Psychology Commons^™

A Narrative Review Of Yoga And Mindfulness As Complementary Therapies For Addiction., Surbhi Khanna, Jeffrey M Greeson

Jeffrey M. Greeson

This paper reviews the philosophical origins, current scientific evidence, and clinical promise of yoga and mindfulness as complementary therapies for addiction. Historically, there are eight elements of yoga that, together, comprise ethical principles and practices for living a meaningful, purposeful, moral and self-disciplined life. Traditional yoga practices, including postures and meditation, direct attention toward one's health, while acknowledging the spiritual aspects of one's nature. Mindfulness derives from ancient Buddhist philosophy, and mindfulness meditation practices, such as gentle Hatha yoga and mindful breathing, are increasingly integrated into secular health care settings. Current theoretical models suggest that the skills, insights, and self-awareness …

Tootling With A Randomized Independent Group Contingency In A High School Setting, John Dylan Ken Lum

Dissertations

Tootling is a procedure where students report their classmates’ positive and prosocial behavior. The present study examined the effects of tootling on students’ disruptive and academically engaged behavior in three general education high school classrooms. An A-B-A-B withdrawal design was used to assess the effects of the intervention. Students wrote tootles anonymously on paper slips and placed them into a marked container. Unlike previous tootling studies, a randomized independent group contingency procedure was used to reward the students to reduce the number of steps required to implement the intervention. At the end of the class period, teachers randomly drew three …

An Evaluation Of Traffic Control Devices And Driver Distraction On Driver Behavior At Railway-Highway Grade Crossings, Radhameris A. Gomez Gabriel

Doctoral Dissertations

At-grade crossings (grade crossings) are those crossings in which any part of a roadway intersects with railroad tracks. Safety at these railroad-highway grade crossings is a major concern, with traffic control warning devices serving as the main mechanisms for improving safety. There are three factors that influence a driver’s behavior at a given crossing. First, traffic control devices, including warning devices at the railroad-highway grade crossings, provide the driver with information whose impact will depend in part on the likelihood that the driver knows whether to glance in the direction of the device based on prior experience, and in part …

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, …

Food Porn & A Snack: Investigating The Effect Of Mindset On A Taste Test, Kingshuk Mazumdar

Honors Theses

The hot/cool system framework represents a dichotomy within cognitive functioning that moderates the exertion of self-control. While the cool system can be described as a cognitive and emotionally stable construct that serves as the center for self-regulation and control, the hot system forms the basis for emotionality, passion, and impulsivity. Research evidence suggests that attentional priming towards hot or cool cognitions may have a direct and measureable influence on behavior in a variety of social psychological domains. The present study investigated the effect of attentional priming towards hot or cool systems on snack food consumption in 142 college students. Participants …

Building A Theory Of Adaptive Neuroticism, Sara Jo Weston

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neuroticism is widely believed to be detrimental to health, but the evidence is mixed. Many large-scale studies find null or positive effects of neuroticism on mortality and health. A theory of “healthy neuroticism” was generated to explain these discrepant results. According to this theory, neuroticism can lead an individual down one of two paths: an anxiety and stress-ridden path of maladaptive coping and poor outcomes, or a path of vigilance and proactivity. Trait conscientiousness is thought to be the defining feature of healthy neuroticism, although studies substantiating this claim are few and far between. Meanwhile, other important factors - notably, …

Does Genotype Correlate With Phenotype? Evaluating Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Spp.) Color Vision Using Subject Mediated Automatic Remote Testing Apparatus (Smarta), Raymond Vagell

Theses and Dissertations

Ruffed lemur (Varecia spp.) color vision research was conducted using a multidisciplinary approach: psychophysics, genetic analysis, technology, and animal training. The behavioral manifestation of Varecia spp. trichromacy was shown using a touchscreen apparatus (SMARTA). Trichromats performed better than dichromats when discriminating red from green (G₂ = 78.10, p < 0.001).

