Psychology Commons^™

The Limits Of Sociality, Johnna B. Mcgovern

Theses

There is a longstanding tradition in Western philosophy of emphasizing the capacity for reflection in theories about humans’ characteristic nature. In Talking to Ourselves: Reflection, Ignorance, and Agency, John Doris attempts to shift the focus to an emphasis on human sociality. Particularly, Doris argues that sociality, both implicitly and in the form of collaborative reasoning, is what makes humans best equipped for moral improvement. This collaborativism possesses a defining role in his account of agency and responsibility. This thesis attempts to gain an understanding of how sociality affects moral behavior and to argue that it is not conducive to agency …

Understanding Comorbid Depression In The Context Of Ptsd Through Underlying Dimensions, Melissa Turkel

Dissertations

Depression co-occurs with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at a high rate, resulting in numerous complications for pathology and treatment. More research is needed regarding variables that may explain this common comorbidity. One possible variable is that of underlying dimensions, latent factors that give rise to these manifestations of psychopathology. This study explored potential underlying mechanisms of comorbid PTSD and depression, including negative affect, rumination, emotion dysregulation, neuroticism, and behavioral inhibition. While previous studies have investigated these dimensions individually, there is a dearth of research that simultaneously investigates multiple dimensions or determines the relative contributions of underlying dimensions to psychopathology. Thus, the …

Sustainability In Quality Improvement And Patient Safety Initiatives, Angelo P. Giardino, Eileen R. Giardino

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

The question often asked of a quality improvement initiative is whether the improvement process has been sustained within the organization. Rarely is the question answered satisfactorily. The sustainability of an improvement process is important as it justifies the investment of human and financial capital. The term 'evaporation of improvements' addresses the dilemma that between 33% to 70% of all innovations are reportedly not sustained (Fleiszer, Semenic, Ritchie, Richer, & Denis, 2015) . This evaporation of improvement captures the frustrating inability of many institutions to maintain the achieved improvement after the newness of the initial effort wears off (Buchanan, Fitzgerald, & …

The Epistemic And Psychological Mechanisms Perpetuating Racism Within The Criminal Justice System, Danielle Walker

Theses

Abstract

Many attempts have been made by philosophers, political activists, psychologists, historians, social advocates, and others to explain the mechanisms at play in the perpetuation and resulting manifestations of systemic and institutional racism. On one side of the debate there lies a theory that there is an epistemic failure at the root of racial bias towards Blacks, white ignorance, a collective amnesia regarding what has and does take place in society, as it pertains to their oppression and isolation, like the view of philosopher Charles W. Mills. According to Mills, this type of ignorance, or non-knowing, is a cognitive phenomenon …

Relationship Between School Refusal Behavior And Social Functioning: A Cluster Analysis Approach, Carolina González, Cándido J. Inglés, Christopher A. Kearney, Ricardo Sanmartín, María Vicent, José Manuel García-Fernández

Psychology Faculty Research

On the basis of the heterogeneous casuistry that characterizes the students who refuse going to school, it is useful to have a classification of this population in homogeneous groups. For this, the aim of this study was, first, to identify by cluster analysis the profiles of school refusal behavior based on the functional model evaluated through the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-S). Secondly, it is intended to analyze if there are differences in social functioning scores according to the school refusal profiles identified. This study involved 1212 Spanish children between 8 and 11 years old (M=9.12, SD=1.05) who completed the …

Gender Differences In Adhd, Jillian Vogley

Honors Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a learning disability that is very prevalent in today’s society. A closer look at this disability reveals that there are differences with males and females with regards to how the symptoms manifest. Females have a tendency to exhibit inattention whereas males are often hyperactive, which is much more obvious to others around them. This difference in symptoms has led to a drastic difference in terms of how ADHD is diagnosed and causes it to be underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed in females compared to males. The consequences that this delayed diagnosis may have on females can be severe. …

Raped-Related Beliefs And Social Reactions, Tara Pursley

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Many agree that sexual violence is a pervasive problem, but there is less agreement regarding how to classify and define various experiences of rape. Research has demonstrated that the beliefs one holds about rape are the strongest indicator for how both victims and non-victims of sexual assault perceive and classify unwanted sexual experiences. What is less understood is the way that this perception influences how non-victims respond to a victim’s disclosure of sexual assault. The current study sought to fill this gap. Participants included 119 female college students (M_age = 19.23, SD = 1.98; 81% White). Results revealed that …

