Psychology Commons^™

Tolkien, Enchantment, And Loss: Steps On The Developmental Journey By John Rosegrant, Timothy K. Lenz

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

The Personality And Psychology Of Chen Zi-Ang, A Fiery, Noble Warrior And Martyr (陳子昂烈士之人格心理), Xiao-Yu Chen

Student Publications

From the perspective of psychology, personality refers to the long-term, significant pattern in which a person perceives themselves while responding to others and the world. In the vast majority of situations, a person’s experiences at and before age twenty-five, in addition to their reactions to these situations, have a significant impact over their personality and psychology. In the vast majority of cases, the significant sources of these experiences are the substantial impacts of familial circumstances and early professional interactions, in addition to their broader social-historical worlds. Chen Zi-Ang the martyr was in the human realm for forty or forty-one years …

The Efficacy And Feasibility Of A Fully Automated, Web-Based Acceptance-Enhanced Behavioral Treatment For Trichotillomania In Adults: A Randomized Waitlist-Controlled Trial, Leila K. Capel, Julie M. Petersen, Mckenzie R. Becker, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

Treatment access for those with trichotillomania is limited by several issues including professionals’ lack of knowledge of the disorder, proximity to providers, and financial constraints. Acceptance-enhanced behavioral therapy (AEBT) has been implemented in groups and using telehealth to reach a larger population. However, these methods still require therapist time and incur notable costs. This study aimed to address the gap in trichotillomania treatment accessibility by examining the feasibility and efficacy of a self-guided, web-based AEBT treatment for adults with trichotillomania across the United States. Participants completed an eight-module asynchronous program over eight weeks. The effects of the website were tested …

The Economic, Mental Health, And Social Stressors During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among Native Americans In South Dakota, Savannah E. Lukkes

Honors Thesis

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities test positive for COVID-19 and experience higher mortality than other racial and ethnic groups. These high rates of vulnerability could be connected to the systemic inequalities that have been experienced for centuries. This study aimed to compare socioeconomic stressors, concerns, and mental health experiences during the early COVID-19 pandemic between AI/AN and non-AIAN populations in South Dakota. The study sample (n=1,586) was grouped by AI/AN and non-AI/AN status based on self-identification of being AI/AN alone or in combination with another race/ethnicity. Participant responses to socioeconomic stressors and concerns (e.g., top concerns, level of concern, self-isolation, …

Felicidad Aplataná: How Dominican Migrants Living In The Nordic Countries Make Sense Of Their Happiness, Ivanna Lajara

Dissertations

As globalization evolves and the number of migrants and cross-cultural interactions among world citizens increases, understanding various aspects of immigrants’ experiences, including their happiness and subjective well-being will become fundamental to organizations, governments, and societies. However, there are substantial cross-cultural differences in how people understand their happiness, make sense of experiences that influence happiness, and how large-scale social trends, such as globalization, relate to the individual migration perspectives (Uchida and Ogihara, 2012). Research affirms culture as a key factor influencing happiness (Ye et al., 2015) and living in a foreign country may not only impact one’s perspective on life, but …

Our Social Packaging: How Labels In Society Affect Our Perceptions Of Ourselves And What This Implicates For The Overdiagnosis And Self-Diagnosis Crisis In Mental Health Conditions, Alexandra X. Cortez

Senior Theses

This paper examines the effects of labeling theory in regard to mental health diagnoses. Specifically, it examines how the self-fulfilling prophecy plays a role after an individual is assigned a label. To view labels and their effects in action, this paper looks to the television show Survivor, specifically Season 37 and uses a television content analysis. Survivor provides an analogy for today’s society and a culturally relevant representation of how individuals are internalizing labels and stereotyping others based on their label. An analysis of season 37 revealed that contestants strongly associated with their assigned label and the specific characteristics that …

An Exploration Of Manipulating Serotonin To Foster A Successful Life, Grace Rose Paskalides

Senior Theses

This thesis is broken into three sections: methods of naturally increasing serotonin levels, increased serotonin levels impacts on the body and mind and how those physical and mental impacts translate into a fulfilled life. This thesis presents health effects and measures a fulfilled life in terms of: relationship success, academic and professional achievement, and societal impact. The goal is to explore and expand upon existing scientific inferences of the complex neurotransmitter serotonin. It is not a treatment plan. It investigates benefits of imposing serotonin-increasing behavior into one’s life and speculates tangible measures of success that would likely be consequences of …

The Adult Moral Injury Scale: An Initial Validation Study, Robert Wingerter

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Moral injury (MI) is a construct that has gained significant traction over the past decade and holds great implications for the etiology, nosology, and treatment of trauma. MI literature is currently limited by established measures of MI which share various strengths and weaknesses, and there has been a call in the literature to address measurement of MI (Griffin et al., 2019). In this study we propose a new measure of MI, the Adult Moral Injury Scale (AMIS), and will conduct initial validation of this measure. The AMIS is designed to be a content valid measure of MI symptoms in the …

Impacts Of Stigma On Female Service Members, Alisha Weatherly-Kershaw

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

There are a variety of factors that prevent people from seeking mental health treatment. The stigma associated with mental health disorders or seeking treatment is a primary deterrent. This stigma is particularly impactful within the armed forces when they are assessed for fitness for duty. Because most research examines stigma’s impact on male military members, this study aims to identify the type of stigma that creates the most significant barrier to female service members seeking mental health treatment. Results indicate that stigmatizing perceptions of service members significantly impact female service members holding negative views towards seeking treatment.

The Long And Short Of Mistress Relationships: Sex-Differentiated Mate Preferences Reflect A Compromise Of Mating Ideals, Bryan K. C. Choy, Norman P. Li, Kenneth Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objective: Evolved mate preferences have taken center stage in evolutionary psychology research, yet this literature has been fairly muted on mate preferences for extrapair partners. Here, we examined the mate preferences for mistress relationships (the traits that men prioritize in a mistress and mistresses prioritize in their male partners) and compared these preferences to those of short- and long-term relationships. Method: In two studies (NStudy 1a = 104, NStudy 1b = 191), we derived dimensions of mate preferences through exploratory factor analyses. In subsequent studies (NStudy 2 = 219, NStudy 3 = 101), we employed a budget allocation paradigm, where …

Can Conflict Cultivate Collaboration? The Positive Impact Of Mild Versus Intense Task Conflict Via Perceived Openness Rather Than Emotions, Ming-Hong Tsai

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Public Significance Statement In contrast to previous research on the negative associations between conflict and collaboration, the current investigation demonstrates the positive effects of conflict on collaboration and performance and offers practical suggestions on beneficial conflict expressions. Specifically, when people debate and deliberate about their different viewpoints about task-related issues, they tend to collaborate and thus achieve high task performance by enhancing their perceptions of others' openness rather than by influencing their emotions.Previous research has demonstrated negative associations between task-relevant conflicts and collaboration. To supplement the previous findings and explore the potential benefits of conflicts, we differentiate between two types …

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Operator Workload And Situation Awareness Utilizing First Person View Techniques, Ross Lucas Stephenson Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) sector within the aviation industry is experiencing unprecedented growth. However, the regulatory guidance for the safe integration of sUAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) has not kept pace with this technological growth within the market. Current regulatory limitations of line-of-sight operations may have an impact on the establishment of an equivalent level of safety for sUAS operations as maintained by manned aircraft. The focal point of the discussion of line-of-sight operations has been the ability of the sUAS pilot to see and avoid all obstacles and other aircraft in a safe and timely …

Girls Just Want To Be Safe: An Analysis Of Drugged Drinking And Prevention Amongst Students At The University Of South Carolina, C. Gray Forsberg

