Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

For Appearance's Sake : Gender Attitudes And Risky Health Behavior, Jennifer L. Douglas

Master's Theses

One hundred and forty male and female students were given questionnaires which assessed their gender attitudes, their tanning and smoking behavior, their knowledge about and perceived personal risk of lung and skin cancer, and their beliefs that tanning and slenderness are attractive. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed significant gender differences in tanning and in gender attitudes; women tanned more than men ... and women had more egalitarian attitudes toward gender than did men ... However, there were no differences between men and women in amount of weight-control smoking. A standard multiple regression revealed that the belief that tanning …

Tolerance: Should We Approve Of It, Put Up With It, Or Tolerate It?, Barry Schwartz

Psychology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Morphine Disruption Of Maternal Behavior And Modifications Of Underlying Neural Activity, Graciela Stafisso-Sandoz

Master's Theses

Morphine significantly impairs maternal behavior; N aloxone, an opiate antagonist, restores it. Maternal behavior is associated with c-fos expression, an immediate early gene product, in medial preoptic area (mPOA) of females. In this series of experiments, the effects of morphine and Naloxone on the expression of c-fos were examined. On postpartum day 5 or 6, females were injected with morphine or saline ( Exp. 1 ), or morphine+Naloxone or morphine+saline (Exp. 2) and placed back in the homepage, separated from their pups by a wire-mesh partition. Sixty minutes later processing for cfos immunohistochemistry commenced. The c-fos positive cells in a …

Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia Nervosa: The Patients' Perspective, Benita J. Quackenbush

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Eating-disorder clients show low motivation, poor follow-through, and inordinate premature dropout rates in treatment. To date, little research has been conducted that might provide clinicians with an understanding of the critical factors that may aid clients' recovery. Such factors may be used by clinicians to better motivate clients to collaborate in treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify some of the critical factors that women with eating disorders believed were crucial in prompting or facilitating their recovery. Identification of these factors was accomplished through a systematic content analysis of semistructured interviews with recovered or recovering bulimics and anorexics. …

The Autistic Child: Intervention Strategies, Kristie Jackson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With autistic individuals, several intervention strategies have been developed--such as facilitated communication (FC), picture exchange systems, and sensory and auditory integration training--to help them relate to the world around them. Time and technology have indeed brought about many techniques for developing the communication skills of autistic individuals, but the tried-and-true behavior modification therapy (BMT) still proves to be the most effective. If other strategies do work, it is because behavior modification has been incorporated.

Impression Management And Cross-Cultural Adaptation Measures, Amy J. Montagliani

Master's Theses

The presence of the new world economy has forced individuals and groups representing various organizations historically foreign to each other in terms of language, norms, and culture to actively interact and communicate with each other in order to conduct business. These interactions are often not as successful as either side had originally hoped for a variety of reasons that typically reflect an ignorance of cultural standards, the most notable being the rules governing routine communication. Often, as in the case of expatriate business managers, a successful exchange is thwarted due to a certain degree of miscommunication, misperception, and misevaluation on …

Psychological Science In Cultural Context, Kenneth J. Gergen, A. Gulerce, A. Lock, G. Misra

Psychology Faculty Works

When one understands psychological science To be a by-product of the Western tradition, fashioned by particular cultural and historical conditions, the door is opened to a fresh consideration of the practice of psychology in the global context. By using examples from experiences in Turkey, New Zealand, and India, the reader is sensitized first to the problems inherent in the unreflective exportation of Western psychology. To presume Western concepts of the mind, along with its methods of study, not only lends itself to research of little relevance to other cultures, bur disregards and undermines alternate cultural traditions. Against these tendencies toward …

Behavioral Stress Modifies Hippocampal Plasticity Through N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Activation, Jeansok J. Kim, Michael R. Foy, Richard F. Thompson

Psychological Science Faculty Works

Behavioral stress has detrimental effects on subsequent cognitive performance in many species, including humans. For example, humans exposed to stressful situations typically exhibit marked deficits in various learning and memory tasks. However, the underlying neural mechanisms by which stress exerts its effects on learning and memory are unknown. We now report that in adult male rats, stress (i.e., restraint plus tailshock) impairs long-term potentiation (LTP) but enhances long-term depression (LTD) in the CA1 area of the hippocampus, a structure implicated in learning and memory processes. These effects on LTP and LTD are prevented when the animals were given CGP39551 (the …

