Digital Commons Network^™

Getting To Know You: The Effects Of Familiarity And Time On Social Perception, Clarissa Arms Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A new direction in social perception research is developed. The present research explored the impact of familiarity and time on social perception processes based on cognitive neuroscience models, social categorization models, and memory consolidation constructs. Familiarity was manipulated within an exposure task and time was manipulated by testing participants both 2-6 hr and 48 hr after the exposure task. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of familiarity and time on the argument of the automaticity of social categorization and associated stereotypes by testing the argument with two separate tasks. Experiment 1a tested the influence of familiarity and time on associated stereotypes …

Does Type Of Stimulus Influence Task-Irrelevant Evaluative Categorization Processes?, Guadalupe Corral

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The effect of stimulus type on task-irrelevant evaluative categorization was examined in two separate studies by using the P3 component from event-related brain potentials. The first study presented idiosyncratic stimuli consisting of individuals that were rated by participants as either positive or negative within sequences of pictorial and verbal stimuli. The second study presented sequences of novel and familiar stimuli consisting of previously normed unattractive and neutral individuals. It was hypothesized that pictures would elicit task-irrelevant evaluative categorization processes and so would novel stimuli (relative to words and familiar stimuli, respectively). Task-irrelevance was examined by assessing P3 peak amplitude to …

"Should I Just Confess?": The Influence Of Perceived Consequences Associated With Confessing On The Likelihood Of True Vs. False Confessions, Allyson Judith Horgan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The growing awareness of the problem of false confessions has lead social science researchers to investigate the factors that influence true vs. false confessions. Previous research suggested that minimization and maximization techniques may be interpreted by a suspect as the equivalent of an offer of leniency and a threat of harsher punishment, respectively. The current studies seek to further this literature by distinguishing between minimization and maximization techniques that may or may not influence a suspect's perceptions of the consequences associated with confessing. Results indicate that techniques that manipulate the perceived consequences of confessing increase false confession rates while those …

The Distinctiveness Effect In Fingerprint Identification: How The Role Of Distinctiveness, Information Loss, And Informational Bias Influence Fingerprint Identification, Jessica L. Marcon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Fingerprint misidentification has become a concern for legal professionals, especially after the high profile misidentification of Brandon Mayfield as the Madrid train bomber and the first fingerprint related DNA exoneration of Stephen Cowans. The current studies examined how humans perceive the distinctiveness of fingerprints, whether distinctiveness effects found in face perception research are evident in fingerprint identification, and whether there are conditions under which the distinctiveness effect can be eliminated. Experiment 1 examined the distinctiveness effect and information loss, while Experiment 2 investigated the distinctiveness effect and its interaction with information loss and informational bias. In Experiment 1, results showed …

Characterization Of The Behavioral And Neurochemical Effects Of Nicotine Withdrawal In Adolescent And Adult Rats., Luis Alberto Natividad

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous studies have demonstrated that the behavioral effects of nicotine withdrawal are lower in adolescent versus adult rats. However, the neurochemical mechanisms that mediate these developmental differences are presently unclear. Much work has shown that nicotine reward is mediated via enhanced dopamine neurotransmission in the mesolimbic pathway which originates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and terminates in several forebrain structures including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). More recently, studies have shown that nicotine withdrawal produces a decrease in NAcc dopamine transmission, an effect that is believed to serve as a neurochemical marker of withdrawal in adult rodents. The goal of …

Pre-Existing Attitudes About The Legal System: The Thirteenth Juror?, Larissa Angelique Schmersal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The idealized role of the jury is that of a neutral decision maker; however, the degree to which individual verdict preferences represent jurors' pre-existing beliefs about the legal system, theories about issues important to the case at hand, and prior understanding of legal terms remains inadequately explained. The purpose of the current study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of pre-existing attitudes about the legal system upon verdict preferences. Participants were 463 undergraduate students from the University of Texas at El Paso. Consistent with the hypotheses, pre-existing attitudes about the legal system played a role in individual verdicts, …

Attention Allocation And The Variability Of The Stereotype Priming Effect, Katherine R. White

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The stereotype priming effect is assumed to be a rather uniform and robust effect. However, a closer look at the existing literature suggests that the `standard' stereotype priming effect may be more susceptible to variability than originally believed. In the present study, we sought to demonstrate that the stereotype priming effect displays significant variability in strength depending upon the level of attention allocated to the stereotype feature of interest. Participants were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: a lexical decision task (LDT) condition, a pre-primed LDT condition, and a gender categorization condition. It was predicted that the stereotype priming effect …

Is Alexithymia A Predictor Of College Student Alcohol Abuse?, Diane Arms

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Alexithymia, as defined by Sifneos (1973), literally means "no words for emotions." It is characterized by the following three domains: 1) the incapacity to identify feelings, 2) inability to describe feelings and 3) the tendency to think in externally oriented ways (Salminen, Saarijarvi, & Aarela, 1995; Sifneos, 2000). Although alexithymia is not a diagnosable disorder, it has been shown to be related to a wide variety of other constructs (e.g. alcohol use, depression and parenting styles). This study examined the interrelationships between alexithymia and student alcohol use, while controlling for sex, perceived parental alcohol use, perceived parenting styles and student …

Reanalysis Of Some Effects Of The Mutual Exclusivity Constraint And Their Operation In Bilingual Children, Marina Kalashnikova

