Theory and Philosophy Commons^™

Asymmetry In Resting Alpha Activity: Effects Of Handedness, Ruth E. Propper, Jenna Pierce, Mark W. Geisler, Stephen D. Christman, Nathan Bellorado

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha band power during rest shows increased right, and/or decreased left, hemisphere activity under conditions of state or trait withdrawal-associated effect. Non-right-handers (NRH) are more likely to have mental illnesses and dispositions that involve such withdrawal-related effect. The aim of the study was to examine whether NRH might be characterized by increased right, relative to left, hemisphere activity during rest. Methods: The present research investigated that hypothesis by examining resting EEG alpha power in consistently-right-handed (CRH) and NRH individuals. Results: In support of the hypothesis, NRH demonstrated decreased right hemisphere alpha power, and therefore increased right hemisphere …

Family Context And Weight Status Among 18-Month-Old Infants In Southern Appalachia: The Role Of Temperament, Parenting Style, And Maternal Feeding Practices., Vincent A. Carroll

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pediatric obesity is a major public health crisis in the United States, and is particularly prevalent in the Southeast. Recent research has shifted the focus toward identifying obesity risk factors earlier in the lifespan, as 9.7% of infants and toddlers are at high weight-for-length (>95th percentile). Family context variables have been found to be related to infant and child weight status. A better understanding of these early contributors may facilitate the continued development of interventions for infants and toddlers at risk for obesity.

The purpose of the current study was to examine infant weight as it relates to parent-report …

Fraudulent Therapies In Psychology: The Enduring Value Of Science., W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

Therapy is an effort, based upon scientifically derived principles, to optimize the ration of positive-to-negative reinforcers, for the individual and for society. Fraudulent therapies do not derive from scientific principles. Among these are orgone therapy, re-birthing, facilitated communication, recovered memory therapy, alien abduction, and past-life therapy.

Editorial Comment: Pursuing The Experimental Analysis Of Gambling Behavior, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

No abstract provided.

Using Unsolvable Anagrams To Induce Escape: Will It Increase Gambling Behavior?, Sarah G. Martner, Kevin S. Montes, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Previous research has found an association between gambling as a means of escape and pathological gambling. Likewise, previous laboratory research has found an association between gambling as a means of escape and participants’ gambling behavior. The present experiment had 41 participants play video poker in two sessions. Prior to one session, participants were asked to solve a series of solvable word puzzles. Prior to the other, they were asked to solve a series of unsolvable word puzzles. Consistent with previous research, results demonstrated that participants’ video-poker play was associated with their overall tendency to endorse gambling as a function of …

Phenomenological Theories Of Crime, Peter K. Manning, Michael W. Raphael

Graduate Student Publications and Research

The distinctive aspect of phenomenological theories of crime is that they are based upon a stated epistemology: how things are known and a specific ontology—the nature of social reality. This specificity aligns itself with neo-Kantian concern with forms of knowing, interpretation, and meaning, as well as with 20th-century concern with perception, cognition, and the framing of events. While there are influences of phenomenological thinking on varieties of theorizing, such as symbolic interactionism, critical theory, queer theory, and gender-based theories of crime, these ideas are refractions and are inconsistent in their reference to and understanding of the foundational phenomenological works. A …

Probability Discounting In A Sample Of American Indians: Gambling As An Escape Predicts Discounting Of Monetary, But Not Non-Monetary, Outcomes, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, J. Douglas Mcdonald, Adam Derenne

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present study investigated the relationship between measures of gambling and the process of probability discounting in a sample of participants from a population that has historically shown high rates of gambling problems. Thirty nine American Indian university students complete the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Gambling Functional Assessment – Revised, and a probability-discounting task involving two monetary and two non-monetary outcomes. Consistent with results from previous research focusing on majority-population participants, severity of gambling problems was more strongly associated with endorsing gambling as an escape than with gambling for positive reinforcement. Endorsing gambling as an escape, but not for …

