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The Darwin Is In The Details, Douglas T. Kenrick, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Comments on the article by A. H. Eagly and W. Wood which examined the origins of sex differences in human behavior. Eagly and Wood argued that social structural theory can explain the origin of psychological sex differences. The present authors suggest that evolutionary models of sex differences are based on a much broader foundation that Eagly and Wood imply. They note that Eagly and Wood misconstrued previous age preference findings as supporting the "common knowledge" that men prefer younger women. Eagly and Wood also showed that as societies approach gender equality in resource access, some sex differences in mate preferences …

Implementation Of The Tennessee Divorce And Mediation Pilot Project In Hamilton County: Evaluating Program Effectiveness, Mary Kathryn Robertson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As more time and money are invested in training programs, the sponsors of these programs, whether those are corporations, or government agencies, want to know if the training is worth the investment. An evaluation of the training and its effects is needed to answer the questions about the usefulness, and utility of the training program. Training is typically assessed using some combination of the criteria presented in Kirkpatrick's hierarchical model (Noe & Schmitt, 1986). The four levels of evaluation in the hierarchy include reactions, learning, behavior and results. Kirkpatrick's hierarchical model has been used to devise an evaluation system for …

The Effect Of Biculturalism On Depression In Northern Plains Native American College Students, Alan H. Storey Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effect of biculturalism on depression in a propsed sample of 52 Northern Plains Native American College students (32 female, 20 male). This study tested the applicability of the Orthogonal Theory of Biculturalism (Oetting and Beauvais, 1992). Subjects completed the Northern Plains Biculturalism scale (NPBI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II). A descriptive analysis, Pearson product moment correlational analysis, independent t-tests, and multiple regression analysis were performed. The multiple regression utilized the two-culture orientation subscales of the NPBI as predictor variables and the total score of the BDI-II as outcome …

Assessment And Grading Practices Among High School Band Teachers In The United States: A Descriptive Study, Edward G. Simanton

Theses and Dissertations

The recent movement in academic reform and accountability has brought assessment and grading to the forefront in most academic disciplines. While assessment and grading appear to be important topics in music education professional journals, little is known about actual practice or local satisfaction with current practices. Findings from a few small regional assessment and grading studies indicated that assessment practices tended to diverge from currently understood best practices; for example, attendance was the primary source of grading information.

The purposes of this study were to (a) examine current assessment and grading practices in American high school bands, (b) gauge local …

Faculty Interests - Faculty Needs: Creating Meaningful Critical Thinking Training, Patricia Wilber

Theses and Dissertations

Helping students improve their critical thinking and writing abilities is a challenge for university instructors. Although they are experts in their specific disciplines, most of them struggle when it comes to developing appropriate and successful critical thinking activities for their students. They have limited knowledge of instructional methods that improve student thinking, and often rely on professional development programs on their campuses to assist them. The Writing Across the Curriculum Program at a mid-western university offered assistance to faculty and provided a place to examine this process.

A qualitative study employing workshop observations and follow-up interviews was used to determine …

Dynamical Systems And Mating Decision Rules, Douglas T. Kenrick, Norman P. Li, Jonathan E. Butner

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Dynamical simulations of male and female mating strategies illustrate how traits such as restrictedness constrain, and are constrained by, local ecology. Such traits cannot be defined solely by genotype or by phenotype, but are better considered as decision rules gauged to ecological inputs. Gangestad and Simpson's work draws attention to the need for additional bridges between evolutionary psychology and dynamical systems theory.

Taking Writing On-Line: The Intersections Of Rhetoric, Technology, And Community In The Composition Classroom, William C. Archibald

Theses and Dissertations

Discourse constructs individuals in community and by analogy constructs students (and teachers) in the networked-writing classroom. This work of constructing subjects moves us alternately toward the group (centripetal) and away toward becoming more individual (centrifugal). In order to understand this coordinate but opposite movement within on-line communication, the dissertation brings together the two strands (within the social) of technology and rhetoric. This rhetoric of technology is defined as the invention, arrangement, and delivery of computer-mediated language for the purpose of evoking action upon the part of an audience. The dissertation presents—among others—the discourse theory of Patricia Bizzell, Joseph Harris's ideas …

Effect Of Cooperative Learning (Student Teams -Achievement Divisions) On African American And Caucasian Students' Interracial Friendships, James Edward Cook

