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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
Workplace Nutrition and Productivity
Nicoletta Krauze
Senior Thesis & Practicum
April 29, 2020
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
Abstract
Nutrition and physical activity are very important to one’s health. The purpose of this
study was to examine workplace nutrition and physical activity taking into specific consideration
the effects of these initiatives on employee productivity. Unhealthy eating habits among
employees have steadily increased over the years. Hence, the need for physical activity and
healthy nutrition has become crucial. This study was intended to determine the impact that
healthy eating and physical activity has on employees and increase awareness on ways to
manage a diet. Published articles were utilized to identify and examine ways in which employees
who consume unhealthy foods and exercise minimally are less productive, while employees who
consume healthy foods and exercise maximally are more productive. The published articles
included mostly information on healthy and unhealthy eating, eating disorders, obesity, free fruit
interventions and physical activity. Microsoft and Google Corporations were used for this study
to identify the accomplishments of overall health and well-being of their employees. These
findings may be used by workplace managers and health professionals to assist in planning or
implementing a wellness program in their organization.
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
Introduction
Food choices are a common factor of unhealthy eating in the workplace, as they are
influenced by your personal preference, the time of day, and social groups. Most people tend to
pick what is easiest and fastest to consume during their workday. These choices are made
quickly to satisfy their hunger, but without thought of whether the food choice will satisfy
overall health and productivity. For instance, consuming a slice of pizza will tend to make
someone tired and not give them any brain power, but it is easy and inexpensive, and is therefore
chosen without prioritizing health. The food that is provided in workplace cafeterias also
influences the food choices employees make. It is therefore essential to investigate how
workplaces can contribute to healthier choices. Encouraging employees to consume a healthy
diet should be taken into consideration by all corporations because a healthy diet will result in
more productivity, energy, and motivation.
Zero hunger is the second Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations, making
nourishment crucial to promote the overall health of every human being. In order to live a
healthy lifestyle, people have to purchase groceries from food service organizations, which in
return leave these organizations with an income. Today, many countries in Africa are
tremendously affected by hunger and poor nutrition. Two ways one can participate in civic
engagement related to the Zero Hunger SDG is through voting on surveys or volunteering to help
people learn to consume healthy foods that increase your overall health. Volunteering is most
beneficial because people can learn from each other face-to-face and gain more experiences.
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Literature Review
The following review of literature is relevant to the topic of workplace eating habits and
seeks to examine the effect on employee productivity. The review will examine the importance
of a well maintained, healthy diet for employees in the workplace.
The literature review will provide analysis on healthy diets as implemented in workplaces
and studies indicating the results of eating habits and productivity. This will lead to findings on
the importance of having a healthy diet in the workplace for increasing productivity of
employees. Employers and employees will benefit substantially due to employees having high
productivity land employer financially.
Overall, the literature review will provide confirmation of how a healthy diet increases
productivity levels of employees. It will provide evidence to support the argument that a healthy
diet in the workplace has a positive effect on employees and their productivity.
Healthy Eating Habits in the Workplace
Types of food provided (fruit/veggies vs. junk food)
People spend a lot of time at their workplace, typically 8 hours a day. Most people tend to
choose to eat unplanned foods, which are foods they rely on buying during their work shift or
foods that are brought in by their colleagues (Leung et al., 2018). Due to busy work schedules,
people have engaged in unhealthy behaviors and failing to meet recommendations to improve
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diet. The majority of people are unaware of their weight status and need to change their health
behaviors into healthier living that can result in actual behavior change.
Healthy eating habits in the work environment have been a growing concern for most
organizations and employees. Unhealthy eating behaviors and physical inactivity have been
linked to a substantial burden to the economy including low productivity. Studies have shown
that lost productivity emanates from the following two sources: presenteeism (an individual
experiences reduced productivity at work); and absenteeism (lost productivity because the
employee spends time away from work due to disability or illness) (National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence, 2015). The workplace presents a perfect environment for promoting
positive health behaviors as well as reaching the majority of people in society (Leung et al.,
2018). The workplace makes it possible even to reach individuals that may have proven difficult
to reach, for example, young people from lower socioeconomic status.
Fruit and vegetable intake have been addressed extensively in the literature. The
programs that focus on increasing the intake of fruits and vegetables at work should address
individual employees as well as their social networks for maximum effects and the programs
should also consider a change in the food environment. The provision of fruits and vegetables at
work ultimately increases their consumption at the worksite.
Effectiveness of Wellness Programs for Increasing Productivity
The effectiveness of a wellness program depends on the nature of the program and on
how the organization defines success. Some scholars have argued that workplace
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health-promoting programs are a waste of money for organization and do not provide a return on
investment (Langille, 2013). Also, workers must develop self-efficacy and knowledge of
workplace nutrition and their wellbeing for there to be effectiveness of a health program.
Promoting positive and healthy nutritional behavior at work can initiate improvement of
employee health and enhance business performance. Research shows that nutritional
interventions and workplace physical activity entail education, counseling, and on-site group
activities. Using these three components at work can significantly improve employee eating
behavior and physical activity (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2015).
Consequently, the three components improve mental and physical health and a positive return on
investment – healthcare costs are reduced, and employee productivity increases (Lake et al.,
2015).
Research has examined the effectiveness of different interventions on workplace
nutrition. The studies reveal that there is a need for workplace nutrition interventions to alleviate
their economic burden of poor nutrition and to improve employees’ performance (Lake et al.,
2015). Knowing the positive work-related and economic outcomes of different interventions for
workplace health promotion will increase investment in nutritional strategies.
In recent years, mindfulness has become more known and a result of unhealthy eating
behaviors made by people (O’Reilley et al., 2014). Mindfulness is a quality of consciousness that
comprises of continuous attendance to one’s instant-by-instant know-hows, views, and feelings
with an open-minded tactic. There are ways to cope with mindfulness by incorporating
meditations and exercises. Interventions for health issues ranging from anxiety to substance use
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
relapse all that embrace mindfulness practices (O’Reilley et al., 2014). Different mindfulness
approaches have been developed for clinical treatments. For example, Mindfulness-Based Stress
Reduction (MBSR) for pain management and stress-related disorders, in addition to
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for prevention of major depression related
obesity (O’Reilley et al., 2014). Mindfulness training is a platform that offers individuals skills
that permit them to mitigate maladaptive eating manners. Resultantly, persons can overcome
obesity and overweight related maladies and, as such, develop a positive attitude with food.
How to create healthy eating at work
Effects of on-site café/lunchroom offering healthy foods
Workplace interventions have the capability to target a large proportion of the adult
population and are an ideal strategy that promotes healthy lifestyles more so in today’s era where
economic times are tough, and people have to work extremely hard to have a comfortable life
(Lake et al., 2016). Employment and the workplace surrounding are critical factors that
contribute to food choice and eating modalities.
Studies have shown that employees would benefit incorporating desk-based eating would
allow employees to eat pre-prepared foods rather than waste time on thinking of what to buy and
if it is healthy or not (Lake et al., 2016). Another employee mentioned that instead of having a
tea trolley, management should incorporate a fruit trolley (Lake et al., 2016). The
implementation of offering pre-prepared foods and fruit trolleys to circulate throughout the
offices of a workplace would assist employees in making healthful decisions on what they are
going to eat. Studies have also shown that employees would significantly benefit from
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
incorporating meals-to-go and on-site farmers’ markets (Devine et al., 2007). The
implementation of retaining an on-site café or lunchroom would allow employees to confide in
healthy foods provided by chefs who are educated in the food they would provide. The
availability of these features on the worksite would encourage employees to live a healthful life.
Effects of gyms, sports facilities, free workout classes, etc.
Studies using the socio-ecological model reveal that healthy behavior emerges when
there is an interaction between the individual and the environment (Devine et al., 2007).
Therefore, promoting changes in dietary behavior at work should entail changes in the
organizational structure and changes in the physical environment of workplace. Positive
nutritional behavior is facilitated when there is a significant change in the organizational
structure of the business (for example, policies) and the physical environment of the workplace
(like stocking vending machines at the workplace with healthy foods). However, there is
insufficient or conflicting evidence about work-related outcomes of these organizational and
environmental changes (Leung et al., 2018). Further some employee habits may jeopardize the
objective of the health programs, for example, assuming too much, being selfish, believing that
they can be productive without changing their eating habits and so forth (Goldsmith, 2007).
Businesses that have measured the health and wellbeing of their employees have revealed
that most employees do not exercise enough, many employees are overweight, and many
employees have risky health factors, such as high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol (Leung
et al., 2018). These factors are linked to diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic
illnesses (Leung et al., 2018). Most organizations are now increasingly investing in health
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
promotion to improve their employees’ health and curb healthcare costs. Organizations have
introduced several programs and initiatives to encourage positive health behaviors such as eating
healthy, exercising, reducing risk factors for chronic disease, and quitting smoking. Studies have
shown that almost 50% of organizations with 50 or more workers have at least one health
promotion initiative in place. Large organizations like Microsoft have wellness programs such as
fighting obesity among employees (Sweeney, 2002).
To be successful, a program meant to alter the eating of workers should target different
aspects, such as, the influence of a coworkers, the availability of healthy food in the cafeteria and
the availability of counseling (Leung et al., 2018). Counseling is necessary because most people
resort to eating junk food because they are stressed (Leung et al., 2018). Work schedules should
be arranged to discourage people from eating unplanned food at work and to provide enough
time for people to seek healthy food.
Research stressed the significance and effectiveness of introducing workplace dietary
programs. Several food types are targeted by organizations including fiber, red meat, fat,
vegetables, and fruits.
Google and Microsoft have had a significant impact in changing one or two employee
dietary behaviors. Google and Microsoft have health-promoting programs that focus on
increasing vegetable and fruit intake, and these programs also address the social context of the
workers.
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
Research indicates that programs are effective when employees are encouraged to
participate and address their health-related behavior (Devine et al., 2007). Therefore, the
effectiveness of the health behavior-changing programs at work depends on the nature of the
programs and on how well the workers participate in the programs. However, it was revealed
that employees will have time to exercise if facilities are on the same property as their
workstations. Research found that food and eating are affected by sociocultural aspects such as,
stress-related eating, being enthusiastic about the health-promoting programs sponsored by the
organization that protects workers’ privacy, and the policies that dictate how one accesses food
and the place of eating (Devine et al., 2007).
Healthy behaviors can be promoted or impeded by cultural norms of the workplace and,
convenience to general foods at the place of work (Payne et al., 2013). Therefore, health
programs must address these aspects for maximum success (Payne et al., 2013). Self-regulating
can also play a significant role in promoting healthy behaviors in the workplace (Liu et al.,
2017), but self-regulation can only happen if the individual is knowledgeable about the need for
healthy behavior and good nutrition.
In conclusion, programs initiated and implemented by the organization for improved
employee nutrition are meant to serve the interest of the organization and the employees.
Therefore, these programs should be designed to make cafeterias accessible, bring healthful
foods closer to employees, and to highlight healthful options.
Hypotheses
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
H1: Healthy eating (fruits/veggies) will help increase productivity
Healthy nutrition in the workplace helps employees increase their productivity by
benefiting from eating fruits and vegetables. A strategy was conducted to educate chefs and
managers to create a healthier menu in the cafeteria to satisfy employee preferences and health
concerns and make healthier options more available (Devine et al., 2007).
H2: Employees will have time to exercise if facilities are on same property
Many employees work hours are from nine o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the
evening sitting at their desk with little movement. After an employee is finished with their job,
they typically go home, eat dinner, and go to sleep. A study was shown that eating healthy foods
has increased employees’ perceptions to exercise (Lake et al., 2016). Corporations including
wellness programs with on-site exercise facilities would encourage employers to exercise before
work, during their break, or after their shift.
Method
Subjects: Google and Microsoft focus on the healthiness of their employees
Research Design
The research adopts a descriptive study design. This design would be appropriate to
identify the study objectives and adequately analyze them to acquire information about the
factors that enhance the adoption of healthy lifestyle practices among employees. The focus of
the research will be on Google and Microsoft, organizations that have made significant efforts to
improve the health of their employees.
Sources of Data
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
The research relies on published articles from a couple sources. One source that was used
was OneSearch from the Wagner College Horrmann library. It included peer-reviewed and
non-peer-reviewed articles. Another source was the United Nations website for Sustainable
Development Goal. Lastly, official websites for Microsoft and Google were used.
Methods of Data collection
The terms searched in the database were as follows: “Workplace” AND “Productivity”;
“Nutrition” AND “Productivity”; “Nutrition” AND “Workplace”; “Google” and “Productivity”;
“Google” and “Nutrition”; “Microsoft” and “Productivity”; and “Microsoft” and “Nutrition.”
Measures: gym memberships, free sports facilities, free fruit, on-site café/lunchroom
Measures
Lunchrooms or on-site cafés, free fruits and vegetables, free sports facilities, and gym
membership have been incorporated by Microsoft and Google.
