Modern research shows that emotions are expressed in many ways and at different intensity levels, and it highlights the need to consider individual differences and the complexity of emotions to...Show moreModern research shows that emotions are expressed in many ways and at different intensity levels, and it highlights the need to consider individual differences and the complexity of emotions to fully understand emotion recognition. This study aims to fill this gap by looking at how gender and age affect recognizing both simple and complex emotions using naturalistic (non-posed) expressions. The study involved 25 children aged 9 to 12 years and 54 adults aged 18 to 37 years. These participants watched videos showing naturalistic expressions of happiness, fear, sadness, and disgust and then rated the emotions using sliding scales. No significant gender differences were found in recognizing both simple and complex emotions, which challenges previous studies suggesting women have an advantage. This might be due to the use of naturalistic emotional expression stimuli. Adults outperformed children in both simple and complex emotion recognition, suggesting that emotional recognition improves with age. Happiness was more easily recognized than sadness and disgust, indicating some emotions are easier to identify. While no significant gender differences were found for specific emotions, adults were better than children at recognizing happiness and disgust. These results emphasize the need for more subtle and naturalistic stimuli in emotion research to better reflect real-world experiences. They also highlight the importance of considering individual differences and emotion complexity for a deeper understanding of how different people recognize emotions.Show less
Introduction: In daily life, individuals constantly encounter stimuli from both external environmental sources and internal emotional triggers. Often, these stimuli are filtered out, but sometimes...Show moreIntroduction: In daily life, individuals constantly encounter stimuli from both external environmental sources and internal emotional triggers. Often, these stimuli are filtered out, but sometimes this process fails, leading to a sensation of being 'overstimulated.' This can negatively impact daily functioning. As people age, sensory perception typically declines, which might affect stimulus processing. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between age and the degree of sensory processing. Method: Demographic data (age, gender, education level) were collected from individuals aged 18-67 years. Sensory processing was measured using the validated Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire (SPSQ). The relationship between age and sensory processing was analyzed in SPSS using Pearson's correlation analysis. Post-hoc, participants were divided into two groups: younger (<50 years) and older (≥50 years). The SPSQ scores between these groups were compared using an independent samples t-test. Results: A total of 134 individuals participated in the study. The median age was 44.5 years (IQR = 22.00 - 54.25) and 37.3% were male. The average SPSQ score for the group was 187.5 (SD = 25.3, range = 120-257). There was no significant relationship between age and SPSQ score (r = -.088, 95% CI [-.254, .083], p = .31). Additionally, there was no significant difference in SPSQ scores between the older (SPSQ score: 189.21) and younger (SPSQ score: 185.34) groups (t(133) = -.880, p = .190). Discussion: Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no effect of age on sensory processing sensitivity. This may indicate that there are no issues with sensory processing in individuals younger than 67 years. Several options for future research are discussed.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Daylight Saving Time (DST) is at its height of controversy in Europe and around the world, as many countries are considering abolishing it. However, little is known about how DST impacts...Show moreDaylight Saving Time (DST) is at its height of controversy in Europe and around the world, as many countries are considering abolishing it. However, little is known about how DST impacts individuals in naturalistic, cognitively-engaging tasks. By using smartphone touchscreen timestamp data from 336 participants in combination with a system identification and impulse response fitting approach, we measured changes in smartphone interactions for 15 days before and 15 days after spring and autumn DST transitions recorded from 2018 to 2021. Our aim was to explore the effect of DST smartphone interactions, including how long DST transitions impact individuals, whether individuals show similarities in their DST responses, and whether age and gender explain differences in DST responses. We found that most individuals were impacted by DST transitions, with a median recovery period of 26 days, almost twice as long as prior estimates. Additionally, hierarchical clustering revealed that some individuals show similarities in their responses to DST, in addition to large inter-individual differences. We also found that differences in the DST response are not explained by age or gender. We propose that large inter-individual differences in responses to DST might be explained by the ability for individuals to self-select their sleep-wake patterns independently of day-night cycles. Additionally, these large inter-individual differences could partly explain the controversy behind DST, as further investigation needs to be made into what causes individuals to respond differently to DST.Show less
In this thesis the Iron Age Italic armament subcollections of two Dutch museums have been investigated. These two museums are the Allard Pierson Museum (APM) in Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum van...Show moreIn this thesis the Iron Age Italic armament subcollections of two Dutch museums have been investigated. These two museums are the Allard Pierson Museum (APM) in Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO) in Leiden. The goals of this thesis were to identify each object in the subcollections, analyse the information that came from this research, find out how both subcollections have emerged, discover the use both museums made of their subcollection and to find out what the position of each museum in the ongoing debates on the acquisition and display of unprovenanced antiquities is through the scope of these small subcollections. The results are that both subcollections emerged through relatively similar causes; a combination of coincidence, the supply of these objects on the art market and a somewhat failed acquisition focus. Each museums has used their subcollection differently; the APM always have had many objects on display, grouped together typologically, while the RMO took a small selection from their subcollection and displayed them in more culturally divided exhibitions. While exhibiting these objects both museums had put on display objects that were only barely researched, if they had been researched at all. All objects of both museums that have been acquired after 1970 were bought legally, although it can be argued that some of these acquisitions are not very ethically responsible. Based on the acquisition history of both museums they kept themselves to the ICOM Code of Ethics since the 1990s-2000s, while still displaying the objects without pre-1970 ownership history. Therefore they do not belong to the Renfrew-Brodie side nor to the Boardman-Cuno side of the unprovenanced antiquities debate. They are positioned between these two parties, siding with Refrew and Brodie on the acquisition part, but with Boardman and Cuno on the display of these objects. It must be stressed that because of the small sample it appeared that there were only antiquities with a pre-1970 ownership history in the RMO, while in previous research it was already concluded that the RMO does have unprovenanced antiquities bought after 1970 in its collection. Therefore it is suggested that for comparable future research a bigger sample should be used to avoid similar situations. The final conclusion of this thesis is that both museums have acquired objects with incomplete ownership histories, and put these objects on display having only very limited information on these objects to inform the visitors. Therefore it can be said that they were “Exhibiting the Unknown”.Show less
