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Juror Reactions To Jury Duty: Perceptions Of The System And Potential Stressors, Brian H. Bornstein, Monica Miller, Robert J. Nemeth, Gregory L. Page, Sarah Musil

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Jurors were surveyed on their general perceptions of the court system and factors that may cause stress immediately after trial, after participating in a post-trial debriefing, and a month after trial. Jurors had an overall positive view of the court system but did report some perceived inequities. The two most stressful elements of jury duty were related to the complexity of the trial and the decision-making involved in the trial, although jurors reported low levels of stress overall. Women reported more stress than men, and trial characteristics such as trial length also affected stress levels. The debriefing intervention was perceived …

“You Would If You Loved Me”: Toward An Improved Conceptual And Etiological Understanding Of Nonphysical Male Sexual Coercion, Sarah A. Degue, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper reviews current research regarding the prevalence and possible etiological factors associated with male sexual coercion, defined here as a class of inappropriate male behaviors in which nonphysical tactics (e.g., verbal pressure, lying, deceit, and continual arguments) are utilized to obtain sexual contact with an unwilling adult female. This form of sexual misconduct is contrasted with sexual aggression (i.e., forcible rape), in which the threat or use of physical force is utilized to gain sexual contact. A conceptual framework for understanding and examining sexual coercion within the broader context of male sexual misconduct is offered. This model consists of …

Novelty Reward As A Measure Of Anhedonia, Rick A. Bevins, Joyce Besheer

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A decrease in sensitivity to pleasurable stimuli, anhedonia, is a major symptom of depression in humans. Several animal models have been developed to simulate this symptom (e.g. drug withdrawal, learned helplessness) using reward-sensitive procedures such as intracranial self-stimulation and progressive ratio responding as a measure of reward function. Recently, we introduced the use of another procedure, novel-object place conditioning in rats, to measure reward function in an associative learning situation. Withdrawal from chronic nicotine blocked a place preference conditioned by access to novel objects. This blockade was not due to impairment of object interaction, general activity, novelty detection, environmental familiarization, …

Freedom Of Thought, Offensive Fantasies And The Fundamental Human Right To Hold Deviant Ideas: Why The Seventh Circuit Got It Wrong In Doe V. City Of Lafayette, Indiana, Clay Calvert

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “A precarious balance and considerable tension exists between two competing legal interests – the essential, First Amendment-grounded human right to freedom of thought, on the one hand, and the desire to prevent harm and injury that might occur if thought is converted to action, on the other. To understand this tension, it is useful to start by considering three different and disturbing factual scenarios.

This article examines and critiques the majority opinion of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in City of Lafayette. The majority held that the city’s ban of John Doe, a convicted sex offender, from its …

Histories Of Childhood Maltreatment In Schizophrenia: Relationships With Premorbid Functioning, Symptomatology, And Cognitive Deficits, Lindsay S. Schenkel, William D. Spaulding, David Dilillo, Steven M. Silverstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A number of studies have demonstrated an increased rate of histories of childhood maltreatment among adults with serious mental illness. The present investigation documented the presence of childhood maltreatment in a sample of 40 psychiatric inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The type (neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse), duration, and severity of childhood maltreatment was examined along with measures of premorbid functioning, current symptomatology, and cognitive functioning. Participants with histories of maltreatment were significantly more likely to have poorer peer relationships in childhood, more diffi culty in school, an earlier age at first hospitalization, more previous hospitalizations, elevated symptoms of anxiety, …

Timing Of Conditioned Responding In A Nicotine Locomotor Conditioning Preparation: Manipulations Of The Temporal Arrangement Between Context Cues And Drug Administration, Rick A. Bevins, Sarah Eurek, Joyce Besheer

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Using a locomotor conditioning preparation, we examined whether manipulating time between exposure to distinct environmental cues and nicotine administration affected conditioned responding. Rats that received nicotine (0.42 mg/kg base) immediately before placement in an environment for 30 min on eight separate occasions displayed hyperactivity relative to controls in a subsequent injection/drug-free test. This conditioned hyperactivity was weaker if nicotine was administered 15 min before environment exposure. Conditioning was not evidenced when nicotine was administered 15 min after placement or upon removal from the environment. In a follow-up experiment, rats received 45 min in the environment; nicotine was administered 15 min …

Should I Diet? What Should I Eat? Different Decision Making Factors Predict Dieting Intentions Versus Actual Dietary Behavior, Marc T. Kiviniemi, Kristi E. White, Amy M. Humke

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Many individuals diet to lose weight. Most attempts are not successful—weight is either not lost or is quickly regained.We investigated decision making factors influencing dieting intentions versus those influencing actual behavior. Prior to eating in a university cafeteria, 65 participants reported their cost-benefit beliefs about low fat foods and fruits/vegetables, affective associations with both food categories, and whether they were currently dieting to lose weight. After the meal, participants reported what they ate. Using these reports and nutritional data from the college dining service, we computed the calories, total and saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol consumed. Cost-benefit beliefs and affective …

