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 - 10 of 29
Description
Students Organize for Syria (SOS) is the student led initiative for Syria. With 18 registered chapters across the United States, this student organization is targeting a multidimensional cause by different means. Though it is now a national movement, it started off with one group at Arizona State University, with one student. Zana Alattar, founder and student director of SOS, tells the story of how she took an ASU organization, Save Our Syrian Freedom (SOS Freedom), to the national level as SOS. As a pre-medical student, she also combines her work in human rights with her future in healthcare. After all, health and human rights have long maintained a synergistic relationship.
ContributorsAlattar, Zana (Author) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / McClurg, Sharolyn (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis study was to examine whether the "war on cancer" metaphor influences cancer perception and treatment decision. A total of 249 undergraduates (152 females) from a large southwestern university participated in an online survey experiment and were either randomly assigned to the control condition (N=123) or to the war prime condition (N=126). Participants in the control condition did not receive the metaphor manipulation while participants in the war prime condition received the subtle "war on cancer" metaphor prime. After the prime was given, participants read a scenario, answered questions related to the situation, and responded to demographic questions. The results suggested that, compared to participants in the no-prime condition, participants exposed to the war metaphor were more likely to (a) view melanoma as an acute disease, (b) choose chemotherapy over molecular tests, and (c) prefer more aggressive treatment. These findings illustrated the unintended consequences of the "war on cancer" slogan. The results were encouraging and in the predicted direction, but the effect size was small. The discussion section described possible future directions for research.
ContributorsShangraw, Ann Mariah (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The media often portrays professional basketball players as narcissistic, entitled and selfish, but are these portrayals accurate? After all, basketball is a team sport and team sport research indicates that players are more altruistic and selfless. This study proposes a way to assess narcissism and altruism through observable behaviors from all the active players in the NBA.
ContributorsPappas, Carissa Anne (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Mae, Lynda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
Cultural heritage sites bring people of different backgrounds together to learn about their differences and bond over their shared human history. The tourism industry is an essential tool to access cultural heritage sites, however tourists themselves pose a threat to the delicate state of ancient ruins and heritage objects. The ways in which tourists interact with cultural heritage sites negatively impacts them, resulting in the premature destruction of cultural heritage, a non-renewable resource. These damaging behaviors may include leaving the guided path, resting on the ruins themselves, touching vulnerable parts of the ruins, and committing acts of vandalism. Tourism must be managed, as the industry works to bring business and revenue into its host community. However, the industry also brings concerns of commercialization to the area, risking the integrity of the site. My research revolves around case studies of Pompeii and the Capuchin Crypt, and their underlying tension with the booming international tourism industry of Italy. Pompeii is not actually the "city frozen in time" by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but rather an active archaeological site from which a lot can be learned. The Capuchin Crypt is an exquisite expression of beauty in the face of death that features chambers of biblical scenes reenacted with the human remains of Capuchin friars. Each of the sites reflects an aspect of the identity of Italy as a nation and of Italians as individuals, all contributing to a greater global identity. My case studies and research allowed me to find solutions that promote the collaboration between tourism and cultural heritage sites, rather than a state of constant tension.
ContributorsMartin, Jacqueline Victoria (Author) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / Soares, Rebecca (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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
The goal of this creative project is to document my grandmother’s traditional Gujarati recipes with the hopes of preserving her life and passion for cooking. This process included library research to investigate the history of Indian and Gujarati cuisine, spending time in the kitchen documenting the recipes in their entirety, practicing them on my own, writing the cookbook and including passages that weave in the history, my grandmother’s stories, and techniques and tools. After completing this process, the significant findings related to my grandmother’s life and her journey from birth to now. Her marriage to my grandfather at a young age, her journey and those who influenced her ability to cook, and her impact on my family were all effects that I had understood and known during my experiences with my grandmother. In this journey, I learned more about her thoughts and experiences that I never knew before. Our relationship has deepened ten-fold and while she may not be with me forever, I now have a tangible part of her that I can keep with me for the rest of my life.
