University at Albany, State University of New York
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Perspective Taking And Imagination: The Role Of Episodic Processes In Contemporary Perspective Taking Effects
Get PDFPerspective taking has been the subject of considerable psychological research for decades. Numerous empirical articles provide evidence for a wide range of perspective taking effects across a variety of contexts. However, the role of imagination in these effects has not been sufficiently considered. With three studies, we demonstrated an influence of episodic processes in a recent experimental design which increases individuals’ willingness to help others (Study 1), a seminal perspective manipulation which enhances empathy (Study 2), and a further replication of the results found in the second study (Study 3). These findings strengthen current conceptualizations of these two psychological processes, and offer insights into ways in which imagination might be utilized to enhance meaningful effects of perspective taking
Adverse Family Experiences And Ethnicity As Risk And Resiliency Factors In The Link Between Psychological Distress And Perception Of Academic Stress In Undergraduate Students
Get PDFMental health problems have been associated with lower academic performance amongundergraduate students. In addition to individual well-being, environmental and cultural factors may contribute to greater academic stress. Specifically, early adverse family experiences (e.g., abuse, neglect, and family conflict) can have deleterious impacts on an individual’s emotional adjustment and perception of academic stress. However, the influence of ethnicity on the link between early family adversity and later academic stress has been largely understudied. Objective: This study examined whether adverse family experiences and ethnicity moderate the link between psychological distress and academic stress. Methods: Participants (N = 284, 38.4% male, 59.5% female, 1% non-binary, and .7% transgender, 56.5% White, 15.6% Black, 12.6% Hispanic/Latino, 8.5% Asian, 6.8% Mixed/Biracial) self-reported psychological distress, exposure to early adverse family experiences, and perception of academic stress. Results: Regression analyses revealed a three-way interaction between early adverse family experiences, ethnicity, and psychological distress significantly accounting for perceived academic stress. Simple slope analyses indicated that higher levels of psychological distress was associated with an increased vulnerability for higher perceived academic stress among African American students under conditions of greater adverse family experiences. Conclusion: Our findings evidenced that the relation between psychological distress and academic stress cannot be clarified without joint consideration of both ethnicity and adverse family experience. These results highlighted how early life African American family level factors may be particularly salient in buffering academic stress during emerging adulthoo
Droned In: The Acquisition and Motivational Differences Between Autocracies and Democracies
Get PDFDrone technology has become a revolutionary development in warfare. They allow a nation to conduct offensive operations far from any soldier or base. As such, they have spread rapidly over the past few decades to incorporate many of the world’s foremost military powers. This thesis sought to discover the motivations and methods of acquisition of drones between different regime types. The research found a correlation between autocracies and democracies importing drones from similarly aligned states. Secondly, autocracies were found to be motivated to acquire drones due to a foreign supply excess and democracies were motivated by a domestic desire for them. Lastly, it was found that autocratic states seek prestige and status by acquiring drones, and that democracies sought to reduce domestic casualties and collateral damage in their acquisition of drones. This research can hopefully assist predictions on nations that will acquire drones and how different regime types will go about proliferation
Benchmarking IT services in academic libraries
Get PDFThe presenters will share the results of a 2021 survey of the academic library members of the Association of Research Libraries to determine how information technology services are organized within the libraries and whether there is a trend toward centralizing IT activities at the institution level. Survey findings from the 72 responding libraries address 14 information technology services and activities and identify who is responsible for their technology services, their level of satisfaction with the services, whether the responsibility for them has changed recently, and if so, why. Respondents also provided information about IT assessment and top three challenges. The presenters will reflect on trends in service delivery and make recommendations for assessing these critical services. Although the survey targeted research libraries, findings will also be relevant to public and small and mid-size academic libraries
Communities at Risk for Mpox and Stigmatizing Policies: A Randomized Survey, Republic of Korea, 2022
Get PDFObjectives. To estimate the impact of communicating to the public that men who have sex with men (MSM) are most at risk for mpox on potential stigmatization and risk perception.
