Psychology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Alcoholism And Satisfaction With Life, Michael William Albert

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between alcoholism and satisfaction with life. The sample was selected from students and non-students at Montclair State University. The materials were two questionnaires, the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). The MAST had 25 questions and the SWLS had 5 questions. These questionnaires were given to subjects at a staged bake sale. The participants filled out the questionnaires and put the completed forms into marked boxes to preserve anonymity.

The data was analyzed by correlating MAST and SWLS scores. It was expected that there …

Talker Identification Learning And New Jersey Dialect Discrimination, Michael Patrick Apfelbaum

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals can be trained to identify a speaker by voice. Other research has found profound regional differences in dialect across the US, with individuals being able to generally discriminate between them at above chance levels. However, little research has investigated the ability to discriminate between two similar dialects or the effect of using bisyllabic words in talker training. The present study aims to explore the patterns of talker learning and dialect discrimination which arise from training talkers on the two predominate dialects spoken in New Jersey. To investigate such factors, the current research trained 24 …

Does Personality Make A Difference On Leadership Development?, Selin Kalenderli

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Personality is one of the individual differences that should be addressed in leadership development research and practice, as it can provide one with valuable insights about identifying specific needs and personalized methods for development. The existing literature demonstrates the importance of personality traits in leadership emergence and outcomes. However, to date only few scientific investigations have explored the role of personal traits in leadership development. The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore the relationship between personality and leadership development. Fifty college students were interviewed to investigate significant developmental events they experienced and leadership lessons learned from these …

Factors Affecting The Detection Of Relationship Status Deception, Fatima Aboul-Seoud

Psychology

Evolutionary theory predicts that people should have sex-specific adaptations based on differential reproductive costs and benefits. Males have to contend with the costs of being cuckolded, while females have to contend with the costs of being abandoned. Previous research on reproductive deception has shown that males and females engage in sex-specific deception in ways that maximize fitness. This project examined the ability to discern ingenuous and disingenuous claims about romantic and sexual relationship status. Participants viewed and rated the veracity of pre-recorded claims about targets’ relationship status. Results showed that the ability to discern claim veracity was dependent upon the …

The Relationships Among Sharing Behaviors, Social Skills, And Problem Behaviors In Preschool Children, Taylor P. Bulman

Psychology

Over the past few decades, the field of developmental psychopathology has become increasingly interested in children’s development during preschool, a time of immense cognitive and social growth (Parker et al., 2006). Past research indicates that prosocial behaviors exhibited during childhood can predict later adaptive functioning (Gresham et al., 2010). The goal of the present study was to explore the relationships among sharing behaviors, social skills, and problem behaviors in preschool children. Predominantly lower-income preschool children (N = 57, Male = 28) were recruited for participation. Teachers of the participants completed the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). A modified version of …

Comparing Grief As A Negative Emotion To Survival For Memory Enhancement, Sarah Pate

Psychology

The survival memory effect tested using a comparison of a survival scenario to the strong negative emotion of a grief scenario. The main hypothesis was that strong, negative emotions allow one’s self to relate to the scenario as it seems to do in the survival scenario. Strong negative emotions may outperform survival in a free recall memory task due to deeper levels of processing. Grief and survival scenarios were compared to a moving scenario that was used as a control condition. The three scenarios were each followed by a list of separate words to be rated on their relevancy to …

Social Story Intervention For Children With Autism To Decrease Challenging Behaviors During Homework, Arianna Doss

Psychology

Researchers have created interventions to improve the social behavior and communication of children with autism spectrum disorder. One such intervention is called Social Stories, which describes social situations and their corresponding appropriate behaviors in order to help children with autism better understand social cues. Although several studies indicate the usefulness of this intervention, more evidence is needed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of social stories in decreasing challenging behaviors of first-graders with autism during homework time and to measure changes in parental stress and family quality of life. Homework time was chosen because children with autism experience homework …

Does Emotion Invalidation Cause Emotion Dysregulation? Evidence From A Healthy Sample Of College Students And Implications For The Development Of Borderline Personality Disorder, Melissa Jean Zielinski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Linehan's BioSocial theory is a widely accepted model of the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, the tenet that experiences of invalidation causally influence the development of the emotion dysregulation that characterizes BPD has been subject to relatively little empirical attention. The purpose of this study thus was to experimentally investigate the effects of validation and invalidation on indices of emotion dysregulation including self-invalidation, distress tolerance, and Social problem solving. The current study used a laboratory-based emotion induction procedure in which ninety college students participated in validating or invalidating conversations about emotional events with a peer confederate. Contrary to …

