Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Political Personality Of U.S. President Barack Obama, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. president Barack Obama, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Obama was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Obama’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/confident …

The Hours – A Film To Enhance Teaching Psychology, Christina J. Taylor

Psychology Faculty Publications

Hollywood films provide a rich and engaging means for teaching students about psychological topics. The Hours is an especially noteworthy film because of the wide range of psychological issues touched upon, including mental illness, gender roles, families, chronic illness, bereavement, caregiving, sexuality, and sexual orientation. Analysis of the film in this paper provides instructors of courses in psychology, social work, nursing, medicine, women's studies, and related courses, with suggestions for how this compelling film can help students develop in their understanding of human psychology. Demonstrates the pedagogical value of using the feature film to learn about psychological topics, and its …

Parent Involvement And Views Of School Success: The Role Of Parents’ Latino And White American Cultural Orientations, Carey S. Ryan, Juan F. Casas, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Bridget O. Ryalls, Collette Nero

Psychology Faculty Publications

We examined ethnicity and cultural orientation as predictors of parents' views of and involvement in children's education, using data gathered from the Latino (n = 74) and non-Latino (17 White and 13 ethnic minority) parents of children in an elementary school's dual-language program. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed Latino and White American cultural orientations, importance of children's academic and social success, and self- and significant other involvement in children's education. Results indicated that Latino (and other ethnic minority) parents valued academic and social success equally and more strongly than did Whites and that Whites valued social success more …

Priming God-Related Concepts Increases Anxiety And Task Persistence, Tina M. Toburen, Brian P. Meier

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research on the relationship between religiosity and anxiety has been mixed, with some studies revealing a positive relation and other studies revealing a negative relation. The current research used an experimental design, perhaps for the first time, to examine anxiety and task persistence during a stressful situation. Christians and Atheists/Agnostics/Others were primed with God-related or neutral (non-God related) concepts before completing an unsolvable anagram task described as a measure of verbal intelligence. The results revealed that the God-related primes increased both task persistence and anxiousness, which suggests that experimentally induced God-related thoughts caused participants to persist longer on a stressful …