Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Affective, Behavioral, And Cognitive Correlates Of Club Drug Use Among Hispanic College Students, Brenda Sue Hanson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Limited information exists about club drug use among minorities. This study examined potential affective, behavioral, and cognitive correlates of club drug use in a Hispanic college student sample. Participants (N = 321) completed multiple measures assessing demographic information, acculturation, depression, anxiety, positive and negative affect, alexithymia, polysubstance use, sensation seeking, need for cognition, and prospective memory. Primary analyses included logistic regression models assessing the impact of affective, behavioral, and cognitive correlates on club drug use, while secondary analyses included moderation analyses exploring potential relationships between variables of interest, as well as assessment of univariate relationships between club drug use …

Allocating Emergency Response Vehicles To Cover Critical Infrastructures, Hao Lei

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Optimal deployment of limited emergency response service units in a metropolitan area is of interests to public agencies. The limited emergency units not only have to respond to the demand for service by residents and businesses, but also cover Critical Infrastructures (CIs). This Thesis formulates an improved optimization model to allocate different types of Emergency Response Service (ERS) units among their candidate base stations. The allocation of units must ensure maximum coverage to CIs, subject to the capacities of the base stations, service standard in terms of time to reach the CIs, and the availability of the ERS units (when …

The Correlation Between Social Desirability And Endorsement Rate Of Test Items Using The Snap And Neo-Ffi, Cynthia Pedregon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Classic studies in the 1950s indicated that endorsement rates of personality test items are very highly correlated with the items' social desirability (Edwards, 1953; Hanley, 1956). The present study attempted to recreate those findings using two contemporary personality tests: the NEO Five Factor Inventory short form (NEO-FFI) and 59 randomly selected items from the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP). Also included were 7 Rare Virtue items and 7 Common Fault items from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, Brief Form. Participants (N = 286) were randomly assigned to one of four groups, which rated the items for "true of self" …

The Effects Of Using A Scripted Or Unscripted Interview In Forensic Interviews With Interpreters, Nicole Pruss

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current study set out to replicate and expand the results of a study by Pruss (2007) which found that information is lost when interviews are conducted through interpreters. In the present study, Viewers (i.e., mock eyewitnesses) fluent in Spanish watched a video of a burglary and then were interviewed in Spanish about what they had seen. Half of Viewers were randomly assigned to be interviewed by an English-speaking Interviewer through a bilingual Interpreter (Interpreter condition), and the other half were randomly assigned to be interviewed directly by a Spanish speaking Interviewer with no Interpreter (No Interpreter condition). Within each …

Theory Of Planned Behavior Constructs As Mediators Of Behavior Change Associated With A Brief Alcohol Intervention, Denise Servo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the Theory of Planned Behavior constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control [PBC], and behavioral intentions) as mediators of changes in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems in a longitudinal sample of 206 college students. The Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) is a program designed to curb risky alcohol consumption and its related consequences among college students. Eligible students completed a baseline assessment battery at assessment and again six months after participating in BASICS. The AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) assessed alcohol consumption and the RAPI (Rutgers Alcohol Problem Inventory) assessed alcohol-related problems. …

Prosecutorial Perseveration: A Reaction To Public Commitment?, Elizabeth Rose Uhl

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The startling number of cases in which prosecutors ignore clear-cut exculpatory evidence and persist in the prosecution of an almost certainly innocent suspect may be related to the public nature of these prosecutors' commitments. Research has shown that people who make a public commitment to a decision are more likely to stick with their decision in the face of contrary evidence than people who did not make a public commitment. This study examined the effects of public commitment on undergraduate mock prosecutors' decisions to prosecute in a fictional murder case. Half of the participants rendered an initial decision which was …

The Application Of Federal And Texas State Sentence Ranges In A, Jessica Leigh Wildermuth

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Sentencing decisions are usually made in situations of judgmental uncertainty because they are typically complex and make use of inherently ambiguous information (Saks & Kidd, 1980). Research on underlying judgment processes has demonstrated that anchors provide a basis for simplifying judgments that involve uncertainty (Higgins, 1996; Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). To investigate sentencing disparities that occur for identical crimes, it is also essential to understand the psychological mechanisms that underlie decision making. The Selective Accessibility Model (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974) states that, "people construct a mental mode that selectively increases the accessibility of anchor-consistent information" (p.1125). In turn,because this information …

Integrated, Embedded, And Case-Based: Selling Library Instruction To The Business School, Leticia Camacho, Andy Spackman

Faculty Publications

Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah, is home to the Marriott School of Management, which has an enrollment of 1,900 undergraduate and 1,100 graduate students. Nearly 75 percent are bilingual, 20 percent speak a third language, and approximately 10 percent are foreign citizens.

