Psychology Commons^™

Emotional Intelligence And Leader Development: Measuring Trait Emotional Intelligence Scores Of Mid- Career Commissioned U.S. Army Officers, Stephan Lorentz Walters

Dissertations

The United States Army is preparing for the ambiguous and consistently changing realities of the modern world by developing leaders who are adaptive, mentally agile, and open to change. However, without instruments or tools that purposefully measure adaptability within each individual leader, it is challenging to determine the U.S. Army’s effectiveness at the strategic goal to develop adaptive and self-aware leaders.

The dependent variables of interest are the trait emotional intelligence scores of commissioned U.S. Army leaders who have at least 10 years of military experience. This quantitative survey based study samples (N = 28) mid-career U.S. Army Majors using …

Correlation Between Female Athlete Screening Tool (Fast) Scores And Biomarkers To Identify Female Athlete Triad Among Collegiate Athletes And To Evaluate The Validity Of The Instrument, Lindsey Elise Hinken

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Female Athlete Screening Tool (FAST) is a valid indicator of the three physical components of Female Athlete Triad (FAT), malnutrition, amenorrhea, and low bone mineral density, and if administration of the FAST can be used as a time- and cost-effective way to identify FAT. Participants completed the FAST, the Menstrual Status Questionnaire, and had a blood sample drawn. Interpretation of the total FAST score placed participants in one of three conditions: normal, subclinical disordered eating, or clinical eating disorder. The presence of the three biomarkers of FAT was determined by …

Justice Perceptions Of Team Disciplinary Actions In The Workplace, Austin Lee Rettke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This scenario study examined fairness perceptions of rule violations and punishment in an organizational team setting. Participants read one of 16 scenarios in which an integral team member violates an organizational rule and subsequently is punished. Participants then answered 12 items assessing perceptions of fairness for the punished employee and for the non-punished team members, and the likelihood the punishment will deter future misconduct for the punished employee and for the teammates. This study examined two levels of misconduct severity (moderate and severe), two levels of punishment severity (moderate and severe), two types of punishment distribution (consistent and conditional), and …

The Influence Of A Proposed Margin Criterion On The Accuracy Of Parallel Analysis In Conditions Engendering Underextraction, Justin M. Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

One of the most important decisions to make when performing an exploratory factor or principal component analysis regards the number of factors to retain. Parallel analysis is considered to be the best course of action in these circumstances as it consistently outperforms other factor extraction methods (Zwick & Velicer, 1986). Even so, parallel analysis could benefit from further research and refinement to improve its accuracy. Characteristics such as factor loadings, correlations between factors, and number of variables per factor all have been shown to adversely impact the effectiveness of parallel analysis as a means of identifying the number of factors …

Aging And The Perception Of Coherent Motion, Lindsey Marie Shain

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The aperture problem describes an effect by which a contoured stimulus, moving behind an aperture with both ends occluded, appears to move in a direction perpendicular to its own orientation. Mechanisms within the human visual system allow us to overcome this problem and integrate many of these locally ambiguous signals into the perception of globally coherent motion. In the current experiment, younger and older observers viewed displays composed of either 64 or 9 straight contours, arranged in varying orientations and moving behind circular apertures. Because these lines moved behind apertures, their individual local motions were ambiguous with respect to direction …

The Effect Of Classroom Context On Head Start Teacher Feedback, Jasmine Renee Ernst

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS, LaParo, Pianta, & Stuhlman, 2004) assesses quality of teacher social and instructional interactions with children, and classroom management and productivity. Prior research indicated low quality of feedback scores in programs serving low-income children (Early et al., 2005). The purpose of this study was to compare the quantity and quality of managing interaction utterances (i.e. a type of feedback) provided by Head Start teachers (N = 8) in two classroom contexts. Video-recorded book-reading and 20-minute center-time sessions in the fall and spring of a school year were used to assess managing interaction utterances in structured …

Emotion Discrimination In Peripheral Vision, Hayley M. Lambert

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The recognition accuracy of emotion in faces varies depending on the discrete emotion being expressed and the location of the stimulus. More specifically, emotion detection performance declines as facial stimuli are presented further out in the periphery. Interestingly, this is not always true for faces depicting happy emotional expressions, which can be associated with maintained levels of detection. The current study examined neurophysiological responses to emotional face discrimination in the periphery. Two event-related potentials (ERPs) that can be sensitive to the perception of emotion in faces, P1 and N170, were examined using EEG data recorded from electrodes at occipitotemporal sites …

