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An Observational Analysis Of Psychosocial Behaviors And Caregiver Responses In The Durban Children’S Home, Sarah Young

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In South Africa, many children find themselves in at risk situations arising from issues like HIV, abuse, and poverty, which highly impact their mental well being by forcing them into unlivable situations. The Durban Children’s Home, located in Glenwood, Durban, works to tackle this problem, providing facilities, meals, and care for 75 homeless, abused, terminally ill, and/or poverty stricken children. Yet in coming from situations where children no longer have support of their primary caregiver or environment, these children require quality psychosocial attention in the Home. However when basic needs of so many children must be met in an institutional …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 4, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

The Role Of Communication Channel, Feedback Valence And Cultural Differences In Performance Appraisal Outcomes, James C. Matchen

Dissertations

The effects of feedback valence (positive or negative) across culture (Individualistic or Collectivistic) for both the verbal and nonverbal communication channels on performance appraisal outcomes were investigated. It was hypothesized that participants would react differently to the performance appraisal they received based on (1) their own cultural values and on (2) the valence of the verbal feedback and nonverbal feedback provided by the manager. Main effects of both verbal feedback valence and nonverbal feedback valence were predicted and found. Participants reported more positive reactions to both the performance appraisal process and to the manager after receiving positive feedback than after …

Animal Mind: Science, Philosophy, And Ethics, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

Although 20th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result …

Animal Minds, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics, Colin Allen, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

Our goal in this paper is to provide enough of an account of the origins of cognitive ethology and the controversy surrounding it to help ethicists to gauge for themselves how to balance skepticism and credulity about animal minds when communicating with scientists. We believe that ethicists’ arguments would benefit from better understanding of the historical roots of ongoing controversies. It is not appropriate to treat some widely reported results in animal cognition as if their interpretations are a matter of scientific consensus. It is especially important to understand why loose references to ‘‘cognitive ethology’’ by philosophers can signal ignorance …

Startle Response Probability And Amplitude May Be Independently Modulated By Affective Foreground Stimulation As Acoustic Probe Intensity Decreases, Adam K. Wilke

Modern Psychological Studies

The magnitude of the eyeblink reflex to an acoustic startle probe is reliable potentiated to highly arousing unpleasant foreground stimuli and inhibited to highly arousing pleasant foreground stimuli across all probe intensity levels. The present study examined the response magnitude findings of Cuthbert, Bradley, and Lang (1996) as response amplitude and probability. Medium arousal pleasant pictures produced larger blink amplitude responses than unpleasant pictures of the same arousal level to 80 and 95, but not 105 dB acoustic startle probes. This effect was opposite for high arousal pictures at all intensity levels. Response probability means decreased from pleasant to unpleasant …

Physiological Constraints On Contest Behaviour, Mark Briffa, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

1. Contests may involve injurious fighting, other types of direct physical aggression and communication. They occur over ownership access to mates and other resources that may increase an individual’s attractiveness and its chance of survival. Traits that enhance resource holding potential may be the result of sexual selection, natural selection or a combination of both.
2. Agonistic behaviours are expected to be demanding to perform and costly in terms of changes in physiological state. The ability to meet the physiological costs may determine contest outcomes and constrain the intensity of agonistic activities.
3. The energetic costs have been investigated in a broad range …

Influence Of Anxiety On Hiv Testing Behavior, Ilze Nix

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The specter of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has become increasingly prevalent since it first entered public awareness in 1982. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that approximately 1 million people in the United States of America (USA) are living with HIV/ AIDS. More alarming is the fact that approximately 250,000 people remain unaware of their seropositivity status, therefore putting themselves and others at risk. Ignorance concerning HIV status is due largely to two factors: either failure to take an HIV test in the first place, or, a failure to retrieve results after testing. …

Motherhood, Memory And Aging : Object Recognition Performance, Julia Margaret Friedenberg

Master's Theses

Reproductively experienced female rats have been shown to have attenuated stress responses, improved visual systems, and better memory and learning. This study sought to extend those findings by comparing aged reproductively experienced and aged virgin female rats on an object recognition task, as well as comparing levels of corticosterone and 17p-estradiol and neural activation. Multiparous (MP, 2 reproductive experiences) females performed better on the task and demonstrated quicker habituation to the task than nulliparous (NP, no reproductive experiences) females. No hormonal or neural activation differences were found. The present study contributes to the growing research areas of reproductive experience and …

