Psychology Commons^™

Latino Men’S Barriers And Obstacles Towards Treatment Seeking Attitudes, Rebecca Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

There is a drastic difference in the number of Latino men utilizing mental healthcare as only 24 percent of Latino men with a severe mental illness ever receive treatment. Previous research has revealed stigma and attitudes are important factors in the help seeking process, but with limited Latino participants. The current study gathered survey data from Latino male university students about their levels of stigma, attitudes towards both tele – health and in person counseling, perceived barriers and benefits, treatment history, and current levels of depression. It was revealed that in contrast to previous studies, Latino men’s social stigma is …

Neural Mechanisms Of Lexical Semantics: Investigating The Roles Of Hubs And Distributed Action-Perception Systems, Nicholas Andrew Riccardi

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the meaning of words and concepts is vital for communication, forming relationships, and navigating everyday life. Loss of this knowledge through brain damage can have drastic consequences for one’s health and well-being. It is therefore important to learn how this information is organized anatomically in the brain. In this dissertation, I report a series of structural and functional neuroimaging studies in healthy adults and survivors of stroke seeking to understand how lexical semantics are represented. Specifically, I used a variety of tasks to examine the contributions of putative ‘hubs’ and distributed action-perception systems. Results indicated that damage or disruption …

Comparison Between The Effects Of Acute Physical And Psychosocial Stress On Feedback-Based Learning, Xiao Yang, Brittany Nackley, Bruce H. Friedman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Stress modulates feedback-based learning, a process that has been implicated in declining mental function in aging and mental disorders. While acute physical and psychosocial stressors have been used interchangeably in studies on feedback-based learning, the two types of stressors involve distinct physiological and psychological processes. Whether the two types of stressors differentially influence feedback processing remains unclear. The present study compared the effects of physical and psychosocial stressors on feedback-based learning. Ninety-six subjects (Mage = 19.11 years; 50 female) completed either a cold pressor task (CPT) or mental arithmetic task (MAT), as the physical or psychosocial stressor, while electrocardiography and …

Unveiling The Power Of Pre-Employment Investigations: Safeguarding Organizations With Advanced Behavioral Assessments, Alan Saquella

Publications

Conducting workplace investigations can be a challenging and daunting task, especially when internal investigators have personal knowledge or relationships with the individuals involved. To ensure impartiality and objective fact-finding, organizations often rely on external sources for such investigations. Among the several types of workplace investigations, pre-employment investigations hold significant importance in mitigating risks and protecting organizations from potential losses.

This article explores the critical role of pre-employment investigations and emphasizes the integration of advanced behavioral assessments, such as Verensics, to effectively screen out undesirable applicants.

Phantom Spaces, Craytonia Williams Ii

Masters Theses

The world is built on ‘what-ifs’ and ‘I hopes.’ The more one can dream, the further development goes in design. We are told anything is possible if you put your mind to it, and as we have lived through many different eras, the limit in which we extend our mind has expanded. Research shows that emotional and mental instability has risen over 50% in the past decade in people under 30. How does the understanding of emotions and trauma impact the understanding and the feelings attached to designed spaces for rest and rehabilitation. We are constantly observing and adapting to …

How To Make A Hybrid Workplace More Human?, Ray Sun

Masters Theses

After COVID-19 hit, a new working method has appeared, the remote workers have an opportunity sitting at home attending zoom meetings and getting job done. While companies initially turned to remote work out of necessity, they soon realized that employees could remain productive while working from home. As the world began to reopen, many companies chose to continue with hybrid or fully remote working situations.

However, hybrid work has created challenges for maintaining a sense of collaboration and connection. Can this discomfort caused by telecommunication be solved by new tech involved? Designers are currently exploring various products and devices to …

Evidence-Based Practices And Self-Efficacy: A Quantitative Study Of Mental Health Counselors Treating Clients With Substance Use Disorder, Carl Bastien

Dissertations

Substance use disorder affects a substantial number of individuals in the United States. The specific problem of this research is that it was not known to what extent their use of evidence-based practices is driven by their sense of self-efficacy. The purpose of this quantitative correlational research was to examine to what extent the use of evidence-based practices covary with a sense of self-efficacy for mental health counselors treating individuals diagnosed with a substance use disorder. The study population was 121 mental health counselors who specialized in substance use disorder treatment who completed a digital survey. The study findings did …

Dolling-Up Under Disease Threats: Do Pathogen Threats Motivate Attractiveness Signaling?, Kai Lin Lynn Tan, Michal Folwarczny, Agata Gasiorowska, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Under high pathogen threat, it is adaptive for humans to find mates with high immunocompetence. Supporting this, research shows that pathogen cues increase humans’ preference for physical attractiveness—an indicator of a well-functioning immune system—among their potential mates. Building on this literature, we examined whether exposure to videos depicting pathogens (vs. a control video of nature scenery) triggers the desire to signal one’s physical attractiveness. We tested this prediction in four experiments, including two well-powered preregistered ones. In Experiment 1, we examined how pathogen cues influenced the desire for cosmetic surgery and the amount of time and money participants are willing …

