Social and Behavioral Sciences

Andrew Broadbent, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Introduction: Timpanogos is the second highest peak in Utah County, and has the highest visitation in the state, despite having no stand-out features such as being the highest or most technical. Over the years Mt. Timpanogos has been valuable go-to wilderness area for recreating Utahns. It also has developed a unique sense of place in the way that famous locations like Yosemite and Yellowstone have. Now Timpanogos has exceptionally high visitation and trail use relative to other recreation areas in the US. One purpose of this research is to explain what makes this peak special to visitors and what can be done to improve the visitor experience in areas such as littering, trail cutting, and overcrowding.

James Westwood, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expects young adult males to serve a religious mission, and gives young women the same option. Those who choose to serve, do so for two years if male, and 18 months if female. Occasionally, some return home prior to the full term of service due to unforeseen medical, mental health, or adjustment-related issues. Many who return early perceive themselves as failures, ostracized and unfairly judged. This phenomenological study explores the experiences of these young men, gains an understanding from their perspective, and provides helpful insight and understanding to church members, church leaders and clinicians who work with this population.

J Daniel Obray, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Kaylie Carbine, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Shawn King, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Gry Wheaton, AnnaBelle Bryan, James Stephenson, and Chad Morrow, University of Utah Social and Behavioral Sciences

Michael King, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Naomi Buys, Dixie State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Michael King, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Jessica Swain, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Benjamin Hardy, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences

Laurin Wilson, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Premature birth and subsequent hospitalization of an infant in the Newborn (or Neonatal) Intensive Care Unit (NICU) can be an extremely stressful time for parents and has been associated with maternal depression, anxiety, and decreased coping ability (Hack, Taylor, Klein, & Mercuri-Minich, 2000; Hughes, McCollum, & Sheftel, 1994; Partridge et al., 2005; Shaw, Sweester, St. John, Lilo, Corcoran, Jo, & Horwitz, 2013). Interventions to reduce parents’ stress levels during the hospitalization of their very preterm infants have mixed results (Boyce, et al., 2008; Matricardi, S., Agostino, R., Fedeli, C., & Montirosso, R., 2013). This study examined the medical, family, and maternal mental health factors that influenced feelings of parental distress for mother of very premature infants.

Kyle Nelson, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences Most research on eye movement while reading has focused on native speakers reading in their own language. This has led to detailed characterizations of the differences between the eye movement of English and Chinese speakers when reading. However, there is a lack of research concerning eye movement differences when reading in a second language. It is expected that English speakers, reading simple letters, would exhibit different eye movements when reading Chinese characters, where words are commonly made up of one or two intricate symbols. Similar adjustments in eye movement are expected if a Chinese speaker tried to read English. Our study seeks to first measure how second language skill influences eye movement during reading and secondly, to distinguish eye movement behaviors that are controlled by either cognitive or visual factors. We hypothesized that as individuals increase in proficiency in their second language, their eye movements while reading a second language would begin to mimic a native speaker’s reading his own native language. Participants were native Chinese or English speakers selected from Chinese language courses and ESL courses taught at Brigham Young University. Participants were matched based on language proficiency and history of exposure to their second language. Native Chinese and English speakers read paragraphs in both Chinese and English while an eye-tracking machine recorded their eye movements. We measured such variables as fixation duration, Saccade amplitude, refixation probability and other important variables. These results will be analyzed to find the differences in eye movement that occur when reading in a second language compared to the participant’s native language. The results, strengths and limitations of the study and future research will be discussed. We believe our research will be beneficial in characterizing how individuals read in a second language, assessing language proficiency, and directing the development of language instruction methods.

Dusty Pilkington, Weber State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Boundaries dividing political authority rarely match natural water flow. Multiple agencies, often with competing policies and agendas, manage water within single watersheds. This discrepancy can render management efforts ineffective. Local water agencies include soil conservation districts, local health departments, and engineering agencies. Agencies have varying funding sources, managerial structures, and jurisdictional boundaries. Fragmentation can frustrate management efforts at watershed scales. Comparisons between natural watersheds and human political geography can therefore be helpful in avoiding conflicts. This research examines discrepancies between political and physical geographies for sections of three Utah rivers : the Logan and Provo Rivers, and Red Butte Creek. These rivers are being targeted for intensive research as part of a statewide, multidisciplinary water sustainability project, titled iUTAH. Water-related land use (WRLU) data acquired from Utah’s Automated Geographic Resource Center were analyzed using ArcGIS geoproceessing tools. WRLU contributing to water quality in urban river reaches is described. WRLU was examined using three boundary sets, comparing the political geography of the river reaches, as depicted in municipal boundaries and management areas of community water providers, to their physical geography, as depicted in United States Geologic Survey Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds. WRLU mixes using political infrastructure were contrasted with land use mixes from HUC boundaries. WRLU was classified in seven categories: residential, commercial/industrial, riparian/water features, irrigated agriculture, non-irrigated agriculture, farmsteads, and parks/open spaces. A gradient from rural Heber, to urbanizing Logan, to fully urbanized Red Butte Creek is shown. While Red Butte Creek HUC boundaries showed 53.8 % residential land use, Red Butte Creek municipal boundaries and community providers totaled 26 % and 39 % residential use, respectively. Differences emerged when irrigated agriculture was assessed using HUC boundaries. Irrigated agriculture totaled 0.2 % in Red Butte Creek, with Logan showing 29. 7% and Heber irrigated agriculture sitting at 41.1 %.

