Morning Sessions
| Session 1 | 10 - 11:15 | Apple 103 |
10-10:15 Does Mastication Have an Effect on Memory While Reading or Listening?
Michelle Glasmann, Allyson Tagliarina, Elizabeth Shoda(Christopher Edmonds, Ph.D.)
Ursuline College
It was hypothesized that mastication has an effect on short-term memory and that the effect of mastication while listening is more significant than the effect while reading. No effect of mastication was found. A significant effect was found on method of presentation, with reading scores significantly higher than listening scores.
10:15-10:30 The Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Spatial Learning and Memory Following Blockade of NMDA and VDCC Receptors
Darren Miller, Jon Niemi, Erin Morgart (Brian Woodside, Ph.D.)
Mount Union College
Environmental enrichment (EE) has been shown to augment synaptic plasticity through experience-dependent modification while improving performance on spatial tasks. The purpose of this project was to investigate the effects of chronic administration of MK-801 (NMDA antagonist) and Verapamil (VDCC antagonist) on inhibiting the effects of EE on spatial learning.
10:30-10:45 The Effect of Glucose on Memory
Zachary Brochu (Cosette Fox, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
The present study investigates the effect of glucose administration on visual memory. Immediate and delayed recall as well as recognition of pictures was measured following glucose or placebo drink ingestion. Blood glucose levels measurements were taken. Results show a memory-facilitating effect of glucose at immediate recall.
10:45-11 The Effect of Human Emotion on Memory
Sarah Smith, Renee Uhlmann, Nick Vukasovich (Clifford Brown, Ph.D.)
Wittenberg University
Intentional forgetting may be affected by the degree of emotion that an image may inflict on the viewer. In our experiment we decided to test just that. Keeping in mind the work done by Power, et al. (2000), we replicated their experiment on Wittenberg University undergraduate students. What we found was that emotional stimuli are more easily remembered even when told to intentionally forget them.
11-11:15 Effect of Music on College-Age Students performance on the Stroop Task
Deanna Vodenichar, Heather Smogor, Julie Miller, Billie Maley (Brian Woodside, Ph.D.)
Mount Union College
TThis study examines how music affects college students' performance on cognitive tasks. Aggressive music with aggressive lyrics, non-aggressive music with non-aggressive lyrics, or white noise played while students completed the Stroop test. No significant differences appeared between groups. There was a significant correlation between music preference and level of distraction.
| Session 2 | 10 - 11:15 | Apple 107 |
10-10:15 The Religiosity of the Elderly: A Quantitative Analysis of Correlates of Religious Participation
Trudi Stroup (J. Scott Lewis, Ph.D.)
Urbana University
The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between age and religiosity in the older Americans of the United States. Using data from the 2004 General Social Survey, a regression analysis revealed that an individual's religiosity doesn't increase as they age. However, when other variables are figured into one model, the effects of age on religious participation becomes non-significant.
10:15-10:30 Personalizing Theology Through Experiential Learning
Ashley Dobrinoff (Luke Tse, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
Experiential Learning purposes to give students an active role in the learning process. The benefit of it has been seen in both short-term and long-term studies. In this study, students from a Personal Evangelism course participate in a survey designed to measure the impact of experiential learning on students' personalization of theological concepts presented in the course.
10:30-10:45 Implicit Religious Attitudes: Judgments of College Students Based on Presence or Absence of Religious Symbols
Molly Reigers (Michele Acker, Ph.D.)
Otterbein College
This study measures how targets wearing Christian and Jewish symbols are judged against control targets and each other on morality, intelligence, likeability, and forcefulness. Christian targets were seen as most moral and least intelligent and likeable, with the converse true for control targets; Jewish targets consistently ranked in between.
10:45-11 Sexual addiction, spirituality and Learned helplessness
Keith Clark, Kristin Ohman (Cosette Fox, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
Our study measured the correlation between sexual addiction, spirituality, and learned helplessness in a group of Christian male students. Although much of the overall data proved to be insignificant due to the small sample size, the question 'Does hopelessness and spirituality play a role in sexual addiction?' is still open.