Senior Theses

Drink-spiking has become a well-known phenomenon since the turn of the century, especially on college campuses in the United States. Drink-spiking or drugging can be defined as “adding alcohol or drugs into someone’s drink without their knowledge or permission” (Alcohol and Drug Foundation, 2006). Drink-spiking is not just relevant to the concern of an illicit substance being placed into an alcoholic drink, but adding additional alcohol to drinks or adding alcohol or drugs to non-alcoholic drinks is considered drugging as well. This study collected data through a survey sent to 250 current students at the University of South Carolina regarding …

A Comparative Investigation Of Tonal Memory Improvements With Electronic And Vocal Pitch Stimulus Training, Grayson M. Fletcher

Senior Theses

The study described herein compares improvements in tonal memory for young adults (age 19- 22), specifically retention of pitches, between two groups (n1=8, n2=8) with nearly identical training programs. One group was provided electronic pitch stimuli for the training program, while the other group was given human vocal stimuli. Self-paced computerized training sessions were conducted in a soundproofed testing room and interposed between pre-test and post-test measurements. A pre-test—post-test randomized experimental design allowed for assessment of whether the training was effective for each group in addition to comparing effectiveness of training between groups. Analyses with demographic factors, particularly previous musical …

Moral Injury To Inform Analysis Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Amanda Julia Manea

Senior Theses

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that almost one out of ten veterans struggle with. Although the National Center for PTSD has made extensive progress in characterizing and developing new treatments for PTSD, most veterans still experience symptoms of PTSD following treatment. Novel avenues of investigation, such as developing algorithms to review electronic health record (EHR) data and better understanding moral injury, are being pursued to address the gap that still exists when it comes to treating veterans. Moral injury is the individual evaluation of exposure to a potentially morally injurious event (PMIE) and can lead to …

An Examination Of Well-Being Across Theories Of Career Development Using Latent Profile Analysis, Jessica Schultz

Dissertations

Multiple theories have been designed to better understand how elements of working can affect personal well-being (Dawis, 2005; Duffy et al., 2016a; Duffy et al., 2018). The Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis, 2005), a classic trait-and-factor theory, proposes that job satisfaction is the result of how well the needs and values of the worker fit within the needs and expectations of the workplace. The Psychology of Working Theory (Duffy et al., 2016a) posits that acquiring decent work (i.e., jobs that provide safety, access to healthcare, adequate compensation, hours for rest, and congruent values) will lead to well-being. Additionally, this theory …

Gender As An Environmental Stressor In Individuals Genetically Predisposed To Mood Disorders: A Preliminary Analysis, Kara West

Audre Lorde Prize

Given the recent ‘epidemic’ of mental health disorders, we urgently need to better understand who is suffering and how. One aspect of this that research has come closer to identifying is where symptoms and diagnoses are missed in certain individuals, especially based on gender. However, if certain genders are actually more likely to deal with certain disorders we need to understand why and where that comes from. There is a general consensus in the medical field that some individuals are simply genetically predisposed to various disorders based on sex, but there is limited evidence that sex actually determines genetic predisposition. …

Teaching, Tough Love, Or Mean?, Jake Darbhanga

be Still

Nobody is born with the knowledge they have today; everything is learned as one lives their life. Teaching can take many forms and come from all types of people. Parents are generally the first teachers a child encounters from the first day of their lives. There is no one correct way of parenting, but there is a common desire to provide the best possible upbringing for one's child.

As I live my life, I find myself expressing the lessons I have learned and utilizing the knowledge I acquired from the people who have taught me. My personality often reflects the …

An Occupational Therapist Role In Mental Health: Focus In Schizophrenia And Eating Disorders, Stephany Tourtillott, Lakeisa Boykin, Inti Marizita

Spring 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Occupational therapy is a field that aims to help a population gain as much independence as possible within all areas of occupation. In many cases and populations, this tends to fall within the physical limitations domain and does not often consider populations where mental health is the main domain affected. In this capstone project, the writer dove into how an occupational therapist can help those with schizophrenia and eating disorders, specifically within the adolescent population. This capstone project began with a literature review in which five significant themes arose: background on mental health, the current treatment of schizophrenia and eating …

Covid-19, Olfactory Functioning, And Depressive Symptoms, Kevin Davis Psy.D.

