Psychology Commons^™

Bayesian Analysis Of Parental Drinking Motives And Children's Adjustment, Aaron A. Duke

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Harm reduction strategies can mitigate against some of the deleterious effects of alcohol on families. These strategies are most feasible and cost-effective when they can be targeted at those who are most at risk. Previous studies examining the relation between parents’ alcohol use and their children’s psychological adjustment have failed to consider important contextual questions such as drinking motives. The current investigation set out to identify the extent to which parents’ drinking motives predict internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in their children. The investigation consisted of cross sectional analysis of parents’ drinking motives and their children’s adjustment using data ...

Communication Among Emerging Adult Siblings, Jessica Leigh Paulsen

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The study sought to explore the emerging adult sibling dyad through qualitative
inquiry. By doing so, the collected data bring new meaning to why and how emerging adult siblings communicate. Also, by including both siblings, this study sought to highlight a different perspective of sibling communication. Extant research on the emerging adulthood stage of life is limited. The current study explored the sibling dyad during this phase of life, and three themes emerged: siblings become friends, changes during emerging adulthood, conflict negotiation, and taking a parental role.

Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation: Abraham Lincoln As An Adult Learner, Warren Greer

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Over the last two decades, research has identified factors that foster versus undermine human motivation and well being with important implications for learning and performance. Much of the research is concerned with intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and autonomous versus non-autonomous learning environments. The data suggests that learning and performance are often significantly enhanced in autonomy-supportive environments that foster intrinsic motivational perspectives. This study examines the lived experience of Abraham Lincoln in the context of his adult learning motivation, forming a qualitative narrative around his adult educational experiences. It was hypothesized that Abraham Lincoln benefited from learning experiences with high levels ...

Coping With College Stress: Does Sense Of Coherence Influence The Use Of Alcohol And Otc Medication?, Rebecca Silver

Psychology - Dissertations

The combination of stress and psychological symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression) have been associated with alcohol consumption and the nonindicated use of over the counter (OTC) medications. However, some people have personal resources that contribute to a successful management of the stress response. Antonovsky's (1987) salutogenic theory proposes that a person's sense of coherence (SOC) buffers the relationship between stress appraisal and stressor-induced reactions. This study examined the SOC in relation to associations of stress-related indices with substance-related coping behaviors. One hundred and sixty-five college student participants completed questionnaires that assessed their demographics, stressors, perceived stress, SOC, psychological ...

Differential Effectiveness Of Sitting Meditation Program And Movement Meditation Program In Reducing College Students' Cognitive And Somatic Trait Anxiety, Sanghyeon Cheon

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

A quasi-experiment was carried out to examine a possible aptitude-treatment interaction in eight-week meditation programs for college students' anxiety reduction. A total of 42 college students were assigned to either sitting meditation (21) or moving meditation conditions (21) and an additional 39 college students to a comparison group without treatment. Two outcome variables (cognitive trait anxiety and somatic trait anxiety) were measured four times by using on-line self-report questionnaires. It was hypothesized that moving meditation program would be more effective than sitting meditation program for those whose cognitive trait anxiety is dominant over somatic trait anxiety at the baseline and ...

Academic Achievement Motivation And High School Dropout: An Integrative Model, Alyssa Parr '13

Senior Theses

High school dropout is a pressing issue in the United States as 7.1% of all 16 to 24 year olds in the United States are high school dropouts (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2012). To create effective dropout prevention programs, we must understand the factors that contribute to this national crisis. Two factors that play a role in educational outcomes are achievement motivation and performance. The purpose of this study was to test a model, based on SCCT and EVT, which predicts high school dropout from self-efficacy, performance, and subjective task value. The model was tested through the statistical ...

The Effect Of Cataract Surgery On Depression And Vision-Related Quality Of Life In An Elderly Population, Paige Martin

Honors College

Cataracts due to age affect the ability to perform daily visual activities, thereby reducing independence, which can leave a person feeling depressed. This project is designed to study the relationships between cataract surgery and depression and vision-related quality of life in an elderly population. Two groups were studied: Participants undergoing cataract surgery and a wait-list control group. Levels of depression and vision-related quality of life were assessed at baseline and at one-month post-surgery/baseline point. Changes in depressive symptoms did not differ between the two groups; however, vision-related quality of life and visual acuity are significantly increased with cataract removal ...

