Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Four Positive Lessons Learned During The 2020–2021 Covid-19 Global Pandemic: Implications For Spirituality In Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

While the COVID-19 global pandemic has wrecked havoc for over a year in ways that we have not seen in our lifetimes, many important positive lessons have been learned during these tumultuous and what has felt like apocalyptic times. Upon close reflection, four critical and positive lessons were learned by this author that have implications for how we productively move forward in our efforts to provide spiritually and religiously informed psychotherapy services both now and in the future. These important lessons include the benefits of telehealth and “telespirit” services as well as highlighting the advantages of reflection, discernment, and resetting …

Understanding Black Experiences And Access Barriers In The Expressive Arts Activities And Therapies, Jadea Harris, Ana K. Marcelo

Psychology

Black individuals in America experience racism, discrimination, and microaggressions that can affect their mental and physical health. (Alvarez, Liang, & Neville, 2016). Unfortunately, Black individuals typically do not seek out mental health treatment because of mistrust, stigma, misdiagnosis, and lack of culturally sensitive approaches to treatment (NAMI, 2002). One way to encourage Black individuals to seek mental health support and to provide more support could be through expressive arts. Expressive outlets may act as a protective barrier against adverse experiences and serve as an opportunity to bring healing amongst uncomfortable feelings of racial trauma and more. Historical and empirical evidence …

The Validity Of The Test Of Memory Malingering (Tomm) With Deaf Individuals., Cathy J Chovaz, V Lynn Ashton Rennison, Dominica O Chorostecki

Psychology

OBJECTIVE: Administration of performance validity tests (PVT) during neuropsychological assessments is standard practice, with the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) being a commonly used measure. The TOMM has been well validated in hearing populations with various medical and psychiatric backgrounds. A major gap in the literature is the use of the TOMM amongst culturally Deaf individuals who use American Sign Language (ASL) as their first and preferred language. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of the TOMM with this population to determine if there may be differences related to the use of semantic knowledge and recall …

The Integration Of Roman Catholic Traditions And Evidence-Based Psychological Services, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest, and most enduring continuous organization, secular or religious, of any kind in the world with a 2,000-plus-year history. It currently includes well over a billion people. Regardless of its size, scope, history, and impact, the Roman Catholic Church is often greatly misunderstood and people frequently maintain stereotypic and even discriminatory views about Catholics and their clerical leaders. The purpose of this article is to present the integration of the Roman Catholic tradition into psychological assessment and therapy and to provide several examples of this integration. The article highlights how this integration can be …

A Review Of Spiritual Development And Transformation Among College Students From Jesuit Higher Education, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The college experience can be a critically important and enriching time for personal as well as academic growth and development. For many students, college is their first foray into a more independent world and lifestyle no longer under the careful, and sometimes critical, eyes of their parents, families, and schoolteachers. When students go far away from home to attend college, they need to find ways to live independently, manage their many needs, and attend to the rigors of academic life in higher education. Additionally, the college years offer a unique and important period for spiritual growth, development, and transformation. The …

Online Communication And Dating Relationships: Effects Of Decreasing Online Communication On Feelings Of Closeness And Relationship Satisfaction, Kieran T. Sullivan, Jessica Riedstra, Brenda Arellano, Bonnie Cardillo, Vanessa Kalach, Amrita Ram

Psychology

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of online communication on feelings of closeness and relationship satisfaction using an experimental design and to test whether these effects varied based on participants’ attitudes about online communication. Individuals in dating relationships were randomly assigned to two 48-hr conditions: communication as usual or refraining from online communication. Participants who reported that online communication was important for their dating relationships reported lower satisfaction and closeness after decreasing their online communication; there were no between-group differences among participants who reported relatively low importance. Thus, it appears that online communication has a positive …

The Effects Of Metformin On High-Fat Diet-Induced Neuroinflammation And Cognitive Impairment, Caleb Levine

Psychology

Chronic high-fat feeding is associated with neuroinflammation, cognitive impairment, and anxiety-linked behaviors in rats. Metformin, a popular treatment for type II diabetes, has been shown to attenuate metabolic dysregulation and weight gain associated with an obesogenic diet. We demonstrated that HFD caused elevated fasting blood glucose, glucose intolerance, and increased body weight without cognitive impairment or anxiety as measured by novel object recognition and open field testing. Further, we demonstrated that metformin did not produce cognitive impairment, which was a concern associated with its chronic use. Further work will elucidate the impact of chronic HFD and metformin treatment on molecular …

The Societal Perception And Judgements Of Sexual Violence Targeting Victims From Varying Demographic Backgrounds, Hanna Bogart

