Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Alienation And Isolation In Interracial Marriages In East Tennessee., Sheila Dianne Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I conducted this study to determine if African American men and women who marry white men and women in East Tennessee perceive experiences of isolation and alienation from their families and friends as a result of their selection of a mate from a race other than the one into which they were born. I interviewed ten individuals who are or have been interracially married. As a result of my research, I found that my results compare favorably with those of scholarly studies that discovered alienation and isolation among interracial couples.

I used descriptive research methods to analyze a segment of …

Perceived Effectiveness Of Conflict Management Strategies In Dating Relationships., Jaime Ann Counts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to determine how college participants view the success of different conflict management strategies: chance, manipulation, compliance, and confrontation. The success of the conflict management strategies was evaluated by how participants rated female satisfaction, male satisfaction, likelihood of marriage and success of marriage. A MANOVA, and a Roy Bargman step-down procedure were conducted on all dependent variables. A Tukey HSD post hoc test was ran to reveal which conflict management strategies differed from one another. Results indicated that participants thought women were less satisfied than men. For male satisfaction and likelihood of marriage, post …

Parent-Child Interaction: Development Of Measure For A Naturalistic Setting., Valarie N. Holzwarth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parent-child interaction could arguably be the most important factor in child development, including academic achievement, behavior, and personality. This study suggests that the quantity of parent-child interaction is just as important as quality, and we test the reliability and validity of our instrument developed to quantitatively measure parent-child interaction in the home under realistic conditions. Twenty-eight children’s parents participated in the study over four days. Eight families had two research observers complete the instrument simultaneously with them, and reliability measures were taken between parents (74%), parent and one research-observers (78%), and two research observers (97%). Validity measures yielded scores of …

The Role Of Cognitive Factors In The Development Of Seasonal Affective Disorder Episodes, Stacy Whitcomb-Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has begun to focus on diathesis stress models, including Young and colleagues' (1 991) Dual Vulnerability Hypothesis (DVH). The DVH posits that individuals must possess both a biological vulnerability to developing vegetative symptoms and a psychological vulnerability to developing mood symptoms in order to develop SAD episodes. Such a model addresses SAD as well as non-seasonal depression, and suggests that there may be an as yet unidentified group suffering fiom only the biological vulnerability (i.e., winter anergia). However, until very recently few studies have directly tested this model, and most have focused on …

Gender, Spatial Learning Trials, And Object Recall., Tifani R. Hite

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous researchers have reported women doing better than men in object recall. The current study tested for gender differences in object recall over three memorization trials using gender neutral stimuli. Fifty men and 53 women viewed pictures of 60 objects (15 in each of four quadrants) for one minute, and then had three minutes to recall as many objects and locations as they could. This procedure was followed over three trials. Women performed better than men, and the difference increased across trials. Training was successful as participants recalled significantly more objects and locations on trial 3 than on trial 1. …

Emotional Empathy And Reasons For Living In Substance-Using College Students., Daniel Scott Merwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined emotional empathy and reasons for living in substance using college students. Participants included 49 males and 120 females, ages 18 to 54 years (M = 21.95) from undergraduate psychology classes. A packet containing a substance abuse scale, a short demographic, Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES), and Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) was administered. The independent variables were gender and levels of substance use. The dependent variables were reasons for living scores and emotional empathy scores.

A 2 (gender) X 3 (level of substance use) Analysis of Variance was used. For empathy, a main effect was found for …

Emotion Management In Children With Anxiety Disorders: A Focus On The Role Of Emotion-Related Socialization Processes, Cynthia M. Suveg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined emotion management skills in anxious children and their mothers and investigated factors within the child and the parent, and the child-parent relationship that may relate to the development of adaptive emotion management. Three methods of emotion socialization were examined: parental reactions to children's emotions, discussion of emotion, and family expressivity. Children ages 8-1 1 years old were first screened for anxious syrnptomatology in their classrooms within the public school system. Children who scored in the clinical range on the self-report measure were then administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Those who met criteria for an anxiety disorder were …

