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Glucose Modulation Of The Septo-Hippocampal System: Implications For Memory, Desiree Lynne Krebs-Kraft

Psychology Dissertations

Extensive evidence suggests that glucose has both positive and negative effects on memory and these effects likely involve an influence on the brain. For instance, direct infusions of glucose into the septum (MS) or hippocampus can enhance or impair memory. The present set of experiments attempted to determine the different conditions that dissociate the memory-enhancing and -impairing effects of glucose in rats. Specifically, these experiments examined the effects of glucose in spontaneous alternation, a measure of spatial working memory and shock avoidance, an index of emontional long-term memory. The results showed that the memory-impairing effects of MS infusions of glucose …

The Relation Between Self-Report Mindfulness And Performance On Tasks Of Attention, Stefan Kennedy Schmertz

Psychology Theses

The present study examined the relation between self-report mindfulness and performance on tasks measuring abilities for three aspects of attention: sustained, selective, and attention switching. Because attention regulation has been described as a core component of mindfulness, and past research suggests that experience with mindfulness meditation is associated with improved attentional skills, the present study predicted that higher self-report mindfulness would be positively related to performance on tasks of attention. Fifty undergraduate students completed self-report mindfulness questionnaires and completed a battery of attention tasks. There was mixed support for the relation between mindfulness scores and sustained attention, such that higher …

Investigating The Utility Of The Film War Zone As A Component Of A Street Harassment Prevention Program, Doyanne A. Darnell

Psychology Theses

Street harassment, the sexual harassment by strangers in public places, is a common experience shared by many women and has been linked with other forms of sexual victimization. The negative impact of street harassment, such as fear and behavior to avoid being harassed, points to the need for preventing the behavior. This study sought to determine whether the documentary-style film War Zone may be effective in impacting men’s attitudes toward street harassment, and whether the effectiveness of the film would depend on men’s hostility toward women and level of peer acceptance for street harassment. Findings do not support the effectiveness …

Predicting Support For Government Action To Reduce Inequality, Adam James Darnell

Psychology Dissertations

The current degree of economic inequality in the US is the largest it has been since prior to the Great Depression and growing. Economic inequality is linked to mortality, social capital, interpersonal trust, and democratic participation, beyond the effects of poverty. Two main constructs are reviewed as predictors of support for efforts to reduce inequality: 1) distributive justice norms (equity and equality of outcome), and 2) causal attributions (individual and structural). Justification of the unequal status quo is often driven by reference to dominant cultural values personal responsibility and just deserts, which are likened to individual attributions and equity, respectively. …

The Experience Of Being Loved: Physical Affection From Parents As Remembered From Childhood, Ellen Senter Denny

Doctoral Dissertations

This project provided a description of the experience of physical affection as remembered from childhood. In-depth, non-directive interviews were conducted with 21 adult participants who were asked to describe their experiences of receiving physical affection from their parents during childhood. The raw data consisted of transcriptions of the interviews, and a method informed by phenomenology and hermeneutics for the purpose of describing the thematic structure of the experience was employed.

The ground of Being Loved provided the context upon which three themes became figural. It included the awareness of feelings that participants experienced, such as love, security, being cared for, …

An Investigation Of Automaticity In Learning Disabled (Ld) And Non-Clinical Adults, Kerry Towler

Doctoral Dissertations

Dyslexia research has implicated phonetic dysfunction in the phoneme-grapheme associations which underlie reading skills. Expert readers of normal developmental etiology have required less mental effort, faster processing speed, and reduced focal attention when applying reading subskills. Readers with dysphonia and poorly automatized reading subskills have required more time, mental effort, and attention. Dyslexia automaticity deficit has been attributed to left hemisphere neuro-cortical disruptions of the underlying neurological substrata that support developmental acquisition of reading subskills. Effects of inefficiently automatized phoneme-grapheme skills accumulate over time resulting in poor reading skills that are detrimental to academic achievement.

Using neuropsychological methodology, adults with …

Psychological Adaptation Of Mainland Chinese Female International Students: A Phenomenological Inquiry, I-Wen Chan

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to obtain a description of Mainland Chinese female international students’ experiences of adjustment in the U.S. Thirteen participants were asked the one question that guided the study: “Please tell me in as much detail as you can, regarding being a female and originally from China, your process of adapting to your studies and living in the United States.” Participants described their experiences in individual audio-taped in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, creating thirteen separate transcripts. These transcripts, serving as the primary data source, were analyzed using a phenomenological method. Analysis revealed six …

Justifying Leadership: A Social Cognitive Approach To Understanding And Predicting Egotistic And Philanthropic Leadership, Katherine R. Helland

