Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Psychology Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Brigham Young University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 1171 - 1200 of 1681

Full-Text Articles in Psychology

The Harrowing Of Hell: Salvation For The Dead In Early Christianity, Kendel Christensen, Dr. David Paulsen Aug 2013

The Harrowing Of Hell: Salvation For The Dead In Early Christianity, Kendel Christensen, Dr. David Paulsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project exceeded my grandest expectations. Not only did we achieve our main objective of tracking the history and evolution of the soteriological problem of evil, but our connection to restoration themes was so salient that the Journal of Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture accepted our offer to write a piece for them. They liked it so much that we are now in the final editing stages of a follow-up piece. Both articles can be accessed by going to http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/authors/?authorID=715 (note: the second article will not be accessible until sometime during the first quarter of 2011).

Go to article

Infants’ Intermodal Perception Of Canine (Canis Familairis) Facial Expressions And Vocalizations, Jacob Jones, Dr. Ross Flom Aug 2013

Infants’ Intermodal Perception Of Canine (Canis Familairis) Facial Expressions And Vocalizations, Jacob Jones, Dr. Ross Flom

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Several studies have shown that in the first months of life, infants discriminate faces and speech sounds under a diverse range of conditions. These results suggest that infants’ capacity to discriminate faces and speech sounds changes over the course of development: Younger, but not older, infants discriminate a wider range of speech sounds and faces. Finally, studies have also shown that if infants do not continue to receive exposure to a particular language or the faces of a given species, infants may lose the ability to discriminate those speech sounds or faces. (Kuhl, Williams, Lacerda, Stevens, & Lindblom, 1992; Werker …

Go to article

Moral Conceptions And Parent-Adolescent Congruence: What Does It Mean To Be A Moral Person?, Ryan James Funk, Dr. Sam Hardy Aug 2013

Moral Conceptions And Parent-Adolescent Congruence: What Does It Mean To Be A Moral Person?, Ryan James Funk, Dr. Sam Hardy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When I began working with Dr. Sam Hardy, I started in a simple data entry position. I would spend ten hours a week entering responses to survey questions into a computer program. As I spent more and more time in Sam’s lab doing data entry, I began to have more and more questions about the research. “What is this measure for?” I wondered and “How does it help us investigate adolescent moral development?” In weekly meetings with Sam’s lab, I had a chance to ask these questions and Sam answered them by involving me more and more in the research. …

Go to article

Using Behavioral And Physiological Measures Of Anxiety In Autism, Katherine Taylor, Dr. Mikle South Aug 2013

Using Behavioral And Physiological Measures Of Anxiety In Autism, Katherine Taylor, Dr. Mikle South

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of my study was to examine behavioral and physiological measures of anxiety in an effort to understand the appearance of anxiousness in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). With the help of my mentor, Dr Mikle South, and his other research assistants, I modified Ned Kalin’s (e.g., 2003) human intruder paradigm for monkeys, originally based on Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation” (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970) for use with children. The phases of the experiment proceeded as follows:

Go to article

After-School Violence In Samoa, Devan Stevens Aug 2013

After-School Violence In Samoa, Devan Stevens

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the Polynesian Islands of Samoa, there is a prevalence of after-school violence associated with school rivalries that is of serious concern to the local governments and community members. There is a paucity of research done in Samoa concerning adolescent aggression. Thus, the need for research is great. Samoan newspapers frequently report inter-school violence and a plethora of acts of aggression amongst the Samoan adolescents (e.g. Samoa Observer April 12, 2010). These acts of violence are often planned and executed by the students of several different school districts, unbeknownst to school officials. Although rarely do these scuffles involve guns, it …

Go to article

Effects Of Chronic Ethanol On Vta Gaba Neuron Synaptic Activity, Stephanie Sandoval, Dr. Scott Steffensen Aug 2013

Effects Of Chronic Ethanol On Vta Gaba Neuron Synaptic Activity, Stephanie Sandoval, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The mesocortico limbic system is implicated in drug reward. An important substrate underlying chronic effects of ethanol on Dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in the mesolimbic pathway is gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA)(Ludlow et al. 2009). VTA GABAergic interneurons are the primary inhibitory regulator of DA neurons and a subset of GABA(A) receptors may be implicated in the switch from heavy drinking to dependence. Previous studies have shown that chronic ethanol results in a significant down regulation in the expression of D2 receptors in ethanol consuming rats versus the controls. This possibly results from persistent DA …

