Psychology Commons^™

Increasing Caregiver Supervision Of Young Children: Teaching Scanning, Predicting Behavior, And Modifying For Safety, Natalie Truba

Dissertations

Unintentional injuries account for a significant number of child deaths and visits to the emergency department. Although increased supervision is routinely shown to be an effective method of preventing unintentional childhood injuries, few interventions systemically teach caregivers behavioral skills to supervise their children appropriately. The present study utilized a multiple baseline design to pilot test an intervention designed to increase caregiver supervision and decrease unintentional childhood injuries by training caregivers how to provide appropriate levels of supervision for their young children (ages 6 to 36 months). Specifically, caregivers were taught in the present study include: (1) scanning the environment (for …

Assessing Change In Attachment Security Of Adolescents At Residential Therapeutic Programs, Laura Santa Thum

Dissertations

Adolescents with significant, persistent behavioral and mental health problems are increasingly being treated in private residential treatment programs (RTPs). Recent research at such programs shows that adolescents’ symptoms improve over the course of treatment and that such positive results persist up to a year post discharge. This study attempts to address what is occurring below the symptom level by exploring if attachment security increases as symptoms improve over the course of treatment in private RTPs. The level of attachment security was assessed along the dimensions of attachment avoidance and anxiety as a general construct and according to specific relationships (with …

An Evaluation Of The Acceptability And Effects Of A Computer-Delivered Values-Based Behavioral Activation Treatment For Depression Among Older Adults, Kellie Reynolds

Dissertations

Depression is a common psychological disorder among older adults and is associated with serious secondary effects to health and social well-being. Behavioral activation has been found to be an efficacious treatment for depression. However, there is limited research on the treatment effects of behavioral activation with older adults. In general, older adults under-utilize mental health treatments. Computer-delivered treatments have been developed to address access and under-utilization. The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the acceptability and effects of a computer-delivered values-based behavioral activation treatment for depression in older adults. This study consisted of two phases. Phase I consisted of …

The Lived Experience Of Individuals With Chronic Back And Neck Pain, Depression, And/Or Anxiety, Tara L. Palmeri

Dissertations

More than 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain (CP). People who experience chronic pain are 20 to 40% more likely to meet criteria for an anxiety disorder, and three to four times more likely to be clinically depressed than their pain-free counterparts. The relationship between CP and mental health has been studied quantitatively; however, few researchers have investigated co-morbid CP and mental health through a phenomenological lens. The subjective nature of the relationship is not comprehensively addressed within the literature.

This qualitative phenomenological study explored (a) how individuals with chronic back and/or neck pain (CBNP) experience, understand, and …

Understanding Factors Related To Negative Mental Health Outcomes Following Childhood Unintentional Injuries, Jennifer T. Kuhn

Dissertations

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children ages 0-19 and account for 9.2 million emergency room visits in the United States each year (Borse et al., 2008). Research shows that approximately 20% of children meet criteria for PTSD following an unintentional injury (Ostrowski et al., 2011). There are several factors that may contribute to the development of PTSD including caregivers’ posttraumatic stress symptoms after the injury event. Research has not explained the association between caregivers’ PTSD and children’s risk for PTSD symptoms, but it is possible that caregivers with PTSD may be modeling anxious behaviors to their …

Conceptualization, Measurement, And Effects Of Helicopter Parenting On College Students From The Millennial Generation, Baochun Z. Hind

Dissertations

The social phenomenon of helicopter parenting (HP) has been rapidly growing. Although HP is generally characterized as overly involved parents who “hover” over their college student children (Cline & Fay, 1990), and some research efforts have been made in recent years on understanding the construct of HP, an essential weakness of the majority of these studies is the inadequate conceptualization of HP, both theoretically and operationally. The aim of the current study was to develop a new scale to measure the construct of helicopter parent controlling (HPC), and three questions were used to guide this study: (1) What are the …

Yoga As An Ancillary Treatment To Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Depression, Jeralee M. Briggs

Dissertations

It is estimated that up to 30% of college students feel clinically depressed, and these feelings can lead to poor grades, substance abuse, unsafe sex, and suicide (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has shown to be an effective form of psychotherapy for depression and was listed in 2014 as an evidence-based treatment for depressive disorders according to the APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice (2006). In addition to psychological treatment, various exercise interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing depressive symptoms (e.g., Rehorst, Wipfli, & Landers, 2009). Yoga is one such …

Discriminative Stimulus Effects Of 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone And 4-Methylmethcathinone, Michael D. Berquist

