Psychology Commons^™

Fall To Grace, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Fall to Grace (2013) directed by Alexandra Pelosi.

Perceived Macrolevel Social Pressure Regarding Racial Identification And The Biracial Experience, John Thomas Nanney

Dissertations

Contemporary multiracial theory posits that racial identifications are a product of perceptions of the macrolevel social environment in which they are embedded (Renn, 2003; Rockquemore, Brunsma, & Delgado 2009; Rockquemore, Laszloffy, & Noveske, 2006; Root, 1996; Root, 2003). This conceptualization of the multiracial experience suggests that research attention should begin examining the specific macrolevel factors that influence the process of biracial identification (Rockquemore et al., 2009). To date, however, relatively little empirical research has done so. The present study sought to examine the extent to which perceived macrolevel social pressure regarding racial identification impacts the multiracial experience. Structural equation modeling …

Touchy Feely, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Touchy Feely (2013) directed by Lynn Shelton.

Evolutionary Responses To Invasion: Cane Toad Sympatric Fish Show Enhanced Avoidance Learning, Georgina Caller, Culum Brown

Aquaculture Collection

The introduced cane toad (Bufo marinus) poses a major threat to biodiversity due to its lifelong toxicity. Several terrestrial native Australian vertebrates are adapting to the cane toad’s presence and lab trials have demonstrated that repeated exposure to B. marinus can result in learnt avoidance behaviour. Here we investigated whether aversion learning is occurring in aquatic ecosystems by comparing cane toad naı¨ve and sympatric populations of crimson spotted rainbow fish (Melanotaenia duboulayi). The first experiment indicated that fish from the sympatric population had pre-existing aversion to attacking cane toad tadpoles but also showed reduced attacks on native tadpoles. The second …

Sexual Orientation And Functional Pain In U.S. Young Adults: The Mediating Role Of Childhood Abuse, Andrea L. Roberts, Margaret Rosario, Heather L. Corliss, David Wypij, Jennifer R. Lightdale, S. Bryn Austin

Publications and Research

Objective: Pain without known pathology, termed ‘‘functional pain,’’ causes much school absenteeism, medication usage, and medical visits. Yet which adolescents are at risk is not well understood. Functional pain has been linked to childhood abuse, and sexual orientation minority youth (gay, lesbian, bisexual, ‘‘mostly heterosexual,’’ and heterosexual with same-sex sexual contact) are more likely to be victims of childhood abuse than heterosexuals, thus may be at greater risk of functional pain.

Methods: We examined sexual orientation differences in past-year prevalence of functional headache, pelvic, and abdominal pain and multiple sites of pain in 9,864 young adults (mean age = …

Acceptance-Based Behavioral Intervention: Applications To Weight Management And Physical Activity Promotion, Meghan Butryn

Psychology Colloquia

No abstract provided.

Examining The Effects Of Variation In Emotional Tone Of Voice On Spoken Word Recognition, Maura L. Krestar, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Emotional tone of voice (ETV) is essential for optimal verbal communication. Research has found that the impact of variation in nonlinguistic features of speech on spoken word recognition differs according to a time course. In the current study, we investigated whether intratalker variation in ETV follows the same time course in two long-term repetition priming experiments. We found that intratalker variability in ETVs affected reaction times to spoken words only when processing was relatively slow and difficult, not when processing was relatively fast and easy. These results provide evidence for the use of both abstract and episodic lexical representations for …

Integrating Leader Fairness And Leader-Member Exchange In Predicting Work Engagement: A Contingency Approach, Fangyi Liao-Holbrook

Dissertations and Theses

Growing research attention has been devoted to understanding the implications of work engagement with an emphasis on its motivational mechanism linking its antecedents to consequences. Findings from such research efforts could inform intervention efforts. Integrating organizational justice theories within the leadership framework, this study examined the effects of supervisory interactional justice and supervisory procedural justice on subordinates' work engagement. Based on survey responses from 352 Chinese employees collected at two time points with three months in-between, moderated regression analyses were conducted to test hypotheses that there is a direct positive effect of supervisory interactional justice and supervisory procedural justice on …

Hd-Cnv: Hotspot Detector For Copy Number Variants., Jenna L Butler, Marjorie Elizabeth Osborne Locke, Kathleen A Hill, Mark Daley

