Psychology Commons^™

Planning For The Close And Distant Future: The Impact Of Temporal Distance On Task Completion Prediction, Johanna Peetz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Accurate project completion estimates are part of successful project completion. Thus, it is important to identify factors that reduce the tendency to make overly optimistic project completion predictions (Buehler et al., 2002). This research investigated the effect of temporal distance on project completion predictions. A review of past research provided evidence that could lead to a prediction of either increased or decreased optimism with increasing temporal distance. In a first study, participants predicted the completion date of a hypothetical school assignment that would begin either tomorrow (close future) and next term (distant future). Participants predicted to complete the project earlier …

School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports : An Evaluation Of An Elementary School Program, Lisa Andreasen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The outcomes of a school-wide positive behavior support program at a rural elementary school were evaluated to determine the effects of a school-wide program on the behavior of students. A program evaluation was conducted using student office referrals that were collected over a six year period. The results indicated that student office referrals significantly decreased from Year 1 to Year 6 and that specific behaviors of aggression and inappropriate language also decreased significantly from Year 1 to Year 6. Data were investigated to indicate trends in total office referrals by gender, grade, month, location, and problem behavior.

Esclerosis Múltiple En Niños: Clarificando Su Ubicación Dentro Del Espectro Desmielinizante. [Multiple Sclerosis In Children: Clarifying Its Place Among The Demyelinating Spectrum.], Joaquín A. Peña, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, María Elena Ravelo, Solmary González, Eduardo Mora La-Cruz

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

La Esclerosis múltiple (EM), es una enfermedad de naturaleza autoinmune debida a la destrucción de la capa de mielina y de las fibras nerviosas y, secundariamente, a un daño neuronal progresivo. Se caracteriza por la ocurrencia sucesiva de focos de desmielinización diseminados en tiempo y espacio en varias áreas de la sustancia blanca del SNC, incluyendo la región peri ventricular, médula espinal, tronco encefálico, cerebelo y nervio óptico. Como el diagnóstico en edad pediátrica es mucho más difícil debido a la mayor frecuencia de pacientes con Encefalomielitis Aguda Diseminada (EMAD), y al mayor reto que enfrenta el médico para tratar …

Fármacos No-Estimulantes Para El Tratamiento Del Trastorno Por Déficit De Atención-Hiperactividad En Niños [Non-Stimulant Drugs For Treatment Of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd)], Joaquín A. Peña, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, Juan D. Velásquez

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Existe una gran cantidad de estudios que ofrecen soporte a la utilización de medicación noestimulante para el tratamiento de los síntomas del TDAH. A pesar de las diferencias entre los compuestos empleados en esta entidad clínica, todos comparten una actividad noradrenérgica y dopaminérgica común. En aquellos pacientes que no toleran o presentan una respuesta limitada a los psicoestimulantes, o en las familias que prefieren otras alternativas terapéuticas; se han realizado ensayos clínicos con medicación no-estimulante. En este trabajo se revisa la literatura acerca del tratamiento no-estimulante para el manejo de los síntomas de falta de atención, hiperactividad e impulsividad propios …

Are Nouns Easier To Learn Than Verbs? Three Experimental Studies, Jane B. Childers, Michael Tomasello

Psychology Faculty Research

A current controversy in the study of word learning is whether it is conceptually easier to learn nouns as compared to verbs early in development. This chapter describes three experiments which address the noun-verb question in different ways. In the first experiment, researchers asked how many times (and on how many days) does a 2-year-old need to hear a word to be able to learn it, and does this differ for nouns and verbs? This second study investigates whether — when nouns and verbs are presented in comparable sentence contexts, controlling the number of exposures, and presenting a dynamic event …

Towards A Good Life: One Family's Experiences With Individualized Supports, Alison Baxter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Individualized funding and supports for people with a disability have emerged in Canada as an alternative to traditional supports such as group homes and day programs. In this thesis, I examine one family's experiences with individualized disability-related supports. From the perspective of an individual with an intellectual disability and her family members, friends, support workers and service providers, the benefits and challenges of individualized supports are profiled. Furthermore, how individualized supports impact upon relationships and community inclusion for this individual is explored along with the experiences of parents, siblings and support workers. As a qualitative study, information was gathered from …

Cooperative And Competitive Games: An Examination Of The Effects Of Goal Structures On Social Development, Courtney J. Darby

Honors Program Theses

It is the purpose of this review to examine the results concerning social development in the context of cooperative and competitive games. First, research supporting the use of cooperative games will be discussed, including studies that have findings relating to aggression, and then research supporting the use of competitive games will be discussed. A personal position statement on the value of cooperative and competitive games for social development will be presented as well.

