Applied Behavior Analysis Commons^™

From Theory To Practice: A True-Crime Podcast, Lauren V. Peckham

Senior Honors Projects

The Criminal Element is an innovative, victim-centered podcast that bridges the gap between criminological theory and real-world criminal cases. The podcast is designed as an educational resource for undergraduate Criminology and Criminal Justice students, alongside general audience members interested in learning more about criminological theory. Through the lens of true crime, this podcast is an engaging exploration of foundational and advanced theories while avoiding sensationalism and exploitation, a prevalent problem among true crime media. Each episode connects criminological theoretical concepts – such as strain, social learning, and social disorganization – to contemporary and historical cases, providing listeners with accessible and …

The Role Of Asd On The Reality Television Dating Show, "Love On The Spectrum", Priscilla Muñoz

Posters - 2025

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder that is determined by early challenges in social and communicative behaviors (Taddei et al., 2024), has been studied widely in all stages of life, from toddlers to the elderly (Heijnen-Kohl et al, 2017; Debodinance et al., 2017). • Every case of ASD is unique in that each can present different behaviors, however, there are three behaviors that are prevalent in many cases of ASD. The behaviors that are found and studied often include repetitive behavior (Martinez-Gonzalez, 2022), emotional meltdowns (Lewis & Stevens, 2023), and restricted interests (Jasim & Perry, 2023).

• Specifically, …

The Presence Of Substance Use In Individuals From A Non-Traditional Family Structure, Manuel Lastra-Cruz, Isac Perez, Mariana Torres, Cayla Travers

Posters - 2025

This study will analyze the relationship between family structure and substance use behaviors among young adults aged 18 to 25. The aim is to compare substance use between participants raised in nontraditional family structures (foster care or adoptive families) and those raised in biological families. The study will use a cross-sectional design where 200 participants will be recruited (100 from each family structure group). Data collection included the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), an Intake Form Assessment, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The participants will complete these surveys that will be used to measure the relationship between substance …

Traditional Gender Roles And Intimate Partner Violence: Exploring Relationships Between Religion, Self-Control, And Alcohol, Carina J. Pawlak

Posters - 2025

IPV is the physical, psychological, or sexual aggression by a married, unmarried, or live-in partner (Patra et al., 2018).

- Male perpetrators are reported for 92% of the IPV cases compared to females and are more likely to severely injure or kill their partners (Levitt et al., 2008).

- In a traditional community that had lax attitudes toward IPV, there was an 80% increase in the likelihood of perpetration and women’s consent to the violence increased their likelihood of victimization by 11% (Linos et al., 2013).

- To maintain traditional gender roles found within religious communities, some men may use …

An Evaluation Of Exercise-Related Self-Efficacy Metrics Following A Resistance Training Program In Individuals Treated For Cancer, Kayla S. Adler

Senior Theses

As the number of cancer survivors grows, managing treatment side effects and promoting healthy behaviors like physical activity is crucial. Low exercise self-efficacy, an individual's belief in their capability to perform exercise, is a significant barrier to physical activity adherence. This study assessed if an 8-week supervised resistance training program could improve self-efficacy for exercise (SEE) and outcome expectations of exercise (OEE) in individuals treated for cancer. Participants (n=25) attended twice-weekly, one-hour sessions. SEE and OEE scales were administered pre- and post-intervention. Results indicated a significant increase in SEE scores (mean difference = 8.96 ± 19.87, p = 0.041), demonstrating …

Between Healing And Harm: An Analysis Of Residential Treatment Centers For Youth, Virginia B. Finch

Senior Theses

Residential treatment for children and adolescents has evolved greatly. Today, a therapeutic individualized treatment approach is standard. Despite past and present improvements in care, this paper examines the persistent challenges faced by residential treatment centers (RTCs) serving youth with mental health issues. This paper argues that residential treatment, while sometimes necessary, has the potential to cause more harm than good due to systemic issues like overdiagnosis, inappropriate medication, and the troubled teen industry’s (TTI) profit-focused approach.