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

SUMMARY: Copy number variants (CNVs) are a major source of genetic variation. Comparing CNVs between samples is important in elucidating their potential effects in a wide variety of biological contexts. HD-CNV (hotspot detector for copy number variants) is a tool for downstream analysis of previously identified CNV regions from multiple samples, and it detects recurrent regions by finding cliques in an interval graph generated from the input. It creates a unique graphical representation of the data, as well as summary spreadsheets and UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz) Genome Browser track files. The interval graph, when viewed with other software …

Horizontal Workplace Aggression And Coworker Social Support Related To Work-Family Conflict And Turnover Intentions, Sarah Elizabeth Van Dyck

Dissertations and Theses

Horizontal workplace aggression is a workplace stressor that can have serious negative outcomes for employees and organizations. In the current study, hierarchical regression analyses were used to investigate the hypotheses that horizontal workplace aggression has a relationship with turnover intentions, work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict. Coworker social support was investigated as a potential moderator in these relationships. Surveys measuring these constructs were administered to a group of 156 direct-care workers (specifically, certified nursing assistants, or CNAs) in a long-term assisted living facility corporation in the Northwestern United States. Results indicated that horizontal workplace aggression had a significant and positive relationship …

Culturally Congruent Practices In Counseling And Psychotherapy: A Review Of Research., Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Are mental health interventions that are intentionally made congruent with clients’ cultural contexts more effective than traditional practices? If a large body of empirical data supports an affirmative response to this question, then multiculturalism may be deemed not only legitimate within but integral (primary) to mental health interventions. However, if the data are inconclusive or deemed inadequate, then multiculturalism will remain marginalized (secondary) as an egalitarian ideal, possibly worthy of public praise but privately labeled as “impractical” or worse. All other things being equal, empirical evidence should determine which path will be taken; this chapter will attempt to provide direction.

Self-Defining Memories, Scripts, And The Life Story: Narrative Identity In Personality And Psychotherapy, Jefferson A. Singer, Pavel Blagov, Meredith Berry, Kathryn M. Oost

Psychology Faculty Publications

An integrative model of narrative identity builds on a dual memory system that draws on episodic memory and a long-term self to generate autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memories related to critical goals in a lifetime period lead to life-story memories, which in turn become self-defining memories when linked to an individual's enduring concerns. Self-defining memories that share repetitive emotion-outcome sequences yield narrative scripts, abstracted templates that filter cognitive-affective processing. The life story is the individual's overarching narrative that provides unity and purpose over the life course. Healthy narrative identity combines memory specificity with adaptive meaning-making to achieve insight and well-being, as …

Mimicry And Just World Beliefs: Mimicking Makes Men View The World As More Personally Just, Marielle Stel, Kees Van Der Bos, Su-Hsien Samantha Sim, Sonja Rispens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

People's just world beliefs are related to how they feel and behave towards others: the stronger people hold beliefs that the world treats them fairly, the more they feel and act pro-socially towards others. It is conceivable, therefore, that pro-social feelings and behaviours towards others can strengthen people's personal belief in a just world, especially when people expect these positive feelings to be returned. Because mimicry enhances pro-social feelings towards others, we argue that mimicry may strengthen peoples’ personal just world beliefs via positive feelings for the mimicked person and the expectation that these positive feelings are returned. Moreover, we …

Exploring Four Barriers Experienced By African Americans In Healthcare: Perceived Discrimination, Medical Mistrust, Race Discordance, And Poor Communication, Adolfo Gabriel Cuevas

Dissertations and Theses

For many health conditions, African Americans bear a disproportionate burden of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to European Americans. African Americans also use health services less frequently than do European Americans and this underuse of services contributes to health disparities in the United States. Studies have shown that some disparities are present not as a result of poor access to care, but, to a certain extent, as a result of the experiences patients have at their doctors' offices. It is, therefore, essential to understand African American patients' perspectives and experiences with healthcare providers. Past studies have shown that four …

The Effect Of Argumentative Task Goal On The Quality Of Argumentative Discourse, Merce Garcia-Mila, Sandra Gilabert, Sibel Erduran, Mark Felton

Faculty Publications

In argumentative discourse, there are two kinds of activity-dispute and deliberation-that depend on the argumentative task goal. In dispute the goal is to defend a conclusion by undermining alternatives, whereas in deliberation the goal is to arrive at a conclusion by contrasting alternatives. In this study, we examine the impact of these tasks goals on the quality of argumentative discourse. Sixty-five junior high school students were organized into dyads to discuss sources of energy. Dyads were formed by members who had differing viewpoints and were distributed to one of two conditions: 31 dyads were asked to discuss with the goal …

Relationship Between Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction And Immune Function In Cancer And Hiv/Aids, Rachel L. Zeichner, Jeffery L. Kibler, Simon B. Zeichner

Faculty Articles

Objective: Chronic stress is widespread, and is detrimental to immune functioning and to overall physical and emotional health. These effects may be potentiated in patients with chronic illness, as high levels of chronic stress are common in this population. Numerous studies support the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in improving psychological functioning. If a strong relationship is found between MBSR and immune function, then MBSR may be implemented as a strategy to improve immune functioning and overall well-being.

Methods: In the present review paper, the relationship between MBSR and immune function is evaluated. Empirical studies measuring immune markers as …

Research Brief: "Combat Exposure And Suicide Risk In Two Samples Of Military Personnel", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the relationship between suicide risk and combat exposure among veterans who are receiving mental health care and those not receiving mental health care. For policy and practice, veterans who are not receiving mental health care should be monitored for depression and PTSD; mental health professionals should understand the relationship between risk factors and suicide, and the VHA should encourage post-9/11 veterans to use their mental health care benefits provided to them by the VA. Suggestions for future research include using a more representative sample, analyzing the sample over time, and relying on methods other than self-reporting.

Effects Of Texture Component Orientation On Orientation Flow Visibility For 3-D Shape Perception, Michelle L. Fowler, Andrea Li

Publications and Research

In images of textured 3-D surfaces, orientation flows created by the texture components parallel to the surface slant play a critical role in conveying the surface slant and shape. This study examines the visibility of these orientation flows in complex patterns. Specifically, we examine the effect of orientation of neighboring texture components on orientation flow visibility. Complex plaids consisting of gratings equally spaced in orientation were mapped onto planar and curved surfaces. The visibility of the component that creates the orientation flows was quantified by measuring its contrast threshold (CT) while varying the combination of neighboring components present in the …

The Neural Mechanisms Of Semantic And Response Conflicts: An Fmri Study Of Practice-Related Effects In The Stroop Task, Zhencai Chen, Xu Lei, Cody Ding, Hong Li, Antao Chen

Education Sciences and Professional Programs Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Family Socioeconomic Status And Children's Reading Ability: The Buffering Effect Of Parental Social Support, Casey Dexter

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to better understand the protective effect that social support has on the development of reading in children from a range of SES backgrounds. Because other studies have suggested the importance of teacher quality on children's reading ability, this was also tested. This study utilized a sample taken from the public-use version of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a large-scale, nationally representative sample of children attending kindergarten in the United States in the fall of the 1998-1999 academic year and their families, teachers, and schools. As expected, family SES and the availability of …

Religion And Spirituality In Mental And Physical Well-Being Of Korean And White Americans, Mila Kil

Wayne State University Dissertations

An increasing number of researchers have confirmed the important role of religion and spirituality, not only in the psychological and emotional domains but also in physical health. Several researchers note that various forms of spirituality and religiousness can help Asian immigrants cope with the upheavals of immigration, adaptation to a new country, and other difficult personal and social transformations related to being in a new culture. Especially for Korean immigrants, churches and religious organizations act as a powerful support group. However, few empirical studies have paid attention to this topic, considering the importance of religion and spirituality to most individuals. …

Stress And Social Relationships: The Role Of Corticosterone In The Formation And Maintenance Of Pair Bonds In The Monogamous Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata), Kimberly Anne Laplante

Wayne State University Dissertations

Stress and affiliative social relationships are bi-directionally related. It is well understood that social relationships can buffer the physiological response to a stressor. Conversely, there is some evidence to suggest that stress can affect the propensity to form a pair bond. Data from humans and prairie voles, monogamous rodents, suggest that activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in males increases attraction for females. Across species, females are understudied, but evidence from the prairie vole suggests HPA activation impairs formation of partner preference, the first step in establishing a pair bond. Across taxa there is evidence that formation and maintenance of …

Assessment Of The Semantic Knowledge Network In Older Adults With Familial History Of Alzheimer's Disease, Erin Marie Holcomb

Wayne State University Dissertations

Current techniques for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease rely on early implementation, which necessitates the need for accurate and early identification of individuals most at risk for future cognitive decline. Research has demonstrated the usefulness of examining the temporal gradient for long-term semantic knowledge in identification of such individuals. The assessment of the temporal gradient within varying levels of knowledge specificity, however, has received considerably less attention. In this study, we aimed to contrast accuracy and reaction times for semantic memory tasks tapping multiple dimensions of semantic specificity from multiple time epochs in adult children with and without a parental …

