Psychology Commons^™

The Association Of Body Mass Index With Cardiac Recovery From Psychological Stress Among Trauma-Exposed Women, Jeffrey L. Kibler, Mindy Ma

Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

No abstract provided.

Daoism And Dialogism: A Dialogue Between China And The West, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

In this paper, I explore Chinese Daoist theoretical connections with modern conceptions of dialogue and Western theories of psychology (Murase, 2008). I investigate and compare these lines of Western thinking (Strang, 2004) with classical Chinese thought (Zhang & Chen, 2009), noting the complexities in each. I discuss and disseminate how the Daoist principle of yin yang may be related to the dialogic understandings of Bakhtin (1981, 1984a, 1986, 1990, 1993). I also contend that the Western field of psychology, particularly the work of Carl Jung (2014), has incorporated Daoist principles of yin yang in its conception and practice. I argue …

Lgbt+ Friendly: Campus Climate, Minority Stress, And Mental Health Of Lgbt+ College Students In Virginia, Erin Shaw

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Members of the LGBT+ community are at a higher risk for mental health concerns like depression, not because an LGBT+ identity is inherently a mental illness but, because LGBT+ people have more stressful experiences due to their minority status. The minority stress model illustrates how discrimination affects the mental health of individuals who are part of socially marginalized groups. In regard to LGBT+ college/university students, experiences of discrimination may be unique to their campus. Within this study, LGBT+ college students from three institutions in Virginia were surveyed regarding their perceptions of campus climate, experiences of minority stress, and depression symptomatology. …

Perspectives Of Indian Internationals On Mental Illness And Christian Missions, Morgan Margerison

Senior Honors Theses

When psychology is integrated with Christianity as a form of missions, it is vital that the destination country’s cultural perspectives be considered in the practice of these fields. This phenomenology obtained Indian cultural perceptions and experiences of mental health, as well as their perspectives and experiences regarding the integration of psychology and Christianity. The participants framed mental and emotional health in the context of relationship, addressed it with faith practices and values, and evaluated it based on cognitive functioning and lack of positive emotions. They expressed cultural concerns with victim mentality, stigma, and shifts in moral values. Regarding the integration …

Neural Indices Of Vowel Discrimination In Monolingual And Bilingual Infants And Children, Yan H. Yu, Carol Tessel, Henry Han, Luca Campanelli, Nancy Vidal, Jennifer Gerometta, Karen Garrido-Nag, Hia Datta, Valerie L. Shafer

Publications and Research

Objectives: To examine maturation of neural discriminative responses to an English vowel contrast from infancy to 4 years of age and to determine how biological factors (age and sex) and an experiential factor (amount of Spanish versus English input) modulate neural discrimination of speech.

Design: Event-related potential (ERP) mismatch responses (MMRs) were used as indices of discrimination of the American English vowels [ε] versus [I] in infants and children between 3 months and 47 months of age. A total of 168 longitudinal and cross-sectional data sets were collected from 98 children (Bilingual Spanish–English: 47 male and 31 female …

This Or That?: Object Individuation In Domesticated Dogs (Canis Lupus Familiaris), Ellen Stumph

Honors Projects

Functioning in our everyday lives requires that humans rely on organizing and categorizing our world. This ability to categorize rests on object individuation, the ability to track the identity of objects when they leave and reenter sight. Objects can be individuated using three types of information: spatiotemporal, object property and object kind. Surprisingly, noun comprehension may affect infants’ use of object kind information (Xu 1999; Xu 2002). However, research using a comparative approach suggests that the ability to use kind information to aid in object individuation may not be unique to humans: great apes, rhesus monkeys and dogs all successfully …

Meditation As An Intervention To Help College Students Cope With Stress, Marissa Bottos

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

According to the American College Health Association (ACHA) (2017), in a survey of 31,463 students, 31.7% stated that stress negatively impacts their academic performance (lower grades, dropped course, etc.). Additionally, 45.1% of the students stated they have more than average stress levels. The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to determine if mindfulness meditation was effective in helping college students cope with stress. Based on current evidence, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s online application for mindfulness meditation is supported as an effective way to help college students cope with stress (Regehr et al. 2013; Yusufov et al. 2018; Cavanagh et al. …

Metacognitive Function And Fragmentation In Schizophrenia: Relationship To Cognition, Self-Experience And Developing Treatments, Paul H. Lysaker, Kyle S. Minor, John T. Lysaker, Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon, Kelsey Bonfils, Jesse Hochheiser, Jenifer L. Vohs

