Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

It Is In The Cards: An Analysis Of Greeting Card Selection Through Identity And Personality, Emily Topilow

Honors Projects

In this exploratory study, personal and social identity were analyzed for their effect on how consumers choose greeting cards. Factors, including personality, relationships, and identity will be qualitatively analyzed to understand people’s buying habits. Certain factors, including gender, personality, relationships, type of card, and frequency of receiving and giving cards, will be qualitatively analyzed for frequency. The two theories analyzed were the Social Identity Theory (SIT) and the Identity Theory (IT).

525 college-aged students were surveyed to examine their purchasing habits of greeting cards. The results showed that the identity of the card giver and the identity of the card …

Critical Embodied Praxis For Social Justice And Peace Educators: A Story Of Personal Transformation Through Analysis Of My Jewish And Settler Identities, Cara Michelle Silverberg

Capstone Collection

In this paper, I examine definitions of and relationships between violence, oppression, peace, liberation, and embodiment in the context of critical pedagogy in order to construct a theory of critical embodied praxis for social justice and peace educators. Considering the body to be a tangible vessel through which narratives and mechanisms of violence are expressed and maintained, I explore the potential of the body to be a vessel through which liberatory narratives may be generated and shared. After constructing a theory of critical embodied praxis, I illustrate this framework in action through a personal narrative that explores the intersections …

Meeting Point: Partner Dancing As Couple's Therapy, Rami Eckhaus

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This dissertation research explored the experience of partner dancing as a therapeutic process that reflects upon the dynamics and interactions of couples who are in the process of couple's therapy. The research also aimed to gain insight on the ways in which the experience of partner dancing can support these couples' therapeutic processes. Partner dancing is a dance-form that is based on the interaction between two individuals. Such interaction requires the dancing couples to communicate on many levels that may uncover layers of their relational dynamics. In this research, five couples who were undergoing couple's therapy were asked to participate …

Mentalized Affect, Self-Acceptance, And Self-Criticism, Elizabeth Berry

Honors Program Theses

Mentalization, the ability to reflect upon and revalue emotions and thoughts, is of increasing interest to clinicians and researchers alike due to its predictive and moderating effects for adaptive behavior and positive outcomes. Mentalized affectivity, reflecting upon and revaluing one’s emotions and emotional process, has only recently been made measurable through the Mentalized Affectivity Scale (Greenberg et al., 2017). The present study sought to investigate the unexplored relationship between mentalization, more specifically mentalized affectivity, selfacceptance, and self-criticism. I hypothesized higher mentalized affectivity to correlate positively with self-acceptance and negatively with self-criticism. Participants (N = 193) were recruited through an online …

Spatio-Temporal Distribution Of Negative Emotions In New York City After A Natural Disaster As Seen In Social Media, Oliver Gruebner, Sarah R. Lowe, Martin Sykora, Ketan Shankardass, Sv Subramanian, Sandro Galea

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Disasters have substantial consequences for population mental health. We used Twitter to (1) extract negative emotions indicating discomfort in New York City (NYC) before, during, and after Superstorm Sandy in 2012. We further aimed to (2) identify whether pre- or peri-disaster discomfort were associated with peri- or post-disaster discomfort, respectively, and to (3) assess geographic variation in discomfort across NYC census tracts over time. Our sample consisted of 1,018,140 geo-located tweets that were analyzed with an advanced sentiment analysis called ”Extracting the Meaning Of Terse Information in a Visualization of Emotion” (EMOTIVE). We calculated discomfort rates for 2137 NYC census …

Advancing Research On Psychological Stress And Aging With The Health And Retirement Study: Looking Back To Launch The Field Forward, Alexandra D. Crosswell, Madhuvanthi Suresh, Eli Puterman, Tara Gruenewald, Jinkook Lee, Elissa S. Epel

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was designed as an interdisciplinary study with a strong focus on health, retirement, and socioeconomic environment, to study their dynamic relationships over time in a sample of mid-life adults. The study includes validated self-report measures and individual items that capture the experiences of stressful events (stressor exposures) and subjective assessments of stress (perceived stress) within specific life domains.

