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Theses/Dissertations

2020

Psychology

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Articles 31 - 60 of 68

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Never Enough: Assessing Body Image In College-Age Males, Austin T. Coale Apr 2020

Never Enough: Assessing Body Image In College-Age Males, Austin T. Coale

Senior Theses

Body image issues are a prevalent issue among college-age students. College-age males specifically suffer from societal pressures of masculinity which manifest in different body image threats and coping strategies that focus on over-exercising and increased muscularity. This study aims to look at two distinct athletic populations of males at the University of South Carolina: yoga and weightlifting. An eleven item survey interrogated three types of coping strategies: avoidance, appearance fixing, and positive rational acceptance. Thirty males were surveyed and found that males participating in yoga reported rates of appearance fixing that were statistically significantly higher than those in the weightlifting …

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Unveiling God In Counseling: The Compatibility Of Christian Theology And The Modern Therapeutic Process, Kelvin Jamaal Mack Apr 2020

Unveiling God In Counseling: The Compatibility Of Christian Theology And The Modern Therapeutic Process, Kelvin Jamaal Mack

Senior Theses

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the compatibility of Christian theology and a modern therapeutic process informed by secularism. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that the conceptualization of an active God in the therapeutic process is essential for counselors and clients who adhere to the Christian faith. This conceptualization is either missing or altered by therapeutic processes that operate under the worldview assumptions of secularism. This is what is described as the veiling of God. To explore this issue, a four-tiered analytical approach has been invoked. First, a brief history of secularism and its major …

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Examining Biobehavioral Indicators Of Adhd In Children With Fxs, Hannah Pressler Apr 2020

Examining Biobehavioral Indicators Of Adhd In Children With Fxs, Hannah Pressler

Senior Theses

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity behaviors that are inconsistent with developmental age. Children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder, are often diagnosed with comorbid ADHD (53-59% of males with FXS). Despite the prevalence of ADHD in FXS, little is known about the early manifestation of ADHD. The current project aims to explore group differences in play behaviors between children with FXS and typically developing (TD) children as well as the correlation of infant play behavior and heart activity to future ADHD attention outcomes. Participants included male children with FXS and …

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The Relationship Between Social Functioning And Anxiety Symptoms In Preschoolers With Autism, Kaylee L. Cox Apr 2020

The Relationship Between Social Functioning And Anxiety Symptoms In Preschoolers With Autism, Kaylee L. Cox

Senior Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social functioning. Furthermore, children with ASD have been found to have high rates of comorbid anxiety. Understanding the relationship between ASD and comorbid anxiety is essential in raising awareness of anxiety symptomology in children with ASD in hopes of better informing treatment and support. The present study examines the relationship between social functioning and general anxiety in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. The first objective of this study was to examine group differences in social impairments and anxiety symptoms between children diagnosed with ASD and TD children. …

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Evaluation Of Native Advertisement Though Third Person Effect Theory: An Experimental Design, Inga Nafetvaridze Mar 2020

Evaluation Of Native Advertisement Though Third Person Effect Theory: An Experimental Design, Inga Nafetvaridze

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this research is to determine how people evaluate native advertising in order to figure out how ethical is a native advertising practice. The Third Person Effect Theory was applied to this study. It enables to examine people’s attitude toward native advertising. An experimental design was developed. Participants were exposed to three types of ads to find out if they are able to recognize native ads among other advertisements. The total number of participants was 386. The results were analyzed via ANOVA. The main finding of this study states that individuals perceive the native advertisement in a …

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Anxiety-Inducing Effects Of Alcohol And Caffeine In C57bl/6j Mice, Melissa Evans Jan 2020

Anxiety-Inducing Effects Of Alcohol And Caffeine In C57bl/6j Mice, Melissa Evans

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Caffeine and alcohol are two of the most popular and legal drugs around the world. In America, both drugs are easily accessible, which has contributed to frequent use of the drugs in tandem. Previous studies have revealed much about the mechanisms of each drug, but the effects of co-consumption are not yet fully understood. One concern is that caffeine could reduce how intoxicated a person feels, leading to an increase in alcohol consumption or other risky behaviors. Withdrawal is also a concern as it helps maintain the cycle of substance abuse. This study was designed to examine consumption patterns of …

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Integrating Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Processes With Information-Processing Theory In Anxious Early Adolescents, Gilly Kahn Jan 2020

Integrating Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Processes With Information-Processing Theory In Anxious Early Adolescents, Gilly Kahn

