Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Decision-Making, Ezra Markowitz

Sustainability Education Resources

Over the past 30 years, there has been a growing recognition amongst environmental advocates, resource managers, policymakers and researchers that the underlying cause of most environmental, conservation and sustainability issues is human behavior. As NRC and ENVIRSCI majors, you have received extensive technical training in how natural systems operate yet relatively little training when it comes to influencing or understanding how people make environmental decisions that affect those natural systems. Recognizing the fundamental role that human decision-making plays in shaping the environment reveals a new set of tools and approaches for both understanding the challenges we face and confronting those …

Maltreatment And Brain Development: The Effects Of Abuse And Neglect On Longitudinal Trajectories Of Neural Activation During Risk Processing And Cognitive Control, Jungmeen Kim-Spoon, Toria Herd, Alexis Brieant, Kristin Peviani, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Nina Lauharatanahirun, Jacob Lee, Brooks King-Casas

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

The profound effects of child maltreatment on brain functioning have been documented. Yet, little is known about whether distinct maltreatment experiences are differentially related to underlying neural processes of risky decision making: valuation and control. Using conditional growth curve modeling, we compared a cumulative approach versus a dimensional approach (relative effects of abuse and neglect) to examine the link between child maltreatment and brain development. The sample included 167 adolescents (13?14 years at Time 1, 53 % male), assessed annually four times. Risk processing was assessed by blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses (BOLD) during a lottery choice task, and cognitive control by BOLD …

Positive Youth Development: Parental Warmth, Values, And Prosocial Behavior In 11 Cultural Groups, Concetta Pastorelli, Antonio Zuffianò, Jennifer E. Lansford, Eriona Thartori, Marc H. Bornstein, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Gunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sevtap Gurdal

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

The current cross-cultural study aimed to extend research on parenting and children's prosocial behavior by examining relations among parental warmth, values related to family obligations (i.e., children's support to and respect for their parents, siblings, and extended family), and prosocial behavior during the transition to adolescence (from ages 9 to 12). Mothers, fathers, and their children (N = 1107 families) from 8 countries including 11 cultural groups (Colombia; Rome and Naples, Italy; Jordan; Kenya; the Philippines; Sweden; Thailand; and African Americans, European Americans, and Latin Americans in the United States) provided data over 3 years in 3 waves (M-age of …

Parenting Group For Externalizing Youth With Side Benefits For Parents, Diane Johnson

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Mental health problems in the form of externalizing behaviors in children continues to climb. The financial burden, along and increased risks of long-term adverse effects, are a critical area that are improved with interventions such as parent management training (PMT). PMT is an evidence-based treatment for disruptive and externalizing child behaviors. Even brief interventions can improve parents’ perceptions of challenging behavior and benefit parental well-being through stress reduction and self-efficacy. Purpose: To provide PMT concepts through a group format and improve parental perceptions of externalizing behaviors and stress reduction. Methods: Provide a six-session parent group with discussion, video, …

Processes Linking Socioeconomic Disadvantage And Neural Correlates Of Cognitive Control In Adolescence, Alexis Brieant, Toria Herd, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Jacob Lee, Brooks King-Casas

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Socioeconomic status (SES) is broadly associated with self-regulatory abilities across childhood and adolescence. However, there is limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying this association, especially during adolescence when individuals are particularly sensitive to environmental influences. The current study tested perceived stress, household chaos, parent cognitive control, and parent-adolescent relationship quality as potential proximal mediators of the association between family SES and neural correlates of cognitive control. A sample of 167 adolescents and their primary caregivers participated in a longitudinal study across four years. SES was indexed by caregivers? education and income-to-needs ratio at Time 1. At Time 2, adolescents reported …

Environmental Decision-Making (Nrc 494 Ei), Ezra Markowitz

Sustainability Education Resources

Over the past 30 years, there has been a growing recognition amongst environmental advocates, resource managers, policymakers and researchers that the underlying cause of most environmental, conservation and sustainability issues is human behavior. As NRC and ENVIRSCI majors, you have received extensive technical training in how natural systems operate yet relatively little training when it comes to influencing or understanding how people make environmental decisions that affect those natural systems. Recognizing the fundamental role that human decision-making plays in shaping the environment reveals a new set of tools and approaches for both understanding the challenges we face and confronting those …

Engagement And Positive Psychology For Stem Learning And Beyond, Mark Tuominen, Lori Tuominen

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Positive psychology is the study of how people flourish. A considerable amount of recent scientific research is now showing how the basic tenets of positive psychology used in schools can boost engagement, learning and wellbeing for students and teachers. These principles apply to any type of learning, including STEM courses. The concepts and practices of positive psychology effectively serve as affective multipliers, enhancing learning success and personal wellbeing. This seminar will introduce a sampler plate of ideas and activities from their course for first-year UMass students, entitled “Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness, Creativity, and Accomplishment.”

