Digital Commons Network^™

Basic And Applied Issues In Eyewitness Research: A Münsterberg Centennial Retrospective, Brian H. Bornstein, Christian Meissner

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Whether memory research should emphasize fundamental psychological theory in well-controlled laboratory settings (i.e. “basic” research) or practical questions in naturalistic settings (i.e. “applied” research) is a recurrent question in the field. The debate became especially prominent with the advent of the “everyday memory movement” in the 1980s (e.g. Banaji & Crowder, 1989; Neisser, 1978, 1991), but it dates back to the origins of experimental psychology itself (i.e. the basic approach espoused by Wundt and Titchener vs. the more applied perspective taken by Külpe, Ebbinghaus, Binet, James and others). The debate is particularly relevant to the subarea of eyewitness memory, which …

Signs For The Future Of Civil Justice Research, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The chapters in the present volume [Civil Juries and Civil Justice (New York: Springer, 2008)] provide a number of signs for the future of civil justice research. Many of the signs are favorable and point to continued fruitful collaborations between legal and psychological researchers on pressing topics in the justice arena with important policy implications; yet the contributions also highlight several gaps in the literature, data limitations, and false steps. In other words, some of the signs are not-so-favorable, and there is still much work to be done. In this concluding commentary, I identify the major portents for the …

Patience, Jeffrey R. Stevens, David W. Stephens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

What is patience? Humans and other animals often make decisions that trade off present and future benefits. Should a monkey eat an unripe fruit or wait for it to ripen? Should I purchase the iPhone at its debut or wait for the price to drop in a few months? In these dilemmas, large gains often require long waits, so decision makers must choose between a smaller, sooner reward and a larger, later reward.

It sometimes makes sense to choose the smaller, sooner alternative, for example in a very rich environment, but in many natural situations, waiting for the larger, later …

The Evolutionary Biology Of Decision Making, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Evolutionary and psychological approaches to decision making remain largely separate endeavors. Each offers necessary techniques and perspectives which, when integrated, will aid the study of decision making in both humans and nonhuman animals. The evolutionary focus on selection pressures highlights the goals of decisions and the conditions under which different selection processes likely influence decision making. An evolutionary view also suggests that fully rational decision processes do not likely exist in nature. The psychological view proposes that cognition is hierarchically built on lower- level processes. Evolutionary approaches to decision making have not considered the cognitive building blocks necessary to implement …

Individual Decision Making And The Evolutionary Roots Of Institutions, Richard Mcelreath, Robert Boyd, Gerd Gigerenzer, Andreas Glöckner, Peter Hammerstein, Robert Kurzban, Stefan Magen, Peter J. Richerson, Arthur Robson, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Just as many aspects of individual decisions are sometimes called "unconscious" or "automatic," we know that some institutions have evolved through "unconscious," nondeliberative mechanisms. Their function can also be largely nondeliberative, as in the case of some institutions that may structure behavior without requiring any reflection on the part of the participants. On the other hand, political institutions exist for the purpose of bringing deliberative mechanisms to bear on institutions in the hope of changing them for the better. The immense project of building an integrated explanation of institutions from individual brains to nations-has only barely begun. In this chapter, …

A Fruit In The Hand Or Two In The Bush? Divergent Risk Preferences In Chimpanzees And Bonobos, Sarah R. Heilbronner, Alexandra G. Rosati, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Brian Hare, Marc D. Hauser

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Human and non-human animals tend to avoid risky prospects. If such patterns of economic choice are adaptive, risk preferences should reflect the typical decision-making environments faced by organisms. However, this approach has not been widely used to examine the risk sensitivity in closely related species with different ecologies. Here, we experimentally examined risk-sensitive behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), closely related species whose distinct ecologies are thought to be the major selective force shaping their unique behavioral repertoires. Because chimpanzees exploit riskier food sources in the wild, we predicted that they would exhibit …

Self-Harm, Substance Abuse And Age: Relatedness To Sexually Abusive Behaviors Toward Others By Juveniles, Tara K. Cossel

Department of Psychology: Presentations

The present study analyzes three factors as they relate to functioning: selfharm, substance abuse and age. Research has shown girls highest in mid-adolescent selfharm are those who engage in high levels of bullying (Barker, Arseneault, Brendgen, Fontaine, & Maughan, 2008). Little research has been done to analyze specific behaviors toward others among adolescents who self-harm. Dembo, la Voie, Schmeidler, & Washburn (1987) found a positive correlation between antisocial orientation and illicit drug use. Further research was done to understand the nature of behaviors and functioning of juveniles who abuse substances. Johnson (1988) found a history of substance abuse in the …

