As is true for most majors at Bates, all psychology seniors must complete a senior thesis. This archive lists the name, title and a brief summary (abstract) of the projects of select seniors who graduated in 2017.
Please check out our complete Senior Thesis Archive.
Note: 
indicates an empirical thesis project and 
indicates a community-based learning thesis project.
Click a name to view that student’s abstract, or scroll down to view all students.
Jenney Abbott
Melody Altschuler
Emilia Calderon
Soohee Choi
Gina Ciobanu
Spencer Daus-Haberle
Alyssa M. Dole
Blake P. Downey
Christina Felonis
Jillian B. Gerson
Lauren Rebecca Goldman
Hannah Graves
Amelia D. Green
Sarah A. Hodgson
Robert A. Ibarra
Faaiz Irfan
Sadie James
Katrina Jim
William N. Koller
Nisha Naik
Angeline O’Donnell
Kelsey J. Pearson
Emily Tama Plotnikov
Molly Sawdy
Lloyd Smith
Hannah Tolan
Sarah Vinchesi
Camilla Walker
Jenney Abbott
Combatting Obesity Using a Multidimensional Approach: An Overview of St. Mary’s Weight Management Program
In response to the high prevalence of obesity globally, weight management programs are on the rise. St. Mary’s Weight Management program in Lewiston, ME is a weight loss program that serves as an alternative to bariatric surgery and offers a multidimensional, individual approach to combat obesity. This study looked at the program as a whole and, specifically, whether or not patients are losing weight and body mass index (BMI) in the program. If not, what factors are affecting weight loss? Besides weight and BMI, this study looked at gender, age, employment, and marital status as demographic factors. In addition, comorbid diseases were also examined. The study found that the longer the patient was in the program, the more weight and BMI they lost, even when accounting for the amount of comorbid disease and demographic factors. In addition, attrition analyses determined that dropout patients are no different than patients that were still in the program. To conclude, this stu dy offers insight into the success of this particular weight management program, while also offering suggestions for future research.
Melody Altschuler 
Theory of Mind Profile of School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Impairments in social functioning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are theoretically linked to an underlying deficit in theory of mind (ToM) the social-cognitive ability to take another’s perspective. Previous research has consistently documented ToM impairments in preschoolers with ASD, but investigations of ToM in school-aged children with ASD and average IQ have produced mixed results. The present study examined the pattern of individual differences in ToM in school-aged children with ASD. Children with ASD between the ages of 7-11 years underwent a number of procedures as part of a larger protocol examining effects of an executive functioning intervention. All children had an ASD diagnosis and Full Scale IQ of 80 or higher. The ToM battery included tasks measuring: (1) emotion recognition, (2) first-order false belief, (3) second-order false belief, and (4) naturalistic social attributions. In addition to exploring ToM as a theoretical construct, this study addressed the relative contribution of various ToM measures to the heterogeneity in social symptoms and social functioning in ASD using multiple regression analyses. Results showed that the battery of ToM measures captured both cognitive and affective components of ToM, with unique relevance to naturalistic social attribution ability. Furthermore, affective ToM and naturalistic social attribution uniquely predicted variation in ASD social symptom severity, above and beyond the influence of age and IQ. Overall, this research has important implications for understanding task-related differences in ToM and elucidating the heterogeneity in social functioning and social cognition in school-aged children with ASD.
Emilia Calderon
Are People in a Forensic Context Aware that Social Interactions Influence Them?