Methods

This paper reviews and catalogs the peer-reviewed publications that have used the HRS to examine associations between psychological stress measures and psychological, physical health, and economic outcomes.

Results

We describe the research to date …

What’S Your Story? Assessing Childhood Maltreatment Using The Thematic Apperception Test In An Adult Inpatient Population., Thachell C. Tanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a robust evidence that childhood maltreatment contributes to the development of adult psychopathology (Brown & Anderson, 1991; Johnson, Cohen, Brown, Smailes, & Bernstein 1999; Johnson, Smailes, Cohen, Brown, & Bernstein, 2000; Ruggiero et al., 1999). However, the identification of childhood maltreatment remains a methodological problem that results in inconsistencies in the reported incidence and psychological sequelae of maltreatment. A primary method for identifying histories of childhood maltreatment among adults is retrospective self-report measures which are susceptible to multiple biases (Briere, 1992; Cicchetti & Rizley, 1981; Shaffer, Huston, & Egeland, 2008). This present study suggests that childhood maltreatment can …

Indirect & Displaced Aggression: The Role Of Comparison Based Traits And Cognitive Vulnerabilities, Niki M. Knight

Dissertations

The present study explored the relationships of contingent self-esteem, dispositional envy, and two cognitive vulnerabilities (i.e., anger rumination and fear of negative evaluation) to indirect aggression (IA) and displaced aggression (DA) in a college student sample (N = 346). Despite the theoretical relevance of these personality and cognitive factors to aggression, there is little empirical evidence linking them to the perpetration of IA and DA. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical multiple regression were used to test the utility of these constructs in accounting for unique variance in IA and DA and to assess the potential role of participant gender. Participants …

Social Work Trauma Interventions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Kassie Baumann

Senior Honors Theses

According to Lynne Weilart (2013), in her article on the reasons why people seek out therapy, trauma is the number one reason people attend counseling. Many different trauma-informed approaches are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. Some of these approaches are as follows: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT);Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT); Trauma Systems Therapy (TST); Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP); and Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) (de Arellano, Danielson, Ko, & Sprauge, 2008). The effectiveness of each trauma intervention will be examined. DBT is one of these trauma interventions that is growing …

Dancing, Mindfulness, And Our Emotions: Embracing The Mind, Body, And Sole, Alisha M. Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project examines dance, as an intervention and mindfulness practice that assists with managing our emotions. There is a need for dance therapy in social institutions such as, healthcare facilities, schools, and community centers. Dance therapy has the potential to reduce negative emotions, create mindfulness, improve self-expression, and promote a healthy well-being. I am proposing that dance therapy is applied as a regular practice in social institutions to develop mindfulness and promote emotional stability.

In this study, I argue that dance therapy can contribute to our well-being long term. In addition to this written thesis, a visual component of …

Interpretation Bias Toward Ambiguous Information In Burnout And Depression, Renzo Bianchi, Eric Laurent, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jay Verkuilen, Chantal Berna

Publications and Research

Burnout has been defined as a job-related syndrome combining pervasive fatigue and loss of motivation. In recent years, evidence has mounted that burnout may reflect a depressive condition. In this study, we expanded on past investigations of burnout-depression overlap by focusing on interpretation biases toward ambiguous information among the two entities. We conducted a web-based study involving 1056 participants (83% female; mean age: 42.87). Burnout symptoms were assessed with the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure and depressive symptoms with the PHQ-9. The Ambiguous Scenarios Test (AST), a measure of interpretation bias validated among dysphoric individuals, was the outcome of interest. The AST …

The Relationship Between Resilience, Coping, And Social Media, Lillian N. Hurley

Masters Theses

This study was designed to explore relationships between measures of resilience, coping strategies, social media usage, and depression. Resilience refers to one's ability to endure and recover from adversity. Many theories about what contributes to the development resilience have been explored without a clear consensus. Taormina (2015) argued that adult personal resilience is comprised of four dimensions - determination, endurance, adapatability, and recuperability. Coping, a construct related to resilience, is the process of regulating emotions, cognition, behavior, physiological responses, and the environment in response to stressful events. Past research indicated those with poorer mental health have the tendency to use …

