Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Psi Hitting And Missing: The Effects Of Belief, Order Of Run, And Previous Experience, Jaymes Parker

Masters Theses

The current study examined several variables to determine their effects on telepathy performance. Part I used groups of participants who attempted to telepathically send the location oftargets to a receiver selected randomly from the group. Fifteen sessions were conducted during which 9 receivers each completed 16 trials. It was hypothesized that an order effect would be present with increased missing during the first and last run of each session. It was also hypothesized that belief in mental telepathy would influence telepathy scores. Results indicated significant differences when comparing positions 1 and 9 with positions 2-8. Scores, while not significant, tended …

The Relationship Between Maximizing, Perfectionism, And Relationship Satisfaction, Tara Lynn Riddle

Masters Theses

The relationship between maximization and perfectionism to relationship choices was explored. Ninety-seven undergraduate introductory psychology students were administered the Maximization Scale (Schwartz, et al., 2002), Hendrick Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1991), Revised Almost Perfect Scale (Slaney, et al., 2001) and a brief demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that there is no significant relationship between maximization and relationship satisfaction, romantic relationship durations, or initiating relationship termination. In addition, perfectionism was not found to be related to choices in dating relationships. However, analyses did replicate prior research indicating a significant positive relationship between maximization and perfectionism (Schwartz, et al., 2002).

Is Pigmentation Important For Face Recognition? Evidence From Contrast Negation, Richard Russell, Pawan Sinha, Irving Biederman, Marissa Nederhouser

Psychology Faculty Publications

It is extraordinarily difficult to recognize a face in an image with negated contrast, as in a photographic negative. The variation among faces can be partitioned into two general sources: (a) shape and (b) surface reflectance, here termed 'pigmentation'. To determine whether negation differentially affects the processing of shape or pigmentation, we made two sets of faces where the individual faces differed only in shape in one set and only in pigmentation in the other. Surprisingly, matching performance was significantly impaired by contrast negation only when the faces varied in pigmentation. This provides evidence that the perception of pigmentation, not …

Authority Presence And The Effect On Prejudice, Nicole F. Hofman

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The current study analyzed the relationship between an authority figure's presence and the prevalence of prejudice when sentencing criminals. Eighteen undergraduate students (5 men and 13 women) aged 18 to 21 years, volunteered to participate in the study. Each participant completed the Implicit Association Test (lAT) and completed four fictitious criminal sentences. Significant support was not found for the current hypothesis, although more participants showed prejudice when the authority figure was absent compared to when the individual was present.Women showed prejudicial behavior more often then men when the authority figure was absent. Participants had a tendency to sentence longer for …

Memory Suggestibility In Entry-Level Rotc Students, M.A. Johanson, B.M. Mahaffy

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the current study was to test the theory that asking leading questions shortly after watching a video clip concerned with military safety will alter the viewer's memory of the events. This study was specifically directed toward a military population and used a military video clip. College students (10 men and 5 women) enrolled in entry-level ROTC classes volunteered to participate. Half of the students participating received questionnaires with leading questions and half did not. Contrary to the predicted hypothesis, the difference found between the numbers of correct answers on the two different questionnaires was not statistically significant.

The Psychological Assessment Of Applicants For Priesthood And Religious Life, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The recent clergy sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church have focused a great deal of attention on how we evaluate applicants to the priesthood and religious life. The crisis has underscored the critical need to ensure that men who have a sexual predilection towards children be barred from entering religious life and priesthood. Additionally, men who have other significant psychiatric conditions that put them at risk of harming children or others have no place as Church leaders or clergy in positions where they have access to and power over vulnerable others.

Self-Efficacy And Adult Development, Daniel Cervone, Daniele Artistico, Jane M. Berry

Psychology Faculty Publications

A major theme in the contemporary study of human development across the life span is that people have the capacity for personal agency. Innumerable writers emphasize that individuals can exert intentional influence over their experiences and actions, the circumstances they encounter, the skills they acquire, and thus ultimately the course of their development.

The Missing Person In The Conversation: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., And The Dialogical Self, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Wiley (2006) has argued for a relationship between pragmatism and the dialogical self, noting that both are rooted in the thought of William James and Charles S. Peirce. This commentary delves into the possible connection between James’s and Peirce’s ideas as well as the probable influence of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., on the development of dialogical conceptions of the self.

