Psychology Commons^™

Examination Of Community Mental Health Services For Persons With Serious Mental Illness: A Descriptive Study Of 31 Counties In Michigan, Pamela C. Werner

Masters Theses

Thirty-one out of 55 Community Mental Health Boards participated in a survey conducted by the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Michigan. This study examined a number of variables in the questionnaire using a product-moment correlational analysis.

Results indicated that family and consumer input is modestly correlated with comprehensive service delivery and staff/consumer education and training. Budget and the active number of mentally ill cases had a low correlation with comprehensive service delivery and staff/consumer education and training. Interagency collaboration was modestly correlated with program evaluation, and comprehensive services available to consumers. Weaknesses were noted in the management structure of …

The Relationship Between Cognitive Maturity And Information About Health Problems Among School Age Children, Lisa D. Lieberman, Noreeen Clark, Karen V. Krone, Mario Orlandi, Ernst L. Wynder

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This study of urban, multi-ethnic children was undertaken to explore the relationships between age, cognitive developmental capability (termed ‘cognitive maturity’) and accuracy of information about health problems. A total of 299 children in the first, second and third grades from six public and one private school hi New York City were individually interviewed using an open-ended set of questions. Findings indicated that having accurate health information is not the same as comprehending the abstract internal nature of the ‘facts’. Results supported Piaget's levels of cognitive development applied to the area of health. Findings also showed that age is a better …

Individual Response To Risk As A Function Of Normative Social Pressure: A Pilot Study Of Seat Belt Use, Kenneth D. Boehm, John T. Keating, Karl W. Pfefferkorn, Audra J. Pfeltz, Brady G. Serafin, Jessica L. Sullivan, Karen L. Thode, Kevin M. Vincent, Juanita V. Field

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors attempt to clarify some of the variables that influence whether people act appropriately when a Risk is substantial and subject to individual control. They do so by reporting results of a pilot study of seat belt use. Also, the authors believe their approach to be generalizable to problems such as encouraging people to test for radon, to use condoms to prevent AIDS or to quit smoking.

Affirmative Action And Self Esteem: An Exploratory Analysis Using Attribution Theory, Jacqueline Christine Coon Simpson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Genocide In Our Time : An Annotated Bibliography With Analytical Introductions, Michael N. Dobkowski, Isidor Wallimann, Alison Palmer, Alan Rosenberg, Evelyn Silverman, Sidney M. Bolkosky, Agi Rubin, Rouben Adalian, Lyman H. Legters, Eric Markusen, Israel W. Charny

Books

Genocide is a modern term whereby groups of people are killed on the basis of their religion, race, ethnicity, or nationality. This book suggest that modernity and the tremendous social differentiation that is a part of our modern world may, in part, be to blame. The authors examine textbook 20^th century horrors: from the massacre of the Armenians, to the planned famine in the Ukraine, to the Holocaust, and links of modern warfare to genocide. By studying cases of genocide, the authors hope to inform and connect to all other efforts to understand and to prevent the mass destruction …

Charisma, Empathy, And The Experience Of Telepathy, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

A critique is offered of the preference of parapsychology for physical explanatory models for telepathy. Discussion shows this trend emerging from the combined effects of historical accident. An alternative explanatory model is offered which draws upon the rich but underutilized psychological foundations of parapsychology. Emphasizing telepathy's original definition as a communication event, two other phenomena are held to fall into the same class of events: charisma and empathy. Concepts traditionally used to understand charisma and empathy are shown to be equally suited for modeling telepathy. Experimental, theoretical, and especially philosophical implications of this "possible world" model are addressed throughout.

Racial Issues In White Dyads: An Investigation Of Helms's Interaction Model, Nancy G. Ochs

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Experienced counselors in three eastern states were surveyed about the incidence of racial issues presented by their White clients and were asked to complete the White Racial Identity Attitudes Scales (WRIAS) and to respond to a questionnaire about a White client presenting a racial issue. Nearly a quarter of the counselors responding to the survey reported having some clients raising racial issues as main issues in counseling, and 45% reported having some clients bringing up racial issues relevant to their counseling. Respondents generally did not have training to help White clients with racial issues, nor did many report having special …

Predictors Of Social Support And Well-Being For Low Income Women, Debra Lee Wright

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Social Facilitation: The Effects Of Audience's Status On Performances Of A Pursuit Rotor Task, Richard J. Baranowski

Masters Theses

In a study of social facilitation, 20 college students performed a pursuit rotor task in the presence of an audience of other students or faculty members. The results indicate that subjects performing in the presence of an audience of student peers displayed a significant enhancement in performance when compared to a baseline performance measurement. Subjects performing in the presence of an audience of faculty members displayed a nonsignificant decrement in performance when compared to baseline performance. The results suggest that the status of an audience affects individual performance.

