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Item Sleep and savoring: the influence of sleep restriction on positive emotion regulation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Powell, Suzanna Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cara A. PalmerAlthough previous research broadly demonstrates that sleep loss leads to reductions in positive affect, relatively few studies examine the impact of sleep loss on low and high arousal positive affective processes, the regulation of positive emotions, or the influence of different sleep stages. The current study sought to build on previous findings that suggest slow wave and rapid eye movement stages of sleep may have distinct influences on affect by examining the effects of sleep restriction on positive affect, reactivity, and regulation (i.e., savoring and dampening). Thirty-four participants (50% female, ages 18-25 years) were included in final analyses. Participants completed a healthy night of sleep (9h time in bed) and a night of sleep restriction (4h time in bed). Sleep was restricted between participants in two ways, early in the night to primarily restrict slow wave sleep and later in the night to primarily restrict rapid eye movement sleep. Following both a night of normal sleep and the night of sleep restriction, participants completed questionnaires to measure positive affect, and a video task which instructed them react normally or to savor while watching positive affect-inducing videos. After each video, participants reported on their feelings of valence, arousal, and high and low arousal positive affect. Savoring and dampening strategies utilized during the task were also reported. Following sleep restriction participants reported diminished high and low arousal positive affect compared to when they were well-rested. Participants also reported less positive reactivity to the videos when they were sleep restricted compared to when they were well-rested after both reacting normally and after savoring. However, participants experienced greater increases in positive affect when savoring compared to when they were instructed to react after sleep restriction. Slow wave sleep loss was related to marginally reduced positive affect compared to loss of rapid eye movement sleep, but no other effects of type of sleep restriction emerged. This study indicates that sleep loss results in diminished high and low arousal positive affect and blunted reactivity to positive stimuli, but that engaging in intentional up-regulation strategies may help buffer the negative effects of sleep loss.Item The positive emotion regulation questionnaire and the assessment of strategy use profiles as predictors of mental health outcomes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) McCullen, Jennifer Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brandon ScottPast research has shown that experiencing and upregulating positive emotions may be beneficial for youths' well-being (Martin-Krumm, 2018; Young et al., 2019). Further, research with negative ER suggests having a wider range of strategies enhances ER success (Lougheed & Hollenstein, 2012). However, most studies on positive emotion regulation (ER) have focused on savoring strategies and lack youth involvement. I propose that it is not only how many strategies youth use but the pattern of strategies youth use to regulate positive emotions that relate to internalizing problems. The purpose of our study was to examine the factor structure of a novel self-report measure of positive ER strategies in adolescents and their relations to mental health as well as to investigate the number and type of profiles that emerge from youths' use of 13 positive ER strategies and differences in mental health. I recruited a sample of 349 English-speaking 13- 17-year-old youth (50% females; 32% non-binary/other gender; Mage = 15.7) who reported on positive ER strategies, anxiety, depression, difficulties regulating positive emotions, resilience, and trauma. Exploratory factor analysis of the measure indicated 10 factors. Correlations showed greater use of Self-Improvement, Physical Activity, and Positive Thinking were related to more resilience; greater use of Fantasizing and Sensation Seeking were related to more anxiety; and greater use of Sensation Seeking and Relaxation were related to more depression. Conversely, greater use of Sensation Seeking was related to less resilience; greater use of Positive Thinking was related to less anxiety; and greater use of Positive Thinking and Physical activity were related to less depression. Profile analysis revealed a 6-profile model with two unique profiles characterized by either mainly using personal growth strategies more frequently than other strategies (profile 3) or using more frequently sensation seeking and fantasizing as opposed to other strategies available to them (profile 4). ANOVA results revealed significant differences in depression among profiles. These findings demonstrate adolescents utilize a wide range of emotion regulation strategies to maintain and upregulate positive emotions. Further, certain positive ER profiles may indicate protective (high personal growth only) or risk (high sensation seeking and fantasizing) for experiencing depressive symptoms.Item Microcosmic reveries: Narcissa Thorne's miniature period rooms(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Murdy, Kaitlin Rose; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: T. Lawrence LarkinNarcissa Thorne's Miniature Period Rooms and miniatures as an object are overlooked within Art History. Miniatures should hold a place within the history of Decorative Arts due to the nature of the original intentions of their creation and display in Western civilization and design. Beyond misconceptions of historical predecessors, miniatures explore a psychoanalytic relationship to the microcosm and displacement of desire within creators, collectors, and viewers of this unique form of decorative art. Previous research on the study of the Thorne Miniature Period rooms and related subjects is sparse to non-existent. Particularly with the subject being relegated to that of an effeminate hobby, rather than a legitimate and complex artform that presents a mode for unique self-expression and opportunities form education and validation. In researching this subject I rely on methods of psychoanalysis