Psychology Commons^™

Grounded Theory As A “Family Of Methods”: A Genealogical Analysis To Guide Research, Wayne A. Babchuk

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This inquiry traces the evolution of grounded theory from a nuclear to an extended family of methods and considers the implications that decision-making based on informed choices throughout all phases of the research process has for realizing the potential of grounded theory for advancing adult education theory and practice.

Book Review: Psychoanalyzing Prejudice, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The classic psychological work on prejudice is Gordon Allport’s 1954 The Nature of Prejudice. Half a century later, its definitive modern counterpart must surely be On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport (2005). Systematically reconsidering Allport’s work in light of subsequent research and theorizing, On the Nature of Prejudice provides, in one carefully edited volume, the most comprehensive statement on the psychology of prejudice currently available. The Future of Prejudice: Psychoanalysis and the Prevention of Prejudice, in contrast, is simply a collection of sixteen chapters that, although generally psychoanalytic in orientation, vary greatly in form, content, …

Assessing School And Student Predictors Of Weapons Reporting, Lindsey E. Wylie, Chris L. Gibson, Eve M. Brank, Mark R. Fondacaro, Stephen W. Smith, Veda E. Brown, Scott A. Miller

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

School violence and weapons at school are a major concern for community members, school administrators, and policy makers. This research examines both student-level and school-level variables that predict middle school students’ willingness to report a weapon at school under several reporting conditions. Results substantiate previous analyses of these data that student-level variables explain students’ willingness to report a weapon but extend these findings to include school climate variables that affect willingness to report (i.e., collective identity and conflict). School climate variables were also shown to influence reporting under conditions in which there would be consequences for the weapons-carrying student or …

Shift And Deviate: Saccades Reveal That Shifts Of Covert Attention Evoked By Trained Spatial Stimuli Are Obligatory, Stefan Van Der Stigchel, Mark Mills, Michael D. Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The premotor theory of attention predicts that motor movements, including manual movements and eye movements, are preceded by an obligatory shift of attention to the location of the planned response. We investigated whether the shifts of attention evoked by trained spatial cues (e.g., Dodd & Wilson, 2009) are obligatory by using an extreme prediction of the premotor theory: If individuals are trained to associate a color cue with a manual movement to the left or right, the shift of attention evoked by the color cue should also influence eye movements in an unrelated task. Participants were trained to associate an …

The Caring Teacher: A Multiple Case Study That Looks At What Teachers Do And Believe About Their Work With At-Risk Students, Sarah Whitney Thompson

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

Caring teachers have been identified as a critical component of successful interventions with at-risk students, however just what constitutes a caring teacher is less well understood. Specifically, what are the behaviors, characteristics, and beliefs of caring teachers, and how are they impacted by the contexts within which they work? The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand more about caring teachers who work with at-risk students in secondary schools located in a Midwestern city and thereby to add complexity to the literature. Two middle school teachers and two high school teachers were recruited to participate. They were observed …

An Experimental Study Of The Impact Of Psychological Capital On Performance, Engagement, And The Contagion Effect, Timothy Daniel Hodges

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Psychological Capital, or PsyCap, is a core construct consisting of the positive psychological resources of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience. Previous research has consistently linked PsyCap to workplace outcomes including employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Further research has explored the ways in which PsyCap can be developed through relatively brief workplace interventions. The present study focuses on PsyCap development and the relationship to employee engagement and performance. In an experimental design with random assignment of subjects to control group (n = 52 managers and 152 associates) and treatment group (n = 58 managers and 239 employees), a field sample of …

Reflecting On Experience For Leadership Development, Adrian Chan

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study proposes that being reflective or ruminative about one's leadership experience can have differential effects on one's leadership efficacy, implicit leadership theories and psychological capital. Specifically, through the aid of an event history calendar, conscript military trainees of high and low military experience from a SE Asian military organization were randomly assigned to recall and reflect or ruminate on his past leadership experience. Results show that type of reflection interacts with level of military leadership experience to differentially affect one's leadership efficacy, implicit leadership theories and leadership self-awareness. Reflection triggers produced significantly higher levels of implicit leadership theories under …

