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- All Subjects: psychology
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
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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 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
Description
Social proof and mismatch of self-preference have been assumed to play an important role in the inference of value. They can be influential factors when it comes to decision-making in a mate-selection environment. In this thesis study, participants took an online survey in the form of a dating website. They answered a series of questions about the traits they would like to see in a potential mate. They were then presented with four potential mates and asked to rank them by their preferences. The results show that participants most preferred the potential mate with a high social proof and a low mismatch of self-preference and least preferred the potential mate with a low social proof and a high mismatch of self-preference. When comparing just social proof and mismatch of self-preference, there was not an interaction effect between the two. I conclude that even though social proof is a powerful influencing factor by itself, it did not have the power to trump the mismatch of self-preference.
ContributorsAkhter, Sumbal (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
As the use of social media becomes more prevalent, especially in adolescents and young adults, there is a growing need to understand how social media use affects psychological well-being in the emerging adult population. Prior research has found that exposure to nature reduces stress and increases attention in comparison to urban environments, but nature has not been studied as a way to reduce the potentially negative effects of social media. The current study aimed to determine if viewing social media or nature for a brief time affected psychological well-being, social comparisons, future self-identification, and awe, and to test whether viewing nature scenes could buffer the effects of viewing social media. Data was collected from 275 participants using a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results showed that emerging adults exposed to nature scenes had significantly less negative affect compared to those exposed to their social media feeds. Exploratory analyses showed that those who spent more time outside tended to experience decreased negative affect when they viewed both social media and nature photos, but those who spent more time outside experienced increased negative affect when only viewing social media. Those who used social media more often generally experienced lower negative affect. Findings show that relations between humans, social media, and nature, are complex, and further research into these relations and their underlying causes may be beneficial.
ContributorsHall, Megan (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas (Committee member) / McMichael, Samantha (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2021-12
Description
The present study examines the role of uncertainty and how it relates to variables pertinent to student success such as anxiety, future self-identification, and academic self-efficacy. The present study consists of two parts. Part 1 of the study aims to address whether levels of perceived uncertainty predict levels of state-anxiety, future self-identification, academic self-efficacy, and perceived predictability. Part 2 of the study aims to test the efficacy of a web-based manipulation among a sample of first-year students at Arizona State University. The experimental manipulation utilizes elements of self-compassion to attempt to mitigate the effects of uncertainty and anxiety, and their negative effects on cognitive performance. Additionally, the manipulation aims to increase academic self-efficacy and future self-identification. The study was administered online and consisted of 170 participants. For part one of the study, all participants were used in the correlational analyses. For part two of the study, the participants were randomly divided into two groups, the control condition and the self-compassion condition. As hypothesized, findings show that uncertainty of one’s future predicted (a) higher state-anxiety, (b) weaker future self-identification(b) less perceived predictability of the future, and (c) less academic self-efficacy. Analysis also revealed that perceived uncertainty and anxiety predicted a higher level of cognitive interference as evidenced by the number of errors on the Stroop Task. Nevertheless, the proposed manipulation did not demonstrate statistically significant effects to reduce students’ perceived uncertainty and anxiety about their future. In conclusion, the present findings support the theorized relationships between uncertainty, anxiety, future self-identification, self-efficacy, and cognitive performance. Implications, limitations and future directions of this research are discussed.
ContributorsThomas, Maitreya (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05