Marriage Equality: Media Coverage And Public Opinion, Amanda Studley

Senior Honors Projects

The struggle for equality is nothing new in this country. Every minority group has faced it’s own hardships when trying to advocate for the advancement of their people. One of the most recent struggles has involved the LGBT community and their pursuit of equal marriage laws nationally. Currently the campaign for marriage equality has had success in nine states and the District of Columbia, each of which now grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, thirty states have enacted constitutional bans on same-sex marriage (NCLS 2013). Currently 49% of the population endorses full and equal marriage rights for same sex …

The Effect Of Endorser Physical Attractiveness And Endorser-Product Congruence On The Persuasiveness Of An Advertisement, Heather L. Warner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The present research proposes that the attractiveness of an advertisement endorser can affect the viewer's overall rating of the advertisement as well as his or her ability to be persuaded by it. The present research also suggests that endorser-product congruence can impact persuasiveness ratings as well as overall ad ratings. In the experiment itself, participants were asked to read two types of advertisements and fill out two questionnaires. Consistent with previous research, results showed that the skin care advertisement was rated significantly more persuasive and had a higher overall rating when paired with an attractive endorser than an unattractive one. …

Evolutionary Vs. Sociocultural Perspectives On Human Mate Selection: The Role Of Women's Academic Achievement On Their Need For Financial Stability, Natalie A. Stanish

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Recent research suggests that the sociocultural perspective has become more prominent than the previously accepted evolutionary perspective of human mate selection (Wood, 1999; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992). Today's women have higher educational attainment and overall higher achievement levels than in the past (Blank & Bansal, 2011; Osava, 2010). The purpose of the current study is to determine if college women exhibit more of a sociocultural or evolutionary approach to their mate selection preferences. Approximately 109 female undergraduates completed the Relationship Preferences Questionnaire, on which they rated 10 attributes of a potential mate on a 6-point scale. Participants' ACT scores and …

The Influence Of Parental Involvement On Academic Motivation And Achievement In College Students, Margaret M. Buoy

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Parental involvement is defined as a parent providing resources, being interested in, attentive to, and providing emotional resources for a child (Guay, Larose, Ratelle, & Senecal, 2005). The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between parental involvement and academic motivation and achievement in college students. Approximately 115 undergraduate students completed the Perceptions of Parental Autonomy-Support and Control Scale (Robbins, 1994), and the Academic Motivation Scale (Vallerand, 1992). The students' cumulative grade point averages (GPAs) were used as a measure of academic achievement. Results from independent samples t tests indicated that those students with low parental support …

Power, Likeability, And Perception: Evaluating Men And Women In High And Low Power Positions, Daria A. Bakina

Psychology - Dissertations

When asked, it is relatively easy to come up with an example of a position of high power (e.g., president) or low power (e.g., intern). One can imagine the types of tasks or behaviors each of those positions entails. The theories of social power detail how power is attained, the behaviors of individuals in power, and the consequences of those behaviors (e.g., French & Raven, 1959; Fiske & Depret, 1996; Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003). Most of the studies on behaviors of high power individuals have found that no differences exist between the behaviors of high power men and women. …

Comparing Oral Reading Fluency Growth To Elementary-Level Students’ Pre-Assessment Disposition, Katie Flatley

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Reading is an essential skill; however, the majority of elementary-aged students are not performing at grade level. This is problematic because poor reading is a significant risk factor for dropping out of high school. A number of demographic factors have been associated with students’ reading performance, including sex, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. Educators use a number of measures to assess students’ reading performance. One screening measure, curriculum-based measurement in reading (CBM-R), is a time- and cost-efficient tool to assess elementary-aged students’ oral reading fluency. However, a number of research studies have shown that students’ performance on CBM-R assessments may be …

Investigating The Relationship Between Goal- Oriented Strivings And Motives For Engaging In Physical Activity, Minakshi Raj

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Chronic psychological stress has been shown to increase risk for conditions such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. Social Action Theory (SAT) says that an individual's patterns of goal-oriented strivings influence his or her ability to manage stress responses as well as his or her overall exposure to stress. According to SAT, self-regulatory skills, which involve the ability to plan and maintain behavior with the intent of achieving goals, and goal motives influence an individual’s exposure and vulnerability to certain stressors. Using SAT as a framework, the present study explores the negative consequences of implicit motives on health via the body’s …