Multiple Determinants Of Sexualized Behavior In Middle Childhood: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective, Natasha Elkovitch

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In order to adequately and appropriately intervene with children exhibiting problematic sexual behaviors, a comprehensive understanding of etiology is imperative. Although sexually abused children are observed engaging in more problematic sexual behaviors than their normative or psychiatric counterparts, it is clear that such behaviors may be the result of factors other than, or in addition to, sexual abuse. The goal of the present study was utilize a developmental psychopathology perspective in broadening our understanding of mechanisms associated with the development of problematic sexual behaviors in childhood. Participants for the study include 1, 149 children (51.8% female) drawn from the Longitudinal …

Social Cognition And Interaction Training (Scit) For Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders In Outpatient Treatment Settings, Petra Kleinlein

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The role of social cognition in severe mental illness (SMI) has gained much attention, especially over the last decade. The impact of deficits in socio-cognitive functioning has been found to have detrimental effects on key areas of day-to-day functioning in individuals with SMI, such as gaining and maintaining employment and overall experienced quality of life. Treatment of individuals with SMI is challenging, as the presentation of individual signs and symptoms is rather heterogeneous. There are several treatment approaches addressing deficits ranging from broader social and interpersonal functioning to neurocognitive and more intrapersonal functioning. As research in the domain of social …

“All The Men Here Have The Peter Pan Syndrome— They Don’T Want To Grow Up”: Navajo Adolescent Mothers’ Intimate Partner Relationships—A 15-Year Perspective, Rochelle L. Dalla, Alexandria M. Marchetti, Elizabeth (Beth) A. Sechrest, Jennifer L. White

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

In 1992 and 1995, data were collected from 29 Navajo Native American adolescent mothers. In 2007 and 2008, data were collected from 21 of the original 29 (72%). Guided by feminist family theory, this investigation sought to (a) examine Navajo adolescent mothers’ intimate partner relationships during the transition to parenthood, (b) identify themes in the young mothers’ intimate partnerships across time, and (c) assess participants’ psychosocial well-being in adulthood. Four themes emerged in the women’s long-term intimate relationships: limited support, substance abuse, infidelity, and intimate partner violence. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

A Conceptual Guide To Museum Visitors’ Understanding Of Evolution, E. Margaret Evans, Amy Spiegel, Wendy Gram, Brandy N. Frazier, Sarah Cover, Medha Tare, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to profile natural history museum visitors’ reasoning about the evolution of seven organisms featured in Explore Evolution, an NSF funded exhibition. Seven current research studies on evolution were exhibited; each targeted different organisms: HIV, diatoms, ant/fungus, Hawaiian flies, Galapagos finches, humans/chimps, and fossilized whales. The exhibits illustrated a common set of evolutionary principles, variation, inheritance, selection, time, and adaptation, in diverse organisms.

Method: As part of the front-end evaluation, 32 museum visitors were interviewed and asked to explain evolutionary change in the seven organisms, though the term evolution was not mentioned. …

Depression Vulnerability Predicts Cigarette Smoking Among College Students: Gender And Negative Reinforcement Expectancies As Contributing Factors, Holly E.R. Morrell, Lee M. Cohen, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the association between vulnerability to depression and smoking behavior in college students in 1214 college students (54% female), and evaluated gender and expectancies of negative affect reduction as moderators or mediators of this relationship. Depression vulnerability predicted smoking in females, but not males. The relationship between depression vulnerability and smoking status was mediated by expectancies of negative affect reduction in females only. Female college students who are vulnerable to depression may smoke because they expect smoking to relieve negative affect. Smoking interventions for college females may increase in effectiveness by targeting depression and emphasizing mood regulation.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Child Feeding Questionnaire Among Low-Income African American Families Of Preschool Children, Richard E. Boles, Timothy D. Nelson, Leigh A. Chamberlin, Jessica M. Valenzuela, Susan N. Sherman, Susan L. Johnson, Scott W. Powers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the factor structure for three of the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) subscales, a widely used measure of parental feeding practices, among 296 low-income parents of African American preschool children. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an overall poor fit among CFQ subscales; Restriction, Pressure to Eat, and Concern about Child Weight, (χ2, (df = 87 = 300.249, CFI = 1.00, NNFI = 1.07, RMSEA = .091). Additionally, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for 2 of the three subscales were below acceptable recommendations (Restriction = 0.69; Pressure to Eat = 0.58). These results suggest further psychometric clarification is needed to understand commonly …

