Psychology Commons^™

Career Calling And Work Motivation In Traditional And Non-Traditional College Students, Cara Wells

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to help define career-related calling through the perception of traditional (18 to 24 years of age) and non-traditional (25 and older) college students and identify what variables of motivation are related to calling. Three hundred and fifty-one participants completed an online survey that measured calling through The Career and Vocational Questionnaire (CVQ), and motivation through the Work Preference Inventory (WPI). Pearson Correlation and independent t-test were used in statistical analysis. Correlational analysis revealed that presence of calling and search for calling are significantly related to intrinsic motivation. Analysis also showed that level of presence …

The Heart Of The Immigration Debate, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Parental And Family Predictors Of Adolescent Weight Loss And Health Change In A Multidisciplinary Obesity Intervention, Jacqueline Woods

Theses and Dissertations

The home environment, parental health attitudes, and parental diet and exercise behaviors have been associated with childhood obesity. The current study utilized a family systems framework to examine the effect of these variables on weight and health changes in a primarily Black sample of 530 parent-adolescent dyads enrolled in a multidisciplinary weight loss intervention. Parent-reported psychosocial variables and demographic information were used to test models predicting changes in adolescents’ body mass index, cholesterol, and percentage body fat over the first six months of the intervention. The effect of parent participation in a psycho-education parent group on adolescent health outcomes was …

Life Without Parole: The Influence Of Age And Race On The Sentencing Of Juvenile Offenders, Maria Annabel Mireles

Psychology Theses

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to sentence adolescents charged with non-homicide crimes to life without parole (Graham v. Florida, 2012). Currently, research regarding life without parole is assessed in conjunction with the death penalty, in which life without parole is proposed as a lesser alternative to the death penalty. The current study investigated whether age and race are predictive factors in sentencing juvenile offenders. A sample consisting of 225 undergraduate students were presented with one of six case scenarios adapted from Wilkins v. Missouri (1985) in which the defendant’s age (13, 15, 17) and race …

The Relationship Between Aggression And Communication In Students With Developmental Disabilities, Emily Peel

Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between aggression and communication in students with developmental disabilities. Previous research examining the relationship between aggression and communication found a significant correlation between physical aggression and expressive vocabulary in language (Dionne, Tremblay, Boivin, Laplante, & Perusse, 2003). The current study investigated a link between high intensity behaviors (aggression) and the degree of impairment within the communication domain. Archival data was obtained from a sample of students living in a residential facility for stabilization of behaviors in Southern New Jersey. Communication was measured by the communication goals and objectives listed in …

Identification Of Latent Subgroups Of Obese Adolescents Enrolled In A Healthy Weight Management Program, Cassie Brode

Theses and Dissertations

In obesity research, it is assumed that the population is homogeneous. While this approach has yielded important insights, testing this supposition might reveal information that could impact our understanding of the phenomena and its treatment. In this study, data from obese teenagers (N = 248, Mean BMI percentile = 99%; Mean age = 13.9, SD = 1.8) who were predominantly minority (n = 182), female (n = 169), and enrolled in a weight loss intervention were analyzed. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to segment patients into groups based on their scores on PedsQL 4.0 scales (physical-, emotional-, social-, and …

Efficacy Of Reach Forgiveness For Foreign And Virginia Students, Yin Lin

Theses and Dissertations

People agree that forgiveness is a virtue in essentially all countries. However, different cultures have different ideas about how willing one should forgive and under what circumstances. Although the study occurred in the USA, I recruited both foreign-extraction and Virginia born-and-raised female college students (N=102) to participate a six-hour REACH forgiveness intervention, promoting their forgiveness through psychoeducational groups. In my thesis, I investigated whether students of foreign extraction and Virginia-born students would respond similarly to the intervention. I operationalized culture in two ways—by country and by individual self-reported self-construal. I measured forgiveness using two measures—decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness. I …

Iconic Memory Requires Attention, Marjan Persuh, Boris Genzer, Robert D. Melara

Publications and Research

Two experiments investigated whether attention plays a role in iconic memory, employing either a change detection paradigm (Experiment 1) or a partial-report paradigm (Experiment 2). In each experiment, attention was taxed during initial display presentation, focusing the manipulation on consolidation of information into iconic memory, prior to transfer into working memory. Observers were able to maintain high levels of performance (accuracy of change detection or categorization) even when concurrently performing an easy visual search task (low load). However, when the concurrent search was made difficult (high load), observers' performance dropped to almost chance levels, while search accuracy held at single-task …

The List: The Death Of Robert Champion, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The list grows ever longer: Names like Harry Lew, Chucky Stenzel, Chad Saucier, Gabe Higgins, Donna Bedinger, J. B. Joynt…and now Robert Champion. Its the list of people killed by hazing. Champion died of “blunt force trauma” that occurred during the FAMU marching band’s “Crossing Bus C” ritual, when his classmates punched and slapped him as he walked down the aisle of the band bus. He suffered so many injuries, inflicted by so many hands, that prosecutors charged 11 members of the band with felony hazing.

