Comparative Psychology Commons^™

Environmental Cues And The Sociospatial Imaginary: An Examination Of Spatial Perception And Meaning-Making In A Gentrifying Neighborhood, Todd Levon Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What could be more ordinary or pedestrian than two people walking down an urban street and talking about what we see and what we make of it? Yet this simple, quotidian act of walking a street—seeing, perceiving and experiencing physical spaces, places and objects—and making meaning of what is encountered, is the basis of my dissertation. It is also my basis for claiming that I have learned a great deal—and much unexpectedly—about how differently different people see and interpret the urban streetscape. What are the various environmental cues that stand out to different individuals? What are the psychosocial imaginaries that …

Colombian Women’S Experiences Of Cosmetic Surgery And Its Relationship To Body Image, Austin Gonzalez-Randolph

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand women’s experiences of cosmetic surgery and its effects on body image on women from the Colombian cities of Bogotá and Pereira. The participants of this study were women of Colombian descent, who reside in Colombia. This was done with the hopes of better understanding how culture impacts views on cosmetic surgery. Colombia appears to have a culture that is very enmeshed with cosmetic surgery. This study provides an initial exploratory and qualitative investigation into the perception of body image as it relates to cosmetic surgery among six young women living in Colombia; …

From Psychology To Phylogeny: Bridging Levels Of Analysis In Cultural Evolution, Mason Youngblood

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cultural evolution, or change in the socially learned behavior of a population over time, is a fascinating phenomenon that is widespread in humans and present in some non-human animals. In this dissertation, I present an array of cultural evolutionary studies that bridge pattern and process in a wide range of research models including music, extremism, and birdsong. The first chapter is an introduction to the field of cultural evolution, including a bibliometric analysis of its structure. The second and third chapters are studies on the cultural dynamics of music sampling traditions in hip-hop and electronic music communities and far-right extremism …

Diverging Identities: The Juxtaposition Of Palestinians In Israel And The Occupied Territories, Micah Russell

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of A Rough-Toothed Dolphin (Steno Bredanensis) Introduction In A Human Care Setting, Lindsey Johnson

Dissertations

Rough-toothed dolphins are a rarely studied species of cetaceans found in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world. These dolphins live in fission-fusion societies and are highly social, swimming in tightly-packed and highly synchronized subgroups consisting of 2-10 individuals. The current study documents the introduction of a stranded calf into an existing population of six rough-toothed dolphins living in a human care setting. Specifically, recordings of vocal and non-vocal behaviors were analyzed across the four phases of the study: baseline, day of introduction, post-introduction, and follow-up. Whistles, a vocal signal associated with social contexts, increased from baseline to post-introduction phases …

Investigating Social Preferences In A High Fission-Fusion Society Of Black And White Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Variegata), Patricia A. Adamo

Theses and Dissertations

Wild lemur primates were tested for social preferences across behaviors. Study found highly conservative social preferences that were very consistent across all behavioral states, despite high fission fusion traits common of lemur groups. This finding lays the foundation for using nearest-neighbor as a proxy of social preference for future endeavors.

Everyday Memory In People With Down Syndrome, Yingying Jennifer Yang, Zachary M. Himmelberger, Trent Robinson, Megan Davis, Frances Conners, Edward Merrill

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Although memory functions in people with Down Syndrome (DS) have been studied extensively, how well people with DS remember things about everyday life is not well understood. In the current study, 31 adolescents/young adults with DS and 26 with intellectual disabilities (ID) of mixed etiology (not DS) participated. They completed an everyday memory questionnaire about personal facts and recent events (e.g., school name, breakfast). They also completed a standard laboratory task of verbal long-term memory (LTM) where they recalled a list of unrelated words over trials. Results did not indicate impaired everyday memory, but impaired verbal LTM, in people with …

Social Media & Negative Effects On Body Image, Jack Fechter

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Since the beginning of the 2010’s, social media has grown to affect every aspect of our daily lives. With children using it earlier in their lives, they are getting mass exposure to societal ideals about what body type should be. This has negatively impacted adolescents’ view of body image, which has led to dissatisfaction with their own bodies. This leads to depressive symptoms and even in some cases suicide, which has gone up among adolescents in the past decade. The article that follows details how and why these issues occur, as well as solutions to fix them. These solutions discussed …

