Psychology Commons^™

Bridging Biological Systems With Social Behavior, Conservation, Decision Making, And Well-Being Through Hybrid Mathematical Modeling, Maggie Renee Sullens

Doctoral Dissertations

Mathematical modeling can achieve otherwise inaccessible insights into bio-logical questions. We use ODE (ordinary differential equations) and Game Theory models to demonstrate the breadth and power of these models by studying three very different biological questions, involving socio-behavioral and socio-economic systems, conservation biology, policy and decision making, and organismal homeostasis.

We adapt techniques from Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) epidemiological models to examine the mental well-being of a community facing the collapse of the industry on which it’s economically dependent. We consider the case study of a fishing community facing the extinction of its primary harvest species. Using an ODE framework with a …

From An Ambivert's Perspective: The Relationships Between Personality Types, Attachment Styles, And Behavioral Tendencies Of Introverts And Extroverts, Andrew Chang

Senior Theses

Over the years, there has been continuous discussion around the idea that extroverts dominate the business workplace over introverts and vice versa. However, depending on the work setting and skillsets needed, it is imperative to realize how certain business practices, personality styles, and relationship approaches are different in every scenario. For this research thesis, the goal was to compare the personality and attachment styles of students who study in two different cultural environments, seeing if there were any apparent relationships between the two variables and student behavioral tendencies. Previous studies have shown that personality, behaviors, and attachment levels can predict …

An Integrative Study Of Service And Safety Climate And Performance: Do Climates Compete?, Jeffrey B. Paul

Selected Faculty Publications

Organizational scholars continue to expand our knowledge of the contextual forces influencing employee behavior in organizations. A notable stream in this research agenda includes organizational climate studies that describe the social processes guiding employee perceptions of their environment. These shared perceptions formulate climate constructs that have demonstrated through theorizing and empirical findings relationships with attitudinal, behavioral, and performance outcomes across multiple levels of analysis. Contemporary climate studies have focused on facet-specific climates, such as a service climate or safety climate, and have linked facet climates with the same facet related performance (e. g. safety climate predicts increased safety performance). Given …

Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports And The Perceptions Of Middle School Teachers: What Works During Implementation Of A School-Wide System Of Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports, Jeffrey L. Soucie

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

According to Jensen (2016), the number of students affected by poverty is accelerating and continues to grow. Many children growing up in poverty experience anxiety, irritability, aggression, or are in need of positive adult relationship (Collins et al., 2010), Schools are looking to proven research-based behavioral support frameworks, such as PBiS, to help students of poverty with academic and behavioral development. A majority of research on the PBiS lacks descriptive insight from stakeholders responsible for implementation of the framework in schools. Therefore, studies are needed to explore the perceptions of stakeholders to determine effective behavioral practices to help students of …

The Relationship Between Exposure To Lead And Criminal Behavior, Margaret Meyer, Christine Rogers

2017-2018: Scott County, Iowa Health Department

In recent years it has been made apparent that exposure to lead is a significant problem for many individuals and families. Lead exposure–whether through the air, water, or by ingestion–has been linked to numerous physical, cognitive, and social problems (Chandramouli, 2009; Nevin, 2007). Furthermore, urban, poor and immigrant populations are at a higher risk for lead exposure (Bakhireva, et al., 2013). And increasingly a connection between lead exposure and criminal behavior has been identified through both correlation studies and experiments. The high cost of exposure to lead is apparent when looking at the effects of lead over a lifetime, and …

Consideration Of Financial Satisfaction: What Consumers Know, Feel And Do From A Financial Perspective, Ann Sanders Woodyard, Cliff A. Robb

Journal of Financial Therapy

Financial satisfaction has long been considered an important component to consumer life satisfaction and well-being. Using data from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), financial satisfaction is explored in the context of personal characteristics related to financial knowledge (both objective and subjective) as well as self-reported financial behaviors. Ordinary Least Squares Regression is applied to a predictive model of financial satisfaction, and results indicate that measures associated with what people do (behaviors related to recommended practice) and how they feel (subjective knowledge) may be more salient factors to consider with regard to satisfaction than measures related to what individuals …

Cognitive And Affective Aspects Of Personality And Academic Procrastination: The Role Of Personal Agency, Flow, And Executive Function, Marc Graff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Academic procrastination is a prevalent issue that affects school-related and other experiences of many students, with some studies identifying as many as a third of college students sampled as‘severe’ procrastinators. This study investigated some of the factors previous studies have identified as potential contributors to procrastinating in the academic arena. In defining procrastination as a self-regulation issue, it is proposed that distinct executive function processes play a role in one’s efforts at academic task engagement and completion and resisting the tendency to procrastinate on these tasks. It is also proposed that the frequency with which one experiences ‘flow’, a state …

Cross-Sectional Assessment Of Safety Culture Perceptions And Safety Behavior In Collegiate Aviation Programs In The United States, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, Julius Keller, Micah Walala, John P. Young, Cody Christensen, Randal J. Demik, Gary J. Northam Ph.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

A cross-sectional quasi- mixed-method approach was used to determine the relationships between safety culture perceptions and safety reporting behavior among flight students with and without certified flight instructor (CFI) ratings. Respondents (n=259) were recruited from five collegiate aviation programs in the US and took part in the study. Survey Items adopted from the Collegiate Aviation Perception of Safety Culture Assessment Survey (CAPSCAS) were validated using factor analysis analyzed for reliability before use in the study. Researchers sought to find out if the safety reporting behavior (reporting frequency) of respondents could be predicted from their safety culture perceptions. Pearson’s …

The Effectiveness Of Ground Groups On Student Behavior In A Southeast Tennessee School District, Ryan Goodman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effectiveness of ground groups on office discipline referrals in a southeast Tennessee school district. Ground groups are meetings that students attended once a week in an effort to find the "middle ground" through modeling and observing particular behaviors. The primary hypothesis examined four schools from two separate districts over the course of two academic school years. The first group included schools from southeast Tennessee that incorporated ground groups and was classified as the treatment group. The second group included comparable schools from southeast Tennessee that did not incorporate ground groups …

Wholeistic EducationTm, Cerissa Leigh Desrosiers

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation introduces Wholeistic Education^TM (WED^TM), an innovative, values-based, interdisciplinary pro-social theory that is the culmination of centuries of scientific and philosophical learning and exploration about optimal mental health and human development. WED is based on basic human nature and universal human rights, and so it applies to all variations of human society- racial, ethnic, religious, or otherwise. WED is a foundation theory to which any targeted implementation strategy can be applied. It is both a proactive strategy for seeking and maintaining health before a crisis arises in families, schools, and organizations as well as a treatment …

The Relationship Between Childhood Aggression And Impulsiveness, Mary Gail Glover

Graduate Theses

Previous research on the relationship between children's levels of aggression and impulsivity have been inconclusive. Studies of each of these behaviors independently have shown that they are correlated with many of the same factors. However, no studies have been found in which aggression and impulsivity have correlated specifically with each other. The purpose of the present study was to determine if a relationship exists between aggression and impulsivity in children. The participants of this study consisted of 115 children who had been tested at a center for behavioral analysis to determine diagnoses of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. They had been referred for …