Psychology Commons^™

The Relationship Of Physical Literacy, Motivation, Cognitive Function, And Academic Performance Among Elementary School Children, Meagan A. Hartman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Physical literacy could promote the development of confidence and motivation to engage in physical activity, reducing chronic health issues within the United States. This study examined physical literacy and its relationship with motivation, cognitive function, and academic performance among fourth and fifth graders. Participants completed the Physical Literacy Assessment for Youth – basic (PLAYbasic), Motives for Physical Activity Measure (MPAM) and Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM), which measured physical literacy, motivation to engage in physical activity, and cognitive function, respectively. Academic scores from the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) were collected to measure academic performance. Scores from these measures were …

Motivating Remote Working Employees, Sandesh Bilgi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how remote employees who have previously worked in-person describe their lived and perceived experience with motivation in remote working environments. Participants completed the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale (WEIMS), which measures degrees of work-related motivation among employees focusing on traits that signify each worker’s intrinsically or extrinsically motivated nature. Through in-depth interviews with 30 participants, this research examined how remote workers are motivated in remote work settings, which factors increase or decrease motivation, and how leaders can influence the motivation levels of their employees. The interviews were conducted online, …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Nurses' Feelings, Stress, Coping, And Motivation In Palestinian Treatment Centers Of Corona, † Wafaa Menawi, Shatha Mari, Ahmad Adel Hanani

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Background: Frontline nurses of COVID-19 found themselves in an unfamiliar new disease work environment, fighting to adapt and control the stress while working at covid-19 centers in Palestine. Aim: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on nurses' feelings, stress, coping, and motivation in COVID-19 Palestinian treatment Centers. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design was conducted between Mid of July to the end of October 2021 by recruiting a purposive sample of 390 nurses who worked at the Ministry of Health during COVID-19 pandemic treatment centers. The nurses filled out the COVID-19 Health Personnel Questionnaire with Cronbach's Alpha > 0.9. Results: Palestinian frontline …

Exploring The Dynamics Of Volitional Personality Change: A Psychoeducational Intervention Study With Young Adults Transitioning To The Workforce, Erica Baranski, Ramona L. Martinez, Zihan Liu, Kevin Hoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

College graduates transitioning to the workforce completed a 13-week, light, psychoeducation intervention designed to increase volitional personality change motivation via weekly email newsletters. Contrary to expectations, the intervention did not significantly enhance overall change motivation or consistently inspire desired trait change goals following the study period or after 6 or 10 months. However, participants in the intervention group did report increased desire to change emotional stability at specific points during the study. These findings underscore the limitations of this particular psychoeducational intervention approach and help to fill in the boundary conditions of when and how personality change is possible. Additionally, …

First Year To Future Career: Women’S Engagement In Technical Participation Is Associated With Long-Term Retention, Neil A. Lewis, Nicole Russell Pascual, Denise Sekaquaptewa, Lorelle A. Meadows

Michigan Tech Publications

Societies realize the value of increasing the number of engineering and other STEM graduates, yet universities often struggle to enroll and retain STEM students, particularly women. To remedy this, many engineering programs have shifted their pedagogical approaches to include project-based learning in group settings. However, prior research on engineering teams revealed, for example, gender gaps in active participation, reflecting stereotypes of men as engineering experts and women as supporters. In the current study, we examined the long-term correlates of such gaps. Specifically, in a mixed-method study (behavioral observation, surveys, and longitudinal follow-up) we found gender differences in active technical participation …

The Effect Of Working Memory On Psychological Hardiness: The Moderating Effect Of Stress And Motivation, Sarah Joy Labarbera

Theses and Dissertations

Psychological Hardiness is a resilience personality trait with extensive empirical evidence of its combative effects against stress (Bartone et al., 2008; Oliver, 2009; Johnsen et al., 2013). However, the cognitive processes underlying this skill are not well understood. Understanding the mechanisms of resiliency is imperative for all human persons to succeed, especially those involved in high-stress occupations. This study will investigate the relationship between working memory capacity and psychological hardiness, as well as assess stress and motivation as potential moderating variables. We hypothesized that 1) Higher vs. Lower levels of working memory capacity (WMC) will predict higher levels of Hardiness, …

