Matching Items (23)
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- All Subjects: psychology
- Creators: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Status: Published
Description
There is a disconnect between the way people are taught to find success and happiness, and the results observed. Society teaches us that success will lead to happiness. Instead, it is argued that success is engrained in happiness. Case studies of four, established, successful people: Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Ricardo Semler, and William Gore, have been conducted in order to observe an apparent pattern. This data, coupled with the data from Michael Boehringer's story, is used to formulate a solution to the proposed problem. Each case study is designed to observe characteristics of the individuals that allow them to be successful and exhibit traits of happiness. Happiness will be analyzed in terms of passion and desire to perform consistently. Someone who does what they love, paired with the ability to perform on a regular basis, is considered to be a happy person. The data indicates that there is an observable pattern within the results. From this pattern, certain traits have been highlighted and used to formulate guidelines that will aid someone falling short of success and happiness in their lives. The results indicate that there are simple questions that can guide people to a happier life. Three basic questions are defined: is it something you love, can you see yourself doing this every day and does it add value? If someone can answer yes to all three requirements, the person will be able to find happiness, with success following. These guidelines can be taken and applied to those struggling with unhappiness and failure. By creating such a formula, the youth can be taught a new way of thinking that will help to eliminate these issues, that many people are facing.
ContributorsBoehringer, Michael Alexander (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Management (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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 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
ContributorsChandler, N. Kayla (Author) / Neisewander, Janet (Thesis director) / Sanabria, Federico (Committee member) / Olive, M. Foster (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
I propose that norms regulate behaviors that negatively impact an individual's survival and reproduction. But because monitoring and enforcing of norms can be costly, individuals should be selective about which norms they police and under what circumstances they should do so. Two studies tested this idea by experimentally activating fitness-relevant motives and having participants answer questions about the policing of norms. The first study examined a norm prescribing respect for status and another proscribing sexual coercion. Results from Study 1 failed to support the hypotheses; activating a status-seeking motive did not have the predicted effects on policing of the respect-status norm nor did activating a mating motive have the predicted effects on policing of the respect-status norm or anti-coercion norm. Study 2 examined two new norms, one prescribing that people stay home when sick and the other proscribing people from having sex with another person's partners. Study 2 also manipulated whether self or others were the target of the policing. Study 2 failed to provide support; a disease avoidance motive failed to have effects on policing of the stay home when sick norm. Individuals in a relationship under a mating motive wanted less policing of others for violation of the mate poaching norm than those in a baseline condition, opposite of the predicted effects.
ContributorsSmith, M. Kristopher (Author) / Neuberg, L. Steven (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Hruschka, J. Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Often when considering John Milton's greatest work, Paradise Lost, the general public operates under a number of assumptions which are patently false. One of these assumptions is that Milton was an orthodox Christian when writing Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. This thesis sheds light on the issue by examining his personal beliefs about the trinity in De Doctrina Christiana, defending the use of the treatise in analyzing the poems, and explaining how Milton uses veiled language in order to hide his heterodox beliefs. I contend that deriving an antitrinitarian mode of thought from De Doctrina Christiana and reading the poem with this antitrinitarian belief, the cognitive frame of reference in which Milton was when writing both poems, in mind is a more consistent reading of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained than reading both texts with a traditional, orthodox, Christian perspective. Examining a variety of selections from Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, I demonstrate the powerful nature of the antitrintarian reading of Milton. Many passages, for example the invocation in the opening lines of Book III of Paradise Lost, become much clearer with an antitrinitarian reading. Reading the texts with an antitrinitarian view reduces ambiguity in the text and clarifies a number of passages and details which, from a Trinitarian view, are left completely unanswered in Paradise Lost. In addition to clarifying confusing passages, an antitrinitarian reading demonstrates Milton's masterful use of 17th century English Protestantism "buzz-words" to mask his true beliefs without compromising his personal religious convictions about the second member of the Christian Triune Godhead.