Just World Beliefs, Identity Development, And Social Justice Advocacy Of Counselor Trainees, Sara Rundlett

All Master's Theses

This was the first study exploring the relationship between the belief in a just world, identity development, and social justice advocacy (SJA). A mixed methods design was conducted using a nationwide sample of ninety-seven counselor-in-training participants. Hypotheses included positive correlation between identity development and SJA, negative correlation between belief in a just world and SJA, and negative correlation between belief in a just world and identity development. Results were not significant but provided implications for future research and counselor training programs.

The Implications Of Attachment Orientation And Personality Pathology For Detecting Deception, Madeline Luedke

Global Tides

This study investigated the implications of attachment orientations and personality dimensions for accuracy in detecting deception from emotionally-based statements. Thirty individuals (M age = 25.33, range = 18-52) completed a survey that included the Personality Inventory for DSM-V-Brief Form and the Relationship Styles Questionnaire to measure the individual differences in question. To measure deceit, 7 mental health counselors volunteered to participate in a video-recorded mock interview concerning their current romantic partner—3 individuals provided false responses, and the remaining 4 offered true answers. The audio-visual vignettes were imbedded in the survey and subjects viewed each, then responded a question asking …

Relationship Of Optimism And Suicidal Ideation In Three Groups Of Patients At Varying Levels Of Suicide Risk, Jeff C. Huffman, Julia K. Boehm, Scott R. Beach, Eleanor E. Beale, Christina M. Dubois, Brian C. Healy

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Optimism has been associated with reduced suicidal ideation, but there have been few studies in patients at high suicide risk. We analyzed data from three study populations (total N=319) with elevated risk of suicide: (1) patients with a recent acute cardiovascular event, (2) patients hospitalized for heart disease who had depression or an anxiety disorder, and (3) patients psychiatrically hospitalized for suicidal ideation or following a suicide attempt. For each study we analyzed the association between optimism (measured by the Life-Orientation Test-Revised) and suicidal ideation, and then completed an exploratory random effects meta-analysis of the findings to synthesize this data. …

Stall Seat Journal As A Social Norms Intervention For Risky Drinking Among College Students, Zackaria I. Niazi, Mariam Alshagra, Rhianna G. Ericson, Jinni Su Ph.D., Linda C. Hancock Ph.D.

UROP Posters

Alcohol use is prevalent among college students and many participate in risky drinking behaviors over the course of their college careers, leading to negative consequences. The social norms theory posits that individuals behave based on their perceptions of peer behavior. Overestimation of peers’ problem behavior is associated with increase in their own problem behavior. The Stall Seat Journal (SSJ), developed by the Wellness Resource Center, is used in part to help correct common misperceptions, including those related to peer alcohol use. Our study aimed to see if Stall Seat Journal readership was associated with perception of peer alcohol use among …

The Effects Of A Trauma-Informed Care Training Program On Mental Health Professionals Knowledge, Skills, And Attitudes With The Smi, Angelina Pelletier

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Trauma has been found to be highly prevalent among individuals diagnosed with SMIs. Mental health professionals have been reported to misdiagnose or avoid addressing trauma in this population. There is a need to provide information about trauma and to foster awareness among mental health professionals who are treating individuals diagnosed with SMIs. With a TIC approach, operating from a recovery-oriented philosophy, there have been interventions created to address trauma and SMIs with the aim of developing awareness about trauma and the impact it may have on someone’s life. With these factors in mind, mental health professionals should be competent in …

Exploring The Role Of Intersectionality On Cardiovascular Disease Risk In Sexual Minorities, Leia Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Previous research has shown that sexual minority individuals (SM) are twice as likely to smoke, twice as likely to be overweight or obese, and less likely to be physically active than heterosexual persons; all of which place SMs at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). While information on CVD risk by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status is well documented, there is scant literature examining race, gender, and the potential CVD risk in SMs. The purpose of this study was to examine CVD risk in sexual minorities.

