Impact of Anonymity and Social Modeling: Online Aggression in Emerging Adults and Their Religious and Political Ideologies

This dissertation investigated online aggression in emerging adults to understand the contextual power of anonymity and social modeling. Emerging adults are characterized as undergoing a period of identity exploration, instability, self-focus, transition, and possibility (Arnett, 2004). Given the importance of identity development at this stage of the lifespan, this research explored religiosity/spirituality and political ideology; two pivotal belief systems that are introspectively evaluated and molded in emerging adults as they separate their identities from their world views (Barry & Nelson, 2004). Furthermore, this dissertation sought to apply religiosity/spirituality and political ideology to the previously established link of anonymity and social modeling and their joined impact on online aggression (Zimmerman & Ybarra, 2016). Behavioral temptation to aggress and participant responses following interaction on a mock blog was recorded and analyzed in situations of anonymity and positive or neutral social models. Aggressive social modeling influenced blog posts and behavioral temptation to aggress. Religiosity/spirituality and political attitudes moderated aggression in blog posts

Funding Irrationality

This Article challenges the conventional wisdom that claimants in class action settlement funds and other settlement funds make independent and rational settlement decisions. Cognitive psychologists and behavioral economists have long examined the way people make judgments and choices. Such studies show that decisionmakers routinely change their minds based on their view of the status quo, the timing of the decision, and the presence of seemingly irrelevant choices. Because of these cognitive biases, people will buy things they do not want, save too little for retirement, and make risky choices about their health and well-being based on the timing, context, and framing of the decision. Applying findings from cognitive psychology, I argue that people will make the same kinds of irrational decisions about their settlement options in a large settlement fund. As a result, cognitive biases threaten to undermine many of the stated purposes of large settlement funds-to provide claimants with access, efficiency, and equity superior to what they could obtain in traditional litigation. Accordingly, fund designers -judges, lawmakers, and special masters-should adjust settlement procedures to account for cognitive bias. I call this process funding irrationality -identifying and, in some cases, capitalizing on people\u27s cognitive biases in large settlement funds by altering the context, timing, and sequence of their settlement options. Fund designers, however, should avoid reforms that unduly eliminate settlement options, or that impose excessive administrative costs. Rather, the benefits of any reform-preventing avoidable harm to irrational claimants-must outweigh the potential costs, including the value of client autonomy, the chance of error, and the burden on the courts and public administrators

Cover Crop Treatment Impacts on Selected Soil Health Indicators in Two Tennessee Long-term No-till Corn-Soybean Rotations

Soil hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) and soil microbial biomass carbon (SMB-C) estimates in Tennessee no-till corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) rotation systems may be changed with cover crops. This study assessed differences in Ksat rates and SMB-C values under common cover crop treatments of two no-till corn and soybean rotation systems in west and middle Tennessee. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), wheat/crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), cereal rye/crimson clover, a five species mix (containing cereal rye, crimson clover, whole oats (Avena sativa L.), daikon radish (Raphanus sativus L.), and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa L.)), a three species mix (containing wheat, crimson clover, and Austrian winter peas (Pisum sativum L.)), and another three species mix (containing cereal rye, crimson clover, and Austrian winter peas) were planted as winter cover crops and compared with a control (no cover crop) at two University of Tennessee Research & Education Centers: the University of Tennessee\u27s Research and Education Center at Milan (UTRECM) and the Middle Tennessee Research & Education Center at Spring Hill (MTREC). The UTRECM site was dominated by two soil series: Providence silt loam (Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Oxyaquic Fragiudalf) and Center silt loam (Fine-silty, mixed, active, thermic Aquic Hapludalf). The MTREC site also had two soil series: Maury silt loam (fine, mixed, active, mesic Typic Paleudalf) and Huntington silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, active, mesic Fluventic Hapludoll). Ksat rates were measured using a SATURO Dual-Head Infiltrometer from METER Group Inc. (Pullman, Washington). SMB-C values were estimated using the microBIOMETER® test from Prolific Earth Sciences (Montgomery, New York). The Ksat and SMB-C data from both locations provided no statistically significant treatment results and had large spatial variability. It is hypothesized that the lack of significant differences for infiltration or SMB-C between cover crop treatments is due to the current agricultural management on both landscapes which provides a good habitat for earthworms and other soil macro-arthropods and thus the development of extensive preferential flow pathways resulting in soil moisture regimes that also provide suitable conditions for soil microbial biomass

Online Aggression : The Influences of Anonymity and Social Modeling

Behavioral temptation to aggress and participant blog responses following a group word unscrambling game were examined in situations of anonymity and positive or negative social modeling. Anonymous participants were more aggressive than non-anonymous participants. Also, social modeling seemed to moderate the effect of anonymity on behavioral temptation to aggress as well as verbal aggression via blog posts. Specifically, anonymous participants responded more aggressively when they viewed aggressive models following failure in a team word unscrambling game. These findings suggest that although anonymity may increase the likelihood that individuals will aggress, social modeling may influence aggressive outcomes

The Criminal Class Action

Over the past ten years, in a variety of high-profile corporate scandals, prosecutors have sought billions of dollars in restitution for crimes ranging from environmental dumping and consumer scams to financial fraud. In what we call “criminal class action” settlements, prosecutors distribute that money to groups of victims as in a civil class action while continuing to pursue the traditional criminal justice goals of retribution and deterrence. Unlike civil class actions, however, the emerging criminal class action lacks critical safeguards for victims entitled to compensation. While prosecutors are encouraged, and even required by statute, to seek victim restitution, they lack adequate rules requiring them to (1) coordinate with other civil lawsuits that seek the same relief for victims, (2) hear victims’ claims, (3) identify conflicts between different parties, and (4) divide the award among victims. We argue that prosecutors may continue to play a limited role in compensating victims for widespread harm. However, when prosecutors compensate multiple victims in a criminal class action, prosecutors should adopt rules similar to those that exist in private litigation to ensure that the victims receive fair and efficient compensation. We propose four solutions to give victims more voice in their own redress while preserving prosecutorial discretion: (1) that prosecutors and courts coordinate overlapping settlements before a single federal judge, (2) that prosecutors involve representative stakeholders in settlement discussions through a mediation-like process, (3) that courts subject prosecutors’ distribution plans to independent review to police potential conflicts of interest, and (4) that prosecutors adopt the distribution guidelines the American Law Institute developed for large-scale civil litigation to balance victims’ competing interests