Psychology Commons^™

An Examination Of The Factors That Dictate The Relative Weighting Of Feedback And Feedforward Input For Speech Motor Control, Nichole E. Scheerer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Speech is arguably the most important form of human communication. Fluent speech production relies on auditory feedback for the planning, execution, and monitoring of speech movements. Auditory feedback is particularly important during the acquisition of speech, however, it has been suggested that over time speakers rely less on auditory feedback as they develop robust sensorimotor representations that allow speech motor commands to be executed in a feedforward manner. The studies reported in this thesis recorded speaker’s vocal and neural responses to altered auditory feedback in order to explore the factors that dictate the relative importance of auditory feedback for speech …

Age-Related Changes In Hippocampal Arc Expression Following Minimal Behavioural Induction, Irina V. Odintsova

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Normal ageing is associated with significant changes in cognitive function, including the decline of some forms of memory. The hippocampal formation is critical to learning and memory function, and plasticity in this region declines with age. Additionally, age-related differences in plasticity are greatest at lower levels of stimulation, thus peri-threshold plasticity may be of the greatest relevance for age-related changes in cognition. Moreover, the hippocampus is prone to changes in the expression of gene products that mediate plasticity with age. The current thesis attempts to link these observations by measuring hippocampal expression of Arc, an immediate-early gene that is critical …

The Influence Of Real-Time Visual Feedback Training On Vocal Control, Justeena N. Zaki-Azat

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Trained singers have better vocal control when compared to singers without vocal training. The development of precise vocal control, like any motor skill, requires practice with some form of feedback, such as auditory feedback. In addition to auditory feedback, singing training programs use online visual feedback to improve performance accuracy. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the recent body of literature concerning the cognitive processing of vocal control, and apply this knowledge practically to develop an effective real-time visual feedback training program that enhances vocal control. In the first of two studies, non-singers and singers were randomly assigned …

Moral Identity From Cross- And Bi-Cultural Perspectives, Fanli Jia

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Researchers in moral psychology have initiated projects to investigate moral identity; however, they agreed that a precise definition and methodology of moral identity has been lacking in establishing the value of this new area. One of the challenges is that cultural explorations of moral identity are absent. Moral identity may take different forms in different cultures, or play an important role in morality in some cultures but not in others (Hardy & Carlo, 2005). The present dissertation was aimed at investigating how Western Canadian and Eastern Chinese cultural orientations relate to moral identities. Three studies were conducted.

In the first …

Evaluating A Skills-Based Approach To Bullying Prevention, Rebecca Pister

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In the following paper, I present an evaluation of the bullying prevention program designed and delivered by the John Howard Society of Waterloo-Wellington (JHS WW). A mixed-methods approach involving both quantitative and qualitative data collection was used to assess the program impacts on children receiving the primary stream of the program (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3), and the junior stream of the program (Grades 4 through 6). A case study was also conducted to assess the impacts of the program one year after program delivery and after two consecutive years of programming. Finally, all school staff members were invited to respond …

An Examination Of Newcomer Integration Processes In Sport Teams: A Socialization Perspective, Alex J. Benson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In highly interdependent groups, the ability to swiftly and successfully integrate newcomers is an important component to maintaining functional team dynamics. The current dissertation explored how sport teams structure the nature and timing of events that newcomers are put through by implementing specific socialization tactics. In the first manuscript, a qualitative study was initiated to garner descriptive insights into the tactics that are used to socialize athletes into sport teams. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with coaches, veteran athletes, and newcomer athletes (i.e., individuals in their first year as a team member). Participant insights were thematically analyzed and compared to existing …

Exploring How Parents Influence Role Acceptance Of Youth Athletes Through Multiple Perspectives, Michael J. Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Role acceptance refers to the willingness of an athlete to fulfill expected role responsibilities (Benson, Eys, Surya, Dawson, & Schneider, 2013). Researchers have proposed several potential antecedents of role acceptance, one of which emphasized the influence of parents in this process (Eys et al., in preparation). With this in mind, the general purpose of the present study was to examine how parents influence the role acceptance process through multiple perspectives (e.g., parents, athletes, and coaches). To achieve this objective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 participants (7 parents, 7 athletes, and 5 coaches) from four different types of interdependent team …

Social Problems, Biomedical Answers? How Causes Of Social Problems Affect Choice Of Solutions, Bianca C. Dreyer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

With rapid advances in behavioural genetics, scientists are identifying an increasing array of genetic influences on human behaviour. Public misconceptions about the function of genes often lead to the oversimplification of the role of genes in behaviour (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011). To date, no study has systematically investigated whether simply learning about genetic causes of behaviour affects people’s preferred solutions to problematic behaviours. The present research program includes three studies that were designed to examine the psychological effects of exposure to genetic etiology for problematic behaviour, in particular aggression, and investigated how this information influences endorsement of solutions, rating of …

