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Glucose Modulation Of The Septo-Hippocampal System: Implications For Memory, Desiree Lynne Krebs-Kraft Dec 2006

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 Dec 2006

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 Dec 2006

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 Dec 2006

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 Effect Of Aggressive Interpersonal Relationship Dynamics On Women's Perpetration Of Aggression, Tracy Dickens Aug 2006

The Effect Of Aggressive Interpersonal Relationship Dynamics On Women's Perpetration Of Aggression, Tracy Dickens

Psychology Dissertations

Women’s use of aggression in intimate partner relationships is consistently debated by researchers of intimate partner aggression. One tenet suggests women use aggression within intimate relationships at similar rates as men. Conversely, a second tenet acknowledges women’s use of aggression but suggests that the meaning and consequences associated with women’s aggression is not coercive or severely injurious, which are typical characteristics of men’s use of aggression. The current study evaluated incarcerated women in order to build upon an integrative approach that suggests that women’s use of aggression is related to the relationship dynamics generated from variations in coercive and conflictual …


The Predictive Contributions Of Spatial Planning To Adaptive And Cognitive Functioning In Children Diagnosed With Brain Tumors, Ayanay Camille Ferguson Smith Aug 2006

The Predictive Contributions Of Spatial Planning To Adaptive And Cognitive Functioning In Children Diagnosed With Brain Tumors, Ayanay Camille Ferguson Smith

Psychology Dissertations

To date, the effect of planning ability on adaptive functioning has not been extensively examined in children treated for brain tumors. Findings indicate that individuals with brain tumors are more likely to experience poor planning ability (Boyd & Sautter, 1993) and that children with even mild neurological complications demonstrate impairments in adaptive functioning (Fletcher et al., 1990). The purpose of this study is to assess spatial planning and to examine its utility in predicting adaptive and cognitive functional impairment in children diagnosed and treated for brain tumors. Forty children diagnosed with a brain tumor (mean age at diagnosis 8.6 years) …


Hiv And Psychological Functioning Among Black South African Women: An Examination Of Psychosocial Moderating Variables, Gretchen K. Lindner Aug 2006

Hiv And Psychological Functioning Among Black South African Women: An Examination Of Psychosocial Moderating Variables, Gretchen K. Lindner

Psychology Dissertations

Introduction: South Africa has an HIV-infection rate of 5 million people. Between 1995 and 2005, South Africa is expected to have the highest number of AIDS-related deaths on the African continent, a total of 2.7 million. Many infected individuals are women. However, there is very little research conducted with South African women examining the relationship between HIV-infection and psychological distress. Research conducted in the United States indicates that HIV-infection is associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety. This research project aims to explore the relationship between HIV-infection and psychological functioning in the unique socio-political context of South Africa. In …


The Buffering Effect Of Sibling Relationships On Problems With Peer Experiences And Psychological Functioning In Children With Cognitive Disabilities, Andrea R. Hindes Aug 2006

The Buffering Effect Of Sibling Relationships On Problems With Peer Experiences And Psychological Functioning In Children With Cognitive Disabilities, Andrea R. Hindes

Psychology Dissertations

This study examined mechanisms by which sibling relationships may buffer the harmful effects of negative peer experiences on the psychological adjustment of children with mental retardation (MR) or learning disabilities (LD). The study broadened existing findings with typically developing children and examined the effects of sibling social competency training on peer experiences and the impact of sibling relationship qualities, including warmth and positivity, supportiveness, conflict, and negativity, on children’s loneliness, internalizing, and delinquent behavior problems. The participants included 100 families with children who were between 8 and 10 years old. The families had a sibling dyad in which the target …


Religious Coping Among Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls: A Phenomenological Investigation., Ndiya Nkongho Aug 2006

Religious Coping Among Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls: A Phenomenological Investigation., Ndiya Nkongho

