Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Behavioral Economic Demand Analysis Of Media Multitasking In The College Classroom: A Cluster Analysis, Masahiro Toyama, Yusuke Hayashi

Psychology Faculty Research

Media multitasking has brought concerns (e.g., lower productivity and performance) in multiple settings including college classrooms. The present study examined the behavior of texting in the classroom (TIC) by applying the behavioral economic demand theory while taking college students’ different attitudes and behaviors of TIC into consideration. Undergraduate students (109 females and 73 males for valid data, whose average age was 19.4 [SD = 2.5]) completed questionnaires on demographic characteristics, TIC-related attitude and behavior, and a demand task with a hypothetical scenario, which aimed to quantify the value of social rewards from text messaging with demand intensity (i.e., excessiveness) …

Longitudinal Associations Between Personal Growth And Cognitive Functioning In Adulthood, Masahiro Toyama

Psychology Faculty Research

Objectives: While personal growth has been found to be associated with multiple aspects of health in adulthood, its associations with cognitive functioning have not been fully understood. The present study aimed to assess both directions of such longitudinal associations.

Method: Using data from the second wave (Time 1 [T1]) and third wave (Time 2 [T2]) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study (N = 4,206; mean age = 56.0 [standard deviation (SD) = 12.3]), a longitudinal measurement model containing latent variables of episodic memory and executive function was first constructed. Built on the measurement model, a …

Longitudinal Associations Of Perceived Mastery And Constraints With Coping And Their Implications For Functional Health For Aging Adults, Masahiro Toyama, Joel M. Hektner

Psychology Faculty Research

The present study examined longitudinal associations of distinct dimensions of perceived control (i.e., perceived mastery and constraints) with approach and avoidance coping relating to functional health for aging adults, which had not been well studied previously. Using data from two waves of Midlife in the United States (N = 4,963, whose mean age was 55.4 [SD = 12.5]), a longitudinal path model was analyzed for direct and indirect effects among perceived mastery and constraints, approach and avoidance coping, and functional limitations. Bidirectional associations were observed between perceived mastery and approach coping and between perceived constraints and avoidance coping. …

Longitudinal Implications Of Social Integration For Age And Gender Differences In Late-Life Physical Functioning, Masahiro Toyama, Heather R. Fuller, Jonix Owino

Psychology Faculty Research

Social integration has documented benefits for late-life health; yet, little is known about its impacts on trajectories of physical functioning. This study examines age and gender differences in the longitudinal associations between social integration and activities of daily living (ADLs) using a hierarchical linear model with three waves of survey data collected over 4 years from the Social Integration and Aging Study (N = 400; baseline mean age = 80.3). Findings indicated some interaction effects of age, gender, and/or social integration on ADL trajectories. Among those of more advanced age, women showed greater increases in ADL limitations than men, …

Longitudinal And Age-Related Implications Of Primary And Secondary Control For Hedonic And Eudaimonic Well-Being, Masahiro Toyama

Psychology Faculty Research

The longitudinal associations of primary and secondary control with two distinct aspects of happiness including hedonic/subjective and eudaimonic/psychological well-being had not been fully studied. The present study aimed to contribute to the literature by examining these associations and their age differences. Using data from the second and third waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS; N = 4963, aged 28 to 84 at baseline), the present study conducted structural equation modeling analyses to examine whether one primary control strategy (persistence in goal striving) and two secondary control strategies (positive reappraisals and lowering aspirations) predicted residualized changes in the …

Longitudinal Associations Of Conscientiousness And Neuroticism With Perceived Mastery And Constraints For Aging Adults, Masahiro Toyama, Heather R. Fuller, Joel M. Hektner

Psychology Faculty Research

It has not been well understood how conscientiousness and neuroticism are associated with two related but distinct dimensions of perceived control (i.e., perceived mastery and constraints) among aging adults. The present study examined these associations and their change over time, while addressing whether they differ by age or gender. For respondents aged 50+ at baseline (N = 2,768) in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, multilevel modeling analyses were conducted to assess how conscientiousness and neuroticism predicted perceived mastery and constraints over 2 decades. As expected, higher conscientiousness and lower neuroticism (for both between- and within-person variability) predicted …

