Digital Commons Network^™

Shaping Futures: The Influence Of Mentoring On The Future Expectations Of Youths Affected By Family Member Incarceration, Renita D. Moore

Psychology Theses

This study explored the influence of mentoring on the future expectations of youth, comparing those with and without an incarcerated family member. Using data from the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta program, it investigated initial differences in educational and future expectations and how these evolve through mentoring. It hypothesized that mentoring would significantly benefit youth with incarcerated family members. A longitudinal design assessed the impact of mentor-mentee relationship quality, youth engagement, and perceived competence/autonomy. Results showed that high engagement in mentoring improved educational expectations after six months, while mentors' perceptions of youth competence/autonomy enhanced future expectations over 12 …

Understanding Individual Differences In Executive Function In Older Adults, Gabriell Champion

Psychology Theses

Aging is associated with declines in executive function leading to difficulties performing everyday tasks. To combat aging declines, many studies investigate varying rehabilitation interventions. Although improvement on task performance has been noted, improvement on other tasks remains inconsistent. The current study sought to replicate Miyake and Friedman’s (2012) Unity and Diversity (U&D) model including physical activity as a predictor across a sample of older adults. Two models were computed to estimate three latent variables: Common EF, Updating, and Shifting. Model 1 replicated Miyake and Friedman’s bifactor model. Model 2 was a structural model that included physical activity as a separate …

Self-Directed Learning In Nonhuman Primates, Joseph Mckeon

Psychology Theses

Self-directed learning (SDL) is a form of learning wherein individuals have primary control over much or all of the learning process. Little research has been done to investigate this topic in nonhuman animals. The current study involved testing rhesus monkeys and tufted capuchin monkeys on a chained sequential learning task to assess whether they could engage in SDL. Monkeys were either forced to sequence a randomly assigned number of unfamiliar items, allowed to choose the number of unfamiliar items they wanted to sequence, or allowed to choose the number of items they wanted to sequence in a set of familiar …

Worry As Coping: The Roles Of Worry Beliefs, Anxiety, And Emotion Regulation, Anne Werkheiser

Psychology Theses

High-anxious individuals may be particularly vulnerable to emotion dysregulation and overreliance on maladaptive coping strategies such as worry (e.g., Mennin et al., 2005). The existence of contradictory theories regarding the role of worry in anxious individuals’ emotion regulation raises questions about what beliefs may undergird the use of worry. I collected data via an online survey of college students to examine associations between beliefs about worry and worry behavior, as well as associations among trait anxiety, contrast avoidance, and beliefs about worry. I found that affective beliefs predicted worry behavior over and above more-commonly studied instrumental beliefs. I also found …

Black American Parents’ Experiences Of Racial Discrimination And Youths’ Depression Outcomes: An Examination Of The Potential Mediating Role Of Parental Racial Socialization Practices, Ashanti Brown

Psychology Theses

Research indicates that racial discrimination is a significant contributing factor to Black American adolescents’ mental health outcomes, including childhood depression. Black youth are also impacted by the discrimination experienced by their caregivers and their resulting socialization behaviors. Growing bodies of literature demonstrate the importance of promotive and protective parenting factors, such as racial socialization, in adolescent psychosocial outcomes. Researchers have also started to explore the intergenerational impact of racial discrimination on developing Black youth. A key gap in the literature is the extent to which racial socialization serves as a mechanism impacting the relationship between parental experiences of discrimination and …

For The Sake Of Curiosity: Do Monkeys Choose To View Counterfactual Information?, Elizabeth Haseltine

Psychology Theses

Counterfactuals are alternative outcomes to past events. Curiosity for the counterfactual acts as an important driver of learning under uncertainty and helps to improve on past behaviors. This experiment observed counterfactual information collection rates during times of uncertainty and also assessed the willingness of nonhuman primates to gain information when there was a cost or benefit associated. Humans (Experiment 1), capuchins, and rhesus macaques (Experiments 1 and 2) were presented with a three-choice gambling task that consisted of hidden and visible reward values. When choosing visible reward values, participants could view the counterfactual information associated with the gamble. Only humans …