The Relationship Between The Content And Quality Of Ex-Spousal Interactions And The Adjustment Of Stepchildren: An Exploratory Study, Bradley Lawrence Elison

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between ex-spousal interactions following remarriage and the behavioral and emotional adjustment of stepchildren. The subjects for the study were volunteers and were recruited for the study either through The PACES Family Counseling Center at The College of William and Mary or through a networking sampling procedure. The study participants included stepchildren between the ages of 8 and 16, and their residential biological parents.;Thirty-one stepchild/biological-parent pairs participated in the study by completing a series of questionnaires relevant to ex-spousal interactions and children's adjustment. Ex-spousal interactions were assessed using The Content of …

Comparing Relationships: Same-Sex Friendships, Cross-Sex Friendships, And Romantic Love, Kathryn Gray Bilbro

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Hiv Status And Perceptions Of People Living With Aids, Molly Allison Weber

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Individual Differences In Cognitive Representations Of Social Environments, Joy Lyn Austin

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Is Conservatism An Artifact Caused By Dissimilarities Between The Laboratory And The Real World?, Stuart B. Kamenetsky

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Human revision of opinion has often been described as a list of heuristics and cognitive biases. The following study examined the possibility that one of these biases, conservatism, is a result of dissimilarities between the laboratory and the real world. In two experiments, participants ranked problems on a psychological scale of realism, solved several realistic and artificial problems and completed a questionnaire to assess their probability knowledge base. Results showed that participants classified problems into different groups according to their level of realism. Whereas their responses to the artificial problems were conservative, their responses to the realistic problems were very …

Mothers And Others Making Change: Empowerment Through Self-Help And Social Action (Ontario), Susan M. Morrison

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative research study is an evaluation of the organization, Mothers and Others Making Change (MOMC), a self-help/social action, anti-poverty organization in Kitchener-Waterloo. The research was developed a, both an action and a theoretical investigation designed to answer the questions: Is MOMC an empowering organization? and Is MOMC an empowered organization? Members of MOMC, local and provincial human service representatives and local and provincial politicians were interviewed to obtain their opinions about these questions. The results indicate that both the self-help arid the social action components of the organization are important factors in empowering the members to take control of …

Living On The Edge: Families' Experience Of Developmental Disability And Mental Illness Across The Life Cycle, Don R. Roth

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative research document provides an in-depth description of families’ experience of both developmental disability and mental illness (i.e., "dual diagnosis") across the life cycle. This thesis is devoted to listening to family members as they tell their story beginning with the early years of family life, then through childhood and adolescence, and into young adulthood with their family member. This research describes the process of how families developed a framework to interpret and make sense of the world around them. Then, the research integrates these families’ experience over the life cycle with models of family stress and coping in …

Charisma, Empathy, And The Experience Of Telepathy, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A critique is offered of the preference of parapsychology for physical explanatory models for telepathy. Discussion shows this trend emerging from the combined effects of historical accident. An alternative explanatory model is offered which draws upon the rich but underutilized psychological foundations of parapsychology. Emphasizing telepathy's original definition as a communication event, two other phenomena are held to fall into the same class of events: charisma and empathy. Concepts traditionally used to understand charisma and empathy are shown to be equally suited for modeling telepathy. Experimental, theoretical, and especially philosophical implications of this "possible world" model are addressed throughout.

An Investigation Of Complexity Of Reasoning And Transactive Dialogue Behaviour In Parents' And Adolescents' Socio-Political Discussions, Silvana Santolupo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There has been no observational investigation of parental socialization of adolescent political thinking reported in the developmental literature to date. Following Berkowitz and Gibbs‘ (1983) work on moral development and dialogue, the techniques of integrative complexity of reasoning and transactive dialogue analysis were applied to mother-adolescent political discussions. Adolescent’s age and gender, family parenting styles, and family communication patterns were expected to affect the quality or nature of these discussions. In turn, variations in the discussions were anticipated to influence adolescents’ subsequent integrative complexity of reasoning (IC) scores on a post-test. An equal number of male and female younger adolescents …