Major: Psych/Other
Comp Advisor: Robert Hancock
Intuitive decision-making as social prediction: The similar-strategy hypothesis
Deliberate introspection during decision-making, operationalized as writing down relevant reasons for deciding, has been found to improve decision-making in some cases and impair it in others. The present study tested whether cases of impairment could be explained by how the decision-making strategies of subjects differed from those of criterion judges. Experiment A used a numerical-estimation task for which reasons-writing had previously been found to improve performance. Experiment B used the same task with an added element of social prediction. Previous results with this task were not replicated. There were no significant between-group differences. These negative results suggest that reasons-writing has no more than a weak effect on performance on the task in question.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
The Effects of Playground Noise and Extraversion on Sustained Attention in Preschoolers
The purpose of this study was to determine if background noise affects the sustained attention of introverted and extraverted four and five year-olds differently. Participants (N=5) completed a computerized Continuous Performance Task (CPT) called the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) twice, in random order of silent condition first (n=3) and playground noise condition first (n=2). Grouped by individual differences in extraversion (introverted vs. extraverted), it was hypothesized that participants would be affected on TOVA performance and measures of overall attention (ADHD score) differently. Specifically, based on the optimal stimulation theory (Zentall & Zentall, 1983), the added stimulation, or distraction, of the playground noise condition was hypothesized to significantly improve extraverts’ performance on the TOVA compared to the silent condition. It was found that TOVA performance of participants in the silent condition did not significantly differ from their TOVA performance in the noise condition. In addition, level of extraversion was unable to be used for statistical analysis due to the small number of participants.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Sarah Conklin
The Effects of Diet and Exercise on the Mental Health of Adult Women with Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women today. Due to its growing incidence researchers are interested in finding adjuvant therapies to ease the stress of the disease. The purpose this paper was the review the literature already produced on adjuvant therapies. The two most abundant being diet and exercise. the aim of this paper was to find the kind of effects diet and exercise on women being treated for breast cancer. The results of the literature suggested that diet and exercise have positive psychological effects and increase mental health of women being treated with breast cancer.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Prevention and Intervention Programs for Alcohol Use and Risky-Sex Among College Students
The present paper examined the consumption of alcohol and its effects on college students on their sexual experiences by collecting research and information about college students’ views on alcohol consumption occurrence and the relevance of alcohol and sexual intercourse. This present paper includes information on the prevention and intervention programs available in order to investigate what program would be most useful for Allegheny College. Researching alcohol consumption and risky sex in colleges will help relate students’ reasoning and needs on Allegheny College’s campus giving specific needs for Allegheny College to lower the rates of abusive alcohol consumption and risky sex.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
The Effects of Gender and Drinking on Rape Myth Acceptance
Rape myths are widely and persistently held false beliefs about rape that serve to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women. The current study investigated both gender and drinking habits as predictors of rape myth acceptance as well as the seven rape myth components, “she asked for it,” “it wasn’t really rape,” “he didn’t mean to,” “she wanted it,” “she lied,” “rape is a trivial event,” and “rape is a deviant event,” in a sample of undergraduate students. Gender significantly predicted rape myth acceptance and higher scores on the subscales “she asked for it,” “she wanted it,” “she lied,” “rape is a trivial event,” and “rape is a deviant event,” with male participants reporting higher adherence to rape myths than female participants. The number of drinks usually consumed per occasion significantly predicted rape myth acceptance and higher scores on the subscales “it wasn’t really rape,” “she lied” and “rape is a trivial event,” with participants consuming more drinks per occasion reporting higher adherence to rape myths than participants consuming fewer drinks per occasion. Implications for how rape myths serve to maintain existing cultural arrangements and suggestions for more effective alcohol and rape prevention programs are discussed.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
A Study of the Influences of Personality on Binge Drinking in College: The Effects of Gender, Shyness, and Sociability on Alcohol Consumption
