Psychology Commons^™

Model Behavior: An Assessment Of Role Model Attachment, Patrick C. Doyle

Honors Theses

Despite the term existing since the early part of the 20th century, little is known about role models and relationships that individuals develop with them. Using attachment theory, a cornerstone of interpersonal theory, relationships between individuals and their role models are compared to relationships between those individuals and their parents in the present study. While data did not support the hypothesis (those with anxious attachment to their parents will experience more secure attachment to their role model) promising opportunities for future research were suggested by the qualitative and quantitative data that were collected. For example, the experience of many participants …

Can The Color Red Improve Men's Perceived Mate Value? Examining The Interactive Effects Of Facial Masculinity And Color On Female Evaluation Of Potential Mates, Alejandro Trujillo

Honors Theses

We manipulated facial masculinity (masculine-morph/feminine-morph) and color (red/white) through two independent studies—one in-lab at the University of Dayton and one online using Amazon’s MTurk—to examine its effect on social status and attractiveness for men when rated by women. We specifically aimed to see if the color red could serve a compensatory effect for feminine-faced men, who were least likely to be found attractive by women at peak fertility. When paired with red, women rated the masculine and feminine faces higher in social status. Through this increase in social status, the color red was also able to indirectly increase the physical …

The Effect Of Early Life Social Stress On Anxiety-Like Behaviors And Ethanol Drinking In Female Long-Evans Rats, Alyssa Roeckner

Honors Theses

Among women with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs), women have higher rates of anxiety-disorders and are more influenced by early life stress compared to men. Preclinical models have been used to study the relationships between early life stress, anxiety-like behavior, and alcohol intake and preference. However, fewer studies have been done with female rats than male rats. To that end, chronic social instability was utilized as a model of early life stress in females. In this model Long Evans rats are placed in different pairs every day, and this has previously produced anxiety-like behavior in female rats (McCormick et al., 2008). …

Too Close For Comfort: The Effects Of Threatening Stereotypes On Perceptions Of Proximity, Anissa J. Maffett

Honors Theses

Do stereotypes influence how we perceive physical stimuli in our social world? The current project addresses this question by examining whether people differentially perceive targets based on whether a stereotype-based threat accompanies the target. Previous research finds that people evaluate physically threatening stimuli (e.g., spiders, aggressive people) as closer than non-threatening stimuli (Cole Balceitis, & Dunning, 2012). However, less is known about the role of stereotypes in activating a threat response. It was predicted that participants who are made aware of the threatening status of a group will perceive a member of that group as standing physically closer. Overall, the …

Health Care Agency: Statewide Awareness Of Patient-Centered Care In Maine’S Mental Health Care Facilities, Holly Hogan A

Honors Theses

This research project focuses on patient-centered care (PCC) in the context of inpatient acute psychiatric units. Hospitals have been claiming their renewed outlooks on health-care via PCC. It has become an increasingly popular term to use on hospital websites and in presidential statements. The technologies and practices surrounding psychiatric care have evolved in such a way that patients are more welcomed to have an input in their care. This project discusses the discourse around PCC at Mental Health Care Facilities in Maine. There is no consensus on the definition; the meanings ascribed to it are derived from the individual institutions. …

Are The Brain And The Mind One? Neuromarketing And How Consumers Make Decisions, Emily Glaenzer

Honors Theses

Neuromarketing utilizes brain-imaging technology, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines, to understand consumers’ neurological responses to marketing stimuli. In this paper, I demonstrate how neuromarketing connects to the history of subliminal messaging and our current neuro-obsessed culture (neuroculture). These factors affect how critics view neuromarketing and the implications involved for the future of this study. I hypothesize that, when used correctly, neuromarketing can initiate a new section of the marketing world that will serve as a useful component to more traditional marketing practices. By taking away social bias and inaccurate answers present in market research, …

Perceptions And Attitudes Regarding Preparedness For Campus Crises: A Focus Group Study Of Undergraduates At A Southern University, Christal Davis

Honors Theses

Objective: To explore student perceptions and attitudes toward disaster preparedness and university readiness for various disasters in order to promote future development of effective strategies to change the culture of preparedness on campuses. Methods: A total of 10 focus groups were conducted with 54 students. Participants completed general demographic information before discussing topics related to preparedness. Results: Findings revealed complacency and lack of preparedness among students for many of the disaster types discussed. Participants reported feeling most prepared for pandemic outbreaks, citing various campus preparedness efforts, while they showed the least amount of confidence in their preparedness for incidents of …

