Digital Commons Network^™

Examination Of The Role Of Dehumanization As A Potential Mechanism Underlying The Racial Disparities In School Disciplinary Measures., Ebony A. Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

Schools should be safe and supportive spaces for all students, yet Black students tend to face biased treatment in the education system, which often results in harsh disciplinary measures. This research examined the role of animalistic dehumanization (i.e., perceiving others as animal-like and uncultured and denying uniquely human characteristics), in predicting choice of harsher disciplinary measures for Black students as opposed to White students. It was hypothesized that individuals who dehumanize Black students to a greater degree would be more likely to believe that Black students need to be disciplined through harsher measures. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the link …

Shared Genetic And Environmental Influences On Fear, Anxiety, Posttraumatic Stress, And Brain Morphometry, Chelsea Sawyers

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety disorders (ADs) and stress-related disorders are some of the most common psychiatric disorders in the United States. Like other c0mplex psychiatric illness, genetics and neuroimaging research has focused on understanding their underlying neurobiology. Areas within the fear-network play important roles in threat perception, fear conditioning/learning, cognitive processing, and modulation of fear responses including contextual modulation and extinction and have been implicated in ADs as well as stress disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The primary gap in the current search for underlying biological mechanisms is in whether biomarkers associated with disorders share genetic influences with the disorders they …

Expressions Of Optimism Bias And "Self" Versus "Other" Perceived Controllability In The Context Of Military-Related Risks, Lauren Lachica-Muschett

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study aimed to examine expressions of optimism bias and perceived controllability specifically regarding risks often associated with military service. Optimism bias refers to people’s tendency to believe they are less susceptible to experiencing negative life events compared to others. Previous studies show high levels of optimism bias are associated with strong perceptions of personal controllability. Optimism bias is a significant aspect of health promotion research particularly in the field of general occupational health and safety (OHS). However, optimism bias has never been investigated in the military OHS domain. Given the number of risks associated with military occupations, examination of …

Functional Analysis Of Tattoos From An Evolutionary Perspective, Elise V. Neville

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Recently, rates of tattooing in the U.S. have surged despite evidence of negative perceptions of individuals with tattoos. Additionally, perceptions appear to vary by target gender, with tattooed women being perceived more negatively than their male counterparts. The purpose of the current research was to examine (a) if perceptions of those with tattoos indeed vary by gender, (b) if tattoos conceivably serve an evolutionary function and (c) if so, do tattoos serve different functions for women and men. An evolutionary approach takes into consideration the purpose an observed behavior may serve for the individual in terms of how it solves …

Examining How Cardiologists Address Alcohol And Substance Use In Their Adolescent And Young Adult Patients Diagnosed With Cardiac Rhythm Disorders, Nicole Stewart

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

An arrhythmia, or cardiac rhythm disorder, is characterized by a change in the normal pattern of electrical impulses that occur in the heart. Cardiac arrhythmias can be life-threatening. Adolescents and young adults who have arrhythmias experience challenges of youth coupled with the medical challenges associated with their diagnoses. Cardiologists who treat these patients are faced with an ongoing need for decision-making surrounding addressing alcohol and substance use, which can be prevalent in adolescent and young adult populations. This qualitative study explored what guides physicians’ decision-making, as well as physicians’ beliefs and practices regarding how they address alcohol and substance use …

On Crabs And Statistics, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

I respond to commentaries by Elwood and Seth & Dienes and to a recent critique by Diggles, discussing the link between avoidance learning and sentience, the relevance of the clash between frequentist and Bayesian statistics, the risks to decapod welfare in aquaculture, and the broader concerns one may have about a “precautionary” approach to protecting invertebrates.

