Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Target Age And Perceived Death Responsibility On Posthumous Impression Formations, Jenny Rebekah Heilborn

Master's Theses

Death positivity biases and posthumous evaluations are considered a universal normative social phenomenon which influences social judgments of the dead; we postulate that these individual biases are mediated by both sympathy and fear of mortality, or the belief in a just world. Study 1 postulated that sympathy mediates such positivity biases when target responsibility for cause of death is manipulated. We hypothesized the mediation of the just world violation on posthumous evaluatory measures when age at the time of death was manipulated in Study 2. Although results were inconclusive for both studies, alternate hypotheses and boundary conditions of death positivity …

A Cognitive Intervention To Increase The Salience Of Intrinsic Thoughts Associated With Exercise, Katie S. Moran

Master's Theses

A four-week cognitive intervention was created to increase the salience of intrinsic thoughts associated with exercise in moderately extrinsic exercisers. Participants were assigned to either an intervention or control condition. Those in the intervention condition were asked to respond to questions concerning the pleasure, enjoyment and/or satisfaction experienced during or after their exercise regimen each week. Results showed a marginally significant two-way interaction (p = .059) between the control and intervention condition over time. Those in the intervention condition showed a greater increase in intrinsic motivation than those in the control condition. These results. while only marginally significant, were in …

"Paper Sack Brown" : Effects Of Age, Skin Tone, And Stereotype Threat On Cognitive Performance And Self-Efficacy Among African Americans, Breonte Stephan Guy

Master's Theses

Divergent African American skin tones have led to negative stereotypes and outcomes regarding darker-skinned African Americans in many domains, including educational and occupational (Hill, 2002). This study assessed the effects of skin tone and stereotype threat (Steele and Aronson, 1995; Steele, 1997) on cognition in younger and older African Americans. A 2(Skin Tone: light, dark) X 2(Age: young, old) X 2(Stereotype Threat: Threat, Non-Threat) between subjects design was used. Seventy-four African American adults ranging in age from 18 to 86 years completed a battery of cognitive measures. Darker-skinned adults performed more poorly on three tests of intelligence, a paired-associates memory …

Group Polarization And Social Norms On Normative Body Weight Misperception And Eating Disordered Symptomology, Kelly Sears Cox

Master's Theses

Group polarization, social norms, and misperceptions of normative body weight were evaluated in sorority and non-sorority (comparison) undergraduate women at the University of Richmond. The participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Weight Locus of Control Scale, the Rosenburg Self-esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Body- Self Relations Questionnaire, and several self-report questions. Sorority and comparison participants significantly misperceived normative body weight. One sorority differed significantly from the other groups on misperception of normative body weight and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. The comparison group had significantly lower scores than the three sororities on the Self-Esteem Scale. The four instruments did not significantly …

Continuity Of Emotions Across Pre-Sleep State And The Content Of Dreams, Teresa M. Picciocchi

Master's Theses

The relationship between unmanipulated pre-sleep states and the affective composition of dreams was investigated. Sixty college students completed the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI) prior to retiring for the night and the Differential Emotion Scale {DES-IV) focusing upon any dream recalled upon awakening. In support of the Continuity Theory, which states that our personalities and experiences are reflected in our dreams, significant positive correlations were found between pre-sleep curiosity and the presence of interest in the dream, pre-sleep anger and anger in the dream and pre sleep depression and sadness within the dream. Support for the Day Residue effect was obtained …

Neuropsychological Outcome And Player Characteristics In Amateur Soccer Players, Kyle W. Evans

Master's Theses

A growing body of research suggests that the game of soccer causes neurophysiological damage and neuropsychological deficits in its players. This research project evaluated player characteristics, including aggression, position, heading frequency, and head injuries in an attempt to delineate the effect of traumatic head injuries from the possible detrimental effects of heading the ball. Fifty-three male, amateur soccer players participated in a brief neuropsychological evaluation and a structured interview. Findings revealed that the number of years played (r=.30, p=.03) and an index score representing the number of competitive seasons (r=.44, p=001) were the only player characteristics that correlated with test …

The Relation Of Anchoring And Choice To Memory Self-Efficacy And Performance In Older Adults, Renee Annette Baldi

Master's Theses

The major purposes of this study were 1) to examine the effects of self-efficacy on task choice, effort and performance on a memory task, and 2) to examine the effect of sequence anchoring on self-efficacy judgments. Forty-two older adults (25 women and 17 men) completed the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), a memory complaints questionnaire (MCQ) , a self-efficacy questionnaire (SEQ), and two memory recall tasks. Subjects received an SEQ that had either a descending anchor (i.e., SEQ began with most difficult task) or an ascending anchor (i.e., SEQ began with easiest task). Also, subjects were either given a choice of …