Do Pinnipeds Have Personality? Coding Harbor Seal (Phoca Vitulina) And California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Behavior Across Contexts, Amber J. De Vere

Master's Theses

Personality has now been studied in species as diverse as chimpanzees (King & Figueredo, 1997) and cuttlefish (Carere et al., 2015), but marine mammals remain vastly underrepresented in this area. A broad range of traits have been assessed only in the bottlenose dolphin (Highfilll & Kuczaj, 2007), while consistent individual differences in a few specific behaviors have been identified in grey seals (Robinson et al., 2015; Twiss & Franklin, 2010; Twiss, Culloch & Pomeroy, 2011; Twiss, Cairns, Culloch, Richards & Pomeroy, 2012). Furthermore, the context component of definitions of personality is not often assessed, despite evidence that animals may show …

A Behavioral Prerequisite For The Genetic Analysis Of Auditory Feature Detection Mechanisms In Female Crickets, Rebecca L. Blisko

Senior Honors Projects

Sexual dimorphism is exhibited across all cricket species and is a central aspect of the mating processes of these insects. Only male crickets possess wing structures and pattern generators in the central nervous system that allow them to produce a mating call that is unique to their species in order to attract conspecific females. Conspecific females possess an auditory feature detection circuit in the central nervous system that is capable of detecting the species-specific frequency and temporal pattern of sound pulses within a male call. In order for dimorphic differences in mating behavior to result in successful continuation of a …

Towards A Better Understanding Of Zebrafish Sleep Behavior, Kanza Musarrat Khan

Master's Theses

Sleep serves many vital functions in humans, ranging from energy restoration to memory consolidation and information integration. Sleep deprivation is linked to worsened physiological states and psychological conditions. Zebrafish are an emerging model in neurobehavioral research and have recently demonstrated great utility in the study of sleep. This teleost species possesses several of the same neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems that are involved in the regulation of sleep and waking rhythms in higher order mammals. Previous study of these animals has revealed a differential gene and proteomic expression following sleep deprivation through changes in environmental stimuli. The present study sought to …

Culture Of Gentleness: A Behavioral Approach, Stevie Parcell

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explain the fundamentals of an ideological framework for caregivers providing services to people with disabilities called a Culture of Gentleness. The material is traditionally taught within the two-day Working with People training, and the efforts to spread this theory is headed by the Center for Positive Living Supports located in Clinton Township, Michigan. The material is then analyzed through a behavior analytic perspective. Each segment of the initial training will be discussed through both a Culture of Gentleness and behavioral perspective, rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis. Although established in the practice of Positive …

Evaluation Of The Impact Of Social Work Services In Rural School Districts, Breanna Heinrich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students in rural communities are often subject to unique barriers and challenges that impact their holistic emotional, cognitive, physical, and social success in school. Because these factors have a strong impact on school attendance, behavior, and overall success, educators have begun to implement social work programs within both rural and urban school districts across the nation. While existing research affirms the effectiveness of school social work, very little research has been conducted to determine the effect in rural school districts. This paper evaluates the impact of a newly developed social work pilot program in two West Texas school districts implemented …

Cooperation Via Communication: Influencing Vocal Alignment In Conversation, Elliot A. Pollack

Senior Theses and Projects

Alignment of human behavior is a well-documented phenomenon, however, the factors which influence its direction and magnitude are not firmly established. Conversational partners align on a variety of speech factors including word choice, syntax, and rate of speech. The present study examines factors which lead to alignment of fundamental frequency (F0), colloquially known as pitch. Subjects (Speakers) complete a puzzle task which requires them to communicate with a partner (Model). The Model’s F0 is manipulated to either converge towards or diverge from that of the Speaker, whereas a control condition does not change the Model voice. The Speaker is recorded …

Are Highly Sensitive People More Conscious Of Environmental Harm?, Samantha Sheppard

Community of Scholars Day—Posters

I will present my honors psychology capstone study on sensory processing sensitivity and its role in pro–environmental behavior. This study weaves the worlds of evolutionary psychology, personality psychology, and environmental activism to explore the role of personality type on behavior. Through this study, I hope to further the research being done on sensory processing sensitivity and provide new insight on the intersection of evolutionary psychology and ecopsychology.

