Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Organization Development

Personality psychology, which focuses on understanding individual orientation, traits, and attribution style, provides critical insights into organizational behavior and performance. This study begins with a rigorous review of foundational theories, ensuring quality, clarity, transparency, and methodological rigor. Specifically, it examines behavioral orientation, personality traits, and attribution style to lay the groundwork for developing the Unified Human Dynamics Framework Instrument (UHDF-I) through exploratory factor analysis. This dissertation aims to achieve two primary objectives: 1) deepen understanding of behavioral orientation, traits, and attribution style constructs; and 2) create the Unified Human Dynamics Framework Instrument (UHDF-I), integrating 11 diverse constructs into a cohesive framework to elucidate human personality dynamics. The validity and reliability of the UHDF-I were established through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). A preliminary EFA using principal component analysis with Varimax rotation supported the development of an 11-factor structure for the UHDF-I. The UHDF-I integrates 11 constructs: task and relationship orientation; Machiavellianism; narcissism; psychopathy; sadism; faith in humanity; Kantianism; humanism traits; and internal and external locus of control attributions. Initially comprising 290 items, including 13 for honesty, attention, and redundancy measures, these were refined to 44 items (4 per factor) following EFA to eliminate non-loading, poorly loading, or cross-loading items above an Eigenvalue of .3. The Unified Human Dynamics Framework Instrument (UHDF-I) offers comprehensive and empirically validated insights into fundamental personality characteristics. By integrating multiple constructs, it provides a robust framework to enhance understanding of how individuals and groups connect, motivate each other, and interact across various life and work domains. Utilizing the UHDF-I has the potential to opt (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Steven Cady Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lubomir Popov Ph.D. (Other); Truit Gray Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jeanelle Sears Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, Psychology

The uncanny valley is the tendency for highly humanlike, but non-human agents (e.g., robots, animated characters, dolls) to be perceived as creepy or unsettling, relative to their less humanlike counterparts. Recent research has pointed to mismatching signals of humanity as a possible explanation for the uncanny valley. The current work aimed to extend this hypothesis by investigating whether conflicting signals of humanity from face processing styles and featural cues can trigger negative affect. To this end, participants viewed faces that were morphed on a continuum from full dolls to full humans and indicated the extent to which these faces are unsettling. Critically, on half of the trials, faces were inverted to disrupt configural face processing, a processing style that involves viewing faces as a single Gestalt and is a cue for humanity. When faces were highly humanlike, they were experienced as less creepy than less humanlike faces, but when such targets were inverted, processing and featural signals did not disagree with one another, and some of the feelings of unease were alleviated.

Committee: Kurt Hugenberg PhD (Committee Chair); Heather Claypool PhD (Committee Member); Jonathan Kunstman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2015, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Ethan Allen Hawley receives the gift of redemption throughout John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent (1961). Many forms of redemption occur throughout the novel, but Steinbeck does not blatantly present all of them. Raymond L. Griffith's 1972 dissertation uses the term “duality” to discuss, as stated, the “validity of perfection and the impossibility of perfection” contained in Steinbeck's works. My thesis specifically uses the term duality to explicate the various “hardship versus redemption” dualities that exist in Winter. Ethan lives a life of duality throughout the majority of the novel. Ethan's dual lives involve his behavior and rationale while in nature settings and his behavior and rationale while in socioeconomic settings. Ethan experiences this duality but never acknowledges this duality of place. Other “hardship versus redemption” dualities exist in the novel, such as Ethan receiving his grandfather's and aunt's teachings and then Ethan teaching his own children; Ethan's brotherly encounters; Steinbeck's inclusion of Christian ideas; and Steinbeck's correlation to and also divergence from William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Ethan's duality of place finally unites at the novel's conclusion. Ethan's secret Place in nature induces a confrontation with reality and a humanistic response to socioeconomic hardship. Steinbeck concludes the novel with the subtle assertion of the redemptive hope of nature to induce strength.

Committee: Adam Sonstegard Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Julie Burrell Ph.D. (Committee Member); James Marino Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; Ecology; Economics; Ethics; Pedagogy; Personal Relationships; Religion

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Creative Writing/Fiction

Extinction Events, a collection of stories, explores the themes of both literal and figurative extinctions. Divided into three sections mirroring the stages of geological decay—Decline, Cataclysm, Aftermath—this work features characters struggling with their own physical and emotional catastrophes, which may come in the form of motherhood, estrangement, loss, or escape. These people are tied to the earth and its natural processes, which provide the backbone for their journeys. Whether the extinction arrives on a vast scale, as a supernova or volcanic eruption, or a deeper, more personal one, as tornadoes or a young girl raised by mummies, humanity is always found struggling, wanting. While some characters find themselves overwhelmed by these, at times, unwinnable fights, others find that life persists, even after extinctions.

