Psychology Commons^™

Using Implementation Science To Strengthen The Child Welfare Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD is using implementation science to strengthen the child welfare workforce in eight child welfare agencies across the U.S. According to a synthesis of the literature, implementation can be defined as a specified set of activities designed to put into practice and activity or program of known dimensions. The QIC-WD is using the implementation science framework developed by NIRN and the guide created by the Permanency Innovations Initiative to support our sites through the stages of implementation: Exploration, Installation, Initial Implementation, and Full Implementation as described below. The QIC-WD knows that high quality implementation of a selected intervention is …

Advancing Research On Psychological Stress And Aging With The Health And Retirement Study: Looking Back To Launch The Field Forward, Alexandra D. Crosswell, Madhuvanthi Suresh, Eli Puterman, Tara Gruenewald, Jinkook Lee, Elissa S. Epel

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was designed as an interdisciplinary study with a strong focus on health, retirement, and socioeconomic environment, to study their dynamic relationships over time in a sample of mid-life adults. The study includes validated self-report measures and individual items that capture the experiences of stressful events (stressor exposures) and subjective assessments of stress (perceived stress) within specific life domains.

Methods

This paper reviews and catalogs the peer-reviewed publications that have used the HRS to examine associations between psychological stress measures and psychological, physical health, and economic outcomes.

Results

We describe the research to date …

Vortioxetine Differentially Modulates Mk-801-Induced Changes In Visual Signal Detection Task Performance And Locomotor Activity, Todd M. Hillhouse, Christina R. Merritt, Douglas A. Smith, Manuel Cajina, Connie Sanchez, Joseph H. Porter, Alan Pehrson

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Attention impairment is a common feature of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and MDD-associated cognitive dysfunction may play an important role in determining functional status among this patient population. Vortioxetine is a multimodal antidepressant that may improve some aspects of cognitive function in MDD patients, and may indirectly increase glutamate neurotransmission in brain regions classically associated with attention function. Previous non-clinical research suggests that vortioxetine has limited effects on attention. This laboratory previously found that vortioxetine did not improve attention function in animals impaired by acute scopolamine administration, using the visual signal detection task (VSDT). However, vortioxetine has limited effects on …

Transformations: Lessons On Moral Agency For Families, Katelyn Suneson, Dennis Packard

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to complete and publish an LDS family relations text, which is now in its second year of development. The text draws on some of the best resources developed in and outside of BYU in the last three decades¹²³ and applies them to some of the most serious family problems now facing members of the Church, including failure to marry, divorce, addictions, and pornography.

Development And Evaluation Of An Eeg-Based Symbol-Digit Substitution Task, Christopher Beckett, Dr. Bruce Brown

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The event-related potential (ERP) method has led to major advances in the experimental exploration of the neurological correlates of human cognition (Luck, 2005). The usual process is to take EEG (electroencephalographic) recordings during a cognitive task. The recording is timelocked to a stimulus so that multiple trials can be averaged to amplify the signal of the resulting cognitive process. In past research studies, faculty and students in our Quantitative EEG Lab (qEEG) have discovered a way to isolate individual cognitive “bands” within a set of ERP waves. These cognitive bands have diagnostic utility. They can be used to identify personal …

Looking On The Bright Side Of Livestock Emotions—The Potential Of Their Transmission To Promote Positive Welfare, Luigi Baciadonna, Sandra Duepjan, Elodie Briefer, Mónica Padilla De La Torre, Christian Nawroth

Emotion Collection

Emotions can be defined as an individual’s affective reaction to an external and/or internal event that, in turn, generates a simultaneous cascade of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive changes. Those changes that can be perceived by conspecifics have the potential to also affect other’s emotional states, a process labeled as “emotional contagion.” Especially in the case of gregarious species, such as livestock, emotional contagion can have an impact on the whole group by, for instance, improving group coordination and strengthening social bonds. We noticed that the current trend of research on emotions in livestock, i.e., investigating affective states as a tool …

The Use Of Test Anxiety Assessment And Anxiety Reduction Training To Predict And Improve Performance Of Collegiate Pilot Trainees, Teresa Ann Sloan, Michael Lundin, Dale Wilson, Randy Robinnette

