Psychology Commons^™

Assessing The Discriminant Validity Between Integrative Complexity And Open-Minded Cognition, Madeleine Louise Kindler

Master's Theses

The objective of this study was to evaluate the discriminant validity between integrative complexity and open-minded cognition (OMC). That is, the aim of this study was to show that integrative complexity and OMC are conceptually distinct constructs. This online study randomly assigned 198 Loyola University Chicago undergraduate psychology students to read either six tenable, homogeneous written communication remarks or six untenable, heterogeneous written communication remarks, made during a hypothetical conversation about the inclusion of prayer/moments of silence in high school curriculums. Participants then listed their cognitive thoughts and responses to the communication in a free response format (integrative complexity measure) …

Examining How Adverse Childhood Experiences And The Underlying Processes Of Trait And State Impulsivity Influence Suicidal Behavior, Julia K. Duran

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Due to the effects of ACEs and impulsive behavior on mental and physical health, it is important to better understand the relationship between these two as well as how they both may influence choices, such as suicide. Numerous studies have identified impulsive behavior as a risk factor for suicide, however, recent research has identified several underlying independent processes that make up impulsivity. This study uses a broad assessment of trait and state impulsivity to gather a more discrete understanding of the underlying processes that contribute to impulsive behavior. The short version UPPS-P scale was used to measure negative urgency, …

A Meat Paradox: Media's Role In Mitigating The Omnivore's Dilemma, Karyn Camille Lewis

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to identify and understand media’s role in meat consumption and a disassociation of meat and its animal of origin. This study questions consumer behavior based on media portrayals of meat products as well as how consumers perceive these portrayals, meat consumption patterns based on media and family influence, and the types and levels of satisfaction (ex: self-esteem or masculinity) consumers receive from meat products.

A quantitative research approach was proposed for this study. The primary research method was a survey among students, faculty and staff at The University of Southern Mississippi. A total of …

Improving Interview Skills In College Students Using Behavioral Skills And In Situ Training, Laura-Katherine Barker

Master's Theses

Successful interviewing skills help maximize the probability that a job candidate will make a positive impression upon a prospective employer. An area of continued concern related to potential employee readiness involves performance in interviews. Questions remain regarding the effectiveness of higher educational systems to develop the variety of efficient skills necessary for students to showcase the full array of their qualifications within an interview. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is a behavior analytic training package that has been shown to increase appropriate interview skills. In situ training (IST), also known as in-the-moment-training, has been offered as a method to improve the …

Consumer Evaluation: Describing Construal-Level Theory And A Role Of Emotion On Human’S Thinking Processing Style, Junga Lee

Master's Theses

Based on emotion and construal level theory, this study examined the influence of emotion on consumer decision-making. Participants were induced into happy or sad moods by describing a past happy or sad life event. Then they were asked to read one of two smartphone advertisements. One advertisement emphasized only central features of smartphone, and the other one emphasized only secondary features. The dependent variables were participants’ attitudes toward the advertisements, purchase intention of the smartphone in the advertisement, and willingness to pay for the smartphone. Based on the connection between emotion and construal level, I predicted that due to their …

An Investigation Of Preferred Versus Imposed Exercise, Personality Traits, And Motivation On An Exercise Dependent College Aged Sample 2013, Chelsea M. Norton

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate personality traits and motivation among an exercise dependent sample by using and examining theoretically based assessment tools and (b) measure feeling states under different types of physical activity among those who were considered to be exercise dependent. Four hundred twenty-three college students (54.4% male, 45.6% female) who met the inclusion criteria completed the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised (EDS-R; Symons Downs, Hausenblas, & Nigg, 2004), Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI; Terry, Szabó, & Griffiths, 2004), Exercise Identity Scale (EIS; Anderson & Cychosz, 1994), Behavioral Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2; Markland & Tobin, 2004), and …

The Effects Of Candidate Religiosity And Candidate Secularism On Voters' Support For The Political Candidate, Nathanael Gratias Sumaktoyo

Master's Theses

This study examines the effects of candidate religiosity, candidate secularism, and voter fundamentalism on voters' support for a political candidate. Seven effects were tested: 1) the religiosity effect, which suggests that a religious candidate will be supported more than a nonreligious candidate; 2) the secularism effect, which suggests that a secular candidate will be supported more than a nonsecular candidate; 3) the JFK effect, which suggests that a secular religious candidate will be supported more than a nonsecular religious candidate; 4) the deviant effect--an opposite of the JFK effect--, which suggests that a secular religious candidate constitutes a group deviant, …

Language Typology And Sentence Frame Effects On Motion Verb Interpretation In Grade Schoolers, Emma C. Kelty

Master's Theses

Most English descriptions of motion events express manner in the main verb and path in a prepositional phrase, as in “She skips out of the house”. However, the same event can be described differently if a different syntactic frame is used: “She exits the house”. While young children have been found to interpret novel motion verbs according to the syntactic frame information, adults have been found to rely somewhat more on the overall language pattern, or typology (Hohenstein et al., 2004; Naigles & Terrazas, 1998). Grade schoolers have not been examined in this paradigm, and their linguistic abilities suggest that …