How Perceptions Of A Relationship Partner’S Self-Esteem Influence Support Seeking, Alexandra Hirniak

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Receiving effective social support is beneficial (Cohen & Wills, 1985); unfortunately people do not always seek support when they need it (Collins & Feeney, 2000). I hypothesized that perceptions of a partner’s self-esteem affect social support processes, such that people will be less willing to solicit support from low self-esteem partners for stressful events because they assume that low self-esteem partners will be unable to provide effective support. Results from four studies (Study 1A: N=116; Study 1B: N=201; Study 2: N=194; Study 3: N=196) demonstrated that perceptions of a romantic partner’s self-esteem were positively associated with people’s willingness to share …

The Influence Of Freedom And Choice In Action Selection And The Valence Of Action-Outcomes On The Sense Of Agency, Zeynep Barlas Wilfrid Laurier University

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Sense of agency (SoA) refers to the subjective experience that one is the author of their actions and the ensuing outcomes of these actions. Previous research have suggested that both sensorimotor processes and high level inferences can contribute to the SoA. In five experiments, the present thesis examined the effects of action selection processes and the valence of action-outcomes on the SoA. The majority of these experiments measured the SoA by obtaining both subjective feeling of control (FoC) judgments over the action-outcomes, and assessing the size of intentional binding. Intentional binding refers to the perceived temporal attraction between actions and …

Investigating Grandiose Narcissism As A Personality Process, Miranda Giacomin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Though grandiose subclinical narcissism has predominantly been studied in structural terms—focused on individuals’ general tendencies to be more or less narcissistic—narcissism may also function as a personality process (i.e., narcissism fluctuates within-individuals across contexts or situations). Narcissism has also been conceptualized as a dynamic self-regulatory system, a set of coherent, mutually-reinforcing attributes, which orients individuals toward positive self-feelings (e.g., Campbell & Foster, 2007). In this dissertation, I empirically examine the possibility that narcissism has a meaningful process or state component and is more context-dependent than previously assumed. Manuscript 1 found that making people feel more connected to others (by increasing …

Hiv Testing In The Context Of Hiv Stigma And Minority Stress, Mallory C. Harrigan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The HIV test is highly valued for its role in promoting personal health, aiding in HIV prevention, and enabling the epidemiological tracking of the virus. However, relatively few scholars have critically examined the social and cultural implications of testing practices (Scott, 2003). These implications are of particular concern because the groups targeted for testing (referred to as service priority groups) are marginalized communities, and have historically been further marginalized by many public health HIV prevention efforts (Waldby, 1996). This thesis examines the experience of receiving an HIV test from the perspective of individuals in service priority groups, which include gay, …

The 2d:4d Ratio, Handedness, And Sex Across The Age Span, Helen A M Protopapas Ms.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The ratio of the difference between the 2nd and 4th digits of the hand (2D:4D ratio) has been demonstrated to be an indirect indicator of prenatal testosterone levels. Prenatal testosterone has been found to play a role in brain development in utero, and thus may influence lateral asymmetries, such as handedness. Consequently, one of the aims of the current study was to examine relationships between the 2D:4D ratio, hand preference, and hand performance with the factors of sex (males and females), handedness (right handers and left handers), and age considered. A total of 104 participants were tested, 90 right handers …

Holding Canada Accountable: An Evaluation Of Canada's Compliance To The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples, Jackson A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Compliance of human rights norms requires the application of pressure from a multitude of directions and levels. It takes individual advocacy, micro-system/organizational/community-level pressure, and macro-level pressure from other nation-states and international organizations and governance bodies. This MA study focuses on the mechanisms employed by the United Nations to monitor the compliance of signatory nation-states to the standards established in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), with particular focus on Canada. A crucial goal of this study is to translate the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNSRRIP), James Anaya’s, findings on the …

The Effects Of Altered Auditory Feedback On Speech Production In Adults: A Comparison Of Perturbation And Sensorimotor Adaptation Paradigms, Danielle S. Jacobson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Auditory feedback (AF) plays a crucial role in the acquisition and maintenance of fluent speech. AF allows speakers to monitor and correct for errors in their speech production and also plays an important role to create and maintain the sensorimotor relationships that support vocal motor control. To investigate the importance of AF for these functions, participants are typically exposed to brief, unexpected changes to their AF as part of a frequency altered feedback (FAF) perturbation paradigm, or persistent and predictable changes to their AF as part of a FAF adaptation paradigm. Although responses elicited from both the FAF perturbation and …