Dissertations

The focus in this study was to investigate whether people who continue to experience a disordered sense of smell after recovering from COVID-19 are more likely to have higher levels of depressive symptoms. Data collection involved two questionnaires: the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess depressive symptoms and the Assessment of Self-Reported Olfactory Functioning and Olfaction-Related Quality of Life (ASOF) to assess olfactory functioning. Additionally, general survey questions were asked to evaluate physical and mental health outcomes related to COVID-19. Results showed individuals who did not subjectively return to their baseline sense of smell after recovering from COVID-19 had lower …

Single-Case Pilot Study For Longitudinal Analysis Of Referential Failures And Sentiment In Schizophrenic Speech From Client-Centered Psychotherapy Recordings, Travis A. Musich

Dissertations

Though computational linguistic analyses have revealed the presence of distinctly characteristic language features in schizophrenic disordered speech, the relative stability of these language features in longitudinal samples is still unknown. This longitudinal pilot study analyzed schizophrenic disordered speech data from the archival therapy audio recordings of one patient spanning 23 years. End-to-end Neural Coreference Resolution software was used to analyze transcribed speech data from three therapy sessions to identify ambiguous pronouns, referred to as referential failures, which were reviewed and confirmed by multiple raters. Speech samples were analyzed using Google Cloud Natural Language API software for sentiment variables (i.e., score, …

Language As A Factor In Aviation Accidents And Serious Incidents: A Handbook For Accident Investigators Ed. 3, Elizabeth Mathews, Joan Carson, Anthony Brickhouse, Enrique Valdes

Handbooks

In an increasingly multicultural and multilingual aviation industry, it is important that accident investigators understand the complex role of language in maintaining safe operations. This Handbook supports investigators to systematically identify language factors in aviation accidents and serious incidents.

Parent-Child Relationship And Smartphone Addiction In Adolescents: Are There Gender Differences?, Maria Helena Suprapto, Setiasih -, Ide Bagus Siaputra

Psychological Research on Urban Society

This study aims to reveal whether there are differences in father-child relationships and mother-child relationships based on gender and to determine whether the father-child and mother-child relationship affects smartphone addiction in adolescents. This research used quantitative methods. The research participants were 159 male and 229 female adolescents aged 10-15 years in Surabaya and Sidoarjo. Research data was obtained using a questionnaire distributed online (google forms). The data were processed by using a t-test and multiple regression analysis. This research concludes that the quality of the father-child and mother-child relationship does not differ across gender. Father-child relationships and mother-child relationships both …

Latine Cultural Values And Ambivalent Sexism: Perceptions Of Sexism Through A Latine Lens, Erick Herrera Hernandez

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Latine cultural values may present elements of hostile and benevolent sexism that overlap with patriarchal gender expectations that maintain gender norms. Despite extensive research linking hostile and benevolent sexism with negative outcomes, few studies have focused on Latine samples. Understanding how Latines perceive sexist behavior is an important step towards addressing the negative effects of sexism in Latine communities. This study examined the relationship between Latine cultural values and perceptions of hostile and benevolent sexist behavior. Participants were presented with fourteen scenarios reflecting hostile and benevolent sexist behavior and were asked to rate these scenarios on a variety of traits, …

Police Harassment And Latinx Mental Health: The Moderating Role Of Family Support And Nativity, Veronica Lauren Heredia