How Much Is Enough? Trauma Recall And The Exposure Therapy Process, Krystal Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prevailing theoretical models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as exposure therapy (EXP) methodology suggest that recall of a trauma is crucial to altering the conditioned fear response associated with PTSD (Benito & Walther, 2015; Craske et al., 2008; Foa & Kozak, 1986). However, it is unclear whether limited recall of the event impacts the EXP process and treatment outcomes. This study examined whether incomplete trauma recall affected pre-treatment PTSD severity, Initial Fear Activation (IFA), Overall Fear Activation (OFA), Within-Session Habituation (WSH), Between-Session Habituation (BSH; overall extinction), average length of EXP sessions, number of EXP sessions, and post-treatment PTSD …

Dissecting The Components Of Neuropathic Pain, Dale George

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pain is a public health issue affecting the lives of nearly 116 million adults in the US, annually. Understanding the physiological and phenotypic changes that occur in response to painful stimuli is of tremendous clinical interest, but, the complexity of pain and the lack of a representative in vitro model hinders the development of new therapeutics. Pain stimuli are first perceived and transmitted by the neurons within the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) which become hyperexcitable under these conditions. It has now been established that satellite glial cells (SGCs) that ensheathe the DRG cell body actively contribute to this neuronal dysregulation. …

How Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Recognize Facial Expressions Displayed By A Rear-Projection Humanoid Robot, Farzaneh Askari, Huanghao Feng, Anibal Gutierrez, Timothy Sweeny, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience reduced ability to perceive crucial nonverbal communication cues such as eye gaze, gestures, and facial expressions. Recent studies suggest that social robots can be used as effective tools to improve communication and social skills in children with ASD. One explanation has been put forward by several studies that children with ASD feel more contented and motivated in systemized and predictable environment, like interacting with robots.

Objectives: There have been few research studies evaluating how children with ASD perceive facial expression in humanoid robots but no research evaluating facial expression perception …

A Pilot Study On Facial Expression Recognition Ability Of Autistic Children Using Ryan, A Rear-Projected Humanoid Robot, Farzaneh Askari, Huanghao Feng, Timothy D. Sweeny, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Rear-projected robots use computer graphics technology to create facial animations and project them on a mask to show the robot’s facial cues and expressions. These types of robots are becoming commercially available, though more research is required to understand how they can be effectively used as a socially assistive robotic agent. This paper presents the results of a pilot study on comparing the facial expression recognition abilities of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with typically developing (TD) children using a rear-projected humanoid robot called Ryan. Six children with ASD and six TD children participated in this research, where Ryan …

Engaging Undergraduates In Comparative Psychology: A Case Study, Lauren Highfill, Deirdre Yeater

Psychology Faculty Publications

With many comparative psychologists teaching at small colleges and universities where resources are limited, maintaining a traditional animal laboratory housing rats or pigeons is not realistic for many of these researchers. One way to overcome this lack of overhead costs and extensive lab space, is to forge collaborations with local zoos and aquariums. Zoo and aquarium research projects provide a way to examine a wide range of species, which is an important tenet within the field of comparative psychology. Furthermore, many undergraduates are innately attracted to the prospect of working with exotic animals. Here, we propose utilizing visitor behavior research …

Youtube Ted Talk Comment Sentiment Data, Royce Kimmons

ScholarsArchive Data

This dataset includes comments to all available TED Talk videos on YouTube. Videos are coded for presenter gender and format, and comments are coded for sentiment using SentiStrength.

The Role Of Culture In Creative Cognition, Angela K. Y. Leung, Brandon Koh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this chapter, we propose the complementary model of culture and creativity (CMCC) to account for three pairs of contrasting forces that characterize the manners in which individuals manage their cultural experiences and that produce impacts on creative pursuits. We theorize three bidimensional psychological processes that explain the effects of culture on creativity: (a) stereotyping versus destabilizing cultural norms, (b) fixating on one cultural mindset versus alternating between cultural frames, and (c) distancing from versus integrating cultures. We contend that a broader and diversifying cultural experience offers an impetus to break down cultural confines, to oscillate between a variety of …

