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Brief History Of Transpersonal Psychology, Stanislav Grof

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The International Transpersonal Association (ITA) was formed in 1978 for the purposes

of promoting education and research in transpersonal subjects, as well as sponsoring

global conferences for the international transpersonal community. The association was

subsequently dissolved in 2004, but is now in the process of being reactivated and revitalized.

As background for this development, this paper reviews the history of ITA including its

international conferences and noteworthy presenters, the organization’s definition, strategies,

and specific goals, and details of its contemporary revival.

A Peircean Panentheist Scientific Mysticism, Søren Brier

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Peirce’s philosophy can be interpreted as an integration of mysticism and science. In Peirce’s

philosophy mind is feeling on the inside and on the outside, spontaneity, chance and chaos

with a tendency to take habits. Peirce’s philosophy has an emptiness beyond the three worlds

of reality (his Categories), which is the source from where the categories spring. He emphasizes

that God cannot be conscious in the way humans are, because there is no content in

his “mind.” Since there is a transcendental3 nothingness behind and before the categories,

it seems that Peirce had a mystical view on reality with a …

Food For Thought: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Binge Eating And Psychological Variables In A Diverse College-Student Population, Valentina Ivezaj

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Binge eating is associated with a host of adverse outcomes, but little is known about sex and racial differences among those who binge eat. The present study examined sex and racial group differences in binge eating within a college-student population. It was hypothesized that White women would endorse higher rates of binge eating than the other groups, and that predictors of binge eating would differ across groups. Participants completed a web-based survey assessing depression, anxiety, body image, weight history, physical activity, smoking, and body mass index. Findings highlight sex and racial differences in the predictors of binge eating, with depression …

The Relationship Between Early Life Stress And Microstructural Integrity Of The Corpus Callosum In A Non-Clinical Population, Robert H. Paul, Lorrie Henry, Stuart M. Grieve, Thomas J. Guilmette

Psychology Faculty Works

Background: Previous studies have examined the impact of early life stress (ELS) on the gross morphometry of brain regions, including the corpus callosum. However, studies have not examined the relationship between ELS and the microstructural integrity of the brain. Previous studies have examined the impact of early life stress (ELS) on the gross morphometry of brain regions, including the corpus callosum. However, studies have not examined the relationship between ELS and the microstructural integrity of the brain. Methods: In the present study we evaluated this relationship in healthy non-clinical participants using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and self-reported history of ELS. …

Mexican Personality Types Inventory: Validity And Differences Among Groups, Luz Maria Cruz-Martinez, Rozzana Sanchez-Aragon

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

No abstract provided.

Espousing Interactions And Fielding Reactions: Addressing Laypeople's Beliefs About Genetic Determinism, David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Although biologists and philosophers of science generally agree that genes cannot determine the forms of biological and psychological traits, students, journalists, politicians, and other members of the general public nonetheless continue to embrace genetic determinism. This article identifies some of the concerns typically raised by individuals when they first encounter the systems perspective that biologists and philosophers of science now favor over genetic determinism, and uses arguments informed by that perspective to address those concerns. No definitive statements can yet be made about why genetic determinism has proven so resilient in the face of empirical evidence pointing up its deficiencies, …

Religiosity And Successful Aging, Jessica L. York

ETD Archive

There has been an increasing amount of elderly individuals who have avoided the crippling health and physical problems that appear to vex so much of the older adult population. These successful agers have also learned to cope more effectively with both the normative and traumatic stressors they encounter over time. Successful aging has been defined in numerous ways and studied in a variety of contexts. This study set to define successful aging in terms of anxiety, depression, and subjective well-being, while also examining the relationship of successful aging with religiosity. The fundamental goal of this study was to examine the …

The Influence Of Humor On Approach And Avoidance Motivation, Stuart Jenkins Daman

ETD Archive

Approach and avoidance motivation have been used to study many phenomena, but no research has yet investigated the influence of humor on approach and avoidance motivation. The feelings associated with humor are also associated with situations high in safety and low in threat. These sorts of situations are likely to result in decreases in avoidance motivation. Participants viewed either a humorous video clip or a mundane video clip and then completed a series of self-report measures to assess levels of approach and avoidance motivation. Contrary to expectations, composites of measures of approach and avoidance motivation were not influenced by the …

Employing Strategy In Measures Of Executive Functioning, Amanda A. Yocum

ETD Archive

Although various dementia-related executive deficits have been identified, the functional state of the frontal lobe during healthy aging remains unclear (Raz et al., 2005). The proposed study examines the use of strategy in measures of executive functioning in younger and older adults. Specifically, the strategy types of a nonverbal fluency task are shown to differentially correlate with the actual output generated by participants. The strategies employed here are compared between the two age groups, illustrating that older adults use the best strategy significantly less than younger adults, even when controlling for output differences, which may support the frontal lobe hypothesis …

Minority Student Perceptions Of The Veterinary Profession: Factors Influencing Choices Of Health Careers, Evan M. Morse