In the year 2000, the Tanner Management Library was displaced from the Marriott School and incorporated into the Harold B. Lee Library, BYU’s main campus library. Without a physical presence in the business school, BYU’s business librarians have struggled to remain relevant to a faculty and student body that is increasingly dependent on the Internet …

Japanese Vocabulary Acquisition By Learners In Three Contexts, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

This study is an investigation of the development of vocabulary knowledge during study abroad (SA), intensive domestic immersion (IM) and academic year formal classroom (AY) learning. Freed (1999) has emphasized the importance of knowing how stateside IM and AY experiences compare with SA and of determining the specific shared and unique linguistic benefits of each of these contexts. While few in number, comparisons between these contexts have been made (e.g., DeKeyser, 1986; Dewey, 2004; Freed, 1995b; Freed, Segalowitz & Dewey, 2004; Lafford, 1995; Milton & Meara, 1995). Only one study was found (Freed et al., 2004) comparing all three contexts …

Social Economics: An Introduction And A View Of The Field, John B. Davis, Wilfred Dolfsma

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Urban Watershed/Water Body Restoration - The Driving Forces, Vladimir Novotny, David E. Clark, Robert J. Griffin

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Urban streams are used for several purposes. Some uses are conflicting and some are complementary. The use of urban water bodies and the resolution of conflicts is driven by anthropogenic and biocentric/ecocentric interests that must be optimized and the conflicts resolved. This article examines and analyzes land ethics (biocentric) and socio-economic (anthropocentric) drives for stream restoration of urban watersheds located in the Milwaukee (WI) metropolitan area. The basins experienced increased flooding, significant degradation of sediment and water quality, and loss of aquatic species, all due to urbanization. It was found that the primary drivers for restoration of urban streams are …

Remote Forensics May Bring The Next Sea Change In E-Discovery: Are All Networked Computers Now Readily Accessible Under The Revised Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure?, Joseph J. Schwerha, Scott Inch

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The recent amendments to Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure created a two-tiered approach to discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”). Responding parties must produce ESI that is relevant, not subject to privilege, and reasonably accessible. However, because some methods of storing ESI, such as on magnetic backup tapes and within enormous databases, require substantial cost to access and search their contents, the rules permit parties to designate those repositories as “not reasonably accessible” because of undue burden or cost. But even despite the difficulty in searching for ESI, the party’s duty to preserve potentially responsive evidence …

From Obsession To Confession: A False Confession Paradigm In The Murder Of Jon Benet Ramsey, Morgan Moffa, Judith Platania

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, we used a fact pattern similar to the John Mark Karr scenario to examine perceptions of DNA and confession evidence. Specifically, we hypothesized that DNA evidence, confessor level of psychopathology, and presence or absence of Miranda protections would affect participants’ perceptions of guilt and attitudes towards the interrogation process. One hundred nine undergraduates read a two-page summary based on John Mark Karr’s confession. Summaries varied based on psychopathology of confessor, the presence or absence of DNA evidence, and the provision of Miranda warnings prior to confession. The DNA manipulation explained participants’ attitudes towards specific aspects of the …

Religion And Initiation Into Marijuana Use: The Deterring Role Of Religious Friends, Amy Adamczyk, Ian Palmer

Publications and Research

Over the last two decades researchers have begun to look at how personal religious beliefs and behaviors influence substance use, finding that more religious teens are less likely to drink, smoke, and use illegal drugs. This study builds on this previous research, combining it with work on religious contextual effects to develop a theoretical model that explains why friends’ religion would influence teens’ marijuana use, even if teens are not personally religious. Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines whether individual and friends’ religiosity (e.g., religious participation and importance) or born-again …

Fetal Positions: Unraveling The Influence Of Religion On Premarital Pregnancy Resolution, Amy Adamczyk, Jacob Felson

Publications and Research

This study illustrates the ways religiosity and denominational affiliation influence the probability that a young woman will have an abortion.

Barriers To Providing Mtms, Robert N. Yale, Natalie Litera, Jeremy P. Fyke, Corinne Corbett

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Communication And The Knowable Community, Bonnie Brennen

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This essay draws on Raymond Williams's concept of a knowable community in an effort to understand the myriad of connections that exist between individuals and society. Williams, who sees communication and community as synonymous, suggests that a knowable community may ultimately emerge through the process of communication and that in the discovery of connections between individuals and society, an understanding of historically specific patterns may be shown. This essay also discusses an oral history project with journalists who worked for Gannett in the 1960s as an example of an emerging knowable community that questioned traditional notions of community and challenged …

Task Force Report On The Ethical Responsibilities Of Presidential Rhetoric, Steven R. Goldzwig, Karrin Vasby Anderson, Frederick J. Antczak, Thomas W. Benson, Rita Kirk Whillock

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Measuring Configural Spatial Knowledge With Alternative Pointing Judgments, Lisa J. Douglas

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Configural spatial knowledge has been tested by having people point from one object to another or by having them sketch maps from memory. Several different pointing judgments have been used, but these judgments appear to differ both in superficial characteristics and in their implied theoretical mental model of spatial representation. This experiment compares two different pointing judgments: judgments of relative direction, based on a quasi-Euclidean model of spatial representation; and object-based judgments, based on an object reference model of spatial representation. Results supported the object reference model. Object-based judgments were more accurate, were made with more confidence and had shorter …

Personal Characteristics And The Impact Of Transformational Leadership Behaviors On Follower Outcomes, Charles N. Thompson

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Transformational leadership has emerged as the dominant model for understanding how leaders impact affective and behavioral responses of their followers. The current study investigated the extent to which follower core self-evaluation (Judge et al., 1997) and affect-based trust in leadership impact the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and work outcomes, such as follower job satisfaction, satisfaction with the leader, perceptions of job core characteristics, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Follower core self-evaluation was found to moderate the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and follower job satisfaction and satisfaction with the leader. Affect-based trust in the leader was found to fully mediate …

In-Car Navigation Systems: The Effects Of Landmark Specificity And Map Rotation On Spatial Knowledge And Route Acquisition, Tiffany N. Saffell

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Current in-car navigation systems do not refer to environmental landmarks when providing directions to drivers. Instead, they provide guidance by presenting drivers with distance-to-turn information. Default displays use track-up map orientations. These display conditions do not facilitate the acquisition of spatial knowledge. As a consequence, drivers using these systems are unlikely to acquire spatial knowledge needed to judge the reasonableness of the directions they are receiving, leaving them susceptible to accepting directions that are grossly incorrect and dangerous (Forbes and Burnett, 2007). Landmarks have been shown to be critical sources of information when people acquire both route and configural spatial …

How Openness To Experience And Prejudicial Attitudes Shape Diversity Training Outcomes, Suzanne L. Dean

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effectiveness of diversity training on a diversity training outcome measure when considering participant levels of Openness to Experience, sexism, and racism. Because past literature has demonstrated a positive relationship between Openness to Experience and training outcomes and a negative relationship between prejudicial attitudes and diversity training outcomes, these variables were treated as main effects in Multiple Regression equations. This study demonstrated that diversity awareness training increases participant understanding of legal issues related to workplace diversity. However, diversity training outcomes were not greatly affected by implicit or explicit prejudicial attitudes or Openness to Experience.

The Moderating Influence Of Stress Appraisals And Affect On Performance Under Fatigue, Regina M. Schmidt

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This study demonstrated that in a group of seventeen active duty soldiers, performance on an attack combat simulation significantly degraded after approximately 30 h of sleep deprivation. In addition, individual differences were identified, as approximately half of the participants maintained performance throughout the sleep deprivation period, while other participants degraded in performance. The main objective of this study was to test the efficacy of micro-level cognitive performance and subject state factors to account for this dichotomy in performance that was particular to the last testing session. Results showed that performance on a decision making test with rapid reaction time constraints …

The Dynamics Of Workplace Harassment And Revenge: Mediation And Moderation Effects, Qiang Wang

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the mediating role of rumination, state anger, and blame attribution, and the moderating role of trait forgiveness in the relationship between workplace harassment and revenge behavior. Results based on a sample of 310 employed students suggested that workplace harassment is positively associated with both major revenge and minor revenge. Also, the multiple mediation test showed that rumination, state anger, and blame attribution completely mediate the proposed relationships between workplace harassment and both types of revenge behavior. In addition, as proposed, trait forgiveness moderated the relationship between two internal states (i.e., state anger and blame attribution) and major …

Analytic-Holistic Thinking, Information Use, And Sensemaking During Unfolding Events, Mei-Hua Lin

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In complex domains such as commerce, military operations, transportation, and humanitarian efforts, practitioners are sometimes overwhelmed by uncertain, contradictory, and dynamic information. They must obtain, organize, interpret, and use this information often under time pressure and high stakes during sensemaking. While sensemaking is a gateway to information management, sensemaking also depends on information management; the gathering and use of information provides the raw material for sensemaking. These processes work together to help people understand complex situations but are vulnerable to cultural as well as individual variation in cognition. This study investigated individual cognitive and personality differences that may affect information …

A Construct Validation Of The Neutral Objects Satisfaction Questionnaire (Nosq), Kevin J. Eschleman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The current study is a construct validation of the Neutral Objects Satisfaction Questionnaire (NOSQ). The study includes tests of convergent and discriminant validity. Specifically, the NOSQ had more empirical overlap with affective-oriented dispositions (i.e., positive affectivity, negative affectivity, neuroticism, extraversion, trait anxiety, trait anger, trait depression, and cheerfulness) than with cognitive-oriented dispositions (i.e., need for cognition, general self-efficacy, and locus of control). In addition, the NOSQ had greater empirical overlap with the aforementioned affective-oriented dispositions than with a measure of temporal affect (i.e., mood). Correlations between the NOSQ and both job satisfaction and job cognitions were also compared, but no …

Exploring Team Dynamics: The Evolution Of Coordination In A Complex Command And Control Environment, Daniel H. Schwartz

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The present study explores the dynamic and emergent behavior of two teams, separately working through a synthetic task environment representing a battle management command and control domain under two levels of organizational centralization. While the manipulation of centralization had minimal effects on overall performance, evidence suggested that the need to seek authorization for actions from a central authority was a source of frustration. Both teams adapted over time, changing patterns of coordination to better meet the task demands. The results are discussed in the context of the concepts of normal accidents, high reliability organizations, and self-organization in complex organizations. Specific …

Item And Person Characteristics As Predictors Of Faking, Nicholas Tyler Day

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Applicants may be more motivated to fake than incumbents and may fake more on some items than others. The present study investigated both item and person characteristics as predictors of faking. At the item level, both item transparency and job-relevance were hypothesized to be associated with higher levels of faking. In contrast, item verifiability was hypothesized to be associated with lower levels of faking. At the person level, applicants were expected to have a higher prevalence of faking than incumbents. Data was taken from an existing pool of applicants (n = 507) and incumbents (n = 302) at a customer …

Multi-Uav Control: An Envisioned World Design Problem, Mona T. Stilson

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Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle assets are in high demand in the theater of operations for supporting the Global War on Terror and this demand is expected to increase. This work involved exploratory case study research into the envisioned world design problem of networked Predator multi-UAV control, as a candidate for meeting higher Predator sortie requirements without the need for a one for one increase in pilots. The concept involves the development of a potential new position for controlling multiple UAVs, called the Multi-Aircraft Manager (MAM). The goal was to analyze work requirements and develop representational models of the structure of …

The Honest Broker? Canada's Role In Haitian Development, Michele Zebich-Knos

Faculty Articles

Since the early 1990s Canada has played a key role in Haiti’s development process. The article explores whether Canada’s foreign policy is becoming more reliant on military-assisted solutions, including peacekeeping, as a way to solve Haiti’s internal problems and achieve good governance. The article also examines the Canadian concepts called “Responsibility to Protect, React and Rebuild” which are linked to humanitarian intervention, and their implication for Haitian sovereignty. The conclusion cautions against an overly ambitious Canadian development policy for Haiti which has little chance of success.