Perceptions Of Sexual Minoritized Women’S Sexual Orientation And Masculine Gender Expression As Predictors Of Their Experience Of Enacted Stigma And Problematic Drinking, Brynne Velia

Psychology Theses

Minority Stress Theory posits that health disparities, such as the disproportionate development of problematic drinking, among sexual minoritized people are attributable to lifelong, experienced stressors such as enacted stigma. Researchers have examined downstream processes of stigma (i.e., what happens after stigma is experienced); however, there is little research on upstream processes (i.e., what leads to the experience of stigma in the first place). The present study sought to examine perception accuracy and perceived masculine gender expression as potential antecedents to experienced stigma and resultant problematic drinking among sexual minoritized women. Two samples of participants were recruited: 180 cisgender sexual …

Pre-Assault Diagnoses Associated With Post-Assault Emergency Department Visits After Recent Sexual Assault, Jessica Prince

Psychology Theses

The current study evaluated the associations between pre-assault factors, assault characteristics, and multiple sexual assault medical forensic exams (SAMFEs) on emergency department visits one-year post-SAMFE. Characteristics associated with individuals who frequent the emergency department at higher rates have been well established; however, factors associated with greater emergency department visits following a recent sexual assault (SA) are largely unknown. The current study included a medical record review of 123 individuals who received a SAMFE at a hospital in the southeastern United States. Demographic variables, characteristics of the SA, pre-SA diagnoses, frequency of SAMFEs, and post-SAMFE emergency department visits were examined. Results …

Racism And Psychopathology: Investigating The Interactive Roles Of Neighborhood Poverty And Racial Discrimination On Pathologized Reactive Psychological Responses Among Black Women, Aliyah Sanders

Psychology Theses

It is crucial to examine how experiences of multi-level racism interact to influence potential, overpathologized reactive responses (i.e., dissociative symptoms and psychosis-like experiences) to oppression within Black communities. The present study explored the ways multi-level forms of oppression (i.e., structural and interpersonal racism) interacted to influence psychopathological symptom presentations, which may be understood as reactive responses to multilevel racism among a community sample of trauma-exposed, Black women (N=382). In line with hypotheses, racial discrimination predicted total dissociative symptoms, beyond the effects of age, education, and neighborhood poverty. Exploratory analyses revealed that interpersonal racism also significantly predicted four of …

The Roles Of Sexual Relationship Power And Sexual Assertiveness For Condom Use In The Association Between Sexual Victimization History And Condom Use Frequency, Anna Peddle

Psychology Theses

The present research evaluated whether sexual victimization (SV) severity is related to less frequent condom use through experiences of lower power in sexual relationships and lower sexual assertiveness for condom use. This secondary data analysis study utilized existing data from 770 women recruited from an urban community who reported STI risk factors and moderate social drinking. Participants presented to the laboratory and completed a questionnaire battery on the computer as part of the larger study that included an alcohol administration protocol. Path analyses revealed that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent/adult SV were indirectly associated with frequency of condom use …

Parent’S Emotion Coaching Of Positive And Negative Emotions As It Relates To Children’S Communication Of Emotions, Kyrsten A. Buote

Psychology Theses

Children’s skills for effective communication about their emotional experiences is important for adaptive expression, regulation, and understanding of emotions. Although research supports associations between parental emotion socialization (e.g., emotion coaching) and distal child outcomes, such as social skills, there is scant research on proximal outcomes, such as children’s emotion communication. Additionally, existing research focuses on coaching and communication of negative over positive emotions. In the current study, parents’ coaching and children’s communication of emotions were rated while parent-child dyads (N=115, M_age = 9 years) were observed in the lab discussing past family experiences. Parents coached and children …

Can Explicit Processes Support Implicit Category Learning?: The Effect Of Relevant Rule-Oriented Selective Attention On Implicit Learning, Andres Sanchez