Personality And Media Multitasking In The College Classroom: Context-Dependent Implications Of Conscientiousness And Agreeableness, Masahiro Toyama, Yusuke Hayashi

Psychology Faculty Research

Both personality and contexts may account for media multitasking in the college classroom. As this area of research was lacking, the present study examined which personality traits would be associated with in-class media multitasking in different contexts of text messaging. Undergraduate students (83 males and 65 females; average age: 20.0 [SD = 4.3]) completed a questionnaire on demographic characteristics, general text-messaging behavior, and Big Five personality traits as well as a delay-discounting task. This task had two hypothetical scenarios in which participants received either an urgent text message from their significant other (Significant Other condition) or a non-urgent message …

Links Of Personality Traits To Media Multitasking: Conscientiousness Predicts Mobile Phone Use In The College Classroom, Masa Toyama, Yusuke Hayashi

Psychology Faculty Research

The present study investigated the relation among mobile phone use in the college classroom and Big Five personality traits, which had not been addressed in previous research. Undergraduate students (83 males and 92 females) whose average age was 20 (SD = 5.1) completed questionnaires on demographic characteristics, mobile phone use, impulse control, and Big Five personality traits. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine whether each personality trait made a unique contribution in predicting mobile phone use in the classroom after taking into consideration the contribution of impulse control in this prediction. The results show that impulse control and …

Longitudinal Stress-Buffering Effects Of Social Integration For Late-Life Functional Health, Masa Toyama, Heather R. Fuller

Psychology Faculty Research

Stress can negatively affect multiple aspects of health, including functional health, among older adults, who are likely to face unique, age-related stressful experiences. Previous research has addressed the protective effects of social relations (i.e., social ties, social participation, and social integration) for physical and mental health outcomes, yet few studies have examined functional health. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal stress-buffering effects of social integration on late-life functional health. Using three-wave data from 399 older adults (aged older than 60 years), two-level hierarchical linear modeling analysis was conducted and the results indicated that in addition to its main effect …

Psychosocial Factors Promoting Personal Growth Throughout Adulthood, Masahiro Toyama, Heather R. Fuller, Joel M. Hektner

Psychology Faculty Research

Personal growth is essential in the lives of adults of any age and is associated with a variety of well-being outcomes. Building on previous research on psychosocial factors associated with personal growth, the present study aimed to investigate whether and how psychosocial factors (including working, generativity, positive interpersonal relationships, and spirituality) could affect aging adults’ personal growth longitudinally. Using three waves of Midlife in the United States data from adults with baseline ages of 20–75, two-level hierarchical linear modeling analyses were conducted to examine the effects of psychosocial factors as well as age and gender on levels and trajectories of …

Assessment Of Likelihood Of A School Shooting Incident, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

After considering the profiles of several shooters, consideration is given to the efficacy of using a profile to predict future shooting incidents.

Medicalization Of Mental Disorders: 1970- To The Present, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

A thirty-five year escalation of emphasis on biological causation has rendered, for many, medications as the treatment of choice for mental disorders. Non-drug treatment may be cast aside, as a result.

Father-Daughter Incest: Data From An Anonymous Computerized Survey, Sandra S. Stroebel, Stephen L. O’Keefe

Psychology Faculty Research

Retrospective data were entered anonymously by 1,521 adult women using computer-assisted self-interview. Nineteen were classified as victims of father–daughter incest, and 241 were classified as victims of sexual abuse by an adult other than their father before reaching 18 years of age. The remaining 1,261 served as controls. Incest victims were more likely than controls to endorse feeling damaged, psychologically injured, estranged from one or both parents, and shamed by others when they tried to open up about their experience. They had been eroticized early on by the incest experience, and it interfered with their adult sexuality. Incest victims experienced …

Fraudulent Therapies In Psychology: The Enduring Value Of Science., W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

Therapy is an effort, based upon scientifically derived principles, to optimize the ration of positive-to-negative reinforcers, for the individual and for society. Fraudulent therapies do not derive from scientific principles. Among these are orgone therapy, re-birthing, facilitated communication, recovered memory therapy, alien abduction, and past-life therapy.

