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The Role Of Bilingual Interactional Contexts In Predicting Interindividual Variability In Executive Functions: A Latent Variable Analysis, Andree Hartanto

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite a huge number of studies examining bilingual advantages in executive functions (EFs), the research findings with regards to the relations between bilingualism and EFs are mostly inconsistent and mixed. In order to shed light on these inconsistent findings, the current research aimed to tackle on both conceptual and methodological limitations that are prevalent in previous studies, namely: (a) failure to consider bilingual experiences in assessing bilingual advantages, and (b) task impurity due to substantial influence of non-EFs processes on EFs task performance. Based on Adaptive Control Hypothesis and Control Process Model of Code-switching, a theory-driven multisession study coupled with …

Art And Mental Disturbance, Benjamin, Elliot

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article presents a perspective on psychology that relates directly to Abraham Maslow’s focus upon studying the highest levels of human functioning, but is geared specifically toward a psychological study of what I refer to as the “successful creative artist” and the relationship between art and mental disturbance. The focus is upon what I consider to be “natural” as opposed to “normal,” i.e. individual self-motivated creative expressions vs. widespread socially approved norms and expectations. Along the lines of Thomas Szasz and R.D. Laing, what is referred to as “mental illness” is viewed from a non-judgmental perspective, but with the distinctive …

The Holographic Principle Of Mind And The Evolution Of Consciousness, Germine, Mark

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The Holographic Principle holds the information in any region of space and time exists on the surface of that region. Layers of the holographic, universal “now” go from the inception of the universe to the present. Universal Consciousness is the timeless source of actuality and mentality. Information is experience, and the expansion of the “now” leads to higher and higher orders of experience in the Universe, with various levels of consciousness emerging from experience. The brain consists of a nested hierarchy of surfaces which range from the most elementary field though the neuron, neural group, and the whole brain. Evidence …

Jean Gebser The Invisible Origin Evolution As A Supplementary Process, Translated By Theo Röttgers

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

The End Of Death? Conscious Life In Global Cyberspace, Purdy, Michael

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In The Ever-Present Origin, Jean Gebser, in talking about the magical structure of consciousness[1], states: "All directing implies a consciousness process" (EPO 49). And so to die is to become not consciousness, to lose the power to direct, ultimately to lose control over our own destiny. Being only human, and realizing that death is often more real than an afterlife that we cannot experience while alive[2], we actively fight any loss of control-we fight the passage to death. In that directedness, the glimmerings of which began with magical consciousness, and that came to full awareness …

A General Introduction To Integral Theory And Comprehensive Mapmaking, Saiter, Sean M.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

While attempting to keep to the larger vision of integral studies as a whole I shall be proposing a rudimentary outline of an underlying assertion primarily based upon the works of Ken Wilber, Jean Gebser, Don Beck and Christopher Cowan (based on the work of Clare Graves), and Mark B. Woodhouse. Robert Kegan, Howard Gardner, James Mark Baldwin, Susan Cook-Greuter, and Carol Gilligan are influences working in the background.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when trying to understand integral studies as a field is that a fundamental, underlying message in Wilber's, Graves', Beck's, Gebser's, and Woodhouse's …

Assessing Working Memory In Mild Cognitive Impairment With Serial Order Recall, Sheina Emrani

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Working memory (WM) is often assessed with serial order tests such as repeating digits backward. In prior dementia research using the Backward Digit Span subtest (BDT) only aggregate test performance was examined. The current research tallied primacy/ recency effects; out-of-sequence transposition errors; perseverations and omissions to assess WM deficits in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Memory clinic patients (n= 66) were classified into three groups - single domain amnestic MCI (aMCI), combined mixed domain/ dysexecutive MCI (mixed/dys MCI), and non-MCI where patients did not meet criteria for MCI. Serial order/ WM ability was assessed by …

A Quantitative Study Of Mitigating Resistance To Change Through A Neuro Linguistic Approach: With The Use Of Narratives And A Neuro Linguistic Pattern, Mary J. Sanders

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Resistance to organizational change by employees and management delays implementation, creates emotional stress for both, and reduces the potential savings from rapid change implementation. The delay comes from organizational members’ beliefs stuck in the status quo thus reducing the change’s potential improvement in productivity and effectiveness. If beliefs about the change could be embraced creating organizational readiness, these negative effects could be mitigated and improvements in productivity could be realized sooner.

