Psychology Commons^™

The Moderating Effects Of Family Management Factors On The Relationship Between Violence Exposure And Aggression, Christine Marie Raines

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Community violence, in the form of direct victimization or witnessing violent acts, is a prevalent public safety concern in many communities. Individuals who are exposed to community violence often exhibit a variety of associated mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. One of the most common negative outcomes associated with violence exposure among adolescents is engaging in aggressive or violent behavior. In order to mitigate the health, safety, and legal consequences associated with this outcome, it is worth examining factors that may protect adolescents from exhibiting behavior problems subsequent to community violence exposure. In the present study, …

The Role Of Salience In Second Language Acquisition, Ian South Comeaux

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract Cues to the actor role such as word order, noun animacy, case inflection and verb agreement vary in strength across languages. The competition model (CM; MacWhinney, 2005) suggests that adult L2 acquisition is difficult due to differences in cue strength between the native and target languages. Using a paradigm inspired by the CM, the present study examines whether salience plays a role in facilitating adjustments of cue strength during L2 learning. Native English speakers were exposed to an artificial language (via an actor-assignment task) which utilized four different cues: verb agreement, case marking, animacy, and word order. Word order, …

Social Functioning In Schizotypy: An Exploration Of Communicative Effectiveness Through Speech Analysis And Observer Rated Performance In A Socially Demanding Task, Tracey Lauren Auster

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Individuals with schizotypal traits have demonstrated sub-clinical symptoms of psychosis (e.g. perceptual disturbances, self-reported social functioning impairment, self-reported memory problems, and delusions). However, the evidence has been mixed regarding what impairments exist, particularly with regards to social functioning domains. As schizotypy is posited to reflect an underlying vulnerability for development of clinical levels of psychosis/risk conversion, individuals with these traits are an important group to study in order to identify these vulnerabilities. Research has indicated that current measures of social functioning (whether they are localized objective measures of verbal and non-verbal communication or global self-report of functioning) are missing some …

A Comparison Of Psychotic Symptoms Recorded In Patient Files Of Persons With A First Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia In 1930 And 1960 Cohorts Drawn From A Large State Hospital, Kristopher Michael Lee Henderson

LSU Master's Theses

The growth of mental hospital populations during the 19th and 20th centuries along with the corresponding increase in the number of mental institutions is well documented. The cause of the growth is the subject of considerable debate. One hypothesis is that the growth in hospital population was due, in part, to an increase in the prevalence or incidence of schizophrenia. Another is that diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia changed with time in such a manner that increasing numbers of patients were given this diagnosis. The present study sought to address these issues in two ways: 1) by comparing the number and …

A State-Level Analysis Of Deinstitutionalization And The Impact Of Chlorpromazine, Joni Maria Lee Pow

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

US state mental hospitals were rapidly depopulated in the decades following 1955. This was a demographic phenomenon of major proportion. The introduction of antipsychotics in 1954 has often been considered instrumental in this population movement. To date, studies of the role of antipsychotics in deinstitutionalization have been state specific, methodologically weak, inconsistent in their findings and fail to consider inter-state differences which could reveal previously unknown causal variables. This study used US Census data and pooled cross sectional time-series analysis to estimate the impact of chlorpromazine and policy changes on mental hospital population movement. To that end, the population movement …

The Impact Of Therapist Self-Disclosure On Client-Perceived Working Alliance Amongst Psychiatrist Inpatients, Sean C. Morrison

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Working alliance has been shown to predict positive psychotherapy treatment outcomes. Past research focuses on therapist characteristics that correlate with working alliance after multiple therapy sessions (e.g., warmth, trustworthy) rather than employing experimental designs examining specific techniques that quickly improve working alliance. Specific techniques that have been empirically shown to improve working alliance quickly may be particularly beneficial today in the age of managed care wherein clinicians often face constraints limiting the amount of time they can spend with clients. Therapist self-disclosure (TSD) of information about a clinician’s personal life, when used appropriately, may have the potential to quickly improve …

