Psychology Commons^™

Negative Emotions Connected To Racial Experiences, Alondra Guerrero, Avery Britt, Isabella Layton

Symposium of Student Scholars

Negative Emotions Connected to Racial Experiences

For many students, college is the first environment in which they experience racial diversity. Because of this, university campuses become microcosms for the working world including the negative interracial interactions. Harwood and colleagues (2012) found that students of color lack a sense of belonging on predominately white college campuses. They experience microaggressions, racial jokes and comments, and uncomfortable interpersonal interactions (Harwood, 2012). Racially charged experiences influence emotions and those emotions, in turn, influence future racial experiences (Kim, 2016). It follows that students, faculty, and staff who endure a negative racial climate on campus experience …

Groupme Or Groupcheat? Student Perceptions And Reactions To Violations Of Academic Integrity, Andrew Manocchio, Jennifer Willard

Symposium of Student Scholars

The rise of online classrooms has brought forth new concerns about academic integrity that may not have been present in traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms. Emerging social technology, such as GroupMe, an app used to facilitate group text-messaging, has added a new dimension to academic integrity concerns. However, almost no research has been conducted examining how this technology impacts student behavior in the classroom. The current study investigates the degree to which students perceive various GroupMe conversations as including violations of academic integrity. Participants will be randomly assigned to read one of six GroupMe conversations in a 2 (type of cheating: meeting …

Positive And Negative Coping Mechanisms Due To High-Stress Of Covid-19, Stephanie O'Kon, Uchemdi Nduka, Precious Slade

Symposium of Student Scholars

Previous research on COVID-19 suggests that college students are experiencing increased symptoms of anxiety and depression (Saladino et al., 2020; Son et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Researchers have argued that there is an “urgent need to develop interventions and preventative strategies to address the mental health of college students” (Son et al., 2020, p. 2). Although there is a growing literature on the negative effects of the pandemic on the mental health of college students, there is little research on how students cope with these negative effects. In this study we will be investigating the effectiveness of certain …

Where Are We With Education About Mental Health And Illness: A Survey Research, Symphony Williams

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of my research is to investigate public awareness of mental health and illness. This study is paramount because of the mental health crisis our world faces today. I conducted a survey research in which I used Google Forms and asked a series of questions about the participants’ education, experiences, and opinions on mental health and illness. The total participants were 67. The analysis of survey responses resulted in several findings. First, 34.3% of the 67 participants had a diagnosed mental illness, and 72% of those participants suffer from some form of depression while 77.8% suffer from anxiety. These …

Assessing Positive And Mixed Emotions Related To Racial Experiences On Campus, Christopher Pauyo, Marie Stephens, Grace Bowe

Symposium of Student Scholars

As the climate of a university can impact the experiences and mental health of students, faculty, and staff (Budge et al., 2020), it is necessary to devote attention to race-related experiences that contribute to and perpetuate a university’s racial climate. Past psychological research has focused on reducing negative emotional reactions to negative race-related experiences (Carter & Forsyth, 2020; Kim, 2016). Although this line of research is critical to improving the experiences of people of color, there is another avenue for improvement that is often neglected: increasing positive race-related experiences. Identifying positive and quasi-positive experiences among racial groups will help us …

Exploring Social Determinants Of Covid-19 Related Sickness And Suffering In The Bronx, Hamida Chumpa

Student Theses and Dissertations

Through a positivistic and phenomenological approach, the study examines social determinants of COVID-19 related sickness and suffering in the Bronx, New York City, New York, ZIP codes 10462, 10472, 10467, 10458, 10474, and 10464. I utilize a violence paradigm (structural and everyday violence) to describe the social determinants of risk and sickness-related suffering and deploy an assemblage framework to shed light on how these determinants create negative synergies that undermine wellbeing and render certain communities vulnerable to extreme suffering. The mixed methods include 64 surveys and eight interviews. Analysis methods include a descriptive analysis of survey results and a thematic …

Hiring Candidates With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd): Effects Of Diagnostic Disclosure And Presence Of Asd Behaviors On Employability Ratings, Geetanjali Sugrim

