Bachelor of Arts Theses, 2006
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 2006.
Self-Perceptions of Older Women in the Age of the Waif
Katelyn Angell
Although many researchers have found a link between the media's portrayal of the female thinness ideal and poor body image, few of these studies have examined the effects of such media exposure on older women. This study investigated whether viewing advertisements of attractive, thin young women or vibrant, thin older women had a negative effect on levels of depression, self-esteem, and body esteem in 24 women ages 60 and up. Results showed that the advertisements had no effects on the psychological wellbeing of participants. Such conclusions suggest that older women are less vulnerable to the internalization of the thinness ideal than younger women.
Mind Control: An Examination of Post-Feminist Advertising and Body Image at Wesleyan University
Rachael Lax
This project will examine the recent trend in advertising inspired by what is sometimes referred to as the "post-feminist" era. In this trend, the marketing industry adopts a campaigning strategy in which it recuperates feminist messages, such as "Love your body!" and uses them to sell their beauty products. The Dove and Nike campaigns will be analyzed and used as a lens through which I will explore how women today relate to their bodies in a "liberated" society. Through a survey and focus group of female students, the contradiction between loving the body and "body work," currently a secret struggle for many women, will be examined. Following this examination, a discussion is provided of how women reconcile the desire to reject the patriarchal and unrealistic beauty ideal with the simultaneous drive to emulate a similar figure. Dove tells women: "Celebrate your curves... By buying our firming lotion!"
Portrait of a Handbag: What the Contents of Women's Handbags Tell Us about Women's Lives.
Vivian Lew
Introduction: The handbag, since the 1880s, is an intimate companion and portable refuge for women as they navigate between public and private worlds. Within this gendered everyday space, women keep items they believe to be their daily "necessities." This visually inspired, qualitative study ventures to investigate the relationships between the contents of women's handbags and the perceived needs, hopes, and fears of their owners. What women feel they "have" to have reveals much about the functions women are expected to perform, the appearances they are expected to convey, and the crises for which they feel they need to be prepared. Method: 38 women from NY and CT were photographed with their handbags and respective contents. 13 of these women were interviewed about their relationships with their handbag contents. Results: Data is analyzed within a conceptual framework of the visible, the non-visible, and the transitional aspects of women's handbags. Many objects carried pervasively by women serve to generate feelings of perceived preparedness, security, and comfort, and thus guard against feared "terrible" events. Conclusion: The contents of women's handbags enable women to mediate between public and private life because these sources of comfort and security physically travel with their apprehensive owners; they are objects caught within transition. The reasons why women in particular are encouraged to feel that they need these transitional objects are further discussed.
"Learning America": The Social and Cultural Negotiations of Refugee Children
Eleanor Conger-Milnes
In a time when cultural relations and boundaries are becoming more complex and the diversity within the nation more visible, increasing numbers of immigrant and refugee students are entering the nation's public schools and becoming involved in a tangled process to "learn America" and their place within it. This study sought to explore the social and cultural negotiations made by young refugee students from West and East Africa through nineteen interviews and focus groups with children and teachers at an urban public school. The children revealed that while they struggle to learn English, bridge cultural differences, and engage with their new school communities, they are ultimately restricted from full social acceptance by peers and thus cling to the memories of their past lives.
Psychological Determinants of Voter Turnout: 122,293,720 People Can't Be Wrong
Seth Samuels
The purpose of my thesis was to investigate psychological determinants of voter turnout. Building upon a standard rational choice model, I examined the literature regarding the relevance of empathic concern, self-monitoring, and sociopolitical control personality traits, as well as candidate preference to voting. To gain a better understanding of the interactions among these variables, I conducted a survey and mock election, using 741 Wesleyan students as voters. The results suggest a role in the turnout decision for all three personality measures tested, as well as attitudes towards favored and non-favored candidates. I conclude with a series of proposed minor modifications to the generally accepted model that may prove valuable if tested on a representative sample in a legitimate election.
Contextualizing the Closet: Exploring Wesleyan Students' Coming Out Experiences
Rachel Wertheimer
This thesis investigates how Wesleyan students who come out to their parents while in college navigate their personal identities and interpersonal relationships throughout the disclosure process. The study uses qualitative data achieved through semi-structured interviews with eleven current students. The influence of one's interpersonal context is discussed in three ways. Prior to coming out, the internal process of coming to terms with one's identity includes anticipation of other's responses and reactions. When individuals make the decision to come out to parents, queer students experience extreme anxiety because a queer identity challenges parental assumptions of heterosexuality and fantasies of a child's future. As part of the coming out process at Wesleyan, queer students struggle to define their sexual identities within a relatively accepting environment. Through this process, and through interacting with others, students arrive at their own formulations of identity that are individually tailored, refined, and potentially challenge their original conceptions of personal identity.
What You See
Brianna Zinser
My joint thesis, in psychology and studio art, is about what you see but perhaps more importantly, how you evaluate what you see. Our perception translates the visual information around us into more meaningful concepts and images. This process can be experienced or can go unnoticed, but either way, it directly affects us. I am interested in the connection between perception and experience; I explore this connection through the effect of subtle visual changes on perception, the ability of a work of art to place the viewer in a certain space, and the effect of the viewer's motion through that space on perceptual experience. The goal of my art is to cause viewers to consciously evaluate their perception, so that the awareness of perception becomes part of the experience of the work, an issue that I discuss at length in the written component of my thesis.
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