Julius Caesar And The Rhine River: The Evolution Of A Border During The Gallic Wars, Todd Roman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis descusses the use of the Rhine River by Julius Caesar in his commentaries, De Bello Gallico, covering the Gallic Wars of approximately 58 to 52 B.C., to identify the peoples and territories separated by its current. This thesis addresses the issue of how Caesar understood this division of space, what criteria he employed to support his use of the river, and his protrayal of these matters within his account. It seeks to clarify the foundation of a major national border of western history in the context of its initial involvement in the context of the Roman Late …

Identification Of Psychological Stressors For Long Duration Space Missions: Psychological Stressors Among Five Astronauts And Cosmonauts, Melinda S. Marsh

Theses and Dissertations

As humans continue to experience space missions of longer and longer duration, more and more high intensity stressors are going to be experienced. Although physiological stressors have been studied, there have been few studies on the psychological stressors. Those that are present primarily focused on the polar environment as a space analogue. In order to answer the question of how stressors may affect future astronauts and cosmonauts, the evolutoinary reasons behind stress must be considered not only the type and intensity of the stressors.

Five astronauts and cosmonauts representing three space agencies were surveyed regarding their experiences with ten types …

Effect Of Extinction Across Multiple Contexts On Renewal Of Responses Within A Functional Response Class, Jennifer L. Sobie

Dissertations

Resistance to extinction in applied settings is a common problem seen in behavior excess scenarios including those that deal with dangerous responding such as high-intensity aggressive responding, or drug dependence--where relapse is discouragingly high and is acknowledged as the most significant challenge in treatment--or eating disorders, or those that include simple reduction of common but undesired behavior in adults, children, and even pets. Behavior reappearance (i.e., the untargeted return of a learned response following extinction) implicates the physical context in which learning occurs as having a critical influence on what is learned and how, when and where this learning will …

The Impact Of Biculturalism On Human Learned Helplessness With Northern Plains Native Americans, Alan H. Storey Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of participant ethnicity, research ethnicity, and either failure, success, or neural feedback on performance on letter anagram tasks. The failure feedback represented a standard learned helplessness paradigm with the dependent measures focused on the interferences and behavior of he participants in response to feedback from either a Native American or European American researcher. A total of 55 Native Americans and 73 European Americans were assigned randomly to one of three feedback conditions (success, failure, neutral) conducted by a study blind examiner of either American Indian or Caucasian ethnicity and appearance. Participant level of biculturalism was …

The Sensitivity And Psychometric Properties Of A Brief Computer-Based Cognitive Screening Battery In A Depression Clinic, Scott Aaron Langenecker, Angela F. Caveney, Bruno Giordani, Elizabeth A. Young, Kristy A. Nielson, Lisa J. Rapport, Linas A. Bieliauskas, Matthew J. Mordhorst, Sheila Marcus, Naomi Yodkovik, Kevin Kerber, Stanley Berent, Jon-Kar Zubieta

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

At present, there is poor accuracy in assessing cognitive and vegetative symptoms in depression using clinician or self-rated measures, suggesting the need for development of standardized tasks to assess these functions. The current study assessed the psychometric properties and diagnostic specificity of a brief neuropsychological screening battery designed to assess core signs of depression; psychomotor retardation, attention and executive functioning difficulties, and impaired emotion perception within an outpatient psychiatry setting. Three hundred eighty-four patients with mood disorders and 77 healthy volunteers participated. A large percentage of patients met diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder alone (49%) or with another comorbid …

The Effect Of Video Self-Modeling On The Compliance Rates Of High School Students With Developmental Disabilities, Jacob Ammon Aukai Figueira

Theses and Dissertations

People with developmental disabilities must develop the ability to maintain socially acceptable behavior in order to become contributing, accepted members of society at large. Research indicates that compliance, or following directions, is a keystone behavior, which, if learned, may significantly decrease the occurrence of behavior difficulties in students. Many studies of individuals with disabilities have shown a dramatic increase across a wide range of academic and social skills using video self-modeling (VSM), a technique in which students watch edited videos of themselves performing skills correctly or at high rates. Despite the importance of compliance for individuals with disabilities and the …

