Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Factors Affecting Graduation With Honors: A Case Study In Bumpers College, Timothy Dalton Roberts, Jennie Popp, Michael Popp, Nathan Kemper

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

This study aimed to understand the factors influencing the graduation rate with honors in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences (Bumpers College) at the University of Arkansas Fayetteville (UAF). Utilizing a data set of 220 Bumpers College Honors graduates from 2004 to 2014, provided by the Office of Strategic Analytics & Insights at UAF, this research investigated several demographic and academic variables to potentially identify predictors of successfully graduating with honors. The methodology involved cleaning the data, statistical analyses including t-test and Chi-square tests, and logit regression models to determine significant factors impacting graduating with honors. …

Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation And Functional Connectivity In People Living With Hiv/Aids Who Smoke Tobacco Cigarettes: A Preliminary Pilot Study, Gopalkumar Rakesh, Thomas G Adams, Rajendra A Morey, Joseph L Alcorn, Rebika Khanal, Amanda E Su, Seth S Himelhoch, Craig R Rush

Student and Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: People living with HIV (PLWHA) smoke at three times the rate of the general population and respond poorly to cessation strategies. Previous studies examined repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L. dlPFC) to reduce craving, but no studies have explored rTMS among PLWHA who smoke. The current pilot study compared the effects of active and sham intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on resting state functional connectivity (rsFC), cigarette cue attentional bias, and cigarette craving in PLWHA who smoke.

METHODS: Eight PLWHA were recruited (single-blind, within-subject design) to receive one session of iTBS (n=8) over the L. …

Economic Uncertainty As A Source Of Self-Uncertainty And A Threat To Confidence In Elections, Kaiyuan Chen

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Elections play a central role in building public trust. Yet, ironically, distrust in elections is also pervasive, posing a threat to many political systems. It is therefore important to understand factors that affect public’s confidence in elections. Drawing from work in social psychology, this research proposes that economic uncertainty should undermine confidence in elections, because it could elicit self-uncertainty. Two studies were designed to test this hypothesis. Study 1 ( N = 87,822) was a secondary data analysis of a large-scale multi-nation dataset. The main finding was that economic uncertainty predicted reduced confidence in elections especially among political liberals (vs. …

Macro-Financial Linkages And Perspectives In Economic Development, Nasser Khalil

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This paper is a composition of three essays on topics dealing with financial market derivatives, macroeconomic policies using microdata, and the link between macroeconomics and international finance. All three chapters are a cohesive discussion on financial markets, investment analysis of financial derivatives, and economic impacts during COVID-19. We examine capital and resource allocation in a variety of cases across all three chapters: international capital flows on the largest domestically listed firms, investments in option contracts with low likelihoods of being exercised, and the role of domestic policy in distributing social welfare benefits during periods of economic downturns in India. The …

A Checklist To Design And Evaluate Systems-Informed Wellbeing Initiatives: A Mixed Methods Validation Study, Jaclyn Gaffaney

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on global mental health struggles, underscoring the need to prioritize wellbeing. Many disciplines currently research aspects of wellbeing, ranging from psychology, behavioral economics, public health, and public policy, to prevention, evaluation, and education. However, researchers have rarely integrated insights across disciplines or extracted meaningful nuance from real-world applications. Many wellbeing interventions can also fall short due to poor design and execution as well as inadequate application of systems thinking and culturally responsive lenses. This dissertation addressed these gaps by creating a structured framework for crafting and assessing systems-informed wellbeing initiatives in the form of the …

Synergetic Effects Of Democracy And Economic Development On Income Inequality And The Role Of Relative Political Capacity, Nazif Sali

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Diving into the complex dynamics of income inequality, this dissertation studies the multifaceted relationships between democracy, economic development, and inequality, placing a spotlight on the mediating influence of Relative Political Capacity (RPC). Uncovering the pivotal role of RPC as democracies advance and economies progress, this research navigates the contours of income inequality. By dissecting distinct sub-samples of OECD and non-OECD countries, nuanced insights surface. Employing robust methodologies such as ordinary least squares regressions and fixed effects analysis, I argue that targeted policies addressing inequality can not only foster inclusive economic growth but also fortify the foundations of democratic institutions. As …

A Social Identity Theory Approach To The Acceptance Of Negative Evaluation Results, Courtney Marie Koletar

CGU Theses & Dissertations

For decades, evaluators have noted that it is difficult for stakeholders to accept negative evaluation results (Carter, 1971; Taut & Brauns, 2003). There is a need for additional research on evaluation to better understand when and why stakeholders reject negative or critical evaluation findings. Drawing on social identity theory (SIT), the intergroup sensitivity effect (ISE) finds that group members are equally accepting of group-directed praise from both ingroup and outgroup members, however they are much more accepting of group-directed criticism from an ingroup member than an outgroup member (Hornsey et al., 2002). The logic of SIT underlying the effect is …

Saving The World One Scrap At A Time: Identity Labeling As As Tool To Reduce Household Food Waste, Jamiela Bryant

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Food waste is a significant driver of climate change, and it threatens human and planetary health. In fact, the average American household discards between 30% - 40% of their edible food each week. Reducing food waste could divert material from landfills, where it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Decreasing food waste would also mean that more of the planet’s resources could contribute to feeding the population. Social psychological research demonstrates the importance of values and identity in understanding and promoting proenvironmental behaviors, such as household food use and disposal. In this dissertation, I review the social psychological literature, focusing on …