Other Psychology Commons^™

Improving The Assessment Of Practical Judgment Ability In Older Adults, Crystal G. Quinn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Judgment is an important aspect of executive functioning and critical to many aspects of real-world behavior. As the older adult population and incidence of dementia rises, the assessment of judgment during neuropsychological evaluations is important for informing diagnosis, understanding functional and cognitive competence, and designing effective treatment plans. The Test of Practical Judgment (TOP-J) is an objective verbal measure with two versions (i.e., 9 items and 15 items) that is increasingly used by neuropsychologists; however, initial validation research was conducted with a small, highly-educated non-Hispanic White sample. As a result, normative data and content may not be appropriate for individuals …

Pilot Study Of The Effects Of Mobile Based Resonant Frequency Breathing On Cognitive Performance In Healthy Young Adults With Elevated Stress, Daniel Saldana

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: Prior research has shown a bidirectional relationship between breathing, emotions, behavior, and cognitive functions thought to be mediated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Studies have shown that deep or diaphragmatic breathing interventions are associated with improved affect and decreased stress levels, but little attention has been paid to the effects of breathing training on cognition. The few studies that have looked at this have shown improved attention, memory, and executive functioning as a result of breathing interventions. While suggestive of positive benefits, these studies used control groups that are either inactive or inappropriate for determining their respective mechanisms …

The Online Impossible Anagram Task: Development And Testing Of A Novel Online Cheating Paradigm, Emily Joseph

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For the past fifteen years, the Russano et al. (2005) cheating paradigm has dominated research in the forensic psychological literature. While this paradigm successfully activates theoretical mechanisms for ethical decision-making, applying the methods for online data collection is cumbersome and retains a confound inherent in the design. Alternative cheating paradigms from both the psychology and economics literatures were evaluated for their suitability for an online cheating paradigm. The impossible anagram task was selected as most likely to elicit the same internal and external cost-benefit analyses online as the Russano et al. (2005) cheating paradigm does in-person: self-concept maintenance, ethical dissonance, …

Improving The Accuracy Of Juror Self-Reports Of Bias During Rehabilitative Voir Dire, Natalie Gordon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The courts have long acknowledged pretrial publicity (PTP) as a source of juror bias. To safeguard defendants due process rights, jurors who harbor bias are frequently asked during voir dire if they can set aside their bias and be fair and impartial. Yet, jurors’ self-reports of their ability to be fair and impartial are largely inaccurate. For example, regardless of their level of exposure to PTP, jurors typically report an ability to be fair and impartial. Therefore, this method of so-called “juror rehabilitation” is ineffective. This project examines conformity pressures that may be inhibiting accurate self-reporting during juror rehabilitation and …

Information Justice: The Histories And Futures Of Technology And Social Categories, Patrick Sweeney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation examines two controversies related to emergent uses of information from social media in psychological research and application. It focuses on controversies surrounding studies of face-based gaydar and the use of psychographic targeting by Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 US presidential election. Each controversy is analyzed in a case study that explores the issues specific to that study in relation to broader patterns across contexts to identify emergent trends in the use of information from social media in psychological research. Qualitative Content Analysis is used to analyze extant texts relevant to each case. In each study, findings related to …

Young People’S Perception Of Opportunities To Participate In Democratic Governance, Jennifer Nga Yu Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations General Assembly, 1989) accords all young people the right to be heard and make decisions on matters affecting them. Despite the fact the United States remains the only country in the world not to have ratified this document, a number of American cities have nevertheless begun to engage young people in community decision-making (e.g., in neighborhood associations or community boards). However, as of yet there are few actual opportunities for youth to participate fully in the governance of their cities. This study examined the perspectives of young people …

Social Production Of Intellectual Disability And The Mechanics Of Moral Exclusion: Past, Present, And Future, Emese Ilyes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The institutionalized dehumanization in the United States continues to allow for people who are categorized as intellectually disabled to be legally warehoused and paid as little as pennies per hour to complete rote, repetitive work within segregated environments. An entire court case was conducted about whether a man labeled as intellectually disabled was able to engage in a consensual relationship or whether he was the victim of sexual assault without ever allowing him to express his desires and lived experiences. This project is an attempt to explore a theoretical, historical explanation for how humanity is denied in some bodies, how …

The Different Components Of Active Shooter Incidents: Examining The Co-Occurrence Of Offender And Incident Characteristics, Jeffery R. Osborne

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present dissertation examined 198 United States single-offender active shooter incidents and thematically differentiated cases based on 1) offender backgrounds, 2) precipitating stressors, 3) offender routine activity, 4) crime scene location, and 5) incident characteristics. Doing so contributed to the increasing number of studies that have stressed the importance of creating empirically-based models to better understand active shooter incidents and the offenders who are responsible. To structure this investigation into active shooter incidents, concepts within Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis were paired with analytical methodologies seen in Offender Profiling and Investigative Psychology research.

The findings illustrated that offenders could be …

School Recess And Changes To Children's Play Opportunities In New York City, Keyonna Hayes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The policy, No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 in US public schools was designed to improve how children learn and test in schools, but it has resulted in the decline or removal of recess from most schools. This thesis examines two important issues. The first issue is to assess the play opportunities that public elementary schools offer to children, in terms of both the time available for recess and the quality of the spaces and resources for play during recess. The second issue is to learn, alongside the question of the quality of school recess, how parents’ work …