Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

News From Hope College, Volume 56.1: Summer 2024, Hope College

News from Hope College

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Visual Dominance On Word Learning In Infants And Adults, Lauren Tocco, Abby Vonk, Grace Sarafa, Calista Burke, Chloe Swanson

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Learning new words is critical in infancy, and continues to play a role in learning throughout the lifespan. In infancy, it often involves discerning the link between an object and its name. However, when an object's name is heard, many objects could be present, making it difficult to determine which object goes with the name. Yu and Smith (2012) documented one factor that may aid early word learning: infants hold objects close to their faces, making those objects appear larger ("visual dominance"). They found correlational evidence that successful name learning was associated with visual dominance. We adapted a method used …

How Do Just Beliefs Develop? A Systematic Review Of The Research, Allison Bartels, Alexa Burgess, Laniah Dennis, Nhi Hoang, Jae'la Leavy, Erin Moran, Katherine Yakes, Allie Prindle

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Psychological research on the perception of justice has developed the concept of belief in a just world (BJW; Dalbert, 2009). This model includes the General BJW (G-BJW)—people's justice perception of the world in general and Personal BJW (P BJW)—a perception of how fair their personal life is (Likpus et al., 1996; Dalbert, 1999). Adolescence is a crucial time for legal socialization and justice beliefs, yet there is little consensus about the development of these beliefs. The current study aims to conduct a systematic literature review on adolescents' BJW to clarify the existing data on their normative developmental trajectories in youth. …

What Makes A Host Unique? A Prototype Analysis, Tyler Kennedy, Tasia Parsons, Lauren Zago

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The concept of hospitality has been in human culture for thousands of years. However, despite its historical significance, hosting has mostly been overlooked in scientific studies. Although a scale for measuring hospitality was recently developed (Meagher et. a, 2022), it draws from philosophical and theological accounts of hospitality. The current study instead investigates the associations held by the general population regarding the concept of a good host, relative to a good visitor and a good person. Following the procedure used by Samuelson et. al (2014), two studies investigate what attributes are most prototypical of a good host.

In Study 1, …

Memorable Messages Regarding Adoption And Religion: Perspectives Of Adult Adoptees, Kendall Maes, Katherine Martin

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Adoptive parents commonly report religious motivations as a driver in their decision to adopt (Helder & Marr, 2020) and a small literature examines ways that adoptive parents use religious meaning-making to frame their experience as adoptive parents (Firmin, 2017). However, little research has examined the perspective of adult adoptees regarding memorable messages linking religion and adoption that they heard while growing up and the impact of these messages. Adoptees encounter microaggressions, when individuals make assumptions based on the adoptee's race, ethnicity, or background. This has a negative effect on the mental health of adoptees. The current study sought to identify …

Examining Regression Assumption Violations In Machine Learning Models Using The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Dataset, Grace Mooney Anderson, Melia Brewer

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

A growing practice within the psychological sciences is a reliance on machine learning models for data analysis. Machine learning models may have profound implications for improving human well-being and health (e.g., Walsh et al., 2017). However, like any statistical model, machine learning requires that the assumptions of linear regression are met, though the implications of violating these assumptions in machine learning models are unknown. Our study investigates these potentially stark consequences by testing machine learning models in simulated data with built-in assumption violations, as well as a publicly available dataset. We hypothesize that when regression assumptions are violated, we will …

The Effect Of Different Timing Schedules On Learning In Individuals With And Without Adhd, Carmen Casper, Chloe Swanson, Ethan De Koker, Lauren Tocco, Emily Mccloskey, Isabelle Vanantwerpen

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Background. Learning involves encoding and retaining information. Previous studies have investigated different methods that lead to the greatest learning. Two common methods are massing—studying one topic during one time period and spacing—interleaving topics and studying across multiple sessions. Massing may facilitate encoding (Carvalho & Goldstone, 2014, 2015), whereas spacing is the best route to retention (Cepeda et al., 2008). However, which of these methods is best for individuals with symptoms of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is untested.

Approach. We tested individuals with and without ADHD symptoms. We also included a novel timing schedule called "clustering" that combines aspects of spacing …

Humbly Facing The Facts Of Life: Humility And Existential Concerns, Carmen Casper, Chloe Swanson, Isabella Brady, Claire Van Duinen

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Death, isolation, meaning, identity, and freedom–the five existential concerns–give rise to anxiety and reveal natural human limitations (Koole et al., 2006). People construct and defend worldviews that answer existential questions, reduce anxiety, and provide security, yet little research investigates how holding on to beliefs affects one’s flourishing. We argue that humility serves as a belief process that leads to flourishing and decreased defensiveness. We tested two competing predictions: does intellectual humility around one’s worldviews mitigate defensive responses and lead to more positive reactions, or does it undermine the confidence with which people hold their views and erode the anxiety-mitigating function …

