The Psychology Of Performance In Elite Youth Soccer Players, Matthew Best

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study is a holistic assessment of psychological mindsets, which are one’s attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions, in elite youth male soccer players between the ages of 13 and 18 and the exploration of the relationships between these mindsets and performance outcomes. The mindsets that were assessed were expectancy, growth mindset, value, goals, belongingness, grit, and self-regulation, and the performance outcomes were minutes played, goals scored, and goals allowed. The mindsets were selected through a review of research in education and sport. I conducted Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient analyses to assess the validity and reliability of the …

Effects Of A Robotic Cat On Agitation And Quality Of Life In Individuals With Dementia In A Long-Term Care Facility, Jillian Nicole Marsilio, Samantha Virginia Mckittrick, Lisa Renee Umbell, Melissa Ann Garner, Sharon Maiewski, Jeanne Wenos

Physician Assistant Capstones, 2016 to 2019

Study Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine whether introducing a robotic companion cat into a long term care facility may improve affect and, subsequently, increase participation for residents with dementia, and to determine potential benefits for caregiver roles and relationships with individuals with dementia.

Background: The number of people with dementia is growing, and the behavioral and psychological side effects are negatively affecting the quality of life for these people as well as their caregivers. Additional research is needed to help develop and confirm the use of nonpharmacological treatment for dementia with therapeutic robots.

Study Subjects: Research …

An Exploration Of A Mentoring Program On The Experiences Of African-American Students At A Predominately White Institution, Cierra Davis

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Many African-American college students face struggles that make a successful college career and retention difficult or impossible. Financial struggles, lack of preparation, racial climate on campus and nationally and absence of faculty of color plague the lives of students. Being an African-American student at a Predominately White Institution (PWI) can pose additional challenges. Many minority students report experiencing various acts of prejudice including lack of nurturing and resources to help them adjust successfully. Students also report the absence or scarcity of minorities in the faculty, curriculum and population as a barrier to connection, knowledge and support. Considering the important role …

Mindfulness Practices For Information Literacy: Encouraging Reflective Engagement With Information, Liz Chenevey

Libraries

Information Literacy is an important skill required by the APA of undergraduate psychology students. The Association of College & Research Libraries partially defines Information Literacy as the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information. These abilities are most often seen in research, yet many undergraduate students see research projects as a frustrating burden and another stressor in their busy semesters. Librarians can help them navigate the changing information landscape and the research process as whole, but how much reflection and synthesis do students take part in? Mindfulness practices are increasing in popularity in higher education as they …

The Superhero Inside: Exploring The Minds Of Ourselves And Our Superheroes, Briana Craig

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Superhero Inside is a research-based, non-fiction novel that connects elements of psychology to the concept of superheroes. There are seven chapters that explore a range of topics, including why we are fascinated by villainous characters and how superheroes represent (or misrepresent) diverse groups of people.

Improving Conversation Skills In A Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Textual Prompts And Front-To-Back Fading, Emily Knox

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

A central characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are deficits in social communication, which often results in delays in speech and impairments in communication skills. The present study’s goal was to improve the quality of conversation skills in a seven-year-old diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. A multiple baseline across behaviors probe design was used to teach the child appropriate responses in three conversation scripts about topics of interest of the child. The scripts were presented to the child using visual text prompts that were faded out using a front-to-back fading procedure. When the child met criteria for reinforcement, it was …

The Effect Of The Similarity Of Events On Change Deafness, Caroline Cole

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Change deafness is a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when an observer fails to rapidly detect an above-threshold change in a sound source. The present research represented an initial investigation into one stimulus factor, the perceived similarity between array events, that potentially gives rise to change deafness to continuously moving target events. Participants (N=13) were presented with arrays of three simultaneous tones of inharmonic, synthetic /a/ and /i/ vowels. Each array event had a distinct pitch [low (A₂), middle (D^#₃), high (B₄)] and starting location in perceived space on the azimuth (-40°, …

Climate Communication Through A Community Perspective, Kathryn Mcgee

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project utilized psychology and science communication strategies to develop creative, locally framed climate change messaging. Through an online survey of 300 Gloucester County, VA residents, community themes of place attachment, environmental connection, risk assessment and climate change acceptance were recorded. Using the results from the survey I created a website, https://guidinggloucester.wixsite.com/home, which serves as an avenue for communicating with Gloucester residents. The website displays the results of the survey, explains climate change information that is relevant to Gloucester County, and gives examples of local actions to help increase engagement in climate solutions. In addition to the website, I …

The Effect Of A Stage Of Change Tailored Intervention On Physical Activity And Psychological States Of Older Adults, Emilee Blosser

