Psychology Commons^™

Comparing Resiliency In Early And Late-Life Bereavement., Janna Lynn Imel

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Bereavement is the state of dealing with a significant loss (M.S. Stroebe, Hansson, Schut, & Stroebe, 2008). Although evidence suggests that there are differences in the bereavement and coping styles of older and younger adults, few studies have been done focusing solely on the differences. The lack of research on this topic merits further study. The purpose of this project was to examine the differences in negative emotions, affective complexity, and repressive coping, between bereaved younger and older adults. We hypothesized that bereaved older adults would report fewer negative emotions, have greater emotional complexity, and use repressive coping more than …

The Impact Of Counselor Level Of Spiritual Well-Being On The Morale, Global Symptoms, And Global Impairment Of Adolescents Receiving Treatment For Substance Use And/Or Other Mental Health Disorders: A Pilot Study, Michael William Holland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years there has been a movement towards a holistic perspective of human nature in the counseling leading to increased interest in the nature and role of spirituality in counseling and the counseling process. In the present study multiple regression analysis is used to determine whether Counselor Level of Spiritual Well-Being, or aspects thereof, namely, Counselor Level of Existential Well-Being and/or Counselor Level of Religious Well-Being, as measured by the Spiritual Well-Being Scale significantly impacts client outcomes, namely, Morale, Global Symptoms, and Global Impairment as measured by the Health Dynamics Inventory for adolescents receiving treatment for substance use and/or …

The Mechanisms Of Interpersonal Privacy In Social Networking Websites: A Study Of Subconscious Processes, Social Network Analysis, And Fear Of Social Exclusion, Bryan I. Hammer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increasing usage of Social networking sites like Facebook there is a need to study privacy. Previous research has placed more emphasis on outcome-oriented contexts, such as e-commerce sites. In process-oriented contexts, like Facebook, privacy has become a source of conflict for users. The majority of architectural privacy (e.g. privacy policies, website mechanisms) enables the relationship between a user and business, focusing on the institutional privacy concern and trust; however, architectural privacy mechanisms that enables relationships between and among users is lacking. This leaves users the responsibility to manage privacy for their interpersonal relationships. This research focuses on the following …

The Impact Of Cognitive Behavior Techniques On The Vocational Identity Of Persons With Disabilities Receiving Ssi/Ssdi Benefits, James Joseph Quinn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) on the vocational identity, self-efficacy, and vocational satisfaction of persons with disabilities receiving SSI/SSDI. This study was carefully planned to help persons with disabilities obtain employment. A review of the relevant literature was used to determine the need for the study and to support the study. Forty participants, all were enrolled into a vocational rehabilitation program were selected for the study. Threats to internal and external validity were taken into consideration and controlled for. They received CBT as a treatment intervention to change their beliefs and irrational thoughts about the …

Examining The Relations Among Trauma, Distress, Resilience, And Physical Health, Kathryn Elizabeth Chaisson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the role of traumatic distress as a mediator in the relation between trauma exposure and somatic malaise and healthcare utilization. Resilience was examined as a moderator between trauma exposure and somatic malaise and healthcare utilization, then between trauma exposure and traumatic distress. A total of 206 female participants recruited from an obstetrics and gynecology specialty practice completed measures of trauma exposure, traumatic distress, resilience, somatic malaise, and healthcare utilization. Multiple hierarchical regressions were performed to test the hypothesized relations. Results indicated that trauma exposure was a significant predictor of traumatic distress and resilience, and of somatic malaise …

Will A Confederate's Initial Decline Of Assistance Influence People's Willingness To Help Others?, Israel Vela

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Observational study testing the effect a confederate has on social influence. The study examined whether overhearing a prior refusal to assist from a confederate had an influence on a subsequent person’s willingness to help in time of need. Similarity characteristics between model and participant were also examined to determine if they contributed to an increased likelihood of helping. Observation was held at the University of Texas-Pan American and consisted of 60 male participants. Participants were approached, and asked for assistance, in two separate conditions: Experimental (confederate) condition (n=30) and Control (non-confederate) condition (n=30). Assistance was determined by a participant’s willingness …

Lunch Buddy Mentoring For Bullied Children: Four Case Studies And A Thematic Analysis, Samantha Gregus

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lunch Buddy (LB) mentoring, a type of school-based mentoring, holds promise as a selective intervention for children who are chronically bullied (Elledge, Cavell, Ogle, & Newgent, 2010). This study expanded upon previous research (Elledge et al., 2010) by utilizing a case-study approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods to gain more evidence about the palatability of the intervention and to uncover possible mechanisms by which the intervention is working. Participants were four elementary school children in grades four and five who had been identified as bullied based on child and teacher reports. Quantitative data were collected at multiple points during the …