Procedure: incorporating gyms and healthy food has improved effectiveness of
productivity and overall health
Procedure
Gyms and healthy food have improved effectiveness of productivity and overall health in
Microsoft and Google by having these procedures implemented.
Data Analysis
Employees who work for organizations such as Microsoft and Google have the benefits
of on-site café’s and gyms. The on-site café’s offer healthy dining options that employees can
take advantage of on a daily basis. Obesity has been a major factor of unhealthy diet. Microsoft
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and Google have incorporated wellness programs to try to prevent obesity and overweightness
for employee’s overall health (Sweeney, 2002). Microsoft set their target audience to employees
who are forty to fifty pounds overweight (Sweeney, 2002). Employee health has increased when
wellness programs were introduced. Microsoft and Google imply that living a nutritious lifestyle
benefits their employee’s overall health.
Results
H1: two successful companies incorporated healthy work environment
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Figure 1: Theoretical line chart assessing Google’s fruit, vegetable, and fitness intake after
incorporating a wellness program.
The line chart above indicates Google’s vast increase in fruit, vegetable, and fitness
intake after introducing a wellness program to its employees. Based on a theoretical speculation,
the fitness aspect of Google’s employees increased tremendously due to facilities being easily
accessible. Vegetable and fruit intake increased due to accessibility also.
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Figure 2: Theoretical pie chart indicating the use of Zumba classes, walking/running
tracks, gym, and basketball courts by Microsoft’s employees.
Microsoft has lots to offer in the physical activity component for its employees. Zumba
classes, walking/running tracks, gym, and basketball court are some examples of what they have
to offer. Based on a theoretical speculation, 90% of employees used the gym; 60% used
walking/running tracks; 40% used basketball courts, and 30% used the offering of Zumba
classes.
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H2: free gym memberships on job sites are beneficial to employees due to easy access
Figure 3: Graph indicating a lifestyle management component of a wellness
program with importance offering from greatest to least including nutrition/weight,
smoking, fitness, alcohol/drug abuse, stress management, health education, and other in a
lifestyle management program (Mattke et al., 2013).
Nutrition/weight was ranked first, as the most important at 79%. Fitness was ranked third,
as the third most important at 72%. Employees understanding the importance of a healthy diet
and weight intake will provide better overall health. Free gym memberships will result in more
fitness, weight loss, and healthier nutrition amongst employees. The graph is a representation of
how results would look like in a research that involves incentives of encouraging one to go to the
gym and practice healthy eating (Mattke et al., 2013).
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Figure 4: Graph indicating a wellness program component of lifestyle management and
disease management (Mattke et al., 2013).
Fitness is very important in incorporating into a wellness program. The graph is a
representation of how likely employees are willing to attend each wellness program component.
It was ranked 21% as most attended program. Smoking cessation was ranked at 7% with least
likely to attend. Weight/obesity were ranked second least likely to attend at 11%. Employees are
more likely to attend a fitness program than a weight/obesity program because of personal issues
and preferences.
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H3: employees are more aware of their health and well being
Figure 4: Linear regression lines with a predicted line for men in selected countries of
Europe and the world (Krzysztoszek et al., 2015).
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Figure 5: Linear regression lines with a predicted line for women in selected countries of
Europe and the world (Krzysztoszek et al., 2015).
The two figures above show an upward trend that characterizes an increase in obesity
globally. In America, only obese men account for more than 40.8%, while women are more
obese at 46.0%. Further, the increase in obesity prevalence in women over 60 years old has
increased from 28.8% to 37.2%. This could be attributed to perimenopause period when weight
gain is observed in 60% of women with a simultaneous redistribution of body fat (Krzysztoszek
et al., 2015). It is estimated that Americans will be 100% obese in 35 years to come.
Discussion
healthy eating habits in work environment
fruit/veggies vs junk food & effectiveness of productivity
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
Based on the results, Google and Microsoft corporations have effectively incorporated
healthy work environments. The corporate culture can help the employees to encourage each
other to eat healthily and use training facilities provided within the organization premises. They
can also encourage each other to eat fruits and vegetables rather than junk food. Nutritional facts
can be displayed for all employees as well as healthy facts can be added by each shelf of food.
The availability of fruits within work premises are responsible for improving employee
intake of vegetables. Inquiries on the adoption of healthy eating habits at home yield a positive
impact with more employees acknowledging that the provision of healthy foods in the workplace
influences them to adopt the practice at home. Also, an increase in fruit and vegetable intake
among employees when an organization creates the provision of healthy food options in the
in-house café.
Employees should have availability to fruits such as apples, oranges, and bananas to
increase productivity throughout the day. Café’s should offer vegetables such as avocadoes,
broccoli, and kale to boost productivity while on your lunch break. Currently, many
organizations do not offer wellness programs or at least fruits and vegetables to their employees.
Employees go out of their way to eat unhealthy snacks that they bring from home or leave the
office to buy lunch, which most likely is something quick from a fast food restaurant.
how to create healthy eating in work environment
on-site café/lunchrooms & having gyms, free workout classes, etc.
An organizations management has a pivotal role to play since they can encourage team
members to take part in a workplace intervention. Management should educate their employees
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
to understand the important of health and wellbeing. They should also inform their employees of
advantages they have implemented and what they can use.
Most employees are not interested or find it hard to visit the gym or training center due to
demanding work schedules that require them to prioritize other responsibilities over going to the
gym. Healthy foods and training facilities can be Provision of a free membership would increase
employee likelihood of joining the gym in the workplace. More people are willing to use the
facilities provided by the organization when they know that it is free. Also, having a free gym
membership for employees to join on-site gyms is beneficial to most employees.
Accessibility is also a factor that enhances the use of the gym on worksites. The ease of
access was the motivation to use the facilities during their free time. Busy schedules and heavy
workloads are significant barriers to making time for exercise. Furthermore, having the gym at
worksites is significant in encouraging employees to adhere to joining the gym as a way of
adhering to healthy lifestyles. Many employees could agree that joining the gym has a positive
impact on their morale to work. After joining the gym, many employees can identify having
increased productivity. Employees are able to encourage those around them to join the gym after
experiencing increased productivity and overall health.
The efforts of having on-site lunchrooms or café’s and gyms are essential in enhancing
the health and wellbeing of employees. Most employees become more aware of their health
compared to previous periods, due to incorporating these features in their workplace. The
provision of some of the facilities has ignited a need to take their health more seriously.
The development of programs to encourage employees to have healthy lives has a
positive impact on them and their families. Most employees transfer the knowledge to their
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
families and friends hence increasing the level of awareness of healthy eating within the
workplace. Also, awareness of what those around you eat and do in order to stay healthy has an
influence on what you will eat. Mostly, employees are responsible for each other’s health, and
they can ensure that those around them are living healthy. Finally, most employees acknowledge
that the health efforts made in organizations also increase the awareness of the community. Most
workers share and discuss the efforts and knowledge gained from the workplace with members
of society, which increases their level of awareness on the matter.
Conclusions
Implications for practice
A review of the literature has revealed limited sources on nutrition, physical activity, and
productivity in the workplace. This study has provided an extraordinary opportunity to explore
nutrition, physical activity, and productivity at job sites. The results of this study validated the
assumption that fruit and vegetable intake is more beneficial than eating junk food. In addition,
the results clearly showed that implementing a wellness program with features such as on-site
cafes and fitness centers will increase employee productivity. Also, this study incorporated two
corporations, Microsoft and Google, to clarify that implementing a wellness program is
beneficial.
Implications for research
The research question focused on the overall health of employees in workplaces and how
creating a healthy work environment benefits the employer and employee. Even though the study
only focused on healthy eating and physical activity, it revealed a positive association between
healthy eating, physical activity, and productivity in the workplace. Understanding the
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
importance of fruit and vegetable intake and fitness facilities can help in developing a wellness
program. Offering on-site cafes and fitness facilities will encourage employees to utilize them
and become familiar with healthier choices. Finally, this study helped to clarify the importance
of implementing a nutritious diet, on-site cafes, and fitness facilities.
References
Devine, C. M., Nelson, J. A., Chin, N., Dozier, A., & Fernandez, I. D. (2007). “Pizza is cheaper
than salad”: assessing workers' views for an environmental food
intervention. Obesity, 15(S1), 57S-68S.
Goal 2: Zero Hunger - United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from
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Goldsmith, M. (2007). Which workplace habits do you need to break to become more
successful? Journal for Quality and Participation, 30(2), 4.
How we care for Googlers. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://careers.google.com/how-we-care-for-googlers/
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Workplace Nutrition & Productivity
Krysztoszek, Jana., Wierzejska, E., Zielinska, A. (2015). “Obesity. An analysis of
epidemiological and prognostic research.” Archives of Medical Science, Vol. 11(1) 24-33.
Lake, A. A., Smith, S. A., Bryant, C. E., Alinia, S., Brandt, K., Seal, C. J., & Tetens, I. (2016).
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Langille J. (2013). Let Your People Move. Incorporate daily movement to boost health and
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�
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Running head: THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
The Relationship Between The Dunning-Kruger Effect and Competition Entry
Debra Shteinberg
Wagner College
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Abstract
Studies show that most people are overconfident about their own relative abilities, even
when these abilities are unsubstantiated. Overconfidence plays an important role in a person’s
decision to enter into a competition and this decision can have a significant effect on economic
behavior. In the present study, 30 Wagner College students were asked to answer a 10 question
quantitative reasoning questionnaire with five subsequent questions that asked them how
difficult they thought the questionnaire was, to compare how they think they scored on this
questionnaire to other college students based on percentile rank, and to note how many questions
out of 10 they think they answered correctly. Participants were also asked if they would like to
enter their scores into competition with other Wagner College students and if they would like to
enter their scores into competition with Harvard University students. The relationship between
overconfidence and entry into competition were then analyzed. Evidence of overconfidence was
present, but the results did not support the hypothesis that the proportion of overconfident
Wagner students who enter into a competition with other Wagner students is greater than the
proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into a competition with Harvard
students. Implications of this study and future applications of the model are discussed.
Keywords: Dunning-Kruger effect, overconfidence, quantitative reasoning, competition
economic behavior
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The Relationship Between The Dunning-Kruger Effect and Competition Entry
Beliefs about one’s abilities are an important ingredient to making decisions. Beliefs that
are misinformed by a person's own overconfidence, however, can lead people to make decisions
with disastrous consequences. The Dunning-Kruger effect explains why people are
overconfident, particularly when they lack the very abilities they believe they possess. The
Dunning-Kruger effect is an observation recognizing that incompetent individuals, or those who
have low levels of ability in a particular area, tend to have high levels of confidence in this
ability (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). On the other hand, individuals who are more competent tend
to have lower levels of confidence in their ability than those who are incompetent.
Overconfidence occurs when an individual's certainty that their predictions are correct exceeds
the accuracy of these predictions (Simon & Houghton, 2003). When people are incompetent in
the strategies they choose to reach success, they suffer a dual burden: They not only reach wrong
conclusions, but they are not competent enough to recognize their own mistakes.
Studies show that most people are overconfident about their own relative abilities, and
unreasonably optimistic about their futures (Camerer & Lovallo, 1999). Individuals are
overconfident in their everyday lives, for example, people report themselves to be above average
in driving ability, their ability to get along with others, and their chances of obtaining jobs that
they like (Moore & Cain, 2007). Overconfidence plays a significant role in people’s decisions to
enter competitions. People compete all the time, whether they notice it or not. They contend with
others for top grades, jobs, trophies, and friends. It is optimal to enter into competitive
environments in which they are certain to do well and to avoid those in which they are doomed
to fail. (Rose et al., 2012).
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The relationship between overconfidence and competition entry has been observed in
multiple studies. Researchers have found that gender plays a role in the decision to enter a
competition (Niederle and Vesterlund, 2007). When people decide to enter into a competition,
researchers have noted that they tend to overweight beliefs about their own performance and
underweight beliefs about the performance of their competition, causing them to enter without
full consideration of the entire scenario (Moore et al. 2007). Research done on the relationship
between overconfidence and entry into competitive markets shows that people tend to enter into
competitions they deem “easy” and avoid those they perceive as “difficult” Cain et al. (2015).
The extent to which overconfident individuals enter into competitions can have a
significant effect on economic markets. Overconfidence can have severe implications on industry
profits and wages. If people are generally overconfident about their relative abilities, then in
industries or professions where overconfidence is likely to be largest, industry profits or total
wages may be negative (Camerer & Lovallo, 1999). If a person enters an industry as an
employee with high optimism in his or her ability, but is unable to supply the high quality of
work that they predicted, the firm the person works for loses money. Overconfidence occurs
when decision makers, such as traders, investors, managers and financial analysts, are too
confident about their ability to make the right decision and give appropriate advice. These overly
optimistic estimates of ability can have negative consequences in several domains: People
overestimate their own ability to pick stocks, and then trade stocks too often; they take
inappropriate risks in product development; they overestimate their chances of winning in court
and are therefore too willing to take their lawsuits to trial; and they take excessive risks in
founding firms (Moore et al., 2007). Simon and Houghton (2003) find that overconfident
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managers overestimate the success of pioneer products, Malmendier and Tate (2008) find that
confident CEOs are more prone to take value-destroying merger decisions, and Odean (1999)
finds that overconfident investors trade too much.
