Digital Commons Network^™

Individual Cognition And Dual-Task Interference In Group Support Systems, William G. Heninger, Alan R. Dennis, Kelly Mcnamara Hilmer

Faculty Publications

Previous research shows that synchronous text discussion through group support systems (GSS) can improve the exchange of information within teams, but this improved information exchange usually does not improve decisions because participants fail to process the new information they receive. This study examined one potential cause for this failure: Dual-task interference caused by the need to concurrently process new information from others while also contributing one's own information to the discussion. Although prior research argues that dual-task interference should be minimal, we found that it significantly reduced participants' information processing and led to lower decision quality. The effect sizes were …

Information Pursuit In Financial-Statement Analysis: Effects Of Choice, Effort, And Disaggregation, Mark W. Nelson, William B. Tayler

Faculty Publications

Prior research provides evidence that financial-statement users weight information less heavily in judgment when that information is provided in a less accessible format (e.g., information disclosed in a footnote or less important financial statement rather than being recognized on the income statement (Maines and McDaniel 2000)). We provide evidence that, conditional on users performing the analysis necessary to transform the financial statements to appear as if disclosed information had been recognized, users may weight that information more heavily than it would have been if it had been recognized. Our experiments are set in the context of constructive capitalization of operating …

Good (Best) Practices For Electronically Offered Degree And Certificate Programs, Scott L. Howell, Katherine Baker

Faculty Publications

Who would have ever imagined the effect of one set of distance education principles developed 10 years ago (1995)? At a time in the history of distance- and e-learning, when many associations, organizations, and institutions set about to define themselves and those standards by which their constituents would be held accountable for quality practices, one set of standards has emerged preeminent the work of the Western Cooperative of Educational Telecommunications known as Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs. Even Though the original 17 principles enumerated in 1995 have evolved to 27 in 2005, all institutions of higher …

The Family As A Context For Religious And Spiritual Development In Children And Youth, Chris J. Boyatzis, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

Our chapter addresses how the family promotes or hinders transcendence of the self in children, that is, how the family is a context in which spiritual development occurs. Due to space limitations, our emphasis is on socialization and interaction processes within the family and not on other issues such as psychodynamic processes (e.g., Rizzuto, 1979) or faith development (e.g., Fowler, 1981). There are many motivations to explore family socialization of religious and spiritual development. One, family spirituality and religiosity are linked with many desirable outcomes and inversely with negative outcomes in children and youth. (Other chapters in this volume examine …

More Than Fun And Games: Reconsidering The Virtues Of Strategic Management Simulations, Ken E. Zantow, Dave S. Knowlton, David C. Sharp

Faculty Publications

We look at the relationship between business simulations and the educational theory of generative learning using the framework developed by Wittrock (1974, 1990, 1992). Our findings reveal opportunities for generative learning that occur at all phases of the simulation process. Awareness of these opportunities prepares faculty to get the most from the strategic decision-making simulations. and may assist them in defining the contribution associated with their use. We suggest areas for additional research.

Development And Validation Of The Theistic Spiritual Outcome Survey, P. Scott Richards, Timothy B. Smith, Marion Schowalter, Michael E. Berrett, Randy K. Hardman

Faculty Publications

We developed the Spiritual Outcome Scale (SOS) to measure the spiritual outcomes of psychotherapy from a theistic spiritual perspective. A 17-item version of the SOS was found to have adequate reliability and validity in a sample of college students. Three factors emerged from the analyses that corresponded to subscales labeled Love of God, Love of Others, and Love of Self. Correlations with measures of psychological outcomes were statistically significant. In subsequent analyses, the SOS was administered over an 8-week period to a sample of inpatient women with eating disorders and to two samples from inpatient psychological clinics in Germany. The …

Social Utility Functions-Part I: Theory, Wynn C. Stirling

Faculty Publications

The dominant approaches to utility-based multiagent decision theory rely on the premise of individual rationality-the doctrine that each individual is committed to achieving the best outcome for itself, regardless of the effect doing so has on others. This fundamentally asocial concept is the basis of conventional von Neumann-Morgenstern (vN-M) utilities but is inadequate to characterize truly cooperative artificial systems. Social utility functions differ from conventional vN-M utilities in that they are functions of multiple decision-maker preferences, rather than actions, and thus permit individuals to expand their spheres of interest beyond the self. A logical basis for coherent reasoning in multiagent …

Some Reflections On The Symposium: Judging, The Classical Legal Paradigm And The Possible Contributions Of Science, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