11-11:15 The Relationship Between Perfectionism and Religiosity and its Influence on Self-Disclosure
Christine Reiger (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
This study examined positive and negative self-disclosure in women. Participants read a vignette of a student's day and completed questionnaires concerning self-disclosure, religiosity, and perfectionism. A 2 x 3 within subjects ANOVA will be conducted on self-disclosure in addition to a multiple linear regression analyzing perfectionism, self-disclosure, and religiosity.
| Session 3 | 10 - 11:15 | Apple 116 |
10-10:15 Occupational Gender Stereotyping Attitudes
Amanda George (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
This experiment investigated the issue of occupational gender stereotyping. A combination of the participants' gender and the type of occupation predicted the applicant's overall hirability for a particular job. The applicants' gender had no significance on any of the dependent variables, nor was there any significant difference in starting salaries in any condition.
10:15-10:30 Disclaimers: Should you use them or not?
Mark Balthrop, Andrea Frederick, Sean Wolf (Clifford Brown, Ph.D.)
Wittenberg University
This study attempts to investigate college student's perceptions of male and female speakers using disclaimers. Participants listened to one male and female speaker using a disclaimer in some cases, and not in others. The results showed that females perceived speakers using disclaimers as more likeable and less arrogant than speakers who did not use disclaimers.
10:30-10:45 The Impact of Gender and Race on the Evaluation of a Presidential Candidate
Nicole Stratton, Brian Nicholson, Nathan Sutter, Joy Dockery, Ryan Rothermel, Adam Schlett, Sara Smith, Justin Smith (Debbie Dalke, Ph.D.)
Defiance College
131 college students evaluated presidential candidates. Identification with the candidate was affected by the race and gender of the candidate and the gender of the subject, p = .018. Race was a factor in the perception of the candidate as a strong positive image for our country, p = 0.45.
10:45-11 Make the Decision: Do You Promote or Deny Based on a Disease?
Jilliene Johnson (Amber Garcia, Ph.D.)
The College of Wooster
How do human resources manager's attitudes towards HIV/AIDS affect their decision making? Participants decided either to promote or deny a job candidate. Results indicate that there was a significant relationship between sex and target of the evaluation, such that women rated the candidate with HIV/AIDS more positively than men.
11-11:15 White Criminal: Movies, Controlled and Unconscious Processing,and Stereotypes of Serial Killers
Nicole Johnson (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
This study explored the effects of controlled and unconscious processing and priming on stereotypes of serial killers. Fifty-two students completed the Serial Killer Questionnaire; half of them viewed stereotypical clips. Participants than either used controlled processing, or unconscious processing. Data analysis showed a significant interaction between priming and process.
| Session 4 | 10 - 11:15 | Apple 119 |
10-10:15 One Face, Two Race, my Race, your Race
Ashley Hanke, Allison Reed, Searra Schell (Clifford Brown, Ph.D.)
Wittenberg University
The present study was conducted in order to distinguish the differences in facial recognition based on race. African American and Caucasian participants were used in order to better understand facial recognition. Participants were asked to view a training session consisting of pictures of both races and later asked to recall if they had in fact previously seen those faces or not. Response time and correct responses were recorded in order to replicate findings that own-race bias occurs.
10:15-10:30 Beliefs about Smoking among Bulgarian and American College Students
Zornitsa Kalibatseva (Linda Smolak, Ph.D.)
Kenyon College
This study explores the beliefs about smoking among college students in two countries, Bulgaria and the U. S. Some beliefs about smoking may be endorsed more by Americans than Bulgarians despite the higher prevalence of smoking in Bulgaria. Gender and culture differences and implications for future interventions are discussed.
10:30-10:45 Misidentification among Puerto Rican women: Preliminary Results of a Qualitative Study
Lovey Walker, B.A. Candidate (Irene Lopez, Ph.D.)
