Digital Commons Network^™

Lost In Digitization: Physical Products Are Vessels For Social Meaning, Oden H. Groth

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The explosion in digitization means that consumers increasingly have the opportunity to choose between digital and physical versions of products — for example, between an eBook and a paperback book. However, despite the popularity of digital objects, many people nonetheless prefer physical equivalents. This dissertation explores one reason why this may be the case; namely, that physical versions of objects and products are better vessels for social meaning. In chapter 1, explore the specialness of physical objects, and posit that materiality is critical for holding and embodying significance. In chapter 2, I investigate the effects of product format on perceptions …

The Social Construction Of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (Pmdd), Raya Balabanova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The creation of psychiatric diagnoses, otherwise known as psychiatric nosology, is a complex endeavor, one involving a great deal of social construction. One diagnosis in particular, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), exemplifies the different factors that go into the creation of psychiatric labels. After decades of research, activism, and debates, PMDD was included in the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM-5), which is widely used by clinicians in the U.S. This thesis aims to describe how the symptoms described by PMDD caught the attention of the medical profession and how PMDD was shaped into the diagnosis it is today. The introduction of …

A Survey Study Of Speech-Language Therapists’ Experiences With Teletherapy At The Onset Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Jason A. Rosas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study aimed to understand how delivering pediatric treatment services via ‘teletherapy’ affected speech-language therapists (SLTs) during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in 2020. SLTs reported on their experiences with the change from in-person to remote service delivery via two national surveys distributed at the start of the pandemic between April 2020 and July 2020. To explain SLTs’ survey responses, this dissertation introduced the Professional Adaptation Model (PA Model). The PA Model facilitated evaluation of the SLTs’ professional environment and the psychological constructs of their professional identity believed to influence the transition to speech-language teletherapy. Specifically, …

Retrieval Practice Promotes Learning Of Turkish As A Foreign Language: A Computer-Assisted Language Learning Study, Maya C. Rose

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adults generally find it difficult to learn a new language, yet exhibit remarkable individual differences in outcomes. Variation in second language (L2) learning is associated with input conditions (Morgan-Short et al., 2010) as well as learners’ aptitude (Dörnyei, 2005). Recent work has demonstrated benefits of retrieval practice in promoting L2 learning of grammatical patterns and vocabulary in both artificial and natural languages (Hopman & MacDonald, 2018; Keppenne et al., 2021). With that said, when retrieval practice is based on oral recall as opposed to a recognition test, it confounds potential benefits of repeated testing (Rowland, 2014) with those associated with …

The Differential Effects Of Acoustic Discriminations On Operant Learning Performance And Neurogenesis In Male And Female Zebra Finches, Kristena L. Newman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adult neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons, occurs throughout the lifespan in most organisms. However, though neuronal proliferation occurs daily, most of these neurons do not survive to become incorporated into preexisting neural circuitry and become fully functioning neurons. In the mammalian brain, adult neurogenesis occurs within the hippocampus, a brain region known to be important in learning and memory. In rats, successful acquisition of certain learning tasks increased new neuron numbers when the learning was sufficiently challenging (Curlik and Shors, 2011). It has also been demonstrated that a spatial discrimination task requires new neurons when the discrimination is more …

Relationships Between Sensory Reactivity, Restricted And Repetitive Behaviors, And Autonomic Nervous System Activity In Autistic And Non-Autistic Individuals, Sapir Elimaliah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current dissertation includes seven chapters. Chapter 1 includes my professional background and describes the experiences that led me to study restricted and repetitive behaviors. It also briefly describes my personal journey as an international graduate student. Chapter 2 is devoted to the rich literature that this dissertation is based on. The literature review covers both the foundational and most recent findings in the fields of sensory reactivity, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and autonomic activity, as well as the known relationships between these areas in autistic and non-autistic individuals. In Chapter 3, I describe in detail the methodology used in …

Antisocial Behavior And Callous Unemotional Traits In Youth: A Biosocial Approach, Yong Lin Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Early life presence of antisocial behavior (e.g., aggression/delinquency) and psychopathic/callous-unemotional (CU) traits (lacking empathy/remorse, shallow affect) are precursors to juvenile crime and criminal offending in adulthood. Etiological research on antisocial/CU tendencies has implicated both neurobiological (e.g., alterations in brain function and structure) and environmental (social adversity, prenatal stress) underpinnings. It has been proposed that reward and punishment processing deficits may induce problematic traits and behavior, such that antisocial/CU tendencies may be linked to hypersensitivity to rewards and hyposensitivity to punishment. Studies in this area have generated inconsistent findings and focused primarily on adult and clinical samples, leaving youth and community …

Virtual Reality Supplement To The Peers Social Skills Intervention For Adolescents With Asd, Kevin Ambrose