The goal of the present study is to understand the relationships between overconfidence
and entry into competition. It will first aim to show that individuals with low levels of ability,
determined by low scores on quantitative reasoning questions, will be more confident in how
well they did compared to those who received high scores. Next, it will aim to show the
relationship between overconfidence and competition entry by asking participants if they would
enter their scores into a competition with Wagner College students and if they want to enter their
scores into a competition with Harvard University students, based on how well they perceived
they did. To maintain overconfidence, people might self select into “groups” to help sustain this
confidence. Because of self selection bias, those who are overconfident are likely to want to
remain confident, and therefore likely to choose the “easier” option that will help them do so. It
is expected that the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into a competition
with other Wagner students is greater than the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who
enter into a competition with Harvard students.
Literature Review
The Dunning-Kruger Effect and Overconfidence
Kruger and Dunning (1999) established The Dunning-Kruger Effect across four initial
studies. In their second study in particular, the researchers provided 45 Cornell undergraduate
students from a single introduction to psychology class with a 20-item logical reasoning test
taken from a previous LSAT. After taking this test, participants made three estimates about their
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ability and test performance: They compared their "general logical reasoning ability" with that of
other students from their psychology class on a percentile scale, they estimated how their score
on the test would compare with that of their classmates on a percentile scale and they estimated
how many test questions they thought they had answered correctly. The researchers found that
participants in the bottom quartile overestimated their logical reasoning ability and test
performance to the greatest extent. Individuals scored at the 12th percentile on average, but
believed that their general logical reasoning ability fell at the 68th percentile and their score on
the test fell at the 62nd percentile. They thought they had answered 14.2 problems correctly on
average, but actually had a mean score of 9.6. However, participants in the top quartile
underestimated their ability. Individuals scored at the 86th percentile on average, but believed
that their general logical reasoning ability fell at the 74th percentile and their score on the test
fell at the 68th percentile, a significantly lower percentile.
Pennycook et al. (2017) conducted two studies examining this phenomenon using a
cognitive reflection test (CRT), and produced similar results to Kruger and Dunning (1999). This
test aims to measure analytic thinking disposition and can include questions such as the
following: “A bat and ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much
does the ball cost?” A previous study done by these researchers in 2016 determined that around
sixty-five percent of people respond with ten cents, despite this being the wrong answer. A
possible reason for this occurrence is that people tend to be cognitive misers, or they aim to
avoid overusing mental resources in order to conserve energy and rely on solving problems in
the most simple and straightforward manner possible, saying the first thing that comes to mind.
Pennycook et al. (2017) applied the Dunning-Kruger Effect to this problem, believing that
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participants who gave incorrect intuitive responses would fail to recognize their biases. In their
first study, participants were given eight CRT items and then asked to estimate the number of
questions they had answered correctly. On average, participants estimated that they had correctly
solved 5.59 CRT problems but the mean was only 3.88. Additionally, those who scored high on
the CRT, receiving a 7 out of 8, estimated that they had scored a 6.36 on average, a statistically
significant underestimation of their actual score.
Kruger and Dunning (1999) claim that incompetence stems from a lack of metacognitive
skills, or ability to know how well one is performing. One reason incompetent individuals fail to
learn that they are unskilled may be because they do not receive enough negative feedback about
their abilities from others in everyday life (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). The researchers give an
example of the common saying, “If you do not have something nice to say, don’t say anything at
all,” to demonstrate how negative feedback is not commonly welcomed. However, it is not
mentioned how competent individuals, who will also experience a lack of negative feedback in
their lives, are able to respond to the issue so differently from those who end up being
incompetent. The researchers also state that even if individuals do receive negative feedback it is
important that they understand why the failure has occurred in order to learn from it, but
oftentimes this understanding is limited. In order to be successful, a person must experience
several factors: skill, effort, and luck. However, in order to fail, lacking just one of these is
enough. It is the inability of individuals to pinpoint why exactly they failed that leads them to
attribute their shortcomings not to factors such as skill or effort, but rather to a lack of luck. By
doing so, individuals are put under the impression that their failures and any subsequent efforts
to correct them, are out of their control.
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Kruger and Dunning (1999) studied one particular feedback to which they believe
incompetent individuals are unable to respond: social comparison. The incompetent cannot gain
insight into their own competence by watching the behavior of others. The researchers gave 84
Cornell undergraduate students a 20-question grammar test then asked them to complete a
self-assessment similar to the one given in study one. In the next phase, participants were asked
to grade the exams of five other students and evaluate how competent they had been. After
grading, participants were asked to reassess themselves. As predicted, participants who scored in
the bottom quartile were less able to accurately assess the performance of others than those who
scored in the top quartile. These individuals were also unable to gain insight into their own
incompetence by observing the behavior of other people. Despite observing high performances
by other students, bottom quartile participants did not change assessments of themselves, and
some even raised their estimates. On the other hand, top quartile participants raised their self
assessment rating after recognizing that other participants had not done as well as them. Kruger
and Dunning (1999) attribute their original underestimates to the false-consensus effect. The
participants assumed that because they performed so well, their peers must have performed well
too. This would lead them to underestimate their comparative abilities. The researchers infer that
poor performers provide inaccurate estimates because they are wrong about their own
performance, while top performers provide inaccurate estimates because they are wrong about
other people. Similarly, Simon and Houghton (2003) suggest that receiving little or ambiguous
feedback about prior decisions also increases overconfidence.
Overconfidence and Competition
Overconfidence in one's ability is observed in real life scenarios and can become
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problematic when it comes to competition between individuals. For example, Niederle and
Vesterlund (2007), conducted a laboratory experiment in which they examined whether men and
women of the same ability differ in their selection into a competitive environment. Participants
were asked to solve a mathematical task, first under a noncompetitive piece rate and then a
competitive tournament incentive scheme. Although they found no gender differences in
performance, men selected the tournament twice as much as women when choosing their
compensation scheme. The researchers found that men are substantially more overconfident
about their relative performance than women and that these beliefs about relative performance
help predict entry decisions. Such differences in overconfidence and therefore preferences for
competition have economic effects. Holding performance levels between men and women and
job characteristics constant, women are less likely to enter into competitions and therefore less
likely to win them. Consequently, the chance for women to succeed in competition for
promotions or more lucrative jobs decreases.
Cain et al. (2015) further explain the relationship between overconfidence and entry into
competitive markets with varying degrees of difficulty within these markets. In this study,
participants had to complete two quizzes, one easy and one difficult, which represented making a
choice about entering the market with easy or difficult tasks. As they predicted, participants
preferred competing on an easy quiz, in which they believed they outperformed others, over a
difficult one. The better a person believes they are on a certain task, the higher the chance that
they will compete in that task. Therefore, a relationship is developed between task difficulty and
competitive market entry. The economic effect of such a concept is that industries thought to be
“easy” attract more competitors than difficult ones. If competitors believe that running a business
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in a certain industry will be easier than another, then the landscape of that industry will become
more competitive. The researchers point out that if there are too few businesses entering into a
particular market, prices will rise and the consumers will be the ones who suffer (Cain et al.,
2015). However, if there is overentry, businesses will waste resources on fixed costs.
When people compare themselves to others, their judgments tend to be short-sighted.
(Moore et al., 2007). Their judgements more closely represent their own abilities with respect to
a task, rather than these abilities in relation to others. When a task is relatively easy or all the
competitors are strong, each individual competitor tends to believe that he or she will be above
average. In other words, people tend to discount the abilities of others and overweight their own.
When a task is simple and people predict they will perform well, they expect that their
performance will be above average, despite the fact that simple tasks are simple for everybody
and not everybody can be above average. When a task is difficult and people expect to perform
poorly, they believe that their performance will be below average, despite the fact that difficult
tasks are difficult for everybody and not everybody can be below average. Therefore,
comparative judgments are often based on short-sighted self-evaluations.
Moore et al. (2007) observed this relationship between overconfidence and entry into
competition. In this study, the researchers aimed to examine the market-entry decisions of three
groups: actual entrepreneurs, working professionals who considered starting their own firms but
did not, and participants in a market-entry experiment. They found that overconfidence played a
role in excess market entry, but such confidence was limited to markets in which entrants felt
confident about their own personal performance, often ignoring the performance of their
competitors. Essentially, they entered markets that they perceived to be “easy,” but avoided those
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that seemed “difficult.” Some entry decisions may be seen as easy because success in these
industries (such as coffee shops, restaurants, or retail) is based in part on knowledge or abilities
that most people believe they possess. The researchers noted that entrepreneurs tended to
overweight beliefs about their own performance and underweight beliefs about the performance
of their competition, causing them to enter a market without full consideration of their
surroundings. However, over entry was not observed for all markets. Focusing on oneself
increased entry in simple-rank markets, but decreased entry in difficult-rank markets. This means
that the tendency to be overconfident in oneself without valuing the success of potential
competitors can lead to excess entry in some markets and insufficient entry into others.
A similar result was found by Moore and Cain (2007) who state that people tend to
predict that they will be better than others on easy tasks where their own performance is high, but
worse than others on difficult tasks where their own performance is low. This is because on
skill-based tasks, people have better information about themselves than they do about others,
including those who might be competing against them, so their beliefs about others’
performances tend to be less extreme than their beliefs about their own performances. Doing
well on a task should leave one thinking that they did better than others and doing poorly on a
task should leave them thinking that they did worse than others. Moore and Cain (2007) point
out that when people use their beliefs about their own performance, they are predicting another
person’s performance and that is what allows them to decide to enter into competition. However,
predictions can only go so far since they are based on one’s own beliefs about themselves and
therefore the ignorance of another’s belief. According to Camerer and Lovallo (1999), this is due
to reference group neglect. Reference group neglect predicts that when people compete with each
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other based on skill, they will not be insufficiently aware of the quality of competition. One
implication of this is that people will gather too little data about the nature of their competitors
when deciding whether to enter a competition.
Impact on Economic Behavior
Overconfidence is a persistent and prominent behavioral bias found among top
executives and has great influence over their firms’ financial decisions (Yu, 2014). Firms may
often hire overconfident employees for strategic reasons. Overconfident CEOs tend to act more
aggressively in research and development to maintain a competitive edge over their rivals. When
managers, competing to be appointed CEO, are overconfident, they tend to underestimate project
risks and therefore take on more projects than their more realistic counterparts. These managers
therefore have a higher probability of being promoted to CEO. While overconfidence may
facilitate a firm’s economic progress by spurring experimentation, it can lead many individual
firms down pathways to disaster and to ultimate failure.
For example, Simon and Houghton (2003) analyze the impact of CEO overconfidence on
ill-structured decisions made by managers, such as product introductions. They explain that one
important prediction tool that managers use when attempting to forecast the success of their
strategies is called a diagnostic cue. Diagnostic cues allow people to retrieve information from
previous experiences stored in their memory that will help them predict the extent of success in
regards to the scenario at hand (Soll, 1996). They use previous examples of success to make their
current predictions. For example, when predicting the success of a new product, a manager may
use "positive customer feedback prior to an introduction" as a diagnostic cue that has been
frequently associated with the outcome of “achieving positive demand.” Overconfidence steps in
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when these managers overestimate the extent to which a diagnostic cue can make an accurate
prediction. Diagnostic cues are especially poor in predictive validity when the context in which
decisions must be made is unfamiliar, such as with a pioneer product, or a product that
incorporates a major innovation (Dean, 1969). Its market is therefore ill-defined, since potential
and decisions usually have to be made recognizing wide margins of error in terms of cost,
demand, and competitor capabilities. In such an instance, the predictive ability of a diagnostic
cue breaks down, but a risk averse manager may not recognize this (Simon & Houghton, 2003).
Instead, the managers become overconfident because they disproportionately observe instances
of the cue's association with positive outcomes, even though they may not pertain to the pioneer
product. Therefore, managers responsible for making decisions regarding the product, may
overestimate the predictive validity of a cue because they have information about the instances
when the cue was associated with a positive outcome and limited information about instances
when the cue was associated with a negative outcome, even if the negative outcome was more
likely. Therefore, the presence of overconfidence encourages managers to pursue actions that are
riskier than those they might have pursued without a biased perception of risk. Simon and
Houghton (2003), find that managers taking riskier actions are too certain they will achieve
success and thereby underestimate risk.
Malmendier and Tate (2003) analyze the impact of CEO overconfidence on mergers and
acquisitions. They looked at Fortune 500 CEOs who held options in their own company’s stock
until the year of their expiration. They state that, “Previous literature in corporate finance shows
that risk-averse CEOs should exercise stock options well before expiration” (Malmendier and
Tate, 2003). By exercising options early, the CEO can diversify his portfolio. But, thet define an
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overconfident CEO as someone who will hold an option until its final year, showing that he is
consistently optimistic about the company’s prospects. The researchers argue that
overconfidence can drive the acquirer's, or the company purchasing another company, decision
to merge. Mergers and acquisitions are among the most significant and disruptive activities
undertaken by large corporations. Overconfident CEOs overestimate their ability to generate
returns, both in their current firm and in potential targets. Thus, they undertake mergers their
rational counterparts would not. According to Malmendier and Tate’s (2003) theory,
overconfidence can manifest itself in two ways. On one hand, the manager may overestimate the
value of the potential merger. This stems from the manager’s belief that his leadership skills are
“better than average,” and thereby better than the target’s current management, or from an
underestimation of the downside to the merger due to the “illusion of control” over its outcome.
