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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Writing at the Margin: Economics and the Victorian Sensation Novel

Description
This paper explores how marginalist economics defines and inevitably constrains Victorian sensation fiction's content and composition. I argue that economic intuition implies that sensationalist heroes and antagonists, writers and readers all pursued a fundamental, "rational" aim: the attainment of pleasure. So although "sensationalism" took on connotations of moral impropriety in…

This paper explores how marginalist economics defines and inevitably constrains Victorian sensation fiction's content and composition. I argue that economic intuition implies that sensationalist heroes and antagonists, writers and readers all pursued a fundamental, "rational" aim: the attainment of pleasure. So although "sensationalism" took on connotations of moral impropriety in the Victorian age, sensation fiction primarily involves experiences of pain on the page that excite the reader's pleasure. As such, sensationalism as a whole can be seen as a conformist product, one which mirrors the effects of all commodities on the market, rather than as a rebellious one. Indeed, contrary to modern and contemporary critics' assumptions, sensation fiction may not be as scandalous as it seems.
ContributorsFischer, Brett Andrew (Author) / Bivona, Daniel (Thesis director) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2014-12
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Noble Women and the Public Sphere in Late Eighteenth-Century England and France

Description
Two scandals, The Diamond Necklace Affair of 1784-1786 and the Westminster Elections of 1784, offer significant perspectives of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, noble women who violated the expectations of their positions as members of the French and English aristocracy. During the Diamond Necklace…

Two scandals, The Diamond Necklace Affair of 1784-1786 and the Westminster Elections of 1784, offer significant perspectives of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, noble women who violated the expectations of their positions as members of the French and English aristocracy. During the Diamond Necklace Affair, a countess attempted to steal a valuable necklace and used Marie as a tool, effectively ruining her reputation through association and allowing the public to criticize Marie for her past actions. Georgiana's reputation was similarly besmirched during the Westminster Elections of 1784 after she engaged openly in politics through canvassing the streets and was accused of bribing voters with kisses. Both beautiful, fashionable, vibrant women who married young, had some degree of difficulty conceiving heirs, and were accused of adultery, Marie and Georgiana are excellent examples of French and English noble women who can be analyzed side-by-side. This project focuses on perceptions of these similar women (how those close to them perceived them, how they wanted to be perceived, and finally how the public perceived them) during these controversies in order to examine the roles women were expected to play in French and English high society in the late eighteenth-century. Through memoirs, letters, verses, portraits, and political cartoons, the sources discussed become gradually more public. Within each stage of analysis, it becomes clear that these women had conflicting private and public self interests, they sought to self-fashion more socially acceptable public images, and their nobility made them subject to public criticism that reached into the private sphere. This research thus argues that noble women were exposed to exceptional notoriety which blurred the lines between the private and public spheres. Additionally, it discusses the high price noble women paid for transgressing social norms and offers an equation between noble women and immorality as a possible reason for the rise of domesticity in the nineteenth-century.
ContributorsSirk, Samantha Tyler (Author) / Thompson, Victoria (Thesis director) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Genetic and Environmental Contributions to the Relation Between Parenting and Child Psychopathology

Description

Prior research has established a relation between parenting behaviors and symptoms of child psychopathology, and this association may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Gene-environment correlation, or the influence of a child’s genes on the environment they receive, represents one possible mechanism through which genes and environment combine…

Prior research has established a relation between parenting behaviors and symptoms of child psychopathology, and this association may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Gene-environment correlation, or the influence of a child’s genes on the environment they receive, represents one possible mechanism through which genes and environment combine to influence child outcomes. This study examined evocative gene-environment correlation in the relation between parenting and symptoms of child psychopathology in a sample of 676 twins (51.5% female, 58.5% Caucasian, 23.7% Hispanic/Latinx, primarily middle class, MAge=8.43, SD=.62) recruited from Arizona birth records. Using univariate ACE twin biometric models, genetic influences were found to moderately contribute to internalizing symptoms (A=.47, C=.25, E=.28), while externalizing (A=.86, E=.14) and ADHD (A=.84, E=.16) symptoms were found to be highly heritable. The genetic influences for positive (C=.54, E=.46) and negative (C=.44, E=.56) parenting were smaller and found to be nonsignificant. The correlations between parenting and types of psychopathology were examined and bivariate Cholesky decompositions were conducted for statistically significant correlations. Negative parenting was moderately positively correlated with externalizing and ADHD symptoms; the relation between externalizing symptoms and negative parenting was found to be due to shared genetics, whereas the relation between negative parenting and ADHD symptoms was due to the shared environment. The mixed results regarding the role of gene environment correlation in relations between parenting and child psychopathology indicate that further research on the mechanisms of this relation is needed.
ContributorsCarrizosa, Mya Grace (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Oro, Veronica (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05