Psychology Commons^™

Attention And Olfactory Consciousness, Andreas Keller

Publications and Research

Understanding the relation between attention and consciousness is an important part of our understanding of consciousness. Attention, unlike consciousness, can be systematically manipulated in psychophysical experiments and a law-like relation between attention and consciousness is waiting to be discovered. Most attempts to discover the nature of this relation are focused on a special type of attention: spatial visual attention. In this review I want to introduce another type of attention to the discussion: attention to the olfactory modality. I will first clarify the position of attention to smells in a general taxonomy of attention. I will then review the mechanisms …

Comparison And Correlates Of Three Preference-Based Healthrelated Quality-Of-Life Measures Among Overweight And Obese Women With Urinary Incontinence, Angela Marinilli Pinto, Miriam Kupperman, Sanae Nakagawa, Eric Vittinghoff, Rena R. Wing, John W. Kusek, William H. Herman, Leslee L. Subak

Publications and Research

PURPOSE: To compare three preference-based health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) measures and examine independent correlates of HRQL among overweight and obese women with urinary incontinence (UI) enrolled in a weight loss intervention trial.

METHODS: Participants completed baseline questionnaires, which included the Health Utilities Index 3 (HUI3) and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). The SF-36 was used to derive SF-6D and estimated Quality of Well-Being (eQWB) scores. Height, weight, medical history, incontinence measures, and level of physical activity also were assessed. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was computed, and differences in mean scores across HRQL measures were examined. Potential correlates of HUI3, …

Insightful Problem Solving In An Asian Elephant, Preston Foerder, Marie Galloway, Tony Barthel, Donald E. Moore Iii, Diana Reiss

Publications and Research

The ‘‘aha’’ moment or the sudden arrival of the solution to a problem is a common human experience. Spontaneous problem solving without evident trial and error behavior in humans and other animals has been referred to as insight. Surprisingly, elephants, thought to be highly intelligent, have failed to exhibit insightful problem solving in previous cognitive studies. We tested whether three Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) would use sticks or other objects to obtain food items placed out-of-reach and overhead. Without prior trial and error behavior, a 7-year-old male Asian elephant showed spontaneous problem solving by moving a large plastic cube, on …

“What” And “Where” In Auditory Sensory Processing: A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study Of Distinct Neural Processes Underlying Sound Object Recognition And Sound Localization, Victoria M. Leavitt, Sophie Molholm, Manuel Gomez-Ramirez, John J. Foxe

Publications and Research

Functionally distinct dorsal and ventral auditory pathways for sound localization (WHERE) and sound object recognition (WHAT) have been described in non-human primates. A handful of studies have explored differential processing within these streams in humans, with highly inconsistent findings. Stimuli employed have included simple tones, noise bursts, and speech sounds, with simulated left–right spatial manipulations, and in some cases participants were not required to actively discriminate the stimuli. Our contention is that these paradigms were not well suited to dissociating processing within the two streams. Our aim here was to determine how early in processing we …

What Qualitative Research Has Taught Us About Occupational Stress, Joseph J. Mazzola, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Paul E. Spector

Publications and Research

While many reviews of job stress and the stressor–strain relationship have been conducted, such reviews typically focus exclusively on quantitative data. In the current paper, we review qualitative studies on occupational stress that met two criteria: (1) the studies employed qualitative methods; (2) the stressors, strains and/or coping strategies were grouped into identifiable, higher-order categories. Results indicated that the nature of the stressors experienced varied by (a) occupation, (b) country, (c) seniority and (d) gender. The review further revealed that organizational constraints, work overload and interpersonal conflict were relatively universal stressors. Anger and annoyance were the most frequently reported psychological …

Artful Liars: Malingering On The Draw-A-Person Task, Dennis P. Carmody, Angela M. Crossman

Publications and Research

Malingering is a form of deception in which one fakes illness to earn (positive or negative) reinforcement. The purpose of the current research was to explore the ability of naïve participants to malinger distress on a clinical, projective measure (Draw-A-Person; DAP). In two experiments, individuals first drew figures of a man, woman, and self. Then, they imagined they were in a motor vehicle accident and drew the figures again as if they were falsely claiming distress from the accident. In Experiment 1, 65 undergraduates participated and in Experiment 2, 70 undergraduates and 40 high school students participated. The drawings were …

Suicide And Suicide Risk In Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Populations: Review And Recommendations, Ann P. Haas, Mickey Eliason, Vickie M. Mays, Robin M. Mathy, Susan D. Cochran, Anthony R. D'Augelli, Morton M. Silverman, Prudence W. Fisher, Tonda Hughes, Margaret Rosario, Stephen T. Russell, Effie Malley, Jerry Reed, David A. Litts, Ellen Haller, Randall L. Sell, Gary Remafedi, Judith Bradford, Annette L. Beautrais, Gregory K. Brown, Gary M. Diamond, Mark S. Friedman, Robert Garofalo, Mason S. Turner, Amber Hollibaugh, Paula J. Clayton

Publications and Research

Despite strong indications of elevated risk of suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, limited attention has been given to research, interventions or suicide prevention programs targeting these populations. This article is a culmination of a three-year effort by an expert panel to address the need for better understanding of suicidal behavior and suicide risk in sexual minority populations, and stimulate the development of needed prevention strategies, interventions and policy changes. This article summarizes existing research findings, and makes recommendations for addressing knowledge gaps and applying current knowledge to relevant areas of suicide prevention practice.