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to replicate findings of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relation Skills (PEERS) parent-assisted social skills training program for a diverse group of adolescents with historical autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses in an urban locality. Additionally, this study sought to pilot a 3D multi-user virtual environment for adolescent participants and an online learning community for parent coaches; both hypothesized to reinforce the social skills curriculum. A randomized controlled trial of PEERS was completed with 12 adolescents diagnosed with ASD with some participation from their caregivers. Results show that participants who received the …

Linguistic Abstractions In Children’S Very Early Utterances, Qihui Xu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How early do children produce multiword utterances? Do children's early utterances reflect abstract syntactic knowledge or are they the result of data-driven learning? We examine this issue through corpus analysis, computational modeling, and adult simulation experiments. Chapter 1 investigates when children start producing multiword utterances; we use corpora to establish the development of multiword utterances and a probabilistic computational model to account for the quantitative change of early multiword utterances. We find that multiword utterances of different lengths appear early in acquisition and increase together, and the length growth pattern can be viewed as a probabilistic and dynamic process.

Chapter …

Teaching Siblings To Encourage And Praise Play: Supporting Interactions When One Sibling Has Autism, Holly R. Weisberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sibling relationships may be strained when one sibling is typically developing (TD) and one has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). TD siblings have been taught to encourage play in their siblings with ASD but there is limited literature examining the impact of intervention on the quality of the siblings’ relationships. In this study, we taught four TD siblings to encourage and praise play skills in their siblings with ASD as well as self-monitor those play skills. We measured changes in social-communicative behaviors during siblings’ interactions. All TD siblings learned the targeted play skills and increased social-communicative behaviors. Only …

The Paradox Of Salvation: Police-Perpetrated Sexual Violence Against Sex Workers In The United States, Aydan Murphy-Stanley

Student Theses

This study explores how sex workers in the United States are sexually victimized and potentially traumatized by sexual violence perpetrated by police officers, as well as the paradoxical implications of this violence. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to examine and integrate qualitative literature pertaining to this phenomenon. 10 databases were used to execute the systematic literature search. Only studies that utilized qualitative methodologies, are published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and examined police-sex worker interactions were included. Data from relevant studies was analyzed according to the meta-synthesis method. Police-perpetrated sexual violence against sex workers was identified as a form of sexual …

Foul Play: How Racism In The Ncaa Contributes To The Mental Health And Academic Performance Of College Athletes Of Color, Kellie Courtney

Student Theses

While past research indicates that student-athletes of color are vulnerable to experiencing racial discrimination, it is unclear how these experiences of discrimination affect their mental health and academic performance. The purpose of this study was to understand how racial discrimination (in both academic and athletic settings) is associated with the mental health and academic performances of student-athletes of color. To recruit participants, the survey link was posted on social media platforms and was also emailed to student-athletes attending City Universities of New York (CUNYs). Consistent with previous research, the current study found that racism in both academic and athletic settings …

Crime Scene Behaviors Of Sexual Murderers With And Without A Criminal History Of Sexual Assault, Tirza Z. Ben Ari

Student Theses

This exploratory study is intended to serve as a gateway to future research about the differences between sexual murderers with (HSAO) and without (N-HSAO) a recorded criminal history of sexual assault, on which there is little to no comparative literature. This study aims to extend our understanding of these groups by comparing their crime scene (and crime-related) behaviors and exploring their underlying psychological functioning. The results suggest that N-HSAO have a significantly higher tendency to murder friends or strangers, initially attack or abduct their victims from the victim’s residence, use more than one killing method in the murder, attack their …

Gaze In Cats And Dogs, Michael Bogese

Theses and Dissertations

Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) developed many behaviors across domestication, one example being gaze behavior. Gaze is the crux of other behaviors that make dogs unique in human-animal dyads, including lookbacks, gaze-following, and participation in an oxytocin feedback loop. Gaze behavior may have been motivated and sustained by evergreen cooperative relationships between dogs and humans (e.g., hunting, service roles). One way to confirm this relationship is to compare dogs to a domesticated species that lacks a protracted history of companionship: the domestic cat (Felis catus). In this study, we compare the gaze duration to owners of …

The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen

Theses and Dissertations

The study’s goal was to learn what aspects of the piping plover experience affect reproductive outcomes at Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area. Nest location was found to help predict reproductive success. Nests further from American oystercatcher nests were likely to fledge more chicks. Reproductive success was low in 2021.

