Psychology Commons^™

Struggling With Caregiving: My Days In Solitary Confinement, Jasmin Tahmaseb-Mcconatha

Psychology Faculty Publications

Caregivers often spend months or even years living in what amounts to solitary confinement. In the United States between 30 and 38 million adults, mostly women provide regular ongoing care for a family member or loved one. The stresses and burdens of providing 24 hour care, seven days a week can be debilitating. Caregivers need help. Caregiving is a modern American tragedy.

Exploring Community Psychology Value Congruence In Academic Setting, Olya Glantsman

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Value congruence between employees and their workplace is an important dimension of an individual’s fit with a work environment. The level of congruence between the values of employees and their employing organization and the relation of value congruence to satisfaction, commitment, and willingness to recommend the organization were examined. This study focused on the relationship of value congruence between the individuals who belong to the field of community psychology and their workplace in relation to the aforementioned work-related outcomes in an academic setting. Results show that departments rated higher on community psychology values had a greater number of faculty possessing …

A Comprehensive Model Of The Intragroup Work Conflict Framework: Examining Substantive Conflict, Information Exchange, Task And Relationship Conflict, And Conflict Management In Relation To Performance Effectiveness, Marc Anthony Lukasik

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The current study was designed to empirically test components of the conflict dynamic within the context of groups or teams. A model was proposed in an attempt to clarify existing construct confusion and misapplication of terminologies throughout the field (e.g., task conflict) as well as to consolidate literatures (e.g., informational diversity, information exchange, task and relationship conflict perceptions, and conflict management) and ultimately clarify several contradictory empirical conclusions regarding the equivocal nature of conflict in relation to team effectiveness outcomes. Information exchange and conflict management processes were proposed to be more directly responsible for the proposed theoretical benefits derived from …

Stress, Anxiety, And Somatic Symptoms: A Comparison Of Biomarkers In A Clinical Sample, David J. Finitsis

Master's Theses

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent class of mental disorders, often characterized by a chronic course and comorbid psychopathology. The anxiety-stress literature utilizing cortisol as a biomarker of the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis has been inconsistent. The establishment of salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) as a biomarker of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation allows researchers an opportunity to examine the stress response more fully. This study sought to explore relationships between trait anxiety and salivary stress biomarkers in an outpatient sample attending a specialized anxiety treatment center. Multiple regression and moderator analyses were conducted to examine associations between psychosocial and physiological …

Complex Trauma, Complex Research Questions: A Translational Self-Regulation-Focused Approach, Julian Ford

Psychology Colloquia

No abstract provided.

And None For Gretchen Weiners, Center For Public Service

SURGE

In the four years I’ve spent at Gettysburg College, it’s safe to say that my experience has been largely influenced by my membership in Greek Life. I’ve developed a personal leadership style and feel accomplished by the strong relationships I built with other women. But this year, I developed a stronger understanding of the inequities that exist within the Greek community. [excerpt]

Bridging The Gap: Using The Theory Of Planned Behavior To Predict Hpv Vaccination Intentions In Men, Daniel Snipes

Theses and Dissertations

Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the US, with an estimated incidence rate of 6.2 million new cases each year. Men have higher instances of certain HPV related outcomes (e.g., head/neck cancers) when compared to women, so male vaccination with the HPV vaccine is also paramount to preventing cancer. The present study examined the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a model for predicting HPV vaccination intentions among men. Results suggest the TPB was a well-fitting model to the data, but not all aspects of the TPB model were predictive of HPV vaccination …

Meta-Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Biological And Non-Biological Treatments For Postpartum Depression, Sarah Jeung Soon Christian

Theses and Dissertations

I provided an updated, comprehensive review of treatments for mothers diagnosed with postpartum depression. Studies included in this meta-analysis were single-group pre-posttest, non-randomized and randomized controlled studies published from 1986 to 2010 that included face-to-face psychotherapy and psychopharmacology as well as non-traditional methods such as exercise and nurse-assisted counseling. 53 published studies were analyzed. The randomized studies showed a moderate to large effects (d= 0.72 to 1.25, k= 9) when postpartum interventions were compared to a control condition, and smaller effects (d= 0.3 to 0.57, k = 13) to treatment as usual. When postpartum interventions were compared to each other …