Psychology

Abstract Sexual violence affects people of all color and gender, but extant research has mostly focused on reactions toward female (and often White) survivors. With a sample of 77 undergraduate University participants (Mage = 18.82), the current study examined the effects of survivors’ race and gender on recommended punishment of the sexual violence incidents. The results indicated that severity of the assault and recommended punishment for the perpetrator had a significantly positive relationship, such that individuals’ recommended more severe punishments for more severe sexual violence incidents. Furthermore, sexual violence incidents involving female victims were recommended more severe punishments than those …

Behavioral Effects Of Early Postpartum Offspring Removal In Rats, Jayda Melnitsky

Psychology

The maternal experience has been associated with alterations in behavior and in many different areas of the brain. Soon after giving birth and throughout the postpartum period, maternal behavior and care of offspring in particular have been shown to stimulate the dopaminergic system in postpartum women and rats alike. Around 15% of women who give birth develop postpartum depression (PPD), which has been associated with downregulation of dopamine activity. This experiment tested whether the removal of offspring immediately after parturition would alter the anxiety and depressive-like behavior of dams, as well as the expression of dopaminergic neurons. Adult female Sprague-Dawley …

Clericalism Contributes To Religious, Spiritual, And Behavioral Struggles Among Catholic Priests, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The Roman Catholic Church has received a remarkable amount of press attention regarding clerical perpetrated sexual abuse with child victims as well as other clerical behavioral scandals in recent years. Much has been reported in both the popular and professional press about the various aspects and elements of priestly formation and ministry that might contribute to behavioral problems among clerics. Additionally, much has also been written and discussed about the challenging religious, spiritual, and behavioral struggles among clerics when clerical misbehavior significantly contradicts expected behavior in terms of sexual, behavioral, and relational ethics. Since Catholic priests are dedicated to chastity, …

St. Ignatius As Psychotherapist? How Jesuit Spirituality And Wisdom Can Enhance Psychotherapy, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The great wisdom traditions associated with various religious and spiritual practices and institutions have offered a variety of helpful strategies for more effective living and coping with life’s many challenges. In most recent times, efforts to secularize these strategies have been made in order to appeal to the general population as well as to secular mental health professionals as tools for their clinical practices. Although mindfulness meditation and yoga are perhaps the most notable examples, many other intervention strategies have been and can be borrowed from various religious and spiritual traditions to use in a secular manner if so desired. …

Musical Expertise Generalizes To Superior Temporal Scaling In A Morse Code Tapping Task, Matthew A. Slayton, Juan L. Romero-Sosa, Katrina Shore, Dean V. Buonomano, Indre Viskontas

Psychology

A key feature of the brain’s ability to tell time and generate complex temporal patterns is its capacity to produce similar temporal patterns at different speeds. For example, humans can tie a shoe, type, or play an instrument at different speeds or tempi—a phenomenon referred to as temporal scaling. While it is well established that training improves timing precision and accuracy, it is not known whether expertise improves temporal scaling, and if so, whether it generalizes across skill domains. We quantified temporal scaling and timing precision in musicians and non-musicians as they learned to tap a Morse code sequence. We …

Cruzando Fronteras: Liberation Psychology In A Counseling Psychology Immersion Program, Daniela Domínguez, Belinda Marie Hernandez-Arriaga, K. P. Sharon

Psychology

Using testimonio research, this study explores the immersion experiences of 15 counseling psychology students enrolled in an immersion program in Huejotal, Huaquechula. Based on core concepts of Liberation Psychology, this immersion program sought to increase students’ critical consciousness through conscientization, deideologization, denaturalization, and problematization. A thematic analysis of written testimonios includes coding, checks for internal validity, and the generation of important themes across student participants. Results revealed six themes: reclaiming identity; journeying with “nuestros ancestros and familias [our ancestors and families]”; “los niños [the children] as teachers”; cultural wealth; “comunidad como familia [community as family]”; and “cruzando fronteras [crossing borders]” …

Leveraging The Power Of Mutual Aid, Coalitions, Leadership, And Advocacy During Covid-19, Daniela Domínguez, Dellanira García, David A. Martínez, Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga

Psychology

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the norms, patterns, and power structures in the United States that privilege certain groups of people over others. This manuscript describes COVID-19 as an unprecedented catalyst for social transformation that underscores the need for multi-level and cross-sectoral solutions to address systemic changes to improve health equity for all. The authors propose that the American Psychological Association and its membership can initiate systemic change, in part, by: (a) supporting mutual aid organizations that prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities; (b) leveraging the efforts and strides APA psychologists have already made within the association, in …

Career Barriers And Coping Efficacy With International Students In Counseling Psychology Programs, Daniela Domínguez, Hsiu-Lan Cheng, Lisa De La Rue