Hazing should never happen, but it does. Hank Nuwer’s Wrongs of Passage documents in …

Perceived Control And Adjustment: A Comparison Of Bereavement And Relationship Dissolution, Sara B. Greenberg

Honors Scholar Theses

The current study investigates the relationship between perceived control and adjustment across a comparison of two events; bereavement (n = 83) and relationship dissolution (n = 75). These events occurred in the six months prior to the study. Perceived control was assessed in terms of personal control, control of other forces, and control of a higher power, and how much control each had over the loss experienced. Adjustment was assessed in terms of current symptoms of distress (i.e., intrusion and avoidance), stress-related growth, positive states of mind, and life satisfaction. The relations between perceived control and adjustment differed …

Longitudinal Changes In Pronoun Reversals In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Typically Developing Children, Michelle Cheng

Honors Scholar Theses

Pronoun reversals occur when a pronoun is incorrectly mapped to the wrong referent. For example, when a child says, “You eat the cookie!” and intended to state that he is eating a cookie. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, are known to be frequent reversers, but their development of these reversals; for example, incidence rate and endpoint, is still unknown. In this study, children interacted with their mothers in a 30-minute play session and their spontaneous pronoun usage were coded for the perspective of the pronoun, type of reversal, and case errors. Children with ASD to their typically developing (TD) …

Young Black Children's Representations Of The Father Figure In Low-Income Households, Shawnae Shalae Thompson

Honors Scholar Theses

This study investigated the cognitive-emotional schemas surrounding the father role in 50 young, low-income, Black children in relation to the amount of father involvement in the first 5 years of their lives. These representations were framed within four parenting categories: Nice, Mean, Authoritative, and Authoritarian. Diana Baumrind’s parenting style framework was utilized to create the Authoritative and Authoritarian parenting categories. This question was investigated in low-income families; the impact of gender of the child was also considered. Information on fathers’ involvements in the children’s lives were gathered through interviews and self-reports from the children’s fathers and mothers. Story Stem Narrative …

Ketamine Can Disrupt Episodic Memory (Hours To Days) Consolidation: Effects Of Varying Dose And Retention Intervals, Ryan Darius Tabtabai

Honors Scholar Theses

Memory consolidation is the process wherein short-term, episodic memories are converted into stable, long-term representations. Forebrain N-methy-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs), particularly frontal cortical and hippocampal receptors, are thought to play a key role in neuronal plasticity and memory consolidation. Ketamine is an NMDA antagonist that disrupts memory, particularly encoding and retrieval processes. Previously we have observed no effect of post-acquisition ketamine treatment (50-100 mg/kg) on memory consolidation in rats performing a delayed-match-to place radial water maze task. The current study reexamined the effects of ketamine (25-100 mg/kg) on memory consolidation in this task over varying retention intervals (4, 24, and 48 …

Young Adult Cancer Survivors' Satisfaction With Interpersonal Life Changes, Kelly J. Foy

Honors Scholar Theses

This study looked at the life satisfaction of young adult cancer survivors in comparison to adult cancer survivors. Satisfaction was focused on three separate domains: romantic relationships, fertility and sexuality, and family and friendships. 292 participants completed the survey, which included measures such as the Zebrack Cancer Impact Scale, the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index, the Post-Traumatic Growth Scale, and a new measure developed for this study. Bivariate correlation analyses were used to identify significant relationships among the domains. It was determined that there was no significant difference between young adult cancer survivors and adult cancer survivors in …

Beliefs And Coping With Life Stress Among Uconn Students, John Paul Beninato

Honors Scholar Theses

Previous studies of religion and coping have looked at how an event can strengthen or weaken beliefs. However, few studies have explicitly examined the linkages between beliefs, coping strategies, and well-being. In an attempt to look at this more closely, the present study surveyed 193 undergraduates that believe or do not believe in God to see how they report coping with stress. The relationships between beliefs in God, worldview beliefs, different levels of life satisfaction, psychological well-being, and coping methods after a stressful event were also assessed in this study. We expected that stronger beliefs in a benevolent world, control, …

Using Music To Study: Variables That Affect A Student's Incorporation Of Music In Their Academic World, Kelly Perez

Honors Scholar Theses

This study reports relationships made between a student’s personality and his or her preferences to use music while studying. Other behaviors regarding music in a non-academic setting are also discussed. Data from 67 participants suggest that highly organized individuals show a tendency to use music for studying and to make use of playlists they created. They use music to enhance their mood. Many of the dimensions that describe agreeable people are related to using music for academic purposes, but also highly correlated to studying with other people. The results suggest that the way we use music in our lives is …

