Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Gender Differences Among Washers And Checkers, Jennifer Leigh Siervo

Theses

This research project thoroughly examines Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder to see if there are any gender differences between compulsive washers and checkers. The null hypothesis is that there are no gender differences between the compulsions of washing and checking. Thirty-one subjects from a local self-help group voluntarily participated in this study. Of the thirty-one participants, thirteen were men and eighteen were women. The Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory was used to obtain total obsessions scores, as well as washing and checking scores. The mean scores for men and women for the total obsessions scale were compared. The women reported a higher number of compulsions …

Problem Construction And Creativity: The Role Of Ability, Cue Consistency, And Active Processing, Roni Reiter-Palmon, American Institutes For Research, Jennifer O'Connor Boes, Mark A. Runco

Psychology Faculty Publications

Problem construction has been suggested as the first step in creative problem solving, but our understanding of the underlying process is limited. According to a model of problem construction (Mumford, Reiter-Palmon, & Redmond, 1994), problem construction ability, active engagement in problem construction, and the presence of diverse and inconsistent cues influence creative problem solving. To test these hypotheses, 195 undergraduates were asked to solve 6 real-life problems and complete a measure of problem construction ability. Active engagement in problem construction was manipulated by instructions to the participants. Cue consistency was manipulated by the information presented in the problem situation. The …

Mk-801 Interferes With The Acquisition Of Amphetamine- And Lithium-Induced Place Conditioning, Jonathan Francis Toth

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The place conditioning paradigm was used to assess the ability of the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist, M- 801 to interfere with drug-place associations. MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg, ip) attenuated a place preference produced by 10 mg/kg, but not by 3 or 5 mg/kg of amphetamine. MK-801 alone produced neither a place preference nor a place aversion. Interference with amphetamine place preference learning was not the result of state-dependent learning produced by MK-801. Furthermore, MK-801 did not interfere with the expression of a previously established amphetamine place preference. Pretreatment with MK-801 also interfered with lithium-induced conditioned place aversion learning. These results suggest …

Pentobarbital-Induced Place Aversion Learning, Gilbert Lew

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Pentobarbital is self-administered by rats, but has also been reported to produce a conditioned place aversion. Since the self-administration and place preference paradigms both are considered to assess drug reward, we further examined the hedonic properties of pentobarbital using place conditioning. In Experiment 1, a dose of 15 mg/kg (ip) of pentobarbital produced a conditioned place aversion following 4 conditioning trials of various durations (5, 15, 30 or 60 min). Since rats are typically drug-experienced in the self-administration paradigm. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the effect of drug history on pentobarbital-induced place conditioning. Although preexposure to pentobarbital attenuated the place …

Two Treatment Approaches For Young Children With Autism : Common Ground?, Jodi Suzanne Bronson

Graduate Research Papers

Students with autism display extreme difficulties with communication skills, social interactions, and often engage in restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior (DSM-IV, 1994 ). As a result of these behaviors, and the often comorbid mental retardation, students with autism have many complex educational needs.

This paper will provide a complete literature review of the historic development of autism, possible etiologies of autism, and current diagnostic criteria. In addition, specifically the literature regarding one current behavioral approach to intervention, the Lovaas Method, and one method of antecedent controlled intervention, the TEACCH model will be reviewed. Additionally, research on other successful interventions …

Proponents And Opponents For Rewarding Children, Shelly Bromwich

Graduate Research Papers

This paper is a review of the literature concerning the types and uses of rewards. The primary focus of this paper was to look at opposing sides of whether rewarding children has benefits or whether there are problems with using rewards. Also, I looked at how children can be given credit for their efforts to accomplish their goals with using encouragement and natural and logical consequences.