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Relative to their population size, communities of color experience disproportionate occurrences of harassment (Wilson et. al., 2020). Reports on police killings from 2013 to 2018 display that Black individuals constituted 27.5% of those killed, despite making up only 13% of the population (Siegel, 2020). The U.S. Latinx population is similarly impacted, given reports that they also experience police targeting (Edwards et. al., 2019; Gaston et. al., 2021; Harris et. al., 2020; Zimmerman et. al., 2021). Empirical evidence has shown a positive association between police harassment exposure and depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms in Latinx populations (Chin et. al., 2020; Del …

Interpersonal Connection: Examining Synchrony In Emotions And Physiology In Friends During Interactions, Joia Lynette Wesley

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Interpersonal synchrony is the alignment of emotions, behaviors, and physiology and is associated with prosocial behaviors and subjective connectedness. Few studies have examined synchrony in friend dyads. The present study compared emotional and physiological synchrony during emotional and neutral interactions, explored how social role may influence empathy, and tested if friendship characteristics predicted synchrony. Participants were 56 friend dyads recruited from a predominantly White, Midwestern university. The study included two sessions. In the first session, participants completed prequestionnaires and each participant identified three emotionally salient situations that they had not shared with their friend. The second session was an interaction …

Trauma And Linguistic Markers For Symptom Severity In Prolonged Exposure For Primary Care, As Observed Through The Use Of Narrative Review, Robert Alexander Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional trauma therapies used in the primary care setting (e.g., hospital, medical clinic, etc.) have posed challenges to patient success because they are not designed for the shorter duration treatment that is typical in primary care settings. One alternative solution is the Prolonged-Exposure for Primary Care protocol (PE-PC) that utilizes prolonged exposure using a brief take home assignment and several journaling prompts that are processed using principles from Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). Still in its early stages of development, the PE-PC protocol can provide symptom relief in as little as four, 30-minute sessions and reflects one of the first trauma …

Describing Parents' Beliefs About The Causes Of Mental Health Problems In Youth: Implications For Service Utilization, Madeline Buchanan

Dissertations (1934 -)

Parents have an important role in accessing mental health services for youth. Understanding what factors might enhance or impede this process is critical to engaging more children and adolescents in treatment. Evidence suggests parents’ beliefs about the causes of youth mental health problems likely influence mental health service utilization, though existing research is limited. The current study examined parents’ causal beliefs about youth mental health problems and their impact on factors related to help-seeking and service utilization. A diverse group of parents (N = 417; 36.9% non-Hispanic White; 33.3% Black/African American; 29.7% Hispanic/Latino) completed a series of questionnaires via an …

Female Perpetrators Of Ritually Motivated Pedicide And Mutilation Of Children, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Ritually motivated pedicide is among contemporary Africa’s most severe crimes against children. Most of these crimes involve brutal acts of violence or mutilation of the victim. While men are most often the perpetrators of violent crimes, ritually motivated pedicide and mutilation equally attract women. The role of women in these crimes is not restricted to the less violent aspects of the crimes; instead, they also extend to the most brutal elements, often involving mutilation, decapitation or outright murder of the victim. This article explored the involvement of women in these crimes that target children for mutilation and pedicide. The article …

Covid-19 Is Not All Bad News: Negative And Surprisingly Positive Reports From College Stem Students And Implications For Stem Instruction, Yuchen Jiang, Boyan Ma, Zimo Ma, Pamela M. Propsom, Zaheen Rashed '24, Rudrayani Upadhyay, Zichen Zhao

Student Research

The negative educational consequences of COVID-19 are well documented. Much less investigated have been any potential positive outcomes of the pandemic. We surveyed 392 students at one college querying why they continue studying STEM or leave the STEM disciplines and about the effects of COVID-19 on their education. STEM students may have been especially impacted by pandemic-imposed remote instruction given STEM’s reliance on hands-on laboratory experiences. Because the literature indicates that people of color and those from lower socioeconomic groups were more negatively affected by COVID-19, we hypothesized that students from these groups would report greater adverse educational consequences of …