Matching Items (35)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Cancer
- All Subjects: Social Media
- Creators: Department of Psychology
Description
This purpose of this thesis study was to examine variables of the "War on Cancer" frame, loss-gain prime, and patient gender on treatment decision for advanced cancer patients. A total of 291 participants (141 females) participated in an online survey experiment and were randomly assigned to one of eight possible conditions, each of which were comprised of a combination of one of two levels for three total independent variables: war frame ("War on Cancer" frame or neutral frame), loss-gain prime (loss prime or gain prime), and patient gender (female or male). Each of the three variables were operationalized to determine whether or not the exposure to the war on cancer paradigm, loss-frame language, or male patient gender would increase the likelihood of a participant choosing a more aggressive cancer treatment. Participants read a patient scenario and were asked to respond to questions related to motivating factors. Participants were then asked to report preference for one of two treatment decisions. Participants were then asked to provide brief demographic information in addition to responding to questions about military history, war attitudes, and cancer history. The aforementioned manipulations sought to determine whether exposure to various factors would make a substantive difference in final treatment decision. Contrary to the predicted results, participants in the war frame condition (M = 3.85, SD = 1.48) were more likely to choose the pursuit of palliative care (as opposed to aggressive treatment) than participants in the neutral frame condition (M = 3.54, SD = 1.23). Ultimately, these significant findings suggest that there is practical information to be gained from treatment presentation manipulations. By arming healthcare providers with a more pointed understanding of the nuances of treatment presentation, we can hope to empower patients, their loved ones, and healthcare providers entrenched in the world of cancer treatment.
ContributorsKnowles, Madelyn Ann (Author) / Kwan, Virginia S. Y. (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Salamone, Damien (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis study was to examine whether the "war on cancer" metaphor influences cancer perception and treatment decision. A total of 249 undergraduates (152 females) from a large southwestern university participated in an online survey experiment and were either randomly assigned to the control condition (N=123) or to the war prime condition (N=126). Participants in the control condition did not receive the metaphor manipulation while participants in the war prime condition received the subtle "war on cancer" metaphor prime. After the prime was given, participants read a scenario, answered questions related to the situation, and responded to demographic questions. The results suggested that, compared to participants in the no-prime condition, participants exposed to the war metaphor were more likely to (a) view melanoma as an acute disease, (b) choose chemotherapy over molecular tests, and (c) prefer more aggressive treatment. These findings illustrated the unintended consequences of the "war on cancer" slogan. The results were encouraging and in the predicted direction, but the effect size was small. The discussion section described possible future directions for research.
ContributorsShangraw, Ann Mariah (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis director) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Police use of force has become a topic of national discussion, particularly in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Currently, the focus seems to be on individual officers and their individual attitudes and beliefs. Given that use of force is an individual decision it is intuitive to think that an officer's decision to use force would be impacted by his or her attitudes and beliefs. This reasoning ignores the larger social and organizational contexts within which police officers are situated. Specifically, an officer's peer culture and department may exert control over his or her attitudes and behaviors regarding use of force. The purpose of the current study is to determine whether these larger social contexts impact an individual's perceptions regarding use of force. Using data from a nationally representative survey sample, the study finds that individual attitudes significantly predict officers' willingness to report another officer's excessive use of force. However, this relationship weakens when including measures of peer culture and departmental influence. These findings suggest that perceptions of use of force are influenced by more than just individual attitudes towards use of force. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.
ContributorsMorse, Stephanie Jean (Author) / Wright, Kevin (Thesis director) / Ready, Justin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Cancer is a disease that occurs in many and perhaps all multicellular organisms. Current research is looking at how different life history characteristics among species could influence cancer rates. Because somatic maintenance is an important component of a species' life history, we hypothesize the same ecological forces shaping the life history of a species should also determine its cancer susceptibility. By looking at varying life histories, potential evolutionary trends could be used to explain differing cancer rates. Life history theory could be an important framework for understanding cancer vulnerabilities with different trade-offs between life history traits and cancer defenses. Birds have diverse life history strategies that could explain differences in cancer suppression. Peto's paradox is the observation that cancer rates do not typically increase with body size and longevity despite an increased number of cell divisions over the animal's lifetime that ought to be carcinogenic. Here we show how Peto’s paradox is negatively correlated for cancer within the clade, Aves. That is, larger, long-lived birds get more cancer than smaller, short-lived birds (p=0.0001; r2= 0.024). Sexual dimorphism in both plumage color and size differ among Aves species. We hypothesized that this could lead to a difference in cancer rates due to the amount of time and energy sexual dimorphism takes away from somatic maintenance. We tested for an association between a variety of life history traits and cancer, including reproductive potential, growth rate, incubation, mating systems, and sexual dimorphism in both color and size. We found male birds get less cancer than female birds (9.8% vs. 11.1%, p=0.0058).
ContributorsDolan, Jordyn Nicole (Author) / Maley, Carlo (Thesis director) / Harris, Valerie (Committee member) / Boddy, Amy (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Although previous research has explored the relationship between social media use and well-being, many studies are contradictory of each other and conclude varying findings relating to social media use and outspokenness. This study explores the relationship between active and passive social media use, perceived social media expertise, and outspokenness using the potentially mediating variable of perceived social acceptance. 162 participants, recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and ASU’s SONA systems, completed a survey relating to their own use of social media, perceived social acceptance, and outspokenness. Contradictory to my first hypotheses, no significant correlations were found between social media use and social media expertise. However, correlation analyses revealed that active social media use is related to an increased amount of perceived social media expertise (r = 0.23, p < .004). Perceived social media expertise was significantly positively correlated with outspokenness (r = 0.19, p < 0.015); however, it was not correlated with perceived social acceptance. When examining these relationships separately by gender, a strong association was found for males between active social media use and outspokenness, whereas passive social media use and outspokenness were negatively correlated for females. The results of this study add to previous research in the field of social media and outspokenness and lend new ideas for future research on these topics, such as exploring the gender differences that are associated with these variables. Further research in the area is needed for a more complete understanding of how one’s social media use affects his/her outspokenness and how gender modifies these effects.
