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Psychology: Religious Conflicts Amongst A Christian Campus, Cole Peterson, Alyssa Shearing, Sydney Willis, Melody Alvarez

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

The current study seeks to develop and validate a quantitative measure of religion on a Christian campus. As the influence of religion in multiple aspects of the world continues to evolve, it becomes increasingly important to gain an understanding of the experiences of college students within a Christian campus. It has been found that “exposure to new ideas that college provides were thought to lead students to question and ultimately abandon their traditional religious beliefs” (Maryl & Oeur, 2009). More research regarding the effect of religion specifically on a Christian campus is needed; therefore, a reliable and valid psychometric scale …

Prioritization Of Scientific Sources Of Water Information: The Effect Knowledge, Beliefs, And Political Identity, Sadie Hundemer

Journal of Applied Communications

Scientists are reported to be more trusted than other information sources; yet, on essential water facts, people sometimes reject what they perceive water scientists to believe in favor of other belief determinants. This study examines the factors that affect the difference in people's stated willingness to reconsider their water beliefs in response to information provided by scientists relative to information provided by other sources. Regression analysis of responses provided by 806 Florida and Georgia residents found water science knowledge to be a consistently strong influencer of the gap in reliance on scientific information providers relative to other sources. This result …

Breaking The Chains Of Generational Trauma, Carmen Parra

Sociology Student Work Collection

Negative experiences may be passed down from generation to generation resulting in Generational Trauma, many of us may be living with those consequences without ever noticing it. This analysis takes a look at the roots of generational trauma and how it is developed from one generation and repeatedly passed down without a stop. We explore different methods that can be followed for healing and further therapeutic methods for more severe cases.

Factors Affecting Passengers’ Acceptance Of Single Pilot Operations: A Qualitative Study Conducted In Greece, Panagiotis Kioulepoglou, Ilias Makris

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Single Pilot Operations (SPO) have drawn significant attention during the last years, as a result of the increased dual flight crew expenses, and as a remedy to the impending pilot shortage which is estimated to manifest itself in the following years. The main objective of this study was to explore the factors that influence the Greek passengers’ acceptance of SPO. To that end, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through Thematic Analysis by combining both a priori and inductive coding procedures.

Qualitative findings of this process revealed seven factors influencing passengers’ intention to accept and fly with a SPO …

Public Acceptance Of Medical Screening Recommendations, Safety Risks, And Implied Liabilities Requirements For Space Flight Participation, Cory J. Trunkhill

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The space tourism industry is preparing to send space flight participants on orbital and suborbital flights. Space flight participants are not professional astronauts and are not subject to the rules and guidelines covering space flight crewmembers. This research addresses public acceptance of current Federal Aviation Administration guidance and regulations as designated for civil participation in human space flight.

The research utilized an ordinal linear regression analysis of survey data to explore the public acceptance of the current medical screening recommended guidance and the regulations for safety risk and implied liability for space flight participation. Independent variables constituted participant demographic representations …

A Meta-Analysis Of Associations Between Weight Bias Internalization And Conceptually-Related Correlates: A Step Towards Improving Construct Validity, Kelly A. Romano, Kristin E. Heron, Cassidy M. Sandoval, Lindsay M. Howard, Rachel I. Macintyre

Psychology Faculty Publications

Weight bias internalization (WBI), a process of weight-based self-devaluation, has been associated with adverse mental and physical health. However, there are limitations with the existing conceptualization and operationalization of WBI that raise questions about the implications of this evidence-base. To address these limitations, the present study investigated the construct validity of WBI by conducting a meta-analysis of associations between WBI (as currently operationalized) and conceptually-related correlates. Studies identified through October 2021 that provided zero-order correlations for associations between WBI and conceptually-related constructs were examined. Meta-regression determined whether these associations differed across WBI measures and demographic (age, sex/gender, race, BMI) and …

Acceptance: A Research Overview And Application Of This Core Act Process In Aba, Dr. Michael Bordieri, Phd

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Acceptance describes mediating behaviors in which an individual reduces escape and avoidance behaviors in response to unwanted private events while also encouraging increased appetitive control. Given the recent resurgence of interest in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training (ACT) in ABA, a review of this core treatment process is warranted. Acceptance enjoys strong empirical support within the psychological and contextual behavioral science literatures, with treatment outcome studies, self-report measures research, and behavioral laboratory tasks all supporting the process. A review of select publications in behavior analytic journals found that acceptance also enjoys preliminary evidence of effectiveness across a variety of populations and …

Examining Treatment Acceptability Of An Eight-Week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Protocol, Blake William Palmer