Investigating The Role Of Motivation In Open-Label Placebo Responses, Joshua Worthington

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Placebo effects occur when an individual receives an inactive treatment that should be unable to provide therapeutic benefits but still demonstrates meaningful improvements in health. Open-label placebos extend this phenomenon by providing full disclosure to individuals that they are receiving a placebo, as opposed to traditional placebo treatments that utilize deception. The role of expectancy as a mechanism of change in placebo has received some mixed results in open-label placebo studies. To the author’s knowledge, motivation for change has not been examined in open-label placebo. The current study examined the role of motivation as a mechanism of placebo responses. To …

Surveying Teaching Rewards For Effective Behavior Management, Maggie M. West-Johnson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study investigated the implementation of teacher reward systems within School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) in K–12 educational settings. While the PBIS framework has been extensively studied for its impact on student behavior and academic outcomes, limited attention has been given to supporting and motivating educators through systematic reward systems. This research aimed to identify the types of teacher rewards used, methods of selection and distribution, and staff perceptions of effectiveness and social validity. Using a structured 39-item survey distributed to SWPBIS team members across eight schools in Minnesota, the study gathered quantitative and qualitative data on current …

Parasocial Relationships And Women’S Friendship Expectations, Perceptions, And Satisfaction, Renee N. Plaza

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Television (TV) and film have increasingly become meaningful ways for people to connect, whether through discussing content, engaging with celebrities online, or forming imagined relationships with fictional characters. These one-sided connections are known as parasocial relationships (PSR). While prior research has mainly focused on how PSR influence romantic relationships—affecting ideals, expectations, perceptions, and satisfaction—the current study expands this examination to non-romantic relationships, specifically friendships.

The aim of this research is to explore how stronger non-romantic PSR might influence an individual's expectations, beliefs, perceptions, and overall satisfaction with their real-life friendships. Participants completed several assessments, including the Parasocial Relationship Measure, Relationship …

A Decision-Space Model Explains Context-Specific Decision Making, Dirk W. Beck, Cory N. Heaton, Luis D. Davila, Lara I. Rakocevic, Sabrina M. Drammis, Danil Tyulmankov, Atanu Giri, Shreeya Umashankar Beck, Qingyang Zhang, Michael Pokojovy, Kenichiro Negishi, Alexis A. Salcido, Neftali F. Reyes, Andrea Y. Macias, Serina A. Batson, Paulina Vara, Raquel J. Ibáñez Alcalá, Safa B. Hossain, Graham L. Waller, Laura E. O'Dell, Travis M. Moschak, Ki A. Goosens, Alexander Friedman

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Optimal decision-making requires consideration of internal and external contexts. Biased decision-making is a transdiagnostic symptom of neuropsychiatric disorders. We created a computational model demonstrating how the striosome compartment of the striatum constructs a context-dependent mathematical space for decision-making computations, and how the matrix compartment uses this space to define action value. The model explains multiple experimental results and unifies other theories like reward prediction error, roles of the direct versus indirect pathways, and roles of the striosome versus matrix, under one framework. We also found, through new analyses, that striosome and matrix neurons increase their synchrony during difficult tasks, caused …

Body Imagery: How Exercise Motivation Type Affects Self And Social Perceptions, Alexander Granat

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The current research revolves around individuals’ motivations for engaging in regular exercise and how this motivation may be associated with self-esteem, social confidence, social anxiety, and social media behavior. Recent literature on exercise and its relation to anxiety and social media usage has almost exclusively addressed a one-way direction: how social media, especially problematic social media use, and the anxiety derived thereof influence individuals to increase exercise frequency. The present research seeks to understand the potential relationship within the opposite direction, looking to discover confluence between one’s drive to exercise (i.e., for functional reasons or social desirability and aesthetics), derived …

Diverse Environments: Refining The Concept Of Remote Work Through A Job Demands-Resources Lens, Riley Schwanz