Psychology

This study uses Lent, Brown, and Hackett’s (1994) Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as a framework for understanding the career barriers and coping efficacy experienced by master’s counseling psychology international students. Grounded in SCCT, we described coping efficacy as international students’ perceived capability to navigate career barriers. Using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis (2006), we explored the career barriers and coping efficacy of 12 master’s counseling psychology international students. The first focus area, “international journey with multiple barriers,” includes five themes: interpersonal stress; language barriers; financial pressures; advising concerns; and visa and immigration-related stress. The second focus area, “agents of …

Finding The Middle Path Between Dependence And Autonomy: Recent Trainee Experiences In Dialectical Behavior Therapy Supervision, Helen Valenstein-Mah, Joyce Yang, Jennifer Staples, Elizabeth Neilson

Psychology

Originally published in DBT Bulletin Volume 3, Issue 1 pages 28-32 (2020). The DBT Bulletin is published by DBT California.

Hurry Up And Decide: Empirical Tests Of The Choice Overload Effect Using Cognitive Process Models, Ryan Jessup, Levi E. Ritchie, John Homer

Psychology

The choice overload effect emerged as a rebuttal to the notion that having more options from which to choose is always preferable. Jessup, Veinott, Todd, and Busemeyer (2009) used a modified version of decision field theory, a cognitive process model of choice, to generate multiple mechanisms based on psychological principles for the choice overload effect as it pertains to choice probability. Here we experimentally tested 2 of these mechanisms—time out and preference change—in a virtual hiring task to see whether participants hired more applicants when choosing from small relative to large sets of applicants. We further wanted to observe how …

Taking A Joke Seriously: When Does Humor Affect Responses To The Slurring Of People With Intellectual Disabilities?, Jennifer Katz, Dimitri Wing-Paul

Psychology

The use of humor may affect how bystanders respond to slurs. Undergraduates (N = 192) completed a measure of prejudice towards people with intellectual disabilities and were randomly assigned to read a scenario in which a peer uses a slur either as part of a joke (humor condition) or a statement (control condition). Participants responded to measures of intent to assertively respond and their evaluation of the speaker. Humor inhibited intent to nonverbally disagree and to verbally confront. Bystanders’ own prejudicial attitudes moderated the effects of humor on intent to verbally confront and negative evaluation. In the humor condition, compared …

Established Adulthood: A New Conception Of Ages 30 To 45, Clare M. Mehta, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Carlie G. Palmer, Larry J. Nelson

Psychology

In developed countries, the years from Age 30 to 45 are, for many, the most intense, demanding, and rewarding years of adult life. During this period of the life span most adults must negotiate the intersecting demands of progressing in a chosen career, maintaining an intimate partnership, and caring for children. Successes or difficulties in meeting these simultaneous demands have the potential to profoundly influence the direction of a person's adult life. As such, we believe that it is of critical importance to better understand this developmental period that we call established adulthood. This article provides a new theoretical conceptualization …

Relationship Between Religion, Spirituality, And Psychotherapy: An Ethical Perspective, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Spirituality and religion are typically a critically important element of most people’s lives. They offer an overarching framework for making sense of the world and a strategy to cope with life’s stressors. They provide a community and a way to wrestle with life’s biggest questions regarding meaning, purpose, and suffering. Mental health professionals are mandated to behave in an ethical manner defined by their codes of ethics. These codes typically understand religion and spirituality a multiculturalism issue. Professionals need to be respectful and responsible and pay close attention to potential implicit bias, boundary crossings, and destructive beliefs and practices. Working …

Clergy Sexual Abuse In The Roman Catholic Church: Dispelling Eleven Myths And Separating Facts From Fiction, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church has made headline news across the country and world for years. Yet, even with such remarkable publicity, so much misinformation and myths about the problem persist. It is important for psychologists, as well as other mental health professionals, to be better informed about these myths and misinformation in order to better serve their clients who may be impacted by the story. Those impacted include not only clerical abuse victims, their families, and clerics themselves but also Catholics in general, who may be troubled and demoralized by the ongoing and unfolding crisis …

Further Developments Of The Santa Clara Ethics Questionnaire, Thomas G. Plante, Anna Mccreadie

Psychology

Ethics and ethical decision-making are critically important for high-functioning communities, including those on college campuses. This brief paper provides further research support for the Santa Clara Ethics Questionnaire, a brief and no-cost 10-item questionnaire assessing general ethics. The questionnaire was administered to 329 university students along with several other measures to assess convergent and divergent validity. Results suggest that compassion, hope, and self-esteem predict about one-third of the variance in ethics scores. Implications for future research and use are discussed.

