Psychology Commons^™

Levels Of Altruism, Martin Zwick, Jeffrey Alan Fletcher

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The phenomenon of altruism extends from the biological realm to the human sociocultural realm. This paper sketches a coherent outline of multiple types of altruism of progressively increasing scope that span these two realms and are grounded in an ever-expanding sense of "self." Discussion of this framework notes difficulties associated with altruisms at different levels. It links scientific ideas about the evolution of cooperation and about hierarchical order to perennial philosophical and religious concerns. It offers a conceptual background for inquiry into societal challenges that call for altruistic behavior, especially the challenge of environmental and social sustainability.

Sustainability From The Perspectives Of Indigenous Leaders In The Bioregion Defined By The Pacific Salmon Runs Of North America, David Edward Hall

Dissertations and Theses

Extensive research suggests that the collective behavior of humanity is on an unsustainable path. As the evidence mounts and more people awaken to this reality, increased attention is being dedicated to the pursuit of answers for a just and sustainable future. This dissertation grew from the premise that effectively moving towards sustainability requires change at all levels of the dominant Western culture, including deeply held worldviews. The worldviews of many indigenous cultures offer alternative values and beliefs that can contribute to addressing the root causes of problems related to sustainability. In the bioregion defined by the Pacific Salmon runs of …

Memory And Hypnotism In Wagner's Musical Discourse, Jonathan C. Gentry

Dissertations and Theses

A rich relationship unites the composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and the history of psychology, especially if one considers his attempt to make music speak with the clarity of verbal language. Wagner's musical discourse participated in the development of psychology in the nineteenth century in three distinct areas. First, Wagner shared in the non-reductive materialist discourse on mind that characterized many of the thinkers who made psychology into an autonomous intellectual pursuit. Second, Wagner's theories and theatrical productions directly influenced two important psychologists - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932). Finally, the experiences of music achieved by Wagner at …

Predictors Of Depression In American Indian Adolescents, Quang Duong-Tran

Dissertations and Theses

Discriminant analysis was conducted to examine the empirical use of psychosocial variables and stressful life events scales in classifying depressed and non-depressed American Indian adolescents using a standardized criterion measure. Subjects attending a Bureau of Indian Affair boarding school were administered a mental health screening survey and were interviewed within four weeks using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule f or Children-Revised (DISC-R). Three models of discriminant analysis were used to determine the overall and incremental variance contributed by the stressful life events scales and the related psychosocial variables (i.e., gender, perceived social support from family and from friends, self-esteem, and depressive …

Femininity And Self-Esteem In Professional Women, Shirley Ellen Harper

Dissertations and Theses

Research in sex-roles has found masculinity and androgyny to be correlated with self-esteem while femininity has a low or negative correlation with self-esteem. Much of the research in this area is based in studies of androgyny. Androgyny is the ability to respond in a feminine or masculine manner, depending on the situation rather than being limited to only feminine or masculine behavior because of sex-role stereotypes. In the research on self-esteem some studies have reported androgynous individuals measure high in self-esteem. Other studies have found that masculine characteristics contribute more to the self-esteem than androgynous characteristics. These results, taken together, …

A Construct Validity Study For The Women Workers Scale Questionnaire, Gwen Simpson

Dissertations and Theses

This study attempted to obtain evidence on the construct validity of the Women Workers Scale (WWS), an attitude scale developed to measure male supervisors' attitudes toward women workers. As women enter the work world in increasing numbers, they are usually supervised by men. However, few studies have examined the attitudes of male supervisors toward women workers. At least one author (Bass, 1972) reported that there were significant differences among male managers in their attitudes toward women. Specifically, those male managers who had not worked with women held more favorable attitudes than male managers who had worked with women.

An Experimental Model Using Dance Training As Therapy For Women Over Thirty Five, Thelma J. Lofquist

Dissertations and Theses

The intent of this study was to use an experimental model to investigate the use of dance training for improving the self-esteem of women over the age of 35.

Sixteen women over the age of 35 were taught jazz dance over a 10 week period. A pre and post test of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale was used on both a dance group and a no dance group. It was hypothesized there would be positive changes in three of the 10 scores in the TSCS for the dance group, but not for the no dance group. The scores predicted to …

The Effect Of Visual Feedback On Vocal Pitch Matching, Anita R. Herron

Dissertations and Theses

A review of the literature on the inaccurate singer provided strong evidence that improvement in pitch matching skill was possible. Visual feedback was found to be an effective aid in earlier studies, but none of the previous studies provided both a comparison group which had identical practice without the visual cues and a control group which received no form of practice. Such a design was used in the present study.

Thirty students at Portland State University who claimed to have considerable difficulty carrying a tune were given the opportunity to try to match Individual pitches under one of three conditions …

Homosexuality Among Women: Historical And Current Views In Psychology, Craig Bracy

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the methodology of past and present research with female homosexuals and then to summarize the current state of knowledge in psychology and psychiatry. The data presented in this review have been derived predominantly from material abstracted in the Medicus Index (1900-1976) and Psychology Abstracts (1927-1976).

This reviewer has established specific criteria by which all studies throughout this literature review will be examined. These are: sample size, sampling of experimental control groups, variable controlled (age, education, etc), how sexual orientation was determined, and tests and questionnaires employed, their reliability, validity, administration, and interpretation. …