Psychology Commons^™

A Scoping Review Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy In Higher Education, Sarah Caimano

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a transdiagnostic intervention that holds promise in improving well-being across various contexts. The current scoping review aims to examine the literature on the use of ACT interventions in higher education to improve aspects of student well-being and academic outcomes. Chapter 2 summarizes the results of the review and includes 34 peer-reviewed empirical research articles that applied ACT interventions with higher education students. Online and in-person interventions were both widely used and found to be effective. Though these outcomes are promising, nearly half of the articles reviewed provided insufficient detail to allow for replication and …

More Than Just Virtual Communication: Examining Canadian Volunteers’ Virtual Contact Experiences With Refugees, Maria Besselink

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Canada plays a key role in addressing the ‘global refugee crisis’ as it accepts more refugees per capita than any other country. Although Canadians increasingly view support for immigration and multiculturalism as integral components of their national identity, the number of immigrants and refugees Canada accepts yearly is an increasingly polarized issue. In line with the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, the current study investigated how Canadian volunteers’ repeated virtual contact experiences with refugees affected their generalized attitudes towards refugees over time. Our findings did not suggest that the quality and quantity of participants’ virtual contact experiences affected their attitudes. The findings …

Examining The Impact Of Varying The Pace Of Instruction On Skill Acquisition And Off-Task Behaviour In Young Children With Autism And Down Syndrome, Carly A. Esipu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Considerable research has shown significant impairments in how children with developmental disabilities learn. A particular focus for these children has been on improving instruction, so that it maximizes acquisition. Modifying pace is one approach to tailoring intervention to meet the needs of these children. This study examined the effects of varying the pace of instruction during behaviour- analytic intervention while measuring acquisition and off task behaviour in young children with developmental disabilities. Five intervention target skills were randomly assigned to one of five paces of instruction and a single-subject adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate skill acquisition. In …

Developing And Testing A Novel Intervention To Reduce Household Food Waste, Paul Van Der Werf

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The amount of food wasted is a topic of societal and academic interest. As academic research in this area is nascent, there are significant knowledge gaps, which this dissertation seeks to narrow, pertaining to: (1) the measurement of food waste; (2) the human behaviors that lead to wasting of food; and (3) the development of efficacious food waste reduction interventions.

A systematic literature review of 55 food waste estimates showed that on average 114.3 kg/capita/year is wasted from consumption (i.e., household) and 198.9 kg/capita/year across the entire food supply chain. There is considerable uncertainty with this data because of the …

Attentional Bias Measured In The Addiction Stroop Task For Problem Internet Gamers, Samantha Marie Rundle

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study aims to determine the relationship between individuals’ attentional bias scores, measured in a modified Addiction Stroop task, with four other variables; level of involvement in Internet games, impulsivity, behavioural inhibition/activation, and sensation seeking. Recruitment was gathered through the Psychology Sona Research Participation Pool at Western University and was exclusive to male, English speaking, non-colour blind individuals. Participant’s completed a version of the Addiction Stroop task modified for assessment of attentional bias related to Internet gaming. Additionally, participants completed five questionnaires: a Demographics form, the Problem Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ), the Barratt Inhibition Scale (BIS), the Behavioural Inhibition/Activation …

Evaluation Of The Effect Of A Behavioural Coaching Intervention On Faculty Adoption Of Technology-Enhanced Teaching Practices, Nicole M. Domonchuk

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

College faculty members face increased pressure to incorporate technology into their teaching approach. However, without the support of comprehensive professional development, it is unlikely that they will adopt effective practices that enhance student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a behavioural coaching intervention comprised of goal setting, performance feedback, modeling, instructions, and rehearsal on faculty adoption of technology-enhanced teaching practices. A small group of college faculty members (n= 6) participated in weekly coaching sessions for the duration of one academic semester. A changing criterion design was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention. …

Task-Switching In Oculomotor Control: Systematic Investigations Of The Unidirectional Prosaccade Switch-Cost, Jeffrey Weiler

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An antisaccade requires suppressing a stimulus-driven prosaccade (i.e., response suppression) and remapping a target’s spatial location to its mirror-symmetrical position (i.e., vector inversion). Notably, my previous work demonstrated that the successful execution of an antisaccade selectively lengthens the reaction time (RT) of a subsequently completed prosaccade (i.e., the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost; Weiler & Heath, 2012a; Weiler & Heath, 2012b). Thus, the objective of this dissertation was further investigate, and ultimately provide a mechanistic explanation for the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost.

In Chapter Two, I demonstrate that the magnitude of the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost is not dependent of the number of …

The Interaction Between Spatial Working And Reference Memory In Rats On A Radial Maze, Nicole Ann Guitar

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The present study investigated the interaction between working and reference spatial memory in an effort to develop an animal model of this interaction. Twelve male Long-Evans rats were tested on an eight-arm radial maze in a two-phase procedure. In the study phase, a rat was allowed to enter four randomly selected arms for a food reward placed at the end of each arm. The test phase allowed the rat access to all eight arms, but only the previously unentered arms contained food. Two of the correct test arms were defined as reference memory arms because they were always correct. The …

The Effect Of Exercise On Cravings And Ad Libitum Smoking Following Concurrent Stressors, Angela J. Fong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Quitting smoking itself is a stressor; it is likely that other stressors occur concurrently and deplete self-regulatory resources. Failure to cope leads to smoking relapse. Exercise has been shown to attenuate cravings and withdrawal symptoms in previous research and has yet to be examined following concurrent stressors. This study examined the effect of an acute bout of moderate intensity exercise on psychological withdrawal symptoms (PWS), cravings and ad lib smoking after concurrent stressors (i.e., temporary abstinence and depletion). Twenty-five smokers were randomized into exercise or passive conditions. Results showed PWS were significantly exacerbated after temporary abstinence and again after depletion …