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University of Massachusetts Amherst

2018

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Articles 1 - 30 of 54

Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Evaluation And Remediation Of Rater Scoring Of Constructed Response Items, Frank Padellaro Jr Nov 2018

Evaluation And Remediation Of Rater Scoring Of Constructed Response Items, Frank Padellaro Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary focus of this study is the impact of variation in rater scoring of constructed response items for credentialing exams used for licensure or accreditation in a professional endeavor. In this type of exam, a candidate may be asked to write in detail about a legal opinion, an auditing report, or a patient diagnosis (just to name a few examples), and a rater (often a professional from the field) is responsible for evaluating the response (Raymond, 2002). Unfortunately, it is impossible for a rater, even one who is well trained, to make such judgments without some amount of error. …


Three Investigations Into The Dynamics And Implications Of Identity-Protective Cognition For Public Responses To Environmental Problems, Daniel A. Chapman Nov 2018

Three Investigations Into The Dynamics And Implications Of Identity-Protective Cognition For Public Responses To Environmental Problems, Daniel A. Chapman

Doctoral Dissertations

In the case of responding to climate change and related environmental problems, opinions about the best course of action have become starkly polarized along ideological lines. The identity-protective cognition thesis posits that when individuals experience a sense of challenge to these identities, they are motivated to engage in cognitive shortcuts and other reasoning processes to protect these identities against threat. In this research, I discuss three investigations into identity-protective cognition in the context of responding to environmental problems, applying the broader identity-protective cognition framework to a diverse set of theoretical and practical questions. Chapter 2 highlights research exploring the effect …


Maternal Postpartum Depression And Father Involvement Across The Transition To Parenthood, Katie Newkirk Oct 2018

Maternal Postpartum Depression And Father Involvement Across The Transition To Parenthood, Katie Newkirk

Doctoral Dissertations

Maternal postpartum depression is a common complication of childbirth that affects the whole family. Fathers’ greater involvement in childcare can buffer children from the negative effects of mothers’ depression, and aid in mothers’ recovery, so it is important to understand under what conditions fathers become more or less involved when mothers are depressed. Prior research has supported both a compensation hypothesis, whereby fathers compensate for the effects of mothers’ depression on mothers’ parenting by being more involved in parenting, and a spillover hypothesis, whereby mothers’ negative emotionality causes fathers to pull back from family life and be less involved in …


An Examination Of The Properties, Uses And Interpretations Of First Grade Reading Screening Tools In One School District, Amadee Meyer Oct 2018

An Examination Of The Properties, Uses And Interpretations Of First Grade Reading Screening Tools In One School District, Amadee Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations

Early identification of children who are likely to struggle to achieve reading proficiency is essential to providing them timely access to effective interventions. Thus, universal screening is a critical feature of preventative service delivery models that identify students at risk and provide early support for reading difficulties. As schools choose assessment tools for this purpose, three aspects of universal screening tools are especially important to consider: appropriateness for the intended use, technical adequacy, and usability. Using these standards for assessment review, this study investigated two screening tools commonly used to identify first-graders at risk for reading failure: the Aimsweb Tests …


Hearing And Seeing A Speaker: How Perceptual And Cognitive Factors Modulate The Dynamics Of Audiovisual Speech Perception, Elina Kaplan Oct 2018

Hearing And Seeing A Speaker: How Perceptual And Cognitive Factors Modulate The Dynamics Of Audiovisual Speech Perception, Elina Kaplan

Doctoral Dissertations

In face-to-face conversations, listeners process and combine speech information obtained from hearing and seeing the speaker talk. Audiovisual speech typically leads to more robust recognition of speech, as it provides more information for recognition but also as it helps listeners adjust to speaker idiosyncrasies. The goal of the current thesis was to examine how certain perceptual and cognitive factors modulate how listeners use visual speech to facilitate momentary speech perception and to adjust to a speaker’s idiosyncrasies. Results showed that (older) listeners’ sensitivity to cross-modal synchrony is related to the size of the audiovisual interactions during early perceptual processing. Furthermore, …


Home Learning In The New Mobile Age: Parent-Child Interactions During Joint Play With Educational Apps, Shayl Griffith Oct 2018

Home Learning In The New Mobile Age: Parent-Child Interactions During Joint Play With Educational Apps, Shayl Griffith

