Psychology Commons^™

Psychopathy, Empathic Concern, And Emotional-Sentence Processing: An N400 Erp Study, Farren Larson

Student Theses

Using an undergraduate sample, the present study examined how psychopathic traits (assessed by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised) and empathic concern (assessed by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) affect emotional-information processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a sentential priming paradigm. Participants had their electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded while they silently read sentences with three types of endings: congruent, incongruent, and emotionally negative. We hypothesized that participants with high levels of psychopathic traits and participants with low levels of empathic concern would find the emotionally negative sentence endings less unexpected and disturbing (yielding a smaller N400), compared to participants with low levels of psychopathic …

Alcohol Use, Drinking Motivations, And Depression Among College Students: The Roles Of Sociotropy And Autonomy, Cameron P. Pugach

Student Theses

Sociotropy and autonomy are two cognitive personality dimensions, or personality styles, that have been implicated in the way individuals may uniquely develop, experience, and respond to treatment for depression. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether these cognitive personality dimensions are differentially related to drinking motivations and alcohol-related behaviors among college students. Participants included 311 college students (M_age = 23.1, 63% male) recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results partially supported hypothesized relationships showing that generally, those higher in sociotropy were more likely to endorse external motivations for drinking (i.e. social and conformity motives), while those …

Narrating Power And Injustice: How Young People Make Sense About Fairness, Svetlana Jovic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Our concrete embodiments as members of a specific class, race, and gender, as well as our historical situations play important roles in shaping our perspective of the world. The goal of this dissertation was to explore how different socioeconomic circumstances shape adolescents’ sense-making about fairness and their capacity to relate to different actors in a social situation including an instance of injustice. Additionally, the study explored the systematic shift in youth’s sense-making – their capacity to adjust one’s ways of knowing and being, depending on the perspective they assume and different others they address. I used narrative methodology to explore …

The Effect Of Mode Of Education And Degree Level On Employer Perceptions Of Applicants' Hireability, Benjamin Safara

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Online education is becoming more prominent, but it has been found that employers are biased against hiring job applicants with online education. The influence of mode of education and degree level on employer perceptions of applicants’ hireability was investigated. It was hypothesized that employer perceptions would decrease as the education of an applicant moved to a category consisting of more online education. It was hypothesized that employers would be less likely to move forward with applicants in the hiring process (viability) as applicants’ education moved to a category consisting of more online education. It was hypothesized that degree level would …

The Role Of Broaden-And-Build Schema And Employee Motivation In The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Subordinate Outcomes, Colby J. Hilken

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold in that it explored the relationships in which transformational and transactional leadership impact particular subordinate outcomes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Secondly, once transformational leadership was tested and shown to be a better predictor of both job satisfaction and organizational commitment when compared to transactional leadership, employee motivation and one’s broaden-and-build schema, building off of concepts from the Broaden-and-Build theory, were proposed as mediators of the relationship between transformational leaders and their subordinate’s outcomes in terms of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Transformational leadership is a strong predictor of many subordinate …

The Impact Of Incarceration And Societal Reintegration On Mental Health, Veronica Wicks

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine ex-offender’s beliefs on the impact of incarceration and societal reintegration on mental health. The study is a qualitative design using interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed for analysis. The study sought to address the relationship between perceptions of mental health and experiences of incarceration and reintegration among formerly incarcerated individuals. The following themes emerged from participant responses: incarceration challenges, mental health stigma, and rehabilitation service accessibility. The findings of this study may contribute to social work practice by providing awareness to the factors impacting ex-offenders’ mental health and interventions needed. The …

An Investigation Of Feedback Seeking Behaviors, Source Credibility, And Impression Management As A Function Of Goal Orientation, Christopher Erich Morin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Goal Orientation (GO), the behavioral tendencies for the goals individuals will adopt in a variety of situations has been thoroughly utilized to understand feedback seeking behaviors. While previous and ongoing research has answered many questions within this area, there remains theoretical inconsistencies involving these relationships. For example, the relationship between prove performance goal orientation (PPGO) and feedback seeking has largely been inconsistent. There are also relationships yet to be tested such as how the GO dimensions are related to different sources of feedback within the workplace. Because of this, the purpose of the present research was to examine the relationships …

