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The Effects Of Olfactory Enrichment On Shelter Dog Behavior, Madison J. Pattillo, Lauren N. Mitchell, Jessica A. Catchpole, Allison L. Martin

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

Shelter environments are stressful for dogs due to loud noises and unfamiliar surroundings. Previous research showed that exposure to some scents resulted in reductions in activity and vocalizations in shelter dogs. We investigated the effects of two calming (lavender and vetiver) and two stimulating (lemon and rosemary) essential oils on crate position and active, resting, and stress behaviors. There were 8, 5-min observations conducted each week per dog, split between baseline and scent exposure. Our analysis using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test found that dogs exposed to lavender (n = 13), lemon (n = 10), rosemary (n = …

Multilevel Stakeholder Perspectives On The Implementation Of Evidence-Based Interventions In A Large, Urban School District, Ashley Sahel Castro

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Despite evidence of equal or greater need for mental health services among youth from racial and ethnic minority (REM) and low-income backgrounds, these youth are less likely to receive treatment when it is needed. When they do receive care, it is typically not evidence-based. To address these disparities, advocates and scholars have promoted the use of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) in schools serving REM and low-income youth. However, challenges with the implementation of EBIs in schools have limited their uptake and impact in this setting, especially for this student population. Implementation science offers new ways of examining the process of bringing …

Lgbt Inclusivity In Transpersonal Psychology: A Case For Incorporating Lgbt Spiritual Experiences In Transpersonal Education, Daniel A. Seda, Phd

Journal of Conscious Evolution

After conducting three qualitative interviews on the somatic experiences of transgender individuals and finding relatively few resources with which to draw significant conclusions in the field, it is clear that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) scholarship is severely lacking in transpersonal psychology.

Method: This research revealed that an understanding and appreciation for the lived experiences of gay people––specifically that of gay men––are also limited and are not appropriately represented through the use of feminist or queer models. Therefore, an alarming number of issues affecting the transgender and gay male populations are not being adequately addressed within the discipline of …

Book Review: Mythic Imagination Today: The Interpretation Of Mythology And Science By Terry Marks-Tarlow, Ivana Gligoric

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Terry Marks-Tarlow interprets mythology and science as endless curiosity about the workings of the Universe, combing with humans’ creative urges to transform inner and outer worlds. The author perceives mythology as a universal product of the human imagination in interaction with the physical and social world, driven by the urge to communicate with others symbolically and make meaning out of life experiences. Moreover, Marks-Tarlow studied the origins of a human story within the social brain, mythmakers, and myths from multiple cultures. At the same time, she explored how contemporary sciences of chaos, complexity theories, and fractal geometry unite with ancient …

Book Review: If Women Rose Rooted: A Life Changing Journey To Authenticity And Healing By Sharon Blackie, Katherine T. Ziemke

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Relative And Absolute: States Of Consciousness And Turiya, Jenna Mcdonald

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper aims to explore the phenomena of dreaming, waking, sleeping and the witness-consciousness that is exists in and through all three states. It draws from current and past literature about consciousness, helping to build a framework for both psychological and spiritual development. It correlates the pause between the inhale and exhale to the self-evident junction between dreaming, sleep and waking states.

Nondual Writing: A Perspective On Who Owns Ideas, And A Way To Write With Greater Ease, Andrew Erdman

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The act of writing can cause great anxiety, stoking flames of perfectionism and fears of criticism, narcissistic injury, or indifference. While Buddhist teachings provide liberation from such egoic loneliness, it is not often recognized that postmodern and post-structural thought may also put the “author” and their “writing” in a less-individualized context—one in which a written work is understood to be in fact an ongoing process taking shape in interactions among writer, reader, critic, fan, and the world of literature at large. Keeping such a model in mind can help return joy to the act of writing as it poses the …

Book Review: Mythic Imagination Today: The Interpenetration Of Mythology And Science, Alexandra Sedgwick

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Positron Emission Tomography From 1930 To 1990: The Epistemology And Process Of Scientific Instrumentation, Rick Shang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a groundbreaking detection system that, among many other applications, enabled neuroscience researchers to detect and image physiological changes in the brain associated with cognitive operations as subjects perform a task. This technology helped researchers learn to explore the physiological basis of human cognition in new ways and was the immediate forerunner of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), a technology that continues to dominate the neurosciences. PET was also the founding invention of a new field of cognitive science: human functional neuroimaging. Indeed, some would say that PET encouraged a particular way of understanding the brain …