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Abstract

The Effect of a Stage of Change Tailored Intervention on Physical Activity and Psychological States of Older Adults

Introduction: As life expectancy increases in the United States, activity promotion programs aim to help older adults continue to remain happy, healthy, and productive. Programs that facilitate exercise and lifestyle changes can offset regular age-related declines and improve participation in regular fitness programs. Developing more active lifestyles can help the elderly maintain independence in their everyday activities.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a physical activity intervention tailored to participants’ stage of change on attitudes …

The Effects Of Speaking Rate Manipulations On The Perception Of Voicing Contrasts, Sarah M. Howell

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Phoneme-level research involving speaking rate has typically relied on a single method of synthetically manipulating rate of speech by compressing the vowel portion of a syllable. This does not mimic what occurs during natural speech production, and therefore could be influencing the perception of voicing contrasts. An experiment was conducted to address this problem by constructing a continuum of voice onset times for the velar place of articulation and then subsequently altering the rate of speech using three methods of manipulation: compressing the vowel, compressing the consonant and vowel proportionate to what occurs naturally, and compressing the total duration of …

Interactions Between Anxiety Subtypes, Personality Characteristics, And Emotional Regulation Skills As Predictors Of Future Career Outcomes, Cerella Chandra

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Trait anxiety, anxious arousal, rejection sensitivity, and implicit feelings of rejection in adolescence were examined as predictors of long-term career performance, satisfaction, success, and ambition. Personality traits such as conscientiousness and grit, as well as coping and emotion regulation skills were analyzed as potential moderating variables. Anxious arousal and rejection sensitivity were predicted to be more strongly associated with negative career outcomes, and coping skills were predicted to be more effective in diminishing negative consequences of anxiety. Multi-reporter data were obtained from 184 teens at ages 17-19 and 26-27, and 27-29. Trait anxiety was the only anxiety variable to correlate …

Associations Between Grit And Academic Factors, Alexandra Bowen

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Grit has been identified as a promising area of research in social psychology for its association with various success outcomes. Given the connection between grit and success, researchers have begun to investigate factors associated with grit to better understand how gritty people achieve their goals. Other researchers have questioned if grit is unique from other related traits, like conscientiousness and self-control. This project sought to explore both of these questions: the factors associated with grit and the discriminant validity of grit. Specifically, this project looked at grit in relation to cognitive failures, fear of failure, and growth mindset to inquire …

Diverse Students’ Perceptions Of The Proactive Circle Process In A Restorative Practice Intervention, Shana M. Little

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Restorative practices have been introduced as a school wide intervention to reduce the cultural disparity in school discipline. The purpose of this intervention is to promote healthy student-teacher relationships. The research on restorative practices as an intervention for minority students has shown to be effective, through school discipline data and teacher report. The current study used individual interviews with high school students to explore their perception of restorative practices, specifically proactive circles, and its effectiveness. Results showed cultural differences in student’s understanding or perception of proactive circles. Additionally, participants believed proactive circles helped or improved their communication skills and social …

Mental Health Literacy: Investigating Adolescents’ Knowledge Of Depression And Professional Sources Of Help, Jessica A. Meeks

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders affecting adolescents, and there is evidence suggesting that there are adolescents suffering from depression who are not receiving treatment (Mojtabai, Offson, & Han, 2016). The increasing presence of mental health professionals and mental health services in public schools is one solution to the treatment gap. However, less is known about adolescents’ understanding of depression and treatment options. The current study utilized an online survey to examine the mental health literacy of 38 ninth grade students. Results indicated that adolescents have a moderate ability to recognize and label depression from brief …

Beyond Motivation: Differences In Score Meaning Between Assessment Conditions, Nikole Gregg

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Written communication is a skill necessary for not only the success of undergraduate students, but for post-graduates in the workplace. Furthermore, according to employers the writing skills of post-graduates tend to be below expectations. Therefore, the assessment of such skills within higher education is in high demand. Written communication assessments tend to be administered in one of two conditions: 1) course embedded and 2) a low-stakes, non-embedded condition. The current study investigated possible construct-irrelevant variance in writing assessment scores by using data from a mid-sized public university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Specifically, 157 student products were …

Discounting In The Pigeon: Food-Specified Conditioned Reinforcers, Matthew Wolf

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Discounting has been observed across a wide range of species, procedures, and reinforcers. One of the main differences in the literature is that studies with humans use money (conditioned reinforcer) as the reinforcer being discounted. This is in contrast to studies with non-human animals where the discounted outcomes are usually directly consumable like food and water (primary reinforcers). At present, there is no non-human animal equivalent to money that has been identified in the discounting literature. To further bridge the remaining gaps in the methodology, a common currency is needed to study conditioned reinforcers in the discounting paradigm. An adjusting-amount …

