Matching Items (11)
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- All Subjects: Motivation
- Creators: Brewer, Gene
- Creators: Katsanos, Christos
- Creators: School of Molecular Sciences
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
- Status: Published
Description
Problem solving is a crucial skill needed to accomplish everyday tasks and overcome potential obstacles. One way to measure individual differences in problem solving ability is through performance differences on multiply-constrained problem solving tasks. Multiple cognitive processes are involved in multiply-constrained problem solving. An individual uses prospective metacognitive monitoring judgments to gauge future allocation of resources before engaging in the necessary semantic search. Problem solvers also vary in their semantic search strategies, and use either an active analytical strategy or a passive insight strategy to arrive at asolution. Prospective metacognitive monitoring judgments and solution strategies are two aspects of the problem solving process that occur at specific points in the process while motivation influences problem solving throughout the process. The goal of this study is to examine prospective metacognitive judgments, problem solving accuracy, solution strategy, and motivation in multiply-constrained problem solving. Motivation was manipulated using a performance based monetary incentive. Participants self reported prospective Feeling-of-Knowing judgments after brief exposure to the problem, and solution strategy ratings after each problem. No significant differences were found to support the effect of motivation on problem solving accuracy, prospective metacognitive judgments, relative accuracy, or solution strategies. Significant differences were found between groups when comparing the number of problems skipped, indicating that participants were sensitive to the incentive structure. The findings suggest that motivation may not be an overarching mediator in multiply-constrained problem solving or problem solving may require a specific type of incentive structure to increase accuracy. However, little is known in the research literature about the type of incentive structure needed to consistently increase individual motivation.
ContributorsCohen, Aaron Sayre (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Ellis, Derek (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants, and undocumented immigrants have been a prominent part of American culture and have been woven into the history of the United States. Both group's presence in the United States has elicited rhetoric from U.S citizens and U.S public officials. One may infer that the narrative of Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants overlaps the narrative of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Both Muslim refugees and immigrants as well as unauthorized immigrants, are criminalized in the United States, or are associated to crime by default of their faith and or their legal status. The association that Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants, and undocumented immigrants have with crime, based on their rhetoric, has elicited a policy from the United States government as well. The United States government has responded to a presumed threat that both groups pose to U.S. citizens and the nation by means of aggressive legislation, both local and federal. In this research paper, past and present discourse on Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants and undocumented immigrants was analyzed to determine each of the group's narrative; the mainstream media, newspapers and photographic images, was also considered to determine the narrative of both groups. Based on the discourse on Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants and on undocumented immigrants, the media portrayal of both groups, and on the change of public policy one may assert that the narratives of both groups overlaps; as both Muslim refugees and immigrants and unauthorized immigrants are seen as a possible threat to the American people.
ContributorsGalvan, Brigitte Magdalena (Author) / Doty, Roxanne (Thesis director) / Magaña, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The main goal of this project is to discuss the evolution of women in medicine by focusing on their history and where they are today. Women have gone through a lot of obstacles to be able to work in competitive fields today. They have done tremendously and they have also broken several barriers to prove to world that it is possible to be a successful working female in the work field. The focus on Muslim female physicians is placed because many Muslim women are judged by their religion prior to getting to know who they truly are. Many of those Muslim women are very successful physicians who have set the bar high. Throughout this paper one on one interviews with Muslim females in medicine were conducted to show the outside world that Muslim women are just like any other working individual. They all have similar passions and the goal to heal. The mentality of women being the only caretaker and housewife has shifted over the years, in 2017, women are working in very competitive fields such as medicine, engineering, mathematics, science, research and more. This project also included an online survey which indicated how women in the medical field feel towards certain conditions. The results indicated that many women do in fact feel inferior to their male colleagues and they also felt that they had to work harder to prove their abilities. This is because there has always been the idea that no matter what a woman will not be as successful as a man and our history shows that people did believe that. However, on the bright side the interviews and survey conducted revealed that women will not let the discouragement of others put them down, instead they have worked hard and proved that they are fully capable of performing their duties as medical doctors.
ContributorsTohaibeche, Raneem (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Mousa, Neimeh (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Trust was measured for a target profile that varied the target's religion and costly signaling behavior. Subjects were primed with a threat, romance, or neutral response previous to viewing the profile to determine if this had any effect on their trust ratings of the target. Participants were drawn from MTurk with ages ranging from 18 to 75 (M= 33.2) and various religious backgrounds (including 210 Christians, 190 atheists/agnostics, and 92 other religious believers). Participants were presented with the threat, romance, or neutral vignette, shown the target profile, and asked to rate the target's trustworthiness. There was no main effect of the vignette condition (p = .088) or costly signaling (p = .099) on the target's trustworthiness. There was a main effect of target religion (p = .006) wherein the Muslim target was trusted more than the Catholic target. These findings do not replicate previous findings on religion, costly signaling, and trust.
ContributorsBesaw, Courtney Michelle (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The goal of this investigation was to perform a correlational analysis of the intelligence mindsets, motivational background, and significance of gender identity as factors driving student success. 42 students enrolled in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) 110: Principles of Programming with Java completed a modified Scientific Measurement Questionnaire (SMQ), a survey instrument designed to study the previously mentioned factors. This survey was modeled on a similar survey administered by Dr. Ian Gould to students enrolled in his Organic Chemistry course at Arizona State University. Following the development of a scoring system to generate quantifiable data, it was determined that students in this course displayed a greater inclination towards beliefs in malleable intelligence and in an intrinsic locus of control as opposed to a belief in static intelligence and an external locus of control. Students exhibited a multi-faceted approach in responding to the questions in the motivational background section, indicating that there were no distinctively dominating factors driving student motivation. Instead, it was observed that students generally derived motivation from these factors in a synergistic fashion. Responses to questions regarding gender indicated that while students believed that the way they were perceived by others was significantly influenced by their gender, the notion of gender identity played little to no role in their overall personal identity and self-schema. As the study was designed to offer insight into the role of gender identity and the population discrepancies within the course, it is important to note that the findings suggest gender identity is not a primary factor of concern with regard to student performance. While the data acquired suggested potential trends in student mindsets, a notable limitation of the scope of the project was the undersized sample population.