Student Theses and Dissertations

Despite the increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses and organizational emphasis on workplace diversity, limited information is known about how disclosure of an ASD diagnosis and presence of ASD behaviors impact perceived employability in an interview setting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate these factors using an experimental design. Participants were 258 students (M_age = 21.9 years, SD = 5.1; 56% female; 75% non-White) at an urban public college who completed questionnaires on ASD knowledge and stereotypes and evaluated employability of vignette characters interviewing for a job interview. Vignettes varied across two dimensions: ASD disclosure …

Disrupting Cis/Heteronormativity And Interrogating Whiteness: The Advancement Of Counseling Through Critical Sex Education, Carla Rosinski

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

This dissertation provides a critical analysis of how cis/heteronormativity is reproduced and/or challenged in sexuality and gender discourses. Additionally, this research aims for critical consciousness raising and serves as further evidence of the need to integrate critical human sexuality training in counselor education. The meta theoretical orientation of this research combines liberation psychology, queer and Crip theories, and critiques of settler colonialism. These theories combine to illustrate the “wheel of domination” created by colonialism, capitalism, and white supremacy. Critical discourse analysis is utilized with naturalistic occurring data in the form of Podcast episodes on the topics of ‘sex ed’ and …

Understanding The Healthcare Experiences Of Lgbtq+ People: An Adaptation Of The Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire, Conor Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

LGBTQ+ people's experiences of heterosexism, which are common in the healthcare system, are linked to poor health outcomes. There are no measures of LGBTQ+ people’s experiences in healthcare settings which could be used by healthcare systems and providers to improve the quality of their care for this vulnerable population. The Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire (DHEQ), developed using the minority stress model, measures the general stressful life experiences of LGBTQ+ people. This project aimed to adapt the DHEQ for use in healthcare settings.

A mixed-methods study was conducted to create the Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire-Healthcare (DHEQ-H). Semi-structured interviews focused on the …

Reiki For Recovery: Incorporating Japanese Health Practices To Increase Contemporary Resiliency In American Health, Leif Peterson

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Japanese health practice of Reiki attempts to maximize the latent ability of the human system to heal itself. The Reiki system, established over a century ago, combines multiple Asian health traditions, experimenting with practices that maximize the natural processes of the body to perform its own repairs. Reiki encourages healthy behaviors that balance the mind and body, return the human system to a lowered stress level, and allow for an optimal recovery state for the patient. This paper illustrates how this Japanese health-affirming method can be integrated and utilized within existing health and medical practices. An area that is …

Contextualizing Bipoc High School Students’ Racialized Experiences Under Trump, Christina Ung

Master's Theses

This thesis contextualizes public high school experiences of self-identified students of color during Trump’s presidency. The study features three recent high school graduates from the same campus, and their perspectives on a series of topics related to their racial identity. It was important that this research served as a space for marginalized voices to share their lived experiences, as they are frequently left out of American curriculum. More specifically in this case, the high school is located in a small, rural town where the population is majority white and politically conservative. Through the lens of critical race theory (CRT), data …

Memory And Identity: Inter-Generational Resilience And Construction Of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees, Hamida Dahir Sheikh Ahmed

Master's Theses

The violence and displacement many refugees face often create a lifelong trauma that manifests in many ways within themselves, their families, and communities. The Somali refugee community in the United States is no different. Since their resettlement in America started in the 1990s following the civil war, the community has struggled with different manifestations of that trauma; substance abuse and gang violence among the youth, prominence of depression and suicide rates, rise of domestic violence, as well as other direct and indirect results associated with mental health. This is the reality of many refugee and immigrant communities, coming directly from …

The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza

Master's Theses

The desire for achieving greater equity in education has been a prevalent topic of research, with many studies indicating that the current education system in this country is designed in a way that exacerbates initial inequities and has a negative impact on student motivation and engagement (EOCD, 2012). While existing scholarship mostly discusses equity and engagement through the lens of curriculum and instruction, the power of physical classroom environments and aesthetic elements present in those environments is less explored. With student populations becoming more diverse, there is a greater need for new tools for teachers to utilize in pursuit of …

