Psychology Commons^™

Insulting Words: "They Are Animals!", Carolyn A. Ristau

Animal Sentience

As Chapman & Huffman state, creating divisive human categories has rationalized atrocities committed against the “other.” Labeling neighboring warring villagers as “animals” is considered a despicable insult. Yet contemporary scientific views of many animals grant them thinking and conscious faculties, and the capacity for impressive achievements, many unattainable by humans. Robots, too, can accomplish many similar feats. But the essential reason we must protect animals is not because of their admirable abilities, but their capacity for consciousness, for suffering. Robots are not conscious. Participants in the human-animal debate should not complain about changing criteria for determining human uniqueness. New and …

Subjective-Objective Discrepancies Among Patients With Sleep Complaints In The Patient-Centered Medical Home, Keri Bayley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sleep misperception – the discrepancy between objective and subjective measures of sleep – has been shown to be prevalent among patients with insomnia and may be a promising target for sleep intervention. This study examined sleep misperception in a diverse outpatient medical sample using consumer-grade wearable actigraphs (i.e., Fitbit Charge HR™). Forty-four self-identified problem sleepers aged 20 to 79 participated in the study. Participants completed sleep diaries for one week while also tracking their sleep using the Fitbit Charge HR™. After receiving a personalized sleep report based on these data, participants repeated another week of sleep assessment. Sleep misperception was …

Understanding Human Performance And Social Presence: An Analysis Of Vigilance And Social Facilitation, Victoria Claypoole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social facilitation is characterized by improved performance on simple, or well-known, tasks and impaired performance on complex, or unfamiliar, tasks. Previous research has demonstrated that the use of social presence may improve performance on cognitive-based tasks that are relevant to many organizational contexts, such as vigilance. However, to date, there has not been consolidation of the research regarding the different implementations of social facilitation, or any analysis indicating which types of social presence are best under varying conditions. The present dissertation describes three experiments that seek to contribute to a taxonomic framework of social facilitation. Experiment One statistically established a …

Alcohol Pathology And The Triarchic Model Of Psychopathy: The Role Of Protective Behavioral Strategies And Impulsivity, Matthew Kramer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

OVERVIEW: Psychopathy has been an area of growing interest in psychology for the last half century. Currently, the most common conceptualization of psychopathy breaks it down into two factors: primary and secondary psychopathy. More recently, psychopathy has been viewed through a more nuanced model, the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy. The present study examines the relationship between the three facets of the Triarchic Model and alcohol pathology via aspects of impulsivity and Protective Behavioral Strategies (PBS). METHOD: A college student sample of n = 967 individuals who endorsed consuming alcohol completed surveys regarding the Triarchic Model, impulsivity, PBS use, and alcohol …

How Much Is Enough? Trauma Recall And The Exposure Therapy Process, Krystal Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prevailing theoretical models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as exposure therapy (EXP) methodology suggest that recall of a trauma is crucial to altering the conditioned fear response associated with PTSD (Benito & Walther, 2015; Craske et al., 2008; Foa & Kozak, 1986). However, it is unclear whether limited recall of the event impacts the EXP process and treatment outcomes. This study examined whether incomplete trauma recall affected pre-treatment PTSD severity, Initial Fear Activation (IFA), Overall Fear Activation (OFA), Within-Session Habituation (WSH), Between-Session Habituation (BSH; overall extinction), average length of EXP sessions, number of EXP sessions, and post-treatment PTSD …

Dissecting The Components Of Neuropathic Pain, Dale George

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pain is a public health issue affecting the lives of nearly 116 million adults in the US, annually. Understanding the physiological and phenotypic changes that occur in response to painful stimuli is of tremendous clinical interest, but, the complexity of pain and the lack of a representative in vitro model hinders the development of new therapeutics. Pain stimuli are first perceived and transmitted by the neurons within the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) which become hyperexcitable under these conditions. It has now been established that satellite glial cells (SGCs) that ensheathe the DRG cell body actively contribute to this neuronal dysregulation. …

Re-Evaluating Captive Chimpanzee “Dominance”: Dominance Hierarchy And Chimpanzee-Caregiver Relationships At Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Jake Funkhouser

All Master's Theses

This thesis is composed of two journal-ready articles and an accompanying appendix with additional data and interpretation. Overall, this thesis describes and statistically analyzes dominance relationships in two nonhuman primate groups with novel methods, possible correlations between dominance and testosterone, and uncovers the prominent connection of caregivers to captive chimpanzee social networks. Chapter I addresses current and past variability in behavioral measures and statistical methods to derive dominance rankings. I propose a novel approach to using existing statistical techniques to analyze dominance ranks, context-dependent dominant structures (agonistic competitions, lack of agonism, privileged role, priority access to resources), the reliability of …

Emergence Of Stimulus Equivalence And Topography-Based Responding Following Lecture Instruction, Justin Dale Krzmarzick

