Psychology Commons^™

Conforming To The Will Of The Church: The Role Of Religious Orientation, Religious Proscription, And Right-Wing Authoritarianism In The Religion-Prejudice Relationship, Robert James Duck

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Study 1 was designed to determine the relationships between three religious orientations and three measures of prejudice. Contrary to previous findings, religious Quest (Q) was not negatively correlated with 2 measures of ethnocentrism. However, the associations among dependent measures of religiously proscribed and nonproscribed prejudices, and Intrinsic (I) and Extrinsic (E) religious orientations, supported previous findings. Study 1 also was intended to examine the role of “right-wing authoritarianism” (RWA) and “social desirability’ (SD) in the religion-prejudice relationship. Contrary to Batson, Schoenrade, and Ventis (1993), no correlational evidence was found to support the hypothesis that highly intrinsic believers are prone to …

Age Differences In Implicit Memory Tests, Penny Kathleen Poisson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Evidence concerning age differences on perceptual implicit memory tests has been inconsistent, with some studies showing no age effects and others showing reduced priming in older adults. Recently, research on implicit tests that focus more on the semantic features of words has typically shown no reliable age effect on priming scores. In the present study we examined the pattern of age effects on a conceptual (general knowledge) and a perceptual (word stem completion) implicit test Explicit memory performance was measured using cued word recall and fact recall tests. The nature of the encoding task used for each test was also …

Organizational Change And Inclusive Practices: Promoting Access For Diverse Populations In The Canadian Mental Health Association (Waterloo Region Branch) (Ontario), James W. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research began a process and generated information that would help guide the Canadian Mental Health Association/Waterloo Region Branch (CMHA/WRB) in developing services that meet the needs of all residents in the area it serves. This project was comprised of two phases. The phases were conceptualized as being intervention cycles consisting of information, awareness and action-building components. The first phase consisted of work done within the agency itself, to help articulate the goals, attitudes, and possible barriers seen by the paid/non-paid staff towards the new multicultural emphasis. This work involved three focus groups with paid and non-paid staff. As well, …

Assessing Process Dissociation Procedure And Implicit Memory Estimates Of Automatic Retrieval For A Retention Interval Manipulation, Daryl E. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Results from standard implicit memory tests suggest that automatic retrieval decreases or remains relatively stable over time, whereas results from the process dissociation procedure (PDP) suggest that automatic retrieval may actually increase over time. Advocates of the PDP view, have suggested that this incongruity results from contamination of the implicit tests by intentional retrieval, whereas the PDP provides a valid index of automatic retrieval. In contrast, new results from a speeded implicit memory test suggest that the standard implicit memory tests provide reasonable estimates of automatic retrieval, but that the PDP underestimates automatic retrieval at a short retention interval when …

Specific Dopaminergic Manipulation Of The Internal Clock Mechanism, Lianne Elizabeth Stanford

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Using non-specific dopaminergic agents, Meck (1983, 1986) and his colleagues have repeatedly demonstrated manipulations of the internal clock mechanism, while showing no other changes to the psychophysical function (DL & WF). The current study used analyses and procedures similar to those of Meck (1983) and investigated the internal clock mechanism with the specific D2 agonist, quinpirole. Two groups were trained with saline and tested with quinpirole (0.08 mg/kg). One group was naive to the drug prior to testing (DN), while the other had previous drug exposure (DE). A third group (DT) was trained with quinpirole, and tested with saline. The …

Animal Memory Processes For Number And Time: Pigeons, Methamphetamine, And The Internal Clock Model, James W. Coyle

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The mode-control model of counting and timing (Meek & Church, 1983) suggests that discriminations based on number and time may be controlled by the same internal clock mechanism. In Experiment 1, two groups of pigeons were initially trained to perform delayed symbolic matching-to-sample (DSMTS) at a 5s fixed baseline delay, with sample stimuli that consisted of sequences of flashing light. Testing was conducted with a range of delays (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10s). In the Number Group, control by number was established by varying the number of flashes while holding time constant. In the Time Group, control by time, …

Breaking The Silence: New Immigrant Children Affected By War Trauma. Community Needs And Resources Assessment, Danijela Seskar-Hencic

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The main purpose of this study was to provide a basis for and facilitate the development of strategies and programs based on actual life experiences of the refugee families and their children and on present needs and resources in the Kitchener-Waterloo community. The participants in the study included three refugee families and their children from Somalia, Kurdistan and Bosnia, English as a Second Language teachers, cultural assistants (settlement counsellors), and a local community group. Qualitative data obtained from the participants were complemented with demographic characteristics relevant to the phenomenon of war trauma among children in the K-W Region The qualitative …

