Psychology Commons^™

Many Labs 2: Investigating Variation In Replicability Across Samples And Settings, Richard A. Klein, Michelangelo Vianello, Susan L. O'Donnell, Et Al

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

We conducted preregistered replications of 28 classic and contemporary published findings, with protocols that were peer reviewed in advance, to examine variation in effect magnitudes across samples and settings. Each protocol was administered to approximately half of 125 samples that comprised 15,305 participants from 36 countries and territories. Using the conventional criterion of statistical significance (p < .05), we found that 15 (54%) of the replications provided evidence of a statistically significant effect in the same direction as the original finding. With a strict significance criterion (p < .0001), 14 (50%) of the replications still provided such evidence, a reflection of the extremely highpowered design. Seven (25%) of the replications yielded effect sizes larger than the original ones, and 21 (75%) yielded effect sizes smaller than the original ones. The median comparable Cohen’s ds were 0.60 for the original findings and 0.15 for the replications. The effect sizes were small (< 0.20) in 16 of the replications (57%), and 9 effects (32%) were in the direction opposite the direction of the original effect. Across settings, the Q statistic indicated significant heterogeneity in 11 (39%) of the replication effects, and most of those were among the findings with the largest overall effect sizes; only 1 effect that was near zero in the aggregate showed significant heterogeneity according to this measure. Only 1 effect had a tau value greater than .20, an indication of moderate heterogeneity. Eight others had tau values near or slightly above .10, an indication of slight heterogeneity. Moderation tests indicated that very little heterogeneity was attributable to the order in which the tasks were performed or whether the tasks were administered in lab versus online. Exploratory comparisons revealed little heterogeneity between Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) cultures and less WEIRD cultures (i.e., cultures with relatively high and low WEIRDness scores, respectively). Cumulatively, variability in the observed effect sizes was attributable more to the effect being studied than to the sample or setting in which it was studied.

Self-Compassion And Cultural Values: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Self-Compassion Using A Multitrait-Multimethod (Mtmm) Analytical Procedure, Jesus Montero-Marin, Willem Kuyken, Catherine Crane, Jenny Gu, Ruth A. Baer, Aida A. Al-Awamleh, Satoshi Akutsu, Claudio Araya-Véliz, Nima Ghorbani, Zhuo Job Chen, Min-Sun Kim, Michail Mantzios, Danilo N. Rolim Dos Santos, Luiz C. Serramo López, Ahmed A. Teleb, P. J. Watson, Ayano Yamaguchi, Eunjoo Yang, Javier García-Campayo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Self-compassion is natural, trainable and multi-faceted human capacity. To date there has been little research into the role of culture in influencing the conceptual structure of the underlying construct, the relative importance of different facets of self-compassion, nor its relationships to cultural values. This study employed a cross-cultural design, with 4,124 participants from 11 purposively sampled datasets drawn from different countries. We aimed to assess the relevance of positive and negative items when building the self-compassion construct, the convergence among the self-compassion components, and the possible influence of cultural values. Each dataset comprised undergraduate students who completed the “Self-Compassion Scale” …

Supporting Employment Consultants In Their Work With Job Seekers. A Longitudinal Study, Alberto Migliore, John Butterworth, Oliver Lyons, Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Paul Foos, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

BACKGROUND: A key step for increasing the employment outcomes of job seekers with disabilities includes ensuring that employment consultants who assist them have the tools to succeed, including feedback about how they are performing. OBJECTIVE: Supporting employment consultants in their work with job seekers by providing feedback about the implementation of the support strategies recommended in the literature. METHODS: Sixty-one employment consultants completed a daily survey for one year, on their smartphones. RESULTS: Providing supports that lead to hire represented 30% of the employment consultants’ work time. When providing supports that lead to hire, most of the primary interactions were …

Prenatal Risk For Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd): Fetal Cortisol Exposure Predicts Child Asd Symptoms, Sheena Ram, Mariann A. Howland, Curt A. Sandman, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is multifactorial, complex, and likely involves interactions among genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. With respect to environmental influences, a growing literature implicates intrauterine experiences in the origin of this pervasive developmental disorder. In this prospective longitudinal study, we examined the hypothesis that fetal exposure to maternal cortisol may confer ASD risk. In addition, because ASD is four times more prevalent in males than in females, and because sexually dimorphic responses to intrauterine experiences are commonly observed, we examined whether or not any associations differ by fetal sex. Maternal plasma cortisol was measured at …

Umm Pcs Program: How It Prepares Students For Life After College, Alicen C. Brooks, Kalyn J. Otto