Does Infant Negative Affect Moderate The Impact Of Parenting On Effortful Control? A Test Of The Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis, Anton Petrenko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parenting and early temperament characteristics have previously been shown to impact development of children’s self-regulation, which is in turn linked to a variety of developmental outcomes. However, few studies have evaluated interactions between difficult temperament and parenting, and only four published studies have specifically tested whether infants’ difficult temperament serves as a maker of differential susceptibility to parenting on self-regulatory development. The current study evaluated whether infant negative affectivity (NA) serves as a marker of differential susceptibility to positive and negative parenting on levels of effortful control (EC) at 18 months, which is at an earlier time point than has …

The Potential Benefits Of Using Humor To Reduce Prejudice And Violence, Ethan Radatz

Masters Theses

In the field of social psychology, there have been multiple sources of research demonstrating the proposed links between prejudice and humor. The breadth of this research appears to hold the common theme of observing how the use of negative humor can disenfranchise different outgroups, or groups that seem to be at the bottom of the social ladder (e.g. the poor, marginalized ethnic/racial groups, sex, gender, and so on). Furthermore, the concepts of prejudice, as well as humor have been rarely observed through any nonviolence framework. The present study examined any relationship between humor (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating), nonviolence (physical …

Digit Ratio As A Predictor Of Risk Taking And Sensation Seeking Personality Traits And Behaviors, Hanna Elizabeth Hobson

Masters Theses

Digit ratio is the difference in length between the pointer finger and the ring finger on either hand. Commonly referred to as the 2D:4D ratio, this ratio is determined prior to birth, and serves as an indicator of prenatal hormone exposure. Digit ratio has been found to correlate with fundamental personality and behavior characteristics in adulthood. Digit ratio is also thought to be a determinate of sexual orientation in both men and women, but has been debated in the literature. This study examined multiple 2D:4D relationships. Men who were found to have a more masculinized (ie. lower) digit ratio had …

Effects Of Task Goals On Processing Causal Explanations In Science Texts, Kathryn E. Rupp

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has shown that students experience difficulty understanding scientific texts that explain physical systems (e.g., how coral bleaching occurs; how speakers work). Explanatory texts about physical systems depict causally connected components and events that change across time and space. Readers incrementally build a mental representation of the system often called a mental model. The primary goal of the present experiment was to explore the possibility that one reason why explanatory texts are difficult to comprehend is that students adopt reading goals that do not facilitate the construction of a coherent mental model of the explanation. In the present experiment, …

What's Wrong With Being Single: Lowered Relational Value Bias Toward Single People, Darian Farrell

Master's Theses

This study examined the perceived relational value of single individuals (compared to that of coupled individuals). I hypothesized that, participants would be more likely to make the conjunction fallacy in the single condition vs. the coupled condition, when asked whether or not it was more likely that the target person from the condition was a single teacher vs. teacher. The data supported my hypothesis: participants in the single condition were significantly more likely to make the conjunction fallacy than participants in the coupled condition. My study also tested whether or not the need to belong acted as a moderator for …

Effects Of Chemogenetic Inhibition Of Dopamine Transporter- Or A2a-Expressing Neurons On Spontaneous Activity And Motivation To Consume A Palatable Food Reward, James D. Wherry

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Dopamine (DA) transmission in the striatum influences the motivated pursuit of rewarding stimuli. Pharmacological and opto- and chemo-genetic studies have suggested that the release of DA onto D2+/A2A+-expressing striatopallidal neurons, plays a role in this process. To determine the potentially dissociable roles of DA-releasing ventral midbrain and striatopallidal neurons on motivational processes, we employed double transgenic mice that expressed inhibitory DREADDs—designer receptors that are activated only by otherwise inert ligands—only in dopamine transporter (DAT) or A2A adenosine receptor (A2A) expressing neurons, allowing us to transiently inhibit either DA-releasing neurons (DATcre/DREADD) or striatopallidal neurons (A2Acre/DREADD) during various tests. In the first …