This study provided evidence that counterfactual instructions reveal the incapability of people to predict what will affect their behavior and the extent to which it will. Previous studies have documented that brief social interactions with photospread administrators can affect the choice of the witness when identifying the offender (e.g. Brewer & Wells, 2011). Paired participants were randomly assigned the role of eyewitness or administrator (N = 204). There were three different social interaction conditions: easy, difficult, and control. After completing the identification process, participants were asked to complete a set of questions about their choice and social interaction. Participants were then asked to envision being in an alternative condition and to re-respond to all of the same questions. The predictions were supported. Overall, wi tnesses were not actually affected by the administrator’s influence, but when asked to imagine the alternative condition, they showed a dramatic sensitivity to this imagined manipulation. More importantly, counterfactual instructions reiterated that people are not able to determine the magnitude of a manipulation. Keywords: eyewitness, photospread administrator, social interaction, counterfactual, counterfactual instructions, identification, cues
Soohee Choi
The Effect of Group-Level Uncertainty on the Choice of Brand-Name Versus Generic Products
According to the compensatory consumer behavior model (Mandel, Rucker, Levav, & Galinsky, 2016), one ways people compensate with feelings of uncertainty is through consumer choices. While studies have been done concerning individual-level uncertainty, limited research has been done regarding group-level uncertainty. In Study 1, since collectivists prioritize groups compared to individualists, and since people with more collectivistic backgrounds were found to choose brand-name over generic products, presumably because they represent a more positive social image compared to generic products, I hypothesized that collectivists’ choice of brand-name products would be more affected by a group-level uncertainty manipulation than less collectivistic people. Participants took the16-item INDCOL scale to measure their levels of collectivism. Then, they wrote about aspects of a group they are in that either makes them feel uncertain or certain. Then, they chose between brand-name options versus generic options for 10 products. While the effect of collectivism was not found, people in the group-level uncertainty condition versus certainty condition chose more brand-name options. In Study 2, I replicated and extended Study 1 by measuring collective self-esteem instead of collectivism, and by including more questions about the meaning of the group-level uncertainty manipulation (e.g., feeling out of control). While I hypothesized people with higher collective self-esteem would be more affected by a group-level uncertainty manipulation than people with lower collective self-esteem, no significant result was found. In the discussion, the meaning of group-level uncertainty and the potential implications of consumer choices as a way of reducing feelings of uncertainty will be presented.
Gina Ciobanu
Elementary Aspirations Programs: Career Aspirations and Raising Self-Efficacy in Underserved Elementary School Environments
Abstract Aspirations work is work that targets first generation, minority, and low-income students attempting to bridge the information gap for college and career access. Aspirations work typically occurs at the high school level, and supports students in making the transition from high school to college. This study focuses on the importance of elementary aspirations, starting the conversation around goal setting and college and career planning beginning at an earlier age. Interviews with community aspirations leaders also highlighted the importance of early aspirations programming, setting clear goals for programs and students, addressing challenges head on, and identifying and tracking the impacts of this work. This study implemented a pilot intervention program at a local elementary school that included six sessions, each of which focused on a different theme surrounding aspirations. Research showed that this intervention program had positive effects in students creating a post-sec ondary planning, and learning about resources to aid them in achieving that plan. Students were more likely to consider going to a community college or four year college after the program was completed. Keywords: elementary aspirations, college, community based research
Spencer Daus-Haberle
Perspectives on Diverse Collection Development in Public Libraries
This project looks at the ways in which librarians that have collected picture books that contain diversity in race, ethnicity, nationality, language, and orientation in them create and organize their collections. The aim is to analyze which techniques utilized for creating such fantastic collections and see whether these successes are generalizable to other libraries. Live interviews were conducted with the collection managers of the public libraries that had the biggest collections of a diverse nature on their shelves. The interviews were primarily conducted though phone communication in order to gain as much insight as possible. In this project, the practices and methods that allow for the emergence and maintenance of diverse collections are uncovered and generalizable models are explored.
Alyssa M. Dole
‘All Lives Matter:’ Examining Color-Blind Racial Attitudes, Patriotism Type, and Need for Cognition as Predictors of Support for the Black Lives Matter Countermovement
Recently, the phrase and hashtag ‘All Lives Matter’ (ALM) has emerged in social media as a counter to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Yet psychologists have criticized ALM for being founded upon racist thought, raising the question of whether ALM supporters are more likely to be racially biased than BLM supporters. Thus, the researcher predicted that support for ALM correlates with a number of variables that are linked to racism, including color-blind racial attitudes (CoBRA), patriotism, and need for cognition. Frankenberg (1993) describes the color-blind racial perspective as a way of thinking about race that avoids acknowledging racial differences to reject the idea of White superiority. Meanwhile, individuals who are high on blind patriotism, or staunch allegiance to one’s country, are likely to be intolerant of multiculturalism and to disagree with the notion that we must work to create change in our country (Schatz et al., 1999; Spry & Hornsey, 2007). Las tly, those who are low on need for cognition, or the tendency to engage in effortful cognitive activity, are more likely to be racially biased and to neglect to think through arguments thoroughly (Cacioppo et al., 1996). Based on these ideas, the researcher hypothesized that individuals high on CoBRA, high on blind patriotism, and low on need for cognition would be more likely to support ALM over BLM. The results were consistent with the hypothesis in that support for ALM was positively correlated with CoBRA and blind patriotism and negatively correlated with need for cognition.