ContributorsRubino, Kelli Erika (Co-author) / Rubino, Kelli (Co-author) / Mickelson, Kristin (Thesis director) / Halavais, Alexander (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Since the advent of social media, researchers have studied how platforms like Facebook and Instagram can influence our relationships, and more specifically, how social networking sites can impact what happens when these relationships dissolve. Less is known about the newer platform Snapchat, which provides ephemeral updates as they occur to one's friend list, as well as self-destructing direct messages between individuals. The present study utilized survey responses from 84 college-aged individuals and eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews to study the relationship between using Snapchat to engage with or monitor one's ex-partner, the level of distress that results from these behaviors, and an individual's overall breakup distress level. A significant positive correlation was found between each of these variables, indicating that remaining connected with one's ex-partner on Snapchat may contribute to one's level of distress, or alternatively, that more distressed individuals are turning to Snapchat to monitor their ex-partner. Pairing this quantitative data with in-depth interviews allowed for more robust and generalizable findings. Qualitative details supported the statistical analysis to indicate that one's overall breakup distress level may be leading individuals to use Snapchat to monitor their ex-partner or exaggerate their own speed of recovery. Future research should analyze these same variables in a larger, more representative sample by following couples as their breakups occur in real-time to capture more comprehensive participant experiences.
ContributorsAter, Brittany Alexis (Author) / Parker, John (Thesis director) / Bodford, Jessica (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The United States has become home to the largest incarcerated population in the world, containing 25% of the world's prisoners (NAACP, 2013). Within this population, young men of color appear to be severely overrepresented. This phenomenon can be better understood with the aid of a multi-disciplinary approach within the social sciences. Evolutionary theory is combined with multiple psychological and sociological perspectives, in order to more deeply understand the multi-level intersection of prejudice and discrimination against society's disadvantaged or vulnerable populations. A synthesis of the multiple theoretical angles of social dominance theory, affordance management, and life history theory is used to suggest a threat-based, attributional framework for understanding punitive decision-making and policy support. This conceptualization also considers the importance of the legal system in effecting social change. Future research within the legal arena is recommended to enable a more refined understanding of punitive ideology and implicit bias within the criminal justice system.
ContributorsLeiferman, Lindsay M (Author) / Szeli, Ãâ°va (Thesis director) / Gómez, Alan (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In 2012, Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy's "came out" about his anti-same sex marriage views, launching an enormous negative backlash across social media networks. To counteract this, former governor Mike Huckabee called on his Facebook fans to support the company on "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," both on Facebook and in person. The project examines both the backlash and Appreciation Day on social media networks. Posts on the Appreciation Day Facebook event page and similar posts on Twitter were first broken down in the framework of supportive and oppositional posts and then analyzed in further contexts. Comments on official Chick-fil-A Facebook statuses were then examined in a similar fashion. The research concludes that a strong support system both online and offline were necessary for Chick-fil-A to recover from its backlash. The controversy that ensued is ultimately a case study in the growing influence of Facebook as a tool for small-scale activism.
ContributorsKuiland, Zachary Rico (Author) / Cheong, Pauline (Thesis director) / Szeli, Eva (Committee member) / Lim, Merlyna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Social media has quickly become a dominant tool for businesses across all sectors due to its two-way communication capabilities. Previous research has suggested that companies, particularly the hospitality and travel industry, should be engaging in authentic dialogue with its audience members, be using vibrant imagery and be monitoring and promoting user-generated content and electronic-word-of-mouth. These elements were observed for six luxury hotels and resorts in the Southwestern United States over the course of a month on Facebook, Twitter and TripAdvisor. In addition, three two-part electronic-questionnaires were administered to three of the six luxury hotels and resorts to determine industry perspectives on these subjects and to serve as a comparison of social media tactics in this sector. There were social media differences and similarities based on the location and size of the hotel. Facebook was comprised of 42 percent advertising and used large amounts of imagery to promote the properties. There was very little user-generated content and word-of-mouth. Twitter was comprised of 31 percent dialogue and 22 percent user-generated content. Five of the six properties responded to reviews on TripAdvisor. Three crisis responses via social media were also observed. Later research may choose to include more analytic-based research and examine other social media platforms.
ContributorsWininger, Emily Renee (Author) / Wu, Xu (Thesis director) / Ostrom, Amy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The action of running is difficult to measure, but well worth it to receive valuable information about one of our most basic evolutionary functions. In the context of modern day, recreational runners typically listen to music while running, and so the purpose of this experiment is to analyze the influence of music on running from a more dynamical approach. The first experiment was a running task involving running without a metronome and running with one while setting one's own preferred running tempo. The second experiment sought to manipulate the participant's preferred running tempo by having them listen to the metronome set at their preferred tempo, 20% above their preferred tempo, or 20% below. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether or not rhythmic perturbations different to one's preferred running tempo would interfere with one's preferred running tempo and cause a change in the variability of one's running patterns as well as a change in one's running performance along the measures of step rate, stride length, and stride pace. The evidence suggests that participants naturally entrained to the metronome tempo which influenced them to run faster or slower as a function of metronome tempo. However, this change was also accompanied by a shift in the variability of one's step rate and stride length.
ContributorsZavala, Andrew Geovanni (Author) / Amazeen, Eric (Thesis director) / Amazeen, Polemnia (Committee member) / Vedeler, Dankert (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05