Psychology Theses

Categorization is a crucial component of human cognition. Multiple systems theories suggest categories can be learned by explicit or implicit processes/systems depending on the type of category (e.g., Ashby & Valentin, 2017). Research examining the interaction between these systems found that explicit learning impairs implicit performance (Ashby & Crossley, 2010; Crossley & Ashby, 2015; Sanchez et al., 2020). The nature of this impairment remains unclear. The current study examined the effect of selective attention to rule dimensions that were either relevant or irrelevant to a later implicit categorization task to better understand how this impairment occurs. The results suggested that …

Criminal And Remorseful Face-Type Effects On Legal Decision Making, Beth B. Stevens

Psychology Theses

Both defendant remorse and criminal appearance contribute to how harshly defendants are sentenced during a criminal trial, wherein signs of remorse are associated with more lenient sentencing punishments, and criminal appearances are associated with harsher punishments. Recent literature suggests that defendants’ faces can naturally look more remorseful or criminal, despite intent, and that these facial cues can impact legal outcomes. The current study investigated the extent to which face-type judgments of remorse and criminality interact to influence legal system punishments for different crimes. Using an online face-judgment task, participants made parole decisions and recidivism judgments while viewing a series of …

Neural Underpinnings Of Social Withdrawal Analyzed Through Schizotypy, Jesse Edmond

Psychology Theses

Schizotypy is a set of personality traits that may predispose someone to develop a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Social withdrawal is common in schizotypy and typically results in a lack of close relationships, little social support, and can exacerbate pre-existing psychiatric symptoms. White matter plays an integral role in cognition, yet it is still not understood which tracts influence social withdrawal. By collaborating with the ENIGMA Schizotypy working group, we gathered social withdrawal scores from the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences and diffusion tensor imaging data from 375 participants. Using the ENIGMA DTI Pipeline, we were able to measure fractional anisotropy …

Is Dominance One Size Fits All?: The Influence Of Face-Type And Emotional Expression On Memory, Ashley M. Meacham

Psychology Theses

Studies show that both invariant and dynamic features of the face influence how we perceive and judge dominance. However, it’s suggested that dynamic expressions of the face are indicative of different types of dominance – beyond what has been classically defined in the literature. The present study aimed to investigate whether dominant faces that vary in emotional expression have strong category associations that could bias subsequent decision-making. In two studies examining face-type categorization and memory for face/occupation pairs, we found that dominant faces were more likely than non-dominant faces to be associated with positions of higher power. When memory was …

Children’S Physiological Regulation As A Predictor Of Adaptive And Maladaptive Guilt, Arden Cooper

Psychology Theses

The present study examined associations between both children’s physiological regulation capacity and regulation when discussing disappointing a parent and children’s trait-like adaptive and maladaptive guilt. High-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) was calculated from electrocardiograms of children (N = 104, Age Mean = 9.12, SD = 1.10 years) at rest (regulation capacity) and during the parent-child disappointed discussion. Children’s trait-like maladaptive (child-report) and adaptive (parent-report) guilt were measured with behavioral rating scales. Children’s regulation capacity was unrelated to guilt. Children’s discussion regulation had a significant negative accelerating quadratic relationship with children’s maladaptive guilt wherein for children with below average HF-HRV …

Neurophysiology Of Mental Imagery And Reality Monitoring, Thomas Pietruszewski

Psychology Theses

People with vivid imaginations are less accurate at identifying whether memories originated from experience or imagination than people with less vivid imaginations. This can be modeled as a similarity between the memory traces created during vivid imagination and perception, which causes source confusion during recall. The role of visual imagery in this process has been well established, but the role of auditory imagery remains unclear. fMRI data collected from an auditory/visual imagination task was analyzed to determine the relationship between imagery ability, subjective ratings of imagery vividness, neurophysiology, and reality monitoring errors. I predicted that individuals with higher scores on …

Identifying Neural Correlates Of Positive And Negative Empathy In Middle Childhood, Erin Mcdonald

Psychology Theses

This study identified if key neural regions associated with empathy in adults showed significant activity while children (N=38) completed a neuroimaging task wherein they won and lost a game for themselves and for peers and witnessed peers’ subsequent happiness and sadness, which is inferred to elicit empathic happiness and sadness. Regions associated with affective sharing (anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala), mentalizing (medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex), and emotion regulation (anterior cingulate cortex) showed significant activity, relative to a baseline, when children won and lost the game for themselves and for peers. There were not …