Clinical Social Workers’ Perspectives On Illicit Drug Use And The Development Of Psychotic Disorders, Asma Naseer

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to explore social workers’ perspectives of drug-induced psychosis. More specifically, it sought to determine how knowledgeable clinical social workers are on the impact illicit drug use on the development of psychotic disorders. The study also aimed to discover clinical social workers’ perspectives regarding the influence of illicit drug use on the development of psychotic illnesses. This study used mixed methods approach in attempt to solve the research question. The quantitative portion of the research, an anonymous survey, allowed for the assessment of social workers’ knowledge of drug-induced psychosis. The qualitative portion of the research, …

Interaction Of The Phencyclidine Model Of Schizophrenia And Nicotine On Total And Categorized Ultrasonic Vocalizations In Rats, Natashia Swalve, Michele M Mulholland, Tiffany D. Schulz, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Patients with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes at a higher rate than the general population. We hypothesized that a factor in this comorbidity is sensitivity to the reinforcing and reinforcement- enhancement effects of nicotine.

Phencyclidine (PCP) was used to model behavioral changes resembling negative symptoms of schizophrenia in rats. USVs in rats have been used to measure emotional states, with 50 kHz USVs indicating positive states and 22 kHz indicating negative. Total and categorized numbers of 22 and 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) and USVs during a visual stimulus (e.g. a potential measure of reinforcement-enhancement) were examined in rats following .injection ofh …

The Development Of A Comprehensive Model Of Social Anxiety And Anticipatory Social Appraisals, Lance Johns

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In anticipation of a future social interaction, socially anxious individuals (SAIs) may imagine themselves appearing stupid or foolish and predict and exaggerate the probability and costs of conveying these undesirable social images both on oneself (e.g., “I will feel stupid”) and on others impressions of oneself (e.g., “Others will think I’m stupid”). However, there is a paucity of research examining the latter bias; moreover, research regarding SAIs estimates of the probability and costs of conveying a positive impression (e.g., “I will feel smart”) has typically been neglected. Thus, the a novel questionnaire was created in order to develop a more …

Need, Access, And The Reach Of Integrated Care: A Typology Of Patients, Ana J. Bridges, Bianca T. Villalobos, Elizabeth A. Anastasia, Aubrey R. Dueweke, Samantha J. Gregus, Timothy A. Cavell

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: In this paper, we report on a study exploring a potential typology of primary care patients referred for integrated behavioral health care (IBHC) services. We considered whether primary care patients could be grouped into meaningful clusters based on perceived need for behavioral health services, barriers to accessing care, and past-year service utilization. We also describe the development of a working partnership between our university-based research team and a federally qualified health center (FQHC).

Method: A total of 105 adult primary care patients referred for same-day behavioral health appointments completed a brief self-report questionnaire assessing past-year behavioral health concerns, …

Ultrasonography In Acupuncture: Uses In Education And Research, Mabel Qi He Leow, Shu Li Cui, Mohammad Taufik Bin Mohamed Shah, Taige Cao, Shian Chao Tay, Peter Kay Chai Tay, Chin Chin Ooi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study aims to explore the potential use of ultrasound in locating the second posterior sacral foramen acupuncture point, quantifying depth of insertion and describing surrounding anatomical structures. We performed acupuncture needle insertion on a study team member. There were four steps in our experiment. First, the acupuncturist located the acupuncture point by palpation. Second, we used an ultrasound machine to visualize the structures surrounding the location of the acupuncture point and measure the depth required for needle insertion. Third, the acupuncturist inserted the acupuncture needle into the acupuncture point at an angle of 30°. Fourth, we performed another ultrasound …

