Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dancing Through The Pain: Dance As A Psychotherapeutic Outlet, Courtney Douglas

Honors Projects

Dance has become a popular sport and hobby in more recent years. Many schools now provide options for dance classes, and universities have created degrees in dance. Dance may provide a therapeutic factor as well. This study aimed to identify the age at which participants began to dance as an outlet for positive or negative emotions. This study also examined whether being a life-long dancer, as compared to someone who has recently started dancing, has effects on the general well-being and depression levels of the dancer. Results show that the average age participants found dance as a useful outlet for …

A Wilderness And Art Therapy Program For Children With Social Concerns, Ashlynn C. Wardle

Honors Projects

For my honors project, I created an alternative therapy program for children with special needs. Activities were designed to support children with varied needs such as children with autism, ADHD, or learning disabilities. The program utilizes the most successful factors from the fields of art therapy, wilderness therapy, special education, applied behavior analysis, and speech and language therapy the program to form age appropriate, educational, and fun art and wilderness opportunities.

A Public-Domain Personality Item Bank For Use With The Raymark, Schmit, And Guion (1997) Pprf, Scott Highhouse, Michael J. Zickar, Margaret E. Brooks, Charlie L. Reeve, Shreya T. Sarkar-Barney, Robert M. Guion

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Presented is the development of a repository of work-related personality items that may be used to assess job-related traits identified by the Personality-Related Position Requirements Form (PPRF: Raymark, Schmit, & Guion, 1997). Analyses of the item pool administered to a sample (n = 412) of trade apprentices showed evidence to support the12 work-related Big 5 sub-dimensions identified by the PPRF. A smaller validity study (n = 47) suggested that personality dimensions identified as job-related by the PPRF were related to important job-related outcomes.

Threat Of Technological Unemployment: Are Hiring Managers Discounted For Using Standardized Employee Selection Practices?, Kevin P. Nolan, Nathan T. Carter, Dev K. Dalal

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Two studies were conducted to examine the tenability of Meehl’s (1986) “threat of technological unemployment” explanation for why practitioners of employee selection resist using standardized decision-making practices. The results of Study 1 support the existence of this threat by demonstrating that practitioners received less credit for the outcomes of employment decisions when structured rather than unstructured interviews were used to evaluate candidates and analytical rather than holistic data combination was used to determine candidates’ overall evaluations. The results of Study 2 support the influence of this threat on employee selection by demonstrating that practitioners recognized the effects using the standardized …

Cheating On Unproctored Internet Intelligence Tests: Strategies And Effects, Wim Bloemers, Arjan Oud, Karen Van Dam

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

A crucial issue concerning unproctored Internet-based testing (UIT) of cognitive ability is its susceptibility to cheating. Whereas evidence indicates that cheating during UIT occurs, there is still little information about possible cheating strategies and their effects on (sub)test performance. Using a randomized experimental design, this study investigated the direct effects of cheating on an Internet-based test of cognitive ability by comparing test performance of cheaters (participants who were instructed to cheat) and successful cheaters (participants who thought their cheating had been successful) with that of non-cheaters. Successful cheaters obtained substantially higher scores compared to cheaters who thought they had been …

Technology In The Employment Interview: A Meta-Analysis And Future Research Agenda, Nikki Blacksmith, Jon C. Willford, Tara S. Behrend

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

The use of technology such as telephone and video has become common when conducting employment interviews. However, little is known about how technology affects applicant reactions and interviewer ratings. We conducted meta-analyses of twelve studies that resulted in K=13 unique samples and N=1,557. Mean effect sizes for interview medium on ratings (d=-.41) and reactions (d=-.36) were moderate and negative, suggesting that interviewer ratings and applicant reactions are lower in technology-mediated interviews. Generalizing research findings from face-to-face interviews to technology-mediated interviews is inappropriate. Organizations should be especially wary of varying interview mode across applicants, as …

Individual Differences Predicting Impression Management Detection In Job Interviews, Nicolas Roulin

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Applicant impression management (IM), and especially its deceptive side (i.e., faking), has been described as a potential threat to the validity of employment interviews. This threat was confirmed by evidence of interviewers’ inability to detect (deceptive) IM tactics. Previous studies suggested that some interviewers could be better IM detectors than others, but did not examine the reasons explaining higher abilities. Building on interpersonal deception theory, this study explores individual differences in cognitions (i.e., cognitive ability) and social sensitivity (associated with generalized trust and honesty) as predictors of IM detection abilities. Results of a study with 250 individuals suggest that these …

The Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation On Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Asymmetry, Alexandria Hudeck

Honors Projects

This study examines the effects of a brief 20-minute single-session mindfulness meditation session on electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, as well as the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS). It was hypothesized that mindfulness meditation would significantly decrease negative emotions through an increase of alpha band wavelengths to the right hemisphere and thereby resulting in greater left hemispheric activity. The results from the experiment using 10 Bowling Green State participants demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the mindfulness condition and the comparison condition in any of the dependent variables. Strengths and limitations of this study were discussed.

The Relationship Between Teacher Perception And African American Male Students’ Iep Referral Rates, Christina Steward

Honors Projects

African American male students are overrepresented in special education services. This study was conducted under the framework of Bandura's social cognitive theory, and it used surveys and teacher case studies to evaluate the relationship between teacher perception and African American male students' IEP referral rates. A demographic survey, Ronsanna Bakari's Teaching African American Students Survey (TAASS), and an open ended questionnaire were completed by 24 Ohio teachers. The study's hypothesis was that teachers' negative perceptions of African American students were related to and a predictor of African American male students' high IEP referral rates. The study did not have enough …

Educating Managers On How To Manage Introverted Vs. Extroverted Employees, Madison Hays

Honors Projects

While personality types are a popular topic in society today, many don't really understand what they mean and what implications they can have. This project combines the disciplines of both management and psychology, seeking to educate managers on how the two personality traits of introversion and extroversion can impact their ability to effectively manage employees in the workplace. It is presented in the form of a blog, each post identifying and answering an anticipated question that a manager would have while integrating personality considerations into their job practices. Also included are reviews on popular non-fiction books that are recommended for …

Exploring The Unique Experiences Of Biological Children In A Foster Family, Alana Marsh

Honors Projects

:The purpose of the following research was to identify the experiences and needs of biological children in a foster family. An online survey was sent to licensed foster families from a private agency. The survey included questions about the experiences, both positive and negative, of biological children before foster youth enter the home, during their stay, and after they exit the home. Analysis of 21 survey answers and thorough review of literature indicated significant lack of available resources for foster parents to utilize when preparing their biological children for this family change. Results also showed that children held damaging misconceptions …

Humor Production And Humor Receptivity In Relationship Satisfaction, Conflict And Quality, Elizabeth Herring

Honors Projects

In his book, The Mating Mind, evolutionary psychologist, Geoffrey Miller, argues that women and men are differentially attracted to mate characteristics due to their adaptive qualities. Specifically, Miller argues that women find men who are intelligent to be desirable, in part, because intelligence is a signal of a healthy brain. A healthy brain is a desirable mate characteristic over the course of evolutionary history, in part, because it would have enabled men to provide resources for his mate and his family, thus, allowing the female to pass on her genes. Similarly, men find females who are physically attractive to be …

Seeking Solace: Regret, Grief, Anxiety, Rebecca Schroeder

Honors Projects

Seeking Solace: Regret, Grief, Anxiety is a triptych video and artifact piece inspired by the abstract analysis of my dreams. It recognizes worries held within my subconscious and brings them to life through graphic design, photography, and video. The process of creating provides a new perspective of looking at both art and occupational therapy as methods of solving emotional distress.

I have recorded over 80 of my dreams in the past year. In these dreams, regret, grief, and anxiety are common themes. These themes are represented in three triptychs that cycle through past, present, and future problems. The cycling of …

Fractionating Choice: A Study On Reward Discrimination, Preference, And Relative Valuation In The Rat (Rattus Norvegicus), Joshua M. Ricker, Justin D. Hatch, Daniel D. Powers, Howard C. Cromwell

Psychology Faculty Publications

Choice behavior combines discrimination between distinctive outcomes, preference for specific outcomes and relative valuation of comparable outcomes. Previous work has focused on 1 component (i.e., preference) disregarding other influential processes that might provide a more complete understanding. Animal models of choice have been explored primarily utilizing extensive training, limited freedom for multiple decisions and sparse behavioral measures constrained to a single phase of motivated action. The present study used a paradigm that combines different elements of previous methods with the goal to distinguish among components of choice and explore how well components match predictions based on risk-sensitive foraging strategies. In …