ContributorsLevinthal, Ryan (Co-author) / Santos, Cedric (Co-author) / Gould, Ian (Thesis director) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Marijuana is currently the mostly widely used illicit drug in the U.S., and has been for multiple decades (Johnston et. al., 2016). Despite a growing belief that marijuana use is not harmful, over 4 million Americans have met criteria for marijuana use disorders in the past year alone (CBHSQ, 2015). According to marijuana trajectory studies, about a third of marijuana users will end up quitting later in life, but some \u2014 such as those who meet criteria for dependence \u2014 have a much greater difficultly quitting. Therefore, by looking at marijuana users who were successful in quitting, and comparing them to ongoing adult marijuana users, factors that may assist in helping an individual quit \u2014 such as certain motivations for quitting \u2014 may be identified. To study these issues, data was collected from 507 participants from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. It was found that adolescents who used marijuana weekly for at least one year were likely to be ongoing marijuana users in adulthood and that adolescents who had a warm relationship with their primary caretaker were likely to have quit marijuana by adulthood. It was also found that Black participants were more likely to have legal, monetary, and religious reasons for quitting than were White participants. Furthermore, participants who used regularly in adolescence were likely to list legal reasons, as well as a concern that marijuana use was needed to feel normal. Finally, it was found that not a single motivation for quitting marijuana was associated with a shorter period of abstinence. The implications of these findings for motivations to quit marijuana are the focus of the discussion.
ContributorsGomez, Kira Elise (Author) / Pardini, Dustin (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Meier, Madeline (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This dissertation research project developed as an urgent response to physical inactivity, which has resulted in increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease worldwide. Incorporating enough daily physical activity (PA) is challenging for most people. This research aims to modulate the brain's reward systems to increase motivation for PA and, thus, slow the rapid increase in sedentary lifestyles. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) involves brain neuromodulation by facilitating or inhibiting spontaneous neural activity. tDCS applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) increases dopamine release in the striatum, an area of the brain involved in the reward–motivation pathways. I propose that a repeated intervention, consisting of tDCS applied to the DLPFC followed by a short walking exercise stimulus, enhances motivation for PA and daily PA levels in healthy adults. Results showed that using tDCS followed by short-duration walking exercise may enhance daily PA levels in low-physically active participants but may not have similar effects on those with higher levels of daily PA. Moreover, there was a significant effect on increasing intrinsic motivation for PA in males, but there were no sex-related differences in PA. These effects were not observed during a 2-week follow-up period of the study after the intervention was discontinued. Further research is needed to confirm and continue exploring the effects of tDCS on motivation for PA in larger cohorts of sedentary populations. This novel research will lead to a cascade of new evidence-based technological applications that increase PA by employing approaches rooted in biology.
ContributorsRuiz Tejada, Anaissa (Author) / Katsanos, Christos (Thesis advisor) / Neisewander, Janet (Committee member) / Sadleir, Rosalind (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
In this quantitative research paper, we explored the correlation between the six dimensions of motivation as part of the Self-Determination Theory spectrum and physical activity. In addition, our aim was to also see if Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) paired with exercise as an intervention would affect motivation to exercise over time.
ContributorsPankoff, Mia (Author) / Quezada, Gabrielle (Co-author) / Katsanos, Christos (Thesis director) / Shaffer, Zachary (Committee member) / Ruiz Tejada, Anaissa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor)
Created2021-12
Description
In this quantitative research paper, we explored the correlation between the six dimensions of motivation as part of the Self-Determination Theory spectrum and physical activity. In addition, our aim was to also see if Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) paired with exercise as an intervention would affect motivation to exercise over time.
ContributorsQuezada, Gabrielle (Author) / Pankoff, Mia (Co-author) / Katsanos, Christos (Thesis director) / Shaffer, Zachary (Committee member) / Ruiz Tejada, Anaissa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor)
Created2021-12
Description
Self-control has been shown to predict both health risk and health protective outcomes. Although top-down or “good” self-control is typically examined as a unidimensional construct, research on “poor” self-control suggests that multiple dimensions may be necessary to capture aspects of self-control. The current study sought to create a new brief survey measure of top-down self-control that differentiates between self-control capacity, internal motivation, and external motivation. Items were adapted from the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004) and were administered through two online surveys to 347 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at Arizona State University. The Self-Control Motivation and Capacity Survey (SCMCS) showed strong evidence of validity and reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a 3-factor structure of the scale consistent with the underlying theoretical model. The final 15-item measure demonstrated excellent model fit, chi-square = 89.722 p=.077, CFI = .989, RMSEA = .032, SRMR = .045. Despite several limitations including the cross-sectional nature of most analyses, self-control capacity, internal motivation, and external motivation uniquely related to various self-reported behavioral outcomes, and accounted for additional variance beyond that accounted for by the BSCS. Future studies are needed to establish the stability of multiple dimensions of self-control, and to develop state-like and domain-specific measures of self-control. While more research in this area is needed, the current study demonstrates the importance of studying multiple aspects of top-down self-control, and may ultimately facilitate the tailoring of interventions to the needs of individuals based on unique profiles of self-control capacity and motivation.
ContributorsPapova, Anna (Author) / Corbin, William R. (Thesis advisor) / Karoly, Paul (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016