All Master's Theses

The present study examined the emergence of stimulus equivalence using both selection-based and topography-based tests following a lecture or control condition. This study also evaluated generalization to novel stimuli in both selection-based and topography-based response formats, and evaluated the social validity of the instructional procedure. Twenty undergraduate students who were at least 18 years of age were assigned to a lecture or control condition. Participants in the lecture condition were exposed to a lecture on the topic of generalization. Participants in the control condition watched the video Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology that did not relate to …

Criminological Self-Efficacy: Increased Or Hindered From Crime Tv Shows, Dorothy Moore

All Master's Theses

There is an age-old question that surrounds whether or not media have an effect on its viewers. There is substantial evidence that supports the claim that violent content in media may increase relational, physical, and/or overall aggression levels. The aim of the current study is to explore the relationship between several factors that may be related to one’s belief in one’s ability (self-efficacy) to commit and get away with murder. These factors are the amount of crime TV a person watches, aggressive tendency, recklessness tendency, and potential protective factors. It is hypothesized that the more crime TV watched, the higher …

Evaluation Of Paper Test Strategies On Computer-Administered Tests: The Impact Of Item Response Marking On Test Performance, Erik Ekberg

All Master's Theses

Marking on paper tests (e.g., crossing-out incorrect answers) has been associated with improved test performance, especially for students with higher test anxiety. Despite these benefits, marking has not been implemented or evaluated on computer-administered tests. After measuring test anxiety in participants using an adapted version of the Test Anxiety Inventory Short-form (TAI-5C), we randomly assigned participants to either the required-mark (n = 85) or control (n = 88) condition and measured test performance on 18 practice Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) math questions. A multiple regression was performed to model test performance from test anxiety, condition group, and their interaction, R2 …

Confidence In Academic Testing: The Effect Of Induced Checking And Anxiety On University Students' Emotional Responses To, And Performance In, Academic Challenge, Elijah Bruner

All Master's Theses

Academic tests such as the American College Testing (ACT), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) have been used to assess academic aptitude. Research suggests that both test anxiety and test emotions (positive and negative) influence academic performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of test anxiety and uncertainty (i.e., re-checking items) on performance and test emotions. It was hypothesized that induced checking and participant anxiety would negatively predict performance and positive testing emotions, and positively predict negative testing emotions. It was also hypothesized that induced checking and anxiety would interact, with …

Attitudes Toward Anonymous Public Nudes, Marianna Wendt

All Master's Theses

While technologically-mediated expressions of sexuality have been previously studied, there is very little research regarding anonymous public nudes (APNs). APNs are nude photographs which are taken or cropped so as not to include the face or other identifying characteristics, and posted on the Internet. This differs from sexting in that the photographs are meant to be seen by an audience of strangers online, rather than one or a few trusted individuals. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of APNs. Sixty-seven male and 160 female students over the age of 18 were recruited from Central Washington University to …

Gender Differences In Task Switching: An Event-Related Potential Study, Briana M. Bratcher

All Master's Theses

The current study examined the possible differences in several brainwaves and behavioral reaction times between males and females in relation to task switching. Previous research has shown gender differences in various aspects of cognition including task switching. Task switching refers to the ability to cognitively switch from processing one task to processing another, completely different task. The current study utilized a color-shape target switching paradigm and event-related potentials to analyze possible gender differences. The results of the study showed no gender differences in relation to reaction times, P2 and P3b brainwave latencies or amplitudes. However, the study found a difference …

Sign Modulation By Chimpanzees To Produce Interrogatives, Kailie Dombrausky

All Master's Theses

Native signers of American Sign Language produce interrogatives by holding signs for an extended duration while employing the questioning look. The questioning look is defined as raised eyebrows, a tilted head, and direct eye contact maintained for the duration of the utterance. Chimpanzees who communicate using signs have demonstrated modulation of signs including held sign, raised brow, and eye gaze. The present study used archived video data to compare the duration of signs when the chimpanzees did or did not employ the questioning look. In both single and multi-sign utterances, the chimpanzees held their signs for a mean of 0.6 …

College Student Alcohol Use And Engagement In Prevention Programming, Alexis H. Branch, Shimona Kumar, Christina Mcgrath

Undergraduate Research Posters

Social problems and adverse consequences have been associated with risky alcohol use (Paschall et al, 2015). Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) has been utilized to address these problems (White and Hingson, 2014) by comparing students’ alcohol use to campus or national norms (Butler et al, 2009). The current investigation sought to understand differences in alcohol use behaviors in freshmen who did and did not report completion of a personalized feedback intervention (PFI) in a diverse sample of college students from the Spit for Science (S4S) project. S4S is a campus-wide, longitudinal study on the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to …

How Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Recognize Facial Expressions Displayed By A Rear-Projection Humanoid Robot, Farzaneh Askari, Huanghao Feng, Anibal Gutierrez, Timothy Sweeny, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience reduced ability to perceive crucial nonverbal communication cues such as eye gaze, gestures, and facial expressions. Recent studies suggest that social robots can be used as effective tools to improve communication and social skills in children with ASD. One explanation has been put forward by several studies that children with ASD feel more contented and motivated in systemized and predictable environment, like interacting with robots.

