Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

Dosed Versus Prolonged Exposures: A Direct Comparison Of One-Session Treatments For Animal Phobias, Richard William Seim

Dissertations

It is widely accepted that for exposure-based therapies to be effective feareliciting stimuli must be presented continuously until there is a marked decrease in the client's anxiety (e.g., Eysenck, 1979; Foa & Kozak, 1986). However, an emerging body of research (cf. Seim, Waller, & Spates, 2010) suggests that a massed series of very brief exposures (< 150 sec) may be effective in the extinction of fear responses. The present study was designed to compare the efficacy and acceptability of two one-session treatments for animal phobias: one that utilized continuous, uninterrupted periods of exposure to a feared animal (Prolonged Exposures) and the other that utilized a massed series of brief (5-120 sec) exposure trials (Dosed Exposures). 24 adults (7 males, 17 females) between the ages of 18 and 57 years (M = 23.6) participated in this study. Each individual met DSM-IV criteria for a diagnosis of snake phobia or spider phobia. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two the two interventions. Both treatments required participants to gradually enter a room, approach, and eventually hold a live ball python or tarantula. Results from mixed model (between x within subjects) analyses of variance showed that the Dosed Exposure treatment performed equally well to Prolonged Exposures at decreasing behavioral avoidance, feelings of anxiety, perceptions of threat, and phobiaspecific cognitions from pre-treatment to post-treatment, and these gains were maintained at one-week follow-up. Although participants receiving Prolonged Exposures reported lower ratings of within-session anxiety, participants in the Dosed Exposure group had lower rates of treatment dropout, better compliance with procedures, and fewer safety-seeking behaviors during the treatment. These findings suggest that, contrary to popular belief, brief exposure trials can be effective in the extinction of phobic responses under certain conditions.

Family Involvement Within Assisted Living: Care-Receivers' And Caregivers' Roles And Relationships, Rachel Vineet Solomon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Family systems providing informal care and support to their aging relatives, who were residing in assisted living systems and receiving formal care were central to this study. A broader understanding of family involvement, with respect to exploring both care-receiver and caregiver roles and relationships, within the regulatory and environmental context of assisted living was sought through a qualitative research process. This study employed a phenomenological approach to conduct in-depth interview sessions with eight pairs of participants, comprising elderly residents in five assisted living facilities and their respective caregiving family members, typically a daughter or son and, in one case, a …

A Research Study Examining Forgiveness, Empathy, Commitment, Trust, And Relational Satisfaction Among Adult Friends After Relational Transgressions, L. Lori Poole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examined how forgiveness was managed by adult friends after relational transgressions. It studied how the emotion of empathy promoted the act of forgiving and why the construct of commitment related to trust and relational satisfaction among friendship dyads. Isolating the specific emotion empathy in regards to forgiveness heightened the understanding of what emotional behaviors were used to maintain friendships once a relational transgression was experienced. Measuring and analyzing the interaction between commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction helped to determine how these constructs promoted forgiveness among adult friends.

The Shift In Coaching Dynamics During Long-Term Business Coaching Relationships, Axel Meierhoefer

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The focus of this dissertation was on the changes in long-term external business coaching relationships (defined as more than 4 months). The current study intended to answer two questions: (a) how does the relationship between a coach and a coachee change in long-term coaching engagements? and (b) how do these changes impact the coaching process dynamics and results? The phenomenon that was discovered through this research is called the shift moment. It exemplifies the transition from skill or problem oriented issues, which often represent the original cause of the coaching relationship, to the holistic transformation of the coachee. A qualitative …

Digit Ratios, Baron-Cohen's Reading The Minds In The Eyes And Dart-Throwing Task, Betul Zora

Honors Program Theses

There is evidence that high prenatal testosterone and the ratio of the index finger to the ring finger are correlated. There is also evidence that male-typical finger ratios correlate positively with male-typical tasks such as targeting and negatively correlated with female-typical tasks. This study examines the correlation between the digit ratio and the dart throwing task and also the digit ratio and Baron-Cohen’s Reading the Mind in the Eyes test. A different digit ratio, the ratio of the index finger and the ring finger to the pinky is also collected and correlated with both of the other tests. Sometime during …

Becoming Happier Takes Both A Will And A Proper Way: An Experimental Longitudinal Intervention To Boost Well-Being, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Rene Dickerhoof, Julia K. Boehm, Kennon M. Sheldon