Shopping Motivations And Their Influence On Shopping Experience In Australia And Indonesia, Tjong Budisantoso

Theses

The main focus of this study is on motivation. In particular, the study aims to investigate the relationship between the in-store experience of shoppers and their motivation for shopping. The in-store experience as defined in this study includes the perception of store atmosphere and cognitive responses. Another interest of the study is to test the relationship between cognitive responses and store atmosphere in two different countries. Lastly, this study explores the relationship between in-store experience and store patronage satisfaction, which in turn can influence shoppers’ repatronage intention. All the hypotheses in this study have been tested in Perth, Australia and …

Survey Of Teacher Attitude Regarding Inclusive Education Within An Urban School District, Evangeline Kern

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

It is anticipated that inclusion will become more prevalent in classrooms over the next ten years as a result of increasingly stringent federal and state mandates. In order for inclusion to result in adequate yearly progress for all subgroups, it must be implemented properly. Research has demonstrated that a key component for proper implementation is an understanding of baseline attitudes regarding inclusive education held by teachers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of K-12 regular and special education teachers regarding inclusive education, in an urban Pennsylvania school district, the Chester Upland School District. The study examines …

Communicating Feelings: Links Between Mothers' Representations Of Their Infants, Parenting, And Infant Emotional Development, Katherine L. Rosenblum, Carolyn Joy Dayton, Susan Mcdonough

Social Work Faculty Publications

In the present chapter we explore how mothers' internal working models of their seven-month-old infants organize emotions in the parenting context, and ultimately, influence infant emotion regulation. We propose that mothers' internal working models of their infants function as emotion regulators, and influence a variety of components of the affective organization of parenting, including a) maternal emotion activation, b) qualities of maternal emotional engagement with their infants, and c) emotion regulation strategies mothers employ during emotionally challenging interactions. Results underscore the important role played by emotional processes in explaining the correspondence between maternal and infant emotion regulation strategies.

The Effect Of Induced Self-Awareness On Deception Detection, Allyson Leigh Barnacz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Previous research has indicated a relationship between mirror self-recognition and self-awareness (awareness of one's own mind). Theory of Mind (awareness of another's mind; ToM) may be related to both self-awareness and self recognition such that facilitation of self-awareness may be related to a facilitation of ToM. Buckle (1997) found that the relationship between self-recognition and self awareness could be manipulated acutely via a mirror. In her study, Buckle found that participants exposed to a mirror outperformed controls in an episodic memory task (a measure of self-awareness). In the current study, mirror exposure was manipulated to determine if self-exposure would facilitate …

The Development Of Perfectionism Among Adolescents: Comparing The Influence Of Friends And Parents, Heather Kwoka '06

Honors Projects

This study investigated the development of perfectionism in adolescence by examining the associations between perfectionism, parenting styles, and friendship experiences. Furthermore, this study investigated the nature of perfectionism by examining whether internal psychological characteristics (i.e., loneliness, depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-esteem, and life satisfaction) were associated with the development of types of perfectionism (i.e., adaptive and maladaptive) or orientations of perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented or socially prescribed). Gender differences regarding each of these components were also explored. Questionnaires were completed by sixth, seventh, and eighth grade adolescents that measured perfectionism, internal psychological characteristics, perspective on parenting styles, and friendship quality. Three general …

The Relationship Between Gay-Related Stress And Ethnicity For Homosexual And Bisexual Males, Keyona Jarrett '06

Honors Projects

This was a two-part study that aimed to explore the relations between ethnicity and internal and external gay-related stress for homosexual and bisexual males. In the first study, ethnic participants exhibited more internal and external gay-related stress than Caucasian participants. Ethnicity was found to be closely related to internal gay-related stress, and less related to external gay-related stress. In the second study, which' was a secondary analysis of data from the Lighthouse Institute, ethnicity and/or sexual orientation did not seem to be closely related to substance abuse or mental/emotional health issues.

The Perceived Attractiveness Of Adult Facial Prototypes, Ashley Whittington '06

Honors Projects

This study investigated attractiveness ratings of individual faces and facial prototypes while controlling for symmetry. Symmetry was controlled by comparing symmetric individual faces to prototypes composed of 2, 4, 8, and 16 symmetric faces, morphed together by blending facial features such as eyes, nose, eyebrows, mouth, and outer contour. Adult male and female participants (N = 139, M age = 19.12 years) viewed stimuli presented on a computer monitor and rated the attractiveness of each facial stimuli on a 10 point scale, with higher values representing increased attractiveness. Results indicated that attractiveness ratings increased as the number of faces in …

The Hippocampus Supports Both The Recollection And The Familiarity Components Of Recognition Memory, Peter E. Wais, John T. Wixted, Ramona O. Hopkins, Larry R. Squire