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

Written, oral, and practical flight tests, along with challenging flying tasks, place pilot trainees in stressful situations. The initial goals of this research were to determine assessment tools for identifying pilot trainees who might perform poorly in stressful flight testing environments, and measure the efficacy of a test anxiety (TA) workshop on anxiety levels and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) knowledge assessments of pilot trainees. The researchers determined that: Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) scores marginally predict facilitating anxiety levels, and FAA knowledge tests, taken in authentic testing environments, correlate significantly with debilitating anxiety, facilitating anxiety, and FAA exam scores. The researchers …

Intercultural Coworker Relationships (Icors) In The Global Workplace: A Grounded Theory Study, Jennifer L. Morton

Dissertations

Previous research supports what employees intuitively sense: peers make the place (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008; Schneider, 1987). Extant research suggests coworker relationships have critical influence on outcomes ranging from turnover (Felps, Mitchell, Hekman, Lee, Holtom, & Harman, 2009) to creativity (Homan, Buengeler, Eckhoff, van Ginkel, & Voelpel, 2015) to organizational commitment (Viswesvaran & Ones, 2002) to employee health and well-being (Heaphy & Dutton, 2008). Despite the increase of Intercultural COworker Relationships (ICORs), particularly in multinational firms in the technology industry, research has yet to examine what defines coworker relationship quality in the presence of national cultural differences. In other words, …

Do Voters Vote Against Their Interests?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes some basic psychological constructs which may help ‘explain’ why some voters seem to vote against their own interests.

Toxoplasma Gondii Seropositivity And Substance Use In Us Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Andrew N. Berrett, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Evan L. Thacker, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

The intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) infects humans resulting in acute toxoplasmosis, an infection that in immunocompetent people is typically mild but results in persistent latent toxoplasmosis. In that T. gondii appears to affect dopamine synthesis and because addicting drugs affect midbrain dopamine transmission, latent toxoplasmosis could influence substance use. Using both the third and continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we used logistic regression to test for associations between T. gondii seropositivity and subject self-report of having ever used tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine. …

"Born Out Of Fear": A Grounded Theory Study Of The Stigma Of Bipolar Disorder For New Mothers, Walker Ladd Ph.D.

The Qualitative Report

Childbirth is an established trigger for the onset of bipolar disorders (BD) in the postpartum period, causing significant pathology and disability. Research has shown that the stigma of mental illness for new mothers is a powerful obstacle to care, preventing women from accessing critical treatment and social support. However, the majority of research has examined the relationship between the stigma and postpartum depression, leaving a gap in knowledge regarding stigma and postpartum bipolar disorder. The problem addressed in this grounded theory study was the lack of knowledge regarding the stigma of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) in the first …

Needs And Best Practices For Transfer To Our Four-Year Institutions: The Results Of Survey Research, Patrick K. Smith

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

Contemporary concerns for college programs focus on the ability of the program to prepare students to become employable upon graduation. For a community college psychology program, that focus is somewhat muted by the fact that many of the graduates of the community college will transfer to four-year state universities. For this reason, it is imperative for the community college programs to ascertain from those four-year institutions what preparation those transferring students need. This study has captured what fourteen state public university psychology departments desire for transferring students and what they see as lacking in their students transferring from community colleges. …

Depressive Symptoms Are Associated With More Negative Functional Outcomes Than Anxiety Symptoms In Persons With Multiple Sclerosis, Sascha Gill, Jonathan Santo, Mervin Blair, Sarah Marrow

Psychology Faculty Publications

Depression and anxiety are common among persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), and both negatively affect functional status. However, studies rarely account for overlap in depressive and anxiety symptoms on functional outcomes among people with MS. The authors aimed to examine the differential impact of depression and anxiety, measured by the Anxiety and Depression subscales of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A and HADS-D), on functional outcomes among people with MS. Using a retrospective chart review of 128 people with MS, the authors used exploratory structural equation modeling to examine the relation of HADS-A and HADS-D to functional outcomes, namely …

Personality, Psychological Profiling, And Philosophy Of Science: The Insider Threat And Betrayers Of Trust, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes philosophical challenges to the utility of profiling personality, especially with security and intelligence implications.

