Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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Description
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition characterized by debilitating fatigue. This study examined the dynamic relation between interpersonal enjoyment and fatigue in 102 partnered and 74 unpartnered women with FM. Participants provided three daily ratings for 21 days. They rated their fatigue in late morning and at the end of the day. Both partnered and unpartnered participants reported their interpersonal enjoyment in the combined familial, friendship, and work domains (COMBINED domain) in the afternoon. Additionally, partnered participants reported their interpersonal enjoyment in the spousal domain. The study was guided by three hypotheses at the within-person level, based on daily diaries: (1) elevated late morning fatigue would predict diminished afternoon interpersonal enjoyment; (2) diminished interpersonal enjoyment would predict elevated end-of-day fatigue; (3) interpersonal enjoyment would mediate the late morning to end-of-day fatigue relationship. In cross-level models, the study explored whether individual differences (between-person) in late morning fatigue and afternoon interpersonal enjoyment would moderate within-person relations from late morning fatigue to afternoon interpersonal enjoyment, and from afternoon interpersonal enjoyment to end-of-day fatigue. Furthermore, it explored whether the hypothesized relationships at the within-person level would also emerge at the between-person level (between-person mediation models). Multilevel structural equation modeling and multilevel modeling were employed for model testing, separately for partnered and unpartnered participants. Within-person mediation models supported that on high fatigue mornings, afternoon interpersonal enjoyment was dampened in the spousal and combined domains in partnered and unpartnered samples. Moreover, low afternoon interpersonal enjoyment in both the spousal and combined domains predicted elevated end-of-day fatigue. Afternoon interpersonal enjoyment mediated the relationship of late morning to end-of-day fatigue in the combined domain but in not the spousal domain. Cross-level moderation analyses showed that individual differences in afternoon spousal enjoyment moderated the day-to-day relation between afternoon spousal enjoyment and end-of-day fatigue. Finally, the mediational chain was not observed at the between-person level. These findings suggest that preserving interpersonal enjoyment in non-spousal relations limits within-day increases in FM fatigue. They highlight the importance of examining domain-specificity in interpersonal enjoyment when studying fatigue, and suggest that targeting enjoyment in social relations may improve the efficacy of existing treatments.
ContributorsYeung, Wan (Author) / Aiken, Leona S. (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Mary C. (Thesis advisor) / Mackinnon, David P (Committee member) / Zautra, Alex J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Sustainable development in an American context implies an ongoing shift from quantitative growth in energy, resource, and land use to the qualitative development of social-ecological systems, human capital, and dense, vibrant built environments. Sustainable urban development theory emphasizes locally and bioregionally emplaced economic development where the relationships between people, localities, products, and capital are tangible to and controllable by local stakeholders. Critical theory provides a mature understanding of the political economy of land development in capitalist economies, representing a crucial bridge between urban sustainability's infill development goals and the contemporary realities of the development industry. Since its inception, Phoenix, Arizona has exemplified the quantitative growth paradigm, and recurring instances of land speculation, non-local capital investment, and growth-based public policy have stymied local, tangible control over development from Phoenix's territorial history to modern attempts at downtown revitalization. Utilizing property ownership and sales data as well as interviews with development industry stakeholders, the political economy of infill land development in downtown Phoenix during the mid-2000s boom-and-bust cycle is analyzed. Data indicate that non-local property ownership has risen significantly over the past 20 years and rent-seeking land speculation has been a significant barrier to infill development. Many speculative strategies monopolize the publicly created value inherent in zoning entitlements, tax incentives and property assessment, indicating that political and policy reforms targeted at a variety of governance levels are crucial for achieving the sustainable development of urban land. Policy solutions include reforming the interconnected system of property sales, value assessment, and taxation to emphasize property use values; replacing existing tax incentives with tax increment financing and community development benefit agreements; regulating vacant land ownership and deed transfers; and encouraging innovative private development and tenure models like generative construction and community land trusts.
ContributorsStanley, Benjamin W (Author) / Boone, Christopher G. (Thesis advisor) / Redman, Charles (Committee member) / Bolin, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Recent research has identified affirmation of transcendence and exposure to violent Bible verses as being related to greater prejudice toward value-violating out-groups (Blogowska & Saroglou, 2012; Shen et al., 2013). Effects of exposure to specific Bible verses on attitudes toward out-groups have not been measured in combination with the Post-Critical Belief Scale developed by Hutsebaut (1996). The relationships between exposure to scriptural endorsements of prejudice, affirmation vs. disaffirmation of transcendence, literal vs. symbolic processing of religious content, and prejudice toward value-violating out-groups were examined using an online survey administered to a sample of U.S. adults (N=283). Greater affirmation of transcendence scores were linked to greater prejudice toward atheists and homosexuals and more favorable ratings of Christians and highly religious people. Lower affirmation of transcendence scores were linked to less favorable ratings of Christians and highly religious people and more favorable ratings of atheists. Exposure to scriptural endorsements of prejudice did not have a significant effect on levels of prejudice in this study.
