Psychology Commons^™

Dispositional Optimism Effects On Stress And Police Task Performance, Roland Art Perez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The study of stress on police task performance is important as this relationship can positively or negatively impact encounters with the public. This study focused on protective factors of positive psychology within the measured construct of dispositional optimism as a possible mediator of stress effects on physical task performance. The cognitive processing models used were the performance efficiency theory and attentional control theory as they apply in perceptual motor skill. Using a mediation model, the research question asked whether dispositional optimism mediated the relationship between stress and a pistol performance accuracy task. This study used a limited data set collected …

Women's Experiences Of Mindfulness In Romantic Relationships, Melissa Jay

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mindfulness has been found to enhance romantic relationships through the practice of remaining open, calm, and emotionally regulated during times of struggle. There was a gap in the literature, however, related to how the practice of mindfulness is subjectively experienced in women's romantic relationships. The purpose of this heuristic study was to understand how women's practice of mindfulness effects their romantic relationships. The conceptual framework for this study was mindfulness-to-meaning theory, which highlights that wellbeing is supported through 2 main mechanisms of mindfulness: savoring and reappraisal. The nature of this study was a qualitative approach using Moustakas's heuristic method. After …

Differentiating Theists And Nontheists By Way Of A Sampling Of Self-Reported Sexual Thoughts And Behaviors, Kelli Callahan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Numerous researchers have addressed the impact of individual religiosity or spirituality on psychological well-being. However, studies addressing the possible relationship between religiosity and sexuality, specifically in the form of deterrence of certain sexual thoughts or behaviors based upon religious dictates, remain sparse. Individual religiosity may be related to individual sexual self-expression. Built on the framework of cognitive-dissonance theory and self-determination theory, this quantitative, correlational study was designed to examine the relationships between religiosity and sexual attitudes and behaviors of both theist and nontheist population samples comprised of approximately 400 subjects throughout the United States. Study participants completed the Derogatis Sexual …

Asian Americans Respond Less Favorably To Excitement (Vs. Calm)-Focused Physicians Compared To European Americans, Tamara Sims, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Henry Young, Da Jiang, Helene Fung, Jeanne L. Tsai

Psychology

OBJECTIVES:

Despite being considered a "model minority," Asian Americans report worse health care encounters than do European Americans. This may be due to affective mismatches between Asian American patients and their European American physicians. We predicted that because Asian Americans value excitement (vs. calm) less than European Americans, they will respond less favorably to excitement-focused (vs. calm) physicians.

METHOD:

In Study 1, 198 European American, Chinese American, and Hong Kong Chinese community adults read a medical scenario and indicated their preference for an excitement-focused versus calm-focused physician. In Study 2, 81 European American and Asian American community college students listened …

Improved Student Outcomes In Biological Psychology Courses Through Scaffolded Reading And Writing Assignments., Jillian Grose-Fifer, Christopher Davis-Ferreira

Publications and Research

The American Psychological Association expects graduating psychology majors to be able to read and summarize complex ideas accurately, and to communicate effectively as writers. However, undergraduates often have little explicit instruction and practice in reading and summarizing academic articles, or in psychology-specific writing practices. Consequently, students’ skills as academic readers and writers often fail to meet expectations. In our large public university, writing problems were prevalent in our biological psychology classes. When asked to read and summarize primary sources, students reported that the articles were very difficult to understand, papers commonly included plagiarism, and many students withdrew from the classes. …

Depressive Symptoms Are Associated With Cognitive Function In The Elderly With Type 2 Diabetes, Elizabeth Guerrero-Berroa, Ramit Ravona-Springer, James Schmeidler, Anthony Heymann, Laili Soleimani, Mary Sano, Derek Leroith, Rachel Preiss, Ruth Zukran, Jeremy M. Silverman, Michal Schnaider Beeri

Publications and Research

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a metabolic condition associated with poor clinical and cognitive outcomes including vascular disease, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, and dementia. In the general elderly population, depression has been consistently identified as a risk factor for cognitive impairment/decline. However, the association between depression and cognitive function in T2D has been understudied.

