Psychology Commons^™

Is Tai Chi A Beneficial Treatment For Anxiety In The Elderly Community?, Carolyn Kenney

Honors Projects in Applied Psychology

This study attempted to explore the relationship between tai chi practice and anxiety in the elderly population. The mental health disorder that I looked at was anxiety, as the elderly often experience anxiety related to contributing factors such as mental and physical decline. Anxiety among the elderly is a great concern as there is an increase in the world’s population of individuals aged 65 years or older. This will directly impact health care prices as more resources will have to be distributed to this age population. One solution to this problem is tai chi. Tai chi is a cost-effective way …

Anything He Can Do, She Can Do Better: Children’S Attitudes About Gender And Occupations, Ryan Brown, Nanci Weinberger

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Children’s career aspirations are affected by cultural stereotypes about gender. We investigated rudimentary implicit associations and explicit gender attitudes about occupations with a diverse sample of fifty-eight (29 girls, 29 boys) 10-year-old children. We tested implicit gender associations using an adapted auditory Stroop task and tested explicit gender attitudes using the Gender-Stereotyped Attitude Scale for Children (GASC). We also modified a version of the GASC to assess children’s attitudes about a female and a male firefighter-paramedic seen in a brief video. Children also judged the firefighter-paramedics’ job skills. Children did not display implicit associations between occupations and one’s gender based …

Child Life Specialists’ Evaluation Of Hospital Playroom Design: A Mixed Method Inquiry, Nanci Weinberger, Allison Butler, Beth Mcgee, Phyllis A. Schumacher, Ryan Linn Brown

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

This study uses the expertise of child life specialists to identify which elements support child life goals for hospitalized children. This study can be used to inform those interested in the optimal design of hospital playrooms. Ninety child life specialists were surveyed using a photograph methodology showing five actual child life playrooms from different hospitals. The participants were asked the following: rate each playroom on 14 dimensions; describe what was liked best about each playroom; and finally, rank order the playrooms based on their ability to support child life goals. Findings show that child life specialists were able to detect …

You′Re Brave, I′Ll Be Your Friend: Children's Evaluations Of Peers With Cancer, Jane Gradwohl Nash, Nanci Weinberger

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

The focus of this study was to explore children's evaluations of healthy peers and peers with cancer. A racially and ethnically diverse group of fourth‐ and fifth‐grade children (n = 109) viewed a story about a child engaged in a physically challenging rock climbing tower activity at camp. The way the child (healthy or with cancer) ascended and descended the climbing tower (independently or with assistance) was manipulated. Assessment from the participants included their evaluations of the climber (regarding peer acceptance and trait favorability) and their knowledge of cancer. Also, participants’ own behavioral difficulties were assessed by their parents. …

When Helping Hurts: Covid-19 Critical Incident Involvement And Resource Depletion In Health Care Workers, Miguel Caldas, Kathryn Ostermeier, Danielle Cooper

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

A focus on helping others is generally lauded, particularly in medicine, but in the context of a pandemic when health care professionals are facing increased risk, loss, and trauma, this focus can potentially be detrimental. In this study, we sought to (a) examine if health care workers intensely involved in the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are experiencing negative psychological and emotional outcomes, and (b) investigate if helping related factors (prosocial motivation and perceived prosocial impact) exacerbate and mitigate relationships to negative outcomes in a crisis situation. Using data collected from doctors and nurses before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, we …

Can I Be Me With You At Work? Examining Relational Authenticity And Discretionary Behaviors In The Workplace, Kathryn Ostermeier, Michele N. Medina-Craven, Kerri M. Camp, Sara E. Davis

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Management scholars have long been interested in the topic of authenticity in the workplace, evidenced by the history of scholarship on authentic leadership and the many new authenticity constructs that have emerged. In this article, we take a narrower view of authenticity and focus on relational authenticity in the workplace, which we define as being genuine in workplace relationships. Adapting a validated relational authenticity scale to the organizational context, we explore the ways in which feeling authentic in workplace relationships has ramifications for discretionary behaviors. Specifically, we build on belongingness theory to posit that relational authenticity will result in an …

Circuits That Encode And Guide Alcohol-Associated Preference, Kristin M. Scaplen, Mustafa Talay, Kavin M. Nunez, Sarah Salamon, Amanda G. Waterman, Sydney Gang, Sophia L. Song, Gilad Barnea, Karla R. Kaun

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Inch By Inch: Making Our Gardens Grow, Rita Beck Neal, Nanci Weinberger

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Why bring gardens to early education programs? School garden success has a long history, but this success has been found primarily in elementary schools (Blair 2009). Yet child care centers are typically open year-round and therefore are better prepared to enjoy the full bounty that gardens may provide.

Gardening with young children isn’t new (McFarland 2005), but a small national “farm to child care movement” that supports garden programs is growing (Berkenkamp and Mader 2012).

Unfortunately, many teachers are not familiar with gardening and plant science (Blair 2009). The novelty of gardening may be one of the obstacles in bringing …

Welcome Back! Helping Young Children Return To Your Program After Hospitalization, Nanci Weinberger

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Every week I’m lucky enough to spend a couple of hours reading to hospitalized children. Sometimes I also get to be with other formerly hospitalized children as a camp volunteer. In spite of their incredibly varied experiences, one thing stands out: kids will be kids! This can mean many things, but to me as a volunteer—who just happens to be a developmental psychologist—it means that young children want to feel safe, want to explore their world, and want to have fun.

Making More Room For Physical Activity In Home-Based Child Care, Nanci Weinberger

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Imagine a public fountain that spans a large plaza. If young children were there, would they splish-splash in the giant puddle of water? Imagine an open field with large stones cropping up from the grass. Would young children try any way they could to climb on the stones? Imagine a home where couch pillows lie around on the floor. Would young children jump on the pillows?

The Effect Of Web Usability On Users’ Web Experience, Molly Herring

Honors Projects in Information Systems and Analytics

The ease with which a website visitor can find what they need is positively correlated with visitor satisfaction(Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement, 2008). Web usability is a field that studies what factors affect the visitor’s ability to navigate through a website. Although there are publications outlining specific usability guidelines, many of them have little or no academic research to support the claim. HHS developed a list of 209 guidelines and rated each according to their strength of evidence (research-based support, 5 – high, 1 – low). Using heuristic evaluation and usability testing, this study provides additional research-based knowledge for those …