and the writings of Susan Stewart, a literary philosopher who speaks extensively on scale and the psyche of the human mind. This is explored after an in-depth histography of miniature forms and understanding of the ideation and fabrication that went into the production of the Thorne Miniature Period Rooms. Contrary to what is often assumed of miniatures as simply toys, in fact the object has been primarily witnessed in largely adult, feminine social spheres. Narcissa Thorne participated in a form of self-expression of her potential desires for control, suspension of time, intellectual exploration and validation by her contemporaries. A form of self-expression that has continued today and has only grown in popularity of viewers, collectors, and creators.Item Fear in the 21st Century: U.S. cultural anxiety and the psychology of stress(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Ready, Tyler James; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert BennettIn the 21st century, narratives circulating throughout a variety of societal landscapes emphasize the danger the country's populace faces. This creates an overall stressful environment, with the result often manifesting itself in bigotry that seems to resist facts. For instance, the racism undergirding President Trump's Muslim ban continues to persist, despite an availability of information indicating Muslims aren't any sort of meaningful threat. This dissertation examines how underexamined fear narratives affect cultural discussions like the War on Terror, social media, gun violence, and the January 6th riot in Washington DC. In analyzing texts across politics, entertainment, journalism, and academic scholarship, I illustrate how fear operates in both explicit and subtle ways. As I argue, this results in a variety of cultural discussions where people opt for the 'comfort' of well-cultivated fear tropes instead of engaging with complicated societal concerns. Myriad fear narratives (of which I analyze just four) work together to ensure people are always reminded of the danger they're in. The collective fear, as a chronic source of stress, then lessens the likelihood of any one fear association disappearing. This means that trying to address prejudice of varying types, as humanists frequently do, is a losing proposition and explains why people often seem to ignore facts. In drawing upon psychology and neurology, I further the fields of American studies and affect theory in explaining how an understanding of human physiology helps explain these contentious arenas. I argue we need a theory of fear that builds upon established scientific research and presents a roadmap for addressing both individual fear discourses, and how they function together in the aggregate.Item Impact of weight classifications on weight loss behavior: a regression discontinuity design(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2020) Worley, Ronald Wayne, III (Trey); Co-Chairs, Graduate Committee: Andrew Hill and Mariana CarreraAround 70% of US adults are overweight or obese, conditions strongly associated with medical issues and lower worker productivity. Efforts to address this issue have largely failed to instill long-term healthy living habits in individuals, and a better understanding of how individuals respond to these weight classifications may aid in creating effective interventions. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, I exploit the quasi-random assignment of weight classifications through the body mass index in a regression discontinuity design (RD) to analyze the impacts of overweight and obese assignments on weight change behavior and attempts to lose weight. My results suggest that individuals do not respond to these classifications by altering their weight change behavior or their efforts to lose weight. Limitations to my study make it uncertain whether this is the true relationship between weight classifications and weight-related behaviors. However, these findings align with previous research utilizing similar natural experiments. Future studies could exploit additional sources of variation in weight information, utilize different techniques, and explore alternative samples to contribute to the small, yet growing, literature on this topic.Item The psychology of camera observation: how the camera affects human behavior(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) Trainor, Catherine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo LipfertThis paper explores the influence of an observational camera on human behavior, particularly in documentary films. Whether it is a surveillance camera that represents the eyes of an authority figure, or a camera with a human operator, the presence of an observer impacts our behavior. The paper hypothesizes that the presence of a camera activates the same pathway in the brain as when a person senses that they are being watched. The paper uses observations from several documentary films, reality television shows, and the author's documentary film as supporting evidence in exploring this concept.Item The changing face of folkloric transmission: bigfoot and the American psyche(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Davenport, Hannah Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert RydellThe purpose of this research is to better articulate the role that podcasts play in the transmission of oral narratives within the world of modern folklore. The use of podcasting as a medium for folkloric transmission will be examined through the lens of the bigfoot stories in North America. The research will be primarily comprised of two separate studies. The first is an examination of the bigfoot stories found in North America beginning with the traditional narratives of the Native Americans and First Nations people, which shed light on the building blocks of the bigfoot archetype, and follow the stories as the become the modern narrative that we hear today. The second study is an examination of the role that podcasts play within our culture in relation to the dissemination of information on a mass scale. These analyses are followed by an assessment of how podcasting has become a popular medium for oral storytelling, and how this medium has facilitated the expansion of the bigfoot folklore. The research found that podcasts, combined with other social media platforms, have created