Theory and Philosophy Commons^™

Reducing The Risk Of Suicide On An Inpatient Acute Behavioral Health Unit, Thomas I. Coleman Mr

Master's Projects and Capstones

Evidence suggest for those who have successfully committed suicide in the form of asphyxiation inside locked facilities are more than likely due to patient bathroom doors. The current unit consists of 30 inpatient medical-psychiatric beds serving the adult and geriatric populations. The goal is to ensure patient safety by removing patient bathroom doors and replacing them with breakaway shower curtains for those exhibiting direct signs and symptoms of suicidal ideations with a plan. The specific aim is to improve patient outcomes by decreasing the number of deaths or attempted suicides. With great results, this type of project has been implemented …

The Relationship Between Elevation, Connectedness, And Compassionate Love In Meaningful Films, Sophie Janicke, Mary Beth Oliver

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Expanding on the research of meaningful entertainment media and its effects, this study investigated the relationship between experiences related to elevation responses to film. Whereas research thus far has focused primarily on portrayals of altruism to elicit elevation, the results of this study show that portrayals of connectedness, love, and kindness in meaningful films are also able to elicit feelings of elevation. Moreover, elevation mediated the relationship between meaningful films and feelings of connectedness towards the transcendent, close others and toward one’s family; compassionate love towards close others; and compassionate motivation to love and be good to humanity. The study …

Applying The Philosophies Of The Beacon Model, Michael P. Raisch

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The purpose of this project is to apply all the knowledge and skills learned from a master’s degree in Creative Studies at Buffalo State college combined with personal experience in order to share perspective on what a “Beacon” is and how its core values are the foundation for enriching your life as well as the lives of those around you and how it all relates to Creativity. Furthermore, this project applies the concepts from the Beacon model more deeply through supporting philosophies and how the Halloween holiday naturally serves as a Beacon. There is a relationship due to the fact …

East-West Psychology Newsletter, Ciis

East-West Psychology Newsletter

This is the Fall 2015 edition of EWP Newsletter

Culture And Cognition: The Role Culture Plays In Cognitive Development In Rural Tanzania, Eileen Seissen

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper examines the perceived difference of cognition in a Tanzanian classroom. It also examines the effects culture has on cognition. It aims to answer the questions: What role does Tanzanian culture play in shaping the cognitive skills of its children? And, from an American trainers perspective, within an experiential learning environment, what cognitive differences are perceived in abstract thinking, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving? Nine American trainers, one Tanzanian trainer, and one Tanzanian student participated in my study. Each participant filled out a questionnaire geared toward understanding their training methods and perceptions of participant's skills and abilities. After …

How Does “Collaboration” Occur At All? Remarks On Epistemological Issues Related To Understanding / Working With ‘The Other’, Don Faust, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

Collaboration, if to occur successfully at all, needs to be based on careful representation and communication of each stakeholder’s knowledge. In this paper, we investigate, from a foundational logical and epistemological point of view, how such representation and communication can be accomplished. What we tentatively conclude, based on a careful delineation of the logical technicalities necessarily involved in such representation and communication, is that a complete representation is not possible. This inference, if correct, is of course rather discouraging with regard to what we can hope to achieve in the knowledge representations that we bring to our collaborations. We suggest …

How Does “Collaboration” Occur At All? Remarks On Epistemological Issues Related To Understanding / Working With ‘The Other’, Don Faust, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

Collaboration, if to occur successfully at all, needs to be based on careful representation and communication of each stakeholder’s knowledge. In this paper, we investigate, from a foundational logical and epistemological point of view, how such representation and communication can be accomplished. What we tentatively conclude, based on a careful delineation of the logical technicalities necessarily involved in such representation and communication, is that a complete representation is not possible. This inference, if correct, is of course rather discouraging with regard to what we can hope to achieve in the knowledge representations that we bring to our collaborations. We suggest …

Dualism And Doctrine, Dov Fox, Alex Stein

Indiana Law Journal

What kinds of harm among those that tortfeasors inflict are worthy of compensation? Which forms of self-incriminating evidence are privileged against government compulsion? What sorts of facts constitute a criminal defendant’s intent? Existing doctrine pins the answer to all of these questions on whether the injury, facts, or evidence at stake are “mental” or “physical.” The assumption that operations of the mind are meaningfully distinct from those of the body animates fundamental rules in our law.

A tort victim cannot recover for mental harm on its own because the law presumes that he is able to unfeel any suffering arising …

The Mission As A Master Signifier: Documentary Film, Social Change And Discourse Analysis, Joseph Van Der Naald

Publications and Research

This field note explores the ways in which the documentary MIND ZONE: Therapists Behind the Front Lines (2014), directed by Dr. Jan Haaken, moves viewers into innovative and critical stances towards the U.S. military mental health program. Using a discourse analysis of the film and transcripts of interviews conducted by Haaken, I trace the deployment of the term “the mission” to show how the film teases apart problematic military discursive practices. Jacques Lacan’s theory of the four discourses is used to analyze how MIND ZONE’s content challenges audiences to produce their own critically informed opinions.