ContributorsPatel, Ekta (Author) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / Jacobs, Mark (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis project is to situate emotional knowledge of conventional and alternative menstrual products within cultural processes that construct menstrual shame and taboo. This study employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods - a survey distributed via snowball recruitment and an age-selected follow-up oral interview- to analyze emotions associated with specific menstrual products. I find that fear and disgust are the two most significant emotions to influence menstrual product choice - fear associated predominantly with penetrative internal products and disgust associated with external products that do not sufficiently contain the chaotic flow of menstrual blood. Ultimately, I argue that menstrual disgust and shame born from the construction of the menstruating female body as anarchic, threatening, and inferior to the male body permeates the daily lives of women through their relationships to and emotions towards menstrual products, their periods, and their bodies in general. I discuss how these relationships are modulated throughout the lifecycle by approaches to formal menstrual education approaches that instill shame and disgust, as well as the embodied experiences of pregnancy and birth. I also discuss implications for activist approaches to menstrual education and present the issue of menstrual suppression via birth control.
ContributorsMurray, Sarah Anne (Author) / Loebenberg, Abby (Thesis director) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / Stoff, Laurie (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
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
The purpose of this thesis study is to widen the understanding of the effect culture on self-improvement. Past research found that Japanese students, when compared to their North American counterparts, are more likely to strive for self-improvement by persisting when they encounter academic setbacks. In addition to North Americans and Asians, this thesis examines South Asians as well. It is hypothesized that South Asians will have similar levels of self-improvement as East Asians. This thesis also looks at possible explanations for why culture affects self-improvement. Two variables, future self-connectedness and growth mindset, are proposed as these explanations. It is hypothesized that culture affects future self-connectedness and growth mindset, and those two variables in turn influence self-improvement.
For this thesis, 100 undergraduate and recent college graduates completed online self-report measures. Results of independent t-tests showed that there were no significant differences between South and East Asians in self-improvement, which is consistent with what was hypothesized. There were also no differences between South and East Asians in future self-connectedness or growth mindset. The two Asian groups were then combined and compared to North Americans. Further independent t-tests were run, and results found that while the trend was as expected and Asians exhibited higher levels of self-improvement than North Americans, they did not exhibit significantly higher levels. There were also no significant differences between North Americans and Asians in growth mindset, however, North Americans had significantly higher levels of future self-connectedness than Asians, contrary to expectation. Results of mediation regressions found that neither future self-connectedness nor growth mindset significantly explained the effect of culture on self-improvement.
For this thesis, 100 undergraduate and recent college graduates completed online self-report measures. Results of independent t-tests showed that there were no significant differences between South and East Asians in self-improvement, which is consistent with what was hypothesized. There were also no differences between South and East Asians in future self-connectedness or growth mindset. The two Asian groups were then combined and compared to North Americans. Further independent t-tests were run, and results found that while the trend was as expected and Asians exhibited higher levels of self-improvement than North Americans, they did not exhibit significantly higher levels. There were also no significant differences between North Americans and Asians in growth mindset, however, North Americans had significantly higher levels of future self-connectedness than Asians, contrary to expectation. Results of mediation regressions found that neither future self-connectedness nor growth mindset significantly explained the effect of culture on self-improvement.
ContributorsShaikjamaludeen, Shaikhameedha (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Shiota, Michelle (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The creation of a global community, international relationship building, and identity construction through travel has existed for almost every audience in the form of reports from travelers to their native audience. In this paper, I discuss the resolution of how an individual self is formed not solely from self-knowledge and reflection, but instead from a dialectic of themselves as singular beings within communities encountered by traveling. The dialectic model I use is that of "the dialectic of solitude" (Paz, 1985, p. 195) - it is the dialectic needed and enacted when a traveler learns of themselves through communion with all that travel entails - new environments, culture shock, and encounters with novel experiences and people - that all solitary individuals inherently search for. It culminates in the production of a written product, and the need to share their self-development with an audience. Ultimately, travel writing, as the product of the traveler's experience, is the manifestation of, and represents, the dialectic of solitude among individual and cultural identity formation.
ContributorsWinemiller, Carolena (Author) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05