The Stigma Of Mental Illness, Ambivalent Attitudes, And Motivation To Learn, Jennifer Moore

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Prior research has demonstrated that much of the stigma of mental illness falls under the category of ambivalence. In other words, individuals hold both positive and negative impressions of mentally ill individuals and their attitudes tend to not be restricted to one side. On the positive end, they may feel sympathetic toward these individuals, as they understand they are not responsible for their illnesses. On the negative side, they may also believe these individuals are more unpredictable and dangerous than their mentally healthy counterparts. These ambivalent attitudes subsequently result in a feeling of uneasiness, as people feel more comfortable when …

Subjective Depression And Thought Disorder In Schizophrenia : Are They Related?, Ariel Briggs

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

I Am A Critical Thinker: Exploring The Relationship Between Self-Concept And Critical Thinking Ability, Melissa Antler

HIM 1990-2015

Critical thinking is an academically coveted skill important to all areas of education (Halpern, 1998). The ability to think critically requires an individual to question and possibly reject accepted ideals and authorities. A strong self-concept may play an important role in this process. The present study hypothesized a positive relationship between total self-concept and critical thinking ability. An additional purpose of this study was to explore whether self-concept accounted for more of the variance in critical thinking than other correlates of the ability, such as metacognition (Halpern, 1998; Magno, 2010) and openness to experience (Clifford, Boufal, & Kurtz, 2004). The …

The Effects Of Music On Anxiety And Depression In Emerging Adults, Kendra Bartel

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of the current study was to observe how music affects the mood of those who suffer from anxiety and depression and those who do not. While previous research has examined this many of the previous studies have induced either physical pain or mood in participants in order to measure the impact of music. The current study, however, intends to examine how music affects mood without attempting to induce mood in participants. Six-hundred and seventy college students were given a questionnaire containing an anxiety questionnaire, depression scale, demographic questionnaire, and music listening questionnaire. Intercorrelations, ANOVAS, as well as linear …

Effects Of Abortion On College Women's Mental Health, Estefany Bologna

HIM 1990-2015

Since the legalization of abortion, some research studies have argued that abortion has a neutral effect when considering other coexistent factors (e.g. Adler et al., 1990; Major et al., 2000; Steinberg & Russo, 2008). Other studies have concluded that abortion has a negative influence on women's psyche (e.g. Congleton & Calhoun, 1993; Cougle, Reardon, & Coleman, 2005; Hamana et al., 2010). College populations have been generally excluded from abortion research, even though, in 2007, 57% of women obtaining abortions were between the ages of 20 and 30 years (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). This study intended to measure the influence of …

The Role Of Mentoring On The Development Of Ethnic Identity As It Relates To Body Image Concerns In Ethnic Minority Women, Raven Cokley

HIM 1990-2015

Emerging literature emphasizes the importance of mentoring in the development of minority youth. In particular, mentoring influences the development of youths' sense of self and self-concept. By examining the conceptual frameworks of both mentoring and racial socialization, this study summarizes the theoretical processes associated with youth development and how such development relates to young women's ethnic/racial identity including their body image. The mentoring relationship is examined with a small pool of ethnic-minority, college-aged female participants to explore whether there is a relationship between having received positive mentoring and the participant's current body image perceptions.

Temporary Barriers Reduce Rubbernecking And External Distraction On Roadways, Nicholas Colon

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of the current study was to empirically examine the effects of accident scenes on eye movement as well as driving behavior. Fifty-four participants drove in a driving simulator wearing a head-mounted eye-tracker in three experimental drives, one of which had an accident scene. The participants were put into one of three different conditions (no barrier, partial barrier, or full barrier). The results showed significant main effects of distraction (accident vs. no accident) on dwell frequency and duration, average speed, and root mean square error of the steering wheel angle during the drive with the accident scenes. In addition, …

Examining Social Loafing Within Virtual Teams The Moderating Influence Of A Team's Collective Orientation, Seth Cotter

HIM 1990-2015

Social loafing is a growing concern for modern organizations. With advancement in computer technology, virtual tools are used more frequently to communicate, which may allow social loafing to occur in new and unfamiliar forms. The intent of this thesis is to examine social loafing through the use of virtual tools, and to analyze whether collective orientation has a moderating influence on the relationship between social loafing and virtuality. 30 teams, each containing four participants, were randomly assigned to a condition of virtuality (i.e., instant messaging or videoconferencing). Participants then completed a computer simulation task in which social loafing, collective orientation …