Beyond Ethnicity: Perceptions Of Racial Identity Among Latina/O/X Students At An Hwcu, Sebastian Lema

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The Latino population in the United States has grown significantly, contributing to 52% of the nation's population growth in the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center. While research often focuses on the Latino population’s ethnicity, it often overlooks the diverse spectrum of racial identities within this community, leading to a homogenized understanding of their experiences. This study challenges this by examining how Latina/o/x students at Hope, categorized as White-identifying (WI), non-White-identifying (NWI), and international students (IS), perceive their racial identity in the context of privilege, racism, colorism, and belonging. Our total sample is 55 students (20 WI, 20 …

Effects Of Role Models And Empathy On Moral Foundations In Pre-Health Students, Jenna Mccormick

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The presence and quality of a role model while a medical student progresses through their graduate level training has a positive impact on their ability to succeed. This is especially applicable when considering a student’s empathy levels and changes in their moral foundations during their education. Though medical school can oftentimes be a more stressful and rigorous environment, research has not yet evaluated whether these findings already begin at the undergraduate level. The data for this study is panel data including pre-health undergraduates and those who at some point were pre-health. This study looks at how mentorship while in undergraduate …

Adult Dysphagia: Interprofessional Support Groups And Holistic Approaches, Natalie Bekmetjev, Abigail Mosher

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

This research project investigates Adult Dysphagia, a condition characterized by difficulties in swallowing, and its various impacts on daily life. Common causes of adult dysphagia include radiation treatment, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and Parkinson’s disease. Beyond its physical manifestations, dysphagia has significant psychosocial implications given the role of food and eating in our daily lives, affecting relationships and evoking emotions such as shame and fear of choking. Recognizing the limitations in traditional approaches to treatment, our study emphasizes the importance of an interprofessional support group. Traditional interventions often have limited time to address the many different aspects of dysphagia and …

"Flirting Or Hurting?": Perceptions Of Flirtatious Textings' Appropriateness, Alana Policastro, Kate Gaynor, Anika Verbeek, Olivia Budzisz

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

With this century's rise of technology, new texting behaviors have not only been introduced, but have grown in their capacity for emotional intensity. This emotional intensity often translates into the forming of both platonic and romantic relationships online, as the online space acts as an easier "buffer space" for the relationships to begin. Understanding more about the perceptions of flirting behavior over text messaging is essential to develop more clear boundaries for romantic partners in an increasingly online world. This study addresses the link between relationship-status and perceived level of appropriateness of varying degrees of online flirtatious behavior. Using pre-written …

Pessimism And Virtuous Hope: Can They Coexist?, Allie Prindle, Alexa Burgess, Katherine Yakes

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The purpose of this study is to conduct an exploratory analysis to understand if high pessimism and high virtuous Ithemba hope (see table below) can coexist as individual differences. The virtue of Ithemba hope is operationally defined as a purposeful vision in adversity, encouraging others for the common good (Thomas et al. under review). A qualitative study has suggested that the virtue of hope can coexist with pessimism especially in the context of high adversity, showing that anticipating bad events with a hopeful mindset can result in positive outcomes of flourishing (Thomas et al., 2022). This study builds on the …

Moral Foundations In Undergraduate Pre-Health Students, Grace Rellinger

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Moral Foundations Theory argues that there is an automatic nature to the decisions that we make. These can be of significant importance to healthcare professionals who make decisions impacting their patients' lives. Throughout their undergraduate years, students begin to solidify their identity and develop their morals in this formative time. This could be shaped by the pre-health professional track or more specifically what the student studies during this time. Political beliefs are also evolving during this stage and have a consistent relationship with moral foundations. There is also a tentative relationship between empathy and each foundation. Currently, research does not …

The Different Impacts On Mental Health From Burnout And Boredom In Undergraduate Pre-Health And Nursing Students, Lexi Siefke

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Poor mental health has been shown in pre-medical students starting in undergraduate and persisting throughout their careers (Fang et al. 2010). Further, mental health has also been associated with burnout in medical student populations and boredom in general populations, making it difficult to distinguish burnout and boredom from one another. Research has not shown how mental health, boredom, and burnout relate to and are different from one another in undergraduate students. Our data include 510 pre-health and nursing students in three separate cohorts, each surveyed over the course of four years. To measure mental health, students were asked how many …

Longitudinal Effects Of Meaning-Making Expressive Writing On Mental Health, Chloe Swanson, Carmen Casper, Isabella Brady, Claire Van Duinen

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Research suggests that repeated expressive writing is beneficial for one's health and can help individuals psychologically process adversity (Sexton & Pennebaker, 2009). Because research has demonstrated that expressive writing improves one's outlook on life, it is valuable to determine the most effective method of expressive writing for the best outcomes on mental health. One valuable mechanism by which a journal may improve mental health is through enhancing meaning (Edwards & Van Tongeren, 2020). Accordingly, we examined the longitudinal effects of journaling mental health over time. We hypothesized that participants who journal over a series of weeks with the intention of …

