Undergraduate Honors Research

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Includes baccalaureate theses and other honors research of Vanderbilt undergraduates in various departments.

The Undergraduate Honors Research collection can by used by departments and schools to preserve and share theses and capstones as well as other research outputs. If you would like to create a digital archive please contact the administrator at DiscoverArchive@library.vanderbilt.edu.

If students will be responsible for depositing their own work, the administrator will provide you with submission instructions to handout. Alternatively, a department can designate one person as the "Community Administrator" and collect and upload all research.

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Browsing Undergraduate Honors Research by Title

Now showing 1 - 20 of 700
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    The 1938 Georgia Democratic Senatorial Primary: The Repudiation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'Purge Campaign'
    (Vanderbilt University. Dept. of History, 2002-04-22T01:42:00Z) Telfeyan, Brad; Carlton, David L. (David Lee), 1948-
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    A Corporate Buy-American Subsidy and Firm Location Decision
    (Vanderbilt University, 2010) Mahan, Mallory; Crucini, Mario
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    A Laboratory Evaluation of Partner Selection in Group Lending Models
    (Vanderbilt University, 2009) Shaner, Houston; Ketkar, Suhas
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    A Multi-Method Examination of Self-Regulation Processes in Preschool-aged Children
    (Vanderbilt University, 2025-05) Zhang, Yichi; Hill, Kaylin; Garon-Bissonnette, Julia; Kujawa, Autumn; Dr. Kaylin Hill; Dr. Julia Garon-Bissonnette; Dr. Autumn Kujawa
    Self-regulation is a multi-faceted developmental construct that relates to all aspects of a child’s functioning. However, specific self-regulation constructs and their associations within the preschool age period are not well established. Understanding self-regulation at the point of action involves assessing associations amongst reward, risk-taking, and impulsivity. The current study examined reward responsiveness as it relates to risk-taking and impulsivity in a sample of 44 preschool-aged (M = 4.27 years, SD = 0.75) children. Approximately half of the children experienced neonatal opioid exposure. We used a multi-method approach, which included a neural measure of reward responsiveness (i.e., RewP), behavioral measures of risk-taking and impulsivity, and parent-reported impulsivity. Results did not indicate statistically significant associations between risk-taking and impulsivity, potentially due in part to the relatively small sample size. For reward responsiveness, although we did not observe a statistically significant difference between RewP conditions, the RewP to loss component was significantly related to parent-report impulsivity.
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    A Signaling Model of a Lawyer with Private Information About Her Talent
    (Vanderbilt University, 2011) Xiao, Jean; Weymark, John; Wen, Quan
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    Absent Characters: Stage Space and Social Change in Modern Drama
    (Vanderbilt University, 2017-04-24) Carlson, Stephanie; Goddu, Teresa; Orr, Bridget; Essin, Christin
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    Acoustic Parameters of Speech and Attitudes Towards Speech in Childhood Stuttering: Predicting Persistence and Recovery
    (Vanderbilt University, 2016-04) Gerald, Rachel; Walden, Tedra, 1952-
    The relations between the acoustic parameters of jitter and fundamental frequency and children’s experience with stuttering were explored. Sixty-five children belonging to four talker groups will be studied. Children were categorized as stuttering (CWS) or non-stuttering (CWNS), and were grouped based on their diagnosis of stuttering/not stuttering at two time points in a longitudinal study: persistent stutterers (CWSàCWS), recovered stutterers (CWSàCWNS), borderline stutters (CWNSàCWS), and never stuttered (CWNSàCWNS). The children performed a social-communicative stress task during which they were audio-recorded to provide speech samples from which the acoustic parameters were measured. There were no significant relations between talker group and acoustic parameters, nor were children’s attitudes towards their speech different across talker groups. Therefore, acoustic parameters nor children’s attitudes towards their speech did not determining their prognosis with stuttering.
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    Acoustic Properties of Laughter in Individuals with Williams Syndrome
    (Vanderbilt University, 2010-04-28) Culp, Diana; Bachorowski, Jo-Anne
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    Acoustic properties of speech under stress in preschool children who do and do not stutter
    (Vanderbilt University, 2014) Morrow, Emily; Walden, Tedra, 1952-
    Previous research has shown that stuttering, a potentially life-altering developmental disorder with typical onset during the preschool years, is linked in severity to temperamental and situational emotionality. Thirty-three participants, aged four to six years old, 14 of whom stutter and 19 of whom do not, provided temperamental measures of emotionality via parent-report surveys. Measures of stress/emotionality were derived from acoustic data (fundamental frequency and jitter) drawn during a card stressor task as part of a larger study. Analyses included correlations between temperamental and acoustic measures of emotionality for all participants, as well as comparisons of temperament data and lab acoustic measures of fundamental frequency and jitter between children who do and do not stutter. Although independent samples t-tests and discriminate function analysis showed no significant difference between the two groups for either temperamental or acoustic data, bivariate correlations for both groups showed significant correlations between temperament measures of emotional reactivity and regulation, and acoustic measures, such as mean jitter and jitter range. Results support acoustic measures as indicators of vocal stress in children who do and do not stutter.
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    The acoustics of children's laughter
    (Vanderbilt University, 2009-04-12) Tennis, Katherine; Bachorowski, Jo-Anne
    Laughter is a unique sound--one that most of us produce many times each day. Despite laughter's seeming ubiquity, though, we really do not know much about this vocalization's psychological function(s) or details about its acoustics. The goal of the proposed research is to measure several acoustic features from a large corpus of children's laughter, with the goal being to catalog what makes this class of vocalizations arguably special. Through duration and frequency analyses we predict that due to their comparatively underdeveloped vocal-production anatomy, children's laughter will have a much higher F0 than adult laughter and will not expect sex differences. We also predict that children's laughter may be more tightly coupled to internal emotional state seems to be the case for adult laughter.