Pareto Effects In The Ecasino: Differences Across Online Products And Links With Self-Exclusion, Xiaolei Deng, Luke Clark Dr

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Consumption of many goods adheres to the Pareto rule (or 80:20 law) that the 20% most engaged consumers generate 80% of revenue. Using a dataset from the eCasino section of the provincial online gambling platform in British Columbia, Canada, we recently observed that Pareto values exceeded the conventional 80:20 ratio, with the top 20% generating ~92% of bets and ~90% of revenue (Deng, Lesch & Clark, 2021 Addictive Behaviors 120: 106968). In this presentation, we will examine how these effects vary across different gambling product types within the eCasino: online slot machine games, table games, video poker, and other probability …

The Benefits Of Art Therapy On Stress And Anxiety Of Oncology Patients During Treatment, Helen Shiepe

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Within the last ten years research on art therapy and its positive impact on oncology patients’ stress and anxiety during treatment has been minimal. Oncology patients whether they are children or adults when diagnosed experience similar reactions due to their diagnosis, treatment, and in some cases end of life care. The current question is whether or not art therapy does have a positive impact on decreasing the stress and anxiety with oncology patients while undergoing treatment. Deane, Fitch & Carmen (2000), discussed art therapy as a healing art that is “intended to integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual care by facilitating …

Empathy And The Medical Student House Call: The Effect Of Clinical Settings On Empathy In Third Year Medical Students, Philip B. Collins, Thomas Dinzeo, Jennifer C. Sepede, John F. Bertagnolli, Christian White

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

OBJECTIVE: This study measured the effect the experience of house calls might have on third-year medical students.

METHODS: Students were surveyed via an anonymous online survey at the start of their geriatrics clerkship, again at the end of their clerkship, and once more three months later. Empathy was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Student version (JSE) and student attitudes towards the geriatrics population was measured using the UCLA Geriatrics Attitudes Scale (GAS). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 27.0.

RESULTS: No changes in empathy were found when comparing students who completed house calls versus those who did …

The Association Between Rape Myths And Continued Contact With The Perpetrator Following Sexual Abuse, Jainee Smith

Student Theses

Sexual violence is a widespread phenomenon. The term rape myth was first coined in 1980 by Martha Burt, and she defined it as “prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists” (Burt, 1980 p. 217). These myths, as well as any continued contact after a sexual assault, often lead to victim blaming, making it more difficult for victims to report any sexual assault. While rape myths were developed based on adult sexual assault, some research suggests that they also applied to child sexual abuse. This study will explore and expand the literature on rape myth acceptance and …

Local Field Potentials In The Male Rat Nucleus Accumbens During Effort-Based Behavior, Celine Aliko, John Salamone, Alev Ecevitoglu

Honors Scholar Theses

Major depression is a devastating disorder that consists of multiple symptoms such as low mood and motivational dysfunction. It has been shown that motivational dysfunction can be studied in animal models by using effort-based choice paradigms, which vary in their response requirements. It has been reported that dopamine depletion in the nucleus accumbens decreases ratio-scheduled lever-pressing in a manner related to the size of the ratio requirement. One dopamine depleting agent is tetrabenazine (TBZ), which has been shown to decrease lever-pressing and induce low-effort bias. The current study aims to investigate behavioral and electrophysiological changes that occur with animals performing …

Global Perceptions Of Space: The Interior Designer's Role, Ansley C. Elliott

Honors College Theses

Interior designers need to show and share awareness of cultural inclusivity in design solutions to create a positive experience for all end users. In order to do this, interior designers need to gain an understanding of how people from various geographical locations perceive space and, as a result, behave and connect in public environments. This study explored existing literature on human factors in design, such as proxemics, territoriality, anthropometrics, cultural dimensions in business practices, and inclusivity in design. The research methodology included a Qualtrics survey on cultural background and demographic data; three-dimensional renderings of a public restaurant and a workplace; …

Sucrose Demand And Essential Value In Mice With Early-Life Exposure To Risperidone, Megan Federoff

LSU Master's Theses

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs), such as risperidone, are widely prescribed to children, but the long-term effects of SGA treatment are not well understood. This study investigated the impact of early-life risperidone treatment on sucrose demand in mice in adulthood. Mice were administered risperidone or vehicle from postnatal day (PND) 33 to 60 and trained in adulthood (>PND 120) to nose poke for a sucrose solution reinforcer. The fixed ratio (FR) value (the number of responses required to produce sucrose delivery; the “price” of sucrose) was varied from 1 to 45, and the resulting consumption versus FR value data were analyzed …

