Psychology Commons^™

Interpersonal Dynamics Of Volunteers For A Simulated Prison Study, General Psychological Study, And A Helping-Behavior Study, Thomas Carnahan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is one of the most studied and celebrated studies within social psychology. The results have long been attributed to the power of the situation and the roles that were given to the participants. The present study was based on research concerning how personality variables influence interest in volunteerism. The research hypotheses center around the belief that individuals who volunteer for a study on prison life (similar to the advertisement for the SPE) would differ on personality variables (Machiavellianism, narcissism, social dominance, authoritarianism, aggression, empathy, and altruism) from individuals who volunteer for a generic psychological study …

The Effect Of Gender, Jury Instructions, Victim Intoxication, And Perpetrator Intoxication On Individual And Jury Perceptions Of Sexual Harassment, Kathleen Nickel

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study investigated the impact of gender, jury instructions, victim intoxication status, and perpetrator intoxication status on perceptions of sexual harassment of participants role-playing individual jurors and juries. Gender, victim intoxication status, and perpetrator intoxication status affected the sexual harassment perceptions. The well established gender effect was replicated as the current study found female jurors were more likely to perceive sexual harassment than were male jurors. Individuals were less likely to find sexual harassment when they were told the victim was intoxicated than when no information was presented. When the perpetrator was intoxicated, sexual harassment was less likely to …

Minimizing The Time Of Day Effect Through The Use Of Background Music, Amanda Wade

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The time of day effect has been said to be involved with optimal arousal levels during an individual's preferred time of day. In the present study, invigorating background music was used to increase the arousal level of older adults in the afternoon in order to minimize the time of day effect that can be seen in test performance. The results indicated that invigorating background music had no significant effect on scores of a memory recognition task for older or younger adults. However, younger adults performed better than older adults in all testing combinations, older adults had significantly more false alarms …

Development Of A Multidimensional Scale To Measure Attitudes Toward Workers With A Disability, John Kegley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Existing measures of attitudes toward individuals with a disability have been shown to suffer from several shortcomings in their application in organizational settings. Indirect measurement has been beyond the scope of most organizations due to the complex and expensive implementation of these methods. Direct measures have been shown to be susceptible to threats to internal validity, such as reactivity and socially desirable responding. Further, existing direct measures have focused on unidimensional aspects of attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Research, however, has demonstrated that attitudes are multidimensional in nature. There is a need for a multidimensional scale to tap those underlying …

Relationships Between Personality And Individual Perceptions Of Social Cohesion, James Garrett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research explored personality correlates of social cohesion. Groups of two were given a task to perform that required cooperation between the two team members. This task exposed each team member to the other's personality. Upon completion of the task, the individual perceptions of social cohesion were assessed by each individual. We hypothesized that extraversion, emotional stability, and agreeableness of one team member will correlate positively with the other team member's perception of social cohesion. These hypotheses were not supported. However an exploratory analysis showed that an individual's level of extraversion and conscientiousness were positively correlated to that same individual's …

The Relationship Between Stress, Satisfaction, And Emotional Intelligence In College Students, Jessica Largen

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The relationship between stress and satisfaction has been well documented. However, little is known about the possible mediating effect that emotional intelligence may have on that relationship. This study addressed the role emotional intelligence plays between stress and satisfaction. By collecting measures of stress, life satisfaction, satisfaction with school, and emotional intelligence, this researcher examined the question "Does emotional intelligence serve as a moderator in the relationship between satisfaction and stress?" Results indicated that, after removing the effects of stress, emotional intelligence and satisfaction demonstrated a positive significant relationship. Emotional intelligence was related to the Big Five factors of Conscientiousness, …

The Use Of Social Stories To Teach Social And Behavioral Skills To Preschool Children With Moderate To Severe Autism, Michelle Lynne Antle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous research has indicated success using Social Stories with preschoolers with mild levels of autism. The purpose of this study was to determine if Social Stories implemented in the home setting would be effective with preschool children diagnosed with moderate to severe autism. Social Stories were implemented with 3 male preschool-aged participants. Two were classified as in the moderate range and one was in the severe range of autism. A variety of socially inappropriate behaviors were addressed including inappropriate dinnertime behaviors, transitioning to bedtime, and inappropriate touching. Data revealed no significant change in target behaviors (dinnertime behaviors and transitioning to …

