Psychology Commons^™

Family Communication Motivating Athletics Over Generations: A Mixed Method Expansion Of Self-Determination Theory, Elizabeth Hanson Smith

Dissertations

Mixed methods were utilized to test the communication within a model of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985) in a multi-generational sports framework in order to argue for an update to self-determination theory (SDT) that includes a communication element. Fourteen qualitative research questions were posed to examine how communication functioned to move tennis players, golfers, and runners from the initial family influence in participating, to integrating family values to the extent that participants modeled athletic values to offspring and community members. Three hypotheses correlating the variables of self-efficacy, autonomy-controlling and autonomy-supportive family communication supported the argument that communication functioned to develop …

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms As A Mediator Of The Relation Between Social Perception And Social Skills And Adaptability In Preschoolers, Brandi Michelle Ellis

Master's Theses

ADHD symptoms have been linked empirically to both social perception deficits as well as impairments in social skills and adaptability. The current study built on existing literature by examining whether social perception abilities indirectly predicted social skills and adaptability through ADHD symptoms in preschool-aged children. The sample consisted of 3- to 6-year-old children attending Head Start Programs and private preschools (N = 76). It was expected that social perception abilities would positively relate to both social skills and adaptability. It was also expected that these relations would occur indirectly through ADHD symptoms. Specifically, social perception abilities would relate negatively …

Assessing The Potentiality Of A Counselor-In-Residence Program At The University Of Rhode Island, Sara Atash

Senior Honors Projects

The demand for mental and behavioral health services on college campuse is growing. While current models of health and counseling centers encourage that students seek help, the stigma associated with seeking care for mental and behavioral health issues can often discourage students from doing so. As a result, many are not seeking care when they should or are waiting until their problems have grown severe.

With the hopes of addressing this problem, a new model has come into fruition. The Counselor-In-Residence (CIR) model revolves around placing counseling representatives directly in the residence halls in order to offer more opportunities for …

The History Of The Disease Concept Of Substance Dependency, Brooke A. Lewis

All NMU Master's Theses

The nomenclature used to signify substance dependence has evolved throughout history. Previously, substance dependence was referred to as specific forms of mania, as addiction, and as a habit. The origins of the disease concept of substance dependence have been disputed. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) and Thomas Trotter (1760-1832) have been credited as being the founders of the movement to acknowledge substance dependence as a disease. Through efforts of scientists of the 19th and 20th centuries, the concept of substance dependence as a disease has become widely accepted by professionals, the medical community, and the government. Significant contributors to this concept include …

Personality And Longevity In The Profession Of Athletic Training, Tyler Harris

All NMU Master's Theses

A survey was sent to 10,000 certified athletic trainers in various settings to examine personality characteristics and their relationship with satisfaction, intent to leave, and years practiced in the profession. The Employee Personality Inventory, included in the survey, separated respondents into five personality categories: communicators, directors, organizers, soothers and thinkers. Of the 1102 analyzed respondents, 216 were communicators, 51 were directors, 427 were organizers, 331 were soothers, and 77 were thinkers. The distribution of athletic training setting were as follows: academic instruction, 67; administration, 16; clinical medical, 53; clinical rehabilitation, 52; collegiate athletics, 331; high school athletics, 378; other, 65; …

Arrest Or Hospitalization? An Examination Of The Relationship Between Psychiatric Symptoms, Traumatic Childhood Experiences, And Socio-Ecological Factors In Forensic Mental Health System Responses To Offender Behavior, Stephanie Mersch, Jill D. Stinson, Megan Quinn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

It has been well documented that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) lead to unfavorable outcomes in later life, especially with regard to health and psychological outcomes. Recent research has demonstrated the impact of early childhood adversity on the onset of aggression and illegal behavior. However, often those with mental illness diagnoses with comorbid behavioral problems exhibit trajectories that include both arrest and hospitalization. While some are arrested for their criminal behavior, others are hospitalized. This begs the question: are those with mental illness and behavioral problems more likely to be arrested, or hospitalized, for their early behavioral problems? In the current …

The Effects Of Antipsychotic Treatment Upon Nicotine Associative Reward In A Neonatal Quinpirole Model Of Schizophrenia, Adam Ray Denton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Research has revealed that schizophrenics are significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes than the general population, and consume nicotine products at a much more prevalent rate. Further exacerbating this issue, it has been previously demonstrated in clinical populations that the type of antipsychotic treatment administered (typical versus atypical) may result in either an increase or a decrease of already heightened smoking behavior within the schizophrenic population. With these clinical issues in mind, the present study sought to examine the effects of antipsychotic treatment upon the associative reward of nicotine within the neonatal quinpirole model of schizophrenia. We found that treatment …

Mindfulness And Mind-Wandering: The Impact Of Brief Interventions On Child Affect, Arousal, And Cognition, Catherine A. Spann

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

The ability to self-regulate is critical for healthy development and life success. Recent evidence from the field of contemplative science suggests that mindfulness may enhance self-regulation among children and adolescents. It is unclear whether beneficial effects are only realized when practiced over time or if changes can occur within short time frames. This research adds to the growing literature on mindfulness and self-control by testing whether brief mindfulness practice produces changes in self-control compared to similarly restful states. The current study also explored mechanisms by which practicing mindfulness may impact self-control, specifically focusing on positive affect and arousal. A between-subjects, …

The Regret Elements Scale: Distinguishing The Affective And Cognitive Components Of Regret, Joshua Buchanan, Amy Summerville, Jennifer Lechmann, Jochen Reb

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Regret is one of the most common emotions, but researchers generally measure it in an ad-hoc, unvalidated fashion. Three studies outline the construction and validation of the Regret Elements Scale (RES), which distinguishes between an affective component of regret, associated with maladaptive affective outcomes, and a cognitive component of regret, associated with functional preparatory outcomes. The present research demonstrates the RES’s relationship with distress (Study 1), appraisals of emotions (Study 2), and existing measures of regret (Study 3). We further demonstrate the RES’s ability to differentiate regret from other negative emotions (Study 2) and related traits (Study 3). The scale …

Latent Semantic Similarity In Initial Computer-Mediated Interactions, Vivian P. Ta

Psychology Theses - Archive

The initial interactions of same-sex strangers were investigated to examine the development of latent semantic similarity (LSS; that is, how interaction partners come to use words in the same way) in computer-mediated interactions. A previous study by Ta, Babcock, and Ickes (2016) found that verbal behaviors, rather than nonverbal behaviors, uniquely predicted the development of LSS in the initial face-to-face interactions of same-sex strangers. This suggested that LSS might develop similarly and as efficiently in conversations in which only words are exchanged (i.e., computer-mediated interactions). As such, using a sample of 120 same-sex dyads (all strangers) who interacted with each …

The Effects Of Errorless Compliance Training Interventions On Compliance Behavior On Students In The Home And Generalization In The School Setting, Hannah Jeanne Cavell

Master's Theses

Errorless Compliance Training (ECT) is a procedure used to lessen disruptive behavior using a gradual and noncorecive approach. In this study, parents of three school-aged children who demonstrated high levels of disruptive behavior in the home and the classroom were trained on the ECT procedure. ECT sessions took place in the home, with parents delivering requests. Generalized effects of ECT were assessed in the school setting. Baseline data were used to arrange requests into grouped Levels, ranging from Level 1 (requests of which individual is typically compliant) to Level 4 (requests in which individual is typically noncompliant). Using the ECT …

African American Female Offender's Use Of Alternative And Traditional Health Services After Re-Entry: Examining The Behavioral Model For Vulnerable Populations, Carrie B. Oser, Amanda M. Bunting, Erin L. Pullen, Danelle Stevens-Watkins