Renette Goodrich, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences In the realm of Adoption most of the focus is given to the birth parents and the adoptive couple. However, there are many more people involved, some being the birth grandparents, who are the parents of the expecting parents. These grandparents, most of who are dealing with feelings of loss and grief, have been left to struggle through the experience by themselves. A scholar from Well’s, were the law requires social services to be offered to the extended family, conducted studies with grandparents; some of whom received social services and some who did not. His found a statistically significant difference in those who participated in the social services and those who did not. Grandparents who took advantage of social services where less stressed and more excepting of the adoption. This pilot study was conducted at one agency in Utah. Because of HIPPA laws the only access was to those grandparents who attended the support group. This study also showed social service support for these grandparents where significant; by lowering the stress level of dealing with a child’s unexpected pregnancy and helping them with direction and acceptance. This was a qualitative and quantitative survey handed directly to the participants to fill out and return. The agency where this survey was conducted and other associated agencies are interested in these results to better improve currents services and reach out to other grandparents who are not currently participating in these groups. This topic has not been studied in the United States; thus this study will add to the body of scholarly knowledge on this topic.

Luz Maria Carreno, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Significance: Patients’ health literacy, or ability to comprehend and understand health information, influences their health status, knowledge about medical care and conditions, and hospitalization and adherence rate (Andrus, & Roth, 2002). Low-English proficiency patients are especially at risk, given they must overcome English and health literacy barriers.

Heather White, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences The purpose of this poster is to illustrate the use of storyboards in visually evaluating exhibits and the visitor experience in a narrative museum. Storyboards, a key tool used to develop a visual story, can be used in museums to provide unique insights into the dynamic experience of visitors as they move through exhibits. This poster focuses on how storyboards can be used post-installation to evaluate how visual elements and space effect the visitor’s engagement and experience within exhibits. This poster will present storyboards for three exhibits and the resulting analysis. I analyzed the storyboards by examining artistic elements (line, color, shape, space, etc.) and design principles (unity, balance, scale, proportion, etc.) as they are formed and reformed throughout the storyboard. These changes are only noticeable because of the temporal aspect of sequenced storyboard images. The results show how the visual and spatial visitor experience encourages or discourages engagement with the exhibits. These results can be used, in addition to written and oral evaluation methods, to critique and improve exhibitions to be more accessible and engaging for future visitors.

Wendy Hendley, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) passed in 1996 changed welfare dramatically. Meant to stop welfare fraud and dependency, it put into place numerous restrictions and promoted work, which meant that people on welfare, usually single mothers, were forced to participate in job-search activities in order to qualify for benefits. As a result, welfare recipients’ opportunities to attend college have decreased. Research has shown a negative correlation between educational attainment and poverty, the higher a person’s education the less chance they have of living in poverty. The human capital theory proposes that investing in education increases labor market returns. Unfortunately, with PRWORA’s focus on work, welfare recipients are forced to find low-wage jobs, which is not enough to lift them out of poverty. Although numerous studies have focused on welfare recipients’ reduced chances of receiving an education, few have looked at the wishes of welfare recipients themselves. This quantitative descriptive study uses secondary data analysis from a study done by the University of Utah’s Social Research Institute in 2006, and answers the following three questions: (1) what is the current level of completed education of welfare recipients; (2) do welfare recipients have a desire to further their schooling; (3) what barriers do they feel are preventing them from achieving their goals? This study found that a high percentage of welfare recipients had a desire to further their schooling, with the number one obstacle being financial. There is a significant gap between the wishes of welfare recipients concerning higher education and what is actually happening in their lives.

Danielle Jennings, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences The popularity of surgical cosmetic procedures continues to climb in the U.S. (ASPS, 2012) and in other industrialized economies (ISAPS, 2011). This includes women in conservative cultures like Morocco and Afghanistan (Women of Afghanistan, 2012). This research was undertaken to examine attitudes towards plastic surgery among women who are members of the LDS Church. Utah boasts one of the highest concentrations of plastic surgeons in the U.S. (Lim, 2011) and is also majority LDS (Phillips and Cragun, 2011), rendering it ideal for this study. Data regarding attitudes towards surgery and levels of religious participation were collected from LDS women [n = 100] and men [n = 25] in Utah through a pilot survey administered in spring, 2013. The sample included women 19 — 81 years of age, 64% of whom were married, and 63% had grown up in Utah. Results indicated levels of religious participation were in keeping with other research involving Mormons (Hill et al., 2008) and 67% of women knew a female member of the Church who had had cosmetic surgery. Attitudes towards surgery varied by age and marital status. A second survey was created and administered via Qualtrics to LDS women [n =473] and men [n = 116] across the U.S. Results suggest variation in attitudes by geographic location, along with variation by gender, age, marital status, and familiarity with surgery. These results suggest aspects of Mormon life in Utah contribute to the popularity of surgery among Church members. These may include the pressures of dating and earlier ages at marriage (Maffly, 2010), coupled with demographic changes (Cragun and Phillips, 2011), as well as earlier ages at first birth of children (Davidson, 2008).

