study has investigated the effect of commitment on PEB spillover and this study had mixed results (Baca-Motes, Brown, Gneezy, Keenan, & Nelson, 2012). Furthermore, most research on PEB spillover has been cross-sectional making it difficult to test effects on future behaviors. We are testing whether there is a difference between making a publicspecific commitment, a public-general commitment, or making no commitment to perform an initial PEB (PEB1; reduce shower times) on spillover to another PEB (PEB2; support for an on-campus green fund) one week later. We expect that the likelihood for positive spillover is higher for individuals who make a commitment versus those who make no commitment at all, and for individuals who make a specific versus and a general commitment. We have developed a two-part experiment. During the first session, participants will complete a survey measuring environmental identity and other environmental attitude measures. They will also be presented with an opportunity to perform PEB1: commit to reducing shower time by 20% (public-specific), commit to reducing shower time (public-general), or asked if they would track their shower times (no commitment). Both commitments are public: participants’ names and commitment levels will be published in the university newspaper. Participants will be instructed to log their daily shower times using a provided shower timer and record log. One week later, all participants will return to the lab to provide their shower times for the previous week and complete an additional survey that reassesses environmental identity. Participants will also be presented with PEB2, their support for an on campus green fund on a scale from 1(strongly oppose) – 7(strongly support). Data collection will begin during Winter 2015/16 and results will be analyzed before the conference. We will run a one-way between-subjects ANOVA (with Tukey’s HSD posthoc tests) to compare the mean differences among the three levels of commitment (specific, general, none) on support for the green fund. Our project adds to the existing literature in multiple ways. First, using a commitment manipulation to elicit PEB spillover contributes to a novel research approach. Second, measuring the potential spillover from PEB1 to PEB2 over a period of time is rarely done in the field, but is important to mimic real world spillover. Finally, commitment interventions are relatively inexpensive strategies, so finding spillover from a commitment to PEB1 onto PEB2, could be very useful for PEB campaign designers.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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On the Stability Ball: Decreasing Self-Stimulating Behaviors in Children with Autism Lynch, E & Braley, A. Florida Southern College Faculty Sponsor: Leilani Goodmon Children with autism often engage in self-stimulating behaviors (i.e., “stimming”), which can include repetitive, rigid actions (movements, sounds, etc.) that interfere with attention, learning, and completing daily life activities (Koegel & Covert, 1972). Thus, it is important to explore techniques that might reduce these problem behaviors. There is some evidence that sensory modulation techniques, such as sitting on stability balls might improve the attention and behavior of children with autism. For example, Schilling and Schwartz (2004) found that children with autism exhibited an improvement in in-seat behavior, engagement, and responsiveness and a decrease in drooling while sitting on the stability balls. They suggested that children with autism are low in engagement, attention, and appropriate behaviors because their brains handle sensory information differently and are less adaptive and so stability balls provide them with the appropriate stimulation needed to maintain an optimal level of arousal. Others have replicated the behavioral benefit of stability balls in other samples of children with attention problems, including ADHD and dyslexia (Goodmon, Leverett, Royer, Hilliard, Tedder, & Rakes, 2014; Fedewa & Erwin, 2011). However most research in this field, including research on children with autism, has been done in a classroom setting. Thus, it is unclear whether the behavioral benefits found in previous studies will generalize to an applied behavioral therapy center setting. Additionally, although there is evidence of improved engagement and attention in students with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism, there are no published studies on the effect of stability balls on reducing self-stimulatory behaviors in children with autism.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine if the behavioral and attention benefit from using stability balls in place of regular chairs in the classroom can be replicated in children with autism and whether the behavioral benefit generalizes to a reduction in self-stimulating behaviors in the context of an applied behavioral therapy center. The study formed a repeated measures design with switching replications. Over the course of six weeks, we recorded the “stimming” behavior of three children, with a formal diagnosis of autism, as they received behavioral therapy. We collected this data during a baseline period (while they were seated on normal chairs), an acclimation period (while they were getting acclimated to sitting on the ball), an intervention period (while they sat on the ball), and a postintervention period (while they were seated on normal chairs). All children were taught how to use the ball correctly to avoid any risk. The baseline and acclimation period each lasted a week while the intervention lasted three weeks and the post-intervention lasted one week. During several 30-minute therapy sessions we measured the frequency and duration of the children’s problematic behaviors. Results reveal two of the three children exhibited a decrease in self-stimulating behaviors while on the balls compared to the baseline period. The current results imply that certain children benefit from use of the balls perhaps by increasing attention and focus, while decreasing restlessness with less of a need to engage in selfstimulating behaviors. The results will be discussed in terms of each child’s progress through the research project and if it is beneficial to them in relation to their individual self-stimulating behaviors.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Social Media Use and Relationships Mayers, S. & Richardson, T. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Tara Collins Social media appears to be a popular form of communication between young adults on college campuses (Hampton, 2011). Researchers, Barber and Cooper (2013) found that often during relationship conflicts, young adults find themselves looking for a coping outlet such as rebound sex. We aimed to explore the use of social media to seek out rebound sex among young adults. We hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between how often participants reported using social media sites (SMS) or public venues (e.g., going to a bar) and how likely they would be to use that SMS or public venues to seek out rebound sex. We also hypothesized that participants would use SMS more than public venues to seek out rebound sex. To test the hypotheses we created an online survey with four questionnaires completed by 115 participants, including men (10%) and women (83%) over the age of 18 years (63% were 18-21), most of whom were students from a Southeastern University. Most of the participants identified themselves as Caucasian (69%), 17% identified as African American, and 13% identified themselves with another race. The questionnaires included Likert-type questions, asking participants about their usage of different SMS and public venues and how likely they would be to use each to seek out rebound sex. We tested the hypothesis by examining the pearson correlations between specific social media sites and public venues with their related question regarding how likely they would be to use that particular outlet to seek out rebound sex. We found that there was a significant positive relationship between how often participants reported using social networking sites, r (n = 112) = .19, p < .05, messaging apps, r (n = 106) = .48, p < .05 and hookup sites/apps, r (n = 98) = .44, p < .05 with how likely they would be to use that SMS to seek out rebound sex. This finding partially supported our hypothesis. We also calculated the means of the likelihood participants would be to use social media and public venues and then compared the means using a paired samples t-test. Respondents were significantly more likely to use public venues (M = 2.30) than SMS (M = 1.56) to seek out rebound sex, t (102) = -7.40, p < .0 5. This was the opposite of our hypothesis. The present findings expanded on Barber and Cooperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research on reasons people seek out rebound sex. However, our measure and way of asking participants about rebound sex could be improved by adding a lie scale to the survey to reduce participant bias.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Misery Loves Company: Young Adults’ Misery Levels, Best Friends’ Misery, and Authenticity McCoy, J., Copeland, S., & Harnish, F. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Most individuals value happiness as a life goal (Raila, Scholl & Gruber, 2015). Happiness can be obtained through a variety of different methods, such as, having belief in a just world, living in an environment that values positive emotion, or living an authentic life (Bastian, Kuppens & Roover, 2014; Correia, Batista & Lima, 2009; Sariçam, 2015). Happiness also seems to perpetuate itself. For example, the happier individuals are, the more they focus on positive aspects of their environment (Raila, Scholl & Gruber, 2015). Although happiness is a heavily studied topic, misery has not engaged researchers in the same manner. To fill this gap, our study examined how misery, happiness, and authenticity were related; we hypothesized that misery would be negatively correlated to both happiness and authentic living. In addition, we investigated the possibility that miserable people seek the company of other miserable people, hypothesizing that misery loves company. Participants were 80 young adults with a mean age of 22.09 (SD = 6.94), with approximately half of the sample being Caucasian and the remainder representing other ethnicities. We created an Attitudinal Misery Scale based directly on Madanes (2013), an article that described features of highly miserable people. Participants responded to our misery scale, the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), and the Authenticity Scale, consisting of three sub-scales (Wood et. al., 2008). We then asked participants to picture their “best friend” and respond to the misery and happiness scales as if they were answering as the friend. As expected happiness and misery scores were negatively correlated, r(80) = -.72, p < .001. In support of our hypothesis, the more miserable the participants were, the more miserable they reported their best friend as being, r(80) = .56, p < .001, and the less happy they rated their best friend, r(80) = -.35, p < .001. In other words, miserable adults either had similarly unhappy friends or believed their friends were as miserable as they. Age and GPA did not predict participants’ misery levels or those of their friends. We also compared men to women and Caucasian to African-American participants and found that there were no differences between these groups on personal misery/happiness and best friends’ misery/happiness.

Similarly, relationship status did not predict misery or happiness. The more miserable the participants were: the lower their authentic living score, r(80) = -.38, p < .001, the more accepting they were of external influences, r(80) = .42, p < .001, the more they felt self-alienated, r(80) = .64, p < .001, and the less attractive they perceived themselves to be, r(80) = -.31, p = .006. The more miserable participants felt their best friends were: the lower their own authentic living score, r(80) = -.30, p = .006, the more accepting they were of external influences, r(80) = .34, p =.002, and the more they felt self-alienated, r(80) = .45, p < .001. Participants also reported that the more attractive their best friends were, the less miserable those best friends were, r(80) = -.29, p = .01. In sum, these findings suggest that miserable people either associate themselves with other truly miserable people, or inaccurately believe that those around them share their misery. Misery was connected with self-alienation and a lack of authenticity but was not predicted by other individual characteristics. It seems that misery, like happiness, might perpetuate itself. Miserable people had unhealthy perceptions of themselves and created (mental or actual) environments that maintained their unhappiness.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Exploring the Meaning of Marriage as a Function of Sexual Orientation and Ethnicity McKinney, K. Clark Atlanta University Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Medha Talpade This qualitative phenomenological study describes the meaning of marriage within the African American community and explores the differences of the meaning of marriage amongst gay and heterosexual African American males. Within the current judicial decision on same-sex marriages and in the context of social justice (Eeden-Moorefield & Alvarez, 2014; Adler, Hoegman, & West, 2014), this topic is important.

It is also important to conduct research on the meaning of marriage as a function of sexual orientation in the African American community to honor and recognize the moderating role of ethnicity in these relationships. Also, this research is conducted so that any misconceptions about marriages among same and different sex individuals can be dispelled. Past research has investigated the characteristics of marriage among same sex and different sex couples. Results (Whitton, 2015) indicate that same sex couples, who participate in a legal marriage ceremony, have higher levels of commitment in the relationship than those who did not. The meaning of marriage may be moderated by the struggle faced by same sex couples (Haas & Whitton, 2015). Also, research indicates that marriage equality has an impact on the health of same-sex couples (Kail, Acosta, & Wright, 2015). To answer the research question if there is a difference in the meaning of marriage between gay and heterosexual black males, purposive sampling is conducted. The inclusionary criteria for this study are that participants are either gay or heterosexual, African American and male, between the ages of 20-28 years. In-depth interviews of this sample have been conducted. Interview questions include 3 ice-breaker questions followed by exploratory questions and initiating probes. Examples of 11 exploratory questions intended to answer the research questions include: (a) What is your opinion about long term relationships? Imagine a relationship that has lasted for a long timeâ&#x20AC;Ś, (b) Describe the characteristics of long lasting relationships? Think about how these individuals interacted with each other, activities they engaged in, and how they treated each other, (c) Some long term relationships turn into marriages. What is your opinion about marriage in general? (d) Think about a married coupleâ&#x20AC;Ś What do you think is the purpose of marriage?, (e) What are some advantages of marriage?, (f) Think about a married couple who is having challenges/problem in their relationship. What are some of the negative aspects that come from marriages?, (g) Describe your relationship with your most recent partner. Preliminary data from 3 out a total of 10 males has been collected. The interview lasted for about an hour long each. The data will be analyzed by comparing the themes arising from responses. Content analysis of words, space, and themes will help describe the meaning of marriage and if sexual orientation play a role in this meaning formation. The results of the study can be used to increase our understanding of marriage in the gay and heterosexual communities. Also, this may help in the long term, to understand attitudes toward same-sex parenting which may be useful in educational settings or promotions for positive social change.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Applications, Limitations, and Implications of Using the Consensual Qualitative Research Method in Undergraduate Research Meeks, M., Kelly, A., & Ciampaglio, C. Christopher Newport University Faculty Sponsor: Michelle Clark Psychological research is dominated by quantitative studies conducted by postdoctoral professionals and graduate students. This poster, however, will highlight the values and limitations of the Consensual Qualitative Research protocol (CQR), a qualitative method that allows for a high level of involvement for undergraduate researchers. Rather than reporting on findings from the study, this poster provides reflection on and analysis of the methodology itself as a tool for undergraduate research. The protocol involves conducting a series of participant interviews consisting of semi-structured open-ended questions, allowing for in-depth analysis. This process is composed of three steps involving a team of researchers arriving at a consensus on labeling categories (called domains) in the interview data, as well as common themes within those domains (called core ideas), and performing a cross-analysis across cases.

Collaboration promoting multiple perspectives is central to the process of reaching consensus. The poster will describe how elements of this qualitative interview and data analysis protocol were enacted in a research study involving undergraduate research assistants. In our laboratory, the Wellness on Campus Lab at Christopher Newport University, we applied this method to our study of students with military affiliations on a college campus. There is a lack in prior research investigating this population and a resultant question of how this unique affiliation may contribute to their college experience in both positive and negative ways, across academic, support service, and interpersonal domains. Training on the CQR method was conducted over the period of a full academic year. Participants were recruited from the target population via campus advertisements. Data was gathered through in-person interview from a small sample (n = 13), consistent with the recommendations of the CQR models, then transcribed and coded by a team of five researchers. The coding was independently audited by a member of the research team who did not participate in the consensus discussion, and was observed via a one-way mirror by an observation team who provided process comments to the primary team, reflecting a novel addition to the CQR protocol. The CQR format is a rigorous qualitative method that has many possible positive implications to offer in research. Although the usage of this method as an undergraduate research team has beneficial elements, there are also limitations in its use. The process of interviewing, coding, and cross analyzing is a fairly lengthy process. The transition between the two also gives rise to biases among the team, but inter-rater reliability is increased by the implementation of the secondary observation team and external auditor. Suggestions for future undergraduate studies using the CQR method will also be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effect of Clothing on the Perception of a Woman in Church Mooneyham, G. Charleston Southern University Faculty Sponsor: Christina Sinisi When forming perceptions of others at zero acquaintance, people use what is readily available to them, such as facial structure, attire, and age (Albright, Kenny, & Malloy, 1988). When new people come to a church for the first time, the congregation forms perceptions of these people using the same things.

Evangelical Protestants have been shown to be more intolerant of outsiders as seen in their scores on the Baylor Religion Survey (Rhodes, 2012). Rhodes’ research showed that how tight knit the congregation was, the more intolerant of outsiders they were, but only for Evangelical Protestants, not other religions (2012). It has also been shown that men and women form different perceptions even when presented with the same stimulus (Cahoon & Edmonds, 1989). This study will lead to a better understanding for what affects people’s perceptions, specifically in a church setting. In this study, a white female will go into two different churches, one time dressed promiscuously and another time dressed modestly for the researcher to observe how many people, males and females, interact with her and how welcoming they are. It is hypothesized that fewer people will interact with the woman in the Baptist church than the Congregationalist church when she is dressed promiscuously, that more people on average from the Congregationalist church will approach her as opposed to people from the Baptist church however she is dressed, that fewer people will approach her when she is dressed promiscuously as opposed to modestly, that more men will approach the promiscuously dressed woman than women, and that people in the Congregationalist church will be more welcoming. In order to establish that the clothing is either promiscuous or modest, a sample (N = 18) of college students in a Research Methods class took a survey rating a picture of the confederate in her modest outfit and her promiscuous outfit with questions about their age, sex, and race. A paired samples t-test was conducted to compare how promiscuous the confederate’s outfit was in promiscuous and modest conditions. There was a significant difference in the scores for promiscuous (M = 4.06, SD = 0.42) and modest (M = 1.72, SD = 0.75) outfits; t(17) = 10.20, p < 0.05. The participants of this study will be a Baptist Church and a Congregationalist Church both located in South Carolina. The woman will enter each church by herself. The researcher will then enter the church separately and sit behind the woman in order to observe the interactions that happen. The researcher will use a data sheet to record how many males and females approach the woman and how welcoming they are when she is dressed modestly and promiscuously. The church visits will be rotated in the hope that the people will not remember the woman when she comes back again dressed differently. If the hypotheses are supported, it would mean that the clothing one wears directly impacts how people are perceived and treated. In addition, it would mean that gender, clothing, and a person’s denomination affect how a person forms perceptions. Furthermore, it will mean that when people come to a new church, it may be their clothing that makes them seem unapproachable to the congregation. Research will be completed by the time of the conference but was still ongoing at the time of submission.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Yawn Contagion and Empathy in Person and on Video Morris, J. & Simmons, D. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue Although the causes of yawning are still relatively mysterious, contagious yawning, in which an individual yawns in response to the yawn of another, has been linked to empathy by several studies (Norsica & Palagi, 2011; Amici, Aureli, & Call, 2013). Other research, however, contests this conclusion (Bartholomew & Cirulli, 2014). This study further explores the connection between empathy and contagious yawning. Specifically, this study will expand on the existing literature by investigating whether manipulating empathy levels affects seemingly involuntary human behaviors such as yawn contagion. In our experiment, participants will be a convenience sample of college students, who will receive partial course credit in exchange for their participation. They will listen to four scenarios: two stories read by a live model and two stories watched on a prerecorded video. In all scenarios, the model will read a story and yawn at a designated point while the participant is either asked to memorize facts about the story or empathize with a selected character. For the live model scenarios, a confederate will conduct the live reading and yawn at a designated spot in each story. While the stories are being read, the researchers will covertly observe and record the number of yawns by the participants, and only yawns that occur within 2.5 minutes of the stimulus will be counted as yawn contagion responses. Following each story, subjects will be given a questionnaire testing empathy along with three questions about the story to ensure that participants paid attention. Our hypothesis is that empathy is a major factor in yawn contagion, and seeing a live model yawn will elicit more contagious yawning than seeing a recorded model yawn, especially when participants are instructed to empathize with a character in the story. Our independent variables will be the empathy instructions and whether the story is recorded or read live. Our dependent variables will be the number of contagious yawns exhibited by our subjects. Results will be analyzed using a two-way ANOVA, with scores on the empathy test as a covariate. We predict that both viewing the live model and being told to empathize with the character in the story will result in significantly more contagious yawns than the other conditions, whereas viewing the video and being told to memorize facts will result in the least number of contagious yawns. By manipulating empathy instructions, our study will further clarify the role of empathy in contagious yawning.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Alcohol Consumption among Dominant Collegiate Peer Groups Norris, T. Heidelberg University Faculty Sponsor: Traci Stark Toga parties, the misadventures of Van Wilder, and John Landis’s Animal House. All three are synonymous with college life and each play a role in the stereotyping of excessive alcohol consumption among college campuses. While some critics may try to normalize this behavior by attributing excessive alcohol consumption to dominant collegiate groups such as intercollegiate athletes or Greek life, researchers (and campus administration) are often faced with the challenge of understanding why college students engage such self-destructive rates of alcohol consumption.

Past research has contributed much in understanding why the “best four years of your life” are riddled with excessive alcohol consumption. What researchers have found is that there are certain norms that make note of the descriptive norms that these students face when it comes to alcohol consumption (Grossbard, Geisner, Mastroleo, Kilmer, Turrisi, & Larimer, 2009). These descriptive norms refer to the individual’s perception of how much alcohol they think their peers are consuming (Grossbard et al., 2009). Not only do descriptive norms play a factor in understanding collegiate consumption, researchers also pose that an individual’s desire to belong in a dominant peer group may result in increased levels of consumption. This measure is known as one’s need to belong.

Prior results have shown that if a student has a high need to belong (i.e. desire to fit into their peer group) along with a misperception at the amount of alcohol that peer group is consuming, students will increase their own alcohol consumption (Litt, Stock, & Lewis, 2012). The current study seeks to examine the two prominent peer groups on college campuses (intercollegiate athletics or Greek organization) and how the need to belong to these groups, along with misperceived norms, may contribute to their rates of alcohol consumption compared to the general student body. The results of the study showed that Greeks have the highest need to belong (M = 33.55 SD = 4.29) out of the three demographics observed, with Athletes having the second highest level (M = 32.17, SD = 4.61), and general student body member reported the lowest rates of need to belong (M = 32.33, SD = 4.20). However, the difference between the groups was miniscule. Additionally, when asked to describe the drinking rates of students on campus, all three demographics successfully perceived the rates of drinking at the University. Therefore the Hypothesis was not supported. The results of this study disprove the research suggesting that college students misperceive peer drinking levels and that an individual’s need to belong can be used to assess the likely hood of excessive alcohol consumption rates among college students. However, reproduction of this study requires a greater general student body population in order to properly analyze the drinking habits among this dominant collegaite demographic.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Undergraduate Views of a General Education ePortfolio Pittman, R., Nagaisha, M., & Carter, M. Clemson University Faculty Sponsor: Ben Stephens Undergraduates at our university were required to complete a general education eportfolio prior to graduation, but are no longer required to do so. Why the reversal? A large number of students and faculty protested the requirement. Ring and Ramirez (2012) indicated that the eportfolios were initiated as a means to enhance learning, aid in career development, and provide assessment data. However, when we surveyed a sample of graduating students who had completed the general education eportfolio, they indicated that they found little or no value in that activity. The goal of the current study is to examine the extent to which these results are due to students judging some of the learning goals as irrelevant to their major. Preliminary data have been collected from fifty-one undergraduate students in introductory psychology courses. (Our final sample of 150 should be collected and analyzed by Jan 31, 2016) Participants were shown a PowerPoint presentation consisting of general education learning outcome definitions, examples of student “Professional Websites” structural features, and examples of learning goals for specific majors (Psychology, Civil Engineering, and Visual Arts). This Power Point Presentation was designed to help students understand the relevant concepts of our inquiry. They were also prompted to identify which general education learning goals might be central for each of the example majors.

Participants were then asked to imagine that they were going to construct their own “Professional Website”. They were asked to consider “how valuable” it would be for them to display knowledge of learning goals in three different Contexts; their Major -learning goals specific to their major; Gen Ed Central - general education learning goals that were central to their major, and Gen Ed Not Central general education learning goals that were not central to their major. They rated these three types of learning goals for five values on a scale from 1-5 (1=not at all valuable and 5=very valuable): The five values were 1) “help you prepare for a future career”; 2) “develop other life skills”; 3) “accurately display your abilities”; 4) “representation of what you should have learned”; and 5) “overall value”. Preliminary results of a 3(Context) x 5 (Value) dependent measures ANOVA indicate a significant main effects of Type of Learning Goal. Participants rated all values significantly higher for Major and Gen Ed Central to Major compared to Gen Ed Not Central to their major. These results indicate that students see the value of eportfolios when displaying learning goals specific to their major and general education learning goals that are central to their major, but less so when displaying learning goals that are not central to their major. One of the problems with our university’s general education eportfolio requirement may have been that students were required to document general educations learning goals that were not central to their majors. This component of the requirement may have contributed to unpopular views of general education eportfolios among students, and may have contributed to the demise of the eportfolio graduation requirement. Our final data set will be explored to examine trends between different majors, minors, double majors and class rank. We also will discuss extending our research to populations beyond our university’s undergraduate students.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Coping Skills and Dispositional Resilience/Hardiness of Big Sky Conference Track and Field Athletes Polenske, A. & Shuman, K. Idaho State University Faculty Sponsor: Michael Meyers For collegiate track and field athletes, their ability to manage and cope with stressful situations and injuries is crucial for development in their specific events. For these athletes, the inability to handle these situations may impede optimal levels of performance and delay recovery from injury. The ability to cope with challenging situations, however, is often overlooked as a component of training. PURPOSE: To quantify the coping skills and hardiness of Big Sky Conference track and field athletes. METHODS: Following written informed consent, 224 collegiate athletes (93 male, 131 female; mean age 20.1 ± 1.6) completed the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI; Smith et al., 1995): coping with adversity (COPE), peaking under pressure (PEAK), goal setting/mental preparation (GOAL), concentration (CONC), freedom from worry (FREE), confidence and achievement motivation (CONF), coachability (COAC), and personal coping resources (PCR); the Sports Inventory for Pain (SIP; Meyers et al., 1992): direct coping (COP), cognitive (COG), catastrophizing (CAT), avoidance (AVD), body awareness (BOD), and total coping resources (TCR); and the Dispositional Resilience/Hardiness scale (Bartone et al., 1989): commitment (CM), control (CO), challenge (CH), and psychological hardiness (PH). Data were grouped by skill level (conference qualifiers, non-qualifiers), event (track, field), class [lowerclassmen (freshmen, sophomores), upperclassmen (juniors, seniors)], and gender. RESULTS: MANOVAs (Wilks’ Lambda) indicated significant main effects across skill level [F(17,167) = 1.990; P = 0.014], class [F(34,410) = 2.325; P < 0.0001], and gender [F(17,206 = 3.323); P < 0.0001]; but no significant effect across event [F(17,206) = 1.148; P = 0.311]. Univariate analyses (mean ± SEM) indicated a trend for conference qualifiers to respond higher in CONF (9.1 ± 0.2 vs 8.1 ± 0.2) and PCR (54.6 ± 1.1 vs 51.6 ± 1.0), and lower in CAT (10.0 ± 0.3 vs 11.3 ± 0.3) than non-qualifiers, respectively. Lowerclassmen responded higher in COP (28.6 ± 1.5 vs 27.4 ± 2.1) and COG (16.4 ± 0.3 vs 15.2 ± 0.4) than upperclassmen, respectively. Males responded higher in COPE (7.4 ± 0.2 vs 6.3 ± 0.2), PEAK (8.1 ± 0.3 vs 6.1 ± 0.2), CONC (7.9 ± 0.2 vs 6.9 ± 0.2), FREE (6.6 ± 0.3 vs 5.8 ± 0.2), CONF (9.1 ± 0.2 vs 8.1 ± 0.2), and PCR (56.7 ± 1.0 vs 50.7 ± 0.8) than females, respectively. CONCLUSION: Conference qualifiers, lowerclassmen, and males possess stronger coping and hardiness abilities than their respective peers. It is recommended that the coaches incorporate time within their workout routines to conduct coping skills training involving sport psychologists familiar with track and field.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Race Predicts Identification, Stereotyping, and Perception of Black Women’s Hairstyles.

Pope, M. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Previous research has shown that black women whose features more closely align with Eurocentric beauty standards (i.e. lighter skin) are often rated as more attractive (Robinson-Moore, 2008).

Attractiveness usually results in more desirable employment outcomes (Kramer 2007). Although many elements of attractiveness have been studied, hair, which is a sign of racial price and social status in the black community (Thompson, 2009; Weitz, 2001), has not. Thus, we examined whether a black woman’s hairstyle impacted perceptions of her personality and earning potential. Another variable of interest was whether race would predict the perceptions of the hairstyles. We also explored whether identification with one’s race/ethnicity influenced perceptions of the hairstyles. Participants (n = 233) were randomly presented with an image of a black woman with one of four hairstyles (afro, dreadlocks, straight, and curly) and asked to assess the target’s probable occupation and income (based on methodology by Nash et. al, 2006). Her personality was evaluated on dimensions of warmth and competence (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). Once the image was removed, participants were also asked to respond to questions about their own acceptance of stereotyping behavior (Carter, Hall, Carney, & Rosip, 2005). Participants were also asked to respond to the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, Masse, Chen, Roberts, & Romero, 1992) which measured their identification with their own ethnicity/race, and the Skin Tone Scale (Massey & Martin, 2003) where participants matched their own skin tone to a provided scale. Results revealed that race itself, rather than identification with race, was a better predictor of how participants perceived the woman. Black participants found the afro condition to reflect the highest competence levels, while white participants preferred the curly condition, F(3, 195) = 2.54, p = .05. Black participants were more likely to identify with their own race than white participants, t(201) = 6.36, p < .001. Results also suggested that there was a positive relationship between identification with one’s own race and their acceptability of stereotyping behavior, r(238) = .29, p < .001. (It might be helpful to note that this scale did not measure discrimination or prejudice but rather the idea that certain characteristics might apply more to some groups than other groups.) There was also a positive relationship between identification with one’s own race and participant self-esteem, r(237) = .25, p < .001. The findings of this study support previous research that suggests that black participants are more likely to identify with their own race because of their outgroup status according to social identity theory (Amiot & Sansfaçon, 2011). Although identification with one’s one race did not predict perceptions of the woman’s personality or earning potential, race itself did predict perceptions of competence associated with the hairstyles. The participants’ judgments may have reflected stereotypes. Our results also indicated that the more closely aligned participants were with a particular group of people, the more appropriate they felt it was to attribute global characteristics to that group. These findings provide new evidence to suggest that hair may be yet another factor in cross-race perceptions and expectations.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Effects of Hairstyle on Perceptions of Black Women’s Competence and Career: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis Pope, M. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh An extensive body of research reveals that features that align with Eurocentric beauty standards (i.e. lighter skin, longer hair) are considered to be more attractive in black women (Capodilupo, 2015; Robinson-Moore, 2008). Attractiveness is an important variable because observers use it to predict personality and earning potential (Kramer, 2007; Sheppard, Goffin, Lewis, & Olson, 2011). For example, women perceived as attractive were believed to have greater earning potential and more prestigious jobs (Nash, Fieldman, Hussey, Lévêque, & Pineau, 2006). Although previous research has examined multiple factors related to black women’s attractiveness, specific hairstyles have not been explored. Thus, the current study examined whether the hairstyle of a black woman would influence perceptions of her personality and earning potential. Participants in the first study were 105 men and 128 women. The mean age was 22.16 (SD = 5.24), with an equal number of Caucasian and non-Caucasian participants.

We modified an image of a black woman, age 35, by incorporating one of four hairstyles: dreadlocks, straight hair, curly hair, and an afro. While viewing one randomly generated photograph, participants assessed the target individual’s competence (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002), as well as her earning potential and her likely career (methodology based on Nash et al, 2006). On 5-point scales, participants found all four women to be moderately attractive, 3.55 (SD = .78); professional, 3.73 (SD = .82); and to have an earning potential that matched the national average, 3.22 (SD = .67). We ran a 2 (gender) X 4 (condition) ANOVA and found no significant difference on the women’s competence ratings. However, another 2 X 4 ANOVA showed an interaction between race and condition for competence, F(3, 195) = 2.54, p = .05. Post-hoc analysis revealed that black participants rated the afro condition as most competent and the dreadlock condition as least competent. White participants rated the curly condition as most and the afro condition as least competent. Participants ranked three jobs that the woman was likely to hold, each representing a different SES: administrative assistant, company director, and professor. The curly condition was more likely to be perceived as the company director than any other condition, while the other conditions were most likely to be perceived as secretaries, F(3, 232) = 3.60, p =.01. For the second phase of this study, we are conducting qualitative interviews with black and white young adults using standardized questions that ask participants to guess what we found in the previous study and then after revealing the results, to tell us why they believe we got those specific results. Preliminary findings indicate young adults, of both races, expected hairstyle to matter. In addition, participants anticipated both gender and race differences. When actual results were revealed to them, black participants associated the afro, a natural hairstyle, with Afrocentricity and black self-awareness and thus perceived it positively.

White participants also seemed to associate the afro hairstyle with black self-awareness but interpreted it in a more negative light. Black participants also suggested that results may have been even more dramatic if the presented image had darker skin. In sum, these findings provide evidence that hair is another factor driving perceptions and expectations of black women. These perceptions also depend on the observer’s race and may reflect unique cultural influences.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Ethnocentrism and Cynicism Relative to Use of Force and its Effect on Public Perception Pratt, K., Jay, A., & Calvert, S. Brevard College Faculty Sponsor: Dan Moore As law enforcement continues to show up in the mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spotlight with a lot of focus on the proper use of force, a question arises as to the public perception of appropriate behavior from police. Initial research has been collected from surveying forty-three college students (male-20, female-23) using basic demographic questions and target questions on a 7 point Likert-type scale. These questions focused on belief in police use of force and weapons both in general and towards citizens acting out, as well as if police are helpful and receive proper training. The survey also used the Scale of Interpersonal Cynicism (SIC) and the Ethnocentrism Scale (Moore et al., 2009), known to be a solid companion for controversial sociopolitical topics. With the use of a one-way ANOVA a main effect was found to show those that score high in ethnocentrism are likely to feel police should use any means necessary to control riots as opposed to those that score low (M = 4.95, SD = 1.40 vs. M = 3.48, SD = 1.50), F(1,43) = 11.17, (p = .002) There is a strong correlation between total ethnocentrism and the belief that police should use any means necessary to control riots, r(43) = .325, (p < .05). A stronger correlation was found between total ethnocentrism and the belief that if US citizens act with bad intentions they should be controlled by any means necessary, r(43) = .445, (p < .01). A negative correlation was found between religious affiliation and the belief that if US citizens act with bad intentions they should be controlled by any means necessary, r(41) = -.511, (p < .01). A one-way ANOVA also shows that those who score high in ethnocentrism are likely to believe, if U.S. citizens act with bad intentions they should be controlled by any means necessary (M = 5.09, SD = 1.66 vs. M = 3.33, SD = 1.46), F(1,43) = 13.54, (p = .001). Those scoring high in cynicism, with the use of a one-way ANOVA, proved to be more likely to believe, the police should use any weapons possible to protect personal rights (M = 4.95, SD = 1.61 vs. M = 3.57, SD = 1.29), F(1,41) = 9.25, (p = .004). A strong correlation between the belief that the police should use any weapons possible to protect my rights, was also found, r(41) = .458, (p < .01). The beginning of this research shows that those who are more ethnocentric believe that citizens acting illegally or against the culture and customs deserve whatever means used by police to stop and control them. Also, those that believe people operate towards the goal of their own self-interest also believe anything should be done to protect their rights. More data is being collected and may better demonstrate what the public expects of police as well as what they see as appropriate behavior from police.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Religiosity and Relationships: The Search for the Sacred with a Significant Other Ratchford, J. Gardner-Webb University Faculty Sponsor: Iva Naydenova Religion and spirituality are an intrinsic part of human nature. Religion is a process; “a search for significance in ways related to the sacred” (Pargament, 1997, p. 32). All adults have some sort of perspective on the spiritual, as every individual has things that they hold as sacred. An individual’s religious beliefs impact the way that person perceives and interacts with the environment. Because it does tend to be a major component of people’s lives, religion influences other aspects of their lives, including intimate relationships (Hernandez, Mahoney, & Pargament, 2012). In fact, the relationships that people have can influence an individual’s religious beliefs. The participants in this study were asked to fill out a 10-item scale ranking items from 1 to 5. This scale measured their personal religious beliefs in relation to their romantic partner and their overall relationship. The scale was given to each individual in the relationship and measured together for a composite score. It was hypothesized that couples who had been together for longer periods of time would score higher scores in religious similarity than couples who had been together for shorter periods of time. Data came from 24 heterosexual couples who were practicing Christians of one of the Protestant denominations. Condition one, which consisted of couples who had been together five or less years, was gathered a small Southern university. Condition two, which consisted of couples who had been together nine or more years, was drawn from a small Southern community. Couples were asked to fill out their surveys separately to prevent bias. To determine if there was a significant difference between the groups, an independent-samples t-test was performed. There was a significant difference in the scores between condition one (M=69.08, SD=10.42) and condition two (M=77.75, S =8.25); [t (22) = 2.26, p = .034]. No significant difference was found between genders.

Results were discussed in terms of relationship importance, conformity to a romantic partner, and relationship satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Research has shown that couples who are more similar in religious beliefs are happier than couples who are dissimilar (Curtis & Ellison, 2002; Bisin, Topa, & Verdier, 2004). There are benefits to becoming more similar to a romantic companion, especially in regards to religious beliefs. One of the main limitations of this study was the lack of religious diversity in the couples. Future research should replicate this study with multifaith couples to see if there is any tendency toward change in religious beliefs over the course of the relationship.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Violence in Music Videos by Male and Female Artists Repp, Z. & Harrison, L. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Music videos tend to have high levels of violent content, a fact that was established decades ago (Caplan, 1985; Jones, 1997). However, what is less clear is how the gender of the people in the video and the gender of the artist relates to violence. Some studies have argued that men are portrayed as the more aggressive gender in music videos (e.g., Jones, 1997; Rich et al 1998), while others argue that women are more aggressive (Kalia & Neuendorm, 1998). Yet other studies conclude that men and women are portrayed as equally violent (Caplan, 1985). Much of this research is now dated, and current music videos may reflect society changes in gender roles. Thus, our study compared types of violence visible in current music videos by both male and female artists. We predicted that male artists would have a greater range of violent acts in their videos than female artists based the preponderance of previous research. To ensure that we were using current and popular material, we used the 30 music videos from Vevo’s Top 30 Most Viewed Music Videos for the week of February 22-28, 2015. We created categories for unique types of violence based on the research of Kalia and Neuendorf (1998). For example, active violence was considered actual physical harm to a person or object, while passive violence was a situation such as a threat or depiction of the aftermath of violence. We also categorized whether the violence was directed toward a man, woman, animal or object. Analysis revealed an average of 6.1 (SD = 10.77) violent acts per music video. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no significant difference in the amount and type of violence portrayed in music videos of male versus female artists. These findings may reflect the general prevalence of violence in the society or could be an indication that as women seek equality with men they also engage in similar behaviors to establish that equality. Our analysis revealed a clear pattern that active and passive violence co-occurred in videos. For example, the higher the rate of men performing active violence against other men in a video, the higher the rate of men performing passive violence against other men in the same video, r(29) = .84, p < .001. Similarly, the higher the rate of men performing active violence against women, the higher the rate of men performing passive violence against women, r(30) = .60, p = .001. Another clear pattern was that videos depicting cross-gender violence also contained a variety of other types of violence. For example, the more frequently men were violent toward women in a video, a) the more frequent men’s passive violence against other men, r(29) = .47, p = .01; b) the higher the passive violence against self, r(30) = .76, p < .001; c) the higher women’s active violence against men, r(30) = .47, p = .01, and d) the higher women’s passive violence against self, r(30) = .52, p = .003. In contrast, videos in which the violence was directed toward the same sex did not simultaneously contain a wide range of other violent acts. In conclusion, we found that artist gender did not predict violence in videos; however, violence seemed to occur in predictable ways. First, active and passive violence were simultaneously present. Second, videos containing cross-gender violence tended to contain more overall violence than videos containing same-gender violence. These findings provide some initial understanding of how music videos may be changing over time, perhaps reflecting societal changes.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Cheating Influences Young Adults’ Perceptions of Cross-sex Friendships Roark, C. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Cross-sex friendships are defined as platonic relationships between two people of the opposite sex (Miller, Denes, Diaz, & Ranjit, 2014). Young adults are more likely to have cross-sex friendships (Baumgarte & Nelson, 2009) and are more likely to be focused on establishing romantic relationships than any other age group (Carbonneau, Vallerand, Lavigne, & Paquet, 2015). Although much research has been conducted on these two types of relationships, there is little data on how they might influence one another. Thus, we examined these variables in conjunction. We also examined how past experiences with cheating impacted young adults’ attitudes toward their own and their romantic partners’ cross-sex friendships. We hypothesized that those who had been cheated on in their romantic relationships would be less receptive toward cross-sex friendships than adults who had not experienced cheating.

Participants were 159 young adults with a mean age of 20.99 (SD = 2.68). Participants were recruited through social media. Participants responded online to established scales that measured relationship commitment (Emmett & Weger, 2007) and relationship satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988). Participants were asked to respond to the scales while picturing their closest cross-sex friend. They then responded to the same scales but this time with their romantic partner’s cross-sex friend in mind. Last, participants responded to questions that assessed their past experiences with cheating in the context of romantic relationships (based on Norona, 2014). The results supported our hypothesis; compared to adults who had never been cheated on, participants who had been cheated on in a romantic relationship were less comfortable with their partners having cross-sex friends, t(137) = 2.79, p = .006. Victims of cheating behavior were also more likely to believe that their romantic partners were flirting in the context of their cross-sex friendships, t(136) = 2.07, p = .04. Ironically, these same victims of cheating reported higher rates of flirting with their own cross-sex friends, t(137) = -2.08, p = .04, perhaps because they believed their romantic partners were doing the same thing. In contrast, cheating did not predict how open young adults were to having personal cross-sex friendships. All young adults, whether they had cheated on a partner or had a partner cheat on them, reported being very accepting of having cross-sex friendships of their own. Our results did reveal some gender differences. Men were more comfortable with their romantic partner having a cross-sex friendship than were women, t(139) = 3.38, p = .001. Compared to men, women were less comfortable with their romantic partner being flirtatious with their cross-sex friends, t(139) = 3.47, p = .001, and were less likely to agree that they flirted with their cross-sex friends, t(139) = 2.47, p = .015. Women’s discomfort may be logical, because the more participants reported avoiding flirting with their cross-sex friends, the higher their romantic relationship satisfaction, r(91) = .04, p < .01.

In sum, experiencing cheating within the context of a romantic relationship has the power to influence not only future romantic relationships but also cross-sex friendships. Specifically, experiencing cheating alters the victims’ own behavior with their cross-sex friends and their perceptions of their romantic partners’ cross-sex friendships. These findings contribute to our growing understanding of the complicated connections between romantic relationships and cross-sex friendships.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Young Adults’ Romantic Relationship Quality and Cross-sex Friendships Roark, C. & Doucette, K. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Cross-sex friendships are platonic relationships between men and women (Miller, Denes, Diaz, & Ranjit, 2014). Extensive research has compared young adults’ cross-sex friendships, same-sex friendships, and romantic relationships (e.g., Fuhrman, Flannagan, & Matamoros, 2009; Morry, Reich, & Kito, 2010); however, the focus has been to compare patterns rather than to examine the impact of one type on another. To this end, our study examined how cross-sex friendships impacted young adults’ romantic relationships. We hypothesized that women would be less comfortable with their partners having crosssex friendships than men, and better relationship quality would predict a higher level of comfort with romantic partners having cross-sex friends. Participants were 100 young adults with a mean age of 23.90 (SD = 8.37). Participants were recruited to take an online survey through social media. The scales we used assessed friendship maintenance (Emmett & Wegner, 2007), friendship quality (Mendelson & Aboud, 1999), and friendship satisfaction (Davis, 1996). We first defined cross-sex friendship, and then asked participants to picture their closest cross-sex friend. Participants responded to the three scales with that friendship in mind. We subsequently asked participants to think of their romantic partners’ closest cross-sex friends and answer the same questions with regard to those relationships. Last, we asked a series of questions to assess participants’ attitudes toward their own and their romantic partners’ crosssex friends, and, in addition, the quality of their romantic relationship. We calculated an Openness Score for each participant, with a higher score indicating more openness to personal cross-sex friendships. We also computed each participant’s Comfort Score, with a higher number indicating participants being more comfortable with their romantic partners having cross-sex friends. The mean Openness Score was 4.03 (SD = .50) and the mean Comfort Score was 3.54 (SD = .81) on a 5-point scale. In other words, young adults felt more positively toward their own cross-sex friendships than those of their romantic partners.

Compared to men, women were less comfortable with their romantic partner having a cross-sex friend, t(90) = 2.12, p = .037, and offering support to a cross-sex friend, t(91) = 2.21, p = .03. We also saw an age-related change. The older the participant, the lower the Comfort Score, r(92) = -.33, p = .002. Older participants also reported being less comfortable with their romantic partners supporting their cross-sex friends, r(93) = -.23, p = .025. Romantic relationship quality did not predict how open young adults were to having cross-sex friendships of their own. In contrast, a higher romantic relationship quality was related to greater comfort with partners’ cross-sex friendships r(91) = .26, p = .011. Participants who reported higher quality romantic relationships also seemed to be more participatory in their partners’ cross-sex friendship. For example, higher relationship quality related to greater comfort with including their partners’ cross-sex friends in daily routines, r(91) = .21, p =.045. In sum, we found that young adults are more accepting of their own cross-sex friendships than they are of their romantic partners’ cross-sex friendships. This pattern was especially true of the oldest adults in our sample, women, and people in a lower quality romantic relationship, results that supported our hypotheses. These findings provide some of the first data on cross-sex friendships in the context of romantic relationships and suggest that these two types of relationships, romantic and friendly, have the power to impact one another.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Impact of Colorism on the Self-Image of HBCU Female Students Robinson, L., Bascom, O., Middleton, T., & Woods. D. Clark Atlanta University Faculty Sponsor: Michelle Mitchell Colorism is within group discrimination based upon skin color. Eurocentric standards of beauty have been internalized by African Americans, thus, the more African oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s physical features the less attractive they are perceived. Colorism grants individuals with lighter skin tones with privilege that African Americans with a lighter skin tone do not enjoy. Specifically, African Americans with a lighter complexion are perceived as smarter. In addition, they are more likely to secure employment, obtain better job opportunities and receive higher wages than African Americans of a darker skin tone. African American females are impacted by colorism more than African American males when choosing a mate. African American males tend to have a preference for African American females who have a lighter complexion.

Current literature reveals that African American women who have a lighter skin tone are more likely to be married. Females are also more impacted by the standards of beauty conveyed to them during childhood and adolescence. Previous research examining a sample of African American college students found that African American women with a darker complexion have lower self-esteem. The same results were not found among African American males or African American females with a lighter complexion. The present study will add to the body of research about colorism by investigating this social issue in a setting where oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s African origins are celebrated. Historically Black institutions promote a positive self-identity and encourages acceptance all members of the African American community regardless of skin tone, facial features, gender, social economic status, and education. The purpose of this research is to investigate the social and psychological impact of colorism among African American female students attending a historically Black university. The chosen methodology will be a focus group. There will be a total of 3 focus groups with 10 participants in each group. The first group will be composed of students with a dark complexion, the second group will be students with a medium brown complexion, and the third group will be students who have a light complexion. We hypothesize that African American female students with a darker complexion will be most impacted by colorism, but feel that attending an Historically Black College/University (HBCU) has improved their self-image. We also hypothesize that females with a medium complexion will be least impacted by colorism and report that their self-image is not negatively impacted by the perceived lightness or darkness of their skin and that women with the light complexion would report having the most privilege of all three groups. We expect to find that attending an HBCU will have the most positive impact of African American women who have a darker skin tone.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Utilizing Service Canines for Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Rodriguez, L., Owens S., & Spangenburg, C. Flagler College Faculty Sponsor: Angelenia Semegon Prior to serving in the military, men and women are generally at the pinnacle of their health; they have trained for months and sometimes years to achieve the level of fitness required to serve our country.

Many of these heroes return home with psychological symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and are hindered when it comes to enjoying everyday activities. The purpose of this study was to empirically measure the efficacy of a program, K9s for Warriors, that uses canines to assist veterans who display symptoms of PTSD associated with their military service. The program entails an intensive three week training period wherein veterans are paired with service canines. Survey data was collected from 60 adult veterans displaying PTSD symptoms. A series of self-report measures was used to assess participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; functionality with regard to activities associated with daily living as well as the physical, emotional and mental health of participants in the K9 for Warriors program. In this retrospective study participants were asked to rate the frequency and severity of their symptoms associated with PTSD both before entering the program and several months after receiving their service canine. Analyses showed numerous positive transformations in the respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; overall health and well-being after receiving their service canines. Participants reported significant positive changes to overall health (t (59) = 7.95, p < .001). Marked changes in the number of prescription medications being used was also noted.

Fifty percent of the participants reported using seven or more types of medication on a daily basis prior to receiving their service dog. After receiving their service canines this number dropped to fewer than 20% of the participants using seven or more types of medication. After receiving their service canine marked changes in psychological symptoms associated with PTSD were also reported. Participants reported statistically significant decreases in the number of nightmares (t (59) = 10.20, p < .001) flashbacks (t (59)=10.48, p < .001) and anxiety attacks (t (59) = 10.82, p < .001) after receiving their service dog.

Before receiving their service dog participants 89% of the participants reported having more than 2 nightmares a week. After receiving their service canine 51% reported having 2 or fewer nightmares per week. Twenty-six percent saw improvement in their ability to manage their anxiety attacks and noted the attacks were less frequent. None of the respondents reported handling flashbacks well prior to being paired with their service dog. However, 35% reported handling flashbacks well after receiving their service dog. A decrease in suicidal ideation was documented after the participants received their service canines. Sixty percent of participants reported suicidal ideation on a regular basis. Whereas only seven percent of the participants continued to report regular thoughts of suicide after receiving their canine.

Given the extent to which many returning veterans suffer with PTSD symptoms these results are promising. Further study is warranted.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Parental Behavior and Child Temperament Predict Persistence Toward Goals Rounds, E. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Donna Nelson Studies investigating parent-child relationships have demonstrated the importance of these early relationships to later adjustment of the child (Durlak, 1998; Sanders, 2008; Van Zeijl, et. al, 2007).