Psychology and Community Studies | Student Scholarship

Since 2012 there have been two alumni studies done at the University of Maine at Machias, one in 2012 and one in 2014. These studies were done to get feedback about the Psychology and Community Studies program. The previous studies focused on minors and certificates that the program could add that students might be interested in and overall satisfaction with the program. The 2014 study found that alumni are overall satisfied with the program and the skills that they developed to use in the workforce. This study is also an alumni survey that looked to get feedback from alumni about …

Syndemics Of Severity And Frequency Of Elder Abuse: A Cross-Sectional Study In Mexican Older Females, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Pablo Gaitán-Rossi

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: Elder abuse is a common phenomenon with important effects on the health and well-being of older adults. There are important gaps in elder abuse measurement, as it is usually reported as the absence or presence of elder abuse, disregarding its severity and frequency.

Objectives: Identify different ways of measuring severity and frequency of elder abuse and assess whether different experiences of severity and frequency suggest syndemic relationships.

Methods: Through a sample of 534 non-institutionalized Mexican older women, we assessed how severity (i.e., number of abusive experiences and number of types of abuses) and frequency (i.e., if abusive experiences had …

Syndemics Of Severity And Frequency Of Elder Abuse: A Cross-Sectional Study In Mexican Older Females, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Pablo Gaitán-Rossi

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: Elder abuse is a common phenomenon with important effects on the health and well-being of older adults. There are important gaps in elder abuse measurement, as it is usually reported as the absence or presence of elder abuse, disregarding its severity and frequency.

Objectives: Identify different ways of measuring severity and frequency of elder abuse and assess whether different experiences of severity and frequency suggest syndemic relationships.

Methods: Through a sample of 534 non-institutionalized Mexican older women, we assessed how severity (i.e., number of abusive experiences and number of types of abuses) and frequency (i.e., if abusive experiences had …

Sex Differences In Gains Among Hispanic Pre-Kindergartners’ Mental Rotation Skills, Carla Abad, Rosalie Odean, Shannon M. Pruden

Department of Psychology

The current study explores change in mental rotation skills throughout the pre-kindergarten year in a Hispanic population to better understand the development of early sex differences in mental rotation. Ninety-six Hispanic children (M = 4 years 8 months) completed a mental rotation task at the beginning and end of pre-kindergarten. Results suggest Hispanic boys and girls differed in gains on mental rotation ability, with boys improving significantly more than girls during pre-kindergarten on a mental rotation task. This study highlights the significance of studying mental rotation abilities in a Hispanic population of pre-kindergarten aged children and suggests the importance …

Test Of Personal Intelligencemini-12 (Topi Mini-12): Brief Manual And Test (9th Edition), John D. Mayer, Abigail T. Panter, David R. Caruso

UNH Personality Lab

Personal intelligence can be defined as the capacity to reason about personality and to use personality and personal information to enhance one’s thoughts, plans, and life experience (Mayer, 2008, p. 209). It is a “hot” intelligence in the sense of operating on information that is personally relevant and of importance to the individual.

The gold standard for measuring intelligences is through the use of ability scales. The Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI), a 134-item ability measure, has been developed over three versions (1.0, 1.1., and 1.2) to test the existence of personal intelligence and to provide for its measurement (Mayer, …

Mobile Learning And Cognition, Helen Crompton, Diane Burke

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The rise of mobile learning in schools during the past decade has led to promises about its power to extend and enhance student cognitive development – for example, by providing greater pedagogical opportunities for students (Mifsud, 2014). However, others claim that mobile devices are most often used to support traditional pedagogical approaches whereby students only passively consume content (Cochrane & Antonczak, 2014; Frohberg, Goth & Schwabe, 2009; Rushby, 2012). As schools invest resources in providing students with opportunities to use mobile devices as tools for learning, it is important to critically examine their use in practice.

A Classroom Activity For Teaching Kohlberg’S Theory Of Moral Development, Cheryl L. Carmichael, Anna M. Schwartz, Maureen Coyle, Matthew H. Goldberg

Publications and Research

In two studies, we demonstrate an engaging classroom activity that facilitates student learning about Kohlberg’s theory of moral development by using digital resources to foster active, experiential learning. In addition to hearing a standard lecture about moral development, students watched a video of a morally provocative incident, then worked in small groups to classify user comments posted in response to the video according to Kohlberg’s six stages. Students in both studies found the activity enjoyable and useful. Moreover, students’ scores on a moral development quiz improved after completing the activity (Study 1), and students who completed the activity in addition …

