Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation On Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Asymmetry, Alexandria Hudeck

Honors Projects

This study examines the effects of a brief 20-minute single-session mindfulness meditation session on electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, as well as the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS). It was hypothesized that mindfulness meditation would significantly decrease negative emotions through an increase of alpha band wavelengths to the right hemisphere and thereby resulting in greater left hemispheric activity. The results from the experiment using 10 Bowling Green State participants demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the mindfulness condition and the comparison condition in any of the dependent variables. Strengths and limitations of this study were discussed.

Exploring The Unique Experiences Of Biological Children In A Foster Family, Alana Marsh

Honors Projects

:The purpose of the following research was to identify the experiences and needs of biological children in a foster family. An online survey was sent to licensed foster families from a private agency. The survey included questions about the experiences, both positive and negative, of biological children before foster youth enter the home, during their stay, and after they exit the home. Analysis of 21 survey answers and thorough review of literature indicated significant lack of available resources for foster parents to utilize when preparing their biological children for this family change. Results also showed that children held damaging misconceptions …

The Enigma Of Sexual Desire, Part 1: A Brief Review Of Classical, Historical, Philosophical, And Literary Perspectives, David L. Rowland

Psychology Faculty Publications

Throughout human history and across cultures, sexual desire has been of interest to the general public and, now more recently, to the medical/psychological community. Part 1 of this two part series examines the historical aspects of the concept of sexual desire throughout its many transformations, beginning with the writings and mythologies of the ancient Greeks and extending through the ages to the present through the writings of philosophers, playwrights, novelists, and historians. We explore the concept of desire as both a tolerated and celebrated construct over the ages, discussing Western sociocultural perspectives regarding its nature and condition. In our view, …

Occupational Stressors And Health Outcomes For Nurses Working In Correctional Or Non-Correctional Settings, Alyssa R. Zabin

University Scholar Projects

Due to the nature of their work, nurses often face unique occupational stressors and health outcomes. It is important to understand the source of this occupational stress and its affect on health, so that improvements can be made. This study sought to examine occupational stress and health outcomes for both correctional and non-correctional nurses across the continental United States. A survey regarding occupational stressors, community characteristics, individual beliefs, and health outcomes was completed by the nurses (N=459). Predictors including demographic factors, work related stressors, community/network factors, individual beliefs, and health conditions were investigated using linear and Poisson regression …

Suffering In Silence: Investigating The Role Of Fear In The Relationship Between Abusive Supervision And Defensive Silence, Christian Kiewitz, Simon Lloyd D. Restubog, Mindy K. Shoss, Patrick Raymund James M. Garcia, Robert L. Tang

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

Drawing from an approach-avoidance perspective, we examine the relationships between subordinates’ perceptions of abusive supervision, fear, defensive silence, and ultimately abusive supervision at a later time point. We also account for the effects of subordinates’ assertiveness and individual perceptions of a climate of fear on these predicted mediated relationships. We test this moderated mediation model with data from three studies involving different sources collected across various measurement periods. Results corroborated our predictions by showing (a) a significant association between abusive supervision and subordinates’ fear, (b) second-stage moderation effects of subordinates’ assertiveness and their individual perceptions of a climate of fear …

Relationships Between Social Media Exposure & Levels Of Body Dissatisfaction, Helen Nguyen, Andrea L. Paiva

Senior Honors Projects

The digital age has resulted in major technological inventions leading to great advances; however there are also clear costs. Television allows identical picture images to be broadcasted into millions of homes, the internet is a gateway to seemingly limitless information, and the cell phone is the ultimate connection device. Each of these communication modalities have spread the thinness ideal that is prevalent in Western societies, with the Internet being ridden with pro-eating disorder websites, cell phones providing handheld excess to peer- comparison, and all mediums presenting images of the thin body as ideal. The prevalence of eating disorders is still …

The Effects Of Stress On False Memory, Claire Van Vranken

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study looks at the impact of stress on the creation of these false memories, using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM). A false memory is a memory of an event that never really occurred, but is believed that it occurred by the person remembering it. In a typical DRM study, participants are given a list of words that fall under the same category. When the participants are later asked to recall the words on the list, 40% of the participants recall a word that was not on the list with a high rate of confidence (Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Stress has …

Efficiency Of The Male Effect With Photostimulated Bucks Does Not Depend On Their Familiarity With Goats, A. L. Muñoz, M. Bedos, R. M. Aroña, J. A. Flores, H. Hernández, C. Moussu, Elodie F. Briefer, P. Chemineau, M. Keller, J. A. Delgadillo