Stigma, Community Connectedness, And Social Support Among Trans Women Living With Hiv In Ontario: Findings From The Trans Pulse Project, Tanya D'Amours

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Trans (transgender, transsexual, transitioned) individuals face numerous challenges to their health and well-being (Bauer, Hammond, Travers, Kaay, Hohenadel & Boyce, 2009). Trans women in particular face disproportionately high rates of negative health outcomes, including HIV. Trans women face intersecting stigmas, which result in transphobia, trans erasure, isolation, and other systemic barriers to their well-being (Logie, James, Tharao, & Loutfy, 2012a). Despite their elevated risk, trans women, particularly those living with HIV, are invisible, neglected or underrepresented in research (Logie, et al., 2012a). Research suggests that community connectedness and social support are factors that impact the wellness of marginalized people (Kertzner, …

Experiences Of Victimization And Health Care Access Among Non-Metropolitan Lgbtq+ Individuals, Ashley-Ann Marcotte

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals report substantial rates of violence, discrimination, and negative life events due to homophobia and transphobia and these experiences impact access to health care services and programs (Bauer et al, 2009; Grant, Mottet, Tanis, Harrison, & Keisling, 2010) These experiences result in LGBTQ+ communities needing services, programs, and social supports to provide safer spaces. Although it is well recognized that health care services are not a major determinant of health outcomes and yet use more than 60% of health spending (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2014; Muzyka, Hodgson, & Prada, 2012). As such, …

Children’S Ability To Identify An Unusual Occurrence Of A Repeated Event, Mckenzie K. Vanderloon

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

Research on script memory shows that individuals have a difficult time isolating single instances of a repeated event because a generic script (e.g., one has a generic script for typical grocery shopping; grab a cart, gather items, then pay) has formed over time. Scripts capture the “gist” of what usually happens and allow individuals to predict what probably occurred based on the robustness of the script. Thus, individuals are able to identify details of what occurs; however, piecing which details came from a particular incident poses its challenges, especially for children. Source monitoring is the ability to accurately differentiate …

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Rent Assistance On Individuals Experiencing Chronic Homelessness In Waterloo Region, Courtney Pankratz Ms.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The main objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the addition of rent assistance to Waterloo Region’s existing housing and support services. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent comparison group design was used to compare the outcomes between two groups: (a) participants selected to receive rent assistance plus intensive support services (n = 26) and (b) participants receiving support services only (n = 25). Participants were interviewed at baseline and again six months later. It was hypothesized that participants receiving rent assistance would show significantly greater improvement on housing outcomes compared to the comparison group, including greater number of days …

Me And My Ve, Part 4, Laura Strater, Christina M. Frederick, Monifa Vaughn-Cooke, Jim Bliss, Smruti Shah

Publications

Virtual environments, augmented reality, serious games, simulations, and other digitally mediated experiences are revolutionizing the way that we work, learn, and interact with people and systems. The employment of these technologies is driving innovation in research, training, education, evaluation, and various business endeavors. This session will provide a brief overview of some of the diverse uses of virtual environments (VEs) in an alternate demonstration format that leaves just over half of the session time for hands on, interactive demonstrations. Unlike most demonstration sessions, where possible, we encourage session attendees to personally interact with the demonstrations. The session will begin with …

To Kill Or Not To Kill: Exploring The Roles Of Empathy And Working Memory In Moral Decision Making, Andrea Frankenstein

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two studies were conducted to support the dual process model of moral decision making, which states that there are two pathways to moral decisions: one emotional and the other cognitive. Decisions made in personal dilemmas are driven by emotions and intuition, while decisions made in impersonal dilemmas are driven by cognitive factors. Intuitive, emotional reactions tend to lead to non-utilitarian decisions while deliberative reasoning tends to lead to utilitarian decisions. For the current studies, undergraduate students from the University of North Florida completed working memory tests, an empathy scale, and also responded to moral dilemma scenarios. In the second study, …

The Development Of The Creative Synergy Scale, Amy E. Climer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study developed a scale for teams to assess their behaviors related to creative synergy. Creative synergy is the interactions among team members where the collective creative results are greater than the sum of their individual efforts. When a team achieves creative synergy they have the potential to solve difficult problems with innovative solutions leading to positive impacts on our communities, societies, and even our world. This study looked at the internal-process variables of teams to determine what factors impact creative synergy. The research process involved two phases.In Phase 1, a survey was taken by 830 adults who were members …

A Method To My Quietness: A Grounded Theory Study Of Living And Leading With Introversion, Leatrice Oram

