Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cognitive Intra-Individual Variability: The Effects Of Affect In A Healthy Young Adult Sample, Tovah M.D. Cowan

LSU Master's Theses

Cognition is foundational to our experience of the world, but also to how psychologists understand dysfunctions. Cognitive impairment is a feature of a variety of mental disorders, but traditional assessment measures have key limitations in prediction and classification. A proposed alternative is cognitive intraindividual variability (cIIV), which is suggested to measure cognitive control or neural inefficiencies, fluctuating within a task, or over short periods of time. cIIV has been shown to be more sensitive in classification for a variety of conditions than overall performance, including in affective disorders. Further, some research suggests that cIIV is related to self-report cognitive abilities, …

Exploring The Role Of Gender And Race In Salary Negotiations, Chelsea D. Hightower

LSU Master's Theses

Research findings from the negotiation literature have revealed significant differences in the negotiation behaviors of men and women, specifically that women do not negotiate as often or as successfully as men do. This difference has been cited as one of many factors contributing to the persistence of the gender wage gap. A possible explanation for the differences is that men and women are treated differently when they negotiate. Thus, there is evidence that women negotiators tend to receive multiple forms of social and economic punishment (i.e., backlash) for engaging in behavior that is inconsistent with stereotype-based expectations of women in …

The Generalization Of Fear Condition Between Viewed And Imagined Percepts, Lauryn Michelle Burleigh

LSU Master's Theses

Mental images can provoke intense emotional states (Holmes & Matthews, 2010). Imagery and perception have common neural and physiological mechanisms, including activation of the early visual areas (Albers et al., 2013). We tested the prediction that individuals can acquire fear to imagined percepts and if this fear transfers to viewing percepts, using fMRI and self-reported measures to determine participants’ fear. The participants completed a task in which they viewed and imagined two stimuli, and were fear conditioned when imagining the CS+. Participants are only told that mild electrical stimulation will be paired with one of the stimuli, but not which …

Factors Related To Parental Stress At Early Diagnostic Assessments For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Abigail Issarraras

LSU Master's Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is marked by pervasive impairments in social communication and restricted, repetitive interests, behaviors, and activities. Parents raising a child with ASD have consistently reported higher levels of parenting stress compared to parents of typically developing children and children with other disabilities. Several different factors influence parental stress levels at different stages of their child’s life, and so an understanding of the most predictive factors of parental stress at initial ASD assessments is critical to best serving the needs of families with a new diagnosis. The current study investigated several factors that may impact parenting stress at …

Parents’ Perspectives Of Cultural Competence In Schools: The Initial Development Of The Culturally Competent School Community Scale, Aijah Kai Baruti Goodwin

LSU Master's Theses

Diversity in school settings is continuously changing with an increase of minority students in the United States school systems. The present study uses a phenomenological approach to gain parents’ experiences related to culturally responsive and competent practices in their child(ren)’s schools. Interviews were conducted with 10 culturally diverse parents with children in preschool and/or elementary school. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded for common themes and analyzed for the frequency and prevalence of the themes in preschool vs. elementary school settings. An analysis of the interviews revealed 6 themes related to culturally competent and responsive practices in school settings. The …

Quantifying Coherence In A Transdiagnostic Sample: A Methodological Investigation Of Computationally-Derived Coherence Using Ambulatory Assessment, Taylor L. Fedechko

LSU Master's Theses

Schizophrenia is a clinical diagnosis assigned to individuals that experience positive (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), negative (e.g., blunted affect), and disorganized (e.g., incoherent speech) symptoms. One particularly disabling symptom is incoherence, which is defined as the meaning-based relationship between ideas. This symptom can drastically affect an individual’s quality of life by affecting areas such as social and occupational functioning. Currently, the mechanism behind this symptom is unknown and requires further study. One way to examine incoherence is to understand its level of expression in other clinical populations. With the advent of computationally-derived natural language processing (NLP), coherence can be quantified …

Disentangling The Role Of Future Orientation And Callous-Unemotional Traits In The Prediction Of Offending In Justice-Involved Youth, Toni Walker

LSU Master's Theses

Future Orientation and callous-unemotional (CU) traits are well established predictors of future offending. A more positive outlook on one’s future goals seems to protect youth from engaging in antisocial behavior, whereas elevated CU traits predict more severe and persistent forms of delinquency. The relationship between CU traits and other aspects of psychopathy, such as grandiose self-worth, is not consistent with a pessimistic outlook towards the future. This study explored the associations among these variables in a sample of male first-time juvenile offenders (N = 1,216). Results indicated that future orientation predicted delinquency over a 5-year follow-up period, and this …

Effects Of A Repeated Writing Intervention On Writing Fluency And Writing Quality, Katherine L. Moore

LSU Master's Theses

Writing is a fundamental skill that is essential for students’ academic success. In fact, students with writing difficulties are shown to have lower academic achievement and reduced likelihood of college acceptance (Graham & Perin, 2007). Writing fluency is a crucial component in the development of writing abilities, as it allows for the development of higher-order writing skills (Bloom, 1986, Binder, Haughton & Bateman, 2002). Limited research exists of interventions targeted specially for writing fluency; however, performance feedback procedures have been shown as effective (Hier & Eckert, 2016). Literature suggests the skills of reading and writing share similar processes of learning …

"Moving One Seat Over": Division I Women's Basketball Female Assistant Coaches' Views Of Head Coaching, Caitlin Kriesel-Bigler

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract

At the time Title IX passed in 1972, over 90% of women’s athletic teams were coached by women. By 2014, that percentage had dropped to 43%. This study used in-depth interviews with four female Division I assistant basketball coaches with varying years of experience to explore their experiences and attitudes towards becoming head coaches. The interviews revealed five major themes: (a) The Power of Same-Sex Role Models; (b) Gender Differences and Whether They Matter; (c) Title IX Collateral Damage: “It’s Nothing but the Money”; (d) Gender-Related Obstacles; and (e) Preparation for “Moving Over One Seat.” The findings reveal that …

Understanding The Social Relationships Of Youth With Callous-Unemotional Traits Using Peer Nominations, Tatiana M. Matlasz

LSU Master's Theses

The current study investigated the social correlates of conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits using peer nominations. Participants (n = 289), drawn from a sample of 3^rd, 6^th, and 8^thgraders (M_age = 11.47 years; SD = 2.26), were asked to identify peers who they believed fit a number of different characteristics, in addition to individuals who they liked most and liked least. We also obtained self-, parent-, and teacher-reports of children’s behaviors. Analyses extracted three primary dimensions from peer nominations, including, indicators of being mean and cold (Mean/Cold), of being aloof and …

Targeting Perceived Risk Through An Online Personalized Feedback Intervention For Cannabis-Using College Students, Katherine Walukevich-Dienst

LSU Master's Theses

Although online personalized feedback interventions (PFIs) that include personalized normative feedback (PNF) have been found to reduce drinking in college populations (for review, see Miller et al., 2013), there is little evidence to support that similar PFIs reduce risky cannabis use in college students (e.g., Elliott, Carey, & Vanable, 2014). The present study sought to examine perceived risk, a leading indicator of cannabis use (Bachman, Johnston, & O'Malley, 1998), as a potential intervention target for online cannabis PFIs. Undergraduate students who reported current (past-month) cannabis use and experiencing at least one past three-month cannabis use-related problem were randomly assigned to …