Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Development And Validation Of A Measure Of Self-Critical Rumination, Laura M. Smart

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Shame and self-criticism are closely related constructs that have strong associations with many forms of psychopathology as well as general psychological distress. Rumination is a maladaptive form of repetitive thinking that is associated with a number of psychological disorders. Although measures of many different types of rumination (e.g. depressive rumination, angry rumination) have been developed, none assess self-critical rumination. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to develop a measure of self-critical rumination. An initial pool of items for the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS) was developed by adapting existing rumination measures and through a writing task administered to both …

Discriminating Between Adhd, Adhd With A Comorbid Psychological Disorder And Malingered Adhd In A College Sample, Kimberly Dawn Williamson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The current study examined the efficacy of various neuropsychological measures for differentiating ADHD and comorbid ADHD from malingered ADHD in a large state university sample. The sample consisted of 23 nonclinical individuals assigned to malinger ADHD (NLM), 9 nonclinical individuals responding honestly (NLH), 22 individuals with diagnoses of ADHD only (ADHD-H), 9 individuals with comorbid ADHD/Learning Disorder presentations (ADHD-LD), and 13 individuals with comorbid ADHD/Anxiety presentations (ADHD-ANX). Due to limited sample sizes, the ADHD-LD and ADHD-ANX participants were pooled to create a comorbid ADHD group (ADHD-CO n = 22). The study utilized a simulation design with a NLM group instructed …

Personality And Personality Disorder In Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Sara E. Boyd

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Very little research has examined the role of personality in important life outcomes and support needs of adults with intellectual disabilities. This exploratory study includes a sample of 102 community-dwelling adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and begins to evaluate the relative contributions of general personality and personality disorder as it they concern their adaptive functioning, Axis I psychopathology symptoms, and residential and vocational supports.

Observer ratings of personality disorder and Five Factor Model and Reiss Profile general personality functioning were obtained from direct service providers who knew the participants well, and archival file data (e.g., IQ, adaptive functioning scores, …

The Whole Picture: Body Posture Recognition In Infancy, Alyson J. Hock

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Holistic image processing is tied to expertise and is characteristic of face and body processing by adults. Infants process faces holistically, but it is unknown whether infants process body information holistically. In the present study, we examined whether infants discriminate changes in body posture holistically. Body posture is an important nonverbal cue that signals emotion, intention, and goals of others even from a distance. In the current study, infants were tested for discrimination between body postures that differ in limb orientations in three conditions: in the context of the whole body, with just the limbs that change orientation, or with …

Great Sexpectations: The Application Of Sexual Social Exchange Theory To Date Rape, Kellie R. Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In a two-part study, dating sexual expectations will be evaluated and the sexual social exchange theory will be investigated in a date rape trial. In Part 1, participants (N = 100) will be presented with one of two fictional date scenarios that will differ only on the cost of the date (i.e., $30 or $175). Participants will then indicate what behaviors (sexual and not sexual) are appropriate at the end of a first date and then a fifth date. It is predicted that all participants will expect sexual intercourse more on the fifth date than the first, and that …

The Impact Of Religiosity Dimensions And Ethnic Identity On Well-Being In African American Women, Ebony S. Vinson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Religiosity is considered to be an important component of the cultural orientation and worldview of African Americans. African American women, in particular, have been found to be unique in their level of religious devotion and activity compared to other demographic groups but there has been minimal research examining the positive effects of religiosity over time. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of religiosity dimensions and ethnic identity in predicting self-esteem, social support, healthy behaviors, and licit drug use in African American women over time. Results indicate that behavioral and cognitive components of religiosity predict different …

The Dsm-5 Dimensional Trait Model And The Five Factor Model, Whitney L. Gore

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The current thesis tests empirically the relationship of the dimensional trait model proposed for the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders with five-factor models (FFM) of personality disorder (PD). The DSM-5 Personality and Personality Disorders Work Group proposes to diagnose the disorders largely in terms of a 25 trait dimensional model organized within five broad domains (i.e., negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism). Consistent with the authors of DSM-5, it was predicted that negative affectivity would align with FFM neuroticism, detachment with FFM introversion, antagonism with FFM antagonism, disinhibition with …

Forgiving Warriors: Does Outgroup Threat Reduce Ingroup Aggression Among Males?, David Chester

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In order to defend against outgroups, males and females respond to outgroup threat with different strategies. Specifically, males have been shown to respond to outgroup threat with increased ingroup solidarity and cooperation which is likely reflective of their ancestral role as warriors. What remains unknown is whether this cooperative warrior mindset among males not only increases ingroup prosociality, but also decreases ingroup aggression. Aggression against ingroup members under outgroup threat would likely disadvantage the ingroup by reducing the ingroup’s collective formidability. Further, prosocial motivations inhibit aggression. As such, I hypothesized that sex and outgroup threat would interact such that males, …

