Psychology Commons^™

Integrating Development And Evolution In Psychology: Looking Back, Moving Forward, David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

This work is the editorial for a special edition of New Ideas in Psychology titled Integrating Development and Evolution in Psychology.

Individuals And Populations: How Biology's Theory And Data Have Interfered With The Integration Of Development And Evolution, David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Research programs in quantitative behavior genetics and evolutionary psychology have contributed to the widespread belief that some psychological characteristics can be “inherited” via genetic mechanisms. In fact, molecular and developmental biologists have concluded that while genetic factors contribute to the development of all of our traits, non-genetic factors always do too, and in ways that make them no less important than genetic factors. This insight demands a reworking of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis, a theory that defined evolution as a process involving changes in the frequencies of genes in populations, and that envisioned no role for experiential factors now known …

Ncaa Division I Head Softball Coaches' Confidence, Openness And Stigma Tolerance Toward Sport Psychology Consultants, Laurie Ann Neelis

Dissertations

This study used a mixed-method to look at NCAA division I head softball coaches confidence, openness, and stigma tolerance about sport psychology principles and consultants, as well as what sport psychology principles, time of year used, and what a Sport Psychology Consultant (SPC) can do to help division I head softball coaches have more success with their teams. These variables were measured through the use of the Sport Psychology Attitudes - Revised Coaches instrument developed by Zakrajsek and Zizzi (2007). For the qualitative component, the researcher developed five inquiries that allowed for a more in-depth response from the coaches concerning …

Volunteer Functions, Satisfaction, Commitment, And Intention To Leave Government Volunteering, Gisela R. Salas

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Traditionally, volunteerism has been deeply embedded in United States history with citizens showing a high level of social participation. In the United States there are 60.8 million volunteers, however, the supply of volunteer labor has been insufficient to meet the demands of organizations with recent reports showing a decrease. Trends as far back as the 1980s indicated that budgetary constraints coupled with increasing demands makes volunteering the logical alternative to sustain service delivery.

Many community, civic, and governmental organizations need and use volunteers to accomplish their missions. One of the greatest challenges, however, is ensuring that the volunteers remain satisfied …

The Effects Of Exercise Enjoyment And Personality On Mood And Salivary Cortisol With Exercise Activity, Pamela Mary Schweighart

Doctoral Dissertations

The benefits of exercise are extensive; however, the majority of people do not participate in regular exercise. The problems with adherence may be due to personality factors and/or the of enjoyment of exercise. A pilot study was performed with the purpose of examining the relationship between exercise enjoyment and activity and to provide data for the validation of an enjoyment scale.

The purpose of the main study was to examine the relationships between exercise enjoyment, exercise activity, personality, mood, and salivary cortisol as well as the differences between the variables mentioned. Fifty-three students participated (22 male, 31 female; 11 sedentary, …

Parental Influences In Child Obesity, Janel Lynn Calinisan

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

One of the greatest concerns in American society is peoples’ health. In the past several years there has been an overwhelming increase in obesity in Americans. This concern relates not only to adults, but also to children, as more are found to be overweight. Many factors have been suggested as to why more children are becoming obese, including parenting, demographics, physical activity, nutrition, and biological factors. Studies have shown that parental influence or involvement can be related to child obesity such that neglected children were more likely to be obese in adolescence and sustain it through adulthood. In order to …

Emotional, Cognitive, And Family Systems Mediators Of Children's Adjustment To Interparental Conflict, Gregory M. Fosco, John H. Grych

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Emotional, cognitive, and family systems processes have been identified as mediators of the association between interparental conflict and children's adjustment. However, little is known about how they function in relation to one another because they have not all been assessed in the same study. This investigation examined the relations among children's exposure to parental conflict, their appraisals of threat and blame, their emotional reaction, and triangulation into parental disagreements. One hundred fifty ethnically diverse 8- to 12-year-old children and both of their parents participated in the study. Comparisons of 3 models proposing different relations among these processes indicated that they …

A Meta-Analysis Of Adolescent Rampage Shootings And The Potential Interconnectivity To Gifted/Talented Children With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, Meghan M. Salyers

Theses and Dissertations

On the tenth anniversary of a series of school rampage shootings in Springfield, Oregon, Littleton, Colorado, and Conyers, Georgia, the purpose of this study was to determine whether there were indications of intellectual, academic, or creative giftedness with emotional/behavioral disorders in the perpetrators. In addition, through historiographical methods, this study was designed to allow for themes to surface from the authentic writings of the adolescent shooters.

