Psychology Commons^™

Do Gaba(A) Receptors Switch For All Drug Dependence?: Examining The Dopamine-Dependent Pathways Of Alcohol Addiction, Catie Nielson, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The prevailing model for addiction proposes that neurotransmission of dopamine (DA) in the brain reward system is dysregulated, with enhanced levels during acute drug exposure and reduced levels during drug dependence and withdrawal. One emerging view is that during drug addiction, GABA(A) receptors switch the effect of GABA neurons on DA neurons from inhibitory to excitatory. This has been demonstrated for opiate addiction (Vargas-Perez et al., 2009). Our lab has previously demonstrated that GABA neurons become tolerant to acute ethanol and hyperexcitable during chronic ethanol (Gallegos et al., 1999), which may explain why dopamine neurotransmission is reduced during withdrawal. The …

Developing Clinical Evaluative Norms In A Residential Setting, Melissa Richardson, Dr. Jared Warren

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Providing feedback to clinicians has been shown to reliably increase duration of treatment and leads to significantly improved outcomes in adult populations (Lambert et al., 2001), though little has been done for youth populations. Using feedback systems aid clinicians by allowing means for them to obtain valuable information about the baseline and contributors to a patient’s mental illness as well as the progression of the patient throughout treatment. This study used this notion of feedback to utilize a new psychotherapy outcome measure, the Treatment Support Measure (TSM) in the context of a youth residential treatment center (RTC) setting to determine …

Patient Attrition At The Brigham Young University Counseling And Career Center: Obstacles And Opportunies In Care, Viktor Koltko, Dr. Tyler Pedersen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Premature termination from treatment is a common problem across all psychotherapeutic settings. Dropout undermines the potential benefits of therapy to those in need and also reduces overall cost-effectiveness of treatment. Research indicates that those who terminate unilaterally from therapy are more likely to be dissatisfied with services, are less likely to have improved, and are typically more impaired and hence in need of services. Current research yields no consensus as to the causes of early client termination from therapy. Results of prior studies indicate that wait-time before and between sessions, client improvement, dislike of the therapist, dissatisfaction with services provided, …

Effects Of Light Stimulation On Long-Term Potentiation In Dopamine Neurons In The Nucleus Accumbens, Eliza Lee Warren, Dr. Scott C. Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Light therapy has been utilized to treat alcoholics in the past (Zalewska- Kaszubska & Obzejta, 2004), and opiate dependent rats (Mirzaii-Dizgah, Ojaghi, Sadeghipour-Roodsari, Karimian, & Sohanaki, 2009). Unfortunately, research is limited and still little is known. It was the aim of this study to determine what these effects are, specifically in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Dopamine (DA) release in the shell of the NAc has been shown to be a contributing factor in addiction. As DA levels in the NAc are raised, behavior reinforcement occurs. Addictive drugs hijack this system by raising levels of DA in the NAc, and raising …

Prosocial Behavior And Posttraumatic Growth After Trauma, Rhiannon Trull

College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Presentations

The purpose of this study was to examine prosocial behaviors of individuals who have or have not experienced individual traumas, and to assess whether experiencing multiple types of trauma will be related to prosocial behavior and posttraumatic growth. There were 118 undergraduate students who responded to an online survey comprised of three established measures. Participants indicated the nature of traumatic events through a checklist, with prosocial behavior and posttraumatic growth assessed through self-report questionnaires. There was no difference between those who experienced trauma and those who had not experienced trauma in their tendencies toward prosocial behavior. However, individuals who had …

The Effects Of Masculinity And Trauma On Prosocial Behaviors, Kyle Brasil

College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Presentations

I examined the difference between men who scored higher in masculinity and experienced a trauma, less masculine men who suffered a trauma, less masculine men who did not suffer from a trauma, and higher masculine men who did not experience a trauma. I compared the four groups on their prosocial tendencies. I used the Male Roles Norms Inventory-Short Form, Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, and the Adult Prosocial Tendencies Measure to establish masculinity, trauma experience, and prosocial tendencies respectively. The sample used was 54 males ranging in age from 18 to 28 years (M = 19.58, SD = 1.89) collected …

Facebook And Life Satisfaction: In Search Of The Happy Balance, Jamie Lundergreen

College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Presentations

This study focuses on what psychological and behavioral changes lead to increases in life satisfaction for Facebook users either after they delete their profiles or after they alter the way they use the site (e.g. through behaviors such changing the friends visible on the News Feed). College students are the primary sample for this study as they are some of the major consumers of Facebook. The research is conducted through online questionnaires, and it includes a 2-week experimental period where participants are asked to change a Facebook behavior and report back. With more knowledge about what increases life satisfaction in …