Heritable Variation In Reward Sensitivity And Impulsive Cction And Choice In A Genetically Diverse Inbred Mouse Panel, Lauren S. Bailey

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Research in animal models and human subjects points towards reward sensitivity and impulsivity as being characteristics that predict greater positive subjective responses to stimulant drugs. The Collaborative Cross (CC) recombinant inbred mouse strains and their inbred founders are a powerful genetic reference panel that has potential as a tool for revealing genetic correlations. The CC/DO founder strains were used to examine the heritability of reward sensitivity and impulsivity traits. Founder strains were tested for activity in an open field, reward sensitivity, and reversal learning (impulsive action) or delay discounting (impulsive choice). Significant heritability for anticipatory responding within the reversal task, …

Plant Power: The Impact Of Plants In The Classroom On Student Success And Well-Being, Elizabeth Pitts

Honors Theses

In this study we investigated if there is a relationship between the presence of plants in the classroom and student success and well-being. Past research has found that the presence of plants in the workplace and home improves attention capacity, satisfaction, well-being, affect, fatigue levels, and social connectedness. Participants were 177 college freshmen in an honors discussion-based course. These classes were located in one of two nearly identical classrooms, with the differentiating factor being the presence of two flower pots on plant stands with Snake Plants and Heart Leaf Philodendrons. The participants completed a paper-based survey that assessed classroom behavior, …

The Impact Of Animacy And Positioning On The Production Of Second Language Referring Expressions, Adonis De Carvalho Borges

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Researches have investigated how referring expressions are produced based upon second language acquisition and psycholinguistics theories. A study of monolingual English speakers demonstrated that referent's salience and discourse factors might impact referring expression choice between noun phrases and pronouns. Participants demonstrated a higher production of pronouns when the referent expression was animate rather than inanimate and a preference for noun phrases when the referent was the second noun phrase of the referent's context sentence (Fukumura & Van Gompel, 2011). In addition, an investigation with Hispanic bilinguals, whose L2 is English, demonstrated, in general, a greater preference for pronouns rather than …

Fluoxetine Exposure Results In Decreased Sensitivity To Cocaine And Sucrose Later In Life: A Study In Female C57bl/6 Mice, Francisco Javier Flores Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Preclinical evidence indicates that exposure to psychotropic medications, during early development, results in long-lasting altered responses to stress- and reward-related stimuli. However, these animal studies have been conducted, primarily, using male subjects. This is surprising, given that clinical data suggests that females have a higher likelihood, than their male counterparts, to be diagnosed with mood-related illnesses, and thus, be prescribed with psychotropic medications, mostly antidepressants. Therefore, to examine whether enduring reward-related alterations are exhibited as a result of antidepressant exposure, in female subjects specifically, we exposed C57BL/6 female mice to fluoxetine (FLX; 250 mg/l in their drinking water). Specifically, separate …

Crest In The Nucleus Accumbens Core Regulates Cocaine Conditioned Place Preference, Cocaine-Seeking Behavior, And Synaptic Plasticity, Yasaman Alaghband, Eniko Kramar, Janine L. Kwapis, Earnest S. Kim, Thekla J. Hemstedt, Alberto J. Lopez, Andre O. White, Amni Al-Kachak, Osasumwen V. Aimiuwu, Kasuni K. Bodinayake, Nicole C. Oparaugo, Joseph Han, K. Matthew Lattal, Marcelo A. Wood

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Epigenetic mechanisms result in persistent changes at the cellular level that can lead to long-lasting behavioral adaptations. Nucleosome remodeling is a major epigenetic mechanism that has not been well explored with regards to drug-seeking behaviors. Nucleosome remodeling is performed by multi-subunit complexes that interact with DNA or chromatin structure and possess an ATP-dependent enzyme to disrupt nucleosome-DNA contacts and ultimately regulate gene expression. Calcium responsive transactivator (CREST) is a transcriptional activator that interacts with enzymes involved in both histone acetylation and nucleosome remodeling. Here, we examined the effects of knocking down CREST in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core on drug-seeking …