Researchers exploring this topic have identified positive and negative parental behaviors that have links tophysical, social and mental well-being in children. Positive parental behaviors include involvement, support and encouragement while negative parental behaviors include inconsistent or inappropriate discipline and detachment (Sanders, 2008). Our purpose was to expand the research investigating links between parental behavior and child well-being to explore the influence of parenting on a child’s persistence toward goals and their level of “grit” defined as working strenuously toward challenges, and maintaining effort and interest long-term, despite adversity (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007).We also sought to investigate the possibility that the child’s temperament may moderate the impact of parenting on child persistence and “grit”. We expected that children with highly emotional character would be at greatest risk for suffering unfavorable consequences if they experiencedlow levels of positive parental behavior. Nineteen male and 40 female undergraduate students participated in our study. To measure persistence in working toward goals, they responded to items taken from the Persistence Scale for Children (Lufi&Cohen, 1987). To measure “grit” they responded to items from the Short Grit Scale (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009). Participants also responded to items from the EAS Temperament Survey (Buss &Plomin, 1984) to measure their level of characteristic emotionality and they responded to items from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire- Child Version (Shelton, Frick, & Wootton, 1996) to measure their experience of positive parental behaviors including involvement, encouragement and support as well as their experience of inconsistent and detached parenting. To test the impact of positive parenting and temperament on persistence, we conducted a2 X 2 between subjects ANOVA with two levels of positive parenting (high and low) and two levels of emotionality (high and low). This analysis yielded the predicted interaction effect F(1,50)= 3.08,p<.08. Planned comparisons revealed that participants low in emotionality scored at a comparable level on the persistence measure, regardless of the level of positive parenting. In contrast, participants high in emotionality scored significantly lower in persistence if they experienced low (compared to high) levels of positive parenting.A similar pattern of findings was observed for “grit” scores.

A 2 X 2 between subjects ANOVA yielded the predicted interaction effect between level of positive parenting and emotionality F(1,48)= 3.24,p<.07. Planned comparisons revealed that participants low in emotionality scored at a comparable level on the grit measure, regardless of the level of positive parenting. However, participants high in emotionality exhibited significantly lower grit scores if they experienced low (versus high) levels of positive parenting. Our findings suggest that the temperament of a child can moderate the impact of parental behaviors on child outcomes related to persistence and dedication to long term goals. Participants low in emotionality reported comparable levels of persistence and “grit”, regardless of the type of parenting they experienced while growing up. In contrast, more emotional participants exhibited lower levels of perseverance as emerging adults if they experienced less support, encouragement and involvement from parents. These findings suggest that positive parenting educational programs would prove especially helpful for families that include highly emotional children.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

73

Correlates of Recidivism in Women Currently and Recently Incarcerated Rumph, J. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Barbara Blatchley The incarceration rate for women is reaching crisis proportions. Between 1977 and 2007 the number of incarcerated women has risen 757%, which is nearly twice the growth rate of male incarcerations (Talvi, 2006). In 2007 there were over 200,000 women doing time, an additional 94,000 on parole and 958,000 on probation. Pathways for women entering and re-offending in the criminal justice system are different, with women being far more likely to have experienced poverty, histories of trauma and other forms of victimization. Women have consistently been exposed to correctional systems that facilitate the needs of men but fail in many cases to address the issues facing women. Statistics however, indicate that factors like a history of trauma, rape and other forms of victimization, and addiction are common among incarcerated women. One third women in state prisons said they had been raped before their incarceration (Talvi, 2007). One third of female state prisoners and jail inmates say they had been abused as children in comparison to a rate of 12 to 17 percent of the general population (Talvi, 2007). Links between salivary cortisol levels as stress indicators, histories of physical or sexual abuse and neurological history have been examined. Brewer-Smythe, Burgess and Shultz (2004) correlated traumatic brain injuries, cortisol levels and past abuse with violent crime convictions in women. Ninty-five percent of the women had evidence of neurologic damage, as well as high levels of cortisol and a conviction for violent crime. The purpose of this research study is to examine previous exposure to trauma and traumatic experiences, violence, alcohol and drug addiction, restraint levels and distress levels in an effort to predict recidivism. The hypothesis is that incarcerated or recently incarcerated women who have histories of trauma including sexual or physical abuse, drug and alcohol addiction and low restraint and high distress levels will be at a greater risk of re-offending. Thirty women currently incarcerated in the Julia Tutwiler Prison, in Wetumkpa, Alabama as well as women recently released from prison in Alabama will complete the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory, which measures social-emotional adjustment along two dimensions: distress and restrain. The WAI has been proven to be an effective tool for identifying women who are at risk for reoffending (Kjelberg, Rustad & Karnik, 2009). Women will also complete the Alcohol Use Disorders Test (AUDIT), the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) as well as the Trauma Checklist and independently answer questions regarding their own histories of criminal offending and re-offending. The research data will then be correlated in a multiple regression test in an attempt to establish which factors predict recidivism. The issue of recidivism is complex and involves a number of factors, both biological and psychological. The combination of all of these factors leads to the criminal conviction and propensity toward crime in women. In an effort to establish better treatment processes for women offenders and lower the potential numbers of women re-offenders correlations such as these must be highlighted and continually examined.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

74

Narcissistic Personality Traits and Leadership Styles in the Work Setting Salazar, C., Harrison, L., & Repp, Z. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Darren Ritzer Raskin and Terry (1988) define narcissism as being self-centered with a driving need to be respected and held in high regard when compared to others. It has long been debated whether narcissism helps or hurts an employee’s performance. Penney and Spector (2002) found that narcissists engaged in more counterproductive work behavior when given a problem to solve. Furthermore, Grijalva, Harms, Newman, Gaddis, & Fraley (2015) distinguishing between leadership emergence and leadership effectiveness, to reveal that narcissism displays a positive relationship with leadership emergence. Previous research examined narcissism in the context of the workplace. Our study examined how narcissism specifically affected people’s responses to leadership scenarios on a college campus or in the workplace. It is reasonable to hypothesize that those scoring high in narcissistic traits and leadership scenarios would also practice narcissistic leadership styles and handle situations differently than those who do not score high on narcissistic traits. Our study takes two highly researched topics, narcissism and leadership, and examines them in conjunction. Participants were 92 young adults. Approximately 60% of participants were Caucasian and the remainder represented other ethnicities. Sixty-three percent of participants selfreported past leadership experience and the remainder did not. We created 12 hypothetical scenarios about situations an average college student might witness while on campus or in the work place. For example, one scenario describes a Resident Advisor who fails to attend meetings but believes he is still highly competitive for a “dedication to the job” award, and will have to give a ‘thank you’ speech.

Participants were asked to select which response option best described how they would act in that leadership situation. Participants then responded to the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1979) and the Self-Report Psychopathy (Hare, 1985). Higher scenario scores mean participants chose more narcissistic responses. Scenario score and Narcissism score was significantly related [r(92)= .44, p= ≤ .001]. In other words, certain leadership behaviors correlate with narcissistic personality traits.

In addition to this, narcissistic responses on particular scenarios had a significant correlation with overall narcissism score. In other words, those questions are believed to have some effect on narcissists because they specifically ask what the person taking the survey would do, as opposed to, what do you think someone else would do in that situation. Particular questions were more related to their total score and one could probably conclude that narcissists have a lack of recognition, which may be why the three questions were significant. Question eight: [r(92)= .33, p= ≤.002], question nine was [r(92) =.29, p=≤.005], and question twelve was [r(92)= .34, p=≤.001]. It may help businesses and organizations be more mindful about the environment that their leaders are creating, with an ultimate goal of creating better social and psychological atmospheres for workers.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

75

Understanding mental toughness and stress: The role of cortisol Satterwhite, A. Rollins College Faculty Sponsor: Andrew Luchner Mental toughness is the ability to stay in control of one's emotions while working through a difficult task or an adverse environment. Mental toughness can be understood through the 4 C's model. Theory and research suggest that individuals who exhibit control, commitment, challenge, and confidence (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002) are more mentally tough, meaning that they are able to maintain a top level of performance and success regardless of varying situational factors. It is likely that individuals who encounter stressful situations have greater mental toughness. Cortisol is released as a long term solution to exposed to stress, and therefore it is likely that individuals who are mentally tough do not experience stress in the same way as those who are not mentally tough. For example, the release and metabolism of the stress hormone cortisol would likely be affected in someone who feels emotionally out of control. In contrast, individuals who are able to regulate their emotions do not experience the same psychological and physiological stress response. This aim of the study is to explore how self-perceptions of mental toughness relate to change in the stress response (measured through cortisol levels) when exposed to a stressful situation. It is hypothesized that those who self-report higher commitment, control, challenge, and confidence will show less change in cortisol levels. Contrastingly, those who show a greater change in cortisol levels will report lower scores on measures of mental toughness. The participants of the study will be recruited from undergraduate psychology classes and athletic teams. Participants will begin the study by signing an informed consent form and receiving a randomly assigned number to ensure confidentiality. Before they complete the questionarre and stressful task, participants will provide a baseline saliva sample. Next, they will complete a questionnaire containing the Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS; Bartone, 2007), which measures commitment, control, and challenge and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) (as a comparative measure to confidence). Upon completion of the questionnaire the participants will be introduced to the physical task of holding their pointer and middle finger in a bucket of ice water. They will be asked to hold their fingers in the water for as long as possible. Before beginning the task they will be asked how long they think they can hold their fingers in the water and how confident, on measure of 1 (not very confident) to 5 (very confident) they are about that estimated time. Once they remove their fingers they will give a second saliva sample. The difference in cortisol levels of the two saliva samples will be compared. These physiological measures will be compared to the psychological measures of the questionnaire. Data collection will take place and be analyzed during the month of January. Correlations and t-tests will be run to understand the relationship between the survey measures along with the relationship between the survey measures and the cortisol change.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

76

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Intolerance of Uncertainty and Facial Interpretation Schultz, T. & Hokett, E. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Many young adults obtain inadequate amounts of sleep (Lund, Reider, Whiting, & Prichard, 2010; Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998). Research has shown that lack of sleep negatively affects cognitive function (Maccari, et al., 2014). Sleep deprivation is also associated with depression (Lund, Reider, Whiting, & Prichard, 2010) and inhibits the interpretation of emotions in young adults (Van der Helm, Gujar, & Walker, 2010). Our study contributes to the existing literature by examining adults’ reactions to uncertainty and their perceptions of facial stimuli in the context of sleep patterns over the past month. We hypothesized that participants with poorer sleep quality would be less tolerant of uncertainty and more likely to interpret neutral facial expressions negatively. Participants were 81 adults with a mean age of 19.90 (SD = 2.02). We selected 14 neutrally coded images that represented a variety of ethnicities from the Chicago Face Database (CFD; Ma, Correll, & Wittenbrink, 2015). Below each image we created a continuum with two anchor emotions, one positive and one negative (e.g., happy or sad). Participants then indicated on the continuum which emotion they perceived the face to exhibit. The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS; Freeston et al., 1994) was used to evaluate emotional and behavioral responses to uncertainties in daily life as well as one’s need to control the future. Sleep quality was assessed with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS; Johns, 1992) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse, Reynolds, & Monk, 1989). Higher scores on both of these sleep measures indicated increased levels of sleep deprivation. Results revealed that the higher the participants’ intolerance of uncertainty, the higher the ESS, r(80) = .24, p = .031, and the higher the PSQI, r(81) = .26, p = .02. In support of our hypothesis, these results revealed that poor sleep was associated with increased intolerance of uncertainty. In contrast, participants’ responses to neutral faces were not related to their sleep duration, sleep quality, or sleepiness. Participants seemed to display some self-awareness related to their sleep. Participants who were more likely to agree that they got enough sleep had lower ESS, r(81) = -.25, p = .025, and lower PQSI, r(81) = -.52, p < .01, scores. Participants who scored higher on the ESS were also more likely to agree that the amount of sleep they got affected their ability to think, r(81) = .23, p = .043. The accuracy of this perception was supported by the fact that their amount of sleep changed their tolerance levels in the face of uncertainty. Young adults, ages 18 to 25, should generally sleep between 7 to 9 hours each night (National Sleep Foundation, 2015). However, average young adults in our study reported getting only 6.14 (SD = 3.21) hours a night. This was true across ages and genders. However, race differences were found with African-Americans reporting fewer hours of sleep per night compared to Caucasians, t(72) = -2.54, p = .024. In sum, we found that poor sleep is prevalent among young adults and decreases their tolerance of uncertainty. Lowered tolerance has the potential to impact an individual’s perceptions, thoughts, and social interactions. However, despite these cognitive changes, sleep deprived individuals perceived neutral faces similarly to well-rested participants, suggesting that sleep may impact specific aspects of emotional functioning, as demonstrated in previous studies, but not others. This data adds to our growing understanding of the psychological impact of sleep, or lack thereof.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

77

Social Exclusion: Do Intrinsic Needs Predict The Magnitude Of Perceived Social Exclusion.

Sebastian, B. & Eddleman, P. Indiana University Southeast Faculty Sponsor: Rodney Roosevelt Background: Humans have a basic psychological need of relatedness, which must be satisfied in order to live a healthy life, mentally and physically. When the need to belong is not satisfied humans can exhibit a multitude of unhealthy consequences such as suffering from decreased immunological function, defiant behavior, aggression, depression, anxiety, stress, alcoholism, and pre-mature death. Because of this, social exclusion is a direct threat to the basic psychological need of belonging. Prompting humans to feel as if they are losing control and becoming more sensitive to threats to their need to belong. Hypothesis: The current experiment was designed to characterize how the intrinsic need for belonging affects the magnitude of perceived social exclusion. Specifically: (1) Replicate previously reported increased negative affect after social exclusion as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). (2) Determine the relationship between intrinsic need to belong and greater negative affect after social exclusion as measured on the Need to Belong Scale. Method: To induce feelings of social exclusion we used the social exclusion paradigm, Cyberball. Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing game, is used to induce perceived social exclusion in laboratory settings and by extension, threaten participants need to belong. To measure affect after Cyberball we used the PANAS, and to measure intrinsic magnitude of belonging we used The Need to Belong Scale. The PANAS is a widely used and accepted 20 item self-reporting survey on a five point Lickert-like scale, ranging from 1-very slightly to 5-extremly, that was developed to measure positive and negative affect. The Need to Belong Scale is a commonly used ten question self-reported survey on a five point Lickert-like scale, ranging from 1-strongly disagree to 5- strongly agree, measure to obtain a persons predisposition of the need of belonging. This measure is sensitive to reaction to rejection and values of interpersonal relationships. Results and Discussion: Data collection is ongoing. Currently, results are consistent with the prediction that participants with a high need to belong experiencing social exclusion will have higher scores on the negative affect PANAS subscale At this time, the data support no inference about intrinsic need for affiliation and negative affect following social exclusion. If scores on the Need to Belong scale predict magnitude of negative affect following identical level of social exclusion, this finding would potentially provide insight into individual differences in behaviors directed toward maintaining group bonds.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

78

Connections Between Sibling Relationships and Young Adult’s Romantic Relationships Stallworth, A., Evans, J., & Barton, K. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Forming romantic relationships is a developmental focus for young adults (Robertson, Shepard & Goedeke, 2012). These romantic relationships are usually characterized by emotional and physical feelings that include love, compassion, reciprocity, and commitment (Robertson, Shepard & Goedke, 2012). These same characteristics are often seen in sibling relationships. Thus, sibling relationships are thought to shape the way young people form later romantic relationships (Doughty, Lam, Stanik, & McHale, 2014). Previous research has focused on the effect of siblings on adolescents and young adults’ romantic relationship. Our study examined whether similarities existed between young adults’ current relationships with siblings and romantic partners. We hypothesized that participants’ romantic relationships would share characteristics with their sibling relationships. Participants were 65 adults with a mean age of 20.03 (SD = 1.90). We used a scale developed by Funk and Rogge (2007) that assessed relationship quality. Part of the scale allowed participants to select adjectives to describe a person. We presented the scale to participants and asked them to think about their current or most recent romantic partner and respond to the questions with that person in mind. We then asked participants to respond to the same questions but this time thinking about the sibling closest to them in age. We calculated four scores for each participant. A higher Romantic Score indicated a more positive romantic relationship. A higher Romantic Adjective Score indicated that participants selected more positive adjectives to describe their partners. A higher Sibling Score indicated a more positive sibling relationship. A higher Sibling Adjective Score indicated that participants selected more positive adjectives to describe their siblings.

Contrary to our hypothesis, the overall quality of the sibling relationship did not predict the overall quality of the participants’ romantic relationship. We did find some connections. For example, the more friendly participants described their siblings as being, the more willing they were to confide in their romantic partners, r(63) = .28, p = .026. In addition, when allowed to select among positive and negative adjectives, participants made very similar choices for their siblings (M = 25.58, SD = 7.21) and their romantic partners (M = 25.58, SD = 7.80). In other words, the characteristics that adults perceived in their siblings matched the characteristics they perceived in their romantic partners. We compared gender and race categories but found no differences in how individuals related to their siblings or romantic partners.

We also compared participants who were thinking of a male sibling with those who were thinking of a female sibling; these comparisons also failed to show significant differences with one exception.

Participants were more likely to describe their brothers as “bad” than were participants with sisters, t(60) = - 2.25, p = .028. In sum, we found that sibling relationship quality did not clearly predict romantic relationship quality; however, we did find some similarities in how adults perceived the people in these two type of relationships. These findings suggest that while sibling relationships may set the foundation and influence romantic relationships, they do not dictate those relationships. Sibling relationships vary as do romantic relationships, with many contributing factors.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

79

The Halo Effect on Perceptions of Facebook Profile Pictures Stinson, K. Campbelsville University Faculty Sponsor: Craig Rogers Problem: Social Psychology often looks at the impact of the Halo Effect in various situations. With the increased use of social media in today’s society, the photos that we upload can speak volumes in terms of how others perceive our personality, lifestyle, and other factors. Depending on the types of photos we post of ourselves, others can draw conclusions that may or may not be accurate. The goal of this study is to investigate how the halo effect alters the participant’s perceptions of the photos based on the pose and gender of the person who is in the picture. Method: The participants in this study consisted of 25 male and 45 female undergraduate students at a small private university. The participants were asked to complete a survey containing two photos of college aged females and two photos of college aged males.

The survey questions were designed to assess three dependent measure ratings. The dependent measure included ratings of (1) the participants’ perceptions of the level of introversion/extroversion, (2) the romantic success of the individuals from social media, and (3) the level of attractiveness of the model.

Each of the individuals in the photographs used in this survey was between the ages of 20 and 23. The pictures were naive to the participants taking the survey.

Results: A 2 X 4 mixed factorial design was employed in this study to assess for differences among the participants perceptions of the people in the photos. For the first dependent measure, introversion/extroversion, a difference existed among the four different pictures (F(3, 204) =20.15, p < .001). The specific differences among the four pictures indicated that the female face picture was rated as more extroverted than the female facing away picture; the male walking picture was rated as less extroverted than the male face picture; the female facing away picture was rated less extroverted than the male face picture; and the female face picture was rated more extroverted than the male walking picture. No significant gender differences were noted for the introversion/extroversion measure. For the second measure, romantic success, a difference was noted among the four pictures again (F(3, 201) = 6.248, p < .001). The specific difference was the female facing away was rated as more romantically successful than the male face picture. The third measure, attractiveness, yielded several significant differences among the four pictures (F(3, 204) = 19.13, p < .001). The specific differences were: the female face picture was rated more attractive than the male walking picture; the female facing away picture was rated more attractive than the male face picture; the female face picture was rated more attractive than the male walking picture; and the female facing away picture was rated more attractive than the male walking picture. Additionally, a gender interaction was noted (F(1, 68) = 11.33, p < .001). Simple effects indicated that for men, the differences were the same as the combined sample. For women, the differences were the male walking picture was rated more attractive than the male face picture; the female facing away picture was rated more attractive than the male face picture; and the female face picture was rated more attractive than the male face picture. Interpretation: The results indicate that there is a relationship between the pose of the person in a photo and the perceptions others have on them. Overall of a photo of a person is a face shot they are viewed as being more extroverted and less studious than the photos of the people with their backs turned. There was a gender difference among levels of attractiveness in the participants’ ratings. Thus, there is a relationship between the pose and gender of both the pictured individuals as well as the participants. Knowing this helps us better understand how the halo effect relates to how people perceive photos based on pose and gender.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

80

Young Adults’ Perceptions of Domestic Violence Szeman, M., Pewett, S., Lollis, M., & Miller, S. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Merry Sleigh Ten million men and women are victims of domestic violence each year in the United States, accounting for 15% of all violent crimes committed (http://www.ncadv.org/learn/statistics). Previous research on perceptions of domestic violence suggest that women may be more sympathetic to victims than are men (Richman & Locke, 1999). In addition, the way that individuals perceive domestic violence can also be influenced by race, with adults attributing more blame to African American victims than to Caucasian victims (Esqueda & Harrison, 2005), and African American adults assigning more blame to victims as compared to Caucasian adults (Taylor & Sorenson, 2005). Socioeconomic status may also be a factor in public perception, with adults of higher annual income ($60,000 or more a year) assigning lower fault to victims as compared to those of less annual income (Taylor & Sorenson, 2005). Our study examined multiple perpetrator characteristics to assess the impact on perceptions of domestic violence. We also examined how personal experience with domestic violence impacted individuals’ perceptions. We hypothesized that participants would respond more negatively to African-American and low SES couples experiencing domestic violence. Participants were 76 young adults with a mean age of 19.75 (SD = 1.67) years. Participants were randomly assigned to read one vignette describing a domestic violence incident between a heterosexual couple. The vignettes were varied in terms of the couple’s race (African American or Caucasian) and socioeconomic status (high or low), creating four conditions. Following each vignette, participants responded to items to assess perceptions of the incident (Esqueda & Harrison, 2005), the ‘Acceptance of Violence Questionnaire’ (Riggs & O’Leary, 1996), and the ‘Domestic Violence Blame Scale’ (Petretic-Jackson, 1994). We also asked participants about their past experiences with domestic violence. In contrast to our hypothesis, an ANOVA revealed no significant differences in the way participants perceived the four descriptions of domestic violence. In general, participants viewed the situation as serious and an inappropriate way to resolve a disagreement. We then examined characteristics of the participants. Compared to African-Americans, Caucasian participants were more likely to blame the domestic violence on situational factors (such as the stress of poverty), t(64) = -2.13, p = .037. Compared to women, men were more likely to believe that the violent behavior was the perpetrator’s right, t(74) = 3.41, p < .01, and less likely to blame the perpetrator, t(74) = -2.31, p = .024. Of the participants who self-identified as victims of domestic violence, the majority were men. We asked these victims to assess what percentage of blame for the situation was attributable to them versus the perpetrator. Men never assigned blame to themselves, whereas women accepted blame an average of 31.87% (SD = 39.00) of the time. In sum, although there is commonality in perceptions of domestic violence, gender differences still hold. Consistent with previous research, we found men to place less blame on the perpetrator. Ironically, male victims of domestic violence placed 100% of the blame on the perpetrator, while female victims of domestic violence accepted blame themselves. These findings indicate that the public’s perceptions of domestic violence may not mirror those of victims. An increased understanding of domestic violence factors may allow us to better identify and serve those involved.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

81

The Role of Perfectionism, Competitiveness, and Ideas of Success in College Athletes’ SelfEsteem Taylor, C. Emory & Henry College Faculty Sponsor: Celeste Gaia Previous research has indicated that experiencing maladaptive levels of competitiveness, ideas of success, and perfectionism may be related to lower self-esteem (Greenspon, 2014; Ryska, 2002).

Considering the increased need for psychologists in the sport setting, and because there are so many student athletes today, this issue has become of importance to researchers and coaches (Dingfelder, 2005). Athletes face high standards in their chosen sport, in addition to dealing with stressors caused by college in general. If one of these variables in the athlete’s life begins to decline, such as their athletic performance or grades, self-esteem may be negatively affected. There are two types of perfectionism: maladaptive and adaptive. Research has indicated that those who score high on concern over mistakes, organization, and experience doubts over actions also experience maladaptive perfectionism.

Maladaptive perfectionism is also related to individuals reporting higher levels of presumed parental criticism and parental expectations. High standards is one of the most prominent features of perfectionism, and these high standards are accompanied by a high concern for mistakes and doubt over actions (Fallby, Hassmén, Koivula, 2001). Hypercompetitive attitudes are defined as the need to compete and to win, or “win at any cost” (Horney, 1937). Competitive attitudes that are not maladaptive include competing for self-improvement and personal learning (Ryckman, Hammer, Kaczor, & Gold, 1996). Perceptions of success include task orientation, which is considered to be more adaptive than ego-oriented competition because ego-oriented competitors compete in order to gain social recognition as opposed to task competitors who compete for themselves. In the present study, undergraduate athletes (N = 121) responded to the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Stöber, 1998), the Hypercompetitive Attitude Scale (Gold, Hammer, Kaczor, & Ryckman 1997), the Perception of Success Questionnaire (Balague, Roberts, & Treasure 1998), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). I hypothesized that student athletes who experienced higher levels of maladaptive perfectionism (reflected by greater concern over mistakes and higher than average personal standards) and high egooriented competitiveness would report lower levels self-esteem; The hypothesis was partially confirmed with concern over mistakes being a significant predictor of athletes’ self-esteem, r (119) = -.21, p = .023.

However, no significant relationship was found between self-esteem and high personal standards.

Secondary analyses indicated that parental expectations and parental criticism were strong predictors of doubts of actions and concern over mistakes, both of which have been shown to correlate with unhealthy levels of perfectionism, r = .70+, p <.001 (Fallby, Hassmén, Koivula, 2001). Student athletes favored task orientation (M= 26.184 SD= 4.17) as opposed to ego orientation (M= 19.66 SD= 5.11). Significant gender differences were indicated with men reporting greater ego orientation, F (1,114) = 5.88, p = .017, hypercompetitivenss, F (114) = 8.98, p = .003, organization, F (118) = 4.96, p = .028, personal standards, F (115) = 4.13, p = .044, parental expectations, F (118) = 6.13, p = .015, and concern over mistakes F (118) = 4.87, p = .029, suggesting that men may participate in more maladaptive competitive behaviors than women. Overall, findings are somewhat consistent with previous research indicating that more maladaptive perfectionism is associated with lower levels of self-esteem, specifically when an athlete experiences great concern over mistakes. More research should be conducted to look at parental criticism and parental expectations and how these factors may impact sport performance.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

82

Testing the Effects of an Opioid Antagonist (Naltrexone) on Sugar Consumption Rates Using a CTA Animal Model for Addiction Thede, D., Golson, J., & Leo, E. Austin Peay State University Faculty Sponsor: Brian Hock Based on previous research the current study hypothesized Naltrexone (an opioid antagonist) would be effective at reducing sugar consumption in sugar-addicted rats. This study used male Long Evans Rats.

The rats were separated into four groups (3 sugar [S] groups, 2 of which received Naltrexone [N] and one water [W] group also receiving an injection of Naltrexone). All groups received 20mls of either 10% sugar solution or water for 20 minutes. This process was repeated for 14 days. On day 15, groups SN-LiCl, SNNaCl and WN-LiCl received a dose of Naltrexone at (1mg/Kg/i.p) and were deprived of their assigned solutions for a 23-hour period, but received water for 1 hour. On day 16, groups SN-LiCl, and WN-LiCl were given access to 10% grape juice for 20 minutes. Immediately following the 20 minutes, the consumption amount was recorded and the rats received a 0.15M LiCl IP-injection at 2.0% body weight, to initiate a possible taste aversion to the grape juice, as well as a second dose of Naltrexone at (1mg/Kg/i.p). Group SC-LiCl followed the same procedure previously mentioned for groups SN-LiCl, SNNaCl, and WN-LiCl except they did not receive any injections of Naltrexone. On day 17, groups SN-LiCl, SN-NaCl, and WN-LiCl received a third dose of Naltrexone at (1mg/Kg/i.p). One hour later they were given simultaneous access to two tubes containing 20mls of their assigned solution mixed with 10% grape juice and water for 20 minutes. Group SC-LiCl did not receive a dose of Naltrexone and was given simultaneous access to two tubes containing 20mls of their assigned solution mixed with 10% grape juice and water for 20 minutes. Following the exposure time, the amounts consumed were documented. Oneway ANOVA and t-tests were used to analyze any significant differences between the groups, using the standard threshold of (p < .05). There were two independent variables in this experiment (Sugar and Naltrexone). The dependent variables were the Pre-CTA/Post-CTA difference scores (DV-1) and the preference scores between the water and grape-juice-sugar solutions Post-CTA (DV-2). The one-way ANOVA for DV-2 data was statistically significant with F(3,43) = 3.826433, (p < .017). T-tests showed significant differences in the following DV-1 group comparisons: SN-LiCl M = (6.567) & SN-NaCl (M = 2.45), (p < .016); SN-LiCl (M = 6.567) & SC-LiCl M = 1.05, (p < .01); and SC-LiCl (M = 1.05) & WN-LiCl (M = 5.05), (p < .03). The one-way ANOVA for DV-2 data was significant with F(3,43) = 4.281221, (p < .01). The following DV-2 group comparisons showed statistical significance: SN-LiCl (M = -2.97) & SNNaCl (M = 1.77), (p < .05); SN-LiCl (M = -2.97) & SC-LiCl (M = 5.35), (p < .01); and SC-LiCl (M = 5.35) & WN-LiCl (M = -1.36), (p < .01).The current research demonstrated the applied CTA animal model continues to be an effective method for measuring addiction, including the criteria of the DSM for continued use despite adverse consequences. The results support the notion sugar is addictive, and likely acts on opioid receptors. The results also indicate that NTX was effective at reducing relapse rates in sugar-addicted rats. The current research advocates for future research to investigate the potential harmful effects of long or short-term sugar consumption, as well as to measure the differences in consumption amounts and the subsequent effects. It would also be wise to research the potential adverse effects NTX may have.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

83

Divorce and Promiscuity in Adulthood Thomas, A. Winthrop University Faculty Sponsor: Tara J. Collins Children of divorce (examined in college) tend to have higher levels of promiscuity than those without (Stringfellow & McAndrew, 2010). Through the current project, we hoped to enhance the previous research by examining the relationship between divorce, socioeconomic status (SES), and promiscuity.

The research question of this study concerned how divorce and SES relate to the level of promiscuity in children of divorce (examined at adulthood). We hypothesized that children who came from divorced or separated parents would have a higher level of promiscuity than those whose parents were married. The secondary hypothesis predicted that lower SES would be related significantly to promiscuity levels.

Participants involved in this study were 22 men, 65 women, and 3 unidentified, who were recruited through a convenience sample. They answered the survey that was posted on Facebook accounts and sent out to every student on Southeastern Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus. Ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 44 with the average age being 21.20. Out of our participants, 22.44% indicated that their parents are not married. Using the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (Simpson & Gangestad, 1991) we were able to examine the promiscuity level of participants. Both the SES of our participants and the marital status of their parents was able to be determined by a few researcher generated questions including what socio economic class they identified with and asking if their parents were either married or not. We used an independent samples t-test to find the relationship between divorce and SES, and conducted a multiple regression statistical test in order to predict promiscuity from divorce and SES. There was a significant difference between adult children of married parents (M = 2.14) and unmarried parents (M = 1.42) on SES, t (60.12) = 6.53, p < .05. This had a large-sized effect, d = 1.03. However, using SES and parental marital status to predict promiscuity with the multilinear regression test did not yield significant results, F(2, 79) = 2.56, ns. From these results, we concluded that while divorce is associated with a lower socioeconomic status, these variables did not predict an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s promiscuity. One limitation to our study was, given time constraints, the limited amount of people who participated. Participants were also not sampled randomly. The hope is that if those limitations were to be fixed, we would be able to more accurately generalize the results that we got from this study. Perhaps a significant relationship could be found if those factors were not an issue. With increased promiscuity comes the increased risk for unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Hopefully these issues can be better prevented with a more comprehensive education on the reasons behind it.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Video Game Addiction and Fading Affect Bias for Video Game and Non Video Game Events Thomas, T., Davis, S., Bouldin, B., Aberman, T., Nierle, H., Dearce, N., Shriver, L., & DeLucia, D. Christopher Newport University Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Gibbons Emotions related to unpleasant events fade greater over time than emotions associated with pleasant events, according to past research (Walker et al., 1997). This phenomenon is known as the Fading Affect Bias (FAB). Research has also demonstrated that a relation exists between Problematic Video game Play (PVP) and emotional regulation (Oggins and Sammis, 2012). However, the relation between PVP and FAB for video game and non-video game related events has yet to be researched, which will be the topic of our study. Studies on FAB in video game players will help researchers understand the effect of video games on people. Participants will be undergraduate students at Christopher Newport University between 18-23 years of age. Participants will be informed of the information they will be asked to fill out, including details related to specific video game events and feelings towards those events. The researcher will also answer any questions the participant may have about the items in the study, so that participants can make the informed decision to participate. The participants will also be assured before the study begins that their data will be kept anonymous and that, when the researcher checks through participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; completed packet, the researcher is not reading answers, but rather checking to make sure that the time ranges and other important temporal options were filled out correctly. Participants will then be asked to fill out a basic demographics questionnaire, PANAS Questionnaire, DASS Questionnaire, and Video Game Addiction Scale, and self-reported hours spent playing video games. Participants will then list 2 positive and 2 negative events that occurred outside the context of video game activities and 2 positive and 2 negative events that occurred within the context of video game activities from within the past 7 days. The order of the events will be determined by Latin square. Participants will be asked to provide dates, brief descriptions, and ratings of initial and current affect for each event, ranging from -3 (very unpleasant) to 3 (very pleasant). Risks are relatively small, with the only risk being the possibility of agitating the participants by bringing up negative emotions. We hypothesize that FAB will be greater for video game players than non-video game players in regards to video game related events. We also hypothesize that FAB will be greater for non-video game players than video game players for non-video game related events. The results will be disseminated through conferences and scholarly journals.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

85

The Effect of Awakenings From Sleep on Dream Recall Trone, K. Rollins College Faculty Sponsor: Suzanne Woodward Dreaming occurs primarily during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Wamsley & Stickgold, 2011).

Norepinephrine, an important neurotransmitter for remembering, exists in low levels during REM sleep and increases during awakening (Barrett, 1993). The more awakenings that occur from non-REM sleep while norepinephrine is increasing, the more likely the individual is to recall their dreams and the salient aspects of their dreams as opposed to an abrupt awakening from dreaming sleep (Meier, Ruef, & Ziegler, 1968; Barrett, 1993). In addition, studies about sleeping and dreaming have confirmed predictions of classical memory theory, that intense dreams tend to be remembered because they easily encoded into memory as one awakens (Meier, Ruef, & Zeigler, 1968; Barrett, 1993; Eichenlaub, Nicolas, Daltrozzo, RedoutĂŠ, Costes, & Ruby, 2014). The purpose of the present study was to determine whether or not awakenings due to alarm clock use would alter dream recall frequency (DRF) and/or the salient aspects of recalled dreams. It was expected that alarm clock users would exhibit higher DRF, but moderate dream aspect ratings. It was also expected that participants with poorer sleep quality as evidenced by longer sleep latencies (time to fall asleep), fewer minutes slept, and more minutes in bed not sleeping, as well as pre-sleep alcohol consumption would exhibit lower DRF and less salient aspect ratings than participants who had slept well. Twenty undergraduate participants completed sleep diaries and aspect ratings of their dreams for 14 consecutive nights. Responses collected were use/nonuse of an alarm to wake, whether or not dreams were recalled, DRF, servings of alcohol consumed prior to sleep, total minutes slept, total minutes in bed, sleep onset latency in minutes, and four aspect ratings of each dream recalled using a 127mm (5 inch) line with the following adjectives on each end: realistic/non-realistic, creative aspects/no creative aspects, not intense/intense, and positive/negative affect. Significant negative correlations were obtained for alarm use and three other measures: minutes in bed not sleeping (r = -0.3338, p < .001), minutes slept (r = -0.3339, p < .001), and ratings of dream creativity (r = -.1571, p < .05). Alarm clock use was essentially unrelated (r < .10) to any other variables. A significant positive correlation was found for alcohol consumed and ratings of dream creativity (r = .1971, p < .05), and for sleep onset latency and aspect ratings of dream creativity (r = .1753, p < .05). Alcohol consumption was unrelated to DRF, dream recall, minutes slept, and three dream aspect ratings: realism, intensity, and positive/negative affect. As expected, results demonstrated that when participants did not use alarm clocks to waken, they slept more, spent more time in bed, and rated their dreams as more creative. College studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alarm clock use was associated with overall poorer sleep quality indicates that alarm clock may have served as a proxy for anxiety and fatigue, resulting in overall poorer sleep quality. When awakenings are natural, creativity reports rise as norepinephrine rises which helps explain why college students who use alarms frequently report fewer dreams and fewer aspects of dreams, especially creativity aspects (Wamsley, 2011). It takes time for the hippocampus to encode a dream so that its features are not lost upon awakening and rising norepinephrine helps this process along (Meier, Ruef, & Ziegler, 1968; Wamsley, 2011; Cohen, 1974).

Alcohol use has been shown to reduce REM sleep and to increase awakenings from other sleep stages and our participants who consumed more alcohol did report surprisingly higher dream creativity reports (Arnedt, Rohsenow, Almeida, Hunt, Gokhale, Gottlieb & Howland, 2011). The evidence that creative aspects of dreams were the only aspect of dream reports found to be affected either way by poor sleep, alcohol use, or alarm use suggests that our creative dreams are possibly more self-relevant leading to better memory retention and recall.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effect of Verbal Self-Disclosure on Recovery from Acute Anxiety Tomlin, L. & Pace, R. Covenant College Faculty Sponsor: Carole Yue Though research has revealed that verbal self-disclosure as a coping mechanism is helpful in the treatment of anxiety disorders, little research has been conducted to reveal whether this tactic is helpful in the recovery of those experiencing acute anxiety. This study explores whether self-disclosure is more effective than other common coping mechanisms. In this experiment, a sample of students from a small liberal arts college will be randomly assigned to one of three groups. All three groups will view a short, anxiety-inducing film, consisting of common triggers of anxiety (e.g. snakes and spiders and dissonant music). At the conclusion of the film, all participants will complete a state anxiety questionnaire to measure their anxiety level prior to their use of one of the three different coping mechanisms. Next, each group will be given different instructions for which coping strategy they will use in order to reduce their level of anxiety. Group 1 will be divided into pairs and instructed to self-disclose specifically about their current state of anxiety. Group 2 participants will also be paired, but they will be instructed to talk about their favorite professor rather than their feelings of anxiety. Group 3 will be instructed to silently color a picture. This period of coping will last for four minutes. Immediately following the coping period, participants will again complete a state anxiety questionnaire in order to measure their level of anxiety after coping. The participants will then be debriefed and dismissed. This study should demonstrate the differences in effectiveness between coping mechanisms for anxiety. We predict that self-disclosing verbally about one’s anxiety will result in greater reduction of anxiety than talking about an unrelated topic or coloring. The difference in participants’ anxiety levels before and after coping should, therefore, be greater in Group 1 than in Groups 2 and 3. While the participants’ results on the first questionnaire in all three groups should reveal, on average, around the same anxiety level, the second questionnaire should reveal significantly lower anxiety levels for the first group than for the other two. This study is important because people who experience acute anxiety on a daily basis should be aware of the best coping mechanism. If self-disclosure does have a positive effect on one’s acute anxiety recovery rate, then individuals may be able to adapt their current coping mechanisms in response to anxiety to incorporate self-disclosing to a friend. These findings are relevant in helping individuals learn how to best recover from everyday anxiety.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Effects of Study Abroad Experience on Personality and Mood Variables Vega, S. & Burks, A. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes, Anthony Bourgeois, Shane Hudson It is generally felt that studying abroad is a transformative experience for undergraduate students for a multitude of reasons including social skills, the ability to adapt to different surroundings, and character building. Nevertheless, some people do not take advantage of study abroad opportunities. The purpose of this study was to investigate personality characteristics and mood states of people who have participated in the study abroad program. The NEO-PI Big-Five (B-F) measures Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness were used in this study to determine the differences between these subjects of study abroad participants. Additionally the Profile of Mood States (POMS) measures Tension, Depression, Anger, Vigor, Fatigue, and Confusion were also used in this study to determine the effect of study abroad experiences upon subjective mood states. The objective of this study was to investigate if the B-F and POMS measures are predictive of the study abroad experience. 28 study abroad participants were administered the B-F and POMS measures 4 days after arrival and then again the afternoon before departure. Anonymity was assured at all times. SAS procedures were employed in order to compute correlated t-tests pre-trip and post trip (post trip subtracted from pre-trip) comparisons of the pre-trip and post-trip personality and mood measures. Significant effects were found for the B-F Conscientiousness index (t = -2.12, p<.04), the B-F Agreeableness scale (t = 3.78, p<.0008), POMS Tension (t = 3.64, p<.001), POMS Anger (t = - 3.95, p<.0005), POMS Vigor (t = 2.79, p<.009), POMS Fatigue (t = -3.48, p<.001), and POMS Confusion (t = 2.45, p<.02). Scores on the B-F Conscientiousness increased as a result of the study abroad experience (pre-trip M 44.57, SD 6.50 versus post-trip M 45.96, SD 6.2). Students became less Agreeable as a result of the program (pre-trip M 46.79, SD 6.03 versus post-trip M 43.96, SD 5.04). Results indicated that the participants reported less Tension (pre-trip M 5.61, SD 4.37 versus post-trip M 3.71, SD 4.12), and greater Anger (pre-trip M 2.39, SD 3.11 versus post-trip M 4.57, SD 3.37). Significant changes were also seen on Vigor (pre-trip M 12.71, SD 3.95 versus post-trip M 10.93, SD 3.44), Fatigue (pre-trip M 7.21, SD 4.57 versus post-trip M 10.54, SD 4.95), and Confusion pretrip M 6.18, SD 2.49 versus post-trip M 4.71, SD 2.84). Clearly, the five-week study abroad sojourn in Europe resulted in changes in both mood and personality variables in directions that are supportive of the value of a study abroad experience. Though the findings of the study were robust, an expansion to include a larger sample and additional relevant psychometric instruments would enhance our understanding of the study abroad experience.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Let's Kick It Together: A Program to Reduce Adolescent Deliberate Self-Harm Velazquez, N. Queens University of Charlotte Faculty Sponsor: Cherie Clark Deliberate self-harm is an issue that crosses all societal boundaries, including culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and race, but manifests itself most commonly within adolescent populations, who in today's society are already apt to feelings of loneliness and isolation. This presentation will educate and demonstrate the current need for youth programs that prevent adolescent self-harm using data from the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District, as well as present the original program created to meet these needs. It addresses the changing needs of adolescents within their unique developmental context by providing participants with the resources necessary to reduce the risk for self-harm and provide support to teens reaching out for help, all the while striving to create a community atmosphere that is sympathetic, accepting, and supportive of the challenges they face. There are currently limited available and affordable resources for adolescents who struggle with self-injury, and this program is a step towards updating the services offered.Working alongside clinician Katie Overcash, LCSW, a program was developed to best address the needs of adolescents. The foundations of this program are based on current literature on adolescent self-injury and the best practices to reduce it. For adolescents, self-injury is not simply a means of causing themselves pain, but rather a coping mechanism they have developed to manage emotions and overwhelming feelings. The program specifically addresses this function of self-harm in adolescents to aid them in identifying the function and developing a constructive replacement for the behavior. It also incorporates different aspects of daily life that they believe would work best to prevent self-harm. Using an open survey of 6,020 students in the United Kingdom on the possible ways of preventing self-harm behavior in young people, it was discovered that the top four modes of prevention are (1) having someone to talk to and listen to you, (2) families being educated about self-injury and being available as a resource, (3) being involved in after school clubs and activities, and (4) having good friends and positive peer interactions. The current program deliberately incorporates each of these aspects in order to maintain attendance to the program, as well as encourage communication and happiness within the adolescent and families. This program is designed to go hand in hand with individual therapy, as it should reinforce the skills discussed in an individual session and allow the adolescent to take it a step further. It is also very different from a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group. The main purpose of this program is to support adolescents on their journey to healing by providing them with the resources and support necessary to succeed, rather than an intense group designed to eliminate the behavior. This can also be useful in that it will attract adolescents that are not yet ready to partake in a DBT group and can guide them towards one. The purpose of this presentation is ultimately to educate about and advocate for an innovative, empirically based approach to addressing adolescent self-harm.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Untrained Profiling: Naïve Discernment of Mild Versions of Psychopathic Traits Vineyard, T. Carson-Newman University Faculty Sponsor: Jamie Collins Trait attributions occur during acquaintanceship (Kurtz & Sherker, 2003), when cultivating self-perception (Bem, 1972), self-verification (Swann, 1990), and when predicting the behavior of others. Profiling can be seen as a version of trait attribution (e.g., job interviews, airport security). What characteristics of a person signal what they will do next? What traits reveal their internal thought process, their beliefs? Trait attribution and profiling thus rely on a theory of mind, even if naïve. Surmising other people’s motives seems ubiquitous. However, there are those who exhibit a polished exterior which belies a sinister unpredictability: psychopaths. Our research explores whether untrained profilers (e.g., college students untrained in counseling) can correctly identify mild versions of traits associated with psychopaths. Some common traits, when taken to extreme, have been used to classify psychopathy (Hare, 2003). Our experiment will present behaviors one-by-one on a screen. Participants then choose from 34 traits in a repeated-measures design, reusing these same traits across behaviors. Stimuli clearly present immoral targets (e.g., person who abuses family; push for sexual intimacy; cult leader) or non-criminal targets (e.g., politician, CEO). The trait list was crafted to include identifiers of psychopaths among filler traits.

Our main dependent variable is the tendency with which participants select potentially dangerous traits for those stimuli that are criminal/immoral (versus normal). We also explored moderator variables: cognitive styles and multiple measures of empathy. Psychopaths are often defined as lacking empathy (Ronson, 2011). Would a relative lack of empathy – in the perceiver -- correlate with an inability to discern the target traits? That is, if naïve profilers lack empathy and believe in a “just world,” will they miss certain trait attributions? We obtained a pretest set of measures a month before the stimuli presentation, including Carre et al.’s (2013) Empathy Scale (with sub-scales of emotional distance, contagion, and empathy) and Lucas, Zhdanova, & Alexander’s (2011) scales of Procedural and Distributive Justice Beliefs. Thus we explore two lines of inquiry: 1) Do patterns of traits line up with negative targets? and 2) Can a priori empathy beliefs moderate the rate of using various traits? We have a pilot study (N=23) and N=85 for the larger study. Initial analyses show abstract thinkers feel more emotionally distant from others, 3-way ANOVA, F(1, 82) = 6.92, p < .01. Currently we test if differences in cognitive style and empathy co-vary with trait choices, per target type. From factor analyses we already built two composite DVs: 1) “Egocentric” = careless + insensitive + impulsive + manipulative + narcissistic, 2) “Cruel” = hateful + hostile + unreal + twofaced + artificial. Later, much more can be gleaned from such base-rate analyses.

As predicted, participants did not differ between composites, when considering “normal” targets (e.g., CEO, politician). However, they did significantly differentiate between criminal behaviors. A person who pushed for sex was considered more egocentric than cruel, F(1, 22) = 10.36, p < .004. A cult leader was seen as more cruel, F(1 , 22)=4.63, p <.04 and, interestingly, paralleled the pattern assigned to a person who abuses a family. All immoral behaviors ranked higher in negative trait endorsement, but intriguing patterns differentiate our various targets. In conclusion, if a naïve consensus exists – different crimes deserve different profiles -- then such beliefs might bias actual profiling as well as jury members’ cognition.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Choice Behavior in Children and Nonhuman Primates Vorder Bruegge, M. & Camden, A. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Bonnie Perdue Choice enables more freedom and control over oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, but research suggests the provision of a large range of choices causes more dissatisfaction and demotivation than provision of a small range of choices.

This phenomenon of wanting more choice, but it actually being detrimental, is known as choice overload.

