Presentation of Honors Theses, Group B

This study investigated whether we can tell people are friends by looking at them. Participants viewed sets of four photos, two of which are friends, and rated personality, appearance, and friendship likelihood. I expected real friends to have higher friendship likelihood ratings and personality similarity. The results indicated self-other agreement among ratings of personality by real friends, but there were not significant patterns among the other variables.

This is the Scholars Day presentation of my honors thesis, "A Comparison of Stigma Levels for Individuals with Psychological Disorders and Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities."

The current meta-analysis investigates the differences in neuroplasticity between women and men after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Research on the differences in neuroplasticity between women and men is relatively new and few studies have reported outcome variables by gender after TBIs. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adapt and change particularly because of learning or brain injuries. TBI is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide; because of this, learning more about these differences can give scientists and clinicians more information on how to better treat people with brain injuries. Current research is inconsistent on whether there is a difference in outcome between women and men after a TBI; therefore, a meta-analysis was performed with eight studies. The outcome variables in this study included the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) which measures the level of consciousness, Grooved Pegboard which measures motor functioning, Trails A and Trails B which measure attention and cognitive flexibility, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) perseverative error scores which measure executive functioning. The means, standard deviations, and sample sizes were recorded. There was a significant difference in attention, cognitive flexibility, and executive functioning with men scoring worse. There was no significant difference in level of consciousness or motor functioning. Differences in neuroplasticity could be due to differences in behavior rather than biological differences in sex which could help explain the inconsistencies in results between previous studies.

Women throughout history have had to contend with sexism and racism. A woman's voice was restricted and viewed as inferior in the south. This treatment was magnified in the world of jazz. Jazz was viewed as a boisterous male art form where a demure woman did not belong. A woman's musical voice, her form of expression, was often discredited by the public. Since women's talents were discredited, their musical voices were often hidden from history. This presentation shines a light on the suppression of the female voice while uncovering the successful women of Peggy Gilbert and The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. When we think of famous Jazz instrumentalists, we thing of male artists. Today you may add women to that list.