Reproductive Behavior Collection

In ewes, the ovulatory response of females exposed to familiar rams is lower than the response of those exposed to novel ones. In goats, males rendered sexually active by exposure to long days are more efficient to induce ovulation in seasonal anestrous females than untreated males. Two experiments were conducted to determine 1) whether male goats remain familiar to females after 45 days of separation; and 2) whether photostimulated males are able to stimulate the sexual activity of females, independently of their familiarity with them. In Experiment 1, three groups of goats (n = 10 goats per group) were put …

Are Domestic Pigs (Sus Scrofa Domestica) Able To Use Complex Human-Given Cues To Find A Hidden Reward?, Christian Nawroth, Mirjam Ebersbach, Eberhard Von Borell

Social Cognition Collection

Understanding human-animal interactions in livestock production systems is crucial for improving animal welfare. It is therefore of general interest to investigate how livestock animals obtain information from humans. By using an object-choice paradigm, we investigated whether domestic pigs (n = 4) are able to use a variety of human-given cues, such as different pointing gestures, to find a hidden food reward. In Experiment 1, an experimenter pointed towards a baited location in front of the pig while the extent of the protrusion of his hand from the upper body was varied. Pigs had problems using pointing gestures that did not …

The Effect Of Descriptive Norms On Resistance Exercise Self-Efficacy In College-Aged Females 2016, Justin Kompf

Master's Theses

Resistance training is a form of physical activity that provides substantial health benefits. Despite these widespread benefits, participation in resistance training is considerably low, particularly among females. To engage in a skill-related activity such as resistance training, individuals need to have confidence in their abilities. Self-efficacy is a cognitive construct that is used to describe situation-specific self-confidence. Descriptive norms are a type of social norm that describes the behavior of others. Descriptive norms have been useful in positively changing health related behaviors. The exact mechanism of how descriptive norms alter behavior is unknown. However, it has been show in research …

College Intimate Relationships And Parents’ Marital Status, Jessica Baynes

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study looks specifically at college students’ intimate relationships and if there are correlations regarding their parents’ marital status and/or perceived happiness of their parents’ marriage and the participants’ intimate relationships. The findings reported in the literature are mixed as to whether parents’ marital status is an indicator for their offspring’s intimate relationships. I strictly focused on the participants views on their relationships with their parents (if it is negative or positive), if the participants’ parents are perceived to be happy in their relationships, and if they feel successful about their intimate relationships. Originally, I felt there was a discrepancy …

The Relationship Between Punctuality, Optimism, And Time Perception, Madison Vander Wielen

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study looked at both the relationship between a persons’ punctuality and their perception of time passing and the correlation between a persons’ punctuality and their optimism level. Punctuality was measured in two different ways: when the participant arrived to the scheduled study slot and then again when they took a punctuality survey. I measured the participants’ perception of time by having them estimate when two minutes had passed while completing a Sudoku puzzle. The point of time when they thought 2 min had passed was compared to the actual amount of time that passed. The puzzle assured that the …

Contingency Management Works, Clients Like It, And It Is Cost-Effective., Kimberly C. Kirby, Lois A Benishek, Mary B Tabit

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

No abstract provided.

The History Of The Disease Concept Of Substance Dependency, Brooke A. Lewis

All NMU Master's Theses

The nomenclature used to signify substance dependence has evolved throughout history. Previously, substance dependence was referred to as specific forms of mania, as addiction, and as a habit. The origins of the disease concept of substance dependence have been disputed. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) and Thomas Trotter (1760-1832) have been credited as being the founders of the movement to acknowledge substance dependence as a disease. Through efforts of scientists of the 19th and 20th centuries, the concept of substance dependence as a disease has become widely accepted by professionals, the medical community, and the government. Significant contributors to this concept include …

The Effects Of Antipsychotic Treatment Upon Nicotine Associative Reward In A Neonatal Quinpirole Model Of Schizophrenia, Adam Ray Denton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Research has revealed that schizophrenics are significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes than the general population, and consume nicotine products at a much more prevalent rate. Further exacerbating this issue, it has been previously demonstrated in clinical populations that the type of antipsychotic treatment administered (typical versus atypical) may result in either an increase or a decrease of already heightened smoking behavior within the schizophrenic population. With these clinical issues in mind, the present study sought to examine the effects of antipsychotic treatment upon the associative reward of nicotine within the neonatal quinpirole model of schizophrenia. We found that treatment …

The Relationship Between The Buss-Perry Aggression Scale And Evoked Heart Rate While Attending Aggression And Friendly Dyadic Interactions, Sarhand Awla Hasan