Investigation Of Social Connectedness In A College Population And Its Relationship To Perceived Stress And Health Symptoms, Sanya Sholetta Whittaker

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated factors related to social connectedness and social support in a college population. Participants in the study were 486 volunteer students at the University of North Florida. All data were collected through a world wide web surveying program that allowed each participant to complete surveys on computers from any location. The surveys administered were the Social Connectedness Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Perceived Stress Scale 10, the Patient Health Questionnaire 15 (PHQ15), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale- Revised (CESD-R) along with a demographics questionnaire. Results show that participants in …

Escalation Of Wheel Running: An Animal Model Of Non-Drug Addiction, Ali Gheidi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Animal studies using the self-administration paradigm suggest that duration of drug access (Ahmed, 2005) and individual phenotype (Piazza, Deminiere, Le Moal and Simon, 1989) are important factors in the development of drug addiction. Wheel running in rats has been proposed as a model to study non-drug addictions (Eikelboom & Lattanzio, 2003). When first given ad lib wheel access, young male rats initially run at low levels (about 1000 wheel turns per night) and gradually increase this distance to high levels (about 5000 wheel turns per night) (Afonso and Eikelboom, 2003). Like with self-administration, duration of wheel access has been found …

List Composition Effects For Masked Semantic Primes: Evidence Inconsistent With Activation Accounts, Jennifer C. Major

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Priming is the benefit that an event receives when its processing has been preceded by the processing of a related or identical event. Context effects on priming are evident when priming changes as a function of some feature of experimental trials. The most commonly explored context effect is that of relatedness proportion (RP), where it has often been shown that the magnitude of priming (semantic or repetition) is directly related to the proportion of related trials: Increasing the related trials results in greater priming. Although previously thought to depend on strategic processing, recent evidence of context effects from designs using …

Infl Uence Of Nicotine On Positive Affect In Anhedonic Smokers, Jessica Werth Cook, Bonnie Spring, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Rationale – The possibility that individuals administer nicotine to self-regulate persistent negative affect has received interest as a possible explanation for the high prevalence of affectively vulnerable smokers. Relatively overlooked, however, is the possibility that smokers might also self-administer nicotine to elevate low positive affect. Objectives – This study examined whether nicotine administration augmented anhedonic smokers’ positive affective response to a positive mood induction. Materials and methods – Fifty regular smokers (50% female) underwent two positive mood inductions during which they smoked either a nicotinized or denicotinized cigarette in counterbalanced order. Positive affect was assessed before and at two time …

Aboriginal And Non—Aboriginal Australia: The Dilemma Of Apologies, Forgiveness, And Reconciliation, David Mellor, Di Bretherton, Lucy Firth

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This article presents a qualitative study of the indigenous Australian perspective on reconciliation with nonindigenous Australia, with a focus on the role of an apology for the oppression and violence perpetrated by nonindigenous Australians, and for- giveness on the part of indigenous Australians. A brief historical analysis of the rela- tionship between Aborigines and waves of settlers is presented to demonstrate the ex- tent of the wrong that was perpetrated against Aborigines and the need for social as well as practical reconciliation in the current context. It is argued that negotiated for- giveness is a concept that is pertinent to …

Child Sexual Abuse, Andrea R. Perry, David K. Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Child sexual abuse (CSA), a social problem of endemic proportions, has existed in all historical eras and societies (Conte 1994; Fergusson and Mullen 1999; Wekerle and Wolfe 1996; Wolfe 1999). Since antiquity, anecdotal records (e.g., legal, artistic, philosophical, and literary accounts) have documented activities that would today be classified as CSA (deMause 1974; Kahr 1991; Olafson, Corwin, and Summit 1993). For instance, a sizable portion of adults in ancient Greek and Roman cultures openly engaged in what is now considered pederasty or rape (deMause 1974; Kahr 1991). Although adult-child sexual encounters have occurred throughout history, perceptions of such practices have …

Child Maltreatment History And Subsequent Romantic Relationships: Exploring A Psychological Route To Dyadic Difficulties, David K. Dilillo, Terri Lewis, Andrea Di Loreto-Colgan