Dissertations

Recent escalation in the popularity of recreational synthetic cathinone (“bath salts”) use has prompted numerous scientific investigations of the neurochemical and behavioral effects of 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and 4-methylmethcathinone (4-MMC), two of the more common chemical constituents of these illicit “bath salts”. Previous neurochemical and electrophysiological studies have revealed that MDPV functions as a blocker, and 4-MMC as a substrate, at monoamine transporters, and both produce transient increases in extracellular monoamines. In addition, previous research has demonstrated that MDPV and 4-MMC support self-administration in nonhuman experimental subjects, and their rewarding effects are observed when paired with contextual cues in nonhuman models …

Establishing And Testing Conditioned Reinforcers: Evaluating The Effects Of The Discriminative Stimulus Procedure Using Intermittency With Individuals With Developmental Disabilities, Yannick A. Schenk

Dissertations

A common characteristic of individuals with developmental disabilities is a restricted range of interest. Developing procedures to establish new reinforcers for such individuals can promote the acquisition of new skills and ameliorate decreases in motivation related to satiation. Several procedures for conditioning reinforcers have shown to be effective in the research literature for establishing neutral stimuli as conditioned reinforcers. Most of this literature is basic research with animal subjects (e.g., rats, pigeons). Few applied studies have directly evaluated the use of these procedures. Additional research is necessary to determine their effectiveness. The purposes of this study were to: (a) evaluate …

Perceiving Hierarchical Musical Structure In Auditory And Visual Modalities, Jessica Erin Nave-Blodgett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

When listening to music, humans perceive underlying temporal regularities. The most perceptually salient of these is the beat, what listeners would tap or clap to when engaging with music, and what listeners use to anchor the events in the musical surface to a temporal framework. However, we do not know if people perceive those beats in hierarchically ordered relationships, with some beats heard as stronger and others as weaker, as proposed by musical theory. These hierarchical relationships would theoretically be advantageous in orienting attention to particular locations in musical time, and facilitate synchronizing musical behavior such as performing or dancing. …

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Adolescent Difficulties With Emotion Regulation: An Open Trial, Julissa A. Duenas

Dissertations

Research suggests that youth rates of mental health problems are high and that evidence-based treatments for these populations exist; however, there is a significant problem in accessibility of mental health services. Recent movements in the mental health field have shifted focus to transdiagnostic dimensions of behavior in attempt to target a broader range of psychological difficulties across larger populations. One such construct, emotion regulation, has been defined as an ability to have awareness and acceptance of emotions and control urges and impulses in order to behave towards a goal. Emotion regulation has been linked to numerous internalizing and externalizing behavioral …

Moderation Analysis Of Bowel Function Among Nutrients And Physical Function Or Depression, As Well As Whether Bowel Function Is Related To Cognition In Older Adults, Jessie Alwerdt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As we age, the risk for gut issues, such as smooth muscle tone, may be an underlying indirect or direct cause or risk factor for many age-related issues, such as frailty. Consequences of decreased motility and depleted epithelial barrier may result in nutrient deficiencies that may increase the risk for malnutrition (Brownie, 2006). Further, there is increasing evidence that there is a gut-brain-axis relationship that may influence cognition and mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. While there are relationships established, the interconnections of these factors have yet to be fully understood.

This dissertation examined several relationships specific to …

Are Nonclinical Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Associated With Bias Toward Habits?, Ivar Snorrason, Han Joo Lee, Sanne De Wit, Douglas W. Woods

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

In a sample of student volunteers (N=93), we found that obsessive-compulsive symptoms (although not hoarding) were associated with overreliance on stimulus-response habits at the expense of goal-directed control during instrumental responding. Only checking symptoms were associated with bias toward habits after negative affect was controlled for. Further research is warranted to examine if overreliance on habits represents an aberrant learning process that confers risk for obsessive-compulsive psychopathology.

The Psychological Flexibility Model And Ptsd Intrusion Symptoms, Kaylin Jones

Dissertations

The psychological flexibility model offers a lens through which to view the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. The model consists of six behavioral processes, including cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, and lack of contact with the present moment, which are said to interact with each other to either resolve or maintain symptoms of PTSD. The mediation models proposed within the psychological flexibility model have yet to be examined within any sample. This study examined the relationships between cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, lack of contact with the present moment, and PTSD intrusion symptoms within a sample of trauma-exposed adults experiencing symptoms …

Sensation Seeking And Conscientiousness In Relation To Caffeine Consumption And Expectancy, Cheyenne Bullock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Habitual caffeine consumers often report difficulty reducing caffeine use with many continuing to use caffeine despite experiencing symptoms suggestive of substance dependence. Given the evidence of a positive association between sensation seeking and substance use as well as initial reports of a negative relationship between elevated conscientiousness and substance use, this study proposed to evaluate the relationship of both factors on caffeine consumption and expectancy. Two hundred sixty-five students in an introductory psychology course completed a series of brief surveys assessing caffeine consumption, caffeine expectancies, sensation seeking, and conscientiousness. A statistically significant positive correlation was hypothesized for sensation seeking and …

Cephalopods Are Best Candidates For Invertebrate Consciousness, Jennifer A. Mather, Claudio Carere

Animal Sentience

Insects might have been the first invertebrates to evolve sentience, but cephalopods were the first invertebrates to gain scientific recognition for it.

