Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Management Of Agitation In Individuals With Dementia: An Animal-Assisted Therapy Approach, Karen L. Tanner

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Dementia is not a natural and normal part of aging, but rather a symptom of a disease process. Most individuals with dementia experience emotional distress or behavioral problems best summed up by the term agitation. Approximately 90% of individuals with dementing illnesses demonstrate problem behaviors ranging from repetitive verbalizations and wandering to verbal and physical aggression toward self or others. Each evening thousands of older adults in the community and in institutions become agitated, restless, and confused and begin to wander about or scream. This phenomenon is referred to as sundown syndrome, since it occurs in the evening hours after …

Scientific Empathy, American Buddhism, And The Ethnography Of Religion, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

The expansion of the use of ethnography in the study of religion has led to substantial methodological confusion. The reflexive ethnographic efforts which exist commonly appeal to the need for ethnographer empathy for field subjects, although the nature and ethical ramifications of this empathy remain poorly explored. This essay offers a model of ethnographic empathy in terms of the methodological observations of Weber, Homans, and Kohut. Using a model of empathy in terms of a reflexive “evenly hovering attention” for data collection, possible gains in the field from this model are explored. These gains include overcoming obstacles to data collection …

Rogerian Rhetoric As Negotiation: Does Its Dependence On Game Theory Pose Ethical Problems?, Stacy Fussell Thorne

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In the war game Diplomacy, players win by gaining control of Europe. In order to win, however, players must successfully negotiate with other players, make alliances with them, and sometimes gain the support of their ally's military resources, their armies or fleets. In the rules of the game, Diplomacy is described as

a game of negotiations, alliances, promises kept, and promises broken. In order to survive, a player needs help from others. In order to win the game, a player must eventually stand alone. Knowing whom to trust, when to trust them, what to promise, and when …

Review Of The Three Ecologies, By Felix Guattari, Matthew Wolf-Myer

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

The Perception Of Harmony In Combinations Of Blinking Visual Stimuli., Katharine Tepe, Donald J. Polzella, Greg C. Elvers

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research on the perception of musical harmony indicates that combinations of tones tend to be judged consonant when their respective frequencies are reducible to simple ratios. This phenomenon was studied in the visual mode by using combinations of two blinking lights as stimuli. Eight, two-light combinations were created whose frequency ratios corresponded to those of eight common musical intervals, e.g., octave, fifth. In a pair comparison task, participants judged which one of two, two-light combinations appeared more harmonious or blended. The judgments were compared to those obtained from studies of musical harmony by regressing the scaled auditory preferences onto the …

Development Of Children's Knowledge About The Mind, John H. Flavell

Heinz Werner Lectures

An Overview of Theory-of-Mind Development, Development of Intuitions About Mental Experiences

Center For Psychological Studies 2003-2004 Catalog, Nova Southeastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Center For Psychological Studies 2003-2004 Catalog, Nova Sounteastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Goal Orientation And Feedback Sign As Predictors Of Changes In Motivation And Performance, Erin Michele Richard

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the dimensions of goal orientation as moderators of the effects of feedback sign on changes in self-efficacy, effort, and performance over time. In general, the effect of feedback sign on changes in self-efficacy, effort, and performance was hypothesized to be strong for individuals high on performance goal orientation (PGO) and weak for individuals high on learning goal orientation (LGO). Participants completed several performance blocks of an implicit learning task that required individuals to control the temperature of a simulated chemical reactor. Participants were given manipulated normative feedback after each trial. Self-efficacy, effort, and performance were assessed at …

The Impact Of Parents' Implementation Of A Structured Parent Reading Program On Their Children's Reading Fluency, Jennifer Luella Resetar

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigated the effectiveness of a method of parent training and parent reading tutoring that built on past research. Parents of five first grade children, who were reading below grade level, participated. Parents were trained to implement a three-week tutoring procedure that included modeling, practice, phonics, fluency, accuracy, comprehension, and reinforcement components. According to permanent product examination, parent intervention implementation never fell below 82% integrity. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to analyze results. According to visual analysis, four of the five children showed significant gains in words correct per minute on tutored reading passages. There was …