Committee: Wendell Mayo Dr. (Committee Chair); Lawrence Coates Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts

Master of Arts in English, Youngstown State University, 2012, Department of Languages

Carlini is a collection of four short fiction narratives that communicate the themes of loss, violence, and humanity in the lives of four men who belong to a hunting cabin in Western Pennsylvania. Each story explores the intimate connection between man and land in the tradition of Steinbeck and Hemingway. Each of the characters and their families all members of a specific Western Pennsylvania working-class seek to make sense of the world around them as well as the ghosts that inhabit their world. My goal in crafting these interconnected narratives is to provide a fictive account of masculine response to the aforementioned issues of loss, violence, and humanity within a contained geographic area.

Committee: Christopher Barzak M.F.A. (Advisor); William Greenway Ph.D. (Other); Steven Reese Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Individual and Family Studies; Personal Relationships; Personality Psychology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2002, Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning : Art History

This thesis addresses the relationship of select artworks by New York-based artist Janine Antoni (b. 1964) to the oeuvre of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), German performance artist and sculptor. It discusses a significant number of Antoni's works that bear a striking resemblance to pieces created by Beuys, both visually and through the metaphors that they communicate to the viewer. The concept of life-energies is central to this thesis, however, each chapter focuses on a different genre of expression. Chapter one establishes ways in which energy is explored in the works of Antoni and Beuys, centering on works made with fat. Chapter two looks at the bathtub and the act of washing as metaphors and chapter three examines the artists' investigations of the extended family and their interactions with our animal counterparts. The conclusion considers Antoni's place within recent scholarly criticism that discusses a renewed interest in humanity or the spiritual in contemporary art practice. By approaching Antoni's work from this new perspective I establish the importance of her work in relation to Beuys' and provide new criteria for the interpretation of the chosen pieces, highlighting the underestimated significance of her role thus far within the art world.

Committee: Professor Elissa Auther (Advisor) Subjects: Art History

Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 2006, College of Arts and Sciences - English

What is the potential for expanding international women's human rights in the wake of armed conflict? How can the domestic enforcement of international criminal law, through the use of hybrid tribunals, contribute to establishing gender-specific provisions in the judiciary of post-conflict states? The Special Court for Sierra Leone provides a unique empirical basis for evaluating the dialogue between international and domestic law and culture, with regard to women's rights. This Article seeks to address the need to progressively develop women's rights, and to do so in a manner that is consistent with both universal international human rights norms and local cultural differences. It is particularly concerned with the successes and failures of hybrid courts in facilitating gender justice in post-conflict environments. Specifically, this Article will examine the potential of the SCSL to offer substantive and normative post-conflict progress in the development and application of gender provisions aimed at addressing the silent war crime of sexual violence.

Committee: John Forren (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 1994, Social Welfare

This case study of one local Habitat for Humanity program describes the process through which twenty-two low-income families have become home owners in this unique and popular international voluntary program. Specifically, it examines their experiences of empowerment through a participatory research process founded on interviews, organizational records, and other sources of data. It finds that empowerment is bolstered by organizational membership, group support, learning activities and models of empowered activity in the early phases of the process, but is challenged after home ownership takes place and program supports diminish. Two specific types of personal empowerment, static and dynamic, are defined to describe different phases of the process. Models of service, advocacy and empowerment-type voluntarism are applied to Habitat's programmatic relationship to families in various phases of the process of becoming a home owner.

Committee: Darlyne Bailey (Advisor) Subjects: Social Work

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Throughout the 1900's, architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright have set out to change the existing housing paradigm to meet the needs of society. The traditional Victorian style home was designed primarily for the wealthy with servants, during a time when energy and resources were more plentiful. The Victorian design ethos became the paradigm for the American single family home, even though as a society we have evolved from this state and it no longer meets our needs nor desires. The 2012 census notes 65% of housing units are owner occupied single family homes (SFH). However many issues may be present with these homes when an owner considers purchasing one. For example, most homes built prior to the 1970's oil crisis are energy inefficient. Further, older homes are designed around the Victorian/outdated family structure. This thesis takes an adaptive reuse/design build approach to renovation of traditional homes in the Midwest United States. There are many older homes on the market currently not being utilized to meet today's living situations. These homes have the potential to be adapted for different family types, with room and amenity updates to meet modern lifestyles and energy consumption. Through the use of a series of architectural interventions, one can improve the existing structure to provide a home which better meets the needs and desires of society and of the homes occupants. The accomplishment of this must start with proper design thinking to make a meaningful impact on social, financial and environmental levels. Often renovations can be performed for prices below new construction rates. Architects should strive to uphold all of these core values as a larger part of a thoughtful building project. Recognizing the potential in existing homes, Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity has moved into home renovation alongside building new homes. The organization can house five families in renovations versus three families on new builds for the same money. Howe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michael McInturf M.Arch (Committee Chair); Aarati Kanekar Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture