Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Symbolic Play And Imagination In Child-Centered Play Therapy, Stephanie Anderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is based on the theory that a child’s natural means of communication is through play. However, there is a lack of research into how this communication occurs in CCPT sessions. This grounded theory study explored the processes utilized by child-centered play therapists and their clients to communicate with each other using symbolic play and imagination. Data were gathered through semi structured interviews with six child-centered play therapists and three archival videos of CCPT sessions to gain a holistic understanding of how communication occurs in sessions. This study’s data analysis revealed 20 selective and six subcodes associated …

A Systematic Review On The Efficacy Of Video Modeling On Social Interactions Among Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Miguel Cantu

Masters Theses (Archived)

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of video modeling in increasing social interactions with individuals with ASD (IwASD) in transitional or postsecondary educational settings. The study inclusion criteria included (a) quantitative data must be present, (b) an objective or research question must be stated, (c) video modeling must be an intervention in their study, (d) a minimum of one target behavior must focus on social interactions, and (e) all studies must be published within the last six years. This systematic review analyzed the purpose, sample, methodology, settings, discussion, and results to find the effectiveness of the intervention, resulting …

Sex Offenders’ Cognitive Self-Change In Group Treatment: A Pre-/Posttest Study, Malinda Rae Peterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Wisconsin policy makers implement sex offender treatment programs with the purpose of decreasing reoffending while increasing safety for victims and communities. Research has suggested that the cognitive behavioral therapy group curriculum, Thinking for a Change (T4C), has been effective for offenders; however, this program’s key component of cognitive self-change among sex offenders has yet to be researched. The purpose of the current study was to fill a gap in T4C research and, specifically, explore whether sex offender probationers gained the T4C component of cognitive self-change as compared to non-sex offender probationers from Wisconsin. Beck’s cognitive behavioral theory was used as …

Experiences Of Online Faculty When Peer-To-Peer Incivility Is Observed, Juliet Lockwood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Incivility in the college classroom distracts from the learning process. Students who are uncivil to their peers often shame and embarrass them in front of others, and uncivil students distract from learning opportunities by arguing with professors and coercing them for grades that were not earned. Incivility by students is counterintuitive to the goals of higher education which include offering a space for meaningful learning. The literature describes incivility by students in the physical classroom, yet lacking from current research is how peer-to-peer incivility in the online classroom affects student learning. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to …

Self-Care Practices, Perceived Wellness, And Professional Identity Among Counseling Graduate Students, Seydem Yesilada

Dissertations - ALL

Counseling students tend to experience high levels of stress during their training (Coaston & Lawrence, 2019). It is known that they can be at high risk of burnout, incompetence, or impairment if they neglect to engage in self-care and wellness practices (Dye et al., 2020; Prikhidko et al., 2020). While these findings have been validated for professional counselors (Rummell, 2015), as well as studied separately in counseling students (Prikhidko et al., 2020), there have not been any studies on how counseling students’ self-care practices and perceived wellness impacts their professional identity. This research study helped to fill the gap in …

The Effects Of Classification Versus Observation During Category Learning, Enoch Sarakpo

Theses - ALL

We report a category-learning experiment that examines the learning outcomes of classification and observational training methods across three category structures. Thus, we crossed training (classification vs. observation) and category type (natural vs. featural vs. relational). Some subjects classified the stimuli (side-by-side bird pairs) and received corrective feedback after each response, whereas others studied these stimuli, wherein they were presented with the corresponding category label. The posttest was an endorsement task made up of repeated and novel items. We did find an observation training advantage, as subjects in the observation training were better in the natural and relational categories for the …

A Systematic Review Of The Acceptability Of Functional Behavior Assessments And Behavior Intervention Plans, Siani Ym Amidon

Theses - ALL

Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP) are assessment and intervention procedures that are used to address maladaptive behaviors among school children and youth. Kazdin (1977) defined intervention acceptability as the subjective evaluation and judgment of intervention success, which can impact intervention development, effectiveness, and usage. Given the limited research in the field, the purpose of this systematic review was to explore the extent to which acceptability assessments have been conducted regarding FBAs and BIPs and how this information may be used to inform intervention development or modification. PsycINFO and ERIC(EBSCO) database searches identified 11 studies, including a …

Social Closeness And Body Mass Index: Implications For Adolescent Suicide, Megan Milligan

Theses - ALL

Research on Body Mass Index (BMI) as a predictor of adolescent suicidality has been mixed, and though some extant findings point to an association between elevated BMI and suicide, it remains unclear how suicidality differs between categorical weight groups (i.e., healthy weight, overweight, obese weight determined by BMI percentile). Adolescents with elevated BMI face disproportionate risk for social rejection and bullying, both of which predict suicidality. Thus, more information is needed regarding between-group differences in suicide-related outcomes by weight status and potential social factors that may be protective across weight groups. The present study leveraged a nationally-representative dataset to examine …