Bayesian Analysis Of Parental Drinking Motives And Children's Adjustment, Aaron A. Duke

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Harm reduction strategies can mitigate against some of the deleterious effects of alcohol on families. These strategies are most feasible and cost-effective when they can be targeted at those who are most at risk. Previous studies examining the relation between parents’ alcohol use and their children’s psychological adjustment have failed to consider important contextual questions such as drinking motives. The current investigation set out to identify the extent to which parents’ drinking motives predict internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in their children. The investigation consisted of cross sectional analysis of parents’ drinking motives and their children’s adjustment using data from 154 …

Does Botox Buffer The Negative Effects Of Social Rejection?: A Test Of The Facial Feedback Hypothesis, Vicki Sharif

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Can a common facial cosmetic procedure buffer against the negative impact of adverse social interactions? This pilot tested the hypothesis that an injection of botulinum toxin (Botox) to the corrugator supercilii muscles used in anger, compared to a placebo injection to the same location, will reduce the impact of social rejection on mood, self-esteem, control, meaningful existence, and aggression. Freezing facial musculature was hypothesized to alter the first physical signal of negative emotional reactions, thereby reducing the impact of social rejection on distress and aggression. This was the first study using Botox to examine the effects of reduced facial feedback …

Ovarian Cancer Screening As A Teachable Moment For Health Behavior Change: Determining The Role Of Positive Affect And Self-Efficacy, Rachel F. Steffens

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In medical settings, a teachable moment (TM) has been described as an event which may lead to psychological changes prompting individuals to engage in health promoting behaviors. A cancer screening (CS) has been suggested as a potential TM because several types of positive health behavior change (HBC), ranging from dietary changes to smoking cessation, have been linked to CS. However, most research has examined the TM in CS settings using cross-sectional and prospective methodologies and has lacked a theory-driven model. Moreover, few intervention studies have attempted to capitalize on the potential TM in CS settings. In light of this, the …

Marital Conflict And Pubertal Timing: Stress And Security As Mediators Of Associations, Eric A. Haak

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The timing of pubertal development has important mental and physical health consequences. Individuals who enter puberty off-time are at greater risk for psychological disorders, social difficulties, and physical morbidity. One variable associated with early pubertal development is marital conflict. Life History Theory proposes that marital conflict signals an unreliable environment and promotes advanced pubertal timing to enhance reproductive fitness. Such calibrations allow individuals to unconsciously invest more resources in reproduction, following a quantity over quality approach. Despite research supporting the role of marital conflict in early-onset puberty, research has struggled to find a mechanism for this relationship. The current study …

The Sexualized Girl: The Development Of An Expanded (Sexualized) Gender Stereotype Among Children, Ellen A. Stone

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The current study examined children’s stereotypes about sexualized girls. Elementary school children (n = 208) from the mid-South between the ages of 6 and 11 completed a survey assessing their stereotypes about sexualized girls and non-sexualized girls. Participants were asked to justify, in their own words, their responses to several stereotypic evaluations. Children’s cognitive development was analyzed through classification skill as a moderator of belief in stereotypes about girls. Results revealed that children perceived the sexualized girl to be more popular and better liked by boys than the non-sexualized girl. However, the sexualized girl was also rated as less athletic, …

Emotion Recognition And Social Functioning In Children With And Without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Rebecca Flake Aldea

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

This study examined the emotion recognition of children (ages 7-9 years) with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children completed two emotion recognition measures, the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2 (DANVA2) and the Child and Adolescent Social Perception measure (CASP). Children and their parents also completed an assessment of children’s social skills, the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). Children with ADHD reported a significantly greater level of depressive symptoms and had significantly lower full scale IQ scores than children without ADHD. When these differences were accounted for, children with ADHD continued to show a handful …

Examining The Interaction Of Neonatal Alcohol And Hypoxia In Vitro, Megan L. Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Exposure to ethanol (ETOH) during fetal development results in a range of cognitive/behavioral deficits. There are differences in sensitivity to the effects of ETOH that could be explained by other factors, such as hypoxia. Similar mechanisms of damage underlie both ETOH, more specifically ETOH withdrawal, and hypoxia. Based on this overlap, it was hypothesized that sub threshold levels of these insults may interact to produce increased damage in sensitive brain regions. This study used a rodent organotypic hippocampal slice culture model to investigate the interaction of hypoxia and ETOH withdrawal and to determine possible developmental differences in the sensitivity to …

Change In Envy As A Function Of Target Likeability, Chelsea M. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Envy is a painful emotion that can negatively impact one’s self-worth. It is also a shameful, socially undesirable emotion, implying both inferiority and hostility. Some scholars suggest that these features of envy lead to a need to cope with the emotion. Thus, over time, envy tends to be transformed into more socially acceptable responses such as resentment or dislike. The present study tested this claim. First, envy was manipulated by asking participants to read an article containing an interview with either a high- or low-envy target. The second article manipulated the likeability of the target by varying whether or not …

