Psychology Commons^™

Sibling Closeness And Similarity And The Presence Of Perfectionism, Jennifer L. Crowe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored whether characteristics of the sibling relationship are related to the level of perfectionistic tendencies that an individual reports. The framework of this study was based on Tesser's Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model, which says that the effects of comparisons with a close other, such as a sibling, can be mediated in one of three ways: (a) by reducing the closeness of the relationship, (b) by improving one's performance/impeding on the other's performance, or (c) by decreasing the relevance of the performance to one's self-concept (pursuing different areas and interests). Several hypotheses were offered which were based on the presumption …

Effects Of Emotion Regulation Strategies On Sexual Risk-Taking, Monica Lackups

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual risk-taking is a growing problem and an area where there are significant individual differences in behavior. One contributing factor to risky sexual behavior may be emotion regulation difficulties. For example, suppression has negative effects on emotion experience, while reappraisal leads to increased well-being. Previous research has demonstrated the use of sexual behavior as an emotion regulation strategy in victimized populations. This study investigated whether emotion regulation strategies influence sexual risk-taking in a non-clinical college population. Individuals with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties and higher suppression use engaged in more frequent sexual risk-taking behavior, whereas individuals who used reappraisal …

Incidence Of Sports-Related Concussion Among Youth Football Players Aged 8-12 Years, Scott O. Burkhart

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Objective To determine the risk of concussion among youth football players (ages 8-12 years).

Study design Participants included 468 male youth football players in western Pennsylvania during the 2011 youth football season. Incidence rates (IRs) and incidence density ratios (IDRs) of concussion were calculated for games and practices and for age groups.

Results There was a total of 11 338 (8415 practice and 2923 game) athletic exposures (AEs) in the study period, during which 20 medically diagnosed concussions occurred. A majority of concussions were the result of head-to-head (45%) contact. The combined concussion IR for practices and games was 1.76 …

Comparing Redistricting Outcomes Across States: A Comparison Of Commission, Court, And Legislative Plans, Jonathan Winburn

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

The question of redistricting reform has become an important topic in many states throughout the country. At the heart of the matter is how to effectively deal with the perceived detrimental effects of allowing legislators control over selecting their own constituencies. The most common prescription is to remove legislative influence by handing over control to nonpolitical or bipartisan commissions. However, little empirical evidence exists comparing the outcomes of commission plans versus legislative plans. In this paper, I address this question by examining the role of commissions throughout the states. I argue an important aspect to limiting the problems of redistricting …

The Electoral College: A Critical Analysis, John Heyrman

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

This paper looks critically at several of the principal arguments employed for and against the continued use of the Electoral College, as opposed to a system of direct popular vote. The Electoral College does not merely diverge from our common American practices of direct popular vote, but it does so in ways that primarily benefit some states at the expense of others. While federalism clearly has desirable features for the United States, and a two­ party system may be desirable, neither is threatened by the removal of the Electoral College. Many of the defenses of the College appear to indicate …

Immigration In The E.U. And The U.K.: A Conflict Of Interests And Policy, Beth Coleman

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Though contemporary society is becoming increasingly globalized, most of the developed world is looking towards immigration policies aimed at keeping other people and cultures out. This unfortunate trend is creating a society of protective multiculturalism-where one culture or state borrows desirable and beneficial characteristics and ideas from another culture, while isolating and at times even condemning that same group. Though the issue of border security remains a hotly debated topic in the United States, Europe is looking towards an era of border-free movement and renewed labor resources. However there are some major European powers, such as the United Kingdom, that …

Complete Issue - Volume 1, Number 1 (2013)

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Complete Issue

An Examination Of Induced Anxiety And Its Interaction With Trait Anxiety On Executive Functioning Tasks, Joseph Harris

LSU Master's Theses

Anxiety is a common human experience which has been shown to have detrimental effects on cognitive abilities, particularly the executive abilities of inhibition, shifting and updating. Previous studies in this area have been highly specific in their focus, leaving gaps in the literature. As a result, the general nature of anxiety’s effect on executive functioning has yet to be fully defined. The current study attempted to establish such a definition by exploring the effects of state anxiety and trait anxiety on each of the executive functions, both in terms of task performance and efficiency. In addition, because working memory has …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Classwide Social Skills Intervention With Preschoolers And Kindergarteners, Haley E. York

