Psychology Commons^™

Sources Of Altruistic Calling In Orthodox Jewish Communities: A Grounded Theory Ethnography, Stephen J. Linenberger

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

This study of altruistic calling the Orthodox Jewish community began with a line of inquiry, grounded in previous hypotheses and studies of factors that motivate altruism in the general population, including empathy, unintended consequences of altruism, altruistic role modeling, collectivism, and principlism. Counter to past research suggesting altruism is activated along an empathy-altruism path (Batson, et al., 2007) the findings of this study revealed a consistent low empathy response by participants when asked about their feelings about those in need. However, when asked to describe outcomes of helping situations, there was a consistent high empathetic joy response, indicating the helper …

Using Supervision To Prepare Social Justice Counseling Advocates, Harriet L. Glosoff, Judith C. Durham

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

Over the past several years, there has been an increased focus on integrating not only multiculturalism in the counseling profession, but also advocacy and social justice. Although the professional literature addresses the importance of cultural competence in supervision, there is a paucity of information about social justice advocacy in relation to the process of counseling supervision. In this article, the authors share a rationale for Integrating a social justice advocacy orientation in supervision, discuss the connection between diversity and social justice advocacy counseling competence, address challenges faced by supervisors, and suggest specific strategies for use in supervision to prepare counselors …

Residential Landscape Water Check Programs: Exploring A Conservation Tool, Diana T. Glenn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In response to drought and regional growth in the arid western United States, urban water demand management is increasingly important. Single family residences use approximately 60% of their water consumption to irrigate landscapes often in excess of plant water requirements. This study utilized a quasi-experimental design to investigate outdoor water consumption and assess the effectiveness of a landscape water check conservation program. Study objectives included describing a contextualized landscape system to reveal variables influencing water use, identifying better ways to evaluate landscape water use, and more effectively targeting and delivering water conservation programs.

The study was conducted during the 2004 …

The Effects Of Implementation Intentions On Volunteer Firefighter Exercise Behavior: A Randomized Controlled Study, Rodney L. Hammer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The current study used a randomized control design to determine if an implementation intention intervention based on the Health Action Process Approach would increase exercise behavior in volunteer firefighters. One hundred forty-seven male and female volunteer firefighters from nine fire departments participated. The treatment group received a survey that prompted them to create exercise implementation intentions by describing "where," "when," and "how" they will exercise, while the control group survey included a general exercise message.

We hypothesized that the implementation intervention would increase exercise behavior while the general exercise message would have no effects on exercise, that earlier stage-of-change exercisers …

Facilitator Assessment Following A Stepfamily Education Course, Heather Sparks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of the facilitators of a stepfamily education course, based upon facilitator self-report as well as participant report. Agencies in northern Utah that provide services to low-income minority families were used to recruit a sample of 152 facilitators and 1,134 participants of which 519 of the participants were male and 613 of the participants were females. Additionally, 21 of the facilitators were male and 131 of the facilitators were female. Requirements for participants included having been previously married with no children or having children from a previous relationship that formed a current …

Effects Of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons And Novel Lane Markings On Motorists’ Yielding, Speed, And Headway At Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks, Jimmy Wayne Shurbutt

Dissertations

Several methods have been examined to increase motorists’ yielding to pedestrians and the distance at which they yield on multilane crosswalks at uncontrolled locations with relatively high average daily traffic (ADT). A series of 5 experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFBs) as effective pedestrian crossing aides. The first experiment found that the RRFBs produced a significant increase in yielding behavior at all 26 sites located in 3 cities in the United States. Data collected over a 2-year follow-up period at 22 of these sites plus 14-month follow-up at an additional 4 sites documented the …

Gritting Teeth: A Memoir Of Unhealthy Love, Samantha L. Day

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Originally intended to be modeled after Eula Biss’s creative nonfiction essay “The Balloonists”—which tackles the subject of marriage via fragmented prose poems— “Gritting Teeth: A Memoir of Unhealthy Love” is a piece that has taken on a subject and form of its own. A memoirist like Vivian Gornick might not claim the writer’s piece, as it hesitates to offer a “story” in places. A memoirist like Sue William Silverman might not claim the piece, as it hesitates to be courageous at times. But this collage of song lyrics, research snippets, and even Craigslist postings works in conjunction with fragments from …