Objective: We investigated the association between depression and cognitive function in a large sample of cognitively normal elderly with T2D.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we examined 738 participants, aged 65–88 years old, enrolled in the Israel Diabetes and Cognitive Decline study. For each …

Configural Processing And Social Judgments: Face Inversion Particularly Disrupts Inferences Of Human-Relevant Traits, John Paul Wilson, Steven G. Young, Nicholas O. Rule, Kurt Hugenberg

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Perceivers tend to strongly agree about the basic trait information that they encode from faces. Although some research has found significant consistency for social inferences from faces viewed at multiple angles, disrupting configural processing can substantially alter the traits attributed to faces. Here, we reconciled these findings by examining how disruptions to configural processing (via face inversion) selectively impairs trait inferences from faces. Across four studies (including a pre-registered replication), we found that inverting faces disrupted inferences about particularly human-relevant traits (trustworthiness and humanness) more than it did for a trait relevant to both human and non-human animals (dominance). These …

Exploring A Possible Mechanism Underlying Stereotype Threat In Adhd, Alexandra Gabor

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Previous research has shown that college students with ADHD often struggle academically. The present study explores a possible mechanism underlying stereotype threat in ADHD that may explain the cognitive challenges that those with ADHD face. I examined whether exposing college students with ADHD to positive or negative stereotypes about the disorder would change their self-perceptions and their performance expectations, thereby changing their working memory performance. I hypothesized that those exposed to negative stereotypes would report having more ADHD symptoms, expect to perform worse on tests of working memory, and thus would score lower on working memory measures compared to those …

What A Difference A Course Makes: Early College Experience Fosters Flexible And Transcendent Self-Identities, Hannah Faccio

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The college experience is often referenced as a period of ‘finding yourself.’ The concept of self-identity is considered malleable and often formed during time spent at a university or college. One way universities provide opportunity for changes in identity is by offering liberal arts core curriculum courses that allow for the broader thinking of the self, the world, and of one’s experiences. Examples of these courses include Honors and First-Year Seminar (FYS) courses. These courses offer exposure to new topics, ideas, and cultures, which can help students better understand themselves and their place in the world. I hypothesized these courses …

The Social Relationships Of Captive African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) Juveniles, Julia Machado

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In situ female African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) live in a fission- fusion society comprised of “core groups” in which adult females associate with their dependent offspring (Archie, Moss, & Alberts, 2006). Most of the animals in a core group are related (Archie et al., 2006), but kinship is not the only contributor to elephant sociality.Pre-reproductive females (allomothers) often assist in the care of calves and juveniles (Lee, 1987). The concept of inclusive fitness (Riedman, 1982) is the favored hypothesis for the evolution of allomothering. Zoological settings, with varied social groupings, provide the perfect opportunity to test this hypothesis (Schulte, …

Thriving Beyond Surviving: An Examination Of The Role Support Groups Play In Enhancing Later Cognitive And Social Development Of Pediatric Cancer Patients, Mary Maccarthy

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Adult survivors of pediatric cancer are at risk of developing “late effects” which are deficiencies in physical, cognitive, and/or social functioning that are usually due to long-term cancer treatment and hospitalization at a young age. These late effects can significantly impact survivors’ well-being and prevent them from leading successful, independent lives. The aim of our research was to investigate whether participation in cancer-related support groups could lessen the impact of late effects. Specifically, we examined whether the degree of engagement with cancer-related support groups was related to the level of cognitive and social functioning in adult pediatric cancer survivors. Through …

Sexual Violence On Campus: No Evidence That Studies Are Biased Due To Self-Selection, Marina N. Rosenthal, Jennifer J. Freyd

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Numerous research studies suggest that at least one in five female college students is sexually assaulted while enrolled. However, many studies exploring sexual violence prevalence on campus use methodology permitting students to self-select into the study based on interest in the topic (i.e., students receive an email offering them the opportunity to participate in a study on sexual violence). Self-selection may bias these prevalence estimates of campus sexual violence. To explore this issue, we surveyed two samples of college women on their experiences of sexual assault. We recruited Sample 1 in a typical way: by emailing a randomly selected subset …