Pictorial Race Activiation In Priming Measures, Elena V. Stepanova, Michael J. Strube, Laura E. Clote, Daniel Limes

Faculty Publications

This review explores characteristics of facial primes employed in priming studies of racial prejudice and stereotyping. It addresses the role of perceptual, cue-based processing of visual stimuli characteristics in altering racial typicality, and the effects of different moderators. The authors document the nature of variability in primes and moderators used in priming studies (N = 96) up to 2009. Methodological and conceptual implications are discussed, along with gaps in the field. Better control over facial primes employed, more accuracy in reporting and open access to procedural information are suggested in an effort to improve the state of racial priming …

Catecholaminergic Neuromodulation Shapes Intrinsic Mri Functional Connectivity In The Human Brain, Ruud L. Van Den Brink, Thomas Pfeffer, Christopher M. Warren, Peter R. Murphy, Klodiana-Daphne Tona, Nic J. Van Der Wee, Eric Giltay, Martijn S. Van Noorden, Serge A. Rombouts, Tobias H. Donner, Sander Nieuwenhuis

Psychology Faculty Publications

The brain commonly exhibits spontaneous (i.e., in the absence of a task) fluctuations in neural activity that are correlated across brain regions. It has been established that the spatial structure, or topography, of these intrinsic correlations is in part determined by the fixed anatomical connectivity between regions. However, it remains unclear which factors dynamically sculpt this topography as a function of brain state. Potential candidate factors are subcortical catecholaminergic neuromodulatory systems, such as the locus ceruleus-norepinephrine system, which send diffuse projections to most parts of the forebrain. Here, we systematically characterized the effects of endogenous central neuromodulation on correlated fluctuations …

Caterpillars, Consciousness And The Origins Of Mind, Arthur S. Reber

Animal Sentience

A novel framework for the origins of consciousness and mind, the Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC), is presented. The model is based on a simple, perhaps radical axiom: subjectivity is an inherent feature of particular kinds of organic form. Experiential states, including those denoted as "mind" and "consciousness," are present in the most primitive species. The model has several conceptual and empirical virtues, among them: (a) it (re)solves the problem of how minds are created by brains ─ also known as the "Hard Problem" (Chalmers 1995) ─ by revealing that the apparent difficulty results from a category error, (b) it …

Why Animals Are Persons, Tony Cheng

Animal Sentience

Rowlands’s case for attributing personhood to lower animals is ultimately convincing, but along the way he fails to highlight several distinctions that are crucial for his argument: Personhood vs. personal identity; the first person vs. its mental episodes; and pre-reflective awareness in general vs. one specific case of it.

The Mediating Effects Of Lmx On The Relationship Between Supervisor And Employee Age Differences, Satisfaction, And Retirement Intentions, Amy Christine Pytlovany

Dissertations and Theses

Increasing age heterogeneity within organizations is pressing researchers to better understand the effects of a multigenerational workforce, teams, and dyads. In response to this, the present research aimed to investigate the effect of employee and supervisor age (in)congruence in relation to job and life satisfaction, as well as retirement intentions, all mediated by leader-member exchange (LMX), using a time-lagged design. Two different theoretical foundations were investigated. Based on the relational demography literature, better outcomes were expected to be associated with age similarity. Theories about implicit expectations relating age and social role guided hypotheses suggesting that beyond just similarity or difference, …

Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

Despite significant growth in research examining the effects of mindfulness interventions on teachers (Roeser, 2014), studies have mainly relied on self-reports of teacher mindfulness and have not examined observable behavioral manifestations of teacher mindfulness in the classroom. Due to possible biases in self-report measures (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011), as well as the need for a greater range of assessments of the effects of mindfulness trainings on teachers, the current study sought to create a new measure of teacher mindfulness in the classroom from three sources of information: teacher self-reports of their own behavior in the classroom, student perceptions of their …

A Public-Domain Personality Item Bank For Use With The Raymark, Schmit, And Guion (1997) Pprf, Scott Highhouse, Michael J. Zickar, Margaret E. Brooks, Charlie L. Reeve, Shreya T. Sarkar-Barney, Robert M. Guion

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Presented is the development of a repository of work-related personality items that may be used to assess job-related traits identified by the Personality-Related Position Requirements Form (PPRF: Raymark, Schmit, & Guion, 1997). Analyses of the item pool administered to a sample (n = 412) of trade apprentices showed evidence to support the12 work-related Big 5 sub-dimensions identified by the PPRF. A smaller validity study (n = 47) suggested that personality dimensions identified as job-related by the PPRF were related to important job-related outcomes.

