Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effect Of The Reciprocity Norm And Guided Imagery On The Development Of Implanted Memories In Children, Misty Christina Duke

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has shown that the use of guided imagery can create source monitoring errors in adults and induce false memories for events that never occurred. Research has also shown that some forms of social influence can induce suggestibility in children. The current study examined whether guided imagery and a social influence technique involving the norm of reciprocity could induce the formation of false memories in children. One hundred sixteen first- and second-grade children were interviewed twice and asked to freely recall three true events as well as one false event that they were told was true. Interviewers used guided …

Assessing The Measurement Invariance Of The Modern Homonegativity Scale, Daniel Hugo Romero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Lesbians and gay men experience psychological distress due to sexual prejudice. Variables that predict negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians are masculinity, religious background, conservative political affiliation, lack of contact with gay men and lesbians, age, and the belief that homosexuality is a choice. However, one important variable that has demonstrated inconsistent results is the sex of the person holding the attitude. Many studies have examined and proposed reasons why there are sex differences related to attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, but none has taken into account whether attitude scales measure the same construct equally between males and …

Group Decision Making In The Jury Context: A Combined Theoretical Approach, Larissa Angelique Schmersal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Much of the extant research on jury decision making has been conducted at the juror level, examining the individual decisions of mock jurors. Although studying mock juror decisions provides initial insight into jury decision making, studying the deliberation process should be a priority for future research. Few theoretical models have been developed to examine the decision process of the jury. The social combination and the social communication approaches provide some insight into this process; however, analysis of these methods is scarce due, in part, to their limited applicability.

The current study examined the jury deliberation using a combined theoretical approach. …

Hemispheric Asymmetry Of The Affective Priming Effect, David R. Herring

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined the role of prime strength on the lateralized affective priming effect. Participants were presented unilateral primes (i.e., either to the left or right visual field) and then made evaluative decisions on centrally presented targets. Across both experiments, the affective congruity effect occurred for high, but not low, arousing primes. In Experiment 1, when stimuli were primes or targets but not both, the affective priming effect occurred in the right visual field (left hemisphere) for high arousing primes. However in Experiment 2, when stimuli were presented as both primes and targets receiving repeated parafoveal and foveal exposure …

The Effect Of Dichotomous Versus Likert Response Format On The Measurement Of Socially Desirable Response Bias, Celia Medrano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Socially Desirable Responding (SDR) is defined as a biased tendency to endorse personality inventory items that are generally judged to be socially acceptable, and to avoid endorsing items that are judged to be socially undesirable. Rare Virtue (RV) scales, such as the MMPI-2 Lie scale, have been designed to detect SDR. The items of such scales, called RV items, typically invite respondents to claim unlikely virtues or deny common faults. The present study hypothesized that RV items perform much differently when a Dichotomous response format (e.g., true/false) is used than when a Likert response format is used. A total of …

Studying Rape Through A Theorectical Lens: The Development Of A Serial Rape Model Using Fbi Data, Brooke Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current study assessed whether there is an empirical foundation for different theories of rape including the feminist, evolutionary, social disorganization, psychopathy, and rapist type theories. Using a data set from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on serial rapists collected in the early 1990's, the study included two phases. The first phase assessed whether FBI data supported the previously mentioned theories of rape by analyzing associations between individual variables that are thought to support each theory. Support was demonstrated for the evolutionary and psychopathy theories. Using MPlus statistical software to accommodate the multi-level nature of the data, the second …

The Role Of Perceptual Processes In The Use Of And Willingness To Use Professional Health Care Services, Luis Omar Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

To better address ethnic health disparities, it is imperative that we understand the psychological processes that shape people's use of and willingness to use professional health care services. The current research proposes and tests a model in which people's attentional orientation toward context discourages them from seeking professional health care services because (a) attentional orientation toward context encourages people to attribute symptoms of illness to external/environmental factors and (b) attributing symptoms of illness to external/environmental factors is associated with less use of professional health care services. The results of two studies show mixed support for the proposed model. Consistent with …

Examination Of Investigative Interviewing Techniques For Use In Secondary Screening For Malintent, Allyson Judith Horgan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There has been a renewed focus on the development of innovative screening procedures and technologies since the September 11th attacks. While attention has been placed on the need for more effective screening methods, there has been a lack of research on screening for future intent, which is remarkable given its importance to national security (Granhag, 2010; Martin, Martin, & Coskren, 2007). The current project draws on previous research on deception detection and investigative interviewing, as well as recent research on false intent in order to investigate the utility of several interviewing methods in screening for intent. Participants (N = 144) …