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A sample of 174 college students involved in heterosexual dating relationships was studied lo investigate the role of psychological distress in mediating links between child maltreatment (CM) history and current couple functioning. Females, but not males, with a history of CM reported greater levels of psychological and relationship difficulties than did non-maltreated women. Psychological distress among females was also found to mediate associations between abuse history and various aspects of couple functioning including intimacy, sexuality. and conflict resolution. No such relationships were found for males. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Book Review: Using Psychology To Make A Difference, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This is a book whose time has come. It collects papers presented at a symposium on applied psychology held at Claremont Graduate University, and that is fitting, as Claremont has one of the leading programs in applied psychology. Most of the chapter authors (8 of 15) are themselves Claremont faculty, and the editors have also gathered a number of impressive outside contributors, such as Philip Zimbardo, Albert Bandura, Robert Rosenthal, Diane Halpern, Stanley Sue, and Elizabeth Loft us. What all these individuals have in common is an interest in using psychology to better the human condition and, in the words …

Negative Mood Regulation Mediates The Relationship Between Distraction And Engagement In Pleasurable Activities Among College Smokers, Lee M. Cohen, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Holly E. R. Morrell

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Smoking for negative mood alleviation is a strong predictor of early smoking and early dependence among undergraduates. Little is known about whether adaptive cognitive coping processes (e.g., distraction) may help decrease the likelihood of student smoking for negative mood regulation. The present study tested the hypothesis that distraction would predict (a) greater engagement in adaptive pleasant pastimes and (b) lower rates of smoking behavior among undergraduates (n = 162, 41.9% female). We further assessed whether negative mood regulation expectations would explain both relationships. Results indicated that negative mood regulation fully mediated the relationship between distraction and engagement in pleasurable …

The Fine Line Of Perfectionism: Is It A Strength Or A Weakness In The Workplace?, Lindsay Bousman

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Perfectionism has been traditionally researched in the clinical psychology domain. While some research has used a normal student population, research applying perfectionism theories to a normal adult population working in Corporate America has not been conducted. Current research suggests two distinct types of perfectionism, maladaptive and adaptive, with different consequences. In this research, maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism were used to determine that traditional perfectionism measures can be used with a working adult sample to achieve similar psychometric properties, and to preliminarily test hypotheses related to their relationship with other individual difference variables. Second, maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism were used to …

Fluoxetine, Smoking, And History Of Major Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Bonnie Spring, Neal Doran, Sherry Pagoto, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Jessica Werth Cook, Katherine Bailey, John Crayton, Donald Hedecker

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The study was a randomized placebo-controlled trial testing whether fluoxetine selectively enhances cessation for smokers with a history of depression. Euthymic smokers with (H+, n = 109) or without (H-, n = 138) a history of major depression received 60 mg fluoxetine or placebo plus group behavioral quit-smoking treatment for 12 weeks. Fluoxetine initially enhanced cessation for H+ smokers (p = .02) but subsequently impaired cessation regardless of depressive history. Six months after quit date, fluoxetine-treated participants were 3.3 times more likely to be smoking (p = .02). Further research is warranted to determine why high-dose fluoxetine produces …

Implementing Elements Of Evidence-Based Practice Into Scientist–Practitioner Training At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln, David K. Dilillo, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become the predominant model of training and is emerging as a common model of practice for many nonpsychology health care professions. Recognizing the relevance of EBP to psychology, the American Psychological Association (APA) developed and endorsed an official policy statement on EBP for the practice of professional psychology. There is now a pressing need to consider ways that EBP can inform scientist–practitioner training. The present article proposes clinical competencies associated with the practice of EBP, and describes initial efforts to implement elements of EBP into training at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. These efforts have occurred in …

Urgency Is A Non-Monotonic Function Of Pulse Rate, Frank A. Russo, Jeffery A. Jones

Psychology Faculty Publications

Magnitude estimation was used to assess the experience of urgency in pulse-train stimuli (pulsed white noise) ranging from 3.13 to 200 Hz. At low pulse rates, pulses were easily resolved. At high pulse rates, pulses fused together leading to a tonal sensation with a clear pitch level. Urgency ratings followed a nonmonotonic (polynomial) function with local maxima at 17.68 and 200 Hz. The same stimuli were also used in response time and pitch scaling experiments. Response times were negatively correlated with urgency ratings. Pitch scaling results indicated that urgency of pulse trains is mediated by the perceptual constructs of speed …

Predicting Academic Success In Undergraduates, Mary E. Pritchard, Gregory S. Wilson

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

College academic success and retention have traditionally been predicted using demographic and academic variables. This study investigated the influence of student health on GPA and intent to drop out of college. A longitudinal survey of 242 freshmen revealed that emotional and social factors (e.g., stress, living in the dorm, being in a study group) predicted second semester GPA and intentions to drop out (e.g., perfectionism, fatigue). Implications for intervention strategies are discussed.