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Global events such as globalization, technological advancements, and fundamentally new methods for completing work are contributing factors to the mass migration of employees from in-person to more remote work modalities. Researchers have found evidence for advantages (e.g., autonomy) and disadvantages (i.e., lack of teamwork) for employees in more remote modalities. However, there are critical gaps in the literature including a lack of clear definitions, assessments, taxonomies, and application of well-established theories. Beyond focusing on the physical aspects of remote work, I proposed a new concept, degree of remoteness, to capture the psychological experience of working remotely. Further, I proposed that …

Evaluating The Predictive Values Of Attachment Security And Perfectionism On Psychological Well-Being, Lindsay Cleary

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Attachment security impacts social competence and the development of one’s sense of self. It has also been implicated in the development of psychological conditions, including depression, personality disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Perfectionism has distinct characteristics that also influence how people relate to others and understand themselves. Research suggests that perfectionism negatively affects a person’s psychological well-being, often leading to mental health concerns such as anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Despite the introduction of the perfectionism social disconnection model (PSDM), few studies have attempted to understand the direct relationship between attachment security, perfectionism, and psychological well-being. It was hypothesized …

The Role Of Metaperceptions In Mindset Formation From Performance Feedback, Audra Paige Jensen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the cognitions that recipients of feedback had about their evaluators, and how that impacted achievement choices. Specifically, it aimed to analyze the role that metaperceptions of developability played in the mindset formation process following feedback. Although mindsets form based on different ways feedback is framed, the exact method that leads from feedback to mindset formation is not clear. Prior research has pointed to a meta-lay theory as the mediating component that leads from feedback framing to mindset. However, how the perception of an evaluator’s mindset would lead to changes in a recipient’s own beliefs was still unclear. …

A Comparison Of Two Motivational Tasks In Male And Female Rats Under Acute Stress, Stephanie M. Muscott

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Motivation is a complex concept that contributes to or is embedded within many different behaviors. As such, it can be difficult to assess motivation directly, but many researchers have attempted to measure motivation to understand its role in behavior and in diseases associated with a dysregulation of motivation, such as drug addiction or depression. To better understand motivation, behavioral tests frequently use palatable foods to measure motivation as defined by the amount of effort a rat will demonstrate to achieve the reward. Much of research has focused on highly controlled experimental settings, such as lever pressing in an operant box …

Moral Identity: From Theory To Research, Jean Paul Lefebvre

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Moral identity, often defined as the importance or centrality of moral values to a person’s sense of self, has long been understood to play an important role in moral functioning. However, critical gaps remain regarding its development, cross-context stability, and behavioural significance. This dissertation addresses these gaps in three empirical studies, providing new insights into the nature and function of moral identity across the lifespan and in daily life.

The first study (Chapter 2) explores developmental trends in moral identity, testing predictions from moral identity goal theory (Krettenauer, 2022). Using a cross-sectional sample spanning adolescence to old age, the study …

Musical Motivation: Investigating Musical Contingent Self-Worth And Its Interactions With Music Training And Perceived Musical Ability, Douglas Allan Kowalewski

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This program of research centers on a novel measure of how much value one places on having and displaying their musical ability – musical contingent self-worth – and how that construct interacts with existing measures of music training and perceived musical ability to predict performance on both musical and general cognitive tasks. Two studies (Experiments 1 and 2) provide evidence for the validity and reliability of an MCSW scale and additionally show that it uniquely predicts both reactions to, and performance on, a musical skills task (Experiment 1). These initial studies also show that MCSW interacts with music training to …

Assessing The Predictive Validity Of Expectancy Theory For Academic Performance, Vahe Permzadian, Ting Shen

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: Despite expectancy theory's widespread appeal and influence as a framework for motivation in organizational and educational settings, studies that have examined the theory's validity for performance-based outcomes, particularly with academic performance as the criterion, have been characterized by inconsistent results. Given numerous methodological concerns associated with past studies (e.g., prevalence of between-person rather than within-person design), we examined the predictive validity of expectancy theory for academic performance using methods that were consistent with the theory's original conceptualization. Additionally, we assessed the validity of the theory for students' study effort. Methods: The final sample included 123 undergraduate students who reported …

