Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceptions Of The Cognitive, Social, And Physical Competence Of Speech Impaired Individuals, Sherri Scofield

HIM 1990-2015

Listeners' perceptions of the cognitive, social, and physical competence of a speech impaired individual were investigated. Thirty-eight adults (31 female and 7 male) between 19 and 51 years of age listened to prerecorded audiotape interviews; one with a speech impaired speaker, or one with a normally speaking peer. Listeners rated the perceived cognitive, social, and physical competence of both a speech impaired speaker and a normal speaker using a modified version of the Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Competence. An independent two-sample t-test statistic resulted in significant difference between the groups in cognitive, social, and physical competence subscales. The …

Parental Attributions And Discipline Of Child Behavior, Arazais Oliveros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extant empirical evidence suggests that multiple risk and protective factors implicated in children's development of behavior problems are intertwined. This study, therefore, investigated the relationships among parental depression and anger, attributions of control, discipline, parent-child relationship variables, and children's behavior problems. Results were based on the responses of parents (55 mothers and 13 fathers) with children in Head Start and parents (52 mothers and 4 fathers) with children in Private School settings. All parents had children who ranged in age from 3- to 8-years. Compared to Private School parents, Head Start parents had lower levels of nonviolent discipline, involvement, and …

The Effects Of Exposure To Feminist Ideology On Women's Body Image, Rachel Diane Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body image disturbance has become an increasing problem among women (Cash & Henry, 1995). Thus researchers have begun to focus on methods of prevention and intervention. Programs utilizing psychoeducation and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, for example, have been found to reduce body image dissatisfaction and related symptomatology. The information provided and potential impact are limited, however, because the interventions do not offer women an adaptive method of interpreting the many appearance-related messages they experience. This study sought to determine if exposure to feminist theory of body image may act as a buffer – a filter through which cultural messages about …

College Students' Well Being: The Role Of Parent-College Student Expectation Discrepancies And Communication, Allison Kanter Agliata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental influence on college students' well being is underestimated frequently in the developmental literature. College students often set social and academic goals according to their perception of what their parents expect from them. The discrepancy between college students' performance and their perceptions of parents' expectations can impact their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to examine various parent-college student expectation discrepancies and communication levels as predictors for college students' psychological well being. Results revealed that college students reported experiencing higher levels of anger, depression, and anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem and college adjustment when higher expectation-performance …

Performance Implications Of Alternative Color-Codesin Airport X-Ray Baggage Screening, Matthew Hilscher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated both cognitive and affective influences of alternative color combinations in a search task paradigm. The effects of re-mapping the existing, comparatively arbitrarily color codes of baggage X-ray images, were explored. Alternative color-codes were evaluated for improving the economy of visual search in X-ray baggage screening. Using a 2 x 2 between-groups design, the perceptual aspects of color-codes varying in degree of visual agreeability (accordant or discordant) and color contrast (high or low) were examined in terms of effectiveness (detection accuracy) and efficiency (reaction time). Three hypotheses were put forth; two postulated main effects for color contrast and …

Non-Acute Cognitive Sequelae Associated With Recreational Ecstasy Use: A Meta-Analysis, Tiffany Leigh Linkovich Kyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies using animal models have found considerable evidence of neurological damage resulting from exposure to 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy). Yet, studies comparing the cognitive performance of human recreational ecstasy users to ecstasy naïve controls have produced inconsistent results. The present study is a meta-analysis of the published empirical literature on the cognitive sequelae of human recreational ecstasy use. The pooled effect size estimate for combined cognitive domains was statistically significant and moderate in size. Small to large, statistically significant aggregate effect sizes resulted for eight of the nine cognitive ability domains included in the analysis. Moderator analyses suggested that frequent …

Empirical Modeling Of A Marijuana Expectancy Memory Network In Children As A Function Of Age And Marijuana Use, Jacqueline Alfonso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present investigation modeled the expectancy memory organization and likely memory activation patterns of marijuana expectancies of children across age and marijuana use. The first phase of the study surveyed 142 children to obtain their first associate to marijuana use. From their responses, the Marijuana Expectancy Inventory for Children and Adolescents (MEICA) was developed. The second phase of the study administered the MEICA to a second sample of 392 children to model marijuana expectancy organization and probable memory activation paths of marijuana users versus never-users. Results indicated that irrespective of age, adolescents who have used marijuana tend to emphasize positive-negative …

