Psychology Commons^™

Controlled Interaction: Strategies For Using Virtual Reality To Study Perception, Frank H. Durgin, Z. Li

Psychology Faculty Works

Immersive virtual reality systems employing head-mounted displays offer great promise for the investigation of perception and action, but there are well-documented limitations to most virtual reality systems. In the present article, we suggest strategies for studying perception/action interactions that try to depend on both scale-invariant metrics (such as power function exponents) and careful consideration of the requirements of the interactions under investigation. New data concerning the effect of pincushion distortion on the perception of surface orientation are presented, as well as data documenting the perception of dynamic distortions associated with head movements with uncorrected optics. A review of several successful …

The Abortion Attitudes Of Counselor, Social Worker, And Nursing Trainees, Mary J. Ball

Dissertations

This study examined the similarities and dissimilarities in abortion attitudes among counselors (CTs, n = 51), social workers (SWTs, n = 42), and nurses in training (NTs, n = 78), based on profession, age, race, gender, and religion. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and standard multiple regression. It was predicted that profession, religion, age, gender, and race would predict the abortion attitudes of CTs, SWTs, and NTs in training. It was also predicted that the attitudes of CTs and SWTs would be most similar, and that both of these groups would hold more positive abortion attitudes than NTs. …

Assessing Michigan School Counselors' Preparedness To Meet The Needs Of Attractional/Sexual Minority Students, J. Frederick Bland

Dissertations

This study assessed the attitudes, skills, knowledge, graduate counseling training, and willingness to engage in professional development of Michigan school counselors regarding issues and concerns of students who identify as lesbian, gay, biattractional, transgender, and students who are questioning their attractional orientation (LGBTQ).

A total of 120 Michigan school counselors completed useable surveys either online or a paper-and-pencil version at a Michigan school counseling conference. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the demographic variables age, gender, ethnicity, attractional/sexual orientation, and professional characteristics such as years of school counseling experience, school level, and school location (urban, suburban, rural). One-way ANOVAs were used …

Trial And Error, Delayed Prompting, And Reinforcement Of Prompted Responses In Teaching Receptive Identification Of Pictures, Kristen Lynn Gaisford

Dissertations

Three strategies to train receptive identification of pictures were compared: (a) trial and error, (b) delayed finger-point prompt followed by a reinforcer, and (c) delayed finger-point prompt followed by the spoken word, "good". These three strategies were compared using a multi-element design, assessing the performance of four children, ranging from two to four years of age, selected from a classroom that provides services to children with Early Childhood Developmental Delays (ECDD). Two children mastered the receptive identification of pictures at the same rate regardless of the strategy. For the remaining two participants, the rate of mastery was the same for …

Implementing An Asca-Informed School Counselor Supervision Model: A Qualitative Field-Based Study, Janet M. Glaes

Dissertations

The American School Counseling Association's (ASCA) National Model has been recognized in the field of professional school counseling as an effective framework for the training and supervision of school counselor interns. Despite this recommendation, school counselor supervision models which incorporate the ASCA model have until recently been rare and are still in the early stages of development. This qualitative study describes the supervision experiences of six pairs of school counselor supervisors and their interns (at the elementary, middle, and high school levels) as they employed an ASCA-based school counselor specific supervision model in their internship practices. The supervision model utilized …

The Accuracy Of Observers' Estimates Of The Effect Of Glare On Nighttime Vision: Do We Exaggerate The Disabling Effects Of Glare?, Stacy Balk

All Dissertations

Designing headlights involves balancing two conflicting goals: maximizing visibility for the driver and minimizing the disabling effects of glare for other drivers. Complaints of headlight glare have increased recently. This project explored the relationship between subjective (discomfort and expected visual problems) and objective (actual visual problems) consequences of glare. Two experiments - a lab-based psychophysical study and a field study - quantified the accuracy of observers' estimates of the effects of glare on their acuity. In both experiments, participants over-estimated the extent to which glare degraded their ability to see a small high contrast target. Observers' estimates of the disabling …

Second Language Learning Anxiety Among Malay Learners Of English / Razlina Muhammad Sabri, Razlina Muhammad Sabri

Student Works (2010-2019)

This is a study of second language speaking anxiety among Malay ESL learners at an institution of higher learning. The objectives of this study are to determine whether learners experience test anxiety during public speaking, to discover if there is a difference in the anxiety level of high and low proficiency learners, to ascertain whether there are any differences between the high and low anxiety learners in their speaking test assessment, and to identify the factors leading to speaking language anxiety. This study has taken both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The data is mainly obtained from questionnaires and interviews with …