Blake P. Downey
Borderline Personality Style: An Analysis of the Interplay between Psychophysiological Reactivity and Emotion Dysregulation
Emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and labile interpersonal relationships are all distinctive characteristics of Borderline Personality Disorder. This study researched a non-clinical sample of undergraduate female students (n = 40) to further understand the dimensions of problematic affective regulation and reactivity for people who exhibit traits that align with Borderline Personality Style (BPS). This study administered self-report questionnaires and guided imagery tasks and an electrocardiogram (EKG) was used to measure high frequency heart rate variability. It was hypothesized that participants who exhibit more BPS characteristics would report higher scores on questionnaires that measured dysregulation of emotional experience, quality of interpersonal relationships and impulsivity of behavior. A dditionally, this study hypothesized that participants who reported more BPS symptoms would experience a greater decrease in high frequency heart rate variability as well as higher values on self-report emotion rating scales an interpersonally stressful task in comparison to a non-interpersonally stressful task. The findings supported the primary hypothesis. A greater prevalence of BPS characteristics predicted a greater decrease in high frequency heart rate variability after the interpersonal task than in the non-interpersonal task, suggesting that participants were more physiologically aroused. Keywords: Borderline Personality Style, emotional dysregulation, heart rate variability.
Christina Felonis
Investigating the impact of a diet and fitness smartphone application on body image and disordered eating, and the role of affective regulation, cognitive control, and reward sensitivity
Use of a diet and fitness smartphone application was examined to see if it had an impact on body image and disordered eating amongst its users. Participants, who were female Bates College students, were randomly assigned to either a control or treatment condition. They all responded to a series of disordered eating related questions and completed four self-report measures assessing body appreciation, emotion dysregulation, cognitive control, and sensitivity to reward and punishment at baseline and after the two-week intervention, during which time the treatment group logged its dietary and exercise data in the application. Results revealed a significant negative correlation between body appreciation and all measure subscales at baseline other than sensitivity to reward and sensation seeking behavior, while additional significant correlations were found between most of the remaining subscales. However, there were no significant changes in body image satisfaction and general eating behavior from pre to post intervention. These findings suggest that emotion dysregulation, lack of cognitive control, and sensitivity to punishment function as predictors of body image dissatisfaction, while diet and fitness smartphone applications neither positively nor negatively impact body and eating beliefs and behaviors.
Jillian B. Gerson
Bridging a Gap: Identifying, Classifying and Accessing Picture Books Featuring People of Color
Despite the nation’s diverse racial, ethnic and cultural makeup, it is extraordinarily difficult to locate picture books representing the racial diversity of the nation’s children. Professor Krista Aronson and her team have developed a new tool to help The Picture Book Project, a collection of approximately 2,000 fiction and narrative non-fiction picture books (grades K-3) depicting human characters from underrepresented racial, ethnic and cultural groups published in the United States between 2000 and 2016. The next step for The Picture Book Project team is to develop a comprehensive online resource hub that will allow librarians, teachers and parents to identify and access diverse picture books that they can use to support the sociocultural and emotional development of children. In order to create a comprehensive website, The Picture Book Project is working on developing a shared cataloging language to reflect the content of diverse children’s literature. The cur rent study is a process evaluation and analysis of their progress to date.