Acculturation, Social Acceptance, And Adjustment Of Early Adolescents, Jenny Klein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A majority of research regarding disruptive behavior disorders in youth has focused primarily upon Caucasian children and adolescents. As a result, more investigation of the unique characteristics of youth from ethnically diverse backgrounds, particularly those from Hispanic American and African American backgrounds, is needed (Balls Organista, Organista, & Kurasaki, 2003). This study investigated the relationships between several characteristics (e.g., ethnic identity, socioeconomic status, social acceptance, and emotional and behavioral symptoms) of early adolescents belonging to diverse ethnic groups. Results suggested that socioeconomic status and degree of early adolescents' social acceptance were important factors in predicting the development of internalizing and …

Investigating The Effects Of 3-D Spatialized Auditory Cues On The Development Of Situation Awareness For Teams, Laura Milham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the effects of spatialized auditory cues on the development of situation awareness for teams. Based on extant research, it was hypothesized that 3-D spatialized auditory cues can be utilized by teams to develop knowledge about team member location in addition to supporting the usage of team behaviors for developing and maintaining situation awareness. Accordingly, the study examined how situation awareness would be differentially influenced by varying the type of auditory cues incorporated into virtual environment (VE) team training scenarios within the context of a MOUT team task. In general, the results of this study provided partial support …

An Hedonomic Evaluation Of Pleasurable Human-Technology Experience: The Effect Of Exposure And Aesthetics On The Experience Of Flow, Lauren Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A framework was developed called the Extended Hedonomic Hierarchy (EHH) that provides a basis for evaluating pleasurable human-system experience. Results from a number of experiments within this framework that evaluated specific dimensions of the framework are reported. The 'Exposure' component of the EHH framework and hedonics of the system were investigated to see how changes would affect other dimensions, such as the occurrence of flow, the mode of interaction, and the needs of the user. Simulations and video games were used to investigate how repeated exposure affects flow, interaction mode, and the user needs. The Kansei Engineering method was used …

Rejection In The Job Selection Process: The Effects Of Information & Sensitivity, Clayton Yonce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most people will experience rejection in the job selection process. Rejection from job opportunities is often issued via a letter from a hiring manager. These letters elicit reactions from applicants who may, in turn, have less favorable self perceptions and less favorable perceptions of the organization from which the applicant was rejected. Numerous research articles have been published that deal with delivering notification of selection and/or rejection to applicants in the job selection process. However, relatively few use a realistic laboratory design to obtain results. This study examined the effects of sensitivity and information in notifications of rejection when applicants …

Examining The Impact Of Parental Involvement In A Dual Language Program: Implications For Children And Schools, Juan F. Casas, Carey S. Ryan, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Bridget O. Ryalls, Angela Ferguson, Collette Nero

Faculty Books and Monographs

Most native-born, English-speaking Americans – if they understood that developing the native language is good for English and good for longterm academic achievement – would support bilingual education. The problem is, almost none of them have heard the case. They have only heard the disinformation, coming from people who oppose these programs for extraneous (i.e., political) reasons (James Crawford, 1999).

Color's Influence On Short-Term Memory In Each Gender, Ryan W. Schroeder

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study evaluated links between gender and short-term memory using coloration of three groups of 12 stimuli: numbers, non-emotion based words, and nonsense syllables. The participants were undergraduate students enrolled at South Dakota State University.The participants viewed these colored stimuli and recalled as many as possible.Using a between subjects design, each group of participants was assigned a specific color.When interpreted with an ANOVA and post-hoc t-tests, neither gender nor color significantly altered recall of stimuli.

Devotion To Tibetan Lamas, Self Psychology, And Healing In The United States, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

This essay offers an alternative, self psychological model for understanding the possible healing dynamics of the guru-disciple relationship. Previous psychological studies often have interpreted the devotion of Americans to Eastern gurus as inherently enriching pathology for the disciple, yet this understanding does not helpfully explicate much data derived from more than two years of ethnographic fieldwork at a Tibetan Buddhist center in the United States. Instead, re-exploration of the dynamics of the transference and the vicissitudes of Buddhist practice for disciples reveals positive healing processes for some disciples as a result of guru devotion practice.

Patient Perceptions Of Receiving Bad News : Individual Coping Styles And Receiving The Diagnosis Of Cancer , Kyle B. Holsinger

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States (CDC, 2005). Physicians who disclose the cancer diagnosis to patients are faced with limited professional training and few consensus clinical guidelines for communicating this diagnosis to their patients (Buckman, 1992; Girgis, Sanson-Fisher, & Schofield, 1999). Use of guidelines for delivering bad news and tailoring the bad news message to individual patients is recommended, but it is unclear if this is followed in the medical community (Baile, Lenzi, Parker, Buckman, & Cohen, 2002). The current study was conducted through a mail-in survey, of 186 surveys delivered, 111 were returned, …