Lindsey Fields, Brigham Young University Social and Behavioral Sciences For my senior thesis in anthropology, I conducted fieldwork in a small Hmong village in northern Thailand studying the process of religion conversion. Traditionally, Hmong people practice a mixture of spirit rituals and ancestral worship known as Dab Qhuas and classified as shamanism. Within the past fifty or so years, other religious groups have emerged in the village both Christian sects and Hmong messianic groups. Though many in the discipline of anthropology argue that conversion is a break from traditions of the past, I observe that Hmong of this village in Thailand undergo a much more syncretic type of conversion. Though they identify as either Christian or of a Messianic sect, much of their practices and ideology retain elements of their shamanist past. Though they stress their differences in doctrine and practice, much of the ontology permeating shamanism and Hmong culture is still very much present. In order to better examine this phenomenon, I will focus the beliefs and practices in both Is Nbis and Christianity that take on slightly different forms in each religious practice, yet, still maintain some of the same ideologies. Rituals merely shift in order to fulfill the same metaphysical needs. By studying new practices that retain much of the feel of old culture rituals, I hope to illustrate that these Hmong are not as far removed from their traditional roots as they imagine themselves to be.

Mitchell Reid, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Chronic childhood aggression can be the beginning of a developmental trajectory that begins with minor aggression, moves on to physical fighting, and then to violence (Loeber & Farrington, 2000). Behaviors during toddlerhood may be more malleable than later in childhood (Reid, 1994). To better understand what predicts children’s early aggressive behavior we examined the role of parenting behaviors, parent mental health, and child characteristics in a sample of toddlers. Sixty-five mothers and their toddlers between the ages of 17 and 24 months (60% female) participated in the study. Mother-child dyads were videotaped during teaching and clean-up tasks. Mothers also responded to several questionnaires to assess toddlers’ social-emotional behaviors, language development, attachment security, and temperament and their own parenting stress and depression. The teaching and clean-up tasks were coded for maternal language supporting behaviors such as asking questions and providing praise, directives, expansions, and labeling. We examined the correlations between the independent maternal (depression, parenting stress, and language supporting behaviors) and child (age, gender, language development, temperament, and attachment security) variables and the dependent variable of aggression/defiance. Correlations between attachment security (r = -.28, p =.03) and maternal directives during the teaching task (r = .33, p =.01) and during the clean-up task (r = .39, p =.00) showed statistical significance. We included these variables in a regression model and found that attachment security and maternal directives during the teaching and clean-up tasks accounted for 29% of the variance in maternal reports of toddlers’ aggression and defiance. These results suggest that toddlers with greater attachment security and with mothers who use fewer directives in everyday tasks are rated as less aggressive and defiant than those with less attachment security and with mothers who use more directives. The full regression model and early intervention implications will be presented.

Kelsea Hill, Utah Valley University Social and Behavioral Sciences Sexuality has long been identified as foundational in the lives of married couples. An area lacking in research, however, is the transition into sexuality made by couples who practiced abstinence prior to being married. The data for this study comes from a survey of 597 respondents that had practiced abstinence before being married. This focuses on the qualitative responses to questions asked abstinent couples about what helped make the transition into sexual intimacy, what purpose(s) sex has in their relationship, what they wished they had discussed prior to having sex, and what challenges they experienced in the transition into sexual intimacy.

Jared Glenn, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences Previous research shows that girls and women tend to prefer and perform better in classes taught by women. However, much less research analyzes the impact of instructor gender on learning outcomes among boys and men. This research fills that gap by analyzing the effect of professor gender on male college students’ achievement. Relying on survey and in-depth interviews among undergraduate men at a large research university, this study finds no significant empirical data that professor gender significantly impacts men’s academic achievement, in contrast to previous findings among girls and women. Interview findings, however, suggest that men prefer the tough grading, which they indicate is integral in male-taught classes. The study contributes to our understanding of gender differences in an academic setting and how that factor shapes learning outcomes and achievement.

Briana Bowen, Utah State University Social and Behavioral Sciences The U.S. Secret Service (USSS), one of the most elite security agencies in the world, is charged with protecting the President of the United States at any cost. Three American presidents fell to assassins’ bullets before the USSS was assigned the role of presidential protection; one more would later be slain despite USSS protection. This study examines the organizational culture of the USSS, employing the methodology of cultural topography to identify the agency’s norms, values, identity, and perceptual lens. We review three of the most impactful twentieth-century assassination attempts––two failed, one successful––and their formative effect on USSS organizational culture. Beginning with the lesser-known plot to assassinate Harry Truman, we examine the permanent authorization of the Presidential Protective Division. We apply our main focus to the assassination of John Kennedy, the USSS’s darkest hour and still its most powerful motivator. Lastly, we review the attack on Ronald Reagan and the development of the modern USSS security apparatus. Our final profile of USSS organizational culture gives insight into the agency’s strengths and weaknesses and informs our concluding recommendations for institutional change.

Jennifer Campbell, Utah State University Psychology Eating disorders are pervasive mental illnesses that overwhelm the lives of individuals who struggle with them. For individuals with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa who do not respond to other treatments, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has the potential to be effective. This presentation looks to orient researchers to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy while supplying a potentially useful treatment option for those who struggle with clinical anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. The current literature comes together to support the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the treatment of eating disorders, specifically anorexia. This presentation focuses on the symptomatology and physical effects of anorexia and bulimia, as well as core principles and processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Future directions regarding the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can be broadened to include adolescents as well as other types of eating disorders, such as binge eating disorder and eating disorders not otherwise specified.