Objectives: There have been few research studies evaluating how children with ASD perceive facial expression in humanoid robots but no research evaluating facial expression perception …

A Pilot Study On Facial Expression Recognition Ability Of Autistic Children Using Ryan, A Rear-Projected Humanoid Robot, Farzaneh Askari, Huanghao Feng, Timothy D. Sweeny, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Rear-projected robots use computer graphics technology to create facial animations and project them on a mask to show the robot’s facial cues and expressions. These types of robots are becoming commercially available, though more research is required to understand how they can be effectively used as a socially assistive robotic agent. This paper presents the results of a pilot study on comparing the facial expression recognition abilities of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with typically developing (TD) children using a rear-projected humanoid robot called Ryan. Six children with ASD and six TD children participated in this research, where Ryan …

Minority Stress, Same-Sex Couples, And Marriage Equality: A Qualitative Interview Study, Angela Lee-Attardo

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In June 2015, the marriage equality movement in the United States succeeded at the federal level. This study documents individuals’ perceptions of how the fight for marriage equality affected their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors within their own marriages to same-sex spouses. I conducted interviews with eight married individuals (five men and three women) who were married prior to the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. Areas of inquiry included (a) motivation to get married, (b) factors affecting commitment, (c) willingness to utilize couple therapy, and (d) factors affecting thoughts about divorce. I hypothesized that, for some individuals or couples, …

Student Voices: New Experiences, Empowerment, & Moral Development In Physical Education, Sarah Hoague

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation documents an effort to spark an explicit conceptualization of the Adventure Curriculum for Physical Education (ACPE) as a universally delivered Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program. The ACPE program is a K-12 program that integrates adventure activities into a physical education curriculum for the purpose of fostering student social and emotional skills (Panicucci, Hunt, Constable, Kohut, & Rheingold, 2003). The ACPE program was first implemented in 1971. Initially inspired by the philosophy of Outward Bound, ACPE developers at Project Adventure sought to bring a sense of adventure to the school setting in order to support student self-empowerment. Although ACPE …

Voluntary Engagement And College Retention: Does The Type Of Engagement Predict Retention For Different Types Of Students?, Sarah Louise Coley

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined whether voluntary engagement activities are associated with increased student retention rates at college to a subsequent semester. It was theorized that this association would owe to engagement enhancing the ostensible value of students’ college experience. Additionally, another theoretical idea was examined: Specific activities may be particularly beneficial for specific types of students. For example, students may have certain motivational needs, such as those identified by self-determination theory (SDT; i.e., competency and belongingness). Fulfilling those needs through engagement may promote retention. For the current study, student record data and student self-report data were sampled from a Midwestern …

Does Infant Negative Affect Moderate The Impact Of Parenting On Effortful Control? A Test Of The Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis, Anton Petrenko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parenting and early temperament characteristics have previously been shown to impact development of children’s self-regulation, which is in turn linked to a variety of developmental outcomes. However, few studies have evaluated interactions between difficult temperament and parenting, and only four published studies have specifically tested whether infants’ difficult temperament serves as a maker of differential susceptibility to parenting on self-regulatory development. The current study evaluated whether infant negative affectivity (NA) serves as a marker of differential susceptibility to positive and negative parenting on levels of effortful control (EC) at 18 months, which is at an earlier time point than has …

An Examination Of Teachers' Natural Praise-To-Reprimand Ratios And Teachers' Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy And Stress, Sara Hayn

Masters Theses

The current study examined teachers' natural use of praise and reprimand in middle and high school (sixth through twelfth grade) general education classrooms. In addition, the relations between praise and reprimand and teacher stress and self-efficacy were examined. Praise and reprimand data were collected via 20-minute, direct observation (940 total observation minutes). On average, middle and high school teachers delivered 11.7 total praises per hour and 10.4 total reprimands per hour (1.1 to 1 praise-to-reprimand ratio). Middle school teachers delivered 12.8 total praises per hour and 14.5 total reprimands per hour (0.9 to 1 praise-to-reprimand ratio) and high school teachers …

The Potential Benefits Of Using Humor To Reduce Prejudice And Violence, Ethan Radatz

Masters Theses

In the field of social psychology, there have been multiple sources of research demonstrating the proposed links between prejudice and humor. The breadth of this research appears to hold the common theme of observing how the use of negative humor can disenfranchise different outgroups, or groups that seem to be at the bottom of the social ladder (e.g. the poor, marginalized ethnic/racial groups, sex, gender, and so on). Furthermore, the concepts of prejudice, as well as humor have been rarely observed through any nonviolence framework. The present study examined any relationship between humor (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating), nonviolence (physical …

Why A Negative Body Image? A Study On Gender, Social Media, And Mass Media, Taryn Bland Teeters

Masters Theses

This study was designed to identify the contributors to body image (BI) dissatisfaction. The factors affecting the adult body image and the extent of their consequences were examined. This study attempted to determine the extent to which these individual's peers, the mass media, and social media affect their BI, body shaming, and the individual's shame of others.