Hierarchical Use Of Cues In The Missing Object Recognition Task By Rats (Rattus Norvegicus), Jerome Cohen, Marium Arain

Psychology Publications

This study investigated rats’ preferences for using non-spatial and spatial cues in a missing-object recognition task. Rats were trained to find a sunflower seed under any one of four previously missing adjacent objects, the test array of a trial, after having found seeds under three of them in the ‘study’ array of that trial. On some trials the study and test arrays consisted of a different object at each baited food site and on other trials, of identical objects. A previously missing object's position and orientation within its array and its global position within the large foraging chamber varied ...

Untangling Cultural Differences In Behavioral, Physiological, And Psychological Symptoms Of Dementia And Alzheimer’S Disease, John S. Avant

University Libraries Lance and Elena Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Abstract

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; 4^th ed. Revised; American Psychiatric Association) and (BPSD) there are many behavioral, physiological, and psychological issues that have been correlated with the progression of the Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Examples of these issues include; emotional regulation problems, variations in eating behavior, and an advancing decline in memory. Though certain symptoms of the disease seem to be widely universal, current literature shows that a number of disparities do exist. There are several differences between and within populations suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia that are ...

Early Life Stress, Drug Abuse, Exercise Effects On Bdnf And Sex-Influenced Exercise Differences, Karissa Dold

University Libraries Lance and Elena Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

In 2011, the U.S. reported 3 million child maltreatment cases, an uncomfortably high but recurring figure each year. Research shows exposure to early life stress (ELS) increases an individual’s susceptibility to substance abuse, specifically of nicotine, alcohol, and cocaine. Increased susceptibility may result from dysregulation of the HPA axis sustaining activation into adulthood after ELS. Hyperactivation of the HPA axis significantly reduces hippocampal BDNF, a neurotrophin involved in neuronal growth and plasticity. Reduced hippocampal BDNF may be a factor in substance abuse vulnerability. Additionally, research shows exercise protects hippocampal BDNF from stress induced down-regulation. To explore these relationships ...

Associative Processes In Statistical Learning: Paradoxical Predictions Of The Past, Jennifer Patricia Provyn

Psychology - Dissertations

The ability to process sequences of input and extract regularity across the distribution of input is fundamental for making predictions from the observed past to the future. Prediction is rooted in the extraction of both frequency- and conditional statistics from the distribution of inputs. For example, an animal hunting for food may consistently return to a particular area to hunt if relative to all other areas visited, that area has the highest frequency of prey. In contrast, humans asked to predict the next word in a sentence must make a prediction based upon higher-order regularities rather than simple frequency statistics ...

Metacognition As A Predictor Of Conceptual Change, Sharang Tickoo

Cognitive Science Student Scholarship

Metacognitive ability - proficiency in analyzing ones own thought processes - is related to the ability to correctly gauge one's mastery of a task (Kruger, 1999; Dunning, 2003). It may also be tied to the ability to make radical conceptual changes learning new information incongruous with prior beliefs. We hypothesize performance on an expanded version of the Cognitive Reflection Test (Frederick, 2005), a battery of questions designed to measure metacognitive ability, would be a predictor of the extent to which undergraduate college students (N=103) improved their understanding of evolution after a semester of college level biology, particularly in the Darwinian ...

The Effects Of Objectifying Hip-Hop Lyrics On Female Listeners, Ellen S. Nikodym

Honors Projects

Research has demonstrated support for objectification theory and has established that music affects listeners’ thoughts and behaviors, however, no research to date joins these two fields. The present study considers potential effects of objectifying hip hop songs on female listeners. Among African American participants, exposure to an objectifying song resulted in increased self-objectification. However, among White participants, exposure to an objectifying song produced no measurable difference in self-objectification. This finding along with interview data suggests that white women distance themselves from objectifying hip hop songs, preventing negative effects of such music.

Deceiving Others After Being Deceived: Lying As A Function Of Descriptive Norms, William F. Johnson

Honors Projects

Previous research has found that being lied to makes a person more likely to respond with deception in a reciprocal manner. I hypothesize that lying instead creates a descriptive norm. Thus, a person being lied to will lie not only to the person who lied to them, but in new conversations with new people. Within a mock job interview, participants were lied to by one confederate, and then given the chance to lie to a second confederate. Being lied to did not produce significantly more lies, favoring existing theory that lying is reciprocal and not transitive.