Doctoral Dissertations

The rapidly increasing popularity of touch screen mobile devices, and accompanying educational applications (“apps”) targeted towards preschool children, calls for a new look at parent-child interactions around educational media. Research has shown that parental involvement in children’s educational media exposure can improve engagement and learning outcomes. However, to date little information is available on how parents navigate their children’s use of educational mobile technology, or how similar or different these interactions are to more commonly studied parent-child interactions, such as around shared reading. This study described, using observational data, parent-child interactions around educational apps and mobile devices in a sample …


Conceptualization And Measurement Of Adolescent Prosocial Behavior: A Two-Study Mixed Methods Investigation, Shereen El Mallah Oct 2018

Conceptualization And Measurement Of Adolescent Prosocial Behavior: A Two-Study Mixed Methods Investigation, Shereen El Mallah

Doctoral Dissertations

Prosocial behavior is a multifaceted construct that may be expressed and received in a myriad of ways, thereby posing several challenges in measurement. Undoubtedly, significant advancements in the measurement of prosocial behavior have been made since the construct first found its way onto the research stage; however, a few fundamental problems persist with regard to: 1) the absence of a universally employed definition, 2) substantial variation in operationalization and measurement of the construct, and 3) inconsistent reports regarding the nature of prosocial development during the transition between adolescence and young adulthood. These issues are further compounded under conditions of adversity …


The Effects Of Reward And Risk Level Associated With Speeded Actions: Evidence From Behavior And Electroencephalography, Xingjie Chen Oct 2018

The Effects Of Reward And Risk Level Associated With Speeded Actions: Evidence From Behavior And Electroencephalography, Xingjie Chen

Masters Theses

Choosing a course of action in our daily lives requires an accurate assessment of the associated risks as well as the potential rewards. The present two studies investigated the mechanism of how reward and risk level influence the motor decisions of speeded actions (Chapter 2) and its neural dynamics (Chapter 3) by focusing on the beta band (15-30 Hz) oscillation patterns reflected in the EEG signals. Participants performed a modified version of the Go-NoGo task, in which they earned reward points based on the speed and accuracy of response. On each trial, the reward points at stake (120 vs. 6) …


Influence Of Household Chaos On Associations Between Physiology And Behavior, Sarah Mccormick Oct 2018

Influence Of Household Chaos On Associations Between Physiology And Behavior, Sarah Mccormick

Masters Theses

Internalizing behaviors, or behaviors related to behavioral inhibition and the tendency to withdraw from novelty or uncertainty, are stable over time. There is substantial evidence indicating the association between greater resting right lateralized frontal EEG alpha asymmetry and negative affect as well as internalizing behaviors (Coan & Allen, 2003; Henderson, Fox, & Rubin, 2001; Fox, 1991). Further, right frontal asymmetry has been shown to be a stable marker of the presence of psychosocial risk (e.g. child maltreatment; see Peltola, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Alink, Huffmeijer, Biro, & van IJzendoorn, 2014 for meta-analyses). However, little is known about the influences of the home and …


Regulating Relationship Needs Via Joint Consumption: An Attachment Perspective, Jana M. Rosewarne Jul 2018

Regulating Relationship Needs Via Joint Consumption: An Attachment Perspective, Jana M. Rosewarne

Doctoral Dissertations

Attachment style functions to regulate affect in relationships. I hypothesized that consumer decisions serve a similar purpose, producing distinct patterns of product preferences depending on people’s attachment goals. In a series of studies, I found that attachment avoidance predicted reduced preference for products framed as meeting closeness relationship goals and greater preference for products framed as meeting autonomy goals. The link between attachment anxiety and product preference depended on consumers’ emotions (S2) and relationship commitment (S3). Attachment style also predicted differences in the extent to which consumers thought about their partners when choosing products and their perceptions of how consumption …


The First Person Perspective: Language, Thought, And Action, Pengbo Liu Jul 2018

The First Person Perspective: Language, Thought, And Action, Pengbo Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

What it is to have a first person perspective? How do we come to understand our own perspective in the world? How do we take into account other people's perspectives in our social and linguistic interactions? This dissertation is an exploration of these issues. But instead of approaching them in the abstract, it aims to shed light on these difficult questions through a series of case studies. First, I examine the role of the first person perspective in our agency, and explain the sense in which it is essential for action. Next, drawing on recent work in psychology, I propose …