On The Provenance Of Software Systems: Automating Software Traceability With Knowledge Graph And Large Language Model Synergy, Tyler Procko

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The present dissertation delineates a system that enables those engaged in software development to automatically generate and maintain project life cycle provenance. All projects are implemented and made manifest with the development of artifacts, e.g., papers, code files, etc. Tools exist to accelerate artifact creation, but little focus is paid to the processes that produce them. In terms of Ontology, or, from Ancient Greek, the study of being, the two most basic entities in reality are Continuant and Occurrent, or, roughly, “Artifact” and “Process”. This dissertation posits that for any created artifact, its process of creation, i.e., its life …

The Contribution Of Task Difficulty And Adult Reliability On Children's Academic Task Persistence, Ella M. Wheelbarger

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Task persistence plays a crucial role in children's academic success and achievement of long-term goals. Contextual variables may influence child persistence such as reward source reliability, task difficulty, or task arrangement. We evaluated the effects of reward source reliability on children's academic task persistence with task difficulty. The perception of the reliability of the reward source was manipulated by making a commitment to provide a reward after completion of the task, but upon completion, delivery was delayed to the next day. The study was designed to examine the extent to which experiencing prior disappointments would decrease persistence times on subsequent …

Exploring Emotion Classification Of Indonesian Tweets Using Large Scale Transfer Learning Via Indobert, Connor Shaw, Phillip M. Lacasse, Lance E. Champagne

Faculty Publications

Business, political, and other social structures create strong motivation to understand the attitudes, motivations, feelings, and emotions of a population of interest. Social media is a rich source of self-disclosed information by individuals from all walks of life about virtually every domain of the human experience, but the vast quantity of data is impossible to effectively analyze without advanced natural language processing algorithms. This research creates a transfer learning based emotion classification model for Indonesian language Twitter data. Transfer learning consists of two steps: pre-training and fine tuning. Three variations of Indonesian Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (IndoBERT) are tested …

The Athletes’ Plate: Understanding Influences Of Athletes’ Eating Attitudes, Exercise Behaviors, And Body Image Satisfaction, Delanie Patterson, Brooklynn Raacke, Ryssa Schlaefli

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Delanie Patterson¹, Brooklynn Raacke¹, and Ryssa Schlaefli²

¹Department of Psychology, Fort Hays State University

²Department of Health and Human Performance, Fort Hays State University

Faculty Sponsors: Brooke Mann¹, Ph.D. and Jessica Phelan², Ph.D.

¹Department of Psychology, Fort Hays State University

²Department of Health and Human Performance, Fort Hays State University

Hays, Kansas

Introduction: Disordered eating (DE), compulsive exercise (CE), and body image satisfaction (BIS) negatively affect male and female athletes. These variables each have a core symptomology but continue to evolve with the increased usage of social …

Nature-Based Education As A Learning Tool: Unleashing The Power Of Nature-Based Education In Egyptian Primary Schools. "The Effects Of Outdoor Learning And Open-Air Classrooms On Primary School Students In Egypt.", Nermeen Bekhiet

Theses and Dissertations

When learning modalities are tailored to each student's preferences and needs, academic success follows. This effect is contingent upon both individual and surrounding factors. Many schools in Egypt and the Middle East do not concentrate on how exposure to nature and nature-based learning can affect how the learner perceives his or her learning area. Most schools in Egypt have no exposure to nature to allow students to explore the world in their way; there is no room for diverse students to excel. Therefore, this exploratory research aims to reestablish a connection between private primary school students and the natural world …

Beauty Comes With A Price: But How Much Is It Worth It, Fabliha Afia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The global skincare market, valued at 104.24 billion dollars in the year 2022, is very heterogeneous, ranging from prestige brands to more drugstore types. Even when the same key ingredients are present, the latter often sells for much higher due to branding and packaging and the aura of prestige created. This capstone project entitled "Beauty comes with a price: but how much is it worth?" investigates if such higher costs are justified due to superior quality or are driven by non-functional factors. It systematically compared the high-end versus drugstore skincare products in categories like sunscreens, serums, and exfoliants with respect …

A Critical Challenge: Understanding And Addressing Insider Threats, Alan Saquella

Publications

In today’s hyper-connected world, insider threats have become one of the most pressing challenges for organizations. While external attacks like ransomware and hacking often dominate the headlines, insider threats posed by employees, contractors, or others with internal access are equally, if not more, dangerous. Whether arising from malice, negligence or coercion, insiders have unparalleled access to sensitive systems and data, making their actions potentially catastrophic. The critical insider security issues organizations face and the actionable strategies for mitigation are actions that organizations must take.