Psychology Dissertations

Sexual abuse is defined as any act which forces or coerces a child into engaging in non-consensual sexual activities that they may not understand. As child sexual abuse is recognized as a mental health and public health concern, increased research efforts have been directed towards identifying the physical, emotional, and cognitive effects of child sexual abuse. The majority of such research uses adult survivors of child sexual abuse and is quantitative, retrospective, and correlational in design. Qualitative approaches with adults are few; thus far, descriptive research with children is largely limited to forensic applications. Pargament (1997) proposes the existence of …


Filial Responsibility As A Moderator Of Witnessing Domestic Violence And Behavioral Outcomes In Latino Children, Dhakirah Amelia Hamin Jul 2006

Filial Responsibility As A Moderator Of Witnessing Domestic Violence And Behavioral Outcomes In Latino Children, Dhakirah Amelia Hamin

Psychology Theses

Children’s perceptions of the fairness of their filial responsibility was examined as a moderator between witnessing domestic violence and behavioral outcomes in children. Hierarchical Multiple Regressions revealed that children’s perceptions of the fairness of their family responsibility influenced the relation between the psychological violence in the household and child reports of internalizing behavior problems. Specifically, higher levels of psychological violence predicted higher levels of internalizing only under perceptions of unfair filial responsibility. In addition, increased levels of reported psychological violence in the household significantly predicted increased levels of mother-reported externalizing problems. Descriptive analyses revealed that for 12 of the 27 …


A Processing Model Of Emotion Regulation: Insights From The Attachment System, Jungeun Hwang Jun 2006

A Processing Model Of Emotion Regulation: Insights From The Attachment System, Jungeun Hwang

Psychology Dissertations

A processing model of emotion regulation (PMER) was investigated by assessing the attachment system and the two types of emotion regulation strategies (adaptive and maladaptive) in undergraduate students (N = 307) at Georgia State University. The analysis of the data revealed an interesting set of findings: (a) attachment anxiety was a stronger indicator of whether people use adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies than was attachment avoidance; (b) self efficacy, and not cognitive inability to suppress unwanted thoughts, partially mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and adaptive emotion regulation strategies; and (c) cognitive inability to suppress unwanted thoughts, and not …


The Impact Of Self-Esteem, Media Internalization, Sexual Orientation, And Ethnicity On Drive For Muscularity In Men Who Work Out In Gyms, Jill Barker Baird Jun 2006

The Impact Of Self-Esteem, Media Internalization, Sexual Orientation, And Ethnicity On Drive For Muscularity In Men Who Work Out In Gyms, Jill Barker Baird

Psychology Theses

This study examined relationships among self-esteem, media internalization, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in predicting drive for muscularity in a diverse group of men (N = 217) who work out in gyms. Investigations examined media internalization and sexual orientation as moderators of the relationship between self-esteem and drive for muscularity. Additional analyses examined media internalization as a moderator of the relationships between a) sexual orientation and drive for muscularity and b) ethnicity and drive for muscularity. Standardized questionnaires were utilized to assess drive for muscularity, media internalization, self-esteem, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. While lower self-esteem predicted greater drive for muscularity, neither …


The Effects Of Direct And Indirect Experiences With School Crime And Violence On High School Teacher Burnout, Chad Anthony Buck Jun 2006

The Effects Of Direct And Indirect Experiences With School Crime And Violence On High School Teacher Burnout, Chad Anthony Buck

Psychology Dissertations

School violence is considered the most significant problem facing United States schools (Elam, Rose, & Gallup, 1999, 2003, 2004). Although school shootings receive the bulk of media attention, incidents such as physical assaults, property crimes, intimidation, and sexual harassment are much more common (National Center for Education Statistics, 2004). In addition, little is known about the experiences of teachers. The present study examines the relationship between various types of school violence and teacher burnout. The final sample consisted of 315 high school teachers who returned surveys that assessed knowledge of direct and indirect experiences with violent acts at school over …


The Relation Of Parental Depression To Posttraumatic Stress In Bosnian Youths: The Mediating Role Of Filial Responsibility, Brian Isakson Jun 2006