Our studies investigated choice behavior in non-human primates and children in order to disentangle cultural and biological factors. Young children have not yet been exposed to the same cultural influences as adults, and primates have the same underlying biology but lack human culture. Thus, finding evidence of similar patterns to adult humans in children and primates would suggest that these behavioral patterns are more innate. The study on primates investigated if they irrationally preferred to have more choice as do adult humans, and the study on children investigated whether they were susceptible to choice overload. Adult humans show a desire or preference for choice even when it is irrational. Specifically, there is a tendency to choose a certain option more often if it appears to be disappearing or diminishing in availability (Shin & Ariely, 2004). Monkeys were tested using a computerized task in which subjects selected between two squares, one high risk (yielded 1 or 4 pellets) and one low risk (yielded 2 or 3 pellets). Both choices, however, yielded the same average number of pellets per session, making each a logical choice from the perspective of reward maximization. In the first condition, the Constant Phase, both squares remained the same size throughout the session. In the second condition, the Diminishing Phase, one square shrunk by 1/10 its original size whenever the other was chosen, and could only be restored by clicking on it. Results indicate that, despite what their initial risk preference was in the Constant phase, capuchin monkeys choose to click on both squares more equally in order to keep both options available. This demonstrates that some monkeys will irrationally change their initial preference, choosing an option that was initially undesirable and yields no extra benefit, in order to keep their options open. These results support the idea that desire for more choice has evolved and learning is not necessary for these patterns to emerge. We were also interested in whether having too much choice impedes children in a similar manner to adults (Iyengar & Lepper, 2000). Half of the children chose one toy from a large range of options (24 choice condition) and the other half to choose from a small range of options (6 choice condition). After completing an ongoing task, they were offered the chance to trade in their toy for a different one at the end of the experiment. The trade-in behavior served as our measure for choice overload, indicating whether a child was dissatisfied with his or her choice (traditional measures of satisfaction may be too cognitively complex for young children). In our first experiment, we found more children from the 6 choice condition decided to keep their toy than trade it in, whereas more children in the 24 choice condition decided to trade in their toy than keep it. This demonstrates that children experience dissatisfaction with their choice when choosing from a large number of options. Subsequent experiments revealed that experience with the task may change this pattern. Overall these two studies indicate that biological and evolutionary factors may play a large role in choice behavior, and in particular irrational choice behavior.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Developing Collective Genius in the Classroom Wagner, S. Christopher Newport University Faculty Sponsor: Gayle Dow The dynamic process of developing collective genius in the workplace requires several key understandings. First, the idea that innovation is not about solo genius, but collective genius. It is a journey of trial and error in which the skills and interests of the many are harnessed into a useful work. Second, that creative abrasion, creative resolution, and creative agility are all integral elements of innovative organizations. Hill (2013) defines creative abrasion as being able to create a marketplace of ideas through debate and discourse, creative resolution as a decision-making process in which opposable ideas are reconfigured to produce new and useful solutions, and creative agility as testing and refining an organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portfolio of ideas, including design thinking and series of experiments where negative outcomes are acceptable. Third, the notion that leaders are not necessarily visionaries, but social architects who set the stage, not perform on it. Finally, the understanding that as long as an organization creates an environment for collaborative problem-solving, discovery driven learning, and integrated decision-making, everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s slices of genius can be turned into collective genius. Classrooms across the country can follow a similar process in which collective genius can be developed through the use of integrative STEM instruction. One major component of integrative STEM instruction is the engineering design process. This process emphasizes the importance of communication and discussion of all ideas similar to creative abrasion, highlights the necessity of thoughtful and deliberate decisionmaking to propose the best possible solution similar to creative resolution, and stresses the significance of experimenting with failure similar to creative agility. While the need to foster STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in our K-12 school system has been well established, the implementation is still a work in progress. This research project investigated the effectiveness of integrative STEM instruction on elementary school students as part of the Integrative STEM for Preservice Teachers (inSTEP) program funded by NASA and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. Pre and posttests were administered to third, fourth, and fifth graders at local elementary schools. It was hypothesized that integrative STEM instruction, targeting content knowledge and the learning process of trial and error, would increase studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; knowledge of STEM subjects over five integrative STEM lessons.

Data revealed significant increases in student knowledge of all five lesson plans focused on weather patterns and anemometers, environmental resources, the scientific method, transportation, and structures, p <.05. These results provide evidence for the effectiveness of hands-on integrative STEM education in which students are encouraged to experience failure as part of the learning process. These results also suggest the benefit of using integrative STEM education as a facilitator of developing collective genius in the classroom. We need to produce more creative and innovative engineers and problem-solvers in order to remain competitive on a global scale. Charyton (2015) expands on this by proposing that creative design and its measurement might serve as a catalyst to increase STEM enrollment across the nation. If we, as a collective country, can prioritize creativity and innovation both in the classroom and the workplace, we will have the opportunity to enhance both national and global prosperity.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

92

Does Test Anxiety Impact Math and Reading Performance Among First Grade Children?

Wallace, M. Clark Atlanta University Faculty Sponsor: Medha Talpade The purpose of this study is to test the social learning theory that explains improvement in student test performance when anxiety triggers are not present. Social learning theory is the view that people learn by observing others. It explains how people learn new behaviors, values, and attitudes. Past research (Rana & Mahmood, 2010; Putwain, Woods, Symes, 2010; Segool, Embse, Barterian, 2012) indicates that a significant negative relationship exists between test anxiety scores and students’ achievement scores.

Past research has also explored the relationships between test anxiety and academic achievement of students at the post graduate level. The results indicate that test anxiety is one of the factors which are responsible for students’ underachievement scores and low performance. Research also indicates that there is a relationship between test anxiety and personal knowledge beliefs, and that these differed for the various components of test anxiety. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between test anxiety and personal knowledge belief. This study argues that performance can be managed by appropriate training of students in dealing with factors causing test anxiety. This study is unique because testing anxiety among first grade elementary students has not been investigated. The hypothesis of the present study was students will perform better if you remove the anxiety trigger which is the word “test”. Participants were given an assessment using the same material under varied instructions. The data collection method included a first grade teacher administering a reading comprehension evaluation and a math evaluation. Both the evaluations were on a 100 point scale. The results indicated that the student test performance, especially on math performance improves when anxiety triggers are not present. The reading scores were marginally significant in the study, t (37) = 1.52, p = .069. The means for the test instruction group = 69.25 (SD = 4.06), and activity instruction group = 77.37 (SD = 3.45). The math scores are significantly impacted by the instructions in this study, t (40) = 1.90, p = .032. The means for the test instruction group = 65.76 (SD = 4.01), and activity instruction group = 75.57(SD = 3.22). The expectations were thus confirmed. Implication of the results for future studies include limitations related to the inability of this study to investigate gender differences, since there were more girls in the classroom. These results are important because they indicate the role of test anxiety on math performance evident at a very young age. The results of this study can contribute to the field of psychology and education because it can close the achievement gap in education by helping the students improve their academic performance.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

93

Limited English Proficiency and Psychological Distress among Elderly Asian Americans: Mental Health Disparities within Asian Population Yang, J. The University of Alabama Faculty Sponsor: Giyeon Kim Limited English proficiency (LEP) is prevalent among elderly Asians, a rapidly growing population in the US. Previous studies reported that LEP is associated with poorer physical and mental health status along with lower rate of healthcare services utilization. However, limited research is available for the relationship between LEP and mental health among the elderly Asian population. Moreover, the Asian elderly population’s heterogeneity has not been explored extensively in previous research. Lack of ethnically sensitive healthcare can aggravate the negative impact of this population’s double vulnerability of LEP and older age. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between LEP and mental health and to explore the heterogeneity of the relation across different Asian subgroups and nativity. Using the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), we selected elderly Asian adults aged 60 and older living in California (n=1,515) from five major Asian subgroups to test the relationship between English proficiency and psychological distress. Then we examined whether this relationship varies across five different Asian subgroups (Chinese n=414, Japanese n=190, Korean n=384, Filipino n=163, and Vietnamese n=364) and by nativity (US born n=225 vs. Foreign-born n=1290). English proficiency of subjects whose first language was not English was assessed by asking “how well do you speak English?”

Subjects were then divided into two groups based on their answers to the English proficiency question: English proficient (EP) if responded “very well” or “well” and limited English proficiency (LEP) if responded “not well” or “not at all.” Participants that spoke only English were included in the EP group. Psychological distress was measured with the K6 (Kessler et al., 2002). Using hierarchical regression analysis, covariates (age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, annual income, number of chronic diseases, Asian subgroups, and nativity) were entered in the first step, and LEP status in the second step. In the last step, the interactions of LEP with Asian subgroups were entered by dummy coding the Asian subgroups. Results showed that elderly Asians with limited English proficiency were significantly more likely than those with English proficiency to suffer psychological distress (p=.002). While there was no significant variation of psychological distress by nativity (p=.949), there was a significant variability of psychological distress across five Asian subcategories (p=.005). This study suggests that the healthcare system should address language needs and engage the Asian population through an ethnically focused approach to improve their underrepresentation in the mental health system. Also, researchers should recognize that generalization of the Asian population from findings from one particular Asian category could produce an inaccurate picture of the health burden in specific Asian categories.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

94

An Examination of Control as a Moderator of Commute Stress Yangchen, T. & Higdon, L. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Jennifer L. Hughes Commuting and the stress it arouses has become endemic in numerous workplaces and in adult daily lives, which accounts for the burgeoning increase in the commute stress literature over the past few decades. Koslowsky (1997) proposed a commute model specifying control as a moderator. The overall goal of this project was to test his theory that control of the commute is a moderator of commute stress.

The sample for this study consisted of automobile commuters (N = 544) of both sexes between the ages of 18 and 66 years from diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Participants who commute for at least 10 minutes were voluntarily recruited through snowball sampling to take an online survey. The survey asked about commute stress, control, and demographics. The first goal of this study was to determine if gender differences existed. For commute stress to work, women reported greater stress than men, t(525) = -2.46, p = .014, d = .21 and less control than men, t(527) = 2.34, p = .020, d = 20. Gender differences were not found for traveling from work. The second goal of this study was to investigate whether commute length is related to increased commute stress, and whether the negative effects of longer commutes on commute stress are stronger for those who feel less control. We again looked at both commutes to work and from work. We predicted there would be a significant interaction between commuting length and control of the commute on participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; commute stress for both to work and from work. In the model for commuting to work, the first step shows that we obtained a main effect for commute length, R2 = .07, F(1, 518) = 38.04, p < .001., so we know commute stress to work is predicted by commute length. However, commute length does not account for much variance (6.8%) and therefore is not a strong predictor. In the second step, control of the commute was found to also significantly predict commute stress, R2 = .26, F(1, 517) = 131.87, p < .001. Feeling less control accounted for 18.9% of the variance in commute stress to work. This means that one predictor of greater commute stress to work is feeling less control of the commute situation. In the third step, the interaction term of commute length and control of the commute situation did not prove to be significant, R2 = .26, F(1, 516) = .39, p = .54. Therefore, feeling in control of the commute situation is not a moderator for commute length and commute stress to work like Koslowsky (1997) predicted. Second, we looked at commuting from work and found similar results. In the model, the first step demonstrates that we obtained a main effect for commute length, R2 = .08, F(1, 518) = 44.95, p < .001., so we know commute stress from work is predicted by commute length. However, commute length again did not account for much variance (8.0%). In the second step, not feeling in control was found to significantly predict commute stress from work, R2 = .28, F(1, 517) = 145.09, p < .001. Feeling less control accounted for 20.2% of the variance in commute stress from work. In the third step, the interaction term of commute length and control did not prove to be significant, R2 = .29, F(1, 516) = 3.43, p = .06. Therefore, feeling less control again was not a moderator for commute length and commute stress from work. These results indicate that commute length, although related, was not a strong predictor of commute stress, whereas control of commuting situation was found to be a significant predictor of commute stress both to and from the workplace. Thus, this shows the significance of stressed commuters in assessing their feelings of control to reduce their commute stress. The survey revealed that women indeed reported lower control over their commute situation and higher levels of commute stress to work than their male counterparts when driving to work but not from work. This could mean that women worry more about possibly being late to work, but more research needs to be done to investigate this.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

95

Psychosocial, Personality, and Experiential Variables in College Students Global Cultural Competence Development Yangchen, T. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Janelle S. Peifer In recent years, research and institutional goals have increased an emphasis on college students’ global competence development (Haper & Getz, 2011; Jayakumar, 2008; Deardorff, 2006; Kitsansas, 2004).

Global competences refer to knowledge, skills, and abilities to engage with, comprehend, and respond to global issues (Caligiuri & Di Santo, 2001). This form of cultural competence is necessary for today’s students existing in an international and interconnected society. This developmental process can be impacted by both institutional influences and students’ personality traits and experiences (Caligiuri, 2000; Arthur & Bennett; 1995). The current study explores psychosocial variables, personality traits, and globally related experiences in connection with two facets of cultural competence development: college students’ overall global competence and identity and sense of self. First, the study investigated students’ anxiety/depression (orientation towards self) in connection with extraversion, agreeableness, and cognitive empathy (orientation towards others). As hypothesized, anxiety/depression and extraversion were negatively associated with one another, r(171) = -.239, p = .002 and agreeableness and cognitive empathy had a positive association, r(192) = .599, p < .001. Second, the study explored if one’s orientation towards self (i.e., anxiety/depression) was related to different global exposure opportunities (i.e. length of time abroad, international diversity of friendships), overall global competence, and students’ sense of self and identity. Correlational analysis showed that anxiety/depression was negatively related to extraversion r(131) = -.23, p = .010, sum of total short-term duration abroad r(131) = -.24, p = .005, and identity, r(131) = -.31, p < .001. A positive correlation was found between global competence and international diversity of friendships, r(131) = .40, p < .001, as well as to identity r(192) = .62, p < .001. Third, we ran a multivariate step-wise linear regression analysis to determine how the combination of these variables predicted overall global competence and individuals’ sense of themselves and their identities. Two models included overall global competence and identity as outcomes. The variables global competence, extraversion (β = .24, p = .002), cognitive empathy (β = .32, p = .001), and the ratio of internationally diverse friendships (β = .24 p = .002) all remained significant predictors of global competence in the first model. The second model revealed that anxiety/depression (β = -.24, p = .006) and extraversion (β = .32, p < .001), significantly predicted students’ conceptualization of themselves and their identity. Practical implications for higher education institutions and recommendations for future research are discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

96

The Relationship between Perceived Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Fear of Being Single Zhang, X., Bronner, A., & Carter, A. Agnes Scott College Faculty Sponsor: Brown, C. Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Theory, or IPARTheory (formerly PARTheory), is a lifespan developmental theory that aims to predict and explain the major sources and outcomes of interpersonal acceptance and rejection among people worldwide (Rohner, 1986). IPARTheory supports that, across cultures, perceived rejection from parents during childhood is associated with a specific collection of personality dispositions, later on in adulthood, that represent the acceptance-rejection syndrome. These dispositions include negative self-esteem, insecurity, and cognitive distortions (Rohner, 2004). The purpose of the present study was to connect IPARTheory to adults’ fear of being single – their “concern, anxiety, or distress regarding the current or prospective experience of being without a romantic partner” (Spielmann et al., 2013, p. 1050). To date, IPARTheory and fear of being single have not been examined together. The participants for this study were 32 women (M age = 19.25, SD = 1.02) who were in a romantic relationship (M months in relationship = 12.39, SD = 13.66) at the time of data collection. The participants completed a paper-and-pencil survey that included the Adult Parental Acceptance and Rejection Questionnaire: Father (Short Form; Rohner & Khaleque, 2005; Cronbach’s alpha = .96), the Adult Parental Acceptance and Rejection Questionnaire: Mother (Short Form; Rohner & Khaleque, 2005; Cronbach’s alpha = .88), and the Fear of Being Single Scale (Spielmann et al., 2013; Cronbach’s alpha = .87). The results indicated a moderate, positive, and significant correlation between fear of being single and perceived maternal rejection (r(30) =.50, p = .004); and a weak, positive, non-significant correlation between fear of being single and perceived paternal rejection (r(30) =.29, p = .106). This study points to the conclusion that participants who indicated more perceived rejection from their mothers had a higher level of fear of being single that included concerns, anxiety, or distress in their adult romantic relationships. The present study revealed one of the potential disadvantageous consequences of perceived parental rejection on an individual’s psychological health, emphasizing the importance of caregivers’ role in an individual's upbringing. The present study did not identify why perceived maternal association was associated with greater fear of being single, but perceived paternal rejection was not.

Further investigation can be done to address this. Future research among male subjects, individuals with different cultural backgrounds, and of different age groups is needed for a more comprehensive interpretation of the relationship between perceived parental acceptance and rejection and individuals’ overall wellness in their romantic relationships.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

97

The Effects of Media Type on Concealed Carry Perceptions on College Campuses Zunic, D., O’Donnel, C., & Smith, C. Florida Southern College Faculty Sponsor: Leilani Goodmon With the recent increase in campus violence around the country, the decision to allow concealed weapons on college campuses has become an extremely controversial topic (Hemenway, Azrael & Miller, 2001). According to previous studies, there are several pro-concealed weapons demographic characteristics, including males; whites; people from rural, southern, or mountainous areas; and gun owners (Bouffard, Nobles, & Wells, 2011; Hemenway, Azrael, & Miller, 2001). In addition to certain demographic variables, different media types (e.g., television dramas, news clips, etc.) have the potential to alter views on many controversial issues (Becker & Whitney, 1978; Parents Television Council, 2013), possibly also views of concealed weapons on campus (Cramer, 2014; Patten, Thomas, & Wada, 2012).

Media type has an impact on public perceptions of anything from female political leaders (Bligh, Schlehofer, Casad, & Gaffney, 2012) to the Virginia Tech shooting (Fallahi, Austad, Fallon, & Leishman, 2009). Perceptions and attitudes can be altered based on how much one trusts a specific source (Wenjing & Yunze, 2014), with some evidence pointing to fictional sources as being less trustworthy. For example, Keating (2002) found that views were more influenced by news stories and documentaries than by fictional depictions. The purpose of the current study is to determine if there is a relationship between exposure to different types of media (fiction vs. nonfiction) of college shootings and student perceptions regarding the allowance of concealed weapons on college campuses. An additional purpose is to determine if there is an interaction between certain pro-carry demographic variables and exposure to different media types. Based on previous research showing the demographic and behavioral trends among supporters of concealed weapons on college campuses (Bouffard et al., 2011; Cavanaugh, Bouffard, Wells, & Nobles, 2012; Hemenway et al., 2001) and studies showing the influence of media type on public perceptions (Becker & Whitney, 1978; Parents Television Council, 2013), it is hypothesized that media type will have an effect on perceptions regarding concealed weapons on college campuses.

Specifically, those exposed to non-fiction media will exhibit more of an attitude change from baseline to post-test. Furthermore, we hypothesize that participants with many pro-carry or anti-carry demographic characteristics will be the least affected by the type of media. Participants that fall between the two extremes will be more likely to have a change in attitude after viewing the non-fictional media coverage.

In the present study, participants completed a 5 pt Likert scale survey designed to measure perceptions regarding concealed carry regulations on college campuses (e.g., “How concerned are you about violence on campus?” and “How comfortable are you with guns on your college campus?”). They then watched one of three five-minute videos—a nonfictional compilation of campus violence news clips, a selection of scenes from a fictional film on campus violence, or a college admissions video (i.e., the control condition). After watching a video, participants completed a post-test containing the same questions from the pre-test in a different order, and additional questions designed to assess more indepth attitudes regarding guns on campus. Data reveal that media type does have an influence on perceptions among participants with less extreme pro or anti-carry views regarding the concealed carry debate. Both media-based groups exhibited more non-favorable (anti-carry) attitudes (from baseline to post-test); however, the control group exhibited no significant differences between baseline and post-test.

Policy implications and future directions for research will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

98

Friday Presentations The Discrepancies of Views and Effects on Minorities in Predominantly White Schools Akmal, S. Hightower, J., & Landaverde, E. University of North Georgia Faculty Sponsor: Bryan Dawson The demographics of many institutions have large effects on perceptions, feelings, and many other factors in general. These factors could possibly dictate success or failure of not only the individual but an institution as well in terms of retention (Tinto, 1987). The demographics of an institution have shown to have a direct link on students of color specifically explained Bean and Eaton (2000). It seems that students who viewed the racial climate of the campus in a negative light were also the ones who felt detachment and isolation within this institution according to Yosso and colleagues (2009). One major factor that affected students’ attitudes and commitment within the institution was the stress they experienced from their environment. These stressors usually have a negative outcome with many students not returning or having persistence (Johnson & Wasserman, 2013). In particular, Tinto’s (1987) research shows that retention rates tell a lot about an institutions underlying fitness. This alone could have significant implications for the university. Students’ attitudes and feelings towards the institution is a micro issue, however, it becomes a macro issue for the institution in that students are not staying, attending, or progressing in academic studies. According to the data, it seems group level differences are a predictor of retention rates. According to Harper and Hurtado (2007), that the perceptions of white students versus students of color have contradictory feelings about the institution’s climate. Although much research today focuses on people of color as minority group within institutions, there is limited data on minority group perceptions within a newly consolidated university. Students who are enrolled at various satellite campuses within a larger university may have differences in perception that should be addressed at the campus level, not the university wide level. Having the ability to differentiate perceptions across campus could better enable administration and student services to further understand the specific needs on each campus rather than treating minority group perceptions as a whole. This present study examined the discrepancies of attitudes on various college campuses and the potential effects of these perceptions on student retention in those campuses. Students across multiple campuses at a newly consolidated university completed a climate assessment survey that assessed perceptions, feelings of inclusion, and tolerance and other variables. The results suggest that there are discrepancies between minority and White students that differ between campuses, indicating various but different issues regarding inclusion for minority students in different settings. Furthermore, the results suggest that while no difference between races across campus were significant, there are very significant differences between races within specific campus atmospheres. These results suggest that universities should be mindful of understand specific campus climates and not rely on the overall university climate to assess their inclusion needs. This study aims to examine the possible implications of ignoring issues of inclusion on campuses and their effects on student retention.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

99

How Rumination Affects Emotions Baeten, A. University of North Carolina at Greensboro Faculty Sponsor: Blair Wisco According to the response styles theory, there are two ways an individual can respond to their depression: rumination or distraction. Rumination is continually thinking about one’s depression, symptoms of depression, and the origins of their depression (e.g. “why do I always have to feel so sad”).

Distraction is when an individual focuses their attention off of their depression. Rumination was originally conceptualized as a risk factor for depression that prolongs depressive episodes (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Recent research has linked rumination with psychopathologies other than depression, such as anxiety and eating disorders (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco & Lyubomirksy, 2008). This indicates that rumination may not only affect sad mood, but also other emotions, such as anxiety, anger, and positive mood. In previous studies rumination has been identified as a trans-diagnostic factor in depression and anxiety (Mclaughlin & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011; Olatunji, Nargon-Gainey & Wolitzky-Taylor, 2013). Studies examining the relationship between rumination and worry, a related process among individuals with anxiety, have also found that they correlate with each other but are still distinct mental processes (Fresco et al, 2002; Muris et al, 2004; Yang et al, 2012). Anger and depression are strongly correlated and this correlation is mediated by rumination (Balsamo, 2010; Besharat, Nia & Farahani, 2013). To our knowledge there is no previous research examining positive mood in depressed individuals. We predicted that dysphorics who ruminated would have an increase in their sadness, anger, and anxiety and have a decrease in their positive mood. The sample consisted of 99 individuals recruited from UNCG’s psychology subject pool and the surrounding community. Individuals completed a prescreening assessment to classify them as dysphoric (Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)≥16) or non-dysphoric (BDI≤9). Participants were randomly assigned to a rumination or distraction condition. The rumination condition consisted of self-focused prompts (e.g., “Think about whether you are fulfilled”). The distraction condition consisted of externally focused prompts (e.g., “Think about band playing outside”). Participants completed 9-point Likert scale questions about their mood before and after completing the assigned induction. We conducted planned contrasts comparing change in emotions among ruminating dysphoric individuals to the other three groups. We found that depressed mood was only marginally different [t(91)=-1.738, p<.09]. Positive mood [t(92)=-2.551, p<.05] and angry mood [t(91)=-2.062,p<.05] were significantly different from the other three groups. There were no significant results for anxious mood [t(92)=-1.350, p=.19]. We then followed up with paired samples t-tests to examine if there was a significant change from pre to post in the different moods within each group. The dysphorics in the rumination condition showed a marginal increase in their depressed mood from pre to post induction [t(23)=1.83, p=.08]. Dysphorics in the distraction condition showed a significant decrease in their angry mood from pre to post induction [t(23)=2.08, p=.05]. For positive mood, the dysphorics in the rumination condition showed a significant decrease from pre to post [t(23)=2.41, p=.02], while the dsyphorics in the distraction condition showed a marginal increase from pre to post [t(24)=1.75, p=.09]. These findings can be used to improve the assessment and treatment of depression. When assessing an individual for depression we should examine not only how sad they are but also how unhappy they are. For the treatment of depression, we should focus not only on decreasing sad mood but decreasing angry mood and increasing positive mood as well.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

100

Attitudes towards Victims of Sexual Assault Barbosa, J. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli The lack of awareness about sexual assault has perpetuated debates on the care a victim should receive.

It is estimated approximately twenty percent of women may experience sexual assault in their lifetime (Najdowski & Ullman, 2011). Ulman and Peter-Hagnene (2014) suggested that a victim cannot only experience PTSD from the act itself, but also from how society reacts to their experience. In fact they argue the negative social reaction is the main reason people develop PTSD. Another study by Ulman found that some individuals focused on women who experience poor social attitudes from rapes and who use maladaptive techniques to cope which hurt them further (Ulman & Peter-Hagene, 2011). There are a number of studies on how people view female victims, but it is fairly hard to find studies about how male victims are viewed and even more challenging to find studies where both males and females were examined. Many studies focus primarily on attitudes toward sexual assault to women but few studies examine males. This can make it seem as though the only type of person who can be a rape victim is a female. This is probably due to the common, but false notion that males cannot be raped. In fact, 70% of males in the United States have experienced a non-consensual sexual encounter (Anderson, & Quinn, 2009). The researchers examined both male and female victims and how each gender reacts to different sexual assault situations. It is predicted that males will be more likely to experience victim shaming and individuals who have consumed alcohol prior to sexual assault will be blamed for the situation regardless of gender. For this study, participants were given a paper copy of the informed consent packet and a debriefing statement with contact information for the university counseling center and a sexual assault hotline. The debriefing statement was provided at the completion of the study. After participants read the implied consent, they selected to do the survey, filled out a demographic form, read one out of the four vignettes about a sexual assault scenario, and responded to four questions about the scenario.

Participants also completed the Attitudes towards Male Victims Scale (Struckman-Johnson & Struckman Johnson, 1992), and the Attitudes towards Rape Victims Scale (Ward, 1988). Both of the scales measured the level a person blames a person who may have been sexually assaulted. The four vignettes involve a variation of gender and alcohol use. It is predicted that males will be more likely to victim shame. Data analysis is still in progress and as of this moment, there are 84 participants in the study. A 2 (gender) X 2 (alcohol or no alcohol) ANOVA will be used to examine the gender of the victim and the level of victim shaming, gender of participants, victim blaming, and alcohol use will be analyzed relative to victim shaming. Directions for future research and limitations will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

101

Will You Stop Fidgeting? Predictors of Reactions to Emotions Bernier, R. Murray State University Faculty Sponsor: Jana Hackathorn The current study examined what predicts one’s ability to control one’s emotions in a real-world environment. Specifically, we examined the predictors of whether one could restrain from movement during emotional movies. The limited research available on the topic primarily studies personality, more specifically how susceptible extroverts versus neurotics are to positive and negative emotions. Hotard, McFatter, McWhirter, and Stegall (1989) found when they studied extroverts and introverts, that extroverts see themselves as happier than introverts do. In fact, happy people tend to be extroverts (Diener & Seligman, 2002) perhaps because they react better than others to negative life events. For example, Larson and Ketelaar (1991) exposed extroverts and neurotics to positive, negative, and neutral stimuli via vignettes and imagery. They found that extroverts were significantly affected by positive stimuli while neurotics were significantly affected by negative stimuli. In a recent similar study, the results were consistent (Rafienia, Azadfallah, Fathi-Ashtiani, & Rasoulzadeh-Tabatabaiei, 2008). Extroverts reacted more to positive stimuli, and neurotics reacted more to negative stimuli. The current study wanted to further examine the interplay between extroversion and emotions. Specifically, we were interested in whether personality and perceived emotional control could predict actual emotional control. That is, this study contained a behavioral measure of emotional control (i.e., reactions to emotional films). It was hypothesized that extroversion and reporting less emotional control would predict a harder time controlling emotions (restraining from reacting to emotional films). Participants were recruited from a convenience sample of undergraduate college students. The study was listed on an electronic recruitment website and listed under the headline of “Personal and Popular Culture.” Upon arriving at the lab, participants (n = 42) in this study were shown two video clips which were each approximately four minutes in length. One video clip was (arguably) funny, and the other was (arguably) sad. Before the clips were shown, participants were instructed not to move or react in any way to what they would see on the screen. They were also told that each time they moved or reacted, the researchers would make note of it. After viewing the videos, participants completed a survey packet that contained the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & Briggs, 1943) and the Emotion Control Questionnaire (Roger & Najarian, 1989).

Finally, participants were asked questions regarding their perceptions of the movie clips. A multiple regression analysis indicated that the overall model was significant, F(9, 31) = 3.17, p = .008, R2 = .48.

However, contrary to our hypotheses, the only significant predictors of fidgeting during a movie (after being told not to) was one’s self-reported control over aggression (β = .48, t = 2.90, p = .007) and ratings of how funny the sad movie was (β = .73, t = 4.48, p < .001). Interestingly, ratings of how sad the sad movie was (β = .30, t = 1.99, p = .056) only trended toward significance but did not meet the criteria.

Although these findings were not what were expected, taken together it would appear that the sad movie may have made participants uncomfortable, but they may not have been able to correctly identify the emotion that was being felt. Or, as aggression control was also a predictor, maybe the sad movie made participants angry. It is unclear at this time, however implications will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

102

Let them Play Music: Are Music Abilities Related to Spatial and Creativity Scores?

Bouie, G., Transou, C., & Ralston, H. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Angelina MacKewn Music: a phenomena that establishes connections and an understanding perceived by most. Can this universal language aid science in better understanding others? Cabanac, Perlovsky, Bonniot-Cabanac, and Cabanac (2013) studied the impact of performing music on academic grades. They found a significant difference in academic performance between those who enjoy and/or perform music and those who did not enjoy and/or perform music. Those who performed music had higher grades than those who did not. They also found that those who were enrolled in music classes performed better in all other subjects compared to those not enrolled in music classes. Hille, Gust, Britz, and Krammer (2011) focused on the impact of music on elementary boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; intelligence and spelling ability; intelligence was higher for those who had music lessons compared to those did not have music lessons. Hassler, Birbaumer, and Feil (1985) found musical talent was specifically related to Visual-Spatial ability in both boys and girls, age 9-12. The focus of this study was to examine the differences in spatial ability and creativity scores in musicians versus non-musicians. Approximately fifty participants will be recruited for the study.

Participants enter the lab in groups of ten and are asked to first complete an online survey through Qualtrics. This online survey contains first a short demographic survey consisting of questions such as age, gender, ethnicity, and music experience, for example, have you ever played an instrument, how long have you been playing, and can you read sheet music. The final portion of the survey is the Creativity Achievement Questionnaire, which will consist of ten questions pertaining to previous creative achievements in certain areas such as music, visual arts, dance, etc. Once all the participants have completed the survey they will be given a paper version of the Space Relations Test, which is a 3 dimensional spatial orientation test, followed by the Card Rotations, which is a 2 dimensional spatial test, with three minutes allotted for each test; they will be asked to complete as many questions within the three-minute time frame given. The independent variable of the study is musical ability with the levels being musicians and non-musicians. The Creative Achievement Questionnaire was utilized to calculate the creativity score, while both a Card Rotations Test and Space Relations Test were used to determine the spatial ability score. It is hypothesized that those with previous musical exposure will have higher scores when compared to those who did not have any musical exposure on both the creativity questionnaire and the spatial tests. To see if there are any differences in creativity, an Independent samples t-test would be performed, if normality and homogeneity are satisfied. If not, then a MannWhitney may be performed. Differences in spatial ability will be tested with a MANOVA with both spatial tests serving as the dependent variables by musical ability (musicians, non-musicians). This study will also investigate whether the length of time and individual has played musical instrument will be related to the spatial score. It is believed that those who have played longer and have more experience with music will have higher spatial scores. Pearson correlations will be conducted on the 2 spatial tests and length of time in months to test this hypothesis. Data is currently being collected.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

103

Social Communication as an Early Indicator of Autism in High-Risk Infants Brewe, A., & Reisinger, D. University of South Carolina Faculty Sponsor: Jane Roberts Engaging in social communication in the first two years of life, particularly initiating joint attention (IJA) behaviors using gaze and gestures, is critical to later communicative and social functioning in typically developing children. Research has shown that deficits in these social communication behaviors can be indicative of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Charman & Swettenham, 1997). Even though the presence of IJA in social communication can be found in infants as early as 9-10 months (Clements & Chawarska, 2010; Clifford & Dissanayake, 2008), limited research has analyzed its ability to predict autism earlier than 15 months. Although the causes of ASD are still unknown, there is a close relationship between ASD and children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), with sixty percent of FXS children also being diagnosed with ASD (Hagerman, Rivera, & Hagerman, 2008). Despite this high comorbidity, very few studies have compared the presence of IJA behaviors between FXS children and other infant populations at high risk for ASD. The current study analyzes if there are differences in the frequency of IJA gaze and gesture use in FXS compared to other high-risk children in addition to determining if the frequency of these social behaviors at 12 months can predict an ASD diagnosis at 24 months. It is hypothesized that FXS children will have lower frequencies of IJA gaze and gesture use than other infants at risk due to family history, because FXS children have a higher risk of ASD than children with a family history (60% vs. 20%). It is also hypothesized that the frequency of these social communication behaviors will be predictive of a later ASD diagnosis at 24 months for both groups. As part of a larger longitudinal study examining early indicators of autism using behavioral assessments of high-risk infants at 9, 12, and 24 months, the current study specifically focuses on the frequency of IJA gaze and gesture use to determine if the behaviors are potential indicators of ASD. After creating a coding manual to define types of IJA gaze and gestures, siblings of children with ASD (ASIB; n=26) and children with FXS (n=21) were observed during a three-minute attention task conducted at their 12 month assessments and coded for the frequency of these behaviors. Reliability with the coding manual is maintained through a master coder who codes 20 percent of the data with a Cohenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kappa coefficient of 0.80 across gaze and gestures.

Prior to the SEPA conference, the frequencies of these behaviors will be compared with the same participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ASD diagnosis scores collected during their 24 month assessments using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. An ANOVA will be used to compare the group differences in frequency of IJA gaze and gesture use for FXS and ASIB children. A regression will also be applied to analyze the relationship of the frequency of these social communication behaviors with a later ASD diagnosis.

Depending on the results, the findings of this study could be significant in identifying IJA gaze and gesture use as indicators of autism that can be seen in high-risk infants as early as 12 months. Because the causes of ASD are still unknown, there is extra significance in targeting early behaviors that lead to ASD, because earlier detection would allow clinicians to better implement intervention to target those social and communicative deficits.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

104

The Development of Mother-Infant Interactions Across the First Month of Life: An Examination of the Green Monkeys of Barbados Brinson, C., Campbell, E., & Clarke, Z. Spelman College Faculty Sponsor: Kai McCormack The mother-infant relationship in humans changes drastically across the first year of life as infants begin to explore their environment, and slowly gain independence. Erikson, specifically discusses these changing interactions in his stage of development theory (Erikson 1963). Similar changes in the motherinfant relationship have also been documented in several non-human primate species (Fairbanks et al., 1989; Hinde & Spencer-Booth, 1967; McCormack et al., 2006). The purpose of the current study was to examine the developmental trajectory of mother-infant interactions across the first month of life in a group of free-ranging green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus). Animals lived in proximity to the Barbados Wildlife Reserve in Barbados. Six mother-infant pairs served as the subjects of this study, living in a social group that consisted of 4 adult males, 7 adult females, and 9 yearlings and juveniles. Each mother-infant pair was focally observed for a minimum of 10 hours per week, across the first four weeks of life. The following frequencies of behavior were recorded between the infants and their mothers: contact, proximity, aggression, infant restrain, infant reject, and infant grab. The data were analyzed with a series of repeated measures ANOVAs to determine whether there were behavioral changes across the 4 weeks.

Significant ANOVAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s were followed up with Tukey post-hoc tests. Findings reveal that the rates of contact between mothers and infants significantly changed across the first month, F(3,12) = 118.93, (p<.05) . Post-hoc tests revealed that there were higher contact rates in week 1 compared to all other weeks. The rates of proximity seeking behavior between mothers and infants also changed across the 4 weeks F(3,12) = 277.029, (p<.05), with there being higher rates during week 1 compared to the other weeks. The rate of maternal grabbing of infants changed significantly over the 4 weeks F(3,12) = 210.30, (p<.05), with the higher rates occurring during week 1. Rates of grooming also changed significantly across the 4 weeks F(3,12)=21.23, (p<.05). The post-hoc tests indicate that the highest rates of grooming occurred at week 1, and tapered off thereafter. There were no other significant findings. These results suggest that similar to humans, the mother-infant interactions of green monkeys change across time, with evidence of increasing independence by the infants, with maternal encouragement of this independence.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

105

Self-Awareness of PTSD Symptoms in Critical Care Nurses Bullock, S. University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Sponsors: Hans Stadthagen-Gonzalez and Michael Mong When someone mentions Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the image that comes to mind is that of a soldier scarred by the horrors of war, not that of a nurse at the end of her shift at a hospital. However, several studies have shown that traumatic events that are associated with PTSD, such as handling dead bodies and providing care to trauma victims, are experienced by veterans and critical-care nurses alike (Dobson, Marshall, & Grayson, 1996; McCarroll, Ursano, & Fullerton, 1995; Ursano & McCarroll, 1990).

Critical-care nurses are more likely to exhibit symptoms of PTSD than nurses who do not work in criticalcare (Mealer et al., 2007). Critical-care units are tension-charged environments filled with patient morbidity and mortality, ethical dilemmas, and confrontations. This is an environment that is ripe for the development of PTSD (Acker, 1993). A further finding that reflects the stressful character of the criticalcare unit is that patients who survive their stay there are more likely to exhibit PTSD symptoms than soldiers who serve in politically unstable regions (Schelling, et al., 1998). Unlike most soldiers, criticalcare nurses experience these things on a near daily basis over the course of years. Critical-care nurses are expected to quickly adjust and provide a comforting smile and calm demeanor to the next patient or patient’s family member whom they encounter. Soldiers and their families are often encouraged to be on the lookout for symptoms of PTSD and are routinely screened for symptoms, while critical-care nurses are not usually even considered as a group that is at risk for PTSD by the general public or even by themselves. This is particularly striking since nurses receive training on the identification of PTSD symptoms in others. Our working hypothesis for this study was that nurses that exhibit PTSD symptoms will be unaware that their stress actually qualifies as PTSD. In order to address this issue we asked a sample of 87 critical care nurses in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida to complete the Short Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT; Connor & Davidson, 2001). The SPRINT is an 8-item self-report questionnaire that has shown effective in screening for PTSD symptoms; participants with SPRINT scores of 14 or higher (out of a possible 32) are considered “at risk”. Participants also completed a background questionnaire that probed into their self-awareness of PTSD. Preliminary results indicate that 17.6% of the sample exhibited SPRINT scores high enough to be considered “at risk” of suffering PTSD, yet none of the participants acknowledged that they could be suffering from it.

Furthermore, the principal stressors seem to be related to the physical demands of the job (the “somatic malaise” component of the SPRINT). Determining the degree of self-awareness of PTSD symptoms and coping mechanisms is important in designing strategies to deal with this risk and in the development of training programs and professional standards. The results of the present study reveal that a sizeable proportion of critical care nurses suffer from PTSD symptoms but are not identifying the signs and hence are not seeking treatment. These findings will hopefully raise awareness of the issue.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

106

Understanding Depression and the Satisfaction of College Students Burke, B. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Depression is a common mental health disorder that effects all ages and is a leading cause of disability worldwide affecting 121 million people worldwide (Fu & Parahoo, 2009). Symptoms of depression include loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy and poor concentration (Fu & Parahoo, 2009). Suicide linked to depression is the second leading cause of death among on-campus college students (Cukrowicz et. al., 2011). Depression decreases students’ college satisfaction in multiple ways by causing sexual dissatisfaction (Auslander, et. al., 2007), poor sleep quality (Cukrowicz et al., 2011), and low academic achievement (Heilingenstein et. al., 1996) compared to students without depression. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between depression and sexual satisfaction, academic ability, and sleep quality. It was predicted that a strong, negative correlation would exist between depression and sexual dissatisfaction, sleep quality, and academic achievement. Participants were recruited via email and through requests in psychology courses. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics that included a demographic questionnaire, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977; α = .69), the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale (Stulhofer, 2009; α = .97), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Buysse, et al., 1989), and the Personal and Academic Self-Concept Inventory (Fleming & Whalen 1990) which measures math ability (α = .93), verbal ability (α = .72), and academic ability (α = .74). Participants were recruited from two faith-based universities in the Southeast. Data collection is still in progress. At present, there are 13 male and 65 female participants with a mean age of 29.35 (SD = 9.32). The majority of the sample is Caucasian (68.2%) with 20.5% African American, 10.3% Latino/Latina, and 5% reported other.

Preliminary analyses reveal no significant gender differences in any of the measures. Correlations were calculated between all of the measures as well as age. Depression was negatively related to sleep (r = .28, p < .05), thus as depression increases, sleep decreases. Age was significantly related to sexual satisfaction (r = -.40, p < .01) and sleep (r = .25, p < .05). A simultaneous multiple regression analysis will be calculated to examine age, gender, sleep, sexual satisfaction, academic ability, math ability, and verbal ability as predictors of depression. Data collection will continue for the remainder of the semester and then the statistical tests will be recalculated. Future directions for research and limitations will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

107

Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation: Measurement Confirmation, Contextual Influences, and Workplace Implications Burnell, D. University of Central Florida Faculty Sponsor: Doan Modianos Some ideologies lead to peace, harmony, and prosperity; others to hostility, violence, and harm. Rightwing authoritarianism and Social dominance orientation are two such ideological variables that may lead to intergroup tension, ethnocentrism, hierarchy favoring attitudes, and prejudice (Altemeyer, 1988, 1998; Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). Researchers have used RWA and SDO in union as the dualprocess motivational (DPM) model to predict generalized prejudice towards traditionally stigmatized groups (Duckitt, 2001; Duckitt & Sibley, 2007; Asbrock, Sibley, & Duckitt, 2010). The DPM model has also been found to strongly relate to conservativism and ethnocentrism (Altemeyer, 1998), support for public punitiveness (Gerber, 2012), support for the restriction of civil liberties following terrorist attacks (Cohrs, Kielmann, Maes, & Moschner, 2005; Kossowska, et. al, 2011); and most importantly prejudice (as noted prior). Evidently, there seems to be a discrepancy in measuring RWA in the literature. Some have used RWA as a single-dimensional construct (Zakrisson, 2005), while others have found support for a theoretically higher-order construct with three-dimensional subscales (Funke, 2005; Duckitt, et. al, 2010).

Thus, my research goals are as follows: (1) to resolve the factor structure debate of RWA and (2) to investigate related factors of the DPM model within the workplace. My thesis is composed of a two parts.

The first study examines the factor structure of RWA. I collected data (n=1007) on university students using a survey with three of the most popular RWA scales to date. I found support for a three-factor structure using exploratory factor analysis and plan to use confirmatory factor analysis on the data to confirm this evidence in the upcoming weeks. The advantage of using a three-factor structured construct are in examining the differential relationships each sub-factor has with research variables of interest. The second study seeks to answer three central questions: â&#x20AC;&#x153;where do these two ideologies come from? What are the consequences of these ideologies within the workplace? And what contextual factors influence the intensity of such consequences?â&#x20AC;? Research suggests that these two ideologies are born from a mixture of social-cognitive influences and personality (Bandura, 1986; Altemeyer, 1988; Sibley & Duckitt, 2008). As previously noted, the DPM model is related to prejudice and outgroup hostility. Thus, I will examine whether this holds true for work-related variables such as work-place discrimination and workplace bullying (Parkins, Fishbein, & Ritchey, 2006; Nicol, Rounding, MacIntyre, 2011; Einarsen & Notelaers, 2009) using structural equation modeling and correlation analysis. Additionally, researchers have predicted RWA and SDO using dangerous world-views and competitive world-views, respectively (Dallago, Mirisola, & Roccatto, 2012; Perry, Sibley, & Duckitt, 2013) and may have discovered evidence for moderation between the variables (Mirisola, Roccato, Russo, Spagna, & Vieno, 2014), but have yet to investigate the possible moderating effects of the two paradigms on counterproductive work behaviors related to prejudice. If moderation is found, this would suggest that external fear and perceived competitiveness would increase the frequency of negative consequences associated with the DPM model. Another survey will be used to collect this data during the spring 2016 semester before the conference. Practical implications of this research include an enriched scientific understanding of these constructs and pragmatic solutions to mitigating discrimination and bullying within the workplace (Dhont & Van Hiel, 2009).

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

108

Eating Habits Among College Students Campos, M. Southern Adventist University Faculty Sponsor: Ruth S. Williams Eating disorders among college students are very common due to stress from exams, being away from home, or even a change of eating habits (Gordon, Castro, Sitnikov, & HolmDenoma, 2010). An eating disorder can be defined as an uncommon way to control weight. This can mean eating too quickly, too little or too irregularly (Matthew, Zullig, Ward, Horn, & Huebner, 2012). The leading factor in eating disorders among college students is dissatisfaction with their own bodies in comparison to what society expects (thinner bodies, bigger muscles, etc.) (Locker, Heesacker, & Baker, 2012) Four factors describing eating habits have been studied: (1) Emotional and physical effects on female college students, (2) Cultural body standards, (3) emotional and physical effects on college men, (4) life satisfaction as adolescences. Statistics have shown that women have higher rates of eating disorders than men (Locker et al., 2012). Recent studies have also looked into eating disorders among males and realized that eating disorders among males are significantly different than females but do exist (Elgin & Pritchard, 2006). Also, secure and emotional support is attached to eating disorders that are dependent to the relationship that undergraduate men and women have with his or her parent or parents (Elgin & Pritchard, 2008). The purpose of this study was to measure eating habits among college students in an Adventist University. The design of this study was a non-experimental descriptive comparative study using survey methodology as a means of data collection. Two research hypotheses guided this study: (1) women would have better eating habits than men, (2) students healthy eating habits would be influenced by their religious motivations. Four research questions addressed differences in residence, ethnicity, motivation and quality of eating habits in students. The sample of convenience consisted of 43 students from Southern Adventist University. Of the 43 participants, the majority were female (n = 30). Forty college students in South East Tennessee completed the Campos Eating Habits Study (CEHS). The ethnic groups represented were White (52.5%), Hispanic (20%), Black (12.5%), Asian (7.5%) and Other (7.5%). The CEHS is a 25 item survey that measures differences in residence, ethnicity, motivation and quality of eating habits. The results indicated that there was no statistical significance in eating habits among genders (t(38) = .264, p = .793, ns). This does not necessarily determine that gender differences play a role in eating habits. Also, results demonstrated that there were no statistically significant differences between religion in regards to eating habits (t(39) = -.856, p = .397, ns), (t(39) = -.577, p = .567, ns), (t(38) = 1.090, p = 2.83). Finally, there were no statistically significant differences between ethnic types and residential types in regards to eating habits. Limitations of the study included a narrow definition of motivations for healthy eating. In addition, the sample of convenience had a much higher representation of female participants than male participants and only gathered data from students on a parochial university campus. Future research needs to generalize how male and female participants view and define eating disorders. Keywords: Eating habits, ethnicity, gender differences, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, adolescences

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

109

Temporal Clustering in Recognition-induced Forgetting Collier, C. & Stansberry, E. Tennessee State University Faculty Sponsor: Ashleigh Maxcey Recent evidence has shown that recognizing objects stored in visual long-term memory hurts memory for related objects, called recognition-induced forgetting (Maxcey, in press; Maxcey & Bostic, 2015; Maxcey & Woodman, 2014). In the recognition-induced forgetting paradigm, participants are first shown objects from a variety of categories (e.g., masks, umbrellas) and instructed to remember the objects for a later memory test. Next, in the practice phase, participants practice recognizing half of the objects from half of the categories (e.g., half of the umbrellas but none of the masks) in a two-alternative forced choice task.

Then at test, participants are sequentially presented with objects (50% new, 50% old), and instructed to report whether they have ever seen the exact object previously in the experiment. The recognitioninduced forgetting effect is demonstrated by reduced memory for non-practiced objects from practiced categories relative to a baseline measure of memory for objects form non-practiced categories. In all previous studies of recognition-induced forgetting, related objects are grouped by semantic category (e.g., umbrellas, vases and feathers are each grouped together). However, the relationship between objects in many real-world visual recognition tasks may be temporal rather than categorical. Specifically, one experiences the objects on their desk in a temporal cluster with car keys, blue reading glasses and a favorite pen. The goal of the present study is to determine whether temporally grouped objects suffer recognition-induced forgetting as do categorically grouped objects. To this end, across three experiments we presented pairs of objects to remember in a recognition-induced forgetting paradigm. In Experiments 1 and 2 the pairs were either from different semantic categories (e.g., a green car and a yellow vase) or the same semantic category (e.g., a blue vase and a red vase). In Experiment 3, the pairs belonged to a scene (e.g., chicken and tractor) and were accompanied by a scene label at the top of the screen (e.g., â&#x20AC;&#x153;farmâ&#x20AC;?). If temporally related objects suffer recognition-induced forgetting, practicing one object from a pair of temporally clustered objects will impair memory for the other object in the pair, regardless of their semantic relationship. If temporally related objects do not suffer recognition-induced forgetting, only those objects that are also semantically related (e.g., two vases) will demonstrate recognition-induced forgetting. The primary dependent variable of interest was accuracy during the test phase. Data were analyzed using a within-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an alpha level of .05. Follow-up analyses consisted of pre-planned two-tailed repeated measures t-tests. In Experiment 1 and 2, in which objects were temporally clustered at study and either temporally related or also categorically related, recognition-induced forgetting occurred only when those objects were categorically related (i.e., drawn from the same semantic category like vases). In Experiment 3, temporally related objects were grouped by scene and did not suffer recognition-induced forgetting. These results suggest that in order for recognition-induced forgetting to occur, the categorical relationship must be at the level of semantic category, not at the level of a scene in which the objects appeared. These results differ from the temporal contiguity effect in which temporal clustering predicts recall performance (Kahana, Howard, & Polyn, 2008), suggesting a stronger role of semantic, over temporal, relationships in visual long-term memory tasks.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

110

Is Your Parents’ Relationship Affecting Your Own? The Influence of Parental Infidelity and Attachment Style on Love Beliefs in Romantic Relationships among Young Adults Colon-Motas, K. Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Richard Medlin Parental infidelity and other potentially traumatic experiences during development may lead to a negative internalized view of the self and influence attachment style. The initial individual-attachment figure relationship has been shown to be best mirrored by later romantic relationships, specifically those beginning in emerging adulthood. It was hypothesized that experiencing parental infidelity would increase the likelihood that an individual would develop an insecure style of attachment, as well as hold more negative views about love and romantic relationships. This study utilized data from 262 participants, consisting of 171 females, 85 males, and 6 individuals who identified as other or did not provide their gender. The majority (209) were currently involved in a romantic relationship with an average length of 33 months. All participants completed an anonymous online survey through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and were compensated for their participation. The survey consisted of the Relationship Questionnaire, which classifies respondents’ attachment style as secure, insecure-avoidant, or insecure-anxious; the Relationship Belief Scale (RBS), which measures attitudes toward romantic relationships; and the Simplified Scales of the Basic Components of Love (SSBCL), which measures commitment, intimacy, and passion in romantic relationships. Preliminary analyses revealed no significant gender differences in RB or SSBCL scores. As predicted, individuals with an insecure-avoidant or insecure-anxious attachment style were more likely to have experienced parental infidelity than participants with a secure attachment style, χ² (4) = 10.23 (p = .037). A MANOVA with attachment style and whether or not participants had experienced parental infidelity as the factors and SSBCL subscale scores as the dependent variables revealed a significant multivariate effect of attachment style, F (3, 222) = 3.19 (p = .024, ɳ² = .041).