The Need For Social Validation, Robert S. Graham

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis describes the psychometric evaluation and validation of a scale assessing people's tendency to use others’ opinions in order to assess the correctness of their own opinion. In study 1, 320 introductory psychology students completed the 12-item Need for Social Validation scale (N SV), as well as the Need to Evaluate and Self-Monitoring scales. The NSV scale was demonstrated to possess good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=.85), a two factor structure, and high test-retest reliability after 22-weeks (r = .76). The NSV was found to be negatively related to the Need to Evaluate scale (r = -.49) and unrelated to …

Empowerment In The Workplace: A Qualitative Study, Dale Burt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Sexual assault, sexual abuse, wife assault, andl sexual harassment are perpetrated, most often by male acquaintances, on an overwhelming proportion of women. many analyses of male violence propose that gender inequality and gender role socialization maintain abusive attitudes and behaviours within our culture. Adolescents comprise an important audience for violence prevention efforts. However, a review of high school programmes focused on prevention of sexual assault raises questions about the effectiveness of traditional lecture formats. Peer-based drama interventions provide an active, experiential form of learning which may be especially effective with adolescents. I used a qualitative, emergent design to investigate nine …

The Invisible Weavers: Women Volunteers Creating Community Fabric, Lorie Anne Fioze

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this study I examined women's caring in community volunteer work in the context of a neighbourhood community centre. More specifically I studied what women's volunteer experience at the Chandler-Mowat Community Centre (CMCC) revealed about: (1) Motivators what motivated women to participate in community volunteer work, (2) Facilitators what personal, family organizational, community and social factors facilitated women's involvement in volunteer work, (3) Barriers what personal, family, organizational, community and social factors inhibited women's involvement in community volunteer work, (4) Positive and Negative Impacts what the positive and negative impacts of women's volunteer involvement on the women themselves, their families, …

The List-Strength Effect And Categorical Frequency Memory: Tests Of Availability, Joanne Bonanno

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The availability view of memory mantains that the retrieval of categorical frequency information is a function of recall of category exemplars. The List-Strength Effect (LSE), which is evidenced when increasing the strength of competing items in a list reduces memory for the other items, has been found to be a characteristic of recall, but not recognition, performance. The present study was designed to (a) further examine the relationship between cued recall and frequency judgments of category exemplars by testing for the presence of a LSE in categorical frequency estimation; and (b) to examine the role that estimation strategies may play …

The Role Of Parental Authoritarianism And Religiosity In Child-Rearing Goals And Practices, Henry Akuoko Danso

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Do one's religion and authoritarian attitudes affect child-rearing techniques? Research suggests that factors such as religious orientation, educational attainment and authoritarian attitudes of parents are implicated in their child-rearing goals and practices (e.g., Wiehe, 1990). Also, parents' fundamentalist religious orientation is associated with an authoritarian norm of parenting, which involves greater emphasis on obedience and the use of punitive disciplinary practices (Ellison & Sherkat, 1993a; 1993b). 83 mothers and 71 fathers participated in a survey to examine how parents' religious orientation and their endorsement of right-wing authoritarian attitudes are linked to the kinds of goals they establish for their children, …

Juvenile Delinquency And Adult Aggression Against Women, Michelle Kalra

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present research assessed whether males who exhibited delinquent acts in their youth would be likely to demonstrate aggression against women as adults. Attitudinal information was also collected to see whether attitudes supporting aggression would mediate the relation between juvenile delinquency and adult aggression against women. Male undergraduates (N = 185) responded to a 68-item, comprehensive measure of delinquency that included five subscales (Official Contact, School and Family Offenses, Serious Crime, Delinquency, and Drug Offenses), three attitudinal measures (Rape Myth Acceptance, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence) and two measures of aggression against women (Sexual Experiences Survey and …

Forum Theatre From A Community Psychology Perspective, Holt Sivak

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Having responded to a request from Community Justice Initiatives of Waterloo Region to enact a Forum Theatre presentation, I have here described the process that took place and evaluated that process from a community psychology social action perspective. Participants included both drama troupe members and audience participants who were attempting to utilise Forum Theatre to further their understanding of and to help prevent sexual abuse in their community. Forum Theatre is an issue analysis and social change process derived from the work of Augsto Boal, and adapted for use in a Canadian social service setting. The process closely parallels that …

The Use Of Drama To Explore Violence Within Relationships: A Study Of Young Men's Experiences, Tammie Brunk

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Sexual assault, sexual abuse, wife assault, andl sexual harassment are perpetrated, most often by male acquaintances, on an overwhelming proportion of women. many analyses of male violence propose that gender inequality and gender role socialization maintain abusive attitudes and behaviours within our culture. Adolescents comprise an important audience for violence prevention efforts. However, a review of high school programmes focused on prevention of sexual assault raises questions about the effectiveness of traditional lecture formats. Peer-based drama interventions provide an active, experiential form of learning which may be especially effective with adolescents. I used a qualitative, emergent design to investigate nine …

