Psychology Commons^™

It's Not Just A Dog: The Role Of Companion Animals In The Family's Emotional System, Cassandra Leow

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Past studies have looked into the role of companion animals in families. This study intended to explore the role of companion animals in the family’s emotional system through the lens of Bowen Family Systems Theory. Data from a study on companion animal loss and grief were used. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted to analyze the data from interviews. Three primary themes emerged from the data: balanced family emotional system, response to relational anxiety and role of the absence companion animal. The first theme suggested that human family members and companion animals developed a balanced family emotional system through companion …

Complexities And Challenges Of Nonduality, Elizabeth Stephens

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

States of consciousness referred to as nonduality, awakening, enlightenment, moksha, peak experience, unitive states, or void states, among other terms, have garnered increasing secular attention and have become a topic of psychological and neuroscientific research. A review of the literature revealed many challenges to studying this set of states, such as inconsistent conceptualizations, a variety of models and theories, and conflicting descriptions indicating that the actual experience may not live up to the superlative descriptions found in historical texts or the expectations put forth by nondual teachers. A great deal more empirical research on this topic is needed, and researchers …

Transformative Reminiscence Training For Older Adults: Increasing Self-Positive Reminiscence During Self-Directed Life Reviews, Deena Gayle Hitzke

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

For this dissertation, I tested whether Transformative Reminiscence Training is a viable alternative to facilitated life reviews for older adults. Facilitated life reviews involve structured reminiscence, which is designed to enhance the self-positive functions of identity consolidation, problem solving, and meaning-making death preparation (Korte, 2012). Transformative Reminiscence Training combines life review methods with consciousness raising. It is based on Paulo Freire’s critical theory (2000) and includes psychosocial, perspective transformation, and narrative identity life review education. Using a pre-posttest, randomized experimental design, I explored whether Transformative Reminiscence Training would result in (a) the completion of a self-directed life review, (b) increased …

Ethnic And Racial Group Differences In Attitudes Towards Undocumented Latino Immigrants, Juan M. Pena

Psychology ETDs

Tensions towards Latino immigrants in the United States have been a growing concern. As the largest ethnic/racial and immigrant group, Latinos/Hispanics often experience discrimination from majority groups. Perceived discrimination has been linked to worse mental and health outcomes among ethnic minority groups. Measures of implicit and explicit attitudes have been used to identify positive and negative attitudes towards Latinos. Intercultural sensitivity, the ability to understand and appreciate different cultures, is theorized to be linked to implicit and explicit attitudes towards undocumented Latino immigrants. Two-hundred eighty-eight college students, 18 years of age or older (M = 21, SD = 5) completed …

Cooperative And Competitive Priming Impacts Participatory Environmental Action, Daniel Curtin

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Environmental issues are becoming increasingly prominent in today’s psychological research. Some researchers identify cooperation as a possible underlying facilitator of proenvironmental values, or proenvironmentalism. However, previous studies had not directly addressed how manipulating cooperation and competition could influence environmentalism. This study addressed this gap in previous literature by cooperatively, competitively, or neutrally priming participants and comparing their respective environmental attitudes, environmental actions, and environmental identities. 155 participants were recruited from introductory psychology classes at Seton Hall University. Participants were randomly placed into one of three conditions and primed by writing a short passage regarding a significant personal experience acting either …

From Rock Art To Vertical Forests, Hall, Gill

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Expectations For Dog Ownership: Perceived Physical, Mental And Psychosocial Health Consequences Among Prospective Adopters, Lauren Powell, Debbie Chia, Paul Mcgreevy, Anthony L. Podberscek, Kate M. Edwards, Brendon Neilly, Adam J. Guastella, Vanessa Lee, Emmanuel Stamatakis

Human-Companion Animal Relationships Collection

Dog ownership is popular worldwide, with most human-dog dyads forming successful attachment bonds. However, millions of dogs are surrendered to animal shelters annually, possibly due to mismatches between owner expectations and the realities of dog ownership. The aim of the current study was to explore the benefits and challenges people expect from dog ownership and how these expectations vary with previous ownership history. An Australian-wide sample of 3465 prospective adopters completed a self-administered online questionnaire about the physical, mental and psychosocial health benefits and challenges they associated with dog ownership. Among the potential benefits, respondents expected increased walking (89%), happiness …

Investigating Transformation: An Exploratory Study Of Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of Graduate Teaching Assistants, Christina M. Partin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are becoming increasingly responsible for undergraduate instruction in the landscape of higher education. These experiences may serve as a pipeline for career readiness and success in faculty positions. Yet, the experiences of graduate teaching assistants are largely unexplored. This study describes the perceptons and experiences of a selected sample of GTAs, including their perceptions of available support, and the role of that support in navigating potential disorienting dilemmas.