Doctoral Dissertations

This study extends the current literature on egotistic and philanthropic leadership by considering the role of social cognition in explaining self-serving versus collective- serving leadership behaviors. Specifically, this study proposed that the overt traits and behaviors that constitute egotistic and philanthropic leadership are surface manifestations of the justification mechanisms (JMs) stemming from uninhibited and inhibited power motives. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the JMs that egotistic leaders rely on to enhance the rational appeal of self-serving influence behaviors and the JMs that philanthropic leaders rely on to enhance the rational appeal of collective-serving influence behaviors. Additionally, …

A Multi-Source Model Of Perceived Organizational Support And Performance, Sarah Kay Nielsen

Doctoral Dissertations

The two-fold purpose of this field study was to examine: 1) the collective contributions of supervisor support (PSS), coworker support (PCS), and direct report support (DRS)to an employee’s global sense of organizational support (POS), and 2) the additive value of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) to a performance outcome model of POS that also includes in-role and extra-role performance. To this end, the researcher predicted a 360-model of POS such that PSS, PCS, and DRS would better predict POS than any individual support variable alone. Additionally, the researcher hypothesized that POS would predict in-role performance, extra-role performance, and CWB over time. …

Exploring The Relationship Between Time-Series Data Collection And Duration Of Treatment In A University Clinic: A Survival Analysis, Justin D. Winkel

Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between participation in time-series research and the duration of psychotherapy. In previous research, 50 patients were accepted into the Time-Series Study at the University of Tennessee Psychological Clinic. Study participation included a significant degree of patient involvement, including repeated assessment of process and outcome variables totaling 120 items which patients were asked to complete twice a week. It was hypothesized that participation in this type of research may have resulted in shorter treatment duration due to increased subject burden, or may have motivated patients to stay in treatment, thus increasing …

An Investigation Of Sense Of Identity Among College Students, Christine Susie Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

In this study the construct, Sense of Identity was examined. Specifically, variables conceptually related to Sense of Identity will be described, and the nature of any relationships with personality traits including the Big Five personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, and openness were explored. Additionally, the study examined the nature of the relationships between narrow personality traits and Sense of Identity. Lastly, the relationships between Sense of Identity and extracurricular activities were investigated. Sense of Identity was positively related to the Big Five personality traits with a range of r=.32 to r=.46 with p<.01. Additionally, the selected …

The Thematic Meaning Of Face-To-Face Conflict Experiences: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Investigation, Thomas Rhett Graves

Doctoral Dissertations

Face-to-face interactions are the experiential basis for our reflected understandings of the social world. Face-to-face conflict (as a form of social transaction) is present across different forms of social conflict (e.g., international or intergroup conflicts). Understanding the phenomenology of face-to-face conflict thus provides insight concerning experiences of social conflict and our evaluations of it. In this investigation, a hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to describe the thematic meanings of face-to-face conflict experiences.

Eleven dialogical interviews were conducted concerning situations in which participants “experienced a conflict between themselves and another person(s)” and comprise 17 hours of recorded dialogue between the participants …

Latino Students' Prejudice And Stereotypes Toward African Americans, Amite Milner

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study examined generational status and acculturation in relation to stereotyping and prejudice towards African Americans among Anglo and Latino American, high school students. A sample of 597 Anglo and Latino high school juniors and seniors from the Fontana and Redlands School Districts participated in this study. Participants completed a questionnaire that included demographic, acculturation, prejudice, and stereotype measures. A series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to test hypotheses predicting ethnic differences among Anglo and Latino Americans in prejudice and stereotype endorsement. Results showed that Latinos endorsed more stereotypes stereotype than Anglos. No ethnic difference was found on …

Psychosocial Adjustment Among Refugee Children, Nola Ivana Lawrence

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Refugee children are faced with multiple stressors. These stressors include unresolved issues with country of origin, transition to a new country, and long-term adjustment. War is a traumatic situation. For children who have gone through the trauma of war, parents may contribute one of the major influences to their psychosocial adjustment. The purpose of this study was to assess the role that parental mental health, as measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist - 25 (HSCL-25) and parenting sense of competence as measured by the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC), plays in children’s psychosocial adjustment to war trauma using delinquency …

Examination Of The Impact Of Age, Family Conflict, And Perceived Parental Involvement On Treatment Adherence For Children And Adolescents With Cystic Fibrosis And Diabetes, Blake M. Lancaster

Dissertations

The success of medical interventions for patients with diseases that require consistent adherence to a medical regimen is largely contingent upon the patient’s ability to consistently follow medical recommendations. Medical regimen adherence significantly influences the patient’s health and impacts the health care providers’ ability to treat any disease or medical problem. Adherence levels are particularly low in the pediatric population among young patients with diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Researchers and clinicians hypothesize that levels of adherence are particularly low during adolescence (ages 11-15) because this may be the period in which primary responsibility for daily adherence is transferred from the …

Patient Handling Safety For Nursing Staff, Don Nielsen

Dissertations

The effectiveness of video scoring and feedback about the scoring of the components of safe patient transfers was observed among eight nursing staff members in a skilled nursing department within an acute care hospital.