Socioeconomic Stereotypes Among Undergraduate College Students, Amanda K. Gilmore, Paul B. Harris

Paul Harris

Classism, i.e., socioeconomic stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination that college students direct toward their peers, was examined. A sample of 53 undergraduate students (36 women and 17 men), ages 18 to 22 years (M = 19.0, SD = 1.2), were recruited from psychology courses. Utilizing a computer-administered questionnaire, participants were randomly assigned to rate a fictitious student whose family income was specified as among the lowest or highest at the college. Upper Income targets were rated as more sociable, judgmental, attractive, more likely to use alcohol and drugs, and more likely to belong to a fraternity or sorority. Lower Income targets …

Social Compass Curriculum: Three Descriptive Case Studies Of Social Skills Outcomes For Students With Autism, Louanne E. Boyd, Deborah M. Ward

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

The Social Compass Curriculum (SCC) was investigated for its effectiveness in improving core social skills in three descriptive case studies of students with autism. Treatment fidelity of the SCC was also measured in the school setting. The Social Responsiveness Scale and the Autism Social Skills Profile were completed by parents to measure pre- and postintervention social skills for three students aged 8 to 11 years who participated in the present multisite pilot study. Fidelity of implementation data were collected via a checklist during observations for three educators who implemented the intervention. Results indicate that the SCC improved core social deficits …

Visual Perspective And The Characteristics Of Mind Wandering, Brittany M. Christian, Lynden K. Miles, Carolyn Parkinson, C. Neil Macrae

Dartmouth Scholarship

When the mind wanders away from the here-and-now toward imaginary events, it typically does so from one of two visual vantage points—a first-person perspective (i.e., the world is seen as it is in everyday life) or a third-person perspective (i.e., the world is seen from the viewpoint of an outside observer). While extant evidence has detailed consequences that ensue from the utilization of these distinct points of view, less is known about their more basic properties. Here, we investigated the prevalence, demographics and qualities associated with the visual perspective that people spontaneously adopt when the mind wanders. The results from …

Making More Room For Physical Activity In Home-Based Child Care, Nanci Weinberger

Applied Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Imagine a public fountain that spans a large plaza. If young children were there, would they splish-splash in the giant puddle of water? Imagine an open field with large stones cropping up from the grass. Would young children try any way they could to climb on the stones? Imagine a home where couch pillows lie around on the floor. Would young children jump on the pillows?

Early Exposure To Traumatic Stressors Impairs Emotional Brain Circuitry, Robert H. Paul, Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar, Cassandra Antees, Leanne M. Williams

Psychology Faculty Works

Exposure to early life trauma (ELT) is known to have a profound impact on mental development, leading to a higher risk for depression and anxiety. Our aim was to use multiple structural imaging methods to systematically investigate how traumatic stressors early in life impact the emotional brain circuits, typically found impaired with clinical diagnosis of depression and anxiety, across the lifespan in an otherwise healthy cohort. MRI data and self-reported histories of ELT from 352 healthy individuals screened for no psychiatric disorders were analyzed in this study. The volume and cortical thickness of the limbic and cingulate regions were assessed …

An Eriksonian Approach To Consumer Identity, Sandra Rathod

Open Access Dissertations

Rathod, Sandra R. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2013. An Eriksonian Approach to Consumer Identity. Major Professor: Richard A. Feinberg.

Ego development is the fifth stage in Erikson's Lifecycle Development theory (1959) and is a major psychosocial stage beginning in adolescence and lasting into emerging adulthood. Past research based upon Marcia's Ego Identity Status Paradigm (1996) has investigated a number of ideological and interpersonal domains relevant to one's ego identity, however in today's consumer societies, where what you have is at least as important is who you are or what you do, an Eriksonian approach to consumer ego identity (CEI) has …

Design, Development, And Testing Of A Conformal Power Control Interface For Thrust Vectoring Aircraft, David Rozovski

Open Access Dissertations

Over the last five years, a new power control inceptor for tiltrotor aircraft, known as the Rotational Throttle Interface (RTI) was designed and built. Prior to the RTI, no tiltrotor inceptor had been able to simultaneously indicate both the direction and magnitude of thrust conformally. The purpose of the RTI is to provide an interface that maps to the intended vehicle response throughout ALL ranges of operation. Doing so is expected to reduce confusion that may have contributed to several tiltrotor accidents

Two tests were conducted with the RTI, one at the NASA Vertical Motion Simulator, and one at Canada's …

Maternal Sensitivity, Maternal Mind-Mindedness, And Infant Socioemotional Functioning: An Examination Of Concurrent Associations, Nancy Ignacia Longoria