ContributorsGrove, Richard (Author) / Robles, Elías (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Schweitzer, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
During the months from June to November 2012, the city of Bangalore was faced with a serious solid waste management (SWM) crisis. In the wake of the upheaval, the state court declared source segregation to be mandatory. Yet, while the legislation was clear, the pathway towards a course of action for the transition was not clear and hence, Bangalore was stuck in a state of limbo. The objectives for this thesis spiraled organically from this crisis. The first objective was to examine the gaps in Bangalore's transition to a more sustainable SWM system. Six particular gaps were identified, which in essence, were opportunities to re-shape the system. The gaps identified included: conflicting political agendas, the exclusion of some key actors, and lack of adequate attention to cultural aspects, provision of appropriate incentives, protection of livelihoods and promotion of innovation. Opportunities were found in better incentivization of sustainable SWM goals, protecting livelihoods that depend on waste, enhancing innovation and endorsing local, context based SWM solutions. Building on this understanding of gaps, the second objective was to explore an innovative, local, bottom-up waste-management model called the Vellore Zero Waste Model, and assess its applicability to Bangalore. The adaptability of the model depended on several factors such as, willingness of actors to redefine their roles and change functions, ability of the municipality to assure quality and oversight, willingness of citizen to source segregate, and most importantly, the political will and collective action needed to ensure and sustain the transition. The role of communication as a vital component to facilitate productive stakeholder engagement and to promote role change was evident. Therefore, the third objective of the study was to explore how interpersonal competencies and communication strategies could be used as a tool to facilitate stakeholder engagement and encourage collective action. In addressing these objectives, India was compared with Austria because Austria is often cited as having some of the best SWM practices in the world and has high recycling rates to show for its reputation.
ContributorsRengarajan, Nivedita (Author) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Thesis advisor) / Chhetri, Nalini (Committee member) / Manuel-Navarrete, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Mixed-income housing policy has been an approach to address the problem of concentrated poverty since the 1990s. The idea of income mix in housing is founded on the proposition that economic opportunities of the poor can be expanded through the increasing of their social capital. The current in-depth case study of Vineyard Estates, a mixed-income housing development in Phoenix, AZ tests a hypothesis that low-income people improve their chances of upward social mobility by building ties with more affluent residents within the development. This study combines qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze information including analysis of demographic data, resident survey and in-depth semi-structured interviews with residents, as well as direct observations. It focuses on examining the role of social networks established within the housing development in generating positive economic outcomes of the poor. It also analyzes the role of factors influencing interactions across income groups and barriers to upward social mobility. Study findings do not support that living in mixed-income housing facilitates residents' upward social mobility. The study concludes that chances of upward social mobility are restrained by structural factors and indicates a need to rethink the effectiveness of mixed-income housing as an approach for alleviating poverty.
ContributorsDurova, Aleksandra (Author) / Kamel, Nabil (Committee member) / Pfeiffer, Deirdre (Committee member) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The current research seeks to examine whether individuals display or downplay intelligence in various mating contexts. I hypothesized that both men and women should display fluid intelligence when attempting to attract a potential long-term partner, and that only men should display fluid intelligence when attempting to attract a potential short-term partner. Contrary to predictions, I find that men perform worse at a fluid intelligence test when motivated to attract a long-term partner. With respect to crystallized intelligence, I predicted that both men and women should display crystallized intelligence when attempting to attract a potential long-term partner, but women should downplay crystallized intelligence when attempting to attract a potential short-term partner. However, there were no effects of mating contexts on displays of crystallized intelligence.
ContributorsSng, Wei Sheng Oliver (Author) / Neuberg, Steven L. (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Shiota, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Sustainable urbanism offers a set of best practice planning and design prescriptions intended to reverse the negative environmental consequences of urban sprawl, which dominates new urban development in the United States. Master planned developments implementing sustainable urbanism are proliferating globally, garnering accolades within the planning community and skepticism among social scientists. Despite attention from supporters and critics alike, little is known about the actual environmental performance of sustainable urbanism. This dissertation addresses the reasons for this paucity of evidence and the capacity of sustainable urbanism to deliver the espoused environmental outcomes through alternative urban design and the conventional master planning framework for development through three manuscripts. The first manuscript considers the reasons why geography, which would appear to be a natural empirical home for research on sustainable urbanism, has yet to accumulate evidence that links design alternatives to environmental outcomes or to explain the social processes that mediate those outcomes. It argues that geography has failed to develop a coherent subfield based on nature-city interactions and suggests interdisciplinary bridging concepts to invigorate greater interaction between the urban and nature-society geographic subfields. The subsequent chapters deploy these bridging concepts to empirically examine case-studies in sustainable urbanism. The second manuscript utilizes fine scale spatial data to quantify differences in ecosystem services delivery across three urban designs in two phases of Civano, a sustainable urbanism planned development in Tucson, Arizona, and an adjacent, typical suburban development comparison community. The third manuscript considers the extent to which conventional master planning processes are fundamentally at odds with urban environmental sustainability through interviews with stakeholders involved in three planned developments: Civano (Tucson, Arizona), Mueller (Austin, Texas), and Prairie Crossing (Grayslake, Illinois). Findings from the three manuscripts reveal deep challenges in conceptualizing an empirical area of inquiry on sustainable urbanism, measuring the outcomes of urban design alternatives, and innovating planning practice within the constraints of existing institutions that facilitate conventional development. Despite these challenges, synthesizing the insights of geography and cognate fields holds promise in building an empirical body of knowledge that complements pioneering efforts of planners to innovate urban planning practice through the sustainable urbanism alternative.
