Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Explanations In Rejection Letters On Perceptions Of Fairness And Accountability, Troy A. Romero

Student Work

The present study was designed to test Folger and Cropanzano’s (1998) Fairness Theory as it pertains to perceptions of fairness and accountability in rejection letters. This study was a partial replication of Gilliland, Groth, Baker, Dew, Polly and Langdon (2001), which examined the impact of Fairness Theory variations in rejection letters on perceptions of fairness, recommendation intentions, and reapplication behavior. Participants in this study were applicants rejected in the first stage of the selection process with a large, Midwest corporation. Perceptions of fairness and accountability were collected after receiving one of four versions of a rejection letter: the company’s standard …

Prayer As A Treatment Modality In Patient Healthcare: Physicians' Spiritual Beliefs And Religious Practices And Their Relationship To Patient Health, D. Ronald Rickerhauser

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The intention of this study was to determine whether physicians' spiritual beliefs and the integration of prayer in medical practice are associated with patient health. In this study, 546 physicians from 40 different family practice residency programs in the contiguous United States completed and returned surveys. Regression analyses using these data and patient statistics provided by the clinics were performed. Patient's length of hospital stay and a ratio of clinic patients to hospital patients were used as dependent measures. The results did not show a relationship between physician beliefs, prayer, and patient health. However, there was a significant relationship between …

The Working And Living Conditions Of Migrant Farm Workers, Hilario Molina Ii

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the world of migrant workers, through first hand account, through the description of the living and working conditions of migrant farms by focusing on each camp (A, B, and C), by observing and describing the line of work, by discussing the social and cultural dynamics of migrant farm working—the role and culture of the migrant women, children, and alpha males—and by documenting the exploitation of migrant farm workers. This is a qualitative research, based on ground theory, which consisted of participant observation of these factors. There was no hypothesis due to the …

Relationship Advertising: Investigating The Strategic Appeal Of Intimacy (Disclosure) In Services Marketing, Andrea Diahann Gaye Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One approach to communicating and thereby building a close relationship with consumers is via advertising. In other words, if service providers can invoke feelings of connection and intimacy--where consumers feel understood, cared for, and validated--through advertising, a stronger bond and sense of loyalty is likely to follow. When intimacy is conceived as knowing and being known by another, which incorporates mutual and reciprocal (though not necessarily equal) liking and vulnerability, its application extends beyond romantic relationships to the current context of relationship and services marketing. This research provides empirical support for the use of intimacy as an appeal in services …

Job Satisfaction And Organizational Commitment Among Faculty At Taiwan's Higher Education Institutions, Yu-Ching Huang

Student Work

The purpose of the study was to determine faculty members' level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Two types of satisfaction were surveyed: intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Three types of commitment were surveyed: affective, normative, and continuance commitment. This study was delimited to faculty members at five institutes of technology in the Mid-Taiwan area.

Behavioral Analysis Of Interactions Between Teachers And Children With Selective Mutism, Jason D. Wallace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study focused on the interactions between a child with selective mutism and that child's teachers. The hypothesis was that the teachers unknowingly maintained the mutism by not placing the expectations of speech on the child. Therefore, by training three out of the four teachers how to interact with the child with selective mutism, and using the fourth teacher as a control, the researchers were able to identify that the training not only changed the three teachers' behaviors, but also the child with selective mutism's behaviors as well. Also, based on a pre-training/post-training test, the teachers had a much …

The Influence Of Positive Performance Appraisal Ratings And Regulatory Focus On Motivation To Improve Or Maintain Performance, C. Allen Gorman

Student Work

The present study was designed to test the anecdotal supposition that excellent performance appraisal ratings do not motivate employees to improve or maintain performance as much as good performance appraisal ratings. Self-regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998) predicts that high levels of motivation are induced either by failure under prevention focus or by success under promotion focus. Using a 2 x 2 completely randomized design, this study examined the effects of regulatory focus and performance appraisal ratings on motivation to improve or maintain performance. Research participation credit was used to manipulate regulatory focus, and bogus performance feedback was used to …

"My Partner Wasn't So Disgusting When We First Started Dating, What Happened?" : An Exploration Of Change Processes In Close Relationships And Their Causes., Stephen R. Shamblen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We are more likely to "hurt the one's we love" than we are complete strangers (cf. R. Miller, 1991, 1997). Early in dating relationships, partners appear to me more likely to manage their impressions to present themselves as better than they really are (romantic inflation), and later in relationships, partners may behave in a manner that is worse than their typical behavior (post romanticism). The social allergy and social enrichment constructs are relevant to these phenomena, as these typologies focus on partner behaviors that are rather minor in their impact on an individual's affect to behaviors that have a major …

Extraversion/Introversion And Subclinical Self-Harm In Undergraduate Students, Norma Salazar-Cortez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Objective. To examine the relationship between the extraversion/introversion personality dimension and mildly injurious (fingernail biting, skin picking, etc.) and more injurious (cutting, burning, etc.) self-harming behaviors.