Do More, Say Less: Saying "I Love You" In Chinese And American Cultures, Catherine Caldwell-Harris, Ann Kronrod, Joyce Yang

Psychology

Reticence to express emotions verbally has long been observed in Chinese culture, but quantitative comparisons with Western cultures are few. Explanations for emotional reticence have typically focused on the need in collectivist culture to promote group harmony, but this explanation is most applicable to negative emotions such as anger, not positive expressions such as Wo ai ni [I love you]. A survey on verbal usage of Wo ai ni was administered to university students in Beijing and Shanghai, and compared to uses of I love you by American students in the United States. Chinese respondents were not only overall more …

Art Meets Science! Get Over It . . ., Stephen Nowlin

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

The news headline, when such projects garner attention, usually goes like this – Art Meets Science! Or perhaps Art Merges with Science! or maybe they combine, or art collides with science, or they fuse, join, bond, or unite. And ‘art’ in the phrase usually precedes ‘science’, perhaps because their integration is more typically initiated from the art side of the equation. But whatever the order of the two terms, and whatever verb is used to link them, the tenor of the declaration is typically the same – this is a story worth reporting on, it announces, because …

Balconies, Joe Guimera

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Recent developments in theoretical physics suggest the possibility of parallel universes. What if we could see two or more universes at the same time? In effect, superimpose a scene from one universe; say a street corner, over the image of the same scene from a second universe? The photograph “Balconies” imagines the possibilities.

Degree Of Handedness, But Not Direction, Is A Systematic Predictor Of Cognitive Performance, Eric Prichard, Ruth Propper, Stephen D. Christman

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A growing body of evidence is reviewed showing that degree of handedness (consistent versus inconsistent) is a more powerful and appropriate way to classify handedness than the traditional one based on direction (right versus left). Experimental studies from the domains of episodic memory retrieval, belief updating/cognitive flexibility, risk perception, and more are described.These results suggest that inconsistent handedness is associated with increased interhemispheric interaction and increased access to processes localized to the right cerebral hemisphere.

Mood And Memory: An Association Between Pattern Separation And Depression, Don J. Shelton

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is associated with reduced declarative memory performance and decreased hippocampal volume. Depression has also been associated with decreased levels of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. Computational models propose that neurogenesis is critical for the computational process of pattern separation, whereby distinct memory representations are created for very similar stimuli and events. It has been proposed that depression negatively impacts pattern separation abilities; however, a link between depression and performance in pattern separation memory tasks has yet to be investigated. Accordingly, we designed a study to investigate the relationship between pattern separation performance and the severity of depression symptoms. …

Aspects Of Facial Contrast Decrease With Age And Are Cues For Age Perception, Aurelie Porcheron, Emmanuelle Mauger, Richard Russell

Psychology Faculty Publications

Age is a primary social dimension. We behave differently toward people as a function of how old we perceive them to be. Age perception relies on cues that are correlated with age, such as wrinkles. Here we report that aspects of facial contrast–the contrast between facial features and the surrounding skin–decreased with age in a large sample of adult Caucasian females. These same aspects of facial contrast were also significantly correlated with the perceived age of the faces. Individual faces were perceived as younger when these aspects of facial contrast were artificially increased, but older when these aspects of facial …

Eurasian Jays Predict The Food Preferences Of Their Mates, Alan C. Kamil

Avian Cognition Papers

The cognitive abilities of animals continue to fascinate both scientists and nonscientists. Although the abilities of the primates, our closest living relatives, generally attract most interest, several different lines of research have demonstrated high levels of intellectual capacity in birds, particularly corvids. The members of this family are known for their large brains and have performed well in many cognitive tasks using different paradigms (1–3). This finding has led to substantial revision of thinking about avian intelligence, including the suggestion of convergence in the evolution of cognitive abilities between corvids and primates (4). In PNAS, Ostojić et al. (5) add …

Lateralized Difference In Tympanic Membrane Temperature: Emotion And Hemispheric Activity, Ruth E. Propper, Tad T. Brunyé

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We review literature examining relationships between tympanic membrane temperature (TMT), affective/motivational orientation, and hemispheric activity. Lateralized differences in TMT might enable real-time monitoring of hemispheric activity in real-world conditions, and could serve as a corroborating marker of mental illnesses associated with specific affective dysregulation. We support the proposal that TMT holds potential for broadly indexing lateralized brain physiology during tasks demanding the processing and representation of emotional and/or motivational states, and for predicting trait-related affective/motivational orientations. The precise nature of the relationship between TMT and brain physiology, however, remains elusive. Indeed the limited extant research has sampled different participant populations …