As stated by Alfie Kohn, "A reward .. .is a desired object or event made conditional on having fulfilled some criterion" (Kohn, 1993, p. 53). There is a controversy today concerning the use of …

Women: The Ignored Majority, Carol T. Mowbray, Daphna Oyserman, Catherine J. Lutz, Rogeair Purnell

Psychology Faculty Publications

The major thrust of psychiatric rehabilitation is to provide skill development and supports enabling individuals to function in their roles of choice. The model thus contains an underlying assumption that meaningful life roles are “chosen” roles. It therefore may tend to overlook the impact on persons’ lives of the roles that they are given. These given or ascribed roles include those based on gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. Self-definitions, behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and values are all likely to be structured within such social roles, which can also serve as important social identities (Oyserman & Markus, 1993). In spite of increased …

School Of Social And Systemic Studies 1997-1998 Catalog, Nova Southeastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Touch In Psychotherapy: A Survey Of Clients Recovering From Substance Abuse And/Or Childhood Sexual Abuse, Deborah Harmann Harris

Theses

Differences in perception of touch in psychotherapy were studied among clients with childhood sexual abuse and/or substance abuse issues. Forty clients from the general context of the "recovery community" were recruited to fill out an eleven item Revised Touch in Therapy Survey. Participants also gave narrative responses to a single open-ended question asking what meaning their touch experience held for them. The researcher adapted this current instrument from the longer, 1995 Touch in Therapy self-report questionnaire developed by Horton, Clance, Sterk-Elifson and Emshoff. A mail back system was used, with swveys returned to a local post office box.. The Llkert …

Security Decay: The Erosion Of Effective Security, Shawn A. Mcclure

Theses : Honours

The discipline of security lacks formal conceptual tools which can be used by security managers, advisers and consultants when attempting to provide effective security. This is because of security's relative age as a discipline, it is very new. The aim of the thesis was to contribute to the security discipline by taking Underwood's ( 1989) idea of security decay and to a certain extent exploring and formalising it. The security decay theory is primarily concerned with the influence apathy has on security and how management react to risk materialisation when decay is evident. The thesis focused on the first of …

Barely A Whisper In The System: Parents' Perspectives On The Prevention Of Foster Care Placement, Tammie O. Belliveau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Despite an abundance of literature stressing the need to prevent child maltreatment and foster care placement, information related to the prevention of foster care placement and child maltreatment from a parent's perspective is virtually nonexistent. This research utilized qualitative research techniques to elicit parental perspectives on the prevention of foster care placement and child maltreatment. Results were analyzed utilizing Belsky's (1980) ecological framework for child maltreatment and a risk and protective framework. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical, research, practical and personal implications. Practical implications stress the importance of creating interventions which (a) strive to build self-esteem, (b) provide …

Achieving Diversity (Sciences, Relativism, Compassion), Erich John Knerr

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis is about achieving diversity in our society and in our world. In it I examine attributes of relativism as well as understandings of our existence in order to develop a model for achieving diversity. I examine our present model of science and the approach of romanticism and conclude that our sciences today are really about control and domination. I propose that the goals of our sciences should not be about domination, and therefore neither should our methods of science. Further, I propose that attributes of relativism represent a necessary beginning in achieving diversity and in bringing compassion into …

Breaking The Silence: New Immigrant Children Affected By War Trauma. Community Needs And Resources Assessment, Danijela Seskar-Hencic

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The main purpose of this study was to provide a basis for and facilitate the development of strategies and programs based on actual life experiences of the refugee families and their children and on present needs and resources in the Kitchener-Waterloo community. The participants in the study included three refugee families and their children from Somalia, Kurdistan and Bosnia, English as a Second Language teachers, cultural assistants (settlement counsellors), and a local community group. Qualitative data obtained from the participants were complemented with demographic characteristics relevant to the phenomenon of war trauma among children in the K-W Region The qualitative …

The Need For Social Validation, Robert S. Graham

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis describes the psychometric evaluation and validation of a scale assessing people's tendency to use others’ opinions in order to assess the correctness of their own opinion. In study 1, 320 introductory psychology students completed the 12-item Need for Social Validation scale (N SV), as well as the Need to Evaluate and Self-Monitoring scales. The NSV scale was demonstrated to possess good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=.85), a two factor structure, and high test-retest reliability after 22-weeks (r = .76). The NSV was found to be negatively related to the Need to Evaluate scale (r = -.49) and unrelated to …