Numerous studies have found the relationship between shyness and sociability to be associated with elevated levels of substance abuse among a population of young adults. Findings of these empirical studies suggest that the interaction between shyness and sociability serve as a more powerful predictor for alcohol use than the traits alone. The present study aimed to extend these findings across a sample of 108 undergraduate college students (Mage = 20.1 years) by studying the role of Shyness, Sociability, and Shyness x Sociability interaction, as predictors of college binge drinking. We also took into account gender differences in our assessment due to its apparent influence on alcohol-related behaviors. Methods included self-reported measures of Shyness and Sociability based on the model first introduced by Cheek and Buss (1981). Self-reported measures of alcohol consumption and basic demographics were also administered. The analyses revealed a significant Shyness x Sociability interaction and Gender for measures of binge drinking. Results indicated that high shy males (Mdrinks = 6.2, SD = 3.83) reported higher levels of binge drinking than high shy females (Mdrinks = 3.4, SD = 2.67). On average, low shy/high sociable males (Mdrinks= 9.50) consumed almost twice as much alcohol than their low shy/high sociable female (Mdrinks = 5.67) counterparts. Low shy/high sociable males (Mdrinks = 9.50) and females (Mdrinks = 5.67), reported consuming the highest levels of alcohol within their independent samples. Results highlight the importance of personality factors in assessing alcohol-related behaviors among high-risk, college populations.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Effect of Drinking Venue and College Residence on Alcohol Consumption in College Athletes
Binge drinking has become a serious public health issue for college students, and this is especially true for student-athletes. Using the CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey, this study examined two environmental predictors that have been found to contribute to heavy drinking: drinking venue and residence. Hierarchical multiple regressions were run to test the drinking venue hypothesis and residence hypothesis. The former stated that private parties would be predictors of heavy drinking occasions and number of drinks. The latter stated that, living on-campus compared to off-campus would be a predictor of heavy drinking occasions and number of drinks consumed. For this sample (N = 744), it was found that the drinking venue hypothesis was confirmed but not the residence hypothesis.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Who You Are or How You Show It: Personality Characteristics, Self-Presentation and First-Choice Match in Sorority Recruitment
Social group membership was examined in relation to personality and self-presentation. It was hypothesized that both Extraversion and it’s interaction with the subconscious form of self-presentation, self-deceptive enhancement (SDE), would be significant predictors of successful group matching during sorority recruitment on a college campus. Additionally, Extraversion and Neuroticism were predicted to correlate with SDE, while Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were predicted to correlate with the conscious form of self-presentation, impression management (IM). Participants completed the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 (Costa & McCrae, 2010), the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding-40 (Paulhus, 1991), as well as a demographics questionnaire. The results of the sorority recruitment were regressed on the data from these questionnaires. The hypothesis for the interaction between Extraversion and SDE was not confirmed, however, Extraversion was shown to be a significant predictor of match success. The hypotheses for correlations between personality and self-presentation measures were also confirmed. The results suggest that although personality and self-presentation can be correlated, the interaction between the two may not affect social interaction outcomes. Exploratory analyses of unexpected predictors are included.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
The role of mood and optimism level on directed gaze
Both the fluctuating factor of current mood state and the stable trait of optimism level have been found to influence directed visual gaze. A 2×2 between subjects eye-tracking design was used for the current experiment with optimism level (high vs. low) and current mood state (positive or negative mood manipulation condition) as the independent variables. Thirty-two participant’s mood states were manipulated by a slideshow of either positive or negative images before the experimental portion. Results were examined in terms of the time until initial fixation, number of fixations, ratio of fixations and total time spent on negative stimuli during the experiment. Results indicated that participants in the negative mood manipulation condition displayed an initial attention bias towards the negative stimuli, in that they fixated on negative stimuli more quickly than participants in the positive mood manipulation condition. These results provide further evidence f or mood-congruent gaze in young adults.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Is Bubbles Good at Stats? Induction of the Stereotype Threat Female Psychology Students
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of problem wording on performance with a statistics problem set. The names of the individuals in the word problems were manipulated in order to induce stereotype threat. Sixty four participants were randomly assigned to a stereotype threat or a neutral problem set consisting of five statistics problems. The problem sets were scored for a total proportion correct score. The participants also completed a post-test questionnaire about their experience with the present study, their overall enjoyment of math, and demographic information. Results show that overall the condition did not have a significant effect on the performance of the participants but further investigation shed light on interesting trends. Female participants in the stereotype threat condition tended to score lower on the problem set than females in the neutral condition. In contrast, the performance of male participants was the same across the stereotype and neutral condition. Further more, females generally reported enjoying math as well as participating in the present study less than the male participants and also rated their confidence lower during the study than the males. Future research should continue to assess the ability of the wording of math problems to induce stereotype threat.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Can Suppression Lead to Craving? Heavy Drinkers’ Tendency to Suppress and Subsequent Craving after Beverage Exposure
