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A Longitudinal Investigation Of The Relationships Amongst Antibody Response To Influenza Vaccination, Affect, And Stress In The Elderly, Joanne Hash-Converse

Psychology

We examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships amongst affect, stress exposure, and antibody (Ab) response to influenza inoculation in a healthy, elderly sample. We explored both efferent (CNS on immune activity) and afferent (immune activity on CNS function) pathways. Negative (NA) and positive (PA) affective states were examined in relation to Ab response, positing that high baseline NA (State, SNA, but not Trait, TNA) would predict reduced Ab response and that PA would predict enhanced response, and that the reduced Ab response in individuals displaying high baseline SNA would associate with decreases in NA. Moderator (for psychogenic and systemic stress) …

Risk Behavior, Decision Making, And Music Genre In Adolescent Males, Joseph E. Hampton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The effects of music on risk behavior and decision-making are still unknown. Previous studies have linked music with risky behaviors such as drinking. Evidence shows that performance and decision-making on certain tasks can be altered by the presence of music. This study seeks to evaluate decision-making while in this "altered" state of mind. It is hypothesized that decisions made listening to rock music will be more risky than those made in other conditions. Participants were assessed using several questionnaires and the Iowa Gambling Task. Participants were randomly assigned to no music, classical music, or rock music. Results indicate several interesting …

Su People, Paula Meseroll, David Marc, Amy Speach, Kathleen Haley

Syracuse University Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Positive Role Of Negative Emotions: Fear, Anxiety, Conflict And Resistance As Productive Experiences In Academic Study And In The Emergence Of Learner Autonomy, Jaya Kannan, John Laurence Miller

CTL Publications

Although affect is widely recognized as a powerful force in determining students’ academic success, researchers and practitioners have paid little attention to emotional barriers that often impede college success or how instructors may respond constructively when such barriers arise. The purpose of this paper is to initiate discussion of this important problem by offering a model of how an initially resistant, fearful, and/or anxious student can use emotionally unpleasant experiences to transform himself or herself into a more autonomous and successful learner. We offer prima facie support for this model by presenting the results of two cases of first year …

Modulation Of Memory Formation Following Violations Of Conditioned Expectations, Dennis Antonio Amodeo

Theses Digitization Project

Increment in attention to the conditioned stimulus (CS) leads to an increased rate of acquisition of new associations involving CS. While the neuroanatomical basis of the phenomenon is largely understood, little is known about the synaptic mechanisms underlying memory formation for prediction error. The current experiment tests the overall hypothesis that this specific form of memory depends on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation.

Role Of Dorsostriatal D1 And D2 Receptors In Modulating The Kappa Opioid-Mediated Locomotor Activity Of Preweanling Rats: Importance Of Synergistic Activation, Sergios Charntikov

Theses Digitization Project

Infusions of the nonselective dopamine agonist R( - ) propylnorapomorphine (NPA) into the dorsal striatum of preweanling rats atteuates kappa opioid-mediated locomotor activity. The purpose of this thesis was to ascertain which dopamine receptor subtype (D1 or D2) is responsible for this effect. It was hypothsized that a) D1, but not D2, receptors in the dorsal striatum underlie NPA's ability to attenuate the kappa opioid-mediated locomotor activity of preweanling rats, and b) microinjectng SKF38393 (a D1 agonist), and not quinpirole (a D2 agonist), would attenuate kappa opioid-mediated locomotion.

An Emerging Integration Of Universal And Culturally Specific Psychologies And Its Implications For The Study Of Psychopathology, Gregory T. Smith, Nichea S. Spillane, Agnes M. Stairs

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

There is an emerging consensus among researchers on the need to integrate universal and culturally specific psychological perspectives. Important tasks in this process have included identifying the appropriate level of generality for putatively universal processes, how to understand culturally different processes in light of shared universal capacities, and the development of transparent scientific means for investigating cultural differences. In this chapter, the authors discuss each of these issues. It appears to be true that many psychological processes appear to reflect culturally-specific instantiations of universal capacities. The authors then consider implications of this emerging integration for psychology, by applying it to …

Dissonance Reduction In Response To Emotional And Sexual Infidelity: Evidence For An Evolved Sexually Dimorphic Jealousy Mechanism, Triin Anton

Theses Digitization Project

The goal of the current research was to provide support for an evolutionary psychology perspective that views the brain as a modular device. According to this viewpoint, the brain is thought to have evolved to use information from the environment and the body to regulate behavior and bodily functions. The present research utilized a cognitive dissonance paradigm to evaluate the validity of the theory that sexual jealousy is an evolved, sex-linked psychological mechanism and that the reactions of men and wmoen differ. A total of 100 California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) students participated in this study.