Subsequent univariate tests showed significant effects of attachment style on both commitment, F (2, 223) = 3.49 (p = .032, ɳ² = .030) and intimacy, F (2, 223) = 4.81 (p = .009, ɳ² = .041). For passion scores, the effect approached significance, F (2, 223) = 2.55 (p = .081, ɳ² = .022). This effect occurred because for each measure, participants with secure attachment had the highest mean scores, followed by those with insecure-anxious attachment and then those with insecure-avoidant attachment. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with attachment style and whether or not participants had experienced parental infidelity as the factors and RB scores as the dependent variable also revealed a significant effect of attachment style, F (2, 253) = 3.94 (p = .021, ɳ² = .030). Post hoc analyses showed that the insecureanxious group had significantly higher RB scores than the insecure-avoidant group while scores for the secure attachment group were in between. RB scores were positively correlated with scores for commitment, r (238) = .281 (p < .001), intimacy, r (236) = .252 (p < .001), and passion, r (235) = .418 (p < .001). There were two unexpected results: parental infidelity did not significantly affect either relationship beliefs or attitudes about components of love, and participants with the insecure-anxious attachment style had the most positive views of romantic relationships, suggesting that these participants held the highest expectations for what they considered to be successful relationships.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

111

The Relationship between Employment and Academic Success Combast, H. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Many college students struggle with attending college full-time to fulfill their goals while also maintaining a full or part-time job. Dundes and Marx (2006) found that 74% of undergraduate students who work on an average of 10 to 19 hours per week were superior in academics compared to students who do not work at all. College offers different aids to help students maintain good grades by offering tutoring, access to online programs, and one-on-one interaction with professors. Although colleges may offer aids to student learning, students may be impacted from the stress of having to work while attending college which may interfere with the students’ academic success. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between academic stress, achievement motivation, and working while in school. It was hypothesized that students who work 20 hours a week or less will have an equivalent amount of academic success to students who do not work. However, individuals who work more than 20 hours per week will experience more academic stress than individuals who do not work or who work less than 20 hours per week. Also, a positive relationship between work achievement and school achievement is expected. Finally, academic stress will be negatively related to work achievement and school achievement. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics that included a demographic questionnaire, the Academic Stress Questionnaire (Balajairo, 2014; α = .96) and the Achievement Motivation Questionnaire (Smith, 2014). The Achievement Motivation Questionnaire measured both achievement at work (α = 91) and achievement at school (α = .85). Data collection is still in progress. At present, 75 females and 19 males have participated in the study. The mean age of participants is 21.36 (SD = 4.43). Of the current participants, 51 were unemployed, 32 worked 20 hours or less, and 11 worked 20 hours or more per week. Correlations were calculated between the three variables. The only significant correlation was between achievement at work and achievement at school (r = .55, p < .01).

Thus, individuals who are highly motivated at school are also highly motivated at work. Preliminary analyses using a One-Way ANOVA revealed no significant differences between individuals who do not work, those who work 20 hours or less, and those who work 20 or more hours a week for either of the three variables. All analyses will be calculated again upon completion of data collection. Implications and directions for future research will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

112

Listen Up: Memory for Emotion Terms Varies By Ear in the Dichotic Listening Task Coyle, B. Maryville College Faculty Sponsor: Lori Schmied There is little agreement about hemispheric dominance in processing of emotionally loaded language While the left hemisphere is traditionally associated with language processing, particularly with parsing language form and structure, emotional perception and processing is more associated with right hemisphere activity (Sato & Aoki, 2006). In addition, how people interpret the emotional cues in spoken language, particularly intonation, varies depending on the hearerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own mood at the time of perception (Balch, Myers, & Papotto, 1999). Using an auditory dichotic listening task, the current study examined the relationships among the hearerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mood state, hemispheric lateralization, and memory for emotionally valent words. Mood state was induced using a Velten standardized mood induction task (Velten, 1968) presented to participants at the start of the experiment, with participants randomly assigned to neutral (N = 21), positive (N = 21), and negative (N = 21) inductions respectively. After reading the relevant induction sentences out loud, participants were asked to respond to their current state based on 15 adjectives selected from the POMS standard form. Each participant then completed an auditory dichotic listening task on both the right and left ear that included emotion terms (love, pain, beautiful, danger, etc.) and neutral words matched for length and frequency of occurrence. For each participant, order of word presentation was randomly generated. Across both conditions, 7 emotion words and 15 neutral words were presented. Free recall of presented words immediately followed each condition. Mood induction did not have a significant influence on number of words recalled, or on the type (emotionally valent versus neutral) of words recalled. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was performed to test the relationship between word type recalled (emotionally valent or neutral), and ear attended to (right or left). A significant main effect was found for ear attended, with people recalling more total words when shadowing with the left ear than with the right, F(1,62) = 10.775, p = .002. In addition, the proportion of emotion words recalled interacted with ear attended, with participants recalling a greater proportion of emotion terms presented in the left ear than the right, F(1,62) = 13.588, p < .000. The results are consistent with previous findings of a right hemisphere, and therefore left ear, advantage in processing emotional stimuli.

The emotion words presented in this study did not vary in intonation from neutral words, suggesting that the left ear-right hemisphere advantage in processing emotional language is not solely dependent on paralinguistic features of the speech. One explanation for the better memory of emotion words presented to the left ear is that participants processed them more deeply for emotional semantic content and consequently created a stronger and more accessible memory trace (Craik & Lockhart, 1972).

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

113

“Woman on Woman Aggression”: Predictors of Beliefs in Double Standards Crabtree, A. Murray State University Faculty Sponsor: Jana Hackathorn A double standard refers to an unequal evaluation of behaviors by women than when similar behaviors are exhibited by men (Crawford & Popp, 2003). These differential and often unfair evaluations have been the subject of much research. Overall, the belief in double standards can be predicted from many interpersonal and situational factors. However, little known research has examined the belief in double standards from the target. That is, what factors predict whether an individual believes in double standards for which they are the target, or victim? Thus, the goal of the current research was to determine what individual differences might predict a woman’s belief in double standards that are typically targeted against women. The study was predominantly exploratory, however it was expected that higher levels of sexism (i.e., hostile and benevolent), belief in a just world, preference for hierarchies, and emotional responses to conflict might predict greater belief in double standards. Participants were recruited from a convenience sample of undergraduate students (N = 74) to take an online survey. The survey consisted of the following measures: the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996), the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR; Paulhus, 1988), Belief in a Just World Scale (BJW; Dalbert, 1998), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; Sidanious & Pratto, 1999), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983), and a revised version of the Sexual Double Standards Scale (Paynter, 2013). As this was predominantly exploratory, the first step was to determine what variables were correlated with belief in double standards. A Pearson’s r correlation analyses indicated that only three variables were related: hostile sexism (r(72) = .41, p < .001), benevolent sexism (r(72) = .37, p = .001), and a subscale in the interpersonal reactivity index named personal distress (r(72) = .36, p < .001).

Following this analyses, the significantly correlated variables were entered into a multiple regression. The results indicated that although the overall model was significant (F(3, 70) = 6.81, p < .001, R2 = .23), hostile sexism was the only significant predictor (B = .25, t = 2.01, p = .049). The remaining variables of personal distress (B = .18, t = 1.47, p = .146), and benevolent sexism (B = .15, t = 1.21, p = .232) were not significant predictors of belief in double standards against women. Interestingly, these results suggest that women who hold more hostile sexist beliefs toward other women (e.g., women seek to gain power by getting control over men) believe more of the double standards that work against women (a woman past the age of 40 is “past her prime”). At face value, this may see intuitive, as Glick and Fiske (2001) showed that hostile sexism aids in maintaining gender inequalities through punishment of those who challenge the status quo. However as hostile sexism is also motivated by aggressive or dominant beliefs about women, Glick and Fiske (2001) also showed that women usually are less likely to endorse those beliefs, especially in comparison to benevolent sexism. This study allowed exploration into alternate factors that may contribute to the belief in double standards. But, importantly, allowed us to investigate what predicts those beliefs, even when they are about one’s own in-group. Implications of these findings will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

114

Gender Differences on Intolerance and Worldly View Points Crittendon, D. , Daniels, J., Sherman, M., Settler, K., Lewis, E., Ross, K., Driskill, L., Carroll, M., & Cushen, P. Murray State University Faculty Sponsor: Maria Vazquez Brown Social dominance theory suggests that it is normal to believe that certain groups should be dominant over others with an overall desire to keep group-based inequalities going, particularly if you are a member of a majority group (Pratto, van Laar, & Stanford, 1950). A concept to measure social dominance theory has been introduced as the social dominance orientation (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994), which is the degree to which one supports group-based inequalities (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) The intolerant schema measurement used assess several variables (e.g., racism, sexual prejudice) but is also intended as an overall index of intolerance of non-majority-groups. In line with this research, it has been discovered that higher levels of social dominance orientation tends to correlate with reporting higher levels of prejudice towards minority groups (Poteat, Espelage, & Green, 2007). One specific minority group is homosexuals. The current study aimed to expand research on social dominance theory and its relationship to prejudice against homosexuals using the intolerant schema measure (ISM) (Aosved, Long, & Voller, 2009). It was hypothesized that reporting higher levels of ISM would result in higher levels of prejudice against gay men and lesbian women, with males exhibiting higher levels of homophobia and racial prejudice than females. Additionally, the current study assessed an array of intolerant schemata using a vignette to prime intolerant attitudes towards race. Specifically, participants (N = 68) were randomly assigned to one of four different conditions containing a single passage and three photographs with information about a demonstration of either peaceful protesting or rioting amongst Caucasian or African Americans. With regards to this manipulation, it was hypothesized that men would report more racial prejudice than women across conditions, especially in conditions involving African American targets. Further, it was thought that participants exposed to peaceful protest vignettes would report more egalitarian attitudes and worldviews than participants exposed to rioting vignettes. Participants completed the Intolerant Schema Measure (Aosved, Long, & Voller, 2009) that assesses sexual prejudice, classism, sexism, racism, ageism, religious intolerance, and provides an index of general intolerance toward nonmajority group members. Additionally, national identity (Li & Brewer, 2004; Kosterman & Feshbach, 1989) and desire for punishment of criminal activity (Viney, Waldman, and Barchilon, 1982) were measured, as these attitudes may play an important role in how individual and group rights are expressed. A series of one-way ANOVAS were conducted. Consistent with predictions, Counter to expectations, there was a significant difference amongst female participants on world government views, in that participants had higher scores on world government when exposed to the Caucasian riot vignette than the African American peaceful protest vignette. However, as predicted, men had significantly higher intolerance scores than woman on measures of sexual prejudice against gay men and lesbian women. This finding also showed that there was a significant difference between racial conditions suggesting that this could be a predictor of racism where the racism scale was unable to detect.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Aggression and Its Association with Risky Behavior in At-risk Adolescents Daniels, K., & Barry, C. University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Sponsor: Nora Charles Youth who drop out of school are at increased risk for negative social, financial, and mental health outcomes. Within this population, adolescents who are aggressive are a particularly at-risk group.

Previous research has shown that aggressive adolescents experience more interpersonal, emotional, and behavioral problems. Additionally, longitudinal relationships have been found between aggression during adolescence and both criminality and unemployment in adulthood. One reason for these associations may be that aggressive individuals also engage in higher levels of other risky and problematic behaviors, such as substance use and risky sexual behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine aggression in a sample of at-risk youth, and to document the prevalence of risky behaviors in youth with high and low levels of aggression. Participants in this study were 69 boys aged 16-19 (mean age = 16.9 years) who were enrolled in the Mississippi Youth Challenge Academy (YCA), which is a military-style residential boot camp program developed by the National Guard and located in Hattiesburg, MS. The aim of the YCA is to provide life skills, education, and self-discipline to youth who have dropped out of school. The scales used in this study include the Peer Conflict Scale (PCS; Marsee et al., 2011), a measure of different types of aggression, and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015), a measure of a variety of risky behaviors. These scales were administered as part of a larger selfreport survey that was conducted over four sessions that lasted 30 to 60 minutes each. The results of this study indicate that reactive overt aggression was higher than proactive aggression and reactive relational aggression in this sample. Given this finding, and the fact that overt aggression is most likely to cause problems both within the YCA program and in society at large, participants were divided into groups based on their overt aggression score. Adolescents with overt aggression scores in the top and bottom quartile were then compared on their engagement in risky behaviors. The results of this comparison support the idea that the more aggressive adolescents engage in more risky sexual encounters and more substance abuse than the less aggressive adolescents. This study provides information about the types of aggression present in at-risk adolescents who have dropped out of school, and demonstrates an association between aggression and other risk-taking behaviors in this population.

This information can be useful for psychologists who work with adolescents, as it can help them to identify, prevent and/or manage the behaviors of aggressive adolescents. Future directions for this research include identifying interventions that would be most beneficial to the youth at the YCA in terms of reducing their aggression and their risky behaviors.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Relational Differences in Sexual Intimacy Davila, M. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Sexual intimacy has become less of a post-marital act as times have evolved over the decades. It is now more “socially acceptable” within society to practice premarital sexual intercourse. In previous generations, people were shunned if they engaged in sexual activity outside of wedlock, however in modern society it is quite normal and some even consider it “abnormal” to wait until marriage before engaging in sexual intercourse (Elias, Fullerton, & Simpson, 2015). Because of this dramatic shift in the societal norm, different levels of commitment within relationships have formed. There are several potential relationship statuses which include single, married, friends with benefits (i.e., strictly physical; no emotional relationship at all), “talking” (i.e., the time of getting to know someone before being in a relationship), and non-exclusive or exclusive dating relationships. Since these new definitions of “a couple” have come about it is interesting to see how sexual intimacy changes, if at all, between each type. The purpose of the current study was to determine if there is a difference in sexual intimacy between commitment levels. It was hypothesized that different levels of commitment within relationships such as friends with benefits, open relationships, exclusive relationships, and long term marriages would be related to sexual intimacy between the two partners in regards to how the couples act and view the level of intimacy. Participants included 81 females, 27 males, and 1 participant who did not report gender.

The mean age of the sample was 23.46 (SD = 8.62). Participants were recruited via email, through social media, and through requests in psychology courses. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics that included a demographic questionnaire, The Relationship Questionnaire (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) which measures four attachment styles, the Commitment Scale (Lund, 1985; α = .88), the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1988; α = .90) which measures relationship satisfaction, and the Sexual Relationship Scale (Snell, 1990) which measures the exchange approach (α = 67) and communal approach (α = .81) to sexual relationships. The majority of the sample indicated a relationship status of single (39.4%), while 27.5% indicated committed exclusive relationship, 18.3% indicated dating, 8.3% indicated married less than 20 years, 2.8% indicated married over 20 years, 1.8% indicated friends with benefits, and 1.8% indicated committed open relationship. Based on these frequencies, statistical analyses were only calculated for the three highest statuses (single, committed exclusive, and dating).

Correlations were calculated between the measures of attachment, satisfaction, commitment, the exchange approach, and the communal approach. There was a significant, positive correlation between commitment and relationship satisfaction (r = .77, p < .01). Thus, participants who had higher commitment levels also scored higher on relationship satisfaction. There was also a significant, positive correlation between relationship satisfaction and the secure relationship style (r = .34, p < .01) and a significant, negative correlation between relationship satisfaction and the fearful avoidant relationship style (r = -.273, p < .01). Gender differences were calculated for all of the variables but there were no significant differences. One-Way ANOVAs were also calculated to examine possible differences between the three relationship statuses. There was a significant difference between relationship statuses for commitment [F (2, 89) = 63.23, p < .01] and relationship satisfaction [F (2, 89) = 35.59, p < .01]. Individuals in dating relationships and exclusive relationships scored higher on commitment and satisfaction than individuals who were single. There was no significance between relationship status in the exchange or communal approach to sexual relationships. Directions for future research and limitations of the current study will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Attitudes Concerning Age of Sexual Consent: Examining Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Generational Differences Dobbs, C. Piedmont College Faculty Sponsor: Cynthia Vance Age of sexual consent laws are viewed by the public in different ways, depending upon the gender of the oldest partner, the sexual orientation of the individuals involved in the case, and generational norms. The age of consent in the United States varies from state to state, ranging from 16 to 18. Statutory rape laws were established to protect minors from participating in sexual activities due to manipulation or threat, but they have begun to negatively affect juveniles participating in consensual sex (Koon-Magnin & Ruback, 2013). Unfortunately, statutory rape cases treat the minor’s sexual partner as the predator regardless of whether the sex was consensual (Koon-Magnin & Ruback). Thomson (2004) suggests that parents, not the victim, tend to report most cases of statutory rape. That is due to the many statutory rape cases resulting from consensual sexual relationships between two juveniles under the age of consent.

Heterosexual defendants are eligible to use the "Romeo and Juliet Law," and, as long as the sex was consensual, the sentence can be reduced. Homosexuals, however, cannot use the "Romeo and Juliet Law" as a defense in most states (Thomson). The LGBT community has experienced a growth in acceptance over the past 40 years; before that time tolerance was very low. And, even throughout the last 40 years, the community has encountered setbacks, such as the 1998 sodomy laws that criminalized same sex acts, specifically used to discriminate against LGBT people. Typically, Baby Boomers and Generation X are less tolerant of LGBT people than Millennials (Denato, Orwat, Spira, & Walker, 2014). The current study examined whether punishment responses are different depending upon the gender of the oldest participant, the sexual orientation of the couple, and the age of the participant. The hypothesis is that attitudes and punishment will be harsher when the male is older, when the situation involves a homosexual couple, and for older participants. There were four conditions in the study: older male/younger female, older female/younger male, older male/younger male and older female/younger female. So far, a sample of 86 college students and community members has participated in this study.

Each participant read a scenario detailing the story of a 17-year-old high school student facing a statutory rape charge for having consensual sex with his or her 14-year old significant other. After reading the scenarios, the participants answered survey questions measured on a Likert scale. The questions pertaining to how the participant felt the older partner in the relationship should be punished were added together to form a total score. Scores can range from 7-42, with lower scores reflecting beliefs that the defendant should be punished. Before conducting an analysis for results, the participants were split into age groups: Young (18-29 years old), Middle (30-64 years old), and Old (65 and over). A 2(older gender) x 2(orientation) x 2(age group) ANOVA was carried out. There was a main effect due to the age group of the participant, F(2,74) = 8.901, p = .000, h² = .194, with young participants scoring higher (M = 31.05) than the old group (M = 23.59). There was not a main effect of the older partner, F(1,74) = .170, p = .681, h² = .002. There was also no main effect due to sexual orientation, F(1,74 ) = 1.596, p = .210, h² = .021. However, there was a significant interaction between age group and sexual orientation, F(2,74) = 3.213, p = .046, h² = .080. The middle age group was much more tolerant towards the heterosexual defendant (M = 28.04) than the homosexual defendant (M = 20.30). Participants who rated themselves very liberal (M =35.200) were more tolerant towards the defendant than very conservative participants (M =17.625), F(4,46) = 8.700, p = .000, h² = .431. The findings thus far support the hypothesis that participants in the older age group would judge more harshly due to the conservative values that were common in the period they grew up.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effects of a Multimedia Meditation Video on Self-reported Executive Functioning and Procrastination-related Behavioral Traits Edomwonyi, E., & Okafor, C. Xavier University of Louisiana Faculty Sponsor: Katherine Eskine Procrastination is a common phenomenon that plagues students across college campuses (Seo, 2012).

Approximately 30% to 60% of undergraduate students report sub-optimal performance as a result of procrastinating on educational tasks such as studying, reading weekly assignments, and writing papers (Onwuegbuzie, 2004; Pychyl, Lee, Thibodeau, & Blunt, 2000; Pychyl, Morin, & Salmon, 2000; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Procrastination has also been linked to self-regulation failures (Ferrari, 2001), anxiety (Antony, Purdon, Huta, & Swinson, 1998), and lower conscientiousness (Johnson & Bloom, 1995). While some lines of research have explored subcomponents of executive functioning (e.g., self-monitoring, working memory, and organization) to predict academic procrastination (Rabin, Fogel, Nutter-Upham, 2011), other research programs have explored how executive functioning can be improved through mindfulness training and contemplative-based practices, which can potentially bolster executive functions such as attentional control, self-regulation, self-monitoring, and cognitive flexibility (Tang et al., 2012).

There are several methods for increasing mindfulness, but one such method that has received particular empirical attention is meditation. Research has indicated that engaging in meditative acts can improve memory functioning in academic settings, with one such study revealing that children in public schools who were taught to meditate displayed an increase in academic performance (Chang & Hiebert, 1989).

The purpose of the present study is to investigate a practical intervention to decrease procrastination. Our aim is to determine the extent to which adopting mindfulness activities, such as meditation, influence executive functioning and subsequently decreases procrastination in college students. In particular, a 17minute meditation video was utilized to determine its effects on executive functioning and procrastinationrelated behavioral traits. Using a pre-post design, this research investigated changes in executive functions via the self-report Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functionâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Adult Version (BRIEF-A, which assesses task monitoring, inhibition, and organization, among others) and a 20-item survey (Lay, 1996) assessing trait procrastination behaviors (e.g., time management, task completion, etc.). It was hypothesized that participants will reveal improved performance on both measures after the meditation video intervention. If the present study yields the predicted results, they might have the potential to enhance our understanding of procrastination and provide a practical intervention for improving academic performance in educational settings. These results will also illuminate how multimedia interventions influence executive functioning, which has many implications for human-media interaction research programs. Future research could further investigate the potentially differential effects of multimedia forms of meditative interventions and person-to-person instruction methods, which would further reveal how contextual effects like instruction medium influence cognitive processing in human executive functioning processes.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Childhood Physical Punishment and Emotional and Social Characteristics in Adulthood Filson, R. Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Richard Medlin The physical punishment of children by a parent or a legal guardian is a common disciplinary practice in the United States, with approximately 60% of children under 18 having experienced this form of discipline at some point in their lifetimes. This is the infliction of any kind of physical pain from a parent or guardian on a child with the purpose of deterring the child from engaging in an unwanted behavior, without causing a serious or visible injury to the child including non-injurious smacking, spanking, hair-pulling, or pinching.

Despite its widespread prevalence and legality, experiencing physical punishment during childhood has been linked with a multitude of problems during adulthood including depressive symptoms, symptoms of anxiety, lower self-esteem, intimate partner violence in adulthood, and negative relational outcomes with romantic partners. While much research has been done regarding the psychological effects of child physical abuse and physical punishment as a whole, less has been done specifically focusing on legal forms of child discipline only, such as non-injurious spanking, while screening out participants who may have potentially been physically abused as children. A modified version of the Child Physical Abuse measure set in past tense was included toward the beginning of each survey to ensure only participants who experienced non-injurious physical punishments’ responses were used. This study examined the experience, frequency of, and age experienced of physical punishment and its relation to various aspects of adult quality of life, with an emphasis on how participants relate to emotionally and perceive others in their adult life. It was expected that both the experience of and frequency of physical punishment during childhood would be associated with lower self-esteem, lower perceived trustworthiness of others, lower relationship satisfaction in adult romantic relationships, more depressive symptoms, and higher rates of both being the victim and perpetrator of intimate partner violence. This retrospective correlational study recruited 300 participants through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to complete an anonymous online survey.

All participants completed modified versions of the Maryland Trait and State Depressive Test, the Generalized Trust Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Participants who indicated having been in a committed romantic relationship for at least three months completed the Couples’ Satisfaction Index as well as a version of the Checklist for Controlling Behaviors modified to detect both the perpetration and victimization of intimate partner violence. The data from this study have been collected and are still undergoing analyses, which will be completed within the next several days.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Relationship between Instagram Intensity Scores and Narcissistic Personality Inventory Scores in a Sample of Undergraduate College Students Franco, C. & Cristiano, B. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Antonio Laverghetta Social media use, specifically Instagram use, is on the rise by traditional college students (e.g. 18-22 years of age) (Salomon, 2013). Social media has caught the attention of college students with new updates frequently having young adults consistently focused on their cell phones. The obsession with selfies has also become a trending epidemic in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society, in which we predict will tie into the narcissistic personality trait. One important question that concerns the psychological underpinning of social media use is this: What drives us, as young adults, to be so dependent on social media? More in depth, what personality traits (e.g. narcissism) are associated with excessive use of social media? The purpose of this ongoing study is to determine if onesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; narcissistic personality trait predicts the frequency of selfies posted on the social media site, Instagram, and scores on an Instagram Intensity Scale.

Instagram was the chosen social media site as it has become frequently used by teens and young adults.

Previously, it was found that scores on a narcissistic personality inventory (NPI-16) were significantly correlated with Facebook use and intensity. Therefore, we predicted that there would be a positive correlation between frequency of scores on an Instagram Intensity Scale and scores on the NPI-16 scale.

To test our hypotheses we have begun administering a survey to college students located in a small, liberal arts university in the southeastern, United States. The survey contains demographic questions asking about age, ethnicity, sex, Greek life, and class rank. The survey also contains an Instagram Intensity Scale which asks questions such as the amount of followers each participant has, how many selfies they upload compared to other photos, and how they feel about the social media app. This survey is based off a Facebook Intensity Scale (Ellison, et al., 2007). Finally, the survey contains the NPI-16, a shorter version of the NPI. Participants have been offered extra credit as an incentive for completion of the survey. We are currently collecting preliminary data for the study, and there is currently not enough data to determine if our hypothesis is supported or rejected. Thus far, we have found a small Pearson correlation between scores on the Instagram Intensity Scale and NPT-16 scores (r = .11, p<.05). We anticipate having enough data to produce a thoughtful analysis before the conference.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Rate My Attractiveness: Self-Objectification, Self-Esteem, and Body-Image Disturbance Frantom, A. & Murray, J. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Angie MacKewn Advances in technology and means of communication play a significant role in promoting the Western cultureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s standards for the ideal image of women. Consequently, internalization of this image tends to leave women feeling a sense of body shame, lower self-esteem, and other harmful psychological effects (Morry & Staska, 2001). The best-known contributor to the development of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is body dissatisfaction, which is encouraged by the societal demands for women to constantly work on obtaining an ideal body image (Stice, 2002). According to the objectification theory, women who live in a culture in which they are objectified by others may in turn begin to objectify themselves (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). These socio-cultural influences steer many women to believe that their appearances and sex appeal are valued higher than other body attributes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between attractiveness rating feedback and body-image disturbance. The research examined: whether there is a negative relationship between self-objectification and self-esteem; whether there is a positive relationship between self-objectification and difference in body-image disturbance; whether women who were given low attractiveness ratings would experience greater bodyimage disturbance; and whether women who were given high attractiveness ratings would experience no change in body-image disturbance. During the first session, self-esteem, self-objectification, and bodyimage disturbances were assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), the SelfObjectification Scale (SOQ) (Fredrickson, 1998), and The Body-Image Disturbance Questionnaire (BIDQ) (Cash, 2004). Then, the participants were asked to have their headshot photo taken and were told that the photos would be individually rated by a group of researchers consisting of a group of student peers and faculty, and they would receive their rating in the second session the following week, even though the participants were actually systematically assigned ratings depending on the time slot they selected. For instance, every participant who selected the first session at 1:00 P.M. were assigned to receive a positive feedback attractiveness rating of 8, whereas every participant who selected the session at 2:00 P.M. were assigned to receive a negative feedback attractiveness rating of 3. Higher scores indicated more attractiveness. Once participants received their feedback in the second session, their self-esteem and body-image disturbance were assessed again using The Body-Image Disturbance Questionnaire and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Debriefing took place immediately after data collection was finished.

Participants then had the choice to remain and watch a 12-minute educational video about selfobjectification and its implications. The positive feedback group reported significantly lower body-image disturbance scores in the second session after performing a paired-samples t-test: t (14) = 3.13, p = .007, (M =1.57, SD = 0.47) than their reported body-image disturbance scores from the first session (M =1.98, SD =0.66) when it was hypothesized that the scores would remain the same. Additionally, bodyimage disturbance scores significantly increased in the negative feedback group, again, opposite to what was hypothesized as indicated by a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, Z= -2.53, p = 0.01. Body-image disturbance scores in second session (Mdn = 1.43) were found to be significantly lower than the bodyimage disturbance scores in first session (Mdn = 1.79) after receiving negative feedback. No statistically significant relationship between self-esteem and self-objectification were found after performing a Pearson correlation: r = -0.13, p = 0.25. As well, no statistically significant relationship was found between self-objectification and difference in body-image disturbance after performing a one-tailed Spearman correlation: rs = 0.23, p = 0.11. The initial study had a small sample size, so more data is being collected.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Exploring the Moderating Effects of Drinking Context on the Relationship between Harmful Drinking and Risky Sexual Behaviors among College Females Gardner, L. & Villarosa, M. University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Sponsor: Michael Madson Harmful drinking has been considered normal behavior for many college students. Increased alcohol consumption by females is associated with negative sexual consequences including risky sexual behavior such as having unprotected sex or having sex with multiple partners (Moorer et al., 2013). Additionally, students who engaged in harmful drinking once to twice during a two week period were three times more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior (White and Hingson, 2013). Harmful drinking and risky sex, may be attenuated by the context in which students often drink as context has been shown to have differing effects on student drinking behaviors. For instance, students report drinking in larger quantities when in social situations such as at a party or a bar than when they are in more intimate situations such as on a date or home alone (Ham et al., 2012). Because drinking context predicts alcohol use behaviors, it is likely that it may also relate to binge drinking and risky sexual behavior among college females. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which drinking context moderated the relationship between harmful drinking and risky sexual behavior among college female drinkers. Participants were 379 female (60% White, 37% African American) undergraduate students ranging from ages 18- 24 (X=19.76, SD=1.68). Harmful drinking was assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (Saunders, Aasland, Babor, De La Fuente, & Grant, 1993). The Risky Sex Scale (RSC) was used to measure the amount of risky sex in which the participant has engaged (O’Hare, 2001). Drinking context was assessed using the Drinking Context Scale (DCS) (O’Hare & Sherrer, 2005). A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the moderating role of the three different drinking contexts on the relationship between harmful drinking and risky sexual behavior. Results found main effects for harmful drinking (β = -.16, p < .01), convivial drinking context (β = .16, p < .01), personalintimate drinking context (β = .29, p < .01), and negative coping context (β = .11, p < .01) such that college females who engaged in more harmful drinking, or drank in more convivial, personal-intimate, and negative coping drinking contexts reported more risky sexual behavior. However, no interaction effects emerged in the current sample. Our results show that harmful drinking, and drinking in all three contexts was predictive of female college students engaging risky sexual behavior. The three drinking contexts did not moderate the relationship between harmful drinking and risky sexual behavior. While our predictions were partially supported they highlight the need to consider harmful drinking and drinking context in prevention and intervention for risky sex among female drinkers. Research and clinical implications will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Put Your Shirt On: An Examination of Provocative versus Casual Clothing on First Impressions Geilar, K. Murray State University Faculty Sponsor: Jana Hackathorn A previous study concluded that women who see photographs of provocatively dressed women find them less physically attractive, less socially attractive, and less competent than photographs of casually dressed women. Last semester the principal investigator conducted a similar study regarding both men and women’s attitudes toward pictures of women wearing two different types of attire: “casual” and “provocative”. The current study expanded upon the previous study by including assessments regarding perceptions of men wearing these two types of attire as well as women, and compared attitudes about the two genders in each type of attire. It was hypothesized that there would be a difference in observers perceptions of personality traits based on target gender and attire seen in photographs. Participants were all undergraduate students and consisted of 39 males and 144 females with an average age of 20.1.

Participants completed the survey online through Survey Monkey. Upon beginning the survey, participants were offered an informed consent regarding the study and asked to read it and confirm that they understand it. After they had reviewed the consent form, they proceeded to complete the survey.

Participants saw one of four pictures: a picture of a woman dressed provocatively, a woman who dressed casually, a man who is dressed provocatively, or a man who is dressed casually. Participants were asked to rate their perceptions of the person in the picture that shown to them using the Ideal Standards Scale (Regan, 1998). After completing the survey, participants were shown a debriefing statement. All analyses were conducted at a .05 level of significance. A 2x2 multivariate analysis of variance indicated a main effect of target gender (Wilks Lambda= .86, F (6, 175) = 4.63, p < .001), and a main effect of attire worn (Wilks Lambda= .91, F (6, 175) = 2.94, p = .009). However, there was no interaction between target gender and attire. Further, univariate analysis indicated a main effect of target gender on the DV of physical attractiveness (F (3, 180) = 17.40, p < .001, np2= .09). However there were no other main effects involving target gender. Results also indicated a main effect of attire on the subscales of interpersonal skill (F (3, 180) = 10.38, p = .002, np2= .05), intelligence (F (3, 180) = 11.87, p = .001, np2= .06), and physical attractiveness (F (3, 180) = 5.29, p = .023, np2= .03). However, there were no other main effects with attire. Post hoc analysis using a Tukey HSD test revealed that the provocative male condition differed significantly than the other three conditions with regard to physical attractiveness. As hypothesized, there was a difference in perceptions of men and women based on their type of attire.

However, it was interesting that type of attire seemed to have a more significant effect than gender on observers’ perceptions of overall personality. It can be implicated that type of attire worn in photographs impacts impression formation in the areas of perceived interpersonal skill, intelligence, and physical attractiveness.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Bystander Effect and the Diffusion of Responsibility Harding, M. Oakwood University Faculty Sponsor: Carmen Bucknor Research on the bystander effect has resulted in numerous studies indicating that the presence of other people in serious circumstances decreases the probability that an individual will help. There are several reasons why someone may not intervene in a critical situation involving someone needing help, such as personal responsibility. More specifically, when people believe that there are other people around, they are less likely or slower to help a victim because they believe someone else will take responsibility. This can obviously become an issue when it comes to the safety of an individual. The purpose of this study was to explore why people may be less likely to help a victim in need when others are around. The data for this study was collected in the spring of 2014 on the campus of Oakwood University. The data was collected using a non-probability convenience type sampling process, selecting participants at will from the available population that met the requirements of the research study. The data was then analyzed using statistical analysis software (SPSS). The instrument used to collect this data was a survey. A 10question, self-administered questionnaire was given to approximately 30 participants who met the research criteria in order to discover if there is a true correlation between not helping others in need when others are around and the belief that someone else will take responsibility. The hypothesis of this research study states when people believe that there are other people around, they are less likely or slower to help a victim because they believe someone else will take responsibility. Ultimately, the findings of this study supported that there is no significant correlation between helping a victim and the belief that someone else will take responsibility when it comes to the Oakwood University student body. It did, however, show a correlation between the respondentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sex and the likeliness that they would take part in a citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arrest. As previously stated, the research study has not supported the hypothesis. Limitations of the study include the sample size, which may have been smaller than necessary. The major limitation observed is a cultural bias. With Oakwood University being a predominately black Seventh-day Adventist institution, the results reflected data collected from a population that is likely prone to biases. Although previous research has proven its effectiveness, the Bystander Effect has not shown to be operating, specifically within the Oakwood University student body. This suggests that the phenomenon may be more present or absent among different groups of people. The study encourages further research on the relation between the Bystander Effect and different groups of people, as well as research on the Bystander Effect in men and women.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Educational Implications of Cystic Fibrosis in Children and Adolescents Holder, R. Queens University of Charlotte Faculty Sponsor: Cherie Clark The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify factors that affect the education of students with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a chronic, genetic disorder that affects tens of thousands of individuals.

Chronic illnesses such as this one have been shown to have negative effects on students’ education; however, this is not the outcome of intellectual differences. Psychological effects, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and issues with social functioning all affect children and adolescents with this condition. Additionally, these students may face daily episodes of pain, side effects from treatments and medications, and a high number of absences due to their disorder, all of which may negatively impact their education. Lastly, parents have expressed frustration with miscommunication between themselves, the school, and the hospital, as have the teachers and school personnel. I hypothesized that the better communication and accommodation they have from the school and hospital, the better their child’s academic performance will be. I also hypothesized that higher scores on the depression, anxiety, low selfesteem, and low-social functioning items will have a negative effect on educational performance. Lastly, I anticipated that a greater number of absences, as well as the presence of daily episodes of pain, higher pain severity, long treatment times, high frequency of hospitalization, high number of medications and specific side effects from medications (sleepiness, inattentiveness, fatigue, discomfort) will also have a negative impact on educational performance. To test this, 130 parents completed a survey distributed via Facebook designed to measure physical, psychological, and social issues as well as physical aspects of the disorder and accommodation/communication with the school. Results of a t-test indicated that there were significantly different scores on the depression measure for those who had done well academically (M=6.06, SD=2.64) and those who did not (M=7.48, SD=3.13); t (94)=2.41, p=.018. Additionally, the parents of students who preformed well (M=3.74, SD=1.21) indicated that the school was more accommodating than those of students who had not performed well (M=3.07, SD=1.17); t(94)=-2.71, p=.008. Students who performed well (M=5.25, SD= 2.75) also had better self-esteem than those who did not (M=7.45, SD= 3.50); t(76.52)=3.35, p=.001. Additionally, high performing students (M=4.57, SD= 3.11) had more friends on average than their peers who had performed worse (M=2.60, SD=2.33); t(86)=3.28, p=.001. Inattentiveness as side effect was more frequently reported in poorer performing students (M=3.75, SD=1.17) than high performing students (M=2.87, SD=.64); t(11.7)=3.4, p=.005. Additionally, the teacher’s understanding of cystic fibrosis also showed a positive correlation with the child’s grades, r(95)=.238, p=.02, and absences negatively correlated with grades, r(93)=-.23, p=.03. These results indicate that there may be factors related to cystic fibrosis that affect education, and that there may need to be certain accommodations of the schools to address these issues. Many of the factors that had an effect on educational performance are more frequently represented in children with cystic fibrosis and other chronic illness. Therefore, schools should aid students with this illness in addressing these issues in order to optimize their educational experience.

Further research is needed to investigate each of the issues more thoroughly.

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Non-Natives as a Vulnerable Population Following a Natural Disaster Holliman, M. University of Alabama Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ariane Prohaska On April 27, 2011 an EF-4 tornado devastated the community of Tuscaloosa, Alabama leaving approximately 5,000 homes damaged and 52 people dead (Pow, 2011; Tuscaloosa Forward, 2011). With over half those homes severely damaged or destroyed entirely, residents were in need of immediate assistance. In the natural disaster research community, there is still a need for a more focused and specific dissection of the diverse needs of communities impacted by natural disasters in order to determine how to best help the most vulnerable. Disaster research revolving around social vulnerability recognizes that most variables that create vulnerability within a population (class, socioeconomic status, race, gender etc.) are institutionalized forms of social inequalities that are intersecting and difficult to overcome (Phillips et al., 2010). Natural disasters are not simply events that create vulnerabilities, but rather an effect that exacerbates a person’s pre-existing vulnerabilities as they are positioned in society (Phillips et al., 2010). However, what if a person has not been integrated into the community? This lack of time spent in the community will affect the victim’s disaster experiences. In this study, it is hypothesized that time spent in a community, measured on a scale of residency, or “nativism”, will hinder social support which in turn mediates variables that affect long-term recovery. Researchers have found that social support can function as protection during times of disaster and is negatively correlated with post-traumatic stress symptoms (Weems et al., 2007). In the current study, researchers will analyze social support disparities, hypothesizing that those who have lived in the community for a shorter period of time will have less access to social support and are therefore more vulnerable to the negative impacts of the tornado.

Social support will be tested as a mediator in the relationship between nativism and post-traumatic stress, post-traumatic growth, self-efficacy, and unity. A validated measurement of PTG (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996) and PTSD (Brewin et al., 2002) will be assessed along with a scale of unity developed from Kaniasty’s model (2012). A scale of self-efficacy, developed from Benight et al.’s (1999) widely used Hurricane Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, will be used along with Zimet et al.’s Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (1997). The Nativism scale developed by researchers will assess length of time lived in Tuscaloosa, age at time of the tornado, and a question regarding participants sense of Tuscaloosa as their home in order to find a percentage of lifespan in Tuscaloosa. Researchers will then conduct in-depth interviews with victims of the tornado who have volunteered to share their experiences which resulted in physical, financial, or psychological loss due to loss of job, home, or a family member/friend. Following Baron and Kenny’s model (1986) for mediator relationships, researchers will complete regression analyses to assess the significance of the relationship between the mediator of social support and the independent variable of nativism with the dependent variables of PTS, PTG, unity, and self-efficacy, controlling for all relevant demographic variables. A Sobel Test will be used to further support the findings of the mediation of social support. We anticipate the following results: 1) variations in nativism levels will significantly affect social support 2) variations in social support will significantly affect dependent variables 3) when (1) and (2) are controlled, the relationship between nativism and the dependent variables will lose all significance. My poster will summarize preliminary findings from data collected from disaster survivors, focusing on their status as natives to Tuscaloosa and the role social support in their psychological recoveries related to PTG, PTSD, self-efficacy, and unity. Suggestions for city leaders and emergency managers will be included.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Cognitive Load and Recognition-induced Forgetting Howard-Allen, L. Tennessee State University Faculty Sponsor: Ashleigh Maxcey Recent studies have shown that recognizing an object can induce the forgetting of related objects (Maxcey, in press; Maxcey & Bostic, 2015; Maxcey & Woodman, 2014). The recognition-induced forgetting paradigm demonstrating this effect is comprised of three blocks: the study block, the practice block and the test block. In the study block participants are sequentially presented with objects from a variety of categories (e.g., feathers, baskets) and instructed to remember the objects for a later memory test. During the second block, the practice block, participants practice recognizing half of the objects from half of the categories (e.g., half of the feathers but none of the baskets) in a two-alternative forced choice task. In the third and final block, the test block, participants are presented with objects one at a time (50% new objects, 50% objects they saw earlier in the experiment), and asked to report whether they have ever seen the exact object previously in the experiment. The recognition-induced forgetting effect is demonstrated by reduced memory for non-practiced objects from practiced categories relative to a baseline measure of memory for objects from non-practiced categories. The present study relates this forgetting effect to a different line of research. That research has shown that completing cognitively demanding tasks during the retention interval of some memory tasks actually improves learning (Bjork & Allen, 1970). Given that memory is improved under high cognitive loads, the recognition-induced forgetting described above might be eliminated under similar circumstances of high cognitive load. In the present study we asked whether completing a difficult task during the retention interval of the recognitioninduced forgetting paradigm would arrest forgetting. To this end, we modified the recognition-induced forgetting paradigm described above by including either an easy or difficult backward counting task during 5-minute retention intervals. The easy backward counting task involved counting backward by 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from 500 and the difficult backward counting task involved counting backward by 3â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from the same starting number (500). The primary dependent variable of interest was accuracy during the test phase. Data were analyzed using within-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an alpha level of .05. Follow-up analyses consisted of pre-planned two-tailed repeated measures t-tests. Results showed that recognitioninduced forgetting was arrested when the difficult intervening task occurred between the practice and test phases. These results demonstrate that recognition-induced forgetting is diminished when cognitively difficult intervening tasks occur during the retention interval between practice and test. However, unlike research showing that completing cognitively demanding tasks during the retention interval of some memory tasks actually improves learning (Bjork & Allen, 1970), memory for practiced objects was not improved. These results bolster the importance of taking evidence of recognition-induced forgetting into account when refining theories of recognition memory.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Role of Self-Perceptions, Views of Risk, and Sexually-Transmitted Infection (STI) Knowledge in Sexual Behavior Decision-Making Hudson, C., Baker, B., Barnes, A., Cherry, B., Deans, L., Sanders, S., & Sutton, B. North Carolina A&T State University Faculty Sponsor: Alvin Keyes The purpose of this investigation was to explore the intersection of self-concept, perceptions of sexual risk-taking behavior, and knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in sexual behavior decisionmaking. It was predicted that males would report more liberal views on sexual behaviors, while females would report stronger life position concerns. It was also predicted that these two groups would differ on their knowledge of STIs and their mode of transmission. The sample consisted of one hundred and fortyfive participants (39 males and 106 females) primarily enrolled in a historically African-American collegiate environment. The participants ranged from first-year undergraduates to graduates, as well as older nonstudents. The average age of all participants was 22.44 years. A three-part survey was distributed predominantly in general campus, classroom, work and community settings. The full survey consisted of thirty statements addressing views of individual life phenomena, thirty-one statements addressing opinions on sexual behavior, and a ten-question knowledge test of STIs. The survey statements were rated using a Likert-like five-point scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree), with the Life Positions survey using an additional extended rating scale spanning from 0 (not important) to 100 (of utmost importance). Additionally, four focus groups, consisting of students who did not take the survey and employing themes in the surveys, were conducted in separate classroom settings. The purpose of the focus groups was to observe the consistency of peer response between written and oral responses. Upon independent t-testing of the data set, the general significant outcomes (p < .05) revealed that females, compared to males, tended to know a little more about STIs. Females also expressed more of a need for happiness, purpose, and meaning in their lives. This included their greater need to have a full acceptance of who they are compared to the males. Although males expressed no opinion on having multiple sexual partners and having meaningless sex, females were consistently strongly opposed to these behaviors.

Seemingly related to these outcomes was the finding that females, compared to males, tended to express value in STI testing. The only area in which males exceeded their survey rating was when they reported very strong agreement for being involved in extracurricular activities. Despite gender differences for those particular statements, there were no significant correlations involving the sub-theme addressed in each statement and participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; knowledge of STIs. A multivariate analysis revealed that freshmen, sophomores, and juniors were more likely to be impulsive when making important life decisions. Seniors and older non-students were more likely to get tested for STIs. Sophomores reported having more sexual partners; while juniors felt that there is not enough STI awareness on campus. There was a marginal correlation between importance of getting tested for STIs and overall knowledge of STI information (p < .05). A series of focus group questions revealed that (1) persons tend to see protection as a means for preventing pregnancy, (2) knowledge of sex and STIs is primarily through peers, (3) sex is more recreational for males, (4) getting tested, using condoms and knowing your partner are adequate means of preventing STIs, and (5) oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sexuality and sexual behavior does not define him/her. These results reveal that although persons understand that there are consequences for being involved sexually, there is little clarity on how individuals are impacted at various levels of human experience. Groupsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lack of knowledge of STIs, and how they are contracted, was a major point of concern, considering that both males and females scored very low on this measure. Future studies could benefit from employing more males in the sample, and providing a knowledge acquisition component as part of the research process.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Cognitive Rehabilitation and Its Effects on a Geriatric West Nile Encephalitis Survivor Hussey, J. & Olivier, T. The Neuropsychology Center of Louisiana & Nova Southeastern University Faculty Sponsor: Darlyne Nemeth Objective: In patients who have survived West Nile Encephalitis, rehabilitation services, such as physical, occupational therapy, and speech therapies are often necessary. Due to age and history, senior citizens do not often survive. Therefore, the long-term outcome of such patients has not been well studied. As a result of “behavioral alterations due to brain damage that compromise the quality of patients’ lives…reintegration may take years or never occur at all” (Lezak, 1988). Cognitive rehabilitation is beneficial to those who have “prolonged functional decline” (Berner, Feldman, Spigel, Chowers, & Finckeltov, 2005). Patients who receive cognitive rehabilitation are likely to show signs of improvement across many different areas of functioning. Participant and Methods: This case study highlights the effects of cognitive rehabilitation on a 76 year old Caucasian male in an outpatient neuropsychological practice. After completion of physical, occupational, and speech therapies, 66 cognitive rehabilitation sessions were conducted once weekly for approximately 60 minutes. A variety of techniques were utilized, including verbal and visual memory exercises, executive functioning tasks, processing speed trainings, and working memory exercises. Supportive and cognitive-behavioral therapies were utilized as needed. Psychopharmacological management by a medical psychologist was incorporated into the patient’s treatment program. Results: With this patient, it was important that functional improvements be made. Results from a 5 month re-evaluation show improvements in the areas of memory, processing speed, and executive functioning. Following one year of weekly cognitive rehabilitation, results show continued improvements in the areas of memory and processing speed. Conclusion: Cognitive rehabilitation was significant in increasing the quality of life for this patient. Through such multidisciplinary care, this patient saw objective improvements in memory and processing speed as well as observed improvements in well-being. This patient’s improvements provide evidence in support of the necessity of cognitive rehabilitation in long term recovery and continuity of care.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Metamemory and Asperger’s Syndrome Hutchins, B. Mississippi State University Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Eakin Metamemory is a process of cognitive awareness that is defined as knowing about ones’ own memory.