Dissertations

The goal of this study is to examine whether levels of perceived stress, experiential avoidance, personality traits including openness to experience and agreeableness, and demographic variables will predict the treatment acceptability (indicated by responses on the Treatment Acceptability and Adherence Scale) of an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. This study collected data in the Spring of 2019. The final number of participants in the study was 116 (40 females, 76 males, Mage = 36, age range: 22-69 years). Participants completed measures including the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), the agreeableness and openness to Experience domains …

Transition From Collegiate Track & Field: An Examination Of Values And Commitment, Michael Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This study provides a glimpse into psychological factors some of the 100,000 student-athletes who leave collegiate sport each year may face and adds to current understandings of ways to best serve collegiate student-athletes prior to their departure from collegiate sport. Drawing from the theories of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and The Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment, the study utilizes a population of former NCAA Division 1, 2, 3 and NAIA student-athletes to offer an in-depth look at the transition away from collegiate track and field. Mediation analysis was utilized to explore the interplay between commitment to values driven behavior, psychological …

The Weight Of Scope, Pace, And Practices Of Organizational Change During Evaluations Of Acceptance Of Organizational Change, Lewis Schneider

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Understanding organizational change and the factors associated with it has become paramount as organizations face an increased need to adapt to stay competitive. Because of this necessity of organizational change, employee acceptance of this change is even more important to garner than ever before. The negative effects of organizational change, however, make this task difficult to accomplish. Although the literature points to scope of change, pace of change, and organizational practices as factors that can affect acceptance of organizational change, until this study, it was unknown which of these variables held the most weight in affecting attitudes towards change. In …

Practical Strategies For Managing Emotions And Stress In The Elusive Search For Work-Life Balance, Jennifer C. Veilleux

TFSC Publications and Presentations

In this talk, Dr. Veilleux discussed the rationale for thinking about work-life integration rather than work-life balance, while validating the importance of recognizing the emotional repercussions of feeling a conflict between the work and non-work portions of life. She provided a three-step strategy for recognizing the “message” of an emotion, with the goal of helping people recognize that emotions do not occur about things that do not matter, and thus identifying and processing emotions about stressful experiences (including conflicts between work and life) can be crucial steps toward psychological well-being.

The Experience Of Equanimity Expressed Through Art: How Artmaking Facilitates The Practice Of Equanimity, Seyma Cavusoglu

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to explore the experience of equanimity expressed through art and its implications for the field of Expressive Therapies by examining the artmaking process of six participants (an illustrator, a visual artist, a musician, an art therapist, an expressive arts therapist, a clinical psychologist who is an art therapy practitioner). The participants were recruited based on their involvement in a contemplative practice that supported their practice of equanimity. The study utilized qualitative and arts-based research methods. Data were collected in the form of art (visual arts, poetry and music), interviews, journaling and artmaking by …

Identification Of Key Factors In Texture Aversion And Acceptance, Robert Pellegrino Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

All five senses contribute to the experience of eating, giving feedback on whether to continue or stop the process of consumption. Sensory feedback loops help the consumer modulate food ingestion by determining nutritional value and possible hazards. Texture is one sense integral to the eating process that may lead to a food being accepted or rejected. However, which specific oral textural features contribute to overall acceptance and rejection of a food is not well understood. In our first study, we used three different cultures, Poland, U.S.A., and Singapore, to explore common texture features in food. Our results show that all …

Does How One Uses Mindfulness Meditation Matter? : An Experimental Evaluation Of The Acute Impact Of Mindfulness In A Control Vs. Acceptance Context On Anxious Arousal In A Non-Clinical Sample, Eric Daniel Tifft

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Mindfulness meditation has existed in Eastern cultures for thousands of years; nonetheless, its introduction to Western society and psychological science is a recent development. Numerous psychosocial interventions now include mindfulness practice as a core therapeutic intervention. Increasingly, mindfulness and other meditative practices are being promoted within popular culture as strategies to regulate stress, anxiety, and other unpleasant emotional or psychological events. Yet, using mindfulness to regulate and control unwanted private experiences is antithetical to the original intended purpose of such strategies, namely, to observe, welcome and accept private experiences just as they are. Research in emotion regulation and thought suppression …

Physiological, Behavioral, And Self-Report Outcomes Of Acceptance And Regulation Approaches To Exposures For Intrusive Thoughts, Brooke M. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cognitive-behavioral therapy that includes exposure, or intentionally and systematically confronting feared situations, is the gold standard psychological treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, less than half of those who begin this treatment are considered to have recovered from their disorder at the end of treatment, and this number is even smaller in the months following the end of treatment. Leading theories regarding how treatment changes occur focus on reducing fear, and they do not include “voluntary” (i.e., operant) behaviors, such as avoidance, that are key features of the disorder. Acceptance-based approaches to exposure do not focus on fear reduction, but directly …