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gauge the impact of cooperative learning teams on interracial friendships. The participants were 256 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in English classes (20% African American and 80% Caucasian) at a rural middle school in Louisiana. After delivery of instruction, the experimental group studied worksheets in teams, received rewards based upon the team's performance, and received individual grades based upon individual exam scores. The control group studied worksheets individually and received individual grades. This eight week study utilized the sociometric question, “Who are your friends in this class?” as the pretest and posttest …

Students' Attitudes Towards Statistics In Medical Research: A Comparison Of Four Health Sciences Programs, James G. Dexter

Psychology ETDs

Driven by a market that is imposing greater scrutiny on health care providers as well as by an explosive increase in health-related research, there is a growing need for an improved understanding of statistical design and analysis among today's students and practitioners in the health sciences. Although most students in the health sciences are required to take an introductory statistics course prior to entering professional programs, little is known about the attitudes those students possess regarding the use of statistics in medical research.

Group And Individual Treatment Of Compulsive Hoarding: A Pilot Study, Gail Steketee, Randy O. Frost, Jeff Wincze, Kamala A.I. Greene, Heidi Douglass

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Treatment of compulsive hoarding has rarely been described in the literature, apart from standard treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder of which hoarding is thought to be a subset. This paper presents preliminary findings from seven patients treated with cognitive and behavioral interventions derived from Frost and Hartl's (1996) theoretical model of hoarding. Six clients attended 15 group treatment sessions over 20 weeks plus individual home treatment sessions and one client received 20 weekly-sessions of individual treatment only. After 20 weeks, treatment resulted in noticeable improvement in several hoarding symptoms for five of the seven patients, especially reduction in excessive acquisition …

A Test Of The Mediating Effects Of Coping Strategies On The Relationship Between Perceived Control In The Workplace And Work-Family Fit, Jeff S. Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

Past research has shown that perceived employee control in the workplace is negatively related to work-family conflict and positively related to favorable physical and mental health outcomes. However, previous research has neglected to examine many antecedents to work-family positive spillover. Coping strategies used in response to work and family role demands and the resultant work-family outcomes have also not been addressed in previous research. This study investigated how perceptions of control in the workplace relate to work-family conflict, work-family positive spillover, and the use of coping strategies. In order to understand these relationships and clarify the processes of coping with …

Review Of: Catherine Manton, Fed Up: Women And Food In America, Elizabeth J. Baker

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

A review of the book Fed Up: Women and Food in America by Catherine Manton (Bergin & Garvey 1999). Bibliography, index, notes. ISBN 0-89789-448-0 [184 pp. $55.00. Cloth, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881].

Locus Of Control, Coping, And Anticipatory Nausea In Women With Breast Cancer, Melinda L. Nielsen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Many cancer patients experience adverse chemotherapy-related side effects. The present study examined whether the perception that one can control and effectively cope with her treatment for breast cancer mitigate against any nausea and vomiting that she may experience in anticipation of chemotherapy treatments. Seventy-five women with breast cancer completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale - Form C, the Krantz Health Opinion Survey, the Ways of Coping Scale - Revised, and the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and Emesis. As hypothesized, internal health locus of control was significantly positively related to positive reappraisal coping strategies. This relationship was moderated by …

Memory For Bizarre Imagery: A Storage-Retrieval Analysis, Mary Louise Lamay

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Four experiments were conducted to examine the role that storage and retrieval processes play in the bizarreness effect. The experiments provided a test of Riefer and LaMay's (1992) twolactor hypothesis, which states that bizarre stimuli are retrieved from Meitbry better than common stimuli, but that common stimuli are stored better than bizarre stimuli. The experimental results were also used to test the validity of Riefer and Rouder's (1992) and Rouder and Batchelder's (1999) multinomial models for storage and retrieval. The experiments explored several variables known to impact the bizarreness effect, including mixed vs. unmixed lists, list length, presentation rate, level …

Development Of A Bedside Examination Of Cognition In Multiple Sclerosis (Becims), Gregory Scott Aaen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Approximately 40% of all patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibit some form of cognitive impairment. Identifying impairment in these patients would be beneficial to the patients and to society. However, it is too costly to refer every MS patient for full neuropsychological testing. Consequently, many attempts have been made to develop screening batteries for use by neurologists. Unfortunately, these batteries are rarely used clinically as all require approximately 20-40 minutes to administer and most require special equipment. Given the time constraints of an office visit it is unrealistic to expect neurologists to administer such tests. The present pilot study is …

Vocabulary Growth In Late Talkers: Lexical Development From 2;0 To 3;0, Leslie Rescorla, Jennifer Mirak, Leher Singh