ContributorsTurner, Victoria (Author) / Gober, Patricia (Thesis advisor) / Eakin, Hallie (Committee member) / Kinzig, Ann (Committee member) / Talen, Emily (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
While acceptance towards same-sex marriage is gradually increasing, same-sex marriage is banned in many states within the United States. Laws that prohibit same-sex couples from marrying have been shown to increase feelings of depression, exclusion, and stigma for same-sex attracted individuals. The intention of this study was to explore the effect both pro- and anti-same-sex marriage advertisements have on heterosexual individuals' implicit attitudes towards same-sex couples. It was predicted that exposure to anti-same-sex advertisements would lead to viewing same-sex couples as more unpleasant and heterosexual couples as being more pleasant. However, heterosexual participants who viewed anti-same-sex marriage ads were more likely to rate heterosexual couples as being unpleasant and same-sex couples as pleasant. It is theorized that viewing anti-same-sex marriage advertisements led heterosexual individuals to report heterosexual stimuli as being more unpleasant compared to same-sex stimuli as a form of defensive processing.
ContributorsWalsh, Theodora Michelle (Author) / Newman, Matt (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Salerno, Jessica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Canal oriented development (COD) is a placemaking concept that aims to create mixed use developments along canal banks using the image and utility of the waterfront as a natural attraction for social and economic activity. COD has the potential to for landlocked cities, which are lacking a traditional harbor, to pursue waterfront development which has become an important economic development source in the post-industrial city. This dissertation examines how COD as a placemaking technique can and has been used in creating urban development. This topic is analyzed via three separate yet interconnecting papers. The first paper explores the historical notion of canals as an urban economic development tool with particular attention paid to the Erie Canal. The second paper explores the feasibility of what it would take for canal development to occur in the Phoenix region. The third and final paper explores the importance of place in urban design and the success or nonsuccess of COD as a place maker through the examination of three different CODs.
ContributorsBuckman, Stephen Thomas (Author) / Talen, Emily (Thesis advisor) / Ellin, Nan (Committee member) / Crewe, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This project uses a functional approach to understand how members of stigmatized groups perceive emotional expressions on others' faces. The project starts from the premise that different groups are seen to pose different threats to others, and thus different groups face prejudices colored by different, specific negative emotions. For example, prejudice toward Black men is driven largely by fear, whereas prejudice toward obese people is driven largely by disgust. Members of these groups may thus come to be "expert" in perceiving fear or disgust in others' faces, depending on the specific emotional prejudices others feel toward their group. Alternatively, members of these groups may be biased to over- or under-perceive these emotional expressions on others' faces. I used a functional approach to predict that, if a Black man believes that seeing others' fear expressions will be useful to him, he will tend to overperceive fear on others' faces, whereas if an obese man believes that seeing others' disgust expressions will be useful to him, he will tend to overperceive disgust on others' faces. If, however, it is not considered useful to perceive these prejudicial emotions on others' faces, Black men and obese people will tend to underperceive these emotional expressions. This study recruited Black men, overweight men, and a group of comparison men. All participants completed an emotion detection task in which they rated faces on whether they expressed fear, disgust, or no emotion. Participants were randomly assigned to complete this emotion detection task either before or after a questionnaire designed to make salient, as well as to measure, participants' beliefs about others' prejudices and stereotypes of their group. Finally, participants completed a set of measures tapping predicted moderator variables. Results suggested that a) Black men tend to be less sensitive perceivers of both fear and disgust on others' faces than are other groups, unless prejudice is salient, and b) variables that would guide the functionality of perceiving others' prejudicial emotional expressions (e.g., belief that prejudice toward one's group is justified, belief that group status differences are legitimate, belief that one can manage stigmatizing interactions, stigma consciousness, and emotion-specific metastereotypes of one's group) do predict differences among Black men in perceiving these emotions on others' faces. Most results for overweight participants were null findings. The results' implications for the psychology of detecting prejudice, and emotional expressions more broadly, are discussed.
ContributorsNeel, Rebecca (Author) / Neuberg, Steven L. (Thesis advisor) / Shiota, Michelle N. (Committee member) / Becker, D. Vaughn (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013