One theme running through the many excellent contributions to this symposium involves the myriad influences on judicial decision-making. As Professor Wrightsman notes, Supreme Court Justices' personal characteristics may affect their ability to influence colleagues and, consequently, the outcome of Supreme Court decisions. Professor Ruger observes that judges have both attitudinal and jurisprudential preferences that may change over time, affecting legal outcomes differently as time passes. Professor Sisk similarly notes that judges' personal values and experiences influence their decision-making. These observations are consistent with those of numerous other scholars, who find wide-ranging and diverse influences on the judicial resolution of legal …

Justice Blackmun And The Spirit Of Liberty, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

As we see in this symposium, Justice Harry Blackmun is as controversial in death as he was in life. We live in a time of increasing absolutism, where things are either black or white, red or blue, you are either for me or against me, my way or the highway. It is when we are swayed by the sirens of absolutism that we are most likely to make mistakes, for absolutism diminishes our capacity to see nuance, much less to appreciate and account for it in our reasoning. This is a dangerous thing in a court, and in a democracy. …

Advancing Public Interest Practitioner Research Skills In Legal Education, Randy J. Diamond

Faculty Publications

The information revolution has dramatically altered the legal research landscape, expanding the bounds of legal authority. Practitioner research requires more than traditional legal research. It also encompasses factual investigation, non-legal information, interdisciplinary and audience research. Many new lawyers are ill-prepared to research novel and unusual situations, to cope with unwritten laws and local customs, and to meet shifting authority expectations.

Foreword--Reflections On Judging: A Discussion Following The Release Of The Blackmun Papers , Martha Dragich, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

Justice Blackmun's papers were opened to the public on March 4, 2004, the fifth anniversary of his death. Held in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the collection includes over half a million items, many handwritten by Justice Blackmun. Anyone can read them. For legal scholars, this kind of research can only be described as exhilarating and many of the articles in this symposium draw on research from Justice Blackmun's papers. For the public, the release comes at a time when the interest in judges is particularly acute.

The Rehnquist Court: Nineteen Years Of Tax Decisions, F. Ladson Boyle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Preliminary Test Of A Student-Centered Intervention On Increasing Physical Activity In Underserved Adolescents, Dawn K. Wilson, Alexandra E. Evans, Joel Williams, Gary Mixon, John R. Sirard, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Background - Previous studies have shown that choice and self-initiated behavior changes are important for increasing intrinsic motivation and physical activity (PA), however, little of this research has focused on underserved adolescents.

Purpose - This study examined the effects of a 4-week student-centered intervention on increasing PA in underserved adolescents.

Methods - Twenty-eight students in the intervention school were matched (on race, percentage on free or reduced-price lunch program, gender, and age) with 20 students from another school who served as the comparison group (30 girls, 18 boys; ages 10-12 years; 83% African American; 83% on free or reduced-price lunch). …

Foreword - Reflections On Judging: A Discussion Following The Release Of The Blackmun Papers , Christina E. Wells, Martha Dragich

Faculty Publications

Justice Blackmun's papers were opened to the public on March 4, 2004, the fifth anniversary of his death. Held in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the collection includes over half a million items, many handwritten by Justice Blackmun. Anyone can read them. For legal scholars, this kind of research can only be described as exhilarating and many of the articles in this symposium draw on research from Justice Blackmun's papers. For the public, the release comes at a time when the interest in judges is particularly acute.

Forty Years After Title Vii: Creating An Atmosphere Conducive To Diversity In The Corporate Boardroom, Donald J. Polden

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes affirmative action in employment: one of the most controversial government policies of the last decade, and one that continues to divide the passions and sensibilities of Americans. This article also addresses the effects of Title VII on employment opportunities for women. In particular, the article considers how successful the fundamental policies of Title VII have been in increasing diversity on corporate boards of directors, and investigates whether increased diversity will improve the performance of publicly traded companies.

Recruitment And Retention Of Emergency Medical Technicians: A Qualitative Study, P. Daniel Patterson, Janice C. Probst, Katherine H. Leith, Sara J. Corwin, M. Paige Powell

Faculty Publications

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are critical to out-of-hospital care, but maintaining staff can be difficult. The study objective was to identify factors that contribute to recruitment and retention of EMTs and paramedics. Information was drawn from three focus groups of EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate, and EMT-Paramedic personnel recruited from participants at an annual conference. Thoughts and feelings of EMTs and paramedics were investigated using eight questions designed to explore entry into emergency medical services, what it is like to be an EMT or paramedic, and the EMT educational process. Data were analyzed at the group level for common themes using NVivo. For …