Stress In College Students: Worse Than The "Freshman 15?", Kristen Higgins

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

College students experience more change within a few years than most other age groups. This change, among other aspects, can cause increased amounts of stress (Lau et al, 2006). Past research has indicated that certain individuals lack the coping skills necessary to deal with stress adequately, causing a wide range of negative effects (D’Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991; Ross, Niebling, & Heckert, 1999). Brougham, Zail, Mendoza, and Miller (2009) also found significant genetic differences between males and females and their use of coping mechanisms. This current study examined the effects of different coping mechanisms on stress levels in college students, as …

Verbatim And Gist Extraction Among University Colleges, Ashley Mcmillon

Undergraduate Research Conference

Fuzzy Trace Theory (FTT) posits that individuals use two different cognitive processes in encoding, storing, and retrieving information. One process (verbatim) encodes the details of the information, applying cost/benefit analysis when used for a decision. The other process (gist) encodes relational information extracted from the information and uses more intuition when applied to decisions. Often, use of one process over another can lead to different decisions. Further, there exists individual differences in the skill and preference for using these processes.

The current study examined whether differences in verbatim, and gist skill or preference would vary by university college (STEM, or …

Exploration In The Association Of Authoritative Parenting And Adolescent’S Success In A Junior College Honors Program, Kassandra Mariel Soledad

Undergraduate Research Conference

The presented study examines authoritative parenting and its associations with an adolescent's success. There is a significant gap in the knowledge in regard to the impact of parental tough love on adolescents. It is important to determine the answer to the problem because it could help fill the significant gap in the knowledge. This research will help determine if an authoritative parenting style is effective in making an adolescent successful. It can help a parent decide how to or not to raise their children. The evidence found in this study can also be used to help inform parents of the …

Recovery After Genocide: Understanding The Dimensions Of Recovery Capital Among Incarcerated Genocide Perpetrators In Rwanda, Kevin Barnes-Ceeney, Lior Gideon, Laurie Leitch, Kento Yasuhara

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Utilizing survey data from 302 men and women incarcerated in the Rwandan correctional system for the crime of genocide, and structured interviews with 75 prisoners, this mixed methods study draws on the concept of recovery capital to understand how individuals convicted of genocide navigate post-genocide healing. Genocide smashes physical and human capital and perverts social and cultural capital. Experiencing high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms with more than two-thirds of the sample scoring above typical civilian cut-off levels, raised levels of depression, and high levels of anxiety, and failing physical health, the genocide perpetrators require multiple sources of recovery capital …

Enhanced Memory For Fair-Related Faces And The Role Of Trait Anxiety, Gewnhi Park, Benjamin U. Marsh, Elisha J. Johnson

Faculty Publications

The current research examined whether fair consideration—a social norm that people inherently prefer to confirm—would modulate face recognition. Each neutral face was associated with fair or unfair offers via an economic decision task, the Ultimatum Game (UG) task. After the UG, participants were asked to identify the faces of proposers who made different offers. Enhanced memory was observed for fair-related compared to unfair-related faces. Furthermore, high trait anxiety was associated with reduced memory for fair-related faces. These results were further confirmed by signal detection theory. The current research provided initial evidence that people showed enhanced memory for faces that made …

Development Of An Art Therapy Method For The Prevention And Treatment Of Vicarious Trauma, Leanna Pai

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Modern developments in the field of mental health care have greatly increased understanding of vicarious trauma and its impacts on the helping professions. However, the prevalence of vicarious trauma symptoms highlights the need for additional research into prevention and treatment. First responders, critical healthcare workers, and mental health professionals are at particularly high risk for compassion fatigue, burn out, and other symptoms of vicarious trauma as they work closely with traumatized populations. The high incidence of vicarious trauma in individual helping professionals can have immense consequences that ultimately limit quality systems of care available to the general public. This thesis …

Etsu Brain Trust: Creating A Culture Of Resilience At Etsu, Julia Bernard, Michelle Moser, Megan Quinn

ETSU Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, And Finding Joy, Ammon Kou

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Seeds Of Greatness By Denis Waitley, Jennifer Maynard

Marriott Student Review

Book review of Seeds of Greatness by Denis Waitley, personal anecdotes and summaries of research on the secrets to success in life and in the business world.