Time As A Shared Resource : The Effects Of Depression And Behavior Verifiability On Perceptions Of Temporal Investment, Jody Lynn Jones

Master's Theses

People have a tendency to view themselves in a more favorable light than they do others, a phenomenon termed the egocentric bias (Messick, Bloom, Boldizar, & Samuelson, 1985). Past research has shown that people are more likely to display the bias in situations that are "nonverifiable", meaning that there is no way to accurately measure the dimension on which judgments are made (Allison, Messick, & Goethals, 1989). Two experiments tested the hypothesis that only nondepressed individuals in a nonverifiable situation would show the egocentric bias, whereas non depressed subjects in the verifiable condition and depressed subjects in both conditions would …

Psychosocial Effects Of Juvenile Rheumatic Disease : The Family And Peer Systems As A Context For Coping, Jennifer Ann Harris

Master's Theses

The psychosocial effects of juvenile rheumatic diseases and disease activity were examined among 24 families (12 with a rheumatic disease child, 12 with no chronic illness). Rheumatic disease children were paired with a healthy control child nominated by their classroom teacher. Family and child functioning was assessed through measures of stress, competence, coping, and adjustment while observations in the classroom were made to assess peer relations. MANOVA's and ANOVA's were performed to determine significant differences. Families with a child with inactive rheumatic disease tended to be less likely to seek out and accept help, more likely to put activities into …

The Self-Concept Of Pregnant And Nonpregnant Adolescents And Changes That Occur Between Trimesters, Linda Aileen Furlani

Master's Theses

Twenty-two nonpregnant adolescents and 14 pregnant adolescents selected from Chesterfield Health Department's clinic population participated in a study to determine if the self-concept of a nonpregnant adolescent is higher than that of a pregnant adolescent. Each group was further subdivided into a middle adolescent and a late adolescent category to determine if there is any difference in the self-concept of a pregnant adolescent in the middle adolescent stage versus that of a pregnant adolescent in the late adolescent stage. Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), School Form, was administered to test the subject's perception of herself and to measure evaluative attitudes toward …

Interpersonal Consequences Of Expressing Concern About Nuclear War, Ann Angell Dew

Master's Theses

The effects of sex role expectations within the context of the nuclear war issue were examined in this study. Sixty males and sixty females, ranging in age from 18 to 22 years, participated in this study. They were obtained from the introductory psychology courses at the University of Richmond. Each subject read a questionnaire, supposedly completed by another University of Richmond undergraduate, and answered two Likert-type questions measuring the degree to which the subject would like to meet and become friends with the target. The independent variables were sex of the target, sex of subject, and expression of concern about …

Personality Variables That Discriminate Pseudoseizures Patients And Epileptic Patients Used In The 16 Pf, Patricia Lane Marshall

Master's Theses

This project was designed to study the effect of certain personality factors on pseudoseizure patients. It was hypothesized that Factors C and O in the 16 Personality Questionnaire could serve as predictor variables for the criterion variable, positive diagnosis of pseudoseizure versus true epileptic seizures. It was also hypothesized that these two groups, pseudoseizure versus epileptic seizure, would differ significantly on a test titled the Sickness Impact Profile. The two scales in this test, psychosocial and physical, were examined. Two discriminant analyses were performed with these two tests being the predictor variables and group membership being the criterion variable. Non-significant …

Personality Variables That Discriminate Pseudoseizures Patients And Epileptic Patients Used In The 16 Pf, Patricia L. Marshall

Master's Theses

This project was designed to study the effect of certain personality factors on pseudoseizure patients. It was hypothesized that Factors C and 0 in the 16 Personality Questionnaire could serve as predictor variables for the criterion variable, positive diagnosis of pseudoseizure versus true epileptic seizures. It was also hypothesized that these two groups, pseudoseizure versus epileptic seizure, would differ significantly on a test titled the Sickness Impact Profile. The two scales in this test, psychosocial and physical, were examined. Two discriminant analyses were performed with these two tests being the predictor variables and group membership being the criterion variable. Non-significant …

The Effects Of Positive And Negative Mental Rehearsal Upon Adolescent Boy's Performance On Mirror Drawing, Jeffrey Alan Betman

