Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Case Of The Disappearing Owner: Do Dogs Show Behavioral Evidence Of Violation Of Expectation?, Rita Kanagat

Theses and Dissertations

The What the Fluff challenge became a series of viral YouTube videos that started in 2018. In the videos, a person stood behind a blanket in a doorway in front of their dog and lifted and lowered the blanket revealing and obscuring themselves, and finally disappearing with a final blanket drop. The dogs’ reactions were varied but were suggestive of a violation of expectation response. We conducted a community science study that employed methodologies consistent with the What the Fluff Challenge paradigm that were conducted in the owners’ homes with their dogs. Each owner was required to run a control …

A Systematic Review Of Training Programs For Mental Health Professionals Who Are Treating Eating Disorders, Shir Zion

Theses and Dissertations

Eating disorders are among the most dangerous mental health disorders, and the prevalence rates for them are on the rise. However, the literature is lacking when it comes to quantitative training recommendations for mental health professionals who wish to learn how to screen for, prevent, and treat individuals with eating disorders. This systematic review identified, reviewed, and synthesized the findings from studies (n = 14) concerning the impact of various training modalities on professionals and students who specialize in eating disorder prevention, screening, and treatment, on their knowledge, attitudes/beliefs, and skills. The aim was to identify training recommendations, across various …

Lost In Translation: Implications For Translating Psychometric Tests As Seen With The Nunchi Scale, Jacob A. Larson

Theses and Dissertations

Psychometric tests are often translated from one language into another for use in cultural and cross-cultural psychological research. This tradition has long been a primary method for studying psychological concepts across cultures. A body of literature has been emerging that raises concerns with this process of translation and suggests that psychological concepts may not always translate smoothly across cultures. In what follows, I examine these issues surrounding the translation of psychometric tests. To do this, I gathered survey data for an English translation of the Nunchi Scale, to examine the process of translation and various analytic techniques devised to demonstrate …

Music Interventions In The Treatment Of Adolescent Trauma: A Systematic Review, Diana C. Hereld

Theses and Dissertations

As multidisciplinary research continues to uncover the promise of non-invasive interventions such as music in mental health treatment, clinicians, researchers, and music scholars alike have increasingly come together through the field of music psychology. As such, it is unsurprising that some of the most significant findings have come from cross-disciplinary studies in music and medicine. The juxtaposition of music and mental health creates a unique and substantial need for integration of literature across multiple disparate settings, including clinical psychology, education, neuroscience, music therapy, behavioral medicine, and psychiatry. Through methodological application of a textual narrative evidence synthesis, this review examines multiple …

How Many Ways Can You Vocalize Emotion? Introducing An Audio Corpus Of Acted Emotion, Logan Ricks Kowallis

Theses and Dissertations

Emotion recognition from facial expressions has been thoroughly explored and explained through decades of research, but emotion recognition from vocal expressions has yet to be fully explained. This project builds on previous experimental approaches to create a large audio corpus of acted vocal emotion. With a large enough sample size, both in number of speakers and number of recordings per speaker, new hypotheses can be explored for differentiating emotions. Recordings from 131 subjects were collected and made available in an online corpus under a Creative Commons license. Thirteen acoustic features from 120 subjects were used as dependent variables in a …

Relationship Of Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Self-Perception Of Consent To Current Functioning, Nathan R. Daly

Theses and Dissertations

In 1998 Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman conducted a meta-analysis using a college sample which challenged the prevailing belief that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has inherent deleterious effects. Resultantly, the authors proposed alternative terminology (e.g., child-adult sex), without adequate investigation into what distinguishes child-adult sex from CSA. In response, the current study investigated the relationship between CSA, consent and adult functioning in a college sample. The sample consisted of 297 undergraduate college students, ranging in age from 18 to 63-years-old. Data was collected at a mid-sized university in the southeastern United States. The measures utilized in the study include the Symptom …

The Impact Of Exercise On Adolescents With Depression: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Matthew P. Kloeris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to summarize and synthesize the research that pertains to the impact of aerobic exercise on adolescents with depression. This review addressed aerobic exercise as a mental health treatment, such as differences between (a) post-intervention and follow-up response and remission rates; (b) exercise in lieu of psychotherapy or exercise as an adjunct to psychotherapy; and (c) response and remission rates amongst minority gender and racial and ethnic groups. The search results produced a total of 2,122 articles. Of which, eight articles were eligible for the present systematic review. Based on the results, it appears …

Exploring The Effect Of Service Dogs On Ptsd Symptoms In Veterans, Lauren Floore-Guetschow

Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing psychiatric service dogs for PTSD is a relatively new area of research and treatment option for veterans. This qualitative research study aims to look at the effects of the use of psychiatric service dogs on veterans with PTSD for veterans who have or were previously receiving traditional mental health treatment. The researcher was looking to see: how does day-to-day life look for these veterans, have they noticed a change in PTSD symptoms, what are their views on mental health treatment, and how do they view being in public? 7 veterans, from a variety of conflicts and branches were interviewed …

How Adult Christians Incorporate Their Faith With The Psychology Of Forgiveness: A Qualitative Methods Study, Sonia Marta Pinero Lucci

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines Christian adult’s perceptions, practices of, and tendencies towards the phenomenon of forgiveness. Research in the field up to this date is valuable in understanding forgiveness theory, efficacy of forgiveness models, as well as the impact of religion and spirituality on forgiveness. However, research has progressed to reduce forgiveness, as well as religion and spirituality to its parts, thus research has moved away from the complete, whole concepts of forgiveness and faith. Lately, research has attempted to fill this gap by understanding how people of faith forgive, though faith groups likely perceive and practice forgiveness differently. Therefore, the …

Integrating Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Processes With Information-Processing Theory In Anxious Early Adolescents, Gilly Kahn

Theses and Dissertations

The social information-processing (I-P) model states that cognition assumes several cognitive steps (encoding, interpretation, response access, and selection). It has been shown that anxious youth display deficits or distortions at various stages of the social I-P model. In response to ambiguous situations, they show threat perception and interpretation biases, choose maladaptive responses, and engage in greater levels of avoidance than do non-anxious youth. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically-supported treatment for anxious youth. It aims to increase mindfulness, acceptance, and cognitive defusion, and to decrease experiential avoidance. The mechanisms explaining the effectiveness of ACT processes suggest that they …

A Novel Cognitive Stress Test For The Detection Of Early Alzheimer’S Disease In African Americans, Kimberly Capp

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. population is currently undergoing a major demographic transition, with increasing racial and ethnic diversity of the older adult population. As the growing population of older adults advances in age, memory complaints are projected to increase in prevalence particularly among African Americans and present a challenge to clinicians who must differentiate between normal aging and progressive neurocognitive conditions (Celsis, 2000; Sherwin, 2000). As targeted therapeutic interventions and emerging therapies for AD are much more likely to be effective in the earlier stages of the disease (Loewenstein, Curiel, Duara & Buschke, 2017), early assessment and detection of AD, especially in …

Exploration Of The Wechsler Memory Scale Fourth Edition (Wms-Iv) Designs Content And Spatial Memory Scales, Maya Pinjala

Theses and Dissertations

The Designs subtest was newly added as a measure of visual memory to the Wechsler Memory Scale, 4th edition (WMS-IV). This study examined this measure in a mixed clinical sample (n = 158). Specifically, the aim of the study was to evaluate the publishers’ claims that the Designs test assesses both visual content (“what”) and spatial (“where”) memory, as these functions are processed within distinct neurological systems. To date, no studies have specifically examined the individual Content and Spatial scores in relation to other neuropsychological variables. The purpose of this study was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the …

Ptsd And Immunological Correlations Of Attention And Working Memory In Gulf War Illness, Mary Jeffrey

Theses and Dissertations

Gulf War Illness (GWI) impacts 25 to 32 percent of those deployed in the 1991 Gulf War (White et al., 2016) and includes symptoms related to fatigue and mood/neurological disturbances. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the influence of trauma exposure and chemical exposure when investigating neuropsychological symptoms. This cross-sectional study utilized a group of veterans with and without GWI (n=61) to investigate: 1) the unique impact that GWI has on a survey measure of attention and memory or the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). We also investigated how PTSD symptoms, followed by fatigue levels, improved the GWI model …

The Effects Of Ingroup Threat On The Anchoring And Adjustment Heuristic, Mattie V. Hedgebeth

Theses and Dissertations

Since its introduction in 1974, the anchoring and adjustment heuristic has been a topic of interest within the field of decision making. Although much work has examined factors that affect the process of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, very little has been studied about the self-processes that may influence how individuals anchor. More specifically, self and ingroup motivations have yet to be explored. This research sought to identify whether an individual’s magnitude of adjustment from an anchor can be affected by either an enhancement or threat of the individual’s ingroup. I hypothesized that ingroup enhancing information would induce a smaller …

Behavioral Hypervigilance In A Normative Population, Karly Weinreb

Theses and Dissertations

Hypervigilance is conceptualized as a symptom of trauma-related disorders, however it can also occur in a normative population. To distinguish normative hypervigilance from trauma-related hypervigilance, 372 participants (123 trauma-exposed and 249 non-trauma-exposed) completed a questionnaire assessing hypervigilance in contexts. Trauma-exposed participants reported greater levels of hypervigilance in 3 contexts.