Links Between Late Adolescents’ Tendency For Mild To Moderate Violence And School Shooters, Elizabeth Ruth Strey Christenson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Violent crimes committed by youth in their school environments have been a focus of concern in recent years. Since the tragedy at Columbine High School and the subsequent copycat efforts many questions have been raised by the public regarding how and why these school shootings occurred. In response to these questions, the Federal Bureau of Investigation produced a report listing 46 characteristics from four main categories (Personality Traits and Behavior, Family Dynamics, School Dynamics, and Social Dynamics) that they determined to be common characteristics of school shooters. However, since school shootings occur so rarely there is no completely accurate way …

Fine Art And Processing Fluency: Symmetry And Contrast Influence Preference In Paintings, Jennifer Ann Grossheim

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

How do we discern beauty? The question has been debated by competing theorists throughout the years. Recently, Reber, Schwarz, and Winkielman (2004) have proposed that beauty is a function of an individual's processing fluency. In other words, the more easily one first processes an image the more beautiful it is judged to be. The current research aimed to tests this hypothesis using selected works of fine art. Using self-reports, responses to altered and unaltered images were recorded. Images were either left intact or altered in order to reduce or increase their symmetry or figure-ground contrast-two elements considered to be hallmarks …

Providing Appropriate Social Interventions For Preschool-Age Children With Mild Autism Spectrum Disorders, Angela M. Riesberg

Graduate Research Papers

This paper provides a variety of appropriate social interventions to use with preschool-age children with mild Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Regardless of his or her diagnostic label, each individual child requires an individualized approach to treatment. Typically, multiple interventions are necessary for a successful program.

The questions this project will address include: (a) What are some possible social interventions to use with preschool-age children who have mild autism spectrum disorders, (b) what research supports current successful social interventions, ( c) which social interventions could provide the most benefits and success, and (d) how can inclusion and interacting with typically developing …

Differences In Enjoyment, Motivation, And Perceived Athletic Competence Between Sport And Fitness Physical Activity Participants, Andy Briggs

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of the study was to determine if differences existed in level of exercise enjoyment, motivation, and perceived athletic competence between college students that exercise using sport activities and college students that exercise using fitness activities. Data were collected from 188 college students from a midsize comprehensive university in the Midwest. The questionnaire was designed to tap enjoyment, motivation, perceived athletic competence, and amount of physical activity. The participants were divided into four groups according to their exercise habits: high sport/high fitness, high sport/low fitness, low sport/high fitness, and low sport/low fitness. A MANOV A test compared the four …

Multicultural Education In The Mental Health Professions: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Madonna G. Constantine, Todd W. Dunn, Jared M. Dinehart, Jared A. Montoya

Faculty Publications

The American Psychological Association and many other professional mental health organizations require graduate programs to provide education in multicultural issues. However, the effectiveness of multicultural education has been debated in the literature over the past several years. The overall purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of multicultural education using meta-analytic methodologies. Findings revealed that multicultural education interventions were typically associated with positive outcomes across a wide variety of participant and study characteristics. Multicultural education interventions that were explicitly based on theory and research yielded outcomes nearly twice as beneficial as those that were not. Priorities for future …

The Effects Of Hallucination Simulations On Neurocognition: An Investigation Of Auditory Hallucinations Using The Irrelevant Speech Paradigm, Suzanne Adele Horsager

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Research has made it clear that severe psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, are often associated with deficits in neurocognition. Unfortunately, because of the complicated makeup of most psychiatric disorders, it is challenging to distinguish the nature of the neurocognitive deficits. Recent research has begun to look more specifically at the symptoms of these disorders ( e.g., auditory hallucinations) to examine the specific effects the symptoms have on patients. This research has suggested a link between auditory hallucinations and deficits in attentional inhibition as well as working memory abilities. However, current research has not considered whether the impairments associated with these …