Psychology Commons^™

Cultural Brokering And Bicultural Identity: An Exploratory Study, Jorida Cila, Richard Lalonde, Zohrah Haqanee

Western Migration Conference Series

Abstract: Cultural brokering refers to a process where individuals mediate between two parties that are experiencing some type of cultural misunderstanding. Our exploratory study indicates that cultural brokering is a diverse experience that spans the boundaries of one’s family and includes various norms, values and traditions.

Falsely Remembered Words As Explicit Primes: Combining A False Memory Paradigm With A Priming Task, Lori A. Hughes

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for BSU Honors Program.

Self-Objectification As A Dissociative Experience: Making The Connection Between Media Internalization And Self-Harm, Stephanie C. Lichiello

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Society and the media put great emphasis on the female body as women are continuously objectified and reduced to mere objects to be looked at. Objectification may lead to the internalization of an outsider’s perspective, known as self-objectification, which may have serious consequences for women’s mental and physical health including eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression. We anticipated that greater belief in sociocultural attitudes regarding the media would predict greater body surveillance and body shame which would then predict increased dissociation and subsequent feelings of depression and engagement in self-harm behaviors. A survey of 169 women was conducted. Results indicated …

Suc Khoe La Quan Trong Hon Sac Dep! Health Is Better Than Beauty! Improving Breast And Cervical Cancer Screening Outcomes Among Vietnamese Women, Anh Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Vietnamese women experience cancer screening disparities and inconsistent adherence to screening guidelines. The goal of this study was to implement and evaluate a breast and cervical cancer screening intervention to promote cancer screening knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, intention, and behavior for Vietnamese women. Secondary objectives of the study included examining the relationships between cultural variables (e.g., acculturation, ethnic identity, religiosity, and collectivism) and cancer screening variables. The study enrolled 102 women from the greater Richmond metropolitan area. Participants were assigned to an intervention group or a print material control group. In the intervention session, participants were exposed to information on female …

Developmental Trajectories Of Physical And Relational Aggression And Their Relation To Delinquency And Substance Use In Adolescence, Denicia Titchner

Theses and Dissertations

Although researchers studying adolescent aggression have proposed a conceptual distinction between physical and relational aggression, there is contradictory evidence regarding the degree to which they differ in their trajectories and relations to other outcomes. This study explored the importance of differentiating between these two forms of aggression based on comparisons of their trajectories, relation with each other, impact on delinquency and substance use, and gender differences. Data were collected as part of the Multisite Violence Prevention Project, conducted at 19 middle schools from four sites with a predominantly low-income, minority sample of students (N = 2,822). Growth curves showed significant …

Assessment Of Diabetes Regimen Disease Care In Youth With Type 1 Diabetes Via The Diabetes Behavior Rating Scale And The 24-Hour Diabetes Interview, Kathryn Maher

Theses and Dissertations

The psychometric properties of two measures of diabetes disease care, the Diabetes Behavior Rating Scale (DBRS) and the 24-hr Diabetes Interview (24-hr) were evaluated. The 24-hr is a widely used, structured interview while the DBRS is a self-administered, fixed-choice questionnaire. Both measures were administered to 250 youth with Type 1 Diabetes (aged 11–14 years) and their parents. Overall, both measures demonstrate adequate psychometric properties. The DBRS and the 24-hr demonstrated good incremental validity and low convergent validity with each adding significant additive value. Both measures demonstrated good concurrent validity with HbA1c. As expected, scores on the 24-hr demonstrated less than …

What It Means To Be A Man: Masculinity, Sexual Risk-Taking, And Hiv Testing Behavior Among Heterosexual African American Males, Jessica Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

HIV/AIDS is a growing concern in the African American community. From 2005 to 2008, there was a 12% increase in HIV/AIDS diagnoses among African Americans (CDC, 2010a). African American males have higher rates of HIV/AIDS diagnoses than any other ethnic or racial groups. In 2006, 65% of the HIV/AIDS cases among African Americans were from adult males (CDC, 2010a). These higher rates are in part attributed to higher levels of sexual risk-taking including unprotected sex, sex with multiple partners, and sex with high-risk partners. African American adult men get tested at almost the same rate (52%) as African American women …