Hockey Fan Excitement, Timothy Hibbard, Bret Andreason

College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Presentations

Hockey is one of the most exciting sports in the world. Despite its popularity—with over 15 million fans in attendance during the 2012-13 NHL season—hockey is also one of the least researched professional sports. While one may guess at the reasons why hockey is so exciting to fans, the evidence is largely anecdotal. For this study, more than 200 professional hockey fans were interviewed and observed over a two-month period during the 2013-14 season. The specific aim of this research was to determine which hockey plays fans report as the most exciting to them, and what draws people to the …

Temperament In Social Dominance, Jason Lefrandt, Dr. James Higley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

During the internship at the University of California, Davis Primate Center this summer 2013, I have had the privilege of learning in various capacities as a research assistant. My main project that I was involved with was under Erna Tarara, a trained primatologist that did her field studies in Africa working on baboons. Together, we collect behavioral data that would help John Capitatio’s BioBehavioral Assessment (BBA) research on rhesus macaques.

Maternal Health And Child Behaviors As Risk Factors For Child Injury, Christina J. Nicolais

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence suggests that child behavior, parent mental health, parent supervision, and home environment conditions impact a child’s risk of injury. Vulnerable families are at greater risk for the occurrence of child behavior problems, poor health, decreased supervision, and hazardous home conditions. Consistent with a model that proposes that parent, child, and environment factors interact within the lens of sociocultural factors to predict injury, the current study aimed to test a statistical model with maternal physical health and child externalizing behaviors as predictors of child injury, and home hazards and supervision as mediators of these relations. Analyses were conducted using a …

A Study Of Stress Levels Of Students, Rebekah Currie

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Sprouts Early Childhood Program: An Evaluation Of Child Outcomes, Lauryn Michele Toby

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation examines the cognitive, adaptive, communicative, social and autism-related outcomes for those enrolled in an early childhood intervention program for children age three to five with autism spectrum disorders. First, relevant literature on autism spectrum disorders, early intervention, evidence-based practice, and published investigations of existing comprehensive treatment programs for young children with autism are reviewed, the current investigation is outlined, and results and implications are discussed.

Using developmental trajectory analyses to investigate changes in each child's trajectory over time, as well as by comparing changes in scores over time on standardized measures of communication, adaptive skills, cognitive skills, social …

Anger In The Courtroom: The Effects Of Attorney Gender And Emotion On Juror Perceptions, Christian B. May

Honors College Theses

This study sought to examine the effects of gender stereotypes of emotional expression on jurors’ perceptions of an attorney’s competence. Participants watched a video of a closing statement of a male or female attorney expressing either anger or neutral emotions and were asked to give a verdict and rate the attorney’s competence. Participants rated an angry male attorney highest in competence and an angry female attorney lowest in competence. Results also showed that participants who viewed a male attorney were more likely to attribute the attorney’s emotions to the situation compared to participants who viewed a female attorney. The implications …

Effects Of Light Stimulation On Long-Term Potentiation In Dopamine Neurons In The Nucleus Accumbens, Eliza Lee Warren, Dr. Scott C. Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Light therapy has been utilized to treat alcoholics in the past (Zalewska- Kaszubska & Obzejta, 2004), and opiate dependent rats (Mirzaii-Dizgah, Ojaghi, Sadeghipour-Roodsari, Karimian, & Sohanaki, 2009). Unfortunately, research is limited and still little is known. It was the aim of this study to determine what these effects are, specifically in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Dopamine (DA) release in the shell of the NAc has been shown to be a contributing factor in addiction. As DA levels in the NAc are raised, behavior reinforcement occurs. Addictive drugs hijack this system by raising levels of DA in the NAc, and raising …

Analyzing The Power Of Individual Genes: Maternal Gene Influence On The Serotonin Transporter Gene, Patrick O'Connell, Dr. James Dee Higley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The present analysis considers a mother gene-by-infant gene interaction of the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (hereafter 5-HTTLPR). This is to our knowledge the first study to analyze this type of interaction. Two principle variants of this gene, a short allele (related to decreased 5-HTT expression), and a long allele, have been identified in both human and nonhuman primates. This provides 3 distinct genotypes: the homozygous short allele (ss), the heterozygotes (Ls), and the homozygous long allele genotype (LL); which have been shown to influence a variety of behaviors, principally those related to impulsive aggression (Higley & Barr, 2008) and anxiety …

Adaptation Of Dopamine Release With Chronic Ethanol Exposure And Withdrawal, Ronald Lopez, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Alcohol addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder that has enormous impact on society. Alcohol is one of the most abused drugs. Advancement in the understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying the abuse of alcohol will pave the way for more effective treatment strategies that could reverse dependence on this drug and save lives and resources throughout the world.