The Effect Of Gender Beliefs On Self-Determined Motivation As Measured By Organizational Citizenship Behaviors And Workplace Deviant Behaviors, Ryan Jaramillo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Employees are gauged by their motivation to complete their required job responsibilities, as losses in motivation can result in losses to organizations. Understanding motivation is necessary to achieving beneficial organizational outcomes such as organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) while reducing detrimental employee outcomes such as workplace deviant behaviors (WDBs). To this end, the present study analyzes motivation not through a dichotomy of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but through a spectrum of self-determination for its relationship to employee behaviors. Gender is a potential moderator that can have important moderating effects between motivation and subsequent outcomes in the workplace. The purpose of this …

Personality Dynamics Turn Positive And Negative Mood Into Creativity, Ronald Bledow, Jana Kuhnel, Julius Kuhl

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Introduction: Research on the link between affect and creativity rests on the assumption that creativity unfolds as a stimulus-driven response to affective states. We challenge this assumption and examine whether personality dynamics moderate the relationship of positive and negative mood with creativity. Theoretical Model: According to our model, personality dynamics that generate and maintain positive affect and down-regulate negative affect energize creativity. Based on this model, we expect high creativity in response to negative mood if people engage in self-motivation and achieve a reduction in negative mood. We further derive that individual differences in action versus state orientation moderate the …

Motivational Dysregulation With Melanocortin 4 Receptor Haploinsufficiency, Alex M. Steiner, Robert F. Roscoe, Rosemarie M. Booze, Charles F. Mactutus

Faculty Publications

Obesity, by any standard, is a global health crisis. Both genetic and dietary contributions to the development and maintenance of obesity were integral factors of our experimental design. As mutations of the melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4R) are the leading monogenetic cause of obesity, MC4R haploinsufficient rats were fed a range of dietary fat (0–12 %) in a longitudinal design. Physiological and motivational assessments were performed using a locomotor task, a 5-choice sucrose preference task, an operant task with fixed and progressive ratios, as well as a distraction operant task. Dendritic spine morphology of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the nucleus …

Fgf21 Acts In The Brain To Drive Macronutrient-Specific Changes In Behavioral Motivation And Brain Reward Signaling, Md Shahjalal H. Khan, Sora Q. Kim, Robert C. Ross, Florina Corpodean, Redin A. Spann, Diana A. Albarado, Sun O. Fernandez-Kim, Blaise Clarke, Hans Rudolf Berthoud, Heike Münzberg, David H. Mcdougal, Yanlin He, Sangho Yu, Vance L. Albaugh, Paul L. Soto, Christopher D. Morrison

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Objective: Dietary protein restriction induces adaptive changes in food preference, increasing protein consumption over carbohydrates or fat. We investigated whether motivation and reward signaling underpin these preferences. Methods and Results: In an operant task, protein-restricted male mice responded more for liquid protein rewards, but not carbohydrate, fat, or sweet rewards compared to non-restricted mice. When the number of responses required to access protein reward varied, protein-restricted mice exhibited higher operant responses at moderate to high response requirements. The protein restriction-induced increase in operant responding for protein was absent in Fgf21-KO mice and mice with neuron-specific deletion of the FGF21 co-receptor …

The Relationship Between Mindset And Motivation Among U.S. Army Soldiers, Fernando Llamoca

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored the relationship between mindset and motivation among U.S. Army active-duty soldiers. Implicit theories research was used to assess mindset, while the three psychological needs of self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) were used to assess motivation. Previous studies regarding these theories discovered that individuals with high levels of mindset and motivation experienced high job satisfaction, goal orientation, and organizational commitment. These theories were chosen due to the lack of research on each theory within the military context, specifically the U.S. Army. Over the past few decades, the U.S. Army has aimed to develop its soldiers holistically through …

Enduring Heroism In The Face Of Inequality And Injustice: Who Steps Up And Why?, Carol D. Ryff