Religious Perfectionism: Utilizing Models Of Perfectionism In Treating Religious Clients, Michael D. Adams

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Past research has asserted that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., Mormons) have high rates of religious perfectionism. A historical investigation was performed exam- ining how the perception of perfectionism has changed within the field of psychology. The study first investigates early viewpoints (e.g., Freud, Horney, Adler, Ellis, Beck) that unanimously perceived perfectionism as negative and debilitating in an individual’s psychological adjustment. New research, which understood and measured perfectionism as a multidimensional construct, found both positive and negative components of perfectionism. Different theoretical understandings of perfectionism (e.g., behavioral, attachment, self-conscious emotions, acceptance, Big Five personality …

Effect Of Acceptance Versus Psychoeducation On Hoarding, Clarissa W. Ong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hoarding disorder (HD) is a mental health condition characterized by difficulty letting go of possessions, resulting in clutter that prevents use of active living spaces. Consequences associated with hoarding include strained family relationships, distress for children in the home, and increased burden on social services. Currently, the most empirically supported treatment for HD is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which includes such components as education about the nature of hoarding, challenging unhelpful thoughts, and exposure to distressing stimuli. Despite its demonstrated effectiveness, CBT does not result in clinically significant improvement for at least 50% of individuals, indicating the need for alternative interventions …

The Relationship Between Experiential Avoidance And Physiological Reactivity, Brodrick Thomas Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the universal nature of stress, and its impact on physical health, it is important to understand how it is related to other psychological variables. The current study was undertaken in order to investigate whether an individual's cardiovascular reactivity to stress is impacted by their level of experiential avoidance, as measured by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II). Individuals who are experientially avoidant are more likely to attempt to escape or prevent certain experiences and make effort to change them or avoid the contexts in which they occur. Previous research has indicated that experiential avoidance is related to some …

Sexual Orientation Development, Acceptance, And Risk Behavior In Young Adult Gay Men, Erin Paige Smith

Wayne State University Dissertations

Research on sexual orientation development points to individual differences in developmental milestones (i.e., realization, identification, disclosure to friend, disclosure to parent, same-sex sexual behavior) that could be differentially related to adjustment. Additionally, differences in perceptions of acceptance from the self and important others, such as parents and friends, during adolescence and early adulthood may be related to both sexual orientation development and health risk behaviors (i.e., substance use, sexual risk). The goal of the current study was to advance our understanding of developmental processes among gay men by examining perceived acceptance of sexual orientation and its associations with individual differences …

Attributions For Rejection And Acceptance In Young Adults With Borderline And Avoidant Personality Features, Kathy R. Berenson, Olga U.A. Nynaes, Emily S. Wakschal, Laura M. Kapner, Erin C. Sweeney

Psychology Faculty Publications

Individuals with borderline and avoidant personality disorders show interpersonal dysfunction that includes maladaptive responses to rejection and reduced emotional benefits from acceptance. To identify the attributional styles that may underlie these difficulties, we examined causal attributions for rejection and acceptance among undergraduates high in features of each disorder and a healthy comparison group. In Study 1, participants rated how likely they were to attribute hypothetical rejection and acceptance experiences to positive and negative qualities of the self and others, as well as external circumstances. In Study 2, we examined these same attributions in daily diary assessments of real rejection and …

An Explanation Of Apology Acceptance Based On Lay Peoples’ Insights, James Strickland, Katie Martin, Alfred Allan, Maria M. Allan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Apologies play an important role in forgiveness, but the pathway from apology to forgiveness is unclear. Many researchers use Goffman’s model of the corrective interchange, or models derived from it to guide their research. This model is based on the assumption that offenders apologise to victims who accept these apologies and that this leads to forgiveness. The acceptance of the apology is therefore central in this model, so we undertook a systematic literature review to determine how researchers conceptualise and measure apology acceptance and found a lack of clarity around the construct. We addressed this theoretical uncertainty by exploring whether …

The Mediating Role Of Social Preference In The Relationship Between Teacher-Student Relationship Quality And Peer Victimization, Kathryn Francis Smeraglia

Masters Theses

Teachers are integral to cultivating healthy relationships among students (Cortes & Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2014) and are uniquely positioned to affect change in social processes that maintain victimization (Newman-Carlson & Horne, 2004; Rodkin & Hodges, 2003). Evidence suggests that children with supportive teacher-student relationships have more positive social and behavioral outcomes (Thijs & Verkuyten, 2008;), whereas teacher-student conflict may place children at risk for victimization (Reavis et al., 2010). In this study, we examine the relation between teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) and peer victimization (PV), TSRQ and social preference (SP), and whether SP is one mechanism that explains the link between TSRQ …

