Psychology Commons^™

Jealousy, Competition, Or A Contextual Cue For Reward?, Thomas R. Zentall

Animal Sentience

Emotions are difficult to assess, even in humans. The attribution of jealousy in an animal like a dog is especially difficult because performance of a particular behavior in the context of another animal receiving a reward may not be easily distinguishable from intra-species competition or simply a response to a contextual cue for the availability of reward. The authors provide distinguishing evidence in the form of fMRI data to show that in the presence of a “fake” dog being fed, there is bilateral activation in the amygdala, an area associated with anxiety, anger, fear, and even jealousy in humans.

Apology Effectiveness: The Impact Of Prior Wrongful Behaviour And Voluntariness Of Apologies Within Juvenile Justice, Isolde Larkins

Theses : Honours

The justice system diverts young offenders away from further contact through restorative justice processes. Juvenile justice conferencing allows for the goals of restorative justice to be met, including meeting the needs of victims and offenders. Apologies, when offered by offenders to victims within a conferencing setting, can assist with meeting these restorative goals. Apologies, however, need to be effective to have the desired outcome. Several variables influence the effectiveness of apologies, including the perceived voluntariness of apologies, with prompted apologies reducing apology effectiveness. The reduced effectiveness of prompted apologies might be an issue during conferencing as some offenders are prompted …

Using Eeg Data To Predict Engagement In Face-To-Face Conversations, Brooke Maddestra

Theses : Honours

To date engagement in face-to-face conversation has been studied almost exclusively through the post event measurement of self-reporting surveys or questionnaires. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used for decades to examine brain activity for both research and diagnostic purposes. Medical grade EEG equipment is both costly and confined to being used within laboratory settings. With the recent advent of off-the-shelf consumer grade portable EEG-devices, novel psychological research on cognitive computations that have traditionally been confined to self-report, is now a reality. Although it is well documented that people use their cognitive abilities during conversations, an extensive literature search found no studies …

Using Physiological Measures To Measure Changes In Cognitive Load Associated With Automaticity And Transfer, Joanna Verden

Theses : Honours

This study investigated the ability of two physiological measures, galvanic skin response and heat flux, to reflect changes in cognitive load using a variation of the dot counting task developed by Lassaline and Logan (1993). Concurrently, the robustness of the dual processing theory of automaticity was evaluated via disruption. The utilised task was designed to create a shift from controlled to automatic processing via practice, followed by a return to controlled processing via the introduction of a 6-digit memory recognition task designed to increase working-memory load and disrupt automaticity. As reaction time has previously been demonstrated to be a reliable …

[Introduction To] The Routledge Guidebook To James's Principles Of Psychology, David E. Leary

Bookshelf

The Routledge Guidebook to James’s Principles of Psychology is an engaging and accessible introduction to a monumental text that has influenced the development of both psychological science and philosophical pragmatism in important and lasting ways. Written for readers approaching William James’s classic work for the first time as well as for those without knowledge of its entire scope, this guidebook not only places this work within its historical context, it provides clear explications of its intertwined aspects and arguments, and examines its relevance within today’s psychology and philosophy.

Offering a close reading of this text, The Routledge Guidebook to James’s …

[Introduction To] Well-Grounded: The Neurobiology Of Rational Decisions, Kelly Lambert

Bookshelf

Contingency calculations—the ability to predict the outcomes of decisions and actions—are critical for survival and success. Our amazing brains continually process past and current experiences to enable us to make the most adaptive choices. But when the brain’s information systems are compromised—by such varying conditions as drug addiction, poverty, mental illness, or even privilege—we can lose the ability to arrive at informed decisions.

In this engaging book, behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert explores a variety of the modern factors that can lead to warped neural processing, or distorted realities she terms “brain bubbles.” Individuals who define success in terms of creature …

[Introduction To] Leadership And Sexuality: Power, Principles And Processes, James K. Beggan, Scott T. Allison

Bookshelf

Although both leadership and sexuality are important and heavily researched topics, there is little work that addresses the interaction of the two areas. Leadership and Sexuality: Power, Principles, and Processes is a scholarly synthesis of leadership principles with issues related to sexuality and sexual policy-making. The authors' multi-disciplinary analysis of the topic examines sexuality in the context of many different kinds of leadership, exploring both the good and the bad aspects of leadership and sexuality. These integrated topics are examined through three broad areas of study. The first involves individuals who become leaders in sexual domains by advancing new views …

[Chapter 1 From] Realignment, Region And Race: Presidential Leadership And Social Identity, George R. Goethals

Bookshelf

The Trump presidency may well be the first phase of a new American political alignment deeply rooted in identity politics. Now more than ever, it seems especially important to understand how leaders compete to engage different human motivations—how presidents, presidential candidates, and other political leaders appeal to potential followers' needs for economic well-being, safety, self-esteem, and a sense of significance. It is time to come to terms with the roles of race and region in US political history.

