Digital Commons Network^™

Mindfulness Practitioners Clarify The Concept Of “Re-Perceiving”: A Qualitative Interview Study, Josephine Madonna

The Graduate Review

Mindfulness, cultivated through various types of meditative practices, is a way of being which intentionally focuses on non-judgmental, present-moment experience. In Western psychology, self is typically reified, i.e., treated as a fixed entity. In contrast, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – the evidence-based program that teaches such meditative practices – implicitly de-reifies “the self.” MBSR encourages practitioners (and psychologists) to reframe self as fluid: as a process of perceptual transitions experienced moment by moment. This shift in perception has been termed reperceiving by MBSR scholars. This project explores whether individual meditators report this shift. Semi-structured interviews (N = 20) were …

The Sovereign Signifier: Agamben And The Nonhuman - Chapter, Paul Eisenstein

Faculty Books

This book initiates the discussion between psychoanalysis and recent humanist and social scientific interest in a fundamental contemporary topic – the nonhuman. The authors question where we situate the subject (as distinct from the human) in current critical investigations of a nonanthropoentric universe.

The Place Of Culture In Psychology: A Social Constructionist Standpoint, Kenneth J. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

Tensions between various approaches to culture in psychology have been intense. Critique across the various approaches has led to alienation and isolation. As I propose, by removing the vision of “truth making” in psychology we also remove the barriers to mutual understanding and appreciation. If we understand accounts of culture as social constructions, themselves wedded to their cultures of origin, we realize the advantages of multiple perspectives. We solve previously insoluble dilemmas, sharpen our critical perspectives, and open up new potentials for interpretation and action.

Social Psychology And Social Justice: Dilemmas, Dynamics, And Destinies, Kenneth J. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

The emergence of this handbook on social justice represents a groundbreaking event in the history of social psychology. In this summary discussion, I outline significant limits to social justice work embedded in the empiricist tradition of inquiry and point to ways in which the current work transcends these limits. However, I also view the present endeavors as in a fledgling state. In the service of enriching and rendering these pursuits more effective, I discuss five domains in which tensions currently prevail and suggest directions for future undertakings. Challenges are discussed in terms of epistemological schisms, presumed ontologies, value pluralism, explanatory …

Program Evaluation Of A Transitional Age Youth Program : A Project Based Upon An Investigation At Servicenet, Northampton, Massachusetts, Andrea Carnegie Chester

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was designed to survey participants of ServiceNet’s Transitional Age Youth (TAY) program to solicit feedback regarding program effectiveness in meeting their needs. Surveys were designed with ServiceNet staff to solicit participant perspectives on the importance of program goals, and satisfaction with program services in meeting those goals. Surveys included quantitative and qualitative questions, and were distributed to all active TAY program participants. Respondents placed the greatest emphasis on TAY program goals regarding living independently and housing. Subjects were somewhat less satisfied with program services geared towards employment services. Overall, subjects were very positive about TAY staff, particularly regarding …

The Ethics Of Dying : An Exploration Of The Right To Suicide And Clinician Response To Self-Determination And Suicidal Ideation Among Adults Who Struggle With Mental Illness, Shelley Bair

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This paper explores the question: What beliefs, values and assumptions do social workers hold when assessing whether or not a person who is a mental health client has the right to suicide? The current literature reveals that individuals struggling with physical disorders deemed extreme and untreatable are likely to be accepted as rational grounds for suicide. Underrepresented in extant research is the critical examination of the desire to die as a rational versus pathological and treatable response to mental health concerns. The study question is examined, in part, through the lens of the Code of Ethics presented by the National …

The Relationship Between Resilience, Coping, And Social Media, Lillian N. Hurley

Masters Theses

This study was designed to explore relationships between measures of resilience, coping strategies, social media usage, and depression. Resilience refers to one's ability to endure and recover from adversity. Many theories about what contributes to the development resilience have been explored without a clear consensus. Taormina (2015) argued that adult personal resilience is comprised of four dimensions - determination, endurance, adapatability, and recuperability. Coping, a construct related to resilience, is the process of regulating emotions, cognition, behavior, physiological responses, and the environment in response to stressful events. Past research indicated those with poorer mental health have the tendency to use …

The Role Of "Because" In Mechanistic And Teleological Explanations In Science, Lillian K.E. Asiala

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In science, mechanistic and teleological explanations differ in their account for why a phenomenon occurs. A mechanistic explanation presents events within the phenomenon’s causal history, while a teleological explanation presents the function or benefit of the phenomenon. These explanation types present two different types of causal coherence relations; a cause- consequence relation for mechanistic explanations, and an enabling relationship for teleological explanations. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the causal connective “because” in inference generation for the relations present in each explanation type. Two first experiments show that readers accept “because” as an appropriate causal …