The Effect Of The Difference In The Perception Of Temperature Between Sexes On The Academic Performance Of Chapin High School Students, Tiffany V. Phan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Mental performance and mental functions may be negatively affected by decreases in thermal comfort as a result of large differences in temperature. Additionally, females are seen to be less content with room temperatures and actually prefer rooms with higher temperatures in comparison to males. This investigation explored the potential effect that sex plays in thermal perception and the impact it may yield on academic performance within a high school population. It was hypothesized that female students would experience an increase in academic performance as the temperature increased while males would experience the opposite effect. A quasi-experimental approach was used to …

A Foray Into The Interval Timing Capabilities Of Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus [Sapajus] Apella), Gryff Griffin

Honors Theses

Time is a critical part of life and timing on the range from milliseconds to minutes has proven to be critical for several behaviors such as foraging and movement. While the exact neurological structures of interval timing are currently undefined, several studies have been completed comparing the interval timing capabilities of humans and nonhuman primates. However, these studies have unanimously utilized members of Macaca, which limits the abilities for researchers to make apt comparisons between humans and all nonhuman primates. This study sought to investigate whether tufted capuchins (Cebus [Sapajus] apella) have the capability to measure time …

Influence Of Increased Options On Performance Generalization Across Two Variations Of The Monty Hall Dilemma, Robert A. Southern

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Monty Hall dilemma (MHD) is a probability puzzle at which humans consistently fail to adopt the optimal winning strategy. The participant chooses between three identical doors, behind one of which is a valuable prize. After the participant makes their initial decision, the host reveals that there is nothing behind one of the two remaining doors, then asks the participant if they would like to stay with their originally selected door or switch to the remaining unopened door. The optimal choice is to switch to the previously unchosen door, which increases the probability of winning from 33% to 67%. Despite …

Do You Copy? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Auditory Processing, And Heart Rate Variability, Lyndsey Johnson

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self -report measures used in PTSD research have the potential to limit the degree of symptom severity in military veterans, especially as there is often underreporting in this population (Kline, Falca-Dodson, Susner et al., 2010). Polyvagal Theory provides a framework assessing if physiological measures can tap into PTSD Symptomology (Porges, 1995). It is therefore hypothesized that lower scores on auditory processing tests will be positively correlated with higher scores on Stress and PTSD measures. Additionally, it is thought that lower scores on auditory processing tedts as well as higher scores on PTSD and Stress Measures will be positively correlated with …

Inside The Zoo: Captive Giraffes’ Changes In Social Ties Throughout Membership Variations, Morgan Paige Howard

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many animals live in gregarious, fission-fusion societies where group size and composition are continually changing. Despite this, many studies have suggested that captive animals are capable of maintaining long term social bonds with others. In captive giraffes, effects on their social bonds during membership transitions have not been studied thoroughly, however, prior research does show that social bonds are a defining factor in non-captive animals. Captive giraffe social network patterns were investigated at the Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens using all occurrence behavioral data. Based on previous research, I hypothesized that when one of the individuals in the group was …

Distractors As A Tool To Increase “Self-Control” In Pigeons (Columba Livia), Peyton Mueller

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In the successive delay-discounting task, all trials start with a stimulus to which a response results in a small amount of reinforcement (smaller-sooner). If no response is made, the stimulus changes and a response results in a larger reinforcer (larger-later). The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a non-reinforced distractor (a stimulus to which responding has no programmed consequence) as a method of increasing the proportion of larger-later (LL) choices in a successive delay-discounting task. Earlier research studying the use of distractors may have inadvertently associated the distractor with reinforcement. Four experiments were conducted and each …

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines two personality traits: exploration and neophobia, which could influence human-elephant conflicts. Thirty-one semi-wild elephants were tested over two trials using a custom novel puzzle tube containing three tasks and three rewards. Our studies show that elephants do vary significantly between individuals in both exploration and neophobia.

Tools For Thought: Artifacts From The History Of Comparative Psychology, Dylan Kerr

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the history of comparative psychology through close readings of apparatuses used in seminal experiments on animal behavior, drawing connections between seemingly disparate areas of human culture—including art, architecture, mythology, and economics—and the development of the science, with a particular focus on behaviorist and cognitive approaches.

Stress Levels In Cal Poly Student-Athletes Versus Non-Student-Athletes, Anthony Dean Mattle

Social Sciences

Comparative study between Cal Poly student-athletes and non-student athletes examining perceived stress levels and the prominence of six specific stressors (Schoolwork, money, future success, family, extracurricular, and time management). The data found no statistical significance between perceived stress levels and status as either an athlete or non-athlete. However, the data did show that status as an athlete or non-athlete had a statistical significance on where students ranked extracurricular activities among the six stressors.

