Psychology Commons^™

An Examination Of Delinquency And Victimization Using Social Bonding And Routine Activities, Everette B. Penn, Jennifer Tanner

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

The study examined the relationship between juvenile delinquency and juvenile victimization using an integration of social bond theory and routine activities perspectives. Data were obtained from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) series of surveys given annually to a nationally representative sample of students. The MTF survey is from the 2005 group of surveys given to tenth grade students. The version of the survey was administered to 5,577 tenth grade students. This research examined the link between a student's commitment to school and guardianship. Specifically, it determined the amount of delinquency to which a student is involved and the extent of …

Does A Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Program Work In A School Setting? Evaluating Training Outcome And Moderators Of Effectiveness, Tanya L. Tompkins, Jody Witt, Nadia Abraibesh

Faculty Publications

The current study sought to evaluate the suicide prevention gatekeeper training program QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) among school personnel using a non-equivalent control group design. Substantial gains were demonstrated from pre- to post-test for attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs regarding suicide and suicide prevention. Exploratory analyses revealed the possible moderating effects of age, professional role, prior training, and recent contact with suicidal youth on QPR participants’ general knowledge, questioning, attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention, QPR quiz scores, and self-efficacy. The need for replication using a more rigorous experimental design in the context of strong community collaboration is discussed.

Dating Violence: College Students' Experiences And Intervention Suggestions, Ashley Mcneil Ezell, Karena T. Valkyrie, Casey Tobin

Modern Psychological Studies

The dating violence relationship experiences of students were investigated at a southeast regional university. A third of the 509 participants indicated they were victims of dating violence (n = 173), and almost 25% (n = 124) indicated they had victimized someone they had dated. Weapons included guns, knives, golf clubs, machetes, and tasers. Student participants offered three categories of interventions: Counseling, Improved Campus Security, and Educational Programs. Their experiences and suggestions are discussed.

The Visual Experience Of Image Metaphor: Cognitive Insights Into Imagist Figures, Daniel W. Gleason

Faculty Publications & Research

In this essay I investigate how image metaphors – metaphors that link one concrete object to another, such as “her spread hand was a starfish” – promote visualization in the reader. Focusing on image metaphors in Imagist poetry, I assert that the two terms (e.g., the hand and the starfish) of many of these metaphors are similar in shape, and that this “structural correspondence” encourages the reader to visualize those metaphors. Readers may spontaneously form a “visual template,” a schematic middle ground that mediates between those similar shapes, in order to smoothly move between the two images within each metaphor. …

Assessing A Smoking Cessation Program For Veterans In Substance Use Disorder Treatment., Theodore Cooper, Y. Hunt, R. Burke, C. Stoever

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Club Drug Use In Hispanic College Students, Michelle Resor, Theodore Cooper

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Assessing Stereotype Incongruities Using The N400 Erp Component, Katherine White, Stephen Crites Jr., Jennifer Taylor, Guadalupe Corral

Departmental Papers (Psych)

Numerous discoveries regarding stereotypes have been uncovered by utilizing techniques and methods developed by cognitive psychologists. The present study continues this tradition by borrowing psychophysiological techniques used for the study of memory and language, and applying them to the study of stereotypes. In this study, participants were primed with either the gender category ’Women’ or ’Men’, followed by a word which was either consistent with gender stereotypes (e.g. Women: Nurturing) or inconsistent (e.g. Women: Aggressive). Their task was to indicate whether the words matched or did not match, according to gender stereotypes. Both response times and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) …

Nicotine Withdrawal Produces Fewer Decreases In Extracellular Levels Of Dopamine In The Nucleus Accumbens Of Adolescent Versus Adult Rats., Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Protracted Withdrawal From Alcohol And Drugs Of Abuse Impairs Long-Term Potentiation Of Intrinsic Excitability In The Juxtacapsular Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

On A Different Plane: Cross-Language Effects On The Conceptual Representations Of Within-Language Homonyms, Ana Areas, Ana Schwartz

Departmental Papers (Psych)

We examined whether bilinguals’ conceptual representation of homonyms in one language are influenced by meanings in the other. 117 Spanish-English bilinguals generated sentences for 62 English homonyms that were also cognates with Spanish and which shared at least one meaning with Spanish (e.g., plane/plano). Production probabilities for each meaning were calculated. A stepwise multiple regression revealed that whether a meaning was shared with Spanish or not accounted for a significant portion of the variance, even after entering production probabilities from published monolingual norms. (Twilley et al., 1994). Homonyms classified as highly polarized based on monolingual responses became less polarized if …

Reactive Attachment Disorder, Kalen J. Espy

Graduate Research Papers

Reactive Attachment Disorder, or RAD, has several possible causes usually stemming from traumatic childhood events. The attachment disorders were initially explored in 1948 by John Bowlby which led to the attachment theory being established in the 1960's. Attachment is the bond a child makes with other human beings, allowing for a healthy emotional and psychological growth. Attachment is developed primarily from birth to two years of age and up to the age of five.