Universal Biases In Self-Perception: Better And More Human Than Average, Steve Loughnan, Bernhard Leidner, Guy Doron, Nick Haslam, Yoshihisa Kashima, Jennifer Tong, Victoria Yeung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

There is a well-established tendency for people to see themselves as better than average (self-enhancement), although the universality of this phenomenon is contested. Much less well-known is the tendency for people to see themselves as more human than average (self-humanizing). We examined these biases in six diverse nations: Australia, Germany, Israel, Japan, Singapore, and the USA. Both biases were found in all nations. The self-humanizing effect was obtained independent of self-enhancement, and was stronger than self-enhancement in two nations (Germany and Japan). Self-humanizing was not specific to Western or English-speaking cultures and its magnitude was less cross-culturally variable than self-enhancement. …

Commercial Sex Workers: Lives And Practices, Sarah J. Knowles

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Commercial sex workers epitomize a population who is both stigmatized and underrepresented in marriage and family therapy research. Through this research I hope to gain understanding about the gains of being a commercial sex worker, which many people may overlook due to their moral opposition to the occupation. I will also be exploring some of the challenges that commercial sex workers face that are unique to their line of work, especially in regards to their relationships, as many aspects of this may have been generalized or disregarded. Finally, I plan to address any implications for therapists who work with commercial …

Educators' Attitudes Toward Outdoor Classrooms And The Cognitive Benefits In Children, Carlie Speedlin

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at a K-5 elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraksa. This school is Saratoga Elementary School and is a United States Title I Distinguished School1 under No Child Left Behind. It has a population of 266 students, with 47% being minority, 1% gifted, and 28% special education (LPS School Profile Brochure). 80% of the student population is eligible for free/reduced meals, implying that it’s a school with a lower socioeconomic status. At this school a garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented for this case study. The club had been running since …

We're Not Thugs And Rappers: An Examination Of African American Male Athletes' Perceptions Of The Media, Keia Janese Bragg

Masters Theses

Manipulation of stories and events expose issues of false representation and stereotyping within the mainstream media. This research examined the media’s role in shaping the behaviors and experiences of African American male athletes while using Critical Race Theory as the framework in conducting research. A focus group consisting of six former African American male student athletes was conducted. A semi-structured interview schedule was used in order to allow for open discussion. The Constant Comparison Method was instrumental in thematizing the data while QDA Miner software was used to analyze the data. The findings suggested that African American male athletes feel …

Socio-Cultural Adjustment Of International Students As Expatriates In America, Li Zhao

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the relationships between international students’ ethnic identity, self-efficacy, uncertainty avoidance, and their socio-cultural adjustment. A total of 65 international students (aged 18 to 33 years) from seven countries completed the online questionnaire. As hypothesized, path analyses demonstrated a positive relationship between students’ self-efficacy and their socio-cultural adjustment. International students’ uncertainty avoidance had a negative relationship with their self-efficacy, but a positive relationship with ethnic identity. The hypotheses that international students’ ethnic identity and uncertainty avoidance are negatively correlated to their socio-cultural adjustment were not supported in the present study.

Cell Phone Usage Patterns With Friends, Parents, And Romantic Partners In College Freshmen, Stephanie L. Blackman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Coaching Efficacy With Academic Leaders: A Phenomenological Investigation, Deanna Lee Vansickel-Peterson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this psychological phenomenological research was to understand the efficacy of life coaching from the perspective of academic leaders. To date, not one investigation or attempt has been made towards the above stated purpose. This study includes a theoretical overview and a review of the coaching literature from Socrates (469-399 BC) to current day Humanistic theory presented in part by Roger (1902-1987).

This process included data collection from five academic leaders who have been coached for at least two years. Levels of analysis of 365 statements, quote and/or comments produced finding of efficacy in life coaching with academic …

The Effects Of Self-Monitoring On Homework Completion And Accuracy Rates Of Students With Disabilities In An Inclusive General Education Classroom, Carol Ann Falkenberg

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of self-monitoring on the homework completion and accuracy rates of four, fourth-grade students with disabilities in an inclusive general education classroom. A multiple baseline across subjects design was utilized to examine four dependent variables: completion of spelling homework, accuracy of spelling homework, completion of math homework, accuracy of math homework. Data were collected and analyzed during baseline, three phases of intervention, and maintenance. Throughout baseline and all phases, participants followed typical classroom procedures, brought their homework to school each day and gave it to the general education teacher. During Phase I of the intervention, participants …