In Realignment, Region, and Race, George R. Goethals addresses this challenge head-on, exploring the place of racial dynamics in American politics …

[Introduction To] Heroic Humility: What The Science Of Humility Can Say To People Raised On Self-Focus, Everett L. Worthington Jr., Scott T. Allison

Bookshelf

In this age of selfies, instant celebrity, and corporate scandals, there is a pressing need for greater humility.

This book synthesizes research and theory relevant to humility and heroism, articulating a vision of heroic humility — humility of such great depth that it inspires others.

Fortunately, humility can be learned. It has three aspects: an honest self-appraisal (including an attitude that one is teachable), modest self-presentation, and an orientation toward building others up rather than putting them down. People who embody heroic humility not only demonstrate instances of great humility, but practice it throughout their lives, even when severely tested. …

[Introduction To] Writing And The Body In Motion: Awakening Voice Through Somatic Practice, Cheryl Pallant

Bookshelf

Based upon the author’s lifetime practices as a dancer, poet and teacher, this innovative approach to developing body awareness focuses on achieving self-discovery and well-being through movement, mindfulness and writing.

Written from a holistic (rather than dualistic) view of the mind-body duality, discussion and exercises draw on dance, psychology, neuroscience and meditation to guide personal exploration and creative expression.

Intimate Partner Violence, Interpersonal Aggression, And Life History Strategy, Aurelio José Figueredo, Paul Robert Gladden, Jeanmarie Bianchi, Emily Anne Patch, Phillip S. Kavanagh, Connie J. A. Beck, Marcela Sotomayor-Peterson, Jiang Yunfan, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We integrate life history (LH) theory with “hot/cool” systems theory of self-regulation to predict sexually and socially coercive behaviors, including intimate partner violence (IPV) and interpersonal aggression (IPA). LH theory predicts that a variety of traits form LH strategies: adaptively coordinated behavioral clusters arrayed on a continuum from slow to fast. We test structural models examining 2 propositions: (a) “hot” cognitive processes, promoted by faster LH strategies, increase the likelihood of sexually/socially coercive behaviors that make up IPV and IPA; (b) “cool” cognitive processes, promoted by slower LH strategies, buffer against the likelihood of sexually/socially coercive behaviors that make up …

Addressing Mental Health Stigma In Korean Americans: Culturally Adapted Anti-Stigma Psychoeducation, Alice Lim

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Stigma is a major barrier to mental health service utilization and treatment adherence. Effective anti-stigma interventions have been identified using predominantly Caucasian research subjects. Participation in research studies by other racial and ethnic groups has been limited. This pilot study examined the external reliability of Wood and Wahl’s (2006) study, which examined the effectiveness of an anti-stigma program, In Our Own Voice (IOOV), by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) among predominantly Caucasian undergraduate students. An older Korean ESOL group in a Korean community center in New York City (N = 20) served as the participants in this study …

Feelings Of Enlightenment: A Hermeneutic Interpretation Of Latent Enlightenment Assumptions In Greenberg's Emotion-Focused Therapy, Alex A. Gomez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how a mainstream theory of psychological practice might inadvertently conceal and ignore contemporary values and ideologies and their pathological consequences. Through a hermeneutic approach, I interpreted Leslie Greenberg’s Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through their feelings (2^nd ed), a popular and widely used theory in psychotherapy. As a practitioner with humanistic foundations, this was also an opportunity for the author to understand his own unexamined values as a therapist. Specific EFT constructs and concepts that reflected Enlightenment assumptions and values were examined. EFT was situated within Enlightenment philosophy, particularly …

Avoiding Unhelpful Statements: A Proposed Theoretical Measure Of Readiness To Work With Transgender Clients, A. Ianto West

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

When transgender people most need help, many face hostility and inadequate care from their health providers, including psychologists. This hostility is not surprising given widespread lack of familiarity with transgender issues or perspectives amongst clinicians. Even amongst those who hold the stance of openness to the other, most still have considerable difficulty working with transgender clients. Transgender training efforts vary in quality; some even appear to worsen attitudes towards transgender clients. Given these risks, it is crucial that clinical training directors and supervisors evaluate trainees' abilities to facilitate respectful initial conversations with transgender clients. This project proposed an objective instrument …

Modeling Oculomotor Variability During Slow Cabin Decompression Using Infrared Technology, Jennifer E. Thropp, Paul W. Buza

