MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
Not a member yet
2252 research outputs found
Sort by
Lime Tree
No full textInspirational artwork to clear your mind and keep your sanity during this pandemic. A painting of branches from a lime tree
The Instagram Effect: Instagram and Loss of Agency
No full textThroughout this paper, I analyze the deterministic aspects of Instagram and how those aspects affect agency. The meaning of Instagram is dependent on the creators of the app themselves. By placing Instagram on a spectrum, on the one hand, the reader can see that this app is a tool that can stratify the human need for social communication; on the other hand, it can see how its deterministic abilities affect both our mental and physical health. This shows through the relationships users build through the screen which are in-genuine relationships, ones that can lead to a loss of individual agency and freedom. The deterministic aspects of Instagram are further reinforced through the idea of techno-social engineering where it can be shown how social media applications can change the behaviour and feelings of their users simply through the posts they are exposed to. Lastly, the device paradigm in relation to Instagram as a deterministic tool showcases how the backgrounds and contexts of devices are becoming increasingly concealed and separated from our daily life. This results in a deterioration of genuine interactions within the physical environment and further reinforces the existence of the app that is constructed based on the creators and what they would like to accomplices. As a result, Instagram is a deterministic tool that is detrimental to our individual agency. 
Sand armour: How it provides plants with an edge up in survival
No full textPlants have evolved a dizzying array of morphological and biochemical defences; a deceptively simple one involves sand. Some plants actively coat themselves in sand, termed psammophory, as an ingenious adaptation for survival. While the functional significance of psammophory is understudied, experimental data from Abronia latifolia and Navarretia mellita suggests that it acts as a mechanical defence against herbivory within dune habitats. This defence stems from both the damaging and non-nutritive properties of sand and the lasting detrimental effects it has on herbivore physiology. While sand armour may seem like an unusual adaptation, it certainly can deter herbivores by giving them something to chew on
The White Lie of Persuasive Communication: A Rhetorical Ethics Argument
No full textThe following is a personal manifesto of the state of 21st-century rhetoric. Rhetoric is so intrinsically bound into all aspects of life and all communication environments that it appears inevitable to communicate by using some form of rhetoric. Though, the ethical nature of rhetoric comes into question when we consider the ways rhetoric might be used for good and for evil. This article explores the ethical state of rhetoric today — what it should or shouldn\u27t be, where rhetoric went right and where rhetoric may have gone wrong, and if the current rhetorical state is our reality, our dream, or our nightmare. First, by establishing rhetoric as a persuasive communication strategy that can be easily learned and both innocently and connivingly used, this article then explores if or how rhetoric can be used in "right" and/or "wrong" ways, and what this means for the present and future state of rhetoric.
This article was written as an end of term paper in a classical and modern rhetoric course
Alienation and Mass Society: An Exploration of The Modern Challenges to the Public Sphere in Hannah Arendt
No full textAs one of the most seminal thinkers of the 20th century, Hannah Arendt is often commended for her immense contributions to the discourses surrounding politics, technology, and the ways in which human interaction has been altered by or has itself altered these concepts. Arendt lived during an era in which countless institutions and ways of understanding the world were challenged, adapted, or destroyed, allowing her to have an especially astute understanding of what it meant to live in the “modern” age. Though Arendt does not seem to form a solitary systemic political philosophy throughout her works, there are numerous facets of thought that appear time and time again throughout her larger arguments. Of these consistent concerns, Arendt develops extensive theories on the emergence of what she has deemed “mass society”; this phenomenon, brought forth through decades of progress in technology as well as unexpected political developments, has presented the new and unique concern of what may happen to human beings’ capacity for action in a severely restricted public sphere which is consistently challenged by the transformative and all-absorbing social sphere. Through an exploration of Arendt’s lectures, essays, and capstone works, one may begin to understand the ways in which modernity has challenged the very foundation of political engagement for human beings as well as the resulting consequences for each living being seeking to disclose themselves as an individual.