Method. An undergraduate sample of 146 students volunteered to complete several measures including the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised and Self-Harm Information Form.

Results. Participants with no history of self-harm endorsed similar levels of extraversion in comparison to participants with a history of mildly or moderately injurious self-harm. Comparison between the groups using a One-Factor Between Subjects Analysis of Variance was not significant.

Conclusion. A proposition is made to expand future research …

An Exploration Into Gender Role Conflict, Attitudes Toward Females, And Relationship Beliefs, Julia M. Wood

Doctoral Dissertations

Gender role conflict and negative attitudes toward females have been areas of increasing concern since the early 1970s. Research has shown that both gender role conflict and negative attitudes toward females cause complications for the person with such perspectives. Relationships are an area that has been impacted by gender role conflict and attitudes toward females. Determining the impact that gender role conflict and attitudes toward females have upon each other and upon relationship beliefs will increase awareness of the seriousness of these complications allowing clinicians to focus therapeutic interventions on methods that will increase relationship quality.

Using the Gender Role …

The Advantage For Name -Designated Characters During Reading, Kelly A. Peracchi

Doctoral Dissertations

When two characters are mentioned in a text, one referred to by a title (e.g., professor) and one referred to by a proper name (e.g., Christopher), the character referred to by the name is more accessible in memory. Although there has been a lot of research documenting the advantages that name-designated characters have over title-designated characters, most of it has done so using very short texts. The experiments reported in this dissertation utilized longer passages of text to examine whether certain variables that are known to affect accessibility, such as order of mention, number of mentions, elaboration, and distance, will …

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 …

What Happens When Grrrls Riot? The Relationship Between Feminism And Eating Pathology In Adolescent Girls, Jillian M. Leggatt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past fifty years there has been a marked increase in the prevalence of eating disorders (Steiner & Lock, 1998) with women making up the vast majority of sufferers (Mussell, Binford, & Fulkerson, 2000). Growing up female in today's society is a risk factor for eating disorders. Although girls have more opportunities than previously, they are also confronted with powerful cultural messages to please others, through being beautiful, thin, helpful, caring, and self-sacrificing (Weiland Bowling, Schindler Zimmerman, & Carlson Daniels, 2000). As such, teenage girls are more likely than previous generations to struggle with eating disorders, poor self-image, substance …

Self-Esteem Reactivity To Mood Induction Procedures: Investigating Cognitive Vulnerabilities Within The Diathesis-Stress Model Of Depression., Daniel P. Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although self-esteem reactivity plays a crucial role in the diathesis/stress model of depression, refinement of the interactions between variables included in this model is required. Specifically, the current research examined the extent to which cognitive-priming versus mood-state theory explains changes in participants' self-evaluations across multiple domains after exposure to experimental procedures that simulated positive and negative life events. Of the 212 undergraduate student participants who completed the pretest phase, 179 (128 female, 51 male) participants completed the experimental phase. Eighteen participants were excluded from the experimental phase due to elevated depression scores. The experimental methodology involved random assignment of participants …

Mothers' Parenting Style And Preschoolers' Social Behaviour In Japan And Canada., Jody Levenbach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relations among mothers' goals for their children's social behaviour, their parenting style and children's social behaviour were examined in Canada and Japan, two countries that differ with respect to individualist/collectivist cultural models. Seventy-four Canadian and Japanese mothers of children between the ages of three and six years old completed questionnaires about their allocentricism (collectivism) in family relationships, their preferences for their children's interdependent and independent social behaviours, the directiveness and explicitness of their parenting style, and their preschool child's social strengths and weaknesses. It was predicted that Canadian mothers, consistent with an individualistic model, would show a preference for …