Positron Emission Tomography From 1930 To 1990: The Epistemology And Process Of Scientific Instrumentation, Rick Shang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a groundbreaking detection system that, among many other applications, enabled neuroscience researchers to detect and image physiological changes in the brain associated with cognitive operations as subjects perform a task. This technology helped researchers learn to explore the physiological basis of human cognition in new ways and was the immediate forerunner of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), a technology that continues to dominate the neurosciences. PET was also the founding invention of a new field of cognitive science: human functional neuroimaging. Indeed, some would say that PET encouraged a particular way of understanding the brain …

Body Trust Moderates The Relationship Between Physical & Emotional Awareness & Eating Disorders In Adolescents, Emma G Roberts, Rowan Hunt, Cheri Levinson Phd

Undergraduate Research Events

Eating disorders (EDs) have a complex relationship with interoceptive awareness (i.e., awareness of inner bodily sensations; IA). Research suggests that physical hyper-awareness and tendency to distract from bodily sensations are positively associated with ED symptoms, and body trust (i.e., experiencing one’s body as safe and trustworthy) is negatively associated with ED symptoms (Lattimore et al, 2017; Merwin et al, 2010; Duffy et al, 2020). While physical awareness (PA) and emotional awareness (EA) have been shown in nonclinical samples to be beneficial for affect regulation, similar facets of IA are associated with higher symptomatology in ED samples (Price & Hooven 2018). …

A Phenomenology Of Challenging Psychedelic Experiences: From Relational Trauma To Relational Healing, Leland Guthrie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychedelic medicine is a re-emerging therapeutic paradigm with potentially significant clinical applications. This study contributes to an understanding of the aspects of challenging psychedelic experiences that may contribute to therapeutic outcomes. Interview and written data from five participants about their challenging Ayahuasca experiences was analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results of this analysis revealed a phenomenological structure of challenging psychedelic experiences consisting of a change process that moved the participants from a sense of disconnection to a sense of connection with themselves, others, nature and the cosmos. Findings from the study suggest that challenging psychedelic experiences may be …

Interdependence With Our Most Forgetful Elders: Alzheimer's In The Anthropocene, Christine Heller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses autoethnography and critical psychological and philosophical theories to explore what people with Alzheimer’s disease teach us about being, forgetting, and dying in the Anthropocene. The author collected personal memory data from her lived experience of being with her mother while she had Alzheimer’s disease, and organized these memories into a series of vignettes. Each vignette was analyzed with critical psychological and philosophical theories to illuminate intersubjective themes of denial, things, ancestors, place, dying, and time. These themes connected the personal to the epochal and articulated the wisdom that our most forgetful elders can share in the Anthropocene, …

Am I Black Enough? – Identity And Belongingness Of Second-Generation African Students, Muna Yusuf

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Over the course of the past few years, research regarding Black students has continued to increase. However, a lot of the research regarding Black students has focused heavily on the experiences and outcomes of African American students. Due to the history in the United States, the term Black has become synonymous with African American, leaving out the experiences of many second-generation African children. This explanatory mixed-methods design study examined second-generation African students’ ethnic identity and sense of belonging within the Black community in their school system. This study also compared reported levels of belongingness in college experiences versus high school. …

Exploring Generational Difference Of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity And Racial Identity In Liberian Immigrants And Their Children Living In The United States, Breezie J. Gibson

Dissertations

Prior literature on immigrants has focused on the impact of acculturation for groups such as Asians and Hispanic or Latinx immigrants (Orjiako & So, 2014; Sall, 2019). Compared to these two groups, the literature on Black immigrants’ experience of acculturation is scarce. In addition to the minimum visibility of Black immigrants in the acculturation literature, there is also limited knowledge relating to differences in the ethnic identity and racial identity of Black immigrants because these immigrants are often grouped monolithically with minimum attention to their diverse countries of origin. Understanding the influence of acculturation, ethnicity, and race is important because …

Inclusion Toward Transformation: Psychosocial Disability Advocacy And Global Mental Health, Justin M. Karter