Hallowed Be Thy Name: The Effect Of Prayer On God-Schemata, Jennifer J. Healey

Senior Honors Theses

Religious ideologies and spiritual frameworks are first formed and later held together by the linking of encounters with the sacred, a spiritual Entity, ritualistic practices, and/or the recognition of spirituality in others or within one’s self. The concept of schemata, which are the mind’s processing frameworks wherein the individual connects information in a purposeful and meaningful way is fundamentally tied to this process of deliberating faith. According to the Christian faith, prayer molds this conceptualization of God. This study endeavors to establish the relationship between the subjective nature of schemata and its supernatural implications: how prayer influences one’s view of …

The Impact Of Minority Status And Language Fluency On Vietnamese Asian Americans In The Predominately English-Speaking American Workplace, Lily L. Truong

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Debrazza’S Monkeys (Cercopithecus Neglectus) In A Mixed-Taxa Zoo Exhibit: Effects On The Behavior Of A Breeding Group Of Debrazza’S Monkeys After The Birth Of An Infant, Rachel Diamond

Psychology Honors Projects

Historically, zoos rarely feature mixed taxa exhibits including multiple primate species; the Minnesota Zoo opened such a unique four-species exhibit featuring Rock hyraxes, Red River hogs, Colobus monkeys, and DeBrazza’s monkeys in May, 2010. Because of potential problems associated with territoriality and aggression, primates in mixed-taxa exhibits are generally non-breeding. However, the DeBrazza’s monkeys at the MN Zoo are a breeding pair with a juvenile offspring. The intent of this study was to design an ethogram with the purpose of calculating the effects of a mixed taxa exhibit on the behavior of this breeding group, and to compare their behavior …

Adapting Evidence-Based Treatments For Youth In A Community Mental Health Setting: Single Case Design, Alexis Quinoy

Theses and Dissertations

This single-case design study examined the effectiveness of adapting evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for children in a community clinic through a university-community partnership. Community clinic therapists treated eight youths (five males), ages 10 to 14, of whom four were Caucasian, two were Latino, one was African-American, and one was Caucasian/African-American. Youths presented with a primary diagnosis of a DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) internalizing disorder (plus multiple comorbidities). An adapted treatment combining multiple elements based on two primary treatment manuals: Coping Cat (Kendall et al., 1990) and PASCET (Weisz et al., 1999) was used. Youths with comorbid externalizing symptoms were also …

Sweet Mercy: A Scientific Investigation, Aubrey Gartner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following studies is to understand the factors that are related to and influence a person’s merciful behavior toward an offender. I define mercy as an act by a person who has the authority to do so that administers or recommends less negative consequence or punishment than is deserved by someone justly deserved. In Study 1, undergraduate students (N = 400) completed the Mercy Meter, a self-report measure of mercy. The Mercy Meter’s scale structure and psychometric properties were examined using Item Response Theory Rasch Analysis. A 14-item, 2-factor scale was established with good psychometric properties. Evidence …

Students’ Perceptions Of Same-Sex Attraction And Sexual Reorientation Therapy, Abigail L. Roller

Senior Honors Theses

Much current research has focused on Christian individuals’ beliefs regarding the morality of homosexuality, and several studies have examined the efficacy of sexual reorientation therapy.  The current study sought to explore the perceptions of students at a private Christian university regarding the morality of same-sex attraction and behavior and the efficacy of sexual reorientation therapy.  An original survey was created for the data collection, and data analysis demonstrated a strong positive correlation between students’ beliefs about the morality of same-sex attraction and behavior and their beliefs regarding the efficacy of sexual reorientation therapy.  Implications for further research in this area …

A Retrospective And Prospective Comparison Of Hungarian Children Who Have One Or Two Episodes Of Depression, Vanessa Panaite

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early onset depression is associated with high recurrence rates later in life. Recurrent depressive episodes during childhood may be particularly problematic, if additional episodes have a scarring effect that hinders healthy development. Distinguishing between first onsets and recurrences has been useful in understanding adult depression. This distinction has seldom been examined in pediatric depression, in part because it is difficult to enroll adequate samples of children with recurrent depression. We conducted archival analyses of carefully-diagnosed pediatric probands with depression first onset between ages of 4 and 12. Probands who reported one depressive episode (N = 435) were compared with probands …

The Evolution Of Social Pain: Understanding The Neural Network Of Social Ostracism Through Electroencephalography, Daniel M. Kern

Honors Projects

The lack of belonging or frequent exposure to social ostracism has maladaptive psychological and physical consequences. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the neural processes of social ostracism. Previously, Williams (2009) showed a decrease in theta power in the frontal lobe when female participants were ostracized in a virtual chat-room. Using male and female Illinois Wesleyan college students, this study manipulated two powerful social cues (biological sex and attractiveness level) to determine their effect on prefrontal brain activity in response to social ostracism in a virtual chat-room environment. Using EEG technology, frontal theta power (4-8Hz) was measured using …

