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<strong>INQUIRY</strong> • Volume 19, 2015 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) followed by Sanger sequencing, Bayesian and maximum likelihood (ML) analyses of nuclear DNA sequences were performed. The data were subject to gene tree-species tree analyses and a STRUCTURE analysis to infer population differentiation. These molecular approaches showed support for the distinction between Galagoides zanzibaricus and Galagoides cocos despite their nearly identical morphology. Molecular analyses are an important way to shed light on relationships between extant species. Proper classification of populations into species and subspecies also has major implications for conservation efforts. Through Rain or Shine: The Effect of Natural Disasters on Incumbent Vote Share Thomas Arce, International Relations Sponsor: Professor Leonid Peisakhin, Politics One of the most prominent theories on elections and voting states that elections serve as a mechanism for holding incumbent politicians accountable for their past actions and policies. Some political scientists, however, argue that not only do voters not have enough information to judge incumbents’ past policies, but voters often punish incumbents for events that are completely outside their control. This research tests these competing theories by studying the relationship between natural disasters and voting behavior in Canadian federal and provincial elections. Specifically, it examines the effects of natural disaster damage and government relief spending on incumbent vote share. While both natural disaster damage and government relief spending have an effect on incumbent vote share, relief spending has a greater and more statistically significant effect than disaster damage in both federal and provincial elections. These results suggest that although voters punish incumbents for the occurrence of a natural disaster, they still hold incumbents accountable for how they responded to the disaster. As such, the results of this research seem to support the validity of the electoral accountability theory. Explaining the Variation in Government Digital Surveillance in OECD Countries: Evidence from Online Giants Deniz Duru Aydin, European and Mediterranean Studies, Politics Sponsor: Professor Leonid Peisakhin, Politics Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations of blanket surveillance programs carried out by democratic states around the world with little or no oversight have sparked a debate on the existence of and the right to privacy online. It is certain that online communications data is being used for intelligence gathering and law enforcement purposes around the world in the face of terrorism risks and the increasing usage 37
New York University • College of Arts and Science of social media by terrorist groups as well as new forms of cybercrime. However, due to the inherently covert nature of surveillance and the lack of uniformity in intelligence oversight and transparency, two related questions remain unanswered: To what extent do democratic states differ in their commitment to digital surveillance efforts? Are there any factors that can explain such differences? This paper tries to answer these questions by using publicly available data on account information requests for 2013 and the first half of 2014 extracted from tech company transparency reports as a proxy for the differences in digital surveillance efforts carried out by democratic states. The findings show that impact of terrorism and participation in intelligence alliances increase surveillance on the internet. Irish Gaelic: Politics and Perpetuation Josh Azar, English, Journalism Sponsor: Professor Brooke Kroeger, Journalism Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland have proposed legislation that would give official status to the Irish language. The legislation is being opposed by unionist politicians, who believe Northern Ireland benefits from its connection to the United Kingdom and wish to maintain that connection. The Irish language has existed for over a thousand years. It is the oldest extant written vernacular north of the Alps. And yet, in the last few centuries it has become extremely politicized and conflated with national identity. In the diaspora, however, the language has thrived and grown, divorced from Ireland’s political context. Based on independent research and many interviews with experts, native speakers and government employees, this project presents a brief history of the politicization of the Irish language, its current status and informed speculation on its possible future. While there are academic writings on the topic, there are not many long-form journalism articles, and so the issues Irish Gaelic faces are mostly inaccessible to people who do not speak or study the language. Many people, including some in Northern Ireland, do not even know the language exists. Perception of Others Who Admit Susceptibility to Prejudice Emily Badin, Psychology Sponsor: Professor Tessa West, Psychology Even people who are motivated to be fair and unprejudiced behave in prejudiced ways. Because seeming prejudiced is socially undesirable, people attempt to appear unprejudiced. Although previous research has documented the effects of a target admitting prejudice, the question of how the target evaluates another who admits susceptibility to prejudice remains unexplored. The present research explored how a racial in-group member’s willingness to admit susceptibility to prejudice influences anticipatory in-group interactions. Specifically, same race affiliation (e.g., positivity behaviors) was examined in two domains: interest in contact and trust. Seventy nonBlack students were recruited and told they would be interacting with a partner about either a race related topic or a race neutral topic. The participant responded to a variety of scenarios that measured admission to susceptibility to prejudice and then received their potential partner’s answers for review. The participant evaluated their partner on interest in contact and trust. As was predicted, participants rated their interaction partner more negatively when their partner admitted high susceptibility to prejudice. Biases and prejudices will continue to proliferate if those who hold these biases do not feel comfortable admitting them. Research in this domain can provide an important empirical base to foster positive interpersonal interactions. Through the Haze: Emotion as a Tool to Process Uncertainty Augustus Baker, Psychology Sponsor: Professor Elizabeth Phelps, Psychology Emotion plays a key role in many of the decisions people make, but its role in decision making under uncertainty is still unclear. Uncertainty can be parsed into two parameters: risk (which refers to outcome probabilities that are known) and ambiguity (which refers to outcome probabilities that are unknown or partially known). Prior research has shown that while most people are somewhat averse to both risk and ambiguity, they tend to exhibit higher aversion to ambiguity than to risk (Levy, Belmaker et al., 2012). This study examines whether emotional arousal accounts for the differences in how people process and respond to risk versus ambiguity. As a proxy for arousal participants’ Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs) while they made decisions about whether to play lotteries with varying degrees of risk and ambiguity were collected. It was found that higher SCRs predict aversion to ambiguous lotteries but not risky ones. These findings support the original hypothesis and indicate that emotional arousal plays a key role in guiding decision making under uncertainty. This knowledge can help elucidate the mechanisms behind maladaptive behaviors such as gambling addiction and possibly give insight into new ways of changing these behaviors. The Role of Trait Learning in Predicting Social Choices across Time Stacy Beach, Psychology Sponsor: Professor Yaacov Trope, Psychology In social situations, one learns many things about the individuals with whom one interacts. Information learned about people can range from their personality traits to the 38
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