Theses and Dissertations

The social information-processing (I-P) model states that cognition assumes several cognitive steps (encoding, interpretation, response access, and selection). It has been shown that anxious youth display deficits or distortions at various stages of the social I-P model. In response to ambiguous situations, they show threat perception and interpretation biases, choose maladaptive responses, and engage in greater levels of avoidance than do non-anxious youth. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically-supported treatment for anxious youth. It aims to increase mindfulness, acceptance, and cognitive defusion, and to decrease experiential avoidance. The mechanisms explaining the effectiveness of ACT processes suggest that they …

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A Novel Cognitive Stress Test For The Detection Of Early Alzheimer’S Disease In African Americans, Kimberly Capp Jan 2020

A Novel Cognitive Stress Test For The Detection Of Early Alzheimer’S Disease In African Americans, Kimberly Capp

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. population is currently undergoing a major demographic transition, with increasing racial and ethnic diversity of the older adult population. As the growing population of older adults advances in age, memory complaints are projected to increase in prevalence particularly among African Americans and present a challenge to clinicians who must differentiate between normal aging and progressive neurocognitive conditions (Celsis, 2000; Sherwin, 2000). As targeted therapeutic interventions and emerging therapies for AD are much more likely to be effective in the earlier stages of the disease (Loewenstein, Curiel, Duara & Buschke, 2017), early assessment and detection of AD, especially in …

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Exploration Of The Wechsler Memory Scale Fourth Edition (Wms-Iv) Designs Content And Spatial Memory Scales, Maya Pinjala Jan 2020

Exploration Of The Wechsler Memory Scale Fourth Edition (Wms-Iv) Designs Content And Spatial Memory Scales, Maya Pinjala

Theses and Dissertations

The Designs subtest was newly added as a measure of visual memory to the Wechsler Memory Scale, 4th edition (WMS-IV). This study examined this measure in a mixed clinical sample (n = 158). Specifically, the aim of the study was to evaluate the publishers’ claims that the Designs test assesses both visual content (“what”) and spatial (“where”) memory, as these functions are processed within distinct neurological systems. To date, no studies have specifically examined the individual Content and Spatial scores in relation to other neuropsychological variables. The purpose of this study was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the …

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Ptsd And Immunological Correlations Of Attention And Working Memory In Gulf War Illness, Mary Jeffrey Jan 2020

Ptsd And Immunological Correlations Of Attention And Working Memory In Gulf War Illness, Mary Jeffrey

Theses and Dissertations

Gulf War Illness (GWI) impacts 25 to 32 percent of those deployed in the 1991 Gulf War (White et al., 2016) and includes symptoms related to fatigue and mood/neurological disturbances. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the influence of trauma exposure and chemical exposure when investigating neuropsychological symptoms. This cross-sectional study utilized a group of veterans with and without GWI (n=61) to investigate: 1) the unique impact that GWI has on a survey measure of attention and memory or the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). We also investigated how PTSD symptoms, followed by fatigue levels, improved the GWI model …

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Investigating Achievement And Mental Health Through The Dual-Factor Model, Kelly Clark Jan 2020

Investigating Achievement And Mental Health Through The Dual-Factor Model, Kelly Clark

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

School professionals are charged not only with advancing students’ content knowledge, but also with developing their social and emotional skills; however, adolescence is a period in which many individuals experience declines in academic performance and mental health. The current study investigated associations between grit, academic grit, and growth mindset with academic achievement, subjective well-being, and psychopathology. Second, this study examined the demographic makeup of mental health groups posited by the dual-factor model of mental health, as well as group-level differences in grit, academic grit, growth mindset, and academic achievement across mental health groups identified through latent profile analysis. Adolescents (N …

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Socioeconomic Disadvantage And Brain Structure In Adulthood, Alexander J. Dufford Jan 2020

Socioeconomic Disadvantage And Brain Structure In Adulthood, Alexander J. Dufford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood has been associated with difficulties in physical and mental health later in life. A potential pathway underlying this association is through variations in brain development. While associations between concurrent socioeconomic disadvantage and brain structural development have been established, it is unclear if there are prospective associations between childhood disadvantage and brain structure later in life (adulthood). The following studies address these gaps in the knowledge by examining the prospective association between childhood socioeconomic status and brain structure in adulthood. Study One examines the association between average family income across childhood and brain structural morphometry in adulthood. …

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Imaginary Friends: The Effect Of Imagined Social Support On Subjective And Physiological Indicators Of Stress, Breana Bryant Jan 2020

Imaginary Friends: The Effect Of Imagined Social Support On Subjective And Physiological Indicators Of Stress, Breana Bryant