Finding A Spiritual Home: Cultural Context And Literary Interpretation, Linziyu Lu

Theses - ALL

Centered around the concept of “spiritual home” and the enduring human quest for it, this thesis explores how individuals seek a sense of belonging and meaning from the perspective of cultural evolution and literary expression. This thesis first examines the impact of social change from the Industrial Revolution to the present day on people’s sense of belonging, meaning, and identity, and discusses the factors that have influenced the stabilization of the spiritual home. Then, drawing on literature, this thesis investigates several typical ways in which people find their spiritual home, including in nature, the divine presence, love and relationship, and …

Contextual And Positional Associations In Free And Serial Recall, Nathan Burns

Theses - ALL

The research in this thesis presents a novel experiment and analyses to characterize effects in episodic memory which have classically been developed using different classes of theories. An encoding design was used which typically offers support for positional coding theory, phonological similarity among words in a studied list, with a recall paradigm which typically offers support for retrieved context theory, free recall. This experiment manipulated recall task, serial recall and free recall, as well as the presence and order of similar items across three possible list types. Analyses focused on differences in recall probability, recall errors, and recall transitions by …

Examining The Effects Of Writing Interventions On Third-Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension, Monique Antoine

Theses - ALL

Writing interventions have proven to be effective in improving students’ reading skills (Graham & Herbert, 2011) but are generally underacknowledged. In the current study, data from a randomized controlled trial examined whether there were differences in third-grade students’ reading comprehension based on whether they received a Performance Feedback + Cover, Copy, Compare intervention (n = 47) or a Performance Feedback intervention (n = 48). Results indicated that students assigned to the Performance Feedback + Cover, Copy, Compare intervention did not improve their reading comprehension to a greater extent than the Performance Feedback intervention. No statistically significant differences were observed in …

Examination Of The Relationship Between Adhd-Related Symptoms And Pre-Attentive Auditory Processing In A Sample Of Autistic Children And Adolescents, Connor K. Mackenzie

Theses - ALL

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are two of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions that also exhibit a high rate of co-occurrence. This co-occurrence leads to decreased efficacy of interventions and increased levels of impairments. This suggests that it might be relevant to examine the impact of ADHD symptoms on ASD research findings. Given that both these disorders have neurodevelopmental origins that share differences in sensory processing, the study of sensory neurophysiology might be a relevant avenue to explore. Neurophysiology has focused on pre-attentive auditory processing in both conditions compared to the neurotypical population by focusing on a …

Twice As Good: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study On The Socialization Process Of Black Middle-Class Families And How This Shapes The Parent-Child Relationship, Dominique Nicole Walker

Dissertations - ALL

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the socialization process of Black middle-class families and explore how this shapes the parent-child relationship. The methodology that was used for this study was constructivist grounded theory. Also included within this methodology were theories and frameworks such as: Narrative Family therapy, contextual therapy, and the Intersectionality framework. Using semi-structured interviews, participants were asked to reflect upon their middle-class upbringing and to share how their socialization process shaped their relationship with their parents, both in the past and currently. There was an array of themes that were discovered from the results. …

Autism Diagnosis Effects On The Relationship Between Communication Skills And Nonverbal Intelligence: A Moderation Analysis, Emily Watts

Dissertations - ALL

School psychologists have a responsibility to find, identify, and assess children with disabilities (IDEA, 2004) using assessment tools that are culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate (NASP, 2020). As autism is a neurodevelopmental condition listed as an educational disability category (IDEA, 2004) that impacts one in 31.25 people (Wallis et al., 2023), it is crucial that popular assessment tools be examined for suitability for the autistic community. Most school psychologists use the Weschler scales of intelligence to assess their autistic students (Aiello et al., 2017), despite previous research indicating that Weschler scales of cognitive abilities underestimate the intelligence of people with …

Mindful Instincts: Exploring Differences In Intuition Amongst Men And Women, Adam Bornstein

Honors Projects in Psychology

Intuition, or the ability to quickly interpret a situation and make a decision without the use of the conscious mind, is a phenomenon that has gained a lot of popularity amongst psychologists over the last couple of decades. The phenomenon, which has been a part of human life since neanderthal days, gained a lot of popularity in the early 20th century, thanks to the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Studies have shown differences in levels of intuition amongst various groups. The most profound differences observed have been those between men’s and women’s levels of intuition. This paper dives …

Effects Of Background Music Characteristics On Working Memory Capacity, Rachel S. Tan