Maternal Exposure To The Holocaust And Health Complaints In Offspring, Janine D. Flory, Linda M. Bierer, Rachel Yehuda

Publications and Research

Although the link between chronic stress and the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases of adulthood has been known for some time, there is growing recognition that early environmental influences may result in developmental programming via epigenetic mechanisms, thereby affecting the developmental trajectory of disease progression. Previous studies support the idea that offspring of Holocaust survivors may have been subjected to early developmental programming. We evaluated the relationship between parental exposure to the Holocaust and selfreported health ratings and disorders made by their adult offspring (i.e., second generation Holocaust survivors). A total of 137 subjects were evaluated. Regression analyses demonstrated …

Getting Into Character: Cultivating Identities In A Teen-Theatre Peer-Education Program, Valerie A. Futch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study investigated the role of community theatre participation on adolescent and young adult identity development. The theatre program, known as The SOURCE, focuses on sex-education through a peer-education model. The experiences of young adults, who are now aged 18-34, were examined through interviews (N=20), identity maps (N=9), and a survey (N=64) in order to understand how participation in this group influenced their development. While much of the literature documents the successes of such programs while youth participate, few document the longer-term impacts of such participation (Saldaña, McCammon, Omasta, & Hines, 2011). Data reveal how such involvement informed the youths' …

Growing Up Policed In The Age Of Aggressive Policing Policies, Brett G. Stoudt, Michelle Fine, Madeline Fox

Publications and Research

Spray-painted atop an old tenement building in the East Village of Manhattan is a large fossilized graffiti image of a tyrannosaurus rex that reads: “NYC EATS ITS YOUNG.” With its ribs exposed and mouth open, this image represents symbolically what many young people in the neighborhood already know intimately and have experienced: New York City (NYC) is not an easy place to grow up. Their social safety nets are being dismantled and the public institutions they rely on every day often fail them. In NYC, public school budgets are being slashed each year even though the high school dropout/push-out rates …

\African-Centered Psychology, Education And The Liberation Of African Minds: Notes On The Psycho-Cultural Justification For Reparations, Karanja Keita Carroll, Dereef F. Jamison

Publications and Research

One means through which reparations can be provided to communities of African descent within America is through the creation and institutionalization of culturally enriching after-school programming, African-centered Saturday schools and independent Black educational institutions. Rather than looking to reparations as merely financial compensation for the descendants of the formerly enslaved, we can look to reparations as they relate to the building of educational infrastructures that will impact future generations of African descendants in America. This essay outlines the psychological and epistemological consequences of miseducation that many students of African descent experience within the Eurocentrically orientated education institutions they attend; The …

Re-Locating Recycling: A Contextual Analysis Of Recycling Behavior In The Usa And Germany, Tsai-Shiou Hsieh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While recycling remains a common research topic within environmentally responsible behavior studies, it is little known how contextual factors such as physical environments, social interactions, and cultural backgrounds influence people's attitudes and behavior. This research adopts an ecological framework and conducts a mixed-method qualitative inquiry of whether and how relocation has impacts on people's ecological thinking and behavior in their everyday life. Semi-structured interviews were conducted within two groups of people: Americans who moved to Munich and Germans who moved to New York City. Interviews were conducted in participants' homes or workplaces. Pictures were taken inside the apartments, in common …

The Impact Of Trial Consultants On Perceptions Of Procedural Justice And Juror Verdicts: An Empirical Investigation, Jennifer Burke Katz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite the proliferation of the trial consulting industry in recent years, we know virtually nothing about the impact that the use of a trial consultant may have on a jury. This laboratory study seeks to fill some of the gaps in the trial consulting literature by using the principles of procedural justice to explore what, if any, impact the use of a trial consultant can have on the outcome of a criminal jury trial, as well as the possibility that perceptions of fairness mediate the relationship between the balance of trial consultants and juror verdicts in cases where the evidence …

The Interpersonal Foundations Of Anti-Atheist Prejudice, Michael W. Magee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anti-atheist prejudice in the U.S. is socially accepted and rife—and not just because most Americans are religious. This research suggests that hostility toward atheists is related in part to protecting parental relationships. To the extent that they are established within parental relationships, shared reality theory implies that religious beliefs and associated attitudes will be psychologically defended to the extent that the parental relationships engaged are strong, healthy, and vital (Magee & Hardin, 2010; see also Hardin & Higgins, 1996). Three experiments examined the regulation of anti-atheist prejudice in the defense and protection of religious shared realities with parents, as implied …