Learning Our Lessons: A Proactive Approach To Bibliotherapy And Its Application To Children, Marleah Augustine

Master's Theses

The current study examined whether children can learn behaviors from fictional characters in books. Additionally, the researcher explored whether discussion of the topic at hand would improve the learning of those behaviors or if it would have no effect and reading alone can elicit change. Children in kindergarten and first-grade (n = 85) took both a pre-test and post-test about two separate topics, bullying and trying new things. They were assigned to four different groups: book only, discussion only, both book and discussion, and unrelated book. No significant differences were found between groups regarding the "trying new things" topic, whereas …

The Social Basis Of Emotion: Affective Consequences Of Social Comparisons With Competitive And Cooperative Others, Celinda M. Reese

Master's Theses

The present research explores the affective consequences of social comparisons made by cooperators and competitors. Participants (75 males, 90 females) were randomly assigned to either a cooperative or competitive condition in which they either performed better or worse than a partner. Participants were asked to imagine themselves in a particular situation and then report their emotional reaction to the scenario. Consistent with R. Lazarus' cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, participants in the cooperative condition reported anger when their partner's actions hindered goal attainment but reported joy when the partner promoted goal attainment. Consistent with T. Wills' theory of downward social …

Television And Its Relationship To A Person's Character, Keri Phillips

Master's Theses

The following study looked at the relationship between the types of television shows a person watches, either violent, neutral, or nonviolent, and his/her score on the Character Counts Questionnaire (CCQ), which measures a person's character and ethical values. Subjects were asked to complete the CCQ and rate on a five point bipolar scale, whether they enjoyed or did not enjoy watching the selected television shows. While using the CCQ, several problems were found and changes were made to overcome them. The most prevalent problem was that the original scoring method was so rigid it did not give a reflective measure …

Residence, Perceived Latitude Of Choice And Desired Control Among The Long-Livin, Steven R. Shank

Master's Theses

Perceived control, perceived choice, and residential setting are important factors which need to be addressed in research involving long-living. The focus of this study was to determine the relationships among thee variables. The search for an interaction between residential setting (either high or low constraining) and perceived choice and its effect on perceived control distinguishes this study from previous research.

Psychological Needs Of The Elderly : Community, Religious Affiliated Institutions, And Public Institutions, Sharon Bonaventura

Master's Theses

Although research has shown that psychological needs change as a person ages, available data on the relationship of psychological needs and types of residential institutions for the elderly are limited. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible connection between a particular residential environment and the elderly's psychological needs. Forty-five elderly females ages 62 through 89, participated in this study. Subjects were chosen from one of three residential groups, community, religious affiliated institutions, and public institutions. All subjects were asked to complete the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. In addition, demographic data were collected on each subject. Results from …

Teaching Skill Generalization: Metacognitive And Mnemonic Training Of Educable Mentally Retarded Children, Leslie Z. Paige

Master's Theses

Although previous research has shown that EMR children can be trained to use mnemonic techniques, they are unable to spontaneously transfer this training to dissimilar tasks. In the present study, 18 EMR children were divided into two equal groups. The IM group was trained to use a mnemonic/meta-cognitive strategy for a PA task, and the C group received no training. After training, both groups were tested for their recall of PA (Maintenance), MA (Near Generalization), and FR (Far Generalization) items immediately after training (Immediate Test) and two weeks later (Delayed Test). The IM group recalled significantly more and studied longer …

Rotc Vs Non-Rotc Students: Demographic, Attitudes, Behavior, And Personality Differences, Mark A. Pieffer

Master's Theses

This study looked at similarities and differences between those students who take ROTC at the college level and those who do not. Two hundred sixteen male students at the University of Richmond who had taken the Omnibus Personality Inventory as a freshmen completed a 26-item questionnaire concerning their family economic levels, homes, and past and present school situations. One hundred of the students were past or present ROTC students, while the remainder students have never taken a ROTC course at the college level. A contingency analysis was run on the questionnaire answers and it was found that ROTC students earn …

Evaluation Of Courses/Instructors: Book Cost Information And Commitment, Gerald L. Stremel

Master's Theses

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between level of commitment to a college course, and information pertaining to the cost of book(s) for the course, and how such variables would interact to affect the subsequent evaluation of the course/instructor. It was expected that a state of cognitive dissonance would be present between the high commitment-higher than average cost group and the low commitment-higher than average cost group, which would manifest itself by less favorable evaluations of the course/instructor by the low commitment-higher than average group, than in the other five experimental groups. Results partially supported the prediction. …

Life Satisfaction And Aging: A Comparison Of Life Satisfaction Index A, The Tennessee Self Concept Scale And Correlates, Ann Rowley Penberthy

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between life satisfaction and other relevant variables in a sample of noninstitutionalized older Americans. Recent research has related satisfaction with life to adjustment in aging. Previous studies, however, have used a variety of methods to measure life satisfaction or self-concept. This study was designed to be an analysis of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index A with selected personal and behavioral variables. 59 subjects, primarily Jewish, aged 56 to 91 were tested during their regular activity meetings at the Jewish Community Center of Richmond, Virginia. The …

The Effect Of Public Commitment On Attitudes In Consonant And Dissonant Situations, Mark Joseph Slichter

Master's Theses

A primary objective of the study was to treat commitment as a discrete independent.variable, avoiding the confusion resulting from inferential and partially confounded designs employed in most previous commitment studies, and this objective was achieved. Separation of commitment as a distinct variable allows specific inferences to be made about its function in the attitude change process.