Effects Of Early Amphetamine Exposure On Memory, Wendy Ann Holmquist

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the current study was to determine if rat pups treated with amphetamine (AMPH) during a critical time of hippocamal development would exhibit deficits in spatial learning and memory when tested in the Morris water maze during adolescence. Exposure to amphetamine during early postnatal development induces long-term reductions in protein kinase A (PKA) activity. Because PKA activity is known to regulate the production of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and reductions in BDNF are associated with memory deficits, it was hypothesized that early exposure to amphetamine would lead to declines in both BDNF levels and memory performance. The …

The Effects Of Opioids And Opioid Analogs On Animal And Human Endocrine Systems, Laura O'Dell

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Pavlovian Drug Discrimination With Bupropion As A Feature Positive Occasion Setter: Substitution By Methamphetamine And Nicotine, But Not Cocaine, Jamie L. Wilkinson, Chia Li, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Bupropion can serve as a discriminative stimulus (S^D) in an operant drug discrimination task, and a variety of stimulants substitute for the bupropion S^D. There are no reports, however, of bupropion functioning as a Pavlovian occasion setter (i.e., feature positive modulator). The present experiment seeks to fill this gap in the literature by training bupropion in rats as a feature positive modulator that disambiguates when a light will be paired with sucrose. Specifically, on bupropion (10 mg/kg IP) sessions, offset of 15-sec cue lights were followed by brief delivery of liquid sucrose; saline sessions were similar …

Mecamylamine, Dihydro-Β-Erythroidine, And Dextromethorphan Block Conditioned Responding Evoked By The Conditional Stimulus Effects Of Nicotine, Amanda M. Struthers, Jamie L. Wilkinson, Linda P. Dwoskin, Peter A. Crooks, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Current smokers express the desire to quit. However, the majority find it difficult to remain abstinent. As such, research efforts continually seek to develop more effective treatment. One such area of research involves the interoceptive stimulus effects of nicotine as either a discriminative stimulus in an operant drug discrimination task, or more recently as a conditional stimulus (CS) in a discriminated goal-tracking task. The present work investigated the potential role nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the CS effects of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) using antagonists with differential selectivity for β2*, α7*, α6β2*, and α3β4* receptors. Methyllycaconitine (MLA) had no effect on nicotine-evoked …

Empowering Teachers As Environmentally Literate: Ethical Considerations, Sara Soledad Garcia

Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Can We Measure Distress In Animals?, David Fraser

Ethology Collection

When scientists try to identify and mitigate distress in animals, an obvious first question is: can we actually measure distress? Today, after three decades of scientific research on animal welfare it must seem obvious that this is possible, but let me offer a more guarded response.

Recognition Of Distress In Animals – A Philosophical Prolegomenon, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

For those who continue to doubt the studiability of distress or suffering or misery in all of its forms in animals, consider the following thought experiment: If the government were to come up with a billion dollars in research funding for animal distress, would that money go a-begging? We can study these states just as we studied pain—excellent work on boredom by Franciose Wemelsfelder in a volume on laboratory animal welfare I co-edited made the methodology for such study quite explicit. (Wemelsfelder, 1990) And when the ideological scales fall from our eyes, we realize that the work of scientists like …

Distress Or Suffering: What Should Be Measured To Determine Animal Well-Being?, Ian J. H. Duncan

Sentience Collection

It is generally accepted that all the vertebrates and some of the invertebrates (those with large neural ganglia such as the cephalopods) are capable of subjective experiences. Amongst those experiences are the subjective, affective states, sometimes called 'feelings' or 'emotions'. The strong negative feelings are often lumped together as 'suffering' and the positive feelings as 'pleasure'. I have argued for many years that animal welfare/well-being is completely dependent on what the animal feels (Duncan, 1993, 1996, 2002). An animal's well-being is decreased by experiencing suffering and increased by experiencing pleasure. It's as simple as that.