The Impact Of Acculturation And Labeling On African Americans' Stigmatization Of Mental Illness, Tahirah Abdullah

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Although African Americans endorse more stigma towards those with mental illnesses than European Americans and are quite susceptible to stigma’s detrimental effects on help-seeking for mental health problems, stigma has not been adequately studied for African Americans. Given that stigma is a key barrier to obtaining help for mental health problems, it is imperative that we gain a more nuanced understanding of stigma. This study used experimental design and vignettes to examine the influence of acculturation and labeling on African Americans’ stigmatization of depression, social phobia, alcohol dependence, and schizophrenia. Results indicated that schizophrenia was generally the most stigmatized disorder …

Individual Differences In Escalation Of Tobacco Use: Impulsivity And Alcohol Use, Dustin C. Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Like adolescents, young adults are at risk of initiating tobacco use and escalating to daily use and tobacco dependence. However, not every young adult who uses cigarettes intermittently becomes tobacco dependent, and the time-course of those who transition to daily use varies widely. Individual differences likely contribute to the variability observed in patterns of tobacco use. This dissertation uses a multi-modal research approach to examine dimensions of impulsivity and alcohol use that are associated with vulnerability for escalation of cigarette smoking, and whether alcohol’s effects on behavioral disinhibition impact cigarette consumption. Study 1 investigated the associations between dimensions of trait …

Expression Of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms Across The Ovulatory Cycle: A Multilevel Investigation, Tory A. Eisenlohr-Moul

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a disabling condition characterized by chronic emotion dysregulation and behavioral impulsivity. Prospective studies that test proposed mechanisms of within-person change in BPD hold the key to improving symptom predictability and control in this disorder. A small body of evidence suggests that fluctuations in estradiol such as those occurring naturally at ovulation during the monthly female reproductive cycle may increase symptoms in women with BPD (DeSoto et al., 2003). Furthermore, there is preliminary evidence that both self-esteem and feelings of social rejection are highest at ovulation, when estradiol peaks (Durante and Hill, 2009; Eisenlohr-Moul et al., …

The Effects Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, And Combined Posttraumatic Stress Disorder/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury On Returning Veterans, Hannah L. Combs

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Veterans of the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts have frequently returned with injuries such as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). More recently, concern has been raised about the large number of returning soldiers who are diagnosed with both. Literature exists on the neuropsychological factors associated with either alone, however far less research has explored the effects when combined (PTSD+mTBI). With a sample of 206 OEF/OIF veterans, the current study employed neuropsychological and psychological measures to determine whether participants with PTSD+mTBI have poorer cognitive and psychological outcomes than participants with PTSD-o, mTBI-o, or veteran controls (VC), when …

Relationships Among Pain Threshold, Self-Regulation, Executive Functioning, And Autonomic Activity: A General Inhibitory System Perspective, Ian Andres Boggero

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Chronic pain patients have poorer pain inhibition, self-regulatory ability, executive functioning and autonomic inhibition than those without pain, supporting the view that suppressing pain is mentally taxing. In the current study, an alternate explanation was proposed; namely, that pain inhibition, self-regulation, executive functions, and heart rate variability (HRV) are all controlled by the same general inhibitory system. To test this hypothesis, participants came into the laboratory for three sessions. At the first session, individual differences in pain thresholds, self-regulatory strength, executive functioning, and HRV were measured. At the second and third sessions, self-regulatory persistence and within-session changes in pain thresholds …

Characterizing Consumption, Dependence, And The Role Of Glucocorticoids In An Animal Model Of Voluntary Ethanol Consumption, Lynda Sharrett-Field

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Alcohol abuse disorders (AUD) represent a serious worldwide health problem with far reaching social, financial, and interpersonal implications. One of the most devastating facets of these disorders is the propensity to relapse following periods of abstinence. Ethanol withdrawal (EWD) is believed to promote relapse by increasing anxiety and craving, and may contribute to the development of cognitive decline associated with long-term dependence. Clinical data suggest that stress also plays a main role in both the development of AUD as well as relapse to drinking. As a physiological stressor, EtOH elevates levels of stress hormones (cortisol in humans, corticosterone (CORT) in …

Investigation Of The Monty Hall Dilemma In Pigeons And Rats, Jessica P. Stagner

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In the Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD), three doors are presented with a prize behind one and participants are instructed to choose a door. One of the unchosen doors is then shown to not have the prize and the participant can choose to stay with their door or switch to the other one. The optimal strategy is to switch. Herbranson and Schroeder (2010) found that humans performed poorly on this task, whereas pigeons learned to switch readily. However, we found that pigeons learned to switch at level only slightly above humans. We also found that pigeons stay nearly exclusively when staying …