Freud's Jewish Science And Lacan's Sinthome, David Metzger

English Faculty Publications

In chapter nine of Seminar XVII, Lacan writes that the position of the analyst cannot be separated from Jewish history (158). More particularly, the invention of analytic discourse is part and parcel of a Hebraic tradition--represented by the Book of Hosea--in which one's god underscores the fact that even if everyone is speaking (let's say about sexual knowledge) this does not mean everyone is saying something. One of the defining moves of a Jewish Science, in this specific frame of reference, would be to situate the knowledge, "There is no Other," precisely where other intellectual and religious traditions establish their …

Interview: Cindi Katz. Creating Safe Space And The Materiality Of The Margins, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

Cindi Katz, associate professor and chair of the environmental psychology program at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, visited the University of Kentucky in February of 1996 to deliver the keynote address at the 5 1/2 Annual Geography Graduate Student Conference. In her address, entitled "Power, Space and Terror: Social Reproduction and the Public Environment," Professor Katz discussed how changes jn urban built environments, particularly the privatization of urban public space, negatively affected New York City children. Privatization, she argued, not only serves a 'child hating' mentality prevalent in our society, but fosters, among other things, …

The Substance Of The Mind And Consciousness: Material Or Mystery, Tangible Or Transcendental?, Tracy Givens

Whittier Scholars Program

The problem with which this paper deals, the Mind-Body problem, and the issue of consciousness, can be pose most briefly in a single question: What is the relation in a human, between his mind and his body? The Mind-Body problem and the issue of consciousness are important in both philosophy and science.

Influencing The On-Task And Off-Task Behaviours Of Children Who Have Attention Problems Or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Through The Use Of A Token Economy And Self-Management, Renee Ball

Theses : Honours

Attention problems have been identified as a major contributor to below average academic competence in Western Australian students. The present study used an A B C D A' single-subject experimental design to investigate the effects of a token economy, managed first by the researcher, and then by participants, on off-task behaviour. Phase A was a baseline, phase B was a token economy managed by the researcher, phase C was a token economy managed by the participant, phase D was the thinning of the reinforcers (still managed by the participant), and phase A' was a return to baseline. Two participants were …

Influence Of Culture On Intergenerational Conflict : A Comparative Study Of Burmese Adolescents, Immigrant Burmese Adolescents, And Anglo-Australian Adolescents, Romana Lee

Theses : Honours

Is there a difference, in the level of conflict with parents, that migrant adolescents experience in comparison to that of non-migrant adolescents? According to the literature, adolescents and their parents in the minority cultural groups are likely to experience high levels of conflict which may result from conflicting cultural norms (Rosenthal, 1984; Ghuman, 1975, Di J\.1arco, 1974, and Phinney, I 996). The present study was conducted with a sample of Burmese adolescents from Rangoon (Myamar), a sample of migrant Burmese adolescents from Perth (Western Australia), and a sample of Anglo-Australian adolescents also from Perth, to investigate age, gender and cultural …

The Effect Of Stress At The Retrieval Stage Of Eyewitness Recall, Mary-Anne Martin

Theses : Honours

Although stress at the encoding stage of eyewitness memory has been studied in depth in the literature, little is known about the recall stage. Stress effects on retrieval were investigated in two experiments to examine its impact on recall, repeated testing, and accuracy. Stress was manipulated by evaluative threat and time pressure at either immediate and/or delayed recall (20 minutes) in four experimental conditions in Experiment I. Participants were 62 undergraduate students from Edith Cowan University. A series of 40 pictures, five to a slide, were shown by overhead projector at the rate of 20 seconds per slide. There were …

The Relationship Between Global Self-Concept And Attribution Preference In Primary School Children, Carolyn Moore

Theses : Honours

The purpose of this study was to compare low and high self-concept students to ascertain whether they differ in the causes they attribute to their performance on a problem-solving task. The relationships of gender to self-concept and gender to attribution preference were also examined. This study differed from previous studies examining relationships with causal attributions by focusing on students' attribution preferences for a task with an equivocal outcome as opposed to tasks with success and failure outcomes. Eighty-two year seven students from four Perth metropolitan primary schools participated in this study. The study was conducted using a 2 x 2 …