Method: The current study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent …

Apples And Oranges: An Argument For Psychopathy As A Formal Diagnosis, Katherine K. Mcmann

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

When one thinks of the psychopath, an image of one of the notorious serial killers of the 1980s generally pops in their head- Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, or the Green River Killer. While still rare, psychopaths encompass much more than just serial killers, and they have a unique presentation that lies outside the confines of any current diagnosis. Characteristics such as lack of empathy, impulsivity, grandiosity, and poor behavioral controls are included in various personality disorders. The Narcissist will show lack of empathy and grandiosity while the Borderline will have poor behavioral controls and impulsivity, for example. However, the construct …

Fatalism, Diabetes Management Outcomes, And The Role Of Religiosity, Vincent Berardi, John Bellettiere, Orit Nativ, Slezak Ladislav, Melbourne Hovell, Orna Baron-Epel

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This study aimed to determine whether fatalistic beliefs were associated with elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and to establish the role of religiosity in this relationship. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 183 Jewish adults with diabetes visiting a large medical center in northern Israel. Self-administered questionnaires assessed level of religiosity, fatalistic beliefs, diabetes management behaviors, and demographic/personal characteristics; laboratory tests were used to measure HbA1c. Multivariate regression indicated that fatalism was significantly associated with HbA1c (β = 0.51, p = 0.01). The association was no longer statistically significant after including self-reported religiosity in the …

Distinguishing Originality From Creativity In Adhd: An Assessment Of Creative Personality, Self-Perception, And Cognitive Style Among Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Adults, Jean-Pierre J. Issa

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Theses

Debates over whether Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) relates to high levels of creativity have been hampered by a lack of rigor when defining creativity. The purpose of the present study was to go beyond the rhetoric by empirically investigating creative personality, creative self-perception, and cognitive style among 49 ADHD adults. Comparative analysis to studies of non-ADHD samples revealed distinctive tendencies: A mean group score of 115.71 (SD=18.02) on the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) indicated preferences for originality, nonconformity, paradigm-breaking, and low efficiency that was over one standard deviation higher than average non-ADHD population scores. Combined inattentive/hyperactiveimpulsive subtypes (n …

Trauma In Patients With Serious Mental Illness: The Acceptability And Impact Of A Brief Psychoeducational Intervention For Trauma In The General Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Setting, Kevin E. A. Giangrasso

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMIs) are high, with an estimated 49% to 100% being exposed to potentially traumatic events. The consequences of these disorders are serious and lasting, with PTSD being the costliest of mental health disorders. At the same time, established evidence-based treatments for PTSD are often not feasible in treatment settings utilized by individuals with SMIs, namely the general acute inpatient psychiatric hospital. Psychoeducational approaches have been incorporated as a component of evidence-based interventions for trauma and have been feasibly implemented in the general acute inpatient psychiatric hospital. The …

On Reporting The Onset Of The Intention To Move, Uri Maoz, Liad Mudrik, Ram Rivlin, Ian Ross, Adam Mamelak, Gideon Yaffe

Psychology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In 1965, Hans Kornhuber and Luder Deecke made a discovery that greatly influenced the study of voluntary action. Using electroencephalography (EEG), they showed that when aligning some tens of trials to movement onset and averaging, a slowly decreasing electrical potential emerges over central regions of the brain. It starts 1 second ( s) or so before the onset of the voluntary action1 and continues until shortly after the action begins. They termed this the Bereitschaftspotential, or readiness potential (RP; Kornhuber & Deecke, 1965).2 This became the first well-established neural marker of voluntary action. In that, the RP allowed for more …