Posterior Predictive Model Checking Of Local Misfit For Bayesian Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Chi Hang Au

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Posterior predictive model checks (PPMC) are one Bayesian model-data fit approach. Thus far, PPMC for Confirmatory Factor Analytic applications focused primarily on global fit evaluation, ignoring the nuanced information in local misfit diagnostics. This study developed a PPMC approach for local misfit and applied it to a test-taking motivation scale. If the PPMC approach is effective, fit conclusions derived from the PPMC approach should be congruent with the fit conclusions derived from the Frequentist approach. Number of item-pairs flagged as misfitting and number of disagreements were computed to evaluate congruence. Congruence is achieved if the number of item-pairs flagged as …

The Influence Of Covariate Measurement Error On Treatment Effect Estimates And Numeric Balance Diagnostics Following Several Common Methods Of Propensity Score Matching: A Simulation Study, Heather D. Harris

Dissertations, 2014-2019

In applied intervention studies, researchers frequently aim to make inferences about the impact of a treatment program on participants. However, applied researchers are often faced with threats to the internal validity of their studies, or the extent to which changes in participants’ outcomes can be attributed to the intervention. When researchers are unable to randomly assign study participants to treatment conditions, changes in the intervention outcome might be confounded with systematic differences in participants’ baseline characteristics. Propensity score matching is one technique that allows researchers to account for threats to the internal validity of a study. Specifically, using propensity score …

An Exploration Of The Collegiate Coach-Athlete Relationship And Its Impact On Female Athlete Attitudes And Behaviors Toward Disordered Eating And Body Image, Bridget E. Smith

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Collegiate female athletes face the challenges of conflicting feminine body ideals in society and in their sport all while striving for athletic success. Coaches are believed to play a significant role in an athlete’s development, and thus have potential to (knowing or unknowingly) reinforce, or even introduce, eating pathology as a means to achieve athletic performance and/or a body ideal. Previous research has found a link between insecure attachment and subsequent eating pathology in athletes and non-athletes alike. The coach can be viewed as an important attachment figure in an athlete’s life and development and thus serve a mediating role …

Gratitude In Relationships: A Study On Gratitude, Attachment, And Relationship Satisfaction, Brittany D. Dioszeghy

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This study utilized Pearson correlations to assess for relationships between dispositional gratitude, attachment type, and relationship satisfaction. The survey was completed by 599 participants (77.57% female; 21.64% male; 0.63% other; 0.16% decline to state). Three separate instruments were used to assess for dispositional gratitude, attachment type (anxious/avoidant), and relationship satisfaction, respectively. First, it was hypothesized that anxious attachment would be negatively correlated with dispositional gratitude. Second, it was hypothesized that avoidant attachment types would be negatively correlated with dispositional gratitude. Third, it was hypothesized that anxious attachment would be negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction. Fourth, it was hypothesized that avoidant …

The Power Of One: How Promoting Positive Student-Teacher Relationships In The Classroom Can Impact Teacher Wellness And Burnout, Alexis Morse

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Previous research has offered understanding of resiliency factors in the classroom setting to create and enhance student-teacher relationships (STR). Additionally, numerous studies have examined public school teachers’ burnout across the three areas of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment. Few studies, however, have combined these two research areas to better understand the relationship between them. This study uses intervention methods to provide 2^nd-grade to 5^th-grade teachers in one elementary school in Central Virginia applicable and efficient ways to build student-teacher relationships in the classroom and reduce their job-related stress. Pre- and post-intervention data was collected …

Hell On Earth: An Exploration Into What Drives Evil, Samuel Taylor Hogan

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Evil abounds. Even the most cursory glance at the news yields harsh headlines about bombings, school shootings, acid attacks, murder, rape, sex slavery, torture, and the occasional mass genocide. The 20th century alone featured roughly 135 million military and civilian deaths due to war and democide (White & Pinker, 2013). Recently, a cultural narrative has emerged proselytizing that evil is an aberrant, caustic mutation of the otherwise unsullied human soul. Philosophers and sociologists, among others, contend that “civilization needs to believe that it does not have an inhumane or barbaric side, leading members of the mainstream to constantly project unacceptable …

Screening For Dementia: An Examination Of Subscale Relative Importance, Emily F. Matusz