Existing literature suggests that disorienting dilemmas lead to transformative experiences through an internal process of critical self-reflection, but neglects the possibility of differential outcomes to disorienting dilemmas. Further, …

Toward A Sociology Of Autism, Jessica Nashia Simpson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication. Recent studies within the social sciences have espoused a need to reconceptualize autism out of the domain of the intrapersonal and into the realm of the sociocultural. Semi-structured in-depth interviewing was used to examine the selfperceptions and experiences of twelve people who identified as on the autism spectrum. Social scientists have tended to grant the topic of autism to the domain of psychology; as a result autistic perception has been stigmatized resulting in the exclusion of autistic perspectives in knowledge production on the lived experiences of autistic …

Effect Of Bullying On Emotional Distress In A Fourth And Fifth Grade Sample, Katherine Koper Marcum

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference of self-reported emotional problems between low levels and high levels of victimization. Participants included 214 fourth and fifth grade students from a southcentral county in Kentucky. Students answered demographic questions and completed a series of surveys including the Personal Experiences Checklist and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The study was completed via computer-based questionnaire and focused on victimization within the last month. Results show that students who reported higher levels of victimization reported higher levels of emotional problems when compared to students who reported lower levels of victimization. The current …

Enhancing A Middle School Student's Self-Management Skills In The Classroom, Lanie Jean Rudisill

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Self-regulation (SR) and executive functioning (EF) are important factors for successful student outcomes. Research suggests that executive skills facilitate the process of behavioral self-regulation. Well-developed SR and EF skills make learning more likely. Proper SR has the ability to improve attention levels and EF includes the use of working memory, both of which are essential components of the information processing system that students use continuously. One type of SR, referred to as self-management, involves a cycle of observing and recording one’s own behavior, then evaluating one’s self-assessments against those of an external observer. Self-management interventions have previously been found to …

Virtual Child-Rearing: An Examination Of Positive Parenting Practices Through The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Athena Christou

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) evaluates attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control toward a specific behavior as a way to predict intentions to perform a given behavior. Increase in intentions is said to increase the accuracy of predictions of the actual performance of that behavior. The theory has received considerable support and has been used to predict a wide array of behaviors. In the present study, the MyVirtualChild© program was used to examine positive parenting practices through the TPB constructs. Twenty-two participants completed the study and were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 12) or control group …

Multi-System Collaboration: Supporting Individuals From Pre-Employment Through Employment And Community Engagement Across The Life Course, Rie Kennedy-Lizotte, Adam Sass, Jeanine Zlockie, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In concert with the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) identified potential topical areas for policy white papers that influence employment outcomes and services for individuals served by state intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) agencies. This is the third white paper in a series of five.

Thousands Of Small Battles: A Case Study On The Impact Of Political Discussion Networks On Vote Choice In Caucuses, Jonathan Jackson

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, I seek to refine generalizations about the influence of political discussion networks on voting behavior, mainly developed to explain behavior in general elections, to nomination contests, a comparatively underdeveloped area of inquiry. This study also contributes to a greater understanding of the behavior of Iowa caucus attendees, an understudied area despite Iowa’s importance (along with New Hampshire) in our sequential presidential nominating system. I make several findings affirming theories on social influences on voting behavior within the context of nomination contests. The first is that individuals are reasonably accurate when predicting which candidate a political discussion partner …

Dr. Jekyll Or Mr. Hyde? President Donald Trump’S Personality Profile As Perceived From Different Political Viewpoints, W. Keith Campbell, Courtland S. Hyatt, Donald R. Lynam, Joshua D. Miller

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

The present research used an empirical, crowdsourced trait profiling approach to describe the personality of Trump that accounts for political views. Clinton (N=120) and Trump (N=118) voters rated Trump’s personality on the 30 facets of the Five Factor Model. Participants also provided perceived helpfulness and harmfulness ratings of the facets before and after the election. We treated these facet level ratings as trait profiles, which were transformed into estimates of personality disorders (PDs) and complex trait-based constructs based on expert profiles. Results suggest only modest agreement between Clinton and Trump voters on Trump’s personality. Clinton voters perceived much greater antagonism, …