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of a manualized, universal social skills intervention for young students. Past research on the use of universal interventions within the domain of social skills has shown great promise, and the importance of social skills has been demonstrated through their empirical relation to academic and behavioral outcomes. Additional research has shown that, overall, social skills training interventions for young children are successful and have lasting effects. These findings convey the importance and need for effective, efficient, and early social skills training interventions. As such, this study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest …

An Examination Of The Stimuli Used In And The Theories Behind The Cross-Modal Stroop Task, Danielle A. Lutfi-Proctor

LSU Master's Theses

The classic Stroop task, during which one names the ink color of color words, has long been used as a measure of selective attention (Stroop, 1935). Selective attention generally refers to our ability to attend to one stimulus (a target) while ignoring another (a distractor). Since its initial creation, many variations of the classic Stroop task have been developed. One of these variations is cross-modal Stroop, which uses visual colored targets and auditory distractor color words. However, whether the same mechanisms and processes are used while completing the two tasks has yet to be determined. The following thesis examined cross-modal …

Abnormal Emotional Experience In Schizophrenia, Dallas A. Callaway

LSU Master's Theses

Ambivalence is defined as the state of simultaneously experiencing antithetical emotions towards a single attitude object (Bleuler, 1911/1950). Recent studies have evidenced ambivalence as a prominent aspect of schizophrenia patients’ in-the-moment emotional experiences (Cohen & Minor, 2010; Trémeau et al., 2009). The present study extended this line of work through the use of an experimental mood-induction methodology to explore the amount, frequency, and average duration of univalent positive, negative, and ambivalent emotional episodes within individuals with schizophrenia and those without psychiatric disturbance. The results indicate that, when exposed to a film clip stimulus selected for its documented (Larsen & McGraw, …

Community Violence Exposure Among Underprivileged Adolescents : What Are The Buffering Effects Of Family Qualities On Negative Outcomes?, Katherine Marie Harrison

LSU Master's Theses

Crime and violence are common in impoverished neighborhoods. Consequently, many youth are at risk for victimization and witnessing violent acts. Extensive research has established the presence of significant associations between violence exposure and aggression and posttraumatic stress symptoms among youth. Research has confirmed the protective role of several family characteristics against these negative outcomes despite adversity. However, the literature investigating the buffering effects of family in the relationship between community violence exposure and aggressive behavior and posttraumatic stress symptoms is limited. The current study examined the moderating effect of family factors such as household structure, social support, and parenting techniques …

Cognitive Performance As A Predictor Of Functional Capacity In Schizophrenia, Tracey Lauren Auster

LSU Master's Theses

Previous literature has demonstrated that persons with schizophrenia suffer from cognitive deficits and struggle with deficits in everyday living skills, two areas of functioning thatare related in some way. Nearly all cognitive domains are affected in schizophrenia, and most of them have been associated with poor functioning. Therefore, a possible link is the existence of an attentional bottleneck where the demands of attentional load and the lack of attentional resources to handle these demands, decreases capacity to carryout everyday living skills. Researchers have suggested the existence of a structural bottleneck that limits individuals’ ability in the use of cognitive resources. …

Comparing Social Skills In Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorders According To The Dsm-Iv-Tr And The Proposed Dsm-5, Jennifer Susan Beighley

LSU Master's Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is currently defined using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). With the fifth edition of the DSM (DSM-5) forthcoming, one change the American Psychiatric Association has proposed is an increase in the number of overall symptoms necessary to meet criteria for ASD. Because social skills is well established as a core symptom of autism, the present study explores differences in social functioning using the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in Youngsters-II (MESSY-II) in three groups of children ages 3-16 years including those diagnosed with ASD using the …

Schizotypy: The Dynamic Relationship Between Trait And State Processes, Rebecca K. Macaulay

LSU Master's Theses

Importantly, elevations in emotional reactivity to stress are often found in individuals vulnerable for psychosis. This study investigated several meaningful factors that appear to either increase vulnerability to stress (degree of schizotypy traits, trait negative affect, low perceived control, and impaired selective attention), or increase resiliency to stress (trait positive affect). A modified Posner spatial-cueing task utilizing affective cues was employed to assess selective attention within a neutral and an uncontrollable stressor condition. Between group differences (high, medium and low in schizotypy traits) and interactions between affective traits, state affect, and perceived control were evaluated in order to shed light …