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The use of background music as a distractor can either enhance or hinder task performance depending on how various characteristics of the music influence participants’ arousal. However, existing studies on this topic lack direct manipulation of the physical characteristics of the music, instead using different musical excerpts. The lack of direct manipulation introduces confounding musical variables present in the musical stimuli. This research project examined how specific attributes of background music influence working memory by playing digitally manipulated musical stimuli while participants completed the Sternberg Digit Span task, a standard measure of working memory and processing speed. The test stimuli …

Can Vice Make Us Virtuous? The Effects Of Greed Reminders On Charitability, Hayley Pitts

Honors Theses

Historically, society wishes to encourage people to be good – but also warns against being bad. There is little comparison between the two of which works: the threat of damnation through vice, or the promise of salvation through virtue. This study examines how each of these affect donation behavior. There are two studies within the present research, each with 149 participants randomly assigned into three categories: control, vice, and virtue. Participants were distracted then asked to view an image based on their randomly assigned category, followed by a donation question: would participants donate a $1.00 bonus to a local charity, …

The Effects Of Processing Tasks On False Memories, Caroline Lewis

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects that three different processing tasks had on the rate of false memories. Participants were randomly assigned into a story condition, survival condition, or a pleasantness condition. Using a word list that had three groups of ten words each connected to a nonpresented critical word, participants were asked to process the words using instructions based on their given condition. Processing occurred through written sentences, which was then followed by a short mathematical distraction test. Participants were then given time to recall all of the words presented on the list by …

The Survivability Hierarchy Behind Bars: Themes, Reforms, And Prevention Program Evaluations In Washington State Jail Suicides, Rocky B. Marks

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Across jails nationwide, suicide remains the leading cause of death. Suicide has been the leading cause of death for U.S. jail inmates for over 40 years. In Washington State, suicide accounts for 47% of all jail fatalities while incarcerated. To address this critical issue, the U.S. Justice Department set best practices for jails to follow for suicide prevention programs in 1989. Yet, these best practices have not reduced the disproportionate rate of jail suicides. Far from a decrease, suicide deaths for jail inmates rose 13% in the last 20 years. This dissertation involved three methods of analysis for this critical …

Sleep's Relationship To Executive Functioning In Toddlers, Ella Havertape

Honors Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between toddlers’ sleep and executive functioning. While there are a few studies that examine the relation between sleep and executive functioning in this age group, the majority of research focuses on older populations. Regardless, previous research has found a correlation between sleep problems and executive functioning abilities. This study utilized a parent reported questionnaire to measure children’s sleep and a battery of tasks to measure executive functioning. The results revealed no correlation between sleep duration and executive function performance, however, I did find a correlation between night wakefulness and …

Predicting Personal Growth: An Analysis Of Self-Relevant Approaches, Cole Morse

Honors Theses

Identifying predictors of personal growth–defined as striving to fulfill one’s unique potential–may be important for achieving a life of flourishing (Ryff & Singer, 2008). While existing research demonstrates the link between self-esteem and personal growth, gaps remain in our knowledge of the relationship between other potential self-referential predictors and personal growth (Paradise & Kernis, 2002). The intention of the current study is to not only conceptually replicate the link between positive self-regard (i.e., a positive self-evaluation that is theoretically akin to self-esteem) and personal growth, but to also investigate whether different ways of relating to the self offer unique pathways …

Screening For Eating Disorders In Adolescents With Chronic Pain: The Eating Attitudes Test– 16–Chronic Pain, Leslie Sim, Amy Fahrenkamp, Jennifer R. Geske, Jocelyn Lebow, Hope Thilges, Carol B. Peterson, Abigail Matthews, Cynthia Harbeck-Weber

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background Few measures have been validated to screen for eating disorders (ED) in youth with chronic pain. We conducted confirmatory (CFA) of two established factor structures of the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) in a sample of youth with chronic pain attending an intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT) program and examined the validity of the best-fitting model in predicting ED diagnoses in this sample.

Methods Participants were 880 adolescents (M age = 16.1, SD = 2.1) consecutively admitted into an IIPT program who completed the EAT-26 upon admission. CFA was conducted and in the case of inadequate fit, EFA was …

Injustice: Parental Betrayal And The Exploitation Of Child Murder In The United States, Isabella Merlini

Honors Scholar Theses

The following serves as an extensive literature review on the phenomena of filicide and familicide–the ultimate forms of parental betrayal–perpetrated within the United States. Subsequently highlighted is the theme that the people who should always take care of and love their children are sometimes also those who demonically arrange for their children’s very deaths, and while parents have the power to bring children into this world, they do not have the right to remove children from it. An overview of the unique perpetrations, victimologies, psychopathologies, and motivations that contribute to the classifications of filicide and familicide are further provided. Six …