Dynamics Of Hiv Risk Behavior In Hiv-Infected Injection Drug Users

CHIP Documents

Forty-six individuals with a history of injection drug use participated in a questionnaire and an interview study assessing their HIV risk behaviors, and their HIV risk and prevention information, motivation, and behavioral skills related to injection drug use and sexual behavior. High levels of past and current risky injection drug use and sexual behavior were reported. HIV risk reduction information was generally high, and many participants reported proprevention attitudes and supportive perceived norms toward HIV risk reduction behaviors. However, many did not intend to engage in these preventive behaviors, and some reported deficits in prevention behavioral skills. Interview data revealed …

The Coevolution Of Networks And Political Attitudes, David Lazer, Brian Rubineau, Carol Chetkovich, Nancy Katz, Michael Neblo

David Lazer

How do attitudes and social affiliations co-evolve? A long stream of research has focused on the relationship between attitudes and social affiliations. However, in most of this research the causal relationship between views and affiliations is difficult to discern definitively: Do people influence each other’s views so that they converge over time or do they primarily affiliate (by choice or happenstance) with those of similar views? Here we use longitudinal attitudinal and whole network data collected at critical times (notably, at the inception of the system) to identify robustly the determinants of attitudes and affiliations. We find significant conformity tendencies: …

The Cultural Dynamics Of Rewarding Honesty And Punishing Deception, Cynthia S. Wang, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Recent research suggests that individuals reward honesty more than they punish deception. Five experiments showed that different patterns of rewards and punishments emerge for North American and East Asian cultures. Experiment 1 demonstrated that Americans rewarded more than they punished, whereas East Asians rewarded and punished in equivalent amounts. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that these divergent patterns by culture could be explained by greater social mobility experienced by Americans. Experiments 4 and 5 examined how certain consequences of social mobility, approach—avoidance behavioral motivations and trust and felt obligation, can lead to disparate reward and punishment decisions within the two …

How Does Facebook Browsing Affect Self-Awareness And Social Well-Being: The Role Of Narcissism, Lin Qiu, Han Lin, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Social networking sites such as Facebook have become extremely popular recently. In this research, we studied how Facebook browsing affects self-awareness and social well-being. Our results show that after Facebook browsing, individuals high in narcissism raised their public self-awareness while those low in narcissism reduced their public self-awareness. We also found that individuals low in narcissism perceived their friends' lives to be better than their own and consequently experienced negative social well-being and emotion. However, this effect did not occur for individuals high in narcissism.

Spiritually Integrative Archetypal Energies And Glimpes Into Soul Consciousness, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

In other writings I have described Archetypal Energies as Higher Vibrational Energies that have their own transcendent value, purpose, quality, and “voice” unique to the individual that operate deep within our psyches, at both individual and collective levels. We tend to experience them as “creative urges” to move us toward our Highest Good or Optimal Realities. I use easily recognized terms to evoke a common sense of these Archetypal Energies (e.g., Love, Acceptance, Inclusion, Harmony, Peace). Here, I want to discuss Spiritually Integrative Archetypal Energies and how they can assist us in gaining glimpses into the nature of our unique …

Fall-Related Stigma In Older Adulthood: A Mixed Methods Approach To Understanding The Influence Of Stigma On Older Adults' Reported Attitudes And Behaviours Regarding Falls, Heather M. Hanson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Falls during older adulthood present a major threat to the health and wellbeing of older adults and a challenge to society. While effective fall prevention strategies have been developed to address risk factors for falls, older adults commonly resist participation in such programming and dissociate from the topic of falls in general. After reviewing research findings and the theoretical literature, support was found for approaching falls as a stigmatizing topic for older adults. Three mixed methods experiments were completed to test the influence of stigma on older adults‟ attitudes, opinions, and behaviours. Experiments 1 and 2 tested the labelling aspect …

A Review Of Psychosocial Support And The Challenges Faced In Disclosing Hiv Positive Status To Children In Kibera, Katherine Lesyna

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The AIDS pandemic has become an increasingly global problem as well as an everyday reality for most people living in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, an estimation of the number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa totaled around 22.4 million.1 The people that have been affected most by the pandemic are women and children.
In Kenya, about 1.5 million people are infected with HIV, about 180,000 of them being children.2 While a lot has been done to reduce HIV infections and treat those who are infected, children have been left behind until recently. There is still much …

Wilderness Beauty: A Means To Resolve Volitional Doubt, Brian T. Scalise

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

Doubt is often part of Christian spiritual life. Matured doubt will influence the will (the volition) so as to keep the Christian doubter from acting like a Christian or even desiring the Christian life. This essay seeks to construct a theory designed to engage and help resolve volitional doubt by use of wilderness beauty. This theory incorporates three areas of study—Land and Leisure Management, Abraham Maslow’s metamotivation theory, and Jonathan Edwards' aesthetic theology—to demonstrate the uniqueness and usefulness of wilderness beauty for resolving volitional doubt. Subsequent to the construction of the theory, practical suggestions for its application are given.

