The prevalence and potential harmful effects of conspiracy theories have garnered increasing attention from psychologists. Understanding the psychological and social factors that contribute to...Show moreThe prevalence and potential harmful effects of conspiracy theories have garnered increasing attention from psychologists. Understanding the psychological and social factors that contribute to belief in conspiracy theories is crucial for managing the preventative measures and promoting evidence-based decision-making. However, the field of psychology has recently faced challenges regarding the replicability and robustness of research findings. This bachelor thesis aims to investigate the robustness and replicability of interaction effects in a study on beliefs in conspiracy theories and attitudes towards anti-coronavirus measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The thesis extracts data from a study by Hudecek et al. (2022) on the psychological correlates of beliefs in conspiracy theories in Germany. Specifically, it examines the interaction effect between dark triad personality traits and social status in predicting belief in conspiracy theories. The thesis utilizes resampling to test the robustness of the interaction effects. The analysis includes three subsamples (random, central, extreme) with three dropout conditions (10%, 20%, 30%). F tests are conducted to assess the variance between two given methods. The results revealed that the distribution of the interaction coefficients remain fairly stable in the central resampling approach pointing to robustness, however, significant inconsistencies were observed in the random and extreme resampling approach. Future research calls for replicating the study in diverse populations, investigating additional predictors of belief in conspiracy theories and testing the robustness and replicability of previous findings to address the replication crisis in the social sciences.Show less
The goal of this thesis research is to test if the prevalence of vertebral pathological conditions reflect hard labour/tough life in the Arnhem Eusebiuskerk population and a lowstatus, middle...Show moreThe goal of this thesis research is to test if the prevalence of vertebral pathological conditions reflect hard labour/tough life in the Arnhem Eusebiuskerk population and a lowstatus, middle-status and high-status population from London. The vertebral pathological conditions that have been compared are vertebral osteoarthritis, osteophytes, intervertebral disc disease, Schmorl’s nodes and fusion. First, the prevalence of the vertebral pathological conditions have been compared between the Arnhem population and the three London populations. After that, the prevalence has been compared between the males and females within each population followed by a comparison of the prevalence across the age categories. The latter has been done for each population as well. Lastly, the male and female sample of the populations have been compared separately between the Arnhem population and the three London populations. To summarise, there does seem to be a relationship between vertebral pathology and social status in the Arnhem and London populations. Most vertebral pathological conditions are namely more prevalent in the low-status Arnhem population than in the higher status London populations. The prevalence of the vertebral pathological conditions in the lowstatus St. Arnhem population is similar to that of the low-status St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard population. Based on this, it can be inferred that the vertebral pathological conditions are more common in the lower status populations than in the higher status populations of this thesis. This could have been the result of the kind of labour these status groups were involved in. Furthermore, there does seem to be a difference in the prevalence of the vertebral pathological conditions between males and females; in three out of four populations (all except the St. Benet Sherehog population) males may have had harder working conditions than the females. When the prevalence in the male and female sample of the population were compared between Arnhem and the three London populations separately, a trend can be seen that may indicate that at least the males of the Arnhem population had harder working conditions than those in the other populations. The results have also shown that there are some biases. The first bias is that the statistically significant differences in the vertebral pathological conditions are more influenced by the male sample than by the female sample in all populations with Schmorl’s nodes likely being influenced by biological variation to some extent. Furthermore, the development of many of the vertebral pathological conditions are, at least to some extent, influenced by age in all populations.Show less
The Nollywood film industry appeared very recently but has gained much fame and esteem in its short presence. With recent films, that are not only crossing borders but also continents, its...Show moreThe Nollywood film industry appeared very recently but has gained much fame and esteem in its short presence. With recent films, that are not only crossing borders but also continents, its popularity and growth cannot be neglected. Since a couple of years, there is a new trend in Nollywood films, which is referred to as ‘New’ Nollywood (Haynes 2014). This trend consists of high budget films that are intended for a larger audience in comparison to mainstream or ‘classic’ Nollywood films. This paper will provide an inside in the world of Nollywood and New Nollywood; their landscape, productions, formats and complications. In order to achieve a deeper understanding of Nollywood films, and more specifically New Nollywood films, my aim is to analyse a recent film production in the light of perceptions of social status in Lagos, Nigeria. This film, The Wedding Party (2016), portrays a marriage between a wealthy high society family and a middle-class family. It is a romantic comedy, a humorous love story of a couple and both their parents (IMDb, n.d.).Show less
Language attitude is one of the most critical issues in sociolinguistics and since the study of Lambert et al. (1960), relevant research with various research methods has proliferated. The research...Show moreLanguage attitude is one of the most critical issues in sociolinguistics and since the study of Lambert et al. (1960), relevant research with various research methods has proliferated. The research results can help explain the nature of the distribution of language variations and is of vital importance when considering language restoration, maintenance or death. Besides, the language attitude research has theoretical significance on language planning and policy. The purpose of the current study is to determine the evaluative reactions of the younger generation in Rongcheng towards speakers of the standard language, Putonghua, and the non-standard variety, Rongcheng dialect. 47 high school and university students in Rongcheng participated in the study and the direct method of questionnaire and the indirect method of the matched guise technique are combined. In the matched guise experiment, six guises were selected for evaluation in the dimensions of social status and group solidarity. Generally speaking, on solidarity dimension, Rongcheng dialect is rated higher than Putonghua, while on status dimension, Putonghua is rated higher. The accented Putonghua is a form between Putonghua and Rongcheng dialect. On social status dimension, it is rated lowest compared with Putonghua and Rongcheng dialect and on group solidarity it is rated similarly to Putonghua. The findings indicate that Rongcheng dialect is the language variety with covert prestige in Rongcheng. Besides, subjects’ language attitude tend to be multi-valued: factors such as gender, educational level and etc. are linked to subjects' differentiated attitude towards Rongcheng dialect and Putonghua.Show less
In this thesis the possible correlation between vertebral pathologies and social status was examined in two post-medieval populations from London (1700-1850 AD). One group contained individuals of...Show moreIn this thesis the possible correlation between vertebral pathologies and social status was examined in two post-medieval populations from London (1700-1850 AD). One group contained individuals of high social status, Chelsea Old Church, and one of lower social status, Cross Bones. As it could be expected that individuals of lower social class may have undertaken more physically demanding activities, vertebral pathologies which can appear as a result of stress should be more abundant in the Cross Bones group. Conversely diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), a disease associated with dietary excess should be more visible in high social status groups. The groups are compared using age groups and chi-squared tests.Show less