The Interaction Of Mindful Awareness And Acceptance In Couples Satisfaction, Jennifer Krafft, Jack Haegar, Michael E. Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Past studies indicate that the awareness and acceptance facets of trait mindfulness both independently predict relationship satisfaction. However, this study hypothesized that the combination of awareness and acceptance might be a stronger contributor to relationship functioning than either in isolation. Regression analyses were used to test whether mindful awareness and acceptance interact in predicting couples satisfaction in a sample of dating or married college students (n = 138). Acceptance was positively associated with couples satisfaction, while awareness was unrelated. These two mindfulness facets interacted such that greater awareness was related to poorer satisfaction when acceptance was low, but was …

Attentional And Emotional Consequences Of Emotional Acceptance And Suppression In An Elevated Anxiety Sample, Natalie Arbid

Graduate Masters Theses

Acceptance-based strategies have been incorporated into behavioral therapies for anxiety and other disorders (e.g., Roemer & Orsillo, 2009). Experimental literature is in need of better, more nuances assessment of the consequences of acceptance (Kohl, Rief & Glombiewski, 2012). Therefore, this study specifically examined the way in which acceptance can increase attentional flexibility and recovery from stress, which are important factors in the maintenance of anxiety disorders (Cisler & Koster, 2010). This experimental study compared acceptance and suppression of emotional experiences, following exposure to fearful stimuli (i.e., images and film clip), to a control condition.

Results indicated that there was no …

Examining The Relationship Between Perceived Acceptance And Depression And The Potential Moderating Role Of Commitment, Andrea Gorrondona, Katherine A. Lenger, Kristina Coop Gordon, Patricia N.E. Roberson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Fish Sentience: A Hypothesis Worth Pursuing, José E. Burgos

Animal Sentience

Woodruff’s case for fish sentience is intriguing. Though far from ready for final acceptance, it is worth pursuing. The case is philosophically uncontroversial under functionalism and reductive materialism. It is also highly heuristic, as it raises interesting issues for further investigation, such as the neural causation of behavior, the role of Mauthner cells in conditioned avoidance, and whether operant conditioning is constitutive of fish sentience.

Psychological Abuse, Mental Health, And Acceptance Of Dating Violence Among Adolescents, Jeff R. Temple, Hye Jeong Choi, Joanna Elmquist, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day, Gregory L. Stuart, Meagan Brem, Caitlin Wolford-Clevenger

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

Existing literature indicates that acceptance of dating violence is a significant and robust risk factor for psychological dating abuse perpetration. Past work also indicates a significant relationship between psychological dating abuse perpetration and poor mental health. However, no known research has examined the relationship between acceptance of dating violence, perpetration of dating abuse, and mental health. In addition to exploring this complex relationship, the present study examines whether psychological abuse perpetration mediates the relationship between acceptance of dating violence and mental health (i.e., internalizing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hostility).

Methods

Three waves of longitudinal data were obtained from …

I Judge, Therefore I React: An Experimental Investigation Of Acceptance, Jennifer Ann Shaver

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to provide empirical tests of some of the mechanisms thought to operate in mindfulness-based treatments. Specifically, I tested the hypothesis that appraising distress judgmentally (as a needless and useless indication of personal weakness) would be associated with experiencing meta-distress (e.g., feeling ashamed about being distressed), which would, in turn, be associated with increased experiential avoidance (i.e., suppression or distraction from the distress) and shorter distress tolerance. In addition, I examined the hypothesis that compassionately appraising distress (as normal, understandable, and potentially a source of growth) would be associated with spending more time curiously exploring that …

Predictors Of Heterosexual Siblings’ Acceptance Of Their Lesbian Or Gay Sibling Of Origin, Angela Nichole Hilton

Doctoral Dissertations

Research has shown that lesbian and gay (LG) individuals are not only coming out to their parents, but also to their siblings. Eighty percent of individuals in the United States are raised with one or more siblings; however, researchers have frequently underestimated the importance of the sibling bond. The current study examined potential correlates of heterosexual siblings’ acceptance of their LG sister or brother using an online survey format (N=189). In addition, psychometric properties for the Acceptance of Sibling Sexual Orientation Scale are provided. Results revealed that greater sibling relationship quality in adulthood, more contact with LG individuals, …

The Problem Is My Partner: Treating Couples When One Partner Wants The Other To Change, Kieran T. Sullivan, Joanne Davila

Psychology

Partners commonly present to couple therapy expecting that the relationship will only improve if their partner changes. In other words, the partner is the problem. In this paper we review research on people's capacity for change, the process of behavior change, and personality change, especially the role of attachment theory. We then review techniques for working with couples based on empirically validated approaches to couple therapy and general change principles in therapy. Finally, we present a case study and recommendations for working with change-demanding couples, emphasizing the importance of focusing on emotional acceptance.