Effects Of Background Music On Spatial And Linguistic Processing, Leslie A. Angel, Donald J. Polzella, Greg C. Elvers

Psychology Faculty Publications

Poster session presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society. College students were trained according to one of two standardized task protocols: spatial (mental rotation) or linguistic (letter classification).Testing consisted of multiple randomized trials with and without background music (classical piano) at two levels of task difficulty. Raw data for both tasks were response time and accuracy. Background music increased the speed of spatial processing at both difficulty levels, while accuracy of processing remained unaffected. In contrast, background music increased the accuracy of linguistic processing, while speed of processing remained unaffected. These findings, integrated with those of a previous experiment …

The Effect Of Color On Viewers’ Ratings Of Paintings, Donald J. Polzella, Stephanie H. Hammar, Chad W. Hinkle

Psychology Faculty Publications

Sixty college students rated digitized facsimiles of 20 paintings on 12 semantic differential scales. The paintings represented two classes of content, landscape and portrait, and two styles, traditional and modern. Half the participants viewed the paintings in color, half in black and white. Removing color from portraits increased their perceived pleasantness and beauty and reduced tension. In contrast, removing color from landscapes reduced their perceived beauty. It is argued that for landscapes color may provide a critical channel for transmitting increased amounts of information such as depth. For portraits, color can be superfluous or even distracting.

The Effect Of Pretense On The Creativity Of Storytelling In Preschool And Kindergarten-Age Children, Storm R. Ross

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Previous research suggests a link between pretense and the creative behavior of children, such as associative fluency. Most results show that children who engaged in pretense prior to an associative fluency task gave more nonstandard uses for play objects than children who engaged in imitation play or coloring. However, the effect of pretense play on other forms of creativity has not been extensively researched. One such form of creativity is storytelling.

The present study examined the relationship between pretense and storytelling. It was hypothesized that the stories a child tells after engaging in pretense play would be ranked and rated …

Handbook Of Field-Based Training Experiences In School Psychology, Nova Southeastern University

College of Psychological Services / College of Psychology Postgraduate Student and Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Relative Efficacy Of School-Home Notes And Classroom Based Contingencies In Low-Income Elementary School Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Jennette Lea Palcic

LSU Master's Theses

A great deal of evidence suggests that ADHD negatively impacts children’s academic performance and on-task behavior. School-home notes have proven to be an effective and acceptable method of classroom behavior management. A school-home note is a daily report card in which a teacher rates a student on any number of target behaviors. The note is then sent home so that the child may receive consequences contingent on that day's behavior. Although successful at decreasing off-task behavior in the classroom, treatment integrity is not always maintained at acceptable levels. Additionally, ADHD children have been shown to be more responsive to immediate …

An Examination Of Psychotropic Medication Prescription Practices Among Individuals With Mental Retardation, Ashvind Nand Singh

LSU Master's Theses

While there is an extensive literature on the use of psychotropic medications among individuals with mental retardation, little of it has focused on the reasons for these prescriptions. Researchers have shown that the prevalence of psychotropic medication use among individuals with mental retardation is relatively high when compared to people with other disabilities and that the reasons for these drug prescriptions may not be based on rational pharmacotherapy. Data is needed on the prescribing physician’s adherence to consensus guidelines or algorithms developed to enhance rational psychopharmacotherapy. In order to do this, the rationales being used by physicians when they decide …

Mothers' Social Framing, Frequency Of Mother-Child Conversations About Peers, And Preschool Aged Children's Attribution Tendencies, Lisa Lemme

Theses : Honours

In an attempt to fill a gap in the social information processing literature, the present study investigated whether mother-child communication is related to children's attribution tendencies in ambiguous, negative social situations. Measures of mothers' social framing, frequency of mother-child conversations about peers, and children's hostile attributions of intent were scored for 45 mother-child dyads. The results showed that mothers' social framing was a key predictor of preschool children's attribution tendencies. However, frequency of mother-child conversations about peers was not a significant predictor of preschool children's attribution tendencies. Overall, the results of this study provide support for mothers' social framing as …

Relationships Among Performance On Simulated Tasks Of Decision-Making, Positive Outcome Expectancies For Mdma, And Age Of First Mdma Use, Scott Michael Patterson

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among 3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use patterns and beliefs, the Gambling Task, the delay discounting task, and the Adult Self-Report (ASR). Sixty-eight college students completed measures of substance use, social desirability, the MDMA Beliefs Questionnaire (MDMA-BQ), the Gambling Task, the delay discounting task, and the ASR. Contrary to predictions, participants who had used MDMA at least once did not vary from those who had never used MDMA on the Gambling Task, the delay discounting task, or the ASR. As predicted, MDMA users’ outcome expectancies for MDMA significantly differed from non-users. MDMA-BQ scales and …