Impulsivity, Communication, And Marital Satisfaction In Newlywed Couples, Kenneth Tan, Amber M. Jarnecke, Susan C. South

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The authors used a vulnerability–stress–adaptation framework to examine how and why impulsivity affects communication and marital satisfaction in a sample of 100 newlywed couples. We specifically examined the links between impulsivity and perceptions of conflict communication patterns and their associations with marital satisfaction. Using an actor–partner interdependence framework, the results demonstrated that impulsivity was negatively associated with one's own and partner's marital satisfaction. Impulsivity was also negatively associated with constructive communication and positively associated with destructive communication. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that communication patterns mediated the impulsivity–satisfaction link. Taken together, these findings suggest that impulsivity is likely to lead to …

Seeing The Forest And Not The Trees: When Impact Uncertainty Heightens Causal Complexity, Evelyn W. M. Au

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study attempts to isolate the effects of experiencing uncertainty on people's cognitive processes. I argue that people can believe that their actions affect the outcome (i.e. outcome control), but still face uncertainty regarding the extent to which actions will make a difference (i.e. impact uncertainty). To this end, I introduce a novel experimental paradigm which isolates the effects of impact uncertainty from outcome control. The findings revealed that after experiencing impact uncertainty, participants demonstrated greater causal complexity (i.e. more likely to make situational attributions and judge outcomes as having a “ripple effect”), but did not make fewer …

The Effects Of Diegetic And Nondiegetic Music On Viewers’ Interpretations Of A Film Scene, Elizabeth M. Wakefield, Siu-Lan Tan, Matthew P. Spackman

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Previous studies have shown that pairing a film excerpt with different musical soundtracks can change the audience’s interpretation of the scene. This study examined the effects of mixing the same piece of music at different levels of loudness in a film soundtrack to suggest diegetic music (“source music,” presented as if arising from within the fictional world of the film characters) or to suggest nondiegetic music (a “dramatic score” accompanying the scene but not originating from within the fictional world). Adjusting the level of loudness significantly altered viewers’ perceptions of many elements that are fundamental to the storyline, including inferences …

Learning While Deciding In Groups, R. Scott Tindale, Jeremy R. Winget

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Groups are used to make many important societal decisions. Similar to individuals, by paying attention to the information available during the decision processes and the consequences of the decisions, groups can learn from their decisions as well. In addition, group members can learn from each other by exchanging information and being exposed to different perspectives. However, groups make decisions in many different ways and the potential and actual learning that takes place will vary as a function of the manner in which groups reach consensus. This chapter reviews the literature on group decision making with a special emphasis on how …

Cultural Values And The Effectiveness Of Trust Repair Strategies In Collaborative Relationships, Kyi Phyu Nyein

Theses and Dissertations

Interpersonal trust is a positive expectation that an individual has regarding another individual, and such positive expectation leads to behaviors and outcomes desirable for individuals, groups, and organizations. Despite these benefits and positive outcomes of trust, it can be damaged or broken, and to continue the relationship or effectively work together again, individuals must repair the broken trust. Very little research has been conducted on trust violation and repair in the cross-cultural context, and as more organizations and businesses become global, the influence of culture must be considered in developing and maintaining trusting relationships as well as repairing broken trust …

A Meta-Analytic Review Of The Association Of Therapeutic Alliance, Therapist Empathy, Client Attachment Style, And Client Expectations With Client Outcome, Alberto Soto

Theses and Dissertations

The therapeutic alliance has consistently been associated with improved client outcomes across numerous psychotherapy outcome studies. Previous systematic reviews have, however, evaluated the univariate association of the alliance with client outcome. The present meta-analytic review examines the association of the alliance with improved client outcomes after accounting for the presence of therapist empathy, client attachment styles, and client expectations. Across 23 independent studies, the alliance, adjusted for the presence of the other variables, remained as the most robust predictor of improved outcomes r = .258 (SE = .01, p < .001), with a 95% confidence interval of r = .18 to r = .33. After accounting for …

