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Serotonergic Involvement In The Behavioral Depression Produced By Intermittent Swim Stress, John Paul Christianson

Doctoral Dissertations

Exposure to uncontrollable stress produces a behavioral syndrome that is often described as "behavioral depression" in the rat. Current paradigms for inducing behavioral depression utilize continuous swimming or intermittent electric shock stress. Brown et al., developed a novel strategy that combined these stressors to produce the intermittent swim stress (ISS) protocol. The purpose of this thesis was to define the behavioral outcomes of ISS that resemble behavioral depression and to begin neurochemical characterization of the phenomenon.

Two hallmark features of behavioral depression are immobility, as determined in a Forced Swim Test (FST) and escape learning deficits, as determined by operant …

Psychopathological Symptoms And Their Relation To Paranormal Belief And Illusory Judgment, Michael P. Cofrin

Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between psychopathological symptoms and paranormal belief and abilities was explored in four studies. Study 1 investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and paranormal belief. Study 2 shifted the investigation into the laboratory by testing participants' illusory judgments on a paranormal task and assessing the relationship between their judgments and depressive symptoms. Study 3 combined scale and lab tasks testing for additional psychopathological symptoms and illusory judgment on four paranormal tasks. Study 4 incorporated techniques to increase illusion of control induction and minimize context effects and fatigue. Psychosis proneness and mood symptoms were positively related to general paranormal belief …

Responses To Terrorism Scenarios: Event Features, Individual Characteristics, And Subjective Evaluations, Clinton Michael Jenkin

Doctoral Dissertations

The extensive research into responses to terrorism has focused on the effects of individual characteristics on reactions to past terrorism events. This literature has largely omitted two issues: the impact of terrorism event features, and reactions to possible future terrorism events. The first purpose of this dissertation was to account for the effects of event features as well as subjective evaluations on responses to terrorism events. The second purpose of this dissertation was to compare reactions to past and future terrorism scenarios.

A series of actual and hypothetical written scenarios were presented to undergraduate psychology students, and various responses measured. …

Conflict And Threat Between Pre-Existing Groups: An Application Of Identity To Bias, Persuasion And Belief Perseverance, Brian R. Laythe

Doctoral Dissertations

The current research examines the role of identity in the context of threat towards further understanding bias, persuasion, and belief perseverance in what is defined as IRT (Immediately Relevant Threat) conditions. Using pre, middle, and post measurements, four groups of differing ideological student organizations across 4 university or college campuses were presented critical messages that were varied by the source being either an in-group or out-group presenter of the message. Messages were also varied by either presenting a message that criticized the entire group or only a few of its members. With the use of hierarchical linear modeling and conventional …

Early Identification Of Children With Asperger Syndrome: Communication Characteristics, Lynda D. Chouinard

Master's Theses and Capstones

Diagnosis of children within the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) category varies significantly but children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) are typically diagnosed at a much older age than those with Autism (AD). The late childhood diagnosis of AS means a possible lapse in years that the child receives appropriate intervention and support. The purpose of this retrospective study was to gain further insight into what early communication and behavior characteristics can be identified in children from birth to three years who are later diagnosed with AS.

Parents of ten children with AS and under nineteen-years old were identified to participate in …

An Intervention Tool For Use Against Gender Stereotypes In Children, Sarah N. Muller

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study examines the occurrence of gender stereotyped beliefs and behaviors in young children and methods of intervening against gender stereotypes. Current literature on gender stereotype interventions is reviewed and evaluated. A new model of intervention, based on a coloring book made up of gender counterstereotypic images, is proposed. Implications and limitations are discussed.

A Training Model: The Effects Of Mental Rehearsal On The Performance Of Elite Collegiate Nordic Skiers, Jennifer Lynn Conant

Master's Theses and Capstones

In today's competitive athletic world, the one common goal all athletes share is to win. The pressure to carry out this goal is staggering and as a result, athletes are training harder for longer hours and ultimately burning out. While there are numerous books that attempt to teach an athlete how to train physically for their sport, very few training programs teach them how to train mentally for their sport. A training program that does not include both a physical and mental aspect will fail.

This model introduces a training program where interested Nordic ski coaches can implement the training …

Examining The Relationship Between Psychological Skills And Confidence In Goalkeepers, Amanda E. Laws

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study examined the relationships that exist between psychological skills and confidence. Analysis of the relationship took place with ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer goalkeepers. Participants (N = 1927) completed measures of psychological skills (ACSI-28) and confidence (CSCI) online. Participants deemed psychological skills as important, but rarely used them to enhance performance. Goalkeepers (N = 412) scored higher on both the personal coping resource score (M = 50.82, SD = 9.24) and confidence (M = 41.88, SD = 5.66) than non-goalkeepers on the personal coping resource score (M = 47.48, SD = 9.60) and confidence (M = 41.84, SD = …

"My Parents Made Me Do It!" Parental Influences On Self-Handicapping: Athletes' Perceptions And Goal Orientation, Kristina L. Moore

Master's Theses and Capstones

As socializers, parents provide and interpret experiences which ultimately influence achievement beliefs and behaviors in their children. Eccles' Expectancy-Value model (Eccles & Harold, 1991), the model of parental influences on motivation and achievement (Eccles et. al., 1998) and Achievement Goal Theory (Nicholls, 1989) provide the theoretical framework for this study. The investigation explored the relationships between athlete goal orientations, perceptions of parental self-handicapping, perceptions of parental goal orientations and athlete tendency to employ self-handicapping. Adolescent soccer athletes (N=134) completed the 14-item Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS) and the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ), as well as adapted versions of …

Rural Low-Income Mothers' Experiences With Foster Care, Talia Jennie Glesner

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study explores the grief experiences, parental views, supports, and barriers of 22 rural low-income mothers with children in foster care. The family ecology perspective framed the research. T-tests were utilized in a quantitative analysis comparing depression and parental support and confidence between mothers with children in placement and children not in placement.

Results indicated that the differences in mean depression scores were statistically significant between the participants and the control group. Depressive symptoms were found to be much more prevalent in mothers with children in placement than mothers with children not in placement.

The differences in mean scores between …