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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 …

"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 …

College Students' Development Of Social Support And Its Relationship To Pre -Orientation Experiences, Brent J. Bell

Doctoral Dissertations

The work of any life transition involves specific tasks, often including the re-establishment of social support in a variety of forms (Weiss, 1974). College students are particularly affected by transition, often disrupting established support systems while transitioning into adulthood. To assist with this transition, campuses offer a number of services (e.g., admissions/alumni programs, campus visits, pre-orientation programs, first-year orientation, first-year seminars). Such services are defined in this study as Comprehensive Transitional Programs (CTP). Little is known about how CTP impact social support. This study focused on adapting the Campus Focused Social Provisions Scale (CF-SPS), as an instrument to measure social …

Gender Differences In Coping: Implications For Depression And Crime, Amanda Howerton

Doctoral Dissertations

It is a common cultural belief that women employ emotion and passive focused coping methods more frequently than men. Likewise, most empirical evidence supports the idea that women are more likely to cope by modifying their emotional responses to stress, whereas males most often use and are more proficient with the problem solving approach (Billings and Moos 1984; Endler and Parker 1990; Milkie and Thoits 1993; Pearlin and Schooler 1978; Stone and Neale 1984). Despite considerable theoretical and empirical attention to these issues, there are still several gaps that remain in our understanding of the ways in which gender and …

Creativity Or Creativities: A Study Of Domain Generality And Specificity, Zorana Ivcevic

Doctoral Dissertations

A series of studies investigated domain generality and specificity in creativity. Preliminary studies developed behavior report measures based on act-frequency and life-space approaches. The main studies examined two aspects of generality and specificity in creativity. A first group of studies analyzed the structure of creative behavior and the second group of studies concerned personality correlates of creativity. Dimensions of creative behavior were identified in a factor analysis of behavior reports and referred to creative life-style, arts, and intellectual achievement. Moreover, these dimensions were replicated in college students and professional adults. Groups of individuals with similar patterns of behavior were identified …

The Effect Of Memory For Serially Presented Causal Information On Judgments Of Contingency, Christopher A. Barnes

Doctoral Dissertations

Four experiments investigated whether memory errors might account for errors in contingency judgments. Participants viewed contingencies one event at a time, later recalled the frequencies of the four event types, and judged the extent that they were related. Contingency judgments were more highly correlated with participants' memory of the contingency than with the actual contingency (Experiments 2 & 4); thus implying that inaccurate mental representations of the contingency contribute to erroneous judgments. Decreasing the time to view each event (i.e., from 3 to 5 s) increased the perceived difficulty of recalling event frequencies (Experiments 1 & 2), decreased the percentage …

Mental Accounting Psychology And Life Cycle Economics: Who Saves, Who Doesn't And How To Tell The Difference, Thomas James Van De Water Iv.

Doctoral Dissertations

Wealth is often associated with status purchases or belonging to a demographic group instead of a cognitive decision process for saving and accumulating wealth. Mental accounting psychology (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979; Shefrin & Thaler, 1988) and life cycle economics (Modigliani & Brumberg, 1954) describe two different saving processes. Qualitative interviews in Study 1 (adult heads of household, n = 24) and a quantitative analysis in Study 2 (2001 Survey of Consumer Finances, n = 4,332) compared high and low saving people using mental accounting and life cycle variables. Interviews in Study 1 predominantly described saving in terms of short-term, mental …

Supporting And Being Supported: Receiving And Providing Social Support In Mothers Of Young Children, Jennifer S. Feenstra

Doctoral Dissertations

Social support research has long focused on one aspect of support, receiving support. The present study expands social support to include both receiving and providing support, applies the ideas of social exchange theory to this expanded concept, and test hypotheses pertaining to this broader definition of social support. The emotional, tangible, and information/advice support received from and provided to sixty-five mothers of young children in their relationships with their spouse, parents, and others was assessed on a weekly basis for four weeks. Greater perceived support from friends and family and greater support received and provided in the relationship with spouse …

Power And Consent: Relation To Self-Reported Sexual Assault And Acquaintance Rape, Tracey A. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

College students think about and act differently with regards to power and consent in their relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate how those attitudes and behaviors may relate to sexual assault and acquaintance rape. Power was examined at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and socio-cultural levels. In addition, two perspectives on power were studied: power as dominating others and power as a sense of personal empowerment or control. A scale to measure this distinction was created.