Research indicates that children suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are often overconfident when predicting their own memory performance, resulting in a deficit in metamemory (Bell, 2007; Bressette, 2009). This finding was obtained using novel memory games developed for two case studies. However, because these games were new, a comparison control group of typically developing children’s performance on these task is required. The current study tested 33 typically developing children with ages ranging from 8 to 12 years. Participants completed one of seven memory games used by Bell (2007) and Bressette (2009). The games varied in terms of whether the child had to imitate the researcher to learn a task (Imitative vs. Non-Imitative) and whether the task required fine or gross body movement to complete (Fine v. Gross), forming a 2 (Imitative v. Non-Imitative) x 2 (Fine v. Gross) experimental design. The general procedure was for children to learn to associate two new pieces of information, and then make metamemory predictions about the degree to which they thought they would be able to remember the second item, given the first item as a reminder, on a later memory test. Finally, they were shown each first item as a cue, and were asked to remember the second item it was paired with during the learning phase. For example, one of the Non-Imitative, Gross Body Movement tasks required children to learn to associate a picture of a lime and a picture of a baseball player; the child had to act out swinging a baseball bat when the lime picture was presented. After learning the association, the children predicted how well they would be able to recall the action, when shown the lime picture, on a later memory test. They made their predictions using a Thermometer scale which indicated hot (sure to remember) to cold (sure not to remember). After giving predictions, children saw the lime picture and had to perform the action that they had learned to associate with it during the study phase. Memory was compared among the types of tasks. In terms of memory, whereas the children with AS performed significantly worse on imitative tasks than non-imitative tasks (Bell, 2007; Bressette, 2009), the typically developing children did not show this difference. They performed equally well on imitative and nonimitative tasks. Although gross body movement tasks sometimes showed worse memory for the children with AS, particularly if they also required imitation, the typically developing children actually had better memory on tasks requiring fine body movement. In terms of metamemory, typically developing children predicted their own memory more accurately than the children suffering from AS, supporting previous literature that demonstrates after the age of about nine years, people are generally good as assessing their own memory (Koriat & Shitzer-Reichert, 2002; Yussen & Berman, 1981; Cultice et al., 1983).

Contrast this finding with those of both Bell (2007) and Bressette (2009), who found that the children with AS were more likely to give inflated and therefore, inaccurate, predictions when they were asked to assess how much they remembered from the task. Sometimes the children with AS gave extremely confident predictions for tasks for which they extremely inaccurate memory. The pattern of results indicates that typically developing children perform differently on these tasks than the children with AS, supporting the findings of a deficit in metamemory for the two case studies.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Attitudes Regarding Bisexuality in the United States Irby, A. Stillman College Faculty Sponsor: Sandra Jemison Research covering members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the United States (U.S.) is just as necessary as research covering the general population, particularly due to the unique experiences that members of the LGBT community face. Although the largest portion of the LGBT community consists of individuals who identify as bisexual (San Francisco Human Rights Commission [SFHRC], 2011, p. 1), bisexuality remains underrepresented in research as a unique population apart from the remainder of the LGBT community (SFHRC, 2011, p. 3). This underrepresentation of bisexuality is a cause for concern. Previous research indicates that individuals who identify as bisexual could experience a heightened risk for certain psychological disorders, due to societal complications that arise related to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity as bisexual (Baulkman, 2013). Such societal complications include the experience of biphobia and double-discrimination, which may be received from individuals within both the heterosexual and homosexual communities (Mulick & Wright, 2011, p. 453).

Biphobia, or negative attitudes about bisexuals or bisexuality, can possibly result from the various misconceptions surrounding bisexuality that circulate in society, such as the misconception that bisexuals are less likely than others to maintain monogamous relationships (Spalding & Peplau, 1997, p. 622). The aims of this study were to (a) measure what attitudes exist about bisexuality in the U.S., (b) observe if there was a difference in levels of tolerance between men and women, and (c) determine the level of exposure to bisexuals that people in the U.S. have in their everyday lives, in order to indicate possible areas of focus for awareness efforts. Increasing the level of understanding about bisexuality creates a possibility for more welcoming environments for bisexuals nationwide, as well as a possibility for decreasing risk factors for psychological disorders related to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sexual orientation. To collect data about attitudes, an online survey consisting of original questions was generated and taken by 100 United States citizens of diverse backgrounds, including residents of the Northeastern, Midwestern, Southern, and Western regions of the country. For some questions, participants were allowed to select multiple answers. Completion of the survey was untimed and the survey was posted for a period of six days, with participants selecting themselves to take the survey, rather than being hand-selected by the researcher.

Results showed that 73% of participants viewed bisexuality as a true sexual orientation, 27% viewed bisexuality as a phase, and 2% responded that bisexuality could be both a sexual orientation and a phase. Participants also responded about their perceptions of bisexual promiscuity, with 74% of participants responding that bisexuals are no more and no less promiscuous than members of other sexual orientations. The findings from this study imply that although U.S. citizens may generally express tolerance of bisexuality as a sexual orientation, more research and awareness efforts could be implemented to further increase understanding of bisexuality.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Are peer specialists happy? How training and role clarity affect job satisfaction.

Jenkins, S. University of Southern Florida at Saint Petersburg Faculty Sponsor: Tiffany Chenneville Peer support has come a long way from its induction into the mental health field in the 18th century and its attempts to design peer organizations in the early 20th century to where it is today as a mental health service reimbursed by Medicaid in 31 states. Since peer specialists are vital to recovery oriented care, it is important to understand job satisfaction among peer specialists. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of job training and role clarity on job satisfaction among peer specialists. Participants included 238 peer specialists recruited from the International Association of Peer Supporters and ranging in age from under 25 to over 61 with a mean age in the 46â&#x20AC;&#x201C;55 age bracket. The majority of participants were Caucasian (76%) females (64%). All regions of the US were represented to include the Midwest (7%), Northeast (13%), Southeast (29%), Southwest (35%), and West (16%). Education ranged from a high school diploma to graduate degree with the majority of participants having completed some college (45%). Participants completed a 77-item electronic survey administered through Qualtrics software asking questions pertaining to job satisfaction, job training, and role clarity. Descriptive statistics were used to assess job training, role clarity, and job satisfaction. Linear regression was conducted to determine if role clarity, supervisor role clarification, and job training can predict job satisfaction. Finally, one-way between subjects ANOVAs and independent samples T-tests were conducted to assess differences in job training, role clarity, and job satisfaction based on demographic variables. Findings revealed moderate job satisfaction and high levels of job training satisfaction, role clarity, and supervisor role clarification.

Findings also revealed that supervisor role clarification and job training predict job satisfaction among peer specialists. The most significant finding from the demographic analyses was a significant difference between males and females with males scoring higher than females on supervisor role clarification. Our research uncovered that peer specialists spend the majority of their time in training situations that they considered to be the least effective, and this was correlated with less satisfaction with job training, the nature of work performed, and co-workers. Peer specialists also spend the least amount of time in the two training situations they considered to be most effective. Our data revealed significant guidelines to serve as best practices for those working with and hiring peer specialists to increase role clarity, supervisor role clarification, job training satisfaction and job satisfaction.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effects of Gender and Parenthood on Career Competence Judgments Jones, A. & Withers, Z. Xavier University of Louisiana Faculty Sponsor: Katherine Eskine In recent years, men occupied 75% of STEM field jobs relative to women (Beede et al., 2011), and this discrepancy also revealed higher salaries for men, indicating that women earn 14% less than men in the STEM professions and 21% less in the work force generally (US Census Report, 2009). Why has this gap persisted over the last few decades? Many believe that sexist reviews of female applicants and students perpetuate these hiring and pay gaps, with some results showing that both male and female faculty members favored a male applicant for lab manager over a female applicant despite identical qualifications (Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman, 2012). However, others have indicated that the picture is slightly more complicated. Williams and Ceci (2014) found that faculty evaluators prefer females over males at a ratio of 2:1 for assistant professorships in biology, engineering, and psychology.

Research addressing discrepancies in hiring practices found that status-based discrimination played a significant role when individuals applied to a job, with results revealing specifically that working mothers were penalized on measures such as competence and recommended starting salary, whereas men were not be penalized and in some cases gained an advantage from being a parent (Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007). Cuddy, Fiske, and Glick (2004) reported that working mothers were not only penalized in regards to pay but were also judged as less committed to their jobs, less dependable, and less authoritative. In addition to these findings, they were judged as more emotional and more irritable. Overall, the contributions to the gender and pay gap in STEM fields needs further exploration. Despite evidence for a robust gap, few studies have explored contributory factors like career aspirations, presence of children, and type of career on judgments of employee ability. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the extent to which gender, job type, job rank and parent status influence perceptions of employee targets. In particular, the present research manipulated targetsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; gender (female vs. male), parent status (parent vs. non-parent), industry (academic vs. non-academic), and rank (junior vs. senior colleague, modified by industry type) to explore how perceivers judge these targets across a range of abilities (competency, salary, and career dedication). Preliminary results support the hypothesis that parents are judged less favorably across most domains relative to non-parents; and that this relationship is moderated by gender, industry, and rank as well as perceiversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; status on these variables.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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The Effects of Musical Tempo on Stress Reduction in College Students Kennedy, P University of North Georgia Faculty Sponsor: Valerie Havill Previous research on the use of music to induce a relaxed state have shown classical compositions to be more effective in lowering heightened cardiovascular responses when compared to the use of other styles of music. Further research suggests an optimal tempo range of 80-100 beats per minute (bpm) to induce a desired relaxed state. This study investigated the effectiveness of classical compositions with the varied tempos of 80 and 120 bpm on the physiological stress responses of heart rate and skin conductance as compared to a non-music condition. The goal of this research was to find the music conditions to be more successful in lowering the physiological stress responses than the non-music condition. In addition, this research aimed to find the musical composition measured at a tempo of 80 bpm to be more effective than the musical composition measured at a tempo of 120 bpm. Fifty-four undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. Participants completed a survey intended to increase physiological arousal and subsequently experienced either the 80 bpm musical composition, the 120 bpm musical composition, or the non-music condition. Upon completion of the experimental condition, heart rate and skin response levels were measured. Two dependent-sample t-tests were conducted to determine the construct validity of the stressor. Preliminary results found the stressor to significantly increase heart rate [t (54) = -15.082, (p < .05)] and skin response [t (54) = -5.989, (p < .05)], indicating the stressor was valid. Two one-way between subjects ANOVAs were conducted to determine the efficacy of the varied tempos of classical compositions on the heart rate and skin response. Preliminary results indicated no significant difference in heart rate [F (2, 52) = 0.128, (p > .05)] or skin response [F (2, 52) = 1.251, (p > .05)] which suggests the musical composition conditions were no more effective than the nonmusic condition in reducing physiological stress responses. Additional analyses found the heart rate returned to baseline levels after exposure to the manipulated conditions [t (54) = -0.738, (p >.05)] while the skin response did not [t (54) = 0.154, (p > .05)] indicating the physiological stress response of heart rate was reduced however, the skin response was not. Data collection is currently ongoing which, upon completion, may yield alternative results. These findings are inconclusive as they do not demonstrate the effect of classical music compositions on physiological stress responses which is incongruent with previous research. Further research into the area investigating the effect of classical music compositions on physiological stress responses should examine a variety of composers to determine if alternate musical selections could yield significant results.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Parenting Styles and Levels of Compassion Kenny, K. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli In some households, spanking is a very common form of punishment, whereas in other households the thought of laying a hand on a child is unimaginable. Just like writing styles, no two households will have the exact same parenting styles. Although there are four main types of parenting styles, each set of parents may use the same basic concept but will incorporate the notion in different ways. The way one is raised during childhood effects how one will act in adulthood, whether they are subconsciously aware of this or not (Decety & Michalska, 2010). Parenting styles associated with low self-esteem and weak academic performance are associated with low levels of compassion. The authoritative parenting style appears to be the most effective style and it has the most significant correlation to high compassion levels (Saartaj & Aslam, 2010). Although compassion is impacted by parenting style, it is a skill that can be taught through a trial program that was produced by Jazaieri (2013). The purpose of the current study was to determine the relationship between parenting styles and one’s level of compassion. It was predicted that children from an authoritative household environment will have high levels of compassion and sympathy compared to those that come from an authoritarian, neglectful, or permissive household.

Participants were recruited via social media and through requests in psychology courses. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics that included a demographic questionnaire, the short-form scale of the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2011), the Compassionate Love for Humanity Scale (Sprecher & Fehr, 2005), and the Parenting Style Scale (Riberio, 2009) which measured the four parenting styles.

Participants included 7 males and 107 females. The mean age of the sample was 27.32 (SD = 11.20).

Correlations were calculated between the parenting styles and compassion. Parenting styles were not related to compassion. There were correlations between permissive parenting and authoritative parenting (r = .38, p < .01) and permissive parenting and authoritarian parenting (r = -.49, p < .01). There were also significant correlations between isolation and permissive parenting (r = .27, p < .05) and overidentification and permissive parenting (r = .28, p <.05). A sample item measuring over-identification is “When I fail at something important to me I become consumed by feelings of inadequacy.” A sample item measuring isolation is “When I’m feeling down, I tend to feel like most other people are probably happier than I am.” There were also significant correlations between age and permissive parenting (r = -.31, p < .01), authoritarian parenting (r = .27, p < .01), isolation (r = -.34, p < .05), over-identification (r = -.31, p < .05), compassion (r = -.34, p < .05). Results indicated that there is no significant relationship between parenting styles and one’s levels of compassion in the current study. However, future research could use a different measure of parenting styles. The results regarding age were interesting and could also be explored in a future study. Limitations include the small sample of male participants which limited examination of any potential gender differences and the very high dropout rate in the study.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Resiliency and the Ability to Detect Cartoon Humor Killion, J. University of Alabama at Huntsville Faculty Sponsor: Aurora Torres The Connor Davidson Resilience Score has been developed to measure resiliency, an individual’s ability to positively adapt to stressful or adverse situations (Connor & Davidson, 2003). Resilient individuals have close and secure relationships, can focus and think clearly under pressure, have a strong sense of purpose, and know when to turn to others for help. Another component of resilient behavior is the ability to see the humorous side of situations; thus, humor can be a coping strategy, similar to positive interpretation and perspective taking (Hansson et al., 2008). Theory of mind, or mentalizing, is the ability to represent others mental states and is considered necessary to process humor (Samson, 2012). We utilized both theory of mind (TOM) and semantic cartoons (SEM) to observe the relationship between funniness ratings of the cartoon stimuli and resiliency scores; Incongruent pictures (INC) served as the control because they were not humorous and there was no punch line or joke. We used a median split to create the two groups of Resilience and hypothesized that those in the higher resiliency group would rate cartoons as funnier, then tested this with a 2 x 3 (Resiliency: low or high by Cartoon humor: TOM, SEM, INC) mixed design with Cartoon as the within-subjects factor. Participants (N = 99) were presented with the TOM, SEM, and INC cartoons and rated the humor of each cartoon from 1 (not funny) to 6 (very funny) and noted whether or not they understood the punch line of the joke. Participants also answered the Connor-Davidson Resilience Score -25 item (CDRS-25), the Student Life Stress Inventory (SLSI), and the Interparental Conflict Intensity and Frequency Scale (IPCIFS). We collected demographic information and also asked the participants to describe the marital status of their biological parents. A significant main effect of cartoon humor was found, F(2, 194) = 56.58, p < .001, ηp² = .727, wherein TOM cartoons were rated as funniest and INC cartoons were rated as the least funny. A main effect of resiliency was also found, F(1, 97) = 8.19, p < .05, ηp² = .054; thus, those who scored higher on the CDRS-25 rated cartoons as funnier. There were no differences found in the IPCIFS, t(97) = .769, p = .443, nor in the SLSI between Resilience groups, t(97) = 1.417, p = .160. There were no differences in gender distribution nor in family status between Resilience groups. There was a slight difference in ethnicity (27% African American in high Resiliency group, 20% in low). These findings align with previous research in that Resilient individuals try to see the humorous aspect of environmental stimuli in addition to possessing the ability to see stress as strengthening and being able to adapt to change. Using humor as a coping mechanism in the face of hardship is a positive adaptation quality that, if strengthened, could improve quality of life and possibly foster other resilient behaviors.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Priming Prepositions: Attempting to Replicate and Extend Boroditsky’s (2000) Findings King, I. & Dronet, D. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Faculty Sponsor: Brooke Breaux Have you ever wondered why we can say that a book is on a table and Susie is on vacation or that water is in a glass and Bill is in trouble? Notice that what in and on mean differs across the two scenarios; however, we still use the same word to describe both concrete (e.g., the book is on the table) and abstract relationships (e.g., Susie is on vacation). Boroditsky (2000) was interested in this same question.

In order to test whether the concrete and abstract meanings of prepositions are connected conceptually, Boroditsky’s (2000) participants were presented with prime and target stimuli. She found that having participants answer questions about different types of concrete and abstract prime stimuli (i.e., egomoving primes and object-moving primes) had an influence on the ways that participants responded to concrete and abstract target stimuli (i.e., an ambiguous image and a question about time) in all conditions except when participants were given abstract primes and spatial target. To determine if the same patterns exist for prepositions, participants were presented with a sentence completion task involving either an image depicting an ambiguous concrete relationship between water and a boat (i.e., “The boat is _____ the water”) or an ambiguous abstract statement (i.e., “I hope the letter gets there _____ time”).

Participants were primed with several types of stimuli: concrete in (e.g., a photograph of a flower in a vase), abstract in (e.g., a sentence containing the phrase in power), concrete on (e.g., a photograph of a lamp on a nightstand), or abstract on (e.g., a sentence containing the phrase on vacation).We conducted analyses similar to Boroditsky’s (2000) to determine whether the frequency of responses to target stimuli were consistent with the preposition primes (i.e., in or on). Unlike Boroditsky (2000), we did not find evidence of priming in any of the four prime-target combinations: concrete-to-concrete (χ2(39) = 1.58, p = .209), abstract-to-concrete (χ2(39) = 0.00, p = 1.000), concrete-to-abstract (χ2(39) = 0.40, p = .528), abstract-to-abstract (χ2(39) = 0.89, p = .344). We did, however, run participants in control conditions for each of the target stimuli. The results were such that participants showed a qualitative preference toward on as a response: to the concrete target stimulus (i.e., “The boat is _____ the water”; in = 6, on = 8, other = 6) as well as to the abstract target stimulus (i.e., “I hope the letter gets there _____ time”; in = 8, on = 11, other = 1). Based on these findings, we plan to conduct analyses using the control conditions as baselines. The lack of any significant effect suggests at least three possible conclusions: (a) prepositional metaphors are not conceptually connected to their spatial counterparts, (b) the appropriate concepts were not sufficiently activated by the prime stimuli, or (c) the target stimuli were biased toward particular responses. We are in the process of conducting research to distinguish between these alternatives.

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Engagement Explains Gender Difference in Retention Landaverde, E. & Akmal, S. University of North Georgia Faculty Sponsor: Bryan Dawson Student retention is an important issue that must be addressed at the college level by all universities. The percentage of students that withdraw from their university without obtaining a degree is found to be 40% (DeBerard, 2004). This decision has an overall negative effect on society, the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives, and on the university (DeBerard, 2004). Society suffers from a decrease of participation in voting and volunteer projects within the community while the university loses money from uncollected tuition and fees. An increase in unemployment levels and an increased dependence on government assistance programs is also altered as a result of individuals not completing higher education (Lehning, 2008). Additionally, individuals who do not attain a degree will earn less overall in their careers (DeBerard, 2004). Student retention can be assessed by analyzing the school climate. Many variables can be used to assess school climate, however the most important variables include those that accurately depict the level to which the school climate is perceived as being supportive and engaging for students (Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Brennan & Bradshaw, n.d.). Engagement, especially social engagement, is one of the continuous factors that leads to academic success and graduation. By being involved in organizations, or by having any type of social support, students feel a greater commitment to their university which leads to re-enrollment the following years. Research has shown that women tend to have higher academic achievements and graduation rates than their male counterparts (Seidman, 2005). By analyzing the extent to which each gender feels included and engaged at their university, the responses can be analyzed to determine if there is a significant difference in how each gender perceives the school climate. A climate assessment that was analyzed at a mid sized Southeastern University which had recently consolidated in 2013. A climate assessment was administered among its multiple campuses to determine if there is a difference in how males and females perceive the school climate. The survey was administered via Qualtrics to which 382 (Male= 128, Female= 254) responses were recorded. The survey included variables such as inclusion, commitment and engagement, diversity, fairness, trust, and barriers. These variables are considered efficient in allowing an accurate formulation of the university's school climate. Data found that females were significantly more engaged (M= 3.68, SD= 0.72) than males (M=3.51, SD= 0.70) at the given university, t(380)= -2.24, p= 0.03, d= 0.24. This information can be used to allow universities to provide equally effective programs to increase engagement for both genders to ensure student retention and success for the students as well as for the university.

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Functional Network Connectivity in Hallucinating Patients with Schizophrenia Law, A. & Hare, S. University of North Florida Faculty Sponsor: Heather Barnes Truelove We used fMRI to investigate differences in resting state network connectivity associated with chronic hallucinations in schizophrenia (SZ), a debilitating mental disorder that impacts cognitive, social, motor and perceptual function. Previous studies have investigated resting-state functional connectivity patterns related to the experience of specific symptoms like hallucinations in patients with SZ. Patients with chronic hallucinations have been shown to have abnormal resting-state connectivity between regions such as superior temporal gyrus, hippocampus and amygdala. Independent component analysis (ICA) is a useful, data-driven analysis that can be applied to resting-state fMRI data to assess functional connections between different resting-state networks (i.e. functional network connectivity, FNC).

Investigating FNC can shed light on the relationships between different regions of the brain, how these regions are naturally linked up to form networks, and how communication between networks may be disrupted in certain disease states. We posited that SZ patients with a history of chronic hallucinations (HALL subgroup, n = 82) would show abnormal patterns of resting-state connectivity between specific functional networks when compared to SZ patients without a history of hallucinations (NoHALL subgroup, n = 61) and healthy controls (HC, n = 155). We performed standard pre-processing on 298 resting-state fMRI scans from the multi-site functional Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN) database using SPM8 software. These steps included removal of the first two time points, slice timing, realignment, normalization to MNI space and smoothing. Following group ICA (GIFT toolbox, http://mialab.mrn.org/software/gift/), we selected eight intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs), which contained regions previously associated with auditory hallucinations: anterior cingulate (ACC), insula, precuneus, putamen, superior temporal gyrus (STG), and hippocampus. The patient group was divided into two subgroups based on scores on two items from the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS, Items 1 and 6). Both patient groups (HALL and NoHALL) had significantly increased correlations between bilateral STG and hippocampal ICNs in comparison to HC. When compared to HC, the HALL group in particular had decreased FNC with a bilateral STG-insular ICN, but significantly greater FNC between the precuneus and ACC, the STG and ACC, the putamen and STG. We did not find any significant differences between the HALL and NoHALL patient groups. As a second analysis, we ran a four-group ICA, dividing the patient groups into visual hallucinators (VH), auditory hallucinators (AH), and non-hallucinators (NoHALL). We did not find any significant differences between the patients groups or when comparing the patient groups to HC. Our results suggest that abnormal resting-state connectivity between the STG and hippocampus is likely related to more broad, general features of psychosis. We also identified abnormal patterns of network connectivity in patients with chronic hallucinations in regions such as the STG, insula, ACC and precuneus, suggesting that dysfunction in these regions may play an important role in the development of hallucinations. These analyses have focused on connectivity between networks of interest, but we are also interested in how the strength of connectivity within each of these networks relates to severity of symptoms. Further analysis will include examination of the intrinsic network connectivity (INC) of these eight regions and potential relationships between INC and symptom severity (based on SAPS items for hallucinations). If we are able to find any significant correlations between INC and hallucination severity, we might also assess the generalizability of these results and examine the relation between INC in each of these networks and other positive symptoms such as delusions. Keywords: schizophrenia, hallucinations, fMRI, ICA

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Differences in Stress and Coping between Freshmen and Seniors in College Liller, R. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli College is an exciting time for students to discover themselves while pursuing their dreams. The student must learn to become independent and sometimes move many miles away from their home to attend classes. According to Radillo, Serrano, Fernandez, Velasco, & Garcia (2014), in the freshman year of college, stress and anxiety start to surface. With this, the stress and anxiety then escalates to high levels once a student is a senior in college (Hall, Lennie, Mahmoud, & Haslem 2014). The purpose of the current study was to examine academic stress and coping mechanisms between freshmen and seniors in college. It was predicted that freshmen and seniors would experience high levels of academic stress and use brief coping methods such as religion and substance use to manage their stress, while sophomores and juniors in college have lower levels of academic stress and use avoidance coping more than brief coping, such as religion, denial, self-acceptance, humor, and substance use. Participants were recruited through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and through sharing the survey link with students in classes at a private Catholic university. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics that included a demographic questionnaire, the Academic Stress Scale (Rao, 2013; α = .95), Carver’s (1997) BRIEF Cope Scale, and the Avoidance Coping Scale (Greenglass, Schwarzer & Taubert, 1999; α = 74).The BRIEF Cope Scale measures 14 ways to cope with stress which include: self-distraction (α = .39), active coping (α = .63), denial (α = .78), substance use (α = .95), emotional support (α = .71), instrumental support (α = .861), venting (α =.49), positive reframing (α = .72), planning (α = .81), humor (α = .71), acceptance (α = .41), religion (α = .87), and self-blame (α = .75). Data collection is still in progress. At present, participants include 64 females and 11 males. The mean age of the sample was 24.01 (SD =7.47). The majority of the participants were senior standing in college (42.7%) while 16% were sophomores, 32% were juniors, and 8% were freshmen. Correlations were calculated between academic stress, avoidance coping, and the coping methods measured by the BRIEF Cope Scale (Carver, 1999). Preliminary analyses revealed that academic stress was significantly related to avoidance coping (r = .28, p < .05). Thus, higher academic stress was related to the use of avoidant coping.

Academic stress was also significantly related to self-distraction, a subscale of brief cope (r = .31, p < .05). Denial and academic stress were significantly, positively related (r = .36, p < .05). Additionally, humor and academic stress were significantly related (r = .27, p < .05). Finally, self-blame and academic stress were significantly, positively related (r = .47, p < .05). The results indicate that as academic stress increases, the use of humor and denial increases while the use of self-blame decreases. One-way ANOVAs were calculated to examine possible differences in coping mechanisms and academic stress based on class standing. There were no significant differences in class standing, however, the sample size of each class was small. Gender differences were also examined through One-Way ANOVAs. There was significance between gender and the use of religion as a coping mechanism, F (1, 63) = 4.20, p < .05. Males scored higher (M = 5.9, SD = 2.08) than females (M = 4.36, SD = 2.20). This was the only significance found regarding gender and coping mechanisms. Additional research is planned to further examine academic stress and coping mechanisms. For example, the researchers would like to study gender differences in coping and academic stress. Also, the researchers plan to collect a larger sample size of each class standing in order to examine possible differences in stress and coping. Future directions for research and limitations of the current study will be discussed.

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Attitudes Toward Children with Autism Lucyx, R. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Christopher Cronin Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ranging from mild to severe autism, often encounter issues with learning and social skills in a public school environment. Parents and teachers wonder what conditions would be best for a child with autism to be in to insure that they will succeed in school. It may be asked whether or not a child will be more successful in a school with only children with autism, or if children with autism and children without autism should be integrated in the same classroom. Parents may also question whether only a teacher that has a specialization in special education is able to help a child with autism in the classroom. A parent may also ask if a child with autism may enhance the learning environment of a child without autism, and if meal time behaviors of a child with autism will affect children without autism during their lunch period at school. Ninety-five undergraduate students were administered the Attitudes Toward Children with Autism Survey; a 15 item self-report questionnaire that has demonstrated reliability and validity. The survey measures attitudes toward children with autism in an educational environment. Students indicated their major and it was predicted that students majoring in education would have attitudes supportive of mainstreaming. Preliminary results indicate college students tend to be favorable in regard to attitudes toward children with autism. On most questions, 50% of the respondents indicated favorable attitudes toward children with autism. For example, 52% of participants strongly disagreed with the statement, “I would not want the children in my class to put up with children with autism”. The item that stated “Children with autism can learn from a good teacher” showed that 60% of participants strongly agreed with this statement. These results further indicate that most college students, regardless of major, show favorable attitudes toward mainstreaming. These preliminary results will be supplemented with additional data collection examining any differences among majors at a liberal arts college. As young adults are deciding to become teachers, it is important that they are being taught to have favorable attitudes toward children with autism. More importantly, these students are being taught how to appropriately deal with a situation that involves a child with autism. In order to insure that a child with autism is getting the proper attention in a learning environment, we must first research whether or not our future teachers have favorable attitudes toward children with autism. If a student is majoring in Education, then they will have favorable attitudes over children with autism. When training to become a teacher, even if the individual is not specializing in special education, they should know how to appropriately deal with a situation that involves a child with autism in the classroom. It is expected that our future teachers are being taught how to insure a child with autism is getting an education just as well as a child who does not have autism.

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Trauma in New Orleans Adults: Does Age Make a Difference?

MacLellan, A. Our Lady of Holy Cross College Faculty Sponsor: Lillian Range Past research on trauma typically includes homogeneous groups, such as college students (Taft, Schumm, Orazem, Meis, & Pinto, 2010), senior citizens (Ogle, Rubin & Siegler, 2013), or veterans(Kubany et al., 2000). A mixture of groups might provide a more nuanced picture, and one would expect that older persons would report more traumas because statistically they would have more chances of experiencing trauma over their lifespan. With that in mind, this study was designed to determine the amount of traumatic life events the average adult living in New Orleans, Louisiana, had survived. This was done by having 33 participants fill out the Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ; Kubaney et al., 2000) in order to evaluate the amount of individual traumatic events each participant had survived.

These participants were gathered from students at Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans, which has a mixture of traditional and nontraditional students, and attendants of Celebration Church, which is also in New Orleans. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 64, with the mean age being 28.5 (SD = 10.08), and most were women. The TLEQ contains 21 types of traumas an individual could have potentially experienced, such as natural disasters, sexual assault, combat, and the sudden death of a loved one. Participants answered the questionnaire by writing the number of times (if any) that they had experienced each trauma. The TLEQ has been proved to be reliable through repeated testing, in which people agreed with themselves an average of 88% of the time. The TLEQ has been proven valid because peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s responses corresponded with structured interviews conducted to assess the amount of trauma the individual in question has survived (Kubany, et al. 2000). I administered the TLEQ to participants in person. I used a printed copy of the questionnaire and let each participant fill it out independently before returning it. People answered anonymously and I included no identifying questions. The total mean for the traumatic life events that participants had survived was 15.71 (SD = 16.84), with a maximum value of 64.00, and a minimum of 1.00. That indicates that all individuals surveyed had experienced at least one traumatic life event, with most individuals surveyed having experienced many traumatic life events. This result is in comparison to the study used to perfect the design of the TLEQ whose participants had survived a mean number of 9.97 (SD = 3.79) events, and only 86% of the them reported even one traumatic life experience (Kubany et al. 2000). Surprisingly, there was no significant correlation found between the age of a participant and the amount of traumatic life events they had survived. Additionally, there was no significant difference found between the mean of traumatic events white participants had survived as opposed to non-white participants, which again was a surprising find.

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Public Displays of Affection: Does Attractiveness Lead to Acceptance?

Manley, L. & Ault, L. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli The term public display of affection, or “PDA”, was coined to express people’s intimate feelings and actions towards each other in public settings (e.g. Vaquera & Kao, 2005). Although there have been observational studies focusing on PDA and interracial relationships (Bonam & Shih, 2009; Mills, Daley, Longmore, & Kilbride, 1994; Vaquera & Kao, 2005), and those focusing on PDA and physical attractiveness of married couples (Harwell, 1979) or Facebook partners (Fox, Warber, & Makstaller, 2013), to our knowledge, studies have not examined the intersection of interracial relationships, physical attractiveness, and PDA. The purpose of the current study was to examine public displays of affection and the role that attraction played in acceptance of PDA among African American and Caucasian interracial couples. Specifically, this study examined physical attractiveness as a halo effect (Dion, Berscheid & Walster) that may increase the acceptability of PDA in interracial relationships. It was predicted that public displays of affection in interracial relationships would be less acceptable in society than other types of relationships. However, attractive couples displaying PDA would be viewed positively regardless of race. Participants (n= 108; 49 males, 58 females, one unreported sex) were recruited by word of mouth and through requests in psychology courses offered at Saint Leo University. The mean sample age was 19.00 (SD = 1.54). The majority of the sample was heterosexual (86.9%) and was ethnically diverse (44% Caucasian). They completed a written survey including a demographic questionnaire, the Discomfort with Public Touch subscale from the Touch Scale (Brennan, 1998; α = .72), and the Attitudes towards Interracial Dating Scale (Whatley, 2004; α =.94). Participants were randomly assigned to complete one of two sentence de-scramble tasks created by the researchers to prime thoughts of attractiveness/unattractiveness, and to respond to perceptions of PDA about one of three vignettes created by the researchers (Black man and White woman, Black woman and White man, and Black man and Black woman). Between-subjects 2 X 3 ANOVAs examined the effects of priming (i.e., attractive vs. unattractive) and couple (i.e., the two interracial and one same-race heterosexual couples) for each of the six questions associated with the vignette (e.g., acceptability, couple satisfaction, couple attractiveness). There was a significant interaction between priming and vignettes for attractiveness of the couple, F (2, 102) = 4.94, p < .05. To examine this interaction, the file was split by vignette and Oneway ANOVAs were calculated for each of the DVs with priming as the IV. The unattractive priming significantly increased the attractiveness rating of the couple [F (1,106)=4.36, p<.05] when a) the couple was black and b) when the man was black and the woman was white, but not when the woman was black and the man was white. A 2-way Gender x Ethnicity ANOVA revealed an interaction for perceived couple satisfaction, F(4, 97) = 2.93, p <.05. Caucasian men and women differed in how satisfied they perceived the couples were across vignettes, with men perceiving less satisfaction (M = 3.29) than women (M = 4.56). Results did not support the hypotheses that PDA in interracial relationships is less accepted by society than PDA in intra-racial relationships, and that attractive couples displaying PDA are viewed positively regardless of race. Priming and gender should be examined further. Additional studies are planned to further examine attractiveness and its role in the acceptance of PDA in interracial couples. For example, the researchers would like to examine the effects on the results if actual pictures were used in the vignettes. Directions for future research and limitations will be discussed.

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Little Albert in Abnormal Psychology Textbooks: A 30-Year Follow-up McDonald, J. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study of Little Albert is without a doubt a classic in psychology. However, it has a long history of reports filled with myths and inconsistencies. Textbooks in psychology have often carelessly misreported details of the experiment, likely by failing to revisit the original article. While these inaccuracies have been documented since the 1970s, there has been no systematic review of textbooks in abnormal psychology since the 1980s. The current study seeks to examine if these inaccuracies still persist today by examining 14 modern abnormal psychology textbooks. Three textbooks neglected to mention the Little Albert study, so they are excluded from the analysis of how the study was reported. No textbooks editions were included if the publication date was prior to 2010. For the most part the carelessly misreported details of the experiment such as Albert’s age, the number of trials necessary to elicit a conditioned fear response, and objects that Albert’s fear generalized to have been improved, but there is still evidence of inaccuracy. Unfortunately, Rosalie Rayner’s role in the experiment has not improved significantly over the past few decades, with most texts still downplaying her responsibilities or only referring to her in the context of Watson’s personal life. A new trend that has emerged in recent publications has been an increased awareness of ethical issues and concerns of the experiment. Also important to note is the fact that there has been many new developments in the Little Albert saga recently that most textbooks in the analysis have yet to cover, although they will undoubtedly have to address them in later publications. Lastly, despite the huge significance of this study to the history of psychology, many authors chose not to describe the study in great detail. In summary, while many of the major inaccuracies that have been pointed out in the past have been addressed, there is still much room for improvement. Unfortunately, many authors of current abnormal psychology textbooks have avoided the issue of misreporting by neglecting to report the study in detail and using vague descriptions and generalizations to describe the specifics of the experiment. This seems foolish considering the rather pivotal role the Little Albert experiment has played in shaping our views of conditioning, fears, phobias, and behaviorism in general. These findings are especially important to note when considering the new developments of the Little Albert saga. Authors of abnormal psychology textbooks need to be sure they are reporting the experiment as accurately as possible, especially considering the history of inconsistencies, but without skimping on the details of the experiment. Ultimately, until these myths and inconsistencies of this landmark study are addressed, authors, teachers and promoters of psychology should not be so quick to market Little Albert as an example of scientific validity and historical saliency.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Understanding and Distinguishing the Effects of Meditation: A Comparison of Methods Mendel, R. University of North Carolina at Asheville Faculty Sponsor: Tracy Brown A wealth of empirical data has documented the beneficial effectiveness of mindfulness meditation practice, but many questions remain as to the specific mechanisms involved and whether different methods produce different effects. This study was designed to address the different effects of “heartbased” (or compassion-oriented) meditation versus “focused attention” (mantra practice) meditation. We recruited 42 University students who had no or little meditation experience, 21 randomly assigned into each of the two meditation groups – heart-based and focused attention-based. The study used a pretest/post-test design with dependent measures of emotional sensitivity/empathy, focused selective attending, and self-reported anxiety. Thirty-three participants completed the study, with ages ranging from 18 to 55 (M = 22). Following pre-testing, participants completed meditation training according to their group assignment (either compassion-oriented or mantra practice) administered by an experienced instructor following a carefully designed curriculum. Training was reinforced a week later in a second session. Participants were required to practice meditation for 30 minutes daily for four weeks. Minimum required meditation frequency was an average of five out of each seven days for the four weeks. Pre- and post-test measures were the GAD-7 anxiety scale; a 10-minute version of the Stroop task (used to measure selective focused attention); and the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” task – a short internet based task purported to measure emotional sensitivity or empathy (Baron-Cohen, 2004). The empathy measure asks participants to identify the emotion expressed in a series of 36 pictures of human eyes.

Selective attention was measured in the Stroop task with particular attention to participants’ ability to ignore conflicting words when making color naming responses, assessed via reaction time and accuracy scores. Our hypothesis was that meditation by either method would reduce anxiety, increase emotional sensitivity, and improve Stroop performance. We also tested the claim that the heart-based meditators would show a larger increase in emotional sensitivity than the mantra meditators, while the mantra meditators would have a larger improvement in selective attention. Results showed reliable decreases in anxiety for both groups, F(1,30) = 49.34, p < .05, and reliable increases in empathy for both groups, F(1,31) = 27.47, p <. 05, as measured by the “eyes” test. However, there was no significant difference in the “eyes” test scores between the two meditation methods; in fact, there were no statistically reliable interactions between the pre-test/post-test scores and meditation method on any of the dependent measures. Stroop interference and facilitation effects were large and robust overall but did not change across groups or from pre- to post-test sessions. Overall, the results indicated that both types of meditation produced substantial decreases in self-reported anxiety and increases in emotional sensitivity.

However, there was no evidence that the type of meditation used had any differential effects across the measures of sensitivity, anxiety, or attentional focusing. This suggests that these types of meditation produce relatively global benefits that manifest in a variety of ways that are mostly shared across different methods. Perhaps meditative states of consciousness are pretty much a common destination that can be reached by different routes. Further studies are suggested involving a longer period of meditation practice, such as two to four months, which could possibly reveal more subtle effects across meditation methods, or with attentional focusing. Additionally, comparison of other meditation methods not used in this study may reveal significantly different effects between each other on empathy, focused attention and other measures.

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Effort and the Heart: Measuring the Effects of Cash Incentives on Effort-Related Cardiac Activity Mironovova, Z. & McHone, A. University of North Carolina at Greensboro Faculty Sponsor: Paul Silvia Mental effort is typically measured with self-reports, task performance, or time spent persisting on a task.

These measures have serious drawbacks. For example, participants cannot always report accurately or objectively on their effort, and task performance and persistence are affected by participants’ abilities in addition to effort. For these reasons, physiological measures are popular in research on mental effort, specifically measures of the activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. One common physiological measure of sympathetic activity is the cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP). Assessed via impedance cardiography, PEP is widely used as a non-invasive measure of sympathetic influence on the heart. It is defined as a time interval in milliseconds (ms) between the Q point (onset of depolarization) of the electrocardiogram (ECG), and the B point (opening of the aortic valve) of the impedance dZ/dt wave. To facilitate scoring, several approximations for automatically identifying PEP’s two points have been developed. A serious drawback of the pre-ejection period, however, is the fact that many healthy individuals do not show Q or B points. In these cases, the points have to be estimated or the data have to be omitted. The present research evaluated an alternative to PEP, known as the RZ interval, which has recently proposed as a promising measure of sympathetic activity. Also known as the initial systolic time interval (ISTI), RZ is the time in ms between the ECG R peak and the dZ/dt Z peak (the point of maximal aortic diameter). Unlike PEP’s Q and B points, R and Z are salient waveform landmarks that are easily identified in nearly all participants. Three experiments evaluated the suitability of RZ for effort research. In each experiment, adult participants completed a standard computer-based mental effort task in which each correct response earned a small amount of money. The goal of this task was to quickly judge whether two numbers separated by a distractor word had matching parity (even-even, oddodd) or non-matching parity (odd-even). For example, the item “8 SOFA 2” would have matching parity, while “5 TRUCK 2” would be non-matching. Participants were given 3 minutes to get as many correct as possible, and they received a small amount of money, paid in cash, for each correct response. The incentive ranged from 1 cent to 5 cents across the experiments. Cardiac activity was assessed during the whole study, using 3 ECG and 4 ICG electrodes. The signal from these electrodes was sampled at 1000 Hz and filtered offline using MindWare IMP 3.1 software. Change in PEP and RZ from baseline to task was evaluated using ANOVA and estimates of effect sizes (expressed at Hedges’s g). All 3 experiments showed a significant effect of incentives on PEP and RZ, but the effect size for RZ was higher in all 3 experiments, consistent with it being measured with relatively less error. A meta-analytic synthesis of the 3 experiments indicated that the effect size of RZ’s response to incentives (Hedges’s g = .391 [.250, .532]) was roughly 20% larger than PEP’s effect size (g = .326 [.187, .465]). RZ thus appears promising as an outcome for future research on sympathetic aspects of effort-related cardiac activity.

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Differences in Brain Morphometry as a Predictor of Smoking Cessation Treatment Success in Nicotine-dependent Smokers Mistretta, A. University of Georgia Faculty Sponsor: Lawrence Sweet Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S, with cigarette smoking causing one in five deaths per year. Prolonged smoking has been shown to triple age-specific mortality rates. Lifelong smokers, on average, died 10 years earlier than lifelong non-smokers in one longitudinal study. A majority of smoking cessation attempts end in failure, with only 10-30% of smokers achieving successful cessation. Although smokers have been shown to have reduced grey matter in certain brain regions compared to non-smokers, there is a lack of knowledge about how grey matter differences affect smokersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to stop smoking cigarettes. Greater knowledge about differences in brain morphometry within a smoking population could lead to increased efficacy in predicting smoking cessation treatment outcome and could provide useful information for developing treatment methods. In this study we aim to identify structural differences between the brains of participants who successfully quit smoking and those who failed to quit smoking. In this way, we will be able to determine possible neurobiological bases of addiction, specifically in the context of smoking cessation. As part of a larger neuroimaging study, anatomical images were acquired for 51 participants using a T1 fast spoiled gradient echo sequence.

Participants were healthy, nicotine dependent, adult smokers from the community. Following the MRI scan, participants completed a 9-week smoking cessation treatment program that incorporated cognitive behavioral therapy and nicotine replacement therapy. Throughout treatment, the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; smoking was self-reported and smoking behavior was recorded and verified by exhaled carbon monoxide.

Although data collection is complete, analyses have not yet been concluded (though they are in progress and will be completed by the time of the conference.) Using the program FreeSurfer, we will analyze the structural MRI data from these 51 subjects to determine volumes for six regions, selected a priori, based on regions previously identified to be implicated in nicotine dependence, habit learning, and drug reinforcement, including regions that were found to be significant in a previous voxelwise morphometric analysis of nicotine-dependent smokers. These regions include the thalamus, putamen, hippocampus, cuneus, prefrontal cortex, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. We will also investigate cortical thickness and surface area for the regions located in the cortex. We will then test volume, thickness, and surface area as predictors of treatment success using multiple regression. Treatment success will be defined based on 7-day point prevalence abstinence during the final week of treatment. Based on prior literature, we expect to find significant differences in the morphometric properties of the a priori ROIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s between successful and non-successful quitters. We hope that our findings will provide significant contributions to understanding the neurobiological basis of smoking cessation, as well as give insight into possible future treatment options.

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Forgiveness, Religiosity & Depression Moorehead, A. & Owen, H. Spring Hill College Faculty Sponsor: Chelsea Greer Research has found that the level of one’s religiosity has an effect on one’s likeliness to forgive. (Greer et al., 2014) The original study used a standardization sample of (N = 52) college-aged students who were given online workbooks aimed to lower the participant’s unforgiveness for within congregation offenses.

For the current study, we expect a sample size of N = 100 adults recruited from online Christian communities who will complete a workbook to aid forgiveness of a within-congregation offender. Data will be collected from January - March, 2016.We hypothesize multiple correlational relationships prior to the forgiveness intervention: 1) That people who report that they are struggling with their faith will also score high in unforgiveness and low in forgiveness; 2) People that score high in depression will score high in unforgiveness and low in forgiveness; and 3) People that score high in religious and spiritual struggles will also be high in depression. Post-intervention, we expect to see lower scores in unforgiveness, higher scores in forgiveness, and as the participants successfully forgive, drops in religious and spiritual struggles and depression. We expect these changes to align with treatment condition. We will be administering an online survey before and after treatment. The immediate treatment group will receive the second survey immediately after completing the workbook, and again two weeks later. The waitlist control group will complete the second survey two weeks after the first, complete the workbook, and then another survey immediately after the workbook. The online survey will contain the Religious & Spiritual Struggle Scale (Exline, Pargament, Grubbs, & Yali, 2014), the Personal Health Questionnaire-9 (Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001), the Emotional Forgiveness Scale and Decisional Forgiveness Scale (Worthington, Hook, Utsey, Williams, & Neil, 2007), and the TRIM-12 (McCullough et al., 1998). We will use bivariate correlations to test our hypotheses that those who score high in measures of depression will also score high on measures of unforgiveness and religious/spiritual struggles, and that scores of forgiveness will inversely relate to religious/spiritual struggles and depression. We will conduct multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) to measure the changes in unforgiveness, spiritual struggle, and depression over the three time periods and the expected interaction between forgiveness, religious/spiritual struggles, and depression over time. This research has several potentially interesting implications in areas of mental health, forgiveness, and religion. If our hypotheses are supported it would demonstrate an important relationship between these three factors. If forgiveness, religious/spiritual struggles, and depression relate it could have several important implications for how depression is assessed and perhaps highlight a new perspective on the use of forgiveness in treating depression.

Furthermore, such findings might also lead mental health workers to consider one’s religious struggles in treating depression.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Examining the Hardy Student: Physiological and Behavioral Responses to a Stressor Murray, J. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Angie MacKewn Suzanne C. Kobasa defined cognitive hardiness in 1982 as an appraisal process made up of three general dispositions: challenge, commitment, and control. Additional research has reviewed the effect individual hardiness can have on coping mechanisms and stress-related factors, such as health and sleep quality (Kobasa & Maddi, 1982). In a recent study by Allred and Smith, correlations between hardiness and various physiological factors were explored, resulting in a question that this research would like to explore; Do hardy persons exhibit increased physiological symptoms (i.e. blood pressures, pulse rates, etc.) than those with low hardiness, possibly due to more active coping mechanisms? Past literature addresses the negative impacts of low hardiness as well as how those with an increased cognitive hardiness can affect their own lives and bring about positive change, summarizing the real need for additional trait research. The purpose of the following study is to investigate the connections between hardiness and reactions to a difficult cognitive task, as measured by physiological as well as behavioral responses. Psychological well-being, hardiness, state anxiety levels, and positive/negative self-appraisals are being measured through the Stress Profile Inventory (SPI, Nowack, 1999) and the Revised State Anxiety Inventory. Upon completion of the survey, participants will have their blood pressure and pulse rate taken before and after a timed mirror-trace task. The participant traces a star while looking in a mirror so hand movements are backwards. When participants are finished with the mirror-trace task, they will complete a post Revised State Trait Anxiety Inventory. It is hypothesized that individuals low on cognitive hardiness will have a greater increase in self-reported anxiety after completing the mirror trace task compared to those high on cognitive hardiness. This will be tested by an independent samples t-test on a change in anxiety score, calculated by subtracting post anxiety scores by the pre anxiety scores.

Hardiness scores will be computed as high and low. Correlations will be performed between an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s well-being, hardiness, and positive and negative self-evaluations. It is hypothesized that those high on hardiness will also score higher on overall well-being and positive evaluations (and lower on negative evaluations). Changes in blood pressure and pulse rates will be compared by hardiness (high and low) to see which group has the greatest physiological changes.

