Psychology Commons^™

Thinking About Episodic Future Events As A Way To Reduce Smoking Behavior: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study, Stephanie Joann Kane

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With nearly 35 million Americans currently estimated to smoke and an approximate seven out of ten adult smokers wanting to quit, it is clear that there is a need for enhanced smoking cessation techniques. Encouraging people to think about a future smoke-free self may help to encourage and motivate changes in smoking behavior. The present study investigated the role of an episodic future thinking manipulation on the motivation to quit smoking using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants (N = 103) were randomly assigned to either an episodic future thinking (EFT) condition or an episodic recent thinking (ERT) condition, and were …

Disharmony Of The Soul: A Philosophical Analysis Of Psychological Trauma And Flourishing, Adam Blehm

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue that psychological trauma hinders human flourishing by disrupting psychic harmony and hindering virtuous relationships. Given the negative symptomology of posttraumatic stress related disorders (i.e., PTSD) this conclusion may seem a bit obvious to some. However, making the case for trauma as a hindrance to human flourishing is more complicated than it may first appear.

First, in the extant literature, trauma as a concept tends to be unclear. In much of the empirical and philosophical literature, trauma can include a certain kind of event, experience, effect, or a combination of all three. Furthermore, because of practical …

The Effects Of Physical Function And Genetics On Cognition And Blood Biomarkers In Individuals At-Risk For Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Dementias, Joshua Louis Gills

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) rates are expected to triple by the year 2050. Early detection and specific mitigation efforts are warranted to blunt the alarming rate. Physical function (PF) declines with age, but higher physical function is associated with better cognitive functioning in middle-to- older age individuals. Moreover, greater physical activity (PA) is associated with better global cognition; however, Apoliporotein e4 carriers may not gain the same benefits with exercise. Additionally, plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) has been identified as a novel diagnostic ADRD biomarker which needs further research to examine associations with risk factors. Therefore, the aims …

An Innocent Bystander Walks Into A Bar: The Influence Of Temporal Proximity And Familiarity On Unconscious Transference, Nia Gipson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to The Innocence Project, 69% of DNA exonerations in the United States involved mistaken eyewitness identification as a contributing factor to these errant convictions. Psychologists have contributed towards minimizing mistaken identifications by proposing best practices that law enforcement still follow today. One understudied cause of mistaken eyewitness identification is unconscious transference (UT). UT is a memory error in which a person encountered in an innocent context becomes confused with a person seen in a guilty context (Loftus, 1976). Past research has established some boundary conditions for when UT can occur; however, the limited methodology has resulted in narrow conclusions …

Mentors In Violence Prevention: Differential Impacts On Adolescent Bystander Intentions About Bullying, Dating Violence, And Sexual Harassment, Ayla Mapes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bystander approaches are promising interventions that can engage bystanders as prosocial allies to intervene in interpersonal violence situations among youth within school settings. The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) bystander intervention program targets interpersonal violence using a peer-to-peer mentoring model to engage students in a discussion about violence prevention. Research on the MVP program is promising but limited. The current study examined the specificity of MVP intervention effects in two high school samples. The first was a pre/post-test design that included a smaller sample of high school students who participated in the MVP program in the 2013-2014 academic year. The …

Concurrent Load And Construal On Planning, Maximilian Fey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Planning for the future is a necessary activity which spans across all aspects of an individual’s life. Concurrent cognitive load has been shown to hinder future planning, whereas concrete construal of events has been shown to increase planning efficacy. Interestingly, a limited literature speaks towards cognitive load inducing concrete construal. However, the two constructs predict differing outcomes on future planning therefore the interaction of cognitive load inducing a concrete construal is particularly interesting. The research study tested whether differing levels of concurrent cognitive load increase or decrease planning efficacy. The intention of the research was to elucidate whether cognitive load …

Effectiveness Of Affective Based Intervention Depending On Personal Relevance To A Conspiracy Belief, Mallory Macdonald