There are four attachment styles and four phases that a child must go through to develop a healthy attachment to a caregiver. A child who is …

The Relevance Of The International Classification Of Functioning, Disability And Health (Icf) To Mental Disorders And Their Treatment, Geoffrey M. Reed, William D. Spaulding, Lynn F. Bufka

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This article examines the potential usefulness of the ICF in the treatment of mental disorders.We suggest that there is a poor fit between the nature of mental disorders and the dominant model of health care based on the treatment of acute medical illness. An overemphasis on diagnosis has contributed to a bias toward pharmacotherapy and underuse of psychological treatments for people with mental disorders. Mental disorders are more accurately conceptualized as chronic conditions, in which the person’s pattern of functioning rather than diagnosis is most important in determining what services are needed. This is particularly the case for people with …

Nicotine-Evoked Conditioned Responding Is Dependent On Concentration Of Sucrose Unconditioned Stimulus, Jennifer E. Murray, Rachel D. Penrod, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Previous studies have shown that the interoceptive nicotine conditional stimulus (CS) functions similarly to exteroceptive CSs such as lights or environments. For instance, the appetitive conditioned response (CR) evoked when nicotine is repeatedly paired with sucrose presentations (the unconditioned stimulus; US) is sensitive to changes in training dose (CS salience) and the contiguity between the CS effects and sucrose. The current study was conducted to extend this research by examining the possible role of US intensity in CR acquisition and maintenance. Rats were trained using one of four sucrose concentrations: 0, 4, 16, or 32% (w/v). On nicotine sessions (0.4 …

Children’S Insensitivity To Information From The Target Of Agreement: The Case Of Xhosa, Sandile Gxilishe, Mantoa Rose Smouse, Thabisa Xhalisa, Jill De Villiers

Philosophy: Faculty Publications

The paper presents an account of number agreement phenomena arguing that the target of agreement may be bleached of number information. This would explain why English-speaking children have difficulty relying on the target alone as a clue to number, despite producing it correctly. Xhosa has a very rich subject-verb agreement system and pro-drop, and there is theoretical dispute over its properties. An experiment with Xhosa-speaking children revealed that they, too, are unable to use the morpheme on the verb as a cue to subject number. It is argued that this may be further evidence that the morpheme is agreement rather …

Head Direction Cell Activity In Mice: Robust Directional Signal Depends On Intact Otolith Organs, Ryan M. Yoder, J.S. Taube

Psychology

The head direction (HD) cell signal is a representation of an animal's perceived directional heading with respect to its environment. This signal appears to originate in the vestibular system, which includes the semicircular canals and otolith organs. Preliminary studies indicate the semicircular canals provide a necessary component of the HD signal, but involvement of otolithic information in the HD signal has not been tested. The present study was designed to determine the otolithic contribution to the HD signal, as well as to compare HD cell activity of mice with that of rats. HD cell activity in the anterodorsal thalamus was …

The Relationship Between Parental Sense Of Competence And Parental Descriptions Of Behavior And Treatment, Rebecca Denning

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Although the literature has paid significant attention to treatments addressing externalizing behavior disorders, it has given less attention to the role of parental factors on treatment outcomes. This study used a qualitative methodology consisting of thirty semi-structured interviews with parents whose children had been in treatment for externalizing behavior problems for at least a month to examine how variations in parental sense of competence and self-efficacy are related to the ways in which parents describe their child’s behaviors, their response to behaviors, their investment in treatment, and their attribution of treatment outcomes. Thematic differences between participants with high parental sense …

A Bridge Between The Mind And Body: The Effects Of Massage On Body Image State, Bonnie Fletcher

Undergraduate Review

While research suggests positive effects of massage on psychological health, little is known about the effects of massage on body image. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of massage on body image and to examine relationships between body image and attitudes toward massage. Twenty-one female college students aged 18 to 67 (M=25.2, SD=13.20) were randomly assigned to either a massage or control condition. Participants completed questionnaires measuring body image state and trait, attitudes toward massage, and demographics. It was hypothesized that the experimental group would show greater body image change than the control group. Results showed …

Promoting Resilience In School-Aged Children, Sherry Rizzuto

Graduate Research Papers

This paper reviews the literature related to resilience in children who are considered at risk. The purpose of the paper is to describe common risk factors that put children at risk, what defines resilience, and what protective factors and processes develop resilience in these at-risk children. The paper concludes by examining interventions for school counselors to promote resilience in school-aged children.