Comparing Measures Of Attachment : “To Whom One Turns In Times Of Stress,” Parental Warmth, And Partner Satisfaction, Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D., April Fugett, Stuart W. Thomas

Psychology Faculty Research

The Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire (ACIQ; M. A. Lindberg& S. W. Thomas, 2011), was developed over an 18-year period containing 29 scales. Thepurpose of the present study was to test (a) the validity of the attachment scales in terms ofhow they predict to whom one turns in times of stress and for affective sharing, and (b) how the attachment scales compared with the Experiences in Close Relationship Questionnaire (ECR) in terms of concurrent, convergent, and discriminant evidence. The relevant secure scales of the ACIQ predicted to whom one turned in Study 1, and Study 2 demonstrated good convergent evidence …

The Attachment And Clinical Issues Questionnaire (Aciq) : Scale Development, Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D., Stuart W. Thomas

Psychology Faculty Research

In line with dynamic systems and dialectical theories of development, it was theorized that a psychopathology such as an addiction could have several causes (equifinality) and that more specific diagnoses and treatments of the most salient clinical issuesfor individuals coming from different developmental paths could increase the success rates of most therapies. Further, the issues from a developmental dynamic systems perspective should include not only individual clinical issues, but also relational, familial, peer, and organizational functioning. The Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire (ACIQ) was developed as a research and clinical instrument relevant to these concerns. The 29 scales were based …

What To Do, Now That Big Pharma And Psychiatry Have Thrown Empiricism Under The Bus, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

Organized Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry have worked toward a mutually reinforcing cultural zeitgeist, to wit: the majority of psychological/behavioral disorders are biologically caused and medications are the treatments of choice. The history of this phenomenon and its implications for behavioral practitioners will be presented.

Has Behavioral Science Tumbled Through The Biological Looking Glass? Will Brief, Evidence-Based Training Return It From The Rabbit Hole?, Donna M. Midkiff, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

Time constraints and professional demands leave practicing professionals unlikely to enroll in extended training such as a semester-long graduate course. Thus, the three-hour continuing education format has become a standard for those in practice. One may ask what sorts of training strategies optimize that format. To explore that, a three hour training program for seventy-six practicing mental health professionals, most of whom self-identified as psychologists, was devised. It made use of primarily antecedent techniques that have been shown to bring about changed perceptions on a number of topics. Content focused on two areas of importance to behavior analysts, the culture’s …

Ethical Issues In The Provision Of Online Mental Health Services, Donna M. Midkiff, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

A number of ethical and legal implications of on-line therapy [e-Therapy] are examined. e-Therapy is defined and its strengths and weaknesses listed. Specific ethical issues addressed include boundaries of competence, basis in science, avoidance of harm, confidentiality, avoidance of false or deceptive statements, media presentations, testimonials, solicitation of clients, fees and informed consent. Legal issues are discussed including the issue of interstate eTherapy. As a necessary measure to protect the public, the profession and the practitioner, it is recommended that federal legislation be enacted, informed by the American Psychological Association based upon APA's review of other disciplines’ (e.g., medicine) e-Practice …

Psychiatry’S Thirty-Five-Year, Non-Empirical Reach For Biological Explanations, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

Psychology Faculty Research

This is our third article in a series that began with a special issue of Behavior and Social Issues in 2006. Here we briefly review our central points from the first two articles. First is that over the past thirty-five years, claims of biological causation of mental and behavioral disorders have gone well beyond the research data, for reasons that are largely related to psychiatry’s lost esteem and protection of its “turf,” as well as to the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. Our second position is that claims of psychotropic drugs’ effectiveness have been overstated. We respond, as well, …

A Behavior Analytic Look At Contemporary Issues In The Assessment Of Child Sexual Abuse, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

The assessment of child sexual abuse has largely been ignored by behavior analysts, although behavior analytic theory and methodology, if applied, likely would advance the field. Three classic cases demonstrate historic errors that might have been avoided, had a behaviorally based approach been employed. Functional analytic interpretations are provided for phenomena that have been explored in a representative sample of studies that, though empirical, do not appear in the behavioral literature. Specific recommendations for practice, and a call for greater involvement of behavior analysis, are presented.