Kenyon College
This exploratory qualitative study investigated the reasons and costs of ethnic misidentification among Puerto Rican women (n = 75). Transcribed interviews consisting of three semi-structured questions indicated a high degree of consensus with regards to reasons and consequences of misidentification, and moderate consensus to general themes.
10:45-11 Diminishing the Other-Race Effect: An Investigation into Creating Better Cross-Cultural Facial Recognition Using Social-Categorization
Stephen Zumbrun (Susan Clayton, Ph.D.)
The College of Wooster
This study investigated ways to diminish the other-race effect. Social categories of in-group and out-group were established by placing participants into one of two imaginary personality groups, red or green. The results found that Asian faces were recognized with greater accuracy than Caucasian faces.
11-11:15 The Psychosocial Elements Associated with Civil Liberties Attitudes
Fade Eadeh (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
This study investigated if attitudes about authoritarianism, social dominance, out-groups, threat of terrorism, and several demographic characteristics predicted willingness to give up civil liberties. It also investigated whether viewing a video clip of the 9/11 terrorist attacks affected these views. Social Dominance, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and political orientation were significant predictors of one's willingness to give up civil liberties.
| Session 5 | 10 - 11:15 | Apple 106 |
10-10:15 Love attitudes and romantic relationships
Rebecca Warner, Emilie Good (Milt Becknell, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
The purpose of this study is to find whether there is a difference in love attitudes between males and females and also between those who are involved in romantic relationships and those who are not on six different love styles. Results have shown higher eros and pragma for those currently and in the past involved in relationships.
10:15-10:30 Codependency's Effect on Choice of Major and Future Career
Bonnie Brady (Charles Dolph, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
Codependency has been defined as a dysfunctional style of relating to others, where the codependent person exaggerates the need to take care of other people. The current study focuses on the measure of codependency in college juniors and seniors and how it relates to major and entering a helping or non-helping profession.
10:30-10:45 Effects of the At-Risk Program on Struggling Students
Melanie Bowers, Peter Miller (Chi-en Hwang, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
At-risk students were surveyed to discover the effectiveness of the at-risk program. Results showed that transfer/non-transfer psychological, emotional, and academic states were statistically significantly different. Gender proved to be marginally significant. Students' gender or transfer status did not play a statistically significant role in whether or not they sought out or received help.
10:45-11 Effects of Pain Anticipation, Pain Sensation, and Emotion on Physiological Response and Pain Sensitivity Levels
Nicholas A. Del Grosso, Berhane Messay, Tiegan S. Brick (Josephine Wilson, Ph.D.)
Wittenberg University
By simultaneously measuring emotions, physiological responses, and pain sensitivity, this controlled study supports previous research demonstrating two independent systems used in pain perception—one system determining cardiac and skeletal muscle response based on the presence of pain stimuli, the other evaluating pain levels based on anxiety and serenity levels.
Afternoon Sessions
| Session 6 | 1:30-2:45 | Apple 103 |
1:30-1:45 Do Expletives Share the Same Semantic Space as Other Words in the Mental Lexicon?
Caitlin Vogler, Nicole Leppert (Christopher Edmonds, Ph.D.)
Ursuline College
This experiment was conducted using a semantic priming task where subjects made decisions about letters strings, some of which included expletives. Results showed significant effects between word related and word unrelated categories.
1:45-2 Factors Influencing Narrative Persuasion
Anthony Tarescavage (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
This study examines the effect of reading a narrative featuring a callous counselor on attitudes toward psychotherapy. Those reading the story are expected to have a more negative attitude toward psychotherapy than those who do not. Transportation, or engrossment into the narrative, is hypothesized to mediate this effect.
2-2:15 Maintaining Stereotypes within Gender Communication using Serial Reproduction Chains
Joseph D Witkowski (Amber Garcia, Ph.D.)