How Chess Relates To Theory Of Mind, Noemi Trevino

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to investigate the how playing chess relates to Theory of Mind. By design, the study will call for 160 participants recruited through social media, email, and SONA system. 60 of the participants are USCF rated players. The other 100 participants are not be USCF rated. Pending the results, the hypothesis being tested are that chess players would have a higher ToM score and that higher rated players would have a higher ToM score.

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

Examining Effects Of Parental Sexual Abuse On Female Juvenile Delinquency Using A Social Developmental Perspective, Michelle Nagle

Theses and Dissertations

Delinquency has traditionally been viewed as a male phenomenon, often defined in androcentric terms, and neglecting females in studies regarding delinquent behavior. However, females are the fastest growing subpopulation of the correction population, which amplifies the importance of understanding the nature and etiology of their offending. Recent research has suggested that predictors of male juvenile delinquency do not adequately explain delinquency in females, because the androcentric research ignores the damaging impact of sexual childhood abuse and other prominent family factors on female juvenile delinquents. This study aimed to examine the impact of childhood parental sexual abuse on female juvenile delinquency …

Examining Sleep And Family Functioning In Pediatric Craniopharyngioma Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, Nour Al Ghriwati

Theses and Dissertations

Craniopharyngiomas are among the most common brain tumors in children and are associated with greater rates of sleep problems compared to other pediatric cancers. However, research examining sleep among youth with craniopharyngioma has been limited by a reliance on retrospective reports or sleep studies. Families also play a crucial role in children’s adjustment following a pediatric cancer diagnosis, yet remarkably little is known about transactional associations between family functioning and sleep in pediatric cancer. This study examined cross-sectional and daily associations among family functioning, affect, and sleep difficulties for youth with pediatric craniopharyngioma using retrospective reports and ecological momentary assessment …

Associative And Non-Associative Learning In The Monodelphis Domestica, Ana C. Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

Learning encompasses multiple important processes that vary within organisms and that are affected by different factors. Two of the most important types of learning are associative and non-associative learning. Even though past research has studied animal learning in multiple species, there is limited research on learning in the Monodelphis domestica. It is imperative to further the knowledge on this species since multiple fields use it as an animal model for research. The current study examined both non-associative and associative learning in the Monodelphis. Non-associative learning was explored by using a habituation-dishabituation paradigm, while associative learning was examined using the …

Hispanic Culture And Machismo: How Hispanics Interpret Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Identities, Karen R. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines dynamics linked to normative gender expectations and gender identities within Hispanic culture. Little is known in this regard concerning how Hispanics perceive and interpret transgender and gender non-conforming identities. The analysis provides qualitative assessment using 35 in-depth face-to-face interviews and examines the following research questions: 1) how do life experiences such as marriage, parenthood, and work force participation among Hispanics shape their formation of gender expectations? 2) Among Hispanics, how do class, race/ethnicity, and education shape the construction of gender ideologies.

The present study, in turn adds to the literature by examining gender norm constructs among Mexican-origin …

Assessing The Grey Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica) As A Potential Animal Model Of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Creation Of An Ethogram And Description Of Developmental Changes In Social Behavior, Angela M. Mar

Theses and Dissertations

Research using animal models is done when human subjects cannot participate due to ethical concerns. The majority of translational research is done using rat models. However, other animals are good candidates for translational research, such as Monodelphis domestica. Presently, little is known about Monodelphis domesticas’ behavior and how the animal can be used in research settings. The aim of the study is to fill the gap in the research by conducting behavioral observations of M. domestica pups using a longitudinal approach starting with post-weaned age and ending at the age of sexual maturity and creating an behavioral ethogram. …

Cost Of Caring: The Effects Of Euthanasia On Animal Shelter Workers, Kim L. Nguyen-Finn

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study focuses on animal shelter workers, a population that has often been overlooked in research and clinical practice, and the emotional strains of the task of euthanasia. The effects of employment in a kill or no-kill shelter, participation in euthanasia, and number of years employed on mental health issues of substance abuse, anxiety, depression, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout were examined. A three-way MANOVA was run to test the hypothesis that there is a cell effect among the type of shelter employed in, participation in euthanasia, and years of experience on mental health, which was not supported by …

The Relationship Between Brooding, Cognitive Anxiety Sensitivity, Physical Anxiety Sensitivity, And Suicide Behaviors In Latino/A College Students, Eric E. Escamilla