Investigating Emotional Intelligence And Social Skills In Home Schooled Students, Jennifer Howard Adkins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Jennifer Howard. Adkins April 12, 2004 51 pages Directed by: Dr. William Pfohl, Dr. Antony Norman, and Dr. Reagan Brown Department of Psychology Western Kentucky University In the United States today there are approximately 1.5 million students being home schooled. With this ever growing number, it is important to examine this unique population in order to determine the effects this alternative form of education will have on these students, not just academically, but in other areas as well. The purpose of this study is to examine the concepts of emotional intelligence and social skills in home schooled students. One hundred …

School Psychology Practitioners' Perspectives On Consultation Training And Practice, Kimberly A. Unseld

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

School psychologists have increased their practice of consultation within the schools due to mandates by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and positive outcomes associated with the service. Previous research has examined how training directors at school psychology graduate programs viewed consultation training. The current study investigated how school psychologists view their training in consultation and how they view the practice of consultation in school systems.

A random sample of 510 school psychologists from across the country was sent a survey to obtain their perspectives on consultation. A 46% return rate was achieved. The respondents were divided into two …

Concurrent Validity Study Of The Clinical Assessment Of Depression With The Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, Shanna Leigh Bowers

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Depression in adolescents if unrecognized, can interfere with every aspect of the individual’s life, increasing the risk for illness and interpersonal difficulties in the future. Therefore, it is imperative that significant levels of depressive symptoms be recognized, assessed, and treated. The usefulness and psychometric properties of new measures of depression are determined, in part, through comparison with existing measures. The current study investigated the concurrent validity of the Clinical Assessment of Depression (CAD; Bracken & Howell, 2004) with the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) for an adolescent population. The sample for this investigation consisted of …

Assessing Job Satisfaction And Emotional Intelligence In Public School Teachers, Brandy Cobb

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

ASSESSING JOB SATISFACTION AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS Brandy Cobb May 2004 63 Pages Directed by: Dr. William Pfohl, Dr. Steven Wininger, and Dr. Reagan Brown Department of Psychology Western Kentucky University The professional field of education has been particularly vulnerable to the retention of public school teachers. Teachers in today’s educational system face excessive expectations and demands such as increased accountability, lack of available resources, lack of parental support and involvement, negative student attitudes, low status of the profession, and low paying salaries (Meek, 1998; Tye & O’Brien, 2002). As a result of these demands, many teachers …

Levels Of Burnout And Job Satisfaction In Large-Scale Agribusiness, Hugh Patrick Bosley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

LEVELS OF BURNOUT AND JOB SATISFACTION IN LARGE-SCALE AGRIBUSINESS Hugh Patrick Bosley August, 2004 39 pages Directed by: Richard Miller, Reagan Brown, and Steve Haggbloom Department of Psychology Western Kentucky University Abstract This research examined organizational sources and levels of Burnout and Job Satisfaction of a large scale agribusiness (n=300) by administering the Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey, the Hoppock Job Satisfaction Blank, the Areas of Work Life Survey, and demographic questions. This study provided normative sample data for the agribusiness sector, found a good degree of fit between the agribusiness sample data and existing industry norms, and determined …

Concurrent Validity Study Of The Clinical Assessment Of Depression With The Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, Brooke Wootton Tinsley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

It is critical for the depressive symptoms of adolescents to be recognized, evaluated, and treated. Depression can increase the risk for illness and interpersonal difficulties in the future and affect almost every aspect of an individual’s life. Self-report measures are often utilized to assess depression, and when these measures are able to effectively detect depression, diagnosis and treatment are expedited. In order to validate the usefulness and psychometric properties of a new self-report measure, existing measures are often used as one criterion by which to judge them. The present study explored concurrent and discriminant validity of a new self-report depression …

The Citizen Police Academy: Assessment Of A Program's Effects On Community And Officer Attitudes, Shannon Cook

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The study was conducted in order to determine the effects of the Citizen Police Academy (CPA) program on community and officer attitudes. The two main goals of this program are to increase officer awareness of community concerns and to raise community awareness about the police department. Surveys were distributed to three groups: employees of the Bowling Green Police Department, all alumni of the CPA, and a random sample of the local community. Participants were asked their attitudes regarding crime prevention, awareness of police officers' activities, and the effectiveness of the CPA program. T-tests and ANOVAs determined that police officers who …

Becoming A Sister: The Socialization Of Women Into A Sorority, Kathleen Hughes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Adult peer groups have become more and more a topic for sociological study. It is a phenomenon that is starting to gain interest. This research focuses on one sorority on the campus of a Midwestern university and how this sorority manages to incorporate the women that they pledge through formal recruitment into the sorority and how these women fully socialize themselves into this group of women who already have bonded with each other. A synthesis of symbolic interactionism and social exchange theory helps to break down the socialization process and shows how the new members move through the stages of …

