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Receiver Operating Characteristic (Roc) Curve Analysis Of Affinity Profiles, Benjamin C. Caswell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tests the relative efficiency of Fischer's approach of Chi-square on Affinity viewing time profiles to the more commonly used deviance differential approach. Through his use of a Chi-square approach, Fischer has attempted to make a norm-referenced, comparison of ipsative scores generated using Affinity. His goal has been to create an ethically acceptable approach to identifying sexual interest without losing the efficiency generated through the use of the commonly used deviance differential. A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve is used to generate the efficiency of each approach and provide results for comparison. These results lead to a discussion of …

Spanish-Speaking Parents' Perceptions Of School-Based Crisis Response., Brenda Dean

Theses and Dissertations

American schools are becoming increasingly diverse. With the increasing diversity in school enrollment, professionals are faced with the challenge of providing culturally sensitive services in all areas, including crisis intervention planning. Additionally, language differences also affect help-seeking behaviors and may serve as a strong barrier to effective service delivery. Taking into account individual school and district demographics, schools must consider strategies to best meet the needs of students and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. As a starting point, this thesis provides an overview of the literature on school crisis response. Current demographics in U.S. public schools, the perceptions …

Confronting Bullying: Searching For Strategies In Children's Literature, Emily Ellen Moulton

Theses and Dissertations

Literature is a great resource for teaching valuable principles to children, including how to cope with bullying. However, no analyses exist regarding the appropriateness of these books. Children's books were identified as potential stories for bibliotherapy with elementary school children who face bullying. Information presented in selected books was compared to the current research literature on bullying. Each book's content was analyzed according to important variables, including the type of bullying behavior, gender of the perpetrator and target, presence of bystanders, adult involvement, and resolution of the problem. Verbal bullying was most commonly observed, followed closely by physical bullying. The …

How Does One Become Spiritual? The Spiritual Modeling Inventory Of Life Environments (Smile), Doug Oman, Carl E. Thoresen, Crystal L. Park, Philip R. Shaver, Ralph W. Hood, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

We report psychometric properties, correlates and underlying theory of the Spiritual Modeling Index of Life Environments (SMILE), a measure of perceptions of spiritual models, defined as everyday and prominent people who have functioned for respondents as exemplars of spiritual qualities, such as compassion, self-control, or faith. Demographic, spiritual, and personality correlates were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of college students from California, Connecticut, and Tennessee (N=1010). A summary measure of model influence was constructed from perceived models within family, school, religious organization, and among prominent individuals from both tradition and media. The SMILE, based on concepts from Bandura's (1986) …

Juveniles’ Knowledge Of The Court Process: Results From Instruction From An Electronic Source, Christine Driver, Eve M. Brank

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Our study first determined what juveniles know about the juvenile court process. Second, it evaluated a DVD designed to be a systematic and simple way to improve this knowledge. A pre- and post-test design was used with two pilot samples and two samples from the population of interest. A sample from a juvenile detention center (n = 118) was the focus of this study. Initial knowledge of the court process was quite low for the detention sample (pretest M = 64.0%, SD = 14.2%). All samples experienced a significant improvement of knowledge after watching the DVD. Youth in the …

Relationship Predictors Of Unwanted Pursuit, Farrahdya Tassy

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study investigated relationship variables related to unwanted pursuit post dissolution of a romantic relationship. Online surveys were administered to 277 undergraduate and graduate students from a large southeastern university. Participants completed questionnaires that assessed levels of idealization, satisfaction, perceptions of alternatives to the relationship, investment size, commitment, and unwanted pursuit. These variables are often essential in romantic involvements, and contribute greatly to the continuation of a relationship. Additional measures of attachment, self-esteem, neuroticism, and jealousy were included to control for their potential effect on pursuit. The sample consisted of individuals who engaged in the pursuit of a former …

Biological Correlates Of Same Sex Erotic Fantasy And Date Of Birth: An Empirical Study Of 2d:4d Ratios, Rachel Lloyd

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Based on extensive psychological and embryological research, neurohormonal theory proposes that males and females develop in sexually dimorphic patterns, in large part, because of differential androgen exposure during prenatal development (Kimmel & Weiner, 1995). Likewise, the theory suggests that variations in sexual orientation are also related to differential androgen exposure in prenatal life (Robinson & Manning, 2000). This study examined the ratio of the length of the second finger (2'1 digit) relative to the fourth finger (4th digit), also referred to as 2D:4D, and its relationship to same-sex erotic fantasy. These ratios are sexually dimorphic and are a presumed correlate …

An Evolutionary Perspective On Humor: Sexual Selection Or Interest Indication?, Norman P. Li, Vladas Griskevicius, Kristina M. Durante, Peter K. Jonason, Derek J. Pasisz, Katherine Aumer

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Are people who are funny more attractive? Or does being attractive lead people to be seen as funnier? The answer may depend on the underlying evolutionary function of humor. While humor has been proposed to signal “good genes”, the authors propose that humor also functions to indicate interest in social relationships—in initiating new relationships and in monitoring existing ones. Consistent with this interest indicator model, across three studies both sexes were more likely to initiate humor and to respond more positively and consider the other person to be funny when initially attracted to that person. The findings support that humor …

Infant Facial Discrimination And Perceptual Narrowing, Joseph Edward Fair

Theses and Dissertations

During the early stages of infant development the capacity for perceptual (i.e., visual) discrimination is shaped by infants' perceptual experience. Perceptual narrowing is one process hypothesized to account for developmental change. Perceptual narrowing research often demonstrates that infants before 6 months of age are able to discriminate a wide variety of events whereas infants beyond 6 months of age seemingly "lose" some perceptual abilities. Two investigations are proposed to examine the claim that younger, but not older infants can discriminate faces across species. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to determine whether an increase in familiarization and trial times would …

Assimilative Demands: The Psychological Impact Of Legal Decisions On Lesbians’ Lives, Melissa J. Grey

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Covering, a construct that has been absent from the empirical psychological literature, is the pressure to or act of downplaying characteristics associated with a stigmatized identity (Goffman, 1963). This research investigated the covering demand in lesbian-identified women drawing on four related literatures: acculturation, discrimination, stigma, and self-concealment. The objectives of this research were to examine the impact of structural, legal covering demands on psychological domains and develop a grounded understanding of these demands in lesbian women. A mixed-method approach was utilized. Forty-six lesbian-identified women recruited from community venues participated in the quasi-experiment and focus groups, and five also engaged in …

Operationalizing The Antecedents Of Work-Family Positive Spillover: A Longitudinal Study, Kristi Lynn Zimmerman

Dissertations and Theses

The primary goal of the current study was to examine the antecedents of work-to-family and family-to-work positive spillover. This dissertation examined the relationship between work, family, and personal domain resources with the outcomes of work-to-family and family-to-work positive spillover. Specifically, five types of resources were tested as predictors of positive spillover as proposed by Greenhaus and Powell's (2006) theory of work-family enrichment. To test these relationships, constructs from the work and family domains were used to operationalize each of the proposed resources, and a longitudinal research design was applied in order to establish these resources as predictors of positive spillover. …

Cultural Responsiveness In The Special Education/Esl Department: Faculty Perceptions At Brigham Young University, Temma Jo Devereaux

Theses and Dissertations

Faculty members from Brigham Young University's special education/ESL program participated in professional development centered on increasing multicultural competence. The primary investigator interviewed faculty members regarding their perceptions of professional development. After conducting the interviews, faculty members' feedback was coded to determine whether or not the professional development aided them in infusing more culturally sensitive practices into the curriculum and created a more sensitive learning environment for students from diverse backgrounds. Researchers also coded the faculty members' feedback to determine if faculty members felt they have changed at an individual/personal level in terms of how they view their own cultural background …

The Role Of Ideal Affect In The Experience And Memory Of Emotions, Christie N. Scollon, Amanda H. Howard, Amanda E. Caldwell, Sachiyo Ito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

According to Affect Valuation Theory (Tsai et al. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1031-1039), culture influences how people want to feel (ideal affect). Integrating Affect Valuation Theory with the Time-sequential Framework of Subjective Well-being (KIM-Prieto et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6, 261-300), we proposed that cultural norms influence the memory, but not the experience, of emotion. The present study examined the role of ideal affect in relation to experience sampling and retrospective reports of emotion. Ideal affect correlated with retrospective reports but not experience sampling reports. Extraversion and neuroticism were more strongly related to experience sampling reports …

Neural Correlates Of Self-Reflection In Fmri: Brain Activation Differences Between Males And Females, Tyler Eugene Owens

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies in affective neuroimaging have addressed the question of how the "self" is represented in brain activation. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is implicated in many of these studies and an essential component self-representation in the brain. In this study we looked at differences between men and women in the mPFC in terms of how they assessed comparisons of the body image. Participants viewed images of thin and overweight bodies and were asked to consider how they would feel if someone were to compare them to the image. Brain activations were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results …

Eyewitness Recall Of Noncriminal Events: An Examination Of Demographic Characteristics With A Selected Population., Jessica R. Vaneaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine differences of recalled events from a selected university student population. Eyewitness testimony is frequently used to convict defendants each year. Many of these convictions are based solely on eyewitness accounts. While much has been written on the reliability of eyewitness testimony, little is known about demographic characteristic differences that may exist. A videotaped event was shown to a sample of college students who were then asked to complete a questionnaire based on what they watched. There were significant differences found in the respondents‟ accuracy in recalling events of the video according to …

Understanding Death Anxiety In Women With Gynecologic Cancer, Hana Kim

Theses and Dissertations

For most of us, thoughts about our own mortality are largely unconscious, an invisible backdrop to our daily living. However, when forced to face a potentially life threatening event, these otherwise underlying thoughts about human transience rise to consciousness. Given the seemingly inherent link between receiving a cancer diagnosis and developing an increased awareness of one’s own mortality, the present study sought to address the following research question, “What are the experiences and processes by which women with gynecologic cancer construct meaning and manage death anxiety in the face of their cancer diagnosis?” Based on an interpretive grounded theory paradigm, …

Gender Differences In Levels Of Suggestibility, Tara Godino

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined differences in levels of suggestibility with regard to gender and three personality characteristics (self-esteem, self-monitoring, and social desirability) and how these differences apply to matters of eyewitness testimony. A total of 70 undergraduates (37 male, 33 female) completed a memory task followed by three personality inventories (the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Self-Monitoring Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale) and then a questionnaire relating to the memory task. The dependent variable was number wrong for factual vs. leading questions. More leading questions were answered incorrectly than factual which was a significant difference. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed …

Attentional Biases And Ptsd Symptomology In Victims Of Sexual Assault And Motor Vehicle Accidents, Orin R. Redmond

Theses and Dissertations

While the field of change detection and attentional biases has become an increasingly popular area of study and much is already known about Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), very little research has been done integrating these two areas. In the present study, we chose to investigate two types of traumatic experiences prevalent in the college population, motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and sexual assaults. The flicker paradigm, used to measure change detection, was utilized to examine hypersensitivity to environments with threatening stimuli in individuals whom experienced either of these traumas. The paradigm monitored reaction times to identifying changes that took place in …

The Relationship Between Hmong American Students And The Model Minority Stereotype, Mai Youa Moua

Psychology Honors Projects

Research on Hmong Americans is limited even in relation to the most prevalent and excessively studied stereotype affecting Asian Americans: the model minority stereotype. The present studies investigated the relationship between the stereotype and students of Hmong descent. Data from 94 students in the first study indicated that belief in and endorsement of the stereotype is related to psychological well-being and achievement motivation. In Study 2, 98 students completed a 2 (prime) x 2 (fit) experimental study. Study 2 concluded that fit (whether or not a person fits the description of a “model minority”) influenced state self-esteem and state shame. …

Are We Expecting Too Much From Ourselves?, Irina Dolgikh

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The study investigated whether there was a time difference between what society expected people to experience at a certain age and the age at which people actually engaged in those behaviors. The sample consisted of 13 men and 46 women with the age range from 18 to 54 years. On-line questionnaires were used to obtain all data. The findings showed that social expectations did not match with actual behaviors for women. Although interestingly, no significant difference between these two concepts was found for men.

The Dangers Of Facebook, Daniel Chionuma

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Social networking sites have been around for a long time but just recently, within the decade, they have been experiencing exponential growth. Facebook is the media’s leading social networking site and it is dominant among today’s youth. In the present study, 91 participants were asked a variety of questions in order to assess the kind of impact Facebook had on an individual’s GPA. Facebook usage and GPA was shown to have no correlation, rs=.035. The findings were due to lack of control throughout the experiment and an insufficient amount of participants.

The Effects Of Priming On Self-Esteem With An Emphasis On Extroversion, Jamie A. Zagar, Danielle C. Merli

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This experiment looked at priming on self-esteem. We were also interested in the differences between extroverts and introverts in relation to priming on self-esteem. A priming message with a graphic was used on the experimental group, while only the graphic (same image) was used for the control group. We measured extroversion between the two groups to look for differences within and between the group conditions, in relation to self-esteem. Participants in the experimental group were expected to have a higher self-esteem. A significant difference was found. The priming condition showed that participants had a higher self-esteem. However, a relationship between …

Spring 2009. Full Issue

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Goal Orientation And Gender Roles, Amanda Michelle Hutchins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study was designed to examine the relationship between a person’s goal orientation and the gender roles that they adopt. The relationship between gender and goal orientation has been studied for years, but the results have been inconclusive. Some studies find a gender difference and some studies do not. For this reason, this study examined if there was another factor that was influencing goal orientations that was related to gender.

