Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

The Influence Of Children's Affective Ties On The Goal Clarification Step Of Social Information Processing, Amanda C. Thorn

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous studies have shown that children’s social goals are influenced by
emotion and that emotions can be manipulated using relationships. The present study combines these previous findings by examining the effect of children’s relationships on social goals. Social goals were examined in second and fifth grade children using hypothetical ambiguous provocation situations in which the relationship between the participant and the provocateur was manipulated by inserting the name of a friend, enemy, or a neutral peer into the story. After each situation, children rated the importance of four different social goals, indicating which of the four would be ...

Ages Of Engagement In Risk Taking And Self-Harm: An Investigation Of The Dual Systems Model Of Adolescent Risk Taking, Brittany Dykstra

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Risk taking (RT) and self-harm (SH) are clinically, conceptually, and empirically
related, yet separate constructs, which occur most frequently during adolescence. The current study utilized retrospective reports of college students to determine reported ages of engagement in RT and SH behaviors. Reported ages were compared with predictions for ages of high frequency engagement in RT based on the Dual Systems Model of Adolescent Risk Taking (DSMART; Steinberg, 2010). The sample consisted of 228 college students, ranging in age from 18 to 48 years (mean 22.8), who completed a survey of commonly investigated RT (12 items) and SH (18 items ...

Use Of Myers-Briggs Personality Types In The Distribution Of Students To Team-Based Learning Groups, Tracy R. Frame, Rebecca J. Gryka, Mary E. Kiersma, Ph.D., Lorin Sheppard, Ph.D., Aleda M. H. Chen, Stephanie M. Cailor

The Research and Scholarship Symposium

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Bystander Intervention: Barriers And Facilitators In Sexual Assault Helping, Madeline C. Whitcomb

Honors Theses

An innovation in the prevention of sexual assault and relationship violence on college campuses capitalizes on the motivation of bystanders to help stop the crime. Specifically, research on bystander helping shows factors that make it more or less likely that bystanders will take action: sharing a common social group with the victim, perceiving the severity of the situation, concerns about peer reactions and personal safety. While these studies illustrate the reasons bystanders do or do not step in, detailed descriptions of this helping process have yet to be examined. I content coded 20 in-depth qualitative interviews of student’s personal ...

The Influence Of Spatial Distance Priming On Test Anxiety And Judgments, Eric R Raap

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This paper examined the effects of distance priming on test anxiety and judgment. Research suggests that individuals’ perceived distance can impact their affect and judgments, which sheds light on the principle of “distance equals safety” (Williams & Bargh, 2008). Taking an exam invokes both cognitive and emotional anxiety, such as worry, panic, and tension. It is hypothesized that the distance priming may reduce test anxiety—particularly, the emotionality aspect—as well as perceived test difficulty. The results showed that, counter to the hypotheses, there was no significant difference among the three priming groups in their emotional test anxiety or perceived test ...

Unit Cohesion, Attachment, Personality Factors, And Mental Health In Veterans Of Iraq And Afghanistan, Allison Adrienne Whitesell

Doctoral Dissertations

One hundred forty seven veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and/or Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) completed an internet survey with questions related to unit cohesion, romantic attachment style, personality factors, and mental health symptoms. Participants completed five self-report measures: the PTSD Checklist-Military, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-21, Deployment Social Support scale from the Deployment Risk and Resiliency Inventory, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Short Form, and the International Personality Item Pool Big Five Short Form Questionnaire. Most participants were male and Caucasian. Hierarchical linear regression analysis results indicated that emotional stability predicted both general distress and PTSD symptom severity, while avoidant ...

Perceptions Of Stigma And Other Barriers To Seeking Mental Health Services Among Veterans, Ashley J. Nichols, Ruveanna Hambrick, Lauren M. Sparks

University of North Georgia Annual Research Conference

This presentation is a subset of a larger study that examines the prevalence and manifestation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among a group of combat veterans. It examines the health of the social environment. The culture of the military values self-reliance and strength, and seeking mental health services stigmatizes one as weak (Bush et. al, 2011). Consequently, a significant proportion of the veteran population who are in need of mental health care are choosing not to seek treatment at all. Some combat veterans may also express concern about the potential effects a diagnosed mental disorder may have on their ...