Sociology Faculty Publications

This is the first known study to use the Gelberg-Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations to predict African American women's use of three types of health services (alternative, hospitalization, and ambulatory) in the 18 months after release from prison. In the multivariate models, the most robust predictors of all three types of service utilization were in the vulnerable theoretical domains. Alternative health services were predicted by ethnic community membership, higher religiosity, and HIV/HCV. Hospitalizations were predicted by the lack of barriers to health care and disability. Ambulatory office visits were predicted by more experiences of gendered racism, a greater number …

The Relationship Of Reflective Functioning To Parent Child Interactions In A Sample Of Fathers With Concurrent Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration And Substance Abuse Problems, Carla Smith Stover, Erica Elizabeth Coates

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

This study is the first to examine reflective functioning (RF) and direct parent-child interactions of fathers with concurrent intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and substance abuse (SA) problems. Twenty-four fathers, with children between the age of one and seven, completed a structured interview to assess RF, self-report measures of hostile-aggressive parenting behaviors, IPV perpetration severity, SA severity, and a coded play session with their children. Results of three simultaneous multiple regressions revealed that RF in fathers was not associated significantly with observed parenting behaviors. However, fathers' SA severity emerged as a significant predictor for child avoidant behavior and dyadic tension, …

On Associative Stigma: Implicit And Explicit Evaluations Of A Mother Of A Child With Autism, Ryan Thibodeau, Juliet R. Finley

Psychology Faculty/Staff Publications

Individuals with psychiatric problems are subjected to highly damaging stigma. Some research suggests this stigma may extend to associates (e.g., family, friends), who themselves report being devalued, avoided, and rejected. The research literature on associative stigma is largely qualitative, and extant quantitative research has utilized only explicit measures which are notably weakened by self-presentational motives. In the current study, 95 undergraduates were randomized to hear one of two audio recorded vignettes pertaining to a fictional mother of a child with either autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or severe asthma. Participants then completed an Implicit Association Test capturing implicit evaluations of the …

Reinstatement Of Second-Order Fear, Matthew Nelson

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if, after conditioning and extinction of a second-order stimulus, reinstatement of extinguished fear could be produced. The findings of Holmes et al. (2014) do not support reinstatement of second-order fear following post-extinction presentation of the unconditioned stimulus (US). The present study provides a second attempt at uncovering reinstatement following extinction of second-order conditioning. Rat subjects were randomly assigned to 5 groups (n=12), which received first- and second-order conditioning with Light and Tone counterbalanced. Responding to the second-order stimulus (S2) was extinguished through S2-alone presentations for all but the control subjects (Group NE-NR). …

An Analysis Of The Factors Influencing Bored And Emotional Eating: Should Bored Eating Exist As A Separate Construct?, Erin Elizabeth Stuck

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Emotional eating pertains to eating in response to negative emotional experiences, and can occur for a variety of reasons. Individuals may emotionally eat as a means of submerging themselves into positive reinforcing states, as a way of coping, or as a distraction from their negative emotional experience (Cialdini, 1973; Kemp, Bui, & Grier, 2013; and Spoor et al., 2006). Historically, emotional eating has included boredom. Recent research has suggested that bored eating may be a separate construct from emotional eating (Koball et al., 2012). Thus, the present study investigated the variables associated with both emotional eating and bored eating with …

Interactive Effects Of Physical Activity And Apoe-Ε4 On White Matter Tract Diffusivity In Healthy Elders, J. Carson Smith, Melissa A. Lancaster, Kristy A. Nielson, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Sally Durgerian, Ken Sakaie, Stephen M. Rao

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Older adult apolipoprotein-E epsilon 4 (APOE-ε4) allele carriers vary considerably in the expression of clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), suggesting that lifestyle or other factors may offer protection from AD-related neurodegeneration. We recently reported that physically active APOE-ε4 allele carriers exhibit a stable cognitive trajectory and protection from hippocampal atrophy over 18 months compared to sedentary ε4 allele carriers. The aim of this study was to examine the interactions between genetic risk for AD and physical activity (PA) on white matter (WM) tract integrity, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) MRI, in this cohort of healthy older adults (ages …

Disruptive Behavior Disorders In Childhood And Criminal Justice System Involvement In Adolescence And Emerging Adulthood: Pilot Results Among Puerto Rican Youth, Marjorine Castillo

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD) in childhood and arrest during adolescence and emerging adulthood was explored in a community sample of 162 Puerto Rican children who lived in the South Bronx, NYC when first recruited. Results indicate a significant link between having DBD in childhood and later arrest.