Behavioral Economic Demand: Investigation Of Sex Differences In Four Core Genotype Model Of Oral Oxycodone Self-Administration, Michelle Elsmore, David Jentsch, Joshua Peck, Anushree Karkhanis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Opioid misuse has been identified to be related to problematic release of dopamine in the brain that is otherwise satiated by other alternative rewards. As mediated by patterns of positive and negative reinforcement, prolonged opioid use may transition into misuse and development of opioid use disorder. In human populations, men and women differ in their acquisition of drug use and escalation to drug misuse. Women quickly surpass their male counterparts in their transition from use to misuse in what is coined the telescoping effect. In this four core genotype model of oral oxycodone self administration, males were hypothesized to consume …

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy Through A Trust In Science Training Intervention, Nathan Dumessa

All Dissertations

Vaccine hesitancy is an ongoing public health issue that has been underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic and has implications for future pandemics and other vaccines. This research aimed to understand and address the factors associated with hesitancy. Study 1 was a correlational study that measured several factors that could predict vaccine hesitancy among Black and White participants recruited online (n = 364). Findings suggest that trust in science was the strongest predictor of attitudes towards the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, which in turn strongly predicted vaccine hesitancy. Study 1 established the direct and indirect relationships between several predictors of …

Freedom, Abortion, And Hypocrisy: The Effect Of Hypocrisy On Pro-Life Abortion Attitudes, Emily M. Vance

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research suggests that highlighting the gap between inconsistent values can result in long-term attitude change (Rokeach, 1971), that feeling hypocritical might prompt pro-attitudinal behavior (e.g., Dickerson et al., 1992), and that a reactance decoy makes participants more receptive to subsequent persuasive messages (Schumpe et al., 2020). Drawing from these findings, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the impact of induced hypocrisy on pro-life abortion attitudes, an attitude commonly grounded in the value of freedom, depended on a reactance decoy. Consistent with Aronson et al.’s paradigm (1991), participants first publicly advocated for the importance of personal …

Success Over Stress Support Group, Sophia Pescador-Torrance

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Harden Wellness Center is located in Salinas, California on the campus of Harden Middle School. After surveying and interviewing eighth-grade students at Harden Middle School, it was determined that there was a need to provide healthy coping skills for stress and anxiety. The project provided students a place to learn healthy coping skills along with normalizing mental health services among adolescents. In order to engage students and keep them interested each week, focus on a new skill with an activity attached to reinforce the coping skill. By the end of the six weeks, the group started to talk about …

Alternative Approaches To Police Interventions When Responding To Mental Health Crises Incidents, Karen Rivera Apolinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: This study explored mental health workers perspectives on alternative approaches in responding to mental health crises.

The study was carried out in Southern California, in collaboration with mental health workers who currently work or previously have worked in mental health crisis. It adopted a post-positivists paradigm and data was gathered through individual interviews with mental health workers who have direct experience with mental health crisis response in the community and with the police. The twenty participants in the study were men and women working in the mental health field, and of various backgrounds, licensures, and ages.

The study found …

The Reinforcement Enhancing Effects Of Delta-9-Tetrahyrdrocannabinol (Thc) In Male And Female Rats, Kynah Walston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis is widely consumed by humans for pharmacological effects that are mediated by THC, though there is little evidence that THC is a primary reinforcer in non-human animal models. We hypothesized that THC may have potent reinforcement enhancing effects, comparable to other drugs (e.g., nicotine and caffeine) which are also widely consumed by humans, but difficult to establish as primary reinforcers in non-humans. In three experiments with male and female rats saccharin (SACC) or a visual stimulus (VS) served as reinforcers for operant behavior. We explored several pharmacological parameters of THC on responding for SACC or VS, including THC dose, …

The Impact Of Music Therapy On Language Acquisition In Children With Nonverbal Autism, Alecia Bernau

Senior Honors Theses

Through an experimental method, the researcher investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to develop verbal communication skills after consistent exposure to songs with lyrics. Six children with nonverbal ASD were exposed to the same song with lyrics, with the goal of increased vocalization and language acquisition. Over nine sessions, subjects were pulled to participate in the experiment. The researcher played the song for the participants, recording the responses from each trial and categorizing them as either full words, verbal approximations, or miscellaneous verbalizations. The findings of the study suggest that there is a relationship between …

What Cognitive Processes Drive Attentional Bias, And How Does Stress Affect Them?, Colton L. Hunter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Attentional biases toward or away from emotionally evocative stimuli have been well documented and related to clinical outcomes such as social anxiety. Some work has suggested that stress modulates attentional biases, but there are a number of inconsistencies in this literature regarding the direction of that modulation, highlighting a need to examine moderators of that effect. Sex differences in stress effects could potentially explain this inconsistency, as acute stress can affect males and females differently. It is also possible that stress differentially influences multiple component processes underpinning attentional bias, but these processes have not been well character, and to date …