Previous research has shown that thought suppression can be a detrimental means of thought control (e.g. Wegner, 1987). Heavy drinkers attempting to suppress thoughts of alcohol were no exception, as indicated by their increased accessibility to alcohol-related thoughts after suppression (Palfai, Monti, Colby, & Rohsenow, 1997). The current study sought to further explore the relationship between heavy drinking and failed thought suppression in a beverage-exposure task. It was hypothesized that craving would result from failed thought suppression in heavy drinkers who were exposed to beer and who had a greater tendency to suppress. College students (N = 41) were randomly assigned to be exposed to the smell of either beer or iced tea. Based on self-reported drinking frequency and number of heavy drinking episodes, participants were categorized as either heavy drinkers or non-heavy drinkers. After a period of suppression for the assigned beverage, participants indicated their craving for the suppressed beverage. Results did not support the main hypothesis, but a three-way interaction (beverage type X drinking status X tendency to suppress) was marginally significant with the number of intrusions during suppression as the dependent variable. These results in conjunction with recent findings suggest that future research focus on a possible behavioral rebound in heavy drinkers that could be influenced by craving, intrusive thoughts, and failed thought suppression.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Juvia P. Heuchert
Negative Aging Stereotypes in Greeting Cards and Ageism Bias of College Students
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of negative aging stereotypes found in greeting cards on the net bias (anti-aged or pro-aged) score of college students. Participants exposed to negative aging stereotypes in greeting cards (experimental group) were predicted to have a net anti-aged bias, and participants not exposed to greeting cards (control group) depicting negative aging stereotypes were predicted to have a net pro-aged bias. After watching their respective greeting card PowerPoints, N=70 college students completed a 26-item questionnaire designed to measure their net ageism bias, with negative net bias scores indicating a net anti-aged bias and positive net bias scores indicating a net pro-aged bias. An independent samples t-test revealed that there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups on net bias scores, t (68) = .90, p=.37, ns. Results can demonstrate that viewing negative aging stereotypes in greeting cards did not have a significant effect on people’s net ageism bias. A possible explanation for this finding is that years of viewing negative aging stereotypes in the media could already have solidified such stereotypes in people’s belief system that viewing a small number of greeting cards would not change. Because both groups had a negative mean net bias score, it is crucial to educate people early on in their lives about the harmful effects of negative aging stereotypes in the media and being able to recognize them in the media for what they are: stereotypes.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Mindfulness Training: Possible Implications For The Treatment Of Stuttering
Mindfulness Training, or training in the ability to be consciously aware of the present moment, is a clinical intervention that can be beneficial to the treatment of stuttering in combination with other fluency enhancing techniques. Literature on stuttering shows that there is an increased need for a therapy that reduces stuttering in real world environments, in order to reduce the stuttering stigma and its negative consequences for those who stutter. Also, research has demonstrated that cognitive deficits found in stutterers in Emotion Regulation, Working Memory, and Selective Attention are all enhanced by Mindfulness Training techniques in other disabled populations. Thus, the goal of the present literature review is to propose new ways in which Mindfulness Training can be a beneficial component to stuttering therapy. Mindfulness Training, with practice, can become a daily routine that enhances physical and emotional well-being, and can potentially induce fluency in those who stutter.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Legal Age Status as a Reason for Prepartying among Underage College Student Drinkers
The current study examined the impact of endorsement of “[being] underage” as a prepartying reason on both prepartying frequencies and consumption levels in a sample of N=86 underage student drinkers attending a small college in the United States. This study also examined the impact of factors related to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), specifically endorsement of positive alcohol expectancy outcomes and injunctive norms, as well as of endorsement of “to save money” as predictors in models of prepartying behavior. “[Being] underage” as a reason endorsed for prepartying did not predict prepartying behavior in the sample. Of the other factors, endorsement of the “cheaper” reason positively influenced prepartying frequency, while injunctive norms negatively influenced prepartying consumption. Endorsement of positive alcohol expectancy outcomes did not relate to prepartying in the sample. Implications for prepartying prevention strategies and future directions for prepartying research are discussed.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Impression Formation and Identity Construction of Female Allegheny College Students’ Status Updates on Facebook