Habituation Effect In Attention Modification Training For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Olivia E. Bogucki

Honors Scholar Theses

Attention biases influence the type of information that captures an individual’s attention. Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) state that attention biases cause an increased amount of attention to personally relevant threatening information. Previous studies support this connection, and have examined attention modification training (AMT) as a means to direct attention away from threatening information for various anxiety disorders, including OCD. Results show that attention biases toward threatening information decrease during a single training session of AMT, which may be a result of habituation to threat. However, there is a lack of longitudinal data investigating the number of AMT sessions …

Honors Retention: The Persistence Of Juniors And Seniors In The Honors Program Through Examination Of Commitment To Completion Of Honors Thesis, Amy A. Holland

Honors Scholar Theses

The goal of the Honors Program is to engage intellectually stimulated students in a unique, challenging experience culminating in the writing of an undergraduate thesis, a piece of scholarly work. The four elements to the mission of the Honors Program include challenging academics, a scholarly environment, a supportive community, and on-campus engagement. This study conducted a qualitative assessment of the Honors Program through written questionnaires and oral interviews of ten juniors or seniors either completing an Honors Thesis or not committed to the Thesis. This research did not find significant differences between these two groups due in part to small …

Childhood Sexual Abuse And Social Functioning: A Systematic Review Of Reviews, Evan Alden Leclair

Honors Scholar Theses

Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) has been widely studied for its effects in later life. Previous reviews of these studies have identified CSA as a risk factor for dysfunctions in later life such as risky sex, depression, teenage pregnancy, drug use, sexual re-victimization, and health disorders. This project systematically reviews the state of systematic reviews and meta-analyses addressing the link between CSA and social functioning in later life for men and women. Systematic reviewing and meta-analysis both apply scientific methods to gather and evaluate empirical evidence. The quality of reviews can vary, leaving the conclusions of poor reviews untrustworthy. The current …

Adenosine-Dopamine Interactions In The Open Field Arena: Studies Related To Locomotion And Anxiety, Rothem Kovner

Honors Scholar Theses

Nucleus accumbens dopamine (DA) is an important regulator of locomotion. The neuromodulator adenosine also has a role in regulating locomotion. The adenosine A_2A receptor subtype is colocalized with DA D2 receptors on medium spiny neurons in the striatum and nucleus accumbens. Interactions between adenosine A_2A and DA D2 receptor antagonists are significant for regulating various aspects of motor and motivational function. The adenosine A_2A antagonist MSX-3 has been shown to reverse the suppression of locomotion induced by the DA D2 antagonist eticlopride. The structure of MSX-3 was modified to produce the prodrug MSX-4 which has high oral …

Hippocampal Theta And Gamma: Effects Of Aging, Environmental Change, Cholinergic Activation And Learning, Matthew D. Howe

Honors Scholar Theses

During aging, hippocampal functioning is impaired; specifically aged humans and rats show reduced performance on spatial memory tasks. An age-related reduction in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine has been postulated to underlie this impairment. Rhythmic oscillations (theta, gamma) may serve to synchronize activity within the hippocampus and across the brain during learning; these may also change with aging.

To determine what aspects of oscillation are important for memory processing, the effects of aging, encountering a novel situation, learning a new task and cholinergic system activation (with physostigmine) were examined. Both age groups showed increased theta, but not gamma activity when encoding a …

Effort-Related Choice Behavior Is Affected By Pharmacological Manipulations Associated With Depression: The Effects Of Tetrabenazine, Megan Huizenga

Honors Scholar Theses

In humans, psychiatric symptoms such as anergia and psychomotor retardation reflect pathologies in behavioral activation. These motivational symptoms are fundamental aspects of depression and other disorders. Drugs such as reserpine and tetrabenazine deplete monoamines, including dopamine, and induce depressive like behaviors in humans. Our results indicate that administration of low doses of tetrabenazine can alter effort-related choice behavior, biasing animals towards low effort alternatives. These findings may be related to the ability of monoamine depleting agents such as tetrabenazine to blunt behavioral activation and induce psychomotor retardation, anergia and fatigue in humans, and this research could be useful for the …

Intragroup Attitudes Of The Lgbt Community: Assessment And Correlates., David W. Hutsell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The intragroup attitudes of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community are examined. A general overview of heterosexuals’ views about LGBT persons is considered before reviewing past research on intragroup attitudes that may exist within the LGBT community. Since little work has been done in this area, to fill gaps in the literature a study of 533 self-identified LGBT individuals was conducted to assess attitudes towards each specific subgroup (lesbian, gay male, bisexual male, bisexual female, male-to-female transgender, and female-to-male transgender) of the LGBT community. Several variables, including group identification, perceived stigma, outness, and contact, were examined as predictors intragroup …