The Relation Of Parental Depression To Posttraumatic Stress In Bosnian Youths: The Mediating Role Of Filial Responsibility, Brian Isakson

Psychology Theses

This study examined the role of filial responsibility as a mediator between parental depression and posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) in Bosnian youths. The sample consisted of 145 6PthP-8PthP grade boys and girls and their parents. Unfairness and caregiving scales were combined in an interaction term to test the hypothesis. Parental depression significantly predicted parental report of adolescent PTSS but the filial responsibility variables did not significantly mediate the relationship between parental depression and PTSS. A post-hoc analysis examined the role of filial responsibility mediating the relationship between parental education level and PTSS. The interaction terms did not significantly mediate the …


Perception Of Emotion From Facial Expression And Affective Prosody, Noelle Turini Santorelli Jun 2006

Perception Of Emotion From Facial Expression And Affective Prosody, Noelle Turini Santorelli

Psychology Theses

Real-world perception of emotion results from the integration of multiple cues, most notably facial expression and affective prosody. The use of incongruent emotional stimuli presents an opportunity to study the interaction between sensory modalities. Thirty-seven participants were exposed to audio-visual stimuli (Robins & Schultz, 2004) including angry, fearful, happy, and neutral presentations. Eighty stimuli contain matching emotions and 240 contain incongruent emotional cues. Matching emotions elicited a significant number of correct responses for all four emotions. Sign tests indicated that for most incongruent conditions, participants demonstrated a bias towards the visual modality. Despite these findings, specific incongruent conditions did show …


Chemosensory And Steroid-Responsive Regions Of The Medial Amygdala Regulate Distinct Aspects Of Opposite-Sex Odor Preference In Male Syrian Hamsters (Mesocricetus Auratus), Pamela M. Maras Jun 2006

Chemosensory And Steroid-Responsive Regions Of The Medial Amygdala Regulate Distinct Aspects Of Opposite-Sex Odor Preference In Male Syrian Hamsters (Mesocricetus Auratus), Pamela M. Maras

Psychology Theses

In Syrian hamsters, sexual preference requires integration of chemosensory and steroid cues. Although data suggest that separate pathways within the brain process these two signals, the functional significance of this separation is not well understood. Within the medial amygdala, the anterior region (MEa) receives input from the olfactory bulbs, whereas the posterodorsal region (MEpd) is sensitive to steroid hormones. Lesions of either the MEa or MEpd eliminated preference to investigate female over male odors. Importantly, males with MEpd lesions displayed decreased attraction toward female odors, suggesting a decrease in sexual motivation. In contrast, males with MEa lesions displayed high levels …


Comparison Of High And Low Distraction For Pediatric Procedural Pain, Crystal Marie Stack Lim Jun 2006

Comparison Of High And Low Distraction For Pediatric Procedural Pain, Crystal Marie Stack Lim

Psychology Theses

Distraction is an effective pain management intervention and children’s coping styles are important to consider when designing interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine two movie distractions in children 3 to 11 years old receiving venipunctures and to evaluate the relations between the effectiveness of the interventions and coping styles. Results revealed no interaction and no main effects of condition or coping style. However, coping on caregiver-report of child pain approached significance. T-tests revealed significant differences between approach and avoidance coping styles, with children with an approach coping style experiencing significantly less pain compared to children with an …


The Effect Of Gonadal Hormones On Agonistic Behavior In Previously Defeated Female And Male Syrian Hamsters, Matia B. Solomon May 2006

The Effect Of Gonadal Hormones On Agonistic Behavior In Previously Defeated Female And Male Syrian Hamsters, Matia B. Solomon