Examining The Relationship Among Measures Of Global Cognition, Executive Function, And Instrumental Activities Of Daily Living: Can They All Just Get Along?, R. Christopher Branson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The subtle nature of executive function deficits makes them difficult to identify in a clinical context and to measure how they impact an individual’s daily life. Clinical neuropsychological assessments alone are often unable to measure how executive deficiencies impact an individual’s daily life. The present study investigated the relationship among clinical screening measures of global cognition, measures of executive function, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Adults with Parkinson’s disease and neurologically healthy adults completed a battery of assessments including a clinical measure of general functional ability, the Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS), and a naturalistic shopping task, the …

Active Or Passive? An Examination Of The Relationship Between The Valence Of Work Experiences And Choice Of Recovery Strategy, Ashley Keating

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Regular work days place a strain on employees, depleting precious resources which must be recovered. Recovery results from either passive or active activities. Little research has examined the effect of positive and negative experiences at work and their impact on recovery. The present study investigated how positive or negative experiences at work impact one’s choice of recovery strategy outside of work. I hypothesized that positive experiences at work are positively correlated with a person’s likelihood of engaging in active recovery due to gained resources, and vice versa. The sample for this study consisted of full-time employees with a regular working …

Monitoring In Laboratory And Real-World Tasks, Allen L. Nida

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Remembering to complete a future task, known as prospective memory (PM), often requires expending attention toward monitoring for the opportunity to complete that task. Current research indicates a lack of evidence for an individual’s ability or propensity to monitor during laboratory PM tasks having any real-world correlate. This study assessed the relationship between monitoring during two PM tasks and performance during the UTC Multiple Errands Test (UTC-MET), a naturalistic measure of executive function. A sample of 8 healthy older adults was compared to 9 older adults diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. While accuracy on an eye-tracking PM task was a significant …

Socializing To Recover From Work Stress: The Benefits Of Acting Extraverted, Robert Harste

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of socializing, or activities that are characterized by social interaction, on recovery from work stress. Drawing from consistent findings in personality research, we hypothesized that individuals who measure high in extraversion receive the greatest recovery benefits from socializing, and that this relationship is mediated by state positive affect. An online assessment was administered to 238 participants to measure trait extraversion, trait and state affect, and factors related to their social activities across two recent time periods. Hypotheses were tested using correlational and regression-based techniques. The findings provide support for a …

Child Maltreatment’S Heavy Toll: The Need For Trauma-Informed Obesity Prevention, Susan M. Mason, S. Bryn Austin, Jennifer L. Bakalar, Renee Boynton-Jarrett, Alison E. Field, Holly C. Gooding, Laura M. Holsen, Benita Jackson, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Mar Sanchez, Stephanie Sogg, Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, Janet W. Rich-Edwards

Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper is the product of a workshop on the topic of child maltreatment and obesity at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard that brought together the listed authors, who are experts across a number of relevant fields.

Emerging research has highlighted childhood maltreatment and other psychological traumas as risk factors for obesity and related comorbidities.1–3 Although the high rate of obesity in the U.S. affects the entire population, those with histories of maltreatment—making up at least 30% of the population4,5—appear to be at greater risk. Unfortunately, childhood maltreatment is often overlooked as a risk factor for adult …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Students' Creativity Characteristics, Serap Gurak-Ozdemir

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Theses

Teachers’ perceptions of an ideal student were investigated in terms of their FourSight preferences (i.e. Ideator, Clarifier, Developer, and Implementer). Based on these preferences, 275 teachers who were currently working in Western New York region described their “ideal” student with 66 adjectives of Torrance Ideal Child Checklist. Results showed that for each of FourSight preferences, teachers have a tendency to support characteristics associated with their own preference. More specifically, teachers with a stronger Ideator tendency encouraged the students’ Ideator characteristics more compared to Developer and Implementer styles. Teachers with a Clarifier tendency do not seem to favor students’ Ideator characteristics …