“Writing All This Is Helping Me Justify My Plan And To See The Futility Of Continuing:” An Exploratory Study On The Use Of Neutralization Techniques In Incel Manifestos, Katerina Papatheodorou

Psychology Theses

“Incels”, or involuntary celibates, are a self-described, largely anonymous

online community of men who embrace and promote a deeply misogynistic worldview. This study explored how Incels use “neutralization techniques” (first identified in research by Sykes and Matza, 1957) through a thematic analysis of Incel manifestos, personal diaries, online blogs, and police interviews. Analysis revealed that violent Incels use a variety of neutralization techniques to justify their crimes. Entitlement was found to be the biggest rationale behind their views and actions. A new theme also emerged from the data centered around the belief that life is futile and nothing can improve …

Perspectives Of Clinicians Towards Mobile Health Applications, Caitlin Stern

Psychology Theses

10 Speech-language pathologists were asked their opinions about a web-based mobile health application (app) to empower caregivers with speech and communication tools. Across two focus groups, these participants were asked about features they would like to see for such an app, potential issues that could arise, and if they would recommend this app to the families they serve. The resulting data showed clinicians more hesitant to recommend the app due to cost and potential billing issues, concerns with parents using the app in place of therapy, and hesitancy to give a blanket recommendation as each family has unique and different …

What Is The Power Of Identity? Examining The Moderating Role Of Racial Identity Latent Profiles On The Relationship Between Race-Related Stress And Trauma Symptomatology Among African American Women, Ifrah S. Sheikh

Psychology Theses

The current study investigated the relationship between race-related stress and trauma symptomatology, and the potential for racial identity profiles to mitigate or exacerbate this relationship in a nontreatment-seeking sample of trauma-exposed African American women (N = 222). Bivariate correlation analyses revealed race-related stress was significantly and positively correlated with total PTSD symptoms, hyperarousal symptoms, avoidance symptoms, and reexperiencing symptoms. Racial identity profiles emerged from latent profile analyses and supported a 3-class solution: Undifferentiated, Detached, and Nationalist. The Nationalist profile group experienced significantly higher race-related stress compared to the Detached and Undifferentiated profiles. Moderation analyses revealed racial identity profile type significantly …

The Influence Of Executive Functioning Impairment And Adhd Symptoms On Response To Reading Skill Intervention, Alexandra Ossowski

Psychology Theses

This study investigated the extent to which the presence of EF impairments in children with reading disabilities (RD) influenced their responsiveness to reading intervention. We were interested in whether behavioral or cognitive measurements of EF are stronger predictors of intervention response in RD, and whether each type of measurement adds unique predictive variance. In those with RD, we also investigated whether behavioral and/or cognitive measurements of EF predicted intervention responsiveness above and beyond previously studied predictors, such as language and language-related skills. Given the high comorbidity of RD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), we also assessed the extent to …

Does Perceptual Learning From Pre-Exposure Affect Category Learning?, Brooke Jackson

Psychology Theses

Multiple-systems theorists assume that different brain systems facilitate different types of category learning. This project focuses on whether perceptual learning facilitates family-resemblance category learning. Rhesus macaques were tested to see if they were able to learn a single category prototype and also learn about two category prototypes simultaneously through mere exposure. Classic COVIS theory predicted exposure would benefit learning a single category prototype but not learning simultaneously about two category prototypes. COVIS plus theory predicted exposure would benefit in both situations. Results showed that exposure was clearly beneficial when learning a single category, but harmed learning two categories. Results from …

The Influence Of Pain Catastrophizing And Parent Behavior On Health-Related Outcomes For Youth With Sickle Cell Disease, Caitlin E. Shneider

Psychology Theses

Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience frequent pain, which is related to their functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). A growing body of literature suggests that rather than the experience of pain experience itself, the cognitive appraisal of pain is critical. The overall aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between child pain catastrophizing, parent response to child pain symptoms, and health-related outcomes (i.e., functional disability, health-related quality of life; HRQoL). Results indicated that pain catastrophizing significantly predicted functional disability and HRQoL above and beyond children’s experience of pain. Additionally, protective, minimizing, and encouragement/monitoring parent …