Current Mood And Food Choices: The Relation Between Positive Affect And Dietary Behavior, Kristi E. White, Amy M. Humke, Marc T. Kiviniemi

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Colloquially, much is made of the relation between food and mood. For example, “comfort foods” are eaten in the service of affect regulation. Affect can influence behavioral choices in a number of ways. We investigated whether college students’ mood when making dietary choices influenced the nutritional value of the foods chosen. Sixty-five participants completed a questionnaire immediately prior to eating a meal in a college dining hall. The questionnaire included a measure of current positive affect. Following the meal, participants reported what they ate for dinner. Using nutritional data from the college dining services, we used participants’ self reported food …

The Need For Quality Aviation Safety Graduates: An Educational Challenge For The 21st Century, Thomas R. Weitzel, Thomas R. Chidester

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The authors investigated a previously unaddressed problem within the curricula of the United States (U.S.) aviation institutions of higher education. Graduates of these institutions were not being prepared to work within the safety departments of the U.S. air carriers involved with one or more of the five current, voluntary programs. To ascertain the need for a solution, a subjective instrument was developed and personally administered to 13 participants within the industry. The qualitative results were interpreted, and, in combination with the knowledge gained from the immersion of a professor within a research organization, resulted in placement of some of the …

Moving Forward: Negotiating Self And External Circumstances In Recovery, Joanna Ochocka, Geoffrey Nelson, Rich Janzen

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article presents a framework for understanding the concept of recovery from serious mental illnesses and other life struggles. The framework is based on findings from a longitudinal, qualitative study that involved in-depth interviews with 28 people who experienced serious mental health challenges. The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of recovery by presenting a grounded theory analysis of the components of recovery. The framework recognizes the experiences of struggle constructed through the words of study participants and captures four main components of recovery: a) a drive to move forward, b) a spiral of positive and negative …

Construction And Validation Of A Children’S Interpersonal Trust Belief Scale, Ken J. Rotenberg, Claire Fox, Sarah Green, Louise Ruderman, Kevin Slater, Kelly Stevens, Gustavo Carlo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A scale was constructed to assess children’s generalized trust beliefs (CGTB) in four target groups (mother, father, teacher and peer) with respect to three bases of trust: reliability, emotionality, and honesty. The CGTB Scale was administered to 145 Year 5 and 156 Year 6 children (mean age = 10 years, 1 month) residing in the English Midlands, United Kingdom. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded evidence for the expected factor structure of the CGTB Scale. The total CGTB Scale and subscales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and expected levels of stability across time. As support for validity, Year 6 participants’ scores …

Future Expectations Of Brasilian Street Youth, Marcela Raffaelli, Silvia H. Koller

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Future expectations of youth surviving on the streets of Porto Alegre, Brasil, were examined. The sample consisted of 35 boys and 34 girls aged 10–18 (M age 14.4) who participated in a sentence completion task and semi-structured interviews. Responses to two incomplete sentences regarding the future revealed a mismatch between hoped-for and expected events. When completing the sentence, “In the future, I hope…” the majority of youth gave optimistic (but generally non-specific) responses. In contrast, the sentence “For me, the future…” elicited more pessimistic responses. Few gender or age-related differences emerged. Findings are discussed in light of prior research with …

Education Chronicle Issue 2 Number 2, Touro College School Of Education And Psychology - Graduate Division

Yearbooks and Newsletters

Spring/Summer 2005 Issue

The Reference-Dose Place Conditioning Procedure Yields A Graded Dose-Effect Function, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A major criticism of the place conditioning procedure for studying conditioned drug reward is that it is relatively insensitive to large quantitative shifts in drug dose (i.e., dose effects are all or none). Experiment 1 demonstrated this lack of sensitivity using a wide range of intravenous (IV) cocaine doses (O.1, 0.3, 0.45, 0.6, 0.9, or 1.2 mg/kg). Rats had cocaine repeatedly paired with one distinct end compartment of a 3 compartment apparatus; vehicle was administered in the other end compartment. In a subsequent drug-free choice test, the 0.45 to 1.2 mg/kg doses of cocaine conditioned a place preference. The magnitude …

Evaluating Sex Offenders Under Sexually Violent Predator Laws: How Might Mental Health Professionals Conceptualize The Notion Of Volitional Impairment?, Cynthia Calkins Mercado, Robert F. Schopp, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper examines the significance of the Supreme Court’s Hendricks and Crane decisions, with focus given to how mental health professionals may conceptualize the notion of volitional impairment. The Hendricks decision authorized postsentence civil commitment for sex offenders having a mental abnormality or personality disorder, rendering them likely to engage in future acts of sexual violence. In the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, Justice Thomas implied that the Kansas Act was legitimized by limiting the class of offenders eligible for this specialized form of commitment to those who are “unable to control” their dangerousness. In Crane, the Court ruled that …

