Digital Commons Network^™

Cognitive Processes And Moderators Of Willingness In Individuals With Social Anxiety Disorder And Non-Anxious Controls In Response To A Social Performance Task, Lauren P. Wadsworth

Graduate Masters Theses

The present study investigated differences between individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and non-anxious controls (NAC) on measures of thought processes and anxiety responses surrounding an anxiety-provoking situation. Participants gave a spontaneous speech to an audience and reported their anxiety throughout. Measures of trait decentering and anxiety, situational anxiety, negative thoughts and believability, and willingness to repeat the task were administered. Compared to NAC, individuals with SAD reported a higher prevalence of negative thoughts, found the thoughts more believable, reported lower levels of trait decentering, and reported less willingness to repeat an anxiety-provoking task. Collapsing the groups, we found an …

Using Yoga Practice To Empower Psychotherapists’ Interpersonal Process, Jennifer Paz

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Yoga practice promotes awareness and acceptance, and serves as a body-centered medium for developing deepened self-understanding. Among patient populations, a growing body of evidence suggests that the benefits of yoga practice extend to both physical health and psychological well-being. However, the psychological impact of yoga practice on psychotherapists’ interpersonal responses, while potentially promising, has received little attention in the literature. This paper provides a historical overview of contemplative practices and discusses the role that yoga can play in developing certain interpersonal characteristics of the psychotherapist that are hypothesized to empower the therapeutic relationship and facilitate constructive behavior change on the …

California Community Colleges Child Development Laboratory Schools, Shari Yates

Dissertations

Community colleges in California are the primary source for preparing the early childhood care and education (ECE) workforce. The California child development lab school mission is to prepare ECE practitioners, provide a laboratory where college students can study and research child development/education, and offer a service to children and families. There are many benefits that are derived from laboratory schools but many community college lab schools have been reduced and/or closed over the past three years. The purposes of this Delphi study were (a) to examine the most pressing issues, problems and barriers facing California community colleges child development labs …

Through The Eyes Of The Homeless, Aisha M. Soto

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When reviewing the entire project from start to completion, I can honestly say, Through the Eyes of the Homeless is a play about ten women and their plight. It illustrates their dealings with everyday issues of hurt, disappointment, abuse, love, and hope. I believe the true impact of this play is the undeniable prayer for help and hope within each monologue. Despite the horrors that are unveiled and released through hidden secrets, the undertone of betterment is truly resonating. My own expectation for this play is simply to strike awareness and understanding in the eyes of the people. It is …

The Association Between Trauma Exposure, Maladjustment, And Aggression In Detained Boys, Kelli R. Thompson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated an association between violence exposure and aggression; however, research exploring the association between violence exposure and the forms and functions of aggression is scarce. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between trauma exposure with both reactive and proactive functions of aggression by examining two potential mediators (e.g., psychopathic traits and emotional dysregulation). Participants included 132 male juvenile offenders mandated to treatment in a residential facility (M = 16.78 years old; SD = 1.25). Results indicate emotional dysregulation partially mediated the association between trauma exposure and reactive aggression while controlling for proactive …

The Influence Of Dopamine On The Magnitude And Duration Of The Placebo Effect, Steve T. Brewer

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A placebo effect is a real and beneficial psychobiological phenomenon following the administration of a substance or procedure that has no inherent power to produce an effect. Nocebo effects, on the other hand are genuine and detrimental psychobiological phenomenon following the administration of and inert substance or procedure. These effects have been extensively studied but are not well understood. Central to the development of a placebo effect is the anticipation of benefit or the anticipation of harm. Indeed, expectancy and conditioning are thought to be the two primary mechanisms involved in the acquisition of the placebo effect. The neurotransmitter Dopamine …

Testosterone Reactivity And Neural Activation In The Mid Task, Yoojin Lee

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the project was to determine if testosterone reactivity and neural changes could be observed in response to a reward-seeking competitive task, respectively, and whether testosterone was related to neural activation. Forty nine undergraduate students were recruited playing the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID). We found that a subset of participants (N=20) showed testosterone reactivity to the task (ps < .05). During the EEG analyses, cue had a main effect on FRN amplitude in a trend level (p = .084): The large incentive cue triggered smaller (less negative) FRN amplitude than the small incentive cue did (p < .05), especially during the second reward seeking block (A’) (p = .065) and especially within males (p < .05). Testosterone level and reactivity were not further associated with FRN amplitude (ps > .1). Taken together, results show both testosterone and …

Effect Of Reverberation Context On Spatial Hearing Performance Of Normally Hearing Listeners, Renita E. Sudirga

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous studies provide evidence that listening experience in a particular reverberant environment improves speech intelligibility and localization performance in that environment. Such studies, however, are few, and there is little knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. The experiments presented in this thesis explored the effect of reverberation context, in particular, the similarity in interaural coherence within a context, on listeners' performance in sound localization, speech perception in a spatially separated noise, spatial release from speech-on-speech masking, and target location identification in a multi-talker configuration.