Caregiving, Services, And Advocacy Among Siblings Of Individuals With Disabilities, John Kramer, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

In today’s presentation, we will make a case for how and why a critical disability studies perspective would deepen and strengthen our knowledge about the lifelong experiences of siblinghood. We have a wide range of goals today and will present for you some of our current thinking on this relatively small, but expanding interest in sibling-disability research. First, we highlight how sibling disability research has differed and been narrower in focus than other research about siblings where neither has a disability and trace the reason for this to institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation. We then identify the impact of the overwhelmingly psychological …

The Relationship Between Self-Determination And Client Outcomes Among The Homeless, Samuel M. Hanna

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This paper has attempted to determine if there is a significant relationship between self-determination and client outcomes among the homeless. The study has been based upon the conceptual framework set forth in Self-Determination Theory. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between self-determination and client outcomes among the homeless. Using a data collection instrument, based on empirically validated instrumentation, clients from several homeless service providers in the City of San Bernardino were assessed for the level of self-determination and autonomy support they experience within these agencies. Outcome measures included such things as whether the client was going …

The Effects Of Tiered Goals And Bonus Pay On Performance, Jessica L. Urschel

Dissertations

This study examined the relative effects of tiered goals, difficult goals, and moderate goals on performance when individuals earned bonus pay for goal achievement. The experimental design was a 3 x 2 mixed factorial design. Participants were 44 undergraduate students performing a computerized data entry task that simulated the job of a medical data entry clerk. For each session, participants were paid a $4 base salary plus bonus pay contingent on goal achievement. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a) a multiple, tiered goal level condition, in which participants earned $1 in bonus pay for achieving an …

Power To The People: A Comprehensive Look At Crowdsourcing Initiatives In Cultural Institutions, Danielle Pace

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Today, crowdsourcing has become an integrative approach to completing projects using the help of the general populous. These projects aid museum staff by processing large quantities of data, which otherwise could not be completed due to time and/or staff restraints. Through crowdsourcing, cultural institutions have the ability to outsource these tasks to volunteers, who can complete them at much faster rates. Although staff members are needed to validate and supervise these projects, crowdsourcing remains a useful tool in increasing public interactions and project efficiency.

This thesis presents a thorough outline of what crowdsourcing is, how it is being utilized, and …

Personality And Happiness, Brianna L. Kirkpatrick

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The connection between personality, emotions, and experience have been of interest to researchers for many years. The present study was designed to assess the specific connection between personality, happiness, and happiness inducing behaviors (HIB) within individuals. This study also extends previous research by assessing whether any or all of these variables were connected to the recommendations an individual would make to improve the mood of a hypothetical other. The data from 424 university students were analyzed to determine the relationship between self-reported extraversion and neuroticism and self-reported affect, engagement in HIB, and the recommendations provided. The results revealed the expected …

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 …

Can Motivated Cognition Exacerbate A Bias?, Luis O. Camacho, Saera R. Khan

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This study examined the relationship between the need for cognition and impression formation, particularly with common biases. Upon listening to a speaker with either a heavy Japanese or Los Angeles accent, participants rated the speaker on how well-informed they believed she appeared to be on the subject she spoke about and on intelligence. Despite the need for cognition, speakers with a Los Angeles accent were rated less favorably on intelligence, compared to Japanese accented speakers. However, the high need for cognition participants utilized a stereotype in impression formation, as their ratings for both speakers resonated with the speaker’s respective stereotype. …

An Analysis Of Free-Will, Matthew Campbell

Honors Theses

The following paper is a broad analysis of the concept of free-will. Free-will can be defined as having the ability to act outside of necessity, such that one can be the ultimate author and initiator of their actions and decisions. Stated differently, possessing free-will allows an individual to be held accountable for their behaviors, because those behaviors are the result of something controllable within the individual, rather than something external to the individual and beyond their control.

A belief in free-will is widely assumed, for we hold individuals both legally and morally accountable for their actions. Nevertheless, it remains a …

Machines And Agency: Understanding The Ai Ethics Problem, Addison T. Rahn

Senior Honors Theses

Mankind has long been interested in the unique, the strange, and the new; perhaps nothing more fully encompasses this interest than recent work on developing Artificial Intelligence (AI). With this research, however, comes a great many questions. Are AIs alive? Are AIs moral agents? Can machines be held legally culpable for their actions? These questions, and more, continue to be a topic of much debate in the academic community, and will no doubt remain of interest for years to come. It is the purpose of this research project, however, to investigate the far-reaching effects of this academic debate. While the …

Psychology And The Bible: A Word To The Wise, Janelle Wong

Education Undergraduate Research

The nature versus nurture controversy has been a topic of debate for many years. Although modern psychology does not directly examine the concept of wisdom, it does attempt to examine the idea of intelligence. Modern psychologists have proposed various positions either supporting one side or the other. Most psychologists agree that intelligence is determined by both heredity and the environment. Conversely, the Bible only provides evidence for the environmental influences of wisdom. Although modern psychology views intelligence as being both genetically and environmentally influenced, the Bible views wisdom as being gained through experience.