Item Versus Associative Information: A Comparison Of Forgetting Rates With And Without Recollective Experience, Angela Consoli

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Past experiments examining the relationship between recognition memory and the recollective experience has consistently focused on single word stimuli. The present study was designed to assess the nature of this relationship with associative information in addition to item information. Two experiments are reported in which participants studied a list of random word pairs, and were subsequently given a recognition memory test for both item and associative information. Of those recognized events, participants were asked to indicate which words or word pairs they could and could not recollect from the study phase. Participants returned either 2 and 7 days later (Experiment …

A Formative Evaluation Of The Ontario Breast Cancer Information Exchange Project, Michelle Marie Monforton-Everest

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In 1993 The Government of Canada allocated 2.7 million dollars to fund five Breast Cancer Information Exchange Pilot Projects for five years. The Ontario Breast Cancer Information Exchange Project (OBCIEP) is one site of this innovative approach to linking breast cancer stakeholders and women with breast cancer and coordinating available information sources to improve access to information about breast cancer for women, their families and health care professionals. Formative evaluations are conducted to learn from a novel program such as the OBCIEP. This paper outlines a collaborative approach to evaluation using qualitative methods and analyses. The results of the evaluation …

Development And Validation Of A Tool To Measure Temporal Orientation, Yolanda Martins

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Individuals are thought to differ in the extent to which their day-to-day thoughts, feelings, and fantasies focus on the past or future (i.e., temporal orientation). This thesis describes the continued development of a multidimensional measure of temporal orientation that includes the following four subscales: (1) negative future orientation, (2) positive future orientation, (3) negative past orientation, and (4) positive past orientation. Two studies were conducted. In study one, 921 introductory psychology students completed the thirty-item Temporal Orientation Scale (TOS). Based on analyses of the 30-item initial version of the scale, a refined 21-item version of the TOS was developed. In …

Lessons Learned In The Heart Need To Be Changed In The Heart': The Development And Evaluation Of A Primary Prevention Intervention Of Men's Violence Against Women, Patrick Fisher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis presents an evaluation of primary prevention intervention working towards ending men’s violence against women. In 1995, a committee was created by the Waterloo Regional Public Education Committee for the Prevention of Violence and Oppression Against Women and Children to develop a presentation kit on the topic of men’s violence against women. The presentation kit is to be used by staff and volunteers from the local agencies in talking to groups of men about violence against women. The presentation kit provides background materials about violence against women, the philosophy behind the development of the kit, instructions on how to …

Towards The Well-Being Of Immigrant And Refugee Children: A Community-Based Approach, Adrine Mckenzie

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The main purpose of this study was to identify the risk and protective factors at the individual, family, school, and community level which may influence the adaptation of immigrant and refugee children to Canadian society. The participants included teachers, newcomer parents and grade 2-5 children from various cultures. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to provide information on the child’s academic and social skills, the family’s social support networks, and the community’s resources. Differences in the experiences of immigrant and refugee families were found in the transition to the new country. Also noted were variations across cultural groups and across …

Double Relative Deprivation: Combining The Personal And Political, Mindi D. Foster, Kimberley Matheson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Double relative deprivation, which has been virtually ignored in research on relative deprivation, was expected to predict women's collective action over and above egoistic and collective deprivation. The role of socio-political resources in perceiving deprivation and participation in action was also investigated. Female students (N=164) completed a questionnaire designed to assess their perceptions of egoistic, collective, double relative deprivation (defined as the interaction between egoistic and collective deprivation), resource availability and participation in collective action. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that double relative deprivation predicted collective action over and above egoistic and collective relative deprivation, and that resource availability also uniquely …

Ibogaine Fails To Interrupt The Expression Of A Previously Established Morphine Place Preference, Tracey Lyn Luxton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Ibogaine, a proposed anti-addictive agent, has been found to interfere with the acquisition of a weak morphine-induced place preference. The purpose of the present experiments was to determine if ibogaine given at various times prior to a test for morphine place conditioning would interfere with the expression of a morphine (5 mg/kg) conditioned place preference. A single injection of 40 mg/kg ibogaine 24 h, 12 h or 4 h prior to the test did not interfere with the expression of a previously established morphine conditioned place preference (CPP). Two injections of 40 mg/kg ibogaine 48 h and 24 h or …

Food Systems: Community-Shared Agriculture, A Means Of Empowerment And Social Vitality, Godwin Samuel Ashiabi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this thesis I focused on the Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) as an alternative form of farming to industrialized agriculture. CSA connects the growers of food directly with the people who eat it, in a way where everyone shares the benefits and risks involved in agriculture. The Huron Community Garden in Goderich is the setting that was selected for this study because of its five-year history as a form of CSA. A naturalistic participant-observation mode of enquiry was employed. As a participant-observer, I was involved in all activities of the Garden—weeding, tilling of the ground, transplanting of seedlings, watering of …