Multiple Approaches To Examining Gender Norms In Romantic Relationships, Carrie Underwood

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Romantic relationships are essential to the human experience, and gender stereotypes are so ingrained they can be automatic. In this dissertation, I address three empirical questions through both quantitative and qualitative research methods, all of which contribute to the growing body of literature on gender norms and romantic relationships. In Chapter 2, I present a mixed-methods study that examines how heterosexual men reason about benevolent sexism. Results revealed themes of equality in the workplace and men’s roles as providers. In Chapter 4 I implemented a two-study research design to understand how heterosexual women and men reason about troubled romantic relationships. …

Does Watching Videos With Natural Scenery Restore Attentional Resources? A Critical Examination Through A Pre-Registered Within-Subject Experiment, Andree Hartanto, Nicole Lee Anne Teo, Verity Y. Q. Lua, Keith Tay, Nicole R. Y. Chen, Nadyanna M. Majeed

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Existing studies have shown that direct exposure to a real nature environment has a restorative effect on attentional resources after a mentally fatiguing task. However, it remains unclear whether virtual nature simulations can serve as a substitute for real nature experienced in the outdoors to restore executive attention. Given the mixed findings in the literature, the present study sought to examine if viewing videos with natural scenery (vs. a control with urban scenery) restores participants’ working memory capacity – measured by an operation span task – in a high-powered pre-registered within-subject experimental study. Overall, our within-subject experiment did not find …

Food Related Intrusive Thoughts: A Pilot Study, Hoor Ul Ain

Honors Theses

Food related intrusive thoughts (FRITs), a type of intrusive thoughts, might be associated with greater frequency of food intake, greater anxiety and distress, and negative affect in general. However, little is known about the experience of FRITs in the moment. I hypothesized that (1) momentary food related intrusive thoughts or FRITs would be positively related to momentary negative affect and (2) that time since eating will moderate this relationship such that people with more time since eating will show a stronger positive relationship between FRITs and negative affect. These relationships were not found to be significant; however, there was a …

The Effects Of Positive Anticipation On Optimistic Cognitive Bias And Emotional Resilience In Rats, Megan Hooper

Honors Theses

The anticipation of positive events and optimism have been shown to improve health and emotional states in rats and humans. The current study is interested in the impact of positive anticipation on optimistic cognitive bias and emotional resilience, as well as neural markers of resilience. Male (n = 12) and female (n = 12) rats were assigned to either unpredictable positive expectancy response (UPER) training or the control (CON) group (n = 6 per group). Optimism was assessed using an ambiguous cue test (ACT) in which the rats were trained to associate a specific visual pattern with a high-value (Froot …

Trait Sadism In Bdsm Practitioners And Non-Practitioners, Marley Russell

Psychology ETDs

Sadism is an elusive construct within psychology. Multiple types are studied without clear psychometric or theoretical distinctions, and operationalizations of these respective sub-constructs lack validity. This study explores the empirical distinction between two sadism types: consensual sexual sadism (i.e. in the context of BDSM) and trait sadism. Trait sadism is widely synonymized with “everyday sadism”, but here conceptualized as a higher-order construct encompassing both everyday and a novel “prosocial sadism”. I develop and pilot the BDSM Identities and Behaviors (BIB) checklist in a sample of BDSM practitioners. I then compare those practitioners to non-practitioners on trait sadism and dark triad …

Academic Motivation In College Students: A Comparison Of Majors, Seth Tackett, Cassidy M. Tackett, Janelle Mcdaniel, Krista Nelson

Multidisciplinary Psychology: A Journal of Collaboration

Motivation provides a student with a way to complete necessary tasks. Academic motivation is a form of motivation that applies to academic challenges that a student will face while in school. These challenges can demand the student use extrinsic or intrinsic motivation to complete the task. In the present study, the researchers sought to discover if the academic motivation was similar between students majoring in several different academic programs. For the study, samples of education, nursing, and psychology majors were obtained and each participant was given a battery of instruments that assessed their levels of academic motivation, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. …

The Effects Of Family Size And Birth Order On Students' Social Emotional And Cognitive Development, Mary Watson

Honors Projects

This project sought to analyze and understand the differences in student’s cognitive and social emotional development based on their number of siblings (also referred to as family size) and birth order. To accomplish this, a 130-question survey was created and emailed to approximately 125 teachers. 27 survey responses were received, which is a response rate of approximately 21.6%. The response data was categorized by only child, oldest child, youngest child, child with one or two siblings, child with three or four siblings, and child with five or more siblings. Though the responses were varied, the data showed that oldest children …