The College of Wooster
How does a message changed when it serially reproduced? The target which was reproduced was a man in half the stories and a woman in the other half. It was found that neither male nor female chains developed a stereotypical bias by the third generation in the chain.
2:15-2:30 Children's Suggestibility: The Effect of Familiarity on Knowledge Monitoring
Megan Cherry (John Marazita, Ph.D.)
Ohio Dominican University
Research indicates that young children are more susceptible to suggestibility than older children. The purpose of the current study is to further explore feeling of familiarity as a source of suggestibility. Results demonstrate that preschoolers think they know familiarized made-up objects, demonstrating misattribution of a feeling of familiarity to knowing.
2:30-2:45 Influencing Behavior with Subliminal and Supraliminal Anchoring
Shahed Barrak (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
The effects of anchoring and subliminal and supraliminal exposure on estimates were investigated using undergraduate students from John Carroll University. Results found that the presented anchor and the type of exposure showed no significance on the estimates given. Findings suggest that the anchor effect does not work.
| Session 7 | 1:30-2:45 | Apple 107 |
1:30-1:45 Women's Perceptions of Media Pressures in Relation to Body Dissatisfaction
Kathryn Moore (Sarah Murnen, Ph.D.)
Kenyon College
High levels of body dissatisfaction in females can be explained by Objectification Theory. College women were questioned in groups to determine perceptions of the influence of media on body dissatisfaction, and other pressures related to objectification. The significant pressure that women felt to objectify themselves and others will be discussed.
1:45-2 Stereotypes: The Way People Perceive the Image of Student Athletes
Kandis Armstrong, Micah Chambers (Chi-en Hwang, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
People are often stereotyped. This research studies stereotyping and how it applies to athletes. The question is asked, "How do people perceive images of an athlete?" We studied three variables: weight, race, and clothing color. Participants were shown images of each variable and then identify the athlete. Each was significant.
2-2:15 Body Dissatisfaction in the Anticipation of a Social Interaction: The Influence of Interacting with an Objectifying Man
Lovey Walker , Blair Burnette, Brian Don (Sarah Murnen, Ph.D.)
Kenyon College
In this study we extended research on the influence of social interaction on self-objectification and body dissatisfaction in women. Participants led to believe that they would interact with an objectifying man did not experience more body dissatisfaction than women in the other two experimental conditions as expected.
2:15-2:30 An Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Self-Objectification on Body Dissatisfaction
Blair Burnette , Linda Smolak (Sarah Murnen, Ph.D.)
Kenyon College
This study sought to examine the effect of self-objectification on the exposure to media images. Women were told they were participating in a study about the cultural definitions of attractiveness. Women who were high self-objectifiers experienced more body dissatisfaction, but this was not affected by the condition they were in.
2:30-2:45 The Radiation Effect of Physical Attractiveness: Rating Female Attractiveness Based on Male Partner's Body Type
Sarah Hoffman, Kena Mena (Chi-en Hwang, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
The radiation effect of physical attractiveness refers to the influence of one person's attractiveness on another. In order to study this phenomenon among couples, participants filled out a questionnaire rating the attractiveness of a female pictured either alone or next to an average, muscular, or overweight male. Our data reveals that females are more affected by the radiation effect and different trends exist between male and female ratings.
| Session 8 | 1:30-2:45 | Apple 116 |
1:30-1:45 Attributional style and Neuropsychological Performance Across Semiology-based Subtypes of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES)
KM Smith, NM Griffith, BK Schefft, JP Szaflarski, MD Privitera (Bruce K. Schefft, Ph.D.)
University of Cincinnati
This study explored the relationships between optimism, pessimism, severity of depressive symptoms and neuropsychological performance across semiology-based subtypes of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). The results support theorized relationships between optimism, pessimism, and depression (i.e., association of pessimism and depression) and extend these findings to an intractable seizure disorder population.
1:45-2 The Relationship Between Different Types of Social Support and Optimism in High-Stress Situations
Erica Underwood, Leah Irish, Crystal Gabert, William Fallon, Eileen Spoonster (Douglas Delahanty, Ph.D.)