Evaluating And Increasing The Range Of Reinforcers For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Megan Kliebert Wiggins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research has demonstrated the utility of several preference-assessment methodologies to identify stimuli more likely to function as reinforcers for individuals with limited verbal repertoires. However, differing results have been obtained from studies evaluating the reinforcement effects of stimuli identified as high preference by one assessment method but low preference by another assessment method. The first focus of the project was to evaluate the reinforcing efficacy of edible and leisure items based on predictions from preference assessments. Results indicated that edible and leisure items approached frequently during a single-stimulus preference assessment but infrequently during a paired-stimulus preference assessment produced less …

Americans Overestimate Social Class Mobility, Michael W. Kraus, Jacinth J. X. Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this research we examine estimates of American social class mobility—the ability to move up or down in education and income status. Across studies, overestimates of class mobility were large and particularly likely among younger participants and those higher in subjective social class—both measured (Studies 1–3) and manipulated (Study 4). Class mobility overestimates were independent of general estimation errors (Study 3) and persisted after accounting for knowledge of class mobility assessed in terms of educational attainment and self-ratings. Experiments revealed that mobility overestimates were shaped by exposure to information about the genetic determinants of social class—a faux science article suggesting …

Discrepancy Between Parents And Children In Reporting Of Distress And Impairment: Association With Critical Symptoms, Laura Bein, Megan Lynn Petrik, Stephen M. Saunders, James V. Wojcik

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Background: We examined discrepant parent–child reports of subjective distress and psychosocial impairment.

Method: Parent–child pairs (N = 112 pairs) completed the Health Dynamics Inventory at intake for outpatient therapy.

Results: Average parent scores were significantly higher than average child scores on distress, impairment, and externalizing symptoms, but not internalizing symptoms. There were significant associations between parent–child discrepancy (i.e. children who reported greater distress or impairment than parents or vice versa) and child endorsement of several notable symptoms (rapid mood swings, panic, nightmares, and suicidal ideation).

Conclusion: Parents tended to report more externalizing symptoms, distress, and impairment than children reported; …

When Auditory And Visual Signal Processing Conflict: Cross-Modal Interference In Extended Work Periods, Stephen J. Guastello, Katherine Reiter, Matthew Malon, Anton Shircel

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Auditory and visual stimuli presented at intervals of about 300 m sec often produce miss errors in one or the other channel, which result from a bottleneck in a neural circuit associated with executive memory. The present study examined the possibility that cross-modal interference could carry over to performance units that transpire over 3 min or longer. An N-back task performed by 113 undergraduates with simultaneous auditory and visual stimuli was organised into 1-min blocks of 20 trials in 2-back and 3-back conditions. Results showed that impairment of visual processing was more frequent than impairment of auditory processing under …

Gender Differences In Pay Equity: An Examination Of The Working Adolescent, Melanie L. Saari

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was conducted to determine whether adult gender-based wage inequities are mirrored in the adolescent population. A developmental perspective was taken while examining this topic, so as to pinpoint stages when divergences based on gender might occur. In order to ascertain this, 157 pre-and young adolescents ranging in age from 12-15 years old participated in our survey and a subset of this group (n=89) participated in the follow-up interview. Contained in both the survey and interview were questions pertaining to remuneration, employment, negotiation, gender stereotypes and attitudes about money. Results indicated that young females seem to receive a better …

Living The Green Life: A Mixed-Methods Examination Of The Relationship Between Generativity And Environmental Engagement In Emerging And Mid-Life Canadian Activists And Nonactivists, Susan Alisat

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examined the role of the personality features of identity and generativity for the composition of personal narratives and engagement in an environmental domain. Although generativity has been highlighted as a key feature of environmentalism, this work extends the understanding of that link by examining its relationship with, and its emergence in, personal narratives of environmental activists and nonactivists. Narratives were analyzed at three distinct levels, in order to develop a thorough understanding of how generativity might intersect with an environmental personal narrative identity.