Faculty Publications

The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) has been used to investigate the component processes of recognition memory. Some studies with this technique have been taken to indicate that the hippocampus selectively supports the process of recollection, whereas adjacent cortex in the parahippocampal gyrus supports the process of familiarity. We analyzed ROC data from young adults, memory-impaired patients with limited hippocampal lesions, and age-matched controls. The shape of the ROC changed in similar ways from asymmetric to symmetric, as a function of the strength of memory (strong to weak) in both the young adults and the patients. Moreover, once overall memory strength …

The Relationship Between Sexual Behavior And Relational Aggression In College Students, Hiliary Baethke

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Although the study of relational aggression has been the subject of more research since Crick and Grotpeter (1995) first defined the term, the impact of this form of aggression on college students is still an area that requires more study. Relational aggression is defined as "harming others through purposeful manipulation and damage of their peer relationships" (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Current research on relational aggression has established that women are more likely to engage in relational aggression then men (Crick, Bigbee, & Howes, 1996). While research has typically focused on the impact of relational aggression on friendship groups, the impact …

Esclerosis Múltiple En Niños: Clarificando Su Ubicación Dentro Del Espectro Desmielinizante. [Multiple Sclerosis In Children: Clarifying Its Place Among The Demyelinating Spectrum.], Joaquín A. Peña, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, María Elena Ravelo, Solmary González, Eduardo Mora La-Cruz

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

La Esclerosis múltiple (EM), es una enfermedad de naturaleza autoinmune debida a la destrucción de la capa de mielina y de las fibras nerviosas y, secundariamente, a un daño neuronal progresivo. Se caracteriza por la ocurrencia sucesiva de focos de desmielinización diseminados en tiempo y espacio en varias áreas de la sustancia blanca del SNC, incluyendo la región peri ventricular, médula espinal, tronco encefálico, cerebelo y nervio óptico. Como el diagnóstico en edad pediátrica es mucho más difícil debido a la mayor frecuencia de pacientes con Encefalomielitis Aguda Diseminada (EMAD), y al mayor reto que enfrenta el médico para tratar …

El Arte De Criar Hijos Felices: Equilibrio Entre Disciplina Y Afecto, Cecilia Montiel-Nava

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Objetivos de Este Libro: A pesar de que este es un libro escrito para padres de niños entre 2 y 8 años que puedan estar experimentando dificultades en el manejo de sus niños; la idea central no es convertir súbita y repentinamente a los niños es obras perfectas sin ningún problema, el lograr que los padres sientan y ejerzan control justo y lógico sobre sus hijos. Las metas de este libro son: 1) Mejorar las destrezas de los padres para manejar y convivir con niños con problemas de conducta, especialmente con aquellos niños desobedientes y con actitudes retadoras y desafiantes. …

Fine Art And Processing Fluency: Symmetry And Contrast Influence Preference In Paintings, Jennifer Ann Grossheim

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

How do we discern beauty? The question has been debated by competing theorists throughout the years. Recently, Reber, Schwarz, and Winkielman (2004) have proposed that beauty is a function of an individual's processing fluency. In other words, the more easily one first processes an image the more beautiful it is judged to be. The current research aimed to tests this hypothesis using selected works of fine art. Using self-reports, responses to altered and unaltered images were recorded. Images were either left intact or altered in order to reduce or increase their symmetry or figure-ground contrast-two elements considered to be hallmarks …

How Children's Programs At Churches Promote Resilience And How They Can Be Enhanced, Dawn Blanton

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Sunday School teachers, their students, administrators and clergy in three Protestant churches were interviewed to discover the degree to which the cognitive, emotional, and material aspects which promote resilience in youths (Laursen & Birmingham, 2003) were incorporated into their programs. The results suggested that churches do possess attributes that promote healthy cognitive and emotional development in children. In addition, every church provided for the material needs of the children in their church and community. Thus, churches are important community resources for at-risk children that can help promote resiliency. Recommendations are made for improvement of the programs. More generally, a model …

Diminished Nicotine Withdrawal In Adolescent Rats: Implications For Vulnerability To Addiction, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of In-Service Training On Burnout At The Institute Of Public Administration, Maghram M. Al-Amri

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to assess the effects of training on burnout and job satisfaction by conducting pre- and post-tests of participants in various training programs provided by the Institute for Public Administration (IPA). This study used a Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) modified survey. The results suggested that the burnout levels among trainees after the professional in-service training program were not significantly different from the burnout level before the professional in-service training. At the organizational level, the findings supported a relationship between burnout and promotion, departmental and organizational tenure, age, and changing jobs and organizations. This study provided some valuable …