Three theories on the relation among power, consent, and sexual assault/rape were examined: (1) consent may moderate a relation between power and sexual …

Living The Stereotype: Connections Between Male Behavior And Male Images, Andrew Paul Smiler

Doctoral Dissertations

This project examined some linkages and discrepancies between theories that describe the acquisition of gender typical attributes in childhood with theories that describe the maintenance of those attributes in adulthood. This perspective included the idea that there are several well known ways of enacting masculinity, related to well known stereotypes (e.g., jock, business, sensitive new age guy), and highlighted within sex variability. Because a distinction between biological sex and gender was made, the sample was not restricted to males despite focusing on the masculine. One focus of the project was the consistency with which an individual enacts a particular stereotypical …

Implementation And Evaluation Of Group -Based Prevention Of Eating Concerns Using Self -Efficacy And Knowledge Enhancement, Lindsey Erin Laplant

Doctoral Dissertations

The project implemented and evaluated a prevention program for eating concerns with first year college women. Two prevention conditions were examined. One condition provided information about eating concerns, from definitions to biopsychosocial risks and consequences. The second condition built self-efficacy and skills in the participants along with presenting information. The evaluation component was unique compared to other evaluations in the eating concerns prevention literature. It used pre and post intervention assessments, a control group, and had a larger sample of participants compared to other similar published programs. Both quantitative and qualitative assessment techniques were used to evaluate participants' experience in …

Internet Use And Its Relation To Mental And Physical Health Among Older Adults, Michael Anthony Mangan

Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory study examined relations between frequency of Internet use among adults 65 and older and perceptions of social support and personal control. Additionally, standard multiple regression procedures were employed to assess the usefulness of frequency of Internet use, perceived social support, and perceived control as predictors of mental and physical health. Results were that frequency of Internet use was uncorrelated with perceptions of social support and personal control and was not predictive of mental or physical health. Perceived social support and perceived control emerged as predictors of mental and physical health. Recommendations for future research that refines measurement of …

The Ideal Free Distribution Of Group Choice: A Social Psychology Of Human Behavior, John Robert Kraft

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents an experimental analysis of social behavior. The behavior is called Group Choice (Baum & Kraft, 1998) and the analysis is a social foraging model called the Ideal Free Distribution (IFD; Fretwell & Lucas, 1970). The IFD is a social foraging model that describes the distribution of a group of foragers in a patchy environment. Group Choice describes group members engaging in two behaviors. The IFD suggests that group members engage in two behaviors in the same relative relation to the consequences obtained from those behaviors. The IFD of Group Choice is analogous to the Matching Law analysis …

Predicting Ageist And Sexist Attitudes And The Conditions For Their Existence, Heather Frasier Chabot

Doctoral Dissertations

Prejudice and discrimination are pervasive and problematic and affect intergroup relations (Allport, 1954). The purpose of the current research was to expand our understanding of ageist and sexist attitudes. The Pilot Study indicated some of the significant predictors of ageist attitudes among college students. The results of Study I indicated that college students view younger adults as more instrumental than older adults but they do not differentiate between older adults who are 65 to 74 years of age, 75 to 84 years of age, and 85 years or older. Study 2 indicated that intergroup distinctions among younger (17--28 years of …

Gender And Personality In The Stress Process, Daniel David Cervi

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the influence of gender and several personality characteristics in the stress process using a cross-sectional study of 443 university students from a mid-size public New England university, a New England Catholic college, and a mid-size private Florida university. Three models are tested to consider the direct, mediating, and moderating effects of gender and personality on the stress outcomes of drug/alcohol use; non-substance deviant behavior; and depressive symptomatology.

Model 1 tests the antecedent effects of gender and personality to determine their influence on stress outcomes. The main effect of gender explained the largest portion of variance for drug/alcohol …

Literacies Without Judgment: Composing A (Con)Text For Cultural Healing In Northeast Brazil, Francisco Silva Cavalcante Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

In this study the researcher describes and interprets the experiences with Projeto (Con)texto, a research group created in Northeast Brazil composed of eleven people with different levels of formal schooling, social classes and ages varying from 14 to 50 years old. The researcher explores the dynamics of the Brazilian relational universe and its impact on people's lives, the multiple forms of letramento (literacies) used by people in a certain cultural context to construe and convey meaning, and the process of strengthening of one's self to deal with cultural conflicts through cultural healing.