Kent State University
The purpose of this investigation was to determine which types of social support were strong predictors of optimism in situations involving high levels of stress. The LOT and ISEL were administered to 239 traffic accident victims. Results suggested that appraisal support significantly predicted optimism, while tangible support was marginally predictive.
2-2:15 The Effects of Optimism/Pessimism and Depressed Mood on Cognitive Bias in the Interpretation of Ambiguous Social Stimuli
Tiara Dillon (John Marazita, Ph.D.)
Ohio Dominican University
This study investigated the impact of mood on memory. College students were induced into a negative or neutral mood and were then given a surprise memory test for an essay. Induced negative mood resulted in poorer recall of neutral and positive items, but memory for negative items was not impaired.
2:15-2:30 The Connection between Depression, Antidepressants and Emotional Intelligence
Natalie Burch (Mia Biran, Ph.D.)
Miami University
Previous studies have linked low emotional intelligence with depression. A method of treatment for depressed patients is the use of antidepressants. An antidepressant's function is to numb a person to their emotions. In my study I hypothesized that antidepressants will either lower a patient's emotional intelligence or leave it unaffected.
2:30-2:45 Coping Style as a Predictor of Cognitive Failures and Affect
Diana Ruskin (Tabitha Payne, Ph.D.)
Kenyon College
This study explored connections between coping, affect, and cognitive impairment. Previous research indicates that individuals with affective disorders, such as major depression, experience cognitive deficits. We postulated learned helplessness could explain this. We expected individuals whose coping promoted self-efficacy to experience less negative affect and cognitive problems, and anticipated the converse from those whose strategies imbued helplessness.
| Session 9 | 1:30-2:45 | Apple 119 |
1:30-1:45 The Effect of the Opponent-Process Theory on Mood due to Repeated Exposure of War Scenes
Mollie Patrick (Janet Larsen, Ph.D.)
John Carroll University
This study applies the Opponent-Process Theory of acquired motivation to mood after viewing violence in movies. The PANAS was used to record the present affect in participants before and after watching 5 clips of either violent war scenes or control clips, as well as for set increments of time following the last clip in each condition.
1:45-2 Perceptions of Mental Illness and Criminal Behavior
Jessica Combs (John Marazita, Ph.D.)
Ohio Dominican University
The current study is an investigation of the association between violent crimes and mental illness. Undergraduates read one of three passages detailing a heinous crime. Across passages, either criminal history, mental illness, or no context was given. Results are reported as a function of passage context and background with psychology.
2-2:15 Attitudes toward Abuse in Romantic Relationships
Allison Bradley, Jacalyn Crecelius, Jennifer Dinga (Michele Acker, Ph.D.)
Otterbein College
Respondents were given a set of scenarios via questionnaire that presented instances of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse instigated by different partners in various kinds of romantic relationships. Participants provided a numerical rating for perceived level of abuse and explanation for each scenario. Physical altercations were rated as most abusive.
2:15-2:30 Aggressive Affect and Racial Stereotyping of Latino Suspects: Video Games as a Mood Modifier to Investigate Perceptions of Criminality
Melissa Petkovsek (Amber Garcia, Ph.D.)
The College of Wooster
This research examines out-group perceptions of Latinos as suspects of crime, and the effect of increased aggression on stereotyping behavior. Participants' level of aggression was correlated to their evaluations of White and Latino criminals on aspects of punishment, anger, and perceptions of the criminals in society.
2:30-2:45 Domestic Violence and Women's Spirituality
Mardi Lee Snyder (Barbara Holman, MSW, LISW and Cosette Fox, Ph.D.)
Cedarville University
This study looks at the relationship between domestic violence and women's spirituality. The focus is how a woman's spirituality changes before and after the violent experience. The results show that the relationship of domestic violence and a woman's spiritual and existential well being are clearly affected by domestic violence.