Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Description
A recent controversy has surrounded service dogs in public environments. Use of service dogs may trigger discrimination against individuals with non-visible disabilities. Major goals of this thesis study are to examine if significant differences exist in personality perceptions and attitude towards service dog owners with visible disabilities versus those with non-visible disabilities, and whether these perceptions and attitude predict how they would be treated in a public setting. The study employed a mixed 2 x2 factorial experiment design. The first independent variable was visibility of the disability, with the two levels being visible vs non-visible, and this factor was non-repeated in nature. The second independent variable was the target of evaluation, with the owner and the dog being the two levels, and this was a repeated measure. Specifically, this study assessed personality perceptions using the Big Five personality traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience) and operationalized attitude in terms of the positivity of personality perceptions. Additionally, this study examined whether an owner of a service dog with a non-visible disability would be treated differently from their counterpart who has a visible disability. In the study, participants were given a scenario and picture where they encounter an individual who either had a visible or non-visible disability with a service dog at a restaurant. Then, participants rated the owner and the dog individually on the Big Five personality traits, and indicated whether and how likely they would seat the individual and their service dog at the restaurant. When considering the visibility of a disability alone, an individual with a non-visible disability was perceived as less conscientious. When considering how the owner and the dog were perceived regardless of visibility of disability, owners were rated significantly lower than their dog on agreeableness and extraversion, but significantly higher on openness to experience. There was also a significant difference in treatment of the dog owners based on the visibility of their disability, service dog owners with non-visible disabilities have a higher likelihood of experiencing unlawful treatment. Furthermore, personality perceptions and attitude were significantly correlated with treatment for both individuals with non-visible and visible disabilities. Together, findings of this study inform the design of future research. Future research on this topic may help inform policy makers the challenges and unfair treatment facing individuals who have non-visible disabilities.
ContributorsSanta Cruz, Alyssa Ann (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This thesis study aimed to (1) test whether first-year college students' perceived future self-connectedness predicts their interest in continuing premedical studies, (2) assess whether the presence of academic role models predicts their future self-connectedness and (3) pilot-test an experimental manipulation to increase future self-connectedness and interest in premedical studies. The study included two parts. First, students completed the pre-manipulation measures including future self-connectedness and interest in premed studies. Second, students were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control condition. In the experimental condition, students were asked to imagine that they were licensed doctors and write words of advice to their current selves. In the control condition students were asked to reflect and write about their daily routine. The results from this study showed a significant positive correlation of interest in remaining in premedical studies with both future self-connectedness and the presence of role models and future self-connectedness. Additionally, students in the experimental condition showed a significant increase in future self-connectedness after completing the manipulation. However, their interest in remaining in premedical studies did not change after the manipulation. Together, these findings suggest a method for keeping Freshman undergraduates from dropping out hastily from the premedical track.
ContributorsSosa, Jonathan Mercado (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
This study was designed to develop and test an intervention to increase future self-connectedness among students considered on the pre-medical career path at Arizona State University. Recent research has identified organic chemistry as one primary reason pre-med students change their major during undergraduate studies. Difficulty connecting to one’s future self and low academic self-efficacy are also reasons that help explain the large numbers of students changing majors. This study proposed and tested an intervention to increase future self-connectedness in order to help keep students in the pre-med pathway. It was predicted that the proposed intervention would be successful at promoting greater future self-connectedness and academic self-efficacy across all students, with significant results hypothesized for women and members of minority groups. It was further hypothesized that this intervention would be successful at decreasing stress levels and increasing persistence when given sample MCAT questions. 78 undergraduate participants from organic chemistry classes completed this study, 37 in the intervention and 41 comprising the control group. The intervention consisted of a guided thought exercise that walked participants through a day in the life of a medical resident. Results were found indicating a significance between the mean scores for the intervention group and increased future self-connectedness, as well as academic self-efficacy as compared to the control. Results also indicate that lower levels of initial future self-connectedness and academic self-efficacy were associated with higher levels of change in levels of future self-connectedness following the intervention. Additionally, high initial academic self-efficacy was correlated with lower levels of perceived stress and higher overall grade point average, as hypothesized. Results indicate that the intervention was successful at increasing future self-connectedness and academic self-efficacy among pre-med students, especially among women and minority groups, however the intervention was not successful at decreasing levels of perceived stress within the intervention group. Given the small sample size future studies are needed to further verify the generalizability of these results.
ContributorsDimmick, Kaileine (Co-author) / Truong, Rodney (Co-author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Patock-Peckham, Julie (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05