Factors Influencing The Effects Of Realistic Job Previews On Applicant Judgments Of Organizational Attractiveness, Natalie Trask Bourgeois

LSU Master's Theses

Realistic job previews (RJPs) involve the presentation of both positive and negative job attributes to job applicants. Although several researchers have studied effects of RJPs on satisfaction, turnover, and performance, comparatively less research has focused on the effects of RJPs on attraction. This study extends previous RJP research by sampling both students who are education majors and currently employed teachers. It compared their ratings of attraction to organizations represented by an RJP or a traditional job preview (TJP). In addition, both teachers and education students completed a measure of negative affectivity (NA). Contrary to expectations, results of this study showed …

"You Just Give Them What They Want And Pray They Don’T Kill You”: Street-Level Sex Workers’ Reports Of Victimization, Personal Resources And Coping Strategies, Rochelle L. Dalla Dr., Yan Xia, Heather Kennedy

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Using both qualitative (in-depth, personal interviews) and quantitative (self-report survey indices) techniques, data were collected from 43 women involved in streetwalking prostitution. The purpose of the investigation was to examine exposure to violence and victimization among a particularly vulnerable female population across the life span. A secondary goal was to apply stress theory as an organizing frameworkfor examining personal resources (e.g., social support, locus of control) and coping behavior. Results from both data collection strategies are presented, and implications for intervention are described.

Recovery From Substance Abuse: The Role Of Unsupportive Social Interactions, Michelle Marie Schmitt

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACTRECOVERY FROM SUBSTANCE ABUSE: THE ROLE OF UNSUPPORTIVE SOCIAL INTERATIONSBy Michelle M. Schmitt, M.A., M.S. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University.Virginia Commonwealth University, 2003Major Director: Kathleen M. Ingram, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology It has been estimated that over 20 million individuals struggle with substance abuse and/or dependence each year. Theories of addiction and recovery have long incorporated the notion of social support and helping relationships to facilitate adjustment. However, the literature investigating the role of social support is fraught with contradictions. In addition, in …

The Experiences Of International Students At An Australian University: An Exploratory Qualitative Study, Andrea Halse

Theses : Honours

The number of international students studying in Australia has steadily increased over the last ten years providing many benefits both to the country and Australian universities. However, little is known about the transition experiences of these students and there has been little acknowledgment of the issues facing students adjusting to a new environment and learning context. Typical issues that international students encounter include; language difficulties, homesickness, culture shock, lack of background knowledge and skills, housing difficulties, developing new social relationships and adapting to their new environment. Much of the research has been in the form of questionnaires and surveys focusing …

Young Children’S Responses To Conflictual Adult Conversation, Jessica A. Cartozian

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study evaluated relationships among children's cognitions following exposure to scripted conflictual interactions between adults. Thirty- five mother-child dyads were assessed using self-report measures, and continuous measures of behavioral and physiological distress (cardiac function, skin conductance). Four hypotheses were investigated: Exposure to conflict would be related to greater distress following the conflictual script; attributional errors would be related to greater distress; child distress would be positively correlated with parental conflict at home; maternal psychopathology would be positively related with distress responses to the stimulus. All hypotheses were found to be non-significant. Explanations for non-significance include the normative sample, the …

The Retention And Persistence Support (Raps) Project: A Transition Initiative, Dawn Darlaston-Jones, Lynne Cohen, Suena Haunold, Lisbeth Pike, Alison Young, Neil Drew

Research outputs pre 2011

The transition to university is often associated with stress, anxiety, and tension and in many cases can lead to students failing or withdrawing from university. Transition problems result in high social and economic costs to families and the community. The past decade has seen a proliferation of transition strategies across universities. Results from evaluations of these transition programmes suggest student retention rates are significantly higher among those students involved in these programmes. The emphasis now though is to develop school or department based programmes as these are more readily adapted to meet the specific needs of students than university wide …

Are They Being Served? Student Expectations Of Higher Education, Dawn Darlaston-Jones, Lisbeth Pike, Lynne Cohen, Alison Young, Suena Haunold, Neil Drew