In the first study, I examined stories in terms of the features of generative commitment …

Bill 13 (The Accepting Schools Act): Ontario Legislation Mandating Support For Lgbt Students In Publicly-Funded Schools, Renato M. Liboro Jr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Twenty-six key stakeholders from schools in Waterloo Region, Ontario, participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews for this dissertation. They included students, teachers, school board representatives in administrator and superintendent roles, trustees, and community service providers. This study explored the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in publicly-funded schools, the effect of those experiences on their mental health and well-being, and the success of strategies, programs, and policies implemented by schools to address LGBT youth issues. It also examined the perspectives of participants on Bill 13, Ontario’s Accepting Schools Act, particularly strengths and weaknesses of the bill in terms …

“Where Did I Learn That?” Exploring The Similarity Effect And Children’S Use Of Memory Cues For Source Monitoring, Leanne E. Bird

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An individual’s ability to accurately monitor source (attribute known or remembered information to its particular source or origin) develops gradually throughout childhood. Along with task difficulty (i.e., delay between encoding and retrieval), source similarity is among the utmost hindrance to individuals’ ability to accurately monitor source; specifically, the greater the similarity between sources the more difficult source monitoring judgments have been found to be, and the smaller similarity between sources (i.e., the greater number of differences between sources) the more accurate source monitoring judgments have been found to be. The similarity effect has been said to apply to all age …

The Development And Application Of A Measure To Assess The Interpersonal Qualities Of Self-Talk, Elizabeth L. Price

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In three studies, this research describes the development and potential application of a new self-report measure, the Interpersonal Self-Talk Scale (IPSTS). Based on Kiesler’s (1983) Interpersonal Circle: Acts Version, and the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS-R; Wiggins et al., 1988) the IPSTS was designed to measure the distinct interpersonal qualities of self-talk. In Study 1 (N = 316), a principal components analysis of the IPSTS items yielded two underlying dimensions of dominance and affiliation. The preliminary octant subscales displayed good internal consistency reliability and circumplex structure, and the IPSTS was shown to measure a construct that is reasonably …

Once A Thief, Always A Thief? How Time, Implicit Theories, And Race Affect Moral Judgments, Sarah L. Williams

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

How can a person judge another individual’s moral character? One way may be to look to their moral and immoral actions. However, should all actions be weighed equally, whether they occurred in the near or distant past? Moral actions do not occur in a temporal vacuum, yet relatively little research has examined the role of time in moral judgment. We expected that people would weigh a previous immoral act differently depending on when it occurred and on their beliefs about personal malleability. Individuals differ in their implicit theories about the degree to which human characteristics, such as moral character or …

Positive Parenting In Adolescence And Its Association With Future Hopes And Fears In Adulthood: A Longitudinal Analysis, Harmanpreet Chauhan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

During young adulthood (ages 20-39), individuals begin to develop a future orientation by thinking about their possible selves. In this longitudinal study, young adults’ future hopes and fears were examined in relation to their perceptions of the parenting style they experienced in adolescence. An interview was conducted with participants at age 26 and 32 to assess their future possible selves. Participants discussed both hoped-for and feared selves. The long-term impact of parenting on future hopes and fears was examined by exploring the possible impact of perceived parenting styles experienced in adolescence. Interviews were conducted in 2005 and 2011 with 26 …

Modeling Human Gaming Playing Behavior And Reward/Penalty Mechanism Using Discrete Event Simulation (Des), Christina M. Frederick, Michael Fitzgerald, Dahai Liu, Yolanda Ortiz, Christopher Via, Shawn Doherty, Jason P. Kring

Publications

Humans are remarkably complex and unpredictable; however, while predicting human behavior can be problematic, there are methods such as modeling and simulation that can be used to predict probable futures of human decisions. The present study analyzes the possibility of replacing human subjects with data resulting from pure models. Decisions made by college students in a multi-level mystery-solving game under 3 different gaming conditions are compared with the data collected from a predictive sequential Markov-Decision Process model. In addition, differences in participants’ data influenced by the three different conditions (additive, subtractive, control) were analyzed. The test results strongly suggest that …