Methods. We conducted a survey experiment randomizing exposure to messages about mpox among a sample of the South Korean public (n51500) in July 2022. We randomized respondents to receive an informational message about mpox that was (1) a neutral informational message about mpox that did not highlight its origins or risk groups (control group), (2) a message explaining that the virus originated in Africa, or (3) a message emphasizing that MSM are most at risk.
Results. We found that emphasizing that MSM are most at risk increases support for policies that would restrict lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/-sexual, queer or questioning–related events by about 7 percentage points compared with the control condition. However, the message describing African origins did not affect support for restricting travel from Africa. Neither changed risk perceptions or willingness to be vaccinated against mpox.
Conclusions. Messages aimed at educating the public about most at-risk groups may trigger increased stigmatization of those groups in ways that could contribute to unnecessary persecution
Do “Groove” Inducing Sounds Need to be Perceived as Music for Individuals to Show Movement?
Get PDFSince rhythm can be found anywhere in the world, generated by humans, animals, and machines, a question arises about what makes us move to music. If an individual knows that the sounds they hear are music, do they move differently than if they do not think that the sounds are music? To address this, we designed an experiment with two between-subjects conditions in which all participants will be administered the same musical stimulus. One group of participants will be told that the stimulus is music, whereas the other group will be told that the stimulus is merely ambient sound that a musician did not create. Before this experiment could be conducted, it was first necessary to run a pilot study ensuring that this stimulus could cause individuals to move when it was construed as music—without evidence of movement to the stimulus under these conditions, we could not test whether this movement was affected when participants no longer believed the stimulus was music. The pilot study found that our stimulus evoked movement within participants, setting the stage for the additional preliminary testing necessary before the planned full experiment can be implemented
A Review of the Forensic Applications for the Analysis of Biological Fluids Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Get PDFThe use of science to compile information to assist in solving crimes is known as forensic science. Numerous bodily fluids, such as blood, semen, saliva, and vaginal fluid, are frequently discovered at crime scenes. This makes it crucial for forensic scientists to use analytical methods to examine these fluids to learn more about the crime, including the offender, victim, time since deposition, and other details. Although there are many techniques, the focus of this paper is fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a rapid, inexpensive, and non-destructive technique used for forensic examination (Weber & Lednev, 2022). Fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to analyze the characteristics of the molecules and atoms in the samples, such as the presence of proteins and other biomolecules, which can help identify the type of fluid, and the time since deposition ( What Is Fluorescence Spectroscopy?” n.d.). For these reasons, it is important to analyze and compare fluorescence of all forensically relevant body fluids. In this paper, fluorescence spectroscopy techniques done on select body fluids (semen, sweat, urine, vaginal secretions, and saliva) will be discussed to determine effective techniques and possibilities for future research. Previous reviews have been done on peripheral and menstrual blood, which is why they will not be included in this review (Weber et al., 2021; Wójtowics et al., 2021)
The Power of Our Imaginations Combined: Collaborative Imagination’s Role in Facilitating Social Connection
Get PDFImagined events and scenarios can influence our perceptions, cognitions, and emotions. It has been found that our imaginations are abundant with social scenarios and can affect how we think of our relationships with others, but can imagining an event together further impact our connection with others? And does the vividness of that imagined event correspond to social connection? In this study, we recruited 126 participants and separated them into pairs of which were then randomly assigned into one of three conditions. Collaborative imagination was found to increase social connection more so than individually imagining a shared social scenario. The vividness of imagined encounters was significantly positively correlated with social connection. Thus, these results suggest that imagining an event together can foster feelings of social closeness and connection, and that the vividness of the imagined event may play a role in these effects, supporting the idea that collaborative imagination may play a role in the development of new relationships. Further research is suggested looking at group impact on collaborative imagination’s role in social connection as well as how episodic-specificity inductions may influence social connection during collaborative imagination