Lauren Rebecca Goldman
The Effect of Psychological Distance on Reactions to Infidelity
Psychological distance is a conception encompassed by any of the following four dimensions: spatial distance, temporal distance, social distance, and hypotheticality. The present study examines the relationship between psychological distance and reactions to infidelity for both males and females. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to discover whether men and women differ in feeling greater distress in regard to either the sexual or emotional aspects of infidelity, as a function of increasing psychological distance from the experience. Participants were asked to recall a time that they were cheated on, and then reported how long ago this incident occurred and how subjectively distant it felt to them now. Finally, they responded to a forced choice regarding whether they found the sexual or emotional aspect of the infidelity to be more upsetting. Results revealed that when collapsing across distance measurements, men showed an overall greater tendency than women to report the sexual component as more distressing, and this tendency was stronger at high perceived distance, compared with low perceived distance. However, this gender difference was more diminished at high temporal distance in objective terms than at low temporal distance in these terms, suggesting that objective and perceived measures of distance function differently. These findings can help enlighten our understanding of psychological distance and its effects, as well as differential gender tendencies and reactions, and from where they arise.
Hannah Graves
Stress on College Campuses: Testing the Efficacy of Two Stress Resilience Techniques
Stress has been defined as prolonged cardiac activity that exceeds one’s metabolic needs and can be deleterious to our physical health (Verkuil, Brosschot, Tollenaar, Lane, & Thayer, 2016). As of the past couple of decades, college students have been increasingly, and more severely reporting levels of daily stress. The focus of this study was concerned with the relationship between college students’ stress and the efficacy of coping mechanisms. The sample includes Bates College students, of all class years, who were randomly assigned to one of two stress resilience techniques. A within subjects design was used to compared two stress resilience techniques: a cognitive coping strategy or a physiological coping strategy, to determine which technique had larger reduction on self-reports of stress. I hypothesized that self-reports of stress would decrease more significantly after the use of the cognitive coping strategy, an online psychology skill taken from the MeQuilibrium program compared to the physiological strategy, a deep breathing exercise. Overall, the assumption was that both techniques would have a significant effect on the reductions of student self-reported stress levels. The study found that our sample of Bates College student’s are slightly more stressed than the general population. Results from this study showed that both techniques significantly reduced students’ self-reports of stress. Surprisingly, neither technique was more effective than the other. Although the study did not find a superior coping technique, these results provide us with optimistic solutions for students experiencing stress on college campuses.
Amelia D. Green
The Relationship Between Heterocentric Hookup Culture and the Psychological Well-Being of LGBTQ Students at Bates College
In recent years, romantic and sexual interactions on college campuses have shifted from traditional dating to a culture of hooking up, or spontaneous one-night-stand interactions, often between strangers or brief acquaintances (Stinson, 2010; Paul, McManus, & Hayes, 2000). Existing literature describes this culture as heterocentric, meaning that it focuses on interactions between heterosexual individuals and excludes or minimizes the involvement of students with LGBTQ identities (Stinson, 2010). Social exclusion or rejection, such as the exclusion LGBTQ students may feel from the heterocentric college hookup culture, can lead to lower self-esteem, lower life satisfaction, and lower well-being (Ford & Collins, 2013; Roffey 2013; Bellani & D’Ambrosio, 2011; Leary et al., 1995). This study uses a sample of both heterosexual and non-heterosexual students at Bates College to explore the relationship between inclusion or involvement in hookup culture and the psychological wel l-being of LGBTQ students using Ryff’s Psychological well-being scale (1989). Findings indicated no relationship between sexual orientation, involvement in hookup culture, and well-being. However, it was found that across sexual orientations, participants who felt less included in hookup culture had lowering well-being on certain dimensions of the scale.
Sarah A. Hodgson
The Intersection of Racial and Gender Stereotypes: Black Men and the ‘Likable Loser’ Effect
Traditionally, men are associated with agentic traits (i.e., competitiveness or dominance) while women are associated with communal traits (i.e., warmth and kindness). While many think that these traditional gender stereotypes are fading, studies show that they still exist (Haines, Deaux, & Lofaro, 2016). Due to these stereotypes, men are expected to be the breadwinner and women are expected to be the primary caregiver. Violations of gender role stereotypes result in penalties such as poor social perception and compensation consequences. As Haines (2015) found, the ‘likable loser’ effect shows that fathers who are perceived as the primary caregiver are judged as less agentic than fathers who are not perceived as the primary caregiver. The present research aims to replicate the ‘likable loser’ effect and investigate whether the same result exists for Black dads versus White dads. A sample of participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk showed no significant ‘likable loser’ effect. When split by participant gender however, a significant ‘likable loser’ effect was found among male participants, while an opposite trend was found for female participants. Implications of differences in gender perceptions are discussed.