Emergency Service Providers' Organizational Climate And Its Role In The Development Of Traumatic Stress And Posttraumatic Growth, Lori K. Gray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emergency service providers are at risk for developing symptoms of traumatic stress because of the frequency and severity of trauma that they may endure while on the job (Regehr & Bober, 2005). However, it has become increasingly clear that factors, other than traumatic events, might be involved in the development of traumatic stress among emergency service providers. The present study examined the relationship between emergency service providers' organizational climate and organizational commitment to the presence of traumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth. Participants included a sample of 251 Canadian emergency service providers (198 firefighters, 35 paramedics, 6 police officers, and …

The Effect Of Exposure To A Desirable Mate On The Eating Behaviour Of Single Versus Committed Women According To Restraint Status: An Evolutionary Perspective., Sara L. Robillard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate an evolutionary model of eating disorders. More specifically, this study tested Riadh Abed's Sexual Competition Theory of Eating Disorders (1998). This theory postulates that eating disorders arise through female intra-sexual competition for males. Specifically, females wish to present themselves as evolutionarily desirable to males (physically attractive, thin), causing some individuals to develop restrained eating patterns. This is important, as restraint is a precursor to disordered eating. Restraint refers to replacing internally regulated (hunger driven) eating with planned, cognitively determined eating or dietary restraint with the goal of weight loss or preventing weight …

Crime, Cultural Reintegration And Community Healing: Narratives Of An Inuit Community (Nunavut)., Kate J. Burkhardt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The magnitude and severity of violent and sexual assaults committed against Inuit women in the Nunavut Territory (NU) is tremendously alarming. This is of particular importance when considering the paucity of programming initiatives designed for Inuit offenders that target such offences. Current rehabilitation strategies for offenders in Nunavut emphasize the importance of victim-offender reconciliation and traditionally based healing programs. However, such approaches often ignore the needs of female victims, and may subject them to secondary harm. The birth of Nunavut has empowered Inuit to tailor correctional initiatives to meet their needs, and created the opportunity for tremendous reform within the …

University Students' Preferences And Self-Assessed Abilities For Policing Behaviours: Recruiting And Selecting Suitable Individuals For Modern Policing, Christopher H. Heikoop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to determine if university students' preferences for community policing (CP) and traditional law enforcement policing (LEP) activities, and their self-reported abilities associated with these activities, are predictive of their attitudes toward and preference for the CP and LEP models. Preferences for activities and self-reported abilities were factor analyzed yielding four interpretable factors for both the activities and abilities questionnaires. These were analyzed with one-way ANOVAs and correlations with participants' ratings of the models. It was found that students who expressed an interest in a policing career at the onset of the study displayed a greater …

An Investigation Of Empathy In Adults As A Function Of Variables In Three Clusterings: Dispositional, Situational, And Biophilial., Beth Daly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To determine which variables (Dispositional, Situational, Biophilial) best predict levels of empathy, 448 (M = 144, F = 304) teacher candidates were examined with respect to the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy (QMEE) (Mehrabian and Epstein, 1972). Variables were assigned to "clusters" that have been linked, either logically or empirically, to empathy, and are potentially important predictors. Dispositional variables (anti- and prosocial behaviour, and personality measures) are reportedly linked to the empathic development of children and young adults, as are Situational variables (parental behaviour during childhood, age, and gender). Biophilial variables related to pets (e.g., history with pets, pet ownership, …

Evaluation Of A Social Skills Program For Children., Christine R. Drummond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a social skills program designed to improve the behavior, social skills, and coping skills of children with learning disabilities. This type of program could also have potential benefits for children without LD who have social skills deficiencies. The current study focused on the impact of the 10-week Better Emotional and Social Times program delivered through the Windsor-Essex chapter of the Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario for 36 children (28 boys, 8 girls), 8 to 12 years of age, from Southwestern Ontario. These children completed pre- and post-treatment the Social …

Help-Seeking Behaviours Of Adolescents: How Are Symptomatology, Attachment, Demographic, And Problem Characteristics Related?, Alina E. Carter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The impact of various problem and individual characteristics on help-seeking behaviours of adolescents was investigated. Of particular interest was how problem type and perceived severity, along with symptomatology, attachment, age, gender, and SES were related to seeking help, as well as the number and type of resources sought out. Three hundred and ninety two high school students between the ages of 14 and 19 years completed a battery of questionnaires. The adolescents reported several types of problems, including those related to school, family, peers, and significant others. Of the adolescents, 67.9% reported seeking out help, with girls seeking help more …

Psychopathology In Asian Indian Children: Links With Emotion Regulation And Socialization., Vaishali Vidhatri Raval