Creating A Safe Learning Space For The Discussion Of Multicultural Issues In The Classroom, Katherine M. Helm

Psychology Department Faculty Articles

This paper reviews best pedagogic practices for creating a safe environment in which to hold courses on race, racism, and multicultural issues. Inherent in these courses are student feelings of angst, vulnerability, guilt, trepidation, and sometimes anger and hostility. The sensitive educator must manage and acknowledge these feelings so that learning can occur without diminishing the power and impact issues of race have on our collective and individual psyches and experiences. Strategies for managing and incorporating students' strong emotions into the dialogue on multiculturalism will be reviewed.

Interview And Interrogation: A Perspective And Update From The Usa, Randy Borum, Michael Gelles, Steven Kleinman

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Attachment And The Schools, Jennifer N. Allan

Graduate Research Papers

In order to be effective workers in the schools, school staff members must be able to form some sort of relationship with individual students. The ability of students to form relationships depends upon the attachments they have formed with their caretakers. The purpose of this literature review was to explore different types of attachment, interventions that can be used with students who have attachment issues, and how attachment can affect schools all of which are given from. the perspective of a school counselor. The literature review investigates and summarizes the impact both healthy and unhealthy attachment has on a student …

The Effect Of Emotional State On Inadvertent Plagiarism Memory Errors, Amanda C. Gingerich

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We investigated inadvertent plagiarism by inducing participants into a happy or sad mood before they generated items in a puzzle task. Compared to happy mood, participants induced into a sad mood made fewer memory errors in which they claimed a previously-generated idea to be new; confidence ratings in these errors, however, was higher.

“Have You Seen The Notebook?” “I Don’T Remember.” Using Popular Cinema To Teach Memory And Amnesia, Amanda C. Gingerich

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The recent influx of films addressing different aspects of memory loss inspired the development of an upper-level undergraduate seminar that focuses on investigating amnesia through the lens of popular cinema. This discussion-based course included several written assignments and, at the end of one semester, a comprehensive take-home exam. Over the course of four semesters, a bank of student-authored discussion questions for each reading was collected and a list of topics and corresponding movies was honed.

Longer Duration Of Epilepsy And Earlier Age At Epilepsy Onset Correlate With Impaired Cognitive Development In Infancy, Martina Vendrame

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We assessed the impact of age at onset of epilepsy and duration and frequency of seizures on cognitive development in children less than 3 years old. Retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data and neuropsychological testing of 33 infants with epilepsy. Developmental quotients were calculated and were correlated with age at epilepsy onset, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, brain pathology, and types of seizures (with/without spasms) as potential predictors. Infants with longer duration and earlier onset of epilepsy performed worse on developmental neuropsychological testing. Regression analyses showed that age at epilepsy onset and percentage of life with epilepsy were …

Memory Performance Is Related To Language Dominance As Determined By The Intracarotid Amobarbital Procedure, S. Kovac, G. Möddel, J. Reinholz, A. V. Alexopoulosa, T. Syed, S. U. Schuele, Tara T. Lineweaver, T. Loddenkemper

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Objective

The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between language and memory lateralization in patients with epilepsy undergoing the intracarotid amobarbital procedure.

Methods

In 386 patients, language lateralization and memory lateralization as determined by laterality index (LI) were correlated with each other.

Results

Language lateralization and memory lateralization were positively correlated (r = 0.34, P < 0.01). Correlations differed depending on the presence and type of lesion (χ² = 7.98, P < 0.05). LIs correlated significantly higher (z = 2.82, P < 0.05) in patients with cortical dysplasia (n = 41, r = 0.61, P < 0.01) compared with the group without lesions (n = 90, r = 0.16, P > 0.05), with patients with hippocampal sclerosis falling between these two groups. Both memory (P < 0.01) and language (P …