The Impact Of Social Disruption As A Result Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Children With Gastrointestinal Disorders, Abigail Robbertz

Psychology Theses

It is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children with gastrointestinal conditions. This cross-sectional study assessed the impact of social disruption from the pandemic on children with gastrointestinal conditions, and the potential moderating effect of the parent-child relationship. An online survey completed between September - December 2020 asked 185 parents and 146 of their children (ages 8-17) diagnosed with IBD (n = 44), celiac disease (n = 81), and IBS (n = 51) how the pandemic has contributed to social disruption, and child and parent well-being. Increased social disruption predicted worse parent and child well-being. The …

Within-Individual Neural Variability In The N-Back Task: Relation To Neuropsychological Assessments Of Executive Function, Reading, And Language, Stephanie Steinberg

Psychology Theses

This study investigated fMRI Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent signal variability within individuals (within-individual neural variability; WINV) during a letter n-back task, and examined the relationship between WINV and cognitive abilities in healthy adults (N = 48). WINV in frontoparietal brain regions was modulated during vigilance and working memory (WM) trials of the n-back task, and was related to neuropsychological measures of vigilance and WM. WINV across the n-back task influenced n-back task performance; in this study, the inferior frontal junction exhibited a behavioral double dissociation between flexibility and stability at the region of interest level. A reading and language network …

When Gestures Do Or Do Not Follow Language-Specific Patterns Of Motion Expression In Speech: Evidence From Chinese, English & Turkish, Irmak Su Tutuncu

Psychology Theses

Speakers of different languages (e.g., English vs. Turkish) show a binary split in how they package and order components of a motion event in speech and co-speech gesture, but not in silent gesture (Özçalışkan et al., 2016b). In this study, we focused on Chinese that does not follow the binary split in its expression of motion in speech (Slobin, 2004), and asked whether adult Chinese speakers follow the language-specific speech patterns in co-speech but not silent gesture, thus showing a pattern akin to Turkish and English adult speakers in their description of animated motion events. Our results provided evidence for …

A Comparative Perspective On The Paradox Of Choice, Maisy D. Bowden

Psychology Theses

The paradox of choice leads one to desire more options over fewer options even when there are negative consequences when choosing from larger arrays (choice overload). The paradox of choice may be shared among mammals or it could result from cultural influences relevant to humans. Research with monkeys and young children sheds light on the developmental precursors of the paradox and may highlight the human-uniqueness of this effect. I tested young children (41.5–66.0 months) and monkeys (tufted capuchins, rhesus macaques) to examine choice overload effects. Limited evidence was found that children exhibited choice overload when choosing among six and twelve …

Access And Engagement Of Moodtools, An Mhealth Application For Depression, Langting Su

Psychology Theses

mHealth (mobile health) serves as a potential solution for circumventing barriers to traditional psychotherapy, but few studies evaluate mHealth technologies available in real-world settings with real-world users. This study evaluated the extent to which MoodTools, a self-help app for depression, circumvents barriers to traditional psychotherapy and engages users. App behavior from 159,00 Android users were assessed. Results showed that MoodTools could circumvent barriers to traditional psychotherapy, as it was downloaded in 198 countries, and the number of users was positively correlated with rates of unmet mental health need in the US. App use during and outside of traditional business hours …

Multiple Minority Stress, Problematic Drinking, And Intimate Partner Violence In Sexual Minorities Of Color, Kevin Moino

Psychology Theses

The Minority Stress model (Meyer, 2003) posits that minorities experience stressors related to their marginalized identity that lead to health disparities. The current study addressed limitations in the literature by employing both intersectional and additive approaches to study the combined effects of racial and sexual minority stress on problematic drinking and IPV. 349 cisgender sexual minorities of color were recruited through an online panel service. Participants completed an online survey that assessed multiple minority stressors, problematic drinking, and IPV. Results supported a two-factor (external and internal minority stress) model that included intersectional constructs of both racial and sexual minority stressors. …