Effect Of Degree Of Cue Separation And Stimulus Encoding Method On Cue Sample Size And Learning Rate, Robert Jason Weiss

Student Work

Response mode research shows that participants under a judgment response mode demonstrate more compensatory processing than participants under a choice mode. Research on affect and choice reveals that positive-affect participants display more noncompensatory examination of information than negative-affect participants. In the present study, participants viewed a film clip to induce positive or negative affect and made judgments or choices for a series of candidates for a university professor's position. Results indicate a powerful effect for response mode across all dependent variables whereby judgment participants took more time, looked at more information, and showed less search variability than choice participants. The …

The Effect Of Response Mode And Affective State On Multiattribute Decision-Making, Robert Jason Weiss

Student Work

Response mode research shows that participants under a judgment response mode demonstrate more compensatory processing than participants under a choice mode. Research on affect and choice reveals that positive-affect participants display more noncompensatory examination of information than negative-affect participants. In the present study, participants viewed a film clip to induce positive or negative affect and made judgments or choices for a series of candidates for a university professor's position. Results indicate a powerful effect for response mode across all dependent variables whereby judgment participants took more time, looked at more information, and showed less search variability than choice participants. The …

Social Support Behaviors Of Newlywed Dyads As A Function Of Depressivesymptomatology, Shelly I. Tochluk

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Interpersonal theories of depression suggest that behaviors of an individual, and others in the environment, serve to elicit and/or maintain depressive symptomatology. The present study examined the association between depressive symptomatology and social support behaviors in marriage. It was hypothesized that as depressive symptomatology increased, there would be a decrease in positive social support behaviors and an increase in negative support behaviors. Participants were 172 newlywed couples recruited through public records. Couples completed questionnaires assessing depressive symptomatology and marital satisfaction and participated in 2 social support interactions which were coded using a microanalytic coding system. Results indicated that as depressive …

Criteria Used In Assigning A Diagnosis Of Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder, Laura J. Hunsucker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Passive-aggressive personality disorder has a long history in the literature and has been present in all versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, there have been many different conceptualizations of the disorder over time, and there is not a clear consensus concerning what symptoms constitute the disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine the criteria that clinicians consider most representative of a prototypic patient with passive-aggressive personality disorder. This research also examined differences in symptom presentation of male versus female passive-aggressive individuals. Finally, this study examined symptom overlap with other personality disorders. A list …

The Effect Of Peer Counseling Training And Experience On Peer Counselors, Holly Day Mcfarland

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This study was designed to measure improvement in communication skills of 11 peer counselors after training. The instrument utilized was the Interpersonal Communication Inventory which was given in a pretest-treatment-posttest format. The treatment consisted of a three month intensive training program which emphasized improving communication skills in the areas of listening, empathy and understanding. The results indicated that the peer counselors improved their communication skills dramatically. The mean on the pretest was 83.82, while the mean after the treatment was 100.09.

The Experience Of Psychology Paraprofessionals: Views Of Peer Counselors And Peer Educators, Heather L. Edgel

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This study was conducted to examine the experience of students as paraprofessionals in psychology. 102 peer counselors/educators from 10 universities across America were sampled. The research data generated was descriptive in nature. Paraprofessionals rated experience satisfaction and expressed opinions regarding their involvement in peer counseling and peer educating programs.

Facilitation Of Intervention Strategies Of Utah State University's Human Learning Clinic: Incorporation Of Visual Learning Techniques, Jennifer L. Roskelley

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

During Winter and Spring Quarters 1995, I had the opportunity to become a tutor for Utah State University's Human Learning Clinic under the direction of Dr. Lani VanDusen, I chose to become involved in this endeavor to fulfill an Honors Independent study requirement for my "senior honor's experience". In doing so, l spent Winter Quarter preparing for the actual tutoring by familiarizing myself with the various intervention strategies adhered to by the clinic and becoming comfortable with the administration of the activities involved in each method. Prior to the beginning of Spring Quarter, I was assigned my own personal client: …

The Influence Of Adoption On Self-Related Social-Emotional Characteristics Of Adopted Children And Adolescents, H. Norman Ames

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Many families in our society have been created through adoption. In 1990, there were approximately 119,000 adoption placements in the United States (Flango & Flango, 1990). Over the past decade, the majority of adoptions were infants placed with White couples who ranged in age from 25 to 34 (Bachrach, Adams, Sambrano, & London, 1990).