Acculturation And Post-Migration Psychological Symptoms Among Iraqi Refugees: A Path Analysis, Joseph W. Lemaster, Carissa L. Broadbridge, Mark A. Lumley, Judith E. Arnetz, Cynthia Arfken, Michael D. Fetters, Hikmet Jamil, Nnamdi Pole, Bengt B. Arnetz

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Refugees frequently experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression, which impede their acculturation in the new host country where they are resettling. There are few longitudinal studies investigating predictors of mental health and acculturation during the early postmigration period. We conducted a longitudinal study of 298 Iraqi refugees, assessing them upon arrival to the U.S. and 1 year after migration. Premigration trauma was associated with increased PTSD and depressive symptoms at baseline, and with decreased acculturation 1 year later. Resilience was associated with depressive symptoms at 1-year follow-up, but not with other resettlement outcomes (PTSD symptoms, English-language skills, or acculturation). …

Effects Of Yoga On The Motor Skills Of A Ten-Year-Old Male With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amber Schmitt

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD} is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is typically diagnosed in childhood due to the presence of atypical development, social interactions, and repetitive stereotypical patterns of behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a yoga intervention on a ten-year-old male diagnosed with ASD. It was hypothesized that the yoga intervention on select instructed poses would increase both pose duration and pose performance and that the results would generalize to longer pose duration and better pose performance on non-instructed poses. Pre-intervention assessments of motor functioning were administered, including the Movement ABC, BOT-2, TGMD, …

Sexual Orientation Development, Acceptance, And Risk Behavior In Young Adult Gay Men, Erin Paige Smith

Wayne State University Dissertations

Research on sexual orientation development points to individual differences in developmental milestones (i.e., realization, identification, disclosure to friend, disclosure to parent, same-sex sexual behavior) that could be differentially related to adjustment. Additionally, differences in perceptions of acceptance from the self and important others, such as parents and friends, during adolescence and early adulthood may be related to both sexual orientation development and health risk behaviors (i.e., substance use, sexual risk). The goal of the current study was to advance our understanding of developmental processes among gay men by examining perceived acceptance of sexual orientation and its associations with individual differences …

A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Gender Differences In Symptom Progression And Trauma Narratives During Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Sarah A. Ascienzo

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

An alarming portion of youth experience traumatic events during childhood, and there is a robust body of literature documenting the adverse consequences of trauma exposure on the developing child. Fortunately, numerous empirically-supported phase-based interventions have been developed for youth that target the deleterious effects of trauma. While several of these interventions have demonstrated symptom reduction from the baseline to completion of treatment, much less is known regarding the trajectory of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during the course of treatment. Information in this regard may have important implications for service delivery and help to illuminate the mechanisms of change responsible for …

Adult Syrian Refugees Resettled In The United States: Social Support, Personality, Somatic Complaints, And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Zena Dadouch

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the relationships between perceived social support, personality traits, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in adult Syrian refugees resettled in the United States. Participants (N = 19) were recruited from resettlement organizations across the United States. To be eligible, participants had to be at least 18 years old, and had to have been resettled in the United States after 1/1/2015. After being screened for eligibility, participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires online, and were able to enroll in a drawing for 5 $50 Visa gift cards for their participation. The findings failed to lend support to …

What Happens Now? Coaching And Leading Following A Student-Athlete Death - A Phenomenological Study, Peter Mcgahey

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

College students die and sometimes these students are student-athletes. This transcendental phenomenological study described and explored the lived leadership experiences, related to the components of Transformational Leadership, of NCAA sports team coaches who led their team following an unexpected death of a student-athlete. No research to date had focused on this leadership phenomenon. Five NCAA sport team head coaches participated in semi-structured interviews to learn more about their coaching leadership experiences during this time of crisis. The study participants shared their intensely emotional and personal leadership experiences of leading and coaching their teams during a time of crisis. There were …

Alabama Cacrep And Non-Cacrep Graduate Students' Perceptions Of Readiness To Counsel Clients With Substance Use Disorders, Keli M. Brothers

Counselor Education

A quantitative survey study was conducted to assess counselor perceptions of competence to counsel clients with substance use disorders based on educational experiences. The 31 participants included counseling graduates from two North Alabama universities, one with Council for Accrediting of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) certification and one without, and Alabama members of NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals. There were no significant differences found in perceptions of competence to counsel between CACREP and non-CACREP certified graduates. However, a positive correlation was found between participants’ understanding of addiction and perceptions of readiness to counsel clients with substance use disorders.