Robert A. Ibarra
How Does Socioeconomic Status Affect Student Developmental Outcomes In Restorative Circles
Researchers and practitioners have observed that People of Color (POC) reported learning less on specific development outcomes compared to white students in various disciplinary processes including the one explored in this study, Restorative Practices. Although these findings were found for POC, it is possible that socioeconomic status (SES) would function like race in such procedures. In a 2 (Participant Background: Low SES vs High SES) x 2 (Offender Background: Low SES vs High SES) study, participants were asked to imagine themselves in a victim-offender circle based on Restorative Practices. They were given a transcript where the offender’s background was either Low SES or High SES. Participants then listened to an abbreviated circle and filled out a modified version of the six scales of student development used by Karp and Sac ks (2014) to measure developmental outcomes. Participants who identified with High SES offenders reported a higher sense of just community/self-authorship and procedural fairness. Participants who identified with offenders who shared congruent SES backgrounds reported learning more than participants with incongruent SES backgrounds.
Faaiz Irfan
The Effect of Sexual Orientation Salience on Evaluative Racial Bias: Potential Advantages and Disadvantages for Individuals with Multiply-Categorizable Identities
Research done by investigators using intersectionality framework and theory has served to illustrate avenues where individuals belonging to multiply-categorizable identities face both privilege and oppression. Furthermore, some research done in the past points out to the possibility that for individuals with multiple social identities, the salience of one identity can affect and modify evaluations of their non-salient identities. The current study examined whether the salience of sexual orientation for targets with multiple social identities would mitigate the evaluative racial bias they face. The study used an unobtrusive measure of implicit attitudes to assess evaluations of targets. The results are mixed and show partial support for the hypothesis. The results indi cate that this mitigation of evaluative racial bias was seen for gay men but not for lesbians. The implications of this finding and directions for future research are also explored.
Sadie James
Student Perceptions of the Reporting System and Support Services for Sexual Misconduct at Bates College
Despite efforts from policies, laws, and campus-based resources and services, sexual misconduct is still a prevalent yet underreported reality on college campuses nation-wide. This community-based research thesis was part of a three-year grant Bates College was rewarded by the Department of Justice. It sought to understand student perceptions of the reporting system and support services for sexual misconduct at Bates through a conducted survey. Utilizing McLeroy, Bibeau, Steckler, and Glanz (1988)’s model on the ecological theory of health promotion, results found that students indicated having had experienced rates of sexual misconduct that were higher than average, but followed similar rates of reporting. Results also indicated participants would be more likely to report an act of sexual misconduct to an informal source, such as a friend, than to a formal source, such as Title IX. Results also found that the students predicted they would report if they experienced an act of sexual misconduct, but actual reports made were much lower. Findings also suggest that Self-Blame and Minimization may be reflective of the shame identity found by Weiss (2010a). Recommendations for improvement of the process and experience of reporting acts of sexual misconduct to Bates College are presented through the five levels of McLeroy’s ecological model.
Katrina Jim
An Examination of Restorative Justice Program Implementation at the Post-Secondary Level: A Community Partnership with the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine
Restorative justice (RJ) programs have began to expand into educational settings since it gained popularity in the Criminal Justice System. Research on RJ programs in educational settings mostly centers on RJ program outcomes in primary and secondary schools, but seems to lack studies done on the implementation process of RJ programs in post-secondary institutions. In collaboration with the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine (RJIM) and through online questionnaires from 26 post-secondary institutions with RJ programs from across the United States and Canada, this study aimed to fill the research gap by addressing the question, how is restorative justice implemented in post-secondary level? Institutions’ responses revealed three important processes, first was to educ ate the campus community about RJ in order to garner internal support for establishing a program. Next was to ensure the program corresponds to the climate and needs of the institution. Then, institutions should collaborate with community organizations to benefit from their financial and personnel support. This study would inform RJIM on how community organizations could become valuable resources to institutions implementing RJ programs, particularly during the processes mentioned. This study is also the beginning of more detailed explorations of RJ program implementation in the future.