Effect Of Environmental Enrichment On The Acquisition Of Sign-Tracking Of An Ethanol Bottle In The Home Environment, Amanda Pra Sisto

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Sign tracking is a Pavlovian conditioning procedure that has been used in preclinical drug-addiction research with rats to investigate individual differences in the attribution of incentive motivational value to reward cues that may lead to problematic behavior such as drug addiction. Animals demonstrate a tendency to interact with an object conditioned stimulus (CS) that signals the presentation or delivery of a reward, even though the delivery of the reward is independent of any interaction with the stimulus. Thus, it can be argued that sign tracking is a compulsive-like behavior, or an indication of compulsive “wanting” that is associated with increased …

The Association Between Objective And Subjective Socioeconomic Standing And Subjective Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis, Jacinth J. X. Tan, Michael W. Kraus, Nichelle C. Carpenter, Nancy E. Adler

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This meta-analysis tested if the links between socioeconomic status (SES) and subjective well-being (SWB) differ by whether SES is assessed objectively or subjectively. The associations between measures of objective SES (i.e., income and educational attainment), subjective SES (i.e., the MacArthur ladder SES and perceived SES), and SWB (i.e., happiness and life satisfaction) were synthesized across 357 studies, totaling 2,352,095 participants. Overall, the objective SES and subjective SES measures were moderately associated (r = .32). The subjective SES-SWB association (r = .22) was larger than the objective SES-SWB association (r = .16). The income-SWB association (r = .23) was comparable with …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Inquiry Into Experience, Expression, And Effect Of Gratitude Among Males And Females, Naved Iqbal, Supriya Srivastava, Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar

The Qualitative Report

Gratitude is a universal phenomenon that is experienced and expressed differently by individuals. The differences in experience and expression of gratitude are based on a number of factors, important among them is gender. There are very few studies that have explored gender differences using quantitative methods in gratitude interventions. However, this phenomenon can best be understood by employing qualitative methods like Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), as it is concerned with trying to understand any phenomenon, from the participant’s point of view. There is a paucity of research in this area. Therefore, we tried to explore experience, expression, and effects of …

Buddhist Psychology And Mindfulness: Does It Provide A Remedy For Western Shame?, Richard Biehl

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This writing explores shame and its distress. It does so through a historical examination of Western psychological theories of emotion compared to emotions as seen through Buddhist psychology, based upon scholars and authorities within these respective fields. Further, it explores some Western psychotherapeutic approaches used to alleviate (unhealthy) shame compared to Buddhist mindfulness methods for alleviating aversive emotions and their efficacy, alone or in combination. The question examined is whether mindfulness grounded in Buddhist psychology and teachings, when applied within Western therapeutic settings and populations, is an effective and appropriate means to help alleviate aversive states of shame.

To identify …

The Academic Success And Beyond-Academic Wellbeing Of High Functioning Autistic Boys: A Policy-Professional Care-School-Parent Ecological Perspective, Evelyn Sauceda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High Functioning Autistic (HFA) boys have significant social, emotional, and cognitive difficulties and unique cognitive abilities that require special support from stakeholders in their ecology (policy makers, care providers, schools, and parents). The quality of such support and its ecological integration are of poor quality. The purpose of this study was to report on the perceptions of parents of HFA boys about their children’s academic and beyond-academic experiences as understood within a policy-care provider-school-parent ecological framework. This study contributes to the limited ecological literature on the topic. This exploratory, qualitative, phenomenological, non-experimental, and cross-sectional research study used a non-probability, purposive, …

Using Object-Choice Tasks To Investigate Sensory Perception In Sunda Pangolins (Manis Javanica), Joshua Dipaola

Theses and Dissertations

Pangolins are one of the most heavily poached, yet least understood mammals in the world. In this study, we used an object-choice task to assess the ecological relevance and use of sensory information in Sunda pangolin foraging behavior. This is the first controlled experiment on pangolin behavior to our knowledge.