Reducing the resistance to organizational change through the use of metaphors and a specific neuro linguistic programming pattern (NLP) is the focus of this research study. NLP was originally …

Peer Support And Food Security In Deaf College Students, Brianna Celeste Keogh

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Objective: This paper investigates the role of peer support in food security among deaf college students. Participants: The sample included 166 college students who took the survey between May and October 2017. Methods: Participants completed a bilingual online survey in ASL and English. This survey included questions about peer support, the USDA’s 6-item food security module, and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Out of 166 students (mean age=23; SD=6), 60.7% were food secure. About 26.4% (n= 43) were at-risk for food insecurity and another 12.9% (n=21) had very low food security. The sample included respondents who identified as people of color (54%) …

The Title, Laurent Turgeon-Dharmoo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present dissertation seeks to address and redress clinical psychology’s disciplinary silence around the title of ‘Doctor’ and attempts to uncover possible meanings gathering around it by following several angles of disclosure: The self-disclosure angle recounts my own resistances and attempts at coming to terms with the title; The disciplinary disclosure angle critically reviews the scarce literature on the topic using discourse analysis; The empirical disclosure angle provides quantitative and qualitative analyses of data obtained from 27 Directors of Clinical Training and Training Clinic Directors, who were prompted to report how they use the title with various interlocutors, to outline …

The Neural Substrates Of Communicative Actions: A Cognitive Psychophysiology Study Of Sign Language Production And Imitation In Deaf Signers And Hearing Non-Signers, Athena S. Willis

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

What is the neurobiological underpinning of communicative actions? Studies have suggested that the same neural network of imitation is involved in producing communicative actions, regardless if the persons expressing communicative actions are deaf signers or hearing nonsigners. Through neuroimaging method and analysis, we can observe if experience with communicative actions leads to any differences in the neural processing of the one and two handed ASL signs in deaf signers and hearing non-signers. The results indicate that the posterior right parietal region of the brain shows a significant difference in activity during imitation of one handed and two handed ASL signs …

How Do Mindfulness Practitioners Describe Pausing?: A Qualitative Interview Study, Benjamin G. Feldman

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been demonstrated to be an effective adjunct to psychotherapy for reducing distress. An exploration of the MBSR literature was undertaken to examine the concept of pausing. Surprisingly, this process highlighted by MBSR’S creator Jon Kabat-Zinn, was found to be under-researched; when mentioned, it is often not defined. In order to examine the phenomenon empirically, this study used transcripts of interviews (N = 20) conducted for a larger study examining how mindfulness practice is learned. A Grounded Theory content analysis examined open-ended interviews to explore how MBSR participants represent taking a pause. The transcripts had …

Beyond Motivation: Differences In Score Meaning Between Assessment Conditions, Nikole Gregg

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Written communication is a skill necessary for not only the success of undergraduate students, but for post-graduates in the workplace. Furthermore, according to employers the writing skills of post-graduates tend to be below expectations. Therefore, the assessment of such skills within higher education is in high demand. Written communication assessments tend to be administered in one of two conditions: 1) course embedded and 2) a low-stakes, non-embedded condition. The current study investigated possible construct-irrelevant variance in writing assessment scores by using data from a mid-sized public university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Specifically, 157 student products were …

Hell On Earth: An Exploration Into What Drives Evil, Samuel Taylor Hogan

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Evil abounds. Even the most cursory glance at the news yields harsh headlines about bombings, school shootings, acid attacks, murder, rape, sex slavery, torture, and the occasional mass genocide. The 20th century alone featured roughly 135 million military and civilian deaths due to war and democide (White & Pinker, 2013). Recently, a cultural narrative has emerged proselytizing that evil is an aberrant, caustic mutation of the otherwise unsullied human soul. Philosophers and sociologists, among others, contend that “civilization needs to believe that it does not have an inhumane or barbaric side, leading members of the mainstream to constantly project unacceptable …

Neuro-Cognitive Factors In Adolescent Psychotherapy, Jean F. Ndzana

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Cognitive and developmental differences between teenagers and adults must be overcome to ensure a level playing field in the process of counseling. Exploring the developmental factors involved, and discussing associated treatment interventions can help the counselor close this gap by improving client adherence to treatment and outcomes. This paper consists of a review of the current literature in neuropsychology, neuroscience, cognitive linguistics and counseling, as it relates to brain and cognitive developments in adolescence. These findings are referenced to show the many developmental changes that occur in adolescence, and how those changes can be a hindrance to successful participation in …

The Application Of The Specific Learning Disability Exclusionary Clause As Practiced By Virginia School Psychologists, Kaitlynn Carter