William N. Koller
Subclinical Depression, Anxiety, and Alexithymia: Implications for Implicit and Explicit Emotion Regulation
Alexithymia is defined as an inability to identify or experience emotions, and has been connected to both major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Both MDD and GAD are associated with a tendency to select maladaptive emotion regulation (ER) techniques. The present studies explored the relationship between alexithymia and subclinical depression/anxiety by proposing that alexithymia is a mediator of the relationship between depressive/anxious symptoms and ER difficulty. Study 1 examined this relationship in the context of implicit, or automatic, ER, as assessed by an emotional conflict task. While the task failed to index implicit ER ability, this study fostered an understanding of the role of response windows in implicit ER paradigms. Study 2 explored this relationship in the context of explicit, or effortful, ER, as assessed by heart rate variability (HRV) and subjectively reported affect associated with an anxiety-inducing task prior to which participants were instructed to implement reappraisal. This study did not find alexithymia to be a mediator of the relationship between symptoms of depression/anxiety and ER, suggesting that alexithymia does not negatively impact individuals’ ability to engage in instructed reappraisal. However, based on the general failure of reappraisal on a physiological level, this study also suggested that the relative success of reappraisal is contextually determined. Finally, this study found depression and anxiety to be associated with heightened subjective distress, and pointed to a decoupling between physiological and subjective emotional experience in subclinical depression and anxiety.
Nisha Naik
Just Breathe: The Effects of a One-Session Mindfulness Intervention on Sustained Attention Span and Forecasted Rumination in College Students
Past research has repeatedly supported the efficacy of consistent mindfulness practice in achieving emotional well being and improving cognitive functioning. However, little research has been done on the impact of single session mindfulness interventions and the potential correlation between emotional health and cognitive abilities. This study looks to determine whether or not a single session focused breathing intervention can significantly impact an individual’s levels of sustained attention and forecasted rumination. The study consisted of 44 Bates College undergraduates between the ages of 18-22 years old. After completing the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale as a measure of trait mindfulness, half of the participants received a fifteen minute focused breathing intervention while the other half received a mind wandering control intervention. All participants then completed the Rumination Responses Scale (modified to forecast future ruminative responses) and the Continuous Performance Test 3 (CPT3) attention task. Participants in the focused breathing condition had significantly lower difference scores between the beginning and end blocks of the CPT3 than the control group, indicating some potential for higher levels of sustained attention. Participants with higher initial trait mindfulness displayed significantly lower levels of forecasted general rumination and ruminative brooding. The results of this study could aid in providing evidence towards substituting heavy reliance on Adderall with consistent practicing of mindfulness interventions.
Angeline O’Donnell
An Evaluation of Aspirations Programming in Lewiston and Auburn, Maine
There are currently more than 1,000 aspirations programs in the United States, the majority of which target low-income, minority, and first-generation college students. Aspirations programs provide the skills and academic supports necessary to smooth the transition from high school to post-secondary life. This study evaluates the outputs, outcomes, and impacts associated with six different aspirations programs in Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, purposively sampled in partnership with the Harward Center for Community Partnership. As researcher and facilitator, I carried out a mixed-methods, concurrent triangulation design for data collection. Results showed that aspirations programming in the Lewiston and Auburn communities contributed to positive outputs, outcomes, and impacts, according to program participants and program coordinators. Growth in communi ty aspirations and a more nuanced understanding of lifelong learning opportunities were identified as impacts associated with aspirations programming. Participants and coordinators also reported that consistent partnership with and proximity to the Harward Center and Bates students has positively impacted programming and student/community aspirations. Keywords: aspirations, college, output, outcome, impact, evaluation, community based research, Lewiston, Auburn, Maine
Kelsey J. Pearson
The Effect of Animal-Assisted Activities on Physiological and Psychological Reactivity to Stress
Anxiety and depression share a comorbid relationship with stress and it is therefore important to study their relationship in order to develop future treatment methods (ADAA, 2016). The current study tested whether animal-assisted activities (AAA) helped reduce the physiological and psychological reactivity of stress in individuals and, if there were reductions in stress response, to what degree was this due to the novelty effect? Finally, the current study also assessed whether there was a difference in stress reduction for participants with anxiety and/or depression compared to other participants. Results indicated that individuals who had higher levels of depression and/or anxiety in the AAA group had the greatest reduction in psychological stress and diastolic blood pressure compared to others in the novelty and c ontrol group. Results from these findings could allow for the integration of animal-assisted interventions into more treatment plans for mental disorders.