The Art Of Learning, Richard Rolapp

Marriott Student Review

No abstract provided.

Pan Negro: En Pos De Una Pedagogía De Liberación, Lizely M. López

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

La producción literaria del escritor y pedagogo catalán Emili Teixidor es reconocida por su misión pedagógica. Su labor consistía en la creación de una literatura dirigida al público lector infantil y juvenil con objetivos pedagógicos específicos para formar lectores ágiles. Teixidor no se limitó a la población lectora infantil y juvenil, también produjo literatura dirigida a adultos. De su producción literaria para adultos, destaca Pan negro (2003), novela galardonada con varios premios, entre estos el premio Joan Crexells al mejor libro en 2003 y llevada a la pantalla grande en 2011 por el director Agustín Villaronga.

En Pan negro (2010) …

Managing Madness: The Ethics Of Identifying And Treating Mental Illness, Mason Seely

Helene Lafrance Library Undergraduate Research Award

This essay analyzes different contemporary models for defining mental illness and offers a new framework that promotes the use of normative values during the clinical diagnostic process. Although ethic centric models for identifying mental illness do currently exist, these accounts are limited. Specifically, these accounts acknowledge the relationship between mental illness labels and implied responsibility in making their argument to support a normative framework, yet do not explain what capacities are necessary for an agent to have full responsibility. Recognizing this shortcoming, this paper provides an enriched model for identifying mental illness by marrying a normative conception of psychiatric dysfunction …

A Growth Mindset Intervention Improves Interest But Not Academic Performance In The Field Of Computer Science, Jeni L. Burnette, Crystal L. Hoyt, V. Michelle Russell, Barry Lawson, Carol S. Dweck, Eli Finkel

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

We investigated whether a growth mindset intervention could be leveraged to promote performance and interest in computer science, through what mechanisms it might do so, and whether effects were stronger for women than for men. In particular, we explored whether the growth mindset intervention improved academic performance and career interest by increasing intrinsic value. We developed and tested a scalable, online, 4-session growth mindset intervention at 7 universities, across 16 introductory computer science classes (N = 491). The intervention did not have a significant total effect on academic performance, although it indirectly improved grades via value. Additionally, the intervention, …

Fatal Attractions, Elective Affinities, And Deadly Epistemologies, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article cites film, the novel, and news report to underline the deadly seriousness of the quest for knowledge.

The Effects Of Qr Code Prompts Posted To A Solar Charging Bench On Website Visibility, Sage Campbell

Honors Theses

This study will investigate the effects of graphic prompts with integrated quick response (QR) codes posted to a solar charging bench. The hypothesis is that posted prompts and the bench itself will increase website traffic and visibility of sustainable actions at Western Michigan University. Website traffic will be monitored using Google Analytics software which will allow for tracking of website visits specifically from scanning the QR code. Thus, data from bench installation and from bench installation with prompts will be compared with baseline data from before installation of the bench and before installation graphic prompts. Data that supports the hypothesis, …

Ideal And Real Treatment Planning Processes For People With Serious Mental Illness In Public Mental Health Care, Emily B.H. Treichler, Eric A. Evans, William D. Spaulding

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Treatment planning processes are a fundamental component of evidence-based practice in mental health for people with serious mental illness (SMI), who often present with complex concerns and require an interdisciplinary treatment team. It is unclear how well treatment planning practices in usual care settings for SMI adhere to best practices guidelines. In this study, we used qualitative methods to increase understanding of typical treatment planning practices. Twelve mental health providers completed a participatory dialogue focused on discussing perceptions of ideal and real treatment planning processes. Content analysis of the transcription from the dialogue was used to identify major themes and …

Comparing Prompting Methods For Teaching Receptive Identification, Laurel Jungblut

Honors Theses

Receptive language is the occurrence of an appropriate response to the spoken language of another individual. This is a key element of development, especially in regard to the acquisition of spoken language (Grow & LeBlanc, 2013). While this appropriate responding is a skill generally acquired by typically developing children via interactions with their caregivers, in most situations it must be explicitly taught to children with developmental delays (Charlotte L. Carp, Sean P. Peterson, Amber J. Arkel, & Anna I. Petursdottir, 2012). An absence or delay of this skill will result in a child missing many important learning opportunities, leading to …

Increasing The Frequency Of Tutors' Reinforcement Of Compliance Behaviors, Sruthi Rameshkumar