Power, Likeability, And Perception: Evaluating Men And Women In High And Low Power Positions, Daria A. Bakina

Psychology - Dissertations

When asked, it is relatively easy to come up with an example of a position of high power (e.g., president) or low power (e.g., intern). One can imagine the types of tasks or behaviors each of those positions entails. The theories of social power detail how power is attained, the behaviors of individuals in power, and the consequences of those behaviors (e.g., French & Raven, 1959; Fiske & Depret, 1996; Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003). Most of the studies on behaviors of high power individuals have found that no differences exist between the behaviors of high power men and women. One closely related area ...

Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse:What Heals And What Hurts In A Couple Relationship, Laura Smedley, Kathy Disney-Fairchild, Stephen Fife, Colleen Peterson

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA)

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant trauma that affects a person’s self-concept and ability to form healthy intimate relationships later in adulthood. Approximately 20% of adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse go on to evidence serious psychopathology in adulthood (Harway & Faulk, 2005). Knowledge of how relationship partners affect the healing of the survivor may be very beneficial to couples’ therapists, to survivors themselves, and to their intimate partners. The purpose of this qualitative study is to increase understanding of the survivor’s experience of what is helpful and what is counterproductive in their healing process within the construct ...

Does Movie Viewing Cultivate Unrealistic Expectations About Love And Marriage?, Lauren Galloway

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA)

The present study investigated the connection between romantic movie viewing frequency and endorsement of dysfunctional beliefs for romantic relationships in a university-based sample of 228 participants. Respondents completed a questionnaire in which they reported demographic information as well as responses to the several scales that measure endorsement of romantic ideals. I base this investigation of Segrin and Nabi’s (2002) examination of television viewing habits and proclivity for unrealistic expectations of sex, love, and marriage. Both the current study and the investigation conducted by Segrin and Nabi (2002) support the supposition that media play a part in reinforcing beliefs about ...

Death And Politics: The Role Of Demographic Characteristics And Testimony Type In Death Penalty Cases Involving Future Dangerousness Testimony, Amy Magnus, Miliaikeala Heen, Joel D. Lieberman

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA)

Past research examining expert future dangerousness prediction testimony in death penalty cases and civil confinement hearings for sex offenders has found that jurors tend to be more persuaded by less scientific “clinical” testimony and less influenced by “actuarial” based testimony. Jurors demonstrate greater receptivity for clinical testimony despite the fact that actuarial testimony has been shown to be a better predictor of future dangerousness. Research in this area has focused on identifying cognitive factors that can potentially be manipulated during a trial to increase the effectiveness of actuarial testimony on jurors. A mock jury study was conducted to extend these ...

Still In The Shadows: A Content Analysis Of Sexual Addiction In Couple Therapy, Austin Ellis, Quintin Hunt, Tod Young, Rebecca Nemecek, Jordan Staples, Stephen Fife, Colleen Peterson

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA)

There is no universally accepted definition of “sex addiction” in the literature, though it is generally understood as persistent patterns of sexual behaviors acted out despite negative consequences to self or others (Kafka, 2010; Levine, 2010). Though sexual addictions are often addressed individually, most take place within a social context that includes family members and/or intimate relationships. The purpose of this presentation is to present the results of a content analysis of M/CFT peer-reviewed journals and summarize the extent to which this literature addresses sexual addictions and couples therapy. The content analysis adds to the existing literature by ...

Impairment And Executive Functioning Associated With Symptoms Of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, Adhd, Anxiety, And Depression, Whitney Lee Muhlenkamp Wood

Psychology - Theses

This study examined the relationships among Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT), ADHD, anxiety, and depression symptom sets in a college sample, and the extent to which these symptom sets predicted executive functioning and functional impairment. Also, this study investigated (a) the extent to which functional impairment and executive functioning (EF) problems were uniquely accounted for by SCT symptoms when controlling for ADHD, anxiety, and depression symptoms, and (b) which high symptom group accounted for the greatest amount of impairment. College students (N = 458) completed a demographic questionnaire and self-report scales of ADHD, SCT symptoms, anxiety, and depression symptoms, as well as ...