Digital Commons Network^™

Improving Long-Term Adherence To Fluid Restrictions In Hemodialysis Patients., Kevin Dale Everett

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The goals of this project were to investigate factors that predicted nonadherence to fluid restrictions for patients on hemodialysis, and to evaluate a relatively long-term behavioral intervention to improve adherence to recommended fluid requirements. One hundred forty-one subjects were recruited from outpatient dialysis clinics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the prediction study, several medical and demographic variables as well as psychological variables of health locus of control, depressed mood, and social support were placed into a regression equation to determine the variance of fluid noncompliance predicted. It was found that variables of being male, educated, younger, and having an external …

Further Psychometric Properties Of The Mother's Activity Checklist., Linda Merideth Little

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The present study attempted to extend the results obtained by Kelley and Carper (1988) regarding the psychometric properties of the Mother's Activity Checklist utilizing a larger, more heterogeneous sample of mothers. The MAC is a 100-item checklist of pleasant and unpleasant setting events which mothers frequently experience. A revised version of the MAC consisting of 45 items was developed utilizing factor analysis procedures. The revised version consists of four factors: Pleasant Events, Unpleasant Events, Aversive Child Behavior, and Aversive Marital Events. Utilizing a sample of eight hundred and thirty-three mothers with children between the ages of 2 and 12, both …

The Use Of Goal Setting And Contingency Contracting For Improving Children's Homework Performance., Deborah Lynn Miller

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Research suggests that homework has favorable effects on learning and student achievement. However, research directed at improving homework completion and accuracy has been limited in scope. The present study examined the effects of goal setting and contingency contracting on children's homework performance. Subjects were four parent-child dyads in which the child exhibited clinically significant homework problems. Dependent variables of primary interest included direct observation of children's on-task behavior, work accuracy, and Homework Problem Checklist scores (Anesko, Schoiock, Ramirez, & Levine, 1987). Using a combination of multiple baseline and withdrawal (ABAB) designs, goal setting and contingency contracting produced significant improvements in …

The Role Of Orbitofrontal And Temporal Lobe Cortices In Olfactory Memory Function., Robert Mansfield Savage

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Temporal lobe cortex was found to be essential to the initial processing of odor information within the cortex. This brain area can recognize previously smelled odors independent of damaged orbitofrontal cortex. In contrast, orbitofrontal cortex was found to be essential to identifying odors and attaching a verbal or nonverbal label to odor stimuli. These findings were observed in three brain-damaged groups, those with left hemisphere stroke (CVA), right hemisphere CVA, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The differential pattern of performance observed for CVA and TBI subjects on odor identification and odor recognition tasks suggests that temporal lobe and orbitofrontal olfactory …

Preschool Social Skills: The Development Of Prosocial Interactions., Mary Boone Vonbrock Treuting

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study examined differing perceptions of teachers and parents pertaining to frequency and importance of social skills and problem behaviors in preschool children. Specifically, the present investigation considered social skills of preschool children considered to be At-Risk for educationally handicapping conditions as well as a group of Typical preschool children. Both teacher and parent ratings on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) and the revised Conners Rating Scales (CRS), (Goyette, Conners, & Ulrich, 1978) were obtained from a sample of 95 preschool children. Fifty-two subjects were enrolled in an at-risk preschool program (i.e., Head Start) and …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Severity Of Specific Adhd Symptoms And Parent And Child Locus-Of-Control Orientation In The Expression Of Parental Stress., Esther Marie Winters

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the effects of the child's specific ADHD symptoms, aggressive symptoms, and the parents' and child's locus of control orientation on parental stress. The frequently overlooked heterogeneous nature of the ADHD population was addressed, by assessing specific ADHD symptoms and the presence of aggressive symptomatology. Sixty boys, ages 6 to 12 years, diagnosed (using DSM-III-R criteria) as having ADHD by a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, and their parents participated in the study. Parents were asked to sign a consent form and complete measures of parental locus of control and parenting stress. A children's locus of control …

Effects Of Stress, Dietary Restraint, And Disinhibition Upon Eating Habits And Nutrition., Barbara Ann Cubic