Go to article

Effects Of Acute Ethanol On Gaba Neuron Synaptic Responses, Kyle Ellefsen, Dr. Scott Steffensen Aug 2013

Effects Of Acute Ethanol On Gaba Neuron Synaptic Responses, Kyle Ellefsen, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The nucleus accumbens is a midbrain structure which is thought to influence pleasure and reward. The physiology of this area is also thought to be altered in a state of addiction, including alcoholism. The nucleus accumbens receives most of its dopaminergic input from another midbrain structure, the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The purpose of my research was to characterize the effects of acute ethanol administration on the firing rate of those VTA dopamine neurons by analyzing the change in the electrophysiological properties of inhibitory GABA neurons in the VTA, which are thought to directly regulate VTA dopamine firing rate.

Go to article

The Efficacy Of Using Animal-Assisted Therapy To Decrease Maladaptive Behaviors In Children With Reactive Attachment Disorder, Trisha Markle, Dr. Gary Burlingame Aug 2013

The Efficacy Of Using Animal-Assisted Therapy To Decrease Maladaptive Behaviors In Children With Reactive Attachment Disorder, Trisha Markle, Dr. Gary Burlingame

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study is currently still in progress. We are in the final stages of a pilot study that was supported by this ORCA grant. A new and funded version of the study will begin in January based upon the findings of the pilot. As noted in our IRB, our pilot study was conducted as a quality improvement project at Utah State hospital (USH).

Go to article

Effects Of Chronic Alcohol Intoxication On The Dopaminergic Reward Pathway, Brian Hoyt, Dr. Scott Steffensen Aug 2013

Effects Of Chronic Alcohol Intoxication On The Dopaminergic Reward Pathway, Brian Hoyt, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My research project studied the effects of chronic alcohol intoxication on the brain’s pleasure center (the mesocorticolimbic system). I worked with JungJae Park (M.S. in neuroscience) and three other undergraduate students. Because rats dislike the taste of alcohol, we injected the alcohol directly into their abdominal cavity. This was done under isoflourane anesthesia to avoid any discomfort for the animals. We injected three experimental rats an intoxicating dose of alcohol twice daily for three weeks. Three other rats were used as control subjects (received saline injections twice daily).

Go to article

Effects Of Mood On Error Processing, Alexander Gray, Dr. Michael Larson Aug 2013

Effects Of Mood On Error Processing, Alexander Gray, Dr. Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study will help us to better understand the neurophysiological correlates of error processing–the cognitive function of detecting mistakes. Also, this study will help clarify the potential generation process of this neurophysiological correlate, specifically called the error-related negativity (ERN).

Go to article

The Influence Of Positive Affect On Working Memory, Brenna S. Adams, Dr. Michael J. Larson Aug 2013

The Influence Of Positive Affect On Working Memory, Brenna S. Adams, Dr. Michael J. Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Positive affect, or positive emotion, is associated with improvements in most cognitive abilities, such as creative problem solving (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987), the integration of information for strategic decision-making (Estrada, Isen, & Young, 1997), and verbal fluency (Phillips, Bull, Adams, & Fraser, 2002). However, recent studies report that positive affect also fosters increased distractibility, impairing working memory (Dreisbach, 2006; Dreisbach & Goschke, 2004). Working memory refers to the neural system involved in “temporary maintenance and manipulation of information” (Baddeley, 2002, p. 85).

Go to article

Empathy In Autism, Oliver Johnston, Dr. Mikle South Aug 2013

Empathy In Autism, Oliver Johnston, Dr. Mikle South

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with primary deficits in social communication. The purpose for this research was to investigate whether difficulties with empathy – the ability to feel what others feel – might contribute to the core social difficulties. This paper outlines the process used over the last year to study empathy in autism and to identify the brain processes associated with empathy in autism.

Go to article

Exploring A Potential Prejudice Against Theism In Social Psychology, Allen Sabey, Dr. Brent D. Slife Aug 2013

Exploring A Potential Prejudice Against Theism In Social Psychology, Allen Sabey, Dr. Brent D. Slife

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the world of psychological thought and theory, psychologists attempt to explain human behavior. In this attempt, biases and prejudices are crucial to identify and discuss. Prejudices and biases tend to distort or exclude interpretations or explanations that could be meaningful for certain people or certain situations. Slife and Reber (2009) have recently argued that an implicit and pervasive prejudice against theism exists in psychology. This prejudice prevents the inclusion of certain theistic explanations for the serious theist. This prospect of a pervasive implicit prejudice against theism is significant given that many psychologists and researchers hold a theistic world-view. Identifying …