ETD Archive

The lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the profession of veterinary medicine is widely recognized. Despite this recognition, minority representation in veterinary colleges remains very low. No demographic data shows exactly how many minority veterinarians exist however, Elmore (2003) extrapolated numbers from recent graduates and suggested that about 91 of all veterinarians in the United States were white, 5 were Hispanic, 2 were African American, 1 were Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1 were American Indian/Alaskan Native. For minority groups, these percentages are significantly lower than the racial distribution in the population of the United States. Limited progress has …

Relationship Between Believed Causes Of Depression And Social Distance, Samantha Jean Tomsick

ETD Archive

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between causal explanations for depression and the social distance individuals would desire from a depressed person in order to clarify whether changes to existing public awareness campaigns concerning depression might be warranted. The sample used consisted of 223 students attending a university in a large mid-western city. Each participant received a vignette that described an individual suffering from depressive symptoms and also included information regarding whether these symptoms were caused by psychosocial or biological factors. The subjects then completed a survey incorporating questions from the modified version of the …

Measuring Knowledge Of Natural Selection: A Comparison Of The C.I.N.S., An Open-Response Instrument, And An Oral Interview, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in-depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified version of Bishop and Anderson's (Bishop and Anderson [1990] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 27: 415-427) open-response test that we call the Open Response Instrument (ORI), and an oral interview derived from both instruments, to measure biology majors' understanding of and alternative conceptions about natural selection. We explored how these instruments …

Perspectives And Progress In Contemporary Cross-Cultural Psychology, Gang Zheng, Kwok Leung, John G. Adair

IACCP Proceedings of the Biennial International Conferences

Selected Papers from the XVIIth International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2004, Xi’an, Sha’anxi Province, China

Intercultural And Intracultural Differences In The Value Of Children: Comparisons Between Four Countries And The Urban, Rural, And Floating Populations In China, Gang Zheng, Shaohua Shia

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

No abstract provided.

Child Psychosocial Adjustment And Parenting In Families Affected By Maternal Hiv/Aids, Tanya L. Tompkins, Gail E. Wyatt

Faculty Publications

Child adjustment and parenting were examined in 23 9-through 16-year-old youth from families affected by maternal HIV infection and 20 same-age peers whose mothers were not infected. Children whose mothers were seropositive reported significantly more externalizing problems. Infected mothers reported less age-appropriate supervision/monitoring relative to non-infected mothers. Better mother-child relationship quality and less impairment in parental supervision/monitoring of age-appropriate youth behaviors were associated with fewer externalizing difficulties among the HIV-positive group only. Similarly, only among HIV-infected mothers was refraining from engaging in inconsistent disciplinary tactics associated with lower reports of internalizing and externalizing problems. These data highlight the promise of …

Born To See, Bound To Behold: The History Of The Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center (1975- 2005), David L. Smith C.S.Sp

Phenomenology Center Books

Table of Contents

1. What is Phenomenology? (p. 6)

2. Why Phenomenology? (p. 39)

3. The Origins of the Center: 1975-1980 (p. 64)

4. The Official Dedication: 1980-1985 (p. 72)

5. The Husserl Archives: 1985-1990 (p. 87)

6. Phenomenology and lntersubjectivity: 1990-1995 (p. 117)

7. Headed Toward a New Millennium: 1995-2000 (p. 141)

8. On the Road to the Silver Jubilee: 2000-2005 (p. 167)

Cellular And Behavioral Interactions Of Gabapentin With Alcohol Dependence, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Crf1 Receptor Antagonists Attenuate Escalated Cocaine Self-Administration In Rats, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Enhanced Vulnerability To The Rewarding Effects Of Nicotine During The Adolescent Period Of Development, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Self-Directed Behaviors In Tibetan Macaques (Maca Thibetana) As A Function Of Tourist Density And Proximity At The Valley Of The Wild Monkeys, Terrence A. Yenter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Prior work has shown a relationship between tourist density and self-directed behaviors (SDBs) in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys. In this study, focal animal sampling was used to collect data on two groups, one with eight adults and the other with 20, during August 2007. Consistent with past research, we found that the quadrat of the study site where monkeys are at eye-level with humans was both least visited by the monkeys and had the highest SDB rates. Of the remaining tourist adjacent quadrats, monkeys spent significantly less time in these areas, …

Tribute: In Memoriam, Jeheskel "Hezy" Shoshani, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The elephant community has lost one of its great ambassadors, Dr. Jeheskel "Hezy" Shoshani, at the age of 65. A wave of condolences and testimonials from colleagues and friends around the world followed his death on May 21, 2008.

