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- ItemA comparison of student achievement across pedagogical modalities(2023) Bown, Erica; Moscicki, MicheleRecent research provides evidence that students’ active participation in course activities creates stronger connections and enables deeper levels of information processing and learning compared to passive teaching and learning methods (Nurbavliyev et al., 2022). The present study investigated the relationship between active and passive learning across different pedagogical modalities and its effect on academic performance. We hypothesized that students in the active learning group would perform better academically than students in the passive learning group. Participants were students enrolled in hybrid or in-person PSYC 105 courses at MacEwan University. Our sample size for our analyses related to academic performance included 24 participants, 14 from the active group and 10 from the passive group. Our sample size for our correlational analyses included 97 participants. Throughout the semester, participants in the active condition completed activities and participants in the passive condition heard a lecture. Academic performance was measured based on participants’ performance on eight standardized multiple-choice questions embedded into each class's midterm and final exams, and overall midterm and final exam grades. We also investigated if certain student characteristics moderate the effect of activities on retention. Participants filled out questionnaire items assessing personality, self-regulation, procrastination, and test anxiety. Our results showed that students in the active learning condition performed better than those in the passive learning condition. We also found a moderately positive relationship between procrastination and test anxiety, and neuroticism and test anxiety. These results illustrate the potential benefits of universities offering more opportunities for active learning on students’ academic performance.
- ItemDoes a growth mindset reduce procrastination and perfectionism?(2023) Bown, Erica; Moscicki, MicheleResearch has consistently found a positive relationship between fear of failure (FoF) and both perfectionism and procrastination, which are both positively correlated with stress. Many university students report high levels of perfectionism, procrastination, and stress; thus, interventions to help reduce these characteristics are needed. Individuals who have a growth mindset (GM) are more likely to view challenges and failures as opportunities to learn and grow rather than as obstacles. The present study investigated the effect of a GM intervention on procrastination and negative perfectionism. We hypothesized that students who received the GM intervention would report lower procrastination due to FoF and lower negative perfectionism than students who did not receive the GM intervention. In Part 1, all participants completed questionnaires assessing personality, stress, perfectionism, procrastination, and GM. Participants in the GM intervention group were shown a video and infographic about GM and its benefits and were sent reminder emails about the benefits of GM once a week for four weeks. After four weeks, participants completed all measures again. Our results show that the GM intervention failed to produce any significant changes in GM, negative perfectionism, and procrastination due to FoF. We further show positive relationships between stress and both procrastination due to FoF and negative perfectionism. Future research will investigate a more effective GM intervention. Our results confirm that university students’ stress is highly associated with negative perfectionism and procrastination due to FoF and that students may benefit from stress reduction methods that specifically target perfectionism and FoF.
- ItemLanguage effects on emotion recognition in adult listeners(2023) Badiru, Monisola; Vongpaisal, TaraIn an increasingly multicultural society, perception and understanding of emotions expressed by talkers across different languages are important for meaningful and effective social communication. The purpose of this study is to examine language effects on listeners’ ability to recognize emotions, specifically in individuals who speak English as their first language. Adult participants listened to sentences spoken in English and Yorùbá and identified whether the talker was happy, sad, angry, or neutral. Tonal languages such as Yorùbá are characterized by more variance in pitch compared to stress-based languages such as English. Therefore, we predicted that adult participants whose first language is English will have more difficulty recognizing emotions in Yorùbá than in English. The findings of this study will have implications in expanding our knowledge about the perception of emotions in different language contexts. It will also help us understand language effects on emotion recognition in other special populations, including children impacted by hearing loss.
- ItemCombating internalized homophobia: protective factors and their effectiveness(2023) Kostiuk, Jared; Offrey, LauraInternalized homophobia is an adverse consequence that emerges in societies characterized by heteronormativity. Individuals – both sexual minorities and heterosexuals – who are exposed to heterosexual norms as well as unfavourable portrayals of sexual minorities may internalize, or take in, these negative depictions. Deviations from the heterosexual norm may be perceived as ‘unnatural,’ ‘unacceptable,’ or ‘repugnant’ by sexual minorities and heterosexuals alike, and some of these views may be completely unconscious. Sexual minorities are at heightened risk of experiencing various psychological, behavioural, and social distress due to internalized homophobia, whether it is directed at the self or others. Therefore, it is crucial to uncover various factors that protect against internalizing deleterious views of sexual minorities. To this end, the present study investigated four plausible protective factors: self-esteem, social network quality, education level, and degree of exposure to positive portrayals of sexual minorities. The participants included MacEwan University students, as well as recruited sexual minority participants in an attempt to obtain a representative sample. Each participant’s level of internalized homophobia was assessed, and the results were compared to each of the four variables to determine whether any of them had a beneficial impact on preventing the development of internalized homophobia. The current study’s primary objectives are to identify factors that could help those suffering from the adverse effects of internalized homophobia and thereby improve the overall well-being of sexual minorities.
- ItemCriminogenic needs based on sexual assault typologies(2022) Thomas, Mackenzie; Jung, SandyPeople have an intrinsic desire to understand other people’s behaviour, especially when considered socially deviant or abnormal. This fascination has led to several theoretical and empirically-based typologies for criminal behaviour, including sexual assault. These are typically based on the premise that those who commit sexual assault have different individual characteristics. The greater knowledge we gain to identify diverse groups of these individuals may help us understand the characteristics associated with their sexual offending. The current study examines the typology proposed by Knight and Prentky (1990). The Massachusetts Treatment Center Rapist Typology, Version 3 (MTC: R3) identifies five general categories of rapists, four of which are examined in the current study. These categories include opportunistic, pervasively angry, vindictive, and sexual types. Using a sample of 300 individuals who have been investigated for sexual assault, the present study categorizes these individuals into one of these typologies. This research identifies potentially unique attributes for each subtype, and it is hypothesized that these subtypes will present with different individual characteristics, including criminogenic needs, depending on the type of motivation that reflects a particular individual who sexually offends. The practical implications of this study for criminal justice professionals, such as police, will be discussed, and it is hoped that our findings will increase our understanding of individuals who have committed sexual offences.