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH) has been met with criticism for reifying Western conceptions of mental disorders and diverting resources from the investigation, intervention, and education regarding the social determinants of mental health. Advocates identifying as a person with a psychosocial disability are organizing to transform the MGMH from a top-down, individualized, and universal approach toward a rights-based conception that accounts for the cultural, political, and economic conditions that produce distress and disability. Using a qualitative, hermeneutic, interpretative-phenomenological analysis (IPA), this research study focused on how people with a lived experience of mental distress and treatment come to …

Assessing Latinx Colorism And Skin Tone Dating Preferences In Adults, Yessica M. Berumen Martinez

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Colorism is favoring by individuals of lighter skin over darker skin. This differs from racism because racism is discrimination directed towards racial or ethnic minorities, while colorism typically refers to within-group prejudice. The purpose of this study is to find out whether and how Latinx individuals’ self-perceived skin color, family, and friends influence their dating skin color preference. 145 respondents ages 18 and over completed the In-group Colorism Scale by Harvey, Banks, and Tennial (2017) and answered additional questions on skin tone perceptions on dating, and parent and friend influences. There was no significant connection between self-perceived skin color and …

Investigating The Memorization Of The Quran Using The Grounded Theory Methodology, Nikhat Parveen

The Qualitative Report

Grounded theory methodology was utilized to investigate the process of memorization of the Quran in India from a psychological perspective as it occurs in the absence of semantic comprehension of the Arabic language. Data collection methods included participant observation in a seminary, semi-structured interviews with students and teachers of memorization, study of documents employed during the learning process, and practical demonstrations. Sample comprised of thirteen individuals including students and teachers. Data coding and analyses resulted in a large number of open codes, and eleven axial code categories besides a selective code that gave a comprehensive summation of the research study …

Black And White Health Disparities: Racial Bias In American Healthcare, Yasmeen Almomani

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This paper explores the historical implications of race in American society that have led to implicit racism in the healthcare system. Racial bias in healthcare against Black people is a factor in the health disparities between Black and white people in America, such as the gap in life expectancy, infant death, and maternal mortality. Black people are more likely to report racial discrimination from healthcare providers, which is a reason for the decreased quality of care received. The past justifications of slavery, the Tuskegee syphilis study, and the medical experimentations on Black women are horrifying but were considered acceptable in …

Covid-19 Pandemic Leadership A Case For Return To Platonic Values, Richard Runyon, Daryl Watkins

Publications

In western education, Plato is often cited as a foundational thinker for education of leaders. 2,395 years later, many leaders in governments of the world are struggling to address the COVID-19 global pandemic. The 2019–2021 global pandemic has provided academics with a wonderful opportunity to evaluate government leadership at many levels. All the different forms of governance as well as theoretical economic systems are being tested in real-time. Success can be measured on a government’s ability to reduce both deaths and spread of the COVID-19 virus among their citizens. This article will discuss these concepts focused on successful government leadership.

Gender Differences In Undergraduates' Sexuality: A Comprehensive Study Of Sexual Attitudes, Sindy Said

University Honors Program Senior Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlated sexual attitude measures, gender differences in sexual attitudes, and the relationship between religious practice and sexual attitudes. The sample consisted of 92 undergraduate students (17 men and 75 women). The majority were young, Hispanic, straight, single, and were religious. An online survey was administered regarding 23-items from the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS) followed by demographic items. Main analyses showed that permissiveness and instrumentality attitudes were positively and weakly correlated with a medium effect. Additionally, birth control and communion were not correlated nor statistically significant. Men were insignificantly more permissive but …

Identity Transformation Through Substance Use Disorder Recovery: Introducing The Six Stage Model, Naomi Watkins, Austin Mcneill Brown, Kayce Courson

The Qualitative Report

Narratives of substance use disorder recovery experience can provide useful qualitative conceptual categories and novel theories about the way in which recovery is experienced by individuals. This information can better inform definitions, concepts, and supports for recovery processes. The current study reviewed 30 written personal recovery biographies which were contained within student applications to the collegiate recovery program housed in the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery at Kennesaw State University. Using grounded theory methodology, common benchmarks, or topographic recovery features were revealed involving the evolution of identity as an inter-negotiated process throughout the addiction and recovery biographies (Charmaz, …

Perceived Barriers To Black And Asian Solidarity: A Pilot Study Of Internalized Racial Oppression And Perspective-Taking, Josephine Wu

McNair Scholars Program

Cross-racial solidarity between Asian and Black communities in the U.S. needs increased mutual understanding. Research has limited knowledge of intergroup relations and how these groups perceive each other. Research suggests that one barrier is internalized racial oppression (IRO), but doesn’t consider IRO in intergroup contexts. This qualitative pilot study uses semi-structured interviews to identify patterns of themes related to intergroup IRO perspective-taking and perceived barriers to Black-Asian solidarity.