Effects Of Therapy Dogs On Anxiety In Children Participating In Sexual Abuse Forensic Interviews At Children's Advocacy Center, Andra K. Chamberlin

Graduate Theses

This study investigated the effect of therapy dogs on physiological and psychological measures of anxiety before and after a forensic interview in children who may have been sexually abused. A convenience sample consisted of 37 children ages 6 to 12 years who presented at a children’s advocacy center for sexual abuse forensic interviews. Twenty children had a therapy dog present during their time at the Center and 17 did not. Researchers measured systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) using a Zelwa WS-TS Touch Screen Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor. State- anxiety was assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for …

Ask The Field, Denise Bulling

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

How can disaster behavioral health responders at the State and local levels use the techniques and tools of the Incident Command System (ICS) to target their response to and preparedness for disaster to work within the overall disaster response structure?

Denise Bulling: Disaster behavioral health is more than a set of clinical interventions or the delivery of psychological first aid. The behavioral health response has to be organized and deployed in a way that fits with the greater response to disaster or our ability to reach those who could benefit from education or intervention will be limited. ICS principles provide …

Quantifying The Cognitive, Symptomatic And Neuroendocrine Impact Of The Coriolis Illusion; A Countermeasure For Motion Sickness, Catherine Grandizio

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

When pilots are unable to accurately perceive the position and motion of their bodies, they are spatially disoriented. Spatial disorientation is often induced by aviation illusions, and its consequences include dizziness, confusion, nausea and fatigue. The present research evaluated the severity of cognitive, neuroendocrine and subjective symptoms of the Coriolis illusion, induced by a spatial disorientation flight training device. Also, the research examined the effectiveness of a mild, ground-based countermeasure, similar to the Coriolis illusion, in reducing the occurrence and severity of symptoms. In the early stages of data analysis, there appeared to be a significant impact of the Coriolis …

Evaluation Of A Sleep Hygiene Program To Improve Inmate Sleep Quality, Jennifer F. Hodges-Crowder

Doctoral Dissertations

Research investigating the effectiveness of treatments for inmates with poor sleep quality appears minimal. Some difficulties related to poor sleep quality can be addressed effectively with little time and expense. Studies show that psychoeducational interventions are effective in reducing sleep complaints and improving sleep quality in a variety of populations including college students and adults. However, the effect of sleep hygiene interventions on inmate sleep complaints is unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a psychoeducational intervention program aimed at improving prison inmate sleep habits, length, and quality.

Participants of this study were inmates at a department …

The Health Implications Of Violence Against Women: Untangling The Complexities Of Actual And Chronic Effects: Part Two, Carol E. Jordan

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

No abstract provided.

Positive And Negative Sources Of Emotional Arousal Enhance Long-Term Word-List Retention When Induced As Long As 30 Min After Learning, Kristy A. Nielson, Mark R. Powless

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The consolidation of newly formed memories occurs slowly, allowing memories to be altered by experience for some time after their formation. Various treatments, including arousal, can modulate memory consolidation when given soon after learning, but the degree of time-dependency of these treatments in humans has not been studied. Thus, 212 participants learned a word list, which was followed by either a positively or negatively valenced arousing video clip (i.e., comedy or surgery, respectively) after delays of 0, 10, 30 or 45 min. Arousal of either valence induced up to 30 min after learning, but not after 45 min, significantly enhanced …

The Depiction Of Alcohol Tobacco And Other Substances In Children's G & Pg-Rated Animated Films Post 2000, Lindsay F. Graham

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study will analyze the depiction of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances in G and PG-rated animated films from November 1, 2000 to December 31, 2005. These films will include those released in theaters and video in English, at least 60 minutes in length, and of the animated genre during this five-year window. There is evidence that due to recent societal pressures facing the Motion Picture Association of America and their rating guidelines, the presence of alcohol and tobacco in children's animated Grated films has lessened. These incidents of exposure have since moved up the rating totem pole to receive …

Brainstem Cholinergic Modulation Of Muscle Tone In Infant Rats, Andrew J. Gall, Amy Poremba, Mark S. Blumberg