Adolescent Cannabinoid Exposure Induces A Persistent Sub-Cortical Hyper-Dopaminergic State And Associated Molecular Adaptations In The Prefrontal Cortex., Justine Renard, Laura G Rosen, Michael Loureiro, Cleusa De Oliveira, Susanne Schmid, Walter J Rushlow, Steven R Laviolette

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Considerable evidence suggests that adolescent exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocanabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in marijuana, increases the risk of developing schizophrenia-related symptoms in early adulthood. In the present study, we used a combination of behavioral and molecular analyses with in vivo neuronal electrophysiology to compare the long-term effects of adolescent versus adulthood THC exposure in rats. We report that adolescent, but not adult, THC exposure induces long-term neuropsychiatric-like phenotypes similar to those observed in clinical populations. Thus, adolescent THC exposure induced behavioral abnormalities resembling positive and negative schizophrenia-related endophenotypes and a state of neuronal hyperactivity in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) pathway. …

Comparing The Effects Of Menthol Status On The Behavioral Pharmacology Of Smoking Reduced Nicotine Content Cigarettes, Danielle Davis

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Introduction: An active area of tobacco regulatory science research focuses on examining the effects of varying the nicotine content of cigarettes as part of a potential national policy to lower their nicotine content levels to reduce addiction potential. The present study examines differences in the behavioral effects of reduced nicotine content cigarettes related to their menthol status. Menthol is the only cigarette flavoring that is still legally permissible according to Food and Drug administration regulations.

Methods: Participants were 26 current adult smokers from three populations especially vulnerable to tobacco use and addiction (economically disadvantaged women, opioid-dependent individuals, individuals with affective …

Getting To The Other Side, Debra Merskin

Animal Sentience

Marino’s comprehensive, detailed, and timely review provides clear evidence of the sentience of chickens and strong support for those wishing to challenge their exclusion from even the limited protections currently accorded to animals grown for food.

The Relationship Between Physical Fitness And School Performance, Jamie A. Donnelly

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Past research has indicated a significant relationship between physical fitness and standardized test scores; however, the relationship between physical fitness and other aspects of school performance has yet to be empirically examined in a population specifically composed of middle school girls. Because girls have a harder time transitioning through the middle school years, they are an important group to study in this context. This study examined several factors that contribute to school success, such as classroom behavior, attendance, and grades, in relation to physical fitness among a group of adolescent girls. It was specifically designed to examine the statistical relationship …

Origins Of Thalamic And Cortical Projections To The Posterior Auditory Field In Congenitally Deaf Cats., Blake E Butler, Nicole Chabot, Andrej Kral, Stephen G Lomber

Psychology Publications

Crossmodal plasticity takes place following sensory loss, such that areas that normally process the missing modality are reorganized to provide compensatory function in the remaining sensory systems. For example, congenitally deaf cats outperform normal hearing animals on localization of visual stimuli presented in the periphery, and this advantage has been shown to be mediated by the posterior auditory field (PAF). In order to determine the nature of the anatomical differences that underlie this phenomenon, we injected a retrograde tracer into PAF of congenitally deaf animals and quantified the thalamic and cortical projections to this field. The pattern of projections from …

A Survey Of Rewards For Teens: Extension, Replication, And 25-Year Follow-Up, Hunter King

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Changes in our immediate environment--as well as our virtual--have great potential to decrease the reinforcing effects of stimuli once identified as potent and reliable in past generations. Extant reinforcement surveys and item preferences assessments alike have shown to be a reliable mode of ascertaining potent reinforcers for various populations; however, many are outdated and may comprise of items or rewards that contemporary populations may not value. Considering the substantial environmental changes that have occurred over recent decades, in tandem with the availability of outdated reward surveys, efforts should be directed towards obtaining empirical evidence demonstrating that contemporary adolescents hold different …

The Effect Of Clinician Competence And Religiosity On The Trainee Clinician’S Ability To Identify Problematic Sexual Behavior, Cody Butcher

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Models in psychology do not consider the concept of sex addiction the same way as other substance or behavior addictions. For example, sex addiction, which is not a DSM-5 disorder, is often assigned as a label to clients based off of high frequency of sexual behavior. Despite sex addiction not being a diagnosable disorder, sex addiction therapists are conducting treatment with people who identify as sex addicts. Due to this lack of a definition, previous research has found that clinicians may identify sex addiction in clients based on their own preconceived worldviews of what types of sexual behaviors or frequencies …

Changing Perceptions Of Loss: The Influence Of Generation Effects And Message Framing, Kaylee Brown

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This study is a three-part survey that examines how loss can be experienced differently based on one's generation and the way a message about loss is framed. More specifically, participants of all ages read a mock article that framed loss experiences positively or negatively, and then participants answered questions regarding their own loss experiences. It was hypothesized that, due to generational variance, older vs. younger individuals may deal with loss quite differently and, as such, may react to the positively and negatively framed loss articles as a function of their ages. As hypothesized, significant relationships among article type and age …