INQUIRY

New York University • College of Arts and Science
their relative economic importance and because the region
as a whole benefits from the FTA due to increased total
trade volumes.
Social Support: How Mothers Teach Their Children
about Hidden Affordances
Gloria Norton, Psychology
Sponsor: Professor Karen Adolph, Psychology
Closures are ubiquitous in daily activities: e.g.,
toothpaste tubes, cabinets, cereal boxes, zippers, buttons,
shoelaces. The target actions for opening each closure are
not directly perceptible; instead, they must be learned. By
observing how mothers teach children to open containers, it
can be better understood whether social support helps children
learn the necessary actions for activities of daily living.
47 mothers were asked to teach their 12- to 54-month-olds
to open containers. Mothers had 30 seconds to get their children
to open over-cap (Tupperware) containers to retrieve
a treat. Six categories of social support were identified: 1)
general encouragement to keep children on task, 2) verbal
instruction about the target action, 3) gesturing the target
action or critical location on the container, 4) modeling the
action by opening the container, 5) stabilizing the container
and 6) hands-on guidance. Overall, social support decreased
with children’s age and general encouragement was the
most frequent form of social support. Before 30 months of
age, children only opened successfully when mothers stabilized
the container or provided hands-on guidance; after
30 months, children opened successfully without mothers
decreasing task demands. These data provide information
about how mothers teach their children to cope with activities
of daily living.
The Effect of Same-Race Peers and Faculty on the
Academic Success and Social Engagement of Minority,
First-Generation College Students
Deanna Oliver, Global Public Health/Sociology, Politics
Sponsor: Professor Jennifer Jennings, Sociology
The purpose of this project is to identify the relationship,
if any, between the academic and social involvement of
minority, first-generation college students and their engagement
with faculty and peers of the same race. The primary
phase of this research involved distributing a survey to assess
academic achievement, social engagement, the presence of
same-race peers and the presence of same-race faculty. The
final phase required compiling data and identifying relationships
among variables. The results of this study indicate
a strong association between students’ engagement with
same-race peers and advisors, on the one hand, and their
academic performance and involvement on campus, on the
other. Despite the growing body of research related to the
success of first-generation college students, there is little
research focused specifically on minority, first-generation
college students, who may in fact be at greater risk of academic
failure and social disengagement. In order to create
environments conducive to the success of these students,
educators and researchers must understand which factors
and circumstances most heavily influence their academic
performance and social involvement.
The Generation that Transformed Fashion: How Young
Chinese Millennials Have Transformed the Fashion
Industry
Sasha Padbidri, Global Liberal Studies
Sponsor: Professor Ascension Mejorado, Liberal Studies
This thesis argues that the consumer habits of Chinese
millennials are redefining the terms “fashion” and “luxury.”
It further examines how the current Anti-Graft Campaign as
initiated by the Chinese government in 2013 unknowingly
triggered this phenomenon by forcing foreign luxury brands
in China to distance themselves from the terms “elite” and
“luxury” and to subsequently reposition themselves to a
younger and Westernized consumer base. Through observations,
interviews and case study analysis, this thesis also
explores how the destigmatization of the “Made in China”
logo and the resurgence of Chinese creativity has subsequently
emerged as implications of both the government’s
actions and increasing demand from Chinese millennials.
At the same time, this thesis looks at how overseas luxury
consumption from Chinese tourists has affected how brands
have reconstructed their China strategy. Indeed, in meticulously
combining the aspects of governance, consumerism
and the business of fashion, a broad perspective is presented
on how brands can successfully market to this group of
consumers.
Motor Planning in Infant Locomotion: Infants Align
their Feet to Stop Walking
Katherine Pan, Psychology
Sponsor: Professor Karen Adolph, Psychology
When infants freely explore the environment, they start
and stop walking in bouts varying from one step to hundreds
of steps. Sometimes infants stop walking at an obstacle,
to change postures or for no apparent reason. This study
wanted to determine whether infants plan to stop before
they actually do. Foot alignment was used as a measure
of planning: whether they stop walking with their toes and
heels completely aligned or with the feet offset front to
back. The number of times infants end walking bouts with
their feet aligned was quantified. The study also examined
whether infants make adjustments by pivoting their foot
after they end a bout with their feet misaligned, a behavior
taken to signify a correction for poorly planned stopping.
13- to 19-month-old infant walkers were video recorded as
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