Perceptions Of Covid-19 Among Religious Leaders, Anna Anderson

Symposium of Student Scholars

The research shows how religious leaders have been affected and have attempted to adapt to COVID-19. The research was compiled of responses from religious leaders and affiliates to get a better understanding of their opinions. The data we are collecting is being analyzed so that we, the researchers, can determine if religious leaders are using their title to lead the community that follows them on the safest path or not, as well as if they are spreading an accurate message to their community about the COVID-19 Pandemic. The purpose of being able to identify how religious leaders are responding to …

Reporting Of Eating Disorder Deaths, Katherine Mobley, Amy Hord

Symposium of Student Scholars

Those affected by eating disorders experience disturbances in eating behaviors which are often related to underlying psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (Parekh, 2017, Drieberg et al., 1998 p.53). The duplicitous nature of the disorder makes it difficult to diagnose, and the tole it takes on an individual’s physical health makes its mortality rate the second highest among psychiatric disorders (Guinhut et al., 2021 p.130). Even if the correct education and resources are accessible to certain individuals, negative stigmatization about the disorder can make sufferers unlikely to seek help (Becker et al., 2010). Findings from analysis of …

The Role Of School Sociocultural Factors On The Mental Health And Academic Competence Of Elementary Aged Children, Aijah Kai Baruti Goodwin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Due to the diversification of school systems, schools are being challenged to engage in more culturally responsive practices to meet the needs of diverse students. Therefore, this study utilized Gay’s (2002) model of culturally responsive teaching to assess the relationship between sociocultural factors and the academic competence and mental health of elementary-aged children. This study also aimed to investigate the mediating and moderating relationship that culturally responsive classroom practices play on children’s academic competence and mental health. One hundred thirty-one diverse parents (97.7%), and legal guardians (2.3%) with children in elementary school (M_age = 8.05) were recruited for participation …

The Use Of Mindfulness Meditation To Increase The Efficacy Of Mirror Visual Feedback For Reducing Phantom Limb Pain In Amputees, Nicolas Sebastian Mills

Doctoral Dissertations

Phantom limb pain is a chronic pain condition that negatively impacts the lives of over half of amputees, and results in considerable morbidity. Currently, there is no gold standard for treatment for phantom limb pain. However, a frequently used intervention is the use of mirror visual feedback, in which the amputee watches the reflection of the adjacent non-amputated limb move and exercise. In the last few decades, mindfulness-based interventions have been increasingly used with individuals living with different types of chronic pain. This study attempts to discover if the addition of a mindfulness-based intervention, such as guided meditation, will augment …

Claiming Miscommunication To Justify Rape: The Role Of Liking The Perpetrator, Alyssa Marie Glace Maryn

Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation, four experiments tested whether sharing an ingroup with a sexual violence perpetrator (vs not sharing an ingroup) makes individuals more likely to view the survivor's consent refusal as insufficient. Although most people communicate sexual consent indirectly and nonverbally, individuals often report that indirect and nonverbal consent refusals are an insufficient form of non-consent. These claims of consent miscommunication might be used to justify instances of sexual violence when an individual is motivated to do so. I hypothesize that sharing an ingroup identity with a perpetrator might motivate individuals to justify sexual violence, leading them to report that …

Fly By Night, Patrick J. Sherman

Night Flight: Online Literary Journal

A new member of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide Campus Department of Flight participates in a night-time UAS operation, both to study the use of drones in responding to active shooter incidents by law enforcement, but also as a demonstration of proficiency to conduct future operations under the institution's daylight waiver, granted by the Federal Aviation Administration. While attempting an intricate maneuver, the newcomer finds that he has placed is aircraft in immediate peril and must make a difficult choice: confess his error in front of his new colleagues and seek help, or attempt to escape on his own and …

Video Feedback, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is video feedback?