Marital Satisfaction In Relation To Age And Number Of Children, Danielle L. Balsamo, Melissa A. Deese, Jefferson G. Kiefer, Promise J. Armstrong

University of North Georgia Annual Research Conference

Previous research on marital satisfaction has shown that while children help to stabilize marriages, they have a negative impact on the satisfaction within the marriage. To understand whether this finding coincides with the rural areas of Northeast Georgia, the authors studied the impact of number and ages of children, as well as stress level of the parents on happiness within the marriage. All three of these factors predicted a diminished marital satisfaction in the couple. Results found that the more children a couple has, the higher their level of parental stress. Age and number of children as well as parental ...

The Role Of Psychological Flexibility In Mental Health Stigma And Psychological Distress For The Stigmatizer In An African American College Sample, Chantel M. Sims, Akihiko Masuda

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Narrative Paradigms In Muslim Identity: A Qualitative Investigation Of Seven Atlanta Case Studies, Sonia Jamani

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Individuals With Single Versus Multiple Suicide Attempts Over 10 Years Of Prospective Follow-Up, Christina L. Boisseaua, Shirley Yen, John C. Markowitz, Carlos M. Grilo, Charles A. Sanislow, M. Tracie Shea, Mary C. Zanarini, Andrew E. Skodol, John G. Gunderson, Leslie C. Morey, Thomas H. Mcglashan

Division II Faculty Publications

Background: The study attempted to identify characteristics that differentiate multiple suicide attempters from single attempters in individuals with personality disorders (PDs) and/or major depression.

Method: Participants were 431 participants enrolled in the Collaborative Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders from July 1996 to June 2008. Suicide attempts were assessed with the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation at 6 and 12months, then yearly through 10years. Logistic regression was used to compare single attempters to multiple attempters on Axis I and II psychiatric disorders and personality trait variables.

Results: Twenty-one percent of participants attempted suicide during the 10years of observation, with 39 (9 ...

Socioeconomic-Status And Mental Health In A Personality Disorder Sample: The Importance Of Neighborhood Factors, Zach Walsh, M. Tracie Shea, Shirley Yen, Emily B. Ansell, Carlos M. Grilo, Thomas H. Mcglashan, Robert L. Stout, Donna S. Bender, Andrew E. Skodol, Charles A. Sanislow, Leslie C. Morey, John G. Gunderson

Division II Faculty Publications

This cross-sectional study examined the associations between neighborhood-level socioeconomic-status (NSES), and psychosocial functioning and personality pathology among 335 adults drawn from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. Participants belonged to four personality disorder (PD) diagnostic groups: Avoidant, Borderline, Schizotypal, and Obsessive Compulsive. Global functioning, social adjustment, and PD symptoms were assessed following a minimum two-year period of residential stability. Residence in higher-risk neighborhoods was associated with more PD symptoms and lower levels of functioning and social adjustment. These relationships were consistent after controlling for individual-level socioeconomic-status and ethnicity; however, the positive association between neighborhood-level socio-economic risk and PD symptoms was ...

Reflections From India: A Vedic Outlook On Life In The Modern World, Geetanjali Gubba

2012 AHS Capstone Projects

During my junior year of college, I traveled to India to live and work there for six months with the intent of doing more spiritual learning of the Vedas in a traditional, Indian setting. The Vedas, ancient Indian scriptures, and their supporting body of knowledge not only offer spiritual wisdom but countless methods to cope with day-to-day stresses in life with the goal of eventually becoming enlightened. However, what I encountered in India was far from my intended goal, and my original plans fell through. The situations forced me to reevaluate my mental models for how I should be structuring ...

The Beauty Industry's Influence On Women In Society, Ann Marie Britton

Honors Theses

There has been a significant amount of research done on the effect that advertising in the fashion and beauty industry has on women. By creating advertisements with unrealistic images of beauty, it has resulted in anxiety, low self-esteem, and low self-confidence in many women. Most of these negative emotions stems from unhappiness among body and appearance. Less research has been performed relating to cosmetics and how this can have an influence on women, and how women can use cosmetics to manipulate their appearance. This paper first discusses the existing research that focuses on the cosmetic industry’s influence on women ...