East-West Psychology Newsletter, Ciis

East-West Psychology Newsletter

This is the Spring 2015 edition of EWP News.

Moishe Postone And The Critique Of Traditional Marxism: Helplessness And The Present Moment Of The Great Acceleration, Alexander M. Stoner, Andony Melathopoulos

Book Sections/Chapters

This chapter situates Moishe Postone's critique of traditional Marxism in relation to the present moment of the Great Acceleration. We engage a close reading of Postone reinterpretation of Marx's mature theory of capital with specific focus on the linkage between economic growth and ecological degradation, and how this linkage is necessary connected to social domination in modern capitalist society. Postone's Marxian theory is significant because, as we demonstrate, it allows one to grasp societally induced environmental degradation following WWII in a critical and reflexive manner. The chapter concludes by discussing the growing sense of helplessness that defines the present moment …

Georg Lukács (1885-1971) And The Critique Of Reification: On The Dialectical Genesis Of The Great Acceleration, Alexander M. Stoner, Andony Melathopoulos

Book Sections/Chapters

This chapter situates Lukács' critique of reification (1923) in relation to the emergence of the Great Acceleration. We develop Lukács' critique through the issue of the increasing rationalization of industrial and administrative work in the early twentieth century. In do so, we show how Lukács is able to relocate the continued relevance of Marx's insights with respect to the deeper structure of capitalist society in his consideration of the differential manner in which proletariat and bourgeois class consciousness approach the problem of social contradictions. We then discuss how, for Lukács, the overcoming of reification (or the failure to do so) …

Tornado Trouble: How Can Current Tornado Warnings Be Improved?, Jonathan P. Evans

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

There are many unnecessary deaths from tornadoes every year (NOAA.org, 2013). Although there have been great advancements in tornado warning systems (Coleman, Knupp, Spann, Elliot, & Peters, 2010), more changes to systems could be made to motivate people to take action in preparation for tornadoes (Brotzge & Donner, 2013). Protection motivation theory outlines the process by which we assess threats and decide whether or not preventative actions are worth performing. If the threat is perceived as severe enough and the preventative actions are seen as capable of mitigating the threat, the individual is motivated to act (Rogers, 2000). One means …

Reducing Subjectivity: Meditation And Implicit Bias, Diana M. Ciuca

CMC Senior Theses

Implicit association of racial stereotypes is brought about by social conditioning (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006). This conditioning can be explained by attractor networks (Sharp, 2011). Reducing implicit bias through meditation can show the effectiveness of reducing the rigidity of attractor networks, thereby reducing subjectivity. Mindfulness meditation has shown to reduce bias from the use of one single guided session conducted before performing an Implicit Association Test (Lueke & Gibson, 2015). Attachment to socially conditioned racial bias should become less prevalent through practicing meditation over time. An experimental model is proposed to test this claim along with a reconceptualization of consciousness …

New Insights Into William James’S Personal Crisis In The Early 1870s: Part 1. Arthur Schopenhauer And The Origin & Nature Of The Crisis, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article, the first in a two-part sequence, will cast new light on the well-known “crisis of William James” by presenting evidence regarding the previously unrecognized role of Arthur Schopenhauer’s thought in shaping and intensifying the way in which James experienced this crisis. It will also relate Schopenhauer’s influence to prior issues that had concerned James, and in an appendix it will provide an overview of other areas in which Schopenhauer seems to have influenced James, both during and after his personal crisis. The second article in this sequence will present evidence in support of the strong possibility that John …

New Insights Into William James's Personal Crisis In The Early 1870s: Part Ii. John Bunyan And The Resolution & Consequences Of The Crisis, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article, the second in a two-part sequence, will cast new light on the strong possibility that John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress played a previously unrecognized role in inspiring James’s means of defense against the frightening hallucination and panic fear that characterized his well-known personal crisis in the early 1870s. It will also present an argument about the influence of his defensive measures upon his subsequent views on the nature and importance of attention and will in human life. Along the way, it will identify James’s specific, newly discovered copy of Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and the specific, newly discovered …

Unequally Distributed Psychological Assets: Are There Social Disparities In Optimism, Life Satisfaction, And Positive Affect?, Julia K. Boehm, Ying Chen, David R. Williams, Carol Ryff, Laura D. Kubzansky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Socioeconomic status is associated with health disparities, but underlying psychosocial mechanisms have not been fully identified. Dispositional optimism may be a psychosocial process linking socioeconomic status with health. We hypothesized that lower optimism would be associated with greater social disadvantage and poorer social mobility. We also investigated whether life satisfaction and positive affect showed similar patterns. Participants from the Midlife in the United States study self-reported their optimism, satisfaction, positive affect, and socioeconomic status (gender, race/ethnicity, education, occupational class and prestige, income). Social disparities in optimism were evident. Optimistic individuals tended to be white and highly educated, had an educated …