The current study examined whether watching anime had an effect on self esteem as it related to body image. The way sexually charged, gender-stereotyped anime affected people’s perceptions of the opposite sex were also examined.  The participants were 40 male and 40 female 18 to 25 year-old Mount Union College students. Two ten-minute videos of anime were used. Participants were randomly assigned to the treatment or comparison condition. In the treatment condition, the video contained sexually charged images of women and hyper-muscular images of men. In the comparison condition, the video contained sexually and gender neutral images.  Afterwards participants completed two surveys: 1) the modified version of the Physical Appearance State and Trait Anxiety Scale (PASTAS) which assessed participants’ perceptions of their bodies and bodies of the opposite sex and 2) the State of Self Esteem Survey (SSES) which measured self esteem with respect to body image. It was predicted that the treatment videos would have a negative effect on both men’s and women’s perceptions of themselves and the opposite sex compared to videos viewed with sexually and gender neutral anime. It was also predicted that women would show a greater difference in ratings of self-esteem between each condition than men. Finally, it was predicted that men would show a greater difference between ratings of attractiveness for physical features in the opposite sex between each condition than women. None of the hypotheses were supported by the data. The limitations of the study included a small sample size, that lacked ethnic diversity. The video shown to the treatment group was also identified by the participants as sexually explicit, which may have made them aware of the intent of the research and skewed their responses on the survey.  The implications of the research include an increased knowledge of possible media types that lower self-esteem.

The purpose of this study is to look at college females and see how their career motivation is influenced by negatively or positively biased information.  The data we analyzed is the measurement of the motivation regarding the participants’ future careers. Motivation can here be defined as the drive and desire for women to accomplish their career goals as well as the perceived likelihood that they will accomplish said career goals. Our testing was aimed to see how the facts, positive or negative connotation, that are presented to the participant actually affect the career motivation of college women. In order to test this, we presented one group with negative information on women in the career world, one group with positive information on women in the career world, and one group with no information. Then, each participant completed a survey to measure their career motivation.

The purpose of this study was to determine if age, grade level, self-esteem, and number of brother and sisters had a significant influence on the use of relational aggression. Females (n=78), over the age of 18, from a small, private liberal arts college participated in the study. Females (n=46), between the ages of 11-14 from a public middle school between grades 6- 8 also participated in the study. Each participant received two anonymous self report measures. The first measure was the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The scale was designed to determine participant’s self esteem score by asking how strongly they agreed or disagreed to self esteem statements. The second measure consisted of two sets of vignettes; one set of five created specifically for middle school females and one set of five created specifically for college females. The vignettes presented hypothetical scenarios in which aggression was present. Results revealed statistically significant correlations between factors. Relational aggression decreased as age increased; it also increased as number of brothers increased. Decrease in self-esteem was also found to be statistically significant when the number of sisters and brothers increased. Because of the student population on the college campus and middle school, the results may not generalize well to other kinds of schools. This information is significant to schools and families in identifying risk factors that could lead to aggression in children.

The aim of this study was to obtain significant information about the progression of coping styles, from least healthy to most healthy, throughout the participants’ college years. The hypothesis that this study proposed was that as a student progresses through college they will acquire healthier and more productive coping styles. This study entailed two measures— a simple demographic questionnaire and a coping styles questionnaire that consisted of 16 questions addressing stressful scenarios that each grade level (freshman through senior) may face throughout their years in college. While we found no significant relationship between coping styles and collegiate grade level, we feel it may still be beneficial for universities to consider offering workshops for incoming freshman that focus on coping with stress in such novel environments.

There are different motivational components that an athlete can execute to achieve better performance and satisfaction within the sport. The purpose of this research is to determine what motivates college athletes in a team setting and to determine if those factors relate to performance and satisfaction.  Previous research has suggested that intrinsically motivated individuals with a goal oriented outlook are more successful in their performance, and are also more satisfied with their participation in the sport. Our research investigates male and female basketball, softball, baseball and tennis players to help us draw correlations between types of motivation, performance and satisfaction. The methods used in the research included a two part survey used to measure the athletes’ motivation and satisfaction. The experiment also evaluated performance based on the athletes’ goals and the ratings of those goals. We predicted that intrinsically motivated athlete’s performance and satisfaction would be greater than those who were extrinsically motivated. In our results we found that none of our participants were extrinsically motivated, therefore we could not test our hypothesis.