What Do Adolescents Know About Health?, Christy Zenner, Mary Pritchard

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what adolescents know about topies commonly covered in Health classes (eating disorders, exercise, nutrition, caffeine, and sleep) and whether students know aS much as they think thtey do about these topics. We found that 9% of the students correctly answered all of the exercise questions, 2% nutrition, 2% sleep, 3% caffeine, and 5% eating disorders. Participants did believe they knew more about their health than they actually did. Results suggest that knowledge can clearly be improved.

Psychiatry’S Thirty-Five-Year, Non-Empirical Reach For Biological Explanations, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

Psychology Faculty Research

This is our third article in a series that began with a special issue of Behavior and Social Issues in 2006. Here we briefly review our central points from the first two articles. First is that over the past thirty-five years, claims of biological causation of mental and behavioral disorders have gone well beyond the research data, for reasons that are largely related to psychiatry’s lost esteem and protection of its “turf,” as well as to the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. Our second position is that claims of psychotropic drugs’ effectiveness have been overstated. We respond, as well, …

Acculturation, Gender, And Alcohol Use Among Mexican American College Students, Marcela Raffaelli, Rosalie A. Torres Stone, Maria I. Iturbide, Meredith Mcginley, Gustavo Carlo, Lisa J. Crockett

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Prior research with non-college samples of Mexican Americans has demonstrated that gender moderates the association between acculturation and alcohol use. We replicated this finding in a college student sample and attempted to account for the differential impact of acculturation on Mexican American men and women by examining the mediating effects of social context, family conflict and psychological functioning. Participants were 148 Mexican Americans (67% female; M age 23 years) from three state universities in California and Texas who completed self-report surveys. In multivariate analyses controlling for age, maternal education, living situation, and site, linguistic acculturation was associated with increased alcohol …

The Evolutionary Origins Of Human Patience: Temporal Preferences In Chimpanzees, Bonobos, And Human Adults, Alexandra G. Rosati, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Brian Hare, Marc D. Hauser

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

To make adaptive choices, individuals must sometimes exhibit patience, forgoing immediate benefits to acquire more valuable future rewards [1–3]. Although humans account for future consequences when making temporal decisions [4], many animal species wait only a few seconds for delayed benefits [5– 10]. Current research thus suggests a phylogenetic gap between patient humans and impulsive, present-oriented animals [9, 11], a distinction with implications for our understanding of economic decision making [12] and the origins of human cooperation [13]. On the basis of a series of experimental results, we reject this conclusion. First, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees ( …

Speech Disruption During Delayed Auditory Feedback With Simultaneous Visual Feedback, Jeffery A. Jones, Danielle Streimer

Psychology Faculty Publications

Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) regarding speech can cause dysfluency. The purpose of this study was to explore whether providing visual feedback in addition to DAF would ameliorate speech disruption. Speakers repeated sentences and heard their auditory feedback delayed with and without simultaneous visual feedback. DAF led to increased sentence durations and an increased number of speech disruptions. Although visual feedback did not reduce DAF effects on duration, a promising but nonsignificant trend was observed for fewer speech disruptions when visual feedback was provided. This trend was significant in speakers who were overall less affected by DAF. The results suggest the …

Assessment In Crisis, Amresh Srivastava

Psychiatry Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Nicotine Conditioned Place Preference In D2 Primed Adolescent Rats: Age-Related And Gender Effects., Yoko Emily Ogawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated nicotine conditioned place preference (CPP) in two different ages of adolescence using a rodent model of schizophrenia. Both 2- and 3-chambered CPP apparatuses were used to test whether the CPP was due to an aversion to the white chamber. Animals were neontally treated with the dopamine D₂/D₃ agonist, quinpirole, or saline and raised to either early postweanling age (P 22) or adolescence (P 29). Rats were conditioned to prefer the white chamber using nicotine. Results showed that nicotine induced CPP and appeared to alleviate an increased stress response in D₂ primed animals, which …

Integrating Spirituality And Psychotherapy: Ethical Issues And Principles To Consider, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Professional and scientific psychology appears to have rediscovered spirituality and religion during recent years, with a large number of conferences, seminars, workshops, books, and special issues in major professional journals on spirituality and psychology integration. The purpose of this commentary is to highlight some of the more compelling ethical principles and issues to consider in spirituality and psychology integration with a focus on psychotherapy. This commentary will use the American Psychological Association's (2002) Ethics Code and more specifically, the RRICC model of ethics that readily applies to various mental health ethics codes across the world. The RRICC model highlights the …

Psychosocial Support Programme To Reduce Stress Among Emergency Physicians, Muhammad Shahid

Department of Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.