The purpose of this study was to examine impression formation and identity construction in computer mediated communication, more specifically in relation to Facebook. This study examined whether the impressions of others’ Facebook statuses was affected by the kinds of status updates they use themselves. Only female Allegheny College students participated in this study. Participants were asked to look at a screenshot of a mock Facebook profile, than fill out a survey pertaining to impressions formed when viewing the profile page. The results of the study revealed that participants whose own updates matched the self-focused update profile or the us-focused update profile, tended to rate those profiles as lower on extraversion, than participants whose own updates didn’t match. In contrast, participants whose own updates matched the other-focused update profile, tended to rate the profile as more extraverted than participants who didn’t match. However, these results were not significant. The hypothesis that impressions formed of the mock Facebook page would be more positive if the type of status updates seen were similar to the ones used most often by the profile owner was not supported. Finally, the hypothesis that people would have more positive impressions of the mock Facebook page that used us-focused status updates because it possess a mix of the two update types that appear to be used most often by Facebook users was not supported.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Juvia P. Heuchert
Media Images and Body Image of Female Athletes, Non-Athletes, and Females who Workout
Previous research has shown that a woman’s body image and body satisfaction is immediately negatively influenced after viewing magazine images (Harrison & Cantor, 2007). Several studies have suggested that female athletes may have additional pressures such as athletic performance and coach and teammate expectations, which negatively affect a female athlete’s body image (Kirk, Singh, & Getz, 2001). The current study was designed in order to find if there was a difference in body image measurement between female athletes and female non-athletes after viewing media images. The study also was designed in order to find if there was a difference in body image measurement in female athletes after viewing thin images, athletic images, or control images. Participants viewed three presentations of three types of images, thin, athletic, and control images. Results did not support the hypothesis that female athletes were more negatively affected by the media images than fe!
male non-athletes and athletes were not more affected by athletic images than thin and control images. It was found, however, that non-athletes’ body image was more negatively affected after viewing media images than athletes and those who workout. These results add to the research findings that suggest media images have a negative impact on a female’s body image.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Convergence or Continuing the Status Quo: Why Women in College are Drinking More
Over the past few decades, studies have shown that more women are drinking in greater amounts, especially women in college. One theory put forth to explain this increase is the convergence hypothesis, which posits that a shift towards equal gender roles is responsible. This study weighed the convergence hypothesis against contradicting research which found that when women drink heavily, they do so to impress men. A total of 1088 women at a small liberal arts college were surveyed over seven nonconsecutive years on their drinking habits, stress relief expectancies from alcohol, and the belief that alcohol made them sexier. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the data. No convergence was found, but drinking was significantly correlated with the belief that alcohol relieved stress and the belief that alcohol “makes me sexier”. These findings have implications for future intervention strategies used on college campuses to reduce college drinking and the importance of examining individual differences in alcohol research.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Elizabeth Ozorak
An Investigation of the Relationship Between Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge of Nature
The present study investigated the relationship between environmental attitudes and general knowledge of nature. 150 students at a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania were given a questionnaire that measured their environmental attitudes, knowledge of environmental concepts, gender, major and minor, the area in which they spent the most time growing up, and a rating of their parents’ environmental attitudes. Knowledge and attitudes were found to be significantly correlated. Parents’ environmental attitudes were correlated with participant’s environmental attitudes and their environmental knowledge. Participants who had lived in an urban area had significantly lower knowledge scores than those who had not; no other significant results were found with regard to place of upbringing. Environmental Science majors had higher attitudes scores than other majors. A multiple regression analysis confirmed that environmental knowledge is a useful predictor of environmental attitudes.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Elizabeth Ozorak
The Effects of Religious and Spiritual Affirmations on Body and Intellectual Esteem in Female College Students