The Role Of Cross-Language Activation In Syntactic Ambiguity, Li-Hao Yeh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There is much evidence demonstrating that bilinguals activate lexical representations from both of their languages in a non-selective manner even in sentence context. Comparatively less research has examined the extent to which bilingual lexical representations interacts with syntactic processing in sentence context. The purpose of this study is to examine whether bilinguals' cross-language lexical activation could influence their resolution of syntactic ambiguity (e.g. relative clause attachment). Proper attachment of relative clauses (RC) to noun phrases is critical for accurate interpretation of syntactically ambiguous sentences. For instance, the sentence The robber shot the secretary of my husband who goes to work …

Craving Effect Of Unintentional Smoking Cues In Antismoking Images In Light Smokers, Francisco Isaac Salgado-Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tobacco use is considered the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the nation. According to cue-reactivity models, environmental stimuli associated with smoking may elicit cravings in smokers. Antismoking advertisements, may also elicit cravings in smokers because of unintentional use of smoking cues, which may promote smoking maintenance and hinder quitting attempts. The purpose of this study is to assess if cue-reactivity elicits cravings in light and intermittent smokers and if impulsivity serves as a moderator. Data from 155 participants who reported smoking at least once in the past week to 10 cigarettes per day were collected. …

Children's Reinforcement-Induced Suggestibility: Its Developmental Trajectory And Relation To Individual Differences, Elizabeth Rose Uhl

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Research has shown that reinforcement by interviewers can lead children to make false allegations of wrong doing (e.g., Garven, Wood, & Malpass, 2000). The current study examined the developmental trajectory of reinforcement-induced suggestibility and its relation to individual differences among children. Forty-eight kindergarteners, 52 second graders, and 54 fourth graders viewed a science demonstration by a young man introduced as "Paco Perez." One week later they were interviewed about the visit with misleading questions that suggested Paco had engaged in wrongdoing. Half of the children were interviewed using reinforcement; the other half did not receive reinforcement. Two weeks after Paco's …

Predictors Of Recidivism In A Predominantly Hispanic Sample Of First-Time Juvenile Offenders, Yvette Valenzuela

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Prior studies have identified risk factors that predict recidivism among serious and chronic juvenile offenders. The current study was conducted to identify risk factors in a related but much larger group -- first time juvenile offenders. The aim was to develop a risk assessment tool that could identify (a) high-risk juveniles when they are first referred to the juvenile justice system, so that they can be targeted for intervention, and (b) low-risk juveniles who probably do not need intervention. Participants in the study were 321 first-time juvenile offenders at the El Paso Juvenile Probation Department (EPJPD). Eighty-nine percent of the …

Bilingual Homonym Disambiguation At The Discourse Level, Yvette Aguilar Baca

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of global context and local context on the time course of activation of cognate homonyms for bilingual readers. Of interest was whether meaning frequency, context, and cross-language activation modulated the time course of activation of the subordinate meaning of cognate homonyms. Also, whether the subordinate bias effect would be altered or even eliminated by the combined influence of such contextual factors and cross-language activation. Eye movements of Spanish-English bilinguals were measured using an eye-tracking device while they read English paragraphs. The paragraphs contained cognate homonyms (e.g. novel/novela), cognate non-homonyms (e.g. …

The Multidimensional Measure Of Internalized Hiv Stigma In English And Spanish: Measurement Invariance And Other Psychometric Properties, Elsa Martin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Efforts to increase the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) as well as prevention efforts have recently focused on HIV-related stigma. Sayles et al. (2008) developed the Multidimensional Measure or Internalized HIV Stigma (MMIHS), a measure of HIV-related stigma that is sensitive to minorities, women, and people with limited income. This study evaluated the four-factor structure presented by Sayles et al. (2008) on data collected from 269 HIV–positive individuals, and also validated a Spanish translation of the measure using a measurement invariance method. In addition to stigma, this study also collected information regarding depressive symptoms, HIV …

Indentifying And Understanding User Preferences In Generic Planning Tools, Grisel Ventura

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Planning is an important cognitive work activity. To support this complex task, the development of planning tools is important to support people during decision-making and problem-solving tasks. Nowadays, a large number of manual and electronic tools support this complex activity; manual and electronic planning tools aid people in creating strategies for effective work performance. However, there is limited information on the design of generic planning tools people use for their activities, and why people choose to use the planning tool they do. Some examples of generic tools for planning are calendars, checklists, agendas, etc.

To answer this question, this research …