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The relationship between an individual's propensity of displaying aggressive behavior, as assessed via the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and physiological responses (evoked heart rate (HR)) while viewing 5-sec video clips of aggressive and friendly dyadic interactions was examined. No significant differences between aggressive and friendly groups' Evoked HR were found. However, there were significant individual differences in aggression identified within the aggressive and friendly video groups. Individuals who scored low on Buss-Perry Verbal Aggression subscale displayed HR deceleration, whereas individuals who scored high on Buss-Perry Verbal Aggression subscale displayed HR acceleration when viewing verbal but not physically aggressive video clips. This …

The Relationship Of Reflective Functioning To Parent Child Interactions In A Sample Of Fathers With Concurrent Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration And Substance Abuse Problems, Carla Smith Stover, Erica Elizabeth Coates

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

This study is the first to examine reflective functioning (RF) and direct parent-child interactions of fathers with concurrent intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and substance abuse (SA) problems. Twenty-four fathers, with children between the age of one and seven, completed a structured interview to assess RF, self-report measures of hostile-aggressive parenting behaviors, IPV perpetration severity, SA severity, and a coded play session with their children. Results of three simultaneous multiple regressions revealed that RF in fathers was not associated significantly with observed parenting behaviors. However, fathers' SA severity emerged as a significant predictor for child avoidant behavior and dyadic tension, …

An Analysis Of The Factors Influencing Bored And Emotional Eating: Should Bored Eating Exist As A Separate Construct?, Erin Elizabeth Stuck

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Emotional eating pertains to eating in response to negative emotional experiences, and can occur for a variety of reasons. Individuals may emotionally eat as a means of submerging themselves into positive reinforcing states, as a way of coping, or as a distraction from their negative emotional experience (Cialdini, 1973; Kemp, Bui, & Grier, 2013; and Spoor et al., 2006). Historically, emotional eating has included boredom. Recent research has suggested that bored eating may be a separate construct from emotional eating (Koball et al., 2012). Thus, the present study investigated the variables associated with both emotional eating and bored eating with …

Disruptive Behavior Disorders In Childhood And Criminal Justice System Involvement In Adolescence And Emerging Adulthood: Pilot Results Among Puerto Rican Youth, Marjorine Castillo

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD) in childhood and arrest during adolescence and emerging adulthood was explored in a community sample of 162 Puerto Rican children who lived in the South Bronx, NYC when first recruited. Results indicate a significant link between having DBD in childhood and later arrest.

Socializing To Recover From Work Stress: The Benefits Of Acting Extraverted, Robert Harste

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of socializing, or activities that are characterized by social interaction, on recovery from work stress. Drawing from consistent findings in personality research, we hypothesized that individuals who measure high in extraversion receive the greatest recovery benefits from socializing, and that this relationship is mediated by state positive affect. An online assessment was administered to 238 participants to measure trait extraversion, trait and state affect, and factors related to their social activities across two recent time periods. Hypotheses were tested using correlational and regression-based techniques. The findings provide support for a …

Child Maltreatment’S Heavy Toll: The Need For Trauma-Informed Obesity Prevention, Susan M. Mason, S. Bryn Austin, Jennifer L. Bakalar, Renee Boynton-Jarrett, Alison E. Field, Holly C. Gooding, Laura M. Holsen, Benita Jackson, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Mar Sanchez, Stephanie Sogg, Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, Janet W. Rich-Edwards

Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper is the product of a workshop on the topic of child maltreatment and obesity at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard that brought together the listed authors, who are experts across a number of relevant fields.

Emerging research has highlighted childhood maltreatment and other psychological traumas as risk factors for obesity and related comorbidities.1–3 Although the high rate of obesity in the U.S. affects the entire population, those with histories of maltreatment—making up at least 30% of the population4,5—appear to be at greater risk. Unfortunately, childhood maltreatment is often overlooked as a risk factor for adult …

Bleeding Keaney Blue: An Analysis Of Sports Fandom And The Supporters Of Uri Basketball, Lia M. Moceri

Senior Honors Projects

In the United States, sports are so prevalent on the national, state, and local level that researchers assert they have become a major component of everyday life. In fact, millions of Americans consider themselves sports fans. Studying sports fandom offers an interesting insight into the human condition.