Emily Tama Plotnikov
Understanding Creativity in Elementary School Art Classes
Creativity has been noted as one of the most important skills that students need to succeed in the 21st century. The development and enhancement of creative skills have been receiving increased attention in the education system (Henriksen, Mishra, & Fisser, 2016). The purpose of this community-based study was to explore if there was a reliable way to assess creativity in student artwork and to better understand student perspectives of their creative experiences and processes. Data collection consisted of 22 observation periods in the first second, third, fifth, and sixth grade art classes of Martel and Farwell Elementary Schools in Lewiston, Maine. A creativity test was completed by 90 students, and graded for categories of creativity, including fluency, flexibility, elaboration, originality, and abstractness. A questionnaire was also completed by 42 students t o collect student perspectives on their own creativity. Creative products of students were able to be successfully measured using the test and rubric that was developed to score the test, implying that this assessment would be a reliable way to monitor for creative growth in students. In addition, valuable student perspectives were collected that allowed for a better understanding of students’ creativity. Creativity scores showed signs of the fourth grade slump, supporting the idea that the conformity of schools may impact creativity of children. Suggestions for interventions that enhance creativity through mindfulness and exploration were made.
Molly Sawdy
Having a Satisficer or Maximizer Tendency, Interpersonal Relationships, and Subjective Well-being
Past research has indicated that happiness is both the extent to which one wanted what they had and the extent to which one had what they wanted (Larsen & McKibban, 2008). An unpublished study (Sawdy, 2016) used Larsen and McKibban’s (2008) Have/Want discrepancy theory to explore interpersonal relationships and subjective well-being. Data for the current study was collected data through an online Qualtrics survey given to Mechanical Turk workers. The first part of the study sought to determine if the Have/Want discrepancy theory (Larsen & McKibban, 2008) held true for interpersonal relationships by attempting to replicate the unpublished study (Sawdy, 2016). Results indicated the theory held. The second part of the study applied the Maximization scale (Schwarz et al., 2002) that measures the extent to which an individual had a Sa tisficer or Maximizer tendency to interpersonal relationships and subjective well-being. Results suggested that Maximizers had significantly more of the interpersonal relationships that they wanted than Satisficers. Furthermore, the Maximizers who did not have a lot of the interpersonal relationships they wanted were significantly happier than the Satisficers who also did not have a lot of the interpersonal relationships they wanted, but differences in happiness were minor between Maximizers and Satisficers who had a lot of the interpersonal relationships they wanted. Keywords: interpersonal relationships, subjective well-being, Maximizers, Satisficers, Mechanical Turk, Have/Want discrepancy theory
Lloyd Smith
The Breach: How The Timing of a Trust Violation and Personality Affects Trust Repair
Several studies have examined how the timing of a breach of trust can affect subsequent trust restoration. Some have shown that an early breach of trust makes trust restoration more difficult (Lount, Zhong, Sivanthan, & Murnhigan 2008), while others have shown that a breach of trust that occurs later in a relationship can produce even more challenging circumstances for trust recovery to occur (Bottom, Gibson, Daniels, & Murnighan, 2002). Generalized trust has also been shown to affect they way an individual responds to a breach of trust (Kuwabara, Vogt, Watabe, & Komiya, 2014) while tendency to forgive has been shown to affect the way people view their transgressor following a breach of trust (Desmet, De Cremer, & van Dijk, 2010). Taking these findings together, I examined how a person’s level of generalized trust and his or her tendency to forgive affected the way they responded to either an early, or a late breach of trust. I hypothesized that individuals would have lowe r levels of trust following an early breach of trust and that the more generalized trust an individual had, then the more negatively he or she would respond to an early breach of trust. I also hypothesized that people with a high tendency to forgive would not react any differently to an early or late breach of trust. I found evidence to suggest that tendency to forgive plays a role in an individual’s response to a trust violation, but was unable to find evidence to suggest that generalized trust has any influence.