Constructing Saigyo: Poetry, Biography, And Medieval Reception, Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

The late Heian-period poet/monk Saigyō (西行1118-1190) has long been considered one of the most talented of Japan’s waka poets. His poetry and his legend have found their place in elite and popular culture, spanning social class as well as multiple fields of cultural production, such as poetry, travel literature, painting, woodblock prints, nō and kabuki, and Buddhist tales, to name a few. This study aims to present the reader with a critical analysis of Saigyō, his poetry, and his legend by answering several key questions. Who was the historical Saigyō that lived from 1118 to 1190? How did he become …

Descriptive Adequacy Vs. Psychological Reality: The Case Of Two Restrictions On Spanish Stress Placement, Scott M. Alvord, Timothy L. Face

Faculty Publications

This paper examines two supposed restrictions on Spanish stress placement: 1) the heavy penult condition, which prohibits stress leftward of the penultimate syllable if the penultimate syllable is heavy, and 2) the three-syllable window condition, which prohibits stress other than on one of the final three syllables of a word. While these two conditions are clearly descriptively adequate generalizations about the lexicon, this study sets out to determine whether they are psychologically real restrictions, serving as constraints that prohibit words that violate them. The results of a perception study indicate that neither of these conditions is a psychologically real restriction …

Through The Eyes Of A Teacher Andrea Luxton’S Worldview, Beverly Matiko

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Acoustic And Spectral Characteristics Of Young Children's Fricative Productions: A Developmental Perspective, Shawn L. Nissen, Robert Allen Fox

Faculty Publications

Scientists have made great strides toward understanding the mechanisms of speech production and perception. However, the complex relationships between the acoustic structures of speech and the resulting psychological percepts have yet to be fully and adequately explained, especially in speech produced by younger children. Thus, this study examined the acoustic structure of voiceless fricatives (/f, θ, s, ʃ/) produced by adults and typically developing children from 3 to 6 years of age in terms of multiple acoustic parameters (durations, normalized amplitude, spectral slope, and spectral moments). It was found the acoustic parameters of spectral slope and variance (commonly excluded from …

Moral Responsiveness And Discontinuity In Therapy: A Qualitative Study, Jason B. Whiting Phd, R. Scott Nebeker, Stephen T. Fife

Faculty Publications

Phenomenological qualitative methods were used to identify and describe moral elements in therapeutic relationships. Using the relational philosophy of E. Levinas (1961/1969, 1979/1987) as a base, data in which therapists and clients identified and described morally responsive experiences in therapy sessions were analyzed. These moments were often unexpected and included categories of surprise, interruption, willingness to change, and clarifications/repairs. Additional moral phenomena related to therapists' attitudes included asymmetrical indebtedness, attitude of serving, and tentativeness of diagnosis. Identified moments of moral responsiveness were frequently associated with clients' progress in therapy. This suggests that conceptually smooth and uninterrupted therapy may be less …

Acoustic And Spectral Characteristics Of Young Children’S Fricative Productions: A Developmental Perspective, Shawn L. Nissen, Robert Allen Fox

Faculty Publications

Scientists have made great strides toward understanding the mechanisms of speech production and perception. However, the complex relationships between the acoustic structures of speech and the resulting psychological percepts have yet to be fully and adequately explained, especially in speech produced by younger children. Thus, this study examined the acoustic structure of voiceless fricatives /f, s, b/ produced by adults and typically developing children from 3 to 6 years of age in terms of multiple acoustic parameters durations, normalized amplitude, spectral slope, and spectral moments. It was found that the acoustic parameters of spectral slope and variance commonly excluded from …

How Family Religious Involvement Benefits Adults, Youth, And Children And Strengthens Families, David C. Dollahite, Jennifer Y. Thatcher

Faculty Publications

A growing body of empirical research demonstrates that a family’s religious involvement directly benefits adults, children and youth in many ways. Divorce rates are lower and marital satisfaction and quality scores highest among religiously involved couples. Religious practices are linked with family satisfaction, closer father-child relationships, and closer parent-child relationships. There is less domestic violence among more religious couples and religious parents are less likely to abuse or yell at their children. Religious involvement promotes involved and responsible fathering and is associated with more involved mothering. Greater religiosity in parents and youth is associated with a variety of protective factors …

The Emergence Of The Social Brain Network: Evidence From Typical And Atypical Development, Mark H. Johnson, Richard Griffin, Gergely Csibra, Hanife Halit, Teresa Farroni, Michelle Dehaan, Leslie A. Tucker, Simon Baron-Cohen, John E. Richards