Data collection and analysis is underway and being completed for an advanced research methods course.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Spatial Performance and Anxiety: A Gender Comparison Murray, J. & Stout, S. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Angie MacKewn Based on previous studies investigating sex differences in cognitive performance, the following study will investigate sexes and menstrual cycle differences that may occur in spatial performance. Past literature has established that there are differences between males and females with three dimensional mental rotation tasks, as opposed to two dimensional tasks (Collins & Kimura, 1997; MacKewn, 2009). Some studies suggest this could be because of hormones, specifically that elevated testosterone is related to enhanced spatial performance. It has also been suggested that situational testing anxiety may have an interactive effect on spatial performance differences. The present study was designed to further examine the relationship between estrogen, as measured by the participantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s menstrual cycle and spatial performance under normal conditions compared to stressful testing conditions. The aforementioned study scrutinized the relationship between three-dimensional spatial performance and sex, and found that menstruating females under time pressures performed better than midluteal females under the same pressures, but comparably to males, suggesting that hormones are not the only prevailing factor in the differences (MacKewn, 2009). One main difference between the groups was the levels of estrogen, or specifically, estradiol, circulating in the brain, relative to the testosterone levels. During menstruation, estrogen levels had dropped significantly, especially when compared to the females during the midluteal phase. Studies that measured hormones have shown that when estrogen levels are low, three dimensional spatial performance improved (Kimura, 2004; MacKewn, 2009). In the current study, participants completed a battery of anxiety sensitive tests under normal conditions or while under time and performance pressures, as well as various 3D mental rotation tasks. To test for sex differences, an equal number of males were recruited to complete the same instruments and randomly assigned to the same experimental conditions. If an interaction between estrogen and anxiety exists, performance will be higher for females who are menstruating in the stressor group, but not for those mid-cycle females in the same circumstances. It is hypothesized that males would outperform females on the three dimensional spatial tasks, as previously suggested in the literature. To test these hypotheses, two MANOVAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will be performed, with the two spatial test scores as the dependent variables and sex as the independent variable. A second hypothesis is that females in the stressor group who were menstruating would perform better than females who were menstruating in the control group as well as both groups of women (stressor group, control group) who were midluteal. To test this hypothesis, a 2x2 Factorial MANOVA will be performed on cycle stage (midluteal, menstruating) by group condition (stressor, control) on the 2 spatial test scores. A third hypothesis is that females who were menstruating will be comparable in spatial performance as males when under stress. A MANOVA will be performed on the two spatial test scores by sex/cycle combination (males, menstruating females, midluteal females) for those in the time/performance stressor group. Data collection is ongoing. This research is being completed for an independent research course.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

151

Hebrew and Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects of a Language Manipulation on Perception, Identity, and Preservation Nir, T. University of Central Florida Faculty Sponsor: Valerie Sims Language has become vulnerable to change, manipulation, and shift since the advents of the Internet, social networking technologies, and texting. Research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) has focused on the ways in which online text manipulations can affect language. However, most of the research has neglected to evaluate how CMC can affect languages other than English. The Internet now sees a profusion of users who use different languages to communicate online across the world. The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which the language of Hebrew is currently being manipulated online. Hebrew was chosen as the experimental language as it is one of the oldest living languages used today. Hebrew also has a deep and rich history including near extinction and successful revival. We are investigating a specific CMC manipulation of Hebrew called Fakatsa. This manipulation is primarily used by adolescent females on personal blogs to experiment with or express their overtly feminine identities.

Despite a normally negative connotation associated with Fakatsa, these teenaged girls have reclaimed the term in a positive manner. Fakatsa is distinctively characterized by manipulations to orthography, morphology, typography, and inclusions of lexical borrowings to represent juvenile or “cutesy” ways of speaking and writing. In this study, participants are asked to rate random snippets of text in either standard grammatical Hebrew or Fakatsa Hebrew. These snippets resemble average musings or statements stated by Fakatsa girls. The topics of these statements range from frivolous subjects, such as fashion or music, to serious subjects, such as the economy or politics. Participants will be asked to rate the supposed writer of each individual snippet on characteristics such as creativity, intellectuality, religiosity, political identity, and so on. They will also be asked to rate the comprehensibility of the text.

This study is currently ongoing. Once sufficient data is collected, a 2 × 2 between-subjects ANOVA will be used to compare participant ratings among the factors of Frivolous vs. Serious text and Standard Hebrew vs. Fakatsa Hebrew. It is hypothesized that participants over 30 will rate the Fakatsa writer negatively on all questions and will rate the frivolous statements’ writer as significantly more negative when compared to the standard Hebrew writer. It is also hypothesized that participants under 30 (but above 15 years old) will rate the Fakatsa writer either neutrally or positively on all questions regardless of the type of topic when compared to the standard Hebrew writer. The results of this study will help to increase our understanding of how the current changing world perceives and comprehends CMC, CMC’s manipulations on language, and how those manipulations affect language preservation. This research would also provide insight into how an ancient language may be succumbing to the effects of modern technology and the implications of these effects on newer or younger languages used online.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

152

Acceptance of Male Self-Disclosure in Romantic Relationships Okoro, G., Carley, E., Anderson, A., & Chunn, C. Samford University Faculty Sponsor: Jack W. Berry Self-disclosure, a communicative process through which individuals reveal their own thoughts, feelings, preferences or opinions to another, is considered crucial for the formation of intimate relationships.

Researchers have explored the role that self-disclosure plays in relationships with regards to gender and traditional gender roles. Most research on gender and self-disclosure has focused on the frequency with which males and females actually self-disclose. In a meta-analysis, Dindia and Allen (1992) found that women were more prone to self-disclosure than men, although the differences were small and moderated by other variables. Research has also examined the influence of traditional gender roles on the likelihood of self-disclosure, but this literature presents mixed results (see Hill & Stull, 1987, for a review). In the present study, we were interested in gender differences and gender-role differences in attitudes toward male self-disclosure in romantic relationships. We developed the Acceptance of Masculine SelfDisclosure Scale for Romantic Relationships (AMSD-RR), reflecting attitudes toward male self-disclosure of a variety of emotions, memories, and aspirations. Examples of items are “It is acceptable for a man to disclose memories of past traumatic events to his significant other,” “It is acceptable for a man to express anxiety over pending medical results to his significant other,” “It is acceptable for a man to want to share his own hobbies or interests with his significant other,” and “It is acceptable for a man to express to his significant other that he wants for them to start a family.” Each item is rated on a 4-point scale from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree.” Higher scores reflect greater acceptance of male self-disclosure; items are averaged to obtain a total score. Participants were 39 undergraduates (5 male, 34 female) at a private university in the southeastern United States. The average age was 20.4 years (range, 19-24).

Most students were European-American (82.1%), heterosexual (97.4%), and Christian (56.4%). In addition to completing the initial 40 items of the AMSD-RR, participants completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974) and the 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI; John & Srivastava, 1999). We hypothesize that (1) female respondents would be more receptive than men to male self-disclosure; (2) participants would be more receptive to positive self-disclosure than to negative self-disclosure from men; (3) among the Big Five personality traits, agreeableness will be the most highly correlated with acceptance of male self-disclosure; and (4) the feminine traits scale of the BSRI would correlate positively with acceptance of male disclosure, while masculine traits would correlate negatively. After removing two items with low corrected item-total correlations, the final 38-item AMSD-RR scale had a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .93. As hypothesized (and despite the low number of male participants), women were significantly more accepting of masculine self-disclosure than men, t(37) = 3.11, p < .01. To test whether male disclosure of negative emotions/vulnerability was less acceptable than disclosure of positive experiences, averages of items reflecting each of these types of disclosure were compared using a paired-samples t-test. As hypothesized, participants were significantly more accepting of positive than negative disclosures, t(37) = 3.03, p < .01. Finally, acceptance of male disclosure was significantly correlated with agreeableness, r(35) = .42, p<.01, and with feminine sex-roles, r(36) = .39, p<.05; there was not a significant correlation with masculine sex-roles. These results suggest that the AMSD-RR is a promising measure for use in research on self-disclosure, but the results must be replicated in larger, more diverse samples; we also encourage the development of a corresponding measure of attitudes toward female self-disclosure.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

153

Physical and Emotional Impact of Child Abuse in Young Adults Page, J. Southern Adventist University Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Williams According to the Tennyson Center for Children, child abuse is reported approximately every ten seconds (Tennyson Center for Children, 2014). These children may grow up to be adults who will carry the negative impacts of child abuse into their adulthood with the likelihood of the cycle repeating itself (Nikulina & Widom 2013). More needs to be understood on how young adults are impacted by child abuse. Little is known about child abuse and its impact on college students, particularly those who attend Seventh-day Adventist institutions. The purpose of this study was to describe college students’ knowledge of child abuse and their experience with physical and emotional problems. A sample of convenience consisting of 51 college students attending a private university in southeast Tennessee (30 female and 21 male) were the participants in this study. All participants were treated in accordance to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 2010).

The instrument used to collect data was a combination of two online instruments; The Way I Feel, How Healthy Are You, and the Importance of Childhood Experiences in Young Adult Life survey (ICEYAL).

This consisted of 42 questions that measured their physical health, emotional health, and their child abuse status. Demographic informants such as gender, ethnicity, and age were self-reported by each participant in the survey. The Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .17 to .76. There were one hypothesis and six research questions that guided this study: gender differences in the perception of child abuse among college students, how many college students reported being survivors of child abuse, what college students know about child abuse, how child abuse impacts the survivor’s academic performance and aspirations, how child abuse impacts the survivor’s physical health, how child abuse impacts the survivor’s emotional health, and if there were any ethnic differences in the knowledge of child abuse.

Although women had a slightly higher overall knowledge of child abuse (M = 6.2, SD = 1.3) than men (M = 6.0, SD = 1.7) it was not statistically significant p=.695. Out of fifty-one participants for this study 31% participants reported to be survivors of child abuse and 29 participants reported to not have had experienced any form of abuse as a child. Survivors of child abuse have a slightly higher GPA than those who are not abused with M = 3.41 and SD = .51. Those who did not encounter abuse as a child had virtually about the same GPA with M = 3.40 and SD = .37. Results showed that difference was not statistically significant [ p=.95]. Survivors of child abuse were slightly lower scores in physical health than those who were not abused with M = 57.54 and SD = 7.10 and for those not abused with M = 59.83 and SD = 6.64. Results showed that difference was not statistically significant [t(-1.18), p=.24]. Survivors of child abuse had slightly lower scores in emotional health than those who were not abused with M = 3.1 and SD= 1.85 and for those not abused with M = 3.41 and SD = 2.11. Results showed that the slight difference was not statistically significant [t(-.57), p =.57 ]. College students have little knowledge of child abuse where M= 6.1 and SD = 1.47. Participants only had on average 60% of the questions answered correctly. Results showed that it was not statistically significant [ p=.69].There are almost no ethnic differences in the knowledge of child abuse. Blacks/ African Americans had a very small knowledge advantage over their counterparts (M = 6.5 and SD = 2.4). Hispanics scored the least (M =5.5 and SD = 1.5). Limitations of the study included a larger sample size, equal amount of men and women participants, and a low alpha on the instrument. Agenda for future research includes a closer examining in the definition of child abuse, the effects of child abuse, and how child abuse affects those who are not as resilient.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

154

Personality Correlates of Birth Weight and Family Birth Order Patron, S. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes, Anthony Bourgeois, Shane Hudson There is a popular perception that extremes in initial birth weight play a large role in later psychological adjustment.

The purpose of this research was to quantify the relationship between initial birth weight and selected personality variables. In an attempt to better understand these relationships, four scales were administered to a sample of undergraduate students, including the Oxford Happiness Scale, the NEO-PI Big Five Personality Scale, and the Dispositional Resilience (Hardiness) Scale. The Oxford Happiness Scale measures happiness and overall satisfaction with oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life (Hills & Argyle, 2002). The NEO-PI measures openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism/emotional stability, and was used to assess the personality of the subjects (Costa & McCrae, 1985). Lastly, the Dispositional Resilience (Hardiness) Scale was used as a measure of how mentally resilient and tough subjects are when dealing with stress (Bartone, Ursano, Wright, & Ingraham, 1989). Participants were 192 undergraduate students in an abnormal psychology class, as well as a sport psychology class at Texas A&M University. Participants received a survey booklet, consisting of a short coversheet for demographic purposes, and four personality surveys including: the Oxford Happiness Scale (29 items), NEO-PI Big Five (60 items), and the Dispositional Resilience (Hardiness) Scale (45 items). Participants were 192 undergraduate students (53 males, 139 females) in two upper level undergraduate psychology courses at Texas A&M University. Participants responded to the NEO-PI Big-Five personality inventory (B-F), the Oxford Happiness scale (Happy) and the Dispositional Resilience scale (Hardiness). Based upon reported birth weight estimates, the participants were assigned to one of four weight estimate groups: Group 1, less than 3 lbs.; Group 2, 3 lbs. 1 oz. to 5 lbs. 7 oz.; Group 3, 5 lbs. 8 oz. to 8 lbs. 12 oz. and Group 4, 8 lbs. 13 oz. and above. SAS procedures were employed in order to conduct MANOVAs comparing birth weight estimates groups on the personality measures. A significant effect was found for the B-F Conscientiousness scale (F (3,182) =2.58, p<0.05) with the low birth weight Group 2 (M 41.82 SE 1.20) scoring significantly (p<0.006) lower than the middle birth weight Group 3 (M 45.44 SE 0.54). A significant effect was also observed for the Hardiness Commitment measure (F (3,182) =2.81, p<0.04) with the low weight estimate Group 2 (M 45.93 SE 0.80) scoring significantly lower than the middle weight Group 3 (M 47.70 SE 0.36) and the high weight estimate Group 4 (M 49.47 SE 0.97). A second MANOVA was employed in order to compare the birth weight groups and whether or not the participant has a sibling (arranged in a weight group by sibling factorial design). The Openness variable proved significant (F (3,178) = 4.24, p<0.006). The very low birth weight estimate Group 1 (M 47.50 SE 0.97) were significantly (p<0.007) higher on openness than group 2 (M 35.96 SE 1.70). Group 2 scored significantly p<0.005) lower than group 3 (M 41.18 SE 0.73). The Happy variable also proved significant (F (3,178) = 2.70, p<0.05). The low birth weight estimate Group 2 (M 109.52 SE 3.99) were significantly (p<0.007) lower on happiness than Group 3 (M 121.41 SE 1.72). The proceeding results concerning birth order effects might be enhanced by incorporating the influence of birth order on personality. Additionally, expanding the sample of very low birth weight and very high birth weight participants should prove worthwhile.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

155

Social Development of Hearing Children with Hard of Hearing Parents Phillips, S. University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Sponsor: Hans Stadthagen & Michael Mong Research has shown that deaf children and adolescents exhibit a reduced mastery in many areas of social and emotional competence (Calderon & Greenberg, 2003). These underdeveloped social skills are likely to follow the hard-of-hearing individuals into adulthood. There is also evidence that parental social skills influence the sociability of children, and that the relationships between parents and their children influence the levels of social development in the child as they look to their parents to learn social behaviors (Okumura & Usui, 2010; Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2002). There is therefore a strong possibility that children of hard-of-hearing parents may be acquiring at least part of their social skills from a less-than-ideal model and thus show delays or deficiencies when compared with their peers. Although there has been plenty of research on the social skills of deaf children (for a review, see Powers, Gregory, & Thoutenhoofd, 2006), there is surprisingly little research on hearing children of hard-of-hearing parents.

Depending on the availability of services in particular school districts, hard-of-hearing children may have access to extra resources to improve their social development (Calderon & Greenberg, 2003). The hearing children of hard-of-hearing parents are not screened as a group, and usually don’t have access to focused preventive interventions motivated by their parent’s disability. Determining whether having a hard-of-hearing parent is a risk factor for children in terms of delays or deficiencies in the development of their social skills may allow for the allocation of resources for early preventive measures. The implementation of such programs, if they are indeed necessary, could have vast effects in terms of the academic, personal and professional development of the target population. In this study we seek to determine whether hearing children of hard-of-hearing parents show significant differences in terms of social skills when compared with the norm. In order to answer this question, we will measure the social skills of a sample of adolescents (age: 13-18) with normal hearing and who are being raised in a twoparent home where one of the parents has a hearing deficit ranging from severe to profound (at least 71dB; Clark, 1981). The parents of the teenagers in the sample will complete the Social Skills section of the Parent form of the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS; Gresham & Elliott, 2008). This questionnaire includes subsections addressing different aspects of social development, namely: communication, cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, engagement, and self-control. It consists of 50 items in which parents rate the frequency of occurrence of certain behaviors in their child. Ratings are given on a four-point Likert scale ranging from "Never" to "Always". The test provides benchmarks for “at risk” and “clinically significant problems”. Preliminary results based on a sub-sample of 17 participants indicate that adolescent children with one hard-of-hearing parent score within the normal range of the Social Skills section of the SSIS, but their scores are on average .75 standard deviations lower than the norm. The indicators with the widest differences between our sample and the norm were, in descending order: Assertion, Self-Control, and Engagement. We expect to gain a clearer picture of this issue as we are able to increase our sample. Our preliminary results already indicate a possible disadvantage (although within the normal range) in certain aspects of social development for hearing children of hardof-hearing adults when compared with children of hearing parents. The results of this study will hopefully help develop strategies for bolstering the development of those specific areas for hearing children of hard-of-hearing adults.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

156

Studying the Effects of Survival Scenarios on Narcissism Levels Pierce-Tomlin, T. Piedmont College Faculty Sponsor: Megan Hoffman What causes people to become more selfish? This study’s authors wondered if there was a connection between selfishness and stress. The purpose of this study was to determine if individuals become more narcissistic after having faced a self-preservation scenario, with the hypothesis that narcissism scores would raise after the scenario. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: playing a video game involving a social survival scenario (Bioshock Infinite) or a video game depicting a violent survival scenario (Call of Duty Black Ops 2). Prior to immersion in the survival scenario, baseline measurements were obtained from each participant. These included physiological measurements (blood pressure and pulse rate) and the presence of narcissistic personality traits, as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and Short Dark Triad (SDT). After 30 minutes of activity, physiological measurements and the NPI and SDT were collected. There was no difference between baseline narcissism values (M = 12.31) and post-survival scenario levels (M = 12.69) when measured using the NPI, t(35)= - 0.97, p = 034. There was also no difference in post-scenario NPI scores for the social scenario (M = 12.71) and violent scenario (M = 12.68), indicating the NPI scores were essentially the same, regardless of which scenario the participant completed, t(34) = 0.009, p = 0.99. The SDT scores were not significantly different at baseline and post-scenario, t(35)= -0.80, p = 0.43. There was no difference between scenarios, with participants in the social scenario (M = 35.71) and violent scenario (M =35.53) scoring the same on post-scenario SDT scores, t(34)= -0.09, p = 0.92. When comparing the baseline and post-survival systolic measurements, the participants did show significantly lower systolic blood pressure levels after playing the survival scenario, t(31)= 2.45, p = .02. The results indicate that survival scenario completion did not affect participants’ narcissism levels. However, contrary to popular belief, video games appeared to lower systolic blood pressure levels in social contexts. However, because there was not a control group for comparison, it is also possible that participants’ apparent blood pressure reduction was due to normal fluctuations as a result of acclimating to the experimental environment. Further research is needed to explore this question.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

157

Social Media Trends and a Sense of Belonging Pinzon, C. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Antonio Laverghetta A new wave of literature has risen as social media use increases among the general population. As technology has advanced tremendously we have been able now more than ever to communicate with one another on a global scale instantly at our finger tips. In 2004 Facebook emerged into the light, but it was not until 2009 that it surpassed Myspace as the most widely used social networking site (SNS) (Patchin & Hinduja, 2010). Once this occurred, Facebook has created the new standard in social networking for all social networking sites to soon to come, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. This is also means there is a whole new trend in social networking communication and the psychological implications it leaves on its users over time. Since Countless amount of research has primarily targeted Facebook as their “go-to” research sample (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, & Eckles, 2014; Özgüven & Mucan, 2013). New studies have risen studying as people have begun to prefer new methods to communicate (Lee, Lee, Moon, & Sung, 2015). Instagram allows users to follow one another and keep up to date in the form of profile photo sharing. Snapchat is also a trending new SNS which combines the form of posting statuses and visual communication (photo/video) into a 10 second time frame per post. While a user is allowed to post as many photos or videos as they would like, they only last for a 24-hour period from the time it was posted. Similar to how SNS have been trending, research has as well, studying how people allow themselves to be perceived by their online profile (Patchin & Hinduja, 2010; Smith & Sanderson, 2015).

User’s online-self versus their real-self has begun to divide further apart for numerous reasons from forming their ideal self to business related reasons (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). User’s social comparison has continued to be studied since Myspace was the most popular site, however, now that people nowadays now have multiple accounts it seems social comparison has risen as well as a sense of belonging. Using previous literature and applying it to this current study, it is hypothesized that social networking sites such as Snapchat and Instagram are primarily more associated with social comparison and a lower sense of belonging seeing the evidence is presented daily and visually. While Facebook, will have a lower sense of social comparison and sense of belonging, because it has been around for so long most users have large number of previous posts, photos, and friends. While the goal for the study is at least 100 participants. The expectation after results are analyzed, is to see the impact different social networks have on its users and the trends we may be able to recognize. As well as encouraging further additional research in terms of social media. Directions for future research and limitations will be later discussed as data is anlayzed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

158

Language Dysfluencies and the Aging Cognitive Phenotype of Mothers with the Fragile X Premutation Porter, A. University of South Carolina Faculty Sponsor: Jane Roberts Background: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) results from a mutation in the FMR1 gene and is marked by moderate to severe intellectual impairments, including deficiencies in behavioral, social, and cognitive development. Approximately 1 per 151 females has the fragile X premutation, or, are “carriers” of FXS. Mothers of children with FXS who themselves have the premutation have higher levels of stress, depression, and difficulties with pragmatic language use. Previous research (i.e., Sterling, Mailick, Greenberg, Warren, & Brady, 2013) has indicated that these language dysfluencies are positively correlated with age and may also be related to executive functioning deficits, specifically with disinhibition.

However, no study has yet examined a direct association between language dysfluencies and executive dysfunction in mothers with the fragile X premutation. Objective: To provide novel insight into cognitive aspects of the female fragile X premutation phenotype by examining disinhibition as a potential mechanism for language dysfluencies. This study will expand on previous research of fragile X premutation mothers’ language by incorporating a cognitive measure that can provide quantitative analysis of the relationship between language and cognitive function. Methods: Participants include 25 mothers with the fragile X premutation and a comparison group of 25 mothers of children with ASD, for whom data collection was completed as part of ongoing studies (5R01HD024356-2, PI: Abbeduto; 1R01MH090194-01A1, PI: Roberts; F32DC013934; PI: Klusek). The ages of the mothers range from the late 20s to late 60s. Each mother was recorded as she gave a Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS; Magana et al., 1986) in which she was asked to talk about her child without any interruptions or questions from the examiner. Each sample was transcribed using ELAN transcription software. The transcripts will be coded with a modified coding system that incorporates elements from several coding systems utilized in previous research of language dysfluencies (Sterling et al., 2012; Dollaghan & Campbell, 1992), which was created and piloted in consultation with Dr. Jessica Klusek, a post-doctoral fellow who is a speechlanguage-pathologist. Four groups of dysfluencies will be coded. Total number of each type of dysfluency will be calculated and, following the methods of the Sterling study, a total dysfluency variable will be calculated by summing four specific, individual variables (revisions, repetitions, orphans, and pauses).

Disinhibition will be assessed by the Hayling and Brixton Tests, which provides a standard score representing the inhibitory ability (Burgess & Shallice, 1997). General linear models will be used to test disinhibition deficits as a predictor of language dysfluencies across the group. A second model will test age and its interaction with group as predictors of dysfluencies. Possible Implications: This research could be significant in expanding the understood phenotype of females with the fragile X premutation.

Currently, cognitive impairments are not a well-researched feature of the fragile X premutation. If these impairments do exist, it is highly important that future research pursues this element of the fragile X premutation phenotype. Furthermore, these results could have clinical interventions in informing therapies and treatments for mothers with the fragile X premutation and their full mutation children.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

159

The Relationship between Stress and the Usage of Drugs and Alcohol Price, C. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Stress is an inevitable part of life and how people choose to cope with stress can say a lot about them.

The relationship between stress and the use of drugs and alcohol has been examined in the literature.

Some studies have found a relationship between stress and the use of drugs and alcohol while others have found no relationship (Enoch, 2011). Past research has shown that past-year stressors were related to current drinking, binge drinking, and alcohol use disorder behaviors and that the number of life stressors is associated the use and abuse of alcohol (Keyes, Hatzenbuehler, Grant, & Hasin, 2012).

Additionally, Hart and Fazaa (2004) found that drinking can create new life stress and make already existing life stressors worse. Also, alcohol abuse is more common in men than women and men may face more consequences from their (Hart & Fazaa). The purpose of the current study was to examine drug and alcohol use as compared to chronic stressors and past/childhood stressors. It was predicted that chronic stressors would have a stronger relationship to drug and alcohol use than past stressors.

Participants were recruited using social media and through emails sent to professors. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics which included a demographic questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, 1983), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Pennebaker & Susman, 1988), the BRIEF Cope (Carver, 1997), the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (Saunders & Aasland, 1987), and the Subjective Experience Questionnaire for drugs (Miller & Childress, 2013). The BRIEF Cope scale measures 14 ways that individuals may cope with stress. Participants included 90 females, 24 males, and one that did not answer. The mean age of the sample was 27.78 (SD = 10.56). Of the sample, 93.9% had drank alcohol before, 40.9% had used drugs before, and 47% considered themselves to be affected by chronic stressors. Correlations were calculated on all of the scales. There was a significant negative correlation between drug use and alcohol use (r = -.49, p < .01). Thus, higher alcohol use was related to lower drug use. There was no significant correlations between childhood trauma and drug or alcohol use.

There were also no significant correlations between perceived stress and drug or alcohol use. Gender differences were also analyzed. The only significant gender differences were found within whether males or females consider themselves to experience chronic stress more, F(1, 112) = 6.33, p <.05). Males scored higher (M = 1.75, SD = .44) than females (M = 1.47, SD = .50) on experiencing chronic stress.

There were no other significant gender differences however there was a small sample of males in the study. Additional research should be conducted to determine if childhood/past stressors or chronic stressors are significantly related to drug and alcohol usage. Perhaps, a different measure of chronic and past stressors could be used in future studies. Directions for future research and limitations will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Behavioral Economics as a Predictor of Smoking Cessation Treatment Outcome Rapoport, M., Owens, M., & MacKillop, J. University of Georgia Faculty Sponsor: Lawrence Sweet Behavioral economics is a hybrid of operant psychology and microeconomics that uses demand curves to model drug consumption across various prices, often delineating an inverse relationship between consumption and cost. Behavioral economics attempts to provide a quantitative and objective approach to evaluating the reinforcing value of drug use in addiction research. Behavioral economic models of substance dependence consider substance dependence to be a state in which the relative reinforcing value of the substance is perceived to be higher than other reinforcers available in the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment, despite the consequences. Behavioral economic studies investigating relative reinforcing value (RRV) represents an attempt to quantify the amount an individual values a drug relative to other reinforcers using behavioral paradigms. This approach has been successfully used to characterize the progression of drug use and the abuse potential of a drug. The cigarette purchase task (CPT) is designed to assess the RRV of nicotine in smokers using the economic concept of demand as a way to quantify RRV in monetary units. From this, demand curves that model how variability in price influences cigarette purchase patterns can be derived. In the present study, we examined the following four indices of demand and their relationship to smoking cessation treatment outcome in heavy smokers after nine weeks of nicotine replacement therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy: (a) breakpoint (i.e., the first price at which consumption is zero), (b) intensity of demand (i.e., consumption at no cost), (c) elasticity of demand (i.e., sensitivity of cigarette consumption to increases in cost), and (d) Omax (maximum expenditure for cigarettes). In this version of the CPT, participants were asked to report how many cigarettes they would hypothetically purchase across 23 price points, ranging from $0-$10 per cigarette.

We expected that Omax and breakpoint would be most prominently related to treatment outcomes because these indices are the clearest indicators of how much an individual values cigarettes relative to competing monetary reinforcers, and that all of the indices would be significantly related to treatment outcomes. The results showed that intensity was significantly predictive of days to relapse, number of therapy sessions attended, and number of cigarettes smoked during last week of treatment even when income and baseline cigarettes per day were controlled for. The results suggest an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s valuation of cigarettes independent of competing reinforcers seems to be predictive of smoking cessation treatment outcome.

This is somewhat inconsistent with prior literature that has found Omax and breakpoint on the alcohol purchase task to be the most predictive indices of alcohol treatment outcomes. Reasons for this may include differences in the role of relative reinforcing value of alcohol and nicotine addiction and differences in the populations sampled in these two studies.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

161

How Does Thinking About Religion (And Other Factors) Influence the Way People Talk About Death?

Richard, D. & Garber, K. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Faculty Sponsor: Brooke O. Breaux Death is an inevitable fate for human beings; however, we typically speak of death using metaphor or indirect language. While speaking indirectly about death is a widely observed phenomenon, there have been few empirical studies that address the question of exactly how people naturally speak about death.

In a previous study, we explored the language that a college student sample would use to speak about death by asking them to describe the way that a family member would say that someone has died without using the word died. In the present study, we were interested in the priming effects that would occur if the demographics were presented prior to the task. Priming is a psychological phenomenon in which preexposure to stimuli can influence the way participants think about the experimental stimuli. Ratcliff and McKoon (1988) suggest a theory in which priming has an effect on the retrieval of memory associated with the primed stimuli. We wanted to take this theory even further by testing whether completing the demographics questionnaire had any effect on the language that people would use when describing death. In order to do this, participants were given the demographics questionnaire that contained questions of religious preference and the importance of that religion as well as how many deaths they have experienced as compared to other college students. Then, participants were asked to describe how they or a family member would say that someone has died without actually using the word died. The sample consisted of 41 introductory psychology students who were mostly college aged (M = 18.76, SD = 1.53), Caucasian (76%), females (71%) born in Louisiana (98%). Additionally, most of the sample identified as Christian (78%), sixty-one percent of whom identified as Roman Catholic. Overall, participants indicated that their religion was more than â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moderately Importantâ&#x20AC;? (M = 4.00, SD = 2.47) to them and that they had experienced an average or fewer than average number of deaths in their lifetime (M = 2.51, SD = 1.03). Each participant, on average, generated approximately four metaphors (M = 3.95, SD = 1.66), with a total of 158 metaphors generated across all 41 participants.

We then analyzed the patterns of responses based on eight categories that were used in our previous study. The most prevalent pattern was referring to death as a continuation (e.g., remembered forever in our hearts; 56%). Twenty-three percent of the metaphors generated included negative affect (e.g., lost their life), with death comparison significantly predicting how many negative affect metaphors the participant generated (R2 = .11, F(1, 39) = 4.67, p = .037). Referring to the deceased at high elevation (e.g., watching over us) and explicitly mentioning religion (e.g., is with God) were not prevalent patterns (14% and 16%, respectively), but the importance of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s religion significantly predicted the number of metaphors generated in each category (R2 = .12, F(1, 39) = 5.26, p = .027; R2 = .12, F(1, 39) = 5.39, p = .026, respectively).

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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College Female Romantic Preferences for “Alpha” and “Beta” Male Traits Rogers, M., Wells, E., Dean, D., & Wilson, C. Samford University Faculty Sponsor: Jack W. Berry In the popular media, there is much discussion of whether heterosexual females have a preference for “bad boys” versus “nice guys” as romantic partners (terms such as “cads” versus “dads,” or “alpha male” versus “beta male” are also used). Research on this question has yielded mixed results. Gangestad and Simpson (2000), reasoning from an evolutionary perspective, proposed that females make trade-offs in mate choice between genetic fitness indicators (physical attractiveness, and traits such as boldness and confidence) and good investment indicators (resource acquisition potential, and traits such as loyalty, warmth, and empathy). Research suggests that females might prefer genetic fitness indicators in shortterm relationships, but prefer investment indicators in long-term relationships. Indeed, in the popular media, a common complaint of young “nice guy” males is that females often relegate them to the “friend zone” of non-romantic relationships, while directing their short-term romantic interests to caddish “alphas.”

In the present study, we developed the Alpha-Beta Male Traits Scale to measure female preferences for either “alpha” or “beta” characteristics in a male when considering romantic partners. Participants were 44 heterosexual female undergraduate students at private university. Participant ages ranged from 19 to 22 years (M= 20.1). Most participants were European-American (86.4%); other participants identified as African-American (6.8%), Asian-American (4.5%), and Latina (2.3%). Participants completed an initial pool of 40 items reflecting either “alpha” or “beta” characteristics (classification of characteristics was made by 16 student raters; agreement was over 90% for each item). For each item, participants were instructed to decide if that characteristic would lead them to view that person as more likely to be in the “friend zone” (friendship-only relationship) or to have a romantic interest in him. They utilized a 5-point rating scale from 1 (definite friend zone) to 5 (definite romantic interest), with a neutral/indifferent midpoint. Example “alpha” items are “A guy who is confident with women,” “A guy who tends to be the center of attention in a social gathering,” and “A guy who enjoys taking risks.” Example “beta” items are “A guy who will always drop what he is doing to listen to your feelings,” “A guy who doesn’t mind helping you clean the house,” “A guy who plans ahead for his goals in life,” “A guy who remembers the small details about you (like your favorite flower).” Item responses were averaged to form the subscales. After eliminating items with low corrected item-total correlations, the final Alpha Traits subscale had 16 items (Cronbach’s alpha = .77). The final Beta Traits subscale had 15 items (Cronbach’s alpha = .70). The Alpha and Beta subscales had a moderate positive correlation of r(42) = .32, p<.05. A paired-samples ttest was used to compare ratings on the subscales; there was a statistically significant tendency for participants to prefer alpha traits (M=3.83, SD=0.37) to beta traits (M=3.50, SD=0.37) for romantic interest, t(42) = 4.90, p<.001. Participants also completed a 44-item Big Five personality inventory and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Results suggested that females who view themselves as having masculine traits are more attracted to alpha characteristics in a romantic partner, r(40)=.45, p<.01. Extraversion was also significantly positively correlated with alpha traits, r(40)=.46, p<.01. The results of this study support the view that female college students have a slight preference for “alpha” traits (good gene indicators).

This study should be replicated in a larger, more diverse sample. It would be particularly interesting to use the new Alpha-Beta Male Traits Scale to examine romantic preferences across the lifespan.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Effects of Low Intensity Exercise on Physiological Arousal and Cognition Russell, E. Maryville College Faculty Sponsor: Lori Schmeid A growing body of research supports the link between physical activity and mental health. In a study of college undergraduates, regular exercise reduced feelings of stress, and was positively associated with perceived health, healthy habits, and self-esteem (Hudd et al., 2000). Moreover, results of a metaanalysis study examining 79 previous studies showed that acute exercise enhances cognitive performance on a number of tasks (Chang, Labban, Gapin, & Etnier, 2012). More specifically, researchers found that scores on cognitive tasks taken immediately after exercise correlate with low intensity activities, while scores on cognitive tasks taken a short time after exercise correlate with high intensity activities. The current study examined the effects that a simple, low intensity walk has on college students’ physiological stress response, perceived stress response, and cognitive performance on a low level attentional task. The physiological measures of stress included heart rate and heart rate variability measured by portable heart rate monitors (EmWave2, 2011). Perceived stress was measured by having participants complete the widely-used Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). In order to measure cognitive performance, participants completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), adapted from Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, and Yiend (1997), which is a low level task that measures sustained attention capacity via reaction time. All participants began the experiment in a closed laboratory classroom. Resting heart rates were gathered from each of the participants. Participants then viewed a video entitled ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen’ which depicts scenes of work-related accidents in a wood shop. The video has been used in previous studies, such as Lazarus, Opton, Nomikos, and Rankin (1965), to induce stress. After exposure to the video, participants then took the PSS and the SART, and a second heart rate measure was recorded. Following the pre-tasks, participants then walked for 20 minutes in accordance with one of the three experimental conditions: indoor walk on a treadmill, a campus walk, or a nature walk in a campus forest. Once participants had completed the walk, they returned to the room and again completed the PSS and the SART, and one last heart measure was gathered. Results from a within-subjects ANOVA found no differences in PSS scores from pre-walk to post-walk. However, the results did show that the exercise influenced both arousal states and cognitive performance. More specifically, participants demonstrated differences in heart rate, heart rate variability, and reaction times from pre-walk to post-walk. Participants’ heart rate variability increased from pre-walk (M=42.6, SD=14.3) to post-walk (M=52.6, SD=20.0), p=.005.

Participants’ heart rates also increased from pre-walk (M=73.0, SD=10.9) to post-walk (M=79.0, SD=14.5), p<.001. These two physiological measures suggest that college students’ arousal level increased after low intensity activity. Participants also showed faster reaction time in the SART task from pre-walk (M=351.7, SD=67.2) to post-walk (M=324.0, SD=65.8), p=.004. Consistent with previous work, low intensity exercise appears to increase cognitive performance; in this case the improvement was found in a simple, low-level attention task. A growing body of research supports the positive effects of exercise for patients with Mild Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) (Tanigawa et al., 2014; Tortosa-Martínez et al., 2015). Exploring the effects that low intensity activities have on cognitive function may provide patients who are afflicted with cognitive impairments a means to slow the progression of cognitive decline. Moreover, low intensity cognitive tasks that are sensitive to minute cognitive changes, such as the modified SART used in the current study, may provide doctors and physicians a more effective method of tracking cognitive decline in AD and MCI patients.

Keywords: exercise, activity, cognition, attention, stress, arousal, heart rate

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

164

Sex Differences and Ethnocultural Empathy Russell, I., Sayers, B., & Wilcox, W. The University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Susan Buckelew Individuals with a high level of Ethnocultural Empathy can relate to the feelings of individuals with a different race or cultural background as compared to someone with a low level of Ethnocultural Empathy.

Le, Lai, & Wallen (2009) studied Ethnocultural Empathy among 338 ethnic minorities and immigrant adolescents. They found young males reported less ethnocultural empathy than females. We studied male and female differences in Ethnocultural Empathy among college students. We predicted that female college students would report more ethnocultural empathy than males. Students from 5 Social Work 220 classes, all of which are cultural diversity classes, participated in this study. These classes contained a total of 96 students, 75 females and 21 males. Although pre and post data is being collected to determine differences before and after the cultural diversity classes, the current study is based on pretest data, alone. After students signed the University IRB committee approved informed consent form, students completed the following questionnaires: A “Big Five” Personality Trait (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) measure and the (Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (Empathetic Awareness, Empathetic Feeling and Expression, Empathetic Perspective Taking, and Acceptance of Cultural Differences subscales) (Wang, et al., 2003). Example items from the Ethnocultural Empathy Scale include: “I can see how other racial or ethnic groups are systematically oppressed in our society” and “I get disturbed when other people experience misfortune due to their racial or ethnic backgrounds”. Independent t-tests revealed significant between group (males vs. females) differences on the following sub-scales: Empathetic Awareness t(93) = -2.176, p = .032, Empathetic feeling and expression t(94) = -3.071, p = .003, and Total Ethnocultural Empathy score t(93) = -2.239, p = .028. The other two subscales, Empathic Perspective Taking t(94) = -.166, p = .868 and Acceptance of Cultural Differences t(94) = -.975, p = .332, were not found to be significantly different. Unlike the Ethnocultural Empathy scale, there were no significant differences between males and females on the “Big Five” measure: Extroversion t(93) = -1.201, p = .233, Agreeableness t(93) = -1.62, p = .11, Conscientiousness t(93) = -.26, p = .80, Neuroticism t(92) = -1.21, p = .23, and Openness t(93) = -.16, p = .87. Mean scores for the males were: (Empathetic Awareness (M = 4.10, SD = 1.08), Empathetic Feeling and Expression (M = 3.83, SD = .83), Total Ethnocultural Empathy score (M = 120.19, SD = 22.39)). Mean scores for females were: (Empathetic Awareness (M = 4.60, SD = .91), Empathetic Feeling and Expression (M = 4.44, SD = .80), and Total Ethnocultural Empathy score (M = 132.53, SD = 22.26)). Sex differences were found in ethnocultural empathy, but not personality measures. It is possible that these attitudes may impact behavior towards persons of other cultures. More specifically, people with low ethnocultural empathy could discriminate against people of other culture. Future studies may want to examine if lack of empathy impacts discriminatory behavior and if classes such as the cultural diversity class changes attitudes.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

165

Associations between Executive Functioning and Social Adjustment in Urban School Children Participating in a Mindful Yoga Practice Sacco, V. & Wait, S. University of New Orleans Faculty Sponsor: Robert Laird The proposed research will examine the socioemotional adjustment of children in a low-income, urban elementary school who participate in a mindfulness yoga practice. Mindfulness, defined as the “awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p. 145), has been associated with many social and emotional benefits for children such as improved executive functioning (EF) skills, emotion regulation (ER), attention, and decreased aggression (Flook, 2015; Meiklejohn et al., 2012; Greenberg et al., 2003). While the small body of research is promising, the impact of mindfulness programs implemented in schools is limited. The approach used for this study is based from Davidson and Colleagues’ (2012) organizational framework that describes the mechanism through which consistent engagement in contemplative practices (e.g., yoga) may foster mindfulness over repeated practice and produces structural and functional changes in the brain that will in turn, lead to changes in psychological functions, allowing for changes in observed behaviors. Participants will be recruited from one low-income charter school. All students (approximately 300 1st-6th graders, ages 6-12) will be eligible for participation and will be taught yoga two to three times a week for an entire semester by a certified yoga instructor.

Data collection will consist of questionnaires that measure students’ mindfulness (Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure; CAMM; Greco, Baer, & Smith, 2011), emotion dysregulation (Emotional/Affective Dysregulation subscale within the Abbreviated Dysregulation Inventory; ADI; Mezzich, Tarter, Giancola, & Kirisci, 2001), aggression (Peer Conflict Scale; PCS; Marsee & Frick, 2007), and executive functioning (Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning; BRIEF; Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000).

Contextual stress is expected to be negatively correlated with EF skills and ER. Given that EF skills are a means of ER, EF skills are anticipated to be positively correlated with ER. Aggression is expected to be positively correlated with contextual stress, and negatively correlated with ER and EF. Mindfulness is expected to be positively correlated with EF skills, ER, and negatively correlated with aggression. Finding evidence for these associations is the first step in potentially improving social skills and mental health in low-income urban youth and may also have an impact on academic success. Research on the mechanisms of mindfulness practices is needed in order to understand the impact that yoga in a school curriculum may have on children’s socioemotional adjustment.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

166

Social Norms: Injunctive Norms and College Students Drinking Samuda, S Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Social norms are behavioral standards mutually agreed upon in a society that is partly responsible for the manner in which humans cooperate and organize socially (Rossano, 2012). In addition, injunctive norms are how much an individual looks for approval or acceptance for a particular behavior (Lewis, Neighbors, Geisner, Lee, Kilmer & Atkins, 2010). This norm is among college students who consume alcohol. The purpose of the current study was to examine if injunctive norms affect college student’s reasoning in consuming alcoholic beverages, as well as factors that contribute to alcoholic behavior. Specifically, the role of injunctive norms were examined as the detriment of college student’s alcoholic consumption. It was hypothesized that Caucasian males drink more than any other race. Furthermore, the leading cause of alcohol abuse among college students will be influenced by group identification and social anxiety.

Data collection is still in progress; however presently, the participants include 19 males and 64 females with a mean age of 21.99 (SD = 5.41). The study was completed in an online survey through Qualtrics.

The participants were first asked to read and accept the consent form and proceed to answer questions in a fixed order. Participants responded to a demographic questionnaire, The Collective Self-Esteem Scale (Luthanen & Crocker, 1992; α =.68), which assesses four aspects of collective self-esteem (public, private, membership and importance) in evaluating one’s social groups or identities, the Social Anxiety in University Students Questionnaire (Bhamani & Hussain, 2012; a = .84) which assesses levels of social anxiety in college students, the AUDIT Scale (World Health Organization, 1980; a = .83) that screens hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption, and the Drinking Motives Scale, (Cooper, 1994) which measures four factors pertaining to the reason for alcohol consumption. These factors include: social (a =.93), enhancement (a =.79), coping (a = .90), and conformity (a = .85). Correlations were calculated between all variables, and a one-way ANOVA was calculated to examine gender differences and differences due to ethnicity. Preliminary analyses revealed that there was a positive correlation between The Collective Self-Esteem Scale (r = -.270, p < .05), and the three out the four drinking motives which includes social (r = .364, p < .01), enhancement (r = .55, p < .01), and coping (r = .498, p < .01). There was no significant relationship between the Social Anxiety in University Students Questionnaire, and the drinking motive conformity with the other scales. In calculating the gender differences and differences in ethnicity through a one-way ANOVA, there was no significance on all variables. Data collection will continue and analyses will be recalculated. Directions for future research and limitations will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

167

Authoritarianism and Collectivism: Antecedents and Consequences Samuel, J. University of Central Florida Faculty Sponsor: Doan Modianos Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) suggests there are five distinct moral dimensions, which define morality as a whole. MFT can be broken down into two groups binding: in group/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity-which encompass group morality. Harm/Care, fairness/reciprocity are individualizing dimensions, which highlight individual morality. These distinct moral dimensions have show predictor ship of sociopolitical ideologies, as well as sociopolitical attitudes. Individualizing domains predict liberalism because of liberals vested interest in individualism, and protection of others rights. Binding foundations predict conservatism, due to their interest in tradition and the overall group. Libertarianism, which is an often-misunderstood political ideology, has been thought to have qualities having a mixture of liberalism and conservatism. However in terms of moral decisions they did not endorse any of MFT dimensions specifically. Libertarianism proved to have a negative relationship with individualizing foundations, and needs further research. Libertarianism is concerned with individual personal liberty, will not imposing on others. Research has also connected morality to indicate different sociopolitical attitudes. Sociopolitical Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)- total belief in social cohesion and conformity, is aligned with binding dimensions. It also has certain conservative qualities, such as in-group cohesion, and traditional values.

Social dominance theory (SDO)- in-group dominance, these individuals believe out-groups are unequal.

Some groups are disadvantaged, less equal. SDO has shown to correlate with conservatism, however in terms of MFT it has a negative relationship with individualizing foundations similar to libertarians. We reexamine this relationship, and extend further research to cultures and its effect on MFT, RWA and SDO. Collectivism and individualism relates to how people view themselves on the individual (Individualism) and group level (collectivism), with in their respected culture. Two additional dimensions that relate to individualism and collectivism are horizontal and verticalism. Which refers to horizontalsame, and vertical- different. In a horizontal culture equality is valued. Where as in a vertical culture, inequality, competitiveness and hierarchies are valued. In totality it there are four types of cultures.

Horizontal Collectivist, Horizontal Individualist, Vertical Collectivist, and Vertical Individualist. Individualism and collectivism should be a predictor of the culture that results in the morality preferences and sociopolitical attitudes. Based on previous literature we hypothesize individuals who values binding foundations higher, who are conservative, are more likely to be more right-wing authoritarianism and views themselves as a party of collective community. It is also anticipated that individualizing foundations will predict liberalism, as well as individualism with low RWA attitudes. SDO should results in individuals who are libertarians and/or conservative and horizontal individualists.1000 participants were randomly selected from a southeastern university to participate in this study. Participants were at least 18 years of age. All participants were treated according to the American Psychological Associations research and guidelines. Participants were prompted to complete a series of surveys consisting of (1) The Moral Foundations Theory questionnaire, (2) Individualism Collectivism Horizontal and vertical scale, (3) RightWing Authoritarianism scale, (4) Social Dominance Orientation scales, (5) Political preferences questions and (6) demographic questions. SPSS regression analyses are being conducted to examine the relationships between various demographic factors, MFT dimensions, political ideologies, sociopolitical attitudes and individualism and collectivistic cultures. Both theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

168

The Relationship between Weight-Based Teasing, Self-Esteem, and Disordered Eating Sanchez, F. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli Bullying involves repetitive behaviors intended to harm another person (Kowalski, Limber, & Agatston , 2008). Additionally, bullying involves an imbalance of power. Sweetingham and Waller (2008) found that there is a connection between bullying and unhealthy eating habits. Specifically, individuals who are bullied based on their weight have a higher probability of developing unhealthy eating habits. Fox and Farrow (2009) also found that obesity is one factor that leads to bullying. However, other factors may include body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and self-worth which may allow for the connection between a person being the target of bullying and being overweight. The purpose of this paper was to examine how bullying targeted towards weight is related to the victim’s self-esteem and eating behaviors and attitudes.