In the historiography about education for Indonesian children in the Netherlands Indies, a legislative approach predominates. This causes a disregard for non-governmental educational initiatives,...Show moreIn the historiography about education for Indonesian children in the Netherlands Indies, a legislative approach predominates. This causes a disregard for non-governmental educational initiatives, and for those that that occurred outside Java. In this thesis, through in-dept analysis of schools in Java, the Minahasa and South New Guinea, educational ideologies and practices are researched while focusing on the question of how, and why, native childhoods were constructed in these contexts. 'Age' is a leading category of analysis here. This thesis shows that educational projects were not about 'uplifiting' children in the sense of social mobility. On the contrary, educators aimed at maintaining social hierarchies. This conclusion opens up space for a revision of the meaning of the Dutch 'civilizing mission' in the Netherlands Indies.Show less
This thesis was concerned with investigating affecting variables on language attitudes. Variables examined were age, gender and proficiency of the English language, in which catachresis was also...Show moreThis thesis was concerned with investigating affecting variables on language attitudes. Variables examined were age, gender and proficiency of the English language, in which catachresis was also looked into, as well as motives for borrowing loanwords.Show less
In Dutch society as a whole and via the education system, it can be seen that ICT is becoming a more popular medium for knowledge exchange. This study reviewed various background characteristics...Show moreIn Dutch society as a whole and via the education system, it can be seen that ICT is becoming a more popular medium for knowledge exchange. This study reviewed various background characteristics such as age, gender and years of experience of primary school teachers in relation to the educational use of ICT. A questionnaire was used and issued to 218 respondents in order to gather data to complete the quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis consisted of 10 interviews, 5 with male teachers and 5 with female teachers. The results showed that male teachers and teachers under the age of 45 are more likely to use and apply ICT methods and tools in their lessons for a multitude of educational purposes. It could also be seen that the Smartboard tool was the most predominantly used tool by the teachers surveyed. In conclusion, the number of years of experience of the teachers seems not to be as significant as their gender and age when considering the extent to which teachers will elect to use ICT tools in the classroom.Show less
The results of this research show that female participants have more positive attitudes towards English loanwords than male participants. Female participants were consistently more positive...Show moreThe results of this research show that female participants have more positive attitudes towards English loanwords than male participants. Female participants were consistently more positive regarding statements 1, 2 and 3 or, respectively, this is an ordinary Dutch sentence, the use of [loanword] is appropriate in this sentence and I would also make use of this sentence as can be found in Figure 1. Furthermore, there is significant correlation at the 0.05 level between both statement 2 and statement 3 and gender, which means that female participants have scored significantly higher than male participants for these statements. The results of this research also suggest that the mean scores of the participants become consistently lower when age increases for each of the statements. Figure 2 shows that the mean scores for the statements mentioned above consistently decrease when ages of the participants increase. These data suggest that older participants have more negative attitudes towards loanwords than younger participants. In furthermore, there is significant negative correlation at the 0.05 level between the statement I would also make use of this sentence and age. This implies that the attitudes towards using these loanwords are significantly more negative when the ages of the participants increase. This research indicated that most participants do not prefer alternative words to the used loanwords. Table 11 (in section 4.3) indicates that crash is the loanword with the most preferred alternatives as it is preferably replaced by ongeluk and neerstorten, according to nine and ten participants, respectively. Table 11 also indicates that seven participants prefer vraaggesprek to interview, six participants prefer behaald or gepresteerd to gescoord and five participants prefer peiling(en) and voorlopige uitslagen to exit polls. Preferred alternatives to the other loanwords were only provided by four participants or less, and are therefore not widely supported among the participants. In addition, the majority of the loanwords (all except crash) are catachrestic. Furthermore, the results of this research suggest that the participants generally consider that the used loanwords are more precise than other Dutch words. The second favoured reason is that participants consider that the used loanwords sound better regarding pronunciation, which can be found in Table 12.Show less
The level of pragmatic language of 38 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (M= 11.4, SD= 1.90) is compared with 84 children from a control-group (M= 10.6, SD= 1.11). First of all, the level of...Show moreThe level of pragmatic language of 38 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (M= 11.4, SD= 1.90) is compared with 84 children from a control-group (M= 10.6, SD= 1.11). First of all, the level of pragmatic language of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was compared with the group of typically developing children using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4-NL (CELF-4-NL). Furthermore, gender differences, the influence of age and the educational level of fathers on pragmatic language level of the ASD children has been examined and compared with the control-group. Finally, the influence of problems in reciprocal social interaction of ASD children on the level of pragmatic development has been examined. The Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R) was used to study the degree of problems in reciprocal social interaction. The results indicated a large difference between the pragmatic abilities of the ASD-group and the control-group. The children without ASD have significantly better developed pragmatic abilities. This result replicates other studies about the pragmatic abilities of ASD-children. Furthermore, the results showed that there is no difference between the pragmatic language level of boys and girls with ASD. In addition, the age of the child seems to have no influence on pragmatic abilities. It is recommended replicate this study in a more age-varied sample. The results also showed that a high level of education of fathers had a positive influence on pragmatic abilities of children without ASD, but not on the abilities of ASD-children. Finally, there was no effect of the degree of problems in reciprocal social interaction on the pragmatic abilities of children with ASD. This result was unexpected, because previous research concluded that social insight and empathy are important for using pragmatics.Show less
