Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Perceived Audiences On Discrimination Learning In Pigeons ( Columbia Livia ), Peyton M. Mueller, Matthew Murphy

Honors Theses

The social facilitation effect is a phenomenon frequently discussed in the subfield of social psychology. Some studies have examined the social facilitation or inhibition effects in nonhuman animals, though few have examined the effect of perceived audiences on their cognitive functioning. In order to study this effect, three different video stimuli were presented to one subject while solving a memorization discrimination task. It was hypothesized that the pigeon would learn a task at different rates based on the type of perceived audience presented. No significant results were found due to the fact that the subject was unable to learn the …

Title Ix And The Responsibility Of Leadership In Collegiate Athletics, Regan J. Mccomb, Chelsea Kaunert

Honors Theses

Typically, when we hear about Title IX, we think of scholarship dollars, ratio of men’s and women’s sports, and equal funding, but in the past several years we have seen a shift in focus to sexual misconduct. Studies have repeatedly shown that sexual assault rates on college campuses are not on the decline. With one in five college students graduating a victim of sexual misconduct, we must now demand more of those we consider leadership in the university setting. Recently we have seen a trend of prominent women, including female athletes, speaking out about their experience with sexual assault. We …

Equality In Education: Solutions Aimed At Closing The Achievement Gap In Mississippi Public Schools, Mallie E. Imbler

Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to examine solutions aimed at closing the achievement gap in Mississippi public schools. The research questions that are addressed in this thesis include: a) Why is the achievement gap part of policy debates in Mississippi and how have individ-ual school districts and policymakers responded to the gap? b) How is the gap measured and what are the trends since 2001 when the No Child Left Behind Act was adopted? c) How are achievement gap debates reflected in the current policy? d) Have any of the past national education policies been effective in decreasing the achievement gap? The …

A Comparative Analysis Of Undergraduate Integrated Marketing Communications Degrees In The United States, Anne Watkins Tyson

Honors Theses

No longer are traditional marketing communications methods effectively reaching consumers. The approach of integrated marketing communications intentionally combines all aspects of the marketing communications mix into one consistent message. Research reveals that integrated marketing communications is becoming a more and more popular field of study for students and academics. Because of this, universities are forced to evaluate how their integrated marketing communications programs are taught in order to stay relevant. The purpose of this study is to conduct an analysis of undergraduate integrated marketing communications degrees in the United States. This thesis work defines integrated marketing communications, and also describes …

How Will I Afford It? Financial Aid And Its Impact On Higher Education: Evidence From The State Of Mississippi, Daria Herasymova

Honors Theses

The cost of higher education, in real terms, doubled in the last twenty years, increasing faster than medical costs, the consumer price index and housing. In 1987, U.S. Secretary of Education, William J. Bennett, in the New York Times article, raised the concern that financial aid has unintended consequences of enabling higher education institution to increase tuition. In this paper, through collection of data and literature review, I examine the drivers behind the rising cost of higher education and test whether the postsecondary institutions in the state of Mississippi exhibit behavior, consistent with the Bennett Hypothesis. Using fixed-effects regression model, …

The Coastal Route: The Role Of The Pacific Northwest Coastline In Facilitating Human Travel Into The Americas, Andrew Nye, Carolyn Dillian

Honors Theses

How Homo sapiens first entered North America has historically been attributed to a crossing of Beringia and a subsequent movement south through an ice-free corridor in Canada. Biological and physical research of the history of the area suggests an ice free corridor could not have existed in the same time frame as the first human settlements. These biological constraints would not have been present along the North West coast of the continent. New archaeological discoveries show early human settlement along the North West coast. Used together, this new evidence supports a coastal human migration instead of an inland route into …

The Applications Of Gis On Lithic Raw Material Source Analysis, Sydney James, Carolyn Dillian

Honors Theses

Raw material sourcing has long been used to identify patterns of trade and exchange in archaeological research. More recently, geographic information systems (GIS) have provided other ways for archaeologists to identify these patterns through data visualization and various spatial statistical analyses. While these methods are frequently used individually, the combined use of these methods has potential to more closely examine the relationships between raw material sources and archaeological sites; this should be considered a necessary measure for methods of spatial analysis. This research applies existing raw material source data to quantitative GIS analysis as a way to demonstrate this claim.

A Social Media Analysis Of Coastal Carolina Football, Sean Ference, Andrea M. Bergstrom

Honors Theses

This is an undergraduate senior capstone project that analyzes how social media can be used to enhance CCU Athletics, specifically football.

Lifestyles Of The Instagram Famous: What Fashion Micro-Influencers Want From Brands And How Brands Should Partner With Them., Reed Ashton Kevin

Honors Theses

In an age of social media, Instagram ranks among the most popular mobile sharing platforms in the world. Created in 2010, Instagram now boasts over 800 million users and has widespread community engagement, leading worldwide trends.With the exponential growth of Instagram, it is no surprise that companies and their brands began to pay close attention to its marketing potential. And although marketers have utilized Instagram in many ways, perhaps the most successful tactic has been through influencer marketing. An influencer is any person in a position to affect the decisions of others. Influencer marketing works well for brands because of …

Double Jeopardy: Minority Stress And The Influence Of Transgender Identity And Race/Ethnicity, Krystina Millar, Jason Eastman

Honors Theses

This study assessed gender and racial/ethnic differences in gender-related discrimination and psychological distress within a sample of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. Prior research suggests transgender individuals with multiple minority statuses experience higher psychological stress than their singly disadvantaged counterparts, and both minority race/ethnicity and transgender minorities experience more frequent and severe forms of discrimination than white and cisgender individuals. Using data from a convenience sample of 101 self-identified transgender and gender nonconforming adults recruited through LGBTQ+ organizations from across North America, I analyzed the relationship between race/ethnicity, gender-related minority stress, and psychological distress. Gender-related discrimination and gender-related victimization did …

Institutional Ambition And The Decline Of Congress, Ryan A. Case

Honors Theses

According to James Madison's theory of separated powers, ambition among members of each branch of government should prevent one branch from usurping the powers of another. However, this is hard to reconcile with the modern trend of congressional decline and executive aggrandizement. This paper takes a historical and developmental approach to argue that the informal changes to the American Constitution that took place throughout the 20th century combined with the modern trends of polarization and weak citizenship have left Congress weak and Madison's theory ineffective.

The Neighbor Before The House: Jordan's Internal And External Drivers Regarding The Refugee Crisis, Katherine G. Levingston

Honors Theses

Jordan has the second highest number of refugees in the world per capita next to Lebanon and relies very heavily on aid from the global community, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union (EU). Furthermore, they lack a legal framework regarding the high amount of refugees that inhabit the country. This raises the question: What are the drivers of Jordanian refugee policy? I argue that the drivers of Jordan’s current refugee policies are their internal pressures, which are Jordan’s ongoing water crisis, unemployment, and education, as well as external funding that comes from …

An Exploration Into The Benefits, Challenges, And Potential Of Telehealth In The United States: A Mississippi Case Study, Ann Weston Sistrunk

Honors Theses

Healthcare in the United States is in need of new solutions to provide access to care for all and decrease the rising costs of care. Telehealth is a developing model of healthcare delivery, and it will provide effective and equitable solutions to increase access to healthcare across the nation. As models of healthcare rapidly change, telehealth will continue to progress, but it is necessary for policy to complement the rapidly changing healthcare environment so that telehealth implementation can be successful. Along with access, telehealth has the opportunity to address many convenience barriers to healthcare, including distribution and number of practitioners, …

A Conversation About Cultural Appropriation As Explored By An Emerging Media Professional, Shikha Shrestha

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates cultural appropriation for the benefit of emerging media professionals. I use a personal encounter with cultural misappropriation as a starting point for the study. To further my exploration, I call upon the theory of symbolic interactionalism and scholarship in sociology, anthropology, and art criticism to better understand the concept. Then I interviewed many students and faculty members in the university community and they provided both insight and personal reflections on the concept, especially the media’s role in how they view cultural appropriation. Finally, I provide case studies, choosing three areas where cultural misappropriation has occurred, and suggest …