Six-To-One Gets The Job Done: Comments On The Reviews, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

Psychology Faculty Research

We are pleased to note that six of the seven responses to our article were marked by approval, and/or thoughtful contemplation, regarding our central theses—that the research said to support biological causation of mental disorders is relatively weak, and that the claims of drug effectiveness are often overstated.

Biological Psychiatry: A Practice In Search Of A Science, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

Psychology Faculty Research

The rise of the biological causation model in the past thirty years is traced to psychiatry’s efforts to regain lost status and to protect itself from intrusions by non-medical practitioners, as well as to the pharmaceutical industry’s drive for profits. Evidence in support of the model, including studies of identical twins and of brain structure and function, are less revealing than was earlier thought, due to problems in methodology and interpretation. Organized psychiatry, when challenged in 2003, was unable to provide compelling evidence for biological causation of most mental and behavioral disorders. A paradigm shift away from biological causation and …

When We Were Boy Scouts, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

Before I was old enough to be a Boy Scout, I yearned in vain to join my scoutmaster-dad as he departed on day hikes and weekend camping trips with the boy and other leaders of Troop 146 in St. Albans. When I moved out of the Cub Scouts at age 11, at last I was in Dad's troop. Today, I recall those times with my father as a special part of my life.

Comparisons Of Three Different Investigative Interview Techniques With Young Children, Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D., Mary Tantalo Chapman, David Samsock, Stuart W. Thomas, Anders W. Lindberg

Psychology Faculty Research

After viewing a film of a mother hitting her son, a film not seen by the college student interviewers, children were misinformed about a detail (via exposure to a misleadingquestion) as well as explicitly coached to disclose 3 false details. The children were then interviewed by interviewers who had previously learned 1 of 3 different interviewing procedures: the Yuille Step-Wise Interview developed by J. C. Yuille, R. Hunter,R. Joffe, & J. Zaparniuk (1993); a doll play interview developed by Action for Child Protection Inc. (1994); or the Modified Structured Interview developed for this study. The Modified Structured Interview yielded more …

What Was Under The Mcmartin Preschool? A Review And Behavioral Analysis Of The "Tunnels" Find, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

The McMartin Preschool child abuse case began in 1983 in Manhattan Beach, California, and was one of the most visible cases in history. Although two trials were conducted and no convictions were obtained, some individuals continue to believe that dozens of children were sexually abused at the preschool. In 1990 an archeologist was hired to determine whether tunnels had existed under the school because some of the children had alleged that some of their abuse took place in tunnels under the building. The archeologist’s report was issued in 1993. It concluded that evidence of back-filled tunnels had been found. This …

The Role Of Suggestions And Personality Characteristics In Producing Illness Reports And Desires For Suing The Responsible Party, Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D.

Psychology Faculty Research

For this project, 92 students entered an abandoned theater room in an old basement of the university where sand was scattered throughout. The purpose of the study was to experimentally demonstrate that psychological suggestions could produce illness reports and to explore who is most likely to say that they would sue for personal damages. The students filled out the Trait-State Anger Scale and two subscales, Anger Temperament and Anger Reaction as well as the Costello-Corey Anxiety Scale, the Hardiness Inventory, the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness, and, embedded in the Hardiness Inventory, measures of current illness as a result of …

Similarities And Differences In Eyewitness Testimonies Of Children Who Directly Versus Vicariously Experience Stress, Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D., Susan Jones, Lisa Mccomas Collard, Stuart W. Thomas

Psychology Faculty Research

This study tested questions of ecological validity by comparing the eyewitness testimonies of children directly experiencing a painful inoculation experience with those of children in a yoked-control group who vicariously experienced the inoculation on videotape. The study involved 86 5-year-olds, divided between 2 groups: the experiential and yoked control. The experiential group was followed through a health department with a video camera as they received diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DFT), and oral polio inoculations. They were tested immediately, 20 min later, and I month later. Each child in the yoked-control group merely watched the videotape of his or her counterpart in …