A Comparison Of Noncontingent Plus Contingent Reinforcement To Contingent Reinforcement Alone On Students’ Academic Performance, Carlos J. Panahon, Brian K. Martens

SU Faculty publications on Wellness

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be described as time-based or response-independent delivery of stimuli with known reinforcing properties. Previous research has shown NCR to reduce problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities and to interfere with the acquisition of more desired alternative behavior. To date, however, little research has examined the effects of NCR on children’s academic performance. The present study examined the effects of NCR on the completion of math computation worksheets by 3 students in an elementary school setting. An ABCB reversal design was used to compare an NCR schedule in combination with contingent reinforcement to contingent reinforcement alone. …

Fluency Training In Phoneme Blending: A Preliminary Study Of Generalized Effects, Brian K. Martens, Candace S. Werder, Bridget Hier, Elizabeth A. Koenig

SU Faculty publications on Wellness

We examined the generalized effects of training children to fluently blend phonemes of words containing target vowel teams on their reading of trained and untrained words in lists and passages. Three second-grade students participated. A subset of words containing each of 3 target vowel teams (aw, oi, and au) was trained in lists, and generalization was assessed to untrained words in lists, trained and untrained words in target passages, and novel words in generalization passages. A multiple probe design across vowel teams revealed generalized increases in oral reading accuracy for target words presented in both lists …

Individual And Combined Effects Of Ld And Adhd On Computerized Neurocognitive Concussion Test Performance: Evidence For Separate Norms, R. J. Elbin, Anthony Kontos, Nate Kegel, Eric Johnson, Scott Burkhart, Philip Schatz

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Decreased neurocognitive performance in individuals with self-reported attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disability (LD) is well documented in the neuropsychological research literature. Previous studies employing paper-and-pencil neurocognitive assessments report lower performance in individuals with ADHD and LD. The purpose of the current study was to examine the influence of a self-reported diagnosis of LD, ADHD, and combined LD/ADHD on baseline computerized neurocognitive testing (CNT) used for the concussion assessment. Results revealed athletes with a self-reported diagnosis of LD, ADHD, and/or combined LD/ADHD demonstrated lower performance on baseline CNT and reported larger numbers of symptoms than did control athletes …

What's Legal In An Interview?, Kristie L. Campana

Psychology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Heterocentric Language In Commonly Used Measures Of Social Anxiety: Recommended Alternate Wording, Brandon J. Weiss, Debra A. Hope, Michelle C. Capozzoli

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A number of self-report measures of social anxiety contain language that appears to assume heterosexuality. It is unclear how such items should be answered by individuals who are not exclusively heterosexual, which may lead to inaccurate measurement of symptoms, perpetuation of stigma, and alienation of respondents. More specific wording could improve measurement accuracy for sexual minorities as well as heterosexual respondents. Gender-neutral wording was developed for items containing the phrase “opposite sex” in commonly used self-report measures of social anxiety (Interaction Anxiousness Scale [Leary, 1983], Social Avoidance and Distress Scale [Watson & Friend, 1969], Social Interaction Anxiety Scale [Mattick & …

A Study Of Sharing And Reciprocity In Grey Parrots (Psittacus Erithacus), Franck Péron, Maria John, Stephanie Sapowicz, Dalila Bovet, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

Demonstrations of nonhuman ability to share resources and reciprocate such sharing seem contingent upon the experimental paradigm used (note Horner et al. in PNAS 108:13847–13851, 2011). Here, such behaviour in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) was tested in two experiments, both designed to avoid possible issues involving apparatus complexity, visible reward options, and physical competition and/or limited communication between subjects. In both studies, two birds, working in dyads, took turns in choosing one of four different coloured cups with differing outcomes: empty (null, nonrewarding), selfish (keeping reward for oneself), share (sharing a divisible reward), or giving (donating reward to other). In …

Assessing Social Anxiety Disorder : Psychometric Properties Of The Italian Social Phobia Inventory (I-Spin), Alessio Gori, Marco Giannini, Sara Socci, Mary Luca, Daniel Evan Dewey, David Schuldberg, Giuseppe Craparo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Social Phobia, one of the most common psychological disorders, can cause serious discomfort and impairment in a person’s life. The importance of assessing the specific features of this disorder is well-known. This paper assesses the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Social Phobia Inventory (I-SPIN).

