Bachelor of Arts Theses, 2009

With 170 psychology majors per year, a large number of Wesleyan seniors write Honors Theses. Current abstracts are included in each volume of Mind Matters. The following are abstracts from 2009.

Recognizing English Compound Words: The Role of Morphological Family Size
                Rachel N. Berkowitz

The current study used lexical decision, naming, and eye-tracking tasks to examine the role of morphological family size in compound word recognition. In the naming and lexical decision tasks, participants were faster to respond to compounds from large as opposed to small morphological families. In the eye-tracking task, target words were embedded into sentences; family size effects were found in gaze duration, number of fixations, and probability of refixation, but not in first fixation durations. These results suggest that compounds from large morphological families are easier to recognize than compounds from small morphological families, and that this is a semantic effect. Implications for the organization of the mental lexicon are discussed.

The Relative Contributions Of Physical Attractiveness And Prosocial Behavior In Preschool Friendship Choices
                Sarah Edelman

Previous research has demonstrated a lifelong preference for physically attractive people across many social contexts. However, direct evidence about someone's prosocial behavior should also affect decisions about affiliation with that person. Little research has explored the relative weight of physical attractiveness and prosocial behavior in friendship decisions. The current study examines children's friendship preferences when physical and social cues conflict. Three- and four-year-old children were asked to choose between a less attractive child in a photo presented with a nice story frame (e.g., helping behavior) and a more attractive child with a mean story frame (e.g., pushing). Three-year-olds of both sexes chose based on attractiveness. Four-year-old boys also preferred attractiveness, but four-year-old girls strongly preferred niceness. These results reveal the developmental origins of an important sex difference in friendship decisions. These early preferences may reflect children's internalization of gender schemas and may influence mate choices later in life.

Primetime Crime: Deviance and Family in American Television from the 1950's-Today
                Jena Gordon

The purpose of the present research is to look at popular media as a way to interpret cultural understandings of the relationship between crime and the family. An understanding of the complex and dynamic interplay between crime and family in primetime media is predicated upon recognition of the massive impact that the media in general has on American society. To learn about the ways that American culture explains and understands crime, I looked at 39 of the most popular crime series ranging from the 1950's-today. In all, this study explored depictions of deviance in 167 television episodes. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the ways that family was used as a method of contextualizing criminal behavior. The study yielded four areas in which crime and family intersected to create an image of deviance: appearance of criminals' families, family responses to deviant behavior, family as an explanation of deviance, and family violence in television.

It Isn't Easy Being 'Ally': The Contemporary Media's Representation of Attorneys as Seen on TV
                Allison Heaney

This study analyzed the cultural representations of television attorneys with specific attention to gender in American television in the past thirty years. Due to the enormous popularity of crime dramas and other shows with lawyer characters, this study asked: how are lawyers represented in American television and how do these representations differ by gender? In this study, the sample consisted of 87 different lawyers on 47 different shows which aired between the 1980s and today for at least 22 months. A qualitative coding scheme was developed to analyze these characters, with particular attention to stereotypes about lawyers and the subfields of law which they practice, lawyers' lifestyles, and ways in which female lawyers systematically differ from their male colleagues. Results of this study reiterate negative views of attorneys and the legal system, particularly regarding female attorneys.

A New IDEA: An Exploration of Special Education in Jewish Day Schools
                Miriam Krent

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has prompted a movement in public schools toward including students of all ability levels in the classroom. Private institutions are not bound by these federal regulations, presenting an opportunity to investigate how inclusive programs are generated outside of the legislation. This study seeks to explore how one such institution, the Solomon Schechter Day School Association, addresses special education and specifically considers whether Jewish precepts influenced these practices. The findings reveal that students with mild disabilities benefit from the flexibility, attentiveness, and immediacy of care provided by Solomon Schechter schools. Explicit Jewish influences were not detected; however, it is possible that the observed practices and policies were implicitly framed by principles of Judaism.

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