Senior Studies Projects - 2006 listed below

Catharine Hebdon

 Perceived communal strength and willingness to express emotion in relationships in the United States and Egypt

The communal strength of a relationship refers to how strongly an individual feels his or her responsibility is toward meeting the needs of the other person in the relationship (Mills, Clark, Ford, & Johnson, 2004).  Previous research in the United States indicates that communal strength varies with the type of relationship (Clark & Brissette, 2004; Clark, Fitness & Brissette, 2001; Clark & Pataki, 1995; Mills et. al., 2004). For example, communal strength tends to be higher in relationships with a spouse or a child, whereas communal strength tends to be lower in relationships with more distant relatives and friends. Research has also established that higher communal strength in a relationship is related to more emotional expression in that relationship (Clark & Finkel, 2005; Clark & Taraban, 1991).  Our study measured differences in perceived communal strength between relationships with a spouse, parent, and bestfriend for male and female participants both in the United States and Egypt.  We also examined the willingness to express specific emotions within each of these relationship types.  Results indicated that in the United States, relationships with a parent and spouse were perceived to be higher in communal strength than relationships with bestfriends for both male and female participants.  In Egypt, females expressed higher communal strength for a relationship with a parent and a spouse than with a bestfriend. Male participants expressed higher communal strength for a relationship with a parent than a relationship with a spouse or bestfriend.  In both the United States and Egypt, the willingness to express specific emotions was significantly related to both relationship type and sex of the participants.  

Rebecca Logar

First impressions of battered women

This study focused on how first impressions are affected by disclosure of physical abuse.  Research suggests that society has specific views of battered women known as "battered women myths" (Yarmey & Kruschenske, 1995).  We hypothesized that individuals who interacted with a battered women via the Internet would have more negative first impressions, based on battered women myths, than individuals who interacted with a woman who did not disclose abuse.  This study used 30 undergraduate participants to test whether or not disclosure of physical abuse would negatively affect first impressions. The results of this study suggest that women are viewed more negatively when physical abuse is disclosed.  As predicted, first impressions of emotionality, self esteem, and submissiveness were rated more negatively when a woman disclosed physical abuse.

Lucinda Safran

Low self-esteem, success, and compartmentalization:  How people with low self-esteem may view other's success as positive, but their own as mixed

Low self-esteem individuals have been found to compartmentalize partner knowledge, with a separate cognitive representation for positive information about a person and another for negative information about the same person (Graham & Clark, 2006).  I predicted that rejection sensitivity and compartmentalization would be positively correlated because low self-esteem individuals may rely on compartmentalization to reduce the threat associated with any negative partner information due to heightened rejection sensitivity.  Previous research also indicates that people with low self-esteem qualify their own success as a mix of positive and negative consequences (Wood et al., 2005).  I predicted they would not do this for other people’s success because of their tendency to compartmentalize. There was a significant negative correlation for rejection sensitivity and self-esteem, however the correlation between rejection sensitivity and compartmentilzation was non-significant.  As predicted, there was a significant interaction for compartmentalization and success of self versus other on the tendency to view success positively such that low self esteem individuals were likely to see other's success more positively than their own.   

Emily Wall

Unmitigated communion and the probability of remaining in an emotionally abusive relationship 

Domestic abuse is a major problem in society.  Many women are victimized at the hand of someone who claims to love them.  Bruises, scars, and marks can be easily hidden from the outside world and often fade with time.  However, there is a deeper and darker side to domestic abuse: emotional abuse.  The theory of unmitigated communion may help to explain why some women allow themselves to suffer.  An over involvement in the lives and problems of others may be one reason.  A study of 74 romantically involved females between the ages of 18 and 22 was conducted.  The Unmitigated Communion Scale  developed by Fritz and Helgeson (1998) and a relationship behavior scale was given to participants.  As predicted, there was a positive correlation between unmitigated communion and emotionally abusive behaviors.