Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Crowd Wisdom Enhanced By Costly Signaling In A Virtual Rating System, Ofer Tchernichovski, Lucas C. Parra, Daniel Fimiarz, Arnon Lotem, Dalton Conley

Publications and Research

Costly signaling theory was developed in both economics and biology and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena. However, the theory’s prediction that signal cost can enforce information quality in the design of new communication systems has never been put to an empirical test. Here we show that imposing time costs on reporting extreme scores can improve crowd wisdom in a previously cost-free rating system. We developed an online game where individuals interacted repeatedly with simulated services and rated them for satisfaction. We associated ratings with differential time costs by endowing the graphical user interface that solicited …

Cctv Surveillance For Crime Prevention. A 40-Year Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis, Eric L. Piza, Brandon C. Welsh, David P. Farrington, Amanda L. Thomas

Publications and Research

Research Summary: We report on the findings of an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras on crime. The findings show that CCTV is associated with a significant and modest decrease in crime. The largest and most consistent effects of CCTV were observed in car parks. The results of the analysis also demonstrated evidence of significant crime reductions within other settings, particularly residential areas. CCTV schemes incorporating activemonitoring generated larger effect sizes than did passive systems. Schemes deploying multiple interventions alongside CCTV generated larger effect sizes than did schemes deploying single or no …

Proceedings Of The Cuny Games Conference 5.0, Robert O. Duncan, Joe Bisz, Julie Cassidy, Kathleen Offenholley, Carolyn Stallard, Deborah Sturm, Anders A. Wallace

Publications and Research

The CUNY Games Network is an organization dedicated to encouraging research, scholarship and teaching in the developing field of games-based learning. We connect educators from every campus and discipline at CUNY and beyond who are interested in digital and non-digital games, simulations, and other forms of interactive teaching and inquiry-based learning. The CUNY Games Conference distills its best cutting-edge interactive presentations into a two-day event to promote and discuss game-based pedagogies in higher education, focusing particularly on non-digital learning activities that faculty can use in the classroom every day. The conference will include workshops lead by CUNY Games Organizers on …

Populism Or Embedded Plutocracy? The Emerging World Order, Michael Lee

Publications and Research

Neoliberalism opened up the world economy to fundamentally illiberal regimes.

Islam And Buddhism: The Arabian Prequel?, Anna Akasoy

Publications and Research

Conventionally, the first Muslim-Buddhist encounters are thought to have taken place in the context of the Arab-Muslim expansions into eastern Iran in the mid-seventh century, the conquest of Sind in 711 and the rise of the Islamic empire. However, several theories promoted in academic and popular circles claim that Buddhists or other Indians were present in western Arabia at the eve of Islam and thus shaped the religious environment in which Muhammad’s movement emerged. This article offers a critical survey of the most prominent arguments adduced to support this view and discusses the underlying attitudes to the Islamic tradition, understood …

Infrastructures Of Taste: Rethinking Local Food Histories In Lithuania, Renata Blumberg, Diana Mincyte

Publications and Research

Lithuania hosts a diversity of places that offer consumers a taste of local food, which appear to mirror the recent popularity of local and alternative food initiatives globally. In this paper we show that the proliferation of local foods in the region is not a novel phenomenon, nor is it solely a manifestation of taste preferences or identities associated with food. Drawing on the growing scholarly work on the role of infrastructures in mediating social, economic and political relations, we conceptualize the taste for local food as embedded in broader networks and reproduced through material facilities. To advance this argument, …

Games, Movies, And Zombies: Making Ir Fun For Everyone, Shawna M. Brandle

Publications and Research

Throwing as much fun and pop culture into an international relations class as possible, with the goal of improving student learning (and the likelihood of the course running again). Games proved most effective, while movies were less useful in increasing student learning on international relations.

Aligning The Curriculums For College Success: High School And College Library Collaborations, Carl R. Andrews, Dickens Saint Hilaire

Publications and Research

In today’s highly competitive global economy, City University of New York (CUNY) graduates need strong critical thinking skills. More New York City students than ever before are applying to college and enrolling into CUNY schools. This is especially the case with high schools throughout the Bronx, a good portion of these schools are feeder schools for Bronx Community College (BCC). Unfortunately, many of the students who matriculate into BCC come un-prepared for college level work, where information literacy skills are essential. A strong body of published scholarly literature discusses the importance of information literacy instruction at the high school level, …

Examining The Association Between Childhood Exposure To Substance-Abusive Environments And Factor Two Psychopathic Traits, Cordelia Chou

Student Theses

Psychopathy is a multidimensional construct consisting of aberrant personality characteristics that are categorized as either affective and interpersonal (F1) or antisocial and deviant traits (F2). While the differentiation between F1 and F2 psychopathic traits has been studied, limited research examines the etiologies of the factors. Existing theory hypothesizes that the development of F1 traits is influenced by biological factors, whereas F2 traits arise from environmental influences. F2 traits are theorized to develop as a defensive behavior when individuals are constantly exposed to unhealthy environments or persistent traumatic experiences. One example of an unhealthy environment is exposure to a substance-abusing environment …