Hannah Tolan
The Impact of Priming College Students to Think in an Individualist or Collectivist Manner on Feelings toward the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Career Planning
Research suggests that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a useful tool for career development (Bubenzer, 1990). Past studies state that the MBTI is an invaluable tool for individuals, encouraging self-assessment and instilling self-confidence (Apostal, 1988; Pinkney, 1983; McCaulley & Martin, 1995). Although there are concerns regarding the MBTI assessment, it is still considered one of the most popular tools used in the work place for career planning and development (Bubenzer, 1990). The current study aimed to determine if priming college students to think about themselves in an individualist or collectivist manner before taking the MBTI would have an effect on how they feel about career planning and the MBTI assessment. There were 121 participants in the study, all of whom were undergraduate students between the ages of 17 and 22. The participants were randomly assigned to the individual self prime or the collective self prime. It was predicted that participants wh o were individually primed before taking the MBTI would score higher on both the career decision self-efficacy scale (short form) and the MBTI perceived helpfulness questionnaire demonstrating that priming college students in a specific manner has an effect on how they feel about career planning and the MBTI. It was found that participants who were individually primed scored significantly higher on the MBTI perceived helpfulness questionnaire than those who were collectively primed. However, there was no significant difference between individually and collectively primed participant scores on the career decision self-efficacy scale (short form).
Sarah Vinchesi
Singlism: The Effect of System Threat, Gender, Prior Relationships, and Choice
Countless stereotypes and prejudices have been thoroughly researched and supported, but one extremely pervasive stereotype continues to go uncontested and under-acknowledged. Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination based upon someone’s actual or perceived relationship status are called singlism. Even as Americans are staying single longer, divorcing more, and increasingly, not marrying at all, singlism is generally seen as legitimate and unproblematic. Singlism prevails despite overwhelming evidence that single individuals are no worse off in reality than those in committed relationships. American society values marriage and committed romantic relationships more than any other relationships, and consequently devalues singles, even those with meaningful relationships with family and friends. Derogating singles serves as a means to maintain t he importance of marriage, and singles are derogated to the extent that they are perceived as a threat to committed relationship ideology. Men in particular are known to respond to heightened threat to committed relationship ideology and other threats to the current sociocultural system in which they are more privileged than women. The level of stereotyping and derogation of singles also depends on whether an individual is single by choice or by circumstance and whether a single person has had any prior relationships. The current study will analyze perceptions of singles and coupled targets in terms of participant gender, different varieties of singles, and the presence or absence of threat to committed relationship ideology.
Camilla Walker
Restorative Practices and Resiliency in At-Risk Youth
Abstract Restorative practices, when implemented in schools, have the potential to increase resiliency in students especially those who are categorized as at-risk. This study gathered insight and data from the students at Star Academy in Lewiston, ME about student levels of resiliency, student perception of restorative practices in the classroom, and whether restorative practice increases resiliency in the students. Eleven students took the CYRM-12 resiliency scale and were interviewed. The quantitative data were analyzed by looking at means, standard deviations, and frequencies, and showed that the students were already fairly resilient. The qualitative data were transcribed, coded, and grouped into common themes, and showed that the students were not as resilient as the quantitative scale suggested. In the interviews, the students offered helpful feedback about community circles, the most common forms of restorative practice at Star Academy. Given how new the school is, i t is too early to effectively evaluate the effects of restorative practice on resiliency. Instead, the resiliency scores and qualitative data helped create suggestions for how restorative practice can be improved to target the needs of the students. Keywords: restorative practices, at-risk youth, resiliency, schools, children