Decision-Making Styles In A Real-Life Decision: Choosing A College Major, Kathleen M. Galotti, Elizabeth Ciner, Hope E. Altenbaumer, Heather J. Geerts, Allison Rupp, Julie Woulfe

Cognitive Science Faculty Work

Undergraduate students were surveyed at the beginning stages of a potentially life-framing decision: choosing a college major. We investigated the relationships among individual difference variables (decision-making styles, planning proclivities, and epistemological orientations), cognitive measures of performance (e.g., amount of information gathered and considered); and affective reactions to, and descriptive ratings of, the decision-making process. There were few significant relationships between individual differences and performance measures. However, there were significant relationships found between individual differences measures and affective reactions to, or descriptive ratings of, the decision-making process. We suggest that stylistic measures have their effects in the way individuals frame the …

Teaching Quantitative Reasoning: How To Make Psychology Statistically Significant, Neil Lutsky

Psychology Faculty Work

No abstract provided.

Global And Local Processing In Adult Humans (Homo Sapiens), 5-Year Old Children (Homo Sapiens), And Adult Cotton Top Tamarins (Saguinus Oedipus), Julie J. Neiworth, Amy J. Gleichman, Anne S. Olinick, Kristen E. Lamb

Psychology Faculty Work

This study compared adults (Homo sapiens), young children (Homo sapiens), and adult tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) while they discriminated global and local properties of stimuli. Subjects were trained to discriminate a circle made of circle elements from a square made of square elements and were tested with circles made of squares and squares made of circles. Adult humans showed a global bias in testing that was unaffected by the density of the elements in the stimuli. Children showed a global bias with dense displays but discriminated by both local and global properties with sparse displays. Adult tamarins’ biases matched those of …

The Impact Of Letter Detection On Eye Movement Patterns During Reading: Reconsidering Lexical Analysis In Connected Text As A Function Of Task, Seth N. Greenberg, Albrecht Inhoff, Ulrich W. Weger

Psychology Faculty Work

A comparison was made between reading tasks performed with and without the additional requirement of detecting target letters. At issue was whether eye movement measures are affected by the additional requirement of detection. Global comparisons showed robust effects of task type with longer fixations and fewer word skippings when letter detection was required. Detailed analyses of target words, however, further showed that reading with and without letter detection yielded virtually identical effects of word class and text predictability for word-skipping rate and similar effects for different word viewing duration measures. The overall oculomotor pattern suggested that detection does not substantially …

Stereotype Susceptibility Narrows The Gender Gap In Imagined Self-Rotation Performance, Maryjane Wraga, Lauren Duncan, Emily C. Jacobs, Molly Helt, Jessica Church

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Three studies examined the impact of stereotype messages on men's and women's performance of a mental rotation task involving imagined self-rotations. Experiment 1 established baseline differences between men and women; women made 12% more errors than did men. Experiment 2 found that exposure to a positive stereotype message enhanced women's performance in comparison with that of another group of women who received neutral information. In Experiment 3, men who were exposed to the same stereotype message emphasizing a female advantage made more errors than did male controls, and the magnitude of error was similar to that for women from Experiment …

Developmental Needs Of Adolescents And Media, Laura M. Padilla-Walker

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Adolescence is marked by a number of physical, cognitive, and social changes that interact to create a number of developmental needs specific to this age group. As adolescents seek to define themselves independently of their parents, they often turn to media as sources of self-socialization and of messages about their identity in terms of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. Although parents and peers remain influential during this transition, this entry focuses on adolescents’ use of media to navigate developmental changes and cope with the daily difficulties of being teenagers, and on the role of media in shaping adolescents’ development of identity …

Cognitive, Emotional, And Quality Of Life Outcomes In Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Joanne White, Ramona O. Hopkins, Eric G. Glissmeyer, Natalie Kitterman, C. Gregory Elliott

Faculty Publications

Background: The effects of pulmonary arterial hypertension on cardiovascular and physical function are well documented. Limited information exists regarding the effects of pulmonary arterial hypertension on cognitive function despite patient reports of problems with memory and attention. Our primary purpose was to determine if a prospectively identified cohort of pulmonary arterial hypertension patients had cognitive sequelae. Our secondary purpose was to determine the relationships between cognitive sequelae and neuropsychological test scores with depression, anxiety, and quality of life.

Methods: Forty-six adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension underwent assessment of cognitive function, depression, anxiety, and quality of life using standardized neuropsychological tests …