Psychology Commons^™

Examining The Errors And Self-Corrections On The Stroop Test, Ashley K. Miller

ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to collect normative data for a computer-assisted version of the Comalli Stroop Test, a commonly used neuropsychological measure. Additionally, the study was aimed at investigating the self-corrected errors on the Stroop Test, which have not previously been accounted for on the traditional test versions. Participants included one hundred and seventy two individuals from Cleveland State University and the community. Participants were administered computer-assisted versions of the Comalli Stroop Test and Trail Making Test. Participants were also asked to rate their agreement to four statements on a 5-level Likert scale to assess self-perceptions of testing. …

A Reexamination Of The Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder Questionnaire Reliability And Validity In A College Student Sample, Rachel Martukovich

ETD Archive

The present research was designed to evaluate the reliability and validity of a new measure for Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, namely the Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Questionnaire (OCPDQ). One hundred and forty students at a Midwestern urban university were administered the OCPDQ as well as the Leyton Obsessional Inventory (LOI Cooper, 1970) and the Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR Burns, Keortege, Formea, & Sternberger, 1996). The reliability and validity of the OCPDQ were analyzed and each of the eight subscales that corresponded to the eight criteria for OCPD were examined. The OCPDQ had a high level of reliability with …

Gender Differences In Severity And Symptoms Of Post War Trauma And The Effects Of Persisting Psychological Trauma On Quality Of Life Among Bosnian Refugees Living In The United States, Irina Bransteter

ETD Archive

Bosnian refugees, living in Cleveland Ohio, completed questionnaires during the months of March and April of 2009. This study sample consisted of 41 participants, 21 males and 20 females, who have lived in Bosnia for any duration of time during the civil war that took place between May of 1992 to November of 1995. This study employed several assessment measures: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and Multidimensional Index of Life Quality (MILQ). The Following hypothesis were proposed: 1) Manifestation of PTSD symptoms of post war trauma will be significantly higher amongst the …

The Perception Of Fairness Of Performance Appraisals, Tracy M. Prather

ETD Archive

The perception of fairness in performance appraisals (PA) is one of the most important factors and considered a criterion when reviewing PA effectiveness (Jacobs, Kafry, and Zedeck, 1980). In this particular study, I examined numerous variables in three main categories: interpersonal, procedural, and outcome fairness. Keep in mind that although these are three distinct categories, they are all inter-related. One hundred ninety-two employees, from the research and development section of a large retail company, voluntarily participated. The results were slightly contradictory to what was expected yet they were good results. The interpersonal variable, manager effectiveness, along with the outcome variables, …

The Effect Of Workload On Student Evaluations Of Teaching, Jennifer Kramp

ETD Archive

There are several intermingled factors that have been proposed to influence the results seen on student evaluations of teaching (SETs). Two suggested factors are workload and expected grade. Research has suggested both a positive and negative correlation with scores seen on SETs and workload levels. However, the direction of the relationship may depend upon whether the workload was perceived as "good" or "bad." For the purposes of this study, good workload can be defined as work that the student felt increased his or her knowledge of the subject at hand. Bad workload can be defined as work that the student …

Emotional Intelligence And Cognitive Moral Development In Undergraduate Business Students, Elizabeth Pluskwik

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

This study examines relationships between emotional intelligence (EI) and cognitive moral development (CMD) in undergraduate business students. The ability model of emotional intelligence was used in this study, which evaluated possible relationships between EI and CMD in a sample of 82 undergraduate business students. The sample population was approximately 700 students in a private university in the Midwest United States. A weak, positive relationship was found between overall emotional intelligence and moral development, but the strength of this relationship failed to reach statistical significance. However, one branch of EI, Understanding Emotions, did have a positive correlation with moral development at …

Good Teams, Bad Teams: Under What Conditions Do Missionary Teams Function Effectively?, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

Missionary teams are popular, but not always effective. Five conditions contributing to healthy team functioning are examined in light of empirical evidence: trust, task conflict, commitment to decisions, accountability, and group goals.