Calf Development: Most Births At Night, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

For many years, field researchers studying both African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximas) elephants have indicated that they have observed relatively few births in situ, suggesting that most elephant dams give birth at night. For example, according to Cynthia Moss, "Possibly the majority of births occur at night and perhaps those that do take place in the daytime happen in secluded places" (1988, p. 151). Others, for example, Clive Spinage, have referred to "the old beliefs that the cows retreated to 'calving grounds' or that birth took place at night." (Spinage, 1994, p. 90). Although …

Apoe Ɛ4 Is Associated With Postictal Confusion In Patients With Medically Refractory Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Jessica S. Chapin, Robyn M. Busch, Damir Janigro, Michelle Dougherty, Christiane Q. Tilelli, Tara T. Lineweaver, Richard I. Naugle, Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, Imad M. Najm

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This study examined the relationship between the APOE ɛ4 allele and postictal confusion in patients with medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Patients with at least one ɛ4 allele (n = 22) were three times more likely to exhibit postictal confusion (68%) than the 63 patients without ɛ4 (43%). These preliminary results demonstrate that APOE ɛ4 is associated with an increased risk of postictal confusion in patients with medically intractable TLE, suggesting possible dysfunction in neuronal recovery mechanisms.

Pragmatic Language And Social Skills Functioning In Children Diagnosed With Asperger's Disorder, Donna Lee Toro

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Sixteen children with a diagnosis of Asperger's Disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV-TR (2000), were assessed using the following standardized measures: KBIT-2 (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2003), CASL (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999), and SSRS (Gresham & Elliot, 1990). The purpose of the study was to determine whether the measurement of pragmatic language functioning is reliably associated with social skill performance in children with Asperger's disorder. Results indicated that the group mean composite index score of the CASL was in the average range for children with a standard score of 85 or higher on the KBIT -2. Group average scores for formal language functioning …

The Utility Of Adhd-Diagnostic And Symptom Validity Measures In The Assessment Of Undergraduate Student Response Distortion: A Clinically-Enhanced Simulation Study, Myriam Jessica Sollman

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This study evaluated the efficacy of various attention-related, neuropsychological, and symptom validity measures in the detection of feigned ADHD in an undergraduate sample. Performance was compared between a group of presumed normal students (HON), a group of diagnostically "clean" ADHD students asked to respond to the best of their ability (ADHD), and a group of motivated, coached feigners (FGN). Feigners were educated about symptoms and characteristics of ADHD, provided with a scenario to help them relate to the plight of a student who might seek diagnosis, admonition to feign believably, and a significant monetary incentive for "successful feigning" ($45). They …

The Effects Of Lobeline On Methamphetamine-Induced Conditioned Place Preference And Dopaminergic Alterations In The Nucleus Accumbens Shell, Nichole Marie Neugebauer

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Previous research has suggested that lobeline, a plant alkaloid derived from Lobelia inflate, has potential to be an efficacious pharmacotherapy for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence. In addition to attenuating methamphetamineinduced dopaminergic alterations in vitro, lobeline has been shown to decrease the primary rewarding effects and discriminative stimulus properties of methamphetamine in rats. It is of clinical interest to assess the utility of lobeline to decrease methamphetamine conditioned cues as these cues have been shown to significantly contribute to relapse.

The current studies assessed the ability of lobeline to block the acquisition and expression of methamphetamine-induced conditioned place …

Computational Models Of Facial Attractiveness Judgments, P Matthew Bronstad, Judith H. Langlois, Richard Russell

Psychology Faculty Publications

We designed two computational models to replicate human facial attractiveness ratings. The primary model used partial least squares (PLS) to identify image factors associated with facial attractiveness from facial images and attractiveness ratings of those images. For comparison we also made a model similar to previous models of facial attractiveness, in that it used manually derived measurements between features as inputs, though we took the additional step of dimensionality reduction via principal component analysis (PCA) and weighting of PCA dimensions via a perceptron. Strikingly, both models produced estimates of facial attractiveness that were indistinguishable from human ratings. Because PLS extracts …

Department Of Psychology: The Last 25 Years (1983-2008), Jeffrey E. Holm

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.

Experiencing Pet Loss As A Child: A Parental Perspective, Sarah Jayne Parkin

Theses : Honours

Due to the positive contributions many companion animals make to the lives of others, it is common for individuals to build strong emotional attachments to their pets. Individuals who have strong relationships with their pets are likely to experience an equally strong grief reaction following their death. Although the grief process is highly idiosyncratic, theory suggests common stages or tasks that adults progress through during grief. However, research indicates that the grief process for children may vary from that of adults. The developmental capability of a child at the time of a loss will determine their level of understanding about …

Integral Approach To Mental Suffering, Laura B. Gilot

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Th is article further develops one section by the same name in another article published in

the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies entitled Integral Approach in Transpersonal

Psychotherapy (Boggio Gilot, 2003) by proposing a model of mental suff ering based on

uniting scientifi c psychology with meditative wisdom (e.g., derived from Yoga Vedanta). Th e

role of spiritual vision underlines a wider understanding of the origins of mental suff ering,

including damage from ontological unawareness and egoism, non-ethical factors usually

ignored in psychology. Th ese give rise to destructive poisons of the mind such as pride,

greed, fear, resentment, envy, …