A Review Of Supreme Court Cases Involving Workplace Retaliation: 2006-2018, Rachel Quinn Pearson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Employers want to reduce or eliminate claims of employee retaliation whenever possible because of associated negative organizational consequences such as legal liability, various financial costs for the organization, and negative effect on employee morale. As such, it is important to identify the factors that impact the court’s decision to rule in favor of the plaintiff or the defendant. The purpose of the present study is to identify factors driving the court’s decision, as well as to review the implications of recent Supreme Court holdings for retaliation issues. Supreme Court cases involving a claim of employee retaliation from BNSF v. White …

The Impact Of Exercising At A Self-Selected Intensity On Concurrent Academic Task Performance, Carrie Ann French

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of exercising while completing an academic task on performance on the academic tasks. Participants were 71 undergraduate students at a midsized southern university who were asked to complete reading and math tasks while exercising on a stationary bike. Performance on reading and math tasks completed on the stationary bike was compared within-subjects to performance on parallel tasks while seated. Working memory scores were assessed as potential covariates. Order of experimental tasks was evaluated as a between-subjects factor. Within-subjects ANCOVA’s indicated that performance on math tasks was significantly worse while exercising. …

Practice Standards For Initial Adhd Assessment: A Review, Lauren Spencer

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There are many challenges that come with diagnosing attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including shared symptoms with many similar disorders, high comorbidity of other mental disorders, and subjective bias from informant reports. Three clinical guidelines for diagnosing ADHD currently exist, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). However, these guidelines are outdated as they are based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and do not include more recent research. This project was intended to update …

The Effect Of The Type Of Mental Disorder On Mental Health Stigma, Kristina Conkright Peterson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Mental health stigma is an important topic as it has an influence on the care clients receive, as well as resources allocated by society. Previous research has primarily investigated the topic of stigma associated with schizophrenia and various factors that may influence the endorsement of stigmatizing beliefs. Few studies have investigated whether the type of mental disorder has an influence on the level of stigma. The current study evaluated the difference in the level of stereotypes endorsed across three conditions: schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and a typical person. Additionally, this study evaluated the reliability of using a global stereotype score …

The Effects Of Bingocize® On Cognitive Aging: A Health Promotion Intervention, Rilee Pauline Mathews

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research has suggested that physical exercise can play a role in not only improving functional performance, but also cognitive function. In this study, adults age 60 and older participated in a health promotion intervention that included two groups: (a) a Bingocize® group, who exercised and learned about relevant health information while playing bingo, and (b) a control group who only learned about relevant health information while playing bingo. The intervention was completed over the course of 10- weeks at community senior centers. Cognitive function, functional fitness, and health knowledge were assessed before and after the intervention to test for …

Effects Of Self-Affirmation On Anti-Terror Related Worldview Defense Following Mortality Salience, Haley Jewel Ramsey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research has demonstrated that self-affirmation via values affirmations seem to buffer the self against perceived threats (Steele, 1988). An example of such a threat is opposing worldviews regarding civil liberties in counterterrorism policies. The present study uses the threat of worldview opposition in regards to counterterrorism policies in conjunction with an experimental induction of mortality salience to explore whether self-affirmation can attenuate increases in worldview defense following mortality salience. It was hypothesized that mortality salience would increase worldview defense, but that self-affirmation would decrease worldview defense following exposure to a worldview threat. When extremity of attitudes toward civil liberties …

Perceptions Of Uncivil And Sexual Harassment Perceptions By Gender, Employment Status, And Likelihood To Sexually Harass, John Schroader

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research examined gender and employment status (full-time worker or student) differences in perceptions of workplace sexual harassment and incivility. Previous and recent meta-analyses suggested small effects by gender. The current research introduced a method of measuring perceptions by forcing a choice of identifying a behavior as sexual harassment, incivility, or neither. The instrument was designed in this way to determine if small effects existed because males tended to have overlapping definitions of sexual harassment and incivility. Propensity to sexually harass was also measured. Results suggest no gender or employment status effects on the method, but propensity to sexually harass …

Temporal Context-Specificity In Predictive Learning Produced With Visual, But Not Musical, Primes, Catherine Woosley Luna

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this study we investigated whether a musical prime would produce a contextspecificity effect in predictive learning. Participants were divided into six conditions of a spy-radio predictive learning task. The six conditions were comprised of a combination of three primes (i.e. visual, music, or both) and two learning phase groups (i.e. retrieve, default). The primes indicated the type of stimulus used to prime the temporal context for the test cue-outcome association. The learning phase groups indicated which temporal context would be primed. In the retrieve group, learning Phase 1 was primed; in the default group learning Phase 2 was primed. …