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Vocabulary growth from 2;0 to 3;0 was studied in 28 late talkers using expressive vocabulary inventories reported bimonthly on the Language Development Survey (LDS). Group milestones were 18 words at 2;0, 89 words at 2;6, and 195 words at 3;0. A sub-group of 11 children (Group I) showed a rapid vocabulary spurt between 2;2 and 2;8, reached the 150-180 word mark by 2;6, and attained the LDS ceiling of about 300 words by 2;10. In contrast, the 17 children in Group 2 still had a mean vocabulary of fewer than 30 words at 2;6, had less of a vocabulary spurt …

Locus Of Control, Coping, And Anticipatory Nausea In Women With Breast Cancer, Melinda L. Nielsen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Many cancer patients experience adverse chemotherapy-related side effects. The present study examined whether the perception that one can control and effectively cope with her treatment for breast cancer mitigate against any nausea and vomiting that she may experience in anticipation of chemotherapy treatments. Seventy-five women with breast cancer completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale - Form C, the Krantz Health Opinion Survey, the Ways of Coping Scale - Revised, and the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and Emesis. As hypothesized, internal health locus of control was significantly positively related to positive reappraisal coping strategies. This relationship was moderated by …

Therapist Factors As Predictors Of The Experience Of Memory Recovery In Psychotherapy, Tami Lorraine Young

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Psychotherapist factors as predictors of client memory recovery of childhood sexual abuse following a period of amnesia were investigated. Marriage and family therapists and clinical psychologists in California were surveyed regarding the degree of research emphasis in academic training, knowledge of memory processes and professional standards of care regarding memory recovery in psychotherapy, degree of ambiguity tolerance, use of memory recovery techniques and client memory recovery. Therapists with greater research emphasis in academic training reported having fewer clients with memory recovery. Also, therapists who were intolerant of ambiguity used memory recovery techniques more than did therapists who were tolerant. Finally, …

Positivity And The Construction Of Life Satisfaction Judgments: Global Happiness Is Not The Sum Of Its Parts, Ed Diener, Christie N. Scollon, Shigehiro Oishi, Vivian Dzokoto, Mark Eunkook Suh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present study investigated how reports of satisfaction with specific versus global domains can be used to assess a disposition towards positivity in subjective well-being reports. College students from 41 societies (N = 7167) completed measures of life satisfaction and ratings of global and specific aspects of their lives. For example, participants rated satisfaction with their education (global) and satisfaction with their professors, textbooks, and lectures (specific). It was hypothesized that global measures would more strongly reflect individual differences in dispositional positivity, that is, a propensity to evaluate aspects of life in general as good. At both the individual and …

Anxiety And Efficacy: Are They Related To Students' Choice Of Major?, Camille Johnson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research suggests that anxiety characteristics play a role in determining the courses students choose in college. Other research suggests that efficacy may play a similar role as well. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and efficacy and choice of major for English and mathematics majors. Ninety-nine undergraduate and graduate students from Western Kentucky University (49 males and 50 females) participated in the study. All participants were officially declared mathematics (or mathematics-related, i.e., computer science) or English majors. Instruments included a measure of mathematics anxiety, mathematics efficacy, writing efficacy, writing anxiety, facilitating anxiety, debilitating …

The Efficacy Of Group Bereavement Interventions: An Integrative Review Of The Research Literature, Jim D. Sharpnack

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study involves a meta-analysis of the extant English language literature reporting studies of the effectiveness of bereavement therapeutic interventions. Twenty-six studies (20 adult studies; 6 child studies) were located and served as the database for the current meta-analytic study. Questions asked of the studies in this meta-analysis included:

1. Describe background variables of subjects seeking bereavement group interventions.
2. Describe leader variables of persons leading bereavement group interventions.
3. Describe intervention variables in bereavement group interventions.

The major finding of the meta-analysis was that children and adult experimental subjects benefitted from the grief interventions in comparison to their control counterparts. The ratio …

Phonological Awareness Of Stress And Syllable, Joshua N. Long

Theses and Dissertations

For a number of years, researches have studied children's intuitive knowledge of sounds and syllables because of contributions of these linguistic units to language learning, and more specifically literacy. Children learn to interpret streams of speech through the development of segmentation skills. This study investigated the abilites of preschool and school age children through measurement of their performance on two-syllable, three-syllable, and four-syllable pseudo-word forms with varying stress patterns. The present study examined the participants' ability to identify targeted syllables and targeted stressed elements. That is, in one group (syllable group), participants were required to identify the location of a …

Drama In The High School English Classroom: Pedagogical Theory And Practical Application, Ann Siegle Drege

Theses and Dissertations

Drama in education is not limited to elementary skits or junior/senior class plays. It can be used in the high school English classroom to engage students in active learning. Drama in the classroom is a pedagogical method, which focuses on the learning process of the participants rather than a polished performance for an audience. The purpose of this dissertation is to address the limited use of drama in the classroom by providing a pedagogical rationale for its use and concrete drama activities for the high school English classroom.