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

An 8-month-long experimental study examined the immediate and longer term effects of regularly practicing two assigned positive activities (expressing optimism and gratitude) on well-being. More important, this intervention allowed us to explore the impact of two metafactors that are likely to influence the success of any positive activity: whether one self-selects into the study knowing that it is about increasing happiness and whether one invests effort into the activity over time. Our results indicate that initial self-selection makes a difference, but only in the two positive activity conditions, not the control, and that continued effort also makes a difference, but, …

Self Discrepancy And Narrative Repair, Lauren E. Jennings

WWU Graduate School Collection

Personal narratives have been shown to play an important role in creating a stable sense of self, yet little research has examined this in experimental designs. Thus, this study explored the utility of narrative, in comparison to other mechanisms (e.g., self-affirmation, distraction), for coping with threats to self-concept by examining affective and cognitive repair after experiencing a threat. Participants (N = 331) received false physiological feedback suggesting a prejudiced response to African Americans and obese people and were induced to complete one of five repair techniques. Participants also completed affect and self-concept measures pre-study, post-threat, and post-repair. Overall, threat-specific and …

Measuring Smoking-Related Attentional Bias With A Change Detection Task, Gordon T. Barker

WWU Graduate School Collection

Despite well known health risks, cigarette smoking remains very prevalent in the United States. In addition, those who attempt to quite are very likely to relapse. Cognitive predictors have not been well examined to date, despite evidence from the Incentive- Sensitization model of addiction that cognitive processes play a large role in relapse and continued addictive behavior (Robinson & Berridge, 1993). To address if the cognitive adaptations involved in the Incentive-Sensitization model are permanent or semi-permanent, this current study examined the abilities of current smokers (n = 15), former smokers (n = 13), and never smokers (n = 15) to …

Bis-Bas, Dispositional Influences On Cardiac Reactivity To Naturally Occurring Stressors, Nicholas P. (Nicholas Peter) Goodman

WWU Graduate School Collection

Research has relied primarily on laboratory settings to examine how emotions and physiology are affected by acute experiences of stress. This is because it is difficult to manipulate acute stress outside the lab and without a discrete manipulation it is difficult to measure physiological and emotional arousal during acute stress. This study found evidence that everyday stress predicts temporary changes in blood pressure. The purpose of this study was to investigate Gray's (1987) behavioral inhibition (BIS) and behavioral activation (BAS) systems, and to identify divergent cardiovascular and emotional outcomes to natural stressors for each of these systems. The data from …

Self-Regulation Among Highly Prejudiced People: A Tool For The Amelioration Of Racial Bias, Kristina L. Silverbears

WWU Graduate School Collection

The source of motivation to respond without prejudice varies among individuals and is connected to their evaluations of biased materials. People who are highly internally motivated to respond without prejudice tend to be lower in prejudice than are people who are highly externally motivated. High internal motivation is typically associated with less biased responding, but when bias does occur feelings of self-directed negative emotions often result. For low prejudice people these self negative feelings can lead to a system of responses culminating in future self regulation. The same self-negative feelings do not function identically for people who are higher in …

Differences In Anti-Fat Attitudes Among Healthcare Providers And General Students, Jessica C. Silks

WWU Graduate School Collection

Weight bias is prevalent, detrimental, and resistant to change. This study provided a general student sample and a healthcare provider sample with information about behavioral, environmental, or biogenetic causes of obesity to compare resulting anti-fat attitudes. Across conditions, the healthcare providers were less likely to agree that obesity is personally controlled, and demonstrated more positive implicit attitudes than did the general students. Among general students, implicit anti-fat attitudes were impervious to reduction efforts across article conditions. Among healthcare providers, implicit anti-fat attitudes improved with biogenetic explanations and did not worsen with behavioral explanations relative to the control group. No such …

Comparing Conscientiousness And Neuroticism In Predicting Task Performance And Contextual Performance, Lu Qin

Theses Digitization Project

The primary aim of this proposal is to address the relationship of effort intensity to neuroticism in predicting task performance and compare conscientiousness and neuroticism in predicting task performance and contextual performance. Building on previous studies' results, Big Five personality factors were examined as correlates of job performance. A pilot survey was distributed to a total of 251 participants who were working at least 20 hours a week collected from five organizations in the Los Angeles area.