A Web-Disseminated Self-Help And Peer Support Program Could Fill Gaps In Mental Health Care: Lessons From A Consumer Survey, Samantha L. Bernecker, Kaitlin Banschback, Gennarina Santorelli, Michael J. Constantino

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Background: Self-guided mental health interventions that are disseminated via the Web have the potential to circumvent barriers to treatment and improve public mental health. However, self-guided interventions often fail to attract consumers and suffer from user nonadherence. Uptake of novel interventions could be improved by consulting consumers from the beginning of the development process in order to assess their interest and their preferences. Interventions can then be tailored using this feedback to optimize appeal.

Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the level of public interest in a new mental health intervention that incorporates elements of self-help and …

Rudd Chair Annual Report 2017, Harold D. Grotevant

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Reports

2017 report from the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology.

The Influence Of Ecological Worldview And Attitudes On Park Visitors’ Pro-Environmental Behavioural Intention: A Case Study Of Alberta Parks' Campers, Farhad Moghimehfar

TTRA Canada 2016 Conference

No abstract provided.

How Is Existential Threat Related To Intergroup Conflict? Introducing The Multidimensional Existential Threat (Met) Model, Gilad Hirschberger, Tsachi Ein-Dor, Bernhard Leidner, Tamar Saguy

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Existential threat lies at the heart of intergroup conflict, but the literature on existential concerns lacks clear conceptualization and integration. To address this problem, we offer a new conceptualization and measurement of existential threat. We establish the reliability and validity of our measure, and to illustrate its utility, we examine whether different existential threats underlie the association between political ideology and support for specific political policies. Study 1 (N = 798) established the construct validity of the scale, and revealed four distinct existential threats: personal death (PD), physical collective annihilation (PA), symbolic collective annihilation (SA), and past victimization (PV). …

Prosocial Reward Learning In Children And Adolescents, Youngbin Kwak, Scott A. Huettel

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Adolescence is a period of increased sensitivity to social contexts. To evaluate how social context sensitivity changes over development—and influences reward learning—we investigated how children and adolescents perceive and integrate rewards for oneself and others during a dynamic risky decision-making task. Children and adolescents (N = 75, 8–16 years) performed the Social Gambling Task (SGT, Kwak et al., 2014) and completed a set of questionnaires measuring other-regarding behavior. In the SGT, participants choose amongst four card decks that have different payout structures for oneself and for a charity. We examined patterns of choices, overall decision strategies, and how …

Rudd Chair Annual Report 2016, Harold D. Grotevant

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Reports

2016 report from the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology.

Social Justice And Social Order: Binding Moralities Across The Political Spectrum, Ronnie Janoff-Bulman, Nate C. Carnes

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Two studies explored the relationship between political ideology and endorsement of a range of moral principles. Political liberals and conservatives did not differ on intrapersonal or interpersonal moralities, which require self-regulation. However differences emerged on collective moralities, which involve social regulation. Contrary to Moral Foundations Theory, both liberals and conservatives endorsed a group-focused binding morality, specifically Social Justice and Social Order respectively. Libertarians were the group without a binding morality. Although Social Justice and Social Order appear conflictual, analyses based on earlier cross-cultural work on societal tightness-looseness suggest that countries actually benefit in terms of economic success and societal well-being …

Management Of Adolescent Depression In The Primary Care Setting: An Educational Program For Providers, Kelly Clow

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: The prevalence of adolescent depression is estimated at 15-20% in the general population and often under-treated. The primary care provider is in a prime position to identify and treat depression in this age group. However, many providers feel uncomfortable with treating and managing depression in adolescents, due to a lack of education or experience. Purpose: The focus of this quality improvement project was to educate primary care providers on the current recommendations for the management of adolescent depression and provide an education sheet for both the medical and non-medical treatment of adolescent depression. An educational intervention was presented to …

Expression Of Anger And Ill Health In Two Cultures: An Examination Of Inflammation And Cardiovascular Risk, Shinobu Kitayama, Jiyoung Park, Jennifer Morozink Boylan, Yuri Miyamoto, Cynthia S. Levine, Hazel Rose Markus, Mayumi Karasawa, Christopher L. Coe, Norito Kawakami, Gayle D. Love, Carol D. Ryff

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Expression of anger is associated with biological health risk (BHR) in Western cultures. However, recent evidence documenting culturally divergent functions of the expression of anger suggests that its link with BHR may be moderated by culture. To test this prediction, we examined large probability samples of both Japanese and Americans using multiple measures of BHR, including pro-inflammatory markers (interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein) and indices of cardiovascular malfunction (systolic blood pressure and ratio of total to HDL cholesterol). We found that the link between greater expression of anger and increased BHR was robust for Americans. As predicted, however, this association was …

