2021-2022 Senior Honors Theses
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/10473
This collection contains theses produced by Class of 2022 Honors students
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Browsing 2021-2022 Senior Honors Theses by Department "Psychology, Department of"
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Item Comparing Parent and Child Interactive Play in the Lab and Home: A Look Into a Child's Optimal Visual Learning Experience(2022-05-03) Pham, Jo-AnneRecent technological advancement allows developmental researchers to use small cameras that can be attached to a child's and parent’s head and document first person view, characterizing child’s and parent’s visual experiences. However, this mainly took place in the laboratory and has recently been introduced into the home setting. There are some uncertainty whether or not laboratory studies accurately reflect everyday interactions between the parent and child. In order to further understand this concept and validate previous laboratory studies in the home, we brought common laboratory equipment, such as the eye tracking cameras, toys, and furniture, into the participant’s home to investigate 1) the feasibility of replicating laboratory studies with head cameras and eye tracking devices and 2) the similarities and differences in typical parental scaffolding behaviors and infant visual experiences in the two settings. This study serves as a feasibility study as well as a case study with one parent and child dyad in each setting (both babies are 10 months old, White, male, and have high SES). Results indicate that parent object holding, object naming, and infant visual gaze have longer duration in the laboratory, however parent verbal behaviors are similar across the two settings. These findings support parental scaffolding behaviors previously observed in laboratory settings, however, they show that these behaviors are more prominent in the laboratory.Item Gender Differences in Job Search and Networking Behaviors Among Scholars(2022-04-29) Barnes, DuBois H.For this study, we sought to determine if gender plays a role in various work-related behaviors. Gender was used as a moderator for all four hypotheses. Analysis software was SPSS. A binary logistic regression was used to analyze three of the hypotheses. Hypothesis 3 had a continuous outcome variable of h-index, so a linear regression analysis was used. For hypothesis 1 and 2, we analyzed the relationship between networking behaviors and job search/job offers. For H3 and H4 we looked at whether increasing networking behaviors increased h-index but more-so for men, and if a high h-index resulted in higher chance of job offer for men than women. No significant results were found for any analyzed interactions. Implications for this study include how length of career and h-index score can increase the likelihood of networking and decrease job seeking. This can be useful for identifying populations interested in changing employment, and identifying populations that may benefit from networking interventions. Additionally, it suggests future research is needed regarding stage in career and employment behaviors. Further research on gender differences in networking and job search is needed.Item NEURAL CORRELATES OF EMOTION REGULATION IN A SAMPLE OF SYRIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN: AN ERP STUDY(2022-08-11) Mohamad, HanaIntroduction: The Syrian War led to millions of displaced families all around the world. A large portion of those refugees were children, who had to grow up abroad. The United States opened its doors to Syrian refugees, many of which resettled in Texas. As a result, many of these families, including the children, suffer challenges that may include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. This study focuses on differences in regulation of emotions in these refugee children, whether they have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and if they show resilience. Methods: Using a multi-method approach, the study consisted of the Emotion Regulation Task that measures event-related potentials (ERP) from an electroencephalograph (EEG) reading, and two surveys. The Emotion Regulation Task consists of three trial conditions (while measuring the ERP): look-neutral, look-negative, and decrease-negative. One survey is the Children’s Impact of Event Scale 13 measure (CRIES-13), which assesses the children for symptoms of PTSD, and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-R) which measures resiliency. Results: Age has a significant correlation with condition for the area under the curve (F (2,22) =4.02, p=.03). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with ERP trials conditions within-subject factors and max value as the outcome approached significance (F (2,24) = 2.80, p=.08). No other variables were significant. Discussion: The main significant effect was between age and condition, which indicated that the participants reacted differently, or had different abilities in regulating emotion when interacting with the various tasks due to age. Further research is to be conducted with a larger sample, language modifications, and stricter age classifications among others.Item The Association Between Anxiety Sensitivity and Food Cravings among Individuals Seeking Treatment for Weight-Related Behaviors(2022-05-11) Salwa, AniquaObesity is a chronic and highly prevalent condition in the United States. In an effort to address the management and prevention of obesity, it is important to understand motivational processes that may guide maladaptive eating processes and contribute to or maintain weight gain. Existing work has shown anxiety sensitivity (AS) to be a significant risk factor for increased cravings across a variety of health behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol use). Yet, no work has examined the relationship between AS and state-like food cravings. Therefore, the current study sought to examine the association between AS and a variety of state-like food cravings, including: (1) an intense desire to eat, (2) anticipation of relief from negative states and feelings/improvement in mood that may result from eating, (3) obsessive preoccupation with food or lack of control over eating, and (4) craving as a physiological state. Participants included 161 (Mage = 31.58, SD = 10.71; 60.9% female) individuals seeking treatment for weight-related behaviors. Results indicated that elevated AS was associated with reinforcement-based and physiological food cravings. Our findings indicate that there may be clinical utility in screening for AS among individuals seeking treatment for weight-related behaviors.Item The Impact of Race on The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Life Satisfaction And Meaning In Life(2022-04-27) Alhassan, Amena N.Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has been a concept many speak of in regard to the impact it has on the growth of an individual from the perspective of their mental and physical health. However, ACEs not only impact an individual at the moment of their occurrence but cause long-lasting impacts throughout their life, based on the severity of the experience they had. The present study used three variables to analyze the impact of ACEs on Satisfaction with Life, Meaning in Life-Search, and Meaning in Life-Presence, to investigate whether racial background can alter an individual's score on the questionnaires asked. Methods: Participants included college students between the ages of 17-25. There were a total of 778 participants, with 81.4% (n = 633) female, 18.3% (n = 142) male, and 0.4% (n = 3) other. Pearson’s correlations, bi-variant analysis tests were conducted to analyze the correlations between the variables. Results: The results indicated that in regard to ACEs impact on life satisfaction and meaning in life-presence there was a significant correlation. Therefore, those who answered the ACEs’ questionnaire and scored higher there, would score lower on their aspect of life satisfaction and meaning in life-presence. In regard to the impact of race on meaning in life and life satisfaction, the results indicated low significant results out of the tests run. Conclusion: In summary, our results indicate that one’s race being identified as a minority is slightly associated with exposure to more adverse childhood experiences, which in turn is associated with decreases in meaning in life and satisfaction with life to decrease.