An Examination Of Psychological Disorders, Social Anxiety, And Perfectionism In High-Achieving Undergraduate Students, Amy Elliott

HIM 1990-2015

There is a long-standing debate on whether high-achieving students experience a better or worse psychological well-being than their peers. This retrospective cohort study adds to the current literature by examining the differences in rates of psychological disorders, social anxiety, and perfectionism between high-achieving and typical undergraduate students. A convenience sample of 357 students was gathered from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Participants were asked to fill out a brief survey which included questions about demographics, grade point average (GPA), social anxiety, perfectionism, enrollment in The Burnett Honors College, inclusion in any childhood gifted programs, and diagnosis of psychological disorders. …

Subtypes Of Anhedonia And Facial Electromyography Response To Negative Affective Pictures In Healthy Adults, Lisa Kadison

HIM 1990-2015

Flat affect (i.e., diminished expressivity) and self-reported anhedonia (i.e., lack of pleasure) are associated with many psychiatric disorders. There is a need to examine the relationship between specific anhedonia subtypes and flat affect in a non-clinical sample. Forty-seven undergraduate students (59% male; mean age 20.37; SD = 4.74) completed self-report questionnaires assessing four subtypes of anhedonia - consummatory/anticipatory by social/non-social. Participants then viewed 15 randomly-presented pictures (five neutral, ten negative) from the International Affective Pictures System while facial muscle activity (electromyography; EMG) was recorded. Male participants reporting a greater level of anhedonia, particularly consummatory social anhedonia, showed greater EMG activity …

Childhood Cat Bites And Disorganized Symptoms Of Schizotypy In Adulthood, Jenya Kolpakova

HIM 1990-2015

During recent years of schizophrenia research, many etiologies have been emphasized, some of them implicating infectious and autoimmune diseases. Many different infectious agents have been examined, but the root seems to stem from the secondary autoimmune deregulation, which can be caused by different infectious agents. Among the effects that autoimmune deregulation has on the body, one prominent effect is on the brain, resulting in either severe or mild encephalitis. The mild encephalitis that has been implicated as one of the causes of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders has been associated with different pathogens, many of which can be transmitted by the household cat. …

Exploring Religious Bias And Perceptions Of Atheism, Raina Leckie

HIM 1990-2015

Much research focuses on religious bias and in particular the marginalization of Muslims in America. What initially surprised post 9-11 researchers is that participants typically rank atheists lower than Muslims in the areas of private and public trust. Further research is needed to continue to understand the nature and extent of religious-based bias. The present study explores whether a job candidate's religion impacts perception of the candidate's "hireability" and source credibility, including elements of trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness. Participants were randomly assigned to review an identical version of a resume in which only the implied religion of the candidate was …

The Effect Of An Auditory Stimulus On Change Blindness, Shane Mccormack

HIM 1990-2015

This research examined whether or not an auditory stimulus would affect rates of change blindness. Change blindness occurs when there is a failure to detect an obvious change to a visual scene. For this experiment 40 participants were asked to determine if a change occurred between two pictures. This involved an original picture shown for 1 second, a neutral screen shown for 50 milliseconds and then either a modified version of the original image or the same image for 1 second and then repeated. Participants then determined whether a change occurred in the visual display. For some participants a familiar …

Profanity's Relation To Personality And Impulsivity, Jasmin Mokbel

HIM 1990-2015

The relationship of swearing in respect to personality, religiosity, and social influences was analyzed in this study. Many assumptions are made about the effects of swear words and the act of swearing can have on an individual. The present study hypothesizes that the use of swears words is dependent on an individual's personality characteristics and that exposure first happens from an external source (mass media outlets) rather than a familiar source (family member). More specifically, extroverted personality types will be more likely to engage in the use of profanity, due to their more impulsive nature. Online surveys such as the …

Stigma Related To Depression: A Comparison Between African American And White Young Adults, Amirica Nicholson

HIM 1990-2015

This study examined the effects of gender, ethnicity, social support, and acculturation on depression-stigma in college communities; specifically targeting the racial groups of African Americans and Whites. Undergraduates of various ages and class standings were given surveys within their demographics pertaining to: acculturation, social support, stigma, and depression. The above factors were compared to ethnicity. The results supported that African Americans have a higher level of depression-stigma overall, especially those who have been enculturated into their traditional culture; none of the additional hypotheses were supported by the research.