Similarities in previous research results are reported in the meta-analysis, and categories derived from my analysis of the writings of Kip Kinkel, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and T.J. Solomon are indicated in the analysis …

Counselors Working In Integrated Primary Behavioral Health And The Influence On Professional Identity: A Phenomenological Study, Geniene Michelle Gersh

Dissertations

Over the past several years there has been a paradigm shift within the primary care delivery system from a traditional medical approach of providing behavioral health services to an integrated primary behavioral health model. This shift in patient care presents new opportunities for professional counselors to assume a role working in the health care arena. Currently there is a lack of research exploring the experiences of counselors working in this model. In addition, there is a deficit in the existing counseling literature specifically examining how working in this setting may potentially influence counselor identity. In an effort to inform counselors …

An Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of The Consultant Workshop Model In A Human Service Setting, Nicole E. Gravina

Dissertations

The purpose of the present dissertation was to document and evaluate the consultant-workshop model commonly employed by OBM consultants. The consultation took place in a non-profit human service setting that delivers behavioral services to children diagnosed with autism and their families. Workshop attendees were 13 senior therapists each of whom oversaw 6 to 8 instructor therapists who provided behavioral services to clients and 3 clinical supervisors who oversaw senior therapists. The training took place in 2005 (i.e., three years prior to this evaluation) across five months and four workshop sessions. Participants learned to pinpoint, measure, diagnose, and intervene and then …

Research Self-Efficacy And Research Mentoring Experiences As Predictors Of Occupational Commitment In Counselor Education Doctoral Students, Glinda Jeanette Rawls

Dissertations

The demands of research and pressure to publish have been identified as reasons doctoral graduates in counselor education infrequently choose faculty careers (Maples, Altekruse, & Testa, 1993; Swickert, 1997). Despite this finding, the counselor education literature provides very little information on doctoral students' research self-efficacy or perceived ability to complete research-related tasks (Bieschke, Bishop, & Herbert, 1995). In addition, research mentoring can enhance research self-efficacy (Hollingsworth & Fassinger, 2002), yet it too remains understudied. Research mentoring involves someone more experienced promoting research skill, awareness, and productivity to someone less experienced (Dohm & Cummings, 2002). Few studies have explored research self-efficacy, …

Cognitive Development And The Understanding Of Informed Consent, Lindsey Elizabeth Pearse

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The informed consent process is an important criterion for all research studies. However, researchers rarely ask or even consider how many participants truly understand the informed consent information and their research rights. Currently, researchers base a participant’s ability to understand informed consent information and research rights on age. In the present study it was hypothesized that cognitive development is a predictor of ethical knowledge. Accordingly, it was argue d that a participant’s ability to understand informed consent and research rights should not be based on a participant’s age but instead on the participant’s cognitive development. Students at the University of …

Know Your Audience: An Assessment Of Preferred Learning Styles Of Freshman Students At Red River High School In Grand Forks, North Dakota, Kelly D. Peters

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to identify theories and describe characteristics of learning styles, assess characteristics of freshman students at Red River High School using data from the CAPSOL (Computerized Assessment and Prescription Styles of Learning) Style of Learning Assessment, MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Scores, GPA (Grade Point Average), and North Dakota STARS (State Automated Reporting System), and justify a pedagogical and philosophical change in instruction to adapt instructional strategies to match and strengthen students' learning styles.

The research investigated the relationships between learning style scale scores, GPA, gender, RIT (Rasch Unit) Scores, and socioeconomic factors. This study …

Cortisol Response Of Non-Suicidal Self-Injurers Versus Non-Self-Injurers Exposed To A Social Rejection Laboratory Stressor, Patrick L. Kerr

Theses and Dissertations

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSI) represents a growing area of concern in a variety of clinical settings, yet remains a poorly understood phenomenon. An influx of research on the functions of NSI over the past decade has suggested a biopsychosocial emotional regulation model of this behavior. This model proposes that self-injurers engage in NSI to reduce negative emotions, and presupposes that self-injurers are characterized by emotional dysregulation. The present study evaluated the biological component of this model by assessing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPAA) functioning in a group of self-injurers(n=26) and non-injuring healthy controls (n=28). HPAA functioning was assessed via measuring salivary cortisol levels …

“It’S A Choice, Simple As That”: Youth Reasoning For Sexual Abstinence Or Activity, Rochelle L. Dalla