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

When special education eligibility is being determined under Specific Learning Disability, the exclusionary clause needs to be carefully considered. The current study was concerned with the exclusions of cultural factors, environmental or economic disadvantage, and limited English proficiency. The study used a semi-structured interview to explore when and how the exclusionary clause is considered by school psychologists in Virginia and what type of impact it has on eligibility decisions. Ten school psychologists were contacted via the email database of the Virginia Department of Education and completed a phone interview. Grounded theory was used to investigate the themes and ideas regarding …

From Critical To Calm: The Development And Implementation Of A Brief Unified Mindfulness Workshop For College Students, Mandi Eggenberger Quay, Mandi Quay

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Dramatic rises in levels of anxiety, stress, and depression in college students have been observed over the past decade and is so pervasive that it has been deemed the College Student Mental Health Crisis (CSMHC). A number of experts have argued that much of this crisis can be attributed to students’ overall lack of basic knowledge of emotions and adaptive emotional processing. To address this problem, this study sought out to develop a brief mindfulness workshop as an intervention for college students to help increase student well-being, decrease anxious and depressive symptomology, and allow for material to be easily internalized. …

Mental Toughness, Well-Being, And Coach-Created Motivational Climate Within Collegiate Athletics, Chad Doerr

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This study examined the relationship between college student-athletes’ well-being, self-ratings of mental toughness in sport, and perceptions of the coach-created motivational climate. One hundred and two NCAA Division I female student-athletes completed measures of well-being, mental toughness, and coach-created motivational climate over the course of a university academic year. The author hypothesized that mental toughness and perceptions of the coach-created motivational climate would predict well-being. Overall, the results of the study found a predictive relationship between well-being and mental toughness, and well-being, mental toughness, and an ego-involving coach-created motivational climate.

These results provide initial evidence that cognitive, affective, personality, and …

The Role Of Instructional Gesture In Learning Science Concepts In Undergraduate Students, Andrea J. Fogarty

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Recent research has shown that hand gestures produced by both teachers and learners make underlying mechanisms and abstract symbols more concrete for learning (Goldin-Meadow, Levine, Zinchenko, Yip, Hemani, & Factor, 2012; Vallotton, Fusaro, Hayden, Decker, & Gutowski, 2015). The current study examined the effects of instructional gesture on undergraduates’ learning of plate tectonics by manipulating gesture in several instructional conditions. There were three videotaped conditions in the study: representational gesture, beat gesture, and no gesture. It was hypothesized that instructional gesture condition would enhance the understanding of plate tectonics in undergraduate students. Results showed that while all conditions …

The Role Of Language In The Media In Influencing Public Perceptions Of Refugees, Alison M. Pulliam

Senior Honors Theses

The refugee crisis has become a worldwide epidemic in recent years. As refugee entrance into host countries is debated, media outlets are covering the issue regularly. These media outlets use various types of language when portraying refugees. Many publications have been found to convey hostile and divisive themes as well as use specific linguistic tools, which contribute to negative portrayals of refugees. Media outlets have the potential to influence public perceptions of refugees because the general public in a host country receives its information primarily from the media. Overt and subtle language used to describe refugees has been previously found …

The Effect Of Idiomatic Language On Event Processing, Katrina Turick

Honors Scholar Theses

Mental representations of object states are necessary to keep track of changing objects in the world. When the object undergoes change and there are two representations, it creates competition between the object states. This is seen in sentences during which an object changes and is then subsequently referred to again (e.g. “The chef will chop the onion. And then, he will sniff the onion.”). When there is a larger degree of change between the states of the object, there is more competition, which is indicated by an increase in reading time when the object is referred to for the second …

Modeling Memory: Exploring The Relationship Between Word Overlap And Single Word Norms When Predicting Judgments And Recall, Nicholas Pruett Maxwell

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This study examined the interactive relationship between associative, semantic, and thematic word pair strength when predicating item relatedness judgments and cued-recall performance. In Experiment One, 112 participants were shown word pairs with varied levels of associative, semantic, and thematic overlap (measured with forward strength, cosine, and latent semantic analysis) and were asked to judge how related item pairs were before taking a cued-recall test. Experiment One had four goals. First, the judgment of associative memory task (JAM) was expanded to include three types of judgments. Next, the and interaction between database norms (FSG, COS, and LSA) was for when predicting …

How Want Vs Need Self-Talk Facilitates Goal-Directed Behavior, Danielle Elyse Baker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exercising self-control can be a challenge, whether it involves avoiding temptations or striving toward long-term goals. When attempting to exert self-control, the way people address themselves (e.g., self-talk) is important. This study examined how self-talk strategies want and need affected behavioral self-control outcomes in a temptation situation using a 2 (self-talk strategy: want vs need) x 2 (goal emphasis: temptation vs long term goal) factorial design. Participants’ own cell phones served as the temptation and a computer task designed to portray a career-relevant emotional intelligence training served as the long-term goal. Participants were randomly assigned toward either the long-term goal …

