Themen für Bachelorarbeiten

Beschreibung: Exhaustion is a common experience in daily life, often resulting from the demands of work and other activities. To counterbalance this, individuals engage in a variety of leisure and recovery activities aimed at recharging their energy for the following day. However, research on the dynamic processes of exhaustion and recovery, as well as the factors influencing day-to-day variability, remains limited.

This bachelor thesis aims to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature on exhaustion and recovery, with a specific focus on studies employing Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). The primary objective is to
provide a comprehensive summary of the methodologies, approaches, and key findings in this field. By synthesizing these insights, the thesis will contribute to a deeper understanding
of how exhaustion and recovery processes unfold in real-world contexts and highlight potential avenues for future research.

Chawla, N., MacGowan, R. L., Gabriel, A. S., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2020). Unplugging or staying connected? Examining the nature, antecedents, and consequences of profiles of daily recovery experiences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(1), 19.
Kontakt: Beatrice Tarapoanca, MSc, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Exhaustion is crucial to people's daily lives, impacting their overall wellbeing and performance. Measuring mental exhaustion is a challenging question that researchers have been working on. This thesis aims to review various indicators and approaches employed to effectively assess mental exhaustion. For instance, self-report scales, physiological markers, and cognitive performance tasks. The thesis shall offer valuable guidance for future research in understanding and addressing the complexities of the construct of exhaustion.

Smith, Mitchell R., Rifai Chai, Hung T. Nguyen, Samuele M. Marcora, and Aaron J. Coutts. 2019. Comparing the Effects of Three Cognitive Tasks on Indicators of Mental Fatigue. The Journal of Psychology 153(8):759?83. doi: 10.1080/00223980.2019.1611530.

Kontakt: Ziqi Zhang, M.Ed., E-Mail

Beschreibung: Humans are social beings. Belonging to and identifying with social groups forms part of a person?s self-concept and takes on emotional significance and our behavior is influenced by that of the people around us in various ways. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide a review of the literature on how and why moral or immoral deeds by an ingroup influence prosocial behavior. In addition to positive effects via social learning and norms, possible negative effects should be considered and discussed. More specifically, there is some evidence for moral licensing in response to moral behavior by ingroup members (Meijers et al., 2019), and for moral compensation in response to moral transgressions (e.g., colonialism; Martinovic et al., 2021).

The thesis can be written in English or German.

Martinovic, B., Freihorst, K., & Bobowik, M. (2021). To Apologize or to Compensate for Colonial Injustices? The Role of Representations of the Colonial Past, Group-Based Guilt, and In Group Identification. International Review of Social Psychology, 34(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.484

Meijers, M. H. C., Noordewier, M. K., Verlegh, P. W. J., Zebregs, S., & Smit, E. G. (2019). Taking Close Others? Environmental Behavior Into Account When Striking the Moral Balance? Evidence for Vicarious Licensing, Not for Vicarious Cleansing. Environment and Behavior, 51(9?10), 1027?1054. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916518773148
Kontakt: Jasmin Weber, MSc, E-Mail

Beschreibung: People adopt the prosocial behaviors they observe in others, but the reasons behind this tendency are complex and multifaceted. Social relationships may play a crucial role, as individuals are more likely to conform to prosocial behavior within close-knit connections, such as friends or family, than with strangers. This bachelor?s thesis will examine why people adopt others? prosocial behaviors and how the nature of social relationships influences this process. Through a literature review, this thesis will provide a comprehensive overview of social conformity and influence within relationships, offering insights into the social dynamics of prosociality.

Jones, B. A. (2022). A review of social discounting: The impact of social distance on altruism. The Psychological Record, 72(3), 511-515.
Kontakt: Dr. Sae In Lee, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Prosocial behavior, defined as voluntary actions that benefit others and are costly to actors, often shows a positive correlation with age. This might be influenced by societal expectations, age-related expectations, and social norms that emphasize warmth and generosity in older individuals. These norms could shape prosocial behaviors observed among different age groups. This bachelor?s thesis will conduct a comprehensive literature review to investigate the relationship between social norms, age-related expectations, and prosocial behavior across adulthood. By synthesizing findings from existing studies, this thesis aims to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of societal expectations on prosocial actions at different stages of adulthood.

de Paula Couto, M. C., & Rothermund, K. (2022). Prescriptive views of aging: disengagement, activation, wisdom, and dignity as normative expectations for older people. In Subjective views of aging: theory, research, and practice (pp. 59-75). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Kontakt: Dr. Sae In Lee, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Prosocial behavior has been explored by diverse theoretical frameworks and underlying mechanisms that may emphasize either intentions, costs and benefits or societal context. The absence of a unified consensus on the definition of prosociality persists, leaving the existence of a common ground open to interpretation. Yet, it is imperative to appreciate the benefits inherent in the multitude of conceptualizations and definitions of prosociality, each tailored to the unique demands of different fields. This bachelor's thesis aims to overview various conceptualizations of prosociality from literature and experimentally investigate the (dis)advantages associated with multiple definitions versus a shared conceptual ground for prosociality.