Because the CEO conducting the merger is essentially replacing the current management of the
target firm with himself, he is likely to feel an illusion of control over the outcome and to
underestimate the likelihood of failure. On the other hand, the manager may overestimate the
value of his current company or that his company’s worth is undervalued by the market.
Malmendier and Tate (2003) find that not only are overconfident CEOs more likely to conduct
mergers on average, but they
are also more likely to conduct bad mergers, or mergers that either have no value or destroy
value for the acquiring firm’s shareholders.
Overconfidence is also an issue in investment and trading. Odean (1999) proposed that
due to their overconfidence, investors will trade too much. People who are more overconfident in
their investment abilities may be more likely to seek jobs as traders. This would result in an
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increase of overconfident individuals in the population of investors. Consequently, traders who
find further success in their investments successful in the past may overestimate the degree to
which they are responsible for their own successes and grow increasingly overconfident. Odean
(1999) found that when trading is costly, rational investors will not make trades if the expected
returns from trading are insufficient to offset costs. Overconfident investors, however, have
unrealistic beliefs about their expected trading profits. They may engage in costly trading, even
when their expected trading profits are insufficient to offset the costs of trading, mainly because
they overestimate the magnitude of expected profits. Overconfident investors often believe that
they have useful information, when in fact they have no information.
Cooper et al. (1988) collected data from 2994 entrepreneurs who had recently become
business owners and analyzed it to determine their perceived chances of success. They perceived
their prospects as very favorable. Out of almost 3,000 entrepreneurs, 81% believed that their
chance of success was 70% or higher; and a massive 33% estimated their chance of success to be
100%.
In the world of business and finance, such overconfidence can lead to erroneous decisions
with serious financial consequences. Moosa and Ramiah (2017), state that it is not implausible to
suggest that overconfidence has been a reason for corporate collapses and recurring financial
crises where decision makers put too much faith in their predictions. They give an example of
the collapse of the hedge fund LTCM (Long-Term Capital Management) in 1998 and the
insurance giant AIG (American International Group) in 2008. These events were the results of
blind beliefs in models predicting that something would never happen, which then ended up
happening. The LTCM model was devised by Nobel Prize winners who were known to be good
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at solving partial differential equations. It predicted that bond yields could not deviate
significantly, but this was not the case. LTCM’s capital fell from $4.8 billion at the beginning of
1998 to only $600 million in September. Its investors lost 88 percent of their investment
(Stonham, 1999). The AIG copula-based model (a multivariate distribution whose marginal
distributions are uniformly distributed on the interval (0,1) (Kolev & Paiva, 2009)), constructed
by statisticians, predicted that house prices in the United States could not fall nationwide, leading
to overselling of credit default swaps, without adequate financial cover. Terzi and Uluçay (2011)
define credit default swaps as privately negotiated bilateral contracts in which one party, the
buyer, pays a fee or premium to the other party, the seller, to protect himself against the loss that
may be acquired due to exposure to an individual loan or bond as a result of an unforeseen event.
AIG, with $1 trillion in assets, lost $99.3 billion during 2008 (McDonald & Paulson, 2015).
Policy makers, who put too much trust into their models and believed too much in the ability of
the market to correct itself, were false in their predictions, which led to the collapse of their firms
(Moosa & Ramiah, 2017).
The current study will show that individuals with low levels of ability, determined by low
scores on a mathematical series questionnaire (Appendix B), will be more confident in how well
they did compared to those who received high scores. These individuals are expected to rank
themselves higher when comparing how they think they scored on the questionnaire to other
college students, estimate that they received a higher score on the questionnaire than they
actually did, and to find the questionnaire less difficult than participants who are not
overconfident. The relationship between overconfidence and competition entry will be observed
by asking Wagner College participants if they want to enter their scores into a competition with
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other Wagner students and if they want to enter their scores into a competition with Harvard
students. It is hypothesized that the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into
a competition with other Wagner students is greater than the proportion of overconfident Wagner
students who enter into a competition with Harvard students. In other words, overconfident
participants will be more likely to enter a competition with other Wagner students.
Considerations of previous literature by Moore et al. (2007) and Cain et al. (2015) led to
the assumption that overconfident participants will be more likely to enter a competition with
other Wagner students rather than Harvard students. At first, it may seem as though
overconfident individuals should be expected to enter into competitions with both Wagner and
Harvard students. The very definition of overconfidence should suggest that these individuals are
confident in their abilities and should be willing to enter into any competition. However, these
researchers have shown that although they have high levels of confidence in their abilities,
individuals do not prefer to enter into competitions pertaining to difficult tasks. It is possible that
they want to maintain their high levels of confidence by self selecting into easier options, which
will help them remain overconfident. In the current study, participants are tasked with entering
into a tournament, or a “winner takes all'' situation. Here, only the winner will be rewarded and
the loser will get nothing, therefore participants should be self-assured that their scores will be
strong enough to win. In this study, the degree of difficulty of the questions does not change.
Rather, the perceived difficulty of the competition itself changes. The options to enter into
competition with students from Wagner, a small liberal arts school with an acceptance rate of
70% (The Princeton Review, Wagner College) and students from Harvard, an ivy-league school
with an acceptance rate of 5%, (The Princeton Review, Harvard College) represent these changes
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in difficulty. Harvard was chosen as an option because of the stereotype that students there are
exceptionally smart. Though these questions are rather subjective, it is interesting to observe
whether this stereotype and the name “Harvard” will have an effect on competition entry.
One aspect of the study will examine the Dunning-Kruger effect by measuring
overconfidence among participants. The second aspect will examine if a higher frequency of
overconfident individuals choose to compete with Wagner students compared to Harvard
students.
Method
Participants
Participants were 30 Wagner College students who received access to a Qualtrics
questionnaire link via social media and messaging. Ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 22
years old, ethnicity was mainly white, but included one of each of the following: African
American, Hispanic, and mixed. Out of the participants 3 were male and 27 were female.
Participants did not receive any benefits, such as money or class credits, all participation was
strictly voluntary.
Materials and Procedures
After filling out an informed consent form (Appendix A), participants were asked to fill
out a questionnaire containing 5 mathematical reasoning questions (Appendix B) taken from a
math practice website (Number Series Questions and Answers, 2005). These questions required
participants to have strong quantitative reasoning abilities. After answering these questions,
participants were given 5 self-assessment questions asking them how difficult from 1 to 10 they
thought the questionnaire was, to compare how they think they scored on this questionnaire to
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other college students based on percentile rank, and to note how many questions out of 10 they
think they answered correctly. The last two questions asked participants: if you were told that in
a tournament, the student with the greater score would win $10, would you enter your answers
into this tournament with another Wagner College student? Would you enter your answers into
this tournament with a Harvard University student? Participants were not given a timeframe to
complete the questionnaire. A debriefing statement (Appendix C) and scores to the questionnaire
were provided at the end of the survey.
A within-subject design was used in this study, exposing all participants to both
tournament conditions. Each participant was asked whether they would like to enter the scores
into either tournament, one with Wagner students and one with Harvard students. However,
between-subjects would likely have been a cleaner experimental design, as explained in the
discussion.
By using math series questions, the study aims to challenge the participants’ quantitative
reasoning ability. Quantitative reasoning is the application of basic mathematics and statistics
skills, interpret data, draw conclusions, and solve problems (Elrod, 2014). It requires critical
thinking and problem solving. While the questions used in this study (Appendix B) may appear
inconsequential and tedious, the ability to interpret quantitative information is not only relevant,
but critical in the analysis and interpretation of data in real world scenarios.
Examples of quantitative reasoning can be found in areas such as health, economics,
politics, science, engineering, social science, and even the arts. For example, parents face the
vaccination question early in the life of their children. Parents might ask questions like, "What
are the risks associated with vaccinating my child and what are the benefits?" In order to answer
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
20
these questions, they must take into account quantitative information, such as disease occurrence
rates in populations over time, or numbers of cases of complications with certain vaccine
preparations (Elrod, 2014). In economics, quantitative reasoning can be applied in understanding
the power of compound interest or the uses of percentages and in research, it can be applied to
analyze accuracy of a statistical study.
.
Results
Overconfidence
To first demonstrate that participants were overconfident in their abilities on the
questionnaire, a series of regressions were performed. The tests analyzed the relationship
between overconfidence and three different variables: estimated percentile rank compared to
other students, estimated score out of 10 questions, and actual score. Overconfidence was
operationally defined as the estimated score divided by the actual score participants received on
the questionnaire. If this number was greater than zero, the participants were said to have
overestimated their scores. If this number was zero or less than zero, the participants were said
not to have overestimated their scores. Five participants overestimated their performance by at
least one question and 25 participants did not overestimate.
As anticipated, participants identified as overconfident (M = 67.00, SD =8.36) rated
themselves as doing better on the questionnaire than other students in contrast to participants
who were not overconfident (M = 57.44, SD = 24.22) (Figure 1). The regression, rank = β0 + β1
overconfidence + ε, was run and the following equation was established: rank = 34.53 + 28.15
overconfidence. Using the T- Distribution table and 29 degrees of freedom, the critical t value
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
21
(tc) is found to be 2.045 at a 5% level of significance. The t-statistic for overconfidence, t = 3.09,
is greater than tc indicating that a statistically significant relationship exists between
overconfidence and the percentile rank that participants predicted. The p value from the F-test
also suggests that the regression is valid, Prob > F = 0.0044.
Similarly, participants identified as overconfident (M = 5.40, SD = 0.89) predicted
receiving higher scores in contrast to participants who were not overconfident (M = 4.84, SD =
2.03) (Figure 2). The regression, guess = β0 + β1 overconfidence + ε, was run and the following
equation was established: guess = 2.47 + 2.83 overconfidence. The t-statistic for
overconfidence, t = 4.02, is greater than tc = 2.045 at a 5% level of significance, indicating that a
statistically significant relationship exists between overconfidence and participants’ estimated
score. The p value from the F-test also suggests that the regression is valid, Prob > F = 0.0004.
Also as expected, participants identified as overconfident (M = 3.60, SD = 0.89) received
lower scores in contrast to participants who were not overconfident (M = 6.28, SD = 1.62)
(Figure 3). The regression, score = β0 + β1 overconfidence + ε, was run and the following
equation was established: score = 6.63 - 0.91 overconfidence. However, the absolute value of
the t-statistic for overconfidence, t = 1.09, is not greater than tc = 2.045 at a 5% level of
significance, indicating that a statistically significant relationship does not exist between
overconfidence and participants’ scores. This is also suggested by the p value from the F-test,
Prob > F = 0.2843.
Additionally, a regression was run to identify the relationship between overconfidence
and the perceived difficulty of the math series questions. Participants identified as overconfident
(M = 4.40, SD = 1.34) found the questions to be less difficult in contrast to participants who were
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
22
not overconfident (M = 7.36, SD = 1.86) (Figure 4). The regression, difficult = β0 + β1
overconfidence + ε, was run and the following equation was established: difficult = 10.04 - 3.65
overconfidence. The absolute value of the t-statistic for overconfidence, t = -5.23, is greater than
tc = 2.045 at a 5% level of significance, indicating that a statistically significant relationship
exists between overconfidence and perceived difficulty of the questions. The p value from the
F-test also suggests that the regression is valid, Prob > F = 0.0000.
Competition Entry
After establishing the presence of overconfident participants, three subequations were
established to determine the relationship between overconfidence and the participants' decision
to enter into a competition with Wagner or Harvard students. A third equation was included to
observe the relationship between overconfidence and the participants' decision to enter into a
competition with students from both schools. The equations used to model these relationships
are:
Wagner = β0 + β1 overconfidence + ε
Harvard = β0 + β1 overconfidence + ε
Both = β0 + β1 overconfidence + ε
After running the regressions, the following equations and t-statistics were established:
Wagner = 0.70 - 0.002 overconfidence, where tWagner = -0.01; Harvard = 0.48 - 0.02
overconfidence where tHarvard = -0.07; Both = 0.43 + 0.01 overconfidence, where tBoth = 0.04.
However, no absolute values of the t-statistic for overconfidence were greater than tc = 2.045 at a
5% level of significance, indicating that the coefficient, or marginal effect, is not statistically
significantly different from zero for the decision to enter into a competition with Wagner
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
23
students, Harvard students, or both. Therefore, the null hypothesis that the proportion of
overconfident Wagner students who enter into a competition with other Wagner students is not
greater than the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into a competition with
Harvard students, cannot be rejected.