Jordan Roberts, University of Utah Political Science I explore the tragic collision between individual self-determination and collective self-determination. While the conflict between these two ideals exists in many forms throughout political life, I focus on an international manifestation of this collision: the conflict between national sovereignty (predicated on collective self-determination) and international human rights (predicated on individual self-determination). There are perhaps no two international values more acclaimed, and no two values that clash as intensely; to allow for sovereignty means to allow for human rights abuses and to intervene in the name of human rights means to deny sovereignty. Eschewing traditional political lenses, I employ a tragic framework that 1) allows fuller engagement with the conflict and 2) avoids the pitfalls of the traditional lenses, including one-sidedness (which fuels the continuation of the conflict) and detachment (which allows for inaction). I draw on Sophocles’ Antigone, interpreting the title character as an embodiment of individual self-determination and Creon as an embodiment of collective self-determination. Furthermore, I argue that prominent attempts at finding a compromise between the two forces caught in this tragic collision, exemplified by the emerging international norm of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), are blind to the collision’s inherently tragic nature, and thus subvert one or both of the values at stake. I also address how this tragic blindness of notable theorists working on questions concerning human rights and sovereignty reproduces the blindness of another Sophoclean character: Oedipus. While tragic conflicts do not lend themselves to neat and tidy outcomes, a tragic framework embraces the conflict, instead of sidestepping it, and works towards an ambiguous, unhappy solution.

Kevin Korous, University of Utah Psychology The goal of this study was to explore if participation in different types of activities was related to the development of an internal locus of control in middle childhood. It was hypothesized that children who participated in more activities would have more of an internal locus of control than children who participated in fewer activities. Participants consisted of 45 adolescent boys and 99 adolescent girls (M = 10, SD = 1.34). Parents were asked to tell us about the activities their child participated in. The listed activities were grouped into four categories based on prior research: 1) sports based activities; 2) school based activities; 3) arts based activities; and community based activities (Barber, Abbott, Blomfield, & Eccles, 2009). To measure locus of control, participants were asked to tell us why a situation involving conflict with a peer occurred and what he/she would do. Then the narratives were coded for locus of control using a five-point scale. There was a significant difference in locus of control by story, Wilk’s A = .348, F(2, 143) = 37.64, p < .01, partial eta2 =.348. Participants were significantly more likely to report that the act of overt aggression was an event s/he had control over and could resolve independently whereas participants reported that the act of relational aggression was more externally driven resulting in less control over the situation, t(141) = -4.59, p < .01, mean difference = .123. Additionally, the participants reported a lower sense of control over the breaking of a social norm by a peer than they did in response to the acts of overt and relational aggression, t(141) = -4.093, p < .01, mean difference = .108 and t(141) = -8.672, p < .01, mean difference = .115, respectively. There was only one significant correlation among the different types of activities and the participants’ scores on locus of control. Children who participated in more arts based activities demonstrated more of an internal locus of control in response to a peer violating a social norm than children who participated in fewer arts based activities, r(142) = -.234, p < .01.

Sasha Trae, Dixie State University Communication This research critiques prevailing economic, political, and social discourses that create or uphold disadvantage, inequity, and oppression against women. Using multiple Critical Discourse Analysis tools, such as, lexical suppression and absence and representational strategies, this researcher will examine activist, political, and socio-cultural discourse, including Take Back The Night, to expose underlying ideology. This paper analyzes ideological functions of these and other constructions identified in the discourse. This researcher will illustrate how the analyzed discourse shapes our reality that the ownership of women’s equality and safety are in the hands of men. Additionally, this researcher will unveil the ideological suppression and absence of the perpetrator; consequently, twenty-first century public discourse places the responsibility in the hands of women to prevent and address violence against women, the victims. Further, this researcher will demonstrate how the revealed ideologies indicate that violence against women is random or unstoppable; thus, setting up women to continue being integrated into a system that is hostile to them. Moreover, the breadth of this ideology indicates that every society within the nations of our world declare that women are a subset of humanity, and that it is men who get to resist relinquishing this equality while women expend their efforts to obtain it. This paper concludes that violence against women is part of an economic and political system that has been codified and written into the laws of nations; therefore, creating and perpetuating the very structures responsible for the violent climate that we fear and live in.

Eric Hastings, Utah State University Psychology Does building a new school facility change the quality of the school learning environment? If so, how enduring are these effects? Research shows some correlation between the physical environment of a school and student outcomes to. However, research fails to demonstrate that drastic changes to the environment through reconstruction influence those same outcomes. To investigate this relationship a group of newly built/reconstructed schools was identified and looked at longitudinally to measure the quality of the school’s learning environment two years before construction and four years after construction. To measure the school’s learning environment this research used the Indicators of School Quality survey (ISQ); a comprehensive survey system for school administrators to evaluate and monitor school improvement and accreditation efforts which provides information on the status of the schools learning environment, year to year progress and details about the conditions for learning produced in the classrooms. ISQ does this by measuring parent, teacher, and student perceptions of things such as parent support, teacher excellence, student commitment, school leadership, instructional quality, resource management, and school safety. In addition to the impact of school construction on a school’s learning environment, this analysis was extended to student attendance, safety, and student academic achievement. Data collected to this point supports the argument that school construction only has short term effects on a school’s learning environment, but no long lasting effect. Instead of investing in new facilities, schools and districts would be wise to first consider giving more attention to maintaining student and teacher relationships.

Marlee Olsen, Snow College Psychology This study focuses on how college students interpret and understand new knowledge. Participants will be answering a number of questions via survey about their personal beliefs such as religion, reliable sources of knowledge, and other possible mitigating factors. After reviewing existing research, we found studies being done over long-term acceptance of beliefs, and also studies of the affects on understanding and acceptance of new beliefs after exposure to relative information. However as we reviewed the literature we found lacking information specifically regarding whether college students, when exposed to new concepts, accept the information before understanding it, or postpone acceptance until further understanding. The survey will be given out to students in different geographic regions across the nation to obtain various religious backgrounds, race, gender, and geographic background. We project to find a correlation between religiosity and the rate of acceptance of new beliefs before understanding. Other mitigating factors such as ratings for source of knowledge and geographic background are expected to also have affects. Results will be discussed.