Detecting Simulated Amnesia Through The Use Of A Battery Of Memory Tests, Sandy A. Bellos

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In today's society people's locational residential preference is no longer dependent on the distance from the Central Business District. With the demise of the concept of the friction of distance other accessibility nodes, besides the central business district, such as and retail and suburban employment are necessary attributes towards the determination and influence of land rents. Where this is the case, the hedonic regression methods analysis to explain house prices should employ distance variables corresponding to each of the urban nodes. However, these distance measures may be highly intercorrelated, thereby posing a problem of "spatial collinearity." Two authors have examined …

Peer Evaluation: The Effect Of Reciprocity And Level Of Performance On Evaluative Feedback, Doreen Maria De Veen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The study was designed to examine the impact of reciprocal evaluation, a factor which differentiates the relational aspect of peer and supervisor evaluation contexts, and level of performance on the accuracy of performance ratings. One hundred and thirty-six undergraduate students evaluated standardized solutions on an 'Organizational Problem Solving Task' which demonstrated either a poor or a satisfactory level of performance, under one of two rating conditions. In one rating condition, participants were told that they would simply evaluate another person's performance on the task (non-reciprocal rating condition). In the other rating condition, participants were informed that not only would they …

Coping With The Transition To University: The Impact Of A Social Support-Based Intervention, Daniel Jeff Lamothe

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The transition to university can be a particularly stressful time for incoming students, as indicated by high first-year attrition rates (Levitz & Noel, 1989). This stress may be produced in part by a reduction in social support that many students experience when they begin their university studies (Albert, 1988; Kenny, 1987). The present study examined an intervention program based on social support, and its impact on students' adjustment to university. Fifty-five first-year university students completed pretest questionnaires in August aimed at assessing levels of social support, as well as self-esteem, depression, stress, and integrative complexity of reasoning about university issues. …

A Community-Based Needs And Resource Assessment On Youth Mental Health: Bay Of Islands/Pasadena, Newfoundland, Joanne A. Mills

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this research project, I undertook a community-based needs and resource assessment on youth mental health within a western Newfoundland community to assist a mental health planning team, the Community Mental Health Initiative (CMHI). CMHI is a stakeholder-based committee dedicated to addressing mental health concerns for all citizens in a geographical area in western Newfoundland, encompassing the city of Corner Brook, the communities along the north and south shore of the Bay of Islands, and the community of Pasadena. The mandate of CMHI includes identifying mental health needs and promoting the general well being of all persons of all ages …

A Process Evaluation Of A Participant-Centred Approach To Opportunities Planning And Its Potential For Empowerment, Barbara Dian Chrysler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A process evaluation of an "Opportunities Planning" pilot project was conducted. Stakeholder participation was utilized to help determine the evaluation focus. mainly qualitative methods were used. The evaluation utilized field notes, program documents, focus groups, and structured interviews. Over 40 meetings were attended and recorded, and 27 one-on-one structured interviews were conducted, as well as two focus groups where eight individuals were interviewed. These interviews were conducted with a variety of key stakeholders, including: participants (social assistance recipients), program participants (individuals receiving the service), staff, service providers, and ministry representatives.

The research results are arranged in four parts: (a) the …

Social Identity And Integrative Complexity: The Effects Of Silent Group Membership On Reasoning About Social Issues, Stephen Leonard Friedman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The works of self-categorization theorists (e.g., Conover, 1988, 1984; Turner et al., 1987) suggests that presenting individuals with social issues central to the interests of their social group, and individual differences in group identification, can accentuate the salience of one’s group membership. Further, they suggest that social group salience may affect individuals’ viewpoints on group central social issues, resulting in more extreme, black-and-white thinking. The present study was designed in order to investigate the extent to which social group salience and/or individual differences in group identification affect the complexity with which gender group members think about a gender-central social issue. …

A Survey Of The Sources Of Information That Influence Adolescents' Knowledge And Attitudes About Sex And Dating Relationships, Laura Park

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was an initial attempt to understand the impact of parents, peers, the media, and sex education curricula on shaping adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes about dating relationships and sexuality. In addition, participants’ descriptions of what constitutes a “good” date and a “bad” date were investigated. One hundred participants (48 females, 52 males) aged thirteen to sixteen participated; half of the sample were early adolescents (13-14 years) and the other half were middle adolescents (15-16 years). All participants were asked to describe experienced or hypothetical “good” and “bad” dates. For “good” dates, respondents identified engaging in fun, recreational activities, whereas …