Can Implicit Post-Event Information Influence Explicit Eyewitness Memory?, Hang Sze Chau

Student Theses

This study examines whether unconscious processing of misleading post-event information can influence explicit and implicit eyewitness memory. Using the existing misinformation paradigm, false post-event information was presented to participants either under full or divided attention. Eyewitness memory was tested with both explicit (free recall and cued recall tests) and implicit memory tests (truth rating test). Participants who were misinformed under full attention recalled significantly more misinformation than their counterparts who were misinformed under divided attention and the control group. However, results from the truth rating test showed that both explicit and implicit forms of misinformation had no impact on implicit …

Motivated Cognition And Fairness: Insights, Integration, And Creating A Path Forward, Laurie J. Barclay, Michael R. Bashshur, Marion Fortin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

How do individuals form fairness perceptions? This question has been central to the fairness literature sinceits inception, sparking a plethora of theories and a burgeoning volume of research. To date, the answer to thisquestion has been predicated on the assumption that fairness perceptions are subjective (i.e., “in the eye of thebeholder”). This assumption is shared with motivated cognition approaches, which highlight the subjectivenature of perceptions and the importance of viewing individuals arriving at those perceptions as active andmotivated processors of information. Further, the motivated cognition literature has other key insights thathave been less explicitly paralleled in the fairness literature, including …

Not Just How Much You Know: Interactional Effect Of Cultural Knowledge And Metacognition On Creativity In A Global Context, Chua, Roy Y. J., Kok Yee Ng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The ability to think and solve problems creatively in a multicultural environment is critical for success in the 21st century. Integrating research on creative cognition and cultural intelligence, we examine the interactional effects of two cognitive capabilities – cultural knowledge and cultural metacognition – on individuals’ creativity in multicultural teams. We propose that although cultural knowledge is useful for creativity,too much knowledge can be detrimental because of cognitive overload and entrenchment.This inverted U-shaped relationship however, is moderated by cultural metacognition.Results of our study support our hypothesis of an inverted U-shape relationship between cultural knowledge and creativity. As expected, we found …

The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Depressive Symptoms, And Cognitive Functioning, Imari-Ashley F. Palma

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The number of older individuals experiencing age related cognitive decline (ARCD) continues to grow exponentially. Memory, executive functioning, and cognitive processing speed have shown to be particularly sensitive to the effects of aging. The same regions of the brain associated with executive functioning and memory are also associated with mood. Researchers have shown an association between ARCD and depression. Research on physical activity (PA) continues to show a beneficial influence on cognition, physical health, and mood. Developmentally, women and men have normal differences in cognitive functioning. As women and men age, these differences can increase. In addition, researchers have shown …

Demographic Differences In Resting State Eeg In Healthy Controls And Patients With Schizophrenia, Keshia M. Sanders

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The default mode network (DMN) is composed of neural nodes that are synchronously activated when the brain is at rest and displays a decrease in activation when the brain is involved in a task. Disruptions in the DMN can potentially serve as assessment/screening for individuals with neuropsychological disorders. Many studies use electroencephalography (EEG) to study the brain at rest because of its high temporal resolution and its ability to provide a time sensitive measure of large-scale neural activity. Previous studies examining the brain at rest have found differences when comparing patients with Schizophrenia (Sz) and healthy controls (HC). While many …

The Group Readiness Questionnaire: A Practice-Based Evidence Measure?, Mindy Judd Pearson

Theses and Dissertations

In recent decades, psychologists have increasingly turned to evidence-based practice (EBP) to guide their treatments with clients. Practice-based evidence (PBE) is one type of EBP that allows clinicians to treat their clients in a flexible, but effective way. PBE treatments are those that use information gathered about the client through measures or questionnaires to inform the clinical decisions therapists make in the process of treating the client. The use of PBE in group psychotherapy is increasing and there are many measures that can potentially be used to aid therapists by gathering client information or feedback in the areas of group …

The Effect Of Discrimination On Mental Health After Adverse Childhood Experiences, Maleia Mathis