Brainwaves Of Memory: A Study On Memory Discrimination And Memory Generalization, Emily White, Dr. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Memory discrimination requires forming distinct, separate memories and depends on the process of pattern separation. Memory generalization allows you to retrieve previously-stored memories that may be grouped in memory among other, similar events and depends on the process of pattern completion. Interestingly, both of these complementary processes are mediated by the hippocampus. This means that the hippocampus must switch between pattern separation and pattern completion, a process which may be slow enough for us to measure experimentally.

A Historical Analysis Of Career Choice Among Chinese College Students, Fengyu Wang, Cody Ding

Education Sciences and Professional Programs Faculty Works

This study provides a historical analysis and review of the contemporary development of career choice orientations among Chinese college students in light of recent economic reform policies. Specifically, it describes the changes in, and developing trends of, career choice orientations in the past, present, and future among college students. This analysis reveals that with the profound transition from a centralized planned economy to a market economy in recent China, students’ career orientation has experienced a transformation from a societal standard to an individualistic standard; personal goals have changed from idealism to realism; and ideologies have developed from a unilateral structure …

The Consequence Of Freedom: A Sociological Analysis Of The Suicide Epidemic In Luthuania, Kyle Kaminski

Honors Theses

Lithuania has the highest global suicide rate at 40.2/100,000, according to the international suicide statistics provided by WHO (2004). Lithuania's suicide rate is over 2.5 times more than the global average. The top five countries in terms of suicide rate are Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Hungary (Ibid). All of these countries were previously under the Soviet Union's control from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War in 1989. Lithuania has not always been at the top of the rankings for global suicide rates. Lithuania's suicide rate spiked almost 20 percent during the years …

Comparative Temperament Assessment Between Mother And Infant: A Preliminary Look At Cross-Fostering, Jenna Jackson, Dr. James Dee Higley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Environment can shape temperament, although temperament is thought mainly to be biologically inherited. Thus, mothers’ temperament is often similar to the infants’ temperament. Previous studies in rhesus monkeys have shown that infants have a similar temperament to their mothers, and that there is a potential genetic influence.1 In fact, the rh5-HTTLPR (serotonin transporter gene) and the rh-MAOA-LPR gene have been linked to affecting temperament, interacting between the mothers and infants. However, only male infants exhibit this effect; female infants’ temperament was not correlated with their mothers’ temperament.

Inheritance Of Social Dominance In Rhesus Macaques, Mason Bennett, Dr. James Dee Higley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Many species of primates have complex social systems and hierarchies. These social structures help in forming an identity and establishing a place in the world. Depending on one’s ranking in the social hierarchy there may be physiological, psychological, and emotional consequences. A primate with low rank may suffer greater stress, have less access to resources or social support, and have a higher chance of mortality (Sapolsky, 2004).

“Take Heed With What Measure Ye Mete” Do Current Outcomes Of Religious Scholarship Reflect The Actual Impact Of Religion?, Justin Christensen, Dr. Sam Hardy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Scholarly research on religion reports many outcomes of religious involvement such as better physical and mental health, fewer risk-taking behaviors, and greater involvement in moral or pro-social actions (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009; Cotton, McGrady, & Rosenthal, 2010). These outcomes represent a small fraction of the total possible outcomes of religious involvement, and while they do exist, little evidence has been given to show that religious adherents identify these outcomes as being the most salient outcomes for them. Therefore, our purpose in conducting this study was two-fold: 1) Allow religious adherents to report on the outcomes that they have noticed …

Effects Of Locus Of Control On The Neural Mechanism Of Error Processing, Kaylie Carbine, Dr. Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Performance monitoring is the ability to assess behavior and make necessary adjustments (Ullsperger & von Cramon, 2001). Performance monitoring can be examined through event-related potentials (ERPs), which are indicators of the brain’s electrical activity in response to a specific stimulus (Luck, 2005). One specific ERP is the error-related negativity (ERN), which is a negative peak that occurs 50 to 100 ms after an erroneous response (Dehaene, Posner, & Tucker, 1994; Gehring, Goss, Coles, Meyer, & Donchin, 1993). Although there are many theories regarding the functional significance of the ERN, it is believed to signal when there is an internal detection …