Go to article

Tantruming And Talking: Measuring Treatment Outcome In Preschool Autism Treatment Programs, Jaime Ballard, Dr. Mikle South Aug 2013

Tantruming And Talking: Measuring Treatment Outcome In Preschool Autism Treatment Programs, Jaime Ballard, Dr. Mikle South

Journal of Undergraduate Research

One in every 133 children in Utah has autism, a disorder characterized by poor social and communication skills (U.S. Autism Rate Soars Twentyfold in 20 Years, 2007). These rates are climbing across the nation. As more children are born with these disorders, schools and other educational facilities are struggling to develop proven programs to help these children function on a daily level. These programs, and the surveys designed to assess their effectiveness, often do not take into consideration which behaviors are most important to parents and teachers of children with autism. Parents and teachers are in the best position to …

Go to article

Defining And Measuring Infant Habituation, Denise Free, Dr. Ross Flom Aug 2013

Defining And Measuring Infant Habituation, Denise Free, Dr. Ross Flom

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Although we arguably know very little about the actual process of infant habituation, in assessing infant conditioning, controlled habituation is the procedure used most often. It may be that how infants habituate could vary as a function of their age. In addition a perceived “inability” at one age may reflect instead an incomplete period of familiarization or habituation. Most studies have used the same criterion for infants of different ages, and it may be more appropriate to vary the criterion of habituation or familiarization as a function of infant age.

Go to article

The Mediated Effects Of Moral Identity On Religiosity And Prosocial Behaviors, David Rackham, Dr. Sam Hardy Aug 2013

The Mediated Effects Of Moral Identity On Religiosity And Prosocial Behaviors, David Rackham, Dr. Sam Hardy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The proposed project sought to examine moral identity as a mediation of relations between religiosity and positive and negative behaviors among emerging adults. Upon receipt of the ORCA grant in February 2010, Dr. Hardy and I began the data analysis. The analysis was performed on a large (n=3,000) national data set of college age students. It was hypothesized that moral identity will be found to be a significant mechanism of religiosity and various outcome variables. Originally, structural equation modeling was going to be used to test a model whereby moral identity is a mediator of relations between religious commitment and …

Go to article

An Evaluation Of The Clinical Use Of Phenytoin For Preventing Early Post-Traumatic Seizures In Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, Sierra Debenham, Dr. Erin Bigler Aug 2013

An Evaluation Of The Clinical Use Of Phenytoin For Preventing Early Post-Traumatic Seizures In Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, Sierra Debenham, Dr. Erin Bigler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I evaluated the Montreal General Hospital’s use of the anti-seizure medication phenytoin in all traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients admitted to the hospital over the course of 2 years. I then evaluated the information to evaluate how effective the phenytoin treatment was in preventing early TBI.

Go to article

Longitudinal Progression Of Frontal And Temporal Lobe Changes In Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Matthew J. Smith, Lei Wang, John G. Csernansky Aug 2013

Longitudinal Progression Of Frontal And Temporal Lobe Changes In Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Matthew J. Smith, Lei Wang, John G. Csernansky

Faculty Publications

Cortical abnormalities are considered a neurobiological characteristic of schizophrenia. However, the pattern of such deficits as they progress over the illness remains poorly understood. The goal of this project was to assess the progression of cortical thinning in frontal and temporal cortical regions in schizophrenia, and determine whether relationships exist between them and neuropsychological and clinical symptom profiles. As part of a larger longitudinal 2-year followup study, schizophrenia (n=20) and healthy participants (n=20) group-matched for age, gender, and recent-alcohol use, were selected. Using MRI, estimates of gray matter thickness were derived from primary anatomical gyri of the frontal and temporal …

Go to article

Gender Differences In The Associations Among Body Mass Index, Weight Loss, Exercise, And Drinking Among College Students, Adam E. Barry Phd, Shawn Whiteman Phd, Anna K. Piazza-Gardner Ms, Alexander C. Jensen Phd Jul 2013

Gender Differences In The Associations Among Body Mass Index, Weight Loss, Exercise, And Drinking Among College Students, Adam E. Barry Phd, Shawn Whiteman Phd, Anna K. Piazza-Gardner Ms, Alexander C. Jensen Phd