Examination Of The Construct Validity Of Impact™ Computerized Test, Traditional, And Experimental Neuropsychological Measures, Arthur C. Maerlender, L. Flashman, A. Kessler, S. Kumbhani, R. Greenwald, T. Tosteson, T. Mcallister

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although computerized neuropsychological screening is becoming a standard for sports concussion identification and management, convergent validity studies are limited. Such studies are important for several reasons: reference to established measures is needed to establish validity; examination of the computerized battery relative to a more traditional comprehensive battery will help understand the strengths and limitations of the computer battery; and such an examination will help inform the output of the computerized battery. We compared scores on the ImPACT™ battery to a comprehensive battery of traditional neuropsychological measures and several experimental measures used in the assessment of sports-related concussion in fifty-four healthy …

Examination Of The Construct Validity Of Impact™ Computerized Test, Traditional, And Experimental Neuropsychological Measures, A Maerlender, L Flashman, A Kessler, S Kumbhani, R Greenwald, T Tosteson, T Mcallister

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although computerized neuropsychological screening is becoming a standard for sports concussion identification and management, convergent validity studies are limited. Such studies are important for several reasons: reference to established measures is needed to establish validity; examination of the computerized battery relative to a more traditional comprehensive battery will help understand the strengths and limitations of the computer battery; and such an examination will help inform the output of the computerized battery. We compared scores on the ImPACT™ battery to a comprehensive battery of traditional neuropsychological measures and several experimental measures used in the assessment of sports-related concussion in fifty-four healthy …

Cannabinoid Conditioned Reward And Aversion: Behavioral And Neural Processes, Jennifer E. Murray, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The discovery that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol

(Δ⁹-THC) is the primary psychoactive ingredient in

marijuana prompted research that helped elucidate

the endogenous cannabinoid system of the brain.

Δ⁹-THC and other cannabinoid ligands with agonist

action (CP 55,940, HU210, and WIN 55,212-2)

increase firing of dopamine neurons and increase

synaptic dopamine in brain regions associated with

reward and drug addiction. Such changes in cellular

processes have prompted investigators to examine

the conditioned rewarding effects of the cannabinoid

ligands using the place conditioning task with rats and

mice. As reviewed here, these cannabinoid ligands

can condition place preferences (evidence for rewarding …

Reference Place Conditioning Procedure With Cocaine: Increased Sensitivity For Measuring Associatively Motivated Choice Behavior In Rats, Carmela M. Reichel, Jamie L. Wilkinson, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Place conditioning is widely used to study the conditioned rewarding effects of drugs. In the standard version, one reward (cocaine) is compared to no reward (saline). A modified variant of this task, “reference-conditioning” procedure, compares two potentially rewarding stimuli (high versus low cocaine dose). There has been little research on the utility of this procedure. Experiment 1 used the standard protocol with saline administered before confinement to the reference compartment of a place-conditioning chamber. On alternating days, saline, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, or 20 mg/kg cocaine was administered before confinement to the opposite compartment. In Experiments 2 and 3, reference-compartment …

An Investigation Of Bupropion Substitution For The Interoceptive Stimulus Effects Of Nicotine, Jamie L. Wilkinson, F. Ivy Carroll, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

smoking cessation aid has not been fully elucidated, studies have found that bupropion and nicotine share behavioral and neurophysiological properties suggesting that bupropion might serve as a substitute for nicotine. In fact, bupropion prompts nicotine-appropriate responding in operant and Pavlovian drug discrimination studies with rats. A majority of the literature examining this substitution pattern has been done with an operant paradigm. The present research extended this literature by further characterizing the behavioral and neuropharmacological properties underlying the substitution for a nicotine conditioned stimulus (CS). Examination of the dose-effect function and temporal dynamics of this substitution pattern showed that bupropion (20 …