Opening The Conversation: Getting Started, Stacy Katz

Publications and Research

This column explores the concept of Open Educational Resources and how it relates to librarianship

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Eighteen Blind Library Users’ Experiences With Library Websites And Search Tools In U.S. Academic Libraries: A Qualitative Study, Adina Mulliken

Publications and Research

Telephone interviews were conducted with 18 blind academic library users around the U.S. about their experiences using their library and its website. The study uses the perspective that blind users’ insights are fundamental. A common theme was that navigating a webpage is time consuming on the first visit. Issues identified include the need for “databases” to be defined on the homepage, accessibly coded search boxes, logical heading structure, and several problems to be resolved on result pages. Variations in needs depending on users’ screen reader expertise were also raised. Suggestions for libraries to address these issues are offered.

The Processing Of Input With Differential Objectmarking By Heritage Spanish Speakers, Jill Jegerski, Irina A. Sekerina

Publications and Research

Heritage Spanish speakers and adult immigrant bilinguals listened to wh-questions with the differential object marker a (quién/a quién ‘who/whoACC’) while their eye movements across four referent pictures were tracked. The heritage speakers were less accurate than the adult immigrants in their verbal responses to the questions, leaving objects unmarked for case at a rate of 18%, but eye movement data suggested that the two groups were similar in their comprehension, with both starting to look at the target picture at the same point in the question and identifying the target sooner with a quién ‘whoACC’ than with quién ‘who’ questions.

Exploring Local Environmental Factors Influencing Geographic Distribution Of Black-Legged Tick Questing Activity, Chong Di

Theses and Dissertations

The deer tick (Ixodes scapularis or I. scapularis), also known as the black-legged tick, is the primary vector that transmits Lyme Disease (LD) in Northeastern United States. To contain the geographic expansion of Lyme disease ticks across the US in recent decades, ecological studies have been conducted to understand the biotic and abiotic environmental factors affecting tick activity. We observed in preliminary surveys that the tick host-seeking activity varies across small local areas. The primary objective of this project is to identify the environmental factors that impact deer tick questing activities at the micro-geographic scale. From 2017-2018, we …

Leaking Women: A Genealogy Of Gendered And Racialized Flow, Michelle Fine

Publications and Research

Through a feminist and critical race analytic, this paper theorizes the disruptions evoked by leaky women—actually doubly leaky women—those whose nipples, peri-menopausal uterus’ and mouths have “leaked” in ways that rupture/stain/expose the white-patriarchal-capitalist enclosure of work, home and the streets and then dared to leak again by suing for justice in court. In a closing coda, I address the race/class policing dynamics between she who leaks and the “respectable” [usually white] women recruited to plaster up the hole and cauterize the leaker.

A Question Of Space: Surveying Student Usage Of Lgbtq Resources In The Lgbtq Student Center Library And The Campus Library, Anne Hays

Publications and Research

This article explores how self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students use the library located within a culture center on campus serving LGBTQ students, compared to the ways those students use the main campus library. In particular, this study asks how LGBTQ students’ needs of library collections may differ based on where those collections are located. While much has been written about pluralism, diversity, and multiculturalism in the library, there have been strikingly few studies by librarians attempting to work with minority student cultural centers on campus. Through an in-depth survey, this study directly asks LGBTQ students …

The Unbearable Lightness Of The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Accomplishment Of Diversity At An Urban Farmers Market, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

This article provides a critique of work on urban public space that touts its potential as a haven from racial and class conflicts and inequalities. I argue that social structures and hierarchies embedded in the capitalist system and the state’s social control over the racialized poor are not suspended even in places that appear governed by civility and tolerance, such as those under Anderson’s “cosmopolitan canopy”. Durable inequality, residential segregation, nativism, and racism inevitably shape what happens in diverse public spaces. Using an ethnographic study of an urban farmers’ market in New York City, I show that appearances of everyday …

My Problems Are Solvable: Idiographic Methods Offset Age Differences In Interpersonal Problem Solving Among Young, Middle-Aged, And Older Adults, Daniele Artistico, Daniel Cervone, Carolina Montes Garcia

Publications and Research

This study tested the hypothesis that older adults retain high levels of everyday problem solving performance when confronting problems of maximal ecological relevance, identified through idiographic methods. Younger, middle-aged, and older adults completed a daily challenge questionnaire (DCQ) in which they reported problems of maximal personal relevance or idiographic problems. The large majority of the problems reported were interpersonal. We then assessed performance on an everyday problem-solving task in which participants generated solutions for idiographic problems as well as problems generated by group matched research participants representing each of two other age groups (e.g., older adults received their own problems …

Climatic Variables Are Strong Predictors Of Allonursing And Communal Nesting In Primates, Alexandra Louppova

Theses and Dissertations

Allomaternal care (AMC) is widespread throughout the primate order, previous studies have focused on benefits and costs to individuals. However, our understanding of environmental impacts on AMC behaviors in primates is still limited. Our study examines how ecology and environmental factors can predict certain AMC behaviors more than others.