Further Investigation Of The Factor Structure Of The Five Factor Model Of Personality: A Search For Moderator Variables, Kelly Sheehan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Although somewhat controversial, the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality has remained prominent in normal personality research. Previous studies involving the FFM of personality have failed to examine individual differences that could moderate the number of factors in the FFM. This study investigated two such individual difference variables: need for cognition and working memory. Instruments measuring the FFM, need for cognition and working memory were administered to a sample of undergraduate students. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis indicated the hypothesized model fit equally well across high and low scoring subgroups of both need for cognition and working memory.

Prevalence Of Eating Disorder Symptoms In Women Living In Residence Halls And Off Campus, Carolyn Powell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Eating disorders should be a growing a concern in today's society. This study was designed to examine the occurrence of eating disorders in women living in residence halls compared to women living off-campus. The participants for this study were 200 women (105 on campus and 95 off campus) attending Western Kentucky University. Age of the participants ranged from 18 to 47 years, with a mean of 21.1 years (SD=3.70). The instrument used to determine eating disorder symptoms was the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS; Stice, Rizvi, & Telch, 2000). The EDDS is a selfreport scale consisting of 22 items in …

Emotional Intelligence In Children: A Review Of Programs And Web Sites, Ericka Weiten

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In recent years, the term emotional intelligence has become popularized in the media, beginning with the success of Goleman's best-selling book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1995). Since the time this book was published, other media outlets including educational curriculums and Internet web sites have promoted this growing area of interest. Although emotional intelligence continues to be popular in the commercial media, there is actually very little scientific research on this topic. Much of the available research relates to university students (Dawda & Hart, 1999) and people in the workplace (Cherniss, 2000; Goleman, 1995), with minimal …

Potential Antecedents Of Muscle Dysmorphia, Crystal Henson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study was designed to gain a better understanding as to some of the possible contributing factors of muscle dysmorphia. Muscle dysmorphia is an under recognized form of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Individuals who are diagnosed with muscle dysmorphia are in reality very large and muscular, but they have a profound fear and belief that they are small and weak. These individuals go to extreme lengths to increase their amount of lean muscle mass. This includes behaviors such as spending hours in the gym, excessive attention to one's diet, and use of steroids or nutritional supplements. These individuals experience extreme …

Barriers To Lesbian Health Care, Paula Bowles

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The primary purpose of this research was to examine a sample of sixteen lesbian women regarding the barriers to lesbian health-care. From this information several interpretive findings regarding lesbian health-care are made. Data were gathered via indepth interviews with each individual lesbian. The data suggest that most lesbian women do not reveal their sexual orientation to their primary-care physician for fear of reprisal. Most of the women interviewed do feel they receive adequate health-care from their physician. The women who participated in this project did so confidentially and were assigned pseudonyms. They were asked questions on a variety of topics, …

The Influence Of Music On Preferred Intensity And Associated Physiological Responses, David Nuckols

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Music is a part of everyday life and has an effect on people in many different ways. Music can be as individual as the person who listens to it, and thus there are many genres for many different tastes. Music has accompanied exercise and sport for quite some time. It has been shown to have varying psychophysical effects including decreasing ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) at a given sub-max intensity, enhancing arousal control, and affective states at high and medium intensities. Also the improved synchronization of sub-maximal exercise with music may result in increased work output. The proposed ability of …

The Effects Of Instruction And Strategy Implementation On Increasing Mathematics Computation Skills For Students With Learning Problems: A Meta-Analysis, Natalie Roehm

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

It is well known by educators and researchers that students with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often do not make adequate progress when using traditional instructional methods (Whinnery & Stecker, 1992). Therefore, teachers must experiment with different techniques in order to help these students succeed. Many educational models and interventions have been introduced recently in an effort to help increase the level of math performance of at-risk and SLD students. The current metaanalysis study was conducted to determine the effects of instruction and strategy implementation on increasing mathematics and computation skills for students with learning problems and Specific Learning Disabilities. …

The Effect Of Task Versus Ego Oriented Feedback On Exercise Enjoyment, Marc Fields

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Intrinsic motivation has been shown to be a very important factor in exercise adherence. Research has found that factors such as exercise intensity, social feedback, goal orientation and perceived climate can affect intrinsic motivation. The purpose of this study was to assess situational goal orientation, specifically whether individuals in a task induced condition or ego induced condition would report different levels of intrinsic motivation (i.e., enjoyment, tension, effort and competence during exercise). Participants (N= 114) rode on an exercise bike for 24 minutes at a moderate intensity. A MANCOVA factorial design was used to examine differences in intrinsic motivation. The …