Two Of The Same? Infants' Conceptual Representation Of Faces Based Upon Gender, Race, And Kind Information, Charisse Pickron Jul 2018

Two Of The Same? Infants' Conceptual Representation Of Faces Based Upon Gender, Race, And Kind Information, Charisse Pickron

Doctoral Dissertations

Infants’ perceptual abilities allow them to distinguish faces of different races and genders from an early age (for a review, see Pascalis et al., 2011). However, it is still unknown when infants begin using these perceptual differences to represent faces in a conceptual, kind-based manner. The current dissertation examined this issue by testing whether 12- and 24-month-old infants represent faces of different races and genders as distinct ‘kinds’ or instead as variations of a single broader category (e.g., ‘human face’). The current dissertation included two experiments each with a different type of violation-of-expectation individuation paradigm. Experiment 1 used a passive …


High School Students' Perceptions Of School Climate In Relation To Discipline History And Discipline Approach, Kayla R. Gordon Jul 2018

High School Students' Perceptions Of School Climate In Relation To Discipline History And Discipline Approach, Kayla R. Gordon

Doctoral Dissertations

High school is a unique period of time within students' educational careers where there are an increasing number of variables that can facilitate or impede their academic, social-emotional, and behavioral success. Previous research has demonstrated strong effects of school climate, or the quality of school life and experiences within the school building, on factors including students' academic performance, motivation to learn, and attendance. In addition, school climate has been negatively correlated with drop out rates as well as other short and long term negative outcomes for students. The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of school climate …


The Neural Correlates Of Stereotype Threat And The Stereotype Inoculation Model In Young Women, Chaia Flegenheimer Jul 2018

The Neural Correlates Of Stereotype Threat And The Stereotype Inoculation Model In Young Women, Chaia Flegenheimer

Doctoral Dissertations

A promising intervention technique for stereotype threat effects is the stereotype inoculation model (SIM), which utilizes in-group role models to counteract stereotype-induced pressures. However, it remains unclear how the SIM may impact neural mechanisms during stereotype threat, including negative feedback bias (increased attention to undesirable feedback). The following three studies aim to examine the behavioral (Study 1) and neural (Study 2) markers of ST in women and how these markers are influenced by the SIM (Study 3). In each study, participants completed a non-traditional math task (the approximate number task). In the first two studies, one group was told the …


Exploring The Effectiveness Of A Mindfulness-Based Social Emotional Learning Program On Kindergarteners’ Risk For Social, Academic, And Emotional Problems, Molly Alvin Jul 2018

Exploring The Effectiveness Of A Mindfulness-Based Social Emotional Learning Program On Kindergarteners’ Risk For Social, Academic, And Emotional Problems, Molly Alvin

Doctoral Dissertations

This intervention study explored the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based social emotional learning program, Calmer Choice, on kindergarten students’ risk for social, academic, and emotional problems. The study used a quasi-experimental design with two measures collected as pretests and posttests for students in an intervention group and students in a wait-list control group. Kindergarten teachers completed the Social Academic Emotional Behavior Rating Scale (SAEBRS; Kilgus & von der Embse, 2014) and the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-mini (DESSA-mini; Naglieri, LeBuffe & Shapiro, 2014) for each student at these two time points. The intervention, Calmer Choice, consisted of 16 lessons taught twice a …


Children's Self-Regulation During Reward Delay, Abigail Fontaine Jul 2018

Children's Self-Regulation During Reward Delay, Abigail Fontaine

Masters Theses

Individuals who display high levels of reward sensitivity are motivated by and respond to reward related cues, thus exhibiting more approach-motivated behaviors. A majority of the research on physiological indices of reward sensitivity in relation to self-regulatory abilities has focused on adults or adolescents, with relatively little work examining these associations in children. Thus, the current study sought to examine whether a common neural measure of reward sensitivity, left frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, assessed in early childhood was predictive of children’s later self-regulation abilities in the context of reward delay. Emerging inhibitory control skills were also examined as a potential …


Effort-Related Motivational Dysfunctions: Behavioral And Neurochemical Studies Of The Wistar-Kyoto Rat Model Of Depression, Brendan Abbott Jul 2018

Effort-Related Motivational Dysfunctions: Behavioral And Neurochemical Studies Of The Wistar-Kyoto Rat Model Of Depression, Brendan Abbott