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    Affect as a Model of Pro-Environmental Spillover
    (Vanderbilt University, 2018) Vasan, Ana A.; Smith, Craig A.
    In an effort to mitigate the potentially catastrophic effects of human consumption on the environment, many researchers are driven to understand the mechanisms underlying sustained engagement in pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Using the concept of behavioral spillover, a primary PEB may either lead to an increase (positive spillover) or a decrease (negative spillover) in future PEBs. Previous research into PEB spillover suggests that situational factors, such as identity and emotion, may affect whether an individual tends toward positive spillover behavior or negative spillover behavior. The present study synthesizes research on behavioral spillover with that of emotional appraisal to attempt to create a framework for the affective mechanisms underlying the spillover effect, within the domain of PEB. Specifically, this study looks at the participants’ decision to complete a second PEB after completing an initial PEB, and how that decision may be differentially affected by induced elevation, pride, guilt, and anger. Participants were led to engage in a primary PEB (recycling a plastic water bottle), subsequently underwent a targeted emotion induction, and finally were given the opportunity to engage in a second PEB (turning off a dripping water faucet), with the latter recorded on a binary scale. Results were non-significant, and indicate a potential difference between the Elevation and Guilt conditions’ and the Pride and Anger conditions’ influence on sustained engagement in PEB, especially as guilt may predict sustained PEB engagement. Results further suggest the possibility that individual identity and values may not predict direction of spillover behavior. Our research provides a preliminary framework from which future social psychologists and policy makers may create widespread and sustainable initiatives towards PEB.
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    Affective Considerations in Anxiety and Depression Comorbidity
    (Vanderbilt University, 2023-03-20) Keith, Rebecca
    Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) co-occur at rates much higher than chance. Because of overlapping risk factors and higher rates of comorbidity than other anxiety disorders, researchers have proposed reclassifying GAD; one of the most influential proposals calls for GAD and MDD to be classified together as anxious-misery disorders, with the remaining anxiety disorders reclassified as fear disorders. The tripartite model attempts to explain comorbidity of depression and anxiety through positive affect, negative affect, and physiological hyperarousal. However, its theory that low positive affect is exclusive to depression has been questioned – instead, low rates of positive affect are found in all anxiety disorders, especially in GAD. The current study examines positive affect in anxious-misery symptoms and fear symptoms to determine if positive affect varies in a manner consistent with the model and if it supports the reclassification of mood and anxiety disorders. Using a sample of adolescents and young adults (n=904), correlations and linear regression were conducted on positive affect and mood disorder symptoms. Symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and panic disorder each had significant negative correlations with positive affect. A regression analysis controlling for the overlapping variance among symptoms demonstrated that depression showed the strongest negative relationship with positive affect, followed by generalized anxiety and social anxiety. There was no significant relationship between positive affect and panic disorder symptoms. These findings support the close relationship between depression and generalized anxiety but also demonstrate that positive affect may not be adequate to differentiate anxious-misery and fear disorders.
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    African American and Euro-American Mother-Child Communication within the Context of Maternal Depressive Symptoms
    (Vanderbilt University, 2015-04-15) Royster, Quela Nile
    Past research has shown that depressive symptoms and race/ethnicity separately impact parenting behaviors, although the latter is often confounded with other contextual variables. This study examined the association of depressive symptoms and race/ethnicity with the parenting behaviors of African American and Euro-American mothers while controlling for demographic variables. Mother-child dyads were recorded discussing recent peer stressors and mothers’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors and emotions were coded using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales (IFIRS). Maternal depressive symptoms did not significantly predict any of the parenting behaviors. African American mothers were significantly higher in structure, authoritarian parenting, and psychological control, significantly lower in engagement, and similar to Euro-American mothers in warmth and overall communication. However, race/ethnicity only significantly predicted structure and authoritarian parenting. Implications for parenting style research and familial depression preventions are discussed.
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    After the Bomb: Science, Value and the Limits of Rationality
    (Vanderbilt University. Dept. of History, 1992-04-27T20:58:34Z) Mathes, David; Wcislo, Frank
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    "All thinking things" and "Objects of all thought": Materiality and Thought in Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats
    (Vanderbilt University, 2009-04-20) Williams, Martha; Porter, Dahlia
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    "All-American Bias: The Len Bias Tragedy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era"
    (Vanderbilt University. Dept. of History, 2008-04-25T21:53:25Z) Galbraith, Lindsey Rae; Fergus, Devin
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    An Analysis of the Random Walk Hypothesis based on Stock Prices, Dividends, and Earnings
    (Vanderbilt University, 2010) Kavalerchik, Risa; Rodrique, Joel
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    An analysis of the relationship between LASIK surgery and the popularity of ophthalmology as a specialty choice for medical students
    (Vanderbilt University, 2014) Paone, Darien; Rennhoff, Christina; Viscusi, Kip