Lastly, a proportion test was run to determine what proportion of strictly overconfident
participants chose to compete against Wagner College students and what proportion chose to
compete against Harvard University students. A greater proportion of overconfident participants
chose to enter into a competition with other Wagner students (M = 0.60, SD = 0.22) than they did
with Harvard students (M = 0.40, SD = 0.22) (Figure 5). However, by evaluating the p value of
the z-test, P > |z| = 0.527, it is evident again that there is no statistically significant difference
between the proportion of participants who chose to compete with Wagner students and the
proportion of participants who chose to compete with Harvard students.
Discussion
These results show that several participants could be identified as overconfident in their
ability to perform well on this quantitative reasoning questionnaire. The results also demonstrate
a statistically significant relationship between overconfidence and three other variables:
percentile rank, estimated score, and perceived difficulty. As the number indicating how well
participants think they did on the questionnaire based on percentile rank increased, so did levels
of overconfidence. Similarly, as the number of questions participants believed they got correct
increased, overconfidence increased. As perceived difficulty of the questionnaire increased, the
level of overconfidence actually decreased. As explained by the Dunning Kruger effect,
overconfident individuals have high levels of certainty that their abilities are strong, even though
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
24
this confidence is unfounded. Because these individuals are confident in their abilities, they don’t
find this questionnaire as difficult as their non-overconfident counterparts. The observed
relationship between overconfidence and scores was also supported by the Dunning Kruger
effect, as it showed that overconfident participants received lower scores on the questionnaire
than those who were not overconfident. However, these results were not statistically significant
and it cannot be ruled out that this relationship occurred by chance.
These results cannot support the hypothesis that a greater proportion of overconfident
participants will enter into a competition with other Wagner College students than the proportion
of overconfident participants who enter into a competition with Harvard students. Though the
observed proportion of participants entering into a competition with Wagner students was greater
than those entering into a competition with Harvard students, these results were not statistically
significant and again, it cannot be ruled out that this relationship occurred by chance.
There were several limitations associated with this study. One such limitation is the small
number of participants in the study. Had there been a larger sample size, the data would have
likely been more accurate and representative of the population of Wagner College students. A
larger sample size would allow for more accurate mean values and a smaller margin of error.
Only 5 participants were identified as overconfident, making the chance of accurately identifying
the proportion of overconfident participants entering into a competition very low. Had the
sample size been larger, more overconfident participants would have been recognized, which
would have allowed for a far more accurate regression and proportion test, possibly with
statistical significance.
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
25
Another limitation of this study was the use of a within-subjects design, rather than a
between-subjects design. In between-subjects, participants would have been assigned to two
different conditions, with each participant experiencing only one of the tournament conditions.
Half of the participants could have been asked whether they would like to enter into a
tournament with Wagner students and the other half could have been asked if they would like to
enter into a tournament with Harvard students. Using this design could provide more confidence
that the differences between the groups, those exposed to Wagner and those exposed to Harvard,
are due to the differing treatments rather than to other treatment factors, such as order effects,
that can occur when the same individual is exposed to more than one treatment. Order effects
occur when participants are exposed to the same treatment conditions, in the same order. This is
especially prominent in within-subject designs. In this study, displaying the same questions
regarding Wagner students and Harvard students, particularly in the same order, could have
made order effects more pronounced. Respondents could have reacted differently to the
questions based on the order in which the questions appeared. Seeing the ‘Wagner question’ first,
could have affected the way they answered the ‘Harvard question.’
Another limitation of the study was the subjective nature of the Wagner and Harvard
options. It was thought that participants would assume entering into a competition with Harvard
students would be more challenging simply based on stereotypes. However, it cannot be
expected that all participants feel the same way about Harvard students’ levels of intelligence
compared to students at Wagner. Because of within-subjects design, it is possible that
participants may have actually been looking at these options as substitutes. Rather than observing
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
26
two distinct options, participants may have felt as though they had to have chosen to compete
against Wagner students or Harvard students.
Despite its limitations, this study adds to the understanding of the relationship between
overconfidence, as explained by the Dunning Kruger effect, and entry into competition.
Although the hypothesis that the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into a
competition with other Wagner students is greater than the proportion of overconfident Wagner
students who enter into a competition with Harvard students could not be accepted, the research
provides a basis for future studies. If the study were to be conducted again it is recommended
that a between-subjects design and a larger sample size be used so more tests can be run on
strictly overconfident individuals.
Conclusion
The impact of overconfidence on economic behavior is explained by Simon and
Houghton (2003), Malmendier and Tate (2003), and Odean (1999). Managerial overconfidence
regarding decisions about product introductions, mergers and acquisitions, and trading can lead
severe financial consequences for firms. Moosa and Ramiah (2017) demonstrate how
overconfidence likely led to the collapse of two firms which resulted in severe financial financial
crises. Overconfidence and misguided predictions clearly play a significant role in business,
finance, and simply in everyday life.
However, Kruger and Dunning (1999) explain that overconfidence can be unlearned with
an improvement in metacognitive skills. When Kruger and Dunning (1999) gave participants a
training session to improve logical reasoning skills before being asked to make self assessments,
they made much more accurate judgements. After being given a training packet, participants who
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
27
were originally in the bottom quartile were just as accurate in monitoring their test performance
as those in the top quartile. Ehrlinger et al. (2016) state that one effective strategy for improving
accuracy in self assessments is to shift people's attention toward more difficult aspects of a task,
which can inspire more accurate self evaluations among people who demonstrate the most
overconfidence. This agrees with research conducted by Moore et al. (2007) and Cain et al.
(2015). After conducting a study to determine initial levels of confidence, the researchers
manipulated their participants’ attention towards easier or more difficult problems on a general
knowledge quiz. When attention was placed on easier problems, participants with entity views of
intelligence (a belief that intelligence is fixed) showed greater overconfidence in their abilities
than participants with incremental views of intelligence (a belief that intelligence can be
improved). However, when attention was placed on more difficult problems, confidence fell to
the same level for both types of participants, showing that this intervention might help
discourage overconfidence and inspire greater self-insight.
Beliefs about one’s abilities are incredibly important when it comes to decision making.
But in order for beliefs to be helpful in making unbiased and careful decisions, a person must not
be overconfident. A person must not overestimate their abilities, especially when these abilities
are not realistic. Such overconfidence plays a huge role in decisions to enter into competitions,
decisions people have to make in their everyday life. If people are not careful, their misinformed
beliefs can lead to negative consequences.
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Works Cited
Cain, D. M., Moore, D. A., & Haran, U. (2015). Making sense of overconfidence in market
entry. Strategic Management Journal, 36, 1–18.
Camerer, C. & Lovallo, D. (1999). Overconfidence and excess entry: An experimental
approach. The American Economic Review, 89, 306.
Cooper, A. C., Woo, C. Y., & Dunkelberg, W. C. (1988). Entrepreneurs’ perceived chances for
success. Journal of Business Venturing, 3, 97–108
Dean, J. (1969). Pricing pioneering products. Journal of Industrial Economics, 17, 165.
Ehrlinger, J., Mitchum, A. L., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Understanding overconfidence: Theories
of intelligence, preferential attention, and distorted self-assessment. Grantee Submission,
63.
Elrod, S. (2014). Quantitative reasoning: The next “Across the Curriculum” movement. Peer
Review, 16, 4–8
Kolev, N., & Paiva, D. (2009). Copula-based regression models: A survey. Journal of Statistical
Planning and Inference, 139, 3847–3856.
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing
one’s own incompetence leads to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 77, 1121–1134.
Malmendier, U., & Tate, G. A. (2003). Who makes acquisitions? CEO overconfidence and the
market’s reaction. SSRN Electronic Journal.
McDonald, R., & Paulson, A. (2015). AIG in hindsight. The Journal of Economic Perspectives,
29, 81.
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Moore, D. A., & Cain, D. M. (2007). Overconfidence and underconfidence: When and why
people underestimate (and overestimate) the competition. Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, 103, 197–213.
Moore, D. A., Oesch, J. M., & Zietsma, C. (2007). What competition? Myopic self-focus in
market-entry decisions. Organization Science, 18, 440.
Niederle, M., & Vesterlund, L. (2007). Do women shy away from competition? Do men
compete too much? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, 1067.
Number Series Questions and Answers. (2005). The Online Test Center. Retrieved from
http://www.theonlinetestcentre.com/number-series7.html
Odean, T. (1999). Do investors trade too much? The American Economic Review, 89, 1279.
Pennycook, G., Ross, R. M., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2017). Dunning–Kruger effects
in reasoning: Theoretical implications of the failure to recognize incompetence.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24, 1774–1784.
Rose, J. P., Windschitl, P. D., & Smith, A. R. (2012). Debiasing egocentrism and optimism
biases
in repeated competitions. Judgment & Decision Making, 7, 761–767.
Simon, M., & Houghton, S. M. (2003). The relationship between overconfidence and the
introduction of risky products: Evidence from a field study. Academy of Management
Journal, 46, 139–149.
Soll, J. B. (1996). Determinants of overconfidence and miscalibration: The roles of random
error and ecological structure. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes,
65, 117–137.
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Stonham, P. (1999). Too close to the hedge: the case of long term capital management LP.
European Management Journal, 17, 282–289.
Terzi, N., & Uluçay, K. (2011). The role of credit default swaps on financial market stability.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 24, 983–990.
The Princeton Review (n.d.). Harvard College. https://www.princetonreview.com/college/
harvard-college-1022984
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/wagner-college-1023835
Yu, C.-F. J. (2014). CEO overconfidence and overinvestment under product market competition.
Managerial and Decision Economics, 35, 574–579.
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Figure 1. Participants identified as overconfident significantly overestimated how well they did,
in terms of percentile rank, on the questionnaire than other students in contrast to participants
ability in contrast to participants who were not overconfident.
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
32
Figure 2. Participants identified as overconfident significantly overestimated their scores on the
questionnaire in contrast to participants who were not overconfident.
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
Figure 3. Participants identified as overconfident saw lower scores in contrast to participants
who were not overconfident. However, this difference was not statistically significant.
33
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
Figure 4. Participants identified as overconfident found the questions to be significantly less
difficult than participants who were not overconfident.
34
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35
Figure 5. A greater proportion of overconfident participants chose to enter into a competition
with other Wagner students than they did with Harvard students. However, this difference was
not statistically significant.
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
36
Appendix A
Informed Consent Form
The Department of Psychology at Wagner College supports the practice of protection of
human participants in research. The following information is provided for you to decide whether
you wish to participate in the present study. You should be aware that even if you agree to
participate, you are free to withdraw at any time.
In this study you will be asked to complete a questionnaire. You will be asked to report your
answers 3 demographic questions, 10 math series questions, and 5 self assessment questions.
Immediately following your participation today, you will be provided with more detailed
information regarding the purpose of this study. Although participation will not directly benefit
you, it is believed that information you provide will be useful in furthering our understanding of
perceptions and attitudes.
Your participation is solicited although strictly voluntary. Although this questionnaire will
request some demographic information about you, your responses will be kept completely
confidential. If you would like additional information concerning this study before or after it is
completed, please feel free to contact me by email.
Sincerely,
Debra Shteinberg
Debra.Shteinberg@wagner.edu
Do you consent to these terms?
(1) Yes
(2) No
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
Appendix B
Knowledge of Quantitative Reasoning Questionnaire
Demographics
1. What is your age?
_______________
2. What is your gender identity?
_______________
3. What is your ethnicity?
________________
Mathematical Series Questions
1. Look at this series: 42, 40, 38, 35, 33, 31, 28 ... What numbers should come next?
(1) 25, 22
(2) 26, 23
(3) 26, 24
(4) 25, 23
(5) 26, 22
2. Look at this series: 3, 5, 35, 10, 12, 35, 17 ... What numbers should come next?
(1) 22, 35
(2) 35, 19
(3) 19, 35
(4) 19, 24
(5) 22, 24
3. Look at this series: 544, 509, 474, 439 ... What number should come next?
37
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
(1) 404
(2) 414
(3) 420
(4) 445
4. Look at this series: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 4, 8 ... What numbers should come next?
(1) 9, 10
(2) 4, 8
(3) 10, 4
(4) 9, 4
(5) 8, 9
5. Look at this series: 28, 25, 5, 21, 18, 5, 14 ... What numbers should come next?
(1) 11, 5
(2) 10, 7
(3) 11, 8
(4) 5, 10
(5) 10, 5
6. Look at this series: 5, 16, 49, 104 ... What number should come next?
(1) 171
(2) 191
(3) 181
(4) 161
38
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
7. Look at this series: 664, 332, 340, 170, ____, 89, ... What number should fill the blank?
(1) 85
(2) 97
(3) 109
(4) 178
8. Look at this series: 5, 8, 28, 162, ____, 12870 ... What number should fill the blank?
(1) 1738
(2) 2318
(3) 1288
(4) 2224
(5) 2950
9. Look at this series: 16, 41, 61, 85, ____, 145... What number should fill the blank?
(1) 124
(2) 167
(3) 119
(4) 113
(5) 185
10. Look at this series: 16, 43, 98, 209, ____, 879... What number should fill the blank?
(1) 428
(2) 432
(3) 386
(4) 422
(5) 396
39
�THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT AND COMPETITION
40
Self Assessment
1. How difficult did you find this questionnaire? (On a scale from 1 to 10)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Not at all difficult
8
9
10
Extremely difficult
2. Compare how you think you scored on this questionnaire to other students based on percentile
rank. (Rank from 1-99)
Note: For example, if you say you are in the 75th percentile this means you scored as
well or better than 75% of students.
