Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Mediating Effect Of Parental Involvement On Peer Influence And Belongingness On Adolescent Educational Aspirations, Thavy Van Garst

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement has been found to be a significant influence in determining whether adolescents are more likely to succeed academically (Georgiou & Tourva, 2007). Amongst other influences, parental involvement has been shown to impact the ability to resist negative peer influence. Additionally, having a sense of belongingness influences the probability that an adolescent will aspire to achieve higher educational aspirations (Bouchard & Berg, 2017). However, researchers have yet to examine the combination of the importance of belongingness and the impact of positive peer influence on adolescents' educational aspirations. The present study aimed to investigate whether parental involvement had a significant …

Investigating The Lived Experiences Of Community College Students Who Have Practiced Meditation, Robert S. Withrow-Clark

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the lived experiences of community college students who have engaged in meditation practice during their time as community college students. Utilizing semi-structured interviews and a qualitative, transcendental phenomenological approach, the researcher investigated the phenomenon of meditation practice among community college meditators, while attempting to better understand the shared meaning respondents ascribed to the phenomenon, in this case meditation practice. Data was collected from eight respondents, generating four overarching themes, and several subthemes. All respondents who participated in the study reported perceived psychological benefits that they attributed to their meditation practice. Psychological stress was the motivating factor, a …

The Feasibility Of Assessing Infants’ Social Evaluations Using Within-Subject Repeated Measures In A Virtual Format, Samantha Crooks

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Foundational research on infant social evaluations (e.g., Hamlin et al., 2007; Hamlin et al., 2011; Hamlin & Wynn, 2011) has been cited over 2,500 times and infant researchers suggest these data show infants have an unlearned preference for prosocial others. However, several failed replications have been published, which might be attributable to the type of research methods used to investigate this question. A single measure of the dependent variable is ubiquitous among these studies; within-subject repeated measures are rarely used. In the current study, we adapted methods used by Hamlin and Wynn (2011) to a video-only format, due to COVID-19 …

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 …

Effects Of Eye Tracking During Infancy On Social Ambiguity And Emotional Distress, Gabriela Hernandez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between early eye tracking and later non-suicidal self-injury, and whether this relationship was negatively impacted by distress and impulsivity, and conversely alleviated by emotional regulation and problem solving abilities. Briggs-Gowan et al. (2001) found that young children with recurrent and comorbid externalizing and internalizing problems have the most impairment; they exhibit greater difficulty with emotional stability, and require greater utilization of mental health services. Little research has focused on the relationship between eye tracking in early infancy and suicidal self-injurious (NSSI) behavior in early childhood. Multiple regression analysis was used …

The Implementation And Adoptability Of Behavioral Skills Training In A Career Center, Vinthia Wiryananda Wirantana

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It is unclear if staff at career centers use, or are willing to use, empirically-supported procedures like behavioral skills training (BST) when teaching interview skills to college students. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which the typical career center training consisted of BST, to evaluate staff-implemented BST, and to measure student performance as a result of both training. Using non-concurrent multiple baseline design, three staff were taught to use BST to teach three students to answer interview questions. First, staff used their typical training procedure, and then, they used BST to teach student interview skills; …

Softball Officials : Differences In Self-Esteem Based On Gender And Rating Status, Peggy Ann Yockey

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Officiating sport contests requires much personal control and poise, self-confidence, and a thorough knowledge of the rules and mechanics. Accepted as a part of sport, through exhibitions of improper player, coach, and spectator behavior, is criticism of officials. The impact of such criticism on the self-esteem of the official appears to be a key question and prompted this research. The study problem was to determine the gender and rating difference in self-esteem, if any, of Amateur Softball Association (A.S.A.) officials of the Greater San Joaquin Valley (GSJV) Metro. Specifically, the study compared the self-esteem level of: (1) softball officials and …

The Effect Of Headphone Music On Exercise Compliance, Gayle Ann Laszewski

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A study was designed to assess the effect of headphone music on running performance and enjoyment with its implications for increasing exercise compliance. A counterbalanced split-plot design was used with 18 University of the Pacific undergraduates receiving both treatment conditions: running with music and running without music. Measures included: (a) perceived enjoyment questionnaire scores; (b) running time; and (c) heart rate. It was expected that music would increase participants' rated running enjoyment, amount of time spent running, and also running intensity or heart rate, in comparison to running without music. Music significantly increased participants' rated enjoyment scores but not running …

Rational-Emotive Therapy And Progressive Relaxation In The Reduction Of Trait Anxiety Of College Undergraduate Students Who Enroll In Anxiety Reduction Workshops, Thomas Arthur Walsh

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), Progressive Relaxation (PR), Attention Placebo (AP), and a no-treatment group in reducing levels of trait anxiety in undergraduate students who participated in anxiety reduction workshops. The subjects in this study were fifty-one volunteer male and female undergraduate students from the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, who chose to participate in a seven session anxiety reduction workshop. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups. The Attention Placebo procedure consisted of a discussion of learning styles, and the effects that the learning …

A Comparative Study Of Three Methods For Raising Self-Esteem Among The Elderly, Laila Gitelle Melin Davidson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The self-concept of elderly people as a group is generally considered low. Self-concept is negatively influenced by an external source, i.e., cultural regard, and by the internal or personal adaptive changes of the aging process. To age successfully, positive or high concept of self is considered necessary. The literature indicates that self-concept can be changed. This study tested whether involvement in one of three educational processes (class groups) was effective in raising the self-esteem of the elderly participants. The class groups were (1) Current-Events or Job-Preparation, (2) Psychology, and (3) Memory and Relaxation Techniques. A fourth group, not in an …

Teaching Friendship Making Skills To Emotionally Disturbed Children, Alison Stewart Agras

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of teaching children appropriate social skill behavior. The present study investigated a coaching procedure to teach emotionally disturbed children appropriate social skills within the context: of fourteen arts and crafts sessions. Using a multiple baseline across groups design, two groups of four children received training. As a result of training, cooperation behavior showed a moderate change, while eye contact increased substantially for both groups. The behaviors of on task and communication changed only slightly. In addition, these changes generalized to different settings and were· maintained over time. However, praising, receiving praise, as well as …

The Effectiveness Of Rational-Emotive Therapy In The Reduction Of Trait Anxiety Of College Undergraduate Students, Thomas Stanley Golabek

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) in reducing levels of trait anxiety in undergraduates who enrolled in anxiety reduction workshops. S's were 44 volunteer male and female students from the University of the Pacific who enrolled in either an independent study or a mini-course series of 8 sessions, and were assigned to one of the three randomly designated groups: Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), Attention Placebo (AP), or No-Treatment (NT). The AP procedure consisted of exposure to various nutritional aspects of physical fitness which focused on vitamin and mineral intake. Two self-report measures, the …

Generalization Of Learned Helplessness : A Test Of The Attribution Theory Models, Jean Griffin

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between global/specific and stable/unstable dimensions of attributions and the generalization of helplessness across tasks and situations. Four groups of subjects were given instructions suggesting that their performance on a Venn diagram task could be attributed to (a) global or specific and (b) staple or unstable factors. Then, during performance of this task, these subjects were given noncontingent correctness feedback on their responses. A control group given the same task received no attribution instructions or feedback on their performance. Generalization of helplessness was assessed by examining the magnitude of performance deficits displayed on an anagram task …

Binocular Interactions In The Human Visual Evoked Potential., Patricia Adrianna Apkarian

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Reaction To Social Pressure From Adults Versus Peers Among Mexican, Mexican-American, And Anglo-American Rural Children, Ana Maria C. Donini

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to investigate whether there was a significant difference in the adherence to conventional morality and the reaction to social pressure from adults versus peers among Mexican, Mexican-American, and Anglo-American children. The instrument used was the Moral Dilemmas Test (MDT) developed by Bronfenbrenner, Devereux, Suci, and Rodgers, which measures the reported readiness of children to engage in morally disapproved behavior and their reaction to social pressure exerted by adults and peers. The subjects were asked to respond to a series of conflict situations under three experimental conditions of confidentiality, scrutiny by parents, and scrutiny by …

The Effects Of Parent Effectiveness Training On Parents' Personal And Child Rearing Values, James Lee Witty

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

There is growing evidence of a need for training parents to be more effective in child-rearing practices regarding values acquisition and clarification. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Parent Effectiveness Training, a parent education program, in changing the personal and child-rearing values of the participating parents.

Study Of Aggression And Competitive Anxiety Among Intercollegiate Football Players, Edward Ian Leland

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between aggression, as measured by various personality questionnaires, and competitive anxiety, as measured by the Illinois State Competitive Anxiety Questionnaire, among the intercollegiate football players at the University of the Pacific.

A sub-purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of aggression scores among intercollegiate football players as measured by the selected personality questionnaires.

A Correlation Between Self-Actualization And Communications Behavior, Joseph Whitney Alexander

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The planned, intensive group experience is the most rapidly spreading social invention of the century and, in the opinion of Carl Rogers, may be the most potent one. He recognizes such groups under varied labels such as T-groups, encounter groups, sensitivity training groups, and also as laboratories in human relations or as workshops in leadership, education, or counseling. Because of the emphasis on the fullest development of human potentials in most of these groups the theories and activities connected with them have come to be known as the Human Potential Movement.

The primary purpose of this investigation is to determine …

A Study Of Early Reasoning Skills In The Trainable Mentally Retarded : As Related To Piaget's Seriation Theory, Robert William Ginther

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In terms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development and the relationship he attributes between reasoning and the development of classification and seriation skills, the following questions arise: can early reasoning ability be enhanced through training? If IQ tests are accepted as measures of intellectual function, do they then contain a significant number of seriation type questions? If so, will the seriation test be an accepted measure of intellectual function?

The Effects Of Positive And Negative Reinforcement On A Learning Task In Hospitalized Patients, Gary Robert Lancaster

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A number of writers have suggested that in comparison to normals, schizophrenics are less responsive to positive records or reinforcers (e.g., Hunt & Cofor, 1944) and overly sensitive to punishment or social censure as compared to normals (Fromm-Reichman 1954). Garmezy & Rodnick (1957) have proposed that schizophrenics are highly sensitive to any censure or disapproval, arising from their interpersonal contacts. They further say that such intolerable levels of anxiety are aroused that schizophrenics are held to be much more strongly motivated than normals to reduce the anxiety by acting to avoid or escape the censorious aspects of the situation.

Authoritarianism And Proposition 14, Herbert Henry Foster

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In November of 1964, California voters approved by a very substantial margin the legislative measure known as Proposition 14, a hotly contested constitutional amendment which abolished all then-existing Fair Housing Legislation and prohibited local levels of government from acting in such matters in the future. This legislation was sponsored by the California Real Estate Association and essentially was a response to a recently passed Fair Housing Law known as the Rumford Act, which prohibited discrimination in the sale and rental of housing and assigned enforcement responsibilities to the State Fair Employment Practices Commission.

During the year preceding the election, the …

Relationships Between Jungian Typology And Value-Orientation, Thomas Richard Funkhouser

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study hypothesizes that there exists between a person's value orientation as measured by the Study of Values and his function-types as described by Jung. It is the E's assumption that there is some kind of correspondence between the value processes and the function-types because of their similar approaches. For example, the sensing function is identical with perception of stimuli being received through the sense organs while the aesthetic value seeks form and harmony in an experience. Each is concerned with an impression as it is perceived. The thinking function and the theoretical value are concerned with cognition, logical analysis …

The Concept Of Brahmacarya, Evelyn Vrat

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary civilization of the western world represents a combination of material development and moral degeneration, Value is measured in 'space' not in 'spirit'. Antecedent to the complications of life with its sufferings) 'fiddlers fees' and disillusionments, how very few realize that true pleasure is not in having, but in being? Fewer still are those whose feelings, thoughts and actions are conscious, aware, self-chosen and self-directed. More often than not, introspection reveals that most are not masters, but the mastered, victims of moods and conflicts...

However, deep dissatisfaction with life as it appears to be and with the individual's adaption to …

A Comparative Study Of The Problem Of Abstraction Versus Experience Between East And West (As Exemplified In Selected Eastern And Western Sages), Leo Jacob Zeff

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a comparative study of the teachings of a number of Eastern sages and a representative of modern Western depth psychology in connection with the problem of abstraction versus experience (or, thinking about instead of experiencing}. This problem is considered by the writer as the central cause in the suffering of mankind everywhere.

The introductory chapter will present the problem being investigated, why and how it is considered significant, and how it will be dealt with in this study. The second chapter will contain a presentation of the various sages to be considered here, how and why they …

An Investigation Of Relationship Between Personality Adjustment And Disparity Of Verbal And Performance Intelligence, Herman Edward Frick

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The problem of the thesis was as follows: On a selected group of children, to what extent are differences between scores of verbal and performance intelligence tests useful as group and individual measures of adjustment? Adjustment was measured by A Test of Personality Adjustment by Carl Rogers. Verbal and performance intelligence were measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Differences between scores of verbal and performance tests were measured by a specified criterion, disparity. The problem, findings, and interpretations were limited to these criteria.