Video feedback refers here to a training method that involves giving learners feedback on their skills using a video recording of their behavior in a real or simulated environment. Though video feedback is used in a variety of settings (e.g., athletic, parenting, or surgical training), the focus here is on skill development among professionals that engage in interpersonal interactions (e.g., teachers, social workers, nurses; Fukkink et al., 2011). Targeted skills may be broad (e.g., empathy, nervousness, active listening) or narrow (body posture, eye contact, gestures, use of open questions). The process typically involves recording learners as …

Are Only The Unskilled Overconfident? Deconstructing The Dunning-Kruger Effect Through An Individual Differences Approach, Danielle N. Sanchez

Psychology ETDs

This study sought to determine whether individuals suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect are prone to misassessing their performance due to underlying personality and cognitive characteristics. To test this hypothesis, we first collected theory-informed measures of cognitive and personality traits. Next, we used three different performance estimate measures to assess the degree to which participants misestimated their abilities across two performance tasks (e.g., English grammar and logical reasoning). We found that some individuals are more prone to misassessing their performance and self-reported general Metacognitive Ability, Openness to Experience from the Big-Five personality Inventory, and an External Locus of Control orientation can …

Dopamine Neurons That Cotransmit Glutamate, From Synapses To Circuits To Behavior, Daniel Eskenazi, Lauren Malave, Susana Mingote, Leora Yetnikoff, Samira Ztaou, Vlad Velicu, Stephen Rayport, Nao Chuhma

Advanced Science Research Center

Discovered just over 20 years ago, dopamine neurons have the ability to cotransmit both dopamine and glutamate. Yet, the functional roles of dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission and their implications for therapeutic use are just emerging. This review article encompasses the current body of evidence investigating the functions of dopamine neurons of the ventral midbrain that cotransmit glutamate. Since its discovery in dopamine neuron cultures, further work in vivo confirmed dopamine neuron glutamate cotransmission across species. From there, growing interest has led to research related to neural functioning including roles in synaptic signaling, development, and behavior. Functional connectome mapping reveals robust …

Preventing Sexual Violence Through Understanding Perceptions Of Sexual Offenders, Judith G. Zatkin

Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation, I present three complete manuscripts. I utilize social and community psychological theory, as well as criminological theory to better understand those who perpetrate sexual violence in two domains: child sexual abuse and college campus sexual assault. All three studies are conducted with an eye toward the prevention of sexual violence. In the first study, I conduct a complete psychometric analysis of the Modus Operandi Questionnaire, a comprehensive quantitative tool that examines offending patterns and tactics of those who commit child sexual abuse (Chapter II). An updated factor structure for this tool is presented, as well as recommendations …

Age Differences With Presentation On Social Media, Sabrina N. Wiesbrock

Modern Psychological Studies

This study investigated younger, middle-aged, and older participants’ self-esteem, self-expression, and comfort and regrets with self-expression on social media. It was hypothesized that older adult social media users would show different patterns and relationships in their use and self-expression. Participants included 214 younger- (52%), 135 middle-aged adults (33%), and 61 older-adults (15%). Self-esteem and regrets on social media were both related to comfort with self-expression on social media among older adults. In contrast, self-expression and comfort with self-expression on social media were related for younger- and middle-aged adults, but not older participants. Findings suggest that social media plays a unique …

Why Is The Followers-To-Following Ratio So Important?, Cody E. Harrell, Scott King

Modern Psychological Studies

The impact of social media exposure on various aspects of users’ personality and mental health has become a popular topic for psychological research over the past ten years. Instagram provides users with numbers indicating how many accounts they follow and how many accounts follow them. This ratio carries social status, in that someone with more followers than people they follow could be viewed as a more popular user. The current study explores the relationship between Instagram use, user popularity, the Big 5 personality traits, self-esteem, histrionic tendencies, and narcissistic tendencies in a sample of 125 undergraduates. We hypothesized that users …

Exploring Sensory Based Art Therapy With Preschool Students, Development Of A Method, Elizabeth Ferrara

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the use of sensory-based art therapy interventions with preschoolers with self-regulation difficulties. The mental health intern (MHI) at a preschool program conducted multisensory art therapy interventions with 11 students over eight weeks. Students participated in either social skills small groups or individual therapeutic sessions with the MHI. Students were referred for services due to social, emotional, behavioral, and developmental concerns, specifically how those issues manifested in difficulties with self-regulation. These students exhibited unexpected and persistent periods of dysregulation as evidenced by disruptive and unsafe behaviors in the classroom including aggression towards peers. Students participated in different sensory-art …

The Effects Of Racial Discrimination On Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color (Bipoc) Students’ Mental Health, Alana M. Hall Ms.