Multi-Informant Investigation Of College Student Drinking Behaviors And Social Anxiety : The Role Of Perceived Descriptive And Injunctive Norms, Anthony H. Ecker

LSU Master's Theses

Problematic alcohol use in college is a major public health concern. Identification of variables related to development of alcohol-related problems is an important research goal. Social anxiety and perceived social norms are two such variables. Social anxiety is associated with concurrent experience of alcohol-related problems and development of future problems with alcohol. Perceived norms, especially norms related to perceived approval of risky alcohol use (i.e., injunctive norms), are related to greater drinking problems among college students with higher social anxiety. College students typically overestimate the amount that other students in general use alcohol, and the discrepancy between perceived and actual …

Hypnosis, Hypnotizability, Memory And Involvement In Films, Reed Maxwell

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have reported increased involvement in reading (Baum and Lynn, 1981) and music-listening (Snodgrass and Lynn, 1989) tasks during hypnosis. We predicted a similar effect for film viewing of greater absorption and involvement in an emotional (The Champ) versus a non-emotional ( Scenes of Toronto) film clip. We also examined the effects of hypnosis and film valence on memory and state depersonalization. Our study is the first to use state dissociation to index response to hypnosis. We tested 121 participants who completed measures of absorption and trait dissociation and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and …

[Introduction To] Heroic Leadership: An Influence Taxonomy Of 100 Exceptional Individuals, Scott T. Allison, George R. Goethals

Bookshelf

Heroic Leadership is a celebration of our greatest heroes, from legends such as Mahatma Gandhi to the legions of unsung heroes who transform our world quietly behind the scenes. The authors argue that all great heroes are also great leaders. The term ‘heroic leadership’ is coined to describe how heroism and leadership are intertwined, and how our most cherished heroes are also our most transforming leaders.

This book offers a new conceptual framework for understanding heroism and heroic leadership, drawing from theories of great leadership and heroic action. Ten categories of heroism are described: Trending Heroes, Transitory Heroes, Transparent Heroes, …

Children's Constructed Meanings Of Sisterhood When An Older Sibling Has Autism, Jamie L. Carroll

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Sibling relationships have been recognized as important in facilitating the acquisition of emotional and social understanding and even assisting in cognitive development (Sanders, 2004). Sibling relationships that include one child with a disability are especially significant and worthy of study, as typical siblings tend to take on more responsibility for their siblings' care across their lifespan (Cicirelli, 1995). In attempting to understand these sibling relationships in childhood, past researchers have largely relied on parent report and behavioral observations. In order to advance the field's understanding of sibling relationships when one child autism, this study asked children to voice their perspectives …

The Sisters' Experience Of Having A Sibling With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Melissa L. Mcvicker

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation consists of two articles. This first article is a literature review identifying studies of autism spectrum disorders and sibling relationships published in the past 10 years. This search strategy identified 16 articles for inclusion in this review and conveyed the following main outcomes: a) parental factors influence sibling relationship and typically developing child, b) behavioral interactions/problems affect the quality of the sibling relationship, c) genetic factors have varying impact on diagnosis, and d) effects/outcomes for typically developing sibling are both positive and negative. This review supported the call for a better understanding of the family factors on the …

The Relationship Of Teacher, Student, And Content In The Clinical Psychology Classroom, Hannah Lord

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The field of clinical psychology is in the midst of redefining graduate school education with a push for competency-based approaches and measurable learning outcomes. This dissertation explores the best-practice knowledge regarding the education of professional clinical psychology graduate students and uses cooperative inquiry to richly detail the educational approach of a thus far “silent stakeholder,” Dr. Colborn W. Smith, a long-time teacher and training director. This inquiry is intended to help me [Hannah Lord] understand an important personal educational experience, to explore the tangible art of teaching that made such an experience possible, and to contribute to the evolving discourse …

Post-Learning Activities And Memory Consolidation: The Effect Of Physical And Cognitive Activities On Memory Consolidation, Yue Tang

Honors Papers

Memory consolidation is the process during which short-term memory is stabilized and long-term memory is formed. This study aims at investigating how physical and cognitive activities affect memory consolidation during wakefulness. There were four conditions: sit, sit-puzzle, walk and walk-puzzle and a repeated measure, within subject design was adopted. Participants engage in each condition for ten minutes immediately following a learning session, and this process was repeated for four times. Word recall was collected twice, both immediately after engaging in the task, and in the second day. Results revealed that engaging in physical activity alone (walk) led to the best …