All experiments were conducted in simulated reverberant environments created with a loudspeaker array in an anechoic chamber. …

Impact Of The Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism On Emotion Identification In Healthy Older Adults, Staci Erin Scott

Dissertations

Older adults exhibit reduced accuracy and efficiency for identifying facial emotion expressions yet it is unclear how genetic or cognitive variables influence these findings. This study examined the impact of serotonin transporter polymorphism 5-HTTLPR on patterns of explicit emotion identification accuracy and reaction time (RT) in healthy older adults. The impact of 5-HTTLPR on measures of processing speed, attention, and executive function as well as correlations between cognitive measures and emotion identification measures were also examined. Methods: Forty-one individuals over the age of 50 were genotyped for bi-allelic and tri-allelic variants of 5-HTTLPR and administered an emotion recognition paradigm and …

The Effect Of Attachment Type On Levels Of Delinquency And Peer Relations, Kayla Jordan

Honors Theses

The goal of this study is to determine if a relationship exists between the attachment type of an individual and that individual's level of delinquency and also their peer relations. This was done by having the participant take the Adult Attachment Scale to place them into their attachment type, followed by the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale to determine the participant's level of delinquency, and finally the Index of Peer Relations to assess the amount of problems the participant has with his or her peers. Sixty-one Coastal Carolina students participated in the study and the results show that those with a …

School-Based Sexuality Education, Gender, And Relationship Self-Efficacy: A Moderated-Mediation Analysis Of Sexual Behavior In First-Year College Students, Sara C. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

While the effectiveness at abstinence-only versus comprehensive sexuality education in preventing adolescent risky sexual behavior is widely researched, little is known about whether material learned in secondary school sexuality education classes impacts emerging adult sexual behavior in the college environment. Furthermore, research suggests that self-efficacy – or beliefs in one’s abilities to organize and execute actions – may be more critical than knowledge or skills in terms of how individuals enact behavior. We hypothesized a moderated-mediation effect by which the causal impact of type of sexuality education on four different sexual behaviors during the first year in college is transmitted …

An Analysis Of The Cultural Invariance Of A Visual-Motor Integration Measure, Emma Kate C. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

As diverse populations within schools increase, the need for culturally-sensitive assessment is essential; however, test of ability vary in their degree of influence from culture. No test is “culture free,” but the low-linguistic demands on test of visual-motor integration (VMI) make them appropriate for use with diverse populations. Variation in VMI test performance due to cultural factors has negative implications for test interpretation and use with diverse populations because of VMI’s significant association with school readiness, academic achievement, social-emotional functioning, and neuropsychological assessment. The current study explored the cultural invariance of the Bender Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (BG-II), a …

Life Satisfaction And Academic Performance In Early Adolescents: Evidence For Reciprocal Relationships, Zi Jia Ng

Theses and Dissertations

Student well-being remains a relatively neglected topic despite its intimate link to positive school outcomes. As academic achievement is the yardstick of student success and school accountability, school-based mental health research and practice have focused primarily on the assessment and treatment of learning and behavioral problems. This shortterm longitudinal study sought to establish the role of student subjective well-being in academic achievement. Based on the engine model of well-being (Jayawickreme, Forgeard, & Seligman, 2012), the study focused on life satisfaction as a process variable and academic performance as an outcome variable. Using two waves (five months apart) of data, the …

Defining And Supporting Organizational Readiness In The Interactive Systems Framework For Dissemination And Implementaion, Jonathan Peter Scaccia

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction. In the implementation literature, organizational readiness is associated with an increased likelihood of achieving innovation outcomes. Organizational readiness consists of organizational capacity (general and innovation-specific) and organization motivation. Organizations who wish to get results from their innovations have an interest in making sure that certain factors and subcomponents are in place. However, having awareness that certain capacities and factors that influence motivation are linked to improved innovation outcomes does not necessarily help organizations to get “more ready.” There is a need for organizations to know if and how they can effectively put these factors and subcomponents into place. This …

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder And Academic Performance: Student Engagement In The Classroom, Emily B. Mancil