This paper begins by looking at sports fans on a psychological level by examining socialization, the process of becoming a sports fan. It also examines the reasons people become fans and the degree to which people identify as a fan. An important psychological aspect when studying sports fans is identity and how a …

Measures Of Handedness, Kyle Michael Dodd

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Previous handedness research focused on comparing left-handers (LH) and right-handers (RH). Recently, researchers have compared consistent-handed and inconsistent-handed people, as defined by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI). Consistent-handers (CH) typically use their dominant hand for nearly all manual activities whereas inconsistent-handers (IH) do not necessarily have a dominant hand or have no preference in hand use across several daily, manual activities. Degree of handedness is consistently found as the more robust variable in handedness research. Additionally, relying solely on self-reports to identify and categorize handedness instead of longer assessments of handedness, may not able a researcher to capture the subtle …

The Effect Of Charisma, Voice Pitch, And Information Richness On Leadership Perception And Follower Performance, Hillman Wirawan

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study aimed to investigate the effect of charisma, voice pitch, and information richness on followers’ perceptions of leadership and task performance. A number of previous studies consistently found significant effects of charisma on performance. Similarly, some studies found the effect of lower voice pitch on leadership perception and effectiveness. In addition, the growth of information technology has changed the way leaders influence followers, making this variable an interesting one to examine. This study employed 2 (charisma vs. non-charisma) x 2 (low vs. high voice pitch) x 2 (strong vs. weak information delivery) experimental design. The participants were undergrad students …

Homophobia In Non-Heterosexuals And Their Families, Merel Hermans

Psychology

Homophobia is described as the negative attitudes towards non-heterosexual individuals. The evolutionary advantage of homophobia and of sexualities other than heterosexuality remain poorly understood within evolutionary psychology. This research extends Gallup’s 1995 research, in which people were found to respond more negatively towards same-sex pairs (i.e. imagining their daughter spending time with a lesbian mother, and a son spending time with a gay father), than opposite-sex pairs.Gallup’s original study did not include lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, however given the increasing acceptance of these groups it is now appropriate to expand this research to include these groups. One …

Audio-Visual Integration Is Strongest For Spatially Congruent Stimuli, Alyssa Prawl

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Young adult alcohol use is a prevalent and significant public health concern, influenced by a complex interplay of genetic, personality, and social factors. Greater descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions of peer drinking behavior) and injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of peer drinking acceptability) have been associated with increased young adult drinking. Further emerging research suggest that the association between peer norms and alcohol outcomes may be exacerbated by carrying a 7-repeat allele of the DRD4 VNTR. Presence of a 7-repeat allele has also been associated with greater impulsivity (i.e., novelty-seeking and sensation seeking), but it remains unknown whether such heightened impulsivity explains …

Daily Bidirectional Relationships Between Sleep And Mental Health Symptoms In Youth With Emotional And Behavioral Problems, Tori R. Van Dyk, Ronald W. Thompson, Timothy D. Nelson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective The present study examined the daily, bidirectional relationships between sleep and mental health symptoms in youth presenting to mental health treatment. Methods Youth aged 6 to 11 (36% female, 44% European American) presenting to outpatient behavioral health treatment (N = 25) were recruited to participate in the study. Children and parents completed daily questionnaires regarding the child’s sleep, mood, and behavior for a 14-day period, while youth wore an actigraph watch to objectively measure sleep. Results Examining between- and within-person variance using multilevel models, results indicate that youth had poor sleep duration and quality and that sleep and mental …

Parenting Practices And Young Adults’ Emotional Distress: The Moderating Roles Of Family Structure And Race, Nathan Alexander Winner

Master's Theses

Authoritarian parenting practices are more common among African American families, and appear to include fewer disadvantages in regards to child outcomes compared to White/non-Hispanic families who use these same practices. Little is known about why these racial differences occur, although family structure may play a role. The present study sought to understand the role of family structure and race in moderating the effects of parenting practices on college student mental health outcomes. College students reported on the parenting practices of their caregivers, as well as their race, family structure, characteristics of their familial environment, and socioeconomic status. Levels of depression, …

The Effects Of Life History On Expedited Shipping, Adam Jess Armijo

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This is a thesis studying individual differences in making a selection to expedite shipping. Specifically, the following experiment tested how individuals would make the decision to pay money to expedite shipping based on a few psychological characteristics theoretically linked to how individuals perceive and value time. In the following thesis, life history theory, the monetary-choice questionnaire assessing delay discounting, and gender were used to predict differences in the maximum amount an individual will spend to expedite shipping (as a proportion of total product cost). This was conducted by collecting data from an online population to more closely simulate online purchasing. …

Harmful Inspiration: The Consequences Of Viewing Thinspiration And Fitspiration Images, Lanaya Anderson

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

In addition to the treatment of individuals with existing eating disorders, research and social efforts have been made recently to prevent the development of eating disorders. Preventative efforts have included: a) expanding research concerning the etiology of eating disorders, b) increasing awareness of the consequences of eating disorders, and c) shutting down pro-eating disorder websites. One aspect of pro-eating disorder websites, thinspiration, has emerged on social media websites. Studies concerning the effects of viewing thinspiration have shown that individuals who view thinspiration are more likely to accept unhealthy beauty standards, show increased self objectification and sexualization, exhibit increased distortion of …