Organizational Justice: Perceptions Of Being Fairly Treated, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

When members of mission organizations perceive injustice within their organization, they work less effectively and attrition is more likely. This paper examines various types of organizational justice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) which need to be monitored and maximized to help mission organizations accomplish their goals.

The Future Of Natural Selection Knowledge Measurement: A Reply To Anderson Et Al. (2010), Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

The development of rich, reliable, and robust measures of the composition, structure, and stability of student thinking about core scientific ideas (such as natural selection) remains a complex challenge facing science educators. In their recent article (Nehm & Schonfeld 2008), the authors explored the strengths, weaknesses, and insights provided by a detailed exploration of three commonly used measures of student thinking about natural selection in a large sample of underrepresented minority students. One of their core findings was that all of the tools they studied--including the CINS--have strengths and weaknesses that must be carefully taken into consideration by those …

The Role Of Employment Status, Work Disruption, Leisure, And Resources In The Mental Health Of Demenita Caregiving Daughters, Lisa Jones Ficker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Employment has been consistently identified as a role strain among dementia caregivers. This study sought to examine the patterns and context of employment and work disruption among dementia caregiving daughters and learn the extent to which work disruption influences mental health through hypothesized reductions in financial resources and leisure activities. This study was a cross-sectional design that extracted data of 486 daughter caregivers from a dataset that gathered information from Caucasian, African American, and Latina dementia caregivers at six research sites across the nation.

Results indicated that caregiving daughters who were employed reported the lowest number of depressive symptoms and …

Assessment Of Memory Function And Effort Using The Wechsler Memory Scale - 4th Edition, Justin B. Miller

Wayne State University Dissertations

Even the most psychometrically sound measures are sensitive to the level of effort put forth by the examinee and their intent. This is especially true for measures of memory functioning that are a common target of negative response bias and withholding effort. The aim of the present study was to develop methods for detecting these behaviors for the current edition of the Wechsler Memory Scale, 4th Edition (WMS-IV) using a community sample of healthy adults coached to simulate traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a sample of bona fide TBI survivors. The primary analytic strategy involved generation of prediction models to …

Trajectories Of Emotion Regulation Into Middle Childhood: An Investigation Of Attachment, Temperament, And Language, Julie Elizabeth Braciszewski

Wayne State University Dissertations

The development of emotion regulation continues to be considered a cornerstone to adaptive child development. However, studies have yet to integrate early relationship, child-centered factors, and socio-demographic factors, from infancy through middle childhood, in an attempt to look at emotional regulation development over time. By utilizing latent growth curve modeling, the current study aimed to extend understanding of how child-centered factors (temperament and language skill) and socio-demographic factors (gender, ethnicity, and family resources) affect the development of emotion regulation from 3rd to 6th grades, within the context of early attachment relationships. Stability in emotion regulation in the general sample, as …

A Comparison Of Parental Self-Efficacy, Parenting Satisfaction, And Other Factors Between Single Mothers With And Without Children With Developmental Disabilities, Raymond Phillip Small

Wayne State University Dissertations

Depression and stress occur among single mothers and raising a child with a developmental disability can be a difficult burden. The purpose of this study was to determine if having a child with a developmental disability was a source of stress and depression among single mothers, and if this impinged on parental self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and social support. The moderating potential of having a child with a disability was examined on relationships between stress, depression, parental self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and social support. Understanding these relationships could be useful in the service delivery system to single mothers and families of children …

Why Do Employees Behave Badly? An Examination Of The Effects Of Mood, Personality, And Job Demands On Counterproductive Work Behavior, Malissa Clark

Wayne State University Dissertations

Given the recent interest in the organizational literatures on the topic of workplace aggression and other acts of counterproductive work behavior (CWB), coupled with the interest in how affect and emotions influence organizational behavior, this study aimed to integrate these two themes to test how mood, personality, and factors relating to one's job influence a person's propensity to engage in acts of CWB. This study contributes to the extant literature in several ways. First, this is one of only a handful of studies that examines the relationship between momentary moods and counterproductive work behaviors using an experience sampling methodology. Second, …