Passive Facebook Usage Undermines Affective Wellbeing: Experimental And Longitudinal Evidence, Jiyoung Park, Philippe Verduyn, David Lee, Holly Shablack, Ariana Orvell, Joseph Bayer, Oscar Ybarra, John Jonides, Ethan Kross

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Prior research indicates that Facebook usage predicts declines in subjective well-being over time. How does this come about? We examined this issue in 2 studies using experimental and field methods. In Study 1, cueing people in the laboratory to use Facebook passively (rather than actively) led to declines in affective well-being over time. Study 2 replicated these findings in the field using experience-sampling techniques. It also demonstrated how passive Facebook usage leads to declines in affective well-being: by increasing envy. Critically, the relationship between passive Facebook usage and changes in affective well-being remained significant when controlling for active Facebook use, …

Culturally Non-Preferred Cognitive Tasks Require Compensatory Attention: A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Fnirs)Investigation, Asuka Murata, Jiyoung Park, Ioulia Kovelman, Xiaosu Hu, Shinobu Kitayama

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Previous work shows that as compared to European Americans, Asians are more holistic (or less focused) in perceptual processing. Drawing on this evidence, we expected that extra attention control would be recruited to perform focused processing for Asians and holistic processing for European Americans. Eight Asian American and 13 European American young adults judged whether a given framed-line was the same in length as the framed-line shown on the previous trial on the basis of either an absolute or relative criterion. Their brain activities were monitored with functional near infrared spectroscopy. As predicted, Asian Americans showed an increased activation in …

Culture, Inequality, And Health: Evidence From The Midus And Midja Comparison, Jiyoung Park, Carol Ryff, Yuri Miyamoto, Jennifer Boylan, Christopher Coe, Mayumi Karasawa, Norito Kawakami, Chiemi Kan, Gayle Love, Cynthia Levine, Hazel Markus, Shinobu Kitayama

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

This article seeks to forge scientific connections between three overarching themes (culture, inequality, health). Although the influence of cultural context on human experience has gained notable research prominence, it has rarely embraced another large arena of science focused on the influence social hierarchies have on how well and how long people live. That literature is increasingly focused psychosocial factors, working interactively with biological and brain-based mechanisms, to account for why those with low socioeconomic standing have poorer health. Our central question is whether and how these processes might vary by cultural context. We draw on emerging findings from two parallel …

Cultural Variation In Implicit Independence: An Extension Of Kitayama Et Al., Jiyoung Park, Yukiko Uchida, Shinobu Kitayama

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Previous research shows that European Americans are consistently more independent (or less interdependent) than Japanese when implicit indices are used to assess independence (vs. interdependence). The present work extended this evidence by including a novel implicit association test (IAT), as an index of implicit attitude towards independence and interdependence. Consistent with the previous findings, as compared to Japanese, Americans were significantly higher in multiple indices of implicit independence (vs. interdependence) including personal (vs. social) self-definition, experience of disengaging (vs. engaging) emotions and personal (vs. social) form of happiness. Furthermore, as compared to Japanese, Americans had a significantly more positive implicit …

Rudd Chair Annual Report 2015, Harold D. Grotevant

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Reports

2015 report from the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology.

Through The Camera Lens Of Development: An Exploration Of Ngos' Representations Of Africa, Sebastian Lindstrom

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose if this qualitative research is to acquire new knowledge in the African visual representational landscape, a digital space carefully filmed and edited by some of the most celebrated and acknowledged, mostly Western, NGOs in the world. The most watched Africa-related video from 50 NGOs were selected, downloaded and analyzed. After continuous re-watching of a 3.5 hour long set of visual data tree themes emerged. One segment relates around the NGOs intervention, another about the term or statement ‘help’, and the last theme is HIV/AIDS. The findings include the realization that the beneficiary was never explaining the intervention of …

Negotiating Invisibility: Addressing Lgbt Prejudice In China, Hong Kong, And Thailand, Hunter Gray

Master's Capstone Projects

This research serves as a consolidation of information regarding the global response to LGBT prejudice, and in particular, the response of organizations situated in China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Interviews with activists and researchers from organizations that address LGBT prejudice served as the main form of data. Findings and subsequent analysis point to the ways in which organizations respond to the lack of visibility of the LGBT community, and how this invisibility is related to various manifestations of LGBT prejudice. Strategies that organizations have developed to respond to LGBT prejudice reveal how organizations negotiate contextual variables in their attempts to …

Through A Critical Sociocultural Lens: Parents’ Perspectives Of An Early Childhood Program In Guatemala, Yaëlle Stempfelet

Master's Capstone Projects

The present case study is on an Early Childhood program in Guatemala based on participant parents’ feedback. The Early Childhood program is non-formal, focuses on emergent literacy and nutrition, and takes place in a community-run library in a poor, semi-rural town in the mountainous regions of Quiche, Guatemala. The library was set up by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that works in Guatemala as well as another neighboring country.