Attitudes Towards Racism In Kkk Forums: Denouncement, Avoidance, And Neutralization, Natasha R. Wood

Student Theses

Recent research has attempted to better understand the complexity of modern terrorism, which seems evermore present in our worldview. However, the scope of the literature lacks representation of far-right ideology, and that of White supremacists within the campaign. Specifically, the potential fear of being labeled as a racist has been recognized as both an obstacle to communicating racial issues and as a potential driver behind the self-imposed social exclusion of White supremacists, which may further contribute to their radicalization rigidity around race-relevant political issues. The current study is an inquiry into the internal perceptions and conceptualizations of racism among members …

Anxiety: An Epidemic Through The Lens Of Social Media, Holly M. Wright

Honors College Theses

Anxiety: An Epidemic was originally inspired by the mental health crisis in my hometown, Palo Alto, California, and evolved to specifically focus on social media-related anxiety. I examined the question: How has social media evolved over the last decade and what effect does the proliferation of social media have on the young adult population? I hypothesized that social media would have a predominately negative effect, especially on young women, and set out to create a theatrical piece inspired by my research. In my meta-analysis of studies conducted, I found that more data needs to be collected on the relatively new …

Tabletop Role-Playing Games And Social Skills In Young Adults, Lily Spinelli

Honors College Theses

This paper explores the relationship between playing tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) and the creativity, self-efficacy, and social skills of the players. Eighty-five people ages 18-25 were surveyed on their perceived levels of these three variables, as well as how often they played TTRPGs. Responses of those who did play TTRPGs were compared with results of those who did not play TTRPGs. A statistically significant positive correlation was identified in all participants between creativity and self-efficacy, creativity and social skills, and self-efficacy and social skills. Participants who played TTRPGs scored statistically significantly higher in measures of creativity than participants who did …

The Relationship Between Executive Function, Hope, And Depression In Older Adults, Brittney Fallucca

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, by 2030, the population of individuals 65 years of age or older is expected to be close to 70 million people, or 20% of the country’s population. This creates a substantial demand as well as opportunity for prevention on medical and health care providers, because individuals in this population are at an increased risk of significant changes in cognitive and mental health. Decline in executive functioning skills is one of the most prevalent changes to affect older adults. Furthermore, depression is strongly associated with impairment in executive functioning, and both …

Inside And Out: Intrapersonal And Interpersonal Emotion Regulation In Young-Adult Friendships, Samantha Ann Chesney

Dissertations (1934 -)

To date, the field of emotion regulation has been held captive by inquiries into processes that unfold at an intrapersonal, or individual, level. As such, experts know a great deal about how individual choices to engage in a particular regulatory strategy are related to psychosocial outcomes. Recently the spotlight for theoretical and empirical attention has shifted to address an inarguable truth: humans are social beings. Research must break from the view of emotion regulation as intrapersonal or interpersonal, instead employing person-centered approaches that represent both levels as an interdependent system. The current study evaluated emotion regulation as a dynamic system …

The Perception Of Spontaneous And Volitional Laughter Across 21 Societies, Gregory A. Bryan, Daniel M. Fessler, Riccardo Fusaroli, Edward Clint, Dorsa Amir, Brenda Chavez, Kaleda K. Denton, Cinthya Diaz, Lealaiailoto T. Duran, Jana Fancovicova, Michal Fux, Erni F. Ginting, Youssef Hasan, Anning Hu, Shanmukh V. Kamble, Tatsuya Kameda, Kiri Kuroda, Norman P. Li, Et Al

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Laughter is a nonverbal vocalization occurring in every known culture, ubiquitous across all forms of human socialinteraction. Here, we examined whether listeners around the world, irrespective of their own native language andculture, can distinguish between spontaneous laughter and volitional laughter—laugh types likely generated by differentvocal-production systems. Using a set of 36 recorded laughs produced by female English speakers in tests involving 884participants from 21 societies across six regions of the world, we asked listeners to determine whether each laugh wasreal or fake, and listeners differentiated between the two laugh types with an accuracy of 56% to 69%. Acoustic analysisrevealed that …

What Makes A Good Judge?, Brian M. Barry

Reports

This article overviews research demonstrating the factors beyond the law that can affect judicial decision-making.