A Theoretical Framework Of Sports Team’S Well-Being: An Integrative Perspective Of Emotional Intelligence And Equivocality On Trust And Happiness, Drew Sannes, Wooyang Kim

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Abstract – The purpose of this study is to develop and provide an integrative conceptual model of sports teams’ well-being to achieve a win-win situation of happiness for all stakeholders of sports teams, grounded in role theory and commitment-trust theory. We first conceptualized the well-being as an ultimate consequence by exploring sub-dimensions of happiness and provide relevant propositions linking with the respective antecedents. Second, we explored the effect of antecedents of sports team’s well-being in the spectrum of the anchor between positive and negative sides on the resultant outcomes – i.e., trust and happiness. Third, we examined the role of …

How Internalized Sexism Impacts Young Adult Women And Their Sociopolitical Behavior, Audrianna Dehlin

Research on Capitol Hill

Sexism: A belief, practice, or system that supports the idea that the male sex is intrinsically superior to the female sex.

• The two major types of sexism are hostile and benevolent.
• In addition to external experiences of sexism, these beliefs can be internalized by women and are linked to negative outcomes.
• The overall climate surrounding women's issues is becoming more contentious.
• Because of this, research and conversation surrounding gender equality are in the mainstream consciousness.
• This study used a correlational design to examine the relationship between internalized sexism, psychological health, relationship satisfaction, political affiliation, voting patterns, religious fundamentalism, social desirability, …

The Impact Of Chronic Stress, Traumatic Experiences And Genes On Behavior, Colten Brown

Research on Capitol Hill

Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) alters neurotransmission and remodels neural circuits involved in learning, attention and decision making.

Glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is essential for the function of neurons. Regulation of GDNF during stress is linked to resiliency while the inability to regulate it causes behavioral alterations.

We investigated the effects of CUS on latent inhibition (LI), a measure of selective attention expressed in this model as freezing behavior.

The Effects Of Nicotine On Maladaptive Alcohol Drinking, Isabella Stuart

Research on Capitol Hill

• Impulsivity is defined as choosing a smaller-sooner choice over a more rational larger-later choice.
• Most delay discounting studies only investigate magnitude differences in the same reward.
• Cross-commodity discounting consists of providing the opportunity for subjects to choose between a low quality reward that is available almost immediately and a higher quality reward that is available at a time delay. We will model this in an animal model with rats who have a choice between a relatively small amount of alcohol immediately and a relatively large amount of food at a delay.

Self-Concept Orientation And Organizational Identification: A Mediated Relationship, Chun (Grace) Guo, Jane K. Miller, Melissa S. Woodard, Daniel Miller, Kirk D. Silvernail, Mehmet Devrim Aydin, Ana Heloisa Da Costa Lemos, Vilmante Kumpikaite, Sudhir Nair, Paul F. Donnelly, Robert D. Marx, Linda M. Peters

WCBT Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test a mediated model of the relationship between self-concept orientation (individualist and collectivist) and organizational identification (OrgID, Cooper and Thatcher, 2010), with proposed mediators including the need for organizational identification (nOID, Glynn, 1998) as well as self-presentation concerns of social adjustment (SA) and value expression (VE, Highhouse et al., 2007). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 509 participants in seven countries. Direct and mediation effects were tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS 25.0). Findings: Individualist self-concept orientation was positively related to VE and collectivist self-concept orientation was positively related to nOID, VE and …

Job Analysis Report For Actors Including Selection Procedures And Training Recommendations, Catherine M. Pagliaro

Psychology Graduate Publications

This Job Analysis Report for Actors summarizes the results and recommendations (i.e., selection requirements and training opportunities) for summer positions in a local community theater acting company. The actors selected for this company will perform in a minimum of three shows from June through August. Each actor will work for different directors depending on which shows they are cast in. Successful candidates will be required to collaborate with and take direction from a variety of artistic directors, work with diverse professionals and cooperate with multiple technical crews. The successful candidates will also demonstrate previous acting experience through formal degree programs …