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Leadership scholar-practitioners must create a more sustainable, diverse, and equitable future, fostering emergence and development of resilient, competent leaders, including those who may have been previously overlooked.Leadership studies, particularly those situated in early trait and behavior paradigms, have long privileged extraverted leaders as ideal.The scholarly conversation is limited on introverted leaders; moreover, most of that literature depicts introversion as either a pathological construct associated with shyness and social anxiety, or includes introversion only by omission, as a state of deficit-of-extraversion.This study instead began with positive inquiry, framing introversion as a positive individual difference, and explored the lived experiences of introverted …

Medication Assisted Treatment And The Three Legged Stool: Medical Providers, Chemical Dependency Professionals, And Clients, Steven Matt Magrath

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Opioid dependence has reached epidemic levels in the United States and around the world. With the increased prescribing of opioid pharmaceuticals and the influx of inexpensive heroin, the health care cost to society has topped $72.5 billion annually (Murphy et al., 2016). Opioid overdose deaths have now surpassed motor vehicle deaths and have tripled since 1990. In some age groups opioid overdose is the leading cause of death. This study seeks to analyze the only field that directly treats this primary brain disease: medication assisted treatment for opioid dependence. The three primary participants in this partnership include: (a) doctors and …

Incarcerated Men And The Etiology Of Intimate Partner Violence, Roxanne Swogger

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the lived experiences of 15 incarcerated men with a history of intimate partner violence.This qualitative grounded theory study revealed the impact significant loss in childhood, the most critical being the loss of a parent, had on these men.The results showed a significant loss set in motion a series of adaptive and maladaptive interpersonal behaviors with significant others, primarily parents and intimate partners that continued through adulthood and incarceration.The grounded theory dimensional analysis revealed five primary dimensions that described the dominant social processes described by the participants.These processes were:seeking, overcoming, blaming, controlling, and disengaging behaviors.The consequences of these …

Bind, Tether, And Transcend: Achieving Integration Through Extra-Therapeutic Dance, Megan M. Kain

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the lived experience of achieving integration through the fine art form of dance, using a phenomenological method coupled with narrative and arts-based research. Research material illustrating the various manifestations of integration will be derived from interviews of ten professional dancers representing the non-dominant cultural discourse. Through the application of theoretical underpinnings of somatic psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, psychoneuroimmunology, and relational psychotherapy, this qualitative research seeks to articulate the esoteric healing forces derived from creative movement that fortifies self and fosters resilience within individuals. While dance might constitute an effective processing and coping mechanism …

Frequencies Between Serial Killer Typology And Theorized Etiological Factors., Leryn R. Messori

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examined the association between serial killer typologies and previously proposed etiological factors within serial killer case histories. Stratified sampling based on race and gender was used to identify thirty-six serial killers for this study. The percentage of serial killers within each race and gender category included in the study was taken from current serial killer demographic statistics between 1950 and 2010. Detailed data was gathered about each case, including past experiences and details of their crimes using publicly available primary and secondary source material. Etiological factors identified for this study include military experience, alcohol use, drug use, whether …

Artistic Drawing As A Mnemonic Device, Leslie Michelle Baker Christensen

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Despite art-based learning being widely used, existing data are primarily qualitative, and most research has not isolated particular variables such as memory for empirical study. The few experiments that have been conducted demonstrated that drawing improves free recall of unpaired words, and retention improves after lessons integrated with drawing, drama, and narrative exercises. To help fill the gap in the current literature, the present study compared the effectiveness of encoding and the rate of memory decay between a drawing mnemonic and note taking on a paired associates task. Using a within-subjects experimental design, participants were presented with word pairs and …

Investigating The Use Of Creative Mask-Making As A Means To Explore Professional Identity Of Doctoral Psychology Students, Laura Louise Bentley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The goal of this qualitative study is two-fold: to explore doctoral psychology students' current sense of self-identity as clinicians (nearing graduation) and their future sense of who they hope to become as practicing clinical psychologists using a creative arts methodology and to illustrate how the use of creative arts processes have clinical relevance for not only mental health clinicians and psychologists but also educators. Seven doctoral psychology students nearing graduation participated (individually) in a guided imagery and mask-making experience and in a phenomenological, semi-structured, in-depth interview following the art making. Through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), an integrative, …

Influencing Behavior During Planned Culture Change: A Participatory Action Research Case Study, Michael Valentine

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The study was conducted in a global, for-profit, advertising firm, which initiated a culture change effort focused culture change.The objective of the effort was to manage the negative impact of implicit bias (IB) in the workplace.This type of bias is known to influence behaviors and judgements (Amodio & Mendoza, 2010).It is hypothesized that if employees shift behavior to better understand and manage these biases in the basic work activities that are typical in any organization—like working on a team, making decisions related hiring, developing and promoting talent, and the numerous creative decisions that are typical of designing advertising campaigns—more inclusive …