Synergy Between Behavioural Research On Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus Leucas) Conducted In Zoological And Wild Settings, Heather Manitzas Hill, Deirdre Yeater, Michael Noonan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Behavioural observations of captive beluga whales have complemented and extended much of what has been learnt about this species in the wild. Aquarium-based research has provided finer-scale specificity for many topics, including the seasonal breeding pattern that is characteristic of this species, as well as socio-sexual behaviour that appears to be an important part of the behavioural repertoire of this species. One example is a strong propensity for male–male social interactions that begin to develop at an early age. In addition, detailed behavioural milestones in calves have been documented in ways that extend that which have been collected from wild …

Tears Evoke The Intention To Offer Social Support: A Systematic Investigation Of The Interpersonal Effects Of Emotional Crying Across 41 Countries, J. H. Zickfeld, N. Van De Ven, O. Pich, T. Schubert, J. B. Berkessel, J. J. Pizarro, B. Bhushan, N. J. Mateo, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Tearful crying is a ubiquitous and likely uniquely human phenomenon. Scholars have argued that emotional tears serve an attachment function: Tears are thought to act as a social glue by evoking social support intentions. Initial experimental studies supported this proposition across several methodologies, but these were conducted almost exclusively on participants from North America and Europe, resulting in limited generalizability. This project examined the tears-social support intentions effect and possible mediating and moderating variables in a fully pre-registered study across 7007 participants (24,886 ratings) and 41 countries spanning all populated continents. Participants were presented with four pictures out of 100 …

Outcomes Of Training In Smart Home Technology Adoption: A Living Laboratory Study, David Wright, Daniel Burton Shank, Thomas Yarbrough

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

While various forms of smart home technology have been available for decades, they have yet to achieve widespread adoption. Although they have risen in popularity during recent years, the general public continue to rate smart home devices as overly complex compared to their benefits. This article reports the results of an eight-month study into the effects of training on smart home technology adoption. Building upon the results of a previous study, and using the same living laboratory approach, we studied the effects of training on the attitudes of a group of residents toward use of smart home technology. Results show …

The Psychedelic Renaissance: A Convergence Of Indigenous Knowledge And Science, Ronan K. Peck

University Honors Theses

In recent times, psychedelics have come back into the public eye, mostly through scientific intrigue about their healing potential. In the past decade, hundreds of studies have been conducted to explore the possible benefits, or risks, that these substances could bring to people – and there is great potential being found. This is the psychedelic renaissance, and with this phenomenon in full swing, it is important to take a step back and look at the full picture of our history with these substances. By doing so, it starts to become clear that psychedelics have guided human perception and understanding of …

A Tale Of Two Narratives: The Role Of Storytelling In Racial Dialogue, Lane Cooper

University Honors Theses

Storytelling is a tactic often used in intergroup dialogues as a means for highlighting the human aspect of intractable identity-based conflict. In the U.S., racial dialogues are a popular method for addressing racism and exposing the systems that enable its survival. However, stories told by People of Color during these dialogues are often met with denial, dismissiveness, and even complete silence by their White counterparts. This then leads to cognitive and emotional distress for the tellers and a lack of action from the listeners. Using a theoretical analysis, this paper reviews the narrative conflict around racism and applies psychological research …

Postpartum Depression In South Asian American Mothers: An Examination Of Screening Tools And Associated Cultural Factors In Assessment, Heer Panchal

Dissertations

Postpartum depression is a disorder impacting an overwhelming number of women after childbirth with symptoms of depression, anxiety, guilt, and hopelessness. Due to limited research and understanding of postpartum depression in the growing South Asian population in the United States, it is vital to gather data and research on this population to increase understanding of patterns and experiences that occur within the South Asian American population and to incorporate cultural factors into the screening process. The current research’s objectives include discussing the facets of postpartum depression, current tools used to screen for postpartum depression, and helpful interventions to create a …

Recommendations For Clinical Practice, Research, And Policy To Address The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Anxiety Symptoms In Immigrant And U.S.-Born Latina Mothers, Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez, Amy L. Non

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.