The Effects Of Social Influence On Time Perception, Phoebe Lavin

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the time estimate given by a participant is influenced by information they received from a partner. Participants were shown a video followed by several questions including a time estimate about how long a robber in the video was in a museum. Participants also saw answers given by their partners. Participants either saw an overestimate or underestimate given by their partner, or they received no feedback in a control condition. Following a short distraction activity, participants answered the questions again on their own. Results indicated that there was no significant effect …

Rebranding The Classics: The University Of Mississippi, Maraea Cardner

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze the current perceptions of the study of classics from an Integrated Marketing Communications perspective with the goal of realigning misconceptions with the contemporary ideology of those within the field. The field of classics is facing challenges stemming from misappropriation of the field itself, and there is a current debate about the decline in the number of classicists in the field and in the number of undergraduate students studying classics. Specifically, this thesis looks at the Department of Classics at the University of Mississippi as a model for other like departments across the field to use …

The Stigmatization Of Concealable And Apparent Intellectual Disabilities, Claire Lundy

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of stigma when responding to people with apparent, visible, intellectual disabilities as compared to individuals with concealable, invisible, intellectual disabilities. Additionally, we aimed to discover if people with higher psychological flexibility would show less bias or stigma towards individuals with unconcealable intellectual disabilities. This study presented 63 participants with four self-report surveys: the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons survey (ATDP), the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI), Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSD), and a demographic survey. Vignettes were added to the self-report survey to give participants further exposure to individuals with disabilities. …

Finding Equilibrium On The Internet: How Chinese Netizens And The Regime Navigate Social Media Censorship, Hailey Mckee

Honors Theses

China’s current social media landscape consists of the most users in the world operating within the most extensive governmental censorship apparatus in the world, which over time has created a shaky balance between personal expression and institutional order. This thesis attempts to shed light on an understudied, potentially sensitive topic by exploring the multifaceted relationship between Chinese Internet users and the communist regime in terms of content surveillance. By examining the current Internet environment, assessing the opportunities and challenges the web provides users and the regime, implementing a survey with sixteen Chinese netizens, and conducting a literature review, this thesis …

Trafficking Of Haitians On The Island Of Hispaniola After The 2010 Earthquake, Caroline Bass

Honors Theses

On January 12th, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the nation of Haiti. The people of Haiti suffered many losses of life, homes, and livelihood. Later that year, as a result of the earthquake, a cholera outbreak occurred in Haiti taking the lives of thousands more. This study attempts to determine if Haitians were at a higher risk of being trafficked and if human trafficking increased on the island after the earthquake. I analyze how human trafficking in Haiti and the Dominican Republic was impacted as a result of the earthquake and the consequent reaction of the Dominican Republic in …

The Effects Of Story Creation On Recall Performance, Amelia G. Dewitt

Honors Theses

Prior experiments (e.g., Nairne, Pandeirada, Thompson, 2008) have demonstrated that considering information with respect to one’s survival improves recall performance relative to other well-known deep processing tasks. In the present experiment, we sought to determine whether creating stories might lead to similarly high levels of recall performance. To determine this, participants were assigned to either a survival, pleasantness, or story creation condition and were asked to consider 20 common nouns with respect to one of those three sets of instructions. After performing one of these tasks, participants were asked to complete a brief distractor task followed by a free recall …

A Pro-Life Re-Alignment: Proposing A Shift In Focus Toward Demand-Side Anti-Abortion Advocacy, Dylan Fink

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to inspire a change in the conversation within the pro-life community and to create a new approach for anti-abortion proponents to use to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. Based on a supply and demand theory of economics, any pro-life strategy to destroy the market for abortion falls into one of two categories. Until now, the pro-life movement has been focused almost exclusively on limiting the supply of abortion services. While the pro-life movement should continue its efforts to ban and restrict abortion, these efforts will fail to fully end abortion …

How Non-Centrist Parties Gain Electoral Success In German Politics: An Analysis Of The Alternative Für Deutschland’S Success In The 2017 Federal Election., Madison B. Bickert