Our Stories And What They Tell Us: An Exploration Of Human Narratives And What We Can Learn From Them, Boris Taratutin

2012 AHS Capstone Projects

I interviewed a number of individuals about their core life philosophies and how they came to develop them (their mini-life stories). I then presented these interviews through short narrative profiles in a book format, and at the end provide an analysis that pulls from the fields of psychology, anthropology, and education research to look at what we can learn from these individual's stories.

Treating The Spirit: An Ethnographic Portrait Of Senegalese Animist Mental Health Practices And Practitioners In Dakar And The Surrounding Area, Caitlin Mckinley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Animist beliefs and practices are deeply ingrained in Senegalese society, even in the metropolitan area of Dakar and have prevailed in Senegal despite the many influences of Islam and colonization. Animist mental health practices are especially interesting because of the influx of Western mental health practices in the wake of modernization. Merging traditional and Western mental health practices challenges the completely different worldviews from which each school of thought stems. For those seeking treatment, this duality makes it tricky to receive the help that they need. The purpose of this study is to explore animist Senegalese mental health treatments, traditional ...

Fall To Grace, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Fall to Grace (2013) directed by Alexandra Pelosi.

Anger And Threat Detection: Increased Expectancy For Emotion-Relevant Stimuli Influences Object Recognition, Jolie Elizabeth Baumann

Psychology Dissertations

Emotions are known to influence judgments and decision making, even on tasks or in situations unrelated to the original source of the emotional experience (Schwarz & Clore, 2007; Clore, Gasper, & Garvin, 2001). However, despite the wealth of research on incidental emotions (those elicited by a source other than the task at hand), it remains unclear whether such emotion effects extend to purely objective judgments for which there is a clear correct and incorrect response. To test this possibility, we had participants complete an emotion induction procedure and then a threat detection task in which they were shown images of White males holding either neutral everyday objects (e.g., wallets, cameras, cellphones, soda cans) or guns. Participants were asked, under time pressure, to identify whether each individual was holding a gun or a neutral object. In a series of background experiments, we showed that participants induced to experience anger demonstrated a bias on the threat detection task whereby they made more errors claiming that neutral objects were guns than vice versa. Neutral participants did not exhibit any such bias. Importantly, the effect appeared to be emotion-specific, as several other positive and negative emotional states (disgust, happiness, sadness) failed to produce any effect on threat detection performance. We believe that, of these emotions, anger alone produced a bias because it was the only emotion that was relevant to the gun/no-gun decision. That is, anger is an emotion that might typically be elicited in situations involving the potential for violence or aggression, and so the experience of anger could more readily be misattributed to the decision at hand.

Building off of these background studies, this dissertation is an extensive investigation into the process by which anger influences performance on the threat detection task. Using signal detection theory, we were able to show that angry participants are not more or less sensitive to the distinction between guns and neutral objects; they did not make more or less errors on the task overall. Instead, angry participants appear to make more false alarms, mistakenly misidentifying neutral objects as guns, in order to ensure that guns are accurately identified when present. In the background studies, we assumed that the signal distribution (the distribution for the gun trials) and the noise distribution (the distribution for the neutral object trials) were Gaussian distributions of equal variance for both ...

Invisible Chronic Illness: Invisible Is Not Imaginary, Rebecca L. Tadlock-Marlo

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The need for counselors to be versed in various areas of multicultural counseling is a requirement to the profession (ACA Code of Ethics, 2005). Providing a basis of counselor knowledge in dealing with the various areas of multiculturalism is necessary to revolutionize how we are able to help clients with various life stories. One of the goals within the ACA standards is to help navigate a sense of empowerment for such clients. Counselors must promote holistic wellness in the often challenging social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual path of comeback. With the rise in invisible chronic physical conditions, the importance of ...

Would You Marry You? Black America & Marriage, Justin Nyke Coleman, Terry Esper Phd

Black Issues Conference

"Would You Marry You? Black America & Marriage"- The lack of marriage is becoming an epidemic in the black community. In this PowerPoint based discussion we will go over the state of black marriage as we college students see it. We will also discuss the difference in the statistical upbringing of a child from a household with one parent compared to a child from a married household looking into the likelihood of going to prison, going to college, and getting married themselves. We will also take the time to turn the mirror on ourselves and ask the question, Would You Marry ...