Measurement Invariance Of Assessment Center Ratings: Consistency Of Dimensional Constructs Across Exercises, Jin Lee

Master's Theses

The criterion-related validity of assessment centers (ACs) has been consistently supported. However, there has been an ongoing debate about AC construct validity in regard to low dimension variance and overriding exercise variance. Many studies that showed weak dimension effects in ACs have been based on the multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) framework which posits cross-situational variance as error and all capability dimensions can be equally represented from different exercises. The goal of this study is to introduce a measurement invariance (MI) framework for evaluating the construct validity of AC dimensions. Specifically, MI analysis was used to test whether the construct meaning of AC …

Microstructural Abnormalities In Striatial And Medial-Temporal Tracts In Children With A History Of Early Severe Deprivation: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study, Amy Veenstra

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if early social deprivation led to different patterns of frontal and/or medial-temporal cortical connectivity in internationally adopted children and if these patterns of cortical connectivity were related to specific white matter tract or behavioral differences. Based on theories of brain development, it was expected that environmental factors would impact children's tract based differences and behavioral differences. A sample of 30 internationally adopted children and 12 comparison children participated in functional and structural imaging and a neuropsychological evaluation. For internationally adopted children frontal-cortical connectivity showed patterns of diffuse and low connectivity, whereas medial-temporal …

Music And Movement Share A Dynamic Structure That Supports Universal Expressions Of Emotion, Beau Sievers, Larry Polansky, Michael Casey, Thalia Wheatley

Dartmouth Scholarship

Music moves us. Its kinetic power is the foundation of human behaviors as diverse as dance, romance, lullabies, and the military march. Despite its significance, the music-movement relationship is poorly understood. We present an empirical method for testing whether music and movement share a common structure that affords equivalent and universal emotional expressions. Our method uses a computer program that can generate matching examples of music and movement from a single set of features: rate, jitter (regularity of rate), direction, step size, and dissonance/visual spikiness. We applied our method in two experiments, one in the United States and another in …

Student Wellness And The Residency Experience, Joseph Spillman, Laura R. Haddock, Michelle Perepiczka

2010-2016 Archived Posters

This project surveyed MS Mental Health/Marriage Couple and Family /Career residency students. Data was collected over the course of two year s of residencies in a variety of geographic locations to determine what impact the residency experience had on the ProQuol Compassion Satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress levels of Walden Master’s counseling students. The goal was to use the information to assist Walden faculty in the training, education, and personal support of counseling students in their professional and personal growth and development.

Trust And Intention To Comply With A Water Allocation Decision: The Moderating Roles Of Knowledge And Consistency, Joseph A. Hamm, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Mitch Herian, Alan Tomkins, Hannah Dietrich, Sarah Michaels

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

Regulating water resources is a critically important yet increasingly complex component of the interaction between ecology and society. Many argue that effective water regulation relies heavily upon the compliance of water users. The relevant literature suggests that, rather than relying on external motivators for individual compliance, e.g., punishments and rewards, it is preferable to focus on internal motivators, including trust in others. Although prior scholarship has resulted in contemporary institutional efforts to increase public trust, these efforts are hindered by a lack of evidence regarding the specific situations in which trust, in its various forms, most effectively increases compliance. We …

College Students' Alcohol Consumption Habits, Perceptions, Readiness To Change And Exposure To A Brief Information Based Intervention, Matthew Boudreau

Psychology Honors Papers

The current study sought to compare the effectiveness of two brief information based interventions. The first exposed to participants information regarding accurate social norms college student alcohol consumption and a second which focused on information regarding the effects of alcohol on the brain and body. The effectiveness of the interventions was investigated by comparing initial scores on the Readiness to Change scale (RTC; Rollnick et al. 1992) to scores on the same scale after a two week follow up. It was hypothesized that the groups who received the intervention would both show significant increases in scores on the contemplative and …

Are We Becoming More Socially Awkward? An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Technological Communication Use And Social Skills In College Students., Cecilia Brown

Psychology Honors Papers

This study examined the relationship between the use of technological communication and social skills in college students. A total of 112 male and female undergraduate students at Connecticut College were surveyed about their social skills, social anxiety, technology use, and technology preference. Sixteen of these participants returned to participate in a conversation taking place in a lab setting that was observed by the researcher, in order to evaluate non-verbal social skills. We predicted that participants who used technological communication more frequently or preferred it to face-to-face communication, would have lower social skills and high social anxiety. In addition, women were …