The Fourth Social Change Wave: Mastery Or Misery?, Raymond L. Forbes

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

One of the great values of social science has been its ability to identify and interpret useful themes and patterns that have shaped historical human behavior. In particular, understanding broad patterns of strategic social and technological change offers the opportunity to gain valuable insight into the present and provide potentially practical guidance for the future. This paper advances the concept of social waves of change, originally presented by futurist Alvin Toffler, as a frame work to think about what is now and what might be coming. It also provides several visions for a changed world, explores what it all might …

Resilience Through Adversity And Aging: Historical Loss And Resilience In Adults From A Northern Plains Tribe, Desiree L. Fox

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Historical loss is a primary contributor to the well-being of American Indian people and their communities. Research has shown that these losses have contributed to modern-day physical and mental health disparities. Research has also shown that adverse experiences, such as historical loss, are associated with the development of resilience. Additionally, increased age has been found to be related to increased levels of resilience. An informal survey of members of a Northern Plains tribal community identified grief as a major area of concern. The present study is a secondary analysis of data that was collected from two culturally-anchored grief retreats. Participants …

Organizational Leaders’ Experience With Fear-Related Emotions: A Critical Incident Study, Al Barkouli

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study used the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) to better understand how organizational leaders experienced fear-related emotions. Through semi-structured interviews, fifteen executive leaders, mainly chief executive officers (CEOs), shared their experiences in response to threatening, risky, or dangerous incidents. In addition to a phenomenological understanding of the experience, participants illuminated the role that fear-related emotions play in leader decisions, how these emotions influence leader-follower relationships, the impacts of fear-related emotions on leaders’ health and well-being, and the ways leaders managed their experience with fear-related emotions including the role courage played. Leaders often faced threats, risks, or dangers (stimuli) from within …

Behavioral Adjustment In Children With Life Threatening Illness A Qualitative Study, E. Joseph Becher Jr.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigated factors that affect adjustment in children with life-threatening illness from the viewpoint of the parents/caregivers. The data were collected from parents/caregivers whose children have a life threatening diagnosis. Parents/caregivers were interviewed and asked to complete the Parent Request Questionnaire (PRQ) which was given to them after the in-person interview. This newly developed PRQ was utilized into prior research to predict the levels of adjustment in children. It includes age, whether the child has been informed of the diagnosis, whether the child engages in age-appropriate activities, the child's prior experience with death, the child's family's involvement in treatment, …

Living Aloha: Portraits Of Resilience, Renewal, Reclamation, And Resistance, Camilla G. Wengler Vignoe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

When Native Hawaiians move away from the islands, they risk losing their cultural identity and heritage. This dissertation utilizes a Hawaiian theoretical framework based in Indigenous research practices and uses phenomenology, ethnography, heuristics, and portraiture to tell the stories of leadership, change, and resilience of five Native Hawaiians who as adults, chose to permanently relocate to the United States mainland. It explores the reasons why Kanaka Maoli (politically correct term for Native Hawaiians) leave the 'āina (land; that which feeds) in the first place and eventually become permanent mainland residents. Some Hawaiians lose their culture after relocating to the United …

Grandmothers' Leadership Roles As Reflected In The Lives Of High-Achieving Women: A Qualitative Study Of The Impact Of Grandmothers On Granddaughters During Their Formative Years, Sylvia E.M. Asante

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to document and recognize the role of grandmothers as leaders, role models, and mentors who can positively influence the lives of their granddaughters. Grandmothers’ roles are not typically associated with leadership, and this phenomenon of presenting grandmothers as effective leaders will fill a void and add to the canon of leadership literature. The use of phenomenological study, which describes the lived experience (Husserl, 1970), as well as transformative leadership and feminist theory perspectives will be pivotal to this study. Due to the dearth of data on grandmothers’ leadership roles, this phenomenological study will "give …