Cluster B Personality Disorders Separated By Gender Expectations, Brianna Kloss

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Criticisms of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000), the most widely recognized system for classification of psychological disorders in the U.S., including gender discriminating disorders and diagnoses, have existed for all editions of the DSM. Arguably, gender construction has a profound influence on the standards and evaluation of normal and abnormal behaviors. Concern for the presence of gender bias of personality disorders has been raised within the DSM, in part, by the frequent diagnoses made according to gender stereotypes. The DSM-IV-TR characterizes personality disorders as marked distress and …

Possible Psychosocial Benefits Of Having A Sibling With A Disability, Jenna M. Talbott

Senior Honors Theses

Possible psychosocial benefits resulting from exposure to siblings with disabilities are investigated in the current study. Previous literature has generally overlooked the possibility of psychosocial benefits by exclusively focusing on the negative effects of having a sibling with disabilities. Contact theory suggests that the increased exposure to individuals with disabilities should increase positive attitude toward those who are struggling with disadvantages. This investigation hypothesized that this tendency would be manifested as elevated empathy and compassion in individuals who have siblings with disabilities, and that these traits would be influenced by certain demographic variables. A survey was distributed, and the responses …

Research Brief: "Housing Instability And Mental Distress Among Us Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study highlights potential relationships between veteran mental health and veteran housing instability. This research shows that veterans reporting housing instability have an increased likelihood of symptoms of mental distress and mental illness, especially among female, younger, and unmarried veterans. Future researchers should conduct similar studies throughout the United States, as well as look at long-term data for the purpose of providing ways to improve quality of life for at-risk veterans.

Meta-Analysis Of Social-Personality Psychological Research, Blair T. Johnson, Alice H. Eagly

CHIP Documents

This publication provides a contemporary treatment of the subject of meta-analysis in relation to social-personality psychology. Meta-analysis literally refers to the statistical pooling of the results of independent studies on a given subject, although in practice it refers as well to other steps of research synthesis, including defining the question under investigation, gathering all available research reports, coding of information about the studies and their effects, and interpretation/dissemination of results. Discussed as well are the hallmarks of high-quality meta-analyses.

African American Families' Expectations And Intentions For Mental Health Services, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Richard Thompson, Barbara L. Dancy, Tisha R. A. Wiley, Sylvia P. Perry, Jason Wallis, Yara Mekawi, Kathleen Knafl

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

A cross-sectional qualitative descriptive design was used to examine the links among expectations about, experiences with, and intentions toward mental health services. Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 32 African American youth/mothers dyads. Content analysis revealed that positive expectations were linked to positive experiences and intentions, that negative expectations were not consistently linked to negative experiences or intentions, nor were ambivalent expectations linked to ambivalent experiences or intentions. Youth were concerned about privacy breeches and mothers about the harmfulness of psychotropic medication. Addressing these concerns may promote African Americans’ engagement in mental health services.

Eating Disorder Onset In Young Girls: A Longitudinal Trajectory Analysis, Carolyn M. Pearson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

To investigate whether there are different patterns of development for binge eating and purging behavior among pre-adolescent and early adolescent girls, I conducted trajectory analyses of those behaviors in 938 girls across eight waves of data from the spring of 5^th grade (the last year of elementary school) through the spring of 9^th grade (the first year of high school). Analyses revealed four separate developmental trajectories for binge eating behavior (labeled none, increasing, decreasing, and high steady) and three separate developmental trajectories for purging behavior (labeled none, dabble, and increasing). Fifth grade scores on risk factors that were …

Big Five Personality Traits, Pathological Personality Traits, And Psychological Dysregulation: Predicting Aggression And Antisocial Behaviors In Detained Adolescents, Katherine S. L. Lau

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study tested the utility of three different models of personality, namely the social and personality model, the pathological personality traits model, and the psychological dysregulation model, in predicting overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency in a sample of detained boys (ages 12 to 18; M age = 15.31; SD = 1.16). Results indicated that the three personality approaches demonstrated different unique associations with aggression and delinquency. The psychological dysregulation approach, composed of behavioral dysregulation, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive dysregulation, emerged as the overall best predictor of overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency. After controlling for the Big Five personality …