Sexual Violence On Campus: No Evidence That Studies Are Biased Due To Self-Selection, Marina N. Rosenthal, Jennifer J. Freyd

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Numerous research studies suggest that at least one in five female college students is sexually assaulted while enrolled. However, many studies exploring sexual violence prevalence on campus use methodology permitting students to self-select into the study based on interest in the topic (i.e., students receive an email offering them the opportunity to participate in a study on sexual violence). Self-selection may bias these prevalence estimates of campus sexual violence. To explore this issue, we surveyed two samples of college women on their experiences of sexual assault. We recruited Sample 1 in a typical way: by emailing a randomly selected subset …

Acculturation And Post-Migration Psychological Symptoms Among Iraqi Refugees: A Path Analysis, Joseph W. Lemaster, Carissa L. Broadbridge, Mark A. Lumley, Judith E. Arnetz, Cynthia Arfken, Michael D. Fetters, Hikmet Jamil, Nnamdi Pole, Bengt B. Arnetz

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Refugees frequently experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression, which impede their acculturation in the new host country where they are resettling. There are few longitudinal studies investigating predictors of mental health and acculturation during the early postmigration period. We conducted a longitudinal study of 298 Iraqi refugees, assessing them upon arrival to the U.S. and 1 year after migration. Premigration trauma was associated with increased PTSD and depressive symptoms at baseline, and with decreased acculturation 1 year later. Resilience was associated with depressive symptoms at 1-year follow-up, but not with other resettlement outcomes (PTSD symptoms, English-language skills, or acculturation). …

Marianismo Beliefs, Ethnic Identity Commitment, And Acculturative Stress Among Recent Latina Young Adult Immigrants, Lauren E. Dasen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Because young adult, Latina/o immigrants encompass a rapidly growing minority group in the U.S., there is need for empirical literature focusing on their mental health and the ways in which it relates with identity and culture. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the relations among dimensions of marianismo beliefs and indices of acculturative stress as moderated by ethnic identity commitment among recent Latina young adult immigrants.

Stereotypes And Evaluations Of People Who Are D/Deaf, Mary Wood

UNF Undergraduate Capstone Projects and Honors Theses

D/deaf individuals face discrimination in their daily lives, impacting their access to language, education, and life satisfaction. While there has been research about some of the stereotypes held about those who are D/deaf, the relationship between those stereotypes and prejudice and discrimination has not been explored, to my knowledge. Additionally, how D/deaf individuals are categorized has not been examined, to my knowledge. Understanding whether the hearing majority holds a distinct cognitive schema for those who are D/deaf or consider D/deaf people within a larger group of disabled people will help in creating anti-bias interventions. For example, if hearing people have …

The Unifying And Divisive Effects Of Social Identities: Religious And Ethnopolitical Identities Among Mindanao Muslims In The Philippines, Ma. Elizabeth J. Macapagal, Jose Jowel P. Canuday, Cristina J. Montiel

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

The present study looks into the unifying and divisive effects of ethnopolitical and religious social identities, and an emerging superordinate Bangsamoro identity of Muslims in the southern region of the Philippines. We surveyed 394 Muslims with a mean age of 32.6 and standard deviation of 13.3 from the Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanaoan ethnopolitical affiliations using various measures of social identities. Findings showed that the Muslims in our sample identify themselves more strongly with their religious identity over their ethnopolitical affiliations. Religious identity may thus be a unifying element in the conflict-ridden context of Mindanao, as a significant correlation was also …

Experiences Of Current Or Former Homeschool Students Who Report Adhd Symptoms, Melissa Felkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homeschooling is currently the fastest-growing educational population in the United States with an estimated 2 million students. Because 11% of school children have been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there are likely to be many children with ADHD symptoms in the homeschooling population. The purpose of this study was to extend knowledge of the experiences of homeschooling in this population to assist students with ADHD as well as their parents and educators to make informed educational decisions. The multiple intelligences theory provided the theoretical framework for this phenomenological study. The key research question was focused on how current or …

Second-Grade Teachers' Brain-Based Teaching Strategies For Struggling Readers, Tong Ba Nguyenguyen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the era of this 21st Century, there are numerous known and unknown causes of reading impairments which have destructively affected elementary school students. Some causes are linguistic, and others are nonlinguistic. Lack of research on how previous teaching methods and experiences in implementing brain-based teaching (BBT) strategies became critically important, and were the concerns for this study. Developed by Hart's brain-based learning (BBL) theory together with other BBL theorists such as Jensen and Caine, the purpose of this qualitative study was to observe and explore the implementation of BBT strategies from 4 distinct second-grade participant teachers/subjects, located at the …