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Restraint theory states that for some individuals physiological factors which normally result in eating compete with cognitive efforts to resist eating (i.e. dietary restraint). This disparity has been hypothesized to result in a chronic state of stress which leads to reduced behavioral control and increased negative affect. It has been presumed that dietary restraint is a precondition for overeating. Despite the legitimacy of proposing a link between stress, dietary restraint and overeating this interaction has not received intensive study. Furthermore, studies which have attempted to assess this relationship have not investigated the possible independent and interactive influences each of these …

Attributional Style For Anger-Provoking Situations In Adolescents: Race, Sex, And Ses Variables., C. Diane Billings Findley

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Black Americans exhibit significantly more aggressive behaviors than do white Americans and these aggressive acts are most likely to be directed toward other blacks, frequently in response to relatively trivial matters (Bell, 1987; Curtis, 1974). Aggression most often occurs in areas of high population density, poverty, and low social status, suggesting that socioeconomic status is an important variable in aggressive behavior (Centerwall, 1984; Willie, 1983). Attribution refers to the perception or inference of causes of self or others' behavior. Attributional theory, which is concerned with the consequences of attributions rather than the attributions themselves (Kelley & Michela, 1980), has been …

Severe Chronic Pain Across The Lifespan: Is Age Related To Response To Treatment?, Susan Jacqueline Kotler-Cope

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study evaluated the relationship of age to various aspects of the chronic pain syndrome before and after participation in a multidisciplinary 21-day inpatient treatment program for chronic pain at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Long Beach, California. Subjects were 135 male servicemen and veterans, ranging in age from 23 to 71 years. Age was significantly related to number of medical problems and duration of pain, but not number of pain sites, surgeries, or medications. While age was negatively, but weakly associated with cognitive aspects of depression on admission, it was not significantly related to either total score on …

Using Independence Training To Teach Independent Living Skills To Visually Impaired Children And Youth., Marie E. Taras

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Two groups of students with visual impairments were taught various independent living skills. Five of the seven students also had a diagnosis of mental retardation. One group (three first graders) was taught the tasks of folding a shirt, making an emergency telephone call, and spreading soft foods with a knife. The other group (four young men) was taught to increase leisure skills through three different leatherwork tasks. Independence training was conducted in a group format, and included social learning components (e.g., self-evaluation, peer evaluation and reinforcement) in addition to traditional operant procedures (e.g., modeling, prompting). However, due to the presence …

Comparing Natural Travel With Artificial Travel Requirements In The Study Of Foraging In The Laboratory, Carlos Fernando Aparicio

Doctoral Dissertations

Is moving from place to place equivalent to pressing a lever or pecking a key? This dissertation addressed this question by comparing natural travel (moving from place to place) with artificial travel requirements (to press on a lever). In two experiments foraging was modeled with operant behavior. Rats "searched" for food by pressing on the left lever. The patch provided a maximum of 1, 2, or 8 pellets. When the patch provided 1 pellet, rats captured the first prey with a.10 probability. The probability dropped to zero after one pellet. When the patch provided 2 or 8 pellets rats captured …

A Comparison Of Methods For Analyzing Intraindividual Change In Student Epistemological Orientation During The Transition To College, Trey Michael Buchanan

Doctoral Dissertations

The ability to measure the development of epistemological beliefs of 235 college students during their first-semester in college was investigated by comparing the results obtained using five different methodological approaches to measuring change. These approaches included the use of the two-wave difference score, the residual change score, the cross-time correlation matrix, repeated measures analysis of variance, and individual growth modeling. A cubic individual growth model was found to be superior to other methods in describing intraindividual differences in dualistic epistemological orientation during the transition to college. An investigation of the existence of systematic interindividual differences in growth as a function …

Intraindividual Consistencies In Psychophysical Judgment And The Psychophysical Function, Robin Elizabeth Daning

Doctoral Dissertations

Two issues are addressed: One is whether individual differences in psychophysical judgment reflect perceptual differences or differences in subjects' responses, and the second is whether the power law is adequate to describe the perceptions of individual subjects. Six subjects made cross-modal matches and difference matches using weight, finger span, and tone intensities. In order to minimize the chance of obtaining biased responses, number was not used, sessions were spaced far apart, a response continuum was used just once per session, and a set of criteria was adopted to select the best-fitting functions.