Praktik Mindfulness Pada Dewasa Awal Menggunakan Gantungan Kunci “Mindkey”, Cokki Cokki, Jessisca Meidy, Natalie Ocberta, Cintya Yunetta, Anjeli Febrianti, Wellen Febriani

Jurnal Sosial Humaniora Terapan

The high level of psychological issues faced by young adults in Indonesia is a pressing problem that needs immediate attention, as it can impact an individual's life satisfaction. The strategy employed in this PKM (Student Creativity Program) is mindfulness practice using a keychain. The keychain, designed for a week-long mindfulness practice, is named "Mindkey." The implementation of this PKM involved four stages: preparation, execution, realization, and evaluation. The execution stage involved 213 young adult participants to select the final design of the Mindkey product from three available designs: one created by the PKM Team, one by a freelance design service, …

A Call For Increased Support For Spanish-Speaking Workforce, Clients And Caretakers In Applied Behavior Analysis (Aba), Michele Curd, Becky Nastally

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2020) requires all professionals certified in ABA service delivery to provide services in a manner that supports client rights and the diversity of the client population. As the Hispanic/Latinx and Spanish-speaking client population increases in the United States over time, an increased need for culturally competent professionals in the field of mental health care is made apparent. Though there are professionals delivering multilingual and culturally competent services, it is unknown how many Spanish-speaking behavior analysts practice in the United States as the BACB does not currently collect data regarding certificant …

We Need Deep Theories Of Virtues: Four Principles For Advancing Research On Virtues In Positive Social Science, David S. Bright, Jason M. Stansbury, Bradley A. Winn

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This article aims to help Positive Social Science (PSS) researchers develop theories of virtues, whether of single, discrete virtues, or several virtues considered together. We argue that a weak virtue theory assumes a virtue consists of single constructs, whereas a deep virtue theory assumes a virtue is an integrated system of constructs. We briefly review indicators of weak theory in the PSS literature: definitional divergence, valence confusion, and conceptual incommensurability. Drawing from the field of Virtue Ethics, we suggest four essential attributes of a virtue that should guide the development of deep virtue theory. Any virtue is (1) holistic, in …

Identifying Personality In Reptiles And Assessing Welfare Implications For Their Roles As Ambassador Animals In An Educational Setting, Valery Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined behavioral variability and personality in 13 reptiles used as ambassador animals at the American Museum of Natural History. Observations across seasons and novel object tests revealed individual differences, behavioral components, and correlations. Findings emphasize reptilian complexity, highlighting welfare implications while underscoring the need for further research.

Numbered Heads Together: Student Outcomes, Teacher Acceptability, Teacher Burnout, And Maintenance Of Implementation, Nicole Parker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Numbered Heads Together (NHT) is a structured cooperative learning activity that supports active classroom participation from all students. The purpose of this study was to examine if NHT increased student cooperative behaviors and quiz scores, as well as whether teachers found the intervention acceptable and if teacher reported burnout improved. Three teacher participants and their respective students were recruited from a regional school based on teacher desire to improve classroom behavior management during cooperative learning times. A checklist of adherences to NHT steps was the primary measure. Classwide cooperative interactions were observed, and class average daily quiz scores were collected. …

Evaluating Distractions Of Undergraduate Students During Guided And Unguided Study Sessions, Roni Peleg

Masters Theses

In this study, we explore an intervention strategy aimed at decreasing distractions while studying. The participant was a third-year undergraduate psychology student with a concentration in neuroscience who did not have a personal structured study system. The researcher measured the percent of intervals in which a distraction occurred using interval recording during baseline and intervention phases. During the intervention phase, the participant was introduced to the productivity method referred to as the Pomodoro Ⓡ Technique. Using a reversal design, data were analyzed based on levels of distraction during baseline and intervention phases. The goal of this study was to evaluate …

Implementing Skill Based Treatment Within A Classroom Setting For Students With Autism: A Systematic Replication In An Alternative School Based Setting, Hayley Getz

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of implementing the Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) and Skill Based Treatment (SBT) in an alternative classroom setting with students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is much existing research that supports both in a clinical setting, however the school setting is lacking in research. The goal of this study was to teach three students with ASD who engage in challenging behaviors an appropriate way to communicate their needs, how to tolerate the removal of a preferred toy or activity, and to follow educational instructions instead of …