Laura Steffen, Brigham Young University Psychology There is a wide spectrum of opinion on female gender roles, or what behaviors are appropriate for women. Attitudes towards gender roles can hypothetically be influenced by a variety of factors, including religion. Sexist views have been found to be held by members of many faiths, including Catholics, Muslims, and Evangelical Christians (Glick, Lameiras, & Castro, 2002; Maltby, Hall, Anderson & Edwards, 2010; Tasdemir & Sakalli-Ugarlu, 2010). To our knowledge, this phenomenon had not yet been studied among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Our measure, the LDS Attitudes Towards Female Gender Roles Scale, (LDS-AFGR) was created in the hopes of accurately assessing opinions of female gender roles among the LDS population, in regards to both religious social contexts. All questions on the LDS-AFGR yielded superior to moderate content validity, and two components were yielded by factor analysis. This suggests that our scale has initial promise, and could be further revised to obtain more accurate data about opinions on female gender roles among LDS church members.

Karen Yu, University of Utah Psychology Objective

Tida Blackburn, University of Utah Psychology Previous work has shown that our perception of height is influenced by ones eye height. We further investigate this phenomenon by extending this research to virtual reality. Virtual reality can give the appearance of eyeheight change, which cannot be done otherwise. We changed participants’ eye height by adjusting the height at which participants viewed their environment. Effective eye heights were both 0.08 cm lower and higher than the participants’ normal eye height. The virtual reality environment was a classroom with two vertical poles and a horizontal pole that create a horizontal barrier for participants to walk under. In the first experiment, participants were instructed to walk under the barrier as naturally as possible and to duck when needed. The height of the barrier was altered across trials. In the second experiment, we manipulated eye height further using physical objects, namely shoe inserts. The second experiment followed the design of the first experiment. Data was collected using cameras and a tracking program to record the participants’ ducking behavior. The previous study found that manipulating a person’s height influences their judgment of how high the horizontal barrier appears and whether they could pass under it without ducking. We hypothesized that people will change their ducking behavior depending on their eye height, because they are rescaling their body to their new viewpoint.

Bret Wayman, University of Utah Sociology The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations that drive non-traditional students to return to complete a degree and the challenges that returning students face while attempting to earn that degree that might be different than those of a traditional student. The study assumes that there are differences between non-traditional and traditional students in regards to motivation and challenges faced along the path to earning a degree. By examining these differences, the study aims to see if there are ways to better serve a non-traditional student’s needs in order to increase graduation rates among the non-traditional student group. The primary data for this study consists of essays written by the attendants of a seminar, “Life after the NFL (and other life-changing experiences): A discussion of the challenges and rewards of returning to college,” presented by Dr. Julie Stewart which was sponsored by the University of Utah Department of Sociology and the Sociology Student Advisory Committee and interviews with selected non-traditional students, faculty, and staff. The essays were originally intended for curriculum rather than research purposes and consist of the thoughts of students who attended the seminars about the challenges faced by returning students and the motivations that drive non-traditional students to return to the complete a degree. The seminar attendees consisted of both traditional and non-traditional students. Interviews will be conducted with students who qualify as non-traditional students due to several demographic qualities, and with faculty/staff that are familiar with the challenges that non-traditional students face in returning to school. The students selected will be picked using the strategic method snowball sampling to ensure that those sampled are in the desired demographic. As more non-traditional students enter academia areas of concern need to be identified to help those students to better function and achieve similar results to more traditional students. The proposed study intends to find those areas of concern.

Jordin Kirkham, Snow College Psychology The purpose of this study is to observe, and analyze how average college students perceive professors in the media and if these perceptions have an effect on our own personal behaviors in the setting of a classroom, the influence of grades, and other factors. Based upon the review of literature, we have discovered that many of the studies regarding professors in the media have barley skimmed the surface, not providing much detail. We plan on going into more depth in our personal observation-analysis studies, seeing how we mainly perceive professors in movies, television, books, newspapers, etc. Results will be discussed.

Andrew Chol, University of Utah Psychology Motivation is a critical factor in academic performance and must be self-regulated over time (Sansone & Thoman, 2005). Self-regulation becomes more significant online due to the lack of schedule and supervision characteristic of traditional in-class courses (Artino & Stephens, 2009). That is, online students must address both opportunities for supplemental learning (i.e. videos) and possible distractions that may redirect focus (i.e., social media) (Sansone, et al. in press). An initial examination (Sansone, Butner, et al., 2011) of the Regulation of Motivation and Performance Online (RMAPO) project indicated that students given reasons to value learning basic HTML skills in an online lesson (value-added) spent more time on-task and off-task prior to submitting an assignment; this time spent was furthermore associated with greater interest. Given this counterintuitive pattern, our study aimed to identify and analyze the nature of off-task website access, and whether certain sites or patterns were more beneficial for interest and performance. Websites were coded into the following categories: on-task, non-lesson websites related to HTML coding, indirectly lesson-related websites (i.e., alternative image examples), off-task social communication, off-task personal interests, and other. Statistical analysis (i.e., Chi-square, ANOVA) revealed that patterns of off-task behavior varied by category as a function of condition (control or value-added). Specifically, value-added groups accessed indirectly lesson-related websites and off-task personal interests to a significantly higher degree relative to the control. Access to these websites was further significantly related to higher degrees of interest and performance (quiz scores). The findings suggest that students given reasons to value learning may use off-task behavior as strategy to 1) seek additional information related to their developing interest on a topic, and 2) rejuvenate diminished resources through creation of interest. Addition of utility value may thus motivate students to reconfigure their learning process in service of having a more interesting experience using both on and off-task means (Sansone & Thoman, 2005).