The Effect Of Caffeine On Relationship Memory, Elsa Carodenuto

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Recollections of participants’ last failed relationship (first meeting, first kiss, and breakup) were examined as a personal flashbulb memory (FBM). Although FBM is usually caused by arousal at encoding, the effects of arousal at retrieval was investigated by giving participants caffeine to determine its effect on elaboration at recall. 72 Butler students completed a protocol containing narrative and probe sections on each event of their last relationship. Results showed that caffeine enhanced memory of events at retrieval.

Cyberostracism And Social Monitoring: Social Anxiety's Effects On Reactions To Exclusion And Inclusion Online, Claire E. Karlen, Jennifer R. Daniels Ph. D.

Honors Projects

Previous research has shown that ostracism –the equivalence of exclusion in a social situation –improves social monitoring abilities – a natural practice by which individuals gather information through social cues about what is happening in their social worlds (Pickett, Gardner, & Knowles, 2004). Current knowledge on social anxiety, defined as a chronic fear of social situations that put one in the position of evaluation by others, describes hypersensitivity in those individuals in cases of social monitoring others (Barlow, 2002; Craske, 1999). The current study investigated how those two constructs interacted in a cyberostracism paradigm. After measuring their social anxiety levels, …

Neural Activity During Social Exclusion: An Exploratory Examination, Stephanie Khatcherian

Honors Projects

Social exclusion has been brought to the forefront of media attention in recent years due to the recent tragedies like campus shootings and cyberbullying on social networking websites. In order to gain a deeper understanding of social exclusion, this study examined the relation between social exclusion and event-related brain potential (ERP) activity. ERPs were collected while participants completed three blocks of the Cyberball paradigm during which they experienced situations of social inclusion, exclusion, and re-inclusion. This well-established paradigm mimics actual social behavior experienced in real-world situations. Results showed larger N2 and smaller P3 amplitudes during throws where participants were excluded …

Explanatory Autism Disclosure In The Workplace: Perspectives Of Key Stakeholder Groups, Anna Genchanok, Linda Kunce

Honors Projects

The high prevalence of unemployment and underemployment among adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is exacerbated by public misunderstanding of this complex condition. Many individuals with ASD work alongside coworkers and supervisors who are unknowledgeable about the disorder, which promotes the development of misconceptions regarding the individual’s ability to function in the workplace. Despite frequent recommendations both for and against the use of explanatory ASD disclosure in work settings, there is a lack of empirical research directly assessing stakeholder perceptions of such disclosure. The goal of this small sample, exploratory study was to evaluate the implementation of an explanatory disclosure …

Examining The Effects Of Ostracism On Neural And Behavioral Indices Of Cognitive Self-Regulation, Aaron B. Ball

Honors Projects

The impact of ostracism on a target individual produces a number of negative consequences, including deficits in cognitive functioning related to self-regulation and general cognition. While such effects have been acknowledged, there is a lack of literature regarding the effect of ostracism on action monitoring in particular. Action monitoring is a self-regulatory process in which participants ensure the accuracy of their responses to a task or situation, the authors hypothesized that it would be adversely affected by an experience of ostracism. The goal of the current study was to utilize event-related brain potentials to examine the relationship of these two …

Is Everybody Doing It? Sex In The College Freshman Female Population, Alexandra I. Zelin

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Descriptive and injunctive norms have been shown to influence people’s perceptions of what actions are considered appropriate. Social norms research with sexual behaviors has shown that women perceived other women to be highly sexually active when, in reality, these norms were not accurate. We anticipated the same pattern of misperceptions and wanted to see if perceived number of partners and permissive attitudes of best friends and the typical freshman could predict women’s own number of partners controlling for their own attitudes. Participants included 156 heterosexual, freshman women from a liberal arts university. We found that women perceived their friends and …

Driving Forces: Police Fatalities, Carol Servino

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Law enforcement is an inherently risky occupation. The number of traffic-related fatalities for law enforcement officers in the U.S. during the past 13 years has been increasing; however, the number of fatalities for the general population in motor vehicle traffic incidents declined during the same time period.

The federal government reports that federal motor vehicle safety standards aswell as behavioral and vehicle safety programs implemented by state and local law-enforcement agencies contributed to the downward trend for the general public.

What accounts for the pattern and problem with police driving-related deaths?