UNF Undergraduate Honors Theses

Social support is known to help buffer the effects of stress (Uchino et al., 1996). However, in many situations social support is unavailable, and imagining social support may help to reduce the impact of stress. Although imagined physical touch has been shown to be an effective stress buffer, little research has compared it to other types of imagined support (Feldman et al., 2010). Additionally, women tend to seek emotional support, whereas men tend to seek tangible support, but it is unknown if imagining those types of support will reduce stress (Reevy & Maslach, 2001). To gain greater insight into these …

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Fostering Trauma-Informed Schools By Considering The Experiences Of Teachers In Working With Trauma-Exposed Students, Allison A. Stiles Jan 2020

Fostering Trauma-Informed Schools By Considering The Experiences Of Teachers In Working With Trauma-Exposed Students, Allison A. Stiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High rates of trauma exposure among youth in the United States and the detrimental effects of trauma on students’ psychosocial and academic outcomes are well-established. Such findings have engendered the emergence of trauma-informed schools across the nation. While research regarding trauma-informed schools has understandably focused on the needs of students, shockingly little is known about teachers’ experiences in working with trauma-exposed students. In particular, very few studies have examined the relationship between teachers’ indirect exposure to student trauma and related symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (STS), as well as factors that may predict STS levels or explain variation in the …

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Perceived Threat And Left-Wing Authoritarianism: The Effect Of Framing On Persuasive Messages, James Donald Mcfarland Jan 2020

Perceived Threat And Left-Wing Authoritarianism: The Effect Of Framing On Persuasive Messages, James Donald Mcfarland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Past research reveals a strong connection between feeling threatened and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). This relationship is considered to be an integral part of authoritarianism and the nature of its presence in the left-leaning populace is still being fully explored. This study examined the relationship between perceived threat and Left-Wing Authoritarianism (LWA) through the framing of persuasive messages. Participants (n = 256) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and given a list of reward- or threat-framed statements concerning the possible ramifications of voting in future elections and then asked to rate the quality and persuasiveness of the respective statements. …

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The Effects Of Ingroup Threat On The Anchoring And Adjustment Heuristic, Mattie V. Hedgebeth Jan 2020

The Effects Of Ingroup Threat On The Anchoring And Adjustment Heuristic, Mattie V. Hedgebeth

Theses and Dissertations

Since its introduction in 1974, the anchoring and adjustment heuristic has been a topic of interest within the field of decision making. Although much work has examined factors that affect the process of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, very little has been studied about the self-processes that may influence how individuals anchor. More specifically, self and ingroup motivations have yet to be explored. This research sought to identify whether an individual’s magnitude of adjustment from an anchor can be affected by either an enhancement or threat of the individual’s ingroup. I hypothesized that ingroup enhancing information would induce a smaller …

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Could A Robot Be Your Psychotherapist?, Benjamin Huston Jan 2020

Could A Robot Be Your Psychotherapist?, Benjamin Huston

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

As technology has advanced over the years, it has been integrated into psychotherapy and changed the way that people receive mental health care (Schopp, Demiris, & Glueckauf, 2006). Many of these advances, such as telehealth practices, were seen as unsustainable until the public Internet offered broader access to technology-based care in the 1990s (Schopp, Demiris, & Glueckauf, 2006). These technology-based practices have since grown in popularity and with a recent increase in telehealth practices, text-based therapies, and applications to aid in mental health practices, modern therapy looks very different than it did even ten years ago (Fiske, Henningsen, & Buyx, …

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Counterterrorism Investigator Perceptions: Homegrown Violent Extremists With Mental Illness, Jeffery Brandon Perez Jan 2020

Counterterrorism Investigator Perceptions: Homegrown Violent Extremists With Mental Illness, Jeffery Brandon Perez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Terrorism endures throughout the world. Some individuals who engage in it may suffer from a cognitive disorder. For those who investigate terrorism, preconceptions exist both toward extremists and toward people with mental illness (MI). A review of the literature has shown how counterterrorism (CT) investigators perceive terrorists’ motivations, and how law enforcement perceives people with MI. In filling a gap between the two, this study aimed to research whether based on their lived experiences, do the understandings, perceptions, and attitudes of CT agents inform their biases and influence their decision-making and ultimately investigations of homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) with MI. …

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Information Security Ambassadors’ Perceptions Of Peer-Led Motivation In Phishing Detection, Kingkane Malmquist Jan 2020