Pfattheicher, S., Nielsen, Y. A., & Thielmann, I. (2022). Prosocial behavior and altruism: A review of concepts and definitions. Current opinion in psychology, 44, 124-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.021
Kontakt: Dr. Sae In Lee, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Despite growing interest in prosocial behavior, understanding prosociality across cultures raises key challenges. Cultural differences and varying emphases on underlying mechanisms (e.g., intentions, societal norms) complicate consistent measurement. Researchers often adapt self-report items to fit cultural contexts, but it might risk altering the construct of prosociality itself, leading to potential misinterpretations. This bachelor?s thesis reviews existing measurement methods across cultures, critically examines these adaptations, and assesses whether they truly capture the core construct of prosociality. By proposing more comprehensive yet culturally sensitive measurement approaches, this work aims to support a more reliable and comparable understanding of prosocial behavior across cultures.

Baumsteiger, R., & Siegel, J. T. (2019). Measuring prosociality: The development of a prosocial behavioral intentions scale. Journal of personality assessment, 101(3), 305-314.
Kontakt: Dr. Sae In Lee, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Mental effort is a highly explored concept in fields of study related to human behavior. However, disentangling mental effort from task demands, performance, and arousal is not straight forward. For this thesis, you are tasked with identifying and discussing potential psychophysiological measures as indicators of mental effort, exhaustion and/or recovery.

Gieseler, K., Loschelder, D. D., Job, V., & Friese, M. (2021). A preregistered test of competing theories to explain ego depletion effects using psychophysiological indicators of mental effort. Motivation Science, 7(1), 32?45. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000183

Thomson, K. S., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2022). The ?effort elephant? in the room: What is effort, anyway? Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 17(6), 1633?1652. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211064896
Kontakt: Tove Hensler, MSc, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Ob das Ergebnis einer Entscheidung als Gewinn oder Verlust wahrgenommen wird, hängt von unseren Zielen oder Referenzpunkten ab. Motivationale Veränderungen im höheren Erwachsenenalter beeinflussen somit auch Entscheidungs- und Urteilsprozesse. Diese Arbeit soll einen Überblick über die Forschung zu altersbezogenen Unterschieden in Erwartungen und Referenzpunkten (und damit der Beurteilung von Gewinnen und Verlusten) bei Entscheidungsprozessen geben und die empirische Forschung zu diesem Thema berücksichtigen.

Heath, C., Larrick, R. P., & Wu, G. (1999). Goals as reference points. Cognitive Psychology, 38(1), 79-109.
Kontakt: Dr. Sebastian Horn, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Soziale Normen strukturieren unser Verhalten. In Krisenzeiten wie der Coronapandemie entstehen neue soziale Normen. Gerade in Krisenzeiten orientieren sich viele Menschen stärker an sozialen Normen. In dieser Bachelorarbeit soll untersucht werden, wie neue soziale Normen in Krisenzeiten entstehen und wie sich diese auf da Verhalten von Personen auswirken können.

Rudert, S. C., & Janke, S. (2022). Following the crowd in times of crisis: Descriptive norms predict physical distancing, stockpiling, and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(7), 1819-1835.
Kontakt: Sophie Louise Kittelberger, MA, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Soziale Identität leistet einen wichtigen Erklärungsbeitrag, um zu verstehen, weshalb Individuen riskantes Gesundheitsverhalten ausführen oder nicht. Individuen identifizieren sich mit sozialen Gruppen und verhalten sich gemäss den sozialen Normen dieser Gruppen, wenn die Identität dieser Gruppe salient ist. Wenn beispielsweise die Identität mit einer Gruppe von Freunden salient ist und es in dieser Gruppe die Norm ist, zu rauchen, dann könnte das Individuum, dass sich mit der Gruppe identifiziert, eher bereit sein, ebenfalls zu rauchen. In diesem Projekt geht es darum, die Effekte von sozialer Identität auf das Gesundheitsverhalten im Erwachsenenalter zu untersuchen.

Jetten, J., Haslam, S. A. & Haslam, C. (2012). The case for a social identity analysis of health and well-being. In Jetten, J., Haslam, C., & Haslam, S. A. (Ed.). The social cure: Identity, health and well-being (pp. 4-19). London: Psychology press.
Kontakt: Sophie Louise Kittelberger, MA, E-Mail