A Propensity Score Matching Analysis Of Race On The Decision To Petition A Case In The Juvenile Court, George Higgins, Melissa L. Ricketts, James D. Griffith, Stephanie A. Jirard

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

Policy Considerations When Applying Sight And Sound Seperations, Jennifer Bradford, Jennifer Capps

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

From Mind To Machine : Parity Affects In The Attentional Set-Shifting Task In Animal And Machine Models, Katie Coren Freeman

Honors Theses

As a dual behavioral and computational neuroscience research project, this study first tested reproductive effects on attention, learning, and decision making using the Attentional Set-Shifting Task (AS-ST) and then a Machine Learning model was constructed to simulate perceptual judgments and decision making through reinforced learning. In the behavioral task, response times and errors from 5 primiparous (one-time mothers) and 4 nulliparous (never pregnant) Sprague-Dawley rats were recorded during four increasingly complex attention modulation and paired associative learning tasks. The Machine Learning model reconstructed each task's decision problems through representation of internal and external conditions, valuation, action, and outcome evaluation to …

Resilience Education, Jane Gillham, R. M. Abenavoli, S. M. Brunwasser, M. Linkins, K. J. Reivich, M. E. P. Seligman

Psychology Faculty Works

As a primary learning and social environment for most children, schools have tremendous potential to, and responsibility for, promoting resilience and well-being in children. This chapter reviews the rationale for focusing on resilience in education and illustrates some of the ways that schools can promote resilience in young people. Although resilience education can also encompass academic or educational resilience, the authors focus primarily on the power of schools to promote students’ social and emotional well-being and provide examples from their team’s work on school-based resilience and positive psychology interventions. As they hope to show, resilience education holds great promise in …

Utilizing Students As Behavior Change Agents : An Example Using Check-In/Check-Out, Evan Henry Dart

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While there is no shortage of evidence-based interventions designed to address the academic and behavioral difficulties of students in schools, it can be difficult to find adults that are available to implement them consistently. To remedy this problem, students’ peers have often been utilized effectively as academic interventionists in the schools and as behavioral interventionists for students with disabilities. Two studies were designed to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-mediated intervention for students at-risk for developing behavioral disorders. Check-in/Check-out (CICO), a mentor-based intervention traditional implemented by adults, was modified so that it could be easily implemented by elementary school students. …

The Role Of Recovery In Attenuating The Negative Effects Of Perceived Stigmatizing Attitudes For Persons With Psychiatric Disabilities, Betsy Alison Davis

Theses and Dissertations

For many people who experience psychiatric disabilities (PD), community experiences are largely characterized by stigmatizing interactions, discrimination, and losses of opportunities for employment, housing, or relationships. Social withdrawal and loss of self-esteem can be secondary consequences of such negative experiences. However, research has also explored various mechanisms through which people in historically stigmatized social groups can minimize some of the negative effects of stigma. Many of these strategies are theorized to be similar to a mental health recovery orientation which emphasizes the empowerment, capabilities, and strengths of mental health consumers. The present investigation explores the possibility of recovery attenuating some …

The Psychology Of The 3d Experience, Sophie Janicke, Andrew Ellis

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

With 3D televisions expected to reach 50% home saturation as early as 2016, understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying the user response to 3D technology is critical for content providers, educators and academics. Unfortunately, research examining the effects of 3D technology has not kept pace with the technology’s rapid adoption, resulting in large-scale use of a technology about which very little is actually known. Recognizing this need for new research, we conducted a series of studies measuring and comparing many of the variables and processes underlying both 2D and 3D media experiences. In our first study, we found narratives within primetime …

Multidimensional Perfectionism And Social Connectivity Among Youth: Findings And Implications, Alexander Nounopoulos

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Although traditional researchers exploring perfectionism frequently cast the construct in a negative light, a steady stream of recent studies have demonstrated that perfectionistic beliefs can yield both positive and negative outcomes. Despite this progression in the research, perfectionism remains an understudied phenomenon among youth, especially as it relates to the ways in which these individuals are perceived by others. The current study builds on the previous literature by exploring adolescent perfectionism across a variety of psychological and psychoeducational dimensions. Moreover, a unique addition to the literature offered by this study was the inclusion of peer-reports along with self-reported measures in …