Research outputs pre 2011

The current climate in tertiary education places students as primary consumers. As such, students are becoming more conscious of their customer rights and of gaps between their expectations of service delivery and the reality of that service. Not only does this service gap present a quality assurance challenge for universities, it is also likely to contribute to student withdrawal. In week one of the first semester 2001, a sample of 56 first year psychology students volunteered to complete the SERVQUAL questionnaire (Riddings, Sidhu, & Pokarier, 2000) to assess their expectations of university in terms of academic and Administrative staff. The …

Teaching And Learning Online For The First Time: Student And Coordinator Perspectives, Lauren Breen, Lynne Cohen, Paul Chang

Research outputs pre 2011

In recent years the higher education sector has moved towards the flexible delivery of individual units and entire courses. As a result, online delivery methods are becoming increasingly common. In this paper we describe students’ and unit-coordinators’ views concerning teaching and learning online for the first time in an introductory psychology unit. Using an action learning approach, views were ascertained through a focus group, messages posted on the online discussion boards, a survey, and coordinator reflections. The results indicate that the current online design of the unit does little to actively engage students in the learning process. We argue that …

Using A Student Centred Approach In A Large Class Context, Dawn Darlaston-Jones, Lynne Cohen

Research outputs pre 2011

Teaching large classes has become a reality for most courses in Australian universities. While many academics recognise the benefits to students and themselves of using alternative teaching methodologies, many resort to the traditional formal lecture approach when it comes to teaching large classes. This paper examines the tension between providing a meaningful learning experience for university students and the constraints of increased class sizes. Presented as a case study, it challenges the assumptions of staff and students in terms of what constitutes an appropriate learning environment and identifies strategies that could usefully be transferred from a small class to a …

Using Multimedia Elements To Change Student Mental Models Of Colour Vision Deficiency, Romana Pospisil, Susan Stoney

Research outputs pre 2011

The online environment offers many opportunities for students to interact with each other, with unit materials and resources, and for lecturers to inform students of issues regarding their main course of study. One of the weaknesses of teaching and learning in the online mode, however, is that lecturers have difficulty in identifying misconceptions and imperfect mental models in their students. This paper reports on a study being conducted by at Edith Cowan University in the use of small e-learning modules developed in Quicktime video to change or strengthen students' mental models - in this case their mental model of Colour …

(2003) Power, Manipulation, And Control In A Community Of Inquiry, Pavel Lushyn, David K. Kennedy

Collected Papers of David Kennedy

In a previous paper, we introduced the notion of pedagogical imposition, and argued for its importance in understanding the psychodynamics of community of inquiry (CI). Practitioners of Cl usually define themselves as engaged in a liberatory pedagogy - that is, a form of teaching which avoids imposition on or manipulation of students. This paper will argue that, if we view the classroom as a system, this is a naive assumption. This argument is based, in turn, on our assumption that, first, any interactive system involves relations of power; and second, that any specifically pedagogical system involves unequal relations of power. …

(2003) Notes From The Field: Card Games, Roughhousing, Traffic Jams & Thunderstorms, David K. Kennedy

Collected Papers of David Kennedy

The following discussion was recorded in April 2003 in a second grade classroom at Edgemont School, Montclair, New Jersey. it was one of a series of 16 conversations on the topic of "conflict," conducted in two second grades and two fifth grades, and led by three separate facilitators. This conversation was facilitated by David Kennedy, a faculty member at Montclair State University and staff member of the IAPC.

Self-Esteem, Sex Differences, And Self-Disclosure: A Study Of The Closeness Of Relationships, Christien Marie Seamon

All Volumes (2001-2008)

It was hypothesized that self-esteem, sex, and relationship closeness would affect self-disclosure. Participants imagined either a best friend or a casual acquaintance while completing a modified version of the Marital Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (MSDQ; Waring, Holden, & Wesley, 1998). The MSDQ measured four facets of self-disclosure: relationship, sex, money, and imbalance. Self-esteem was assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965). In general, self-disclosure was greater for females than for males and in close relationships than in distant relationships. There were no differences in self-disclosure between high and low self-esteem individuals. In close relationships, females disclosed more than did males; in distant …