Open Access Dissertations

Associations between maternal sensitivity, maternal mind-mindedness, and infant socioemotional (SE) functioning were examined in a sample of 40 mother-infant dyads. Semi-structured home observations were conducted to assess maternal sensitivity and collect maternal ratings of maternal depression and infant SE functioning. Mind-mindedness was assessed during free play and teaching interactions during the home visit. Sensitivity at home was positively associated with mind-mindedness during a free play interaction, but not during a teaching interaction. Neither sensitivity nor mind-mindedness was significantly associated with total infant SE scores, or scores on 3 SE subscales (adaptive functioning, self-regulation, and interaction with people). A trend between …

When Students Lose Perspective: Clinical Supervision And The Management Of Empathy, Laurel E. Fletcher, Harvey M. Weinstein

Laurel E. Fletcher

This article examines the opportunities and problems that arise in the process of lawyer-client communication. The authors suggest that empathic communication is a critical dimension of lawyering and that without empathy, much valuable affective and cognitive knowledge about the client's case may be lost. A critical first step in this process involves identification with the client. In the article, the authors clarify how identification differs from empathy and challenge the oft-cited concern of “over-identification.” In addition, they examine those situations in which identification with a client may have negative consequences for representation. These issues are explored in the context of …

Research Brief: "Cultural And Ethical Considerations When Working With Military Personnel And Veterans: A Primer For Va Training Programs", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The study addresses the cultural differences when working with veteran populations compared to civilian populations, specifically regarding training people to work for VA programs. This is applicable to understanding military related cultural competence through mental health, history, terminology, and culture. Future research proposed includes exploring the benefits of cultural competence training.

Personality As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Stress And Academic Deviance, Aaron Williams

Modern Psychological Studies

Academic deviance poses a continual threat to the education system from its persistence through generations and its presence in almost every form of institutionalized education (Davis et al., 1992). The aim of the present study was to integrate both situational and individual components of stress to examine their influence on academic deviance while testing the moderating role of trait impulsiveness on the degree of academic deviance displayed. Participants were 125 (98 women, 27 men) college students at a private university in the southern region of the United States. The Academic Dishonesty Inventory (Lucas, 2005) was used to measure academic deviance, …

Drinking And Driving: A Bivariate Examination Of Select Correlates Of Drunk Driving Among Adolescents, Linda Cirillo

Modern Psychological Studies

Using the 2009 YRBS data set, this study examined bivariate correlations between select correlates of drunk driving among adolescents. Results show statistically significant correlations between age at first drink, binge drink, and marijuana use and drunk driving. While there has been a slight downward trend in reported incidents of current drinking and driving among adolescents (CDC, 2012), the social, emotional, and economic costs to families and communities remain high. For these reasons, there is a continued need for education of drinking impairment with adolescents to emphasize that driving is a privilege not a right and can have detrimental consequences when …

Hindsight Bias In The 2012 United States Presidential Election, Judith Gilbert

Modern Psychological Studies

Hindsight bias refers to the tendency for people to increase their confidence in a prediction after they've learned the outcome of an event; this is also known as the knew-it-all-along effect. The present study explored hindsight bias in the context of the 2012 United States presidential election. Participants were asked to predict various election outcomes one week before the election and then were asked to reconstruct those predictions one week after the outcome was known. The study showed strong evidence of hindsight bias and this bias did not depend on political affiliation, gender, or prior knowledge.

Narcissism And Altruism Among Undergraduate Business And Religion Majors, Dillon Jones, Kerri Carden, Randy Carden

Modern Psychological Studies

Research has suggested links between narcissism, unethical behavior, and undergraduate business majors. It has been theorized that altruism has a negative relationship with narcissism and research has suggested that religiosity is linked to disapproval of the unethical. Based on this information, the current study hypothesized that business majors would score higher on narcissism than religion majors, measured as selfism using the Phares and Erskine Selfism Test. The current study also hypothesized that religion majors would score higher on altruism than business majors, measured by Johnson's Self-Report Altruism Scale. Forty-one male and 27 female undergraduates majoring in either business or religion …

What A Girl Wants: Female Mate Selection In Terms Of Monetary Resources And Number Of Children, Stefanit Tucker

Modern Psychological Studies

Several evolutionary theories provide the framework for assessing modern mate selection. Previous research in female mate selection has left a gap in whether and how number of children a male has can impact the perception of monetary resources he possesses and subsequently his desirability as a mate. The present investigation thus set out to examine resource-related differences among males with average ($50,001-75,000) and above average incomes (>$150,000) by analyzing data available through the online dating website, match.com. Furthermore, the geographic locations of New York, New York and Louisville, Kentucky were used to both refine results but also maintain genera …

Front Matter

Modern Psychological Studies

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Minimum Word Counts On Writing Tasks, Steven O'Brien, Verneda P. Hamm Baugh