Percentile Rank:
______
3. How many questions out of 10 do you think you got correct?
_____/10
4. If you were told that in a competition, the student with the greater score would win $10, would
you enter your answers into a competition with another Wagner College student?
Note: This is a hypothetical scenario.
(1) Yes
(2) No
5. If you were told that in a competition, the student with the greater score would win $10, would
you enter your answers into a competition with a Harvard University student?
Note: This is a hypothetical scenario.
(1) Yes
(2) No
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Appendix C
Debriefing Statement
Thank you for participating in this study!
As a reminder, all of your results will be kept confidential.
This study examines the relationship between knowledge of quantitative analysis,
overconfidence in this knowledge, and the decision to enter into a competition regarding this
subject area.
Each participant was given a questionnaire that contained 10 mathematical series questions
found online.
Based on my review of previous research, I am interested in determining if individuals with
lower levels of proficiency (lower scores on the questionnaire) will overestimate their ability
and performance in this subject area and subsequently enter into competition more often.
Previous studies have confirmed this hypothesis and the phenomenon has been called the
Dunning-Kruger Effect.
If you have any questions or would like a copy of the final research report, please feel free to
contact me.
Contact Information:
Debra Shteinberg - Researcher
Debra.Shteinberg@wagner.edu
41
�
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The Relationship Between the Dunning-Kruger Effect and Competition Entry
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Behavioral Economics
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Studies show that most people are overconfident about their own relative abilities, even when these abilities are unsubstantiated. Overconfidence plays an important role in a person’s decision to enter into a competition and this decision can have a significant effect on economic behavior. In the present study, 30 Wagner College students were asked to answer a 10 question quantitative reasoning questionnaire with five subsequent questions that asked them how difficult they thought the questionnaire was, to compare how they think they scored on this questionnaire to other college students based on percentile rank, and to note how many questions out of 10 they think they answered correctly. Participants were also asked if they would like to enter their scores into competition with other Wagner College students and if they would like to enter their scores into competition with Harvard University students. The relationship between overconfidence and entry into competition were then analyzed. Evidence of overconfidence was present, but the results did not support the hypothesis that the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into a competition with other Wagner students is greater than the proportion of overconfident Wagner students who enter into a competition with Harvard students. Implications of this study and future applications of the model are discussed.
Economics
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/1909/archive/files/e05bd93588ad91f2a21e32690a04e7b6.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=U4zlumXIkRFzMhftEV8syD1Bnb21DlEoU6BmeG1gRO41FJ0LArgJElBNgZW52SvWI%7E0fZRC0iz2N-5lObwa0bz9mKzqu4fBlNuR7kP10jM4TEa1OH0iLJ-1QJxQWmmNKjR3edd%7EH6cZAk5MmhqHg-q6SFhsXzO9Rj%7Esr%7ESKfFau7Iim8z--a0ukg7uaqsv8C0TwcSAZcYisC82vmoacOp8jMIYjLAcjL0soSUshWLXuoF8WQ%7EX-lItdiFirq4VwjaApfhAVLGZvN-WHBwhp1DHXcrja2krEDhXJ-Arrf-Sx2cWj4LoA6L9IP5ejtZsDaW7ymY4RJYZWNwjp7%7Et%7EJvw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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PDF Text
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Biology - Jenna Zarino
Analysis of the Role of Increased PLC Concentrations on the expansion of the
vitelline Membrane to Prevent Polyspermy without the occurrence of a
Fertilization Event
By Jenna Zarino
Class of 2020 - Major: Biology
Abstract:
Prevention of polyspermy has been aided by various evolutionary mechanisms,
particularly expansion of the vitelline membrane in sea urchins. On the basis of this research,
phospholipase C (PLC) plays a major role in the cascade of events that are involved in the
fertilization of egg by sperm. Although it has been understood that PLC is thoroughly involved
in fertilization, its significance as a polyspermy prevention agent has not been widely recognized
or studied. The data gathered suggests that PLC not only serves the purpose of breaking down
PIP2 into inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG), but also in vitelline
membrane expansion and development of the fertilization window. Therefore, the observable
components, particularly of the vitelline membrane expansion as a result of exogenous PLC
application, reinforce the role that PLC has in membrane activity. This membrane activity was
analyzed by exposing sea urchins to concentrations of PLC to observe whether or not vitelline
membrane expansion occurs without a fertilization event. The most notable finding from this
approach was expansion of the sea urchin vitelline membrane, suggesting successful cortical
granule docking, following exposure to PLC. Since the membrane expansion was observed
shortly after exposure to the PLC agent, it suggested that fertilization by sperm is not necessarily
required for fertilization window formation, as previously thought. The content of this
experiment therefore concluded that exogenous PLC application can activate vitelline membrane
expansion as a result of intracellular concentration increases and gradient formations.
�
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Title
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Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
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2017 -
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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Date Digital
2020
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Abstract
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2020-biology-Zarino
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Zarino, Jenna
Date
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5/1/2020
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Analysis of the Role of Increased PLC Concentrations on the expansion of the vitelline Membrane to Prevent Polyspermy without the occurrence of a Fertilization Event
Contributor
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Dr. Jonathan Blaize
Biology
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text
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application/pdf
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1 page
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eng
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Biology
-
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099fc0ce9955cae3bfd8a22ff2e5b936
PDF Text
Text
Microbiology - Beatrice DeMarco
Pouch Presentation by Macropus rufus, Red Kangaroo for Cytological
Analysis
By Beatrice Francis Catherine DiDomenico
Class of 2020 - Major: Microbiology
Abstract:
This research analyzed the normal flora of the captive red kangaroo (Macropus rufus)
pouch. Behavioral training techniques were applied to further train the animal to allow for pouch
sampling. Ad libitum, scan sampling, and focal animal sampling are behavioral procedures
applied to determine a baseline of behaviors for female red kangaroos in captivity. This baseline
was utilized to design Behavioral Shaping Plan as per the guidelines mandated by the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and Staten Island Zoo. This Behavioral Shaping Plan
was curated to develop training techniques with a specific training goal of pouch sample
collection. Both Diff-Quik and Gram staining procedures were utilized to determine the presence
of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells of the captive female Macropus rufus pouch. Light
microscopy was utilized to capture and view images of the cells gathered from pouch samples.
This research identified that the Macropus rufus pouch has a presence of both eukaryotic and
prokaryotic cells. The pouch contains a higher presence of epithelial cells compared to
prokaryotic cells. Additionally, as per biochemical testing, the presence of Pseudomonas
aeruginosa was identified. This research developed a catalogue of eukaryotic and prokaryotic
cells present in the captive female Macropus rufus pouch.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
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2017 -
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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Date Digital
2020
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If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Abstract
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2020-microbiology-Beatrice Demarco
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DeMarco, Beatrice
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5/1/2020
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Pouch Presentation by <em>Macropus rufus</em>, Red Kangaroo for Cytological Analysis
Contributor
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Dr. Christopher Corbo
Microbiology
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text
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application/pdf
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1 page
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eng
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Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Microbiology
-
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d1bcafed1aebdfdcd0ab5a25e69b2f36
PDF Text
Text
Student’s Name: Michelle Hernandez
Senior Project Title: Simulations of AOT Reverse Micelles with Chloride Salts
Advisor: Dr. Arunkumar Sharma
Major: Chemistry
Abstract
Aqueous reverse micelles have been utilized as proxies for atmospheric aerosols. They
are composed of a water core held together by surfactant molecules in a hydrophobic solvent.
Such reverse micelles were composed of surfactant dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT), water
represented by TIP3P model and isooctane solvent in several MD simulations. They were created
using Packmol and constant pressure-temperature simulations were conducted using GROMACS
molecular dynamics package. These fully atomistic simulations were carried out using the
CHARMM36 force field and the reverse micelle was unconstrained and allowed to move freely
during the simulation. Specifically, the simulated reverse micelles had w 0 values of 10, 15, and
20. For each w 0 value the reverse micelles were simulated with either KCl, MgCl2, or CaCl2 at
concentration values of 0 M, 0.25 M, 0.5 M, 0.8 M, and 1.0 M. The results indicate that the ions
tend to form well defined layers in the interfacial region. Specifically, the cations reside near the
anionic surfactant head groups and even replace the Na+ counter-ion of the surfactant while the
Cl- anion prefers the water core. Density calculations suggest that the interfacial region of the
reverse micelles are structured as follows: R-SO3- > Na+ ≥ cation > Cl- (Core). Other
measurements calculated include mass distribution in the simulation box, radial distribution, and
the distance of ions from the center of the water core. The impact of ionic concentration on shape
and size of reverse micelles was also calculated. Ultimately, it was concluded that the connection
between ionic concentration and shape of reverse micelle depends on the composition of the
reverse micelle.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017 -
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Document
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Date Digital
2020
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Abstract
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Identifier
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2020-chemistry-Hernandez
Creator
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Hernandez, Michelle
Date
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5/1/2020
Title
A name given to the resource
Simulations of AOT Reverse Micelles with Chloride Salts
Description
An account of the resource
Aqueous reverse micelles have been utilized as proxies for atmospheric aerosols. They are composed of a water core held together by surfactant molecules in a hydrophobic solvent. Such reverse micelles were composed of surfactant dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT), water represented by TIP3P model and isooctane solvent in several MD simulations. They were created using Packmol and constant pressure-temperature simulations were conducted using GROMACS molecular dynamics package. These fully atomistic simulations were carried out using the CHARMM36 force field and the reverse micelle was unconstrained and allowed to move freely during the simulation. Specifically, the simulated reverse micelles had w 0 values of 10, 15, and 20. For each w 0 value the reverse micelles were simulated with either KCl, MgCl2, or CaCl2 at concentration values of 0 M, 0.25 M, 0.5 M, 0.8 M, and 1.0 M. The results indicate that the ions tend to form well defined layers in the interfacial region. Specifically, the cations reside near the anionic surfactant head groups and even replace the Na+ counter-ion of the surfactant while the Cl- anion prefers the water core. Density calculations suggest that the interfacial region of the reverse micelles are structured as follows: R-SO3- > Na+ ? cation > Cl- (Core). Other measurements calculated include mass distribution in the simulation box, radial distribution, and the distance of ions from the center of the water core. The impact of ionic concentration on shape and size of reverse micelles was also calculated. Ultimately, it was concluded that the connection between ionic concentration and shape of reverse micelle depends on the composition of the reverse micelle.
Contributor
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Dr. Arunkumar Sharma
Chemistry
Type
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text
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application/pdf
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1 page
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eng
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U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this work. It is provided by Wagner College for scholarly or research purposes only. Commercial use or distribution is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Chemistry
-
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d38fecd5d36674f29b1c81f1ba15e9ab
PDF Text
Text
Political Party and The FIRST STEP Act
Grace Twaddell
SO491
Spring 2020
�Introduction
Criminal justice reform has been a hot topic in politics.
With rates of mass incarceration rising, many politicians are looking to see how policies can be adjusted to better protect the
country.
For my research project, I plan to study how political alignment affects an individual’s opinion of the First Step Act.
I am interested in studying this topic because the First Step Act was recently signed into law in 2018 by President Trump. At the time,
it was praised for being a bipartisan policy and received lots of support from both sides of Congress.
�Research
Question
How does an individual’s political
affiliation affect their opinion on the
FIRST STEP Act?
�Literature Review
The FIRST STEP Act was written into law in 2018. The vote history shows that this was mainly a bipartisan effort (Cohen
2019).
The main focus of the FIRST STEP Act is taking “preliminary action to reintegrate persons who have completed their
sentences” (American Bar Association House of Delegates). This is done mainly through rehabilitation programs (Cohen 2019).
Participation in these programs is encouraged and rewarded with earned good time credits. For every thirty days spent
participating in the program, the inmate can earn ten days of “good time credit”. DeMint, et al. present the advantages and
drawbacks of these incentives (2018).
�Literature Review (Cont’d)
These reforms to federal law may appear controversial to Republican politicians that still believe in the “tough-on-crime”
approach that President Nixon began advocating for in his successful 1968 campaign (Cohen, 2018).
Gallup Poll results show that, at the time, the tough on crime approach was popular among the general public, although not
among Democrats, who had little choice but to go along with it (1992).
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was a result of this approach, and included clauses such as
mandatory life sentences for repeat drug offenders. Sentencing components were revisited in the FIRST STEP Act.
�Literature Review (Cont’d)
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was signed during this Republican-led, tough-on-crime period, but also during a time that
was particularly tough on drug crimes.