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Bleuler suggested that fragmentation of thought, emotion and volition were the unifying feature of the disorders he termed schizophrenia. In this paper we review research seeking to measure some of the aspects of fragmentation related to the experience of the self and others described by Bleuler. We focus on work which uses the concept of metacognition to characterize and quantify alterations or decrements in the processes by which fragments or pieces of information are integrated into a coherent sense of self and others. We describe the rationale and support for one method for quantifying metacognition and its potential to study …

Lgbtq+ Student Safety On Western Michigan University's Campus, Kaitlyn Sedorchuk

Honors Theses

Campus climate, in general, has been a popular area of research for many years, and this also includes campus climate for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus) students. Outside of the campus climate survey done back in 2013, there has been no recent campus climate research done on Western Michigan University’s campus as of Spring 2019. This means that there has been no research focusing on queer students’ perceptions of Western’s campus, as well.

In order to help and rectify this and create a platform in which queer students attending Western Michigan University could share their experiences, the current …

Domestic Violence And Women’S Mental Health, Grace T. Douglas

Culture, Society, and Praxis

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Religious Background Of Those Who Disaffiliate From Religion And Presence Of Anxiety, Timothy B. Sellers

Honors College Theses

Religion plays a significant role in the personality and worldview of a many individuals. It can provide one with personal benefits such as coping mechanisms, a framework for meaning-making, and a source of motivation, while also providing social support through connections with others having the same religious beliefs. The removal of said benefits through disaffiliation from a religious identity may lead to distress or anxiety. While much research has been done sociologically regarding the increasing number of people who do not affiliate with a religious group, much less has been done to analyze the individual experience of religious disaffiliation and …

Real World Vs. Media Representations Of Relationships, Cassandra Thomasson

Honors College Theses

In this study, we investigated the correlations between media representation and real world views towards minority groups, specifically towards those who identify as LGBT+. To this end, participants completed questionnaires related to their personal views on real life issues, such as sexism and openness to diversity, as well as their feelings toward films featuring minority characters. Participants (N = 119) also watched trailers featuring, separately, LGBT+ characters, disabled characters, or characters who were neither, and rated how relatable they found the characters and how interested they were in seeing the film in its entirety. Correlations were conducted, and participants …

The Criminogenic And Psychological Effects Of Police Stops On Adolescent Black And Latino Boys, Juan Del Toro, Tracey Lloyd, Kim S. Buchanan, Summer Joi Robins, Lucy Zhang Bencharit, Meredith Gamson Smiedt, Kavita S. Reddy, Enrique Rodriguez Pouget, Erin M. Kerrison, Philip Atiba Goff

Publications and Research

Proactive policing, the strategic targeting of people or places to prevent crimes,is a well-studied tactic that is ubiquitous in modern law enforcement. A 2017 National Academies of Sciences report reviewed existing literature, entrenched in deterrence theory, and found evidence that proactive policing strategies can reduce crime. The existing literature, however, does not explore what the short and long-term effects of police contact are for young people who are subjected to high rates of contact with law enforcement as a result of proactive policing. Using four waves of longitudinal survey data from a sample of predominantly black and Latino boys in …

Using Video-Based Training To Teach Students The Conservative Dual-Criteria Method, Chandler Pelfrey

Thesis Projects

Practicing behavior analysts and registered behavior technicians (RBTs) are required to base their practices on scientific evidence. Analyzing single-subject data is among the most important behavior-analytic practices because it guides clinical decision-making. Although prior research has shown the conservative dual-criteria (CDC) method is accurate (Fisher, Kelley, & Lomas, 2003) and can be used with real graphs like those used in behavior-analytic practice (Lanovaz, Huxley, & Dufour, 2017; Wolfe, Seaman, Drasgow, & Sherlock, 2018), most empirically supported training procedures involve in-person training. Because in-person training in behavior-analytic practice can be expensive, remotely administered training packages might be more viable. Using a …

The Effects Of Attachment Anxiety On Trait Anxiety And Borderline Personality Symptoms Through Specific Pathways Of Emotion Regulation, Jessica Good

Honors Theses

Previous research has shown that deficits in emotion regulation impair coping skills for individuals clinically diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) resembling trait anxiety, as well as those clinically diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD; Herr, Rosenthal, Geiger, & Erikson, 2013; Beeney et al., 2015; Putnam & Silk, 2005; Nielsen et al., 2017; Mennin, Heimberg, Turk, & Fresco, 2002; Marganska, Gallagher, & Miranda, 2013). The current study hypothesized that (a) the specific types of emotion dysregulation measuring lack of clarity and impulsivity would mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and BPD while the other types do not, and (b) the …