A Comparative Study of the Mental Health Effects of War, COVID-19, & Surviving a Natural Disaster in Children
Get PDFTowards the end of 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus outbreak from Wuhan, China has thrown the world into a global pandemic. Given the novelty of the virus and updated medical standards, the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of children were and currently are not fully known. This study aims to map out an approximate timeline of children\u27s mental health based on other forms of traumas such as war and natural disasters. This is a review of mixed-method design of numerous studies from the three variables. Data was collected through self-reported measures of mental health symptoms including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and qualitative interviews. Analysis indicates that all three events were associated with increased harmful mental health symptoms. Nonetheless, the severity and duration of each symptom varied between groups based on the intensity and period of exposure. Individuals who experienced war reported the greatest severity in chronic symptoms, followed by individuals with COVID-19, and finally individuals who survived a natural disaster. Findings suggest that mental health support and intervention strategies should be tailored to the specific needs of individuals who have experienced several types of traumatic events
Scratchin’ preconceptions: transnational hip-hop between New York City and the Dominican Republic
Get PDFThis dissertation explores and analyzes Dominicans in Hip-Hop culture, both in New York City and in the Dominican Republic, a population that has been overlooked in Hip-Hop scholarship, and whose relationship to blackness has always been used as an archetypal case study to highlight black denial and erasure in the Americas. I use Dominican Hip-Hop voices to challenge hegemonic narratives that depict blackness and latinidad as rigid and mutually exclusive categories in Hip-Hop and beyond. I theorize the transnational presence and experience of Dominicans in Hip-Hop using the concept of scratchin’. I refer to the scratching technique used by Hip-Hop DJs that consists of continuously moving vinyl records back and forth to deconstruct the original sonic flow of records in order to recreate a whole new pattern of rhythms and sounds. Therefore, I conceptualize “scratch” for Dominicans in Hip-Hop who first challenge the existing preconceptions that have historically marginalized them for not being black enough in New York Hip-Hop and for being associated with blackness and U.S. cultural imperialism in the transnational Dominican context, in order to recreate new narratives that disrupt these preconceptions. My dissertation prompts us to rethink ethno-racial, class and gender politics in New York City and in the Dominican Republic from the perspective of marginalized, invisibilized, and at times criminalized, Hip-Hop artists. This dissertation relies on six years of mixed-methods. I primarily utilize qualitative ethnography building on preliminary research done for a Master’s project on Hip-Hop and Dominican Transnationalism. I use participant observation as well as structured and semi-structured interviews. I have realized 60 one-time interviews lasting between 25 minutes and 3 hours between 2015 and 2022 with deejays, emcees, graffiti writers, breakers or dancers, and beatboxers, as well as record producers and sound engineers, in three different research sites, New York City, Santo Domingo and Santiago de Los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. This represents around 90 hours of transcribed interviews that I complement with participant observation. I attended sixteen performances ranging from concerts, freestyles, formal and informal collective gatherings, graffiti activities and dance contests. Six of them in New York City and ten in the Dominican Republic. In addition to ethnographic work, this project is also informed by the analysis of secondary research. I did archival research to analyze press coverage in New York City through the digital archive of The New York Times, and The New York Post. In the Dominican Republic, I visited the Prensa Diaria Dominicana press section of the Archivo General de la Nación to consult Dominican newspapers such as El Caribe, Hoy, Listín Diario and El Nacional. I also include an analysis of music industry magazines such as Billboard, as well as the writings of music journalism such as The Source and Vibe Magazine in the United States, as well as Cultura Urbana Mag in the Dominican Republic. Finally, I also utilize content ananlysis of government documents, photographic catalogs such as the Henry Chalfant Personal Archive on graffiti writing housed at the Eric Firestone Gallery in New York City, flyers’ collections such as the Johan Kugelberg Hip Hop Collection at Cornell University, and music and lyrical analysis of Hip-Hop music productions