American Graffiti: Musings On The Ground Zero Mosque, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses reactions and parallels to a mosque proposed near the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in public discourse.

Paradoxical Consequences Of Prohibitions, Sana Sheikh

Open Access Dissertations

Traditionally, attribution theory argues that strong external controls such as parental punishment undermine moral internalization. In contrast, this project argues that parental punishment does socialize morality, but it socializes moral prohibitions (rather than moral prescriptions) in particular. A strong focus on prohibitions, a proscriptive orientation, has unintended consequences. Study 1 found young adults' accounts of parental restrictiveness to predict their proscriptive orientation such that recalling the degree of how restrictive and punitive one's parents were activated a proscriptive dispositional sensitivity. Study 2 found that restrictive parenting was positively associated with shame. Further, for individuals with highly restrictive parents, temptations positively …

The Uneven Distribution Of Social Suffering: Documenting The Social Health Consequences Of Neo-Liberal Social Policy On Marginalized Youth, Michelle Fine, Brett G. Stoudt, Maddy Fox, Maybelline Santos

Publications and Research

In 2009, British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett published "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Strong", in which they argue that severely unequal societies produce high rates of ‘social pain”: adverse outcomes including school drop out, teen pregnancy, mental health problems, lack of social trust, high mortality rates, violence and crime, low social participation. Their volume challenges the belief that the extent of poverty in a community predicts negative outcomes. They assert instead that the size of the inequality gap defines the material and psychological contours of the chasm between the wealthiest and the most impoverished, enabling …

Client/Therapist Feedback And The Role Of The Alliance On Psychotherapy Outcomes, Elizabeth Preston Cisneros

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Through a system of patient-focused outcomes research which has employed a quality assurance system for tracking client progress in therapy, there has been consistent evidence that utilizing the system to identify those who are not responding to treatment and warning their therapist about the client’s risk significantly improves client outcomes in psychotherapy. Although outcomes have been improved, significant proportions of clients have treatment failures or see no improvement in therapy. Moreover, feedback to therapists appears to be most effective in improving outcomes for the minority of clients who are already at risk of treatment failure.

Attempts to augment the feedback …

Why The Supreme Court Cares About Elites, Not The American People, Lawrence Baum, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

Supreme Court Justices care more about the views of academics, journalists, and other elites than they do about public opinion. This is true of nearly all Justices and is especially true of swing Justices, who often cast the critical votes in the Court’s most visible decisions. In this Article, we will explain why we think this is so and, in so doing, challenge both the dominant political science models of judicial behavior and the significant work of Barry Friedman, Jeffrey Rosen, and others who link Supreme Court decision making to public opinion.

Cultural Differences In Relational Aggression In An Elementary School-Age Sample, Brittany L. Walker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study addressed whether there were differences in relational aggression in 9- to 10-year-old boys and girls in Hungarian and German samples. There has been very little empirical research conducted comparing children of diverse cultures in their use of relational aggression. The current study used teachers’ reports of different aggression styles observed in their 9- to 10-year-old students (N = 269). The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence and styles of aggression used in a 9- to 10-year-old culturally diverse population, as it was hypothesized that culture would be a factor in the incidence of relational …

Examining The Relationship Between Body Work And Muscle Dysmorphia Symptoms, Katharine J. Reynolds

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether men with a large amount of Muscle Dysmorphia symptoms had a more favorable outlook and opinion of body work. Participants in the current study were a convenience sample of men recruited from undergraduate classes at Western Kentucky University and the community of Bowling Green Kentucky and Somerset Kentucky. A total of 215 men completed the study. Participants completed the Muscle Dysmorphia Inventory (MDI) and the Attitude-Behavior Questionnaire (ABQ). Results indicate scores on the MDI were significant predictors of scores on the ABQ. This suggests that men with a high number of …