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Artificial Tanning Salon Behaviors, Intentions, And Attitudes In Terms Of Sensuousness And Sensation Seeking., Christopher Jonathan Armes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the Theory of Alternative Behavior (Jaccard, 1981), we examined the relationship of warmth sensuousness, physical sensuousness, and sensation seeking to individuals' tanning salon behaviors, intentions, and attitudes among undergraduates at a Southeastern university.

Females, high sensation seekers, those high in warmth sensuousness, and those with darker skin types were more likely to tan. Females were more likely to intend to tan in the next year. Those higher in warmth sensuousness were more likely to intend to tan more than 10 times in the next year. Females and subjects higher in warmth sensuousness had more positive attitudes toward tanning. Significant …

The Need For Control In Interpersonal Relationships And Courtship Violence., Marcella Horn Dunaway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored an individual's need for control and the level of violence within a dating relationship.

This was a self-report study. Subjects consisted of 175 students from a university in the southern Appalachian region of the U.S. Questionnaires were combined with a scenario depicting violent behavior. Subjects were asked to rate their level of control on the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Inventory (FIRO-B), to complete the Conflict Tactics Scale - revised (CTS-2), and to rate the acceptability of the scenario. Data were analyzed using an ANOVA.

Results did not support the main hypothesis. No relationship was found between control and …

A Curriculum-Based Approach For Social-Cognitive Skills Training: An Intervention Targeting Aggression In Head Start Preschoolers., Erika Michelle Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a social-cognitive skills training curriculum targeting aggression in Head Start preschoolers. Developmental psychopathology research clearly suggests that early intervention with aggressive preschoolers is critical. Despite the fact that aggressive behavior becomes stable by the elementary school years, there has been relatively little interest in intervening with preschool-aged children. In the present study, the COMPASS program is a 12-session curriculum teaching basic individual social skills (e.g., sharing, questioning, listening). Following the work of Mize and Ladd (1983; 1990), the curriculum was puppet-facilitated and employed the components of instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and …

Cognitive Disinhibition And Creativity, Oshin Vartanian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Eysenck (1995) and Martindale (1999) have proposed that creativity is characterized by cognitive disinhibition. Cognitive disinhibition is hypothesized to underlie many of the cognitive processes that have been associated with creative cognition, such as defocused attention and wide associative horizon. Whereas Eysenck (1995) argued that lower cognitive inhibition is a relatively permanent characteristic of the thinking style of creative people, Martindale (1999) has argued that creative people can focus or defocus attention depending on task demands. This dissertation describes four experiments that were designed to test the disinhibition theory in general, and specific predictions derived from Eysenck's and Martindale's versions …

Emotion Regulation In Adolescent Females With Bulimia Nervosa: An Information Processing Perspective, Leslie A. Sim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although the increased attention to affect regulation in bulimia nervosa is encouraging, most theoretical models describing the relationship between binge-eating and emotion dysregulation neglect to place their observations in the context of the growing knowledge base on normal emotional development. Because the nature of abnormal functioning is best understood in relation to normal development, integrating these fields of research would identi@ deficient skills in bulimia nervosa, suggesting new avenues for treatment. The present study compared 16 adolescent girls with a DSM-IV diagnosis of bulimia nervosa to 16 age- and SES-matched girls without a psychiatric disorder, on three aspects of the …

The Measure Of Adolescent Heterosocial Competence: Development And Construct Validation, Rachel L. Grover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the widespread consensus regarding the importance of other-sex relationships in adolescence, surprisingly little research has addressed the construct of adolescent heterosocial competence. The goal of this series of studies was to construct a measure of adolescent heterosocial competence, and in doing so, further define the construct. Nearly 500 adolescents participated in a series of four studies that followed the five-step method outlined in Goldfiied and D'Zurilla's (1 969) seminal article on assessing competence. The data generated in the first three studies were used to construct a 40-item multiple-choice measure entitled the Measure of Adolescent Heterosocial Competence (MAHC). These studies …

Social Information-Processing In Adolescent Girls: A Comparison Of Sex Offending Girls, Delinquent Girls, And Girls From The Community, Elizabeth Knapp Kubik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various lines of evidence suggest that sex offenders exhibit "thinking errors" or cognitive distortions about their sexually offensive behaviors (e.g., blaming the victim). Numerous clinical reports have documented cognitive distortions among adolescent male sex offenders; empirical research consistently finds evidence of cognitive distortions among adult male sex offenders; sex offender treatments that focus on cognitive distortions as a primary target of treatment have been shown to be the most effective type of treatment for sexual offending; and research on general aggression in adolescent boys and girls consistently demonstrates that aggressive children tend to have distorted beliefs about their aggressive behavior. …

Individual Differences In The Neurophysiology Of Creativity, Jonna Kwiatkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theories dating back to the 1800's have suggested neurophysiological specialization as a key factor in creative production. A common theme in these theories is that greater flexibility in neurophysiological response to stimuli allows more creative individuals to customize their response to the task at hand (Martindale, 1999). In particular, more creative individuals are able to enter a more relaxed, free associative cognitive state when it is necessary for them to produce a creative solution (e.g., Kris, 1952; Mednick, 1962; Mendelsohn, 1976). There is empirical support for individual differences in neurophysiological state between more and less creative participants performing creative tasks …

Differing Death Scenarios: Self Esteem And Death Anxiety., Kenneth Grant Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found a correlation between death anxiety and self esteem. Researchers have found that both self-esteem and death anxiety play a significant role in an individual's behavior.

The purpose of this study was to investigate a correlation, if any, between death anxiety and self esteem using death related scenarios. It was hypothesized the high death anxiety groups will have lower self-esteem than the low death anxiety group, and that the low self-esteem group will have higher death anxiety than the high self-esteem group.

Results of an ANOVA indicate that there is a significant difference between the high death …

A Single Subject Investigation Of Behavioral And Cognitive Therapies For Body Dysmorphic Disorder, April O'Grady

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a psychological disorder characterized by an intense preoccupation with an imagined physical defect, causes extreme distress and leads to depression, divorce, and suicide. Currently, empiricallysupported treatments include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, however, one important component of treatment literature yet to be investigated is the relative efficacy of cognitive or behavior therapy as a sole treatment. In particular, examinations of change processes throughout the course of treatment are needed. Thus, the identification of necessary treatment components in the CBT package and the isolation of specific change processes could lead to a more streamlined and …