The prevalence of children diagnosed with Autism in the education system has grown tremendously in the past decade, affecting classroom teaching techniques and resources.  The purpose of the current study was to investigate the knowledge that mainstream and specialist educators have acquired of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and how this knowledge influences their attitude towards classroom inclusion.  Kindergarten through sixth grade teachers from mainstream schools and specialist schools were included as participants in this study.  An e-mail containing a link to the informed consent form, the questionnaire, and the debriefing form was sent to the site administrators who then distributed the links to their teaching staff.  As predicted, the researchers found that specialist educators have more significant more knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder than the mainstream classroom teachers.  Factors such as teacher status, willingness to attend special needs training, severity of child’s diagnosis, years of teaching experience, and acquaintance with a person with a disability were compared to an agreeableness to classroom inclusion score.  No significant results were found within these compared factors, although they were predicted to influence the teachers’ agreeableness scores.   The data collected will be useful in helping to identify ways to make classrooms more suitable for children with Autism, and to further the knowledge and interest of Autism Spectrum Disorder for educators.

The study seeks to empirically review the idea that stress negatively effects memory.  Participants studied a list of 12 compound words for 2 minutes; then asked to match the simple words that form the compound words in an intermediate memory quiz.  Participants were then told that after completing a second memory test, they would participate in 1 of 2 activities (control and stress).  The second memory task (memory game) was a visuospatial task; the instructions for the game resembled the board game “Memory”; number of correct pairings and total time taken to complete were measured.  A questionnaire was given to the participants to assess perceived stress.  Initial analysis indicates composite stress scores are significantly different between groups 1 and 2 (p<.001), however number of correct pairings (p=.494) and time elapsed (p=.401) are not significantly different between groups.

Sexuality permeates aspects of our everyday lives. This study focuses on whether people’s attitudes towards sex remain stable or move based on exposure. We examined whether people can pay attention to a message while using working memory. Conditions 1 and 3 exposed participants to a video with a sex positive message while conditions 2 and 4 viewed a video with a sex negative message. Conditions 3 and 4 were given a working memory task. All participants completed a social desirability questionnaire. We hypothesized that participants exposed to the working memory task would be less influenced by the videos.

Much of past research in the field of social psychology has been devoted to examining the automatic activation of attitudes, and in particular, to the automatic activation of stereotypes. Automatic activation deals with the unconscious process of evoking ideas, thoughts, or feelings toward a particular subject or object. While research has been done on various social categories, there has not been a great deal of effort devoted to the automatic activation of stereotypes of mental illness. Through past research, it has been found that the stereotype of mental illness is strong, and it has also been found that strong stereotypes tend to be activated more automatically. We chose to test this theory in college students. We also added another factor to this study by examining gender, since it has been proposed in past studies that females tend to be more empathetic and less stereotypic of mental illness. By priming participants with a mental illness stereotype and then having them complete the Day’s Mental Illness Stigma Scale, we were able to test our hypotheses. We expected to find that the stereotype of mental illness is automatically activated and reflected in slower response times; we also expected to find a correlation between the reaction time of automatic activation and stigma ratings. Finally, we expected that the stereotype of mental illness is not as quickly activated in women, and that women are less stigmatizing of mental illness. The final hypothesis was supported by our study. Based on these findings, it can be assumed that women tend to be more empathetic of mental illness and college students, as a whole, may be less stigmatizing than other populations.

Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions with an estimated 300 million adults worldwide classified as clinically obese.  To better understand how eating behavior may contribute to chronic obesity, a survey was administered to 165 college students.  Participants were asked to rate the extent to which access to high caloric foods/drinks may be contributing to the obesity epidemic.  Specifically, paticipants rated the extent they believe chronic obesity is amenable to government intervention by reducing access to high risk foods versus leaving the responsibility entirely with each individual.  Findings suggested substantially more respondents reated obesity prevention and mangement is the responsibility of each individual and not the purview of the government.  Implications suggest that recent government interventions such as increased tobacco taxation may be indicated but are not likely to be well-recieved by the American public.

The present phenomenological, qualitative research study reports four challenging, intrinsic factors that affect the longevity of Direct Care Staff (DCS) who work with clients possessing MR.  The sample of 28 DCS were drawn from two Midwestern residential facilities. First, participants detailed the potent effects of burnout and the ever-present threat that this tendency poses. Participants also described the importance of managing stress and its impact on burnout potential.  Second, participants shared policy changes which resulted in restricting the interactions between MR clients and direct-care workers—and their overall dissatisfaction with such restrictions. Additionally, participants reported three frustrations they experienced relating to management. DCWs shared perceptions that administrative staff did not value their work, did not value their input, and that expectations held by management were not grounded in reality. Finally, participants shared three character traits necessary for successful long-term direct care work: flexibility, patience, and dedication.