Parental Ptsd, Emotion Regulation, And Behavior Problems In Toddlerhood: Unique Associations Among Families In Urban Poverty, Hasti Ashtiani Raveau

Wayne State University Dissertations

Parental posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been shown to negatively impact children’s socioemotional development (Schwerdtfeger et al., 2014) and increase children’s risk for later psychopathology (Scheeringa & Zeanah, 2008; Yehuda, Halligan, & Bierer, 2001). Less is known about this topic among minority and poor mothers and fathers of toddlers, and the critical role parents’ emotion regulation may play in mediating the associations between PTSD and toddlers’ socioemotional problems (Beck et al., 2009). Parental emotion dysregulation has been linked with children’s socioemotional problems (Coyne & Thompson, 2011), especially during toddlerhood when children are beginning to learn how to regulate their own …

Family Composition And Outcomes Following Parental Bereavement In Childhood, Ari M. Kagan

Honors Theses

The primary aim of this study is to compare the grief and stress related growth of individuals who have siblings and those who do not have siblings in the context of parental loss that occurred during childhood (before the age of 16). Adult participants provided self-report for the Traumatic Grief Inventory, Stress Related Growth Scale, and other related measures. We hypothesized only children who were bereaved during childhood would report higher levels of grief and lower levels of stress related growth compared to those with siblings who were bereaved during childhood. Multivariate analyses focus on grief and stress related growth …

Coviewing Supports Word Learning From Contingent And Non-Contingent Video, Gabrielle Strouse, Georgene Troseth, Katherine O’Doherty, Megan Saylor

School of Education Faculty Publications

Social cues are one way young children determine that a situation is pedagogical in nature -- containing information to be learned and generalized. However, some social cues (e.g., contingent gaze and responsiveness) are missing from pre-recorded video, a potential reason why toddlers’ language learning from video can be inefficient compared to their learning directly from a person. This study explored two methods for supporting children’s word learning from video by adding social-communicative cues. Eighty-eight 30-month-olds began their participation with a video training phase. In one manipulation, an on-screen actress responded contingently to children through a live video feed (similar to …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Role Of Digital Technology And Media In Children’S Subjective Well-Being, Lisa Newland, Daniel Mourlam, Gabrielle Strouse

School of Education Faculty Publications

This phenomenological study examined children’s subjective well-being (N = 22) in rural and urban areas of the Midwestern United States, as part of a larger multinational comparative qualitative study of children's well-being. Children (8 to 12 years old) completed an extended, semi-structured qualitative interview and mapping exercise that prompted them to draw and describe the scope, aspects of, and influences on their subjective well-being. Phenomenological analyses of children’s responses were conducted to identify aspects of their contexts, including their use of digital technology and media (DTM), that were linked to children’s subjective well-being. Two main themes emerged; 1) children reported …

Crest In The Nucleus Accumbens Core Regulates Cocaine Conditioned Place Preference, Cocaine-Seeking Behavior, And Synaptic Plasticity, Yasaman Alaghband, Eniko Kramar, Janine L. Kwapis, Earnest S. Kim, Thekla J. Hemstedt, Alberto J. Lopez, Andre O. White, Amni Al-Kachak, Osasumwen V. Aimiuwu, Kasuni K. Bodinayake, Nicole C. Oparaugo, Joseph Han, K. Matthew Lattal, Marcelo A. Wood

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Epigenetic mechanisms result in persistent changes at the cellular level that can lead to long-lasting behavioral adaptations. Nucleosome remodeling is a major epigenetic mechanism that has not been well explored with regards to drug-seeking behaviors. Nucleosome remodeling is performed by multi-subunit complexes that interact with DNA or chromatin structure and possess an ATP-dependent enzyme to disrupt nucleosome-DNA contacts and ultimately regulate gene expression. Calcium responsive transactivator (CREST) is a transcriptional activator that interacts with enzymes involved in both histone acetylation and nucleosome remodeling. Here, we examined the effects of knocking down CREST in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core on drug-seeking …