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Slow cabin decompression is highly perilous due to its gradual and thus generally inconspicuous nature. In an applied approach to studying its effects upon oculomotor performance, experienced pilots performed a simulated flight task during slow decompression inside a high-altitude chamber while an infrared-based head-mounted eye-tracker measured oculomotor and pupillary changes at approximately 5% decrements in blood oxygen saturation. Saccade angle, saccade duration, saccadic velocity, microsaccade rate, fixation duration, and pupil diameter varied systematically in response to manipulation of blood oxygen saturation level, including recovery upon return to normoxia. Changes in these oculomotor variables can serve as biomarkers for early hypoxia …

Called To Safety? Individual And Combined Effects Of Safety Climate And Occupational Callings On Aviator Safety Performance, Michele W. Gazica, Erin E. Bowen, Michael A. Mccarson, Kristen A-M. Chadwell

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

This study examined the individual and combined effects of two potential antecedents to aviation-related safety performance: safety climate and occupational callings. Research exploring the importance of occupational callings to the safety domain is in its nascent stages. The extent that someone is living a calling may explain variance in actual safety performance above that which can be explained by safety climate alone. Survey data from aviators in a flight training program were analyzed to evaluate the ability of occupational calling assessments to inform the potential for safety mishaps within the aviation industry. Results indicate that both safety climate and occupational …

Human Error Analysis Of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (Hems) Accidents Using The Human Factors Analysis And Classification System (Hfacs), Paul E. Cline

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) is among the most dangerous type of flying in commercial aviation. This research utilized the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) to understand the errors, preconditions and violations that contribute to these accidents. Drawing upon source data from the National Transportation Safety Board’s Aviation Accident Database, HEMS accidents from 2000-2016 were analyzed according to the HFACS framework.

Acute Exercise Effects On Error Processing In Adult Adhd, Mia K. Bates

Honors Papers

This study investigated the effect of 30 minutes of stationary biking on ADHD performance on a combined flanker/go/no-go task. We had 22 people with ADHD participate and 27 controls. We did not find any effect of exercise on correct response time, error rates, or error-related positivity (Pe) amplitude. We also did not find a decrease amplitude in baseline error-related negativity (ERN) or Pe of the ADHD group. We did find an a marginal increase in the amplitude of ERN in both groups after exercise (t(19) = 1.72, p = 0.10, Cohen’s d = 0.37). We also found an increase in …

Does What You Do Before Class Matter?, Elayne Zhou

Honors Papers

The current study builds upon earlier work exploring task switching, learning, and interruption by expanding the timeline to discuss more complex tasks over longer periods. For a student to learn successfully, they must pay attention to the right information. The current study explores how pre-learning conditions affect academic performance by directing attention toward or away from the task. Methods: College undergraduates (N = 62) completed two sessions over two consecutive days. The goal of Session 1 was to both observe baseline distraction and learning. Notes for Session 2 were also pulled from Session 1. The goal of Session 2 was …

Gender Nonconformity And The Stereotype Content Model, Ari M. Rosenblum

Honors Papers

A recent increase in transgender visibility has highlighted gaps in the social psychology literature about attitudes and biases. There is a relatively large body of literature that examines people’s reactions to gender role violation, but little that examines reactions to gendered trait violation. To assess negative attitudes towards transgender and gender nonconforming people, this experiment asked participants to make attitude judgements (warmth and competence) about a series of gender stereotypic and counterstereotypic face-voice pairs. This procedure was based on the paradigm used to construct the Stereotype Content Model, which categorizes stereotypes/prejudice into four categories (paternalistic, contemptuous, envious, admirable). Participants also …

Human Essence: Toward A Relational Reconstruction, Kenneth J. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

This chapter opens with a social constructionist perspective on human essences. As proposed, essences are not given in nature, but constructed within cultural traditions. Thus, the major challenge is not that of “getting it right” about the essence, but generating accounts that may contribute to society. A criterion of reflective pragmatism is proposed in which questions of contribution and critique prevail. In this light the chapter places in critical light the bio-cognitive and neurological explanations of human nature, especially focusing on the ideological and political implications of these orientations. In contrast, discussion opens on relational conceptions of human essence. Several …

Review Of "In Pursuit Of The Good Life: Aspiration And Suicide In Globalizing South India" By J. L. Chua, Jeanne Marecek

Psychology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Gender, Sex, And Sexualities: Psychological Perspectives, N. Dess, Jeanne Marecek, L. Bell

Psychology Faculty Works

For decades, the field of gender, sex, and sexualities has been a focal point of increasing interest. This inquiry has been ignited by successive waves of dramatic social change, chief among them: the re-emergence of feminist movements in the U.S. and Europe in the late 1960s; the sustained (and increasingly successful) bids for legal, social, and religious acceptance of non-heterosexual sexualities in many parts of the world; and the burgeoning number of people (whether cisgendered, gender-variant, trans, or questioning) whose individual and collective experiences of gender and sexuality warrant deeper understanding and further progress toward a fuller realization of human …