Faculty Publications

Several research groups have identified a network of regions of the adult cortex that are activated during social perception and cognition tasks. In this paper we focus on the development of components of this social brain network during early childhood and test aspects of a particular viewpoint on human functional brain development: “interactive specialization.” Specifically, we apply new data analysis techniques to a previously published data set of event-related potential ~ERP! studies involving 3-, 4-, and 12-month-old infants viewing faces of different orientation and direction of eye gaze. Using source separation and localization methods, several likely generators of scalp recorded …

Easy's Gettin' Harder All The Time: The Computational Theory And Affective States, Jason Megill, Jon Cogburn

Faculty Publications

We argue that A. Damasio's (1994) Somatic Marker hypothesis can explain why humans don't generally suffer from the frame problem, arguably the greatest obstacle facing the Computational Theory of Mind. This involves showing how humans with damaged emotional centers are best understood as actually suffering from the frame problem. We are then able to show that, paradoxically, these results provide evidence for the Computational Theory of Mind, and in addition call into question the very distinction between easy and hard problems in the contemporary philosophy of mind. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2005.

The Implications Of Conjunctive And Disjunctive Forgiveness For Sexual Abuse, Herbert W. Helm, Jonathan R. Cook, John M. Berecz

Faculty Publications

This article examines the relationship between forgiveness styles (conjunctive and disjunctive models) and sexual abuse. Surveys from 114 university students were analyzed for differences between non-sexually abused and sexually abused subjects on a number of psychological and physical well-being variables. A number of differences were found including higher levels of reported verbal and physical abuse for the sexually abused subjects. Only one sexually abused subject was found that fit the pattern of conjunctive forgiveness (one of reconciliation) towards the offender. The majority of sexually abused subjects preferred to keep their distance from the abuser, regardless of the extent to which …

The Process Of Research In International Settings: From Risk Assessment To Program Development And Intervention, M. Catherin Freier, Duane C. Mcbride, Gary Hopkins, Talin Babikian, Lloyd Richardson, Herbert W. Helm

Faculty Publications

Although there are many challenges, international HIV prevention research and program evaluation are critical to advances in the health and welfare of people around the globe. While there is an increasing amount of literature describing outcomes of international prevention programs, there is sparse information regarding the process of developing and implementing international research. This brief report describes key elements in the development of collaborative international prevention research and programmatic implementation. © The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Pressen behalf of the New York Academy of Medicine. All rights reserved.

Extraocular Muscle Activity, Rapid Eye Movements And The Development Of Active And Quiet Sleep, Adele M. H. Seelke, Andrew J. Gall, Karl Æ. Karlsson, Mark S. Blumberg

Faculty Publications

Rapid eye movements (REMs), traditionally measured using the electrooculogram (EOG), help to characterize active sleep in adults. In early infancy, however, they are not clearly expressed. Here we measured extraocular muscle activity in infant rats at 3 days of age (P3), P8 and P14-15 in order to assess the ontogeny of REMs and their relationship with other forms of sleep-related phasic activity. We found that the causal relationship between extraocular muscle twitches and REMs strengthened during the first two postnatal weeks, reflecting increased control of the extraocular muscles over eye movements. As early as P3, however, phasic bursts of extraocular …

Sex-Related Acoustic Changes In Voiceless English Fricatives, Shawn L. Nissen, Robert Allen Fox

Faculty Publications

This investigation is a comprehensive acoustic study of 4 voiceless fricatives (/f θ s ʃ/) in English produced by adults and pre-and postpubescent children aged 6-14 years. Vowel duration, amplitude, and several different spectral measures (including spectral tilt and spectral moments) were examined. Of specific interest was the pattern of normal development of the acoustic properties of fricatives and the nature of sex-specific patterns of fricative articulation in prepubescent children. Little evidence of amplitude or duration differences was found between speakers that was related to the sex of the speaker. However, significant sex-specific differences in fricative articulation were found in …

Creating An Interactive Classroom: Enhancing Student Engagement And Learning In Political Science Courses, Jonathan D. Mott, Danny Damron

Faculty Publications

Students of the pedagogy of teaching have found that cooperative/problem-based learning activities engage the learner, promote ownership of the material, advance the development of higher-level cognitive skills and increase retention better than more passive learning activities. Despite broad recognition within the political science discipline that classroom activities can and should facilitate better student learning outcomes, political science classes (both large and small) frequently have characteristics that make cooperative/problem-based learning activities more difficult to employ and less likely to succeed. Anonymity in large sections, a steep learning curve of complex concepts, and students who see passivity as the least costly approach …