Psychology Commons^™

Alcohol Priming And Attribution Of Blame In An Acquaintance Rape Vignette, Elena V. Stepanova, Amy L. Brown

Faculty Publications

Research on nonpharmacological effects of alcohol shows that exposure to alcohol-related cues (i.e., alcohol priming) can increase behaviors associated with actual alcohol consumption. Attributions of responsibility to female victims in sexual assault scenarios are affected by whether or not alcohol was consumed by a victim and/or perpetrator. Victims often receive higher levels of blame if they consume alcohol prior to the assault. This work extends the research on nonpharmacological effects of alcohol into a novel domain of blame attribution toward rape victims. In two studies, participants in lab settings (Study 1; N = 184) and online (Study 2; N = …

Attractiveness As A Function Of Skin Tone And Facial Features: Evidence From Categorization Studies, Elena V. Stepanova, Michael J. Strube

Faculty Publications

Participants rated the attractiveness and racial typicality of male faces varying in their facial features from Afrocentric to Eurocentric and in skin tone from dark to light in two experiments. Experiment 1 provided evidence that facial features and skin tone have an interactive effect on perceptions of attractiveness and mixed-race faces are perceived as more attractive than single-race faces. Experiment 2 further confirmed that faces with medium levels of skin tone and facial features are perceived as more attractive than faces with extreme levels of these factors. Black phenotypes (combinations of dark skin tone and Afrocentric facial features) were rated …

What's It To Me? Self-Interest And Evaluations Of Financial Conflicts Of Interest, Samuel Bruton, Donald Sacco

Faculty Publications

Disclosure has become the preferred way of addressing the threat to researcher objectivity arising from financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs). This article argues that the effectiveness of disclosure at protecting science from the corrupting effects of FCOIs—particularly the kind of disclosure mandated by US federal granting agencies—is more limited than is generally acknowledged. Current NIH and NSF regulations require disclosed FCOIs to be reviewed, evaluated, and managed by officials at researchers’ home institutions. However, these reviewers are likely to have institutional and personal interests of their own that may undermine the integrity of their evaluations. This paper presents experimental findings …

It's More Than Self-Presentation: Mum Effects Can Reflect Private Discomfort And Concern For The Recipient, Jayson L. Dibble

Faculty Publications

Is the reluctance to share bad news (i.e., the MUM effect) motivated more by a public display or private concern, and does it benefit mainly the messenger or the recipient? An experiment (N = 309) that crossed good/bad news with three communication channels (face to face, text messaging, email) revealed that messenger reluctance was greatest under conditions of bad news and did not vary based on channel through which the recipient contacted the messenger. In contrast with earlier work, this MUM effect was more consistent with a private fear of distressing the recipient. Theoretical implications and limitations are discussed.

The Role Of Feature-Based Discrimination In Driving Health Disparities Among Black Americans, Randl B. Dent, Nao Hagiwara, Elena V. Stepanova, Tiffany L. Green

Faculty Publications

Objective: A growing body of research finds that darker skin tone is often associated with poorer physical and mental health in Blacks. However, the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the skin tone-health link remain elusive. The present study seeks to address this knowledge gap by investigating the direct and indirect (through perceived discrimination, socioeconomic status, and self-esteem) effects of skin tone on self-reported physical and mental health.

Design: An urban sample of 130 Blacks aged 35 and above completed a self-administered computerized survey as a part of larger cross-sectional study.

Results: Self-esteem played a particularly important role in mediating the associations between …

Client Outcomes Across Counselor Training Level Within A Multitiered Supervision Model, Scott J. Nyman, Mark A. Nafziger, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

The authors examined client outcome data to evaluate treatment effectiveness across counselor training level. They used a multitiered supervision model consisting of professional staff, interns, and practicum students. Clients (N = 264) demonstrated significant improvement with no significant outcome differences between professional staff and supervised trainees. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Racial Attitudes Among Asian And European American College Students: A Cross-Cultural Examination., Timothy B. Smith, Raquel Bowman, Sungti Hsu