Unimanual And Bimanual Haptic Shape Discrimination, Catherine Jane Dowell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the current study 24 younger adults and 24 older adults haptically discriminated natural 3-D shapes (bell peppers, Capsicum annuum) using unimanual (one hand used to explore two objects) and bimanual (both hands used, but each hand explored separate objects) successive exploration. Haptic exploration using just one hand requires somatosensory processing in only one cerebral hemisphere (the hemisphere contralateral to the hand being used), while bimanual haptic exploration requires somatosensory processing in both hemispheres. Previous studies related to curvature/shape perception have found either an advantage for unimanual exploration over bimanual exploration or no difference between the two conditions. In contrast …

Analyzing The Efficiency Of Reforestation Efforts In Regaining Carbon Storage In A Costa Rican Cloud Forest, Elvin Irihamye

Student Research Conference Select Presentations

Forests hold an important place in offsetting carbon emissions, absorbing nearly 40 percent of man-made fossil fuel emissions every year. Over the last 100 years, the effects of deforestation have crippled our forest’s ability to store excess carbon, leading to drastic atmospheric change. Efforts to regrow deforested forests have increased rapidly to address issues like climate change. There is thus a need to analyze current efforts at regaining carbon storage, a critical component to maintaining atmospheric homeostasis. Accordingly, we traveled to the Cloudbridge Nature Reserve in San Gerardo, Costa Rica to aggregate data on the carbon storage capabilities across three …

Decreasing Stigma Against Depression In Chinese International Students, Elizabeth Trader

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Higher levels of stress and a shift in support systems during the transition to another culture can put international students at risk for mood disorders like depression. Previous research supports there is also a higher level of depression stigma within Eastern cultures in comparison to Western cultures (Rao, Feinglass, & Corrigan, 2007). This may account for the strikingly low numbers from the Chinese population that seek and maintain professional counseling services while studying in the U.S. (Yakushko, Davidson, & Sandford-Martens, 2008). The present study sought to determine whether two self-produced Chinese videos regarding information about stigma, symptoms, and treatment of …

Ua66 Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Newsletter, Wku Ogden College Of Science & Engineering

Ogden College of Science & Engineering Publications

Newsletter created by and about Ogden College of Science & Engineering.

• Stevens, Cheryl. A Word with the Dean . . .
• From the Hilltop
• 3rd Annual Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Conference
• Into Bowling Green
• Barren RIver
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Barrow, Alaska
• South Korea
• Postcards from the Field
• WKU Research Foundation
• Office of Research & Creative Activity
• About Applied Research & Technology Program
• Dean's Office News
• School of Engineering & Applied Sciences
• How to Connec
• Ogden College Hall

Effectiveness Of Repeated Reading And Error Correction Strategies On The Reading Fluency Skills Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Regina Martin Guthrie

Dissertations

As the incidence rate of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) appears to increase, the need for evidence-based reading interventions for these students, which are important for the reading development of students with ASD, also increases. Unfortunately, there has been little research on evidence-based strategies to effectively improve the reading fluency skills of students with ASD. Repeated reading and error correction methods have been effective for children in improving their reading fluency. This study used a single subject multiple baseline design to investigate the effectiveness of the evidence-based strategies of repeated reading and error correction strategies on the reading fluency …

Confabulation In Individuals With Disorders Of The Corpus Callosum: Educational Implications, Cheryl Lynn Wright

Dissertations

Individuals with disorders of the corpus callosum (DCC) may have subtle cognitive differences. Historically, confabulation has been associated with DCC. Therapies to mitigate confabulation is a newly emerging field. This study explores the possible educational implications that those with DCC may experience with confabulation.

The community of people with DCC and the community of people who interact with individuals with DCC were surveyed to ascertain the prevalence of confabulation within the population of those with DCC. A subset of questions probed whether age and/or gender impact the rates of reported confabulation. The research paradigm included a section that covered the …

The Effects Of Communication, Gender, And Sexism On Dating Initiations, Alexandra Marie Buscaglia

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the initial screening process that occurs during dating interactions, and to measure the perceptions of different communication styles that individuals use during such interactions. A review of current literature focused on attractiveness of potential mates, ambivalent sexism theory, gender stereotypes, and communication theory. The present study examined how individuals view others’ approaches in initial dating interactions, and which of these approaches are most effective for increasing the target’s interest in spending time with the pursuer. A pilot study involving 45 undergraduate psychology students from Western Kentucky University was conducted to …

The Relationships Between Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Frequency And Suicidal Behaviors, Depression, And Anxiety: A Curvilinear Analysis, Sherry Elizabeth Woods