Concepts Of Distress, Suffering And Their Operational Interpretation, Marian Stamp Dawkins

Ethology Collection

The major concern of this paper is with the operational interpretation of animal distress and suffering – that is, with the issue of how we can measure the extent of an animal’s distress in practice. I shall probably make myself very unpopular by expressing the view right from the outset that I think it is neither possible nor desirable to try to discover universal ‘indicators’ of distress that will apply to all animals in all situations.

Distress In Animals: Its Recognition And A Hypothesis For Its Assessment, David B. Morton

Sentience Collection

This essay deals with the recognition of non-painful emotional experiences in animals, how they relate to animal wellbeing and animal welfare, and how they can be assessed, monitored and mitigated. While it is written often from a mammalian perspective, the general principles will apply to all animals that are sentient.

Understanding Norms Without A Theory Of Mind, Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

I argue that having a theory of mind requires having at least implicit knowledge of the norms of the community, and that an implicit understanding of the normative is what drives the development of a theory of mind. This conclusion is defended by two arguments. First I argue that a theory of mind likely did not develop in order to predict behavior, because before individuals can use propositional attitudes to predict behavior, they have to be able to use them in explanations of behavior. Rather, I suggest that the need to explain behavior in terms of reasons is the primary …

Politics Or Metaphysics? On Attributing Psychological Properties To Animals, Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

Following recent arguments that there is no logical problem with attributing mental or agential states to animals, I address the epistemological problem of how to go about making accurate attributions. I suggest that there is a two-part general method for determining whether a psychological property can be accurately attributed to a member of another species: folk expert opinion and functionality. This method is based on well-known assessments used to attribute mental states to humans who are unable to self-ascribe due to an early stage of development or impairment, and can be used to describe social and emotional development as well …

Welfare Assessment: Correlations And Integration Between A Qualitative Behavioural Assessment And A Clinical/Health Protocol Applied In Veal Calves Farms, Marta Brscic, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Elena Tessitore, Flaviana Gottardo, Giulio Cozzi, Cornelis G. Van Reenen

Agribusiness Collection

This study is aimed at finding correlations and possible integration among Qualitative Behavioural assessment (QBA) and a specific protocol of clinical/health evaluation. Both welfare assessment methods were based on direct animal observation and were applied in 24 Italian veal calves farms at 3 weeks (wks) of rearing. Principal component analysis (PCA) summarized 20 QBA descriptors on two main components (PC1 and PC2) with eigenvalues above 4 and explaining 29.6 and 20.3% of the variation respectively. PCA on residuals obtained after correcting for housing condition yielded highly similar results, indicating that the rearing environment of the calves was not an important …

Resources, Not Kinship, Determine Social Patterning In The Territorial Gunnison’S Prairie Dog (Cynomys Gunnisoni), J. L. Verdolin, C. N. Slobodchikoff

Sentience Collection

In this study, we describe patterns of relatedness in Gunnison’s prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) social groups. Kin selection is often cited as a mechanism for the evolution and maintenance of social groups, and Gunnison’s prairie dog females are occasionally described as being strongly philopatric. Overall, randomization tests revealed that females within territorial groups were not more closely related to each other than expected at random. A similar pattern was found among males and between males and females, indicating that there was no sex-biased dispersal occurring in these populations. Ecological variables measured in this study, such as food abundance and food …

Constructive And Deconstructive Tool Modification By Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Amanda E. Bania, Stephany Harris, Hannah R. Kinsley, Sarah T. Boysen

Sentience Collection

Nine chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were tested for their ability to assemble or disassemble the appropriate tool to obtain a food reward from two different apparatus. In its deconstructed form, the tool functioned as a probe for one apparatus. In its constructed form, the tool functioned as a hook, appropriate for a second apparatus. Each subject completed four test trials with each apparatus type. Tool types were randomized and counter-balanced between the two forms. Results demonstrated that adult and juvenile chimpanzees (N = 7) were successful with both tool types, while two infant chimpanzees performed near chance. Off-line video analyses revealed …