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that religious and spiritual body affirmations have on esteem in a sample of female college students by means of a pretest-posttest design. Previous research found that women who read spiritual or religious messages about their body felt better about their appearance than women who did not read such messages (Boyatzis, Kline, & Backof, 2007). Participants in the current study were 50 female Allegheny College students. They were randomly assigned to either the religious affirmation condition, the spiritual affirmation condition, or the control condition which consisted of positive, intellectual affirmations. The dependent variable was the change in body and intellectual esteem scores from pretest to posttest. It was hypothesized that women in the religious and spiritual affirmation group would have higher scores of body and intellectual esteem than women in the control group. Analyses of the results were performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) calculations. An alpha level of .05 was used. It was found that all participants experienced a decrease in esteem from pretest to posttest, but participants who were exposed to spiritual body affirmations had a significantly less negative difference between pretest and posttest on intellectual esteem scores than participants in the control group, and a significantly less negative difference between pretest and posttest on total esteem scores than the religious affirmation group.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Put Down the Phone or Else: Statements of Efficacy in Texting Public Service Announcements
Public service announcements (PSAs) offer great potential to improve the well-being of society. In order to maximize its chance for success and combat unwanted results such as a boomerang effect, empirical research needs to be done to determine how and what makes a PSA succeed. This study examined the effect of an efficacy statement on the effectiveness of a threat appeal PSA about texting while driving. The study utilized a one-way between subjects design and used the inclusion of the efficacy statement in the PSA (or not) as the independent variable. Some attitude change occurred between conditions, although opinions of the ad were not significantly different. Other findings included conflicting attitudes about texting while driving. A follow-up questionnaire was e-mailed to participants one week after the study. From the small sample that responded, there was a significant difference in behavior (both texting while driving and thinking about the ad) between conditions. More research utilizing similar methods should be conducted with a larger sample size to form more definite conclusions.
Keywords: Public service announcements, efficacy, texting while driving, threat appeals
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Patricia Rutledge
Is It Worth It? A Critique of AlcoholEdu
The purpose of this project is to critique the AlcoholEdu program created by Outside the Classroom, Inc. and evaluate its effectiveness as an alcohol intervention program. Six main factors that influence college transition alcohol use are used in this project as a guideline for what AlcoholEdu and other similar multimedia approaches should target. Along with the critique of the AlcoholEdu program a comparison to similar multimedia approaches: e-Chug, MyStudentBody, and Alcohol101 are also given. Suggestions for further research on the AlcoholEdu program and suggestions for enhancements and modifications to the current program are also provided.
Jacob Young
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: William DeLamarter
“Static Age”: An Experimental Analysis of the Effects of Ad Sponsorship and Ad Valence on Ratings of Political Ads
The current study examined the effects of the valence of an ad (positive/negative) and the party that sponsors an ad (Democrat/Republican) on ratings of political ads. Fifty participants were recruited for the study and each participant was affiliated with the Democratic Party. Participants listened to a political ad that was randomly selected from four political ads that varied across the variables of party and valence. The four ads were a Democratic positive ad, Republican positive ad, Democratic attack ad, and a Republican attack ad. Participants were asked to rate qualities of the ad’s music, the ad’s presenter, as well as the overall ad. Participants rated qualities such as tone, bias, effectiveness, persuasiveness, political leaning, clarity, and appropriateness. It was found that Democratic participants rated ads sponsored by their own party as less negative and less biased than Republican ads.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Juvia P. Heuchert
Correlation of self-regulation and compensatory behaviors of weight gain in college women
This study addressed and explored the relationship between self-regulation and compensatory behaviors of college women. It was hypothesized that high self-regulation is positively correlated with dieting and restrained eating while low self-regulation is negatively correlated with exercise. The study sample consisted of forty undergraduate women from Allegheny College. Correlation and ANOVA analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of restrained eat (RS scale) exercise (aimed gym hours) and self-regulation (ASRI scale). The EDI-3 test was used to investigate disordered eating in the sample. It was found that restrained eating and self-regulation was negatively correlated. No correlations were found between exercise and self-regulation. This study concludes that self-regulation is related to eating and dieting behaviors. However, a larger sample size and more valid tests should be used for future investigations.