Women’S Behavioral Responses To The Threat Of A Hypothetical Date Rape Stimulus: A Qualitative Analysis, Raeann E. Anderson, Amanda M. Brouwer, Angela R. Wendorf, Shawn P. Cahill

Psychology Faculty Publications

One in four college women experience sexual assault on campus; yet, campuses rarely provide the in-depth self-defense programs needed to reduce sexual assault risk. Further, little is known about the range of possible behaviors elicited by sexual assault threat stimuli besides assertion. To fill this gap, the aim of the current study was to explore qualitative themes in women’s intended behavioral responses to a hypothetical sexual assault threat, date rape, by using a laboratory-controlled threat. College women (N = 139) were randomly assigned to one of four different levels of sexual assault threat presented via an audio-recorded vignette. Participants …

The Relationship Between Superstition And Confidence In Sport, Taylor Jon Ptacek

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between superstition and confidence in sport. The Superstitious Rituals Questionnaire, a single-item confidence question, the confidence subscales from the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory- 28, Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool-3, Trait Sport Confidence Inventory, and the New General Self-Efficacy Scale were used to measure superstitions and self-efficacy among the athletes. A convenience sample of current and former NCAA athletes (N = 109, n = 61 males, n = 48 females) were sent the link to the questionnaire on Qualtrics. Results showed that athletes used a mean of …

Effectiveness Of A Smartphone App As An Adjunct To Therapy For Depression, Caitlin Massop

Theses and Dissertations

Over the years, depression and treatments for depression have been extensively researched. However, as times have changed and technology has become an integrated aspect into many indivdiual’s lives, including those with depression, researched mental health treatments have been slow to appreciate technological advances such as the smartphone app. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a smartphone app in addition to CBT as compared to CBT with paper homework when treating depression. Using a single-case design, as described by Kazdin (2011), with two participants this study found that both participants experienced a decrease in depression scores …

Bleeding Keaney Blue: An Analysis Of Sports Fandom And The Supporters Of Uri Basketball, Lia M. Moceri

Senior Honors Projects

In the United States, sports are so prevalent on the national, state, and local level that researchers assert they have become a major component of everyday life. In fact, millions of Americans consider themselves sports fans. Studying sports fandom offers an interesting insight into the human condition.

This paper begins by looking at sports fans on a psychological level by examining socialization, the process of becoming a sports fan. It also examines the reasons people become fans and the degree to which people identify as a fan. An important psychological aspect when studying sports fans is identity and how a …

Building Object Representations: Mechanisms Of Perceptual Learning In Human Visual Cortex, Stephanie M. Long

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Extensive literature in the cognitive neurosciences has been dedicated to understanding the neural processes involved in object category learning. However, much remains to be learned regarding the mechanisms by which high-level visual patterns are extracted from a crowded visual scene, segregated into discrete object categories, and represented in the cortical visual hierarchy. Here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the neural underpinnings of visual object category extraction in a cluttered visual environment. Electroencephalography (EEG) was continuously recorded while subjects were given a hybrid of an object category learning and visual search task. In this hybrid task, a peripheral array …

Measures Of Handedness, Kyle Michael Dodd

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Previous handedness research focused on comparing left-handers (LH) and right-handers (RH). Recently, researchers have compared consistent-handed and inconsistent-handed people, as defined by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI). Consistent-handers (CH) typically use their dominant hand for nearly all manual activities whereas inconsistent-handers (IH) do not necessarily have a dominant hand or have no preference in hand use across several daily, manual activities. Degree of handedness is consistently found as the more robust variable in handedness research. Additionally, relying solely on self-reports to identify and categorize handedness instead of longer assessments of handedness, may not able a researcher to capture the subtle …