Faculty Publications

College campuses are becoming increasingly racially diverse and may provide an optimal setting for the reduction of racial stereotypes and prejudices perpetuated in society. To better understand racism among college students, this study evaluated the attitudes of Asian and White European Americans toward several racial out-groups. Participants completed a survey containing the Social Distance Scale, and differences between participants' ratings of their own race were contrasted with their ratings of other races. Findings revealed strong preferences for social affiliations with members of their same racial background, with attitudes towards out-groups differing as a function of the race of the participant. …

Weak Evidence For Increased Motivated Forgetting Of Trauma-Related Words In Dissociated Or Traumatised Individuals In A Directed Forgetting Experiment, Lawrence Patihis, Patricia J. Place

Faculty Publications

Motivated forgetting is the idea that people can block out, or forget, upsetting or traumatic memories, because there is a motivation to do so. Some researchers have cited directed forgetting studies using trauma-related words as evidence for the theory of motivated forgetting of trauma. In the current article subjects used the list method directed forgetting paradigm with both trauma-related words and positive words. After one list of words was presented subjects were directed to forget the words previously learned, and they then received another list of words. Each list was a mix of positive and trauma-related words, and the lists …

Discrete Pre-Processing Step Effects In Registration-Based Pipelines, A Preliminary Volumetric Study On T1-Weighted Images, Nathan M. Muncy, Ariana M. Hedges-Muncy, C. Brock Kirwan

Faculty Publications

Pre-processing MRI scans prior to performing volumetric analyses is common practice in MRI studies. As pre-processing steps adjust the voxel intensities, the space in which the scan exists, and the amount of data in the scan, it is possible that the steps have an effect on the volumetric output. To date, studies have compared between and not within pipelines, and so the impact of each step is unknown. This study aims to quantify the effects of preprocessing steps on volumetric measures in T1-weighted scans within a single pipeline. It was our hypothesis that pre-processing steps would significantly impact ROI volume …

Mediodorsal Thalamic Neurons Mirror The Activity Of Medial Prefrontal Neurons Responding To Movement And Reinforcement During A Dynamic Dnmtp Task, Rikki L.A. Miller Phd, Miranda J. Francoeur, Brett M. Gibson, Robert G. Mair

Faculty Publications

The mediodorsal nucleus (MD) interacts with medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to support learning and adaptive decision-making. MD receives driver (layer 5) and modulatory (layer 6) projections from PFC and is the main source of driver thalamic projections to middle cortical layers of PFC. Little is known about the activity of MD neurons and their influence on PFC during decision-making. We recorded MD neurons in rats performing a dynamic delayed nonmatching to position (dDNMTP) task and compared results to a previous study of mPFC with the same task (Onos et al., 2016). Criterion event-related responses were observed for 22% …

School Experiences Of Early Adolescent Latinos/As At Risk For Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Ryan M. Balagna, Ellie L. Young, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Previous research has shown that Latino/a middle school students exhibiting emotional or behavioral disturbance are at risk for undesirable academic outcomes. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions and experiences of at-risk Latino/a students to identify ways to improve interventions designed to promote their academic retention and success. Participants included 11 Latino/a students between the ages of 11 and 13, 8 male and 3 female, who were screened for being at risk for behavior disorders using the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders. These students shared their perceptions and experiences of schooling during in-depth qualitative interviews. Interpretative phenomenological …

Secondary Transition Of Multicultural Learners: Lessons From The Navajo Native American Experience, Lynn K. Wilder, Aaron P. Jackson, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Special educators typically individualize services according to student disability; they should also individualize services according to student culture. Culture influences post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities (Bakken & Aloia, 1999). This article identifies 4 barriers to successful transition for Navajo Native American students and suggests strategies for teachers to use to minimize the risks of unsuccessful transition for multicultural students. The article provides information that special educators can use to better individualize their transition services to all students with disabilities.