The researcher gathered descriptive data during one year …

The Sexual Harassment Paradox In Graduate School: Experiences And Answers, Kimberly Ann Smirles

Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual harassment is a pervasive problem in higher education (Truax, 1996). Graduate students occupy a unique power position in academia as both students and teachers. As such, they are potentially victims and perpetrators of sexual harassment. The purpose of the current research was to (a) understand the dynamics of sexual harassment by examining the experiences and perceptions of graduate students and (b) assess whether a commonly utilized education program was effective in raising awareness and changing the attitudes of graduate students. Graduate students from both the University of New Hampshire (Study 1) and around the country (Study 2) were asked …

The Role Of Perceived Social Norms On Attitudes And Behavior: An Examination Of The False Consensus Effect, Kathleen Patricia Bauman

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper examined the role of perceived social norms in relation to people's attitudes and behavioral intentions, specifically in regards to the false consensus effect (FCE). People are prone to numerous biases in judgments about peers' beliefs, including overestimating support for their own position (i.e., false consensus). These misperceptions can then shape people's beliefs and guide their behavior. This series of studies assessed the influence of this type of misperception on attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding controversial social issues. Study 1 demonstrated that people displayed false consensus for current social issues. Alterations in wording and order of presentation did not …

Judging Contingencies Accurately: The Effects Of Feedback, Practice, And Self-Efficacy, Steven C. Clark

Doctoral Dissertations

Some psychologists have claimed that people are not good at judging covariation (e.g., Smedslund, 1963; Jenkins & Ward, 1965). This claim, however, has been based on the results of experiments that may not have been optimal for promoting judgmental accuracy (Allan & Jenkins, 1980). Other psychologists have claimed that people are relatively good judges of covariation (e.g., Wasserman, Chatlosh, & Neunaber, 1983; Wasserman & Shaklee, 1984). Common to most of this research is an experimental paradigm in which participants do not ever receive feedback concerning the accuracy of their judgments.

The two experiments in this dissertation were designed to promote …

The Effects Of Actual And Perceived Parental Characteristics On Partner Selection And Perception, Glenn Gehar

Doctoral Dissertations

The present studies were designed to examine the template matching hypothesis, a prediction based on Freud's (1927) psychoanalytic theory which proposes that people choose romantic partners who are similar to their opposite-sex parents. While some research has demonstrated that such a phenomenon does exist for physical characteristics (e.g., Jedlicka, 1984), research on this phenomenon in regards to personality dimensions has been relatively inconclusive. The primary objectives of the present studies were to determine (a) the extent to which people choose partners with personalities similar to their opposite-sex parents, (b) the extent to which people perceive that their romantic partners have …

Perceived Versus Actual Attitude Similarity As Predictors Of Change In Interpersonal Attraction, Andrew Robert Mcgarva

Doctoral Dissertations

The present investigation was intended to identify factors that affect the degree to which interpersonal attraction changes over the course of face-to-face interaction. Participants completed a modified version of Byrne's (1971) attitude questionnaire, the Crowne-Marlowe Social Desirability Scale (1964), and Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale and were then paired into attitudinally similar, dissimilar, or neutral dyads. Both before and after interacting for 40-minutes, dyads were asked to rate their interpersonal attraction toward their partner. Attitude similarity better predicted post-conversation interpersonal attraction when controlling for pre-conversation attraction than when not controlling for pre-conversation attraction. Social desirability, self-monitoring, and the coordination of vocal activity …

The Multidimensionality Of Illusory Judgments: Reexamination Of Illusion Of Control Research, Paul Keith Presson

Doctoral Dissertations

The present dissertation examines the well-established research paradigm known as the illusion of control. Until now, researchers have employed one basic paradigm which has addressed the illusion of control as a unidimensional phenomenon. In Study 1, 91 female undergraduates were presented with three induction conditions used by previous researchers. Factor analyses showed that judgments from these tasks did not tap into a single process, but rather fell into two types of illusory judgments--belief- and contingency-based. In Study 2, 182 female undergraduates were exposed to the same three induction conditions used in Study 1 plus two additional contingency tasks. As in …

Psychosocial And Sociostructural Determinants Of Mastery: The Context Of Age And Disability, Scott David Schieman

Doctoral Dissertations

The "active" and "potent" self has held a special interest to philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists since the inception of those disciplines. The present research uses sociological perspectives on social comparison and reference group theory to provide a framework for understanding the various dimensions of self-process in the context of age and disability. Specifically, this research examines associations between age, disability, and social status indicators as they impress upon personal agency or mastery.