The act increased penalties for various drug crimes, as well as including the controversial “100-to-1” disparity between
powder cocaine and crack cocaine. (Cohen, 2019).
President Obama passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which changed this ratio from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1 for all future
sentencings (Cohen, 2019).
The FIRST STEP Act of 2018 applies the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 retroactively, meaning any federal inmate who was
sentenced before 2010 could appeal their sentencing decision (Cohen, 2019).
�Literature Review (Cont’d)
The FIRST STEP Act of 2018 also expanded guidelines for sentence modifications. Inmates can file for a sentence reduction by
judge now.
Judges can reduce sentences if “extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction” and that the person is “not
a danger to the safety of any other person or to the community” (Russell, 2019).
Another modification is the expansion of compassionate releases. Jefferson-Bullock discusses the ethics of compassionate
release (2019).
�Theory
The First Step Act was passed in Senate by a vote of 87-12. Of the 12 dissenting votes, all representatives were Republican. It
then passed in the House by a vote of 358-36. Of the 36 dissenting votes, all representatives were Republican.
One reason Republicans may not have supported this act is because it applies President Obama’s Fair Sentencing Act
retroactively. “Tough-on-crime” Republicans felt that dangerous inmates might be moved to community confinement earlier than
expected with the new changes (Cohen, 2019).
Representatives for both the Senate and House of Representatives are elected every two years by citizens with registered addresses
in the district they represent. These elected officials are tasked with representing the will of people in their district, including those
who believe in the “tough-on-crime” approach. Therefore, we can expect them to vote in accordance with the people that make up
their political party.
�Hypothesis
A person that aligns
themselves with the
Republican Party would be
less approving of the First
Step Act, and a person that
aligns themselves with the
Democratic Party would be
more approving.
�Methods
Data Collection:
Due to limited resources and restriction and Covid 19, I distributed my questionnaires virtually.
Measurements:
DV: “On a scale of 1 (do not approve at all) - 10 (approve very much), how do you feel about the First Step Act”?
IV: “On a scale of 1 (Fully Republican) - 10 (Fully Democrat), how would you rank your political affiliation?”
Because not everyone is well informed in politics, the questionnaire gave a brief overview of the First Step Act.
In order to eliminate potential confounding effect of a third variable, participants were asked questions regarding gender, age, race,
and religion for statistical control.
Statistical Model: Both my IV and DV are treated as continuous variables. Two OLS regression equations were estimated to test the
hypothesis. The hypothesis will be supported if the coefficient for Party affiliation is positive and significant.
�Data Analysis Results
�Data Analysis Results
r=0.291 indicates there is a moderate, positive correlation between political affiliation and approval of the FIRST STEP Act.
R2 = 0.085 indicates that 8.5% of the total variance in approval of the FIRST STEP Act can be attributed to political affiliation.
�Data Analysis Results
�Conclusion
Data analysis shows that there is a moderate and positive correlation between Political
Party and Approval of the FIRST STEP Act.
The coefficient for Political Party is positive and statistically significant. This result
supports that hypothesis that a person that aligns themselves with the Republican
Party would be less approving of the First Step Act, and a person that aligns themselves
with the Democratic Party would be more approving
The control variables I selected also did not present a strong correlation.
Future studies should look at the effect of education, gender, race, and religion on
approval of the act.
�References
American Bar Association House of Delegates. (2019). Perspectives on the First Step Act: Resolution 101 and Report on the First Step Act. Federal Sentencing
Reporter, 32(2), 106-108. https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2019.32.2.106
Cohen, D. (2019). Justice, Not Jailbreak: The Context and Consequences of the First Step Act. Victims & Offenders, 14(8), 1084-1098.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2019.1671287
DeMint, J., Huckabee, M., Chaffetz, J., Ehrlich, B., Molden, M., Brandon, A., DeRoche, C., Daniels, D., Chapman, T., Safavian, D., Nolan, P., Malcolm, J.,
DeRoche, C., Norquist, G. , Gardner, B., Blackwell, K., Cohen, D., Kerik, B., Madden, J., … Robers, K. (2018). Conservative Leaders’ Letter to President Trump
Expressing Support for FIRST STEP Act. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 31(2), 160-167. https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2018.31.2.160
FIRST STEP Act of 2018. S. 756 (115th Congress). https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/756
Hudson, C. (2014). Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Ensuring that Defendants Incorrectly Sentenced Between the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 and United States
v. Dorsey Achieve Re-Sentencing. Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems, 48(1), 141-179.
Jefferson-Bullock, J. (2019). Perspectives on the First Step Act: Consensus, Compassion, and Compromise? The First Step Act and Aging Out of Crime. Federal
Sentencing Reporter, 32(2), 70-75. https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2019.32.2.70
Russell, S. (2019). Perspectives on the First Step Act: Second Looks at Sentences under the First Step Act. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 32(2), 76-85.
https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2019.32.2.76
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017 -
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Date Digital
2020
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Presentation
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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2020-sociology-Twaddell
Creator
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Twaddell, Grace
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
5/1/2020
Title
A name given to the resource
Political Party and The First Step Act
Description
An account of the resource
Criminal justice reform has been a hot topic in politics. With rates of mass incarceration rising, many politicians are looking to see how policies can be adjusted to better protect the country. For my research project, I plan to study how political alignment affects an individual’s opinion of the First Step Act. I am interested in studying this topic because the First Step Act was recently signed into law in 2018 by President Trump. At the time, it was praised for being a bipartisan policy and received lots of support from both sides of Congress.
Contributor
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Sociology
Type
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text
Format
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application/pdf
Extent
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15 slides
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this work. It is provided by Wagner College for scholarly or research purposes only. Commercial use or distribution is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Sociology
-
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076692417723fcd5e90e33054e46567a
PDF Text
Text
Senior Thesis History Department May 2020
Presenter: Jeanine Woody
Advisor: Dr. Alison Smith
Abstract Title: Changes in Sino-British Relations from the Opium Wars to the Taiping
Rebellion
Britain and China differed culturally and ideologically in the mid-19th century. The
different perspectives on politics and trade caused tensions to rise between the two nations.
China was previously an isolated nation that used Confucius beliefs to create their social and
political structure. Britain wanted to interact with China to gain access to certain goods, like
silk, tea, and porcelain. To do so they initiated trade with China at, Guangzhou, the Port of
Canton. This was the only sanctioned trading port in China since the Chinese were wary of
foreigners. The differences between the two nations reached its climax prior to the First Opium
War, which began in 1839 and lasted until 1842. Following this, China would become a weaker
nation due to the “unequal treaties” placed on them by Britain and America. One stipulation
China had to follow in the “unequal treaties” was to cede Hong Kong to the British. This led to
Hong Kong becoming an economic center vital to Eastern trade. Hong Kong also adopted
certain principles from the British, like capitalism, which changed their identity. The “unequal
treaties,” an agreement made between Western nations and China, would also play a role in
starting the Second Opium War, also known as the Arrow War of 1856-1860.
The introduction of Western values like individualism, capitalism, and Christian religion
influenced the development of Hong Kong while also introducing concepts that were applied to
the Taiping Rebellion. The First Opium War left China in shambles due to the reparations
�placed on the country from the treaties that opened up more ports for trade. This made China
more susceptible to Western values. The interactions between Britain and China during the First
Opium War became the catalyst for Xiuquan Hong to analyze his visions and status in Qing
Society. To deal with his failure to join Jingshi, he used Protestant Christian beliefs and Liang’s
manuscript to create the Taiping Rebellion. The Taiping’s tactics against the bureaucracy of the
Qing Dynasty led to one of the bloodiest civil wars in history. Despite this, the Taiping rebels
were crushed once the British intervened on behalf of the Qing. This foreshadows the influence
of Western beliefs on Hong Kong when it was a British Crown Colony. The culmination of the
differing values between Hong Kong and China led to the protests currently happening. The
influence of public memory of the First Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion is relevant to
understanding the current political climate in Hong Kong.
�
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Title
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Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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2017 -
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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Date Digital
2020
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Abstract
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2020-history-Woody
Creator
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Woody, Jeanine
Date
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5/1/2020
Title
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Changes in Sino-British Relations from the Opium Wars to the Taipin Rebellion
Contributor
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Dr. Alison Smith
History
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text
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application/pdf
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2 pages
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eng
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
History
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d42e76296bc5bb74966443f1f6ae9e28
PDF Text
Text
Cardiac Health
Treatment: Analysis of
Institutional and
Internalized Gender
Discrimination
Malithi Desilva
�Introduction
❖
Heart diseases rank as the top leading
cause of death
❖
735,000 Americans suffer from a
heart attack
❖
610,000 people die of heart disease in
the US annually
❖
1 in every 4 deaths is caused by heart
disease
❖
Issue: gendered difference in
diagnosis, treatment, and outcome in
AMI and CHD
�Project Summary
❖ I aim to construct a specified health
approach for heart diseases in both men
and women
❖ To identify systemized gendered biases
within hospitals and analyze the impacts
this bias has on the treatment of heart
diseases among women
�A Gendered Culture
❖
Sex v. Gender
❖
Stigmatized role of women
❖
Hierarchical social beliefs
�Cultural Impact on Biology
❖
Gendered Treatment Difference:
➢
Aggressiveness of treatment received
➢
Sex diagnostic and treatment threshold
■
■
➢
❖
Sex-specific reference ranges
Diagnostic timeframe
Biopower
Ideologies influence on biological health
issues
�Publication
Female Female-specific Male Male-specific
(n)
99th percentile (n) 99th percentile
(ng/L)
(ng/L)
Reference
cohort (n)
Overall
99 percentile
(ng/L)
th
hs-cTnI
Apple et al. 2012 (1)
252
15
273
36
525
23 [16-63]
Hickman et al. 2017 (2)
226
13
222
27
484
14
Kimenai et al. 2016 (3)
806
11 (8-13)
729
20 (14-22)
1535
13 (11-18)
Ko et al. 2017 (4)
338
23 [17-29]
303
46 [26-60]
641
32 [28-56]
Mueller et al. 2016 (5)
143
24
259
39
402
29 (15-101)
Ungerer et al. 2016 (6)
705
20 [10-52]
1299
31 [25-58]
2004
29 [ 23-41]
Apple et al. 2012 (1)
252
13
273
20
525
15 [13-28]
Hickman et al. 2017 (4)
262
21
228
19
490
20
Kimenai et al. 2016 (2)
806
12 (10-14)
729
16 (15-17)
1535
15 (13-16)
Ko et al. 2017 (3)
338
10 [ 9-15]
303
16 [13-23]
641
14 [13-20]
Mueller et al. 2016 (5)
143
11
259
14
402
12 (9-20)
Ungerer et al. 2016 (6)
705
10 [9-11]
1299
18 [16-20]
2004
16 [15-18]
hs-cTnT
�Research Sites
❖
Sites:
➢
Staten Island University
Hospital (SIUH) : South
➢
Richmond University
Medical Center (RUMC) :
North
�Socio-economics
❖
RUMC
➢ 473 bed acute care
❖
SIUH
➢ 206 bed acute care
�Hypotheses
1.
If there is a social dismissal of women within healthcare then I
would expect to observe behaviors indicative of social dismissal
that would result in the underdiagnosis of women
2.
If preconceived gender stereotypes influence the diagnosis,
treatment, and outcomes then I would expect to see actions,
both subtle and blatant, that are biased in favor of men.
3.
If biological sex differences such as reproductive status, are
incorporated into healthcare treatment for women, I would
expect to see a higher diagnosis than currently of cardiac
diseases for women.
�Research Methods
Participant
Observation
Guided
interviews
Targeted Surveys
➢
Cardiac Study
➢
➢
➢
Medical
School sit-in
➢
Research
Journal
➢
Shadowing
Cardiologists
Open ended
questions for
qualitative
responses
➢
Specific to
each group
with
concentration
on
predetermine
d concern
Gather
statistical
knowledge
Data Collection
➢
Symptoms
➢
Treatments
➢
Diagnosis
➢
Mortality
rates
�Significance
❖ Understanding the influence of biology and culture
would reveal the holes in our healthcare treatments
❖ Promote research of cardiac issues specific to women,
uncover areas of focus, and develop our understanding
and means to address the gendered difference in
treatment
❖ Construct specific medical approaches to heart diseases
tailored to males and females
�
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Title
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Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
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2017 -
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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Date Digital
2020
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Presentation
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2020-anthropology-Desilva
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Desilva, Malithi
Date
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5/1/2020
Title
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Cardiac Health Treatment: Analysis of Institutional and Internalized Gender Discrimination
Contributor
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Anthropology
Type
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text
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application/pdf
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11 slides
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eng
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Anthropology
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30a2f9ad170c32f5ba8b088fc9d2c580
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Text
Programming with Python in
Numerical Analysis
by Matthew L. Greiss
The field of numerical analysis makes use of many different algorithms in order to
approximate the solutions for a wide variety of problems. A number of these algorithms
can be quite long and may require several calculations. Previously, calculations such as
these had to be done by hand, and could thus take minutes, hours, or even days to
complete. Now, with the advent of modern programming, devices such as computers,
tablets, and even phones, can complete these calculations in a matter of seconds. The
programs that are used to perform such calculations can be written in a number of
different languages, one of which is Python.