Austin LaBau, Utah State University History and Sociology At the beginning of the 19th century, there was only one public insane asylum in the United States. Together, this facility and a handful of private hospitals housed only a few hundred patients. By 1890, more than 74,000 Americans lived in mental institutions. A wealth of literature exists on the rise of the American insane asylum during this period; the evolution of modern psychiatry; and the philosophical, political, social, and ethical implications of the two. But what the literature lacks is a perspective on the rise of the asylum that recognizes its place in the developing urban environment. This project addresses that shortcoming by exploring a small group of institutions within the context of a single urban center; New York. In 1890, one-in-twenty-five Americans lived in what would soon become New York City’s five boroughs, alongside nearly one-in-ten of the country’s institutionalized insane. Upon opening, NYC’s massive insane asylums became a source of pride for city’s elites. Far from being hidden away, most of the asylums were built on islands in the East River—at the time, one of the busiest waterways in the world. Nestled between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the imposing structures and their residents lived in clear view of thousands of daily commuters, and inspired numerous poems, novels, and songs. However, it was not their largess that attracted international visitors like Charles Dickens and Alexis de Tocqueville, but the unique circumstances in which they operated. Throughout the 19th century, the intimate nature of NYC, where masses of impoverished immigrants lived only blocks from some of the richest and most powerful men in the world, helped make the city the site of violent class warfare, as well as a testing ground for social reform. Insane asylums were only a portion of NYC’s sprawling public welfare system, consisting of nearly a hundred public and private charitable institutions inn Manhattan alone. To explain how the insane asylum affected New York City, I examine essays, and photographs written and taken by doctors, patients, reporters, and reformers illustrate the significance of the insane asylum on New York City life.

Esther Kim, University of Utah Political Science In 1961, student activists from across the United States challenged socially segregated public transit in the South by enforcing desegregation laws. The activists, known as Freedom Riders, were met with resistance, violence and jail. On its 50th anniversary in May 2011, the Freedom Riders were met with much media recognition: a documentary screening at Sundance, an episode on Oprah and a commemorative retracing of the original ride sponsored by PBS American Experience, which involved student activists from across the country to get on the bus. The Civil Rights Movement as a historical memory has become highly celebrated and widely understood as racial justice realized, but commemoration works to historicize and isolate these acts of resistance from modern day struggle for social equity. As a participant of the student freedom rides, I witnessed a complicated mapping of how we live with history, memory, race, power, place, the everyday lives of people that are still affected by events that shaped the nation and corporations seeking to benefit from the blind acceptance of commemoration. Using Cultural Studies theories of encoding and decoding, this research is an examination of the tensions among the actions and rhetoric of the Freedom Riders movement and how they are validated, co-opted, re-formed and understood. This research is an attempt to pull the acts of the Freedom Riders out of a historical framework, contextualizing the way we understand how the events of the Civil Rights Movement have played out and affect the ways we engage social activism and justice now.

Ryan Woodbury, Brigham Young University Psychology Ample evidence suggests that religiousness can serve as a protective factor against risk behaviors (Regnerus, 2007), and can be an important context for positive youth development (Lerner, Roeser, Phelps, & Benson, 2008). Many correlates of religiousness have been identified, but our understanding of underlying mechanism is still nascent (Regnerus, 2007). Building on the notion of religion as a source of social control, one potential mediator may be religious norms (Cochran, Chamlin, Beeghley, & Fenwick, 2004), or perceptions of the behaviors proscribed and prescribed by religions. Unfortunately, research on religious norms is scarce. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to identify adolescent and parent perceptions of religious norms, examine individual differences in these perceived religious norms, and assess links between perceived norms and adolescent behaviors. Adolescents (N = 419; age range 15-18) and one of their parents (N = 313) completed online surveys. Qualitative questions asked participants to name three behaviors their religion most encouraged adolescents to do and three behaviors their religion most discouraged adolescents to not do. Quantitative measures consisted of ratings of 18 perceived religious norms and frequency of 18 adolescent behaviors. We investigated the following research questions (RQ):RQ 1: What religious norms do adolescents and their parents perceive? Three coders, using grounded theory, placed qualitative responses into themes. Seven themes emerged from adolescents’ and eight themes emerged for parents (see Table 1).RQs 2 and 3: To what extent and in what ways do these religious norms differ by adolescent and parent gender? And, how do these religious norms differ by adolescent and parent religious affiliation? Two MANOVAs (one comparing gender, the other comparing religious affiliation) were run to indicate respective differences. Both qualitative and quantitative religious norms differed between certain religions (not between adolescent gender; see Table 1).RQ 4: To what extent and in what ways do adolescent and parent perceived religious norms correlate? Bivariate correlations between adolescent and parent perceptions of religious norms for negative behaviors ranged from .07 – .51 (M = .26, SD = .09), and for positive behaviors they ranged from -.01 – .53 (M = .31, SD = .10).