Reflective Materials And The Use Of Glitter In Art Therapy, Amber Dee Mazza

Art Therapy | Master's Theses in Print

This paper hypothesizes that glitter is an important media in art therapy. This research asked the question, what is the significance and clinical application of glitter in art therapy? Glitter is a commonly used art material and research on the subject matter is absent. The method used was survey research with quantitative and qualitative questions. Seven hundred and fifty eight members of the American Art Therapy Association completed the survey. Glitter has significant meaning in reference to Cathy Moon’s theory of materiality, and can be used to bring light to client art work.

Reflections On Transpersonal Psychology’S 40th Anniversary, Ecopsychology, Transpersonal Science, And Psychedelics: A Conversation Forum, Mark A. Schroll, Stanley Krippner, Miles A. Vich, James Fadiman, Valerie Mojeiko

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Recollections of humanistic and transpersonal psychology’s origin’s morph into the

pros and cons of humanistic/transpersonal oriented schools developing APA accredited

clinical programs. This discussion dovetails with the question will ATP ever become an

APA division, raising an interesting alternative for those of us considering a career in

counseling: becoming a spiritual coach. Enter the issue of psychedelic therapy and the

Supreme Courts decision to allow ayahuasca as a sacrament by the Uniao Do Vegetal

Church, and the importance of why humanistic and transpersonal psychology need to

clearly map out the territories and sub-divisions of science and religion. Finally this

conversation …

Xenophilia As A Cultural Trap: Bridging The Gap Between Transpersonal Psychology And Religious/Spiritual Traditions, Harris Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Xenophilia, seen as a type of romanticism, is proposed as an explanation for the tendency

within transpersonal psychology to privilege so-called exotic religious and spiritual traditions,

as opposed to the xenophobic tendency within mainstream Western psychology of

religion and spirituality to privilege the Judeo-Christian tradition. Claims made in a recent

article published in a major psychology journal that Buddhism does not rest on supernatural

faith and is the most psychological spiritual tradition are challenged as examples of this type

of romanticism. Demographic trends showing conversion rates to Buddhism in the US

are contrasted with conversion rates to Christianity in South …

Altering The Motivational Function Of Nicotine Through Conditioning Processes, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The collection of chapters in this 55th Nebraska Symposium on Motivation Volume clearly highlights that effective strategies for reducing compulsive tobacco use will require a multifaceted approach in which genetic, neurobiological, individual, and cultural factors are considered. It is difficult, if not impossible, to predict where the next important breakthrough will come from (Bevins & Bardo, 2004; Dethier, 1966; Laidler, 1998). Accordingly, further research that extends and challenges current theory and practice at each of these levels of analysis is needed. The continuing focus of our research program, and the topic of the present chapter, is on the role of …

Acute Tryptophan Depletion And Sweet Food Consumption By Overweight Adults, Sherry L. Pagoto, Bonnie Spring, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Brian Hitsman, Malaina Smith, Bradley Appelhans, Donald Hedeker

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Serotonergic involvement has been implicated in preferential consumption of treat foods. We tested the effect of acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) on food consumption by overweight and lean adults with and without a history of recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD). ATD and taste-matched placebo challenges were administered double-blind in counter-balanced order. Participants were classified as lean (n = 36) or overweight (n=19) on the basis of body mass index (BMI). Total calorie, carbohydrate, protein, and sweet food consumption were assessed via a test meal 8-hours following ATD. Four food items of comparable palatability were offered as a part of the test: …

Does Sharing Financial And Creative Resources With Children Function As Extended Phenotypes In Female Ratings Of Male Attractiveness?, Margaret Anne Lanier

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis studies how women rate a man's attractiveness, according to his investments of time or money in a related or unlrelated child, the man himself or another adult. The findings demonstrate that possessing and exhibiting creativity is a powerful tool in attracting females to males, sometimes more powerful than sharing monetary resources.

The Effects Of Opioids And Opioid Analogs On Animal And Human Endocrine Systems, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.