Quality Of Life In Hemodialysis Patients, Cynthia I. Taylor

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The increasing number of patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) has caused a substantial rise in the number of individuals receiving hemodialysis. One of the persistent questions with this group has been the influence of the procedure on quality of life. The present study explored the important factors that influence quality of life in hemodialysis patients. Participants were 160 (71 men and 89 women, mean age 62.84 years) community-dwelling, hemodialysis patients. Participants completed the Kidney Disease Quality of Life questionnaire and mental health and physical health composite scores were created in order to examine factors that can be considered …

Furthering Conservation Of Resources Theory: How Our Values Influence Out Stress Response, Neil Morelli

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Conservation of resources (Hobfoll, 1989) theory is an increasingly applied conceptualization of the stress process (Hobfoll & Lilly, 1993; Neveu, 2007). To evaluate and expand this theory, an exploratory research study was conducted to determine the influence of personal psychosocial values (e.g., self-transcendence and conservation; Schwartz, 1994) on coping processes, using resource-importance appraisal as a mediating factor. The primary tenets of conservation of resources theory, as conceptualized by Hobfoll (1989), and personal values, as conceptualized by Schwartz (1992), were defined and linked using coping behavior as the common procedural outcome. Two studies were conducted using a student sample and an …

Compassion-Focused Reappraisal, Benefit-Focused Reappraisal, And Rumination After An Interpersonal Offense: Emotion-Regulation Implications For Subjective Emotion, Linguistic Responses, And Physiology, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet, Ross W. Knoll, Nova G. Hinman, Paul Deyoung

Faculty Publications

This repeated measures psychophysiology experiment studied three responses to a past interpersonal offense (38 females and 33 males). We compared rumination with two offense reappraisal strategies. Compassion-focused reappraisal emphasized the offender's humanity, and interpreted the transgression as evidence of the offender's need for positive transformation. Benefit-focused reappraisal emphasized insights gained or strengths shown in facing the offense. Supporting the manipulations, compassion-focused reappraisal stimulated the most empathy and forgiveness, whereas benefit-focused reappraisal prompted the most benefit language and gratitude. Both reappraisals decreased aroused, negative emotion, and related facial muscle tension at the brow (corrugator). Both reappraisals increased happiness and positive emotion …

Overclaiming And The Medial Prefrontal Cortex : A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study, Franco Amati

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The tendency to claim more knowledge than one actually has is common and well documented, however little research has focused on the neural mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon. The goal of the present study was to investigate the cortical correlates of overclaiming. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was delivered to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC), Supplementary Motor Area (SMA), and Precuneus during the presentation of a series of words that participants were told made up a Cultural I.Q. test. However, participants were not informed that 50% of the words were actually fabricated. False claiming was reduced following MPFC TMS. Furthermore, reaction …

Medication And Lifestyle Adherence Behaviors In Hypertensive Patients, Alayna B. Berkowitz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Hypertension is a serious chronic condition that afflicts many Americans. The present study used the Common Sense Model (CSM) of Self Regulation as a theoretical framework to aid in the examination of predictors of medication and/or lifestyle adherence. Based upon the literature reviewed, the current study proposes that predictors would be different for medication and lifestyle adherence. Three hypotheses were proposed: 1. CSM-related variables (blood pressure monitoring, condition-worry hypertension duration, control beliefs, and medication beliefs items) would be correlated with medication adherence; 2. specific CSM-related variables, self assessed health (SAH) and physical functioning would significantly be correlated with lifestyle adherence; …

The Role Of Progesterone Receptor In Development Of Medial Prefrontal Cortex And Impulsive Behavior, Vanessa Costanzo

Psychology

Human behaviors are regulated by the complex functions of the brain and many behavioral disorders are assumed to be the result of alterations or deficits in neural function. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by differences in complex behaviors such as attention, memory and impulse control has been linked to alterations in dopaminergic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Therefore, factors that regulate development of this region may be implicated in ADHD. For example, steroid hormones can alter fundamental processes of neural development through interaction with their nuclear receptors, which act as transcription factors. Progesterone receptor (PR) is transiently …

The Effect Of Recurrent Hypoglycemia On Mental Flexibility, Justin Ramcharitar

Psychology

A major side-effect of intensive insulin replacement therapy, is recurrent hypoglycemia (RH). Clinical and experimental evidence suggest that RH may be associated with deficits in higher cognitive processes; specifically, in judgment and mental flexibility, processes believed to be mediated in large part by the medial prefrontal cortex. The present study investigates the effects of short-term RH on mental flexibility in rats. Animals underwent food restriction and were extensively handled and habituated. Prior to testing animals were randomly assigned to one of four groups with varying levels of RH. Animals were then tested for two consecutive days on a set-shift maze …

The Association Of Type-D Personality And Prognosis Following Diagnosis Of Cardiovascular Disease: A Review And Meta-Analysis, Kelsey O'Dell