Department: Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gaelan Murph
A Diachronic Perspective on the Materiality of Fur Trade Beads and Beading
No full textGlass trade beads were common items of the historical North American fur trade. This paper focuses on better contextualizing glass beads in trade, in fur trade society, and to fur trade archaeology, using a small assemblage excavated from a Nadleh Whut’en house near to Fort Fraser, British Columbia. While beads were not essential to the physical survival of their Indigenous recipients, they were useful to the European traders in establishing reciprocal relationships vital to their success and survival. In fur trade society, glass trade beads were items of materiality that came to be entangled with events, experiences and Indigenous women’s identity. They may thus be useful for further understanding Indigenous women who were excluded from primary historical documents.
Department: Anthropology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Paul Princ
Do Narcissists Trust Criminals? Narcissism and Trustworthiness Perceptions
No full textNarcissist’s assertive or antagonistic characteristics impact how they perceive others. Individuals high in narcissistic rivalry tend to maintain a hostile orientation after anticipating a threat to their self-image which may make them less trusting. Individuals high in narcissistic admiration tend to seek social admiration through assertive self-promotion which may make them more trusting. The purpose of this study is to examine who narcissists trust during first impressions and if individuals high in narcissistic rivalry differ from individuals high in narcissistic admiration during their trust perceptions. Undergraduate participants (N = 209) viewed facial photos of Nobel Prize winners and white-collar criminals and rated their trustworthiness. Participants completed the Narcissism Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire to determine their levels narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry. Criminals were rated as less trustworthy than Nobel Prize winners based on facial photos alone. Participants high in narcissistic rivalry perceived Nobel Prize winners as less trustworthy than those low in narcissistic rivalry. Ratings of criminals’ trustworthiness ratings did not differ between those low and high in narcissistic rivalry. These effects were found after controlling for extraneous variables (e.g., perceived attractiveness, happiness, dominance, and the quality of the photos). Narcissistic admiration did not influence trustworthiness ratings. Untrustworthiness may be accurately detected during first impressions. Those who are high in narcissistic rivalry are less trusting towards trustworthy individuals compared to those low in narcissistic rivalry, possibly due to the maintenance of their self-protective, antagonistic and hostile interpersonal orientation.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Miranda Giacomin
 
How Increasing Task Pressure Impacts Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry
No full textBeing placed in a high pressure situation may impact people’s narcissistic tendencies. When in a situation that is threatening to one’s sense of self, people may self-promote and strive to attain social attention (i.e., report more narcissistic admiration) or may self-protect and behave defensively (i.e., report more narcissistic rivalry). This study explored how a stressful situation (i.e., a job interview) increases one’s desire for social admiration or antagonism. In order to induce pressure, we manipulated the amount of time participants took to complete a task and the amount of researcher pressure applied. In this study, participants (N = 300) imagined themselves in an interview context, where they listed as many answers to an interview question as they could before time expired. Participants completed the task in either 15s (high time pressure) or 60s (low time pressure). Before completing the task, participants received a statement designed to strongly encourage them to do well on the task (high researcher pressure) or received no such statement (low researcher pressure). We then measured participants\u27 narcissistic admiration and rivalry, using the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire. Although researcher pressure had no impact on narcissism, we found that those in the low time pressure condition showed slightly higher scores on narcissistic rivalry compared to those in the high time pressure condition. Overall, it seems that pressure influences the extent to which individuals exhibit antagonistic narcissism, where more pressure results in decreased confidence and rivalry.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Miranda Giacomi
Perceptions of Community Notifications in Canada