Boredom And Psychological Time Perspective On Cognition, Alyssa Erin Invergo

Honors Theses

This study investigated psychological time with regards to a memory recognition task. The participants rated images on a 5-point scale of attractiveness. There were two different conditions, one having 40 male faces and the other containing 40 female faces. After they finished rating the faces, they made a retrospective time estimate of how long they thought they spent viewing the faces. Following this they took the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS) to test what state of boredom they were currently experiencing. Finally they performed a memory recognition test. We noticed statistically significant differences between the two conditions based on target …

Dognition : The Effect Of Pet Ownership On Cognition In Older Adults, Molly Mcsweeney

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of pet ownership on cognition in older adults. Previous research has indicated that interactions with pets are associated with improved mental and physical health in humans. We predicted that these benefits of human-pet interactions will extend to expose superior cognitive functioning in cat-owning or dog-owning older adults as compared to older adults who do not own pets. More specifically, we hypothesized that dog-owners would perform significantly better than cat-owners and non-pet owners on cognitive tasks as owning a dog requires exceeding attention, training, and exercise. We tested this effect …

Breaking The Language Barrier : The Spanish Translation Of The Barriers To Access To Care Evaluation (Bace), Yosmary Rodriguez

Honors Theses

The Hispanic/Latino population in the United States has been identified as a high-risk group for mental health problems. Unfortunately, due to commonly reported factors such as lack of linguistically and culturally appropriate services, many fail to seek treatment. While growing research has focused on identifying and addressing the different barriers to accessing mental health care experienced by this community, there continues to be a lack of validated Spanish assessments to aid in the evaluation of these barriers. In hopes of overcoming this barrier, and working towards better quality of care for this growing population, this project translated the Barriers to …

A Change Of Heart : The Effect Of Heartwarming Advertisements On Brand Affinity, Hannah Butman

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine if evoking heartfelt responses to advertisements would yield greater brand affinity. It was hypothesized that a heartwarming response would yield greater brand affinity because it was a mixed emotional experience that produced both positive and negative emotions simultaneously. Across two studies, participants were shown both control and heartwarming advertisements for five brands. After each video, all participants were prompted to respond to every measure, regardless of condition. Heartwarming perceptions of the advertisements, overlap of self, feelings of love, and a mixed emotional experience were all significant mediators of video condition and brand …

Biochemical And Behavioral Effects Of Environmental Enrichment On Strain-Dependent Vulnerability To Anxiety And Depression In The Chick Separation Stress Paradigm, Sydney M. Anchor

Honors Theses

Increased attention has been directed towards determining how environment interacts with genetics on the manifestation of stress-related disorders. This study investigates the differential effects of an enriched versus impoverished environment on behavioral and biochemical endpoints of depression between stress-vulnerable and stress-resilient strains in the chick anxiety-depression model. Black Australorp and Production Red strains were housed in either enriched or impoverished conditions for 4 days and then socially isolated for 90 min. Rate of distress vocalizations (DVocs) were recorded throughout the isolation period and latency to behavioral despair was calculated. Immediately following testing, bilateral hippocampal tissue was harvested and brain-derived neurotrophic …

The Impact Of Survival Processing And Collaborative Inhibition On Memory Performance, Lindsey Hardin

Honors Theses

This study examines the effects of survival processing and collaborative inhibition on memory performance. The purpose of this research is to determine whether survival processing produced more accurate memory recall than pleasantness processing, as well as determine the impact of collaborative inhibition when compared to nominal groups. In this experiment, participants were given the instructions to rate a given list of words based on survival or pleasantness depending on which scenario they were assigned to. Then, the participants recalled the list of words in either collaborative groups or nominal groups. The results indicated that the survival condition did produce better …

Meaning And Resilience As Predictors Of Posttraumatic Growth Among College Students, Meredith Blackwell

Honors Theses

Meaning in life is related to such outcomes as resilience and the potential to experience posttraumatic growth among populations that have experienced a traumatic event. However, the literature is conflicted on the relationship between resilience and posttraumatic growth. The goal of this study is to further evaluate the relationship between meaning, resilience, and posttraumatic growth among a college student sample. Six-hundred and twelve participants, ages 18-26, completed self-report measures about their experience with potentially traumatic events (Life Events Checklist), their perceived purpose in life (Purpose in Life test — Short Form), resilience (Brief Resilience Scale), and posttraumatic growth (Posttraumatic Growth …

Personality Correlates Of Cardiovascular Reactivity, Sara Bolen

Honors Theses

Neuroticism is a personality trait characterized by one's susceptibility to experience negative emotions, such as loneliness, self-consciousness, sadness, and worry. Neuroticism also has been found to be linked to blunted cardiovascular reactivity, which in turn has been shown to be associated with negative health outcomes, such as stroke or heart disease. The present study examined 50 undergraduate females at the University of Mississippi in order to examine the relationship of neuroticism and cardiovascular reactivity rates during a stressful speech task. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) levels were recorded during rest and the stress periods, and neuroticism levels were …