Bringing Employment First To Scale: State Of The Science As A Knowledge Translation Strategy, John Kramer, Caro Narby, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

To synthesize our findings to date, the ThinkWork team at ICI developed 3 draft papers that captured the core themes from our RRTC on Advancing Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (IDD). We asked experts in the field to weigh in on these papers, and then broadly disseminated the papers to multiple audiences. Our primary goal was to engage with a diverse group with a range of perspectives and experiences, including fellow researchers, state agency employees, rehabilitation providers, and individuals with IDD and their families. To reach this goal we used a Knowledge Translation (KT) process. KT has …

Bringing Employment First To Scale: Writing For Families: Tips To Increase The Impact Of Training Materials, Jennifer Bose, John Kramer, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

This brief covers some of the lessons learned in reviewing literature designed to engage with families about employment. It suggests some tips and strategies to use with families to increase effective involvement and collaboration.

Does Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation To The Prefrontal Cortex Affect Social Behavior? A Meta-Analysis, Sarah Beth Bell, Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

This meta-analysis (k = 48, N = 2196) examined the effect of transcranial direct current brain stimulation (tDCS) applied to the prefrontal cortex on a variety of social behaviors, including aggression, overeating, impulsivity, bias, honesty, and risk-taking. tDCS showed an overall significant effect on reducing undesirable behaviors, with an average effect size of d = −0.20. tDCS was most effective at reducing risk-taking behavior, bias, and overeating. tDCS did not affect aggression, impulsivity, or dishonesty. We examined moderators such as brain region of interest, online vs offline stimulation, within- vs between-subjects designs, dose, and duration, but none showed significant …

Employee Perceptions Of Well-Being Programs, Alice V. Edwards, Susan Marcus

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Measuring the effectiveness of well-being programs in the workplace is important for optimizing the return on investment and selection of programs that meet organizational objectives. A pilot study was performed to assess employee well-being using the Happiness Mini-Survey and a one-sample pre–post study design intended to quickly allow employees to subjectively rate their well-being before and after participating in various classes as part of a well-being program. The findings demonstrated statistical significance in employee subjective ratings; they reported feeling better emotionally, physically, and mentally after participating in the classes. The employees’ self-rating for stress level also had statistically significant improvement …

Common Dna Variants Accurately Rank An Individual Of Extreme Height, Corinne E. Sexton, Mark T. W. Ebbert, Ryan H. Miller, Meganne Ferrel, Joann T. Tschanz, Chris D. Corcoran, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Perry G. Ridge, John S. K. Kauwe

Psychology Faculty Publications

Polygenic scores (or genetic risk scores) quantify the aggregate of small effects from many common genetic loci that have been associated with a trait through genome-wide association. Polygenic scores were first used successfully in schizophrenia and have since been applied to multiple phenotypes including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and height. Because human height is an easily-measured and complex polygenic trait, polygenic height scores provide exciting insights into the predictability of aggregate common variant effect on the phenotype. Shawn Bradley is an extremely tall former professional basketball player from Brigham Young University and the National Basketball Association (NBA), measuring 2.29 meters …

Arriving: Expanding The Personal State Sequence, Danielle M. Pillet-Shore

Communication

When arriving to a social encounter, how and when can a person show how s/he is doing/feeling? This article answers this question, examining personal state sequences in copresent openings of casual (residential) and institutional (parent-teacher) encounters. Describing a regular way participants constitute – and move to expand – these sequences, this research shows how arrivers display a non-neutral (e.g., negative, humorous, positive) personal state by both (i) deploying interactionally-timed stance-marking embodiments that enact a non-neutral state, and (ii) invoking a selected previous activity/experience positioned as precipitating that non-neutral state. Data demonstrate that arrivers time their non-neutral personal state displays calibrated …

How To Begin, Danielle M. Pillet-Shore

Communication

This article introduces the special issue of Research on Language and Social Interaction organized around the theme “Opening and Maintaining Face-to-Face Interaction.” The contributions to this special issue collectively consider “how to begin” – either a new encounter, or a new sequence after a lapse in conversation. All articles analyze naturally-occurring, videorecorded episodes of casual and/or institutional copresent interaction using multimodal conversation analytic methods. Though the opening phase of a face-to-face encounter may elapse in a matter of seconds, this article shows it to house a dense universe of phenomena central to sustaining our human sense of self and our …

Intimations Of A Spiritual New Age: Ii. Wilhelm Reich As Transpersonal Psychologist. Part I: Context, Development, And Crisis In Reich’S Bio-Energetic Spiritual Psychology, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Wilhelm Reich is the focus of this second in a series of papers on a group of independent figures from the 1930s into the 1950s—also including Jung, the later Heidegger, Toynbee, Bergson, Teilhard de Chardin, and Simone Weil—who in the context of those years of crisis articulated overlapping visions of a future “New Age” spirituality that might in some more distant future serve to balance and even transform a globalizing materialism and disenchantment with traditional religion. The later Reich developed a highly original version of a “vitalistic” transpersonal psychology, as his “religion for the children of the future,” which needs …