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This investigation was designed to fill gaps in the extant literature by examining reasons give by youth for refraining from or engaging in sexual intercourse, in addition to their perceptions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of premarital intercourse. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 103 graduating seniors; 60 self-identified as sexually abstinent and 43 as sexually active. Survey indices were used to assess parent-youth relationships, and parent and peer attitudes toward premarital sex, religiosity, and dating patterns; open-ended questions were used to assess reasons for either engaging in or refraining from sexual intercourse, and to identify benefits and problems …

Psychological Distress And Change In A Pediatric Obesity Population, Amy Rebecca Beck

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Pediatric overweight and obesity is a growing national epidemic with 15 percent of children ages 6-19 considered obese and at least 22 percent considered overweight. While there is considerable research pointing to contributing factors of obesity, there is a paucity of research which elucidates what contributes to successful intervention. Considering that by the year 2050, nearly 50 million Americans may be obese, understanding the factors delineating success of weight loss and prevention is a necessity. The purpose of this study was to utilize archival data from the LLU Growing Fit Program to evaluate the levels of psychological distress experienced by …

Ethical Decision-Making Regarding Multiple Relationships Between Therapist And Client, Diana Jochai

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The current study examined a new conceptual model of factors critical to a therapist’s decision-making process when faced with the potential of a nonsexual multiple relationship with a client. This new model was founded on the conceptual framework proposed by Street, Douglas, Geiger, & Martinko (2001) and integrated the components of the decision-making process and the individual and situational factors influencing those components identified in existing general conceptual models and specific behavioral guidelines. For the ethical decision-making process to begin, a practitioner must be able to recognize the presenting problem as an ethical dilemma (Brazerman, 1986; Jones, 1991; Street et …

Individual Differences In Emotion Expression: Hierarchical Structure And Relations With Psychological Distress, Jeffery H. Kahn, Leah K. Barr, Joel W. Schneider

Faculty Publications – Psychology

Several constructs reflecting individual differences in emotion expression have been described in the literature, yet their structural organization is unknown. The present study provided a taxonomy of these individual differences and determined their relations to depression and anxiety symptoms. Exploratory factor analyses suggested seven emotion-expression factors-Affect Intensity, Ambivalence About Expression Disclosure of Negative Emotion, Disclosure of Emotion, Disclosure of Lack of Affect, Expression of Positive Emotion, and Secret Keeping-are explained by two second-order factors: Emotional Constraint and Emotional Expression. Multiple regression and canonical correlation analyses suggested that a reluctance to express emotions is related to heightened psychological symptoms. These findings …

Examining The Role Of Stress In Binge Eating Disorder, Stephanie M. Lamattina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

[In lieu of Abstract, excerpt from Conclusion of Examining the Role of Stress in Binge Eating Disorder]:

Results from the present study support growing evidence which demonstrates that stress can negatively impact binge eating. However, given the paucity of research examining these variables in clinical samples of individuals diagnosed with BED, additional research is warranted. Therefore, future studies should continue to recruit clinical samples utilizing clinical interviews. Research is also needed to further explore the relationship between cortisol and binge eating in individuals diagnosed with BED. Interestingly, individuals diagnosed with BED perceived the stress task (and situations in general) …

Dismantling An Act-Based Intervention For Work Stress: Do Values Really Matter?, Barbara A. Hermann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a multi-component intervention within the third-wave of behavioral therapy, has been shown to improve various outcomes in diverse populations and administration formats. This study utilized a dismantling design to investigate whether the values components of an ACT-based intervention for work stress add to the effects of the intervention beyond those of the mindfulness components and to explore possible mediators of change. Expanding beyond existing studies of ACT, a broad range of outcomes were examined pretreatment, post-treatment, and at three follow-up assessments in a small sample (N = 16) of employees of a university in the …

Promoting Animals For Well-Being And Self-Acceptance With The Human Patient, Vicki J. Marquardt

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Few empirical studies have been conducted in order to scientifically measure the benefits of using animals with individuals suffering from neurological disorders, or traumatic brain injuries, with or without the inclusion of chronic pain. This study looked at the benefit of using horses in the therapeutic setting, by measuring the levels of anxiety, depression, self-esteem and quality of life pre- and post-therapy, in individuals diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Three groups were used in this study, and were measured pre and post therapy over an eight week period of time. The first group did not participate in the therapy at …

Body Mass Index: Effects On Overt Behaviors And Perceived Reward, Christin Nicole Mullane