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) involves the deliberate damage of one’s own bodily tissue without suicidal intent. A number of psychological disorders and indicators of distress are correlated with the behavior, including suicidal behaviors (e.g. Whitlock & Knox, 2007), depression (e.g. Ross & Heath, 2002), and anxiety (e.g. Victor & Klonksy, 2014), and yet the research literature has been mixed on whether increased frequency of NSSI is correlated with increased levels of these variables. The present study hypothesized that these relationships are curvilinear. Data from a larger study were analyzed using curvilinear regression analyses, and hypotheses were partially supported. Curvilinear relationships were …

The Relationship Between Sexual Abuse And Body Image Of Members Of The United States Military, Chelsea Anne Taylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of sexual abuse on body image of United States military service members and veterans. Participants completed an online questionnaire (n = 63) that measured their demographics, military status, sexual abuse experiences, combat experiences, relationships during deployment, and body image. Average scores on body image measures from participants who experienced sexual abuse (n = 10) were compared with average scores on body image measures from participants who did not experience sexual abuse (n = 49). Results indicate that there was not a significant difference in body image between service members who …

Exploring The Prevalence Of Learning Styles In Educational Psychology And Introduction To Education Textbooks: A Content Analysis, Mary Katherine Ryle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The implementation of learning styles models in the classroom remains a heavily debated topic in education. Notable problems with utilization of learning styles in the classroom include a lack of empirical research support and potential maladaptive effects on student learning and motivation. The primary research questions focused on the presence and quantity of learning styles discussion in the text, which definitions, models, and recommendations were presented, and which of the cited references were based on empirical data. The answers to these questions were compared between educational psychology and introduction to education textbooks. A content analysis of introduction to education (n …

Impact Of Expressive Intensity And Stimulus Location On Emotion Detection, Brittany Nicole Groh

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research demonstrates that the age of an observer, the peripheral location of a face stimulus on a display, and the intensity of the emotion expressed by the face all play a role in emotion perception. Older individuals have more difficulty identifying emotion in faces, especially at lower expressive intensities. The purpose of the current study was to understand how younger and older adults’ abilities to detect emotion in facial stimuli presented in the periphery would be affected by the intensity of the emotional expressions and the distance that the expressions are presented away from the center of the display. …

Longitudinal Predictors Of Parental Sensitivity: The Role Of Parent Personality And Infant Temperament Across Early Infancy, Lauren Grace Bailes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Parents play a critical role in their infants’ social and emotional development (Zeifman, 2003). High parental sensitivity contributes to greater infant attachment security (De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997), as well as better compliance later in life (van Berkel et al., 2015). Personality influences how parents respond to their infants, such that parents higher in neuroticism are more controlling and less stimulating (Clark, Kochanska, & Ready, 2000), and less responsive (Kochanska, Friesenborg, Lange, & Martel, 2004). However, previous studies have found mixed results with parent extraversion. Some studies found that high parental extraversion could lead to more parent responsiveness (Clark …

Personality Factors, Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior, And Sexual Fantasy As Predictors Of Paraphilic Disorder Intensity, Ethan Jack Edwards

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Researchers vary on their definitions of paraphilia. A difference exists between an individual possessing a paraphilia versus an individual possessing a paraphilic disorder. Hanson (2010) proposed a dimensional model of sexual deviance that includes a measure of intensity. However, research on sexual intensity has been lacking. A majority of existing research focuses on the potential risk factors of possessing a paraphilia or paraphilic disorder (e.g., criminality). There is less focus on whom in the population has the potential to develop a paraphilia; or which factors predict paraphilic behavior.

The Big Five personality factors (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and …

The Effect Of Disclosure Of Suicide Attempt On Suicide Risk, Michael Matthew Mcclay

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Survivors of suicide attempts are at increased risk for future suicide, and there are few empirically validated treatments designed to reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors among this population. The Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide proposed that reducing suicidal individuals’ feelings of burdensomeness on others and disconnectedness from others will decrease the desire for suicide. Disclosing one’s history of suicidal behavior to a trusted confidant has been found to have a positive impact on depression symptoms, so the present study sought to evaluate the benefits of disclosing on measures of social support and proximal suicide risk described by the Interpersonal Psychological …

The Effects Of Sexuality And Gender Norm Conformation On The Male Drive For Thinness And Drive For Muscularity, Merry Krueger

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Recent research has implied that male body dissatisfaction is more prevalent than previously thought and manifests as a drive for thinness and/or a drive for muscularity. Previous efforts to elucidate the factors behind these drives have explored the concepts of gender norm conformation (masculinity/femininity) and sexuality, but not the interplay of the two. This study explores the effects of sexuality on the drive for thinness and drive for muscularity with conformation to feminine and masculine gender norms as a mediator. Participants completed a written questionnaire including the Sell Assessment of Sexual Orientation, the Conformation to Masculine Norms Inventory - 46, …