Impact Of Electronic Flight Bag On Pilot Workload, Saravanan Suppiah

Student Works

The increase of automation in the aviation industry pose challenges to human performance. To attest this point, studies about aircraft accidents reveal that pilots’ response to automated systems are always not coherent. Research findings suggests that pilots’ interaction with automated systems in highly demanding tasks situations results in the increase in workload and if they are unable to resolve it in time, it will compromise flight safety. Therefore, in the interest to further explore the impact of automation on human factor constructs, the study aimed to investigate the impact of Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) on pilot workload. The study measured …

Patient Participation In Medical Consultations: The Experience Of Patients From Various Ethnolinguistic Backgrounds, Rhéa Rocque, Annabel Levesque, Yvan Leanza

Patient Experience Journal

Patient participation in health care is a priority. Yet, patients’ perspective with regards to their experiences of participation is not well understood. Moreover, few studies have attempted to explore the perspective of ethnolinguistic minority patients. The objectives of this study, to explore 1) patients’ experiences of participation in medical consultations with physicians, and 2) potential variations in these experiences based on participants’ ethnolinguistic status. Using a qualitative design, 60 participants, from various ethnolinguistic background, took part in individual semi-structured interviews. A content analysis was performed to identify emerging themes. The results, five themes emerged in response to the first objective …

Children’S Evaluations Of Excluding An In-Group Member Who Help An Out-Group, Janel Cuevas, Lily Samiee, Makeda Mayes, Annabelle Farina, Santiago Gonzalez, Ariel Kasoff, Sabrina Ortiz, Aline Hitti Dr.

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

What factors contribute to children’s exclusion of in-group members? Past research indicates that children and adolescents are often not willing to exclude in-group members, but might be more willing if in-group members challenged moral group norms (Hitti, Mulvey, Rutland, Abrams, & Killen, 2013). Additionally, it has been found that while children are more likely to help an in-group member but are willing to help an out-group member if they are in need (Sierksma, Thijs, and Verkuyten, 2015). Less is known about exclusion of in-group members who help out-groups in ways that come at a cost to one’s own group. The …

Methodological Issues With Coding Participants In Anonymous Psychological Longitudinal Studies, Lillian M. Audette, Marie S. Hammond, Natalie K. Rochester

Psychological Sciences and Counseling Faculty Research

Longitudinal studies are commonly used in the social and behavioral sciences to answer a wide variety of research questions. Longitudinal researchers often collect data anonymously from participants when studying sensitive topics to ensure that accurate information is provided. One difficulty gathering longitudinal anonymous data is that of correctly matching participants across waves of data collection. A number of methods have been proposed for using nonidentifying codes to match anonymous participants; however, currently there is no consensus on the most effective method. This article reviews and analyzes the literature on nonidentifying codes and provides recommendations for researchers interested in using these …

You Look Like Me: The Impact Of Demographic Similarity On Picture Primes’ Effectiveness, Jennifer L. Unnerstall

Dissertations

Past research has clearly demonstrated the ability of various primes to influence behavior; however, little is understood about how and why primes work. The present research takes a theory-based approach to begin to understand this further. First, it investigates whether a picture prime has the ability to influence cooperative and competitive concept activation and implicit associations. Then, it examines whether the characteristics of the picture prime, specifically the race of the individuals depicted in the prime and whether it matches the race of the participant (i.e., demographic similarity), moderate these effects. Secondly, the present research investigates whether the same picture …

Three Coins In The Fountain: The Mueller Report And Russian Active Measures, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies non-political elements of Russian Federation political warfare as inferred from the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Rsa In Young Adults: Identifying Naturally-Occurring Response Patterns And Correlates, Brittany K. Willey

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Few studies have focused on the joint contributions of baseline and stress-responsive RSA on mental health outcomes, and no research to date has examined naturally-occurring profiles of RSA, which may be more predictive of emotion regulation ability and mental health outcomes than looking at either component of RSA alone. Participants were 235 (87.1% female, 73.6% Caucasian) undergraduates ages 18-39 (M = 19.62, SD = 2.12). In Part 1, latent growth mixture modeling (LGMM) was used to identify naturally-occurring physiological profiles accounting for both resting and stress-reactive RSA among young adults. In Part 2, multivariate ANCOVAs were used to predict …

Increasing Variable Play In Children With Autism Using A Lag Schedule And Stimulus Fading, Amelia Nelson

