The Gunpowder Behind Ghana’s Cocoa Boom: Examining How International Market Pressure and British Colonial Policies Created Ghana’s Cocoa Market

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Chase Arnold and Professor Sheila Bibb, Anthropology At the turn of the 20th century, British imperialism renewed with remarkable vigor. The British Empire was expanded, its borders defined, and greater effort was invested into making each of its distant lands more profitable for Crown and country. A remarkable, yet often overlooked, portion of this colonial narrative […]

The Influence of Positive Affect on Working Memory

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Brenna S. Adams and Dr. Michael J. Larson, Psychology Department Main Text Positive affect, or positive emotion, is associated with improvements in most cognitive abilities, such as creative problem solving (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987), the integration of information for strategic decision-making (Estrada, Isen, & Young, 1997), and verbal fluency (Phillips, Bull, Adams, & Fraser, […]

Hovering Parents: Is Helicopter Parenting a Unique Form of Parental Control?

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Gregory Nichols and Dr. Laura Walker, School of Family Life Introduction Emerging adulthood is a stage of development encompassing the years between 18 and 25 during which individuals strive for self-reliance despite the instability in their education, employment, and housing status (Arnett, 2007). Identity exploration, though historically associated with adolescence (e.g., Erikson, 1959), is so […]

Learning to Change in Autism

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Tiffani Newton and Dr. Mikle South, Department of Psychology Background The autism spectrum disorders (ASD) include a collection of severe neurodevelopmental symptoms related to social interaction and communication. In addition to these core symptoms, co-occurring anxiety is seen in up to 70% of diagnosed individuals (Reaven, 2010). Anxiety-inducing situations for ASD individuals include changes to […]

Leveraging Technology and the Wisdom of Crowds

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Robert Morello and Dr. Daniel Nielson, Department of Political Science A structural problem plagues the delivery of foreign aid: the beneficiaries have little ability or means to inform the donors of the projects’ initial needs, progress, or effects. As development projects are typically executed, donors carry out assessments that often involve surveys or other before-and-after […]

Sociology as Theodicy

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Robert Meldau and Dr. Stan Knapp, Department of Sociology The purpose of this project was to use the works of Freidrich Nietzsche, Max Weber, and Charles Taylor to construct a critique of Sociology. Our intention was to argue that Sociology (and all of social science) is a secularized theodicy; an attempt to explain why humans […]

Investigating where Japanese Political Loyalties lay through the Candidate Selection Processes

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Yoshiki Matsunaga and Dr. Jessica Preece, Department of Political Science Goal/Purpose of the Project The goal is to find out the candidate selection/nomination process for Japanese political parties, and then we will test whether differences in these processes impact Japanese Legislators’ voting behavior. Importance of Project In order to win an election a candidate has […]

Does Marriage Therapy Improve Health?

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David Marsh and Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Department of Psychology The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of marital quality on certain cardiovascular health risks, including diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Relationships, including that of marriage, have long since been known to correlate with these physiological markers (Wickrama, 1997). Our study, however, […]

Behavioral Analysis of Anxiety in Autism

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Megan Christensen and Dr. Mikle South, Department of Psychology Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication. Anxiety is also an extremely common feature with approximately 81% of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder also qualified for at least one other anxiety disorder (Amaral et al., 2003). Amaral et […]