Attitudes Of Clinical Psychologists Towards The Reporting Of Nonhuman Animal Abuse, Laetitia Geoffroy-Dallery

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Research consistently demonstrates that nonhuman animals are capable of cognition and complex emotions, but their legal status in the United States remains similar to that of property. As such, they are not protected under laws mandating psychologists to report suspicions of abuse of populations that are judged to be vulnerable and unable to protect themselves, such as children, the elderly and people with disabilities (American Psychological Association [APA], 2010). Findings from previous research suggest that animal abuse is a relatively common topic encountered in therapy and the majority of clinicians are in favor of allowing voluntary reporting of nonhuman animal …

Equine-Facilitated Therapy: An Adjunct Treatment For Pre-Adolescent Girls With Adhd, Maya E. Michel

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examined the potential impact of equine-facilitated therapy (EFT) as an adjunct treatment for pre-adolescent girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Research on EFT has shown some promise in helping children develop a sense of self and greater awareness of their behavior and body language. It has also shown potential for increasing externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The rationale behind the use of EFT with children with ADHD is that by taking part in an EFT program, they will receive immediate feedback on their behavior and will therefore experience an increase in attentional control and a decrease in impulsivity. …

Exploring Illusions Of Height In Suit Design, Michael P. Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Objective: The goal of this research was to explore how the design of clothing, specifically the design of the suit, can create height illusions.

Background: Taller people enjoy many advantages, such as increased income and perceived attractiveness. These advantages motivate people to try to appear taller than they actually are, and clothing experts provide advice on how to accomplish this. However, there is little empirical evidence to validate the illusory effects clothing might have on overall height perception. The few studies that have explored illusions of body size created by clothing design have been limited in two important ways – …

Characterizing The Role Of Glucocorticoids In The Sign Tracking Behavior Of Male Japanese Quail (Coturnix Japonica), Beth A. Rice

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

A devastating feature of drug-dependence is the susceptibility of relapse (40-60%) after stretches of abstinence. One theory that may account for relapse suggests that drug cues (e.g., paraphernalia) may increase stress hormones, and this may prompt relapse. Repeatedly pairing a neutral cue with a reward is commonly utilized to measure what subjects learn about a cue that is predictive of reward. Research has shown that animals that attend to a cue more than to the reward (sign trackers) may be more vulnerable to drug addiction. Additionally, research has shown that sign tracking is associated with an increase in corticosterone (CORT), …

Is Pecking Aversive To A Pigeon Or Is It Only The Delay To Reinforcement?, Danielle M. Andrews

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The principle of least effort suggests that animals should minimize effort to reinforcement. Thus, not pecking should be preferred over pecking. However, pigeons often peck when it is allowed but not required (e.g., fixed time schedules) but pecking may be adventitiously reinforced. In the present experiment, to better compare a schedule of reinforcement that requires pecking with one that requires the absence of pecking, we compared a fixed-interval (FI) schedule in which reinforcement follows the first peck after the interval has elapsed and a differential-reinforcement-of-other behavior (DRO) schedule which requires pigeons abstain from pecking for a similar interval. The delay …

The Self-Reported And Behavioral Effects Of Propylene Glycol And Vegetable Glycerin In Electronic Cigarette Liquids, Arit M. Harvanko

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Little is known about how electronic cigarette (EC) users manipulate device parameters, what factors drive their use, and how non-nicotine ingredients influence the stimulus effects of EC aerosols. The ingredients propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin (VG) serve as the base for virtually all electronic cigarette liquids, and information on how they affect the using experience would provide important groundwork for the study of other ingredients. In this dissertation, results from a survey and laboratory study focused on the stimulus effects of ECs, and the influence of PG and VG, will be discussed. A total of 522 regular EC users …