An Exploration Of Impediments To Attachment In A Juvenile Offender Population: Comparisons Between Juvenile Sex Offenders, Juvenile Violent Offenders And Juvenile Non-Sex, Non-Violent Offenders, Sharon Kay Funari

Theses and Dissertations

This current study addresses potential impediments to attachment that may differentiate between incarcerated juveniles who have committed sexual crimes and incarcerated juveniles who have not committed such offenses. The exploration of such potential barriers to attachment has been organized around Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model. Subjects were 2948 incarcerated male adolescents adjudicated to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice and were divided based solely upon adjudicating offense: Juvenile non-violent, non-sexual offenders (JNVNSO, n=1149), Juvenile violent, non-sexual offenders (JVNSO, n=1433) and Juvenile sexual offenders (JSO, n=366). Results indicated that JSOs differed from JNVNSOs and JVNSOs in their histories of sexual abuse as well …

Substance Abuse And Psychosocial Factors In The Hepatitis C Population: Identifying Risk Factors In Disease Severity And Quality Of Life, Jill Courtney Clarida

Theses and Dissertations

Hepatitis C is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the United States. Research has focused on contributing factors to the development and progression of liver disease, but few studies have considered nicotine use as a potential prognostic factor with CHC. Research has commonly found that CHC patients report with a diminished quality of life. Several factors have been proposed to account for a decrease in QOL; however, the mechanisms underlying the impairment in QOL have not yet been elicited. 76 CHC patients completed self-report measures on a variety of psychosocial variables and biochemical data for determining the patient's liver …

The Positive Perspective On Youth Development, M. E. P. Seligman, M. W. Berkowitz, R. F. Catalano, W. Damon, J. S. Eccles, Jane Gillham, K. A. Moore, H. J. Nicholson, N. Park, D. L. Penn, C. Peterson, M. Shih, T. A. Steen, R. J. Sternberg, J. P. Tierney, R. P. Weissberg, J. F. Zaff

Psychology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A Critical Exploration Of The School Context For Young Adolescents Completing Primary Education, Sasha Stumpers, Lauren Breen, Julie Ann Pooley, Lynne Cohen, Lisbeth Pike

Research outputs pre 2011

Many schools have adopted relational approaches to attend to the social context in which learning transpires. More recently however, such approaches and their supporters have been criticized for not examining the school context in its entirety and the student experience within this context. The current research sought to critically explore young adolescents' experiences within the context of their school. Fifteen year seven students in an Australian primary school were interviewed about their experiences of their school context. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis and a question-ordered matrix was constructed to aid the detection of themes and sub-themes from …

Can Sense Of Community Inform Social Capital?, Julie Ann Pooley, Lynne Cohen, Lisbeth Pike

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines the theoretical linkage between social capital and sense of community through research studies within four contextual areas. Social capital (SC) can be conceptualized as all the interactions between individuals in a community, and has been examined in various groups and communities. Sense of community (SoC) is a psychological construct that we argue is a correlate of social capital. Sense of community reflects the feelings of attachment and belonging that an individual has towards a community. Through qualitative and quantitative research carried out across the lifespan in four communities in Western Australia (i.e., Perth community, adolescent Jewish community, …

An Observational Study Of Bail Decision-Making, Alfred Allan, Maria Allan, Margaret Giles, Deirdre Drake, Irene Froyland

Research outputs pre 2011

Pre-trial detention of defendants has important legal, human rights and practical implications for defendants, their families, and society and therefore the area justifies research scrutiny. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies of bail decision-making and most of them have been retrospective studies. Prior studies have nevertheless identified a number of purported shortcomings in bail legislation and decision-making. The rarely used observational methodology employed in this study provided data that are not normally available from official records. The first appearances of 648 defendants were observed in the lower courts in metropolitan Perth (Western Australia) to identify factors that play …

Chimpanzee Use Of Modulation In Response To Questions, Jen-Shiuan (Susan) Shiau

All Master's Theses

Modulation in American Sign Language is meaningful systematic change in sign form. Young cross-fostered chimpanzees used sign modulations in ways that resemble human signers. Jensvold and Gardner (2000) videotaped conversations between adult chimpanzees-Washoe, Moja, Tatu, and Dar-and a human interlocutor under four conditions: general, on-topic, off-topic, and can't. Signs from this dataset were selected and analyzed for modulation. Like human signers, the adult chimpanzees modulated the signing speed, size, length, and number of reiterations. They used both single and combinatorial modulations. Modulation use varied with different functional categories of signs. The chimpanzees varied the sign modulation on repeated glosses between …