Resisting Borders, Resisting Control Examining The Multiplicity Of Identities In A Map Of Home And The Girl In The Tangerine Scarf, Zainab Abdali

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In this project I examine identities as they are expressed through the use of language in the novels A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar and The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf. Both novels are coming-of-age narratives of two Arab and Muslim-American female protagonists that depict their exploration of identity as they undergo experiences of war, migration, displacement, and racism in their respective contexts. I explore the protagonists’ negotiation of identity in the face of familial and societal pressure to conform to clearly demarcated categorizations of identity, arguing that the protagonists recognize clear borders between identities as …

Linguistic Analysis Of Written Language Used By Young Adults With And Without Invisible Disabilities, Amanda Schwartz

Honors Theses

Spoken and written language patterns are subtle aspects of behavior that may differ between those with and without invisible disabilities. One tool to measure language is the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a computer-based measure comprising a variety of components (emotional, cognitive, and structural) present in oral and written language samples (Pennebaker, Boyd, Jordan, & Blackburn, 2015). Using LIWC analyses, previous research suggests a significant difference in written language usage amongst individuals with depression compared to those without depression (Brockmeyer, et al., 2015). Unfortunately, a limited amount of research has been conducted using LIWC analyses to examine written language …

Predicting Academic Success Among Mexican American Learners, Kattie A. Guerrero

Theses and Dissertations

The number of Hispanic students being enrolled in schools have doubled throughout the years. Especially in the Rio Grande Valley where the majority of the population are Mexican American. Previous studies have looked into the risk factors associated with academic failure, but they hardly look into factors that lead to a child’s school success. This study will investigate what contributes to a child’s academic success. The sample of the study was 115 students, grades 5th to 7th grade, all classified as Hispanic. The findings will state a) what variables were significantly correlated to each other b) what variables differed by …

Effects Of Stereotype Threat On Black And White Individuals’ Verbal Responses In Police Encounters, Samantha N. Strine

Psychology

I examined whether Black and White individuals have different verbal behaviors in police encounters and, if so, whether stereotype threat explains these differences. This question is important because police officers use certain verbal behaviors as evidence of deception. Thus, unconscious behaviors arising from concern about being stereotyped as a criminal could cause Black men to be perceived by police as suspicious and, in turn, contribute to discrepancies in police treatment of Black versus White men. In this study, Black and White men interacted with a White security officer in a staged encounter that varied in stereotype relevance (low or high). …

Persistence Of Cultural Heritage In A Multicultural Context: Examining Factors That Shaped Voting Preferences In The 2016 Election, Anna M. Schwartz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The prevailing discourse about the myth of the “melting pot” of American culture implies that heritage cultures are eliminated in favor of a homogenous “American” norm. However, this myth belies the persistence of our cultural heritage in forming our attitudes, morals, and habitual patterns of thought, each of which shape how we participate in our democracy through voting. By contextualizing voting predictors such as authoritarianism, social dominance, and sexism in developmental and ecological theories, this dissertation shows how they are shaped by culture and transmitted through consumption of media and interaction with members of one’s community and family. In an …

Examining The Effect Of A School-Based Treatment On Anxiety For Latino Students, Emilie J. Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the efficacy of a brief culturally and instructionally modified cognitive behavioral therapy program for five anxious Latino/a youths ages 8-11 years in an elementary school setting. Each student exhibited anxiety in a classroom setting as reported by their teachers and parents or guardians. A noncurrent multiple baseline design was implemented using A-B replications to assess the effects of baseline and treatment on daily self-report student distress ratings as well as daily teacher rated distress, academic engagement, and work completion. All participants completed the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale-2 pre- and post-treatment as well as a Children’s Intervention …

Garden Path Sentence Processing As A Measure Of Belief Updating, Alexis Diana Grant

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Handedness is a marker for individual differences in brain organization. Garden path sentences (GPS), those that require a mid-sentence change in understanding to capture sentence meaning require the updating of beliefs via the right hemisphere. Inconsistent-handers (ICH) have increased access to right hemisphere processes, which has previously been shown to result in increased belief updating. It was hypothesized that ICH would be more accurate and more rapid in their processing of GPS relative to consistent right handers (CRH) due to increased access to the neural structures involved. Additionally, men and women differ in their brain organization, and in their cortical …