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Approximately 13 percent of the American population are 65 years of age or older (Vincent & Velkof, 2010). Of these 48 million older adults, roughly 5.3 million have received a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (Alzheimer’s Association, 2017). As the awareness of AD continues to heighten, so does the push for increased cognitive screening to identify signs of abnormal aging. However, important considerations pertaining to scale development or weighting procedures applied during the test development process remain unclear, as they are often not reported in testing manuals. The current study presents a statistically derived scoring algorithm for a brief …

Student Engagement And Learning Gains: Self-Reports, Direct Measures, And Instrument Specificity, Christopher Kerr

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The assumption that engagement leads to student learning is fundamental in higher education. Engagement is often used by educational institutions as an indicator of student learning. However, research has found moderate to weak relationships between engagement and learning. This study explored the influence that methods used to measure learning and engagement may have on the relationships observed between the two. More specifically, this study considered differences between self-reported measures of learning and direct-measure change scores in their relationship to engagement. Additionally, this study tested the influence that specificity of engagement measures has on observed engagement-learning relationships. Quantitative reasoning was selected …

A Growth Mindset Intervention In Female Collegiate Athletes, Cierra Latrice Williams

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Growth mindset interventions have been evaluated within academic settings for years and have demonstrated links between one’s mindset and achievement goals. However, despite this research, limited research has evaluated the effectiveness of a growth mindset intervention within an athletic setting. This research aimed to remedy this shortcoming by conducting a growth mindset intervention within a sample of 27 female collegiate athletes. Participants viewed two videos about the malleability of the brain, listened to the researcher discuss personal sport experiences, and wrote a letter to a future athlete. Measures of growth mindset, fixed mindset, competitiveness, win orientation, and goal orientation were …

Evaluating The Benefits Of Art Therapy Interventions With Grieving Children, Meagan Dye

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Art therapy has numerous benefits when working with a variety of populations and many studies support the efficacy of art and art therapy interventions. This research paper aims to specifically assess the impact of a formal, semi-structured, individual art therapy intervention with grieving children. The researcher reviewed the records of thirteen clients who worked with three art therapists at a small palliative care agency in Central Virginia. Clients were between the ages of 5-18 years old and were assessed to gauge their positive and negative affect before the art therapy intervention and after the sixth session. Each therapist worked with …

Neuro-Cognitive Factors In Adolescent Psychotherapy, Jean F. Ndzana

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Cognitive and developmental differences between teenagers and adults must be overcome to ensure a level playing field in the process of counseling. Exploring the developmental factors involved, and discussing associated treatment interventions can help the counselor close this gap by improving client adherence to treatment and outcomes. This paper consists of a review of the current literature in neuropsychology, neuroscience, cognitive linguistics and counseling, as it relates to brain and cognitive developments in adolescence. These findings are referenced to show the many developmental changes that occur in adolescence, and how those changes can be a hindrance to successful participation in …

The School Psychologist’S Role In The Problem Solving Process: How Assessment Can Inform Intervention, Rachel Larkin

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This study serves as an investigation into the role of school psychologists within the problem solving process, intervention selection, and the role assessment in guiding intervention selection. School psychologists have many different roles that they can carry out and the roles of assessment and intervention tend to be the two largest. Assessments are designed for clinical decision-making and interventions are designed to target the specific needs of a student. As problem solvers and decision makers, it would make sense to use the tools that school psychologists have, including assessment and intervention, in combination in order to help students succeed. The …

The Effects Of Alcohol Priming And Alcohol-Related Cues On Subsequent Alcohol Preferences, Kathleen R. Owens

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of alcohol priming and alcohol-related cues on subsequent alcohol preferences. Researchers assigned randomly 35 university students to 1 of 3 conditions: alcohol delivered in a red disposable plastic cup (AC; alcohol cue; n = 12), alcohol delivered in a cafeteria cup (AN; neutral cue; n = 11), or alcohol placebo (P; n = 12) delivered in a red disposable plastic cup. Participants consumed their assigned beverages, and then completed the Multiple Choice Procedure (MCP), a procedure that allows participants to make discrete choices between a standard alcoholic beverage and …

An Alternative To Escape Extinction: The Effects Of The Wait Out Procedure On Noncompliance, Rachel Rolando

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this research was to replicate a study by Ward, Parker, and Perdikaris (2017), which focused on a reactive substitute to conventional forms of escape extinction for primarily escape-maintained noncompliance behavior through using a wait out procedure, as well as to add to the literature for reactive procedures aimed to decrease noncompliant behaviors for students with disabilities in a school setting. This experiment included a multielement graphical design that contained partial-interval data of noncompliance behavior in baseline, and in two interventions to determine if there was a change in noncompliance behavior following the introduction of each intervention; the …