It was predicted that those who are teased/bullied for the shape of their bodies or weight would have lower self-esteem, have distorted views of their bodies and have less healthy eating behaviors than those who are not bullied or teased for their weight or body shape. Participants were recruited via email, through university courses, and through social media. Participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics composed of a demographic questionnaire, the Disordered Eating Scale (Alvarenga, Scagliusi, & Philippi, 2010), Rosenberg’s (1965) Self-Esteem Scale (α = .89), and the Weight Based Teasing Scale (Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, & Perry, 2003; α = .85). The Disordered Eating Scale has four subscales: relationship with food (i.e., negative relationship with food (α =.88), concerns about food and weight gain (α =.73), restrictive and compensatory practices (α =.64), idea of normal eating (α =.59) and feeling toward eating (α =.33). The participants included 16 males and 89 females. The mean age sample was 21.33 (SD = 4.47). Correlations were calculated between weight-based teasing, self-esteem, and the measure of eating behaviors. There was a significant, positive correlation between weight based teasing and relationship with food (r = .37, p <.01). Therefore, participants who were teased were more likely to report a negative relationship with food. There was a significant, positive correlation between weightbased teasing and restrictive eating (r = .30, p <.01) and a significant, negative correlation between weight-based teasing and self-esteem (r = -.39, p <.01). Thus, participants who were teased due to their weight also reported a low self-esteem. There was a significant moderate negative correlation between self-esteem and relationship with food (r = -.56, p <.01). Therefore, participants who scored high on selfesteem, had a positive relationship with food. There was a significant, negative correlation between selfesteem and idea of normal eating (r = -.23, p <.01). There was a significant, negative correlation between self-esteem and restrictive eating (r = -.42, p <.01). Therefore, participants who scored high on self-esteem also had low restrcitions towards eating. There was a significant, negative correlation between self-esteem and concerns about eating (r = -.22, p <.01). Therefore, participants who scored high on self-esteem had negative concerns about eating. There was no significant relationship between weight-based teasing and the idea of normal eating, feelings toward eating, and concerns about eating.

Additionally, there was no significant correlations between self-esteem and feelings towards eating.

Gender differences were calculated for all of the variables, the only significant difference was found for self-esteem, F(1,95) = 5.02, p <.05. Males reported a higher self-esteem (M = 34.71, SD = 5.08) than females (M = 30.77, SD = 6.24). Results indicate that weight-based teasing is related to disordered eating and self-esteem. Regression analyses will be calculated to examine weight-based teasing and selfesteem as predictors of disordered eating. Directions for future research and limitations will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

169

Gender Eccentricity or Gender Conformity?

Schlenther, A. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli A pervasive condition of human identity paradigmatically relates an individual to their biological sex differentiation and gender. When an individual relates the idea of gender internally to their self-awareness of femaleness or maleness (or a combination thereof), they purpose themselves to the world around them with a heightened sense of self. In response to each person’s purpose, then, the world reaffirms to this individual their acceptance of their state of being, body and mind. However, when a person expresses their individuality to a society that mirrors back contempt, then that individual will likely suffer from a loss of purpose and may feel alienated from society (Israel, 2005). Participants were recruited via an online survey provided through Qualtrics and disseminated by professors at a private Catholic university as well as through other social media outlets. Participants responded to Snell Jr. and Johnson’s (2004) Multidimensional Gender Consciousness Questionnaire; Spence, Helmreich and Stapp’s (1973) Personal Attributes Questionnaire; Snell’s (1989) Masculine and Feminine Self-Disclosure Scale; Leary’s (2013) Need to Belong Scale; and Lovibond’s and Lovibond’s (1995) DASS21 which measures depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants included 48 males, 66 females, 3 males who identify as females, 3 individuals who identify as either male or female and 3 who do not identify as male or female. The mean age of the sample was 30.2 (SD = 11.64). Correlations were calculated between the measures. There was a significant, positive correlation between how an individual felt about their gender as it related to gender awareness. Specifically, femininity was positively related to public gender consciousness (r = .25, p < .01) and private gender consciousness (r =.25, p < .01). Conversely, masculinity was negatively correlated to private gender consciousness (r = -.20, p < .05). To support these findings, significant positive correlations revealed that the more salient one felt about their gender, the more comfortable they felt to disclose their gender expression. For instance, the more masculine an individual felt, the more he disclosed (r = .40, p < .01); the more feminine an individual felt, the more she disclosed (r = .40, p <.01).

Additionally, individuals who identified with a more fluid male-female expression were significantly and positively correlated: depression (r = .37, p < .01); anxiety (r = .34, p < .01); and stress (r = .31, p < .01).

These same individuals have a high need to belong with a significant positive correlation (r = .62, p < .01) compared to females (r = .28, p < .01). Individuals who identified as masculine, by comparison, demonstrated a significant negative correlation with their need for a sense of belongingness (r = -.38, p < .01). The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated a significant model when predicting depression using gender, a need for belonging, and private and public gender consciousness as predictors, F(7,87) = 6.040, p < .05). This model accounted for 32.7% of the variance in depression.

Significant predictors included masculinity (β = -.394, t = -3.89, p < .01) and need to belong (β = .305, t = 2.92, p < .01). The significance of these results indicate a need for further exploration of society’s definition of gender: there are more than two sexes (male/female); there are more than two sexualities (straight/gay); and, there are more than two forms of gender expression (masculinity/femininity). Future research will broaden the scope of defining cultural biases and stereotypes while narrowing its impact to focus on individuals who do not fit into current, prosaic Western European ideas of what constitutes gender.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

170

Parenting Styles, Ethnicity, Gender, and Worldview of College Students Sisco, Z. Southern Adventist University Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Williams The purpose of this study was to examine parental influence on young adults’ reports on worldviews and from thence their current decision making among students at a University. Parents’ cultural background may directly influence the type of parenting styles used. In each culture, the process of family socialization varies (Choi, Kim S., Pekelnicky, & Kim Y., 2013). Members of distinct ethnic groups may be used to represent specific cultural orientations that are associated with differences in parenting and emotional expressivity (Louie, Oh, & Lau., 2013). Research on cultural orientations and historical change in relation to parenting, has shown that the stability and variability of patterns in parenting are different depending on their cultural models. Studies should use reports from both children and their parents, which would allow for a better comparison. Two factors describing parenting profiles have been studied: reasoning and worldview. The way individuals think about the world and create their own perspective is known as their worldview. There are numerous factors that can influence a person’s worldview or meaning in life (Van Pachterbeke, Keller, & Saroglou, 2012). For this study the sources of young adults’ worldview will be based on their views on future career choices, marriage/love, and spirituality. The specific influence of parents in emerging adult religiosity is not known (Leonard, Cook, Boyatzis, Kimball, & Flanagan, 2013). Parents place more importance on moral and religious goals (Morton & Markey 2009). One study measured the internalization of values and self-concept and found that valued priorities of parents were systematically related to parenting dimensions (Demđrutku, 2007). The study was a nonexperimental descriptive, comparative correlation study using survey methodology. Two research hypotheses guided this study: (1) there would be ethnic differences in perceived parental control, (2) parental styles would influence the career choices of college students. Five research questions addressed the amount of students representing each parenting style, gender differences and worldviews, relationship between spiritual beliefs and reported parental influence, relationship between worldviews of dating and marriage and parental influence, and reported beliefs/values. Thirty two college students (23 female) completed the Sisco Parental Influence Survey of Young Adults (SPISYA). Internal consistency showed an acceptable reliability of .713. Ethnic categories for Caucasian was close to 60% of the sample.

The SPISYA is a 45 item survey that measures parenting styles, ethnicity, gender, and worldview. The most frequent reported parenting style was authoritative. Results indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between worldviews of social relationships and parental influence (r (32) = .71, p =. 000).

Students who report parents being highly influential to their total worldview are students are more likely to report parental influence in their social lives, more than any other category. The stronger the students’ personal beliefs, the more likely their entire worldview were influenced (r (32) = .49, p =. 004, s). The results yielded no statistically significant differences between ethnicity and perceived parental control.

Small sample size and the clarity of variables are weaknesses in the current study. Future research needs to address how parenting styles and child rearing techniques play a role in decision making of young adults. Valid achievements need to be developed to capture those important relationships and interactions. Mixed method designs, qualitative and quantitative, may best address this issue. Keywords: Parenting styles, ethnicity, worldview, children, parent, influence, gender differences

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

171

The Correlation between Academic Achievement and Social Support Smith, K. Oakwood University Faculty Sponsor: Carmen Bucknor Human beings are a relational species, which means that establishing relationships with other individuals is necessary in order to encourage cognitive and psychosocial development. The strong supportive network where assistance is available from significant persons in an individual’s life is referred to as social support. Because social support is important for brain development, there are also implications as they relate to academic achievement. The research not only acknowledges the effect that the presence of social support has on an individual but also the lack of social support. The following research study explores the correlation of academic achievement with social support. After obtaining IRB approval, using Oakwood University students, the researcher administered a questionnaire which not only assessed demographic information, but also identified the prominent social agents and to what extent they were involved with or impacted the participant. The questionnaire was administered to 30 individuals on Oakwood University’s campus who all met the research criteria. Because social support can from a variety a different social agents, the questions derived from the literature more specifically addressed the different types of social support. How do maternal figures influence their children’s academic performance? Do peer relationships affect academic performance? Because the questionnaire was limited to ten questions, the options listed in the ‘preferred social agent’ category, comprised together most, if not all, of the social agents through which social support would be mediated. The results did support the researcher’s hypothesis: social support does have an effect on academic success; more specifically, positive social support does induce academic success. Contrary to the researcher’s assumptions, some individuals who scored in the two lowest G.P.A. range categories of 0 – 1.74 and 1.75 – 2.49 reported spending recreational time with their families. There were no direct correlations between negative or lack of social support and poor academic success, but the data did expose a recurrent trend in the research. Most of the participants who claimed that they either always, frequently, or sometimes, had social assistance available to them also had the higher grade point averages, at least 2.5 and above.

In addition, this study includes a full history and evaluation of the sources that were be used. The literature review presents both supporting and opposing views. The methods of the research design is also described.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

172

Relationship Among Pain Thresholds, Sleep Quality and Self-Regulatory Fatigue Soares, C. University of Kentucky Faculty Sponsor: Suzanne Segerstrom Sleep is known to influence how well people are able to inhibit pain. Specifically, poorer sleep has previously been associated to lower pain thresholds - defined as the amount of noxious stimulation required before pain is felt. Poorer sleep has also been shown to create baseline fatigue levels that can inhibit the ability to self-regulate. What is unknown, however, is how self-regulatory fatigue - defined as the reduced ability to alter dominant responses such as emotions and behaviors - interacts with pain to influence pain thresholds. In this study, we used 118 pain-free undergraduate students, the first 40 of these participants completed three sessions that involved individual difference measures and selfregulatory fatigue manipulations respectively. The primary individual difference measure utilized was participants’ self-reported sleep per night for the past week – serving as a baseline fatigue measure. For the fatigue manipulations, a visual attention task was used where subjects were asked to watch a video of a woman’s face while words appeared on the bottom of a screen. In the fatigue manipulation, two conditions were used - the dependent condition involving a high fatigue manipulation requiring subjects to ignore the words at the bottom of the screen, thereby requiring greater self-regulatory ability. The next 80 participants completed the first session only. In session one, participants were asked to self-report their average sleep duration and pain thresholds were assessed using a pressure algometer. Three consecutive trials were used to measure pain, each involving the participant’s ring finger of the nondominant hand. Pressure was applied gradually until the participant pressed a button when it was perceived that the pressure had turned to pain. In sessions two and three, pain threshold testing was done in both pre- and post-fatigue conditions using the fatigue manipulation measures. Results revealed that self-regulatory fatigue reduced pain thresholds to a greater extent in people with less average sleep than in people with more average sleep. These findings suggest that less sleep and high self-regulatory fatigue may be a particularly maladaptive combination for managing pain. However, these findings did not replicate in a second independent sample, and should be tested with a larger sample. Overall, results highlight the importance of the interaction that sleep and self-regulatory fatigue have with regard to pain thresholds. This interaction can be especially significant in persons who have conditions that require high levels of emotional regulation and experience low levels of sleep, such as depression.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

173

An Investigation of the Effects of Exposure to Artificial Light on the Sleep Quality of College Students Spence, T. Oakwood University Faculty Sponsor: Carmen Bucknor Many college students report not getting enough sleep each night, making tasks such as concentration, studying, and performing other daily tasks difficult. Researchers have observed a lack of sleep in students during their college years. Students often have different reasons as to why they are not getting enough sleep. However, the reported use of technology during the nighttime hours is extremely high. The purpose of this study is to explore the link between the artificial light of technology and difficulty sleeping.

Research has shown that exposure to artificial light before bed hinders a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s availability of melatonin for sleep. In other studies, students who were exposed to artificial light before bedtime reported getting less sleep and feeling more tired than students who were not exposed to artificial light before bed. After obtaining IRB approval, the researcher recruited 30 male or female college students currently enrolled at Oakwood University to participate in the research study. This research study was quantitative in nature, in that researcher used a 10-item questionnaire and collected a sample of numerical data from study participants to answer the research question. The researcher then analyzed the data with the help of statistics and the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Data analysis examined the relationship between variables of exposure to artificial light and sleep quality of the participants. After analyzing the data collected using the SPSS software it was found that there was no significant correlation between exposure to artificial light and reported sleep quality in the sample of college students. Therefore, this resulted in the researcher accepting their null hypothesis. The limitations of the study may have impacted the results: a small sample size and little diversity in the population could have resulted in unmeasured variables that may have affected the study outcome. Further recommendations include developing a clearer hypothesis and increasing sample size.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

174

The Relationship between Sense of Control and Attitudes towards Mortality Stanfield, V. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli According to Lyke (2013), a common fear of death is often what drives individuals to search for some sort of meaning in their life. Though the source of meaning is different for every individual, Lyke found that the search for meaning in life was the only factor that correlated with fear of death, while the presence of meaning did not. This indicates that having a lack of meaning or focus in life leads people to fear death, while those who believe they have meaning or purpose in life are less likely to fear death. Based on these findings the purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between an individual’s sense of control and meaning in their everyday life, and if it is affected by their perception and attitudes towards aging and mortality. It is predicted that individuals who perceive they have less control and meaning in their life will possess a negative view towards mortality and aging. Moreover, it is predicted that this fear is more likely to be found in the younger generation. Participants included 163 individuals between the ages of 18 and 60, who were invited to participate in an online survey distributed through Saint Leo University.

Participants included 41 males and 122 females with a mean age of 27 (SD = 10.03). The majority of the sample was Caucasian (58.6%) with 16.7% African- American, 9.9% Latino/Latina and, 1.9% Asian/Pacific Islander. Participants completed an online survey that included a demographic questionnaire, Watson and Friend’s (1969) Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale – Brief (α = .915), Drolet’s (1990) Sense of Symbolic Immortality Scale (α = .90), Good’s (1974) Essential Anxiety Scale (α = .94), and Lasher and Faulkender’s (1993) Anxiety about Aging Scale (α = .81). Correlations were calculated between all variables. Age was significantly related to fear of negative evaluation (r = -.23, p < .05), sense of symbolic immortality (r = .24, p < .05), fear of old people (r = .17, p < .05), and essential anxiety (r = .23, p < .05). These results indicate that older individuals are less likely to fear negative evaluations, have a better sense of their mortality, and experience less anxiety about their mortality. The basis for meaning in life, Sense of Symbolic Immortality, was significantly related to fear of negative evaluation (r = -.32, p < .01), fear of old people (r = .38, p < .01), psychological concerns (r = .54, p < .01), fear of losses (r = .35, p < .01), and essential anxiety (r = -.74, p < .01). Two simultaneous multiple regression analyses were calculated using age, fear of negative evaluations, fear of old people, physical appearance as related to aging, and psychological concerns as predictors of Sense of Symbolic Immortality and Existential Anxiety.

For Sense of Symbolic, the model was significant [F (7, 107), = 10.83, p < .01] and accounted for 64.4% of the variance. The significant predictors included fear of negative evaluation (β = -.221, t = -2.79, p < .05), psychological concerns (β = .528, t = 5.05, p < .01), and physical appearance (β = -.225, t = -2.56, p < .05). For existential anxiety, the model was significant [F (7, 105), = 7.928, p < .01] and accounted for 34.6% of the variance. The significant predictors for essential anxiety were psychological concerns (β =-.405, t =-3.61, p < .01) and fear of losses (β =-.266, t =-2.905, p < .05). The results of this study support the hypothesis that less perceived control and meaning in one’s life leads to higher anxiety towards aging and death. Moreover, it was found that older individuals experience this fear less than the younger adults. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

175

Effects of Person and Organization Collectivist Orientation Stanley, N. Maryville College Faculty Sponsor: Chad Schrock In the past, research has suggested that organizations can be of either an individualist or collectivist nature (Robert & Watsi, 2002). Collectivism and individualism are also found in personality characteristics, with collectivist attitudes being more common in Asian cultures, and individualist attitudes being more common in Western societies (Robert & Watsi, 2002). It would follow, then, that collectivist organizations are found more in Asian cultures, and individualist in Western countries. To maximize production, companies are interested in what maximizes jobs satisfaction in employees, as this has been correlated with greater productivity levels (Nelson & Quick, 2013). The purpose of this study was to look at the relationship of job satisfaction and organizational individualism and collectivism, personality traits, and the individual employee’s sense of independence and interdependence. The study involved the response of 162 participants to a survey posted on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (AMT). People responded to surveys that assessed their personal level of independence or interdependence, their personality characteristics as detailed by a small-scale OCEAN inventory, their satisfaction in their most recent employment, and their perception of their employer’s level of corporate individualism or collectivism.

Results showed a strong positive correlation between organizational individualism and collectivism, r(161)= .756, p < .001. While often thought of as separate or even opposing traits, the results of this study show that both can be present at the same time in an organization. Organizational collectivism was strongly correlated with job satisfaction, r(161)=.758, p < .001. Organizational individualism had a strong positive correlation as well, with r(161)= .625, p < .001. In contrast, an individual’s sense of independence or interdependence did not show the same pattern. There was no correlation between these at the individual level r(161)= .005, p = .473. Individual interdependence did not show a significant correlation with job satisfaction (r(161)= . 057, p = .235) while independence was negatively correlated with job satisfaction r(161)= -.14, p = .077. All but one of the personality traits showed a positive correlation with job satisfaction. Agreeableness was positively correlated with job satisfaction with r(161)=.287, p < .001, and emotional stability had a correlation of r(161)=.237, p = .001. Extraversion and conscientiousness had correlations with satisfaction of r(161)= .221, p = .002 and r(161)=.132, p = .039 respectively. Overall, the results demonstrate that companies that promote employee independence, collectivism, or both have more satisfied employees. Additionally, our results indicate that an individual’s personality traits are associated with his or her level of job satisfaction, suggesting the practice of including personality measures as part of the employee screening process may be useful in selecting employees, depending on the characteristics of the organization.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

176

Fantasyland vs. Tomorrowland: Married Male & Female Differences in Sexual Expectations Stephens, D. Williams Baptist College Faculty Sponsor: Paul A. Rhoads, Ph.D. Couples enter marriage with different expectations, or marital scripts. Many times these “expectations” differ between genders. One of the main set of expectations couples regularly disagree about is sexual expectations. In the area of sexuality, studies found that couples have different expectations in different marital situations. Researchers also found that while sexual expectations between males and females are different, they tend to display similar patterns. The hypothesis of this study is that sexual expectations of married couples will diverge with males having more expectations in specific situations than females.

To address the hypothesis, the researcher developed a SEX Attitudinal Survey depicting different situations where sexual expectations come into play. Specific scenarios are defined as situations depicted on the SEX Attitudinal Survey (i.e. “If a man takes his wife out for their anniversary, does he have the right to expect sex”). Expectations were measured on a Likert scale ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree, Strongly Agree represented high expectations. This hypothesis is based in social exchange theory. Social exchange theory explains relationships as a process of negotiation between the people involved as conducting a cost-benefit analysis of a relation. Under this theory, interactions between couples are only likely to continue if each person feels they get more out of the relationship than they put in. The question the researcher is raising is do male and female expectations coincide in most cases or are they divergent, and if so, how much and under what circumstances? The sample size consisted of 83 participants, 40 males and 43 females. The researcher created an attitudinal survey (SEX Attitudinal Survey) that consisted of demographic questions as well as ten situational statements. Male and female participants were asked to respond to each scenario on a Likert scale, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. For example, “Josh completes a series of chores around the house that Jessica asked him to do. Josh has the right to expect sex.” The participants were asked to respond to each statement in terms of whether a male had a right to expect sex utilizing a Likert scale. A series of ttests were conducted to determine if there was a significant difference in married male and female sexual expectations. All of the scenarios were statistically significant at the .001 level with, in all cases, females more likely to feel Josh did not have the right to expect sex and males more likely to feel Josh did have the right to expect sex. For example, when given the statement, “Josh surprise Jessica with a new car for her birthday. Josh has the right to expect sex.”, females rated significantly closer to strongly disagree on all answers which means they felt strongly that the male in the example did not have the right to expect sex. Males, however, were significantly closer to the strongly agree position meaning that they felt the male in the example had the right to expect sex. The researcher believes the results indicate men see relationships, in terms of the social exchange theory as a quid pro quo arrangement. From the social exchange perspective males tend to expect something in return after spending money or time on someone, however, females tend to see the situation differently. Females tend to perceive situations as, everything the male does for her should be out of the respect for the mutual relationship, not just to receive a favor in return. During the process of the survey, the researcher received some strong reactions from the participants.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

177

Body Image in Dancers Stewart, C. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes Understanding how a dancer’s self-perception can differentiate skilled dancers versus dancers not living up to her/his full potential. Knowing ways to help make an environment better for dancers can help end warped thinking in the way they perceive themselves. Obviously, it could depend on the genre and age of the dancer. Society may look at dancers a certain way, which could lead to eating disorders in response to social pressures. Three measurements were used for the purpose of this study: The NEO-PI Big Five, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, and Sports Anxiety Scale. The NEO-PI Big Five (Costa & McCrae, 1985) measures openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness; these were used to determine the personality of the subjects. The Social Physique Anxiety Scale (Hart, Leary & Rejesky, 1989) measures social anxiety related to the physique of the dancer. Additionally, the Sports Anxiety Scale (Smith, Smoll & Schutz, 1990) measures somatic trait anxiety and two cognitive trait anxieties (worry and concentration disruption), which were used to determine the anxiety level in the participants.

These three measurements were used to determine if there was a correlation between dancers and their body image. The subjects of this study were fifty-seven undergraduate female dancers attending a large state university in the southwest who volunteered to participate. The participants responded to a test booklet that contained a brief coversheet where they were asked to indicate their preferred dance genre (ballet, ballroom, hip hop, jazz, modern, or tap). The dancers were also asked to respond to the NEO-PI Big Five Inventory (sixty items), the SPAS (twelve items), and the SAS (twenty-one items). SAS statistical procedures were used to analyze the resulting data. The Statistical Systems (SAS) Multiple Regression Analyses procedures were employed in order to determine the relationship between the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS), the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Big Five Scale. The Big Five Neuroticism scale was a significant predictor of the SPAS construct (F(5,51) = 4.97, p<.009, r2=.33), the Somatic Anxiety subscale (F(5,51) = 3.90, p<.004, r2=.28), and the Worry measure (F (5,51) = 7.92, p<.0001, r2=.33). The Welch’s t test (for unequal sample sizes and unequal variances) was used to compare the participants’ Big Five scale means to T-score means (M=50, STD=10; n=774). Created from a diverse sample of college students, the dancers scored significantly higher (p<.01) than the normative sample on the Big Five Openness (M=54.0 vs. 50) and Neurotic (M=56 vs. 50) scales. No significant differences were noted between the participants and the normative sample for the Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness Big Five scales (the dance participants score at or very near the T-score means on these variables).

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

178

Do Rhesus Monkeys Use Long-Term Memory to Solve Matching-Tasks?

Street, K. Piedmont College Faculty Sponsor: Megan Hoffman A variety of approaches have been used to examine memory for past experiences in humans and nonhuman animals (Dere, Kart-Teke, Huston, & Silva, 2006) . Some of the most popular tasks have examined an animal’s ability to remember rules and contingencies for solving particular tasks. However, few studies have used symbols as a way to assess what animals remember from specific past experiences. In the present study, rhesus monkeys were presented with a symbolic matching-to-sample (MTS) task. On each trial, the monkeys were presented with a stimulus that contained four different properties: a shape (circle, triangle, cross, or star), a color (red, blue, green, or yellow), a number of items (1, 2, 3, or 4), and a background (vertical lines, horizontal lines, diagonal lines or cross hatched lines). This sample appeared in the center of the screen surrounded by four different possible choices in each corner of the screen. Each choice corresponded to some characteristic of the sample (the color of the sample, the shape of the sample, the number of items in the sample, and the background of the sample). For each session and day there was a new rule that was reinforced. The rules were changes between which aspect of the sample (shape, color, number, or background) would need to be matched for reinforcement. This meant that the monkeys had to use trial-and-error to determine the correct rule each day. The monkeys learned to match correctly on all four of the dimensions (color, shape, number, and background). However, on some days, the same rule was repeated from the previous day. On these occasions, a “Y” symbol appeared on the screen. This cue was introduced to determine if the monkeys could learn to use a symbol to refer to a specific past event that occurred the day before. The monkeys appeared to use the strategy of selecting the previously used rule on most trials, not just those that included the “Y” cue. This suggests that monkeys remember the rule from the previous day and use this as the default rule for each session. Future studies will need to include variations in which there is a cost to using the previous rule if the cue is not present, as well as including additional cues that refer to different points of time in the past.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

179

An Experimental Investigation of the ‘Dress Well, Test Well’ Phenomenon Taylor, L., Jones, D., & Sales, R. University of Mobile Faculty Sponsor: Jamie O’Mally How we dress often influences the way that others perceive us, however, there is limited empirical research on how our clothing influences our own perception of ourselves and our performance. This study extends current research on “enclothed cognition,” which is the study of the influence that clothing has on the wearer and their psychological processing (Adam & Galinsky, 2012). Some students believe in the “Dress well, test well” phenomenon, meaning that they will perform better on tests when dressed professionally rather than casually. We tested this belief experimentally by manipulating the type of clothing worn by college students while taking a test, and measuring the differences in test performance as well as self-perceptions of intelligence and confidence. We used a cover story to randomly assign students to arrive to the study dressed in either professional, casual, or athletic attire. College students (N = 57) arrived to the study in their assigned clothing type, watched a brief informational video on a novel, gender neutral topic, and completed a recall test following the video. The study was conducted in a classroom setting, and students were told that the purpose was to explore effectiveness of video lectures.

Students also completed follow-up surveys about their experiences during the study and their behaviors and beliefs related to the ‘Dress well, test well’ phenomenon. We predicted that students who wore professional attire would score higher on the test than those dressed in either casual or athletic attire. We also predicted that those dressed professionally would rate themselves as more intelligent and more confident while taking the test than those dressed casually or in athletic attire. Additionally, we anticipated gender effects such that women would be more likely than men to perform best when wearing professional clothing. Although there were no significant differences in test performance or confidence based on type of attire or gender, those dressed professionally perceived themselves as significantly more intelligent than those dressed in athletic or casual attire [F(2, 54) = 3.28, p < .05]. Additional analyses explore attitudes and behaviors regarding clothing and academic performance. Results indicate that although clothing style does not directly impact performance or confidence, college students have higher perceptions of their own intelligence when dressed professionally for tests. Sample size may have been a limiting factor in our ability to find additional significant effects in data trends.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

180

Working Memory, Attention Restraint, and Mind Wandering as Predictors of Schizotypal Ambivalence Tilley, D. University of North Carolina at Greensboro Faculty Sponsor: Michael Kane Schizotypal ambivalence reflects an unusual degree of conflicting feelings about the self, others, emotions, and activities. Elevated levels, as assessed by the Schizotypal Ambivalence Scale (SAS; Raulin, 1986), are associated with other dimensions of schizotypy, which is a multidimensional personality construct that predicts risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The present study tested the relationships between schizotypal ambivalence and executive aspects of cognition, such as working memory capacity, attention restraint, and mind wandering. Past studies have examined similar cognitive constructsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; associations to the four major factors of schizotypy (positive, negative, paranoid, and disorganized). Positive schizotypy is characterized by strange perceptual experiences and odd beliefs; negative schizotypy represents a lack of interest or pleasure in physical or social domains; paranoid schizotypy represents suspiciousness and feelings of persecution; disorganized schizotypy reflects feelings of confusion and difficulty understanding others and making oneself understood. Little research has been conducted, however, in associating cognitive factors with schizotypal ambivalence. The present study is an extension of a larger study (submitted for publication) that examined individual differences in working memory capacity, attention restraint, and mind wandering along with their associations to the four main domains of schizotypy. The SAS was included in this larger study, but it was not analyzed due to the scale not fitting squarely into the four primary dimensions of schizotypy that were of central interest. The larger study examined over 500 undergraduates who completed various working memory and attentionrestraint tasks, some of which included periodic thought probes to assess mind wandering. The current study examined those same working memory and attention-restraint scores (with 5-6 tasks measuring each) and frequency of mind wandering responses (measured within 5 tasks), but here in relation to SAS scores. We hypothesized that working memory capacity, attention-restraint failure, and mind-wandering propensity would positively predict schizotypal ambivalence. Our latent variable analyses found that working memory capacity was unrelated to schizotypal ambivalence. Consistent with our hypotheses, however, attention restraint and mind wandering were positively correlated with SAS scores. We also examined SAS scores in relation to the four major facets of schizotypy and our latent variable analyses found that SAS scores were significantly correlated with positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy, but not paranoia. While the analyses are nearly complete, further latent variable analysis (i.e., structural equation models testing for unique prediction of SAS scores) will be conducted and reported. In general, however, our findings indicate that attention-, but not memory-related, deficits are associated with schizotypal ambivalence. Further research could examine if attention-related deficits are partly causal of schizotypal ambivalence.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

181

How Competiveness and Perceptions of Psychological Momentum Affect Effort Varner, S. Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Danielle Lindner Psychological momentum is defined as the perceived feeling of excelling towards one’s goals (positive momentum) or a shift in progression away from the goal (negative momentum), due to either an enhancement in performance or a decline in performance (Gernigon, Briki, & Eykens, 2010). Positive psychological momentum can be experienced when a sports team comes back from a point deficit to tie the game (Perreault & Vallerand, 1998), while negative momentum would be what the opposing team experiences when they let their lead slip. Current research of psychological momentum in sport explores how momentum affects performance, but fails to examine internal factors of the individual. This study will examine how positive psychological momentum and negative psychological momentum affect participants’ effort in a sports task by taking into account a participant’s level competitiveness, as well as their personal beliefs in psychological momentum. It is hypothesized that high levels of competitiveness will result in increased effort in a sports task, regardless of whether the momentum is positive or negative.

It is also hypothesized that high belief in psychological momentum will result in increased effort in positive momentum and decreased effort in negative momentum. 50 participants will take part in an over ground race, setting their own pace, attempting to cover maximum distance in a ten minute period. Participants are randomly assigned to either receive cues of positive momentum or negative momentum throughout the race. Difference in prerace heart rate and postrace heart rate will be a measure of effort. Data collection is currently ongoing, but will be completed in time for presentation at the SEPA conference.

Data will be analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21. Pearson’s correlations will be performed with heart rate, distance, level of competitiveness, and fitness level to determine whether competitiveness and fitness should be controlled for statistically. To evaluate the hypotheses, a Factorial MANOVA will be performed with momentum group and belief in PM as the independent variables and heart rate as the dependent variable; a Factorial MANCOVA will be performed if competitiveness and fitness are significant covariates. This research builds off of current research surrounding the concept of psychological momentum in sport, taking into account personal factors of participants, particularly belief in psychological momentum and personal competitiveness in sport. Results are expected to show which type of psychological momentum, either positive or negative, increases effort in a sports task, and whether participants’ own beliefs in psychological momentum and their competitiveness influences exerted effort.

These results will contribute to the limited amount of preexisting data on psychological momentum in the field of sports psychology.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

182

Relation of Dental Anxiety and Mindfulness: A Comparison of Pre-Health and Non Pre-Heath Students Vaught, D. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes Understanding dental anxiety is important to gain insight on its origins and potential treatments. In this study, pre-health fields (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician’s assistant, and veterinary) are compared to those in other fields of study to show what types of college students are more anxious about visiting the dentist. Mindfulness is defined as “the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present” (Brown & Ryan, 2003). Multiple studies show that having higher levels of mindfulness correlates with being less anxious (Greeson, 2009). Overall, this study will aid dentists to further understand the types of patients with more anxiety and could show that altering one’s mindfulness could aid in overcoming that anxiety. To achieve these objectives, surveys administered include Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale and Dental Concerns assessment measure, and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Corah 1978) (Brown & Ryan 2003). The dental anxiety and mindfulness of pre-health and non pre-health students will be compared, and to see how these traits relate to each other.

Participates were 128 volunteers from an undergraduate psychology course and from medical-related clubs enrolled at a large southwestern university. The participants were asked to indicate career aspirations in medical fields (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician’s assistant, and veterinary) and to respond to the Corah Dental Anxiety scale-4 (4 items), to the Corah Dental Concerns assessment measure (CDCQ), and to the Mindfulness Attention Awareness scale (MAAS).SAS procedures were employed in order to compare those participants having medical career ambitions to those with no such plans. A Manova (Wilks’ λ F (3, 123)=2.74, p<.05) revealed that those planning medical careers scored significantly lower on the Corah Dental Anxiety measure (MEAN=7.36, SE=.39) than did those with no such career goals (MEAN=8.62, SE=3.26). No such significant differences were observed for the CDCQ and the MAAS measures. A somewhat parallel Multiple Regression Analysis revealed that the Corah Dental Anxiety measure is a significant predictor of involvement group (F (3, 23)=2.74, p<.04, β=.31).

Multiple Regression Analyses were also employed in order to determine the relationship between Corah Dental Anxiety Scale-4 and the Coral Dental Concerns (CDCQ) variable as well as the MAAS. The CDCQ but not the MAAS was a significant predictor of the Corah Dental Anxiety-4 (t=8.44,p<.001, β=.63). The Corah Dental Anxiety Scale showed that pre-health students had less dental anxiety. Both the CDCQ and the MAAS showed not significant different. Convergent validity is found between the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale-4 and the CDCQ. There showed no significance between the dental anxiety scales and the MAAS.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

183

Learned Helplessness and Help-Seeking for Mental Health Disorders Among College Students Vazquez, S. Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Richard Medlin Depression and anxiety are two of the most prominent mental health conditions among college students, yet rates of undergraduate help-seeking remain low. Learned helplessness may mediate this helpseeking behavior. These trends are based primarily upon studies of college students attending large research institutions; small liberal arts institutions are underrepresented in the literature. The current study hypothesized that higher rates of learned helplessness would be associated with lower rates of help-seeking and that higher rates of depression and stress would be associated with higher learned helplessness, being female, being a racial/ethnic minority, living off-campus, lower GPA, and freshman status. A 10-minute online survey with questions on depression (measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, which was modified to measure the last month), stress (measured using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale), resistance to learned helplessness (measured using the Coping Competence Questionnaire), and help-seeking tendencies (measured using the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Short Form) was completed by 210 undergraduate students (76 males and 127 females) at a small, liberal arts university (about 3,000 students). Participants were invited to volunteer for the study through a university program that sends a daily mass email out to all students. Three very strong correlations were found: depression and stress, r(208) = .75 (p < .001), depression and resistance to learned helplessness, r(208) = -.64 (p < .001), and stress and resistance to learned helplessness, r(208) = -.74 (p < .001). A multiple linear regression revealed that learned helplessness, β = -.21 (p = .002) and particularly stress, β = .6 (p < .001) were both important predictors of depression. Independent t-tests revealed that females reported higher rates of depression, t(182.42) = -2.63 (p = .009), stress, t(201) = -3.01 (p = .003), learned helplessness, t(201) = 3.46 (p = .001), and help-seeking, t(201) = -4.82 (p < .001), than males. Associations of all dependent variables with race/ethnicity, housing, GPA, and academic year were nonsignificant. Gender socialization may contribute to the sex differences in depression, stress, learned helplessness, and help-seeking.

Research suggests that females are socialized to express their emotionality, whereas males are socialized to do the opposite; this may lead to sex differences in self-reporting of symptoms of depression, stress, and learned helplessness. Furthermore, males are socialized to be self-reliant and avoid asking for help from others; this may influence sex differences in help-seeking attitudes.

Recruitment occurred during the first few weeks of the fall semester, thus the timing of the survey may have impacted the findings. For example, the lack of differences in depression and stress between academic years and housing situations does not align with previous research. It is possible that this may be attributed to the fact that depression and stress were measured in terms of the last month, which was partially summer vacation and partially the least stressful portion of the semester. Alternatively, it is also possible that the student experience at this small, private, liberal arts university is significantly different from the student experience at a large, public institution. The findings of this study indicate that more research is needed that compare students at liberal arts and research universities, and that utilize a longitudinal design to evaluate depression and stress at various points throughout the semester. The results of this study suggest that a college-wide program to teach healthy, effective coping strategies should be implemented in order to reduce prevalence of mental health issues among undergraduate students; it may be beneficial to target the program toward females because of the higher need within that group. Additionally, a program that promotes and destigmatizes psychological help-seeking while informing students of the resources available to them may benefit students, especially males.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

184

Mood and Personality Predictors of Political Preference/Affiliation Vega, S., Burks, A., Kimball, M., & Spencer, K. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes, Anthony Bourgeois, Shane Hudson With the upcoming presidential election in 2016, there is a growing interest in voting patterns and political affiliations. Of particular interest in the present research is the relationship between political affiliations and voting patterns as it relates to young voters. In general, young voters are notorious for not taking part in the political processes. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role that mood and selected personality variables play in political affiliations amongst college students. Subjects were asked to select their political preference/affiliation from the following six categories: Conservative Republican, Moderate Republican, Conservative Democrat, Liberal Democrat, Libertarian, and no political preference/affiliation.

After the latter was determined, analyses were conducted to ascertain how the mood and personality variables interact with political preferences/affiliation. To measure mood and personality variables of our subjects, we used the following scales: NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI), and Right Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWA-ACS). The objective of this research project was to investigate how student’s mood and personality predict their political preference/affiliation. Participants were 114 undergraduates (40 males; 72 females; one not sure; one no gender indication) who were asked to indicate political affiliation (Conservative Republican, Moderate Republican, Conservative Democrat, Liberal Democrat, Libertarian, and no allifiation) and completed the NEO-PI Big-Five and the RWAS. Anonymity was assured at all times. SAS procedures were employed to conduct a MANOVA comparing political affiliation groups on the NEO-PI Big-Five and RWAS measures. A significant Wilks’ λ F75, 445) =1.81, p<.0001 was observed. The RWAS Aggression scale {F (5,106) = 8.95, p<.0001)}, the RWAS Conventionalism scale {F(5,106) = 6.54, p<.0001)}and the RWAS Submission scale {F(5,106) =11.62, p<.0001)} all proved highly significant. Conservative Republicans (M 13.54; SE .59) scored significantly (p<.03) higher on aggression than did the Moderate Republicans (M 11.81; SE .51), the Conservative Democrats (M 8.70; SE .92, p<.0001), the Liberal Democrats (M 8.31 SE.81, p< .0001), the Libertarians (M 8.29 SE 1.10, p<.02) and those proclaiming no political affiliation (M 10.65 SE .57, p<.0007).

Conservative Republicans (M 11.87; SE .80) scored significantly (p<.02) lower on RWAS conventionalism than did the Moderate Republicans (M 14.28; SE .69), the Conservative Democrats (M 16.60; SE 1.23, p<.002), the Liberal Democrats (M 18.08 SE 1.08, p< .0001), the Libertarians (M 15.86 SE 1.48, p<.02) and those proclaiming no political affiliation (M 16.93 SE .77, p<.0001). Conservative Republicans (M 27.00 SD .72) were significantly more Submissive (p<.01) higher than the Moderate Republicans (M 19.59 SD .62, p<.01), the Conservative Democrats (M 15.59 SD 1.11, p<.0001), the Liberal Democrats (M 27.00 SD .72, p< .0001), the Libertarians (M 27.00 SD .72, p <.0001), and those proclaiming no political affiliation (M 27.00 SD .72, p<.001). Significant differences were found for the NEO-PI Big-Five Openness scale {F (5,106) = 3.52, p<.006)} with the Conservative Republicans (M 37.17; SE 1.32) scoring significantly lower (p<.02) on Openness then did the Liberal Democrats (M 42.31; SE 1.80); the Libertarians (p<.03) (M 43.29; SE 2.45) and those proclaiming no political affiliation (M 46.61; SE 1.27) (p<.0001). Moderate Republicans (M 38.56 SE 1.14) were significantly lower (p<.004) than those having no political affiliation (M 46.61; SE 1.27). These analyses demonstrated there was a significant interaction between the three RWA scales, the openness scale of the B-F and political preference/affiliation. These findings enhance our understandings of young voters and may ultimately contribute to better participation on their part in the political process.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

185

Personality and Mood States Correlation with Antisocial Scenario Responses Walker, V. & Craddock-Polk, S. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes, Anthony Bourgeois, Shane Hudson Human fascination with bizarre crimes and serial killers has been constant. The present study is designed to gain a better understanding of personalities presenting possible antisocial personality disorders. It also has the potential to predict deviant behavior based on personality sequences. Based on individual responses to a novel scenario, the investigators hope to gain insight into subconscious thought processes and be able to better understand how different personalities react to situational circumstances. The belief is that people who are able to come up with the correct answer to the theoretical situation and find the problem in its entirety positive have different personality traits than those who find the theoretical situation negative and/or are unable to come up with a correct solution. Several personality and mood measures were administered to gain insight into responses to the novel scenario. Included were the NEO-PI Big Five (B-F) measures personality which measures openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness; The Profile of Mood States (POMS) which assesses the mood states of tensions, depression, anger, fatigue, vigor, and confusion. These three measurements were used to determine if there was a correlation between personality predictions and scenario responses. Participants were 94 (19 male; 75 female) student volunteers recruited from classes at a large state university. The participants were asked to respond to the NEO-PI Big-Five as well as the Profile of Mood States (POMS).

The scenario used in the study was: “This is a story about a woman. While at a funeral of her own mother, she met a guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing, so much the dream guy that she was searching for that she fell in love with him immediately. However, she never asked for his name or number and afterward could not find anyone who know who he was. A few days later, the woman killed her own sister. Question: Why did she kill her sister?” “Answer: She killed her sister so there would be another funeral and maybe the guy would show up again.” All answers were categorized into either Positive (participants who thought the scenario answer was logical, humorous, questioned and morality, and love and empathy), Negative (illogical, anger and denial, dark and erratic, and apathetic), or Neutral (surprised or had already heard the answer before). SAS procedures were employed in order to conduct a MANOVA comparing B-F scores and POMS data of those correctly answering the psychopath scenario versus those that did not. Analyses comparing B-F and POMS data of the answer groups were also conducted. Participant responses were placed into three answer groups: people either responded in a positive, neutral, or negative manner. No significant effects were observed when comparing participants that correctly solved the psychopath scenario to participants that were unsuccessful. A MANOVA contrasting the three answer groups revealed that those in the neutral category were higher on B-F Extraversion than were to positive and the negative groups.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

186

Do Relationships Make Me Look Fat? The Relationship between Body Image and Verbal Commentary from Friends and Significant Others Warta, C. Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Danielle Lindner Body image is influenced by various factors in life, such as idealized body types and the feedback individuals receive in interpersonal relationships. Body dissatisfaction among individuals is associated with negative outcomes such as low self-esteem, depression, and disordered eating behaviors, like skipping meals, binge eating, and purging. Feedback on physical appearance can be positive or negative, and can greatly affect body image, depending on the context or frequency of comments as well as the value attached to the commentary as a function of the relationship between the individuals. Negative remarks from a significant other can be harmful to an individual’s body image in addition to satisfaction associated with physical appearance. The current literature indicates that appearance-related commentary has negative effects on an individual’s body image, eating behavior, and psychological wellbeing. During adulthood, significant others play the most important role in contributing to body image, whereas friends contribute the most in adolescence. Friends can initiate “fat talk”, a type of verbal commentary on physical appearance in which friends take part in calling themselves fat and can, therefore, influence an individual to do that same. Fat talk is harmful because of the initiation of criticism against each other and oneself. It can create unrealistic desires for one’s body and increase the internalization of those criticisms, thus increasing the likelihood of body dissatisfaction. Fat talk is not the only form of negative verbal commentary. Appearance-related teasing is another form of negative feedback, which can come from family members and peers. Teasing can be positive, but is normally negative, with the sole idea being to affirm social dominance over an individual, aiming to hurt, humiliate, or harass them. It can be harmful mentally, especially if it is directed toward an individual’s physical appearance or the individual’s body, which encourages them to compare their bodies with others based on physical attributes. To that end, the purpose of the present study is to examine how verbal commentary on physical appearance from friends and significant others is related to body image.

Participants (N = 208, MAge = 34.54, SD = 12.00) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, and 56.7% participants reported being in a committed relationship, while 43.3% reported being single. Data from an independent samples t-test indicated that men reported more negative feedback, from both significant others and friends, on weight and shape (NF-WS) than women. However, women reported more NF-WS from friends than from significant others. The strength of relationship between NF-WS from friends was identical for both men and women. Analyses also indicated that the relationship between NFWS from significant others was stronger in men than in women. Additionally, positive feedback on weight and shape (PF-WS) from friends strongly predicted body satisfaction more than PF-WS from significant others. Similarly, positive feedback on general appearance (PF-GA) from friends strongly predicted body satisfaction to a greater extent when compared to PF-GA from significant others. Given that there is a lack of research exploring whether verbal commentary from friends or romantic partners is more influential on body image as well as the relationship among men, body image, and interpersonal relationships, this research contributes a new understanding of body image to the current literature.

Friends and significant others have the ability to provide both positive and negative verbal commentary, so there is a critical need to explore both ends of the spectrum to identify the specific effects positive and negative commentary have on body image.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

187

College Adjustment: Did High School Really Matter?

Wilcox, K. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Angie MacKewn Little research has been conducted examining the differences between public and private school institutions in their effectiveness. Studies have investigated the relationship between academic success and the classification of school system attended prior to post-secondary institutions. Some studies found that young children who were enrolled in schools with smaller class sizes showed more advanced academic performance, but often behaved more disruptively in the classroom setting (NICHD, 2004).

Other studies performed before the advent of private school catering to lower-middle class families in suburbs of large cities examined the seeming correlation between public school students and their heightened success in the college atmosphere (Finger and Schlesser, 1963). However, once the researchers controlled for the personal values and psychological factors, they found that there was little significant difference between those students who were enrolled in public or private high schools. This implied that there was selection bias on the part of admissions offices for universities that favored those students in the public school system because of the different interests and worldviews emphasized in the private school systems. Today, however, many private schools have created a new concept of catering to lower-middle class families and a broad range of interests, rather than the traditional private schools catering to upper class families usually employed in big businesses or politics. This study proposes that today, there is little difference in the ability to adjust appropriately to the college atmosphere based on the type of high school attended. This study will examine three hypotheses. The first is that freshmen in college will show impairments in their adjustment levels, both socially and academically. To test this hypothesis, a One Way ANOVA will be performed on the high school situation (private, home school, public) and overall adjustment scores. Secondly, it is hypothesized that college students who were educated through the home school system will show impairments in their social adjustment levels in college. A second One Way ANOVA will be performed on high school situation (private, home school, public) on the social adjustment portion subscale of the College Adjustment Test. Lastly, although home school students are hypothesized to show social adjustment impairments, it is hypothesized that there will be no significant differences between high school situation in their ability to adjust academically. A third One Way ANOVA will be performed, using GPA as the dependent variable. A non significant p value will support this hypothesis. Data is currently being collected using an online survey will use the College Adjustment Test (CAT), (Pennebaker, 1990), to examine the adjustment levels of college students socially, and GPA scores will measure academic adjustment. Scores on the College Adjustment Test and GPA will be analyzed by type of high school attended to determine the differences, if any, that are present. If these hypotheses are supported, it could be said that any education up to the high school level is better than no education at all, and any one individual has the capacity to adapt to the situations presented in the college atmosphere, regardless of the previous academic experiences offered. Future research may look into whether certain type of curricula, whether offered in a public, private, or home school situation, may increase the chances of an individual adjusting appropriately to the college atmosphere.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

188

Predictors of Ethno-Cultural Empathy in College Students Wilcox, K. & Carter, R. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Susan Buckelew Cultural diversity opportunities, such as courses offering guidelines to minimizing biases, are positively correlated with empathy scores. Researchers have found that regardless of the ethnicity of professors, the opportunity to experience a course in cultural diversity significantly impacted the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; empathetic predispositions, and that increased number of opportunities to experience diversity had increased effects on their empathy. Openness to experiences as measured by the Big Five Personality Inventory were also positively correlated with empathy levels. Individuals who scored higher on the openness to experiences subscale were not only less likely to have firm racist attitudes, but also were more likely to accept information disconfirming negative racial stereotypes. In addition to these attitudes, high openness scores also increased the likelihood of a person accepting immigrants into their community. This study proposes that openness to experiences, interest in international travel study, and interest in a cultural diversity class can be used to predict total ethno-cultural empathy scores. After signing an informed consent, 147 students currently enrolled in cultural diversity class were administered a paper survey including measures of the Big Five Personality Inventory and an Ethno-cultural empathy, along with several demographics. To determine if overall empathy levels could be predicted from openness to experience scores on the Big Five Inventory, interest in participation in an international travel study, and interest in the cultural diversity course, a multiple regression analysis was performed using the stepwise method.