Using a critical sociocultural lens, this study assumes that the parents’ perceptions reflect the state of the program and that involving their feedback through this research will ultimately help to bolster the …

Ingos In The Mirror: Critical Reflections Of Practitioners Implementing Psychosocial Support Programs, Stephen M. Richardson

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this qualitative research is to learn from the professional wisdom of practitioners involved in implementing school-based psychosocial support in conflict-affected contexts. Practitioners from four different International Non-governmental Organizations (INGO) working in three different contexts—the Congo Basin region, the South Asia region, and the Sudan region—reflect on the concepts and realities of the psychosocial support models that their organizations use. A common theme emerging from these interviews is that the approach to psychosocial support has the potential to do harm. The practitioners provide real examples of the ways in which harm may occur and their possible causes. These …

Subjective And Objective Hierarchies And Their Relations To Psychological Well-Being: A U.S./Japan Comparison, Katherine B. Curhan, Cynthia S. Levine, Hazel Rose Markus, Jiyoung Park, Mayumi Karasawa, Gayle D. Love, Christopher L. Coe, Yuri Miyamoto, Carol D. Ryff

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Hierarchy can be conceptualized as objective social status (e.g., education level) or subjective social status (i.e., one's own judgment of one's status). Both forms predict well-being. This is the first investigation of the relative strength of these hierarchy-well-being relationships in the U.S. and Japan, cultural contexts with different normative ideas about how social status is understood and conferred. In probability samples of Japanese (N=1027) and U.S. (N=1805) adults, subjective social status more strongly predicted life satisfaction, positive affect, sense of purpose, and self acceptance in the U.S. than in Japan. In contrast, objective social status more strongly predicted life satisfaction, …

"You Were Adopted?!": An Exploratory Analysis Of Microaggressions Experienced By Adolescent Adopted Individuals, Karin J. Garber

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Sue et al. (2007, p. 271) define a microaggression as: “Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative…slights and insults towards [the marginalized group].” Microaggressions have not been used to analyze the experiences of adoptees in a bionormative society. A total of 156 interviews (males=75, females=81) and questionnaires of White adolescent adoptees in same-race families were analyzed using a mixed methods design. Study 1 used thematic analysis to discover 16 themes of microaggressions. Study 2 used the microaggression as the unit of analysis in chi squares to determine if …

Perceived Norms And Classroom Ethnic Composition, Thomas Christopher O'Brien

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Students’ perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations from teachers and school staff have been linked to a number of positive intergroup outcomes (Green, Adams, & Turner, 1988; Jugert, Noack, & Rutland, 2011). Additional studies testing the effects of ethnic proportions in classrooms show evidence for positive and negative intergroup outcomes between ethnic majority and ethnic minority students (e.g., Durkin et al., 2011; Vervoort, Scholte, & Scheepers, 2011). Still, research has yet to test simultaneously the effects of ethnic proportions in a classroom in conjunction with students’ subjective perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations. With a sample …

Predicting Social Behavior By Sound & Surface Appearance In Infancy, Ashley Lyons

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Our naïve theory of social behavior assumes that the positive and negative actions of others are caused by some underlying social disposition. Furthermore, adults automatically infer such traits in advance based upon whatever observable, even superficial, properties are available (e.g., how someone looks or sounds). The goal of the current study is to explore the developmental origins of this bias. We tested whether 12-month-old infants automatically infer a character’s social disposition (i.e., whether they ‘help’ or ‘hinder’ another character’s goal) based upon the superficial properties they display. Infants were habituated to two characters that possessed surface properties that were rated …

Self-Talk As A Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters, Ethan Kross, Emma Bruehlman-Senecal, Jiyoung Park, Aleah Burson, Adrienne Dougherty, Holly Shablack, Ryan Bremner, Jason Moser, Ozlem Ayduk

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Does the language people use to refer to the self during introspection influence how they think, feel, and behave under social stress? If so, do these effects extend to socially anxious people who are particularly vulnerable to such stress? Seven studies explored these questions (total N = 585). Studies 1a and 1b were proof-of-principle studies. They demonstrated that using non-first-person pronouns and one's own name (rather than first-person pronouns) during introspection enhances self-distancing. Studies 2 and 3 examined the implications of these different types of self-talk for regulating stress surrounding making good first impressions (Study 2) and public speaking (Study …