An ABCA (and sometimes ABCDA), multiple baseline across individuals design was utilized in the study. The dependent variable under investigation was the percentage of safe lifting components. Following baseline measures, nursing staff participated in an information phase during which they reviewed and discussed components of safe patient transfers. A video scoring phase was introduced, during which, participants viewed and scored a model video of a patienttransfer. …

Family Functioning And Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: A Study Of First Year Malaysian Undergraduate Students, Melati Sumari

Dissertations

The findings of the study show that the relationships between family functioning subscales and career decision-making self-efficacy subscales were between small and moderate. The study also found that each family functioning subscale contributed less than 15% of the variance in career decision-making self-efficacy. The total variance accounted for by the six family functioning subscales was small (32%). Important findings of the analyses of variances include: (a) male students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than female students; (b) Chinese students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than Malay and Indian students; (c) students in science majors perceived their families as …

Training Parents To Treat Noncompliance In Children With Developmental Disabilities Using Guided Compliance, Christine Bennett

Masters Theses

Noncompliance with parental directions is a critical target for children with developmental disabilities for several reasons, including the frequency of the problem and its impact on caregivers. Three decades of research have shown the effectiveness of guided compliance with children with developmental disabilities; however, only a few studies have examined the effects of parent-implemented guided compliance with this population (Handen, Parrish, McClung, Kerwin, & Evans, 1992; Smith & Lerman, 1999; Tarbox, Wallace, & Penrod, 2003). Three children with developmental disabilities and one primary caregiver for each participated in the present study. Parents were trained in three-step guided compliance (i.e., command, …

Masturbation And Sexual Satisfaction In Relationally Committed Men, Micha T. Ballard

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between masturbation frequency with and without the use of pornography, and sexual satisfaction in men in committed relationships. One hundred and twelve participants ranging from 23 to 70 years of age completed a sexuality survey and an Index of Sexual Satisfaction survey. Correlations revealed a significant negative relationship between masturbation frequency during the last month and sexual satisfaction. When clinical participants were factored out, correlation between masturbation frequency and sexual satisfaction dropped. This study found that using themes of incest or homosexuality, while masturbating, was significantly associated with higher ISS …

The Aggression Questionnaire As An Indicator Of Anger Expression By Abused Women In Therapy, Audrey Steakley

Graduate Theses

The present study examined whether adult women in therapy who have been physically abused express anger differently than their counterparts who have been sexually abused, and whether they are aware that they express anger in noticeable ways. The first hypothesis stated that physically abused women express anger directly and physically, whereas sexually abused women express anger indirectly, avoiding direct confrontation. The second hypothesis proposed that they are not aware how much they express their anger outwardly. Participants were female clients at a local counseling agency, with issues stemming from physical and/or sexual abuse. They voluntarily completed the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) …

Paved With Good Intentions: A Definitional Study On The Issue Of Psychological Child Abuse, Anita Renee Fromm

Graduate Theses

Definitional issues concerning child abuse have long plagued the identification and treatment of this malady. This study examined the role of perpetrator intention in categorizing adverse parenting skills, as well as psychological child abuse potential. Exploitative parenting styles were displayed and rated in a variety of vignettes. Social service professionals and university students were participants in this vignette style questionnaire study. Results indicated that with a few exceptions, a constant perpetrator intention did not appear to alter subject perceptions that the scenarios presented adverse parenting skills and child abuse potential. The participants were indecisive concerning scenarios that represented excessive athletic …

A Delphi Survey Of Experts’ Opinions Regarding Prevention Of Impairment In Professional Psychology Training, Kin-Ming Chan

Dissertations

This study sought to identify the most important measures that may be implemented in professional psychology training to prevent the future impairment of professionals. An adjunctive research question of this study addressed how these important measures can be successfully implemented. A 2-round Delphi method was conducted. Twenty-eight experts in impairment prevention participated in the first round study, and 20 of them continued to participate in the second round. In the first round, the experts rated the importance of an original list of 38 preventive measures, suggested additional important preventive measures, and provided considerations for successful implementation of their most important …