Heroism Science

Enduring heroism defined as persistent efforts to confront inequality and injustice is the focus of this article. Six exemplars are considered: Harriet Tubman, Crazy Horse, Jane Addams, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X. Similarities and differences in their pursuits are considered and linked to the larger literature on heroism. They are also contrasted with enduring anti-heroes to elevate roles of virtue and benevolence in long-term efforts to correct societal ills. What motivates enduring heroism is a central question. A hypothesis put forth is that distinct dimensions of eudaimonic well-being – especially, purpose in life, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth …

A Multifactorial Study Of Factors Influencing Self-Health Behaviors In Dementia, Elizabeth Malkin

Dissertations

The global increase in dementia cases presents a significant public health challenge, particularly given the absence of a cure and the rising healthcare burden on individuals and society. This study aims to examine the influence of knowledge, beliefs, and motivation on self-health behaviors to mitigate the risk of dementia among individuals residing in the United States. With the use of an online survey, the study utilized the U.S. normed MCLHB-DRR scale and supplemental questions about knowledge of risk factors and degree of closeness to family members with dementia to determine whether (1) more closely related relatives (first-degree relatives) and those …

To Each Their Own: The Relationship Among Regret, Habits, And Academic Performance In College Students, Chandler Ann Findley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The extant literature on regret as motivation for behavior presents inconclusive results, collectively. While it has often been agreed that regret motivates reparative action, most studies from the past 14 years indicate that regret may motivate either detrimental actions or, more commonly, no action at all. There also appears to be no published research about college students’ academic regrets or how these regrets affect their classroom behaviors and performance. Therefore, this dissertation seeks to understand if college students regret their academic habits, what those habits are, and how their regrets and habits contribute to their academic performance over the course …

An Orientation Towards Care In Occupational Therapy: A Theoretical Framework, Myah G. Beylotte

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

The purpose of this paper is to explore Ethic of Care (Gilligan, 1936; Noddings, 1984) in an occupational therapy (OT) setting and to determine if empathetic and relational care can provide greater patient outcomes. Ethic of Care (EoC), originally established by Gilligan (1936), is a moral orientation towards care that has been applied in the areas of education, nursing, sports coaching, and other popular professions (Fisher et al., 2017; Gano-Overway et al., 2009; Knust & Fisher, 2015; Lachman, 2012; Newton et al., 2007; Noddings, 2005; Schools, et al., 2020), but has not been widely researched in the field of OT. …

Demands At Work: The Moderating Influence Of Motivation On The Relationship Between Challenge Demands And Employee Work Engagement, Lauren R. Dinnat

Doctoral Dissertations

Work engagement is a popular topic due to the positive outcomes linked to it. For example, engaged workers are shown to be more productive workers and better organizational citizens. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Theory has been the most widely accepted explanatory model for work engagement due to its flexibility to be applied to all work environments. While the JD-R does not argue that motivation is fixed, it does not account for moment-to-moment changes in motivation. A state theory of motivation that examines how motivation may impact the relationships between demands and work engagement has yet to be examined. This study …

Exploring The Relationships Between Motivations, Beliefs, Emotions, And Behaviors In The Context Of Organizational Change Readiness, Sidney Taylor Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational change is an inevitable and key feature of an organization’s lifecycle, especially in today’s constantly shifting technological, cultural, and corporate landscapes. However, organizations often struggle to adapt, and change initiatives rarely succeed. Because of this, organizational change readiness has become a popular area of study in the field of industrial-organization psychology. Change readiness in the organizational context has been redefined several times over the past four decades, with recent efforts focused on developing a comprehensive definition and corresponding instrument of measurement for the concept. Change readiness at the individual level is intended to evaluate the psychological state in which …

Injustice: Parental Betrayal And The Exploitation Of Child Murder In The United States, Isabella Merlini

Honors Scholar Theses

The following serves as an extensive literature review on the phenomena of filicide and familicide–the ultimate forms of parental betrayal–perpetrated within the United States. Subsequently highlighted is the theme that the people who should always take care of and love their children are sometimes also those who demonically arrange for their children’s very deaths, and while parents have the power to bring children into this world, they do not have the right to remove children from it. An overview of the unique perpetrations, victimologies, psychopathologies, and motivations that contribute to the classifications of filicide and familicide are further provided. Six …