Development And Preliminary Validation Of A Self-Report Instrument For Assessing Internalizing Problems In Children, Amy Sanford Walters

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent years, research in childhood psychopathology has focused on a group of disorders referred to as internalizing. Internalizing disorders include such problems as depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, and social withdrawal. These disorders frequently coexist with one another. Due to the inner-directed nature of these disorders, and their tendency to coexist, internalizing problems often go unnoticed and untreated. The present study involved the development and preliminary validation of a new self-report instrument for assessing a broad range of internalizing problems in children, the Internalizing Disorders Evaluation Scale for Children (IDESC).

The research was conducted in five distinct phases: (a) item …

The Effect Of Immediacy And Salience Questionnaire Response Rates, Audrey Matsumoto

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this study, a theory that identified salience and immediacy as two constructs that significantly determine questionnaire response rates was tested. This theory emphasized the importance of identifying and rating factors that impact the immediacy and salience of a questionnaire to a specific population. It was proposed that factors that make a questionnaire highly immediate and salient to a given population should be identified first, and then implemented into the construction and administration of the questionnaire. In this way, researchers can manipulate the variables, which will maximize the response rate for their specific population before distribution. A questionnaire that is …

An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Framework For The Mailed Questionnaire Process And The Development Of A Theory On Immediacy And Salience As Significant Variables Of Response Rates, Maribeth Christensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The mailed questionnaire research process developed historically as part of the survey research movement, with guidelines and models drawn from an array of scientific research methods and disciplines. Although the mailed questionnaire has become one of the most popular research instruments for obtaining data beyond the reach of the observer, the response bias generated from the generally low return rate of the mailed questionnaire survey has remained a problem. For over three decades researchers have generated a plethora of research on the effectiveness of the various aspects of the mailed questionnaire process and the resultant impact of various constructs on …

The Relationships Of Gender And Age With Peer Acceptance In Primary-Grade, Multiage Classrooms At Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Thomas Anthony Shuster

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study describes the effects of gender and age on peer acceptance in primary-grade, multiage classrooms at Edith Bowen Laboratory School at Utah State University. The population described consisted of six multiage classrooms composed of male and female students from 6 to 8 years old. The classrooms were approximately balanced by gender and age. Students spent the entire day and received all instruction in the multiage setting.

Students completed "Work With" and "Play With" sociometric rating-scale instruments. For both instruments, results revealed the existence of "gender cleavage"--both genders preferred work and play partners of their own gender. In general, age …

Home Visiting For Children With Developmental Delays: An Empirical Evaluation, Tracy L. Black

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Home visiting services have become an important and common component of early intervention for children with developmental delays. Currently, this group of children is the most frequent target of home visiting programs throughout the nation, although research evaluating the effectiveness of these programs is less pervasive. For this reason, a comprehensive analysis of studies within the home visiting literature that specifically focused on children with developmental delays and their families has been conducted. This effort has been accomplished through the process of meta-analysis. In addition to the computation of standardized mean difference effect sizes, emphasis was also placed on identifying …

A National Survey Of Training Practices Of Agencies Employing Home Visitors, Nicole Hawkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study reports the characteristics of home visitor training based on the results of a national survey of nominated best practice home visiting programs that service children with disabilities and their families. Two hundred thirty-six programs were nominated by their state's director of Maternal-Child Health and/or their state's Part H Coordinator as community-based programs that have had success integrating home visiting services into their community's overall system of care for children eligible for Part H services and/or special health care needs. The return rate of the survey was 85%, and these 193 programs serve as the basis for this study. …

Analogical Problem Solving: An Exploratory Analysis Of The Facilitating Effects Of Type Of Training, Analog Type, And Level Of Expertise On Spontaneous Transfer, Dune E. Ives

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research on analogical problem solving has delineated several factors that impact one's ability to spontaneously generate a correct solution strategy to a target problem. These factors include, but are not limited to, type of analogy provided to subjects (i.e., partial versus complete), the level of isomorphism between analogies and target problems, and the solver's level of analogical problem-solving expertise

Recently, researchers have begun to focus on providing solvers with direct instruction on analogical problem-solving processes and strategies in an effort to augment analogical problem-solving ability. The most common type of instruction (i.e., teacher-generated) involves providing direct instruction on problem-solving processes …

Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia Nervosa: The Patients' Perspective, Benita J. Quakenbush