Clinical Characteristics Of Individuals Using An Online Alcohol Evaluation Program., Daniel Z Lieberman

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

Access to treatment for substance abuse disorders is limited, and practical strategies are needed to expand opportunities for individuals to receive effective interventions. Automated or semi-automated treatments have shown promise in other disorders. Identifying the characteristics of patients who will be able to benefit from this unconventional approach will increase the likelihood of success. The current study examined 1,297 individuals using an online alcohol evaluation program. Subjects had high scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a substantial amount of ambivalence about the possible harm that their drinking caused, but they also had very low levels of …

Examining The Time Course Of Indexical Specificity Effects In Spoken Word Recognition, Conor T. Mclennan, Paul A. Luce

Psychology Faculty Publications

Variability in talker identity and speaking rate, commonly referred to as indexical variation, has demonstrable effects on the speed and accuracy of spoken word recognition. The present study examines the time course of indexical specificity effects to evaluate the hypothesis that such effects occur relatively late in the perceptual processing of spoken words. In 3 long-term repetition priming experiments, the authors examined reaction times to targets that were primed by stimuli that matched or mismatched on the indexical variable of interest (either talker identity or speaking rate). Each experiment was designed to manipulate the speed with which participants processed the …

2005 Pinellas County Human Services Priorities Conference Summary Report, Eric M. Eisenberg

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

On March 2, 2005, influential leaders in Pinellas County Human Services gathered to discuss the state of the county and set priorities for the future. The starting point for this conversation was findings from a comprehensive assessment of services conducted by researchers at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. The purpose of this brief report is to summarize the main points made in the conference in the hope that they can provide significant direction for the development of future plans and initiatives in this arena.

Epistasis Among Presynaptic Serotonergic System Components, Scott F. Stoltenberg

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Epistatic interactions among regulatory components of the serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmitter system may be an important aspect of 5-HT function. Because 5-HT dysregulation is associated with several common psychiatric disorders, the potential for epistasis among genetic variants in the 5-HT transporter (SERT), 5-HT_1B terminal autoreceptor and the 5- HT_1A somatodendritic autoreceptor should be examined. In this study, output from a dynamic minimal model of 5-HT function was compared to empirical results in the literature. Parameters representing extracellular 5-HT clearance rates (SERT), 5-HT release levels (5-HT_1B) and inhibitory thresholds (the amount of extracellular 5-HT above which cell firing …

Emotional Intelligence: The Core Of The Church Leader For Missional Living In The Emerging Culture, Chad David Johnson

Doctor of Ministry

The modem western church is experiencing a crisis of leadership. This crisis of leadership within the church is driven largely by the lack of emotional intelligence among the churches leaders. The lack of emotional intelligence is debilitating to the missional effectiveness of the Church in this emerging culture. The problem of the lack of emotional intelligence among leaders will be addressed by crafting a model of leadership composed of a core with four key components. The core is emotional intelligence (EI). With EI at the core of the leader, four ways of life and leadership emerge. These will equip the …

Ethnic Identity And Body Ideal In Adolescent Girls, Erin E. Ramirez

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Adolescence is a period characterized by physical growth and maturation (Cobb, 1995). This normal biological process moves most American girls away from the thin ideal body shape that is dominant within the United States. Ethnic differences in ideal body size have in fact been found in several studies; but they have been shown based on ethnic group membership, not ethnic identification. The specific relationship of ethnic identity and body ideal for Mexican American, African American, and Anglo American adolescent females has not been clearly defined; Lopez, Blix, and Blix (1995) have hinted at the role of ethnic identification (through the …

Synthetic Vision Systems: Flightpath Tracking, Situation Awareness, And Visual Scanning In An Integrated Hazard Display, Amy L. Alexander, Christopher D. Wickens

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Twenty-four certified flight instructors participated in an experiment designed to examine the viability of three Integrated Hazard Display (IHD) formats representative of Synthetic Vision System (SVS) technology (2D coplanar, 3D exocentric, split-screen; Wickens, 2003) in supporting flightpath tracking and situation awareness (SA). SA was probed through the use of two techniques, a memory-based technique called SAGAT and a variant of a perception-based technique called SPAM. Overall, the 3D exocentric display appeared to be the worst display format in terms of supporting SA and utilizing visual attention for the betterment of performance. There was an apparent speed-accuracy tradeoff between the memory-based …

Emerging Technologies For Deployable Aircrew Training, Benjamin Bell

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Flight training devices commonly used for aircrew training offer high-fidelity simulation, wide fieldof- view projection, detailed terrain, and realistic instrumentation and controls. Despite the significant investment needed to acquire and operate them, high-fidelity training devices enjoy widespread acceptance among end-users, air carriers, and military organizations.