Modern Psychological Studies

The ability of students to successfully fulfill coursework requirements is an important topic in the fields of education as well as psychology. The present study was designed to examine the effects of placing a minimum word count on a writing task. The participants were asked to complete a writing prompt that may or may not have contained a minimum word count. The number of words written for both groups was then analyzed. The data from the two groups showed that there was a significant difference between the group who received a minimum word count and those who did not. The …

"I'Ll Sleep When I'M Dead": Exploring The Relationship Between Fatigue, Memory, Feeling, And Mood States Among College Students, Lanie Foutch, Rachel Bollinger, Randy Carden

Modern Psychological Studies

This study investigated the relationship between sleep and scores on fatigue, with memory, feeling, and mood states. Eighty-two participants completed the Piper Fatigue Scale (Berger et al., 2009), the Semantic Differential Feeling and Mood Scale (Lorr & Wunderlich, 1988), and a memory test (Polzella, 1975). A significant correlation was found between the scores on the Piper Fatigue Scale and scores on the Semantic Differential Feeling and Mood scale, but memory test scores and the Piper Fatigue scale scores were unrelated. The correlation between fatigue, feeling, and mood states indicates that fatigue was negatively correlated with feelings and moods such as …

An Introspective Analysis Of The Etiological Relationships Of Psychopathy In Serial Killers And Successful Business Men, Krystina L. Quow

Modern Psychological Studies

Ted Bundy. Jeffrey Dahmer. Charles Manson. Decades following their acts of violence, their names continue to incite fear as well as perplexity into the motivations that brought about their heinous crimes. As individuals possessing psychopathic personalities, they used their charm and quick wit to both manipulate and gain the trust of their victims. While their names do not elicit the same emotional response as Bundy or Manson, Bernie Madoff and Steve Jobs may also express the symptomology characteristic of psychopathy. But rather than committing violent crimes, they channeled their talents to the advancement of their careers and toward financial gain. …

Innovation Exposition: Advanced Research Course In Psychology (Psy 390), John Shaughnessy, Sonja Trent-Brown, Daryl R. Vantongeren

Faculty Presentations

The innovative Advanced Research course was designed in the early 1980s, well before the pedagogical approach of enquiry-based instruction was widely championed in the late 1990s to early 2000s (National Science Educational Standards, 1996; National Research Council, 2000). Enquiry-based instruction entails “learning through doing” and is a method of teaching and learning based on self-directed enquiry (EBL) or research (RBL) by the student (University of Manchester, 2007; University of Reading, n.d.). This course integrates a research experience for students in the psychology curriculum that reflects a cutting edge approach to teaching psychology. The “lone-wolf” model of science is outdated and …

25 Years Of Psychology Internships, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet, Patricia V. Roehling

Faculty Presentations

Psychology Internships at Hope College are academic semester-long, supervised, pre-professional work experiences related to Psychology and the student's vocational interests. Students pursue agreed upon learning goals in a written learning contract, are supervised on-site, complete weekly assignments, and participate in a class on campus for academic credit.

Predictors Of Online And Offline Sexual Activities And Behaviors Among Adolescents, Anna Ševčíková, Alexander T. Vazsonyi, Janelle Širůček, Štěpán Konečný

Psychology Faculty Publications

Despite the fact that many adolescents spend much time on the Internet, it is unknown who engages in sexually related online activities (SROA) and how these affect adolescent sexual development. The present longitudinal study on 323 adolescents (51.1% girls) aimed to explore how peer attachment processes predicted both SROA and offline sexual behaviors at the age of 17, while also considering puberty and prior offline sexual experiences in order to elucidate potential similarities or differences. Findings based on hierarchical, binary logistic regression analyses revealed that SROA were predicted by alienation attachment to peers (OR=3.36, p<0.05), puberty (OR=1.03, p<0.05), and prior SROA (OR=0.56, p<0.001), while only previous offline sexual experiences at the age of 15 increased the likelihood of offline sexual behaviors at the age of 17 (OR=6.04, p<0.001). Study findings indicate that the Internet provides an additional context for acquiring sexual experiences during adolescence.

Effectiveness Of Teacher-Implemented Function-Based Interventions Versus Non-Function-Based Interventions For Preschoolers, Katherine Marie Bellone

Dissertations

Disruptive behaviors occur frequently in preschool classrooms. Children who exhibit early-onset behavioral concerns in educational settings are at greater risk for negative developmental outcomes than their peers. In order to address problem behaviors in the classroom, practitioners may use functional assessment methodology to design an individualized intervention tied to the function of the behavior. Alternatively, practitioners may choose to use an evidence-based practice, not tied to behavioral function, shown to be beneficial through research. Though much research states the need for empirical comparisons between function-based interventions and non-function-based interventions, past comparisons have often been unbalanced, such that the interventions included …