Faculty Publications

In week-old rats, lesions of the dorsolateral pontine tegmentum (DLPT) and nucleus pontis oralis (PnO) have opposing effects on nuchal muscle tone. Specifically, pups with DLPT lesions exhibit prolonged bouts of nuchal muscle atonia (indicative of sleep) and pups with PnO lesions exhibit prolonged bouts of high nuchal muscle tone (indicative of wakefulness). Here we test the hypothesis that nuchal muscle tone is modulated, at least in part, by cholinergically mediated interactions between these two regions. First, in unanesthetized pups, we found that chemical infusion of the cholinergic agonist carbachol (22 mM, 0.1 µL) within the DLPT produced high muscle …

Zoo Research, Amanda Shyne

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Tolerance Under Variable Ratio Schedules Of Reinforcement, Barry Eshkol Adelman

Dissertations

Previous studies (e.g., Hoffman, Branch, & Sizemore, 1987) have demonstrated that greater drug tolerance develops in responding under fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement when the schedule parameter is small than when it is large; little research has been done on related schedules such as variable-ratio (VR). In Experiment 1, three pigeons responded under a multiple FR 5 FR 125 VR 5 VR 125. A range of prechronic doses of cocaine produced dose-dependent reductions in response rates under the component schedules. Following chronic dosing with daily administrations of 5.6 mg/kg, similar dose-response curves were derived by substitutions of the usual dose. …

A Role Of Problem-Solving In Complex Intraverbal Repertoires, Rachael A. Sautter

Dissertations

kinner described intraverbal behavior as verbal behavior with no point-to-point correspondence between the stimulus and the response. This verbal operant encompasses a wide range of response topographies ranging from answering simple questions to complex conversational exchanges. Previous interventions for teaching complex responding to questions about category membership have focused primarily on transfer of stimulus control procedures to teach specific intraverbal responses. These procedures have proven effective at establishing basic intraverbal responses but have consistently produced small and somewhat restricted repertoires. Theoreticians have hypothesized that effective use of problem-solving strategies rather than simple stimulus control may account for the performance of …

Emotional Stroop Effects: Eating Disorders And Obesity, Kristy Anne Kuehfuss

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study addresses the effects of emotional valence on selective processing of body-shape related words in young women who suffer from anorexia, bulimia, or obesity, and non-clinical controls. Research in the area of emotional Stroop interference has indicated that persons with eating disorders, particularly anorectics, show elevated latencies in naming colors of words related to food or body-shape, in contrast to either neutral words, or to non-clinical control groups. One intriguing issue regarding the emotional Stroop interference among various clinical populations relates to the question of whether the interference is due to the emotionality of the relevant words or to …

Electromagnetic Differences In The Brain During Memory Retrieval, Warren Scott Merrifield

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The primary objectives for this experiment were to analyze the neuroanatomical correlates of autobiographical, episodic and semantic memory, use a different paradigm to promote episodic memory retrieval, and employ a different analysis technique to understand retrieval processes. Autobiographical and episodic memories are personal memories from the past. Autobiographical is more general (e.g. a street name of a house growing up) and episodic is more specific to time (e.g. 13th birthday party that took place on a street). For autobiographical and episodic memory retrieval operations, there is no general consensus as to the localization of function, but bilateral activation of the …

Physiological Responding In A Two-Dimensional Social Interaction Simulation, Sean Brannon

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Although there were no observed effects, several suggestions were made to inform researchers in designing a study of fluid interaction. With the increasing usage of computers in the conduct of research, there is ample evidence to suggest that some emotional or physiological responses may be reliably measured using two-dimensional computer simulations.

It was predicted in accordance with the previous aggression literature that when the participant was in the role of aggressor that autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses would decrease as a function of concentration or cognitive load. It was also predicted that when the participant was in the role of …

A Study Of The Effects Of Pet Ownership On Mental Health Among Community-Dwelling Senior Citizens In Northeast Tennessee., E. Marie Southerland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional study explored the relationship between pet ownership, attachment, and psychological health among community-dwelling senior citizens and evaluated the impact of the placement of an aquarium into a regional senior center. General health, depression, social support, pet attitudes, pet attachment, pet relationships, and attitudes about the aquarium were assessed among 104 members of a senior center.

Symptoms of depression were identified in 17.3% of the participants. Pets were a significant form of social support and attachment to pet owners. No significant relationship was observed between pet ownership, pet attachment, and psychological health. Positive health effects were reported among participants …