Masters Theses

Depression and related disorders are characterized by motivational dysfunctions, including deficits in behavioral activation and exertion of effort. Animal models of relevance to depression represent a critical starting point in elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms underlying motivational dysfunctions. The present study explored the use of the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) animal model of depression to examine effort-related functions as measured by voluntary wheel running and performance on a mixed fixed ratio 5/progressive ratio (FR5/PR) operant task. Given the known link between activational aspects of motivation and the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system, the behavioral effects of d-amphetamine (0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg, IP), a psychostimulant …


Family Relationship Processes And Youth Mental Health In The Context Of Adoption And Foster Care: Revisiting The Developmental Interface Between Nature And Nurture, Gordon Harold Apr 2018

Family Relationship Processes And Youth Mental Health In The Context Of Adoption And Foster Care: Revisiting The Developmental Interface Between Nature And Nurture, Gordon Harold

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

The salience of family relationship influences (inter-parental/carer relationship quality, parent/carer-child relationship quality) for youth mental health and development is well recognised and has a long and established research and intervention-study history. However, understanding the relative role of genetic (nature) versus family relationship influences (nurture) on child and adolescent development has significant implications for the design of efficacious intervention and support programs aimed at vulnerable youth and families, including adoption and foster-care. This presentation will examine the role of family relationship processes (inter-parental/carer, parent/carer-child) and outcomes for youth (emotional, behavioural, academic) using an array of novel research designs that allow us …


A Need For Fundamental Change: The Role Of Policy In Enabling Successful Families, Adam Pertman Apr 2018

A Need For Fundamental Change: The Role Of Policy In Enabling Successful Families, Adam Pertman

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

The basis for adoption-related policy in the U.S. is encapsulated in the mantra that every child deserves a safe, permanent and loving family. While this “child placement” focus is clearly vital, it’s also the case that the population of children and families served by adoption (as well as by the child welfare system more generally) has changed dramatically over the last several decades. As a result, many thousands of safe, permanent and loving families are struggling every day. This presentation will examine current policies of governments at all levels, child placement agencies, service providers and others who offer support to …


Birth Family Contact When Children Are Adopted From Care: Balancing The Well-Being Of Adopted Children With The Needs Of Birth Family Members, Elsbeth Neil Apr 2018

Birth Family Contact When Children Are Adopted From Care: Balancing The Well-Being Of Adopted Children With The Needs Of Birth Family Members, Elsbeth Neil

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

The adoption of children from care involves legally severing children’s birth family connections, often against the wishes of birth parents. When thinking about contact between children and their birth relatives, complex psychological and ethical issues must be considered. How can contact benefit children in situations where they have experienced abuse and neglect in their birth family? How can we address the issues of loss for adoptees and birth family members whilst holding the long-term well-being of the adopted person in mind? Is closed adoption without parental consent ever ethically defensible? This presentation aims to start conversations about these complex issues …


Achieving Well-Being For African American Children Adopted From Foster Care: A Successful Rural Model, Ruth Mcroy, Kathleen Belanger, Joe Haynes Apr 2018

Achieving Well-Being For African American Children Adopted From Foster Care: A Successful Rural Model, Ruth Mcroy, Kathleen Belanger, Joe Haynes

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

No abstract provided.


Psychotherapy With Young Adopted And Preadoptive Children With Histories Of Early Deprivation, Abuse And Disrupted Caretaking, Cynthia Monahon Apr 2018

Psychotherapy With Young Adopted And Preadoptive Children With Histories Of Early Deprivation, Abuse And Disrupted Caretaking, Cynthia Monahon

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

Young children with histories of serious early adversity placed in adoptive and pre-adoptive families are often referred for therapy based on behavioral challenges and parental worry. What in "therapy" can make a difference in the developmental trajectory of these children and their critical relationships with their adoptive and/or birth parent? What might be considered "best practices" from the perspective of professionals and parents reflecting on past treatments? This workshop will explore the complexity and diversity of therapeutic work with these vulnerable young children and their parents as well as factors associated with positive outcomes based on extensive clinical experience. The …


The Project On Genomic Family Health History For Adopted Persons: Challenges, Progress, And Where We’D Like To Go, Thomas May Apr 2018

The Project On Genomic Family Health History For Adopted Persons: Challenges, Progress, And Where We’D Like To Go, Thomas May

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

This presentation will describe challenges faced in gaining support to study the potential utilization of genetic testing to fill gaps in Adoptees’ access to family health history (FHx) information. In this context, I will describe how this collaborative project has addressed: 1. Skeptics who challenge the scientific ability to provide reliable FHx information through genetic testing; 2. Economic obstacles to the use of genetic testing to fill gaps in FHx for adopted persons; and 3. The importance of this information as much more than mere “curiosity” in the lives of many adopted persons.


