Psychology Commons^™

A Formative Evaluation Of A Smartphone Application For Couples: The Affectionate Gesture Planner, Patrick Robert Bortz

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The Affectionate Gesture Planner (AGP) is a smartphone application (i.e., “app”) that aims to increase relationship satisfaction for couples in long-term relationships by prompting couples to complete loving acts for each other on a daily basis. The AGP app is informed by concepts from social exchange theory and the investment model (Rusbult, 1983), which predict that increasing the mutual exchange of beneficial investments to the relationship improves the quality and stability of the relationship. The present study is a formative evaluation on the prototype of the AGP app. Based on participant feedback, the AGP app will be improved prior to …

The Mediating Role Of Cognitive Flexibility On The Relationship Between Cross-Race Interactions And Psychological Well-Being, Robert D. Cardom

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Counseling psychologists are tasked with understanding optimal psychological and cognitive functioning. Recent theoretical predictions (Crisp & Turner, 2011) and growing evidence suggest that cross-race interactions are important ways individuals might improve their cognitive and psychosocial functioning. However, the theoretical predictions from Crisp and Turner have not yet been tested in one model. Further, much of the empirical support for the theoretical predictions has been from studies using 1) undergraduate samples and 2) weak theory-measurement fit.

The present study used an online, community survey (N = 270) to test Crisp and Turner’s (2011) predictions that cognitive flexibility would mediate the …

Effects Of Timing Of Parental Divorce On Children’S Romantic Relationships In Adulthood: A Review, Adrian Weldon

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

A literature review was conducted to determine what age children are most vulnerable to the impact of parental divorce on their romantic relationships in adulthood. Fourteen articles were included in this review. Results of the review showed different outcomes based on stage of life. Parental divorce in infancy, early childhood, late childhood, and adolescence resulted in the most negative long-term effects on the children’s intimate relationships later in life. Children in middle childhood and young adulthood at the time of their parents’ marital dissolution appeared to be most resilient to its impact on their romantic relationships in adulthood. Literature on …

Bridging The Latino Achievement Gap: The Importance Of Interpreters In Schools, Rachel R. Williams

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Previous research has demonstrated that a significant gap exists in the levels academic achievement between Latino immigrant students and non-immigrant students. This study analyzed data collected from a series of self-report measures given to 64 Latino-immigrant and their parents. The present study presented a hypothesized moderated mediation model between parental language fluency, parental involvement, and student academic outcomes. Though this relationship was not verified with the data from the present study, a correlation was found between parental language fluency and a variety of factors regarding parental involvement in students’ academic lives. These factors include parent-teacher interactions, monitoring, and homework. A …

Does The Pain Of Rejection Promote The Pleasure Of Revenge? A Neural Investigation Of Cingulo-Striatal Contributions To Violence, David Chester

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Aggression is a dynamic and costly feature of human behavior. One reliable cause of aggression is social rejection, though the underlying mechanisms of this effect remain to be fully understood. Previous research has identified two psychological processes that are independently linked to aggressive retaliation: pain and pleasure. Given recent findings that pain magnifies the experience of pleasure, I predicted that the pain of rejection would promote the pleasure of aggression and thus, aggression itself. I also expected that this indirect effect of aggressive pleasure would only be observed among individuals with weaker self-regulatory abilities that are necessary to cope with …

Pulling The Trigger On Disarming Domestic Violence Abusers: Implementing Gun Confiscation Policy In Urban And Appalachian Kentucky, Kellie R. Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The present study investigated why communities differing in culture and resources are willing and able to implement gun confiscation as part of a protective order. Specifically, this study explored whether the perceived risk of intimate partner homicide and gun violence, benefits to engaging in gun confiscation, barriers to gun confiscation, community norms about guns, and community readiness to implement gun confiscation: (a) differ in urban and rural communities, (b) are perceived differently by victim service and justice system key professionals within urban and rural communities, and (c) are related to if a community is able and willing to consistently implement …

Doing Envy Justice: Examining The Politics Of Envy, Charles E. Hoogland

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Conservatives and liberals disagree about the underlying motivations driving opposition to concentrated wealth. Liberals contend that such objections are often driven by legitimate fairness concerns, whereas conservatives frequently cite envy instead. Research and theory suggest that two particularly important contextual questions with respect to emotional reactions to wealth are its source (inherited or earned), and how that wealth is put to use, which could interactively and differentially influence liberals’ and conservatives’ reactions to affluent individuals. The current study aimed to empirically address whether liberals actually are more prone to envy than conservatives, both in general and in response to specific …

The Effect Of Victim Religion On Juror Perceptions Of Hate Crimes, Casey Magyarics

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The present study investigated mock juror perceptions of hate crimes in the courtroom, specifically whether a victim’s religion (Atheist, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim) influenced the likelihood that a mock juror would render a hate crime verdict. I employed a mock juror methodology where participants read an assault trial summary, rendered a verdict, and answered a series of rating questions about the victim and defendant. Two theoretical explanations were proposed to explain the main effect of victim religion on participant verdict decisions; that participants would be most likely to render a guilty verdict when the victim is considered an in-group member …

Body Part Structure Knowledge In Infancy, Rachel Jubran

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Human faces, bodies, and hands convey critical social information (e.g., emotions, goals, and desires). Infants, like adults, are sensitive to such social information. Unlike infants’ knowledge of the structure of the human face and body, not much is known about infants’ knowledge of hands and feet. The current study tested infants for their preference between intact hand images and ones in which the same hands were distorted (i.e., location of at least one finger was altered to distort the typical structure of the hand). Infants at 3.5 months of age had a preference for the reorganized hand image, demonstrating that …