Socioemotional Selectivity And Mental Health Among Trauma Survivors In Old Age, Derek M. Isaacowitz, Timothy B. Smith, Laura L. Carstensen

Faculty Publications

Empirical tests of socioemotional selectivity theory support the contention that the developmental trend in adulthood to focus increasingly on fewer, but emotionally significant, social partners is associated positively with psychological well-being. Tenets of the theory, however, also suggest conditions in which selectivity could instead lead to an increase in negative emotional experiences. In particular, if the socioemotional world of the individual includes emotional distress, selective focus on emotions and close relationships may detract from rather than enhance well-being. In the current study, we examined selectivity and associated well-being in Holocaust survivors, Japanese-American internment camp survivors, and comparably-aged people who lived …

Pressing Issues In College Counseling: A Survey Of American College Counseling Association Members, Timothy B. Smith, Brenda Dean, Suzanne Floyd, Christopher Silva, Momoko Yamashita, Jared Durtschi, Richard A. Heaps

Faculty Publications

The authors conducted a survey of members of the American College Counseling Association to ascertain the experiences and opinions of college counselors on several pressing issues within the profession. Survey results with 133 respondents indicated that counseling centers may benefit from increasing the number of group counseling interventions, by increasing the multicultural competence of services provided, by implementing crisis/disaster mental health initiatives, and by more effectively consulting with other professionals across campus.

Religion And Esotericism Among Students: A Crosscultural Comparative Study, Franz Höllinger, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Analyzing the results of a study on religious and esoteric beliefs and practice among university students from five European and five American countries, we found that the level of religiousness of students depends very much on their cultural environment: the level of religiosity and esoteric beliefs is significantly higher among North- and South-American students than among European students. On the other hand, Asian spiritual techniques and esoteric methods of healing are practiced more frequently by students in North-Western European countries. In the second part of the paper, we examine the relationship between academic discipline and religious worldviews. According to our …

Positive Parenting Of Children With Developmental Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis, Tina Taylor, Timothy B. Smith, Byran B. Korth, Susanne Olsen Roper, Barbara Mandleco

Faculty Publications

Although a large body of literature exists supporting the relationship between positive parenting and child outcomes for typically developing children, there are reasons to analyze separately the relevant literature specific to children with developmental disabilities. However, that literature has not been synthesized in any systematic review. This study examined the association between positive parenting attributes and outcomes of young children with developmental disabilities through meta-analytic aggregation of effect sizes across 14 studies including 576 participants. The random effects weighted average effect size was r = .22 (SE = .06, p < .001), indicative of a moderate association between positive parenting attributes and child outcomes. Publication bias did not appear to be a substantial threat to the results. There was a trend for studies with more mature parents to have effect sizes of higher magnitude than studies with young parents. The results provide support for efforts to evaluate and promote effective parenting skills when providing services for young children with disabilities.

Intake Screening With The Self-Rating Depression Scale In A University Counseling Center, Timothy B. Smith, Ilene Rosenstein, Michael M. Granaas

Faculty Publications

Screening clients at intake for symptoms of depression can be beneficial, provided the instrument used is reliable and valid. The psychometric properties of the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were examined using an ethnically diverse sample of 324 counseling center clients. Results provided moderate support for the SDS. Differences across demographic groups and considerations for intake screening are discussed.

Early Rearing History Influences Oxytocin Receptor Epigenetic Regulation In Rhesus Macaques, Maggie Baker, Stephen G. Lindell, Carlos A. Driscoll, Zhifeng Zhou, Qiaoping Yuan, Melanie L. Schwandt, Isaac Miller-Crews, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Annika Paukner, Pier Francesco Ferrari, Ravi Kumar Sindhu, Muslima Razaqya, Wolfgang H. Sommer, Juan F. Lopez, Robert C. Thompson, David Goldman, Markus Heilig, J. Dee Higley, Stephen J. Suomi, Christina S. Barr

Faculty Publications

Adaptations to stress can occur through epigenetic processes and may be a conduit for informing offspring of environmental challenge. We employed ChIP-sequencing for H3K4me3 to examine effects of early maternal deprivation (peer-rearing, PR) in archived rhesus macaque hippocampal samples (male, n = 13). Focusing on genes with roles in stress response and behavior, we assessed the effects of rearing on H3K4me3 binding by ANOVA. We found decreased H3K4me3 binding at genes critical to behavioral stress response, the most robust being the oxytocin receptor gene OXTR, for which we observed a corresponding decrease in RNA expression. Based on this finding, we …

Altered Sensitivity To Social Gaze In The Fmr1 Premutation And Pragmatic Language Competence, Jessica Klusek, Joseph Schmidt, Amanda J. Fairchild, Ann Porter, Jane E. Roberts