Learn To Interview More Effectively, Kristie L. Campana

Psychology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Se Habla Inglés Aquí: Las Dificultades En El Tratamiento De La Depresión En Latinos En Los Estados Unidos, Melissa Kim Dundas

World Languages and Cultures

This project attempts to identify and bring to light the issues relating to treatment of Latinos and native Spanish speakers in the United States. The stigma surrounding depression is already strong in the U.S., and when minorities, who tend to have their own views of mental health disorders and who are less likely to seek treatment for any mental health disorder they might have, are added to the picture, the rates of treatment go drastically down. There are many factors that play into whether or not Latinos will seek treatment for depression, many of which revolve around language and culture, …

Nurturing A Creative Mindset, Ismet Mamnoon

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

ABSTRACT OF PROJECT

Nurturing a Creative Mindset

Anyone can make a shift to a more creative mindset by making small but deliberate changes in their thinking and attitude. The Creativity Cards provide a number of simple activities and prompts that heighten awareness around creativity skills and help individuals make the changes that make them more mindful, open to novelty, tolerant of ambiguity, playful, visionary, able to sense gaps, flexible, fluent and original when generating ideas and willing to allow for incubation. These skills are identified through a detailed review of skill sets related to Creative Problem Solving and Torrance’s creativity …

Functional Segregation Of The Entopallium In Pigeons, Robert G. Cook, Tadd B. Patton, Toru Shimizu

Psychology Faculty Publications

In birds, the entopallium is the primary telencephalic target of the major visual ascending route called the tectofugal pathway. Often functionally compared to the primate geniculo-striate pathway and its subsequent telencephalic (cortical) regions, the latter processes visual information in a parallel fashion in terms of anatomy, physiology, and function. Little is known, however, about the exact mechanism of whether or how information is segregated or integrated in the avian tectofugal pathway including the telencephalon. Testing four pigeons, we examined whether or not color, form, and motion information is selectively processed by different portions of the entopallium. Each learned three distinct …

The Perceptions Of Behavioral Health Psychology Held By Medical Personnel In Oregon, Carleton H. Lloyd

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The purpose of the current research was to obtain medical personnel perceptions about the role of behavioral health psychology within their medical care practices in Oregon. Four hypotheses were explored. Hypothesis 1 asserted that medical personnel from urban, suburban, and rural locations would hold significantly different views; Hypothesis 2 suggested that the sample would more likely refer the more acute patients; Hypothesis 3 posited that medical personnel would make more referrals if they knew a mental health provider; Hypothesis 4 stated that there would be significant differences between the perceptions and practices of female and male members of this sample. …

Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Validation And Reliability Of The Brazilian Version Of The Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale, Priscilla Leite, Bernard Range, Monika Kukar-Kinney, Nancy Ridgway, Kent Monroe, Rodolfo Ribas Jr., J. Landeira-Fernandez, Antonio Egidio Nardi, Adriana Silva

Marketing Faculty Publications

Objective: To present the process of transcultural adaptation of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale to Brazilian Portuguese.

Methods: For the semantic adaptation step, the scale was translated to Portuguese and then back-translated to English by two professional translators and one psychologist, without any communication between them. The scale was then applied to 20 participants from the general population for language adjustments. For the construct validation step, an exploratory factor analysis was performed, using the scree plot test, principal component analysis for factor extraction, and Varimax rotation. For convergent validity, the correlation matrix was analyzed through Pearson’s coefficient.

Results: The scale …

Evaluating Use Of An Online Intervention For Cancer Patients With Distress, Amanda Gorlick

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Internet-based interventions have been effective in improving cancer survivors' psychosocial functioning. However, low levels of engagement in these interventions have been common. A qualitative interview study was conducted to assess cancer survivors' needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 25 cancer survivors who were minimally engaged (i.e. spent around 1 hour total on website) with the online intervention created by Owen and colleagues. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. Twenty themes were identified from the individual interviews. With an average Kappa in the near perfect range (Kappa= 0.89), the obtained codes were deemed a …