ContributorsGould, George Andrew (Author) / David, Hawkes (Thesis director) / Sturges, Robert (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Problems related to alcohol consumption cause not only extra economic expenses, but are an expense to the health of both drinkers and non-drinkers due to the harm directly and indirectly caused by alcohol consumption. Investigating predictors and reasons for alcohol-related problems is of importance, as alcohol-related problems could be prevented by quitting or limiting consumption of alcohol. We were interested in predicting alcohol-related problems using multiple linear regression and regression trees, and then comparing the regressions to the tree. Impaired control, anxiety sensitivity, mother permissiveness, father permissiveness, gender, and age were included as predictors. The data used was comprised of participants (n=835) sampled from students at Arizona State University. A multiple linear regression without interactions, multiple linear regression with two-way interactions and squares, and a regression tree were used and compared. The regression and the tree had similar results. Multiple interactions of variables predicted alcohol-related problems. Overall, the tree was easier to interpret than the regressions, however, the regressions provided specific predicted alcohol-related problems scores, whereas the tree formed large groups and had a predicted alcohol-related problems score for each group. Nevertheless, the tree still predicted alcohol-related problems nearly as well, if not better than the regressions.
ContributorsVoorhies, Kirsten Reed (Author) / McCulloch, Robert (Thesis director) / Zheng, Yi (Committee member) / Patock-Peckham, Julie (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
While the use of super-cooled gasses as a tool for the study of macroscopic quantum effects has only become experimentally viable in recent years, theories involing such gasses have existed almost as long as quantum theory itself. Albert Einstein first proposed the concept of what is known today as a Bose-Einstein condensate; the driving principle behind his theory was a deliberate exploitation of the symmetric property of multiparticle bosonic wavefunctions. Specifically, since the Bose-Einstein statistics of bosons dic- tate that any arbitrary number of particles can occupy the same state, it is possible in an extremely low energy environment for particles on the order of Avagadro's number to all condense into the ground state. This state of matter is now called a Bose-Einstein condensate (hereafter referred to as a BEC). This state of matter is interesting because having such a large number of particles in the same state allows for the observation of macroscopic quantum effects.
ContributorsSpencer, Kwit (Author) / Schmidt, Kevin (Thesis director) / Treacy, Michael (Committee member) / Dawson, Colby (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Children's literature is a comparatively new concept that has changed as the view of children and childhood has changed. The idea that books written for children are more than just amusement and that these books instill values and pride in one's culture has been approached very differently in the United States and Russia. While there are universal morals and common themes in children's literature, there are just as many culturally-dependent ideals that make children's literature and its translation an enlightening way to study the culture of a people or nation and ease the tensions between emerging global and traditional national lessons in children's literature.
ContributorsZubiate, Rachel (Author) / Moldabekova, Saule (Thesis director) / Hoogenboom, Hilde (Committee member) / Hogue, Cynthia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Time spent alone is a topic that has been studied in great detail, particularly the manner in which it is spent and the effect it has during the adolescent stage of life. Similarly, stress levels in adolescents have always been a topic of interest because of the effects they could have on the individual later in adulthood. Oddly enough however, the two areas of study have never been looked at in relation to one another. This study will look at different types of alone time as possible stressors in a community sample (N=82) of adolescents transitioning to college. The data on time alone and stress levels was collected through diary reports over a period of 3 days. The analysis only yielded significant effects for females and only for specific categories. It was found that females experience the lowest amount of perceived stress when they are alone and want to be alone, they have more negative affect when their desired environment differs from their current situation, and more positive affect in both the alone incongruence and not alone congruence situations. These results indicate that only women experience stress and affect changes when they encounter different congruent and incongruent environments.
ContributorsVanderwerf, Jennifer (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Arbona, P. Anita (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
The aim of this thesis was to explore whether major life changes can have a visual, perceptible impact on facial changes. The proposed mediation model suggested that changes in personality serve as a mediating factor between life experiences and facial changes throughout the lifetime. The proposed model was tested by examining (1) perceived personality changes, (2) perceived physical changes, and (3) major life changes in photos of individuals' old-aged faces compared to their respective younger faces. Participants in the current study viewed old and young photos of 29 Miss America pageant winners and rated how much each older face changed from its respective younger face on the following criteria: age change, overall change, personality change, and physical change. Responses were aggregated across participants for each target, and personality and physical items were separately composited into single measures of overall perceived personality change and overall perceived physical change. Results did not support the proposed model; however, some marginally significant correlations were found between the number of times the targets experienced a change in marital status and the appearance of being calm, feminine, and less changed in older age. However, these correlations were in the reverse direction from what was expected; further research is needed to understand how marital changes influence, and are influenced by, personality and physical changes. As a form of face perception, the processes underlying the proposed model are discussed in terms of possible social consequences. Further research is needed to explore whether changes in life events, such as the ones presented here, are related to specific facets of personality and physical changes, and how these perceptions translate to important social outcomes. Suggestions for future research pertaining to these issues are discussed.
ContributorsMichael, Kendra (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12