Master's Theses

Forty-five adolescent males were divided into three groups of imagery ability based on Marks' Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire. Within the groups of low, medium, and high ability each subject was randomly assigned to one of three mental rehearsal conditions: positive mental rehearsal, negative mental rehearsal or neutral mental rehearsal. Subjects were given the appropriate mental rehearsal instructions and then completed a mirror drawing task. A 3 x 3 (ability level x type of instructions) analysis of variance was performed on the number of errors and elapsed time for the mirror drawing task. Although specific hypotheses had been predicted no …

The Influence Of The Perceived Emotions Anger And Fear On Leadership Ratings, Helen M. Mcfalls

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Coping Abilities Of High And Low Jealous Individuals In A Stressful Situation, Elizabeth Roxanne Lindsey

Master's Theses

The major purpose of this study was to examine the coping abilities of high and low jealous individuals in a stressful laboratory situation involving self-dis­ closure. The hypothesis that high jealous individuals would not cope with the threat of self disclosure as well as low jealous individuals was not confirmed.

Eighty college students were given a battery of personality questionnaires to complete which measured jealousy., anxiety, locus of control, self esteem, self preoccupation and social desirability. The correlations revealed certain differences in characteristics of high and low jealous subjects including the fact that high jealous subjects had a significantly lower …

The Use Of Territory As A Natural Reinforcer In The Modification Of Academic Performance And Disruptive Classroom Behaviors, Sherwin Lynnwood Davis

Master's Theses

Emphasis is currently being placed upon the use of low-cost, naturally occurring reinforcers in classroom behavior modification programs. The effectiveness of students'territorial space as a natural reinforcer for social and academic classroom behaviors was investigated. Using the multiple baseline technique, student access to territorial space was systematically manipulated in an attempt to decelerate out-of-seat behaviors and to increase the percentage of assignments completed and graded either satisfactory or excellent. Student vocalization was also monitored; it was predicted that increases in desired academic behaviors would produce reciprocal decreases in vocalization. Finally, a fading procedure was utilized to remove gross territorial markings …

Weight Loss As An Operant Response, John Emerich Orban

Master's Theses

The present study was designed to show that reinforcing a loss of' body weight relative to a previous measurement would affect an increase in the frequency of' trials during which a weight loss was observed. Volunteer females who reported problematic eating leading to overweight served as Ss. Baseline data were collected indicating each S's daily body weight and the median amount of daily body weight change across baseline. Ss were then reinforced for any daily weight loss which exceeded this median value. An extinction period followed during which no reinforcement followed a weight loss. The data failed to indicate either …

Speed Of Conflict Resolution As Related To The Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Jeffrey Carter Fracher

Master's Theses

The topic of conflict resolution is one which has received relatively little attention in psychological research even though individuals encounter, and must re­solve, numerous conflicts in their daily lives. The present paper will attempt to shed some light on several facets of this area of interest.

The Relationship Of Liberalism-Conservatism To Anxiety And Ego Strength, Orpha Sherman Harris

Master's Theses

Through the medium or television our senses are everyday bombarded by the sights and sounds of student unrest on our college campuses. Radical students take over campus buildings, go on strike and refuse to attend classes until their "demands" are met. They want a "piece of the action" even to the hiring and firing of professors, and will risk expulsion to attain their goals. Even conservative students demand that curricula and instruction be upgraded though their methods for achieving their goals are less disruptive or dramatic. Liberal youth today are demanding the right to smoke marijuana,to "trip" on LSD, to …

The Effect Of Aging On Ratings Of Self, Physical Self And Related Body Concepts As Measured By A Semantic Differential, Gary V. Whalen

Master's Theses

Present Study. Although there is considerable overlap between the body image and the self concept, it would be premature to draw any conclusions regarding one based upon the other until the nature and extent of correlation is obtained. This study is an attempt to determine the extent and direction that an individual's body image may fluctuate as a function of growing old. It is concerned with how the human organism may change over time with respect to a single aspect of the constellations of factors that go into making up a person's self concept. More specifically, do body part ratings …

A Comparison Of The Responses Of Achievers And Underachievers In A Junior High School On A Biographical Questionnaire, Claude Ashburn Sandy

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study is to discover some of the biographical factors (personal, family, and environmental) which are characteristic of a majority of underachievers in junior high school. The discovery of these factors may lead to the development of an instrument which would assist in the detection, early in school, of an underachieving predisposition. This seems to be a logical possibility in view of a study by Shaw and Mccuen (1960). Their results indicated individual patterns of academic achievement for male and female underachievers beginning early in elementary school. Further, the classification of these factors by content may …