Thesis Projects

Restricted or repetitive interests are one of the hallmark characteristics of an autism diagnosis, and this characteristic can sometimes be present in a child’s toy-play. The current study explored the effects of a lag schedule and visual discriminative stimuli on the variability of selection of play items for two children with autism. The researcher used an ABAB reversal design to reinforce variability in play selection and then slowly and systematically faded the stimuli associated with the intervention. The results were idiosyncratic across participants. For one subject, the lag schedule alone maintained variable selection of toys, and the visual discriminative stimuli …

The Effects Of Cognitive Stimulation Of Instagram On Anxiety, Fear Of Missing Out, Memory, And Self-Esteem, Anna Destino

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

With the increasing use of social media in the daily lives of undergraduate college students, it is important to investigate the effects of social media on psychological well-being and cognitive function. Lillard and Peterson (2011) found that overstimulating children’s televisions shows, such as SpongeBob, negatively impacted children’s impulsive behaviors and attention. The current research focused on emerging adults and considered the effect of overstimulation of social media, specifically Instagram, on anxiety level, self-esteem, fear of missing out (FoMo), and memory. Participants were randomly assigned into either the control (coloring on an Ipad) or experimental (Instagram stimulation) group and after a …

Do Private Household Transfers To The Elderly Respond To Public Pension Benefits? Evidence From Rural China, Plamen Nikolov, Alan Adelman

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Aging populations in developing countries have spurred the introduction of public pension programs to preserve the standard of living for the elderly. The often-overlooked mechanism of intergenerational transfers, however, can dampen these intended policy effects, as adult children who make income contributions to their parents could adjust their behavior in response to changes in their parents’ income. Exploiting a unique policy intervention in China, we examine using a difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) approach how a new pension program impacts inter vivos transfers. We show that pension benefits lower the propensity of adult children to transfer income to elderly parents in the context …

Interpretation Of The Subject's Performance, Roghayeh Entezar Saadat

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract— This article describes the methods of interpretation of the performance of the student testing and other types of assessments to review. This method of interpretation, part of the technical evaluation of the base make up smart interpretation of student performance. for the use of educational evaluation information is critical. Create or choose the appropriate test to determine the reliability and validity of any and all the important topics covered.Because it must make intelligent interpretation and use of the information. We have the right to interpret the position of the student's performance in the test, and in fact any …

Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Accessibility At Drive-Through Restaurants, Regina Mcleod

Honors Theses

People who are deaf or hard of hearing deserve fair and accessible accommodations, which include drive-through restaurants. It is not a fair solution to force this population to go inside an establishment to order, especially due to the fact that many restaurants close the inside of their restaurants at night but will leave their drive-throughs open. According to legal cases and surveys conducted, accessibility at drive-through restaurants is a prodigious issue for members of the deaf and hard of hearing communities in the United States. Based upon these findings, there is a major lack of accessibility, in addition to discrimination, …

Synchronicity: The Role Of Midbrain Dopamine In Whole-Brain Coordination, Jeff A. Beeler, Jakob Kiskye Dreyer

Publications and Research

Midbrain dopamine seems to play an outsized role in motivated behavior and learning. Widely associated with mediating reward-related behavior, decision making, and learning, dopamine continues to generate controversies in the field. While many studies and theories focus on what dopamine cells encode, the question of how the midbrain derives the information it encodes is poorly understood and comparatively less addressed. Recent anatomical studies suggest greater diversity and complexity of afferent inputs than previously appreciated, requiring rethinking of prior models. Here, we elaborate a hypothesis that construes midbrain dopamine as implementing a Bayesian selector in which individual dopamine cells sample afferent …

A Model For The Treatment Of Food Selectivity, Angie Van Arsdale

Thesis Projects

Research has shown antecedent interventions might be effective for treating food selectivity in the absence of consequent manipulations; however, escape extinction is the most commonly implemented intervention in feeding research. Escape extinction in the treatment of feeding disorders is an intrusive procedure that might not always be considered socially valid or feasible; therefore, it is important to evaluate other interventions prior to escape extinction. This study describes a methodology of evaluating antecedent and consequent interventions for subjects with food selectivity, progressing from least to most response effort and/or intrusiveness. For each subject, we moved through each intervention until acceptance increased …

Increasing Political Behaviors In Local Communities, Bionca Stewart

Honors Theses

The present project aimed to apply principles of behavioral science, specifically prompting, to increase voter turnout in a low voter community. The study used a mixed-model group experimental design in which voting in an experimental and control group was measured across two occasions. The sample population consisted of one off-campus community, which was District 4 of the City of Kalamazoo. This district was chosen because it was the district within the city with the lowest voter turnout in the 2016 election. The participants were randomly selected from within the district and randomly assigned to an experimental (N=68) and control (N=67) …