Regional Differences In Wild North American River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Behavior And Communication, Sarah Walkley

Dissertations

This study focuses on the vocalization repertoires of wild North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) in New York and California. Although they are the same species, these two established populations of river otters are separated by a significant distance and are distinct from one another. River otters are semi-aquatic social predators that can be found throughout North America. This is the first study to examine the vocalizations of wild river otters, and results are compared across field sites in the different regions. River otter vocalizations and behaviors in New York were recorded using Bushnell Aggressor trail cameras that …

Agonistic Grooming In Multiple Lemur Species, Jennie L. Christopher

Dissertations

Social behaviors are represented in every animal species regardless of the level of sociability found in the species. At the very least, conspecifics must interact for the continuation of the species. Depending on species, social behavior could merely consist of mating and territorial disputes, it could consist of a multitude of social behaviors that provide a way of navigating a complex societal structure, or it could consist of any level of interaction between those extremes. However, the behaviors that make up these social repertoires are not universal across species. They could differ in either the form or function of the …

Reported Behavioural Differences Between Geldings And Mares Challenge Sex-Driven Stereotypes In Ridden Equine Behaviour, Anna Aune, Kate Fenner, Bethany Wilson, Elissa Cameron, Andrew Mclean, Paul Mcgreevy

Anthropomorphism and Anthropocentrism Collection

Horse trainers and riders may have preconceived ideas of horse temperament based solely on the sex of the horse. A study (n = 1233) of horse enthusiasts (75% of whom had more than 8 years of riding experience) revealed that riders prefer geldings over mares and stallions. While these data may reflect different sex preferences in horses used for sport, they may also reduce the chances of some horses reaching their performance potential. Further, an unfounded sex prejudice is likely to contribute to unconscious bias when perceiving unwanted behaviours, simplistically attributing them to demographic characteristics rather than more complex legacies …

Sequential Analysis Of Livestock Herding Dog And Sheep Interactions, Jonathan Early, Jessica Alders, Elizabeth R. Arnott, Claire M. Wade, Paul Mcgreevy

Interactive Behavior Collection

Livestock herding dogs are crucial contributors to Australian agriculture. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies of the behavioural interactions between dog and livestock during herding. A statistical approach that may reveal cause and effect in such interactions is lag sequential analysis. Using 48 video recordings of livestock herding dogs and sheep in a yard trial competition, event-based (time between behaviours is irrelevant) and time-based (time between behaviours is defined) lag sequential analyses identified several significant behavioural interactions (adjusted residuals greater than 2.58; the maximum likelihood-ratio chi-squared statistic for all eight contingency tables identified all sequences as highly significant …

Social Referencing In The Domestic Horse, Anne Schrimpf, Marie-Sophie Single, Christian Nawroth

Recognition Collection

Dogs and cats use human emotional information directed to an unfamiliar situation to guide their behavior, known as social referencing. It is not clear whether other domestic species show similar socio-cognitive abilities in interacting with humans. We investigated whether horses (n = 46) use human emotional information to adjust their behavior to a novel object and whether the behavior of horses differed depending on breed type. Horses were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimenter positioned in the middle of a test arena directed gaze and voice towards the novel object with either (a) a positive or (b) …

Musical Dogs: A Review Of The Influence Of Auditory Enrichment On Canine Health And Behavior, Abigail Lindig, Paul Mcgreevy, Angela Crean

Stress Collection

Music therapy yields many positive health outcomes in humans, but the effects of music on the health and welfare of nonhuman animals vary greatly with the type of music played, the ethology of the species, and the personality and learning history of individual animals. One context in which music therapy may be used to enhance animal welfare is to alleviate stress in domestic environments. Here, we review studies of the effects of music exposure on dogs as a case study for the implementation of music therapy in veterinary medicine. Nine reports of experimental testing for the therapeutic effects of music …

Is Enrichment Always Enriching And How Would You Know? Unintended Consequences And The Importance Of Formal Assessment Of Enrichment Programs In Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Heidi Lyn, Hannah Bahe, Megan S. Broadway, Mystera M. Samuelson, Jamie K. Shelley, Tim Hoffland, Emma Jarvis, Kelly Pulis, Delphine Shannon, Mobashir Solangi

Student Publications

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are viewed as a highly intelligent species capable of complex behaviors. This requires marine parks to maintain dynamic environmental enrichment programs in order to ensure dolphins’ optimal psychological and physiological well-being while in human care. In this study, two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of different forms of enrichment on the behavior of four bottlenose dolphins. In Experiment 1, multiple forms of novel enrichment resulted in a shift away from individual swim patterns – a change that is associated with increased behavioral diversity and so often considered an improvement in animal welfare …