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study reports that childhood adversity is relatively common, often co-occurs with multiple types of exposures, and has a dose-response relationship to many leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. Although there have been mixed results regarding whether ethnicity moderates these health effects, there is evidence that Caribbean and African American ethnic groups may respond to ACEs differently than other ethnic groups. Discrimination may explain this effect moderation, as it has been consistently linked to negative mental health outcomes. Specifically, ACEs exposure may hinder mental health outcomes, and chronic discrimination exposure in minority ethnic …

Towards Unobtrusive Mental Well-Being Monitoring For Independent-Living Elderly, Sinh Huynh, Hwee-Pink Tan, Youngki Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

It is essential to proactively detect mental health problems such as loneliness and depression in the independently-living elderly for timely intervention by caregivers. In this paper, we introduce an unobtrusive sensor-enabled monitoring system that has been deployed to 50 government housing ats with the independent-living elderly for two years. Then, we also present our initial findings from the 6-month sensor data between August 2015 and April 2016 as well as the survey data to measure the subjective well-being indicator. Our study showed the promising results that "room-level movements within a house" and "going out" behavior captured by our simple sensor …

Gay-Straight Alliances As Settings To Discuss Health Topics: Individual And Group Factors Associated With Substance Use, Mental Health, And Sexual Health Discussions, V. P. Poteat, Nicholas C. Heck, H. Yoshikawa, J. P. Calzo

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Sexual minority (e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning; LGBQ) and gender minority (e.g. transgender) youth experience myriad health risks. Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are school-based settings where they may have opportunities to discuss substance use, mental health, and sexual health issues in ways that are safe and tailored to their experiences. Attention to these topics in GSAs could aid in developing programming for these settings. Among 295 youth from 33 Massachusetts high-school GSAs (69% LGBQ, 68% cisgender female, 68% White, M_age = 16.06), we examined how often youth discussed these topics within their GSA and identified factors associated with having more …

Informative Disagreements: Associations Between Relationship Distress, Depression, And Discrepancy In Interpersonal Perception Within Couples, Lynne M. Knobloch-Fedders, Kenneth L. Critchfield, Erin M. Staab

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

This study evaluated the associations between relationship distress, depression symptoms, and discrepancy in interpersonal perception within couples. After completing a series of discussion tasks, couples (N = 88) rated their behavior using the circumplex‐based Structural Analysis of Social Behavior Model (SASB; Benjamin, 1979, 1987, 2000). Overall, couple members were strikingly similar in their interpersonal perceptions, and tended to see themselves as friendly, reciprocal in their focus, and balanced between connection and separateness. As hypothesized, however, perceptual discrepancy was related to relationship distress and depression. Relationship distress was associated with discrepancy regarding transitive behavior focused on the partner, while depression …

Student Censorship In The Social Work Classrooms, Lisa Kozlowski

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Through the evolution of the field of social work, a divide in its ideologies has emerged and certain political and ideological groups such as the religious and conservatives have become underrepresented. As a result, over the years the liberal philosophies have emerged as the dominant group. This has led to a decrease in diversity within the field. Recognition of biases in the field of social work is difficult. Through a qualitative analysis method, this study was meant to explore if social work students feel they are free to share openly in the classroom, and if they are accepting of all …

Pride And Prejudice: The Effects Of The Proud To Be Public Service Announcement On Attitudes Toward The Redskins Logo, Nina Danielle Acosta

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The United States has a long-standing history of appropriating Indigenous representations for the use of mascots in athletics. Despite protest by Indigenous groups against this practice, professional athletics teams continue to appropriate Indigenous representations as mascots. The National Congress of American Indians produced a public service announcement (PSA), Proud to Be (PTB), to elicit support from the general public for changing the name/mascot Redskins. The purpose of the proposed research is to experimentally examine the effects that PTB has on support among Non-Indigenous participants, as function of political alignment. We considered two competing outcomes: The Counterproductive Hypothesis predicts …