Psychology Dissertations

Following social defeat, male hamsters exhibit behavioral changes characterized by a breakdown of normal territorial aggression and an increase in submissive/defensive behaviors in the presence of a non-aggressive intruder (NAI). We have termed this phenomenon conditioned defeat (CD). By contrast, only a small subset of defeated females exhibit submissive/defensive behavior in the presence of a NAI. We hypothesized that fluctuations in gonadal hormones might contribute to differences in the display of submissive behavior in intact female hamsters. Following social defeat, proestrous females (higher endogenous estradiol) were more likely to display conditioned defeat compared with diestrous 1 (lower endogenous estradiol) females. …


Hemispheric Differences In Numerical Cognition: A Comparative Investigation Of How Primates Process Numerosity, Jonathan Paul Gulledge May 2006

Hemispheric Differences In Numerical Cognition: A Comparative Investigation Of How Primates Process Numerosity, Jonathan Paul Gulledge

Psychology Dissertations

Four experiments, using both humans and monkeys as participants, were conducted to investigate the similarities and differences in human and nonhuman primate numerical cognition. In Experiment 1 it was determined that both humans and monkeys display a SNARC effect, with similar symbolic distance effects for both species. In addition, both species were found to respond faster to congruent stimulus pairs. In Experiment 2 both species were found accurately to recognize quantitative stimuli when presented for durations of 150 msec in a divided visual field paradigm. Performance for humans and monkeys for numerals and dot-patterns was almost identical in terms of …


The Impact Of Depressive Personality Disorder On Treatment Outcome For Chronic Depression, Rachel Elizabeth Maddux Feb 2006

The Impact Of Depressive Personality Disorder On Treatment Outcome For Chronic Depression, Rachel Elizabeth Maddux

Psychology Theses

Our conceptualization and empirical understanding of the course of depression is beginning to change. This is largely a result of recent epidemiological and clinical data that suggest depression has a chronic course for many individuals. Treatment studies for chronic depression have found that response rates are consistently less robust than in studies of acute, episodic depression. As is such, investigators have begun to examine factors that impede treatment response among these patients. One such factor is the presence of comorbid Axis-II personality disorders. This study examined the moderating effects of Depressive Personality Disorder (DPD) on treatment outcome among 680 outpatients …


Attitudes And Behaviors Related To Filial Responsibility In Latino Youth: Variations By Birth Order, Gender, And Immigration Age, Anabel Alvarez Jan 2006

Attitudes And Behaviors Related To Filial Responsibility In Latino Youth: Variations By Birth Order, Gender, And Immigration Age, Anabel Alvarez

Psychology Theses

Filial responsibility and familism were examined among a sample of Latino youth through a number of diverse methods that included variable centered and person centered analyses. Effects of gender, birth order, and immigration age were examined. An exploratory principal components analysis of the Adolescent Filial Responsibility Questionnaire-Revised revealed that the most interpretable solution included five factors: fairness, chores, culture brokering, emotional tasks, and overburden. ANOVA analyses found significant main effects of birth order on culture brokering and chores, of gender on emotional tasks, and of immigration age on culture brokering. Cluster analysis identified five groups based on adolescents’ responses: traditional …


Making The Grade: Academic Achievement Among Latino Adolescents, Cathy Roche Jan 2006

Making The Grade: Academic Achievement Among Latino Adolescents, Cathy Roche

Psychology Theses

Academic achievement among Latino adolescents was examined to determine what contextual factors contribute to school success. ANCOVA analyses indicated that lower levels of perceived discrimination and a higher sense of school belonging were associated with better grades. Neighborhood social capital was not associated with school grades. More adaptation stress was associated with lower grades for US-reared students, but it was not associated with grades for more recent Latino immigrants. The findings suggest that discrimination, school belonging, and adaptation stress play an important role in academic achievement among Latino youth. They also suggest that immigrants may be more academically resilient than …


Verbal Learning And Memory Abilities In Children With Brain Tumors: The Role Of The Third Ventricle Region, Jackie L. Micklewright Jan 2006

Verbal Learning And Memory Abilities In Children With Brain Tumors: The Role Of The Third Ventricle Region, Jackie L. Micklewright