Madeleine Oritt, University of Utah International Studies This research examines the impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on accessibility to HIV/AIDS medications for populations in resource-limited countries. This World Trade Organization agreement created provisions by which these countries can obtain or manufacture HIV/AIDS drugs at reduced prices, but also affirmed the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies over their drugs. To achieve a thorough understanding of its impact, several other factors that affect accessibility to HIV/AIDS medications, beneficially or detrimentally, were analyzed and compared to the TRIPS agreement; these factors include foreign aid, drug pricing inequality, patent pools, independent actions of drug companies, and political pressure. Research was conducted through literary review, using primary sources including academic articles, news and magazine articles and information from governmental organizations like the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization. This research recognizes the detrimental effect of the TRIPS agreement on accessibility of HIV/AIDS medications globally. However, the analysis of the aforementioned factors illuminates the positive effects of multiple other actors and organizations, which may negate, partially or fully, the ramifications of the TRIPS agreement. Thus, this research concludes fundamental factors, including physical obstacles like a lack of infrastructure and dispersal of HIV/AIDS-affected populations in rural areas, social obstacles like ethnic fractionalization and stigma, and political obstacles like government corruption, inefficiency and lack of economic prosperity, have the most deleterious effect upon HIV/AIDS drug accessibility. Instead of focusing on the TRIPS agreement as a singular determinant, these deep-rooted issues must take precedence and will require more time, cooperation and political will to change on a national and global level. Until the affected countries are willing to assume responsibility for drug accessibility and the fundamental issues that affect it, it will be impossible to realize widespread progress toward treating HIV/AIDS in resource-limited populations.

Amanda Stouffer, Snow College Psychology There have been many studies on the topic of magazine covers, whether it is the contents of the magazine or specifically what is depicted on the cover of the magazine. Such studies typically look at the ethnicity, gender, and age of the people shown on magazines’ covers. They also study what trends exist with these different factors. For example the number of women shown on covers is going up. These studies have been done on many magazines including Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and Cosmopolitan. These extensive studies have also found an increasing amount of sexual objectification, especially of women. The magazine Psychology Today has not been studied in-depth, but as psychology is a supposedly progressive field that uncovers and empirically studies inequalities one might guess Psychology Today breaks that stigma. However it does not. Through the study of the cover photos of Psychology Today the present study will look at: perceived age, sex, ethnicity, amount of clothing, passive vs. active scene, body parts shown, arousing vs. disturbing picture, whether the overall message is positive

Chance Christensen, Utah State University Psychology Affective disorders such as depression, phobias, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder impairs the ability to time in the seconds-to-minutes range, i.e., interval timing. We investigated the effect of chronic administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine(FLX) when anxiety-inducing task-irrelevant distracters are presented during an interval timing task. According to the Relative Time-Sharing (RTS) model, presentation of task-irrelevant distracters during a timing task results in a delay in responding suggesting a failure to maintain subjective time in working memory, possibly due to attentional and working memory resources being diverted away from timing. Given that some anti-depressants have beneficial effects on attention and working memory, e.g., decreasing emotional response to negative events, we hypothesized that FLX would improve maintenance of information in working memory in trials with distracters, resulting in a decrease of the disruptive effect of emotional events on the timekeeping abilities. Our results revealed independent effects of FLX on timing and resource allocation. Acute administration of FLX delayed timing, but this effect was eliminated after chronic administration. FLX reduced the detrimental effect of the distracters only when the distracters were anxiety-inducing, but not when they were neutral. Results are discussed in relation to the brain circuits involved in RTS of resources, and the pharmacological management of affective disorders.

Casey Kidman, Snow College Psychology Many people these days are using emoticons in electronic communication. Our topic of research is how people interpret and define these emoticons. This research will include both high school and college students as well as other individuals. We will have students fill out a survey in which they view an emoticon and then write a one-word or brief description of it. We also will evaluate the false consensus effect by asking them on the survey what percentage of people they believe would agree with the way they define the emoticon. Research thus far has not looked into how emoticons are defined, while there is research on how often they are used and what gender uses them more frequently. There are holes in the current research and we are laying the ground work in answering the question of if and how emoticons are universally defined. We expect the very basic emoticons such as “:)” and “:(“ to be generally defined the same; however, as emoticons get more complex we believe the definitions will vary significantly.

Justine Larsen, Utah State University Political Science In recent years, the aggressive barred owl’s invasion of northern spotted owl territory has led to significant declines in spotted owl populations along the Pacific Northwest. In response to the owl’s waning population, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has implemented a plan under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to kill the barred owl in a radical attempt to save the spotted owl. Applauded as revolutionary legislation, critical in protecting the Earth’s species from extinction, the ESA is decidedly far from the miracle bill its proponents laud it to be. A mere one percent of species protected under the ESA have successfully recovered enough to be delisted, and the ESA had little to do with these rare recoveries (Scheer & Moss, 2012). Observation and analysis of the spotted owl’s turbulent decline, reveals fundamental flaws specifically in basic theories on which the legislation was based. Particularly, the theory that nature, if left alone, will return to a natural state of balance (balance of nature theory) is a primary concept that has led the ESA astray numerous times, as evidenced by the FWS’ paradoxical plan to capture and kill one species in order to maintain a balance in the other species. This study reviews the balance of nature theory, providing research examining the effectiveness of the ESA and contributing to efforts to determine an appropriate and successful solution to species decline.

Lauren Miller, Utah State University Psychology Affective disorders such as depression, phobias, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder impairs the ability to time in the seconds-to-minutes range, i.e., interval timing. We investigated the effect of chronic administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine (FLX) when anxiety-inducing task-irrelevant distracters are presented during an interval timing task. Given that some anti-depressants have beneficial effects on attention and working memory, e.g., decreasing emotional response to negative events, we hypothesized that FLX would decrease activation of amygdala and increase activation of prefrontal cortex. Our results revealed differential activation of amygdala and prefrontal cortex in FLX and vehicle treated rats corresponding to the expected changes in behavior. Results are discussed in relation to the brain circuits involved in interval timing and emotional processing, and the pharmacological management of affective disorders.