Art In The Stages Of Suffering And Death, Joanna Aramini

Visual Arts Department Student Scholarship

There has always been a strong link between art and the study of science and medicine, and one of the most iconic images of suffering and death in history to date is Christ suffering on the cross. In this thesis, I examine if and how art can make it possible to transcend human pain and overcome suffering, especially in our modern society where pain is seen as something we cannot deal with, and where we look to medicine and prescriptions to diminish it. I argue that art in the states of suffering and death, closely examining Michelangelo’s La Pieta and …

Effects Of A Robotic Cat On Agitation And Quality Of Life In Individuals With Dementia In A Long-Term Care Facility, Jillian Nicole Marsilio, Samantha Virginia Mckittrick, Lisa Renee Umbell, Melissa Ann Garner, Sharon Maiewski, Jeanne Wenos

Physician Assistant Capstones, 2016 to 2019

Study Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine whether introducing a robotic companion cat into a long term care facility may improve affect and, subsequently, increase participation for residents with dementia, and to determine potential benefits for caregiver roles and relationships with individuals with dementia.

Background: The number of people with dementia is growing, and the behavioral and psychological side effects are negatively affecting the quality of life for these people as well as their caregivers. Additional research is needed to help develop and confirm the use of nonpharmacological treatment for dementia with therapeutic robots.

Study Subjects: Research …

Investigating Neural Sensorimotor Mechanisms Underlying Flight Expertise In Pilots: Preliminary Data From An Eeg Study, Mariateresa Sestito, Assaf Harel, Jeff Nador, John Flach

Psychology Faculty Publications

Over the last decade, the efforts toward unraveling the complex interplay between the brain, body, and environment have set a promising line of research that utilizes neuroscience to study human performance in natural work contexts such as aviation. Thus, a relatively new discipline called neuroergonomics is holding the promise of studying the neural mechanisms underlying human performance in pursuit of both theoretical and practical insights. In this work, we utilized a neuroergonomic approach by combining insights from ecological psychology and embodied cognition to study flight expertise. Specifically, we focused on the Mirror Neuron system as a key correlate for understanding …

Understanding The Reminiscence Bump: A Systematic Review, Khadeeja Munawar, Sara K. Kuhn, Shamsul Haque

Librarian Publications

One of the most consistently observed phenomena in autobiographical memory research is the reminiscence bump: a tendency for middle-aged and elderly people to access more personal memories from approximately 10–30 years of age. This systematic review (PROSPERO 2017:CRD42017076695) aimed to synthesize peer-reviewed literature pertaining to the reminiscence bump. The researchers conducted searches in nine databases for studies published between the date of inception of each database and the year 2017. Keywords used included: reminiscence, bump, peak, surge, blip, reminiscence effect, and reminiscence component. Sixty-eight quantitative studies, out of 523, met the inclusion criteria. The researchers implemented a thematic analytic technique …

Psychological And Demographic Differences Of Bdsm Practitioners, Sabrina Jefferson

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study was to gain more information about demographic and psychological differences between the bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism (BDSM) population and the general population. BDSM has become more prominent in the knowledge of the general population with the notoriety of E.L. James’ book series 50 Shades of Grey, but even with the new prominence of BDSM in American households, there is a lack of knowledge about BDSM practitioners among psychotherapists. In this study, data was gathered from a sample of BDSM practitioners and a general population sample on a variety of demographic and psychological variables. Independent samples …

Priming Of Grasping Muscles When Viewing A Safety Handle Is Diminished With Age, David A.E. Bolton, Sarah E. Schwartz, Manhoud Mansour, Garrett Rydalch, Douglas W. Mcdannald

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

Merely viewing objects within reachable space can activate motor cortical networks and potentiate movement. This holds potential value for smooth interaction with objects in our surroundings, and could offer an advantage for quickly generating targeted hand movements (e.g. grasping a support rail to maintain stability). The present study investigated if viewing a wall-mounted safety handle resulted in automatic activation of motor cortical networks, and if this effect changes with age. Twenty-five young adults (18–30 years) and seventeen older adults (65+ years) were included in this study. Single-pulse, transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the motor cortical hand representation of young …

Zombie Culture In Past And Modern Mythologies, Lehua Johnson

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In modern media the notion of a zombie brings to mind the images of rotting flesh, a desire for flesh, and surviving in a desolate post-apocalyptic world. While zombies have certainly evolved into a niche genre separate from horror and science fiction, it is imperative that the origins of this modern-day phenomenon are explored and analyzed in an academic context. From the empty threats of the goddess Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia to urban legends of former Haitian slaves, the foundation of zombie culture provides strong insight to humanity’s fear of losing itself to mere corporeal forms. Zombie culture is the …