Theses and Dissertations

The current study explored if (1) brooding, cognitive anxiety sensitivity (AS), physical anxiety sensitivity (AS), and suicide behaviors will be strongly correlated; (2) brooding will mediate the relationship between cognitive AS and suicide behaviors; (3) brooding will mediate the relationship between physical AS and suicide behaviors; (4) physical AS will moderate the relationship between cognitive AS and suicide behaviors, (5) brooding will mediate the relationship between the physical AS and cognitive AS interaction with suicide behaviors in a Latino/a college student sample. All hypotheses were supported except for physical AS significantly moderating the relationship between cognitive AS and suicide behaviors. …

Underrepresentation Of Hispanic Bilingual Students In Gifted And Talented Programs: The Role Of Teacher Expectations, Melissa I. Leon Leal

Theses and Dissertations

There is currently an underrepresentation of Hispanic and bilingual students in Gifted and Talented (GT) programs. The present study examines the role of teachers’ expectations and preconceptions of what constitutes a gifted student as possible contributing factors to the underrepresentation of Hispanic and bilingual students in GT programs. Participants will include approximately 100 pre-service teachers and currently practicing teachers in the community. Measures will include a demographic survey, vignettes for identifying giftedness which describe bilingual and monolingual potential gifted students across three ethnic groups, and a survey about student qualities that includes both quantitative and qualitative items. Results and implications …

Cults: A Psychological Perspective, Jonica V. Carlton Best

Theses and Dissertations

Cults are communities that are seen as odd or strange. Lack of research done on cults makes it a phenomenon in society. With the help of evolutionary, social, and cognitive psychology, this phenomenon was analyzed and the behavior of the cult and its members were explained. Analysis of cults showed that there is an evolutionary need for them, for they are used as a means for social bonds and resources. Next, the identity of cult members was analyzed using a conveyor belt type method starting with social-identity followed by self-categorization and ending with deindividualization. Cult members then make decisions using …

Numerical Cognition In Action: Hand Trajectories Reveal Effects Of Early Musical Training On Numerical Processing In Spanish-English Bilingual Musicians, Daniel Arturo Pizaña

Theses and Dissertations

The mouse-tracking study examined whether early musical experience leads to changes of inhibitory control in numerical processing for bilingual speakers, as has not investigated in previous studies. Twenty-eight Spanish-English bilingual students completed two Stroop-like numerical and physical size judgment tasks via a mouse-tracking paradigm. Results showed that response times were slower during both incongruent and neutral trials for bilinguals who had received early musical training (before age 13) when compared to bilinguals who had received late musical training (after age 13) across tasks. Furthermore, hand trajectories revealed that a spatial attraction toward the incorrect response was more pronounced in bilinguals …

Investigating The Relationships Of Attitude Clarity And Correctness With Political Identification Strength And Evaluations Of An Ideological Group, Gustavo Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines two underlying attitude certainty dimensions in the context of political groups: attitude clarity and attitude correctness. Attitude clarity is the subjective sense that one knows what one’s attitude is, and attitude correctness is the subjective sense that one’s attitude is correct or valid. Based on predictions derived from social identity theory and attitude attribution research, it is expected that attitude clarity and attitude correctness will have diverging effects with political groups. First, it is expected that attitude clarity will better predict political identification than attitude correctness due to stronger ties to the self-concept. Secondly, it is …

The Lived Experiences Of Counseling Graduate Students And The Impact Of Their Studies In Their Marital Satisfaction, Vania S. Palacios

Theses and Dissertations

Due to high levels of stress that students find throughout graduate programs, professional and personal lives are at times not prioritized. The heuristic study focused on analyzing common themes among counseling graduate students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the coping mechanisms students have used to improve their marital/relational satisfaction, and common stressors in their marriage as a reflection of the counseling graduate program. The researcher provided a personal narrative for the study and analyzed transcriptions of the interviews of four counseling graduate students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Exploring Mediators And Moderators In The Relationship Of Acculturative Stress And Internalizing Symptoms In Hispanic Youth, Victoria A. Schlaudt

Theses and Dissertations

The population of Hispanic children is quickly growing in the United States. Unfortunately, this group has a significant risk of developing internalizing symptoms. The present study examined the complex relationships of cultural and cognitive factors with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Literature suggests that acculturative stress, or the difficulty experienced when adjusting to a new culture, is related to depression and anxiety in Hispanic youth. However, the mechanisms by which acculturative stress relates to anxiety and depression in this population are unknown. Thus, this study attempted to fill these gaps in the current literature by examining potential mediators and/or moderators. …