Threat Of Technological Unemployment: Are Hiring Managers Discounted For Using Standardized Employee Selection Practices?, Kevin P. Nolan, Nathan T. Carter, Dev K. Dalal

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Two studies were conducted to examine the tenability of Meehl’s (1986) “threat of technological unemployment” explanation for why practitioners of employee selection resist using standardized decision-making practices. The results of Study 1 support the existence of this threat by demonstrating that practitioners received less credit for the outcomes of employment decisions when structured rather than unstructured interviews were used to evaluate candidates and analytical rather than holistic data combination was used to determine candidates’ overall evaluations. The results of Study 2 support the influence of this threat on employee selection by demonstrating that practitioners recognized the effects using the standardized …

Cheating On Unproctored Internet Intelligence Tests: Strategies And Effects, Wim Bloemers, Arjan Oud, Karen Van Dam

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

A crucial issue concerning unproctored Internet-based testing (UIT) of cognitive ability is its susceptibility to cheating. Whereas evidence indicates that cheating during UIT occurs, there is still little information about possible cheating strategies and their effects on (sub)test performance. Using a randomized experimental design, this study investigated the direct effects of cheating on an Internet-based test of cognitive ability by comparing test performance of cheaters (participants who were instructed to cheat) and successful cheaters (participants who thought their cheating had been successful) with that of non-cheaters. Successful cheaters obtained substantially higher scores compared to cheaters who thought they had been …

Technology In The Employment Interview: A Meta-Analysis And Future Research Agenda, Nikki Blacksmith, Jon C. Willford, Tara S. Behrend

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

The use of technology such as telephone and video has become common when conducting employment interviews. However, little is known about how technology affects applicant reactions and interviewer ratings. We conducted meta-analyses of twelve studies that resulted in K=13 unique samples and N=1,557. Mean effect sizes for interview medium on ratings (d=-.41) and reactions (d=-.36) were moderate and negative, suggesting that interviewer ratings and applicant reactions are lower in technology-mediated interviews. Generalizing research findings from face-to-face interviews to technology-mediated interviews is inappropriate. Organizations should be especially wary of varying interview mode across applicants, as …

Individual Differences Predicting Impression Management Detection In Job Interviews, Nicolas Roulin

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Applicant impression management (IM), and especially its deceptive side (i.e., faking), has been described as a potential threat to the validity of employment interviews. This threat was confirmed by evidence of interviewers’ inability to detect (deceptive) IM tactics. Previous studies suggested that some interviewers could be better IM detectors than others, but did not examine the reasons explaining higher abilities. Building on interpersonal deception theory, this study explores individual differences in cognitions (i.e., cognitive ability) and social sensitivity (associated with generalized trust and honesty) as predictors of IM detection abilities. Results of a study with 250 individuals suggest that these …

Prefrontal Responses To Stroop Tasks In Subjects With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assessed By Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, Amarnath Yennu, Fenghua Tian, Alexa Smith-Osborne, Robert J. Gatchel, Fu Lye Woon, Hanli Liu

Psychology Faculty Publications - Archive

No abstract provided.

Perseverance: Psychospiritual And Genetic Perspectives, Tony N. Jelsma, Arielle Johnston, Bruce Vermeer

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Perseverance constitutes a quality that motivates humankind to press onward usually in the face of significant adversity and resistance. Perseverance is also important in the Christian life. The apostle Paul, using athletic training metaphors, frequently urges his readers to persevere in the faith, even describing his own life as a fight and a race (2 Tim.4:7). Yet, certain groups of people seem to possess a greater measure of perseverance than others have. We are therefore led to ask, “Can our ability to persevere be, in God’s providence, at least partly genetically influenced?”

Suboptimal Choice In Pigeons: Stimulus Value Predicts Choice Over Frequencies, Aaron P. Smith, Alexandria R. Bailey, Jonathan J. Chow, Joshua S. Beckmann, Thomas R. Zentall

Psychology Faculty Publications

Pigeons have shown suboptimal gambling-like behavior when preferring a stimulus that infrequently signals reliable reinforcement over alternatives that provide greater reinforcement overall. As a mechanism for this behavior, recent research proposed that the stimulus value of alternatives with more reliable signals for reinforcement will be preferred relatively independently of their frequencies. The present study tested this hypothesis using a simplified design of a Discriminative alternative that, 50% of the time, led to either a signal for 100% reinforcement or a blackout period indicative of 0% reinforcement against a Nondiscriminative alternative that always led to a signal that predicted 50% reinforcement. …