Honors Theses

Abstract

Compliance behaviors occurring prior to the delivery of an instruction, such as handing over preferred items, making eye contact, and folding hands in the ready position help prepare students for success in discrete-trial training (DTT) interventions. These behaviors are usually taught in early intervention with a continuous reinforcement schedule, but once they are mastered, they are rarely revisited or maintained. Without intermittent reinforcement of these behaviors, they are likely to decrease in frequency and may lead to the use of restrictive or intrusive methods to gain compliance during DTT sessions. The current study used a multiple-baseline across participants design …

The Impact Of Fictive Kin Relationships On The Development Of Attributional Styles, Megan Rodgers, David Swanson

Research Days

The term fictive kin is used to describe social ties that are based on neither blood ties, nor by marriage. Fictive kin are granted many of the same rights as family members and are expected to participate in the roles of the extended family. Research on fictive kin relationships often examines the African-American community and focuses on the effects of building strong social bonds outside the family. The constructive role fictive kin play in a person’s life suggests that these relationships serve as an important foundation in engaging in helping behavior. Helping behavior refers to actions intended to benefit another …

Assessing Learning Orientation To Maximize Academic Achievement, Megan Rodgers

Research Days

The Student Behavior Checklist (SBC) is a tool which helps teachers monitor how students approach learning by measuring the constructs of learned helplessness and mastery orientation. Learned helplessness is a passive behavior that is characterized by an inability to learn, often displayed in students who are frequently subjected to stressful events. Individuals who develop learned helplessness attribute failures to personal inadequacy, which lead to negative attitudes towards tasks, becoming overwhelmed with frustration, and developing less effective strategies after failure. A concept of behavior in contrast to learned helplessness is mastery orientation. Mastery orientated students believe that they effort they put …

Who I Am: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Guatemalan Adolescents' Identity Development, Jana M. Sahyouni, Sydney R. Hudock

18th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2019)

Identity development is the paramount task of adolescent development and globalization seems to shape identity. Recent research with the world’s adolescents suggests that adolescents hold culturally traditional view of self while adopting some self-identifications of other cultures. Remote acculturation contributes to formation of a remixed identity, and it occurs when an individual internalizes cultural values and identities from a region in which they have never lived. Indirect exposure to other cultures, especially through the media, facilitates the adoption of a remixed identity and the process of remote accultural. Remote acculturation and adolescent identity formation was examined in 129 sixth through …

Mixed Mood State Behaviors And Circadian Dysfunction Following Homocysteic Acid Treatment: Potential Animal Model For Bipolar Disorder, Lauren Evert, Gonzalo Moya, Ryann Felton, Garrett Fogo, Nicholas Rozema, Sarah Plowman, Tymi Staub

18th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2019)

Bipolar disorder is a neuropsychiatric disease characterized by cyclical fluctuations of mood states between mania and depression. Circadian rhythm abnormalities and inconsistent sleep patterns are two common symptoms of bipolar disorder (Millar, Epsie, & Scott, 2004). Elevated levels of homocysteine, in the blood or cerebrospinal fluid, commonly occurs in patients with neuropsychiatric illnesses, including bipolar disorder (Bell et al., 1992; Boushey, Beresford, Omenn, & Motulsky, 1995). Homocysteic acid (HCA), an endogenous metabolite of homocysteine, has been implicated as a harmful neurotoxin and agonist of NMDA receptors. We have previously shown that postnatal administration of HCA (from postnatal day 3-21) in …

Testing The Impact Of Prebiotics On Anxiety-Like Behaviors In Aged Male Rats, Nicholai Shaw, Marny Ehmann, Kenia Urena-Gonzalez, Anna Langholz, Peter Stewart, Jared Stygstra, Emily Zolman, Erin English, Alli Lindquist, Elizabeth Woodford

18th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2019)

The composition of gut microbiota has direct impacts on neural structure, neurochemistry, and behavior. Specifically, the gut microbiota has been shown to modulate anxiety-like behaviors. In addition, administering prebiotics, compounds that promote the growth of commensal bacteria, has been demonstrated to reduce anxiety and anxiety-related behaviors. However, this effect has yet to be tested in older animals despite anxiety being implicated as a most common disorder in adult populations. Therefore, this study seeks to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the link between prebiotic interventions and anxiety-like behaviors in aged populations. It was hypothesized that older rats treated with the …