Women's Envy In The Workplace: Contexts And Consequences, Para Ambardar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a paucity of literature on women's subjective experience of being envious or being envied in the contemporary workplace. Yet envy, wanting what another possesses, is believed to thrive in a competitive interpersonal milieu, much like the modern workplace, where employees vie for limited organizational resources and rewards. Accordingly, there is a need to better understand envy's role in the workplace and move from an abstract, context-free conceptualization of workplace envy to one that is more differentiated and context-bound. Eighteen women were interviewed for this qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews. Results were analyzed using both psychoanalytic and social psychological …

Monitoring In Event-Based Prospective Memory Tasks, Dale Watkins Cockman

LSU Master's Theses

Event based prospective memory (PM) refers to remembering to perform a particular action upon the presentation of a particular cue in the environment. Until recently, most models of event-based PM performance have suggested that the realization of the target event occurs automatically. The DARC model (Smith, 2000) is among the first to suggest that monitoring is required to notice the target event, in the form of a consistent, non-strategic dedication of resources. The predictions of the DARC model are contrasted with those of Einstein & McDaniel (Noticing + Search, 1996), Goschke & Kuhl (1996), Ellis (1996). The pilot study and …

Heavy Smokers Choose Large, Immediate Rewards With Large Penalties On A Simulated Task Of Gambling, Michael Shawn Businelle

LSU Master's Theses

The Gambling Task is a complex neuropsychological test (in the form of a card game) that examines the ability of individuals to assess potential immediate gains over long-term losses. Gambling Task performance has been examined in previous studies with individuals who are dependent on alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamine. These studies have shown that those who are dependent on the aforementioned substances perform more poorly on the Gambling Task than controls. Specifically, in relation to controls, drug/alcohol dependent individuals show impairment by tending to pick more cards that have large immediate gains and very large delayed punishers. The delayed punisher …

An Evaluation Of Distributed Practice Using Constant Time Delay In The Acquisition Of Sight Words With Children, Kashunda Lynn Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Although, distributed practice has been demonstrated to be superior to massed practice for learning, studies examining the degree of distribution needed to obtain this effect remain lacking. This study extends prior research by (1) determining if there is a difference in distributed practice schedules, when the total time to practice remains constant, (2) determining which schedule produces the superior amount of learning, and (3) determining which schedule produces superior retention of learned materials across time. Study participants were general education elementary school students referred for reading assistance. The constant time delay procedure was used to teach the participants sight words. …

The Relationship Of Feeding Problems With The Use Of Antiepileptic Medication Among Persons With Severe And Profound Mental Retardation, Rinita B. Laud

LSU Master's Theses

Epilepsy and/or seizure activity are frequently occurring phenomena and a significant co-morbid condition for persons with severe to profound intellectual disability (Burke, McKee, Pathak, Donahue, Parasuraman & Baltenhorst, 1999). The majority of seizure activity leads to deficits across a number of social, physical,occupational, and personal variables, and if left untreated, may lead to death in these individuals. The treatment of this condition frequently utilizes anti-epileptic medication, but these medications are often associated with a variety of side effects such as dental complications and disturbed gait. Previous researchers have suggested that these side effects may be manifested in forms of maladaptive …

Major And Minor Life Events As Predictors Of Medical Utilization, Gareth R. Dutton

LSU Master's Theses

Research suggests stressful life events can negatively influence physical and mental health in a number of ways. While previous research indicates both major and minor life events contribute unique variance to the prediction of physical and mental symptoms, little research has examined the relationships of both major and minor life events with medical utilization. The current study included a predominantly African American, low-income sample of adults (N = 207) attending two primary care outpatient clinics and assessed their experience of both major and minor life events over the course of one year. Medical utilization data were collected over a subsequent …

Relative Efficacy Of School-Home Notes With And Without Response Cost In Impoverished Elementary School Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Andrea Nichole Jurbergs

LSU Master's Theses

Daily report cards and punishment have proven to be effective methods of classroom behavior management. However, treatment effectiveness studies have not been designed to adequately compare the effects of rewarding and punishing consequences on behavior through a school-home note. The study of school-home note treatment effectiveness has focused on middle-class students with behavior problems; both ADHD and disadvantaged populations have been underresearched. Using a reversal, alternating treatments design, the present study will examine the effectiveness of a response-cost system added to school-home notes for increasing classwork completion and appropriate classroom behavior in several disadvantaged elementary school children with ADHD.