An Analysis Of Differentiating Personality Factors Between Incarcerated Heroin Addicts And Non-Addicts, Richard Whitely Davis

Master's Theses

The present study was designed to determine if long-term heroin addicts could be differentiated from short-term users and non-users of heroin on a personality inventory and by comparing their worlt histories and interpersonal relationships . Subjects were incarcerated felons at the Virginia State Penitentiary for men, and the data was collected while the men were still in the institution's Receiving Cell. First it was hyr)othesized that four factors (C, L, M, and O) from Cattell's 16 P. F. Questionnaire would be critical in discriminating addicts from non-addicts. When compared, the addict profiles and non-addict profiles did not differ significantly …

Personality Differences Between Males And Females In A Student And Bank Management Sample, Michael G. Howie

Master's Theses

To clarify some of the findings reported in the litera­ ture concerning the female personality and more specifically the personality of female bank managers, the Guilford­ Zimmerman Temperament Survey was administered to 33 male and 33 female bank managers and 33 male and 33 female students planning careers in business. A 3 factor ANOV showed that Ss differed significantly between samples and between sexes, but on only one personality trait; emotional stability. A t-test was performed on the scores of the masculinity trait when no significance was found on that trait with the ANOV method. This test showed a significant …

Personality Characteristics Related To Volunteering, Pseudovolunteering And Non-Volunteering For Different Kinds Of Psychological Experiments, Donald S. Sale

Master's Theses

Volunteer subjects are utilized in a large portion of experiments concerned with human behavior. Yet the use of volunteers is a form of systematic sampling bias which may well distort research findings. This study was undertaken to explore some of the factors related to volunteering for psychological experiments at Richmond College in the hope of providing future researchers with insight into reasons why the use of volunteer subjects may bias their research results and of stimulating them to use more representative, albeit less convenient sampling procedures.

A Study Of The Occupational Pattern Of The Presbyterian Ministry Of The Synod Of North Carolina, James F. Hubbard

Master's Theses

The Synod of North Carolina of the Presbyterian Church in the United States operates a Guidance Center on the campus of st. Andrews Presbyterian College at Laurinburg, North Carolina. Similar centers are in operation in other states by the appropriate Synod of the church. It is the task or these centers to provide a program or testing and counseling for high school Juniors and Seniors from local churches throughout the state. Candidates for the ministry are also examined and reports made to the Presbytery in charge. The emphasis is upon vocational and educational guidance. The Guidance Center in North Carolina …

Presentation Factors As Critical Variables In Learning By Program, Guide, And Self Study, Charles Holman Jennings

Master's Theses

Visionary suggestions for improving formal education are now at last becoming realities. More and better equipped plants are rising. Teachers' salaries are on the increase. More updated text books are available. Ability grouping is Widely practiced. A wider range and greater depth or course offerings enhances the high school curricula. Increased alumni contributions and government grants are leading to expansion of staff and facilities at the college level. However, none of these consider how a student learns. Thus none copes directly with the most basic o! needs, that of making the teaching-learning process itself more effective and efficient. The approach …

Effect Of Successive Training Of Different N-Lengths Under Partial Reinforcement On Resistance To Extinction, Edward Dale Walters

Master's Theses

This experiment was designed to teat a theoretical interpretation based on Capaldi's modified aftereffects hypothesis. It held that the conditioning successively of different S^Ns to the lever-presaing response would lead to increased resistance to extinction.

A Study Of Factors That Discriminate Between Different Degrees Of Religiousness In People, Stuart W. Omohundro

Master's Theses

The first question that will probably confront the reader of this paper will be, what is meant by religiousness, be measured or compared between personalities or groups? The same question has been asked of psychologists about other terms such as intelligence and emotion, either of which could be substituted in the title of this paper and still not make it any clearer. The answers to this question have varied except where operational definitions have been demanded, which, of course, boil down to emotional or intellectual behavior as measured by a given test in relationship to others taking the test. Religiousness …

An Analysis Of Academic Achievement In Psychology, Charles Spital

Master's Theses

Some kinds of educational tests have been in use for centuries, dating back to oral tests of Socrates. It was not until 1845, however, that the brilliant Horace Mann first pointed to the advantage of written essay examinations over oral. And even then he could not precipitate any great rush toward the use of written tests.