Information Security Ambassadors’ Perceptions Of Peer-Led Motivation In Phishing Detection, Kingkane Malmquist

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Phishing rates are increasing yearly and continue to compromise data integrity. The need to guard business information is vital for organizations to meet their business objectives and legal obligations. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore security ambassadors’ perceptions of motivating their peers to adopt safe internet behaviors in a large medical campus in Minnesota. Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristic motivation theory was used to frame the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 20 security ambassadors. Data coding and analysis yielded 7 themes: rewarding, value, personal interest, limited information security knowledge, increased interest, communication, and topics …

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Further Comparison Of Preference For Intervention With And Without Restricted Topics, Meg Patel Jan 2020

Further Comparison Of Preference For Intervention With And Without Restricted Topics, Meg Patel

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may dwell on restricted topics of interest during conversations (Mercier et al., 2000; Smerbeck, 2019). Stocco et al. (in press) found that individuals may prefer a conversational-skill intervention that includes access to restricted topics over an intervention that only provides high-quality attention for speech about experimenter-led topics. We replicated and extended Stocco et al. in two ways. First, we evaluated if speech about restricted topics (a) occurred at high levels and (b) was sensitive to interested responses from a listener. Second, we experimentally evaluated the additive effects of …

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Poor And Unpopular: How Verbal Ability And Theory Of Mind Predict Peer Rejection In A Socioeconomically Diverse Environment, Ellen Rispoli Jan 2020

Poor And Unpopular: How Verbal Ability And Theory Of Mind Predict Peer Rejection In A Socioeconomically Diverse Environment, Ellen Rispoli

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This study compares associations between Peer Rejection (PR) and Verbal Ability (VA) and PR and Theory of Mind (ToM) within a socioeconomically diverse context. At the time the study was stopped, five participants, ages 6-9, were recruited from the Boys and Girls Club. Participating families completed socioeconomic status (SES) questionnaires written in either English or Spanish prior to an hour-long session with a team of Butler University undergraduate students. The undergraduates administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT) to assess VA; the Mind of the Eyes task, a series of three Faux Pas (FP) tasks, …

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La Libertad Y Sus Acontecimientos: Un Enfoque En El Existencialismo Y El Uso De La Libertad Dentro De Artefactos Culturales, Carlos A. Hernandez Jan 2020

La Libertad Y Sus Acontecimientos: Un Enfoque En El Existencialismo Y El Uso De La Libertad Dentro De Artefactos Culturales, Carlos A. Hernandez

Senior Independent Study Theses

Uno de los temas mas prevalentes dentro del existencialismo es el de la libertad. Se puede discutir que la libertad no es posible dentro de nuestra sociedad, pero Savater, autor de “El valor de elegir”, nos indica que la libertad existe dentro de los reglamentos de nuestra sociedad. Savater propone que la acción es resultado de el conocimiento, la imaginación, y la decisión. Dentro de este proceso se puede reconocer los aspectos existencialistas de la voluntad, la ignorancia, la inquietud, y el azar respectivamente. Esta obra se enfoca en los tres aspectos que describe Savater como los puntos esenciales de …

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Maximization In Moderation : Finding The Optimal Level Of Maximizing Tendency, Shannon Pierce Jan 2020

Maximization In Moderation : Finding The Optimal Level Of Maximizing Tendency, Shannon Pierce

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Maximizing tendency is a decision making style in which an individual keeps a high standard for decisions. Research has shown conflicting results regarding the nature of maximizing tendency and various subjective outcomes. Extant research has shown maximizing tendency to be linearly related, both negatively and positively, to depression, optimism, life satisfaction and decision regret. Although measurement issues have been routinely blamed for the inconsistencies in these findings, this study posits that maximizing tendency is curvilinearly related to the subjective outcomes of decision regret, optimism, and life satisfaction, based on the Too Much of a Good Thing effect. It was hypothesized …

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Assessing Implicit Leadership And Followership Theories, Daniel Bashore Jan 2020

Assessing Implicit Leadership And Followership Theories, Daniel Bashore

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories (ILTs and IFTs, respectively) are individuals’ schemas composed of attributes that characterize leaders and followers. ILTs and IFTs are commonly measured through direct measures, however, researchers have questioned the validity of popular direct measures. With better and more parallel measures, we can examine the extent to which individuals think about leaders and followers as similar or dissimilar. Also, although substantial research has examined predictors of explicit leadership and leaders’ behavior, little research has attempted to examine antecedents of implicit leadership or followership. Using a sample of working adults (N = 243), the current study created …