Family Context And Weight Status Among 18-Month-Old Infants In Southern Appalachia: The Role Of Temperament, Parenting Style, And Maternal Feeding Practices., Vincent A. Carroll

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pediatric obesity is a major public health crisis in the United States, and is particularly prevalent in the Southeast. Recent research has shifted the focus toward identifying obesity risk factors earlier in the lifespan, as 9.7% of infants and toddlers are at high weight-for-length (>95th percentile). Family context variables have been found to be related to infant and child weight status. A better understanding of these early contributors may facilitate the continued development of interventions for infants and toddlers at risk for obesity.

The purpose of the current study was to examine infant weight as it relates to parent-report …

Weight Concerns, Body Image, And Smoking Cessation In Pregnant Women In Rural Appalachia, Jennifer Aileen Correll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, and smoking during pregnancy can lead to significant health complications for both the mother and developing child. In the Appalachian region of East Tennessee, pregnancy smoking rates are as high as 40% in some counties which is almost 4 times the national average. Weight and body image concerns have previously been identified as variables contributing to maintenance of smoking behavior. The current study was designed to examine the relationship between prepregnancy weight and body image concerns and smoking status at third trimester. Participants included 172 pregnant women who smoke. Women were recruited …

Pick-Up Lines: To Use A Neg Or A Flippant?, Adrienne Leigh Hendon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pick-up lines are a "ritual that tries to turn strangers into lovers" (Murray, 1985, p.17). By studying how pick-up lines are perceived by the population, we might learn how the phenomenon of short- or long-term mating is initiated. By taking into account mating strategies, mate value, attractiveness, and flirting strategies, a pattern of behaviors and reactions may be observed. This study examines perceived pick-up line appropriateness and effectiveness when the attractiveness of the man delivering them varies. To test the effectiveness of 2 different types of pick-up lines, an online survey featuring 1 of 4 videos was administered. Results indicated …

Spirituality And Anxiety: Forgiveness As A Mediator., Charli N. Caulkins

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: There is a growing interest in psychological and health research in the relationship between spirituality and physical and mental health variables. Forgiveness has also been considered in such research and hypothesized as a potential mediating variable. However, much of the research in this area has not examined spirituality in the dimensions ritualistic, theistic, and existentialistic, nor has it tested for the potential mediation of forgiveness. The purpose of this study was to expand upon the dimensions of spirituality, with forgiveness as a mediator, and to test how they affect state and trait anxiety.

Methods: Participants in this cross-sectional study …

Investigation Of Personal And Collective Mortality Threats In Individualistic And Collectivist Cultures: A Cross Cultural Study., Catherine Munns

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this this study was to expand our knowledge of the ways in which people defend their worldviews under conditions of threat. Within the framework of Terror Management Theory (TMT), mortality salience (MS) in individualistic and collectivist cultures was investigated. Specifically, this study sought to directly examine MS effects as they relate to personal mortality and collective mortality. To accomplish this analysis, a 2 (Country: Russia and the U.S.) X 3 (Condition: Personal Mortality Salience, Collective Mortality Salience, and Control) design was employed. The current study consisted of undergraduate student participants from two cultures: U.S. and Russia. The …

Demonstrating Validity Evidence Of Meta-Assessment Scores Using Generalizability Theory, Chris D. Orem

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Meta-assessment, or the assessment of assessment, can provide meaningful information about the trustworthiness of an academic program’s assessment results (Bresciani, Gardner, & Hickmott, 2009; Palomba & Banta, 1999; Suskie, 2009). Many institutions conduct meta-assessments for their academic programs (Fulcher, Swain, & Orem, 2012), but no research exists to validate the uses of these processes’ results. This study developed the validity argument for the uses of a meta-assessment instrument at one mid-sized university in the mid-Atlantic. The meta-assessment instrument is a fourteen-element rubric that aligns with a general outcomes assessment model. Trained raters apply the rubric to annual assessment reports that …

The Development Of The Well-Being Interview, Craig Alexander Asselin

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Although psychologists and psychotherapists have long been concerned with the construct of well-being, currently there exist only self-report measures of the construct. This is potentially problematic because, as a number of researchers have pointed out, there are many different kinds of biases that can undermine the validity of data obtained from self-report measures. The purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive, user-friendly, clinician administered interview to assess well-being. In order to accomplish this, the Well-Being Interview (WBI) was developed, based on recent developments in positive psychology (e.g., Diener (2000), Ryff (1995) and Seligman (2011) and theoretical unification (Henriques, …