Comparing To Ingroup And Outgroup Members: Do We Assimilate, Contrast, Or Neither?, Kathryn Bruchmann, Meghan C. Evans

Psychology

Previous work studying social comparisons suggests that people are likely to assimilate to ingroup members (e.g. Ledgerwood & Chaiken, 2007) but can also contrast from ingroup members if outgroup members are present (Blanton, Miller, & Dye, 2002). The present research built upon these findings by including a no-comparison control group to test for true contrast and assimilation effects. Across two studies, women primed with a gender-math stereotype received false feedback about their performance on a math task; and in some conditions, they learned of the performance of ostensible male and/or female co-participants. Relative to a no-comparison control, we did not …

Social Connectedness And Eating Disorder Symptomatology, Nicole Nunez

Psychology

Eating disorders are a well-known and well-documented issue with known deleterious effects on one’s health. Because of this fact, it is important to identify protective factors against the development and/or maintenance of eating disorders. Social support has been identified as a factor that can play a role in recovery from eating disorders. While the importance of social support has been broadly examined in research, social connectedness specifically has been explored less explicitly. Social connectedness involves feelings of belonging, identification with others, and healthy social interaction. This study sought to assess the role of social connectedness in eating disorder symptomatology. We …

Emotion Processing In The Survival Paradigm, Destiny Valentine

Psychology

The literature shows that words processed according to their survival relevance typically produce a memory advantage. Similarly, words containing an emotional connotation tend to lead to better memory. The current study examined whether combining both the survival processing effect and the emotion processing advantage would cause an interaction that amplified the effects on memory. Using a modified version of the traditional survival processing paradigm, participants rated emotion words (positive, negative, or neutral) on their relevance to a survival context or home-moving control context. They were later given a surprise recall task for the rated words. The results did not show …

The Impact Of Exposure To The Thin Ideal On Chocolate Cravings In U.S. -Born Women, Kathryn M. Helm

Psychology

Food cravings are experienced by a large proportion of the population and have a variety of negative implications- including overweight/ obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Prior research has shown a lack of support for biological causes of craving. As such, we look to other factors such as culture, cognition, and sex, to explore why such factors have an influence on craving. The purpose of this study is to look at the impact of viewing thin ideal images on chocolate cravings in United States born women-including (but not restricted to) their reports of ambivalence towards chocolate. Participants were randomized …

The Santa Clara Ethics Scale, Thomas G. Plante, Anna Mccreadie

Psychology

Ethics and ethical decision-making are important for well-functioning communities and societies, including college campuses. Yet, there are very few high quality, cost-effective, relevant, and easy-to-use assessment instruments currently available. This paper introduces the new Santa Clara Ethics Scale, a very brief no-cost questionnaire assessing general ethics. The 10-item scale was administered to 200 university students along with several other measures to assess convergent and divergent validity. Information regarding the validity and reliability of the scale along with test utility is presented. Implications for future research and use are discussed as well.

Race/Ethnicity And Geographic Access To Urban Trauma Care, Elizabeth L. Tung, David A. Hampton, Marynia Kolak, Selwyn O. Rogers, Joyce Yang, Monica E. Peek

Psychology

Importance Little is known about the distribution of life-saving trauma resources by racial/ethnic composition in US cities, and if racial/ethnic minority populations disproportionately live in US urban trauma deserts.

Objective To examine racial/ethnic differences in geographic access to trauma care in the 3 largest US cities, considering the role of residential segregation and neighborhood poverty.

Design, Setting, and Participants A cross-sectional, multiple-methods study evaluated census tract data from the 2015 American Community Survey in Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles (LA), California; and New York City (NYC), New York (N = 3932). These data were paired to geographic coordinates of all adult …

Ignatian Banners Of Hope And Support For Recently Detained Immigrant Families, Daniela Domínguez

Psychology

University of San Francisco (ASUSF) decided to allocate a portion of its annual budget each year to assist undocumented students with non-tuition dollars, most often used for the growingly expensive cost of living within the Bay Area. One year prior, in 2015, USF’s School of Law launched its Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic to represent unaccompanied children and migrant women with children in Northern California and the Central Valley.

Altogether, these acts of solidarity demonstrate how Jesuit institutions have strived for greater acceptance and empowerment of migrants and refugees. Contributing to this effort, the collection of essays in this book …

Foster Youth Perspectives: Self-Reported Strengths And Resilience, Julia Nelson, Rosana Aguilar, Saralyn Ruff Dr.

Psychology

This study examines the relational resilience, emotional self-efficacy, and self-reported strengths of foster youth, using a community based participatory research framework. The aggregate of research to date focuses on detrimental circumstances foster youth have experienced and the associated psychopathology. The present study expands the focus to individual strengths, informing our understanding of resiliency among foster youth.

A survey was co-created with foster youth focused on demographic background, perceptions of strengths, and resilience. This survey included items from the positive acceptance of change / secure relationships subscale of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-CDSC), and emotional self-efficacy subscale of the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire …