Psychology Commons^™

The Effects Of Feedback On Hourly Pay And Individual Monetary Incentives, Douglas A. Johnson

Masters Theses

The effects of performance feedback when individuals received fixed or individual incentive pay were examined. A 2 X 2 factorial design was used with approximately 30 college students in each group. Participants attended six experimental sessions. They entered the cash value of simulated bank checks presented on a computer screen. Monetary incentives increased the number of correctly completed checks (p = .000); however feedback had no effect (p = .825). Time spent working and rate of performance correlated strongly with the number of checks completed correctly, suggesting that both influenced the checks completed correctly. The results suggest that incentives increase …

Dopamine D1 And D2 Receptor Interaction May Initiate Amphetamine-Induced Hypo-Activity In Rats, Susan L. Roy

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Psychology by Susan L. Roy on July 11, 2005.

An Assessment Of An Education Package Intervention Targeting The Appropriate Reporting Of Suspected Child Abuse, Clinton K. Wirtz

Masters Theses

The proper reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect continues to be a concern despite laws requiring professionals working with children to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to Children's Protective Services (CPS). This study assesses the efficacy of an education intervention versus the Michigan Child Protection Law (CPL) using 29 undergraduate child psychology students. Videotaped scenarios of simulated child interviews were used in a pretest/posttest between-groups design. Child physical abuse was the focus of the study. The results of the student participants' decisions regarding the videotaped scenarios were compared to the results of 10 CPS employees having …

The Effects Of Core Affect, Emotion, And Self-Efficacy On Physiologic Response To Social Stressors, Jessica L. Reedy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Cardiovascular health is affected by many factors including biological aspects such as heredity and overall health, as well as by environmental factors. Social stress, socioeconomic status, family environment, and coping skills have all been shown to contribute increased risk for cardiovascular disease. In an effort to further elucidate past findings in this area, this study, conducted on 36 college-age students, examined the connection between physiological response (blood pressure, heart rate, and mean arterial pressure) to laboratory social stressors in correspondence to emotional, affective, and arousal levels, as measured by self-report. The results yielded a significant relationship between physiologic response to …

The Effects Of The Availability Heuristic On Student's Judgments Of Others Alcohol Consumption, Jennifer Mcenroy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The primary purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that enhancing the availability of images that either portrayed liberal heavy drinking at college or the conservative academic side of college would serve to influence students’ perceptions of peer norms. It was hypothesized that students would rely on the availability heuristic to make judgments of peer norms, so that exposure to a movie clip that emphasized drinking would increase estimates of peer drinking norms when compared with exposure to a movie clip that emphasized academic work. It was further hypothesized that the film clips would assist participants in making …

Spatial Orientation Strategies In Morris-Type Virtual Water Task For Humans, Janos Kallai, Tamas Makany, Kazmer Karadi, William J. Jacobs

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The present study characterized frequent motion patterns (search strategies) that occurred during spatial navigation in a virtual maze. The research focused on identifying and characterizing some search strategies, the temporal progression of strategy-use, and their role in spatial performance. Participants were 112 undergraduate students (42 males and 70 females). We identified three search strategies that predicted spatial performance. Enfilading refers to an approach-withdrawal pattern of active exploration near a target location. Thigmotaxis refers to a search strategy that involves continuous contact with the circular wall of the maze. Visual scan involves active visual exploration while the subject remains in a …

Recalled Childhood Sexual Abuse Related To Marital Satisfaction, David Lawson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Sexual satisfaction of participants who recalled childhood sexual abuse was investigated. A survey asking several questions pertaining to sexual activities was completed by 417 adult heterosexual females and 179 adult heterosexual males. The results indicated that three groups had lower sexual satisfaction than controls: (1) underage females who were victims of coerced sexual situations with male partners who were within four years of the victim’s age, (2) underage females who voluntarily experimented sexually with underage males who were more than four years older than themselves, and (3) females who reported that they were raped as adults by adult males. Underage …

Speeded Retrieval Abolishes The False Memory Suppression Effect: Evidence For The Distinctiveness Heuristic, C. S. Dodson, Amanda C. Gingerich

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We examined two different accounts of why studying distinctive information reduces false memories within the DRM paradigm. The impoverished relational encoding account predicts that less memorial information, such as overall famililarity, is elicited by the critical lure after distinctive encoding than after non-distinctive encoding. By contrast, the distinctiveness heuristic predicts that participants use a deliberate retrieval strategy to withhold responding to the critical lures. This retrieval strategy refers to a decision rule whereby the absence of memory for expected distinctive information is taken as evidence for an event’s nonoccurrence. We show that the typical false recognition suppression effect only occurs …

Deference, Denial, And Exclusion: Men Talk About Contraception And Unintended Pregnancy, Scott D. Johnson, Lindy B. Williams

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 men, ages 21-48, who have fathered at least one unintended pregnancy. The goal of the interviews was to explore the experiences of these men with unintended pregnancy, their communication with partners and others, contraceptive beliefs and practices, their relationships with their partners, and the outcomes and consequences of the unintended pregnancies. This essay describes results derived from their comments regarding their contraceptive practices and the pregnancy-outcome decisions, with thematic analysis used to identify prominent themes from participant comments. Two strong themes, "deference" and "denial," and one lesser theme, "exclusion," emerged from participant responses. …

Sequential Super-Stereotypy Of An Instinctive Fixed Action Pattern In Hyper-Dopaminergic Mutant Mice: A Model Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder And Tourette's, Kent C. Berridge, J Wayne Aldridge, Kimberly R. Houchard, Xiaoxi Zhuang

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Excessive sequential stereotypy of behavioral patterns (sequential super-stereotypy) in Tourette's syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is thought to involve dysfunction in nigrostriatal dopamine systems. In sequential super-stereotypy, patients become trapped in overly rigid sequential patterns of action, language, or thought. Some instinctive behavioral patterns of animals, such as the syntactic grooming chain pattern of rodents, have sufficiently complex and stereotyped serial structure to detect potential production of overly-rigid sequential patterns. A syntactic grooming chain is a fixed action pattern that serially links up to 25 grooming movements into 4 predictable phases that follow 1 syntactic rule. New …

Chimpanzee Use Of Modulation In Response To Questions, Jen-Shiuan (Susan) Shiau

All Master's Theses

Modulation in American Sign Language is meaningful systematic change in sign form. Young cross-fostered chimpanzees used sign modulations in ways that resemble human signers. Jensvold and Gardner (2000) videotaped conversations between adult chimpanzees-Washoe, Moja, Tatu, and Dar-and a human interlocutor under four conditions: general, on-topic, off-topic, and can't. Signs from this dataset were selected and analyzed for modulation. Like human signers, the adult chimpanzees modulated the signing speed, size, length, and number of reiterations. They used both single and combinatorial modulations. Modulation use varied with different functional categories of signs. The chimpanzees varied the sign modulation on repeated glosses between …

Factors Affecting Judicial Decision Making, Brooke Marie Hansen

Honors Program Theses

The U.S. court system relies on the discretion of judges for most sentencing decisions. Even when there are sentencing guidelines, the judicial decision making process requires judges to use their discretion to determine the actual sentence. Personality characteristics play a role in juror decision making, as shown by studies of the effect of authoritarianism on verdicts (Narby, Culter, & Moran, 1993). Little research has focused on the personality characteristics of judges and what role they play in sentencing decisions. Judicial decision making is a debated topic as demonstrated by the fact that the Supreme Court heard the case Blakely v. …

Dissociable Aspects Of Mental Workload: Examinations Of The P300 Erp Component And Performance Assessments, Carryl L. Baldwin, Joseph T. Coyne

Psychology Faculty Publications

Advanced technologies have enabled the choice of either visual or auditory formats for avionics and surface transportation displays. Methods of assessing the mental workload imposed by displays of different formats are critical to their successful implementation. Towards this end a series of investigations were conducted with the following aims: 1) developing analogous auditory and visual versions of a secondary task that could be used to compare display modalities; and 2) to compare the sensitivity of neurophysiological, behavioral and subjective indices of workload. Experiments 1 and 2 confirmed that analogous auditory and visual secondary oddball discrimination tasks were of equivalent difficulty …

Reinforcement Schedules Modulate Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine And Cocaine, Daniel Kueh

Masters Theses

Drug discrimination is a model used to assess the subjective effects of different psychoactive drugs such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and cocaine. However, results from MDMA discrimination studies across different laboratories have not been consistent. Possible confounds for this inconsistency may include the use of different reinforcement schedules such as the fixed-ratio 20 (FR20) and the variable interval 15 seconds (VI15 s) during discrimination training. Studies examining the effects of these two schedules on the discriminative stimulus properties of MDMA and cocaine have not been conducted. Thus, the present study compared the FR20 and the VI15 s schedules to determine their …

The Effects Of Gender And Regional Dialect On Performance In Aviation Communication, Erin E. Mccollum

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance effects of gender and regional dialect on air traffic control statement recall. Sixty-one student volunteers participated in the experiment. Thirty-one participants held a pilot’s license and 30 participants had no flight experience. Each participant listened to one CD with 60 ATC statements each representing a male and female voice and New England, Southern, and General American dialect. Participants were asked to recall exactly what they heard. If the participant could not understand what they heard, they requested a repeat. The participant’s performance was recorded to CD and analyzed. Demographic questionnaires …

Assessing How Identity Lens Accessibility And Distinctiveness Inform Application Of Gender- And Race-Relevant Stereotypes To Black Women, Gina A. Paganini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite clear evidence that stereotypes of women and Black individuals are opposing, little is known about how such identity-relevant stereotypes are applied to Black women. The lens-based account of intersectional stereotyping (Petsko & Bodenhausen, 2020) suggests that judgments of an individual Black woman should shift toward (i.e., assimilate to) stereotypes of whichever identity “lens” (gender, race, or their intersection) is salient. This dissertation builds on the lens-based account by considering whether identity lens salience can lead judgments of an individual Black woman to assimilate or contrast to identity-relevant stereotypes, and whether different ways of inducing identity lens salience are more …

The Effects Of Task Structure And Group Target Monetary Incentives On Social Loafing, Nelson R. Eikenhout

Dissertations

Social loafing refers to the decrease in individual performance output that occurs when individuals perform a task in groups in which the output is pooled. Pooled output refers to the performance of all group members added together to get a total group output. Therefore, because all group members contribute to a single group outcome, individual performance output is obscured. This study examined the following questions. First, what are the effects of the method of pooling the output (additive vs. disjunctive) on individuals who work on a concurrent task in small groups? Second, what are the effects of group target based …

A Behavioral Account Of Remembering: Precurrent Behavior And Mediation Of Delayed Matching To Sample, David W. Sidener

Dissertations

Although “memory” research and theory often come under the domain of cognitive psychology, these areas may also be seen as being open to radical behavioral interpretations. Delayed matching to sample (DMTS) preparations have often been used to study performance that involves the occurrence of behavior some time after the presentation of a relevant stimulus, or what is typically called short-term memory (STM). The current study involved three experiments that provided evidence for the role of overt behavior in the mediation of DMTS performance in five-year-old children. Experiments 1 and 2 support the assertion that sample-specific, differential mediating behavior (in the …

Pilot Performance And Eye Movement Activity With Varying Levels Of Display Integration In A Synthetic Vision Cockpit, Julie Michele Stark

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The primary goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of display integration in a simulated commercial aircraft cockpit equipped with a synthetic vision display. Combinations of display integration level (low/high), display view (synthetic vision view/traditional display), and workload (low/high) were presented to each participant. Sixteen commercial pilots flew multiple approaches under IMC conditions in a moderate fidelity fixed-base part-task simulator. Pilot performance data, visual activity, mental workload, and self-report situation awareness were measured.

Congruent with the Proximity Compatibility Principle, the more integrated display facilitated superior performance on integrative tasks (lateral and vertical path maintenance), whereas a less …

Personality Disorders As Maladaptive Variants Of General Personality Traits: A Subclinical Approach, Stephanie N. Mullins-Sweatt

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Stephanie N. Mullins-Sweatt on June 4, 2004.

Brighter Noise: Sensory Enhancement Of Perceived Loudness By Concurrent Visual Stimulation, Yoav Arieh, Eric C. Odgaard, Lawrence E. Marks

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Two experiments investigated the effect of concurrently presented light on the perceived loudness of a low-level burst of white noise. The results suggest two points. First, white noise presented with light tends to be rated as louder than noise presented alone. Second, the enhancement in loudness judgments is resistant to two experimental manipulations: varying the probability that light accompanies sound and shifting from a rating method to a forced choice comparison. Both manipulations were previously shown to eliminate a complementary noise-induced enhancement in ratings of brightness. Whereas noise-induced enhancement of brightness seems to reflect a late-stage decisional process, such as …

Pediatric Amputations: Ptsd, Behavioral Tendencies And Quality Of Life, Adriana Macias Chamorro

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The present study examined children and adolescents between 11-18 years of age who had experienced traumatic amputations due to an acute physical injury (burns, severing, and crushing accidents). In order to account for variance which may have impacted the results of the study, evaluations were conducted between a group of children/adolescents with amputations and a comparison group of children/adolescents who had been hospitalized due to a non-head injury, non-death motor vehicle accident. The goal of this study was to assess symptoms of PTSD, provide a description of the internalized and externalized behaviors, and examine the quality of life (QOL)(health habits, …

Comparative And Contributive Effects Of Process And Human Performance Improvement Strategies, Joseph R. Sasson

Dissertations

Organizational leaders know that the success of their organization depends on the organization's ability to either produce better products or produce equally good products at a lower cost to consumers. Interventions aimed at improving organizational performance stem from two primary perspectives. One perspective emphasizes changing system factors (e.g., equipment and processes) and the other perspective emphasizes changing human performance factors (e.g., performance specifications and behavioral consequences). The current study evaluated the comparative and contributive effects of process improvement techniques (Kock, 1999; Melan, 1992; Rummler & Brache, 1995) and human performance improvement techniques (Daniels, 1989; Gilbert, 1996; Rummler & Brache, 1995), …

The Effect Of Pfiesteria Toxin On General Activity And Performance On The Elevated Plus Maze In Rats, Sarah Ann Schultz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Marine toxins that cause fish kills also threaten human health. Pfiesreria piscicida and Pfiesteria shumwayae are marine microorganisms responsible for periods of massive fish death and are implicated as causative agents in the neurocognitive decline of humans exposed to the aerosols of the Pfiesteria toxin. Past research with animals has demonstrated that exposure to Pfiesteria does result in impaired learning and memory performance. The present study aimed to investigate whether Pfiesreria-exposed animals behaviorally indicate greater anxiety or differing levels of activity compared to control animals; both anxiety and activity might affect learning and memory performance. The behavior of twelve …

Interpersonal Forgiveness In Close Relationships: An Attachment Perspective, Linda Susan Krajewski

Theses Digitization Project

Close interpersonal relationships are the foundation of human society. The goal in this study was to investigate the relationships between forgiveness (self and others) and the two dimensions of attachment (anxiety and avoidance).

Why Distinctive Information Reduces False Memories: Evidence For Both Impoverished Relational-Encoding And Distinctiveness Heuristic Accounts, Amanda C. Gingerich, C. S. Dodson

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Two accounts explain why studying pictures reduces false memories within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (J. Deese, 1959; H. L. Roediger & K. B. McDermott, 1995). The impoverished relational-encoding account suggests that studying pictures interferes with the encoding of relational information, which is the primary basis for false memories in this paradigm. Alternatively, the distinctiveness heuristic assumes that critical lures are actively withheld by the use of a retrieval strategy. When participants were given inclusion recall instructions to report studied items as well as related items, they still reported critical lures less often after picture encoding than they did after word encoding. …

Exposure To Televised Alcohol Ads And Subsequent Adolescent Alcohol Use, Alan W. Stacy, Jennifer Zogg, Jennifer Unger, Clyde W. Dent

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Objective: To assess the impact of televised alcohol commercials on adolescents, alcohol use. Methods: Adolescents completed questionnaires about alcohol commercials and alcohol use in a prospective study. Results: A one standard deviation increase in viewing television programs containing alcohol commercials in seventh grade was associated with an excess risk of beer use (44%}, wine/liquor use (34%}, and 3-drlnk episodes (26%} in eighth grade. The strength of associations varied across exposure measures and was most consistent for beer. Conclusions: Although replication is warranted, results showed that exposure was associated with an increased risk of subsequent beer consumption and possibly other consumption …

On The Conceptual And Linguistic Activity Of Psychologists: The Study Of Behavior From The 1890s To The 1990s And Beyond, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

In the early twentieth century psychology became the study of "behavior." This article reviews developments within animal psychology, functional psychology, and American society and culture that help explain how a term rarely used in the first years of the century became not only an accepted scientific concept but even, for many, an allencompassing label for the entire subject matter of the discipline. The subsequent conceptual and linguistic activity of John B. Watson, Edward C. Tolman, Clark L. Hull, and B.F. Skinner, as they attempted to explain "behavior" throughout the course of the twentieth century, is then discussed. Finally, the article …

Measuring Coping : Evaluating The Psychometric Properties Of The Cope, Kathleen J. Donoghue

Theses : Honours

Research into coping has been hampered by the limited psychometric properties of the available instruments, particularly with respect to the internal validity of multidimensional measures. The purpose of this paper was to review research relevant to the measurement of coping, and to evaluate the COPE based on this literature. The COPE is a widely used multidimensional self-report instrument containing 15 subscales to measure different ways of coping. Claims that the COPE has good factorial validity warrant further examination in light of widespread criticism aimed at coping checklists in general. The present review found mounting evidence that the internal structure of …

Crisp And Fuzzy Signal Detection Theory And Pilot Weather Judgment: Implications For Vfr Flights Into Imc, Joseph T. Coyne

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Weather represents one of the greatest hazards to general aviation (GA), accounting for 15% of the GA accident fatalities. Of the fatal weather accidents 90% are attributed to visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The situation assessment hypothesis suggests that pilots may inadvertently enter IMC because they lack the sensitivity needed to distinguish between visual meteorological conditions (VMC) and IMC. An alternative hypothesis is that pilots recognize conditions have deteriorated but are motivated by some other factor, such as pressure from passengers. The present study uses Jensen's Pilot Judgment Model and Signal Detection Theory to explain …