An anonymous online questionnaire was utilized and sent to participants by snowballing through the use of Facebook and email. Participants were asked to identify their age, gender, pleasing and displeasing body parts, their use of social media, and an overall rating of their …

The Role Of Contact And Empathy In Stigma Toward Individuals With Mental Illness Among Mental Health And Non-Mental Health Professionals, Quincy A. Knolhoff

Masters Theses

This study was designed to help identify the factors that predict people's stigmatized attitudes toward individuals with mental illness. Corrigan (2002) suggested that stigmatized beliefs about individuals with mental illness may be detrimental to the potential recovery of these individuals, their self-esteem, empowerment, and their integration into society. One factor that has been found to reduce this stigma is personal contact with mentally ill individuals (Corrigan et al., 2002). Additionally, research has shown that empathy and principled moral reasoning are negatively correlated with prejudice, or stigma (McFarland, 2010). The current study examined level of contact, employment in a mental health …

Social Anxiety And Problematic Drinking In College Students: Examining Potential Mediators, Carissa Gutsmiedl

Masters Theses

Social anxiety and problematic drinking are among the most prevalent disorders present in the college population. Having one or both of these disorders while in college can be detrimental to academic performance and can increase dropout rates. Social anxiety has been found to precede problematic drinking in previous research. The purpose of this study was to help determine what variables may explain this relationship (i.e., mediators). The current study tested whether emotion regulation difficulties, drinking motives, alcohol outcome expectancies, and self-discrepancy mediated the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking among college undergraduates (N = 135). Results indicated that emotion …

Construct Validity Of The Learning-To-Learn Scales (Ltls) With A Preschool And Kindergarten Sample, Kassandra Jane Charles

Masters Theses

Learning behaviors, "observable behavior patterns that children display as they approach and undertake school learning tasks" (Yen, Konold, and McDermott, 2004, p. 159) and "the degree to which children adopt beneficial approaches to learning" (Rikoon, McDermott, & Fantuzzo, 2012, p. 273) have been shown to account for a substantial amount of variance in academic achievement and add predictive validity for future academic achievement. Prediction of academic achievement is vital when making individual decisions concerning academic placement, diagnosis, early intervention, and student selection (Yen, Konold, & McDermott, 2004). The current study assessed the concurrent criterion validity of the Learning-to-Learn Scales (LTLS) …

Ethnic Identity Development Of 1.5 Generation Filipino American Immigrants: A Qualitative Study, Catherine Welsh

Masters Theses

This qualitative study examines ethnic identity development of 1.5 generation Filipino American immigrants in U.S. The survey methods used in the study were a demographic questionnaire, and semi-structured interview. Two Filipino students, one from the Southwest and the other from the Midwest regions of the U.S. participated in the study. Two research questions guided this study; what factors influence the ethnic identity development of the 1.5 generation Filipino American immigrants, and what strategies educators can use to facilitate 1.5 generation Filipino American immigrant student success. The results of the study revealed six themes. Three themes emerged from research question one …

The Relationship Between Stress, Preventive Coping Resources, And Burnout Among Elementary Teachers, Joseph Michael Mooney

Masters Theses

This study explored the relationship between stress outcomes, preventive coping, and burnout in a sample of 68 elementary teachers. Teacher training in behavioral modification was also examined due to its established role in teacher stress. Results showed that teachers who had greater demands relative to coping resources were more likely to experience two aspects of burnout; emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. A significant relationship was not found with the third component of burnout, personal accomplishment. Preventive coping resources were found to be associated in the expected direction with all three components of burnout. Those individuals with fewer preventive coping resources exhibited …

A Photo Illicit Study Of Black Women's Sense Of Belonging At A Predominately White Institution, Kayla Alexandria Slusher

Masters Theses

This qualitative study sought to examine how Black women define and create their sense of belonging while attending a predominately White institution using a photovoice approach. The women took photographs of spaces that they frequently occupy and then engaged in a face-to-face interview to discuss the photographs. The researcher also investigated four Black women, ranging from junior to graduate level, to identify how they developed a sense of belonging at the research site institution. Results of the study showed that a feeling of comfort was most important when identifying belongingness in a space. The participants were able to create a …