Extinction With Varenicline And Nornicotine, But Not Abt-418, Weakens Conditioned Responding Evoked By The Interoceptive Stimulus Effects Of Nicotine, Carmela M. Reichel, Jennifer E. Murray, Jessica D. Barr, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The interoceptive stimulus effects of nicotine acquire control over behavior. This observation, among others, suggests that the stimulus effects of nicotine are important in the development and tenacity of tobacco dependence. Despite this importance, there has been little research examining whether non-reinforced presentations (extinction) of a ligand that share stimulus effects of nicotine will weaken responding controlled by nicotine. Rats were trained to discriminate nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) from saline using a discriminated goal-tracking task in which nicotine signaled intermittent access to sucrose; sucrose was withheld on saline sessions. Experiment 1 examined substitution for nicotine by ABT-418, nornicotine, epibatidine, varenicline, or …

A Preliminary Study: Body Dysmorphic Disorder In Division I Women’S Collegiate Soccer Players, Tammy D. Jones

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) among collegiate athletes has not been clearly determined. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder found in Division I women’s soccer players. The researcher hypothesized that there would be some symptoms found within the participants of sport and that there was a need to research this area further.

The study consisted of four participants who participated in semi-structured interviews. The subjects were asked a series of questions from the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS) to determine if they indicated …

Trajectories Of Ptsd And Substance Use Disorders In A Longitudinal Study Of Personality Disorders, Meghan E. Mcdevitt-Murphy, Gilbert R. Parra, Carlos M. Grilo, Thomas H. Mcglashan, Andrew E. Skodol, M. Tracie Shea, Shirley Yen, Charles A. Sanislow, John G. Gunderson, John C. Markowitz

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This study investigated the co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) in a sample (N = 668) recruited for personality disorders and followed longitudinally as part of the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. The study both examined rates of co-occurring disorders at baseline and temporal relationships between PTSD and substance use disorders over 4 years. Subjects with a lifetime history of PTSD at baseline had significantly higher rates of SUDs (both alcohol and drug) than subjects without PTSD. Latent class growth analysis, a relatively novel approach used to analyze trajectories and identify homogeneous subgroups of participant …

Assuming Elder Care Responsibility: Am I A Caregiver?, Lindsey E. Wylie, Eve M. Brank

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Caregivers of the elderly face conflicting legal demands; they must make certain the elder’s needs are being met while not forcing undesired care on an adult capable of informed decisions. This dichotomy may be a reason a large volume of reported elder abuse derives from unintentional neglect on behalf of informal familial caregivers. The current research examines this possibility with exploratory interviews and an experiment. The interviews between elders and their family (30 dyads) revealed that many did not intend for the living arrangements to become permanent, and the nonelders were largely unprepared for the magnitude of changes and responsibilities …

The Embodied Mind In Early Development: Sitting Postural Control And Visual Attention In Infants With Typical Development And Infants With Delays, Regina T. Harbourne

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

As infants learn to sit between the ages of 5 and 8 months, they undergo many changes in their bodies as well as in their minds, creating conditions for the emergence of skills that allow greater interaction with their environment. The present study focused on the interaction of developing postural control in sitting with cognition, exemplifying the concept of the embodied mind. Look time, or the time an infant looks at an object, served as a proxy for the construct of cognitive processing. Three experiments examined developmental changes in sitting postural control and looking. The first experiment examined archival data …

Efficacy Of A Manualized And Workbook-Driven Individual Treatment For Social Anxiety Disorder, Deborah Roth Ledley, Richard G. Heimberg, Debra A. Hope, Sarah A. Hayes, Talia I. Zaider, Melanie Vandyke, Cynthia L. Turk, Cynthia Kraus, David M. Fresco

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Social anxiety disorder is a prevalent and impairing disorder for which viable cognitive-behavioral therapies exist. However, these treatments have not been easily packaged for dissemination and may be underutilized as a result. The current study reports on the findings of a randomized controlled trial of a manualized and workbook-driven individual cognitive-behavioral treatment for social anxiety disorder (Hope, Heimberg, Juster, & Turk, 2000; Hope, Heimberg, & Turk, 2006). This treatment package was derived from an empirically supported group treatment for social anxiety disorder and intended for broad dissemination, but it has not previously been subjected to empirical examination on its own. …