Faculty Publications

Background: The FMR1 premutation affects 1:291 women and is associated with a range of cognitive, affective, and physical health complications, including deficits in pragmatic language (i.e., social language). This study investigated attention to eye gaze as a fundamental social-cognitive skill that may be impaired in the FMR1 premutation and could underlie pragmatic deficits. Given the high prevalence of the FMR1 premutation, efforts to define its phenotype and mechanistic underpinnings have significant public health implications. Methods: Thirty-five women with the FMR1 premutation and 20 control women completed an eye-tracking paradigm that recorded time spent dwelling within the eye region in response …

Effects Of Mothers' Locus Of Control For Child Improvement In A Developmentally Delayed Sample., Timothy B. Smith, Matthew N.I. Oliver, Glenna C. Boyce, Mark S. Innocenti

Faculty Publications

A potentially important variable that has received little attention in the literature is the locus of control a caregiver holds for child improvement, including its influence on the caregiver's treatment compliance and on actual child improvement. To evaluate the utility of the construct in a practice setting, 131 caregiver-child dyads were evaluated across one year. Children were approximately four years old at the first assessment, and all of them had been diagnosed with a developmental disability. Caregiver compliance to treatment (attendance at sessions and teacher ratings of their support and knowledge) was tracked, and measures of child development status and …

Virtue, Positive Psychology, And Religion: Consideration Of An Overarching Virtue And An Underpinning Mechanism, Lindsey M. Root Luna, Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet

Faculty Publications

The virtues are a central focus of research at the intersection of positive psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality. Humility, patience, and gratitude are addressed in the target articles of this special issue. Beyond examining each individual virtue, we argue here that the connections among virtues also warrant empirical attention. Specifically, we explain the unity of the virtues thesis, which suggests that individual virtues may be a part of a larger overarching construct, which we propose may be practical wisdom, or simply general virtuousness. Similarly, we propose that a common mechanism, such as automatic self-regulation, may facilitate these …

Normal Behavioral Responses To Light And Darkness And The Pupillary Light Reflex Are Dependent Upon The Olivary Pretectal Nucleus In The Diurnal Nile Grass Rat, Andrew J. Gall, Ohanes S. Khacherian, Brandi Ledbetter, Sean P. Deats, Megan Luck, Laura Smale, Lily Yan, Antonio A. Nunez

Faculty Publications

The olivary pretectal nucleus (OPT) is a midbrain structure that receives reciprocal bilateral retinal projections, is involved in the pupillary light reflex, and connects reciprocally with the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL), a retinorecipient brain region that mediates behavioral responses to light pulses (i.e., masking) in diurnal Nile grass rats. Here, we lesioned the OPT and evaluated behavioral responses in grass rats to various lighting conditions, as well as their anxiety-like responses to light exposure. While control grass rats remained diurnal, grass rats with OPT lesions exhibited a more night-active pattern under 12h:12h light-dark (LD) conditions. However, when placed in constant darkness, …

Body Esteem And Appearance-Based Self-Worth: A Test Of Religious Moderators In Men And Women, Mary Inman, Charlotte Vanoyen Witvliet

Faculty Publications

Basing self-worth on appearance is inversely related to women’s body esteem, but studies have not examined whether religious factors moderate this relationship in women or men—controlling for positive and negative affect. We tested two possible moderators: basing self-worth on when one has God’s (conditional) love or having positive attitudes toward God (trusting and feeling loved and supported by an all-knowing and all-powerful God). In women (N=287) and men (N=124), correlations showed that basing self-worth on appearance was negatively related to body esteem, whereas positive attitudes toward God were positively related to body esteem. In women, basing self-worth on perceptions of …

Psychometric Comparison Of Dissociative Experiences Scales Ii And C: A Weak Trauma-Dissociation Link, Lawrence Patihis, Steven Jay Lynn

Faculty Publications

The debate regarding the relationship between dissociation and trauma has raised questions regarding the validity of measures of dissociation. Dalenberg et al.'s (2012) meta-analysis included studies using the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES II), but excluded the DES-Comparison (DES-C) scale, claiming that it lacked validity as a measure of dissociation. Lynn et al. (2014) contended that omitting those studies might have skewed the results. In the current study, we compared the psychometric properties of both measures in two nonclinical US adult (student, general population) samples to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales. We found support for the DES-II …