My Heart Is In The East: Exploring Theater As A Vehicle For Change, Inspired By The Poetic Performances Of Ancient Andalucía, Jessica Litwak

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study addresses the research question “How Do I Inspire Personal and Social Change Through My Theater Practice?” I implement the theory and practice of H.E.A.T., a fusion theater system, combining use of theater arts as healing practice, educational asset, activist tool, and an art form.I research different ways that theater can affect change, focusing specifically on the use of history in performance.I dramatically interpret a period of history where performance and poetry contributed to change.I utilize qualitative methods including performance ethnography, auto ethnography, arts-based research, and historical research.I describe the fieldwork in conflict zones in the Middle East, which …

A Phenomenological Study: Marriage And Family Therapists' And Clinician's Perceptions Of How Secondary Traumatic Stress Affects Them And Their Families, Norja Elizabeth Cunningham

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Multiple facets of clinicians' lives are influenced by compassion fatigue including physiological well-being, the perspective of clinicians in relation to the world, and psychological and emotional reactions to trauma triggers (Figley, 1998). Work stress research considers the systemic effects of stress on workers' relationships. Research also shows that romantic relationships are negatively influenced by work stress (Sanz-Vergel, Rodriguez, Bakker & Demerouti, 2012). This phenomenological study investigated the lived experience of three clinicians and how compassion fatigue was experienced in their relationships with their partners and children. Clinicians completed the Professional Quality of Life assessment and those with a score of …

Understanding The "Refugee" Of Hurricane Katrina: An Exploration Of Titles, Time And Post-Traumatic Growth, Kandice L. Timmons

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative phenomenological study sought to understand the “refugee” experience of displacement from an individual perspective and the impact of trauma during a natural disaster through the lens of post-traumatic growth. It views survivors of Hurricane Katrina, who were displaced and returned home, and aims to investigate what changes, if any, have occurred since their return. The literature aids in understanding the complexities of the trauma endured in the aftermath, and seeks to better understand their refugee identity, the experience of displacement, the effects of trauma, and the changes that occurred in recovery. The data was collected through the Brief …

When The Heroes Become Less Super: Coping With Problems Of Professional Competence, Gregory Betz

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation addresses the subject of problems of professional competency within clinical psychology. A review of the current literature on the subject begins with topics including recent changes in terminology, conceptualization, and prevalence of competency problems. Contributing factors, differences between practicing psychologists and trainees, and ethical issues are addressed. The review concludes with current perspectives for assessing and intervening for problems of professional competence. The second section provides the methodology for the study which was a mixed-methods design consisting of a quantitative and qualitative component. The primary procedure consisted of an educational intervention provided to first-year students of a clinical …

Effects Of Presenting Normative Alcohol Data On Perceptions Of College Drinking Behavior, Cullen Patrick Hardy

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Alcohol abuse, often in the form of binge drinking, is a problem that every college campus faces. Many researchers suggest that students believe that their peers drink more alcohol than is actually true, and use such a perception as a justification to drink more alcohol than should be consumed (Perkins, Haines, & Rice, 2005). The purpose of this study is to understand whether presenting normative information on drinking behavior among college students in two different ways (focus on heavy drinking or focus on abstinence) has an effect on the perceptions of drinking behavior.

A Mixed Methods Perspective: How Integral Leaders Can Contribute To The Growth Of Emerging Leaders, Susan M. Hayes

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Given that organizational complexity continues to increase, leaders are looking for credible information, and a process that helps them become a better leader. Emerging leaders are faced with trying to be the best leader they can be while leading teams of people who think and act differently from them. To assist emerging leaders with their leadership, this study explores the literature and looks to highly respected and admired leaders for how they became the leader they are today. The purpose of this study was fourfold: first, to identify and describe first and second tier integral theory leaders from a sample …