The Effect Of Word Sociality On Word Recognition, Sean Seaman

Wayne State University Dissertations

While research into the role of semantic structure in the recognition of written and spoken words has grown, it has not looked specifically at the role of conversational context on the recognition of isolated words. This study was a corpus-based and behavioral exploration of a new semantic variable - sociality - and used on-line behavioral testing to obtain new word recognition data using the visual and auditory lexical decision tasks. The results consistently demonstrated that sociality is one of the most robust predictors of lexical decision performance. Overall, it appears that the visual lexical decision task is quite sensitive to …

Guy Time: The Effects Of Men's Male Friends On Their Heavy Drinking, Consensual Sexual Behaviors, And Sexual Assault Perpetration, Angela Judith Jacques-Tiura

Wayne State University Dissertations

Risky, reckless, and potentially harmful behaviors reach their peak during the adolescent and emerging adulthood years. Past research demonstrates that a variety of social influences, including descriptive and injunctive norms, overt pressure, and modeling affect adolescents' and college students' heavy drinking, consensual sexual experiences, and sexual assaults. The construct of peer influence has been measured in many different ways, and little research has simultaneously considered peer influence on even two of the three outcomes in the current study. Further, much of the research with emerging adults is conducted with college students. To address these gaps in the literature, this study …

C-Reactive Protein, Homocysteine, And Cognitive Performance In Healthy Adults, Cheryl Dahle

Wayne State University Dissertations

Elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine (Hcy) have received a great deal of attention as biomarkers for the development of cardiovascular disease. Their utility in predicting cognitive function has also been assessed, though the findings are equivocal. The current study examined the relationship between elevated blood levels of CRP and Hcy and their effect on cognition across several cognitive domains. As baseline blood levels of CRP and Hcy and cognition are in part regulated by genetic factors, the impact of T carrier status for variants in the CRP -286 C>T>A and the MTHFR 677C>T …

Values And Problem Behaviors In Hong Kong Adolescents, Phebe Karen Lam

Wayne State University Dissertations

The present study examined sensation seeking, psychological problem behaviors, values orientation, and problem behaviors of smoking, alcohol use, and delinquency among Hong Kong adolescents studying in high school of two different ability levels. Adolescents (N = 1385) from a band one and band three level high school in Hong Kong were assessed using the Sensation Seeking Scale Form-V (SSS-V), Youth Self Report (YSR), Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), and the Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire (AHDQ), along with several demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, grade level, employment).

Regression analyses were employed to determine the contribution of the significantly correlated variables in …

Resilience & Recovery After War: Refugee Children And Families In The United States, Katherine Porterfield, Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith, Molly A. Benson, Theresa Betancourt, B. Heidi Ellis, Maryam Kia-Keating, Kenneth Miller

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Finding The Pill On The Floor: How Contrast Sensitivity Affects Daily Living Skills In Alzheimer’S Disease Patients, Marlyn Colon

Undergraduate Review

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys an individual’s mental functioning and social capabilities, including the ability to carry out everyday activities. Although memory deficits affect AD patients’ ability to perform these activities, research suggests that visual perception impairments also contribute. One impaired visual perception ability, contrast sensitivity, enables one to distinguish an object from its immediate surroundings. The present project measured contrast sensitivity in a real-world task by having AD patients find a pill of various shades of gray on a tiled background. Results were compared to young and elderly control participants. Participants also filled …

Hurting To Cope: Self-Injurious Behavior As An Escape From Self-Focus, Danielle Williams

Undergraduate Review

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a prevalent problem in today’s society and is estimated to affect 4% of the general population (Darche, 1990; Nock & Prinstein, 2004). SIB has been described as a form of coping (Fliege et al., 2006) and a means of escaping negative feelings (Barrera, Violo & Graver, 2007; Nock & Prinstein, 2004), however it has not been examined within the framework of Baumeister’s escape-style-coping theory (Baumeister, 1991a; 1991b). In addition, although escape-style-coping theory has been linked with self-focused temperament (Spievak, 2003), SIB has not been examined in relation to chronic self-focus. It was hypothesized that those individuals …