Faculty Publications

Objective: To explore gender differences regarding weight management behaviors of college drinkers. Participants: Nationally representative sample of college students from the fall 2008 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment II (N = 26,062 students). Methods: Structural equation modeling was used to examine potential gender differences in associations among exercise, weight loss behaviors, and alcohol use. Results: Critical ratio tests revealed that associations between exercise and weight loss behaviors were more strongly correlated among females as compared with males. For females, there was a small negative association between exercise and drinking behaviors; in contrast, for males, there was a …

Go to article

Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl Jul 2013

Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the findings of a study examining the following questions: How do students in a particular disability group differ from students in other disability groups in the degree to which they accept their disability? How are level of functional impairment and acceptance related? How are an individual's view of disability as a defining characteristic and acceptance related? How are functional impairment and the degree to which disability is seen as a defining characteristic related? Analysis using ANOVA indicated that there was not a significant difference in the level of acceptance between disability groups. Three Pearson's r correlation analyses …

Go to article

Dose-Effect Vs. Good Enough Level: A Comparison Of Treatment Length And Maintenance Of Treatment Gains At Follow-Up Using The Outcome Questionnaire-45, John M. Suyama Jul 2013

Dose-Effect Vs. Good Enough Level: A Comparison Of Treatment Length And Maintenance Of Treatment Gains At Follow-Up Using The Outcome Questionnaire-45, John M. Suyama

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines psychotherapy response in connection to treatment duration and maintenance of treatment gains. The dose-effect perspective (Howard et al. 1986) first proposed applying medical terminology to investigate a level of exposure to a dose of psychotherapy (in number of sessions) where individuals can expect to receive sufficient benefit (i.e., 48 -- 58% of clients can be expected to sufficiently benefit from therapy by 8 sessions). The proponents of the Good Enough Level (Barkham et at. 2006) argued that mere exposure to therapy is not an effective measure for client benefit, but rather that client responses to therapy vary. …

Go to article

Training Pre-Service Teachers In Response To Intervention: A Survey Of Teacher Candidates, Ann-Michelle Neal Jul 2013

Training Pre-Service Teachers In Response To Intervention: A Survey Of Teacher Candidates, Ann-Michelle Neal

Theses and Dissertations

Addressing training in Response to Intervention at the pre-service level has potential to reach educators during their formative years; preparing them to implement research-based practices upon entering the field and building the capacity to do so with more fidelity and less support. While the knowledge levels and perceptions of pre-service teachers are critical to the future success of RTI implementation, the level of training among pre-service educators is less understood relative to their colleagues in the field. This exploratory study was designed to examine pre-service general and special education teachers' perceptions of RTI, and self-efficacy in implementation. A survey, created …

Go to article

Screening For Emotional And Behavioral Problems In High Schools, Nichole Marie Soelberg Jul 2013

Screening For Emotional And Behavioral Problems In High Schools, Nichole Marie Soelberg

Theses and Dissertations

Screening for emotional and behavioral problems in youth is a well-validated process for elementary-aged children as notable and respected research has provided evidence that children at risk for behavioral and emotional problems can be identified and provided with targeted interventions, which prevent additional problems (Lane, Wehby, & Barton-Arwood, 2005). However, there is a lack of research offering evidence for a behavioral and emotional screening process for high school students. Identifying at-risk youth is a vital component in providing early-intervention services that can remediate problems before they become severe and require resource intensive interventions. This research contributes to the development of …

Go to article

Bibliotherapy And Bullying: Teaching Young Childrento Utilize Peer Group Power To Combat Bullying, Rebecca Lyn Spencer Jul 2013

Bibliotherapy And Bullying: Teaching Young Childrento Utilize Peer Group Power To Combat Bullying, Rebecca Lyn Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Bullying is a major concern for school-age children. This study compares the use of bibliotherapy and didactic instruction techniques for teaching anti-bullying strategies to young children. The study explores 36 first graders' perceptions of bullying and their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities in bullying situations. In comparison to the control group, students who were taught specific bully intervention skills, both through didactic instruction and bibliotherapy, reflected an increased understanding of bullying, used a larger bully vocabulary, and demonstrated more specific and varied actions in response to bullying from pre-test to post-test conditions. Participants in the group who received didactic …

Go to article

Differences In Perceived Stress And Coping Strategies Between Ukrainian And Us College Students, Malvina Salash Jul 2013

Differences In Perceived Stress And Coping Strategies Between Ukrainian And Us College Students, Malvina Salash