Honors College Theses

Racial discrimination and its relationship with mental health outcomes in BIPOC students, specifically psychological distress, the focus of this study. This was deemed important because these students may have responded by using certain coping strategies that could be harmful to their mental health and overall health, in the long term. It is already known that racism has been a problem in the world, but has morphed over the years to that of subtle, and often more harmful, forms of racism (e.g. microaggressions). The goal of this study was to examine the discriminatory experiences of BIPOC students at a predominantly white …

The Relation Of Therapist Behaviors To Treatment Engagement And Outcomes In Pcit, Kristine Gese Ba

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) has proven to be a very effective treatment for child behavioral problems, however, PCIT does not benefit all families equally, presumably at least partly because therapists may not be equally effective in coaching their clients. Although researchers have proposed several dimensions of therapist coaching behaviors that are considered desirable, few of these have been empirically examined in relation to family engagement or child outcomes. Data from two clinical trials examining the effectiveness of culturally modified versions of PCIT (GANA and PersIn), were used to investigate which of several therapist coaching behaviors (brevity, positivity, consistency, accuracy, …

Effects Of Psychosocial Support Interventions On Survival In Inpatient And Outpatient Healthcare Settings: A Meta-Analysis Of 106 Randomized Controlled Trials, Timothy B. Smith, Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Faculty Publications

We evaluated randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of psychosocial support interventions in inpatient and outpatient healthcare settings reporting survival data, including studies reporting disease-related or all-cause mortality. LOdds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) data were analyzed separately using random effects weighted models. Of 42,054 studies searched, 106 RCTs including 40,280 patients met inclusion criteria. Across 87 RCTs reporting data for discrete time periods, the average was OR = 1.20 (95% CI = 1.09 to 1.31, p < 0.001), indicating a 20% increased likelihood of survival among patients receiving psychosocial support compared to control groups receiving standard medical care. Among those studies, psychosocial interventions explicitly promoting health behaviors yielded improved likelihood of survival, whereas interventions without that primary focus did not. Across 22 RCTs reporting survival time, the average was HR = 1.29 (95% CI = 1.12 to 1.49, p < 0.001), indicating a 29% increased probability of survival over time among intervention recipients compared to controls. Among those studies, meta-regressions identified 3 moderating variables: control group type, patient disease severity, and risk of research bias. Studies with patients having relatively greater disease severity tended to yield smaller gains in survival time relative to control groups. In this meta-analysis, OR data indicated that psychosocial behavioral support interventions promoting patient motivation/coping to engage in health behaviors improved patient survival, but interventions focusing primarily on patients’ social or emotional outcomes did not prolong life. HR data indicated that psychosocial interventions, predominantly focused on social or emotional outcomes, improved survival but yielded similar effects to health information/classes and were less effective among patients with apparently greater disease severity.

Effects Of Psychosocial Support Interventions On Survival In Inpatient And Outpatient Healthcare Settings: A Meta-Analysis Of 106 Randomized Controlled Trials, Connor Workman, Caleb Andrews, Bonnie Barton, Matthew Cook, Ryan Layton, Alexandra Morrey, Devin Petersen, Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Faculty Publications

Background

Hospitals, clinics, and health organizations have provided psychosocial support interventions for medical patients to supplement curative care. Prior reviews of interventions augmenting psychosocial support in medical settings have reported mixed outcomes. This meta-analysis addresses the questions of how effective are psychosocial support interventions in improving patient survival and which potential moderating features are associated with greater effectiveness.

Methods and findings

We evaluated randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of psychosocial support interventions in inpatient and outpatient healthcare settings reporting survival data, including studies reporting disease-related or all-cause mortality. Literature searches included studies reported January 1980 through October 2020 accessed from Embase, …