Clark County Mental Health Court: An Outcomes-Based Evaluation Model Of Residential And Treatment Programs Beyond Recidivism, Mark J. Nichols

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

The number of America’s mental health courts has grown significantly over the course of the past 15 years. Mental health courts can be seen as a form of therapeutic jurisprudence where the court implements therapeutic interventions, case management and treatment (Palermo, 2010). A mental health court was established in Clark County during 2003. Its mission is to promote engagement in treatment, improve quality of life, decrease recidivism, and increase community safety and awareness (Glass, 2008).

The focus of the evaluation of the Clark County Mental Health Court, limited to performance measures related to the decreased recidivism by its clients and …

Decision-Making Techniques Used By Elected Officials, Michael Gordon

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Politicians often make decisions that lead to contradictory outcomes from situations with seemingly similar circumstances and related factors. Recent examples include the U.S. reaction to the uprising in Iran contrasted with the call for the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak after the 18 Day Revolution in Egypt.

This frustrating reality, frequently based on perceived risks of publication of state secrets, has various far-reaching effects. Two effects of this reality include the loss of trust in government and government officials to do the right thing as well as the frequency of market fluctuations.

Attachment And Couple Sexual Functioning, Kathryn Z. Devis, Melissa A. Louder, Kara L. Thompson, Katherine M. Hertlein

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Within the last several years, there has been a surge in the publications that focus on attachment within the couple relationships, including how it pertains to infidelity treatment. Despite the interest in couple relationships and attachment, however, a limited amount of literature focuses on how varying styles of attachment manifest in a couple's level of sexual functioning. This study is a response to the need to explore the literature and related gaps in literature.

Predicting Violent Crime, Janelle Ramsel, Ashley Varner, Crystal Sandoval

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

This research works to predict the likelihood that an individual is going to participate in a violent crime. The predictors were taken from several bodies of work and synthesized into a survey format, which can be distributed to the desired population. These measures operate on the hypothesis that certain characteristics increase the likelihood of, but do not predict with certainty, an individual's propensity to participate in violent crime. The work also serves as a manual for how to interpret the selected data sets as well as how to break down the statistical correlations of each question to their predictive power.

Facial Recognition: Training Participants To Detect Genuine Smiles, Nate Keiser

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

Nonverbal behaviors have the ability to affect how we perceive social communications. One of these nonverbal behaviors, a smile, is not always genuinely expressed. Our experiment attempted to improve discernment between genuine and fake smiles by manipulating training and feedback. The training/feedback group received feedback for each video and training. Our control was the no training/no feedback group, in which participants viewed a PowerPoint that presented smile information not relevant to distinguishing among smiles. The training group was given applicable information, through PowerPoint, on distinguishing among smiles along with viewing two videos of genuine and fake smiles. Prior to training, …

Can You Spot The Fake?, Paul Allison, Alyssa Abbate, Ryan Abraham, Nate Keiser

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

The ability to correctly interpret smiles is a skill that can be helpful in many aspects of life. One key feature that people look at is a smile, but smiles may not always be genuine. In our study, we focused on the detection of genuine and fake smiles and trained subjects to detect deception. The first training group was given applicable information, through PowerPoint, on distinguishing between smiles along with two videos presenting a genuine and fake smile. The second group viewed a PowerPoint with applicable information without videos. The third group viewed a PowerPoint containing just videos. Our control …

The Effect Of Training On Smile Detection, Christine Albain, Stephanie Kuipers, Charla Trubey, Shannon Riley

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether training combined with practice/feedback could improve participants' ability to correctly distinguish between genuine and fake smiles. Participants watched twenty video clips of people smiling and were asked to mark whether each smile was genuine or fake and how confident they were in their answers. A PowerPoint presentation on characteristics of genuine smiles and practice/feedback was used to train the participants. Participants also took a smile knowledge test. They were asked to mark which characteristics were present in genuine smiles. Our study found that training significantly improved the smile knowledge test scores, …

Examination Of Social Responding In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Micah Shields, Carlton Lyons

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

Impairments in reciprocal pretend play are well documented in children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The play of children with this disorder is characterized by repetitive behaviors and lack of symbolic or social quality. This disorder is also characterized by deficits in spontaneous language, imitation, and social interaction. The effectiveness of many different behavioral teaching techniques has been examined in order to teach play skills to children with autism. Research supports the viability of these different interventions, but very few studies have directly compared the effectiveness of these different interventions. The current study provided a direct comparison …