Circumcision—Deal With It! A Clinical Ethnography Of Intactivism At American Intersections, Benjamin M. Gaddes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On a routine trip to the grocery store, or while scrolling online, you might encounter the provocative and puzzling discourse of Intactivism, a viral, single-issue social movement that opposes infant male circumcision, and wonder “Huh? Why is this here, now?” This project situates Intactivism in a history of circumcision and anti-circumcision that spans from ancient Sumerian tents to the front pages of Reddit. It takes an immersive qualitative clinical ethnographic approach, nested in a broader cultural psychology that is non-reductive and pluralistic, to articulate an Intactivist ethos in its public and private dimensions. Methods include participant-observation, interviews, and framework discourse …

On The Cultivation Of Relational Leadership Mindsets Among Graduate Supervisees In The Mental Health Professions: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis, Cristina Bucur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In counseling supervision, leadership is often associated with supervisors’ skills, role, position, and responsibilities. However, supervisees need to learn and practice how to lead also: for example, how to promote others’ well-being, how to support, and advocate for others and self. Graduate supervisee relational leadership in the mental health professions is an intrinsic part of the purposive aspect of counseling supervision. Relational leadership in graduate counseling supervision is a purposive, interpersonal, facilitative, growth oriented, and process-based service in which leaders -expert facilitators and mentors- seek to cultivate leaders, not followers. Relational leadership is mutuality-affirming and mutuality-promoting (e.g., open dialogue, mutual …

Companionship, Romance, And Self-Perception With Conversational Chatbots, Jonathan Windsor

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Serving as a metaphorical gateway transcending the communicative barriers of physical relationships in interpersonal dialogues, artificial imators of human behavior and speech, also known as conversational chatbots; a simulation of human knowledge and existence in a bi-directional conversation, functions as a rhetor of expression. Spanning from contexts of professional to romantic, I serve to dissect and critically analyze the nuances of human-machine relationships based on pre-established literature, inviting ethical considerations and biases in their design and marketing. Corporate influences spark pre-established servitude-esque relationships with conversational agents. Professional applications, both task-oriented and emotionally based alike, paint a mixed picture of …

Implementing A Career Development Program For 7th Grade Students, Courtney Danielle Martinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Career Development programs are crucial in schools to allow students to explore and prepare for their desired career. This is done primarily in the exploration stage of career development. This stage starts late elementary with exposure to careers then continues through middle and high school getting more in depth about what steps need to be taken to achieve their career goal. This is a key developmental stage where students begin to understand their own likes and interests which plays a part in finding a career that fits with their personality as well. While understanding oneself is important when researching jobs, …

Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Of The Shoulder: A Technical Primer, Sailesh Arulkumar, Elisa E. Neuchat, Eric Ly, Austin Ingwei Ly, Kiana Fahimipour, Mehul J. Desai

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Scapulalgia or shoulder pain accounts for 16% of all musculoskeletal complaints in the healthy adult population and becomes more common as we age. When this pain exceeds 3 months in duration, it is deemed to be chronic, and typically treated in an escalating manner. Spanning a continuum of conservative and non-conservative measures, chronic shoulder pain treatments range from rest and physical therapy to surgery. Since each patient presents with a unique spectrum of symptoms a customized treatment plan is often required. Over the lifetime of many of these patients, a variety of treatment options are required. One of these treatment …

The Impact Of Perceived Self-Connection On Possession-Based Placebo Analgesia : An Investigation Using Implicit And Explicit Measures, Sze Ki Ng

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Previous study found merely possessing a placebo analgesic cream (without using) has similar pain outcomes when it is compared with using a placebo analgesic cream, but the underlying mechanism is unclear (Yeung et al., 2019). Yeung et al. (2020) proposed that an object-to-self expectancy can be a possible mechanism underlying a possession-based placebo effect, which means people believe that the owned object will benefit them. The present study aimed to examine this hypothetical mechanism and investigate how forming a cognitive connection between the analgesic cream and the self affects the possession-based placebo effect. We demonstrated the effect existed and observed …

Skill Bias Perceptions Of Unskilled Workers' Self-Perception And Self-Efficacy, Cheryl M. Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A common phenomenon witnessed in the United States health care industry is a division between skilled and unskilled workforces. The division results from skill bias perceptions that strip the appreciation and value of certain job titles and responsibilities. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study focused on the human capability approach theory was to ascertain the differences in perception between the two types of workers and whether skill bias perceptions predict self-perception and self-efficacy. The goal was to recognize and support the innate human capabilities of unskilled workers as valuable human capital resources. From stratified sampling, 172 skilled and unskilled …