Theses and Dissertations

Social support is associated with mental and physical health. It is important to consider culture in order to understand stress responses to everyday hassles and use of coping strategies. The current investigation hypothesized that (1) Ukrainian college students representative of a collectivistic culture would have lower levels of perceived stress than would US college students representative of a highly individualized culture, (2) Ukrainian college students would have evidence of greater social support compared to US college students, and (3) social support would mitigate differences in perceived stress between the two cultures. Based on 61 US participants recruited from Brigham Young …

Go to article

Development And Validation Of The Abstinence Motivation Scale, Natalie Johnson Jul 2013

Development And Validation Of The Abstinence Motivation Scale, Natalie Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design the Abstinence Motivation Scale-Sex (AMS-Sex), a scale to assess adolescent motivations for sexual abstinence using the self-determination theory (SDT) motivation continuum as a framework. Previous sexual abstinence research, SDT measurement studies, pilot study data, and expert panel feedback were used to develop the initial 77-item AMS-Sex. The sample consisted of 695 adolescents (aged 15 to 18; M age = 16.49, SD = 1.08; 50.8% male) recruited online from the across the U.S. Participants completed an online survey. The sample was randomly split into two samples. Independent samples t-tests indicated that sample 1 …

Go to article

Mindfulness Meditation: Effects Of A Brief Intervention On Cardiovascular Reactivity During Acute Stress, Dustin Lamar Jones Jul 2013

Mindfulness Meditation: Effects Of A Brief Intervention On Cardiovascular Reactivity During Acute Stress, Dustin Lamar Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness has historically been cultivated via formal meditation practice and the majority of meditation research examines individuals with extensive training or participants in Mindfulness based stress reduction programs that require considerable expense, a trained facilitator, and take approximately 8 weeks to complete. However, current literature does not speak directly to those who do not have the time or ability for such commitments. Formal mindfulness meditation practice and interventions reduce stress in various populations; however, the outcomes of a one-time intervention are relatively unknown. This study aims to examine whether a one-time (20-min) mindfulness meditation intervention would improve cardiovascular variables during …

Go to article

Cognitively Normal Individuals With Ad Parents May Be At Risk For Developing Aging-Related Cortical Thinning Patterns Characteristic Of Ad, Derin J. Cobia, Katherine Reiter, Kathryn I. Alpert, Mary J. Kwasny, John C. Morris, John G. Csernansky, Lei Wang Jul 2013

Cognitively Normal Individuals With Ad Parents May Be At Risk For Developing Aging-Related Cortical Thinning Patterns Characteristic Of Ad, Derin J. Cobia, Katherine Reiter, Kathryn I. Alpert, Mary J. Kwasny, John C. Morris, John G. Csernansky, Lei Wang

Faculty Publications

Children of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients are at heightened risk of developing AD due to genetic influences, including the apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) allele. In this study, we assessed the earliest cortical changes associated with AD in 71 cognitively healthy, adult children of AD patients (AD offspring) as compared with 69 with no family history of AD (non-AD offspring). Cortical thickness measures were obtained using FreeSurfer from 1.5T magnetic resonance (MR) scans. ApoE genotyping was obtained. Primary analyses examined family history and ApoeE4 effects on cortical thickness. Secondary analyses examined age effects within groups. All comparisons were adjusted using False Discovery …

Go to article

Perceived Racism And Blood Pressure In Foreign-Born Mexicans, Richard Iztcoatl Merideth Jul 2013

Perceived Racism And Blood Pressure In Foreign-Born Mexicans, Richard Iztcoatl Merideth

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have identified perceived racism as one type of social stress that is believed to contribute to hypertension, though no studies to date have examined the relationship between perceived racism and blood pressure among foreign-born Mexicans living in the United States (U.S.). In addition, studies have shown that acculturation may increase levels of perceived discrimination among foreign-born Mexicans living in the U.S. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived racism and ambulatory blood pressure among a convenience sample of 332 foreign-born Mexicans living in Utah County, Utah controlling for age, gender, body mass index …

Go to article

Learning To Change In Autism, Tiffani Newton, Dr. Mikle South Jun 2013

Learning To Change In Autism, Tiffani Newton, Dr. Mikle South

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The autism spectrum disorders (ASD) include a collection of severe neurodevelopmental symptoms related to social interaction and communication. In addition to these core symptoms, co-occurring anxiety is seen in up to 70% of diagnosed individuals (Reaven, 2010). Anxiety-inducing situations for ASD individuals include changes to the environment or daily routines. Difficulties responding to such changes may lead to debilitating and negative consequences for ASD children and their families. Understanding the mechanisms that lead to such difficulties may improve the specificity of treatment for these symptoms.

Go to article

First Prev Next Last