Effects Of Perceived Costs And Rewards On Motivation And Retention Of Rape Crisis Center Volunteers, Amanda Grissom

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to obtain information that may assist Rape Crisis Center (RCC) volunteer coordinators and executive directors in the recruitment and retention of volunteers. The major hypotheses guiding this study are as follows: (a) the reasons that initially motivated volunteers to volunteer at the RCC will be the same as their reasons for why they are continuing to volunteer at the RCC and (b) volunteers at RCCs continue to volunteer because the perceived costs of volunteering do not exceed the perceived rewards of volunteering. Using a modified version of Black's (1989) questionnaire, respondents were asked to …

The Perception And Recognition Of 3-D Shape From Shadows Cast Onto Curved Surfaces, Young-Lim Lee

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The informativeness of a cast shadow or silhouette boundary contour for the perception of 3-D object shape has been investigated for a long time. Some researchers have focused on the informativeness of static shadows (Attneave, 1954; Koenderink, 1984; Richards, Koenderink, & Hoffman, 1987; Norman, Phillips, & Ross, 2001; Tse, 2002) while other researchers have focused on the informativeness of moving or deforming shadows (Miles, 1931; Wallach, & O'Connell, 1953; Norman, & Todd, 1994; Norman, Dawson, & Raines, 2000; Norman, & Raines, 2002). Past research has shown that changing the angle of illumination does not affect the perception of 3-D shape …

Examining Emotional Intelligence And Social Skills In A Residential Deaf Population, Melissa Leohr

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Mayer and Salovey first defined emotional intelligence in 1990 (Mayer, 1999) and later revised that definition (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). In 1995, Goleman introduced a different concept of emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995). Bar-On presented a third conceptualization, as well as the first measure of the concept (Bar-On & Parker, 2000). Few studies have addressed emotional intelligence in children and adolescents, and nostudies have examined the concept in the deaf population. The purpose of the present study is to examine emotional intelligence, as well as social skills, in a residential deaf population. Fourteen students at the Kentucky School for the Deaf …

Young Childrens' Understanding Of Superstitions, Kara Yeckering

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The aim of this study was to examine young children's understanding of superstitions—specifically bad luck superstitions. Children between the ages of 4 and 9 received a set of interview questions concerning their experiences with superstitions, their beliefs about the efficacy of superstitions, and their knowledge of the mental and physical components of superstitions. Participants also completed a belief task designed to assess the relative importance of belief and action in superstitions. The findings indicate developmental patterns in children's awareness of superstitions and beliefs in efficacy of superstitions. With age, children demonstrated a significantly greater awareness of superstitions. In contrast, children …

The Relationship Between Sport Fandom, Identification With A Specific Team, And An Individual's Socialization Experiences, Paul Frederiksen

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study was designed to gain a better understanding of why some people become sport fans and others do not. The study focused specifically on the differences in socialization experiences between people high and low in sport fandom and people high and low in team identification. Warm (2003) defines sport fandom as one's identification with his or her role as a sport fan. Wann (1997) states that team identification involves a person's psychological connection and attachment to a specific team. Understanding why people become sport fans can be of vital importance to sport marketers. Participants completed self-report measures of …

Parental Understanding Of Miranda Rights, Abby Callis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current research focuses on parents' level of understanding of Miranda rights and parents' likelihood of encouraging their teenagers to waive their Miranda rights. The previous research suggests that parents alone may not adequately protect juveniles' rights during interrogation and waiver. Prior research also suggests that parents' and juveniles' past experience with the justice system may not help them during their current interrogation and waiver. A 17-item questionnaire was used to assess the two dependent variables and the two independent variables. The two dependent variables were parents' understanding of Miranda rights and parents' likelihood of encouraging arrested teens to waive …

An Examination Of Friendship In Middle Childhood: A Test Of The Similarity-Attraction Hypothesis, Bridget Trame

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the similarities between children and their friends. Previous research had focused on demographic similarities, with a little attention given to behavioral similarities. This study sought to expand the knowledge of similarities between friends to sociometric and social information processing characteristics and show that friends were more similar than random pairs of children. Children completed a rating and nomination sociometric interview. Children also completed a social information processing interview in which they viewed ambiguous provocation situations and then rated a series of social goals and gave social problem solving responses. Two-hundred and twenty-four …