Contingency Management Techniques And Smoking Cessation In College Students, Laurie Athey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine smoking cessation using different criteria for delivery of monetary reinforcement for college students from Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ. Participants participated in a 4 week study using a single subject reversal design (ABAC) in which baseline phases were alternated with either fixed criterion or shaping using an escalating schedule of reinforcement. The order of administration of intervention phases was determined randomly. Each intervention phase lasted 5 days (Monday-Friday). Results showed that contingent reinforcement for reduced carbon monoxide levels was effective in reducing smoking. However, additional studies need to be completed for longer periods …

Counselor Education And Peace Building: Current Status And Future Direction, Jenny Ritha Keller

Dissertations

Counseling professionals are informed and guided in professional development, research and practice by the relevant professional organizations that endorse the field’s professional, ethical, and competency standards. Amidst the contemporary professional proclamations of multicultural- and social justice counseling as professional grounding principles, is also the directive to promote and engage in peace building. Although the notion of peace building appear to be conceptually congruent with the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies; peace building concepts and issues, and research on nonviolence, reconciliation, democratization, and conflict transformation, are as yet unchartered notions in the counselor education literature.

The purpose of this study …

Family Environment As A Contributor To Locus Of Control In Children And Adolescents, Christopher Michael Delap

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between family environment and locus of control among children and adolescents. The data examined consisted of 52 participants who were from a larger study that was comprised of 265 participants in a school setting. The measures used for this study were the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (MMCPC). An independent groups t test was used to examine whether there were significant differences in scores on the relationship and growth domains on the FES between internal, external, or unknown locus of control …

Changes In Perceptions Of Social Support, Constructive Communication And Marital Satisfaction In Couples Participating In A Marital Enrichment Program, Nikki N. Frousakis

Masters Theses

Marital enrichment programs have been gaining considerable recognition in the past several decades. Thousands of individuals participate in these programs yearly. However, the particular effects of enrichment programs are still under investigation, and many remain empirically unanalyzed and their effectiveness undetermined. Also, many dyadic interventions focus on helping couples improve their communication skills and become more socially supportive of their partner. This study explored changes in levels of perceived social support, constructive communication, and marital satisfaction in couples participating in a marital enrichment program, Marriage Alive. Couples who completed all 3 phases of the study (i.e., pre-seminar, post-seminar, 2 month …

The Environmental Reward Observation Scale (Eros): Development, Validity, And Reliability, Maria Elizabeth Anne Armento

Masters Theses

Researchers have established a strong association between the frequency and duration of environmental reward and affective mood states, particularly in relation to the etiology, assessment and treatment of depression. Given behavioral theories that outline environmental reward as a strong mediator of affect and the unavailability of an efficient, reliable and valid self-report measure of environmental reward, we developed the Environmental Reward Observation Scale (EROS) and examined its psychometric properties. In Experiment one, an exploratory factor analysis supported a unidimensional 10-item measure with strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability. When administered to a replication sample, confirmatory factor analysis suggested an excellent …

The Relationships Among Trauma, Self-Concept, Dissociation, Cluster B Personality Disorders And Adult Attachment Style In Incarcerated Women, Beatrice Narcisco

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

During the last twenty-five years, the number of women who have entered and reentered the criminal justice system has steadily risen. Most of the arrests are made on drug-related charges. To develop a better understanding of women who are incarcerated, this study examined the relationships among trauma, self-concept, dissociation, Cluster B Personality Disorders and adult attachment styles in 77 women from the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their ethnicity was reported as follows: N=43 Hispanic, N=17 White/Anglo, N=9 Native American, and N=8 Black/African American; their mean age was 34.7 and their mean educational level was 11.5. …

Adolescent Mothers : Youth In Need Of Developmentally Appropriate Services, Patricia Arlyne Zimmerman

Dissertations and Theses

This research examines the childhood abuse and maltreatment experiences of adolescent mothers (age 14 to 17; N = 80) to investigate if these experiences have hindered their socioemotional development and consequently, their parenting behaviors and attitudes. Data were gathered using four standardized self-report instruments: the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory-Youth Version (EQi-YV), and the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2). Two additional questionnaires were developed to gather demographic and social service information to add to the knowledge base of the field, and to examine what (if any) developmentally focused services …

Defining The Components Of Academic Self-Efficacy In Navajo American Indian High School Students, Thomas R. Golightly

Theses and Dissertations

The academic difficulties experienced by a majority of Navajo American Indian students are well documented. Past research has focused on a variety of internal and external factors which possibly explain some of these difficulties. Low levels of academic self-efficacy (ASE) has been identified as one of the factors possibly contributing to lower than expected rates of academic achievement and low post-secondary education retention rates in this population. This investigation sought to further define the component structures of ASE using theoretical structures postulated by Bandura (1977a, 1997), namely: past success, modeling, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal. Information about grade point averages …