Comparing Crime Scene Trajectories: Sexual Versus Nonsexual Serial Homicides, Jonathan T. Dixon

Student Theses

When faced with a possible serial offender, crime linkage analysis is crucial in identifying which crime scenes belong to the same offender. Thus, when analyzing behavioral consistency to link crimes, it is essential to use a classification model that is empirically tested and is based on the type of crime being investigated. Several classification models examine patterns of consistency and change using a combination of thematic and behavioral subgroups; however, they are tested using sexual and nonsexual crime scenes, which some recent literature argues are two distinct types of homicide and should be examined separately. The present study tests the …

Identification Of Sexual Grooming Behaviors In Male And Female Perpetrators, Stephanie Mignogna

Student Theses

It is estimated up to 12% of all sexual abuse is perpetrated by females. However, little is known regarding the tactics that women use to perpetuate the abuse. There is evidence that almost all cases of child sexual abuse involve grooming and that female perpetrators may also engage in sexual grooming to perpetrate the abuse. Identification of sexual grooming behaviors can prevent abuse before it occurs however, previous research has found that individuals are poor at identifying sexual grooming behaviors before they occur. Using an experimental vignette design, this study compared the ability to identify sexual grooming behaviors when the …

Examining The Relationship Between Criminal Careers And Criminal Expertise In Serial And Single Homicide Offenders, Emily Woisin

Student Theses

The literature suggests that offenders with prior criminal experience are likely to exhibit criminal expertise in future crimes to avoid detection, including planning behaviors and forensic awareness strategies. Many studies have found that the majority of serial and single homicide offenders already have criminal records before they commit their first homicides, yet no studies to-date have explicitly analyzed the relationship between their criminal careers and their use of criminal expertise. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the relationship between 27 serial and 191 single homicide offenders’ criminal careers and the criminal expertise employed in their first homicides to differentiate …

Stigma Related To Criminal Justice History: The Role Of Offense Type, Mental Health Treatment, Mental Illness, And Race From Formerly Incarcerated Persons’ Perspective, Lindsey Ryan-Jones

Student Theses

Research has shown that offenders perceive stigma and anticipate stigma once they are released from incarceration, especially regarding employment and housing (LeBel et al., 2012). However, there is limited information about offense type, mental health treatment, mental illness and race affect how formerly incarcerated persons perceive, anticipate and experience stigma. While research has shown that those with mental illness are more likely to have recidivate and sex offenders are viewed negatively by the public, there are gaps in understanding reasons why this occurs (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2017; Sample & Bray, 2006; Levinson et al., 2007; Rade, Desmarais & Mitchell, …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Multiple-Exemplar Training For Visual Analysis Of Ab-Design Graphs, Verena S. Bethke

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In behavior analysis, data are usually analyzed using visual analysis of the graphed data. There are a wide range of methods used to visually analyze data, from a basic ‘textbook’ style approach to the use of visual aids, decision-rubrics, and computer-based approaches. In the literature, there have been some comparisons of the efficacy of different approaches. Visual analysis as a behavior can be taught using a variety of methods, independent of how the skill itself is to be performed. Teaching methods include lecture, online instruction, and equivalence-based instruction. There is not much research on the teaching of visual analysis specifically, …

Tell Me A Story: Exploring The Use Of Narratives To Reduce Backlash To Organizational Diversity Initiatives, Desmond W. Leung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Diversity initiatives represent key priorities for many organizations, but research and recent high-profile examples suggest that diversity initiatives can generate significant backlash, particularly among organizational members. The primary aim of this study is to investigate how narrative forms of diversity initiative messaging may attenuate backlash among organizational members compared to more traditional expository forms of diversity initiative messaging. Drawing on research related to narrative communication, persuasion, and diversity, I proposed a first-stage dual moderated mediation model where psychological reactance and perceptions of realistic threat mediate the negative effect of narrative (vs. expository) diversity messaging on backlash. Additionally, I examined whether …

Neurocardiovascular Instability (Ncvi) Risk As A Predictor Of Cognitive Function In The Long Life Family Study, Rebecca Abraham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In aging populations, the abnormal neural control of the cardiovascular system has been examined within the construct of neurocardiovascular instability (NCVI). The main research aim addressed whether baseline features of NCVI could predict cognitive function (i.e., decline) at follow-up within long-lived families. Across 941 subjects, baseline NCVI risk was indexed by two features: (1) self-reported syncopal or fall events and (2) average seated BP. The Low NCVI risk group included those who were normotensive (e.g., within normal BP range) and reported no NCVI features (n=379). The Moderate NCVI risk group included those who elicited pre-hypertensive (elevated BP) or hypertensive (high …

Individual Differences In Coping With Large Multimodal Conflicts In A Spatial Orientation Paradigm, Cassandra J. Engstrom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examined how humans respond to large 180º disparities between internally generated self-motion cues and external landmarks in a navigation task. Subjects learned the locations of 4 objects in a virtual environment, navigating back to these sites in a testing phase that probed their sense of direction at dead-ends. In select (incongruent) trials, subjects’ virtual rotations were mirrored relative to their physical turns, forcing them to navigate along separate virtual and physical trajectories. On these trials, subjects were either instructed to navigate using their memory of the required turn sequence (proprioceptive instructions) or the external environment (visual …