Masters Theses

The incidence of obesity, defined as a BMI [body mass index] of over 30, has increased by 50% in the past 20 years (Carlson, 2004). Some notable behavioral differences as a function of weight have been identified, including the findings that individuals with obesity participate less often in physical activities, and spend more time engaging in sedentary behaviors. Using a daily-dairy assessment method as completed by undergraduate college students (n=99), the current study examined the impact of BMI on the duration of time spent and pleasure experienced within 13 behavioral domains: 1) Social, 2) Physical, 3) Health/Hygiene, 4) …

Effects Of Motivational Interviewing On Levels Of Physical Activity In Older Adults, Anna M. Pignol

Theses and Dissertations

In Canada, 68% of women and 53% of men 65 and older are inactive. Physical activity is crucial for older adults being able to maintain physical and mental health, as well as quality of life. Even the frail, chronically ill, and very old adults can increase mobility and functioning through physical activity. The current study examined the effects of Motivational Interviewing (MI) on levels of physical activity in older adults. A total of 86 participants aged 55 and older were recruited in Prince Edward Island. Participants were randomly assigned by gender to the intervention plus information or to an information …

Characteristics Of Aversive Racism, Bryan T. Hall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Recently in the psychological field, attitudes are being recognized as existing on the explicit and implicit level (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Aversive racists have been defined as people low in explicit prejudice but high in implicit prejudice (Son Hing, Li, & Zanna, 2002). The purpose of this study was to determine what distinguishes those who are low in prejudice from aversive racists. Participants were compared on eight different constructs: authenticity, moral judgment development, moral identity, nonprejudice, social dominance, authoritarianism, empathy, and social desirability. No differences were found between low prejudice people and aversive racists. People high in explicit prejudice …

The Physical Discrimination And Possible Concept Of Object Weight That Exists In Infants And Toddlers, Anita Patnaik

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Young children’s attention to a variety of object features has been studied. However, very few studies have examined young children’s understanding of object weight. In order to investigate developmental changes in perception and categorization of weight, three tasks were given to 59 18-month-old to 3-year-old children. Three age groups (20; 27 and 34 months old) were analyzed for the final results. The first two tasks used a familiarization and novelty preference paradigm in which attention was assessed by measuring each child’s looking time.

The first task’s goal was to evaluate young children’s ability to discriminate objects on the basis of …

Self-Consciousness Moderates The Relationship Between Perceived Norms And Drinking In College Students, Joseph W. Labrie, Justin F. Hummer, Clayton Neighbors

Heads Up!

The current research examines whether self-consciousness subscales have prognostic value in the relationship between perceived norms and drinking and if that differs among college men and women. Results indicate that self-consciousness moderates gender differences in the relationship between perceived social norms and drinking. A strong positive relationship was found between perceived norms (descriptive and injunctive) and drinking for men relative to women and this was more pronounced among individuals who were lower in public self-consciousness. Similarly, the relationship between perceived injunctive norms and drinking was significantly stronger among men than women and this was more pronounced among individuals who were …

Changes In Drinking Patterns Across The Transition To College Among First-Year College Males, Joseph W. Labrie, Toby Lamb, Eric Pedersen

Heads Up!

Few studies examine changes in drinking behavior during the transition from high school to college. Using a sample of 239 first-year males, we hypothesized that participants would increase drinking from pre-college to the first month of college. Results reveal a general trend toward increased drinking upon entering college. Caucasians increased drinking more than non-Caucasians. Social expectancies of alcohol moderated increases in drinking behavior. These findings indicate that differential changes in drinking behavior occur among incoming college males. Interventions with college students need to address both preventing heavy consumption and alcohol-related problems in pre-college light drinkers and in reducing these behaviors …

College Adjustment And The Shy Student, Jessie Abudu

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The study was conducted to examine the correlation between shyness and college adjustment. To make the determination, the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) (1981) was used to identify shyness, while the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) (Baker and Siryk, 1989) was utilized in assessing college adjustment. While the shyness scale assessed shyness as a single construct, the college adaptation scale assessed college adjustment in terms of academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, and college attachment. The data of 90 students in a general psychology class in a Mid-Western college with a total student population of approximately 6,800 …

The Social Psychology Of Evil: Can The Law Prevent Groups From Making Good People Go Bad?, David Crump

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Religious Schema On Critical Thinking Skills, Matthew Kirby

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between critical thinking and religious schema as represented by religious orientation. Past research has included religious belief within the larger construct of paranormal belief, and demonstrated a correlation between high levels of paranormal belief and poor critical thinking skills. Studies in the psychology of religion suggested that a more complex religious measure based on religious orientation was necessary to understand these correlations. Additionally, schema theory offered a cognitive framework within which to experimentally test the cause of these correlations. This study found that primed religious schema did not account for …