There are multiple pedagogical advantages for using drama as a method. Drama …

Is It Time For Cooperative Learning To Enter American Classrooms?, Donna Sewell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Education's raison d'etre is to prepare students with the skills necessary for a productive and happy life within society. The fact that many educational institutions are experiencing a disconcerting number of students dropping out of school (and sometimes life itself) may be an indicator that this preparation is less than adequate in meeting their needs. In fact, the needs of a high school graduate today are so different and far-reaching than what they were 30-50 years ago, it will be easier to group them according to a change in economics, transformed demographics and changes in social situations and practices. Each …

Comparative Analysis Of Irrational Beliefs And Alexithymia To Predict Anxiety, Neuroticism, And Depression, Scott Edward Culhane

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Anxiety, neuroticism and depression are highly studied human disturbances in the field of psychology. There are many theories as to the cause of these distresses. Followers of Albert Ellis' Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy have hypothesized that the maintaining of irrational beliefs causes emotional distress. Others have theorized that a condition known as alexithymia is responsible for emotional distresses. Literally "no words for feelings," alexithymia is a condition where individuals are unable to describe their feelings, they are unable to distinguish between their feelings and bodily sensations, and they have a tendency to overemphasize the concrete details of external events. This …

Depression Status Predicts False Memory On Recognition Tasks, Jamie Lynn L. Shapiro

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

It has long been assumed that depression leads to memory impairment. However, previous research findings have been plagued with inconsistencies in methodology and overall findings. Specifically, there has been some debate over whether or not depressed people are capable of spontaneous strategy use, such as utilizing an associative network/categorical structure. In this study, categorical structure was manipulated using the lists constructed by Deese (1959) and Roediger and McDermott (1995) to examine the false memory paradigm as a function of depression. No differences were found for overall recall or the recall of critical target items as a function of depression. However, …

Parental Stress And Marital Satisfaction In Families Of Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Margaret Merritt Morris

Psychology ETDs

The purpose of the study was to extend the research on families with children with AD/HD by examining parental stress and marital satisfaction among parents of children with AD/HD. The focus of the study was on the perceptions of mothers and fathers of children with AD/HD regarding parental stress and marital satisfaction and the extent to which these perceptions were related to the reported severity of their child's symptoms. In addition, the study examined whether these perceptions and relationships differed for mothers and fathers.

Conscientiousness And The Prediction Of Task Duration: Evidence Of The Role Of Personality In Time Prediction, William Ernest Kelly

Doctoral Dissertations

Accuracy in predicting the duration necessary to complete a task is an important dimension of daily fife. There exists a large degree of variation in an individual's accuracy in predicting task duration. One domain suggested to influence accuracy of predicting duration is that of personality factors and individual differences. Empirical and theoretical links were found in the literature between the personality factor conscientiousness, of the Five Factor Model of Personality, anxiety, and predicting task duration. The purpose of this dissertation was to empirically examine the role of conscientiousness and anxiety in the accurate prediction of task duration. Ninety-five undergraduate students …

A Comparison Of Cognitive Restructuring And Systematic Desensitization Techniques For Anger Reduction With An Inmate Population, Lori Ann Diaz

Dissertations

This was a dismantling study comparing the effectiveness of the Cognitive Restructuring (CR) and the Systematic Desensitization (SD) components of Deffenbacher et al.’s (1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994) treatment of anger. This study utilized an inmate population in a rural county jail. Each group completed a battery of measures (State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory [Spielberger, 1996]; Anger Symptom, and Anger Situation [Hazaleus & Deffenbacher, 1986]) at baseline (5 weeks prior to treatment), pretreatment, and posttreatment. Subjects completed an Anger Log weekly and a Satisfaction measure following treatment. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV: Patient Questionnaire was completed during the baseline period …

The Demon-Haunted Sentence: A Skeptical Analysis Of Reverse Speech, Tom Byrne, Matthew P. Normand

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

Advocates of reverse speech propose that it is a direct path to the unconscious mind. However, there is no evidence of its existence, and accepting this pseudoscience could prove tragic.