Influence of Exercise on Mood States: Comparing Yoga to Low-Impact Aerobics

College of Professional Studies

This research focuses on the intersection between moderate exercise and mental well-being, comparing yoga and low impact aerobics college classes to determine which is most effective in their influence on moods. Profile of Mood States (POMS) and new General Self-efficacy (NGSE) scales are used to gather data over Fall semester 2020.

Influence of Running shoes on Running Economy, Injury Performance, and Biomechanical Efficiency

Sawyer Stoddard, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Delve into the effects of running shoes on athletic performance, biomechanical efficiency, and injury prevention. Examine the relationship between footwear selection, running economy, and influence it has when running. Assess various shoe characteristics, including design, weight, and midsole properties, to elucidate their impact on stride mechanics and energy usage. Allowing valuable insights to guide optimal shoe choices for maximizing performance and ensuring long-term well-being for all types of runners.

Institutional Autonomy Support Predicts College Student's Achievement Goals Through Psychological Need Satisfaction

College of Professional Studies

We explored the role that instructors play in predicting college student's achievement goals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Achievement goals help us explain the motives behind engagement. Certain types of goals tend to be more adaptive than others. We predicted that greater institutional autonomy support would predict greater psychological need satisfaction. In turn, psychological need satisfaction would predict, respectively, greater mastery approach goals and lower performance-avoidance goals. We found partial support for our hypotheses, yet our findings highlight the importance of encouraging students to self-regulate and explore their own interests.

Integration and Supports for MSW Advance Standing Students

College of Professional Studies

The HSU Social Work Department is interested in better integrating the AS students into the existing two-year MSW program by considering instructor knowledge and awareness of the introduction of AS students, the importance and development of interpersonal relationships between the two cohorts, how AS students adjust to graduate-level work and how prepared AS students are for graduate-level work. The purpose of this project was to evaluate what changes have been made since the initial report by Assistant Professor César Abarca, MSW, Ph.D. conducted in 2014 and what recommendations could be made from the experience of the 2016-2017 on-campus advanced year cohort and existing instructors.

Intergroup Compensations for Attributes of Warmth and Competence

College of Professional Studies

People use perceptions of warmth and competence as fundamental features in making decisions about others (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). Participants were told that they were part of a high status group and then rated either a high status in-group or lower status out-group along dimensions of warmth, competence, and perceived threat. Results show that high status participants view their in-group as high in competence and low in warmth, while perceiving the out-group as low in competence and high in warmth. These findings suggest that compensation in an inter-group setting operates according to distinctiveness rather than general positive ratings for the in-group on all dimensions.

International and Intercultural Collaboration in Experiential Learning: Lessons from Rural Youth Volunteers in India Project

College of Professional Studies

In spite of the initial challenges the students from the U.S. and India faced in an international experiential learning program, they reported benefits including cultural and social learning, understanding different perspectives, gaining communication skills, improvement in reflective skills, and improved self-efficacy.

Intravenous Vitamin C in Cancer Treatment

Nick Weil, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Senior project literature review of high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy, and its applications in oncology. This treatment is very safe, and low-cost, making it very valuable, and in need of more attention. This review discusses the history, chemistry, current research, concerns, and the future of this treatment.

Is Ice effective for acute injuries or should it go away?

Cali Martino, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

My research project is about whether ice for acute injuries is effective. Evidence of how the body naturally heals damaged tissue doesn't line up with why we use ice on injuries. Ice helps with pain and swelling. Ice limits blood flow known as vasoconstriction which the body already naturally does. Staying in extended time in vasoconstriction may affect the healing of the injury. Ice has more negative effects that no one thinks of. PEACE & LOVE injury management is new and more people should know about it. Research should be done for the effectiveness of all elements.

It Gets Better: Policy Changes Predict Implicit Bias Against Homosexuality

College of Professional Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of policy changes on people's implicit biases about gay people. Participants completed an online IAT task that measures implicit favoritism for gay vs. straight people. A time series analysis indicates that the average monthly implicit favoritism score (for straight over gay people) decreased following the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. This suggests reduced favoritism for heterosexuals over gay and lesbian people, b = - 0.83, t(164) = -18.74, p < .001. As predicted, people exhibited less implicit bias against homosexuality after the legalization of gay marriage.

Kink Representation Outreach Project (KROP)

College of Professional Studies

Contemporary research does not support psychology’s historical framing of Bondage/discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism (BDSM) as a pathology. Multiple studies have suggested that supportive BDSM communities can play a positive role for people who practice BDSM. Drawing on these finding, this study consisted of a content analysis of top-selling human sexuality textbooks in the U.S. to determine the representation of BDSM. In particular, we explored how references to community experience were or were not represented. This poster reflects the importance of critically analyzing the influence of dominant narratives, social norms, and stigma in human sexuality textbooks.