Individual Ability To Learn A Parallel Processing Technique And Musical Aptitude., Daniel Warren Emmett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Correlations between music training and psychosocial skills, sensory abilities, and aspects of intelligence, are sorted into primary or secondary effects. Correlations between these areas of human development and music training lack support pertaining to the underlying cognitive networks that these processes rely on. Thus, this study was based on the work of Baddeley and Hitch's model of working memory, and implemented a test of parallel processing (Articulatory Suppression Task, AST), which measures proficiency of working memory systems. Individual differences therein, were compared with music aptitude. Participants were gathered throughout urban and rural regions of the state of Oregon. Half the …

Do The Lifetime Prevalence And Prognosis Of Schizophrenia Differ Among World Regions?, Cheryl Lynn Smith

CMC Senior Theses

Much cross-cultural research has been done on the topic of schizophrenia, but few studies thus far have focused on lifetime prevalence and prognosis together, grouped by world region. Additionally, there has been severe bias in which countries and regions have been studied both historically and currently. Any study that had statistics on lifetime prevalence per 1000 people and/or DALYs, from a specified country or region, was included in this thesis. Results showed that lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia does not differ among WHO regions, but DALYs and thus prognosis do differ. Several major conclusions can be drawn from these results. One …

Child Sexual Abuse: Stigmatization Of Victims And Suggestions For Clinicians, Kate Theimer, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE (CSA) occurs frequently, with one recent review suggesting that approximately 1 in 10 children will experience sexual abuse before age 18 (Townsend&Rheingold, 2013). Victims of CSA are at risk for developing a range of psychological and behavioral problems, including depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts and behavior, substance abuse, high-risk and inappropriate sexual behavior, and other conduct problems (Maniglio, 2009; Tyler, 2002). However, not all children experience these short- and long-term effects and many factors influence the heterogeneity of response to CSA (Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993; Putnam, 2003). Stigma, defined as “a mark of …

Measuring And Understanding Socialemotional Behaviors In Preschoolers From Rural Pakistan, Jenna E. Finch, Aisha K. Yousafzai, Muneera Rasheed, Jelena Obradovic

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely-used to measure symptoms of common childhood behavioral problems that may lead to mental health difficulties. In a sample of 1,302 highly-disadvantaged mothers and their preschoolers, we evaluated the factor structure and reliability of the parent-report version of the SDQ in rural Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the original structure of the SDQ was not appropriate for our data. We created conceptually- and empirically-coherent measures of children’s externalizing behavior problems and prosocial skills. Child and family correlates of social-emotional behaviors were similar to those found in other countries, supporting the validity of …

Religiosity And Ethnic Identity As Predictors Of Identity Orientation Among African American And Caucasian American Women, Helen N. Rolle

Dissertations

Problem

Research on the role of religion and ethnicity in the identity orientation of women has been largely neglected in psychology for many years. While previous identity studies have attempted to examine a range of variables as it relates to the general population, how women specifically experience identity based on their gender has not been included, resulting in gaps in the research literature. The present study is intended to add to the literature by focusing on the contributing factors of religiosity and ethnic identity to identity orientation and compare how they vary among African American and Caucasian American women.

Method …

A Phenomenological, Arts-Based Study Of Art Therapists’ Self-Reflective Practice, Laurie Ponsford-Hill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This phenomenological, arts-based study examined the experiences of 15 art therapists using five-minute, full-bodied self-portraiture with 55 minutes of self-reflective journaling once a week for four weeks at the end of each work week. The therapists determined the location for this practice. Subsequently, the four artworks, as a serial, were explored with each participant in a one-hour telephone or Skype interview to understand their lived experience through art, and its signs, and symbols. This process enabled the therapists to act as witness to their respective self/selves, deepening their insights and connections about self. The transcribed audio-taped interviews were manually coded …

Do Early Community-Based Initiatives Predict Social Anxiety 20 Years Later?, Christina Dimakos

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Social anxiety disorder is characterized by an extreme and persistent fear of embarrassment or scrutiny in social or performance situations. This condition is among the most common mental illnesses and is characterized by an early onset, chronic course, and significant associated health and social service costs. Nevertheless, it remains among the least recognized, researched, and treated mental health conditions. Critically, broader community characteristics have yet to be considered as valuable tools for disrupting the onset and maintenance of social anxiety. The present study examined the long-term impact of a comprehensive, holistic, community-based early childhood development initiative on social anxiety in …

The Use Of A Grammaticality Judgment Task To Assess The Role Of Receptive Vocabulary, Cognitive Inhibition, And Cognitive Flexibility On Syntactic Awareness, Lanette Mae Urbin

Master's Theses

Syntactic awareness, receptive vocabulary, and executive control (i.e., cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility) are robust predictors of language, literacy, and academic success (Bialystok, Craik, Klein, & Viswanathan, 2004; Davidson et al., 2010; Foursha-Stevenson & Nicoladis, 2011). In general, research demonstrates that receptive vocabulary is related to syntactic awareness (Davidson, Vanegas, Hilvert & Misiunaite, 2017; Galambos & Hakuta, 1988). There is also research to suggest that facets of executive control, such as cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility may also be related to syntactic awareness (Bialystok, 1986; Simard, Foucambert, & Labelle, 2013). However, receptive vocabulary, cognitive inhibition, and cognitive flexibility have only …