Murmurs Of Revolution: Mythical Subversion In Dostoevsky, Connor Guetersloh

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Throughout history, cultural designation has been plagued by unpredictability. It is all but impossible to know when the next revolution, violent or subtle, will arise and turn systems on their heads, systems appraised as carved in stone. If it is all but impossible, then the possibility still remains: Is there a hidden link to be discovered, to track and predict the outcomes of social unrest bubbling beneath the surface of society? I suggest that there is; this hidden link can be traced back to the field of semiotics, and primarily moves in a swift, subtle manner. Said link is known …

Trustworthiness Appraisal Deficits In Borderline Personality Disorder Are Associated With Prefrontal Cortex, Not Amygdala, Impairment, Eric A. Fertuck, Jack Grinband, J. John Mann, Joy Hirsch, Kevin Ochsner, Paul Pilkonis, Jeff Erbe, Barbara Stanley

Publications and Research

Background

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is associated with sensitivity to signals of interpersonal threats and misplaced trust in others. The amygdala, an integral part of the threat evaluation and response network, responds to both fear- and trust-related stimuli in non-clinical samples, and is more sensitive to emotional stimuli in BPD compared to controls. However, it is unknown whether the amygdalar response can account for deficits of trust and elevated sensitivity to interpersonal threat in BPD.

Methods

Facial stimuli were presented to 16 medication-free women with BPD and 17 demographically-matched healthy controls (total n = 33). Participants appraised fearfulness or trustworthiness …

“Are You Accepting New Patients?” A Pilot Field Experiment On Telephone-Based Gatekeeping And Black Patients’ Access To Pediatric Care, Tamara Leech, Amy Irby-Shasanmi, Anne L. Mitchell

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Study Objectives

To determine whether the name and accent cues that the caller is Black shape physician offices’ responses to telephone‐based requests for well‐child visits.

Method and Data

In this pilot study, we employed a quasi‐experimental audit design and examined a stratified national sample of pediatric and family practice offices. Our final data include information from 205 audits (410 completed phone calls). Qualitative data were blind‐coded into binary variables. Our case‐control comparisons using McNemar's tests focused on acceptance of patients, withholding information, shaping conversations, and misattributions.

Findings

Compared to the control group, “Black” auditors were less likely to be told …

Fear And Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Guiding Individuals With Career Indecisiveness, Jordan Hanks

Student Works

Individuals with fear-based career indecisiveness exhibit extreme career decision-making difficulties (CDD) which prevent them from successfully making career decisions. Fear must be recognized as a significant contributor to indecisiveness in order to aid those with fear-based career indecisiveness. Career guidance professionals may help indecisive individuals by first identifying the causes of indecisiveness and the decision-making fear. Career indecisiveness may have either low career self-efficacy or low emotional intelligence as a contributor, each of which impact individuals differently. Career indecisiveness also involves either a fear of failure or a fear of commitment, which may contribute to CDD. Guidance for these individuals …

Recommended Practices For Academics To Initiate And Manage Research Partnerships With Organizations, Laurent M. Lapierre, Russell A. Matthews, Lillian T. Eby, Donald M. Truxillo, Russell E. Johnson, Debra A. Major

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although academics can receive considerable training in selecting appropriate research designs, types of data to collect, and methods for analyzing data, as well as guidance on preparing scholarly manuscripts, there is a dearth of information on how to initiate and manage partnerships with organizations in order to conduct high-quality applied research, particularly when the research is quantitative in nature. In this article, we provide our own experience-based insights and recommendations to help academics more easily (a) initiate a research relationship with senior organizational leadership, (b) decide early whether to pursue or end a research collaboration with an organization, (c) keep …

When Empathy Is Not Enough: A Reflection On The Self-Experience Of Black Boys In Public Spaces, Danjuma Gibson

CTS Faculty Publications and Creative Activity

This project explores the self-experiences of Black boys in public spaces, primarily in Chicago. Given the plethora of negative media attention placed on violence in the city and on violent encounters with law enforcement, this project asks how Black boys can experience themselves in a life-giving way when so many negative images and stereotypes denigrate their humanity. The author introduces the concepts of group-level racial delusion and demonic transference. The former term suggests a psychological split occurring at the societal level that historically has allowed emotional and physical violence to be disproportionately and callously inflicted on Black boys in public …

Trauma Therapy And The Need For Cross Cultural Competence, Marijke Sommer

Honors Projects

This project addresses the relevance of cross cultural competence for work in trauma therapy. I begin with a review of the literature on approaches to trauma therapy, identifying similarities and differences in key approaches, and comparing outcomes where that information is available. I then review a variety of cross cultural variations in mental health conditions and symptoms, attempting to roughly position each within the ethnic group or groups in which the variation is mostly likely to be found. Finally, I review the very small existing literature examining the impact of culturally sensitive approaches to trauma therapy in several non-Western ethnic …