Honors Theses

[No Abstract was provided]

Two Arguments For Extending Legal Personhood To Nature, Hailey Walley

Honors Theses

This thesis will articulate new sorts of arguments under a legal philosophy framework that I believe can be used to protect the environment, but which also have a chance at convincing a wide range of citizens and politicians. The conclusion for which I will argue is that the United States should extend legal personhood to Nature. I will first provide detailed analyses of two countries that have already extended rights to nature, Ecuador and Bolivia. I will then proceed to compare the two cases and discuss what aspects of their models can and cannot be applied to the United States, …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Minor League Baseball: The Pacific Association And Community Engagement, Rachel Blackman

Honors Theses

Attendance at all levels of baseball is the lowest it has been in 15 years (Kessler, 2018). And with decreasing levels of and social capital, communities are losing trust and civic engagement (Putnam, 2000). Sports teams foster higher levels of trust within their communities (Walker & Kent, 2009). Corporate Social Responsibility provides a way to foster this trust through activities led by sports teams in a community. This includes players visiting schools, libraries, or hosting camps and clinics. This makes Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) much more effective with the inclusion of sports teams (Walker & Kent, 2009). Previous studies addressed …

Intervening In Wartime Rape: Lessons From Bosnia And Herzegovina And Guatemala, Liv Salinger

Honors Theses

Rape and sexual violence has been a part of war throughout history. Wartime rape that occurred during the 20^th century was often marked by public spectacle and brutality, which caught the attention of the world in new ways. Scholars, policymakers and the general public now consider how militaries and armed groups use rape as a tool of ethnic cleansing and genocide, meaning that this form of violence is used to hinder the health and growth of the enemy population. This study draws upon feminist literature, humanitarian intervention discourse, and international relations literature to develop a feminist intersectional framework with …

The Relationship Between Leadership Style And Personality Type Among College Students, Samantha Easley

Honors Theses

A successful leader must evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each team member in order to ensure the most workplace success. Research has shown that an individual’s personality type is related to his or her personality style and contributes to how well someone responds to the leadership style. The goal of this study was to look at the personality types of undergraduate college students and assess the relationship to their preferred leadership styles. A positive relationship between both personality traits openness and extraversion with a more transformational leadership style. A positive relationship between both personality traits conscientiousness and neuroticism with …

Ancient Maya Obsidian Trade: Frenchman’S Cay, Belize, Emily Cook

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Emerging Millennial Majority, Kendra Kitchens

Honors Theses

This thesis operates under the framework of two theories: the realignment theory and the generational theory. I focus on a model of realignment developed by Arthur Paulson which determines three criteria that are necessary for a political realignment to occur: 1.) a new governing coalition, which is 2.) lasting and durable with 3.) a new policy agenda. A realignment can be driven by various factors, one of which being through generational replacement. Generational change can lead to a realignment when a new generation of voters emerges with unique political views that are likely to remain over time and cause the …

What Do Women Want? The Feminist Pursuit Of Happiness, Hannah Ruth Ellen

Honors Theses

“What do Women Want?” My thesis asks whether women can genuinely seek freedom while also hoping for happiness. I look closely at how male theorists define happiness and liberty for themselves and for others, and in particular for feminized others. My two central chapters focus on theories of individual happiness, happiness sought through another or others, and the ways feminist thinkers reimagine happiness in relationship to women’s freedom. I apply feminist critiques to the concept of psychodynamic therapy as an anti-revolutionary tool designed to isolate and silence women into believing that coping with oppression is equivalent to genuine happiness. I …

Female Forest Rangers In New York State, Anna Gagion

Honors Theses

For my environmental policy thesis, I investigated female forest rangers in the New York state department of environmental conservation (DEC). I looked at how their introduction into the forest service has evolved since the first female forest ranger in New York state, Patti Rudge, who took the job in 1988. I looked at common trends between retired and current female forest rangers as well as comparing their experiences to studies done about park rangers in the national park service. I found many similarities between their experiences, however there are key differences between federal and state level agencies.

Through my research …