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Type-D personality is characterized by the stable traits of negative affectivity and social inhibition. In recent years, a body of studies has examined the relationship between the presence of Type-D personality and prognosis in cardiovascular patient populations. The present meta-analysis, investigated relationships between Type-D personality and three different outcome measures: major adverse cardiac events, quality of life, and biochemical markers of disease. A random effects meta-analytic model was utilized to calculate omnibus effect sizes for each set of related studies. Tests of homogeneity were conducted, and all studies were coded for the presence of potential moderators. A total of 14 …

Gender Socialization In Toys By Parents, Christina A. Simmons

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Substantial research in child development focuses on the formation of gender identity and how socialization in the home contributes to the acquisition of gender-linked behavior; however, there is not much recent discussion of the parents’ influence in the formation of gender stereotypes, specifically of those regarding toys, in Spain. Research indicates that children are able to identify the gender appropriateness of certain toys at early ages (between 2 and 4 years of age) and their interest in playing with stereotyped toys varies as a function of the toys' gender appropriateness. This study focused specifically on gender and toys and how …

Virtual Teams Affect, Performance And Interpersonal Perception With Unexpected Leadership Change, Jeanette M. Zoeckler

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Traditional ways of doing business and communicating in the workplace are changing. With frequent mergers, shifting operational demands and underlying economic pressure, computer-mediated communication has been increasingly employed. To achieve greater flexibility in workforce configurations, working virtually is often more the norm than the exception. With continuously improving internet technologies, frequently work-teams are formed when members are not geographically co-located. Both internal and external pressures combine, in the corporate setting, to produce an unprecedented velocity of change which seems especially related to globalization. (Held, 2007) Just exactly how does the virtual team handle abrupt change? While many researchers focus on …

The Quest Of A Lifetime : How The First Year Of University Of Richmond Life Affects Student's Spirituality And Religiosity, Melanie Martin

Honors Theses

First year university students’ religious and spiritual beliefs and attitudes were investigated over the course of the year. The survey used was largely made up of a subset of questions from the CSBV survey created by HERI and adapted and administered via Survey Monkey software to 153 first year students in the Fall Semester and 74 first year students in the Spring Semester at the University of Richmond. Students pray less and self-reflect more, are more likely to agree that the universe arose by chance, less likely to believe that ‘only religion can truly explain existence’, less likely to find …

An Exploration Of The Core Self-Evaluations- Performance Relationship: The Roles Of Engagement And Need For Achievement, Christine Haugh

All Theses

The present study proposed a moderated mediation model involving the personality variables of core self-evaluations (CSE) and need for achievement (nAch), and the motivational state of engagement as predictors of task performance. CSE was hypothesized to interact with nAch to predict two domains of engagement, such that higher scores in measures of both variables would lead to increased performance in these domains. The narrow domain was represented by a single psychology test, and the broad domain referred to overall academic engagement and performance, as measured by cumulative GPA. CSE was also hypothesized to be directly related to performance in these …

Faculty Attitudes About Multiculturalism Issues: A Longitudinal Analysis, Daniel T. Lemnen

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The demographics of the United States continue to change, and the ethnical and cultural landscape changes along with it. The American Psychological Association (APA) has begun to address these issues within the field of psychology. These efforts are being made to bring understanding to ethnic identity formation, explore the dangers of ignoring ethnic differences (i.e., Sue, 2004; "invisibility of Whiteness"), and to highlight the necessity to develop views with diverse perspectives. This in part due to the recognition that there remain facets of our nation that remain generally ethnically homogenous (i.e., White). The university is one such place, and George …

The Relationship Among Identity Development, Sociocultural Ideals Of Beauty, And Self-Objectification Among Females In Early Adulthood, Hillary Lambert

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The sexualization of women and girls in Western society has been widely studied and has been shown to contribute to a number of different negative outcomes for women, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, and low self-esteem. Two prominent theories have emerged to explain how sexualization leads to pathology. Sociocultural theory states that women internalize unrealistic ideals of beauty obtained through media outlets and interpersonal interactions. Likewise, self-objectification theory states that women are socialized to view themselves as objects to be evaluated and looked at by others and incorporate these ideals into their view of self. Because identity achievement is …

An Investigation Of The Classroom Component Of Positive Behavior Intervention And Support System On Appropriately Engaged Behavior, Kathryn Marie Menousek

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the withinclass component of positive behavior support in the form of ticket presentation with verbal praise in the classroom in increasing appropriately engaged behavior. A multiple baseline comparison across three classrooms was utilized to assess and compare each classroom's mean percentage of observed intervals of appropriately engaged behavior across intervention phases (baseline, direct teaching and review of PBIS classroom expectations and rules, direct teaching and review of PBIS classroom expectations and rules with ticket presentation and verbal praise, direct teaching and review of PBIS classroom expectations and rules …