Social Media's Influence On Pre-Trial Publicity, Kelly Kondroski

Student Theses

In an age where more and more people are turning to social media for news information it can only be concluded that those same people are vulnerable to some type of exposure to pretrial publicity. Research has supported the idea that pretrial publicity creates premature judgments of guilt towards the accused and the more exposure a person has on a case the more strongly their opinions of guilt tend to be. Social media has quickly become a platform that users turn to receive news information, including details about cases that are in process of going to trial. Because its high …

Wearable Assistive Technologies For Autism: Opportunities And Challenges, Emma Mansouri Benssassi, Juan-Carlos Gomez, Louanne E. Boyd, Gillian R. Hayes, Juan Ye

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. Challenges with typical social engagement, common in the autism experience, can have a significant negative impact on the quality of life of individuals and families living with autism. Recent advances in sensing, intelligent, and interactive technologies can enable new forms of assistive and augmentative technologies to support social interactions. However, researchers have not yet demonstrated effectiveness of these technologies in long-term real-world use. This article presents an overview of the social and sensory challenges of autism, which offer great opportunities and challenges for …

Police Officer Perspectives On Public Views Of Police, Current Events Involving Police, And The Impact On Police-Community Relationships, Donjae Catanzariti

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The media has presented current tensions between police officers and the communities they serve, particularly the Black community. These tensions have led to calls for reforms in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. However, there has been little focus on the police perspective. Thus, this study sought to address the gaps in the literature by shedding light on the perspective of police officers through the following research question: a) How do police officers perceive the public’s view of them? b) How do police officers’ think the public’s view of them impacts the relationship between police officers and the communities …

Coping With Stigma And Social Exclusion Of Terror-Convicts’ Wives In Indonesia: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Any Rufaedah, Idhamsyah Eka Putra

The Qualitative Report

This research aims to: (1) understand the various forms of stigma and social exclusion toward the wives of those convicted of terrorism, (2) understand the psychological impact of stigma and social exclusion toward the wives, (3) understand the coping mechanism of the wives toward stigma and social exclusion. The all Muslim participants were 24 wives of terror convicts or former convicts who lived in East Java, Central Java, and West Java. The data were collected through interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD), whereas interpretative psychological analysis were used to explore the participants’ experience. Results of the study show that participants …

Exiters Of Religious Fundamentalism: Reconstruction Of Identity, Social Relationships And Support, And Meaning Related To Well-Being, Andreea Alexandra Nica

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past decade, researchers have documented the steady growth of religious "nones," those who do not affiliate with any organized religion. There is, however, limited research examining religious disaffiliation on health outcomes--that is, how the process of religious disaffiliation or exiting contributes to mental well-being. These trends and gap in the literature make it timely and it is important to consider the impact of leaving religion on the well-being of individuals experiencing this life transition. This qualitative study investigates a particularly understudied subgroup of exiters -- individuals who have exited Christian fundamentalist religious groups.

Drawing on 24 in-depth, individual …

Can Synchronicity Be Invoked? Synchronistic Inquiry And The Nature Of Meaning, Crane, Gabriel S.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper examines synchronicity, the concept first proposed by Carl Jung, of an “acausal connecting principle” (Jung, 1952), or, a meaningful coincidence linking inner and outer events, from three distinct angles. First, it reviews the theoretical framework for synchronicity, and specifically explores the nature of meaning as an arbiter of synchronicity. The paper then asks whether, considering the co-determined nature of meaning, synchronicity can possibly be consciously invoked. Drawing upon anecdotal examples from personal experience, the outlines of a possible research process, personal synchronistic inquiry, are proposed. Finally, this paper presents a personal attempt to implement the research protocol outlined …

The Mythic-Cosmological Equation: A Different Approach To Understanding Reality, Mcauley, Charles E.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Panpsychism And J.R.R. Tolkien: Exploring A Universal Psyche In The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, And The Lord Of The Rings, Sheppard-Goodlett, Lisa R.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

An informal exploration of the concept of panpsychism in three of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy works, The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by using multiple consciousness theories from prominent consciousness authors. Plotlines, character compositions, and physical and mental interactions between individuals and entities are examined through multi-faceted panpsychic consciousness lenses. Those lenses include consciousness as a “stream,” integrality, evolutionary emergence of consciousness in all life forms, numinosity, liminality, the mythical trickster, major consciousness themes, precognitive and lucid dreaming, removal of self-identity through separation and burial, inner work, plurality and conflict, and enlightenment and synergism.