Theses and Dissertations

Youth with Attention/Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have many obstacles to positive development (including difficulties in school settings) and are in need of support. However, few studies have focused on the ways in which positive factors, such as student engagement (SE), may be beneficial for this population to identify strategies for supporting their strengths. Although many studies have examined academic and behavioral aspects of SE, few studies have examined the psychological (i.e., teacher-student relationships, peer support for learning, family support for learning) and cognitive (i.e., control and relevance of school work, future aspirations and goals, extrinsic motivation) sub-components of engagement. The current …

The Automatic And Controlled Influence Of Environmental Cues During Recognition Judgments, Diana Selmeczy

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recognition judgments are often made in the context of environmental information, such as instructions or payout regimens that observers have been shown to use in order to adaptively bias their memory judgments. These adaptive biases are usually characterized as a strategic, controlled process that observers adopt intentionally, and this is formalized in signal detection theory wherein strategic criterion placement is assumed fully independent of recognition evidence signals. However, recent pilot research in our laboratory suggests that the ability to regulate recognition decision biases in the context of environmental cues may not be fully controlled by observers suggesting an automatic or …

The Relation Between Couple Communication And Work-Family Conflict, Klaudia Konik

Honors Projects

In studies examining work-family conflict, much of the attention has been focused on control at work (Radcliffe & Cassel, 2014). The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between couple communication at home and experienced job satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and overall work-family conflict. Though hypotheses specifically examining communication frequency were not fully supported, post-hoc analyses revealed unique relationships between specific communication patterns and skills and work-family conflict, especially when examining family-to-work influences. Suggestions for future research to examine the benefits of teaching communication skills at work and how they may impact work-family conflict are also discussed.

My Classroom Management Plan: The First Two Weeks Of School, Hannah Burkhart

Honors Projects

As a pre-service teacher in one of the best teacher preparatory programs in the country, I learned many of the theories behind classroom management and discipline. After spending time during student teaching in my own classroom, however, I needed a more immediately useful solution than theory could provide. After investigating varied classroom management approaches and styles, I discovered the work of Harry and Rosemary Wong who inspired the creation of my own classroom management plan: a step-by-step guide of best practices and approaches to respond to daily issues and routines in the classroom. While I have heard that “the best …

On Regret: A Philosophical And Psychological Analysis, Darrell White Ii

Honors Projects

An interdisciplinary explanation of regret research in cognitive psychology by means of the Derridean deconstruction. Particular lines of research regarding regret including rational actor theory, regret forecasting, inaction vs action regret, and regret as autobiographical memory are explained in terms of the Derridean Deconstruction of Mourning.

Learning To Swim: The Act Approach To Living With Depression, Ashley Martinez

Honors Projects

This illustrated self-help manual was designed as a basis for treatment for individuals of a wide range of ages experiencing depression. The therapeutic base of the manual is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which outlines the pathology of depression as problems in functioning rather than problems in the individual. The ACT theory of depression views problems in functioning as centered around the way negative emotions are perceived and processed through language and problematic actions or inaction as a result of cognitive distortions. Because of problems with language, the manual is illustrated to help the reader understand the foundations of ACT …

The Influence Of Organizational Climate On The Use And Quality Of Evidence-Based Practices In School Mental Health, Katherine Knies

Theses and Dissertations

Organizational climate is defined as the reflection of workers’ perceptions of, and emotional responses to, the characteristics of their work environment (Glisson & James, 2002). While previous research explored the importance of organization climate for the adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in mental health settings, there is a dearth of organizational climate focused research in school mental health settings (SMH). The current study examines the influence of organizational climate on two separate dependent variables: the extent to which EBPs were used and the quality of clinician delivery for the evidence-based practices used in a quality improvement intervention for SMH practitioners. …

Alterations To Taste Preference In Mc4r Haploinsufficiency Manifest Prior To Dietary Induced Obesity And Are Accompanied By Dendritic Spine Alterations To Medium Spiny Neurons Of The Nucleus Accumbens In Adulthood, Robert Francis Roscoe Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and has become an increasing public health concern for developed nations. Haploinsufficiency of melanocortin receptor 4 has been identified as the single most common monogenetic cause of obesity in humans. Using the MC4R +/- haploinsufficient rat, we sought to determine potential alterations in body weight and morphology, locomotor activity, sucrose concentration preference, and progressive-ratio operant testing in a dietary-induced obesity environment. Rats were placed on four separate diets corresponding to 1.7% saturated fat with 12.2% total kcal/fat, 6% saturated fat with a 40% total kcal/fat, 12% saturated fat with a 40% …

An Exploration Of The Experience Of In-Home Counseling Services, Greg Czyszczon

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This qualitative study explores the lived experience of in-home counseling services by using a phenomenological method. In-home counseling services are used in situations where families experience extreme emotional distress, in part owing to the problematic behavior of a child. A semi-structured interview was used to elicit parents’ experience of in-home services in a geographical area that included a large portion of Virginia. The study found that the whole of parents’ experience of in-home services was dynamically influenced by constituent parts including the parent’s experience of the child, their experience of parenting, their experience of systems of care, and their experience …