This study uses secondary data that includes respondents aged 18 and over who resided in any of ten counties in Southwestern Ontario and were part of a two-wave …

Parallels Between Adolescent-Mother And Adolescent-Best Friend Interactions, Katherine A. Black

Doctoral Dissertations

Forty-two adolescents (13-18 years) along with their mothers and best friends participated in this study. Adolescents participated in videotaped interaction tasks with their mothers and with their best friends, in which unresolved problems between the respective dyads were discussed. Attachment, self-esteem, personality, emotional expressiveness, friendship, and mood were assessed with questionnaires. There were four main findings in this study. First, there were positive associations between adolescents' behavior with their mothers and adolescents' behavior with their best friends. There were also positive associations between mothers' behavior with adolescents and adolescents' behavior with best friends. These associations were sometimes mediated by adolescents' …

Repression And Relief: Mood And Cardiovascular Changes Following Threat, Thinking About Threat, And Threat Removal For Repressors And Nonrepressors, Dennis Charles Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations

Do persons who typically deny their feelings of anxiety also deny relief when a threatening situation ends? Can such persons create relief in themselves by reconsidering the threat and their resources to cope with the threat? The present study sought to answer these questions and to explore more generally the experiential and cardiovascular nature of emotional relief that emerges from coping with the presence of a threat and then realizing that a threat is no longer present. Preselected in terms of whether or not they typically deny feelings of anxiety ("repressive coping style"), 141 college students participated in two series …

The Relation Between Media Exposure And Body Satisfaction: An Examination Of Moderating Variables Derived From Social Comparison Theory, Shelley Rae Strowman

Doctoral Dissertations

The relation between media exposure and body satisfaction was investigated using correlational and experimental approaches. Several variables were examined as potential moderators of this relation (perceived similarity to magazine models, self-relevance of weight, perceived control over weight, tendency to compare to models, and body mass). These variables were derived primarily from past research on Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory. In Study 1, male and female subjects reported the amount of time they spent reading magazines pre-coded as having a body image or non-body image emphasis. Body image magazine exposure was unrelated to body satisfaction and self-esteem when correlations were computed …

The Nation-State And Its Ideology: A Study Of School Children's Views Of Nationalism, Politics, And Enmity, Linda June Olson

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the reproduction and ideological legitimization of the nation-state in the eyes of successive generations. There are two components to this study. The first is a socio-historical analysis of the formation of nation-state ideology, a formation which seems to necessitate creation of "in-groups" and "out-groups." It is a socio-historical analysis of victimization, of the tendency to justify colonialism, expansionism, imperialism, and brutality to outsiders.

The second component of this study is concerned with how the ideology of the nation-state regarding nationalism, patriotism, and especially classification of enemy groups, is reproduced and legitimized for future generations. For this purpose, …

Patterns Of Peer Relations And Adjustment: A Longitudinal Follow-Up Study, Mary Louise Hennessy Blum

Doctoral Dissertations

The risk hypothesis proposes that problematic peer relations predict later maladjustment. Extensive research on the risk hypothesis provides evidence that the quality of peer relations is associated with adjustment. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the associations, concurrently and across time, among three distinct levels of peer relations (dyadic friendship, small group interactions, and sociometric status) and two perspectives of social/behavioral adjustment as assessed by parents and children. The study showed further support for the risk hypothesis that low peer group acceptance in the classroom, low prosocial non-interactions in the small group, low warmth and high conflict in …

Social Loafing, Social Facilitation And Self-Efficacy Theory: Judgments Of Control In A Group Psychokinesis Task, Mark Jordan Henn

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effects of self-efficacy and group size on the judgments of control of individual subjects in a group situation. It was predicted that highly efficacious subjects would report more judged control, inefficacious subjects would report less judged control. Group size was predicted to affect judgments of control in a manner consistent with the social loafing and social facilitation literature, such that individually unidentifiable subjects should "loaf" and report less control. Individually identifiable subjects should find their prior efficacy beliefs facilitated, such that high believers feel increasing control with increasing group size and low believers feel decreasing control …

Toward An Understanding Of The Cognitive Etiology Of Depressive Reactions To Life Stressors: An Evaluation Of The Hopelessness Theory Of Depression, Nancy Lynne Asdigian

Doctoral Dissertations

Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy's (1989) theory of hopelessness depression is the most recent model of depression to emerge from the learned helplessness tradition (Seligman, 1975). Hopelessness theory describes an etiological pathway by which a unique subtype of depression--hopelessness depression--is believed to emerge.

The most proximal cause of hopelessness depression is the formation of a hopelessness expectancy. Experiencing a significant life stressor and either making stable and global causal attributions, anticipating adverse consequences, or inferring derogatory self-attributes is thought to contribute to hopelessness. In turn, generalized tendencies to make stable and global causal attributions, expect negative consequences, or perceive personal deficiencies …