Testing The Effectiveness Of An Interactive Multimedia System To Train Clinicians In Behavioral Activation, Suzanne E. Decker

Dissertations

Although many treatments for mental health disorders have been found to be effective in research, community clinicians may not receive training in such empirically supported treatments, and therefore, individuals suffering from disorders may not have access to empirically supported treatment in the community. This study examined the use of an interactive multi-media computerized therapy program, Building a Meaningful Life through Behavioral Activation, as a training tool for mental health clinicians (N=21) using a pre-post study design. Participating clinicians were invited to complete this computer program over the course of several weeks, and to complete knowledge quizzes and written responses …

Investigating Intrinsic And Extrinsic Variables During Simulated Internet Search, Molly M. Liechty, Poornima Madhaven

Psychology Faculty Publications

Using an eye tracker we examined decision-making processes during an internet search task. Twenty experienced homebuyers and twenty-five undergraduates from Old Dominion University viewed homes on a simulated real estate website. Several of the homes included physical properties that had the potential to negatively impact individual perceptions. These negative externalities were either easy to change (Level 1) or impossible to change (Level 2). Eye movements were analyzed to examine the relationship between participants' "stated preferences"[verbalized preferences], "revealed preferences" [actual decisions[, and experience. Dwell times, fixation durations/counts, and saccade counts/amplitudes were analyzed. Results revealed that experienced homebuyers demonstrated a more refined …

Effects Of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons And Novel Lane Markings On Motorists’ Yielding, Speed, And Headway At Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks, Jimmy Wayne Shurbutt

Dissertations

Several methods have been examined to increase motorists’ yielding to pedestrians and the distance at which they yield on multilane crosswalks at uncontrolled locations with relatively high average daily traffic (ADT). A series of 5 experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFBs) as effective pedestrian crossing aides. The first experiment found that the RRFBs produced a significant increase in yielding behavior at all 26 sites located in 3 cities in the United States. Data collected over a 2-year follow-up period at 22 of these sites plus 14-month follow-up at an additional 4 sites documented the …

Neurochemical Effects Of Amyloid-Beta Oligomers In Rats, John J. Panos

Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline. Although the symptomology of Alzheimer’s disease is well defined, its precise etiology remains elusive. Animal models are invaluable for understanding the pathogenesis of this devastating disease. Knowledge of the neurochemical actions of amyloid-β oligomers in specific brain structures is essential for validating animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and for determining the most appropriate behavioral assays of memory. The specific aim of this project was to investigate the neurochemical effects of direct intracerebral infusion of amyloid-β oligomers in the rat. Experiment 1 investigated direct infusions of synthetic …

Inp 4004 Industrial/Organizational Behavior, Michael D. Coovert

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Spirituality, Religiosity, And Weight Management In Black Women, Shené L. Bowie

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Background

Obesity is a major concern in the United States and Black Americans are among those with the highest rates of overweight, obesity, and related co- morbidities. While weight loss among Black women has been studied within the context of a faith-based setting, there is little information about the relationship between spirituality, or relationship with the transcendent, and self-efficacy in the achievement and maintenance of a healthy weight.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships among spirituality, self-efficacy for physical activity and healthy eating, and body composition measures among Black women over the period of participation …

The Medium Or The Message? Communication Relevance And Richness In Trust Games, Cristina Bicchieri, Azi Lev-On, Alex Chavez

Goldstone Research Unit

Subjects communicated prior to playing trust games; the richness of the communication media and the topics of conversation were manipulated. Communication richness failed to produce significant differences in first-mover investments. However, the topics of conversation made a significant difference: the amounts sent were considerably higher in the unrestricted communication conditions than in the restricted communication and no-communication conditions. Most importantly, we find that first-movers’ expectations of second-movers’ reciprocation are influenced by communication and strongly predict their levels of investment.

Testing The Efficacy Of A Computerized Behavioral Activation Treatment Of Depressive Disorders, Alyssa H. Kalata

Dissertations

The present study sought to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a computerized behavioral activation treatment for depressive disorders (IMMBA), while also investigating potential mechanisms of action involved in the treatment of depression through the use of behavioral activation. Nine adults who met criteria for either Major Depressive Disorder or Dysthymic Disorder were recruited from Kalamazoo, Portage, and surrounding areas in Southwestern Michigan. All participants received ten sessions of IMM-BA treatment. Symptoms of depression and related information were assessed at pretreatment and one-week, onemonth, three-month, and six-month follow-up through the use of the Beck Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II), …