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What Are You Looking At? Using Eye-Tracking To Provide Insight Into Careless Responding, Cheyna Katherine Brower Jan 2020

What Are You Looking At? Using Eye-Tracking To Provide Insight Into Careless Responding, Cheyna Katherine Brower

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Careless responding (CR), also called insufficient effort responding (IER), occurs when survey participants respond to items without regard to item content. The presence of careless responding threatens the validity of inferences made from self-report data (Huang et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2015), thus careless responding must be identified and removed to trust inferences made based on self-report survey data. Using a sample of 59 undergraduate students, this study uses eye-tracking data to assess the validity of existing careless responding indices and to provide insight into the nature of careless responding. Although influenced by measurement error in the eye-tracking indices, …

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Comparing Dichotomous And Polytomous Items Using Item Response Trees, Daniel Jenkins Jan 2020

Comparing Dichotomous And Polytomous Items Using Item Response Trees, Daniel Jenkins

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Research on the optimal number of response options on graphic rating scales has yielded mixed results such as that more scale points are better; there is an optimal range; or that it does not matter. The present study compared the psychometric properties of dichotomous and polytomous personality items using several methods of scoring including summed scores, item response theory (IRT), and item response trees. It was found that regression models based on dichotomous items explained similar amounts of variance in careless responding as models based on polytomous items. In addition, scores from dichotomous models were more closely related to the …

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Professional Self-Care Practices, Emotional Work And Burnout In Australian Psychology Academics, Claudia Yael Hoenig Jan 2020

Professional Self-Care Practices, Emotional Work And Burnout In Australian Psychology Academics, Claudia Yael Hoenig

Theses : Honours

This study examined whether professional self-care practices (PSCP) had a moderating effect on the relationship between emotional work (EW) performed and burnout symptoms experienced among Australian academics teaching psychology. Seventy-seven Australian psychology academics ranging from 27 to 64 years, with an average of 13.34 years of academic experience, and representing the full range of academic levels from Associate Lecturer to Professor, and predominantly females, participated in the study. Participants completed an online survey comprising three questionnaires: the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Intensive Emotion Work Inventory (IEW) and Professional Self-Care Scale (PSCS), addressing levels of PSCP, EW performed and frequency and …

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Veteran Reintegration, Joan Lee Tolliver Jan 2020

Veteran Reintegration, Joan Lee Tolliver

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Veterans are a unique population and share a common experience: reintegration. The reintegration period can be a challenging experience, and affects things such as mental health and overall adjustment to civilian life. In order to examine reintegration more closely, interviews conducted by the Wright State’s Veterans Voices Project were used to complete this study. A checklist was used and consisted of nine themes identified in the relative literature related to reintegration: intimate relationships, familial relationships, children, education, employment, physical health, mental health, coping, and identity. Of the nine categories, employment was discussed most often (59.5%). Mental health was only discussed …

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Attitude Strength And Situational Strength As Moderators Of The Job Satisfaction – Job Performance Relationship, Joseph William Dagosta Jan 2020

Attitude Strength And Situational Strength As Moderators Of The Job Satisfaction – Job Performance Relationship, Joseph William Dagosta

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Workers who are satisfied with their jobs are better performers, but prior research has found a plethora of moderating variables between job satisfaction and job performance (Ostroff, 1992, Schleicher, Watt, & Greguras, 2004; Spector, 1997). Prior research has suggested that job attitude strength can strengthen the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance and that the relationships between personality variables and extra-role job performance are stronger in weak rather than strong workplace situations (Meyer et al., 2014; Shleicher et al., 2015). In the current study, I investigated the interaction between job satisfaction, job attitude strength, and situational strength on job …

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Discriminating Targets Among Distractors In A Virtual Shopping Environment With Different Rack Orientations: Testing A Model Of Visibility, Tyler Sinclair Whitlock Jan 2020

Discriminating Targets Among Distractors In A Virtual Shopping Environment With Different Rack Orientations: Testing A Model Of Visibility, Tyler Sinclair Whitlock

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Objective: This study measured observers’ abilities to identify letter targets distributed among number distractors in a virtual shopping environment. Head-turning behavior was also continuously recorded throughout each trial. The data were then used to test whether a model’s prediction for the duration of visibility needed for target detection in a virtual shopping environment (Parikh & Mowrey, 2014) generalize to the more realistic shopping task of identifying a target on a shelf. Currently, the model predicts the visibility of the locations of targets in traditional racks oriented 90° to the aisle (perpendicular) as well as racks oriented at 30°, 45, 135°, …

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