Evaluating Preference And Rate Of Gambling On Vedio Slot Machines, Mark R. Dixon, Jeffrey R. Miller, Seth W. Whiting, Alyssa N. Wilson, Allie M. Hensel

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Casinos increasingly are providing access to five-reel video slot machines and as a result are decreasing the use of traditional three-reel slot machines. Limited research has been conducted on the characteristics of play associated with video slot machines. The present study examined participant’s play on a five-reel video slot machine, comparing the number of trials played while wagering one credit on five lines versus five credits on one line. After participants were exposed to both conditions they were asked to choose their preferred condition. The results found that participants played significantly more trials while playing during the five credits on …

Gambling Behavior And Temporal Discounting Among Militaryaffiliated And Civilian Students, Kevin S. Montes, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present study explored whether the contingencies maintaining gambling behavior differed for military-affiliated and non-military-affiliated students. It also tested for differences in how these groups discounted delayed outcomes. Three groups of students participated: Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students (n = 36), students with a relative in the military (n = 62), and students with no relative in the military (n = 58). Participants completed the Gambling Functional Assessment-Revised and a delaydiscounting task. Results indicated that all participants’ gambling behavior was maintained primarily by positive reinforcement. Moreover, ROTC students scored significantly higher on gambling for positive reinforcement, and significantly lower …

Gambling In A Laboratory Setting: A Comparison Of Gambling For Positive Reinforcement Versus As A Potential Escape, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Katelyn Mari, Kevin S. Montes

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Research has shown that most individuals’ gambling is maintained more by positive, than by negative, reinforcement but that disordered gambling is more strongly related to gambling maintained by negative, than positive, reinforcement. Forty five participants were recruited to play video poker in two different sessions: one in which they competed for a $50 gift card and one in which they could play after trying to solve unsolvable anagrams. Higher measures of gambling were observed in the gift-card, than in the anagram, session, but none of the differences were statistically significant and the observed effect sizes were small. Participants’ annual income …

The Obligatory Structure Of Copyright Law: Unbundling The Wrong Of Copying, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Psychotherapy As Cultivating Character, Mike W. Martin

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Duff R. Waring argues that, in some instances, psychotherapy should be viewed as healing (or alleviating) mental disorders and also as cultivating good character in patients (Waring 2012). In these instances, psychotherapists should understand their patients as having character faults that are manifested as mental disorders, as having nascent virtues they can build on during therapy, and as moving toward goals that can be specified in terms of both improved mental health and greater moral virtue. Waring’s discussion is deeply illuminating, but it suffers from a major difficulty: the failure to take adequate account of the differences between the perspectives …

Investigating Insight As Sudden Learning, Ivan K. Ash, Benjamin D. Jee, Jennifer Wiley

Psychology Faculty Publications

Gestalt psychologists proposed two distinct learning mechanisms. Associative learning occurs gradually through the repeated co-occurrence of external stimuli or memories. Insight learning occurs suddenly when people discover new relationships within their prior knowledge as a result of reasoning or problem solving processes that re-organize or restructure that knowledge. While there has been a considerable amount of research on the type of problem solving processes described by the Gestalt psychologists, less has focused on the learning that results from these processes. This paper begins with a historical review of the Gestalt theory of insight learning. Next, the core assumptions of Gestalt …

Cultural Biases In The Weschler Memory Scale Iii (Wms-Iii), Adam David Less

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Wechsler Memory Scale –iii is the newest version of a six-decade old neuropsychological inventory. Since its conception, the Wechsler Memory Scale has been highly utilized by practitioners to accurately assess various memory functions in adult subjects. Revisions made within this inventory include the Faces I subtest, a facial recognition scale, which was added in order to strengthen the instrument’s accuracy at measuring episodic memory. Facial recognition, both cross-race and within-race, has been researched extensively and consistent biases have been found between race of test taker and cross-racial identification. Theories of exposure/contextual interaction (environment) and biological foundations have been the …