digital folklore collections that may help push interdisciplinary research within the scientific community. The methodologies used for the research are a combination of textual literature, digital literature, and audio files (podcasts).Item Examining the psychometric functionality of the force concept inventory(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Eaton, Philip Dale; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Shannon Willoughby; Keith Johnson and Shannon Willoughby were co-authors of the article, 'Generating a growth-oriented partial credit grading model for the force concept inventory' in the journal 'Physical review physics education research' which is contained within this dissertation.; Barrett Frank and Shannon Willoughby were co-authors of the article, 'Examining the effects of item chaining in the force concept inventory and the force and motion conceptual evaluation using local item dependence' submitted to the journal 'Physical review physics education research' which is contained within this dissertation.; Shannon Willoughby was a co-author of the article, 'Confirmatory factor analysis applied to the force concept inventory' in the journal 'Physical review physics education' which is contained within this dissertation.; Shannon Willoughby was a co-author of the article, 'Identifying a preinstruction to postinstruction model for the force concept inventory within a multitrait item response theory framework' in the journal 'Physical review physics education' which is contained within this paper.To improve the current understanding of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), both a response-option-level analysis and a dimensionality analysis were proposed and applied. The response-option-level analysis used polytomous item response theory to reveal that the response options on the FCI are generally functioning appropriately, with two questions being identified as likely malfunctioning. To address the question of the FCI's dimensionality, an analysis of local item independence using item response theory was proposed and performed. Results indicate that the FCI is a multi-factor instrument, not a unidimensional instrument as it is often assumed. As a result of this analysis, three factor models were proposed and tested using confirmatory factor analysis and confirmatory multi-trait item response theory. All of these models were found to adequately explain the factor structure of the FCI within each of the statistical frameworks. The results from these investigations can be used as a starting point for further analysis and directing future improvements of the FCI.Item Late adolescent perceptions of romantic relationships and romantic experiences(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2019) Whittecar, Whitney Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: J. Mitchell VaterlausLate adolescence (18-25 years old) is a developmental time period where a person is in a state of transition, growing out of adolescence and preparing for adulthood. Romantic relationships are a typical component of late adolescent development. In early adolescence, the concept of love has been described as being experimental, temporary, or short-term, while in late adolescence love involves deeper exploration of the qualities of a partner and of one's self. There are other romantic encounters late adolescents may experience that may not be considered relationships. Contemporary literature discusses romantic experiences as an attraction to another, interacting with individuals that are prospective romantic partners, and nonromantic or casual involvements with another. A closer examination into these activities suggests late adolescents may engage in hooking up behaviors and dating potential romantic partners during this developmental stage. Presently, there are not consistent definitions of romantic relationships and romantic experiences and these definitions vary across empirical studies. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify how late adolescents conceptualize romantic relationships and romantic experiences. A sample of 263 college students between the ages of 18 and 25 was surveyed. A qualitative content analysis approach (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) revealed distinct characteristics of both romantic relationships and experiences. Conceptualizations of romantic relationships included mutual exclusivity and boundaries, specific physical qualities, large amounts of time spent together, and positive relational qualities. Romantic experiences were conceptualized as using sex recreationally, exploring or dating without commitment, and moments of extraordinary connection between two people. Participants indicated that romantic relationships and romantic experiences were most distinct in terms of level of relational commitment and whether enduring emotional connection was present or not. Finally, participants indicated that romantic experiences can occur within and outside of a romantic relationship. Participants in this sample reported having had significantly more romantic experiences since the age of 18 when compared to their reported number of romantic relationships. Results are discussed in regard to existing literature.Item Exercise as treatment for depression, dissemination of evidence-based practice to providers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2019) Dean, Amber Jewel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tracy HellemStatement of the problem: Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide with low remission rates. Exercise has been used as an evidence-based treatment option with positive results. This project assessed the usefulness of a pocket card to disseminate evidence-based research to medication providers while collecting additional information. Methods: 93 medication providers were identified in northwestern Montana counties at 14 outpatient clinics to disburse an informational packet to, including the pocket card. A letter directed providers to take an initial survey and a follow up survey. Results: The majority of participants (86%) found the pocket card to be a useful way in receiving information regarding exercise as treatment for depression. Conclusion: The pocket card was a useful way to disseminate evidence for exercise as treatment for depression to medication providers.