Recurrence Quantification Models Of Human Conversational Grounding Processes: Informing Natural Language Human-Computer Interaction, Clayton D. Rothwell

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Human-human communication is a coordinated dance (Clark, 1996) that requires each participant to consider the other participants. The majority of this coordination centers on the conversational grounding process that develops and maintains the common ground, or shared understanding between the individuals (Clark and Schaefer, 1989). Conversational grounding is also a crucial process for human-computer interaction using language-based methods, such as spoken dialogue systems. Previous work has tied grounding processes to the performance outcomes in collaborative tasks (Reitter and Moore, 2014; Gergle et al., 2013, 2004; Clark and Krych, 2004), making it a high priority for increasing capabilities of spoken dialogue …

Effects Of Fixed And Malleable Views Of Intelligence And Attribution Of Controllability On Teacher Affects, Gary Beard

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The classroom is a dynamic social setting where teachers respond affectively to student failure. Divergent affective reactions toward learning and achievement occur in teachers with fixed and malleable views of intelligence, which impact students’ self-esteem and expectations for future success. The present study explored teacher and student variables related to emotive classroom expression toward test failures of boys. View of intelligence as fixed or malleable, attribution of controllability (effort & ability) and student condition were measured and examined in relation to the affects frustration, sympathy, positive or negative feedback and expectations for future failure. Attributions of controllability (effort & ability) …

The Modulatory Effect Of Expectations On Memory Retrieval During Sentence Comprehension, Luca Campanelli, Julie A. Van Dyke, Klara Marton

Publications and Research

Memory retrieval and probabilistic expectations are recognized factors in sentence comprehension that capture two different critical aspects of processing difficulty: the cost of retrieving and integrating previously processed elements with the new input words and the cost of incorrect predictions about upcoming words or structures in a sentence. Although these two factors have independently received substantial support from the extant literature, how they interact remains poorly understood. The present study investigated memory retrieval and expectation in a single experiment, pitting these factors against each other. Results showed a significant interference effect in both response time to the comprehension questions and …

Depression And Anxiety In Current Middle Grade Fiction: Finding Quality, Authentic Portrayals For Use In Bibliotherapy, Tonia Sandersfeld-Miller

Graduate Research Papers

Young adults need a safe environment to learn about mental illness, and librarians must ensure that books being recommended authentically and realistically portray mental illness. The purpose of this study is to analyze the authenticity of fiction titles for middle school students that include content related to depression and anxiety to support recommendations to school counselors for bibliotherapy. The research questions this study sought to address included the following: Do the plots and characters of young adult novels written for middle school students realistically and authentically portray mental illness, and what criteria can be used to determine a novel's quality …

All In The Family: The Role Of Sibling Relationships As Surrogate Attachment Figures, Tiffany Lagerstrom

Scripps Senior Theses

While several studies have analyzed the impact of mother-child attachment security on the child’s emotion regulation abilities, few studies have proposed interventions to help children improve emotion regulation abilities in the presence of an insecure mother-child attachment. This current study extends previous findings about the influence of mother-child attachment on the child’s emotion regulation abilities and contributes new research in determining whether an older sibling can moderate this effect. This study predicts that across points of assessments: 18 months, 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years, the quality of mother-child attachment security will influence the child’s performance on an emotion …

Gender Nonconformity And The Stereotype Content Model, Ari M. Rosenblum

Honors Papers

A recent increase in transgender visibility has highlighted gaps in the social psychology literature about attitudes and biases. There is a relatively large body of literature that examines people’s reactions to gender role violation, but little that examines reactions to gendered trait violation. To assess negative attitudes towards transgender and gender nonconforming people, this experiment asked participants to make attitude judgements (warmth and competence) about a series of gender stereotypic and counterstereotypic face-voice pairs. This procedure was based on the paradigm used to construct the Stereotype Content Model, which categorizes stereotypes/prejudice into four categories (paternalistic, contemptuous, envious, admirable). Participants also …

Human Essence: Toward A Relational Reconstruction, Kenneth J. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

This chapter opens with a social constructionist perspective on human essences. As proposed, essences are not given in nature, but constructed within cultural traditions. Thus, the major challenge is not that of “getting it right” about the essence, but generating accounts that may contribute to society. A criterion of reflective pragmatism is proposed in which questions of contribution and critique prevail. In this light the chapter places in critical light the bio-cognitive and neurological explanations of human nature, especially focusing on the ideological and political implications of these orientations. In contrast, discussion opens on relational conceptions of human essence. Several …