Impaired Object-Location Learning And Recognition Memory But Enhanced Sustained Attention In M2 Muscarinic Receptor-Deficient Mice, Carola Romberg, Susan Bartko, Jürgen Wess, Lisa M. Saksida, Timothy J. Bussey

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2018, The Author(s). Rationale: Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are known to play key roles in mediating cognitive processes, and impaired muscarinic cholinergic neurotransmission is associated with normal ageing processes and Alzheimer’s disease. However, the specific contributions of the individual muscarinic receptor subtypes (M1–M5) to cognition are presently not well understood. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of M2-type muscarinic receptor signalling to sustained attention, executive control and learning and memory. Methods: M2 receptor-deficient (M2−/−) mice were tested on a touchscreen-operated task battery testing visual discrimination, behavioural flexibility, object-location associative learning, attention and response control. Spontaneous …

The Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing Psychology Through A Distributed Collaborative Network, Hannah Moshontz, Lorne Campbell, Charles R. Ebersole, Hans Ijzerman, Heather L. Urry, Patrick S. Forscher, Jon E. Grahe, Randy J. Mccarthy, Erica D. Musser, Jan Antfolk, Christopher M. Castille, Thomas Rhys Evans, Susann Fiedler, Jessica Kay Flake, Diego A. Forero, Steve M. Janssen, Justin Robert Keene, John Protzko, Balazs Aczel, Sara Álvarez Solas, Daniel Ansari, Dana Awlia, Ernest Baskin, Carlota Batres, Martha Lucia Borras-Guevara, Cameron Brick, Priyanka Chandel, Armand Chatard, William J. Chopik, David Clarance, Nicholas A. Coles, Katherine S. Corker

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Concerns have been growing about the veracity of psychological research. Many findings in psychological science are based on studies with insufficient statistical power and nonrepresentative samples, or may otherwise be limited to specific, ungeneralizable settings or populations. Crowdsourced research, a type of large-scale collaboration in which one or more research projects are conducted across multiple lab sites, offers a pragmatic solution to these and other current methodological challenges. The Psychological Science Accelerator (PSA) is a distributed network of laboratories designed to enable and support crowdsourced research projects. These projects can focus on novel research questions, or attempt to replicate prior …

Gender Essentialism And Responses To Candidates’ Messages, Meredith Meyer

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

People often form negative attitudes against those who deviate from gender norms. Within the political realm, this has the potential to translate into effects on perceptions of candidate likability and traits. Female candidates who tend to focus on issues stereotypically thought of as feminine are generally more positively evaluated than those who focus on stereotypically masculine domains. The current studies investigate whether these effects vary depending on the extent to which people endorse gender essentialism, which is the tendency to attribute gender differences to relatively more intrinsic, innate, and immutable factors versus believing that gender differences are largely due to …

Maternal Immune Activation (Mia) In Mice: A Study To Phenotype Asd-Related Communication Behaviors And Analyze Maternal Health Outcomes In The Us, Komalpreet Gulati

Honors Scholar Theses

Core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) include deficits in social/communicative behaviors, and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors. Mouse models are a highly established paradigm used to study the phenotypic deficits that result from various inducible genotypic or environmental risk factors for ASD. Previous studies have demonstrated a link between maternal immune activation (MIA) and ASD-like behaviors in mouse models. In this model, the maternal immune system is activated during pregnancy by injecting the viral mimic poly(I:C). The resulting offspring are phenotyped and analyzed with regards to their communicative behaviors.

Previous studies have demonstrated that male pups born to dams with immune activation …

Perceptions Of Violence Prevention Climate And Strain: A Mediated Model, Jeremy A. Bauer, David L. Sexton, Kevin Askew, Joshua S. Rodefer, David C. Daniel, Jacob W. Highsmith, Natalie Evans, Mark A. Whatley

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The current study investigated the interrelationships across perceptions of violence prevention climate and several workplace strain variables (i.e., job satisfaction, turnover intentions, physical symptoms of strain, and burnout). By adopting a social exchange framework, trust was identified as a potential mediator of the relationships between the focal variables. One hundred and eight employees participated in the cross-sectional design by completing a self-report survey. Correlational analyses revealed support for significant associations between perceptions of violence prevention climate and the workplace strain variables. Moreover, mediational analyses revealed that trust fully mediated the relationships between perceptions of violence prevention climate and job satisfaction, …