Goal orientations are perceptual-cognitive frameworks for how individuals approach, interpret, and respond to achievement situations. Gender roles are the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that are considered acceptable and appropriate for …

The Impact Of Westernization On Tongan Cultural Values Related To Business, Lucas Nelson Ross

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the impact of Westernization on Tongan cultural values (Collectivism I, Collectivism II, Power Distance, Future Orientation, and Uncertainty Avoidance) related to business. A Tongan version of the Project GLOBE Beta Questionnaire measuring cultural dimensions at the societal level was completed by 222 Tongans from the island groups of Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Niuatoputapu. One-way ANOVA and planned comparison results indicated significant differences for Collectivism II and Uncertainty Avoidance. Scores from Vava’u showed significantly less Collectivism II than Ha’apai, but not Niuatoputapu. Furthermore, scores from Vava’u showed significantly less Uncertainty Avoidance than Ha’apai and Niuatoputapu. No significant differences were …

The Role Of Gender Identity On The Effects Of Stereotype Threat: An Examination Of Girls’ Math Performance In A Single-Sex Classroom, Erin E. Twamley

Psychology Honors Projects

Despite all of the advancements women have made in the field of mathematics, the negative stereotype regarding women’s mathematical competence persists. Stereotype threat research demonstrates that the negative stereotype contributes to significant gender differences in attitudes, academic achievement, and educational and career attainment in math. The current longitudinal study focused on stereotype threat as an explanation for how a negative gender stereotype influences the mathematical performance of middle school girls in math in a single-sex setting. In particular, the study examines how the girls’ gender identification moderates the effects of stereotype threat. The results of the study indicate that stereotype …

How Do You Compare? The Correlations Of Social Desirability And Self-Esteem As Well As Social Desirability And Self-Consciousness, Kristy Johnson, Kristy Myers

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

In the present study, 81 participants were asked to self-report their levels of self-esteem and self-consciousness using Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale and Fenigstein’s Self-Consciousness Scale, respectively, as well as report their current semester GPA in order to study the correlations between these variables and the variable of GPA inflation. There was no significance found for the correlations between the level of GPA inflation and experimental condition, between GPA inflation and self-esteem, or between GPA inflation and self-consciousness for the 35 participants with obtainable GPA’s. However, the present researchers did find significance in the correlation between inflated GPA and self-consciousness for the …

Peer Perceptions Of Self-Injurious Behavior, Fantom Shakeria Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Students of a south central university provide data for this study investigating knowledge of self-injury (SI), experiences with those who self-injure, and perceptions of SI. This study proposes that college peers of those who self-injure have higher levels of SI knowledge than professionals who work with individuals who self-injure. In addition, the study proposes that individuals who have experience with others who self-injure have higher levels of SI knowledge than individuals who do not have experience with others who self-injure. An additional purpose of this study is to explore information regarding experiences people have with others who self-injure and their …

The Interpersonal Lives Of Young Adult Women: A Study Of Passionate Friendship, Jenna Ann Glover

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was designed to further understand passionate friendships in a sample of heterosexual and lesbian, bisexual, and questioning (LBQ) women. Previous research has established that LBQ women engage in same-sex passionate friendships (unusually intense friendships that are similar to romantic relationships but devoid of sexual intimacy), but no systematic classification system has been established to identify these relationships in a general sample of women. A new quantitative measure, the Passionate Friendship Survey, was developed to measure passionate friendship experiences in women across adolescence and young adulthood. Qualitative interviews were also conducted to understand the subjective experience of passionate friendships …

The Relationship Between Education About Dress Practices And Change In Perception Of Self-Concept Related To Dress, Jennifer L. Nielson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The influence of an individual's dress practices on his/her sense of self has been studied for many years. Courses such as the Dress and Humanity course at Utah State University have been developed to educate students on the impact of dress on society. In this study, students in the Dress and Humanity course were given a pre-course and post-course survey to determine if self-perceptions related to dress practices underwent a change over the duration of the semester. Significant differences were found in the categories of body image, evaluating self-esteem, and communication of self to others. A relationship was found between …