No full textWhen high-risk offenders reach the end of their sentence, the Canadian Criminal Justice System (CJS) no longer has a legal mandate over these individuals and is therefore required to release them into the community. Moreover, prosecutors and police officers are responsible for deciding whether to release a public disclosure notification about a high-risk offender, and whether the community where the offender will reside is informed of the offender’s release. Research on the perceptions and impact of community notifications have demonstrated that offenders view notifications as detrimental to reintegration into the community. In fact, media attention can cause significant problems when newly released offenders attempt to make prosocial gains, such as obtaining stable housing, finding employment, and avoiding victimization. When the offender is framed negatively, the public may have increased concerns as this may lead to a lack of understanding regarding the CJS and negative perceptions of released offenders. This may contribute to the overwhelming lack of public knowledge regarding sentencing decisions. One study showed that individuals were more likely to support parole decisions when justifications were clearly provided to them. It has also been demonstrated that the public has poor knowledge regarding offender sentencing and sentence lengths. Due to these research findings, this study looks to examine whether the public’s perceptions and knowledge of the criminal justice system could be modified if notifications include less legal jargon, greater explanation and justification for the release, and knowledge of the sentencing. The study followed a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial design where participants were provided a community notification regarding an offender in one of these possible conditions in this experiment. For this study, 306 participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses at MacEwan University. After reading one of 12 community notifications, participants completed a series of survey questions. The survey questions included four scales to measure the participants’ perceptions of the offender, their perceptions of the criminal justice system, their knowledge of the criminal justice system, and the likelihood of pursuing further information on the criminal justice system. We ran analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on each scale. When we examined participants’ perceptions of the offender in the community notification, we found a main effect of the jargon language used, which showed that participants who were shown notifications with legal jargon viewed the offender more favourably on the Social Distance Scale (M = 41.2, SD = 35.41) than those who read simpler language in their notifications (M = 30.3, SD = 27.8), F(1,172) = 5.91, p = .016, partial eta squared = .036. Analyses indicated a significant main effect of the explanation of release variable showing that participants given an explanation of the offender’s release (M = 5.4, SD = 0.93) were more likely to have accurate information pertaining to the notification than those not given an explanation (M = 4.73, SD = 1.12), F(1,265) = 8.57, p = .003, partial eta squared = .034. However, the explanation variable interacted with the use of jargon language, revealing that those who were not exposed to jargon language or given an explanation of the offender’s release had less accurate knowledge of the notification than those exposed to jargon language with or without an explanation and those exposed to release explanation and no jargon conditions. None of the analyses that included the likeability, risk/safety, satisfaction with the criminal justice system, general criminal justice knowledge, and likelihood to pursue further knowledge of the CJS scales revealed significant results. Contrary to our predictions, few of our study’s results supported our hypotheses. The implications of our findings for community notifications of offender releases and the utility of improving the presentation of information in these notifications will be discussed in this poster presentation.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jun
A Plague of Racism: An Analysis of the Racialization of the Plague Throughout History
No full textThe Corona virus is not unique in its racialization of disease. Throughout history pandemics have been blamed on particular nations and given names based on that—the Spanish flu, or the “Russian Influenza”. This is a two-prong issue of racism in pandemics, firstly is blaming the issue on a particular group, and second is not providing proper health care to racialized groups. In Canada today, Aboriginal, Metis and Inuit people provide inadequate health care based on their remoteness, in America today black communities are disproportionately affected by the Carona virus. And today with the Carona virus there has been a massive increase in anti-Asian hate crimes. This is not unique in history however, the plague that devastated much of Europe and later India was blamed primarily on racialized groups. These groups became seen as simultaneously the victims and the perpetrators of the disease. The plague represents perfectly the combination of improper treatment of disease based on race and the blaming of a pandemic on a racialized group. The plague alone has been blamed on Chinese people in Hawaii, Indians in India and Jews in Europe. Although the racialization of disease is not new, it is based on incorrect assumptions and is incredibly problematic. In particular, India is one of the best examples of the ignorance involved in the racialization of disease. In the case of India, the British government ignored the fact that the poor living conditions were caused primarily by their own actions and not those of the “dirty natives”, ignored the fact that the disease did not originate in India, ignored that Britain itself experienced a more severe pandemic of the same bacterium and ignored traditional methods of healing.
Department: Interdisciplinary Dialogue Project
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Aidan Fort