Assumptions were not met. A best fit model was chosen including the variables openness to experience and interest in an international travel study experience. The overall model was significant F (2, 127) = 14.59, p < .05. The adjusted R2 was .17, so 17% of the total empathy scores could be explained by variation in the openness to experience and interest in international travel study. The regression model was Total Ethno-Cultural Empathy Score= (.80 x openness to experience) + (1.78 x Interest in International Travel Study) + 93.13. If empathy can be predicted in part from openness to experiences and interest in international travel study opportunities, then increased opportunities to experience multiple cultures in a controlled environment could produce a generation with higher ethno-cultural empathy levels. Future research could explore how to integrate diverse experiences across communities to multiple age groups to increase empathic awareness. Future studies might could also look into whether college students should be required to experience more cultural diversity opportunities throughout their college experience.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

189

“It’s Only Weird if You’re Ugly:” Online Flirtation and Physical Attractiveness Wild, M. Murray State Uiversity Faculty Sponsor: Sean Rife Through apps such as Tinder and Grindr, individuals are using social media to facilitate casual sexual interaction. However, the ways in which physical attractiveness and type of interaction impact impressions formed over these services has yet to be determined. Given the unique nature of these platforms, typical expectations regarding socially normative behavior may not apply. This study examines the ways in which physical attractiveness interacts with high and low levels of flirtatious language in the form of an online chat site, mimicking the overall presentation and interaction style present in new media. The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of how individuals make judgments about the people with whom they interact online. Participants (undergraduate students in General Psychology) completed a series of short online questionnaires (a few brief questions regarding personal history, as well as sex, sexual activity, and sexual orientation) and interacted with an interviewer through an online chat interface, under the pretext that it was an interview segment of the same study. The study employed a 2x2 design.

Through random assignment, participants were presented with a photo of their supposed chat partner – a man or woman (depending on the participant’s sexual orientation) who had previously been rated as highly attractive or highly unattractive (using stimuli from the Chicago Faces Database; Ma, Correll, & Wittenbrink, 2015). Additionally, confederates were randomly assigned to employ high or low levels of flirtatious language during their interaction with participants (the confederate had specific standardized templates for high and low levels of flirtatious language in order to ensure relatively consistent types of interactions across all participants). After the chat portion was complete, participants were directed to a second questionnaire and asked how much they liked the interviewer, as well as how likely they were to interact with the interviewer in the future. It is hypothesized that a high amount of attraction paired with a high amount of flirtatious language will result in more positive appraisals of the interaction partner, as well as increased desire to continue interacting outside of the chat room in the future. We also hypothesize that participants in the unattractive/highly flirtatious condition would view the interviewer less favorably and express less desire to interact with him/her in the future. This study is collecting data and awaiting the final results. Data will be analyzed using multiple regressions, controlling for participant sex, age, and sexual experiences. Findings will be discussed in the context of social media use and impression formation.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

190

Attitudes Regarding People With Mental Illnesses Williams, K. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Christopher Cronin Individuals living with mental illnesses have experienced discrimination and stigmazation due to their illness for centuries. The effects of political alienation, economic inequality, and social segregation all influence the lives of individuals who live with a mental illness. As research shows, public attitude has a large role in how individuals with a mental illness see themselves. Research conducted by Norman, Sorrentino, Windell, and Manchanda (2008) found that the specific illnesses and participants’ personal values had an influence on social distance between themselves and a person with a mental illness.

However, the type of mental illness had a minor effect on the distance. A previous study conducted by Norman, Sorrentino, Windell, and Manchanda (2007) indicate an individual’s values influence their views on aspects of mental illnesses, such as social inappropriateness and level of perceived danger.

Pescosolido (2013) identifies two categories of concern that effect the level of stigmatization being the nature of the problem which is the specific mental illness, and the social environment. Various social environments refer to whether it is within a large group setting or an intimate environment as a determinant of the level of social rejection. Baumann (2007) says the “causes of stigma lie in comparisons” as the desire for social distance is related to the label of ‘mentally ill’ the individual is under, not the whole individual. Level of knowledge and education has an impact on individuals with mental illnesses self-stigmazation (Girma et al, 2013). The knowledge of mental illnesses and the public’s stigmazation continues to be targeted as campaigns to destigmatize mental illnesses travel. The purpose of this study was to identify the overall attitudes of participants regarding someone with a mental illness.

Research also was geared to measure a change in attitude when presented the opportunity to hear from a group of individuals who have been touched by mental illnesses, such as having one themselves or seeing a loved one’s experience with a mental illness. It is predicted that individual’s will not be as likely to hold stigmatizing views regarding individuals living with mental illnesses after the presentation. Data collection is in progress, with a total of 19 online surveys completed with a mean age of 22.8 and an anticipated 100 physical surveys completed from an educational presentation on November 12, 2015.

Participants were asked to read the implied consent form and to proceed if they agree to complete the survey. Participants responded to a demographic questionnaire and complete the Attribution Scale: Harry (Corrigan, 2012) (a = .817) before and after the presentation or once via the Qualitrics online survey system. An independent t-test and paired sample t-test will be used to identify differences between those who attended the presentation and those who completed the online survey. Implications and directions for future research will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

191

Parenting Status, Relationship Status, and Stress among African American College Students Williams, S., Davis, J., & Connor, C. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Phyllis Ford-Booker In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society, single parent college students are on the rise. These single parents face difficult day to day challenges such as additional stress and responsibilities in comparison to non-parent students.

Single parents attending college have many obstacles to overcome. There is an emotional adjustment to single mothering and bearing the sole responsibility for their children. Research revealed that women with young children and women who are no longer married have more stress than other women (McAdoo, 1995). Rab and Soresen (2010) conducted a study involving post-secondary education in the lives of unmarried parents in fragile families who are attending college. Their investigation showed that unmarried parents make up an exceptionally large section of undergraduates from different racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. While factors that contribute to stress among college students is well understood, the relationship between single-parent college students and stress is unclear and need further study.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the association between parenting status, relationship status and stress among African American college students. It is predicted that college students who are parents and single will report greater stress than college student who are not parents.

The single-parent college students will report experiencing stress more often and with greater intensity.

Also, since research suggest that religion may by a protective factor to stress, it is also predicted that those single parents who report greater religiosity will cope with stress more efficiently than those who report little association with religious faith. This study consisted of 98 (Male=24; Female=74) participants.

Single participants made up 81.8% and whereas those students in a committed relationship or married consisted of 18.4%. Of these participants, 7.1% reported being parents. The college student participants were classified by relationship status, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status, classification, gender and age. The mean age of the participants was 22.34 (5.56). The college student participants completed a consent form, demographic items and answered the questions on college student parenting and stress.

The results revealed a significant relationship between stress levels and the number of children a student had, r= -.27, p=.03. The results showed that among those students who were parents, there was a significant relationship between gender and â&#x20AC;&#x153;feeling torn between time spent on school work and time spent with kidsâ&#x20AC;? where females felt more torn (r =.77; p=.01). The data also showed that the low the family income, the more important it was to have child care services on campus. The overall goal of this study is to provide evidence of a relationship between single-parenting, attending college and stress.

These finding might provide relevance for the colleges providing services for college students who are parents.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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Effects of Positive Media on Transgender Implicit Attitudes and Petition-Signing Behavior Wilson, R. Mercer University Faculty Sponsor: Hanan Trotman Attitudes come in two forms: explicit (opinions one voices, whether honest or dishonest) and implicit (immediate gut reactions that occur outside of one’s conscious control). Because implicit attitudes do not need to be expressed overtly they are believed to be less susceptible to demand characteristics and therefore to be truer attitudes. Positive exposure to minority groups has been demonstrated to reduce implicit racist and homophobic attitudes. The purpose of this research is to see if positive exposure through media can also reduce implicit transphobia (prejudice against transgender people) and then if the reduced transphobia corresponds to a behavioral change. Under the cover story of a study on the effects of mood on memory and altruism, participants will learn unfamiliar words relating to gender identity and familiar words like “good” and “bad” and then watch either a positive media representation of a transgender girl (experimental prime) or an unrelated positive video (control prime); the video is presented as a mood-altering stimulus. Implicit Association Tests (IATs), computerized sorting tasks, will evaluate implicit attitudes. IATs flash stimuli quickly on screen and ask participants to press a corresponding key to sort them. Basic trials ask participants to press one key if the stimulus is a “cisgender” word or another key if the target stimulus is a “transgender” word. Later sets of trials include the “good” and “bad” judgment stimuli. One set of trials will map “cisgender” and “good” to the same key and “transgender” and “bad” to the other key. Another set of trials will reverse the pairing such that “cisgender” and “bad” are mapped to the same key and “transgender” and “good” are mapped to the opposite key. Reaction times will be faster in the condition with the stimulus pairing that matches participants’ implicit attitude. The IAT is presented as a memory task in which faster sorting reflects better recall of the previously learned unfamiliar words, and the familiar words are to establish baseline sorting speed. Distractor IATs using other words the participants learned will serve to maintain the cover story.

The behavioral measure is signing or not signing simulated petitions that participants are told may be presented to the university’s Student Government Association. This task is presented as the altruism measure; each petition extends privileges or rights to a specific group. The target petition asks the university to adopt a policy allowing transgender people to use the bathroom which matches their gender identity. Other petitions are distractors. Lastly, self-report questions will assess prior positive exposure to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people before the study. Target questions ask whether participants have seen positive media representations of LGBT people or have loved ones who are LGBT. These questions are presented as altruism questions to assess whether the petitions would personally benefit the participants or only benefit other people, the latter of which is altruistic. Consistent with prior research on race and sexual orientation, the participants who viewed the experimental prime or who already have high prior positive exposure should 1) have more favorable implicit attitudes toward transgender people as measured by the IATs and 2) be more likely to sign the target petition than participants who viewed the control prime and do not have much prior positive exposure. This study has implications for reducing both prejudicial attitudes and prejudicial behaviors. Additionally, this study offers insights into the connection between implicit attitudes and behavior. Many studies until now have related explicit attitudes with behavior or implicit attitudes with explicit attitudes. Data collection is ongoing but will be completed well before the conference.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

193

The Effects of Music on the Cognitive Abilities of Patients with Dementia Withers, Z. Xavier University of Louisiana Faculty Sponsor: Katherine E. Eskine Patients with Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Disease (AD) become deficient in areas of cognition such as language processing, memory retrieval, and broader executive functions and their cognitive impairment increases as they reach more advanced stages of the disease (Carter, Caine, Burns, & Ralph 2012). Previous research has revealed that music can improve specific behaviors (e.g., bath and mealtime routines), memory, and cognitive functioning of patients with AD (Bruer, Spitznagel, & Cloninger 2007). However, much of the extant research has focused on overall or global measures of cognitive abilities like memory, executive functioning, processing speed and given the manner in which these instruments pool various cognitive abilities it becomes impossible to isolate particular sub-componets of executive functioning (e.g., processing speed) (Petr, 2007). In the present experiment, we test specific cognitive abilities including short- and long-term memory, several specific sub-components of executive function, attention, and problem solving. In addition, we suspect that music can exert a much more powerful effect when the musical experience matches personal preferences of the individual patient. Moreover, the patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cognition, as well as his or her mood, and behavior would be improved. Research has shown that people particularly like music they listened to when they were 17 to 19 years old (Krumhansl, 2012). The purpose of our study is to objectively determine if listening to preferential music can induce a temporary improvement in specific cognitive function in people with dementia. A 2 (music vs. babble) X 2 (pre vs. post) repeated measures with-in subjects design was used. The music was self-selected from a list of chart topers from when the patient was 17-20 years old. Participants completed a number of cognitive tasks before and after listening to music or babble. The cognitive tasks included a measure of memory (REMT), verbal fluency (COWA), working memory (Digit Span), and executive function (Trails A and B).

Versions of the cognitive measures were counter balanced between the pre and post conditions. Also, the audio conditions were counter balanced between sessions. A 2 (music vs. babble) X 2 (pre vs. post) repeated measures ANOVA was calculated for each cognitive test. Preliminary results showed no significant differences between the music and babble conditions. However, our small sample contributed to very low power to detect difference in attention, verbal fluency, or executive function. In this on going study, we hope to have sample sizes large enough to show reliable changes in cognitive abilities. Future research will begin to explore the time frame and durability of any musically induced boosts in cognition.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

194

The Development of the Immigration Attitudes Scale Womack, R., Wade, L., Rubin, E., & Johnson, J. Samford University Faculty Sponsor: Jack W. Berry Immigration has long been a topic of political debate in the United States. For the past decade, immigration policies and procedures have been a polarizing issue, with extreme opposing opinions expressed in political and social domains. The purpose of the present study was to create an instrument, the Immigration Attitudes Scale (AIS), to accurately measure the attitudes people hold towards immigrants, immigration, and immigration policies. The aim was to create a measure that might be useful to researchers in their efforts to understand the psychological and social variables that predict attitudes toward immigration. Participant were 57 undergraduate students (7 male, 50 female) at a small private university in the southeastern United States who completed the initial items of the AIS along with a demographic survey that included questions about political party affiliation and asking whether the participant considered themselves liberal or conservative on social issues and economic issues. In addition, they completed the 44-item Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) and the Quick Discrimination Index (QDI; Ponterotto, Potere, & Johansen, 2002) to assess the construct validity of the IAS. Participant ages ranged from 19-24 (M=20.1). The sample included 8 freshmen, 19 sophomores, 17 juniors, and 13 seniors. The majority identified as Caucasian (46); the remaining participants identified as Asian and Pacific Islanders (4), Black/African American (4) and 3 identified as “Other.” Regarding political party, 10 participants indicated that they were Democrat, 37 Republican, and 10 another political party or no response. Forty participants self-identified as socially conservative while 17 identified as socially liberal; 45 participants self-identified as economically conservative and 12 as economically liberal. An initial pool of 27 items was developed for the IAS; each item is rated on a 6-point scale (from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”). One item with a low corrected item-total correlation was removed. A principal axis factor analysis found a single dimension that accounted for almost 40% of variance in items, with factor loadings ranging from .40 to .84. The final 26-item scale had a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .93. The final scale is scored such that higher scores indicate more favorable attitudes towards immigration. Example items are “Overall, immigrants are more of a burden than a benefit to the United States,” “Illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay,” “Immigrants strengthen the US with their hard work and talents,” “If a child of illegal immigrants is born in the United States, the child should not automatically become a citizen,” and “There should be a wall/fence built around the Southern border of the United States to keep out immigrants.” We hypothesized that the IAS would correlate positively with the QDI, which measures attitudes toward racial diversity and women’s equality; the correlation was .68, p<.001.

We also hypothesized that the IAS would correlate positively with the Big Five factor of Openness to Experience; the correlation was .33, p<.05. Although there were no significant differences on the IAS by political party affiliation or by economic liberalism versus conservatism, participants who self-identified as socially liberal had significantly higher scores than those who identified as socially conservative, t(55)=3.84, p<.001. The results of this pilot study indicate promising psychometric characteristics of the IAS; further research on larger, more representative US samples is needed to provide stronger evidence for the reliability and validity of this new psychometric instrument.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

195

Post-Traumatic Adaptation: The Effects of Childhood Experiences and Attachment Wood, A., McCormick, W., Sims, B., & Currier, J. University of South Alabama Faculty Sponsor: Joseph Currier Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) may elucidate the effect of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on symptom severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among emerging adults (EA).

Evidence suggests that approximately 9% of EA report clinically elevated scores for PTSD (Smyth et al., 2008) and 8-17% report clinically elevated scores for depression (Adams et al., 2014; Eisenberg et al., 2013). ACEs have been identified as a significant factor in psychological well-being throughout the lifespan, particularly depression (Chapman et al., 2004) and suicidality (Dube et al., 2001). Attachment theory may provide additional insight into the association between ACEs and psychological well-being.

Research indicates that attachment styles are predictive of depressive symptoms (e.g., Monti & Rudolph, 2014). Furthermore, both anxious and avoidant attachment have been associated with PTSD symptoms among trauma-exposed individuals (Besser et al., 2009). A total of 346 college students were recruited from a regional southeastern university to participate in this study. Participants completed an online survey consisting of the PTSD Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C; Weathers et al., 1993), Experiences in Close Relationships Scale- Short Form (ECR-S; Brennan, et al., 1998), Felitti et al.’s (1998) 10-item ACEs scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; Spitzer et al., 2009). A hierarchical regression was conducted with the PCL-C as the outcome variable and gender, ethnicity, and age entered as covariates.

The ACES scores were entered as a predictor variable in the second step of the regression, followed by the ECR-S subscale scores in the final step. As predicted, ACES scores (β = .306, p < .001), InsecureAnxious Attachment scores (β = .257, p < .001), and Insecure-Avoidant Attachment scores (β = .214, p < .001) were significant predictors of PCL-C scores, F(5,340) = 21.613, p < 001, accounting for 27.6 % of the variance. A second, almost identical, hierarchical regression was then conducted except PHQ-9 scores were entered as the outcome variable. ACES scores (β = .228, p < .001), Insecure-Anxious Attachment scores (β = .265, p < .001), and Insecure-Avoidant Attachment scores (β = .211, p < .001) were significant predictors of PHQ-9 scores, F(5,340) = 16.137, p < 001, accounting for 22.2% of the variance. Results indicate that anxious and avoidant attachment were uniquely predictive of PCL-C and PHQ-9 scores, in addition to ACEs. As such, this study illustrates the potential importance of understanding adult relational attachment and adverse childhood experiences among emerging adults with PTSD and depression. It is possible that continuing relational difficulties may frustrate PTSD and depressive symptomatology among EA who experienced ACEs earlier in life. This study possesses multiple limitations. Most importantly, it relies upon cross-sectional, correlational data that precludes drawing causal associations between the variables. Additionally, the study was conducted with EAs and may not be generalizable to individuals from other age ranges and generations. Still, the study provides preliminary evidence for the role ACEs and adult relational attachment as significant factors in the psychological well-being of EAs.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

196

Relationships between Stress, College Expectations, and Challenge/Threat Ratios Yates, R. & Vines, A. University of Tennessee at Martin Faculty Sponsor: Angelina Mackewn The ability to rise to a challenge, to cope with stress, and to adapt to expectations is fundamental to success in academia. Studies have shown that perceptions of tasks as challenges instead of threats increases productivity on stressful tasks. Specifically, individual perception of available resources versus the demands placed upon them have been demonstrated in simulated surgery tasks. This study is an adaptation applied to undergraduate college experiences. The current study is designed to correlate perceived stress, college expectations, and challenge/threat ratios. Stress levels will be calculated via self-report results on sources of stress and frequencies of coping behaviors, then calculated as a composite score, which will lastly be converted to a percentage. This allows for a projected range of low, moderate, and high levels for each. Challenge/threat ratios are calculated based on a Likert scale in which demand values are subtracted from available resource values to create a range -5 to +5. College expectations will be measured using subscales from the CSXQ, a self-report survey measure, then subsequently converted into a composite score, which will lastly be converted into a percentage.

Participants will be recruited from English, Psychology, and Social Work. The survey is hosted through Qualtrics. Participants will answer demographic questions such as age, current hours enrolled, ethnicity, challenge/threat Likert questions which ask how demanding participants perceive life and to what degree they have the resources to meet those demands, stress causes and coping behaviors, and subsections of the College Student Expectation Questionnaire (CSXQ).It is hypothesized that students with high challenge ratios are expected to have lower stress and higher college expectations, while higher threat ratios are expected to correlate with higher stress and lower college expectations. Pearson correlations will be performed to test whether this is the case, with linear regression performed if significant strength of relationships between variables is indicated from correlation results. Additionally, students with higher self-reported stress are expected to have lower college expectations, and vice versa. It is hoped that by studying these relationships, further analysis can be performed to find commonalities in stress and threat factors in future studies to improve student performance.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

197

The Relationship between Cyberbullying, Self-Esteem, Loneliness, and Fear of Evaluation Yore, J. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zachilli Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that includes using means such as instant messenger, text messaging, or Facebook to bully another person (Kowalski et al, 2008). Additionally, Patchin and Hinduja (2006) described cyberbullying as “willful and repeated harm through the medium of electronic text” (p. 152).

Cyberbullying can cause serious social and psychological problems, such as serious depressive symptoms and stress (Dehue et al., 2008). Cyberbullying has also been linked to suicide (Kowalski, Limber, & Agatston, 2008). The majority of the victims reported feeling angry, sad, and even not wanting to go to school, with only half reporting any such feelings to their parents (Dehue et al., 2008). It is may be difficult for victims to function and process what is happening. Some victims may have a fear that their peers will not like them and they may avoid addressing the issue of bullying (Hutchinson, 2012). Other victims may feel like if they do nothing the bully will leave them alone (Janson, 2009). Much of the research on cyberbullying has focused on teenagers but there have been some studies examining college students and adults. For example, Chapell et al. (2004) found that 24.7% of college students had witnessed someone else bully occasionally while only 2.8% reported witnessing bullying frequently.

Additionally, Zacchilli and Valerio (2011) found that only 1% of their sample of college students reported that they had been bullied while in college and only 1.5% of the sample reported that they had bullied someone while in college. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between cyberbullying and self-esteem, loneliness, and fear of evaluation. It is predicted that individuals who have been cyberbullied will have lower self-esteem, be high in emotional and social loneliness, and be fearful of negative evaluation. In the proposed study, participants will be recruited from a private faith-based university as well as through social media. Participants will respond to a demographics measure, Hinduja and Patchin’s (2009) Cyberbullying and Victimization Scale, Wittenberg’s (1986) Emotional and Social Loneliness Scale, The Revised Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (Leary, 1983), and Rosenberg’s (1965) Self-Esteem Scale. Participants recruiting process will go via email and through requests in psychology courses, and social media. The data collection will be conducted through Qualtrics online survey. Data collection is currently in progress and will be completed within two months. Additional research studies are planned to further examine the effects of cyberbullying on the victim. Additionally, the researchers would also like to examine the role of the bystanders as well as perceptions of the bully. Future directions for research and limitations of the current study will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

198

Undergraduate Oral Presentations Mood and Personality Predictors of Art Preference Bowersox, C. Texas A&M University Faculty Sponsor: Arnold LeUnes Research by Swami (2015) indicates that aesthetic stimuli may improve our understanding of individual differences in artistic preferences. However, those findings were exploratory and more comprehensive measures of individual differences in art preferences should be employed. Our study further investigated whether a person’s personality could determine their art preference. Additionally, we explored mood and life orientation (optimism or pessimism) as predictors. The objective of this research project is to investigate the extent to which an individual’s mood and personality predict their art preference. The significance of this research project is that if certain moods and personalities favor a particular genre of art, thus providing a better understanding of artistic styles. It can also display the way people express themselves through aesthetical choices. Five surveys were administered to 160 participants (males=43, females=122) enrolled in undergraduate classes at a large Southwestern public university: the Costa & McCrae (NEO-PI) Big Five Test, the Profile of Mood States Survey, and two measures of art preference.

Both art preferences surveys were administered electronically via URL link prior to the mood and personality surveys, which were garnered within a classroom. SAS procedures were employed to conduct a MANOVA. Thus, the six art genres (Impressionism, Abstract, Cubism, Japanese, Northern Renaissance, Secular Islamic) were compared on the Big Five (NEO-PI), and Profile of Mood States (POMS). A significant Wilks’ λ {F (70,608) = 1.66, p<0.001 was noted. Specifically, there were significant differences between genres on the POMS Tension scale (F5, 140) = 2.44, p< 0.04), Depression scale (F5, 140) = 4.46, p<0.0008), Anger scale (F5, 140) = 3.54, p< .005), Confusion scale (F5, 140) = 3.35, p< 0.007), and Total Mood Disturbance composite score (F5, 140) = 3.50, p< .005). The Masculine-Feminine construct was also found to be highly significant (F5, 140) = 8.62, p< 0.0001) between genres. Finally, the AbstractRealism construct (F5, 140) = 3.90, p< 0.002) also found specific differences between genres. It is intriguing that mood was so strongly related to art genre preference. This would suggest research to further investigate this relationship. Specifically, observing the relationship between art genres and POMS indices of Tension, Depression, Anger, and Confusion. Depression was the most significant of the POMS measures, suggesting that variances in mood between genres can be most identified through depression.

Additionally, the Big Five (NEO-PI) reveals that Openness has a relationship with art genre preference.

This dimension was initially hypothesized as a predictor because people low on Openness tend to be conventional, un-artistic, and un-analytical while people high on Openness tend to be curious, creative, and untraditional. These characteristics logically seem relevant in relation to artistic preference. The relationship between mood and art preference might suggest inclusion of artistic material in a therapy regimen.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

199

Evaluating Effectiveness of a Sexual Assault Prevention Seminar: The Role of Presenter and Audience Gender Briggs, L. Piedmont College Faculty Sponsor: Megan Hoffman Sexual violence against women is a complex issue which impacts approximately 1 in 5 women in the United States and has gained national attention, especially on college campuses (Suarez and Gadalls, 2010). In recent years, many prevention and awareness campaigns have been created in an effort to increase awareness about sexual violence (Stewart, 2014) and extensive research has been completed on the topic of sexual assault and bystander awareness (Lafrance, Loe & Brown, 2012). However, most of these programs have not considered the role of gender in evaluating program effectiveness. Furthermore, few studies involve education that promotes consent. Many studies also consider avoidance as a form of sexual assault prevention, which may encourage unintentional victim blaming. The current study examined how the gender of the individual presenting the seminar and the gender of the participants influenced the effectiveness of a sexual assault and bystander awareness seminar. The male and female participants (n =61) were exposed to a pre-recorded seminar, narrated either by a male or a female. The seminar was presented in a video format which lasted 15 minutes and covered topics of common rape myths and the importance of bystander intervention. Before completing the seminar, the participants completed the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Payne, 2011) and a bystander attitude and bystander efficacy scale (Boston College Student Affairs, 2011). Following the seminar, the participants completed these same questionnaires. It was hypothesized that male students would respond more positively to a male presenter, specifically pertaining to bystander awareness. The data were analyzed using an independent t-test which revealed that there was no effect of gender representation on the rape myth adherence for male (M=38.54, SD=13.75) or female (M=33.76, SD=11.49) participants; [t(59)=-1.47, p=.147]. When comparing the bystander awareness surveys in female (M=47.11, SD=3.88) and male (M=50.59, SD=5.00) participants, the results were also not statistically significant for either condition; [t(59)=.776, p=0.441]. However, male participants (M=50.59, SD=5.00) scored significantly higher on bystander awareness surveys in comparison to female participants (M=47.11, SD=3.88) in both conditions [t(59)=-3.053, p=.003]. Limitations such as small sample size and time constraints were considered, along with the gender of the individual presenting both seminars. It could be suggested that further research include same gender, peer led prevention programs that involve multiple sessions and repeated measures.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

200

Ethnic Differences in Self-Efficacy Daly Stennis, S. Southern Adventist University Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Williams There has been growing concern, in the United States, on the low representation of African Americans in academia and the subpar academic performance of many African American students (Mackell, 2011; Cowan, 2014; Vincent, 2014; Sandoval-Lucero, 2014). The concern is justified. Within the United States, African Americans tote one of the lowest high school graduation rates (Stetser, 2014). Furthermore, statistics have shown poor enrollment rates in post-secondary programs for African American individuals in comparison to other minority groups (Vincent, 2014; Dawkins, 2006; Sandoval-Lucero, 2014). The African American community is faced with an achievement gap, which is described as an occurrence where “one group of students outperforms another group, and the difference in average scores for the two groups is statistically significant” (Cowan, 2014). The literature has attempted to explain this anomaly.

A large portion of the studies show how socioeconomic standing and parental involvement play a role in this achievement gap. A more modest smattering used psychological factors to explain the deplorable academic achievement in African Americans. One such psychological factor, self-efficacy, lacked in-depth information; regarding its association to African American academic success.

The purpose of this study was to describe self-efficacy levels of individuals of different ethnic groups. The underlying rationale was to find out if self-efficacy may be a factor that explains academic opportunity gaps and to gauge if a particular ethnic group actually has less confidence in their abilities. The study was non-experimental and used a survey methodology as a means to collect data. The study was guided by two hypotheses: (1) There are ethnic differences in self-efficacy among students at a particular University, (2) There is a positive relationship between self-efficacy and perceived academic performance. Four research questions were also used. These questions pertained to gender and academic discipline. The sample of convenience consisted of 394 students from an Adventist University. There was a higher proportion of females (n = 217) to males (n = 177). Ethnic group breakdown seemed to be reflective of the United States, with Asian/Pacific Islander (n = 73), Black (n = 56), Hispanic (n = 70), White (n = 173), Multi-racial (n = 17), and Other (n = 3). A 14-question survey was given to these individuals, with questions that ascertained self-efficacy, ethnicity, gender, age, class standing, academic discipline, and perceived academic success. Results showed that there was no significant difference in self-efficacy between differing ethnic groups (F(4, 370) = 1.36, p = 0.248). It also showed no difference in terms of selfefficacy for academic discipline (F(9, 370) = 0.716, p = 0.695) or age (F(1, 370) = 2.08, p = 0.15). However, the results did find significance in a few areas. There was a statistically significance gender difference in selfefficacy (F(1, 370) = 15.31, p < 0.001), with males toting higher scores. There was also a positive correlation between GPA and self-efficacy (β = 2.73, t(348) = 4.912, p < 0.001). Within the data an anomaly was found in that females had higher perceived academic performance, but had lower self-efficacy scores.

This may be due to a construct bias in the self-efficacy test or some other anomaly. Further research should be done to answer this. Even though this study did not find a difference in self-efficacy between ethnic groups, this may be due to sample constraints. This topic is relevant because it can further elucidate how different sexes and ethnic groups believe in their capabilities and this can be extrapolated to academia to answer the question of achievement gaps.

Key words: African American, academic performance, self-efficacy, gender differences

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

201

Social Support and Coping Styles of Depressed and Suicidal College Students Johnson, A. Saint Leo University Faculty Sponsor: Tammy Zacchilli The college years that students experience are years of change and exploration and a time to find oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity (Chao, 2012). These changes can be what contributes to various stressors such as being home sick, making new friends, academic life, dating, and financial problems (Chao, 2012). These transitions are what may also require students to appraise their resources of social support and coping strategies to manage stress (Chao, 2012). For students to manage their stress, positive social support and useful coping strategies are necessary (Chao, 2012). The purpose of the study was to examine whether there was a relationship between coping, social support, depression, and suicidal thoughts in college students.

It was predicted that females were more likely to show signs of depression and suicidal thoughts. It was also predicted that high social support would be related to low depressive symptoms. Participants were recruited through contacting professors via email. The primary investigator collected data in the classroom setting and a counselor was present while participants completed the surveys. The counselor also debriefed the students and provided resources for the university counseling center. Participants completed a packet of surveys which included a demographic questionnaire, the Social Support Appraisals Scale (Vaux, Phillips, Holly, Thomson, Williams & Stewart, 1986), the CES-D Scale (Radloff, 1977), the Brief Cope Scale (Carver, 1997), and the Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire (SBQ-R; Osman, Bagge, Guitierrez, Konick, Kooper & Barrios, 2001). The Brief Cope Scale includes 14 subscales that measure different ways to cope. Participants included 33 males, 53 females, and 2 participants did not report gender. The mean age of participants was 20.26 (SD = 3.93). The majority of the sample was Caucasian (38.6%) with 27.3% Hispanic, 22.7% African American, 1.1% Asian American, 3.4% Caribbean, and 6.8% reported other. The majority of the sample was heterosexual (84.1%) while 2.3% were homosexual, 4.5% were bisexual, and 1.1% was asexual. Correlations were calculated between depression, suicidal thoughts, social support, and coping. The Social Support Appraisals Scale (Vaux et al, 1986) was not significantly related to any of the variables. Depression was significantly related to suicidal thoughts (r = .56, p < .01), using substances to cope (r = .30, p < .01), using self-blame to cope (r = .55, p < .01), behavioral disengagement (r = .64, p < .01), denial (r = .48, p < .01), emotional support (r = .29, p < 01), and instrumental support (r = .35, p < .01). Suicidal thoughts was significantly related to using substances to cope (r = .53, p < .05), using self-blame to cope (r =.45, p < .01), behavioral disengagement (r = .35, p < .05), denial (r = .31, p < .01), emotional support (r = .46, p < .01), and instrumental support (r = .43, p < .01). Gender differences were calculated using One-Way ANOVAs. Females scored higher (M = 42.53, SD = 9.61) than males (M = 38.03, SD = 6.41) on depression [F(1,78) = 5.28, p < .05]. Females also scored higher on suicidal thoughts (M = 8.78, SD = 4.58) than males [M = 6.00, SD = 3.22; F(1, 47) = 4.95, p < .05]. Finally females scored higher on behavioral disengagement (M = 3.38, SD= 1.58) than males [M = 2.53, SD = .98; F(1, 83) = 7.39, p < .01]. Results indicate that individuals who are depressed or have suicidal thoughts may use poor coping mechanisms. Specifically these individuals report using self-blame, using substances, and behavioral disengagement (i.e., giving up) to cope. However, they also report having both emotional and instrumental support which is important aspect of coping. Directions for future research and limitations will be discussed.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

202

But What About Me? Coping Strategy Differences Among Bereaved Adults After Parental Death Miller, S. Stetson University Faculty Sponsor: Richard Medlin One of every nine people in the United States will lose a parent before the age of 20. Previous research has suggested that there are gender and cultural differences in the ways people cope with loss, and that coping strategies may change with age. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between grief coping strategies among participants who had lost one or both parents and participants’ gender, ethnic background, and age. The hypotheses were: (1) females will use Support-Seeking while males will use Avoidant coping; (2) Caucasians will use Active coping, African-Americans will use Avoidant coping, and Asians will use Support-Seeking; (3) age will be negatively correlated with Behavior Misconduct. Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 131 participants were recruited to complete an anonymous online survey. To be eligible to participate, individuals had to be over 18 years of age and to have lost a parent within the last 10 years. The average age of the sample was 40 years; 85 were female and 46 were male; 99 identified themselves as Caucasian, 8 as African-American, 8 as Asian, and 16 as other. Participants received remuneration of 30 cents for completing the 10-15 minute survey. The survey included the 30-item Inventory of Traumatic Grief (ITG), which measures intensity of experienced grief, the 10-item Coping Flexibility Scale (CFS), which determines if a person tends to use more than one coping strategy in stressful situations, and 26 items selected from the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced scale (COPE). The COPE items assess the use of the following coping styles: Active, Support-Seeking, Avoidant, Denial, Religion, and Behavior Misconduct. Sample COPE items include “I took additional action to try to feel better,” (Active); “I tried to get advice from someone about what to do,” (Support-Seeking); “I turned to work or other substitute activities to take my mind off things,” (Avoidant); “I acted as though it did not happen,” (Denial); “I sought God’s help,” (Religion); and “I became physically violent,” (Behavior Misconduct). To test the first hypothesis, two t-tests were used to compare men and women’s scores on the Support-Seeking and Avoidant COPE subscales. There was a significant difference for Avoidant scores only, t (128) = 2.21, p = .029, because contrary to the hypothesis, women (mean Avoidant score = 6.87) reported using this strategy more often than men (5.94). To test the second hypothesis, a MANOVA was performed with ethnic background (Caucasians, African-Americans, and Asians only) as the factor and Active, Avoidant, and Support-Seeking scores as the dependent variables.

The multivariate effect of ethnic background was significant, F (3, 110) = 2.15 (p = .049, n² = .055).

Subsequent univariate tests revealed a significant effect of ethnic background for Active coping scores only, F (2,112) = 4.16, (p = .018, n² = .069), because Caucasians used this strategy more than the other groups, as expected. To test the third hypothesis, age was correlated with COPE subscale scores. As predicted, there was a significant negative correlation between age and Behavior Misconduct scores, r (130) = -.238 (p = .006). Age was also significantly positively correlated with Religion, r (130) = .296 (p = .001) and negatively with Denial scores, r (130) = -.259 (p = .003). Other results included a significant negative correlation between ITG scores and CFS scores, r (130) = -.244 (p = .005). The result that females used Avoidant coping more than males contradicts previous research, suggesting that further studies of gender differences would be helpful.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

203

Bilingual and Monolingual Performance on an Attentional Blink Task: Working Memory Effect Mitchell, K. Maryville College Faculty Sponsor: Chad Schrock Evidence for a bilingual advantage in cognitive function is mixed, with some studies claiming an advantage for bilinguals (Margarita 2009, Perquin 2013, Wattendorf 2014), and some studies finding no bilingual advantage or even a disadvantage? (Khare 2013, Pelham & Abrams 2014). One explanation for the mixed findings is the variation in the cognitive tasks performed by participants in these studies.

Cognitive tasks can vary widely in many dimensions, including complexity, memory load, processing type, and single-task vs multiple-task design. In the current study, monolingual and bilingual performance is compared on two versions of the Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task (RSVP) developed by Shapiro (1990). The standard version of the RSVP is a low-level visual attention task requiring participants to detect two particular stimuli presented within a rapidly changing visual display. Results of the RSVP are usually interpreted as demonstrating that engaging and disengaging attention from simple visual targets requires a relatively invariant amount of time (the attentional blink). A dual-task version of the RSVP was also created that included a working memory load for each trial, in this case a three digit randomly generated number presented at the start of each trial, and recalled at the completion of each trial. In previous studies examining bilingual vs. monolingual performance on the RSVP task, bilinguals perform slightly worse on identifying the second target stimuli, suggesting bilinguals are slower to disengage from a visual target. This is an intriguing result, as other studies suggest that bilinguals have an attention advantage over monolinguals, particularly with more complex cognitive tasks (Kohlers 1965). Based on these findings, I hypothesized that bilingual and monolingual performance would not differ in the single task procedure, but that monolinguals would show an advantage in the dual-task condition. Twenty-one participants provided data for the study; twelve English monolinguals (N=12) and nine fluent bilinguals.

The bilingual participants were all proficient in English as well as a range of other languages from Spanish to Arabic. The tasks were two versions of the RSVP task, programmed in E-Prime. In the standard version, single black letters were presented on a grey screen for seventeen milliseconds each, with one randomly placed stimuli presented in white (Target 1). Following the white stimuli, the letter “X” (Target 2) was presented from 1 to 8 letters following Target 1. The participant was asked to identify the letter presented in white (either a “B” “G” or “S”) and to verify the presence of the letter “X” following Target 1. In the dual-task version, a memory stimuli was presented for 1000ms at the start of each trial, consisting of a randomized three-digit number immediately preceding the letter string. At the end of each trial, participants identified Target 1, verified the presence of Target 2, and recalled the 3-digit memory string. Each participant completed a block of 125 standard trials, and a block of 125 dual-task trials.

Analysis using A two-way mixed ANOVA showed a significant advantage for bilinguals for the dual-task condition for recall of the memory string. Monolinguals recalled 83.15% of memory strings correctly, while bilinguals recalled 90.33% of memory strings, (p < .05). Consistent with prior studies, there was no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in the single task procedure. The current study suggests that the mixed findings for bilingual influences on cognition may be due to the nature of the cognitive task. In the present study, a bilingual processing advantage was limited to dual-task procedure. Whether bilinguals have an advantage in other types of dual-tasks appears to be an area worth investigating.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

204

The Relationship Between Masculine Characteristics and Self-Perceived Leadership Ability.

Mode, G. The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina Faculty Sponsor: Lindsay Greenlee The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not identification with masculine characteristics influences self-perceived leadership ability and confidence. Previous research has shown that women who display characteristics common in males tend to be evaluated as more effective leaders (Gervais & Hillard, 2011). Like this previous study, much of the research focused on leadership ability tends to focus on gender rather than social role. However, given that Social Role Theory (Eagly, 1987) has been examined as a factor in decisions to take on leadership roles, but Role Congruity Theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) indicates that people could suffer backlash if they mismatch the prescribed role for their gender, it seemed likely that gender role characteristics would affect comfort and ability in leadership roles. In this study, 131 undergraduate students were asked to complete an online survey. Included in that survey was a measure of self-agreement with masculine characteristics (Dimensions of Gender Role Stereotypes; Diekman & Eagly, 2000) and a number of questions regarding comfort level and ability in leadership positions. All questions, including the masculinity measure, were administered using a 7-point scale.

First, a reliability analysis was conducted on the gender role measure, and this measure showed high reliability for our sample for the masculine characteristics (Îą = .78) and the feminine characteristics (Îą = .80). Next, regression analyses were conducted. The data showed that there was a significant predictive relationship between self-agreement with masculine characteristics and feeling more like a leader, F(1, 130) = 7.03, p = .01. In comparison, this result did not hold true for those indicating more self-agreement with feminine characteristics, F(1, 130) = 2.13, ns. In addition, regression analysis also showed a predictive relationship between self-agreement with masculine characteristics and leadership leading to a more positive evaluation of well-being, F(1, 130) = 27.43, p < .01. Again, there was no significant result for those agreeing highly with feminine characteristics, F(1, 130) = ,018, ns. Interestingly, gender role characteristics, such as masculinity, was more related to self-efficacy as a leader rather than gender in our study. Our result is similar to previous literature indicating that masculine gender role characteristics increase the perceived effectiveness of a leader (Gervais & Hilliard, 2011). Combining these two research ideas, it seems that holding more masculine characteristics seems to assist in the leaderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s delivery of a message by improving self-confidence while also conveying confidence to an audience (Gervais & Hilliard, 2011). Finally, our study showed that self-perceived leadership confidence has positive consequences like improved well-being.

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

205

INDEX Aberman, T., Addair, D. Akmal, S. Alexander, C. Alexander, D. Allyn, V. Anderson, A. Ault, L. Aults, C. Baeten, A. Baker, B. Baird, N. Banks, R. Barbosa, J. Barrett, M. Barnes, A, Barry, C. Bartholomew, Z. Barton, K. Bascom, O. Bates, R. Bausum, K. Beacham, C. Bensch, A. Bernier, R. Bouie, G. Bouldin, B. BovĂŠ, M. Bowersox, C. Boyd, R. Boyer, C. Boytos, A. Braley, A. Brand, L. Brewe, A. Briggs, L. Brinson, C. Broadway, R. Bronner, A. Brown, H. Bryars, C. Bullock, S. Bunnell, E. Burke, B. Burks, A. Burnell, D. Callahan, J Calvert, S. Camden, A. Campbell, E. Campos, M. Capodanno, M. Carley, E.

21, 45, 85 2 99, 139 3 51 4 153 144 47 100 129 25 45 101 6 129 116 5 79 69 35 4 6 5 102 103 21, 45, 85 7 199 5 21 8 54 9 104 200 105 10 97 45 11 106 12 107 88, 185 108 13 14, 48, 66 3, 91 105 109 15 153

Carroll, M. Carter, A. Carter, M. Carter, R. Chandler, B. Chapman, J. Chase, K. Cherry, B. Chunn, C. Ciampaglio, C. Clarke, Z. Claudia, C. Clevinger, A. Collier, C. Colon-Motas, K. Connor, C. Connor, T. Combast, H. Corey, M. Coyle, B. Crabtree, A. Craddock-Polk, S. Crespo, N. Cristiano, B. Crittendon, D. Currier, J. Cushen, P. Daly Stennis, S. Dandy, K. Daniels, J. Daniels, K. Darugar, E. Davila, M. Davis, J. Davis, S. Dean, D. Deans, L. Dearce, N. Dickey, J. DeLucia, D. Dobbs, C. Doss, H. Doucette, K. Driskill, L. Dronet, D. DuMont, H. Dunlap, S. Dyce, C, Eddleman, P. Edomwonyi, E. Edwards, J. Ellis, D. Epstein, M.

115 97 62 189 4 16 17 129 153 58 105 18 15 110 111 192 19 112 20 113 114 187 16 120 115 196 115 201 6 115 116 45 117 192 21, 45, 85 163 129 21, 85 24 21, 85 118 42 71 115 138 17 45 21 22, 78 119 23 24 21

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

Evans, J. Eyer, J. Ferguson, G. Fields, B. Filson, R. Flowers, K. Ford, C. Foster, A. Fowler, H. Franco, C. Frantom, A. Garber, K. Gardner, E. Gardner, L. Geilar, K. Graham, B. Graham, J. Grant, M. Greenburg, J. Groark, S. Golson, J. Gonzales, J. Gordon, A. Gouge, N. Granberry, A. Grom, E. Grossman, A. Harding, M. Hare, S. Harnish, F. Harrison, L. Harrison, T. Herzer, K. Higdon, L. Hightower, J. Hill, S. Hilt, M. Hindman, B. Hokett, E. Holder, R. Holliman, M. Hoppenworth, S. Horowitz, K. Howard-Allen, L. Hudson, C. Hughs, H. Hussey, J. Hutchins, B. Ingle, A. Irby, A. Irvine, T. Isaac, W. Jay, A. Johnson, A. Johnson, J. Jenerette, C.

79 25 26 27 120 28 50 29 30 121 122 162 31 123 124 32 19 33 34 16 83 35 36 37 41 38, 39 5 125 140 56 40, 68, 75 41 16 95 99 14 42 13, 43 44, 77 126 127 25 45 128 129 46 130 131 35 132 47 4 48, 66 202 195 6

Jenkins, S. Jones, A. Jones, D. Jones, R. Keeler, M. Kelley, M. Kelly, A. Kennedy, P. Kenny, K. Kiesling, A. Killion, J. Kimball, M. King, I. Kirstein, S. Klosson, C. Landaverde, E. Law, A. Law, N. Ledford, T. Leo, E. Lewis, E. Lewis, T. Liller, R. Lollis, M. Lucyx, R. Lynch, E. MacKillop, J. MacLellan, A. Manley, L. Mayers, S. Maxwell, M. McCormick, W. McCoy, J. McDonald, J. McHone, A. McKinney, K. Meeks, M. Mendel, R. Middleton, T. Miller, S. Miller, S. Mironovova, Z. Mistretta, A. Mitchell, J. Mitchell, K. Mode, G. Montanye, M. Mooneyham, G. Moore, S. Moorehead, A. Morris, J. Murray, J. Nagaisha, M. Nierle, H. Nir, T. Norris, T.

133 134 180 49 50 22 58 135 136 51 137 185 138 5 52 138, 99 140 53 28 82 115 45 141 81 142 54 161 143 144 55 37 196 56 145 147 57 58 146 71 81 203 147 148 28 204 205 24 59 37 149 60 122, 150, 151 62 21, 45, 85 152 61

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnel, C. Okafor, C. Okoro, G. Oliveria, A. Olivier, T. Owen, H. Owens, M. Owens, S. Pace, R. Page, J. Patron, S. Pewett, S. Phillips, S. Pierce-Tomlin, T. Pinzon, C. Pittman, R. Polenske, A. Pope, M. Porter, A. Pratt, K. Price, C. Price, T. Ralston, H. Rapoport, M. Ratchford, J. Reisinger, D. Repp, Z. Richard, D. Richardson, T. Roark, C. Robinson, L. Rodriguez, L. Rogers, M. Roll, B. Ross, K. Rounds, E. Rubin, E. Rumph, J. Russell, E. Russell, I. Sacco, V. Salazar, C. Sales, R. Salter, A. Salzberg, C. Samuda, S. Samuel, J. Sanchez, F. Sanders, S. Satterwhite, A. Sayers, B. Schlenther, A. Schultz, T. Sebastian, B. Settler, K. Sherman, M.

98 119 153 50 130 149 161 72 87 154 155 81 156 157 158 62 63 64, 65 159 48, 66 160 37 103 161 67 104 68, 75 162 55 69, 70 71 72 163 50 115 73 195 74 164 165 166 75 180 35 16 167 168 169 129 76 165 170 77 22, 78 115 115

Shriver, L. 21, 45, 85 Shuman, K. 63 Sicilia, N. 5 Siegenthaler, E. 10 Simmons, D. 60 Sims, B. 196 Singleton, C. 45 Sisco, Z. 171 Skeete, C. 20 Spangenburg, C. 72 Smith, C. 98 Smith, K. 172 Soares, C. 173 Spence, T. 174 Spencer, K. 185 Stallworth, A, 79 Stanfield, V. 175 Stanley, N. 176 Stansberry, E. 109 Stephens, D. 177 Stewart, C. 178 Stinson, K. 80 Street, K. 179 Stout, S. 151 Sutton, B. 129 Szeman, M. 81 Taffer, A. 5 Tambling, C. 18 Taylor, C. 82 Taylor, L. 180 Thede, D. 83 Thomas, A, 84 Thomas, T. 21, 45, 85 Tilley, D. 181 Transou, C. 103 Trone, K. 86 Tomlin, L. 87 Varner, S. 182 Vaught, D. 183 Vazquez, S. 184 Vega, S. 88, 185 Velazquez, N. 89 Villarosa, M. 123 Vines, A. 197 Vineyard, T. 90 Vorder Bruegge, M. 91 Wade, L. 193 Wagner, S. 92 Wait, S. 166 Wallace, M. 93 Walker, V. 186 Warta, C. 187 Wells, E. 163 Wheeler, J. 4 Wilcox, K. 188, 189 Wild, M. 190

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

Williams, K. Williams, S. Wilson, C. Wilson, K. Wilson, R. Withers, Z. Womack, R. Wood, A. Woods, D. Yang, J. Yangchen, T. Yates, R. Yeung, K. Yore, J. Zhang, X. Zunic, D.

191 192 163 45 193 134, 194 195 196 71 94 95, 96 197 53 198 97 98

2016 CEPO/PSI CHI Undergraduate Research Session

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