Difference matching data were subjected to a multidimensional …

Social Support, Psychological Distress And The Consequences Of Psychotherapeutic Intervention, David Francis King

Doctoral Dissertations

Several questions about social support and its relation to mental health over the course of psychotherapeutic intervention are investigated. These include: how do different measures of social support relate to each other at entrance to therapy (time 1) and three months later (time 2), how does social support vary with mental health over time, and how do strategies of therapists affect social support of patients?

Forty patients and their therapists (27) at two community mental health centers were interviewed. Four quantitative standardized measures of social support were used: Donald and Ware's social integration measure (1982), McFarlane's (1980) measure of social …

The Role Of Thalamo-Frontocortical Mechanisms In Measures Of Spatial Learning And Memory, Loredana Maggiora Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations

Human amnesia has been attributed to diencephalic lesions produced by Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, tumor, trauma and infarct. Rodent models of diencephalic amnesia suggest the involvement of three anatomic systems, namely the nuclei of the brainstem and diencephalon, the mammillary bodies, and the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus. In recent years our laboratory has investigated these systems. Only radiofrequency (RF) lesions of the thalamus involving lateral portions of the internal medullary lamina (L-IML) and including the mediodorsal nucleus (MDn) of the thalamus have disrupted measures of learning and memory in a manner that is qualitatively similar to that seen in human Korsakoff …

Assessing The Process Of Therapeutic Change In The Eating Disorders., Erich George Duchmann

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Comparative outcome and process research approaches have not yielded a complete understanding of the beneficial processes of psychotherapy. A recent approach to studying psychotherapy has involved the study of general stages of change that occur during all types of psychotherapy which are positively related to treatment outcome. The purpose of the present investigation was to test a stage of change model for the treatment of the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia nervosa. A review of the literature suggested that there were four general symptom domains that may be related to positive outcome in the treatment of eating disorders. Based on …

On Autonomy: Legal And Psychological Perspectives, Bruce J. Winick

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Integrating Legal And Psychological Perspectives On The Right To Personal Autonomy - Introduction, Stephen J. Anderer

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Autonomy For Vulnerable Populations: The Supreme Court's Reckless Disregard For Self-Determination And Social Science, Donald N. Bersoff

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Autonomy, Competence, And Informed Consent In Long Term Care: Legal And Psychological Perspectives, William M. Altman, Patricia A. Parmelee, Michael A. Smyer

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Psychology, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although the discipline of psychology, in its contemporary form, is only a century old, psychology's historical antecedents reach back to the beginnings of civilization. Whether defined as the study of the soul or the study of human faculties, as it was in earlier times, or as the study of consciousness, mind, or behavior, as it has been over the past hundred years, psychology has dealt with some of the fundamental questions and issues pertaining to the functions, processes, and mechanisms of human and animal nature.

Psychiatric Decisions Regarding Pharmacotherapeutic And Psychotherapeutic Treatments For Clinical Depression, Sheri Hansmeier Cheung

Whittier Scholars Program

The factors involved in deciding which treatments to use with depressed patients are complex and often clouded by conflicting beliefs and statistics. This paper attempts to clarify some of these issues by examining the role of the psychiatrist in the treatment of depression and how different treatment plans may have distinctly different effects on the depressed patient.