Human Factors Issues Of Tcas: A Simulation-Based Study, P. Cabon, F. Rome, A. Favresse, R. Mollard, S. Figarol, B. Hasquenoph, C. Houvenagel

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Since its introduction in the 90’s, TCAS II, presented as a straightforward and very reliable technological tool, has significantly reduced the risk of collision. Paradoxically, the introduction of this system has been accompanied with numerous incidents and one major accident in 2002, mainly due to unclear rules, poor air-ground cooperation and poor human decision. In order to investigate these potential human factors issues, a part-task air-ground simulation was conducted: 10 pilots and 10 controllers were involved in the simulations of 4 scenarios containing TCAS occurrences. Data collected included video camera recordings for behavioral analysis, Heart Rate (HR) for stress evaluation, …

Investing In Safer Communications: Phraseology And Intelligibility In Air Traffic Control, Ana Margarida Casaca, Teresa C. D'Oliveira

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Communications are central to air traffic control and any potential intervention that might contribute to its increased efficacy is considered relevant. This paper explores two main characteristics associated with communications: aeronautical phraseology and intelligibility. Although phraseology may contribute to an increased precision of the message, several factors may hinder it through speech intelligibility. In this study, air traffic controllers were asked to reproduce several messages that vary in phraseology correctness and speech intelligibility. Results suggest that considerable attention should be given to factors affecting speech intelligibility as increased numbers of errors and omissions were reported in messages with this characteristic.

Development And Integration Of Human-Centered Conflict Detection And Resolution Tools For Airborne Autonomous Operations, Riva Canton, Mohammad Refai, Walter W. Johnson, Vernol Battiste

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

Today’s crowded airspace burdens both the pilot and controller with a heavy workload pertaining to the maintenance of conflict-free flight. Conflict detection and resolution (CD&R) tools have become a key element in modern flight systems and future airspace concept simulations. In this paper we describe an automated resolution tool that was developed at NASA Ames Research Center as part of an experimental evaluation of the Distributed Air-Ground concept. The tool is based on an analysis of conflict geometry and was developed as an intent (i.e. flight plan) resolution system. A key simplifying concept used in the development of airborne automated …

Low-Airspeed Protection For Small To Medium-Sized Commercial Airplanes: An Important Safety Gap, William J. Bramble Jr., Loren S. Groff, Charles M. Pereira

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

In November 2003, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) convene a panel of aircraft design, operations, and human factors specialists to examine the feasibility of requiring the installation of low airspeed alerting devices on airplanes operating commercially under 14 C.F.R. Parts 121 and 135. The Board further recommended that if the panel determined such a requirement to be feasible, the FAA should establish requirements for low-airspeed alert systems. This paper discusses the reasoning behind these recommendations, explores relevant accident history from the Safety Board’s investigative records, and discusses shortcomings of an approach to cockpit …

Performance Evaluation Of A Computational Model Of En Route Air Traffic Control, Todd J. Callantine

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

This paper describes a model of en route air traffic control and presents the results of a performance evaluation of computational air traffic controller agents based on the model. The purpose is to better understand the representations, heuristics, and processes that expert air traffic controllers use and develop agents useful for air traffic management concept development and safety/risk analysis. The results show the agents control low-tomedium traffic levels effectively. The research was supported by the NASA Aviation System Capacity Program and the FAA/NASA Aviation Safety Program.

Communications Between Team Members Of Different Cultures And Nationalities On International Airline Flight Decks, Theodore N. Beneigh

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

International flight operations became commonplace in the 1950s with the introduction of jet transport aircraft. The new jets had speeds that were twice as fast as the piston aircraft they were replacing, a range great enough to transit oceans nonstop, and a lower operating costs that made international travel affordable to many more people. For the most part, most of the pilots flying these aircraft were natives from the airline’s home country. As international operations expanded exponentially, many airlines had difficulty finding native-born pilots to fly their aircraft. The human resource departments of many airlines began to recruit new pilots …

Is Pilots’ Visual Scanning Adequate To Avoid Mid-Air Collisions?, Kurt Colvin, Rahul Dodhia, R. Key Dismukes

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2005

The “See and Avoid” concept is crucial to visual meteorological condition (VMC) operations. The FAA and other organizations prescribe a specific systematic out the window (OTW) visual scanning pattern to avoid traffic conflicts, however little research has been published on what scanning patterns pilots actually use and how effective their scanning is. In our study, commercial pilots flew VFR scenarios in a general aviation flight training device (GAFTD) equipped with head and eye tracking equipment. We developed new algorithms to analyze the effectiveness and patterns of visual scanning. The scanning patterns used by the participant pilots did not resemble the …