The Relationship Between Race And Suicide Ideation In Delinquent Females In The Texas Juvenile Justice System, Scott H. Belshaw, John Rodriquez

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002) reported that suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 14 to 25 in the United States. This research examined the effect race has on suicidal ideation among a cohort of delinquent girls in Texas. This study examined 2004 data provided by the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission on referrals to the juvenile justice system in Texas (N = 6850). Other variables such as age, family structure, and sexual abuse were also examined to determine the strength and effect that sexual abuse has on a juvenile becoming suicidal. …

Analysis Of Gender Responsiveness And Cultural Responsiveness, Barbara Carson, Kimberly Greer

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

The theories of gender responsive programming in corrections have focused on the importance of relationships, gender roles, and structural barriers for women (Bloom, Owen, & Covington, 2003). They also included a strong recommendation for cultural responsiveness in recognizing cultural differences among female offenders and providing culturally relevant services (Bloom et al., 2003). However, there was little theoretical or empirical guidance on how to respond when the goals of gender responsive programming conflicted with the culture of female offenders. Findings from a program evaluation of a small, gang intervention program working with Hmong American girls, suggested that in such conflicts, cultural …

Guns And Porn: A Look At The Semantic Effects Of The Relationship Between Aggression And Sexuality, Niki J. Kersey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Physiological similarities and sexual assault statistics suggest a link between sexuality and aggression. With this project, the aim was to use a cognitive approach to understand and confirm this connection; specifically, the goal was to determine whether the relationship between these concepts is reflected in semantic networks in the brain. In order to determine the existence of these semantic relationships, a lexical decision task was formed using a list of words rated as highly related to aggression and a list of words rated as highly related to sexuality. If aggression and sexuality are semantically linked, we expect to find significantly …

Correlates Of Weight Concern And Control In A Hispanic College Student Sample., J. Blow, T. Taylor, Theodore Cooper, C. Redfearn

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Exploring Unmet Needs And Barriers To Phychological And Behavioral Health Services In Rural Appalachia, Sarah Rachel Jarvis

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Residents living in rural communities face many challenges, one of which is the need for adequate mental health services. Various factors including accessibility, quality, and social stigma often impact an individual’s decision to seek services, especially when they are related to psychological distress. This project highlights the characteristics of several rural communities within Appalachia to determine if there is an unmet need for psychological services and what barriers may be keeping potential patients from seeking psychological services. Both archival and survey data will be analyzed to determine the perceived need for psychological services and what barriers community leaders feel are …

Weight Gain Among Adults With Intellectual Disabilities Receiving Atypical Antipsychotics, Sherri Lyn Transier

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study assessed whether the atypical antipsychotic agents olanzapine, risperidone, and quetiapine are associated with significant weight gain among adults with intellectual disabilities after 6 months of drug treatment. The body weights of 79 participants were retrieved 6 months prior to the initiation of drug treatment, at the start of the atypical antipsychotic agent, and after 6 months of drug therapy. Each individual served as his or her own control by utilizing pretreatment baseline trends in weight change to calculate a dependent measure of adjusted posttreatment weight gain. Doing so allowed for a stringent determination of the liability for …

Poverty Among Adults With Disabilities: Barriers To Promoting Asset Accumulation In Individual Development Accounts, Katherine Mcdonald, Michal Soffer, Peter Blanck

Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition

Adults with disabilities disproportionally experience poverty. We examine one novel strategy to promote economic well-being among adults with disabilities living in or near poverty, namely Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). IDAs are designed to help individuals save money and subsequently accumulate assets. Although adults with disabilities account for the majority of IDA participants, scant attention has been paid to their IDA saving performance. We describe the significance of accumulating assets, particularly as it relates to adults with disabilities. We then map the nature of IDA programs and analyze barriers to participation in IDAs and asset accumulation related to conflicting federal policies …

The Science Of Interpersonal Trust, Randy Borum

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding Terrorist Psychology, Randy Borum

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.