Carolina Silva, Jasmin Alves, Katrina England, Courtney Hammond, and Ethel Tackle-Yarbol; Westminster College Psychology Bullying among adolescents is a common problem that deserves attention. Youth City, a multi-site after school youth program in the Salt Lake City area catering to youths ages 8-13, expressed an interest in learning more about bullying experiences in their attendees with the aim of developing a program for intervention and prevention. We partnered with Youth City to develop the current project, the goals of which were twofold: (1) to measure the prevalence and types of bullying experienced by 53 youths attending one Youth City site (our participants) and, (2) to work with the youth and the site coordinator to develop a bullying intervention and prevention program. Participants completed a modified version of the Olweus Bully Victim Questionnaire, in which 31 behaviors of bullying were assessed. Behaviors included examples of physical bullying, relational bullying, cyber bullying, and bullying due to one’s ethnicity or sexuality. Participants were asked to report whether each behavior had ever been done to them (victim role), done by them to another (bully role), or witnessed by them in the role of bystander. Results showed that the participants had experienced many of the behaviors as either victims, bullies, or bystanders. The second step was to conduct focus groups in which participants were asked more about their bullying experiences and what they felt could be done to more effectively intervene and prevent bullying. Transcripts from the focus groups were analyzed for emergent themes. These themes, combined with input from staff and information gleaned from research into other programs, were used to draft a bullying intervention and prevention plan to be implemented at one Youth City site in the coming school year.

Dani Willis, Utah State University Political Science In this era of increasing complex electric utility corporate restructurings, prudence review is an important analytical tool that should be applied by state regulatory commissions in an informed and reasonable manner to address and balance risk sharing between electric utility investors and utility ratepayers. The payer examines the legal and economic considerations concerning the development and application of the analytical tool of prudence review by state regulatory commissions concerning the revenue requirement regulation of electric utilities.

Yoon Lee, Utah State University Family, Consumer, and Human Development Drug abuse in America is a major problem that has been well documented throughout history. Marijuana use has increased among most age levels and is the most abused illicit drug in America. Cocaine use has also increased over the past decade. Possibly the most alarming trend is the fact that hospital visits due to drug abuse of any kind are dramatically increasing each year. Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2010), this study explored to what extent adolescents and young adults were involved with Marijuana or Cocaine abuse and to investigate factors associated with their use of such illicit drugs. For the data analyses, the total sample included 37,926 individuals between the ages of 12 and 25; the sub-sample of this study consisted of Adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 (n=18,622) and young adults between the ages of 18-25 (n=19,304). The descriptive statistics suggested that among the study sample, 35.3 percent reported they ever used marijuana, while 7.5 percent reported they ever used cocaine. The results of logistic regression analyses show that all else being equal, age, health, gender, race, county size, and illicit drug addiction are statistically significant in predicting the likelihood of reporting marijuana experience among young adults between ages of 12-25. Similarly, the results of logistic regression analyses show that all else being equal, age, health, gender, education, race, county size, and illicit drug addiction are statistically significant in predicting the likelihood of reporting marijuana experience among young adults between ages of 12-25.

Noreen Barnes, Weber State University Political Science Many women in Guatemala suffer poverty and repression their entire lives. This situation is not unique to countries in Central America, but what is unique is the level of violence that is perpetrated in Guatemala compared with neighboring countries, the lack of engagement by law enforcement, and the complicity of the media. The Guatemalan civil war helped to create an atmosphere riddled with violence and alcohol. There is only a two percent conviction rate for murder. The majority of media outlets report on Femicide as if it were the woman’s fault she was killed; they portray her as a prostitute when there is no evidence to support the conclusion. In 2000 there were 213 femicides in Guatemala, by 2009 that number had jumped to 708 (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission 2010). My research has come from peer reviewed articles in both English and Spanish, Guatemalan government figures, personal experiences and international sources such as the World Health Organization. How do these details combine to create the perfect storm of increasing Femicide in Guatemala, and what can be done to help stop this tide of violence? There are women who have taken steps to improve their lives despite the many challenges they face. Micro-credit, small loans given to women to help them start or expand a business, have helped women who have a desire to flee abusive situations by giving them self-esteem as well as the financial means to accomplish their desires. There is a movement amongst women to convince their husbands to join Evangelical Christian churches that do not permit drinking in an effort to control rampant alcoholism. It will take time to alter the prevailing attitudes of machismo, prejudice, and lack of tolerance that threatens to drown the wonderful of Guatemala, but it can be done.

Kevin Lawanto, Utah State University Psychology Mice are excellent models for studying aggressive behaviors and the neural circuits underlying aggression. They identify their conspecifics through olfactory communication within the animal group (emission scent marking and detection of volatile and nonvolatile chemicals, such as pheromones). Anomalies in the perception and processing of olfactory cues may induce abnormal social behavior, anxiety or aggression. We performed a behavioral assessment of male NrCAM knockout mice and wild-type littermates. We found that NrCAM-deficient male mice exhibit increased aggression towards unknown conspecifics. Using cFos immunostaining, we revealed differences in neuronal activation between NrCAM knockout mice and wildtype littermates in a circuit relevant to processing of olfactory cues and male-specific behaviors (olfactory bulb, amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and hypothalamus). These differences may be the result of misrepresentation of olfactory cues due to abnormal neuronal connectivity in the olfactory system. Our studies may be relevant to pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for abnormal social behaviors, aggression and anxiety.