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the operation of the Mutual Exclusivity constraint in two groups of three-year-old children: monolingual Spanish speakers and bilingual Spanish-English speakers. Previous research has yielded controversial findings regarding the differences in the intra-lingual level operation of the constraint in monolingual and bilingual children. This investigation sheds light on the conflicting outcomes of previous studies by proposing that non-linguistic cognitive and processing abilities may account for the effects attributed to the constraint and that there may be observable differences in monolingual and bilingual children in the development of some--but not all--of these abilities. Although, this study yielded no significant …

Development Of The Video Suggestibility Scale For Children: Spanish-Language Version, Claudia Ornelas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Video Suggestibility Scale (VSSC). A cross-cultural validation with a sample of 3-5 year old Spanish speaking children was performed to evaluate its psychometric properties (N = 79). The development of the VSSC Spanish language version (VSSC-S) is described. The new version was created using the translation-back-translation process to increase the instrument‟s equivalence. Internal consistencies were satisfactory. Construct validity was assessed by using factor analysis and the Varimax procedure. As expected, the VSSC-S items loaded on two separate factors. Overall, results suggest that the VSSC-S taps into similar constructs …

Effects Of Concurrent Task Performance On Object Processing, Gabriela Durán

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Most research on visual object identification focus on the bottom-up processes of the visual what? and where? pathways. However, such research has not been able to fully account for many visual abilities (e.g., identifying an object among many other objects and across changing conditions). Neurological evidence has shown that feedback from high-level areas (i.e., top-down processing) makes object processing more efficient. However, there are no behavioral studies that have tested this. Thus, four experiments used a concurrent n-back task to occupy higher-level areas and tested its effects on visual object processing relative to a number-repetition control task.

Experiment 1 examined …

Core Conditions In Student-Centered Learning, Margaret Ann Hartford

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study explored core conditions in student centered educational settings by utilizing an ethnomethodological design to examine the experiences of self-selected educators throughout the United States. Through surveys and follow up interviews, educators reported their professional experiences regarding the core conditions in student centered learning as outlined by Carl Rogers and the impact these conditions played in the quality of educational experiences for the educators and their students in diverse settings. This study was also concerned with educators' self reports regarding their training and education regarding core conditions in student centered learning environments. This paper shares with readers a literary …

The Effects Of Psychopathy And Machiavellianism On Cognitive Dissonance, Ashley Anne Murray

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Psychopathic traits include a lack of guilt, a lack of remorse, callousness and antisocial behaviors such as impulsivity and aggression. The current study examined the effects of psychopathic traits as measured by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory - Revised: Short Form (PPI-R: SF; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) and the Levenson Primary and Secondary Psychopathy Scales (LPSP; Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995), and of Machiavellianism (MACH), as measured by the MACH-IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), on cognitive dissonance in a sample of 164 participants. The induced compliance paradigm of cognitive dissonance was implemented by instructing each participant to complete a boring task …

Intermittent And Light Smoking Cessation In A Predominantly Hispanic College Sample, Natasha Kathleen Naylor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Smoking is deleterious to one's health and is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; no level of smoking has been found to be safe. Hispanic and college populations smoke at lower levels but for longer periods of time than non-Hispanic whites and are at risk of escalating their smoking. In this study the effect of a brief tailored intervention on quit status, smoking reduction, Transtheoretical measure change, as well as potential correlates of smoking cessation and reduction, were examined. Two hundred fifty participants completed questionnaires at baseline, 1-, and 3- month follow-ups. Questionnaires assessed: demographic information, …

The Effect Of Facial Resemblance On Alibi Credibility And Final Verdicts, Claudia Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine an extra-legal variable that may affect the credibility of a defendant and the alibi corroborator's testimonies. In this study, the facial appearance of the alibi corroborator was manipulated to resemble the defendant or the trial judge to different degrees using facial morphing software. Participants serving as mock jurors provided verdicts for a trial summary and rated the credibility of an alibi corroborator. It was hypothesized that as the facial resemblance shared between an alibi corroborator and a defendant increased, the less credible the alibi corroborator's testimony would be perceived, resulting in an …

A Tobacco Consumption Diary To Assess The Factors Associated With Smoking In A Light Smoking College Population, Thom J. Taylor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Limited information exists about the proximal predictors of light smoking fewer than 10 cigarettes per day (cpd). Furthermore, light smokers are not highly motivated to quit smoking. This study examined predictors of light smoking and motivational change toward quitting smoking in 118 light smoking college students. Participants completed a 7 day Tobacco Consumption Diary (TCD) by recording for each cigarette: time and day, location, number of people present, number of smokers present, mood, and whether alcohol was consumed. Carbon Monoxide (CO) feedback was also provided to a random half of the participants at the outset of the study. CO feedback …

A Study Of Possible Pre-Cognitive Advantages Of Bilingualism, Marisela Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Past research has suggested that second language acquisition has a beneficial effect on the development of inhibitory control processes in children and adults. This has been referred to as the "bilingual advantage" and is most commonly quantified using the Simon task. Whether the bilingual advantage extends to precognitive mechanisms has not yet been examined. The goals of this study were to examine the bilingual advantage in university students; and to examine whether the bilingual advantage extends to the precognitive filtering mechanism of sensorimotor gating. It was predicted that, as compared to monolinguals, bilingual university students would have greater inhibitory control, …