The Psychological Correlates Of Asymmetric Cerebral Activation, Lisle R. Kingery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the psychological correlates of asymmetric cerebral activation as measured by electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings. Five content areas were investigated in the context of EEG asymmetry: hierarchical visual processing, creative potential, mood, personality, and EEG asymmetry, and the effect of a mood induction procedure on cognition and EEG asymmetry. Undergraduate participants completed two experimental sessions separated by two to three weeks. Participants completed a comprehensive set of emotion, personality, and creative potential measures, a cognitive task assessing individual differences in hierarchical visual processing. and a short form of the Rorschach inkblot test. Additionally. each participant underwent either a happy …

Language In Social Contexts: An Examination Of The Effects Of The Linguistic Intergroup Bias On Social Categorization And Interpersonal Behavior, Virginia Ann Cylke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of language in social contexts. Specifically, two experiments were designed to extend our understanding of the Linguistic Intergroup Bias (LIB) by elucidating its effects on stereotype application and social behavior. The LIB is the tendency to describe positive in-group and negative out-group behaviors more abstractly than negative in-group and positive out-group behaviors. The first experiment examined the extent to which the LIB augments intergroup categories and perpetuates stereotype use. When asked to match positive and negative behavioral descriptions written at different levels of abstraction to in-group and out-group faces, participants tended to categorize abstract negative …

Evaluating Attitudes Of Obesity And Their Change Processes Among Student Teachers And School Teachers On The World Wide Web Using The Elaboration Likelihood Model, Anne L. Hague

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have an active role in helping to prevent and deter stigmatizing acts toward children labeled as "fat." The objective was to examine attitudes of obesity and their change processes among student teachers and schoolteachers, when exposed to a Web-based educational module promoting size acceptance, using the Elaboration- Likelihood Model (ELM). The ELM is a theoretical approach to message-based persuasion specifying conditions under which attitude change occurs. The theory was used to explain the impact of the module (content included etiological factors of obesity, implications of weight loss efforts, and emotionaVpsychosocia1 effects of obesity), high nutrition credibility of the module …

Exploring Early Adolescents' Adjustment Across The Middle School Transition: The Role Of Peer Experiences And Social-Cognitive Factors, James E. Newman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to consider the role of early adolescents' peer experiences (i.e., peer acceptance, number of mutual hends, friendship quality) in predicting their adjustment across the transition from elementary to middle school, and to examine whether students' goals and attributions added to the prediction of adjustment, above and beyond the peer variables. The second goal was to include a comprehensive assessment of participants' adjustment (i.e., loneliness, depression, self-esteem, school involvement, academic achievement, school avoidance) and to investigate changes in the adjustment variables across the transition to middle school. Finally, this study examined potential gender differences …

Religiosity And Aggression In College Students., Shanea J. Watkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined whether high and low religiosity had any relationship to a person’s five measures of aggressiveness. The participants in this study consisted of 274 female and 202 male undergraduates. The results revealed that: (A) high scores of Religious Conflict and Hostility to Church yielded higher scores of aggression, (B) high scores of Religious Orthodoxy, Religious Solace and Religious Tranquility yielded lower scores of aggression, (C) high scores of Religious Conflict and Hostility to Church yielded higher scores of total aggressiveness, and (D) high scores on Religious Solace and Religious Orthodoxy yielded low scores of total aggression. Frequency …

Predicting Self-Esteem Based On Perceived Parental Favoritism And Birth Order., Kristy Lynn Adkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental favoritism is the preference or perception of preference of a parent for one child over another. The present study examines parental favoritism as well as the effects perceived favoritism has on one's self-esteem and if the effects are based on birth order. Participants were 325 undergraduate college students enrolled in introductory level classes. The mean age of the participants was 21.4 with 60% being women and 40% being men. Participants completed a parental favoritism questionnaire developed by the experimenter which assessed if the participant thought his/herself to be favored by a parent compared to a sibling. Self-esteem was assessed …

Perceptions Of Cosmetic Alteration In Different Sized Attractive Women., Deborah Suzanne White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two experimental phases examined the characteristics impacting the physical attractiveness stereotype and a potential stereotype shift. From reading a description of a hypothetical target, Phase 1 of this study revealed that participants considered an overweight attractive woman significantly more likely to help a friend in need and significantly more likely to become a friend than an underweight attractive woman. These findings provide understanding of how particular stereotypes may provide social benefits. In Phase 2, knowledge of the woman's plans for liposuction, which was disclosed in a second description of the target, dramatically lowered the participants' evaluations of her physical attractiveness, …

Expected Happiness, Love, And Longevity Of Marriage: Effects Of Wedding Type Preference, Gender, And Location Of The Wedding Ceremony., Karen Sue Rudd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender and wedding type preference affect views of those who get married in a courthouse as opposed to a church. The participants for this study consisted of 198 unmarried, undergraduate students that planned to marry someday. Participants responded to a wedding location scenario then completed a wedding type preference questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test Revised, and a demographics questionnaire. Results revealed that group 1 (participants who were high on traditional wedding preference and received the scenario of courthouse wedding ceremony), rated the hypothetical couple as having a higher chance of being happy after 25 years of marriage and being more …

The Effects Of Stress Induction On Pre-Attentive And Attentional Bias For Threat In Social Anxiety, Kristen M. Maki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current investigation is a test of the vigilance-avoidance model of attentional processing in a socially anxious sample (Mogg, Bradley, de Bono, & Painter, 1997). The theory proposes that individuals with social phobia possess a pre-attentive bias for social threat cues in their environment, however, they subsequently fail to process this information due to strategic cognitive avoidance, that is, conscious efforts to disengage attention from threatening information. A combined subliminal/supraliminal emotional Stroop paradigm was employed in order to examine patterns of pre-attentive and attentional processing of threat cues in an analogue sample of undergraduate students with high versus low levels …

Lessons From Ellen: A Case Study Investigation Of Comprehension Strategy Instruction In Action, Suzanne Kaback

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past ten years, reading comprehension instruction has received significant attention from educational researchers. Drawing on studies from cognitive psychology, reader response theory, and language arts research, current best practice in reading comprehension instruction is characterized by a strategies approach in which students are taught to think like proficient readers who visualize, infer, activate schema, question, and summarize as they read. Studies investigating the impact of comprehension strategy instruction on student achievement in reading suggest that when implemented consistently the intervention has a positive effect on achievement. Research also shows, however, that few teachers embrace this approach to reading …

The Relationship Between Participation In Goal Setting, Company Size And Performance, Commitment, Acceptance And Job Satisfaction In The United States And Macedonia., Kristin Michelle King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While some researchers have suggested that participative goal setting increases performance, acceptance, commitment, and satisfaction, others have suggested that it does not. Additionally, much research on goal setting has been done in the US while none has been done in Macedonia.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between participation in goal setting and company size on these variables and to determine if there are differences in the effects of participation in goal setting in the US and Macedonia. The independent variables were country, company size, and type of participation and dependent variables were performance, commitment, acceptance, …

Employability Of Individuals With Varying Disabilities And Costs Of Needed Workplace Accommodations., Bram Cassidy Bevins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between an individual's disability and needed workplace accommodations and employability. The participants for this study were businessmen and businesswomen in Southwestern Virginia who possessed the ability to hire employees. Results indicated that an individual with a physical disability was thought of as more employable and favorable than a nondisabled individual, a blind individual, and an obese individual. Results also indicated that a physically disabled individual would be hired before a blind individual and an obese individual when workplace accommodations were needed. One possible explanation for these findings is that it is desirable to hire …

The Well-Being Of Children As Viewed Through Their Conceptions Of Death, Jennifer Kampmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An explorative study was conducted to try and understand how young children’s emerging death concepts form including, (a) what family demographics and child factors contributed to family well-being, (b) did family well-being influence children’s social competence, and (c) did family well-being and children’s social competence influence children’s death conceptions. Although the subject of death contains many unique characteristics, it is not easily separated from other aspects of life; death is inseparable from the whole human experience (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2002). It was the assumption of this paper that children develop their conceptions of death based on the appreciation they hold …

A Descriptive Study: Selection And Use Of Art Mediums By Sexually Abused Adults: Implications In Counseling And Art Psychotherapy, Frances Harlow Clukey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was designed to explore what happens in the process of therapy when clients, having persisting symptoms of sexual abuse and having disclosed that abuse, have access to a wide variety of art materials to select and use in treatment. A blend of qualitative and quantitative research in design, the study is an initial step towards a greater understanding of the potentially transformative experience of art making and the role of art mediums in the practice of therapy. Treatment for abuse is a long, complex and arduous process. Persistent aspects of abusive experience remain deeply buried within the body …