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the increase in conspiracy theory beliefs, there is a need for intervention techniques. Do some intervention techniques work better when taking into account the personal relevance a person has towards a topic? One hundred and sixty undergraduate students first read an article that introduced the conspiracy theory and established personal relevance. To manipulate personal relevance, participants were told that a new vaccine mandate would be put into place either July 2023 or July 2031. Then, they considered an article that worked to intervene the conspiracy belief. Participants either read an article that was focused on affective or cognitive intervention …

Effects Of Recess On Educational Outcomes In Elementary School Children, Katelyn Whitham

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Because physical activity is beneficial for physical and mental health, the declining opportunities to implement adequate recesses in schools are devastating for children. If educational outcomes are positively affected by increased recess time or quality, schools are more likely to receive funding for programs and resources that support this renovation to recesses, providing research in lacking topics. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to find related, academic articles for cross examination of data collected on the effects that recess has on educational outcomes so that schools may use this as a resource to receive funding to increase …

Prospective Person Memory In The Case Of Missing Persons: A Coffee Shop Study, Cara Bascom

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Prospective person memory (PPM) is the process of remembering to perform some action after encountering a target individual, such as identifying and reporting a missing person sighting after viewing a missing person alert (Moore et al., 2021). Research has shown that identification rates generally tend to be low in simulated missing person studies (Lampinen & Moore, 2016b). The purpose of the current research is to determine how to improve missing person recognition rates. This project explores the potential effects of using videos in missing person reports as compared to using static images. We also consider differences between rigid and non-rigid …

The Influence Of Facial Exposure On Confidence In Eyewitness Identification, Madelynn Fancher

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In crimes in which there is an eyewitness identification, confidence is usually a good predictor of accuracy. However, in some cases, estimator variables might affect the relationship between eyewitness confidence and accuracy. This study analyzes the effect of exposure duration on confidence during an eyewitness identification. According to the pristine conditions hypothesis (Wixed & Wells, 2017), if the system variables are optimal, confidence and accuracy will be strongly related, even if the viewing conditions are suboptimal. Participants in this online study viewed a mock crime in one of two conditions: brief exposure or long exposure. Following viewing the crime, participants …

Examining The Effects Of Different Coping Styles On Dependent Stress Generation, Whitney Skaggs

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this study, I prospectively examined the associations between different coping styles and stress. Stress can be classified as independent, which is stress that an individual has no control over, or dependent stress, which is stress that occurs because of the individuals’ actions. Coping is how individuals deal with that stress. With the role that coping plays in stress, I expected that it would relate to stress generation. I hypothesized that some forms of coping would prospectively predict the occurrence of less dependent stress but not independent stress. To test this hypothesis, I had college students (N=73) complete …

Differential Neural Correlates Underlying Different Cognitive Control Strategies And Their Relationship With The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Carroll Bentley

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Impulsivity is defined as a rapid unplanned action to a stimulus, where the person does not consider the consequences of their actions (Moeller et al., 2001). Various measurement techniques exist in the study of impulsivity and include self-report, behavioral and physiological measures. This breadth of measurement techniques affords researchers the opportunity to understand what is likely a multifaceted nature of this construct. Previous literature shows mixed results between the relationship of the three measures. The present study seeks to add clarity between the three different modalities of measuring impulsivity. To address this relationship, an undergraduate sample (n = 171) completed …

Diagnostic Featural Detection Or Filler Siphoning: A Red Box Study, Brynn Schuetter

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study is a replication and extension of previous research by Colloff and Wixted (2020). In their study, they created a novel identification procedure called the simultaneous showup. They found support for the diagnostic feature detection theory over the filler siphoning theory. The current study was interested in seeing if covert filler siphoning was still occurring in their novel procedure by asking participants how photos of fillers influenced their identification decision. Participants of the study viewed two crime videos and completed an identification task. If they were assigned to the simultaneous showup task, they were asked if and how …