The Effects Of Expectations On Performance: Generalizing Galatea, Brittany Day

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The Galatea effect occurs when self-efficacy is intentionally raised yielding an increase in performance. The study focused on generalizing the Galatea effect to the historically under researched populations of Blacks in the workforce. To raise self-efficacy, the participants in the experimental condition were presented with a scenario designed to increase specific self-efficacy through verbal persuasion. This study used a diverse sample of male and female college students. The dependent variable was performance on Sudoku – a cognition puzzle. The Sudoku puzzle is a test of deductive reasoning which can be related to cognitive performance. Cognitive ability is often used in …

Does Health Anxiety Moderate The Effects Of Mortality Salience On Worldview Defense?, Toni Brooke Merkey

Master's Theses

Research generated from Terror Management Theory has demonstrated that reminding participants of their eventual death increases self-esteem striving and worldview defense (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004). The hypothesis in the present study was that health anxiety would moderate this effect, based on the premise that health-anxious individuals are chronically more aware of their own mortality. To test this hypothesis, the Illness _and Attitudes Scale (IAS) was administered to 65 undergraduates to determine level of health anxiety. Participants were then randomly assigned to a mortality salience or control condition. Level of worldview defense was measured by participants' reactions to …

Variation In Social Behavior Throughout The Estrous Cycle Of A Captive Killer Whale Orcinus Orca, Kristina Marie Horback

Master's Theses

The study of cetaceans in captivity provides information on behavior, acoustics, reproduction and physiology that is often difficult to obtain with free-ranging populations. The present study examined the influence of the estrous cycle of a captive female killer whale on the rate, duration, initiation and reception of social behavior she performed with her only pool mate, a male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Although these two delphinid species do not commonly associate in the wild, these pool mates often engaged in affiliative tactile and social behaviors. The objectives of this project were to: (a) examine the influence of cycli~ gonadal steroid hormones …

The Effectivness Of Brief Experimental Analysis In Identifying Reading Fluency Interventions When Conducted By Parents, Qi Zhou

Master's Theses

This study examined 1) if the parents were able to conduct a brief experimental analysis (BEA) for identifying the most effective reading fluency intervention for their child; 2) if the brief experimental analysis was effective when conducted by trained parents. Three elementary students with reading difficulties and their parents participated. The parents were trained by the experimenter. After reach the mastery of the BEA procedure, the parents conducted it with their children. The reading interventions that were evaluated with each child were listening passage preview, repeated reading, listening passage preview plus repeated reading, listening passage preview plus repeated reading plus …

Second Language Learning Anxiety Among Malay Learners Of English., Razlina Muhammad Sabri

Student Works (2010-2019)

This is a study of second language speaking anxiety among Malay ESL learners at an institution of higher learning. The objectives of this study are to determine whether learners experience test anxiety during public speaking, to discover if there is a difference in the anxiety level of high and low proficiency learners, to ascertain whether there are any differences between the high and low anxiety learners in their speaking test assessment, and to identify the factors leading to speaking language anxiety. This study has taken both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The data is mainly obtained from questionnaires and interviews with …

Use Of The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test - Second Edition As An Embedded Measure Of Malingering In A College Population, Jamie Lee Babutzke

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

In today’s economic decline, there is a growing pressure for the reform of healthcare. Clinicians need to treat only those individuals who have true symptoms and problems. Individuals who exaggerate or feigning cognitive impairments are straining an already over-burdened healthcare system (Haines & Norris, 2001). A collaborative approach in which a clinician gathers information from an interview, behavior observations, collateral information, and assessments is recommended to detect if an individual is attempting to malinger. Assessments are especially important if a clinician should be called to court. Over two-thirds of neuropsychologists use at least one specialized technique for detecting malingering (Slick, …

Cluster Analysis Of The Tomal Standardization Sample, Nicholas Shizuo Thaler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children experience natural cognitive changes as they grow older, with more rapid memory development when they are younger. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the expected normal variation in youth using the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL; Reynolds & Bigler, 1994). The TOMAL is a broad-band verbal and nonverbal memory battery that has been standardized on youth aged 5-19, providing a good source of information on memory development in healthy children. Cluster analysis analyzed 1121 children selected from the TOMAL standardization sample and identified homogeneous profile subtypes of memory and learning. In addition, three age ranges …

“When Will Your Program Be Available In Spanish?" Adapting An Early Parenting Intervention For Latino Families, Jean E. Dumas, Ximena Arriaga, Angela Moreland Begle, Zayra Longoria

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper describes the Spanish adaptation of PACE – Parenting Our Children to Excellence. Successfully offered in preschools and daycare centers since 2002, PACE is a research-based preventive intervention to support families in their parenting task through discussions and activities that address practical childrearing issues and promote child coping-competence. Developed in response to community calls, the new program is known as CANNE –Criando a Nuestros Niños hacia el Éxito. The paper makes the processes linking original and adapted versions explicit by accounting for the conceptual and practical decisions that were made as CANNE was being developed. We begin by summarizing …