Come On Down: Investigating An Informational Strategy To Debias The Anchoring Heuristic, Melissa A. Fuesting, Ellen Furlong

Honors Projects

When individuals estimate the price of goods or services, irrelevant factors may affect the estimates. For example, irrelevant numbers in individuals’ environments can cause participants to “anchor” to them as starting point price estimates, such that estimates tend toward the anchor (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974; Chapman & Johnson, 1994). In fact, anchored individuals may pay up to three times as much for a product and buy 32% more products (Ariely, Loewenstein, & Prelec, 2003; Wansink, Kent, & Hoch, 1998). Because anchoring affects purchases large and small, this study investigates how to debias, or reduce the negative effects of, the anchoring …

The Effect Of Marital Quality On Mortality: A Meta-Analysis, Tyler Harris, Dr. Timothy Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In recent years divorce, abuse, neglect and other family issues have been on the rise. Many of these problems stem from a poor marital relationship. Elder Christofferson recently taught, “We have much to do to strengthen marriage in societies that increasingly trivialize its importance and purpose” (Christofferson 2012). This study seeks to illustrate the physical and psychological benefits of following this counsel. Studies have indicated that marital status can contribute to a decrease in mortality (Jaffe, 2007). Positive social support has been linked to lower mortality as well (Holt-Lunstad, 2010). It would logically follow that marital quality is also associated …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Effect Of Marriage On Mortality, Chris Badger, David Stephenson, Dr. Tim Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Relationships have already been shown to have clear psychological benefits for those involved. (Meyers, 1999) Research has also shown an inverse relationships between the number and quality of relationships and health status. (House 1988, Knox 1998) In addition to health status, an incredible amount of research has examined the relationship between relationships and mortality. Other researchers have attempted to summarize this data in metaanalyses. (HoltLunstad, Smith & Layton 2010, Manzoli 2007) However, past metaanalyses of mortality research have either focused on relationships in general or on a specific subgroup of married people, like the elderly. The current project looked specifically …

Lingering Effects Of The Apartheid Determining Factors That Mediate The Psychological Implications Of Perceived Racism, Alexandra Knell, Dr. Timothy B. Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Experiences of racism adversely influence multiple aspects of psychological well-being, and individuals vary in their successful coping to mitigate those consequences. Recent research (van Dyk, 2008) has suggested religiosity and inter-racial forgiveness as two positive ways of coping, and my project will address the following question: “To what degree does forgiveness mediate spirituality and perceived racism separately as a buffer against the adverse effects on personal well-being?” It is my hypothesis that inter-racial forgiveness and spirituality will mediate the association of experiences of racism with psychological well-being of South Africans who report having experienced racism across their lives. Participants were …

Learning In Youth Organizing. A Response To "Pushing The Boundaries", Ben Kirshner

Democracy & Education

This response identifies several strengths of the article, "Pushing the Boundaries: What Youth Organizers at Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force Have to Teach Us about Civic Engagement" and draws connections to recent developments in sibling fields, including social and emotional learning and internet activism. These developments offer ideas for next steps in youth organizing research.

The Effects Of Racial Socialization And Parent-Child Relationship Quality On Emerging Adult Reports Of Racial Discrimination To Parents, Nathasha Cole

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of parent-child relationship quality and racial socialization on reports of racial discrimination to parents are examined in an African American emerging adult population. The effects of parent-child relationship quality and racial socialization on reports of racial discrimination to parents are also considered. The influences of demographic characteristics on reports of racial discrimination are also assessed. The purpose of this study is to examine if there are relationships between cultural origin, gender, socio-economic status and reports of racial discrimination to parents. The study also aims to determine if parent-child relationship quality has an effect on whether or not black …

Possible Psychosocial Benefits Of Having A Sibling With A Disability, Jenna M. Talbott

Senior Honors Theses

Possible psychosocial benefits resulting from exposure to siblings with disabilities are investigated in the current study. Previous literature has generally overlooked the possibility of psychosocial benefits by exclusively focusing on the negative effects of having a sibling with disabilities. Contact theory suggests that the increased exposure to individuals with disabilities should increase positive attitude toward those who are struggling with disadvantages. This investigation hypothesized that this tendency would be manifested as elevated empathy and compassion in individuals who have siblings with disabilities, and that these traits would be influenced by certain demographic variables. A survey was distributed, and the responses …