Differential Angular Expansion In Perceived Direction In Azimuth And Elevation Are Yoked To The Presence Of A Perceived Ground Plane, Frank H. Durgin, Umi I. Keezing , '19

Psychology Faculty Works

It has been proposed that perceived angular direction relative to straight-ahead is exaggerated in perception, and that this exaggeration is greater in elevation (or declination) than in azimuth. Prior research has suggested that exaggerations in elevation may be tied to the presence of a visual ground plane, but there have been mixed results across studies using different methods of dissociation. In the present study, virtual environments were used to dissociate visual from gravitational upright while human participants (N = 128) made explicit angular direction judgments relative to straight ahead. Across these experimental manipulations, observers were positioned either upright (Experiments 1A …

Qualitative Psychology And The New Pluralism, Kenneth J. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

The burgeoning of the qualitative movement—both in psychology and the social sciences more generally—represents a major transformation in the landscape of inquiry. Reflection on this movement, both its potentials and its problems, is essential. In the present offering, I focus on a particularly significant characteristic of the qualitative movement thus far, its profound pluralism. At the outset, it is important to recognize the dependency of this movement on the deterioration of logical empiricism in social science research, and the absence of any foundational replacement. Thus, qualitative researchers have been liberated not only to employ research practices from multiple traditions, but …

The Social Construction Of Reality: Traces And Transformation, Kenneth J. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

Gergen provides a reflection on the intellectual context in which The Social Construction of Reality emerged and the subsequent transformation taking place in assumptions and practices. As he proposes, while the Berger and Luckmann thesis provided a major catalyst to the emerging dialogues, subsequent developments in critical theory, literary and rhetorical theory and the history of science added vital dimensions to understanding. The earlier emphasis on social phenomenology was largely eclipsed by a concern with the linguistic construction of reality; discussions of social structure and individual experience were largely replaced by a focus on the social or dialogic construction of …

Male Gender Equality Ideology, Empathy, And Prosocial Bystanding Behaviors And Intentions: A Path To Intimate Partner Violence Prevention On College Campuses, Virginia Diane Woodbrown

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The importance of involving young college males as prosocial bystanders who will step in to stop sexual violence on college campuses is acknowledged as an important next step in reducing violence against women. However, research revealing which factors influence males to become engaged in this way is nascent. Prior research designed to uncover which factors lead people to step in as prosocial bystanders has primarily focused on situational factors rather than personal characteristics, and has not explored males in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) more specifically. Method: Survey data from 1,455 male participants, ages 18 through 25, …

Emotion Regulation And Life Satisfaction Of Early Adolescents In The Face Of Stressful Life Events, Zi Jia Ng

Theses and Dissertations

In line with calls to define mental health as more than the mere absence of psychopathology, and based on the restorative model of well-being (Lent, 2004), this dissertation sought to elucidate the relationship between stressful life events and life satisfaction by exploring the mediating role of emotion regulation. Using a full Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, this dissertation first determined the factor structure of the measurement model then evaluated the path analysis of the structural model. The first study examined the factor analytic structure and measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS). Results supported the one-factor …

Exercise As A Therapeutic For Hiv-1-Associated Neurocognitive Deficits, Michael N. Cranston

Theses and Dissertations

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) afflicts nearly 38 million individuals worldwide (Joseph et al., 2013; “WHO | HIV/AIDS,” 2016). Despite the reduction in disease mortality due to increased use of antiretroviral medication, HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) affects approximately 50% of HIV infected individuals (Antinori et al., 2007; Castellon, Hinkin, Wood, & Yarema, 1998; Castelo, Sherman, Courtney, Melrose, & Stern, 2006; Cysique & Brew, 2009; Heaton et al., 2011, 2015). The brain itself is particularly sensitive to HIV-1 related viral proteins and viral infection (Masliah, DeTeresa, Mallory, & Hansen, 2000), thus, it is vital to empirically examine potentially effective therapeutics which …

Investigating Differing Degrees Of Foxo3a Expression In Adult Neural Stem Cells Between Age Groups In Zebrafish, Francis G. Bacik

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

One factor influencing organismal longevity is the activity of transcription factors of the “fork head domain” family, otherwise known as “Forkhead box” (Fox) proteins. Studies of the four isoforms of the “O” subclass of Fox proteins found in human genes have revealed a direct relationship between FoxO3a-dependent gene expression and the conservation of neural stem cell (NSC) in the adult brain, specifically in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus and the subventricular zone of the cortex. This transcription factor has also been shown to regulate apoptosis in nervous tissue during embryonic development in zebrafish. The current …