An Explication Of All Cogent Scientific Conceptualizations Regarding The Non-Dual: Finding Nothing To Write, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Sometimes more is less, even within scholarly writing, known for its all too frequent verbosity. This paper follows approaches that sparingly used words, even to the point of using no words at all. One example of this strategy is a renowned psychology article describing its author’s unsuccessful self-treatment of his own writer’s block, which led to a blank paper (Upper, 1974). Another, in the area of interventions, which are commonly seen as demanding empirical support to evaluate risk-benefit analyses, involved a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of parachutes in preventing deaths. This research was presented, but never conducted—as no controlled trials …

Two Modes Of Sudden Spiritual Awakening? Ego-Dissolution And Explosive Energetic Awakening, Steve Taylor

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

A typology of experiences of sudden spiritual awakening is suggested, proposing that they may occur in two major forms, or modes. In a study of 19 cases of self-reported sudden spiritual awakening (within a larger sample that included cases of wholly gradual spiritual awakening), it was found that 13 cases could be interpreted in terms of either (a) a sudden collapse of the ego or self-system (egodissolution) or (b) a kundalini-like explosive release of energy. Both these types of spiritual awakening appeared to be most frequently induced by intense forms of psychological turmoil, such as bereavement, depression, addiction, and intense …

A Neurotheological Approach To Spiritual Awakening, Andrew B. Newberg, Mark R. Waldman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

A neurotheological approach suggests an analysis of spiritual awakening experiences by combining phenomenological data with neuroscience. This paper presents a synthesis combining information on the thoughts, feelings, and experiences associated with spiritual awakening experiences and neurophysiological data, primarily from neuroimaging studies, to help assess which brain structures might be associated with these experiences. Brain structures involved with emotions correlate with emotional responses while areas of the brain associated with the sense of self appear to correlate with the key feature of these experiences in which an individual loses the sense of self and feels intimately connected with God, universal consciousness, …

Re-Veiling The Revealed: Insights Into The Psychology Of “Enlightenment” From The Kabbalah, B. Les Lancaster

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

I explore psychological aspects of a mystically-awakened state as depicted in the Kabbalah. This awakened state is portrayed using imagery of light and is associated with wisdom. The path towards the state entails intense hermeneutic work, and the core characteristic of the awakened person is the ability to see into that which is concealed—be it in scriptural texts, fellow humans, or the outer world. The primary distinction between this kabbalistic state and awakened states as portrayed in recent psychological and perennialist conceptions is the importance of cognitive and intellectual components in the former. I argue that cultural constructions of spiritual …

Rigor In The Multicultural Psychology Of The Whole Person: Embracing The Challenge, Glenn Hartelius, Marie I. Thouin-Savard, Courtenay Richards Crouch

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Well-Being And Self-Transformation In Indian Psychology, Sangeetha Menon, Shankar Rajaraman, Lakshmi Kuchibotla

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper uses instances from literature covering a broad spectrum of Indian philosophies, art, medicine and practices—attempts to offer the components of a psychology that is rooted in transformative and transpersonal consciousness. Psychology, in this instance, refers to a systematic study of mind, behavior, and relationship, rather than the formal Western discipline as such. In the Indian approach to understanding consciousness, primary importance is given to the possibility of well-being. Such an approach facilitates an immediate comprehension of the unity of metaphysical opposites, such as matter and consciousness, and its experience as empathy, love and intuition. It involves a thinking …

Introduction To The Special Topic Section On Integral Yoga Psychology: The Challenge Of Multiple Integrities, Debashish Banerji

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Haridas Chaudhuri's Contributions To Integral Psychology, Bahman Shirazi

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article provides a summary of Haridas Chaudhuri’s contributions to the field of integral psychology. First an outline and a brief discussion of his principal tenets and triadic principle of integral psychology are presented, followed by a review of Chaudhuri’s critical reflections on some aspects of early transpersonal psychology. The article concludes with a reflection on recent trends in the field of transpersonal psychology and its evolution toward a whole person orientation compatible with integral psychology.