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the recognition of cultural differences in the prevalence of psychological disorders and in general attitudes towards mental illness, very few studies have examined childhood psychopathology in cultures other than North America. This study investigated the role of children's emotion regulation and maternal socialization in psychopathology in Asian Indian children. Mothers of 602 children (between six and eight years) from a middle-class urban community in Gujarat, India rated psychiatric symptomatology in their children using Gujarati adaptation of the Child Behavior Checklist (Raval et al., 2003). The ratings were used to identify children who presented with internalizing problems (n = 31), …

Empirically Derived Ability-Achievement Subtypes In A Heterogeneous Clinic-Referred Sample., Rosemary S. Waxman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to identify clinically meaningful and reliable patterns of ability and achievement using the WISC-III and WIAT. As an extension of the work of Saunders, Casey, and Jones (2001), it was anticipated that several of the derived subtypes would share a similar profile to many of the subtypes described in their research, and that many of the derived subtypes would demonstrate a predictable pattern of neuropsychological test results. Cluster analysis was used to group the 182 WISC-III and WIAT profiles (10 WISC-III subtests and 4 WIAT subtests) of children between the ages of 9 …

Exploring Emotional Intimacy Among African American Female Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse Who Utilize Black Church Support Services, Angela Oubre

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Parental Socialization Of Emotion And Affect Recognition In School-Aged Children., Christine Agar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the present study, parental socialization of emotions was examined in relation to children's ability to identify affect. Two hypotheses were examined, with the first positing that variance in children's affect recognition could be explained by examining parents' self-report of acceptance of their children's emotions and the second positing that variance in children's affect recognition could be explained by examining parents' self-report of expressiveness in the family. Thirty children ages 5- to 10-years-old identified emotions depicted in emotion-eliciting vignettes and in computer-displayed photographs of facial expressions. Vignette responses were measured for accuracy, while verbal responses on the computer portion of …

Gender-Role Orientation And Community Policing: Implications For Recruiting And Selecting More Suitable Individuals For Modern Policing., Rebecca. Purc-Stephenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the relationship between gender-role orientation and proclivity for community policing (CP). University undergraduate students (N = 201) completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BRSI; Bem, 1974) and the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire (EPAQ; Spence, Helmreich & Holahan, 1978). They also reviewed descriptions of the law enforcement policing (LEP) and community policing (CP) models, as well as completed surveys that measure (a) attitudes towards CP and LEP, (b) interest in a career in policing under CP and LEP, (c) interest in performing a range of CP and LEP activities, and (d) self-rated ability to perform CP and …

Cultural, Familial And Individual Correlates Of Eating Pathology And Extreme Weight Loss Behaviours Among Greek And Italian Second-Generation Immigrant Women., Gavriela Geller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research in the field of cross-cultural eating disorders suggests that eating pathology may be more prevalent among immigrant women than women in their country of origin or their new country of residence. The purpose of this study was to identify the variables that predict eating pathology and extreme weight loss behaviours among Greek and Italian second-generation immigrant women. A second goal was to determine how culture-change was related to eating pathology by comparing several models of acculturation. 110 Greek and Italian women were recruited through several means including the introductory psychology participant pool, cultural organizations and snowball sampling methods. …

Self-Concealment As A Predictor Of Psychotherapy Outcome., Nicole D. Wild

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychotherapy research is aimed at discovering factors and mechanisms that influence therapy outcome to guide provision of effective treatment. One client factor that has received recent attention is self-concealment, which is a predisposition to actively conceal from others personal information that one perceives as distressing or negative (Larson & Chastain, 1990). Self-concealment has been studied in relation to attitudes toward therapy, willingness to seek therapy, and therapeutic progress. The findings, however, have been inconclusive and researchers have not studied self-concealment in relation to therapy outcome. The objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between self-concealment and distress …

Male Sexuality And Masculinity: Implications For Stis/Hiv And Sexual Health Interventions In Bangladesh, Sharful I. Khan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

My thesis concerns male sexuality as revealed by men living in contemporary urban and rural Bangladesh. I pursue what men think it means to be a man. dimensions of manliness and manhood, and male influences in the construction of male/female relationships. Significant meanings men attribute to sexual acts, pleasure, pain,. risk and safety in multiple social realities, particularly in the era of HIV/AIDS, were explored. A social constructionist perspective guided my research. Using qualitative research methods, I conducted 50 in-depth interviews with men aged between 18 and 58 years from diverse socio-occupational backgrounds. Twenty key informants included religious leaders. traditional …