The Effect Of Masking The Prime In Orthographic And Semantically Related Pairs : An Interactive Activation Account, Rowan Johnston

Theses : Honours

Visual word recognition studies rely on priming tasks to examine underlying processes within the lexical system. A commonly used method is the lexical decision task, where participants are presented with a letter string that is either a familiar word or a meaningless non word such as fost. Response times are measured for the time taken to decide if the letter string is a word or a non word. The word the participant responds to is the target, while the preceding word is referred to as the prime. There are three types of priming conditions reported here. First, semantic priming where …

Trial By Anxiety : Effects Of Nervous Demeanour And Level Of Evidence On Mock Jurors' Decisions, Michael Miller

Theses : Honours

Pryor and Buchanan (1984), using participants drawn from jury venires, showed that persons exhibiting a moderately anxious demeanour were found guilty more often than those with a low anxiety demeanour when evidence presented was balanced. In a study that used three levels of evidence (pro-acquittal, balanced and pro-conviction) and two levels of demeanour (apparently deceptive and control) Hendry, Schaffer and Peacock (1989) found that the demeanour bias only occurred at the pro-acquittal level of evidence. They had not used a criminal offence and did not provide judges instructions. Additionally conviction rates at all levels of evidence in the control condition …

A Comprehensive Review Of Treatment Options For Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Kristin Vanderah

Graduate Research Papers

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a disorder affecting between 3 and 5 percent of school-age children, manifests as a combination of three core skill deficits: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The deficits have been found to present children with many difficulties in both home and school settings. Thus, comprehensive treatment for individuals with ADHD is of paramount importance to their development and their academic and social experiences. The content of this paper is comprised of a review of the recent research that has been published regarding the three major theoretical orientations of ADHD interventions (pharmacological, behavioral, and multimodal treatment). All of …

Children Of Divorce : Implication To Teaching, Gloria Mao

Graduate Research Papers

The primary focus of this paper is the causes of divorce and their effects on elementary-age children. The adjustment problems of children of divorce in classrooms are examined. The importance of teachers' roles in easing the transition to school for children of divorce is emphasized. Teachers are assumed to be in a better position to observe the changes of children of divorce and to help them to adjust to their parents' divorce. By being sensitive and supportive, teachers can make a difference in their students' lives. A 7-hour workshop designed to enhance teachers' understanding about children of divorce is described.

Coping Processes Used By Mothers Of Triplets, Susan Mullen Kaplan

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to identify and describe the coping processes used by mothers of triplets. Using a descriptive design, interpersonal comparisons of 92 mothers of triplets attending a national meeting of families of higher order multiples were made. Variables, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics, included coping processes, levels of depression, perceived availability of social support, and current stress levels. Coping processes were measured using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988), derived from their cognitive-phenomenological theory of stress and coping. Level of depression was measured using the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (Zung, 1965). Perceived availability …

School Of Social And Systemic Studies Department Of Family Therapy Ph.D Program Student Handbook 1997-1998, Nova Southeastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Master's Programs In Metal Health Counseling And School Guidance Counseling Policies And Procedures Handbook 1997-1998, Nova Southeastern University

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

No abstract provided.

Cross-Cultural Differences In Parenting And Moral Development In Late Adolescence: A Narrative Approach, Wanna E. Mar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study investigated differences in parenting and late adolescents’ moral development in two cultural groups: Chinese-Canadian and European-Canadian Measures of parental authoritativeness and degree of parental influence on moral values were administered to a sample of 62 European-Canadian and 40 Chinese-Canadian university students, aged 17-26 years. The participants were then compared with respect to two outcome measures, one assessing the degree to which they internalized and represented parents’ viewpoints (“voice”) in narratives about moral socialization, and the other assessing level of moral reasoning development. Results indicated that reported parental authoritativeness was positively related to the degree of parent “voice” displayed …

Parents' Work In A Family Context Linkages Between Paid Work, Family Work, And Young Adolescents' Emotional Well-Being, Elena Duckett

Dissertations

No abstract provided.