Anthropology - Butler University

pleasant mood. In addition, participants in an unpleasant mood reported more unpleasant
thoughts while completing the word search puzzle than those in a pleasant mood. This pattern
was consistent across task-focused thoughts, thoughts about task performance, and non-taskrelated
thoughts. This study replicates findings from the past literature that mind-wandering is
more common when individuals are in an unpleasant than a pleasant mood. It expands on past
research by demonstrating that mood also affects the content of mind-wandering, with
individuals in an unpleasant mood being more likely to have unpleasant thoughts while
completing a complex task.
Mentoring and its Effect on Emotional Intelligence
Meredith Tarplee, Faculty Sponsor: Linda Swindell, Anderson University
This study investigates the role of mentoring on emotional intelligence in middle-school
youth. Specifically, I am hypothesizing a position correlation between mentoring experiences
and emotional intelligence. Participants will be sixth grade students from a middle school
classroom located in a medium-sized Midwestern city. All participants will be given a definition
of mentoring and their mentoring experiences will be surveyed. Then, they will complete a 20-
item questionnaire surveying emotional intelligence (R. Haskett and D. Neidart, 2006). Data
will be analyzed using correlation statistics and implications of the study will be discussed.
Multicultural Teaching Practices: Student Views about the Effect of Multicultural
Teaching Practices on their Education and Learning Environment
Alexis Taylor & Janalee Redden, Faculty Sponsor: Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, Indiana
University/Purdue University at Indianapolis
As the world makes strides toward globalization, the demand for improved methods of
multicultural teaching (MT) at the university level has dramatically increased. With growing
diversity on campus, the demand for more multicultural teaching is at an all time high. Although
the demands for MT practices are high, a recent survey at IUPUI revealed that many faculties
continue to refrain from multicultural teaching due to a fear of backlash from both the students
and other faculty members (Khaja, Springer, Bigatti, Gibau, Whiteland, & Grove, 2011). In an
effort to evaluate IUPUI’s goal to incorporate more diversity, a survey on the university’s MT
practices was distributed online to students that attend various schools on campus (N=4000,
primarily juniors and seniors). The 466 respondents that took the survey were asked to respond
to open-ended questions about their perception of multicultural teaching practices on campus.
They were also provided with an opportunity to offer ideas on how the university could advance
in the area of teaching diversity. The open-ended questions were quantified by creating coding
categories which were pulled from common themes from the responses. Preliminary analyses
suggest that the overall reactions to partaking in multicultural teaching practices are being
viewed as being beneficial to student’s future endeavors. The analyses could alleviate some of
the current concerns of the faculty and increase the percent of faculty that choose to participate in
Multicultural Teaching.
The Discrepancy between Expectations and Reality: Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships
Brandi Tedder & Jessica Miller, Faculty Sponsor: Stephen Dine Young, Hanover College