The Effects Of Sceletium Tortuosum In The Chick Anxiety-Depression Model, Emily Mae Fountain

Honors Theses

Sceletium tortuosum (S. tortuosum), known colloquially as Kanna, is a natural botanical that is thought to reduce anxiety, elevate mood, and produce euphoria. This study explores S. tortuosum's properties in the chick anxiety-depression model, a pre-clinical drug efficacy screening model that shares many features to clinical stress-related disorders and has high predictive validity. Socially-raised male Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks age 4-6 days were given intraperitoneal injections of either a vehicle, imipramine, or S. tortuosum fraction (10, 20, 30, 50, 75, or 100mg/kg) 15 minutes prior to being placed in a stress-inducing isolation chamber for 60 minutes and distress vocalizations were …

Gender Rules: Differences In Male And Female First-Year Undergraduate Adherence To Campus Alcohol Policy, Ashley Maiolatesi

Honors Theses

Although differences in both men's and women's risk-taking and alcohol consumption have been respectively examined in previous research, the relationship between the two has not been thoroughly documented. While there have been studies on differences between male and female drinking habits, including those on amount and frequency of consumption, as well as studies documenting how women felt about both risk-taking and gender differences in morality, these factors are rarely, if ever, expressly linked. The current study aims to test past research regarding women's traditional hesitation towards engaging in risky behavior and rebelling against policy through the study of behavioral outcomes …

It's About Time: The Effectiveness Of Time Perception As A Measurement Of Cognitive Load, Victoria Robinson

Honors Theses

This study examines the effectiveness of time perception as a measurement of cognitive load. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the concept of time perception can efficiently indicate high or low cognitive load in a task, and to compare this measurement to the standard mental effort rating scale that is typically used to measure cognitive load. In this study, participants completed both simple and complicated math problems at their own pace. After they were told to stop, participants either rated their level of mental effort used in the task, or wrote down how long they believed it …

Food For Thought: The Role Of Food In Romantic Relationships, Breana Cook

Honors Theses

Food is a necessary component of our lives as we need it to live. However, food can be seen as a relatively important, unconscious or not, factor in interpersonal relationships. We investigated the role of food and cooking in modern, romantic relationships through surveying 68 individuals from a junior college in the southern region of the United States. We predicted that there was a connection between food and dating and relationships and concluded this by exploring the social stigmas surrounding food, the gendered perceptions of these stigmas, and perception of food in a certain context to assess the meaning of …

Effects Of Coloring On Immediate Short-Term Stress Relief, Courtney Simmons

Honors Theses

Although research has not yet examined adult coloring books specifically, research suggests that artmaking can reduce negative affect, improve mood, and reduce anxiety (Drake & Hodge, 2015; Pizarro, 2004) and that coloring, specifically, can reduce anxiety on a short-term basis (Curry & Kasser, 2005; van der Vennet & Serice, 2012). These short-term effects are seen more strongly when participants are using art as a form of distraction from their negative feelings rather than as a way to vent (Dalebroux et al., 2008; De Petrillo & Winner, 2005; Drake & Winner, 2012). The present study seeks to expand upon this knowledge …

Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Study Of Mikey, Gabrielle Lober

Honors Theses

This paper describes Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) including diagnostic criteria, suspected causes, prevalence, comorbidities, and influences on client factors. A hypothetical case study is presented to give readers an illustration of what someone with ASD might look like. Possible treatment based on evidence and selected frame of references will be given for the hypothetical client. This paper is not all inclusive of the role of occupational therapy in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but gives an illustrative example.

Experiential Avoidance Post-Trauma: Investigating Predictors Of Traumatic Stress And Problematic Behavior., Elise Trim

Honors Theses

Experiential avoidance (EA) is the unwillingness to remain in contact with distressing thoughts, feelings, memories, and other private experiences (Hayes et al., 2004; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999). Although the use of EA may lead to immediate reductions in distress, prolonged use can result in problem behaviors such as substance misuse (Hayes, Wilson, Gifford, Follette, & Strosahl, 1996). Although a strong temporal relationship has yet to be established, findings suggest a possibility that EA could be a mechanism by which posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are developed and maintained (Krause, Mendelson, & Lynch, 2003; Rosenthal, Polusny, & Follette, 2006; Dvorak, …

The Impact Of Globalization On Access For Individuals With Disabilities, Katherine Williamson

Honors Theses

This comparative ethnomethodology study is focused on the global context elements that help explain public policies and its consequences on types of access available to individuals with disabilities in the United States Midwest and West Africa. The goal of this study is to identify the role of individuals with disabilities in a global society by answering two research questions. First, what are the public policies in place for physical, social, and educational access in the United States Midwest and West Africa? Second, how is physical, social, and educational access being provided in the United States Midwest and West Africa? The …

The Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation And Mind-Wandering On Coping-Related Hopefulness In Undergraduate College Students, Shelby N. Green

Honors Theses

High levels of stress in college students are extremely prevalent. This is evident in time-consuming academic responsibilities overlapping with family life, work duties, and personal life. Stress can have negative impacts on academic performance and physical health in college students , and it has been correlated with various negative outcomes including anxiety and depression (Segrin,1999), increases in headaches (Labbe, Murphy & O’Brien, 1997), increased rates of athletic injury (Brewer & Petrie, 1996), suicidal ideation and hopelessness (Dixon, Rumford, Heppner, & Lipps, 1992), sleep disturbances (Verlander, Benedict, & Hanson, 1999), poor health behaviors (Sadava & Pak, 1993; Naquin & Gilbert, 1996), …

Socially Deviant Communities Online: How The Pro-Anorexia Movement Utilizes The Anonymity Provided By The Internet To Thrive, Samantha Thomas

Honors Theses

The creation of the internet has produced an environment in which many communities have been able to develop into strong and thriving societies. A large number of communities that are now predominantly online were unable to exist successfully before the establishment of the internet for a variety of reasons. The internet has made it easier for people from different backgrounds and locations to network, form communities, and share information with one another. Unfortunately the internet has also given harmful underground communities the opportunity to develop and thrive as well. Socially deviant communities, groups that support ideas and behaviors deemed unacceptable …

Memories Bridal And Evening Wear Selection Process, Kaitlyn Riddell

Honors Theses

This paper proposes a structured and researched approach to review and edit Memories Bridal and Evening Wear’s Sales Consultant employee selection process in hopes of decreasing employee turnover and increasing new employee performance. Research suggests that hiring management and business professionals use six main steps to create the core components of job tasks and competencies to make up a job analysis. A realistic job preview should also be created to ensure a successful match between the candidate and the job position. In addition to creating new pieces, hiring management must edit the existing application to include only necessary information to …

Are There Shared Characteristics Among Children With Autism Who Develop Speech While Training With The Picture Exchange Communication System?, Katherine Neidhart

Honors Theses

It is clear in the literature that there are many factors that may contribute the development of speech as a possible outcome of training with the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Research has indicated a need for more data on the characteristics and skills of children with autism that may contribute to their success while using PECS, and the possible development of speech while receiving PECS training.

This study sought to identify common characteristics and skills of children with autism that acquired speech while receiving PECS training through creating an inventory of demographics, pre-requisite skills, and other characteristics of children …

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Behaviors In The Presence Of Active And Non-Active Shrimp Trawlers In The Mississippi Sound, Crysta M. Lorenz

Honors Theses

Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, are reported to have close associations with shrimp trawlers worldwide. The goal of this study was to assess differences in the behavior for bottlenose dolphins between activity states of shrimp trawlers in the Mississippi Sound. During active trawling, nets are actively gathering the catch closely behind the trawler, which provide feeding opportunities for bottlenose dolphins. Non-active groups are not able to take advantage of feeding prospects and display fewer feeding behaviors and maintain a farther distance than active trawler groups. Video of trawlers were collected from the Mississippi Wild Dolphin Project and analyzed for feeding …

Narcissism And Late Adolescent Friendships: Perceived Closeness, Cooperation, Competitiveness, And Friendship Quality, Suzanne Chinyere Amadi

Honors Theses

Pathological and non-pathological dimensions of narcissism are correlated with indices of adolescent internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors, especially in the context of peer relationships. The current study examined 219 (181 females, 38 males) 18 year-olds’ perceptions of their friendships, including closeness, cooperation, competitiveness, and friendship quality in relation to pathological (i.e., grandiose, vulnerable) and non-pathological (i.e., normal) narcissism. Data were collected through online, self-report questionnaires. Grandiose narcissism was significantly correlated with perceived closeness, cooperation, and competitiveness but not with friendship quality. Vulnerable narcissism was significantly positively correlated with perceived competitiveness but unassociated with perceptions of closeness, cooperation, and friendship quality. …

Affect Recognition And Adhd Symptoms In Preschoolers: A Serial Mediation Model Of Social Cognition, Annalise M. Hays

Honors Theses

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been addressed in a few studies as it relates to social cognition deficiency. Throughout these studies, it seems as if affect recognition may be linked to ADHD through deficits in the development of social skills. The current study tests to see if this mediation may also involve the influence of adaptability in children. It was hypothesized that poorer affect recognition would relate to ADHD symptoms in preschoolers and that this effect would occur indirectly by influencing the children’s adaptability and social skills. A heterogeneous sample of 71 three to five year-old preschoolers participated. Children were …