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Eating-disorder clients show low motivation, poor follow-through, and inordinate premature dropout rates in treatment. To date, little research has been conducted that might provide clinicians with an understanding of the critical factors that may aid clients' recovery. Such factors may be used by clinicians to better motivate clients to collaborate in treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify some of the critical factors that women with eating disorders believed were crucial in prompting or facilitating their recovery. Identification of these factors was accomplished through a systematic content analysis of semistructured interviews with recovered or recovering bulimics and anorexics. …

Is There A Connection? An Exploratory Study Of Abuse Experiences And Perpetration Patterns Among College Males, Monique R. Frazier

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine self-reported experiences of primary, secondary, and perpetrated abuse of an emotional, physical, and sexual nature among a male, nonclinical, noncriminal sample. One hundred forty-two subjects completed the Youth Experiences and Behaviors Questionnaire (YEBQ) (developed by the author) and the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). Results indicated that overall, the YEBQ demonstrated moderate to high levels of internal consistency reliability and moderate levels of concurrent and divergent validity. Various descriptive statistics, scale, and subscale correlations for the YEBQ were provided.

Results indicated that secondary abuse information was most predictive of later abuse perpetration with …

A Validation Study Of The Trio Measure Of Visual Processing Ability, Jonathan David Spach

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Trio is a newly developed group-administered instrument designed to measure visual ability for application in cognitive styles research. This study investigated the validity of Trio as seen in its convergence or divergence with two established tests, one conceptually related and one conceptually unrelated. The correlation of Trio scores with scores on these other two tests was examined using a sample of undergraduate students.

The analysis of the relationship between scores on Trio and on the conceptually related Learning Figures Test failed to provide evidence that these two tests are measuring the same construct. At the same time, Trio's correlation with …

Risk Factors And Bulimia Outcomes In Adolescent Women: A Longitudinal And Retrospective Analysis, Therese Elizabeth Barnett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of the present study was to verify whether four purported risk factors predate the development of eating disorder symptoms, particularly bulimia nervosa. The four major purported risk factors for developing bulimia nervosa (and eating disorders in general) among female adolescents include: (a) over internalization of culture’s value of thinness in women, (b) inordinate dissatisfaction with body form, (c) depression, and (d) irrational beliefs and cognitions about thinness and the benefits of dieting. The present study involved a 5-year follow-up of adolescent girls initially identified as being either at high or low risk for developing an eating disorder, particularly …

A Survey Of Perceived Control And Domestic Environment Aspects Of Early Adolescent Boys With And Without Identified Externalizing Behavior Problems, Gary W. Mauk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Two demographically congruous groups of early adolescent boys, one group with identified externalizing behavior problems (ESP) and one group enrolled in regular education (RED), were surveyed using anonymous self-report questionnaires that assessed academic, social, and general domains of perceived control and aspects of familial experiences. Data from EBP and RED boys' extant scholastic archival records were also collected. Also, using anonymous self-report questionnaires, the parents of EBP and RED boys were surveyed regarding their levels of satisfaction regarding aspects of parenting.

This study found that EBP boys had statistically significantly lower reading, math, and language achievement scores and grade point …

Rats In Bliss: A Minimal-Deviation Model Of Ratio Schedule Performance, Jennifer Bredthauer '96

Honors Projects

The minimum-deviation theory predicts that an organism will seek to minimize the behavioral distance between an unconstrained baseline and constrained conditions caused by reinforcement schedules (Staddon, 1979). According to the performance model proposed by Allison (1983), behavior under scheduled constraint will come as close as possible to an unconstrained "bliss point" or behavioral ideal. The present study examined applications of these models to fixed ratio (FR) schedules. Six rats were first exposed to a paired baseline procedure to establish their individual bliss points. Each rat was then exposed to a series of two fixed ratio schedules: FR 2 and FR …

Immunolesions Using Site Specific Injections Of 192-Lgg Saporin Into The Basal Forebrain Fail To Affect Radial Arm Maze Performance In The Male Rat, Lesley J. Hickman '96

Honors Projects

In this study I investigated the effects of 192-lgG saporin injections into the medial septal area.(MSA) and nucleus basalis magnocel/ularis (NBM) on radial arm maze performance in the male rat. The results of the present study reveal that combined injections of 192-lgG saporin into the basal forebrain failed to disrupt RAM performance when compared to vehicle-injected controls. In addition, intraperitoneal injections using a muscarinic receptor blocker, scopolamine, failed to reveal a compensatory response of the cholinergic basal forebrain that may have explained the lack of behavioral effects of 192IgG saporin. Consequently, the results of this study suggest that a selective …