Psychology Theses

The third ventricle region houses several neuroanatomical structures that are primary components of the human memory system, and provides pathways through which these brain regions communicate with critical regions of the frontal and medial temporal lobes. Archival data was obtained for 42 children with cerebellar or third ventricle tumors, and was examined for tumor and treatment related confounds. Children with third ventricle tumors were hypothesized to exhibit; 1) better performance on a measure of auditory attention, 2) greater impairment in learning across trials, 3) greater memory loss over a 20-minute delay, and 4) greater impairment across delayed memory tests than …


Interviewing Pre-School Age Victims Of Child Sexual Abuse: Interviewing Methods And Disclosure Outcomes, Sarah E. Dunn Jan 2006

Interviewing Pre-School Age Victims Of Child Sexual Abuse: Interviewing Methods And Disclosure Outcomes, Sarah E. Dunn

Psychology Theses

Disclosure rates among pre-school age victims of alleged sexual abuse were related to the type of investigative interview (forensic evaluation or forensic interview) that they received following a report of abuse. Variables expected to affect the likelihood of the child making a valid disclosure of sexual abuse including the relationship of the child to the offender and the severity of the abuse were also examined. The results indicated that children who underwent a structured, one-time 30 minute forensic interview were significantly less likely to make a valid disclosure of sexual abuse than children who underwent a semi-structured, therapeutic style evaluation …


The Effect Of Adolescent Physical And Sexual Dating Violence On The Nutritional And Psychological Health Of Adolescent Girls, Jerris Laverne Raiford Jan 2006

The Effect Of Adolescent Physical And Sexual Dating Violence On The Nutritional And Psychological Health Of Adolescent Girls, Jerris Laverne Raiford

Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the stress-eating relation established in the literature by examining a naturally occurring stressor, adolescent dating violence, and its effect on eating in adolescent girls. Specifically, analyses focused on assessing the mediating role of depression in the adolescent dating violence-fruit and vegetable intake relation and the moderating role of sports team involvement in the adolescent dating violence-depression relation. A nationally representative sample of 5,892 black, Hispanic, and white adolescent girls were surveyed using measures assessing physical and sexual dating violence experiences, depressed affect, suicidal thoughts, plans, and/or attempts, fruit and vegetable intake and …


Temperament, Joint Engagement, And Language Skills In Toddlers, Nicolle Angeli Jan 2006

Temperament, Joint Engagement, And Language Skills In Toddlers, Nicolle Angeli

Psychology Theses

This study investigated how emotion-regulation would moderate the relationship between shyness and joint engagement and how joint engagement would mediate the relationship between shyness and language skills. Fifty-three mother-child dyads were observed in the laboratory according to the Communication Play Protocol (Adamson & Bakeman, 1999) when the toddlers were 24 and 30 months of age. Mothers completed the Temperament Behavior Assessment Questionnaire-Revised (Rothbart & Goldsmith, unpublished). Toddlers also completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III; Dunn & Dunn, 1997) and Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT; Williams, 1997). The relationship between shyness and the percentage of time spent in non-symbol-infused coordinated joint …


Corticotropin Releasing Factor Receptors And Agonistic Behavior In Syrian Hamsters, Alicia N. Faruzzi Jan 2006

Corticotropin Releasing Factor Receptors And Agonistic Behavior In Syrian Hamsters, Alicia N. Faruzzi

Psychology Dissertations

Social conflict is a part of everyday life, and it can be a potent stressor for both humans and other animals. In the laboratory, when two Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) compete for territory, a dominance hierarchy is quickly formed. Becoming subordinate is a significant stressor resulting in increased release of adrenocorticotropic hormone, β-endorphin, and cortisol. Defeated hamsters will also subsequently fail to display territorial aggression in future social encounters and will instead display increased submissive behavior, even in the presence of a smaller, non-aggressive intruder. This change in behavior is consistent and long-lasting and has been termed conditioned defeat (CD). …