Female Leaders: A Re-Evaluation Of Women During The Viking Age, Sorayda Santos

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will re-examine the roles of women in the Viking world. Did Viking women dominate the home or did they participate in activities that have traditionally been associated with men? This thesis will bring together historical data and archaeological excavation data to demonstrate that Viking women were leaders.

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

9/11 Exposure And Parental Monitoring, Heather Zemeck

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the effects of 9/11/01 exposure on parental monitoring, and how depression and anxiety are associated with these effects. This research utilizes data collected from Evacuees, First Responders, and non-exposed Controls. Results revealed moderate 9/11 exposure is associated with increased parental monitoring; while, depression is associated with decreased parental monitoring.

The Relationship Between Workplace Environment, Teacher Well-Being, And Young Children’S Behavioral Outcomes, Sarah G. Elbaum

Theses and Dissertations

When teachers are not provided with adequate workplace support, this may influence their ability to provide high-quality learning environments, resulting in negative developmental outcomes for children. Using the 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), this study investigated the relationship between workplace environment, teachers’ psychological well-being, and children’s behavioral outcomes.

The Impact Of Working Memory Load And Anxiety On Attention Bias Modification Training, David Lloyd Yap

Theses and Dissertations

The effect of attention bias modification training (ABMT) on anxiety-related attention bias (AB) in a large (N=204) non-clinical sample was sensitive to working memory load (WML). ABMT produced expected changes in AB in the low-WML, low-anxiety group only. High WML and high anxiety alone and in interaction disrupted ABMT.

Dolphins In Space: Quantifying The Relative Positions Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Megan S. Mcgrath

Theses and Dissertations

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are socially sophisticated mammals with high fission-fusion dynamics and complex communication. The relative positioning of individual dolphins as they swim within their social group may aid in the expression of social roles. This study sought to quantify relative positioning in a small social group of female bottlenose dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore that included two mother-daughter pairs, maternal and paternal half-sisters, a half-aunt and niece, and one unrelated female. We devised a method for scoring relative positioning in three dimensions. We found that the two mothers and their juvenile and adult daughters …

Contextually Modulated Avoidance Behavior In Rats Post-Pavlovian Extinction, Lauren Branigan

Theses and Dissertations

The following study sought to examine the psychological substrates of renewal (e.g.., context dependent extinction processes) for conditioned avoidance behaviors in rats. Using signaled active avoidance conditioning, rats acquired two-way shuttle responding, to two different auditory stimuli. These behaviors were then extinguished through exposure to the auditory stimuli where shuttling behavior was now without consequence. Subjects were then tested for renewal of avoidance in three distinct renewal sequences (e.g., ABA vs ABB, AAB vs AAA, and ABC vs ABB) in three separate groups of rats. It was found that subjects showed more responding to a stimulus presented outside of its …

The Effect Of Per Capita Relief Spending On County Level Joblessness In The United States In 1937 & 1940, Mohammad S. Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This paper uses the 1937 and 1940 county level census data to estimate what effect did additional per capita relief spending have on joblessness in the United States in 1937 and 1940. To account for endogeneity in relief spending and its unequal/non-random distribution, an instrumental variables approach is used. The results show that additional per capita relief spending lowered joblessness in the United States in both years: 1937 and 1940.

The Effect Of Public Transportation Quality On Economic Outcomes, John Safy

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the relationship between public transportation quality and economic well-being using New York City data from 2010-2016. We use fixed effects, random effects, and finite mixture models, and find that increasing on-time performance increases the number of businesses but decreases the number of employees and total payroll.

The Effects Of Tactile And Visual Deterrents On Honey Badger Predation Of Beehives, Abigail S. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

As human and elephant populations grow in Kenya so does human-elephant conflict. One of the most substantial contributors to this conflict, the crop-raiding behavior of elephants (Loxodonta africana), is alleviated through the use of Elephants and Bee Project's beehive fences. A threat to these beehives are the honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) who try to obtain honey, causing damage to the hive and the hive to abscond. The objective of this study was to improve the effectiveness of these beehive fences through identifying and testing novel honey badger deterrent methods. On-farm experiments in Taita Taveta County, Kenya …

The Impacts Of State Anti-Bullying Laws On Bullying Perpetration Levels Among School-Aged Children And Adolescents In The United States, Min Ji Ryu

Theses and Dissertations

Using data from National Survey of Children’s Health, this paper studies the causal effect of state anti-bullying laws (ABLs) in reducing the prevalence of bullying. The nonlinear difference-in-differences (DD) estimates suggest that the state ABLs decrease the likelihood of students’ having higher levels of bullying perpetration with a statistical significance.

Culture As Sustainability: The Case Study Of Govardhan Ecovillage And Vedic Culture In India, Danielle Lella Bartolone

Theses and Dissertations

This project investigates the relationship between sustainability and Vedic culture of India. The ethnographic research at Govardhan Ecovillage seeks to understand how sustainability is embedded in culture. I employ grounded theory for my research methodology which reveals three key themes explaining fundamental and interrelated dimensions of Vedic culture as sustainability.