Adoption Contracts And Deals As Plan B Parenthood, Martha M. Ertman Apr 2018

Adoption Contracts And Deals As Plan B Parenthood, Martha M. Ertman

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

Officially, law bans adoption contracts as baby-selling. But law professor Martha Ertman shows that people routinely enter entirely legal adoption contracts. Moreover, those contracts, and the mini-contracts that she calls “deals” help birth and adoptive families tailor the agreements to their situation. Blending memoir and law, Ertman integrates small group exercises with law and history of American adoption agreements, arguing that a contractual framework treats types of adoption as variations of family form, Plan B options when circumstances block the most common -- Plan A -- form of parenthood.


Cultural Socialization And Preparation-For-Bias: Critical Tasks Facing Adoptive Parents In Promoting The Well-Being Of Their Adopted Children, Ellen Pinderhughes Apr 2018

Cultural Socialization And Preparation-For-Bias: Critical Tasks Facing Adoptive Parents In Promoting The Well-Being Of Their Adopted Children, Ellen Pinderhughes

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

Families raising adopted children-of-color, in same-race or transracial, domestic or intercountry placements, face the task of helping children develop a healthy adoptive and ethnic/racial identity and deal with adoption- or race-related stigma or bias. Research suggests that these are complex processes in which what parents do and don’t do matter for adoptees. After discussing research on parents’ role in cultural socialization and preparation-for-bias, we will consider how parents can promote adoptees’ identity development and well-being and how professionals can prepare/support parents.


Meeting The Complex Mental Health Needs Of Children Moving To Permanency Through Adoption And Guardianship: A Review Of The National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative For Child Welfare And Mental Health Professionals, Debbie Riley, Dawn Wilson Apr 2018

Meeting The Complex Mental Health Needs Of Children Moving To Permanency Through Adoption And Guardianship: A Review Of The National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative For Child Welfare And Mental Health Professionals, Debbie Riley, Dawn Wilson

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

No abstract provided.


Well-Becoming: Well-Being In The Context Of Relationships For Adolescents, Susan Badeau Apr 2018

Well-Becoming: Well-Being In The Context Of Relationships For Adolescents, Susan Badeau

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

Children and teens need families for a lifetime, skills for successful adulthood and resources to support their safety and well-being. Positive social, emotional and physical well-being is a core aspect of a young person’s development. To be healthy and well, young people need to be able to develop and maintain relationships and social networks , effectively recognize, understand, and express emotions and maintain their physical health by making constructive life choices. This workshop will present a framework for well-being for older youth transitioning from foster care and highlight recommended strategies for improving the social, emotional and physical well-being of older …


Associations Between Peer Attachment And Positive Adoption Affect Throughout Adolescence And Emerging Adulthood, Dominique K. Altamari, Krystal K. Cashen, Harold D. Grotevant Apr 2018

Associations Between Peer Attachment And Positive Adoption Affect Throughout Adolescence And Emerging Adulthood, Dominique K. Altamari, Krystal K. Cashen, Harold D. Grotevant

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

No abstract provided.


Adoption Status And Social Network Inequality: Disparities Among Adolescents In Foster Care, Richard Carbonaro Apr 2018

Adoption Status And Social Network Inequality: Disparities Among Adolescents In Foster Care, Richard Carbonaro

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

No abstract provided.


Psychological Presence Of Adult Adoptees: Exploring Birth Mother Perspectives, Addie Wyman Battalen, Christina Sellers, Krystal K. Cashen, Ruth G. Mcroy, Harold Grotevant Apr 2018

Psychological Presence Of Adult Adoptees: Exploring Birth Mother Perspectives, Addie Wyman Battalen, Christina Sellers, Krystal K. Cashen, Ruth G. Mcroy, Harold Grotevant

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

No abstract provided.