Testing An Overtraining Protocol For Fear Learning In Humans, Gordon M. Haskell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Successful regulation of fear memories is a fundamental tenet to the exposure-based therapies often employed by mental health professionals for individuals with PTSD, phobias, and other anxiety disorders. Consequently, the efficacy of these treatment methodologies is largely dependent on the strength of the fear memory, as stronger memories are often characterized by an increased resistance to extinction and heightened fear recovery. However, there is little consensus within the scientific community regarding how to effectively maximize fear memory strength in human studies, and the literature exploring the impact of variability in acquisition parameters on memory strength is sparse. Here, we tested …

The Impact Of Personal Resources, Job Resources And Job Demands On Nurse Engagement, Michael J. Kern

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In today’s VUCA (Volatile, Complex, Uncertain, and Ambiguous) world, the more we understand about how individual differences interact with the work environment to impact employee engagement the greater our chances are of making changes to lead to positive work outcomes regardless of the profession. There is no profession better suited for this type of investigation than that of nursing. Previous research has shown that more highly engaged nurses are able to provide better care and thus increase the chances of a more favorable outcome. There are many factors that can impact work engagement and one accepted model that helps to …

Examining The Buffering Effect Of Mindfulness On The Relationship Between Stress And Ethical Decision Making, Irina Kuzmich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Poor ethical decision making is an issue in many modern-day organizations. Academic research and the popular press have shown that failures in ethical decision making have resulted in harm to organizations, their employees, and the societies in which they exist. While there is much research into what may impact ethical decision making, this paper examined the effects of two understudied factors, stress and mindfulness, within a self-regulatory framework. A 2x2 experimental design with undergraduate student participants was used in which each participant was randomly assigned to a mindfulness training condition and a stress condition. Trait mindfulness was also measured as …

Acculturation Patterns In Childhood/Adolescence, Cultural Stress In Young Adulthood, And Exploring The Moderating Role Of Skin Tone Among Puerto Rican Youth In Two Contexts, Marjorine Henriquez-Castillo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Demographic changes across the United States (US) indicate that much of the population growth between 2005 to 2050 will be driven by US-born Latinx youth, who will likely face, as the major part of their experience, the challenges of negotiating their heritage and US mainstream cultures from birth. As a result, examining the cultural experiences of Latinx youth is crucial for understanding and promoting the healthy development of a large proportion of the increasingly ethnically and racially diverse US population. Research with Latinx youth suggests that acculturation – the psychological changes associated with navigating two distinct cultures – can be …

How Useful Do You Think This Diversity Training Is? The Impact Of Training Type And Individual Differences On Pre-Training Perceived Utility Of Diversity Training, Nicolette A. Rainone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The effectiveness of diversity training has been debated by researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. This debate illustrates the varied perceptions regarding the utility of diversity training and suggests that many trainees enter these programs with the expectation that they are not useful. Uncovering the drivers of pre-training perceptions of utility will provide a deeper understanding of employee buy-in to such initiatives. It would also allow researchers and practitioners to unpack a key element of the training context to inform the design and delivery of diversity training programs. I examined diversity training type (i.e., whether the training is awareness-based, skills-based, or …

Exploring Social Identity Threat And Safety Cues For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, And Queer Cisgender Women In Ob/Gyn Care, Rachel Fikslin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual and queer (LGBPQ) cisgender women (CW) experience a number of health inequities compared to heterosexual cisgender women related to sexual and reproductive health. Heterosexist health care cultures may signal social identity threat for LGBPQ-CW that may undermine their health care engagement and outcomes. In three online studies, I examined the effects of two heterosexist cultures (i.e., gender essentialism and pronatalism) as well as two potentially identity-safe alternatives (i.e., gender diversity and reproductive/sexual autonomy) on the identity threat and health care engagement experiences of LGBPQ-CW in OB/GYN care.

In Study 1 (n = 213), I used …

Effects Of Chronic Stress On Safety Processing And Physiology In The Medial Prefrontal-Amygdala-Basal Forebrain Circuit, Itamar S. Grunfeld

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chronic stress increases generalization of fear to non-threatening cues, a key symptom in numerous psychiatric mood disorders. However, the mechanisms through which stress impacts safety learning remain poorly understood. To probe the relationship between stress and safety learning, this dissertation employed multiple behaviors, in conjunction with in-vivo multisite physiology during explicit safety and fear discrimination learning. In Chapter 1, I outline the role of chronic stress in driving neurological adaptations that result in generalized fear and highlight how this occurs because of impaired safety cue encoding. In Chapter 2, I show that chronic stress in the form of social defeat …