Weighing In: Therapeutic Benefits Of Online Communities For Individuals With Eating Disorders, Cheri L. Greenfield

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The treatment of eating disorders involves a complex approach. In recent years, a number of websites have developed in an attempt to meet the needs of individuals struggling with this set of disorders. Some of these websites are nationally recognized organizations dedicated to improve treatment and provide educational resources, while other websites have been authored by individuals with eating disorders in an attempt to create a safe community of support. This project explores various components found in online communities, examines characteristics of eating disorders, and evaluates the worth of such resources, even when in perceived contrast with traditional treatment. Rather …

The Interaction Of Patience And Resistance To Miserly Information Processing On Life Outcomes, Tristan Kirkman

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This study examined the relationships between three factors: patience, resistance to miserly information processing (RMIP), and life outcomes. Patience, or the ability to delay gratification in exchange for a larger reward, has been associated with having fewer negative life outcomes— those who are able to wait tend to have better lives. RMIP involves the tendency to think analytically instead of using heuristics (mental shortcuts). RMIP has had only limited study in terms of its relationship to actual life outcomes, but what has been examined so far has also suggested a positive relationship. In the present study, it was found that …

An Evaluation Of Mental Health And Methadone: Anxiety, Depression, And Drug Use, Gursimran Khahera

Master's Projects and Capstones

As a part of the Masters of Science in Behavioral Health field placement, an evaluation was conducted of the integrated treatment plan in mental health and substance abuse at Bay Area Addiction Research and Treatment (BAART) programs. The goal of the BAART programs are to provide comprehensive mental health and substance abuse outpatient recovery services, as well as on-site primary health care services for substance users, mainly opioid use. There is a link between increased substance abuse and increased rates of depression and anxiety. These disorders use the same neuro chemical pathway and are highly codependent upon one another. Because …

Autism Project: Case Study Evaluating Behavioral Interventions For The Self-Injurious Behavior Of Biting, Brittani Rohrig

Honors Theses

Self-injurious (SIB) behavior is a common problem among the autism population, and often those who engage in SIB have done so since a very early age. There was a nine-year-old boy named Jack who was diagnosed with ASD and engaged in the self-injurious behavior of biting his hand. A functional analysis was conducted and it was found that the behavior was multiply controlled across three main conditions: alone/play, demand, and attention. The goal of this case study was to review previous interventions that did not eliminate the target behavior, analyze and revise the current protocols in place, and eliminate the …

An Examination Of Psychological Variables Influencing Perceptions Of The Self Among A Sample Of Female Exercise Initiates, Lisa Cooke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to explore the relationship among and within cognitive variables associated with exercise initiation and maintenance in a sample of female exercise initiates.

Manuscript 1 was structured to explore the changes to exercise identity among a population of female exercise initiates (N = 78) grouped into an imagery or control condition. Previous research has found that a strong exercise identity is associated with more frequent exercise (Strachan et al., 2009) and increases over time as a person continues to exercise (Cardinal & Cardinal, 1997). Participants were assessed multiple times (weeks 0, 5, 9, …

The Effects Of Alcohol On Different Classes Of Motion Perception, Steven J. Matson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

We used a psychophysical approach to investigate how alcohol affected visual sensitivity to perceive different classes of motion. Visual sensitivities were measured in both a non-alcohol and an alcohol condition for three classes of motion: Minimum Motion, Simple Motion, and Complex Motion. Perceptual thresholds, taken as the degree of motion at which an observer responded correctly with an accuracy of 75%, or Weber fractions were compared between the non-alcohol and the alcohol conditions. For Simple and Complex motion, similar comparisons were made as a function of speed (e.g., 2°s^-1, 6°s^-1, and 12°s^-1). Perceptual thresholds …

Motivated To Adapt: Applying Goal-Setting Theory, Primed Subconscious Goal, And Implementation Intention, Graham Benjamin Wohler

Dissertations

This study investigated the effects that several motivational interventions have on transition and reacquisition adaptability. Goal-setting, whether assigned or self-set, had no effect on either form of adaptability; however, the two goal-setting conditions differed from each other once goal commitment was taken into consideration. High commitment was negatively associated to transition adaptability for assigned goals, but positively related for self-set goals; this trend was marginally significant in reacquisition adaptability as well. Primed subconscious goals were found to have no effect on either form of adaptability. An implementation intention was found to negatively relate to transition adaptability and to have no …