The Implications Of Using A Broad Versus Narrow Set Of Criteria In Research, Leonard A. Jason, Kristen D. Gleason Phd, Pamela Fox

Faculty Publications

The Fukuda et al. criteria is the most widely used clinical case definition for diagnosing patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Despite the frequency with which the Fukuda criteria are applied, the list of symptoms outlined in this case definition were not well enough specified to be easily applied to research settings. In 2005, Reeves et al. laid out a set of standards for operationalizing the Fukuda definition, specifying scales and cutoff scores for measuring the symptom criteria. This operationalization, often known as the empirical criteria, has been shown to identify an unexpectedly large number of patients, seemingly widening the …

Toxoplasma Gondii Moderates The Association Between Multiple Folate-Cycle Factors And Cognitive Function In U.S. Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Andrew N. Berrett, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a microscopic, apicomplexan parasite that can infect muscle or neural tissue, including the brain, in humans. While T. gondii infection has been associated with changes in mood, behavior, and cognition, the mechanism remains unclear. Recent evidence suggests that T. gondii may harvest folate from host neural cells. Reduced folate availability is associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and cognitive decline. We hypothesized that impairment in cognitive functioning in subjects seropositive for T. gondii might be associated with a reduction of folate availability in neural cells. We analyzed data from the third …

Studying Guilt Perception In Millennials: Unexpected Effects Of Suspects' Race And Attractiveness, D. Lisa Cothran, Elena V. Stepanova, K. Raquel Barlow

Faculty Publications

The present study explored mock jurors’ guilt judgments with a 2 (Jurors’ Race: Black vs. White) × 2 (Suspects’ Race: Black vs. White) × 2 (Suspects’ Attractiveness: High vs. Low) design in a group of Millennials (N = 331). Black jurors were more lenient; all jurors were more lenient toward Black suspects; and White jurors were less lenient toward Black unattractive suspects. The current study contributes the following novel findings to the literature: documentation of a possible Black experimenter effect in mock jurors; an interaction among suspects’ race, suspects’ attractiveness, and jurors’ race, suggesting that racial bias exhibited by …

Preadolescent Sensation Seeking And Early Adolescent Stress Relate To At-Risk Adolescents' Substance Use By Age 15, Nora E. Charles, Charles W. Mathias, Ashley Acheson, Donald M. Dougherty

Faculty Publications

Background and aims

Substance use during adolescence can lead to the development of substance use disorders and other psychosocial problems. These negative outcomes are especially likely for individuals who use substances at earlier ages and those who engage in heavier use during adolescence, behaviors which are both more common among youth at higher risk for developing a substance use disorder, such as those with a family history of substance use disorders (FH +). Factors such as increased sensation seeking and greater exposure to stressors among FH + youth may influence these associations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to …

Reduced Vagal Tone In Women With The Premutation Is Associated With Mrna But Not Depression Or Anxiety, Jessica Klusek, Giuseppe Lafauci, Tatyana Adayev, W Ted Brown, Flora Tassone, Jane E. Roberts

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Autonomic dysfunction is implicated in a range of psychological conditions, including depression and anxiety. The () premutation is a common genetic mutation that affects ~1:150 women and is associated with psychological vulnerability. This study examined cardiac indicators of autonomic function among women with the premutation and control women as potential biomarkers for psychological risk that may be linked to . METHODS: Baseline inter-beat interval and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (a measure of parasympathetic vagal tone) were measured in 35 women with the premutation and 28 controls. The women completed anxiety and depression questionnaires. genetic indices (i.e., CGG repeat, quantitative FMRP, …

Group Identity As A Source Of Threat And Means Of Compensation: Establishing Personal Control Through Group Identification And Ideology, Chris Goode, Lucas A. Keefer, Nyla R. Branscombe, Ludwin E. Molina

Faculty Publications

Compensatory control theory proposes that individuals can assuage threatened personal control by endorsing external systems or agents that provide a sense that the world is meaningfully ordered. Recent research drawing on this perspective finds that one means by which individuals can compensate for a loss of control is adherence to ideological beliefs about the social world. This prior work, however, has largely neglected the role of social groups in defining either the nature of control threat or the means by which individuals compensate for these threats. In four experiments (N = 466), we test the possibility that group-based threats to …