Communicative Correlates Of Satisfaction, Family Identity, And Group Salience In Multiracial/Ethnic Families, Jordan Soliz, Allison R. Thorson, Christine E. Rittenour

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model (S. L. Gaertner & J. F. Dovidio, 2000) and Communication Accommodation Theory (C. Shepard, H. Giles, & B. A. LePoire, 2001), we examined the role of identity accommodation, supportive communication, and self-disclosure in predicting relational satisfaction, shared family identity, and group salience in multiracial/ ethnic families. Additionally, we analyzed the association between group salience and relational outcomes as well as the moderating roles of multiracial/ethnic identity and marital status. Individuals who have parents from different racial/ethnic groups were invited to complete questionnaires on their family experiences. Participants (N = 139) answered questions about …

Sexual Risk Recognition Deficits: The Role Of Prior Victimization And Emotion Dysregulation, Kate L. Walsh

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent theoretical writings suggest that the ineffective regulation of negative emotional states may reduce the ability of women to detect and respond effectively to situational and interpersonal factors that increase risk for sexual assault. However, little empirical research has explored this hypothesis. In the present study, it was hypothesized that prior sexual victimization and negative mood state would each independently predict poor risk recognition and less effective defensive actions in response to an analogue sexual assault vignette. Further, these variables were expected to interact to produce particularly impaired risk responses. Finally, that the in vivo emotion regulation strategy of suppression …

Taking Development Seriously: Critique Of The 2008 Jme Special Issue On Moral Functioning, John C. Gibbs, David Moshman, Marvin W. Berkowitz, Karen S. Basinger, Rebecca L. Grime

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This essay comments on articles that composed a Journal of Moral Education Special Issue (September, 2008, 37[3]). The issue was intended to honor the 50th anniversary of Lawrence Kohlberg’s doctoral dissertation and his subsequent impact on the field of moral development and education. The articles were characterized by the issue editor (Don Collins Reed) as providing a “look forward” from Kohlberg’s work toward a more comprehensive or integrated model of moral functioning. Prominent were culturally pluralist and biologically based themes, such as cultural learning; expert skill; culturally shaped and neurobiologically based predispositions or intuitions; and moral self-relevance or centrality. Inadequately …

The Use Of Personality Test Norms In Work Settings: Effects Of Sample Size And Relevance, Robert P. Tett, Jenna R. (Fitzke) Pieper, Patrick L. Wadlington, Scott A. Davies, Michael G. Anderson, Jeff Foster

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The value of personality test norms for use in work settings depends on norm sample size (N) and relevance, yet research on these criteria is scant and corresponding standards are vague. Using basic statistical principles and Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) data from 5 sales and 4 trucking samples (N range = 394–6,200), we show that (a) N >100 has little practical impact on the reliability of norm-based standard scores (max=±10 percentile points in 99% of samples) and (b) personality profiles vary more from using different norm samples, between as well as within job families. Averaging across scales, T-scores based on …

The Role Of The Peer Group In Adolescence: Effects On Internalizing And Externalizing Symptoms, Glen J. Veed

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

An adolescent’s peer group has been theorized to influence the development of psychopathology. However, little research has examined the adolescent peer group using information obtained directly from peers in a longitudinal framework. Research has also been limited on peer group influence on the development of internalizing disorders. The study used Social Network Analysis to examine self-reported anxiety, depression, aggression, and delinquency in the fall and spring of one school year for students in a rural high school. In addition to examining the effect of the peer group on individual reports of psychopathology, the strength of this relation was compared to …

The Influence Of The Family Context And Intervention Implementation Integrity On Child Behavior During Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, Michelle Swanger-Gagne

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

The purpose of the study was to determine the role of family context variables (i.e., parenting stress and positive parenting practices) as possible moderators and mediators of the relationship between conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) and change in child problem behavior in the home setting. Another aim of the study was to evaluate the mediator roles of two dimensions of intervention implementation integrity (i.e., adherence to interventions and full engagement in the plan implementation phase) on parenting stress and change in child problem behavior for families involved in CBC. Participants were 203 parents, 81 teachers (81 classrooms), and 203 children who …