Perceptions Of Managers' And Hourly Employees' Job Satisfaction Resulting From Human Resource Development Training, Larry Everett Helphinstine

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Companies have realized the importance of investing in human capital in today's competitive workplace. Human resource development (HRD) programs have been implemented to meet this need. One component of an HRD program is training. One goal of HRD training is an increased level of employee job satisfaction. The study focused on two different problems in training. One problem was to determine if there were differences in perceptions of job satisfaction of managers who received HRD training as compared to managers who did not receive HRD training. A second problem of this study was to determine if there were differences in …

Charisma, Empathy, And The Experience Of Telepathy, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A critique is offered of the preference of parapsychology for physical explanatory models for telepathy. Discussion shows this trend emerging from the combined effects of historical accident. An alternative explanatory model is offered which draws upon the rich but underutilized psychological foundations of parapsychology. Emphasizing telepathy's original definition as a communication event, two other phenomena are held to fall into the same class of events: charisma and empathy. Concepts traditionally used to understand charisma and empathy are shown to be equally suited for modeling telepathy. Experimental, theoretical, and especially philosophical implications of this "possible world" model are addressed throughout.

Student Perceptions Of The Transition From Year 10 To Year 11, Tim Mcdonald

Theses : Honours

Issues associated with the transition from Year 10 to Year 11 have largely been ignored by researchers. Previous research has predominantly focussed on the primary to secondary transition experience. The existing problem of lower school to upper school transition has been compounded by the increased importance of upper school and the rising retention rates. This study investigated student perceptions of the transition from Year 10 to Year 11. It explored student concerns encountered in the transition and the differences they perceived between Year 10 and Year 11 after having entered Year 11. A case study approach, incorporating both qualitative and …

Empathy, Gender, Victimization And Altruistic Helping, Christopher J. Tillitski

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

C. Daniel Batson (1987, 1990) and associates (1983, 1988, 1989) have presented and experimentally tested the empathy-altruism hypothesis of altruistic helping. However, uncontrolled variables could have been associated with the results supporting the empathy-altruism hypothesis. The present study has generally replicated Batson and associates' standard experimental design and extended experimental control across the variables of gender and levels of victimization. Victim scenarios used for stimulus were created and calibrated to embody catastrophic, moderate and mild levels on the DSM III-R Psychosocial Stressors Scale using Cantor and Michel's (1979) procedures for investigating prototypes. The participants were 72 undergraduatePsychology students at The …

Someone's Daughter, Someone's Worker, Someone's Girlfriend, Someone's Wife: Young Women And Multiple Transitions, Jennie Buchanan

Theses : Honours

Although obviously involved in the life of their communities, young women have been largely overlooked in youth studies specifically and sociological research in general. Where young women are mentioned in the literature they are discussed using theories and frameworks designed to explain young men's position. It is assumed within these studies that somehow one's gender has little impact on their social situation. Clearly traditional theoretical approaches to the study of youth do not take into account the multiple transitions experienced by young women. This thesis sets out to question existing literature in youth studies. The notion that youth is a …

Front Matter

Modern Psychological Studies

No abstract provided.

Glucose, Exercise, And Short-Term Memory, Brenda Davidson, Cheryle Sanders, Gwendolyn K. Murdock

Modern Psychological Studies

This investigation determined the short-term memory effects of glucose and exercise. It was hypothesized that (a) glucose enhances short-term memory and (b) intense exercise diminishes short-term memory. Subjects were middle-aged volunteers who regularly exercise. Two within-subjects variables were (a) glucose vs. no-glucose, and (b) before- vs. after exercise. A between-subjects variable was no-glucose beverage type: aspartame, saccharin, or water. Performance on Subtest IV of the Wechsler Memory Scale was the dependent variable. A glucose by exercise interaction suggested an influence of fitness level. In a second experiment, short-term memory was assessed before, and at 20-min. intervals after exercise. Weight and …

The Interaction Of Source And Post-Event Misinformation On The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony, Dirk Dickens, Alice Ishigame, David Subacz, Stephanie Sponsel, Matthew Strader, Judith Foy

Modern Psychological Studies

The recall of an event such as a robbery has been shown to be affected by how closely post-event information corresponds to what the witness actually saw. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the effect of misleading information may be influenced by expertise of the source of the post-event information. Results revealed that subjects recalled less accurately when they received misleading information in the narrative than when the information corresponded with what they had viewed, whereas the accuracy of the recall was unaffected by whether the witness in the narrative was an expert or a non-expert. Subjects …