Foster Parent Experiences Of Stress During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rebekah Yurschak

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Foster parents face many unique parenting challenges due to their role. Many foster parents feel isolated and may lack close friends who understand their experiences. They face constant change and uncertainty as they navigate the caring of vulnerable children, often with complex needs and in complex situations. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated these feelings of isolation and uncertainty, as well as adding increased stress to the lives of foster parents. The present study explored the experience of stress among foster parents during COVID-19. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 licensed foster parents in one Midwestern state during the summer of …

Effects Of Empathic Concern, Social Support, Health, And Burnout On Undergraduate Pre-Health And Nursing Students’ Stress, Caroline Davenport

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Stress among undergraduate students is an inevitable consequence of difficult studies, and this may especially be the case for pre-health and pre-nursing students. This research was aimed to determine whether the level, type, or combination of stressors affected pre-health and pre-nursing majors to greater degrees or in different ways. The data come from 531 undergraduate students who initially self-identified as pursuing either a pre-health or pre-nursing degree, and were surveyed once per year. The present data set includes Freshman through Junior years. The second and third wave asked students about their greatest stressors (open ended) and numerically rate the degree …

What’S My Social Distance? Measuring Individual Differences In Personal Space, Tasia Parsons, Tyler Kennedy, Erica Williams, Marella Piazza, Lauren Zago

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Personal space is a concept that was brought into public awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic, when safety precautions were put in place to inhibit natural tendencies to stand particular distances apart. Although a number of variables influence preferred distances (Hayduk, 1983), researchers have yet to evaluate the extent to which people naturally vary in their preferences. This study was designed to investigate preferred personal space during social interactions employing the social relations model (Kenny, 1994). This model proposes that social behavior is explained by three sources of variance: the actor (the tendency to act the same way to all people), …

Art Vs. The Artist: Can It Be Separated?, Simon Awad, Timothy Ramos, Antonio Popp, Ja'kaurie Kirkland

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Whether people should, or can, separate the personal lives of artists and the arts that they create is a continuous debate in contemporary society. Such questions typically arise when topics within an artist's personal life, perhaps mired in controversy, are juxtaposed with that artists' ability to create significant and even masterful works. This study aims to experimentally test the extent to which people might be able to "separate" their perceptions of artists with their perceptions of their art. A between groups experiment featuring a musical artist was conducted which exposed participants to three (3) manipulations of an artist’s background (negative, …

He Said, She Said: The Role Of Gender And Task-Oriented Communication, Bridget Hodgkin, Lauren Schiller

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Men and women are expected to communicate differently based on societal stereotypes. This has made it difficult for women to engage in task-oriented communication without receiving negative evaluations from others. The present study attempts to investigate how these expectations influence people's perceptions of messages delivered by both men and women in a collegiate setting. A mock text message within a group project hypothetical situation was sent by either a female or male. Participants only viewed one condition and were asked to rate the likability and competence of the sender based on their message. Results indicated that there were no significant …

The Home-Concept: A Descriptive Analysis Of Schemas For The Home, Tasia Parsons, Tyler Kennedy, Lauren Zago

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Throughout history, one's home has had great significance, typically viewed as "the prototypical place" (Lewicka, 2010a, p. 211). Homes help fulfill many needs in the lives of their occupants, including self-expression (Gosling et al., 2002), feelings of safety and control (Smith, 1994), among others. Even so, psychological research on the topic of home is relatively minimal (Graham et al., 2015; Meagher, 2020).

To evaluate what concepts people most associate with their home, we employed an adapted version of the Twenty-Statements Test (Kuhn & McPartland, 1954; Rees & Nicholson, 2004) that asked participants to respond to the statement "My Home is…." …

News From Hope College, Volume 55.3: Spring 2024, Hope College

News from Hope College

No abstract provided.

The Anchor: April 2024, Hope College

The Anchor: 2024

The Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor's history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). As of Fall 2019 The Anchor has moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular.

The Anchor: February 2024, Hope College

The Anchor: 2024

The Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor's history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). As of Fall 2019 The Anchor has moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular.

News From Hope College, Volume 55.2: Winter 2023, Hope College

News from Hope College

No abstract provided.

The Anchor: November 2023, Hope College

The Anchor: 2023

The Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor's history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). As of Fall 2019 The Anchor has moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular.

The Anchor: October 2023, Hope College

The Anchor: 2023

The Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor's history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). As of Fall 2019 The Anchor has moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular.

News From Hope College, Volume 55.1: Summer 2023, Hope College

News from Hope College

No abstract provided.

The Joint Archives Quarterly, Volume 33.01: Spring 2023, Emma Gail Compton, Sarah Lundy

The Joint Archives Quarterly

No abstract provided.