This paper will cover ten programs that have been written in the programming
language Python and are designed to solve problems or complete tasks within the field of
numerical analysis. The main point of this paper will be to examine the methodology
behind each program and how the source code executes upon those ideas. Since this
paper’s main topic is the source code of these programs, a pdf of it will accompany this
paper. It would be unreasonable to cover every character of the source code, so
insignificant elements, as well as those whose purpose is immediately apparent, will not be
discussed. While the accompanying pdf will contain the entirety of the source code, it will
still be helpful to include excerpts from it, as this will make certain explanations clearer.
When source code is presented it may be abridged or slightly altered for the sake of clarity.
1
�The first program will convert binary machine numbers into base-10 numbers. These
are numbers that computers use to store base-10 numbers. The second, third, fourth, and
fifth programs, are all root-finding algorithms. The second is a bisection method program,
and it repeatedly bisects intervals until they converge upon a root. The third is a
fixed-point iteration program and it will isolate one of a function’s variables, and find a
fixed point for the resulting expression. The fourth is a Newton-Raphson method program
and it will iterate an expression that is comprised of both a function and its derivative.
The fifth is a secant method program and it will iterate a recurrence relation. The sixth is
an Euler method program, and it will solve ordinary differential equations by generating a
series of discrete points. The final four programs all use interpolation to approximate
functions. The seventh is a Lagrange polynomial program and it produces a polynomial by
generating a series of terms, each constructed from a combination of data points, and
adding them together. The eighth is a Newton polynomial program and it produces a
polynomial by taking the divided differences of adjacent data points. The ninth is a
Hermite interpolation program and it approximates coordinates of a function by taking the
divided differences of a function’s data points and its derivatives data points. The tenth
and final program is a cubic spline interpolation program, and it produces a piece-wise
function, comprised of cubic splines, in order to approximate functions.
Specifically, they are the bisection method, fixed-point iteration, Newton-Raphson method,
and secant method.
2
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
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2017 -
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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Date Digital
2020
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Abstract
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2020-computer science-Greiss
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Greiss, Matthew L.
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5/1/2020
Title
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Programming with Python in Numerical Analysis
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Mathematics
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text
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application/pdf
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2 pages
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eng
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U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this work. It is provided by Wagner College for scholarly or research purposes only. Commercial use or distribution is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Mathematics
-
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fe09d8924a777bdc3e03a1221a498ddf
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Evelin Caballero Omana
Accounting for Bias in Machine Learning Algorithms
When the topic of machine intelligence first arose, there were many debates that followed on the
possibility of such a thing and whether humans are morally allowed to create intelligence. There were
always moral and philosophical questions involved in machine learning. These discussions were had back
in the 1950s and those days are long gone. Now the rate at which technology is developing is tremendous.
At this point in time, machine learning is so integrated into our lives that it is easy to miss at
times. Machine learning is used by businesses and governments alike. It is present when you are
recommended the next video to watch on YouTube, it is present when you are shopping on Amazon and
products are recommended to you, it is present when your photos are grouped together based on the facial
recognition of the people in the photo, and it is present while people are searching for the best traffic
route. It is used for identifying medical conditions, for transcribing audio to text in voicemails, and even
in online translations.
Now the focus is on self-driving cars, on the next biggest thing, in how we can take technology
farther. Machine learning allows for improvements in businesses, healthcare, and in the quality of life.
However, with how integrated machine learning and AI has become in our lives there are some questions
we must ask. We must identify the downfalls of this technology so that we can be able to improve it. The
people working on this technology are thinking of how to advance technologically, they are thinking of
the formulas and the science behind this. But are they asking the ethical questions? Are they making sure
that training data for software is inclusive and accurate? Are the companies and law systems that
implement these technologies aware of what exactly it is that they are using? By analyzing the origins of
machine learning, understanding machine learning and the way it functions, and looking at potential
issues and examples of bias, we can begin to understand the complete picture of why it is that bias can be
present in machine learning algorithms and why this bias has significant effects.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
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2017 -
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Document
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Date Digital
2020
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Abstract
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2020-computer science-Omana
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Omana, Evelin Caballero
Date
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5/1/2020
Title
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Accounting for Bias in Machine Learning Algorithms
Contributor
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Mathematics
Type
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text
Format
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application/pdf
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1 page
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eng
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U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this work. It is provided by Wagner College for scholarly or research purposes only. Commercial use or distribution is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Mathematics
-
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075476814febb5b08fc9aa5a5b003da9
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Text
Jeanine Woody
MA 400
Senior Thesis
Cryptocurrencies and Real-World Applications
Cryptocurrencies are a form of electronic commerce that is created through crypto
systems. These systems tend to create a chain, which is known as a blockchain, and is compiled
through encryption and decryption techniques. These techniques have evolved through many
practices specifically through the creation and application of theories from Euclid, Fermat,
Mersenne, Euler, Gauss, and Fibonacci. Their respective theories led to developments in
Number Theory—the properties of positive integers and its reliance on factoring and testing
prime numbers. Number Theory has been a key aspect in developing computer algorithms.
Their respective findings helped to curate one of the most widely used cryptosystem known as
Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) Cryptosystem. RSA Cryptosystems rely on encryption and
decryption techniques based on Number Theory. There are two distinct types, public and
private, which each have specific characteristics. In a public key, also known as an Asymmetric
Cryptograph, anyone is able to encrypt messages using the receiver’s public key, but only those
with a private key could decrypt the message. For those who use RSA systems, a digital
signature is created at the end of the message to show the connection to the sender.
The most well-known form of Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created by the anonymous
Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. His paper called “Bitcoin - A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”
presented the idea that electronic cash should be shared through online payments via a peer-topeer system that would function without an intermediary third party. The purpose of the paper
�was to prove that electronic commerce should rely more on cryptographic systems instead of
trust. This would ultimately allow for transactions to occur directly between two individuals.
Cryptocurrencies are prominent in a few industries, specifically Financial Technology
and Machine Learning. The Financial Technology (Fin Tech) section normally uses
cryptocurrency blockchain protocols in what is known as a Distributed-Ledger Technology
(DLT). The application of DLT to different aspects of the Fin Tech industry allows for cost
savings because an outside third party is not needed to verify transactions. According to this
protocol, no single entity or government body could determine the inflation rate of the
transactions, instead they would be determined by an algorithm. Machine Learning is based on
pattern recognition and the theory that computers can learn specific tasks without being
programmed to do so. Researchers of this topic attempt to observe the correlation between data
sets and artificial intelligence. In the United States, regulatory agencies like the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CETC) view cryptocurrencies as commodities, while
the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) views them as properties. On the other hand, the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not recognize cryptocurrencies as securities despite the
fact that they stress that types of e-currency in the market need surveillance to monitor their
application. These differences make it difficult for regulation policies to be put into effect to
monitor cryptocurrencies. The real-world application shows how different industries rely on
aspects of the exchange to perform certain tasks within their designated spheres.
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
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This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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2020-mathematics-Woody
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Woody, Jeanine
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5/1/2020
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Cryptocurrencies and Real-World Applications
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Mathematics
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eng
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/1909/archive/files/895347d9719f5a7ef2cc75c65949fc04.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=Gbt8feA2kqgKuXxtKYsdtqtdaePeaHwfKOCFp60B3daez96aQTQTXYW7c1gjVhv0EX4CFkM7IHoi4Ky%7E9QrNyNhmTqXZRoSrDXiolNVGCk4l7GnAM9RJZyy64A4-6fXTLcIN2B%7ET2ZoVVO6qWZPWu7X1MMqSpUXjtu3dyjN7ubgZLBwhCcLpD7jX4xYtB9O-0szDyicNQ%7ECTx-NDTGeQ55PSBSRQ7K48vKPGedjECQKN5VAyDnuBVzkR5E5h2lhD7%7EMHe4H8ECtZqTuXoXvIrVcUs4KLIFOhXXAGXkjAwtd5DgJocXf80mKz%7En4-dKwrRQDiUJrA9p2aUTUQ17H%7E0g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY
1
Prosocial Benefits of Terror Management Theory:
Extended Abstract of Honors Thesis
Justin Siejk
Department of Psychology, Wagner College
Terror management relies on the premise that human beings are purely biological
organisms. Similar to others in the animal kingdom, the human’s only true goals are
self-preservation and survival (Greenberg et al., 1997). However, humans have self awareness,
including awareness of their inevitable demise. Culture brings meaning to the individual that
transcends death and combats death anxieties (Jonas et al., 2002). Self-esteem, the confidence
that one is behaving in line with culture, saves the individual from the anxiety of death (Volini,
2017). Just as individuals go through defense mechanisms when their self-esteem is explicitly
threatened, terror management theory posits individuals will go to great lengths to protect their
self-esteem when made aware of their own mortality. Past research has relied heavily on the
derogation of other cultures to restore self-esteem; this thesis focuses prosocial behaviors as
another avenue of defense (Kunzendorf et al., 1992; Hirschberger et al., 2008).
Terror management effects are predicted to be especially strong in young adults as they
are not particularly focused on their own mortality while still possessing solidified core values of
their culture (Helson & Moane, 1987; Greenberg et al., 1992). Statements pertaining to their own
mortality may have a greater effect on them than on older adults more aware of their aging.
Twenty research participants (ages 19-21, recruited through the Wagner College
Psychology Department participant pool) were each paid four $1 bills at the start of the study.
Participants then responded to a filler survey, followed by the experimental manipulation.
�TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY
2
Participants were randomly assigned either to two questions about emotions when visiting the
dentist (control condition) or two questions that made mortality salient (“describe the emotions
the thought of your own death arouses” and “describe, in detail, what you think happens to you
after death”). The experimenter was unaware of each participant’s condition.
Following a second filler survey, all participants watched a video from Save the Children.
A time lapse has been shown to be critical for allowing death thoughts to become unconscious
(Greenberg et al., 1992). Following the video, the experimenter stated he was raising money for
Save the Children. Participants were welcome to donate cash or use venmo.
A non-significant trend suggests participants who experienced mortality salience (M =
$6.78, SD = 2.68) donated somewhat more than those in the control group (M=$4.80, SD=1.87),
t(18) = 1.88, p = .077 (see Figure 1). Given that Cohen’s effect size value (d = 0.86) suggests a
high practical significance, the small sample size might not have provided enough statistical
power to test the hypothesis.
Since self-esteem is maintained by acting in line with internalized worldviews, and
prosocial behavior is a value internalized by many cultures, engaging in prosocial behavior is a
suitable way for an individual to restore their self-esteem (Jonas et al., 2008). Individuals
regularly deal with primes of death; therefore, this research is vital to figure out a way to
perpetuate prosocial behaviors and promote acceptance, rather than hostility, towards other
cultures (Yum & Hamlin, 2005).
�TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY
3
References Cited in Abstract
Greenberg, J., Simon, L., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Chatel, D. (1992). Terror management
and tolerance: Does mortality salience always intensify negative reactions to others who
threaten one’s worldview? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 212-220.
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1997). Terror management theory of self-esteem
and cultural worldviews: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements. In M. P.
Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 29. (pp. 61–139). San
Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Helson, R., & Moane, G. (1987). Personality change in women from college to midlife. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 176-186.
Hirschberger, G., Ein-Dor, T., & Almakias, S. (2008). The self-protective altruist: terror
management and the ambivalent nature of prosocial behavior. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 34, 666–678.
Jonas, E., Martens, A., Niesta Kayser, D., Fritsche, I., Sullivan, D., & Greenberg, J. (2008).
Focus theory of normative conduct and terror-management theory: The interactive impact
of mortality salience and norm salience on social judgment. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 95(6), 1239–1251.
Jonas, E., Schimel, J., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2002). The scrooge effect: Evidence
that mortality salience increases prosocial attitudes and behavior. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1342–1353.
�TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY
4
Kunzendorf, R., Hersey, T., Wilson, J., & Ethier, M. (1992). Repressed self-consciousness of
death and insensitivity to religious genocide. Unpublished manuscript, University of
Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts.
Volini, L. A. (2017). An introduction to global family therapy: Examining the empirical
evidence of terror management theory within the family and social system. American
Journal of Family Therapy, 45(2), 79–94.
Yum, Y.-O., & Schenck-Hamlin, W. (2005). Reactions to 9/11 as a function of terror
management and perspective taking. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(3), 265–286.
�TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY
Figure 1
Mean Donations (With Standard Error Bars) as a Function of Experimental Condition
5
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017 -
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Date Digital
2020
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Abstract
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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2020-psychology-Siejk
Creator
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Siejk, Justin
Date
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5/1/2020
Title
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Prosocial Benefits of Terror Management Theory
Contributor
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Psychology
Type
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text
Format
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application/pdf
Extent
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5 pages
Language
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eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this work. It is provided by Wagner College for scholarly or research purposes only. Commercial use or distribution is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Psychology