Applied Behavior Analysis Commons^™

Development Of A Lung Cancer-Specific Model For Support Group Interest, Laura Testerman

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Despite high levels of both emotional and physical distress and desire for utilization of support group services, lung cancer patients rarely participate in these supportive services. Lung cancer survivors’ interest in and use of supportive psychosocial services remains poorly understood, and Internet-based services may be of particular benefit to this population. The Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations, which emphasizes Predisposing (i.e., demographic as well as attitudes about support services), Enabling (i.e., accessibility of services), and Illness (i.e., need for services based on health) factors, was applied to the prediction of survivors’ behavioral intention to participate in face-to-face support groups (F2F) …

Relationships Among Person And Environment Variables And Turnover Intention In Adults With Multiple Sclerosis, Wanda Shull

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The organization and management literature presents a large base of research on the concept of turnover intention, i.e. the point at which a person decides to leave employment. What is known is that turnover intention is the precursor to employee turnover, yet very little research exists in the rehabilitation field to address this concept in terms of persons with chronic illness and disability. This study examines this variable in the population of adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Employing multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to analyze three blocks of variables and their impact on turnover intention, the results show that groups …

A Combined Fmri And Dti Examination Of Functional Language Lateralization And Arcuate Fasciculus Structure: Effects Of Degree Versus Direction Of Hand Preference Author Links Open Overlay Panel, Ruth E. Propper, Lauren J. O'Donnell, Stephen Whalen, Yanmei Tie, Isaiah Norton, Ralph O. Suarez, Lilla Zollei, Alireza Radmanesh, Alexandra Golby

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The present study examined the relationship between hand preference degree and direction, functional language lateralization in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and structural measures of the arcuate fasciculus. Results revealed an effect of degree of hand preference on arcuate fasciculus structure, such that consistently-handed individuals, regardless of the direction of hand preference, demonstrated the most asymmetric arcuate fasciculus, with larger left versus right arcuate, as measured by DTI. Functional language lateralization in Wernicke’s area, measured via fMRI, was related to arcuate fasciculus volume in consistent-left-handers only, and only in people who were not right hemisphere lateralized for language; given the …

Trial And Error, Delayed Prompting, And Reinforcement Of Prompted Responses In Teaching Receptive Identification Of Pictures, Kristen Lynn Gaisford

Dissertations

Three strategies to train receptive identification of pictures were compared: (a) trial and error, (b) delayed finger-point prompt followed by a reinforcer, and (c) delayed finger-point prompt followed by the spoken word, "good". These three strategies were compared using a multi-element design, assessing the performance of four children, ranging from two to four years of age, selected from a classroom that provides services to children with Early Childhood Developmental Delays (ECDD). Two children mastered the receptive identification of pictures at the same rate regardless of the strategy. For the remaining two participants, the rate of mastery was the same for …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (Pbss) Across Racial Groups, Sasha Joy Lambert

Dissertations

Alcohol consumption among college students, and the negative alcohol-related consequences that accompany that consumption, have been consistent concerns for colleges and the general public for several decades. Protective behavioral strategies are emerging in the literature as a potentially effective means of reducing harm to students; however, psychometrically sound measures for protective behavioral strategies are only in a development stage at this point. One such measure, the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS), showed particular promise in this area, but previous research suffered from sample limitations, particularly very low sampling of students of color. In the current study, additional items were added …

Does Religiosity Enhance Ability To Self-Regulate?, Kaylyn Lee Watterson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Although previous research has found positive associations between self-regulation and religiosity, very few studies investigating the relationship exist. This study was an attempt to find experimental evidence supporting the prediction that high levels of religiosity enhance ability to self-regulate. Seventy-nine students at Butler University, 15 males and 64 females, were randomly assigned to a depleted or full self-regulatory resources group. Participants in the depleted resources group squeezed a handgrip for as long as possible before working on a difficult task that required self-control. Participants in the full resources group proceeded directly to the self-control task.

Locus Of Control And The Age Difference In Free Recall From Episodic Memory, Paul Amrhein, Judith K. Bond, Derek Hamilton

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors investigated the relation of locus of control (LOC) to age differences in free-recall memory performance. Older and younger participants completed P. C. Duttweiler's (1984) Internal Control Index (ICI) and subsequently performed free-recall memory tasks. Compared with the younger participants, the older participants exhibited poorer recall with more intrusions and uncorrected repetition errors as well as reduced categorical clustering. For the older participants with less internal LOC, recall proportion and item-pair associative recall clustering were lower than for the older participants with more internal LOC. By contrast, the younger participants did not exhibit any LOC effects in their recall …

Methodological Challenges In Union Commitment Studies, Mahmut Bayazit, Tove Hammer, David L. Wazeter

Tove H Hammer

Excerpt] Methodological problems in studies of union commitment were identified and illustrated with data from 4,641 members and 479 stewards in 297 local teachers’ unions. Using a 20-item union commitment scale, results confirmed the existence of 3 substantive factors and 1 method factor at the individual level of analysis: loyalty to the union, responsibility to the union, willingness to work for the union, and a factor of negatively worded items. Tests of measurement invariance showed that the scale captured commitment for rank-and-file members but not for union stewards. The authors also found partial measurement invariance between long-time and newer members …

Campus Safety: Assessing And Managing Threats, Mario Scalora, Andre Simons, Shawn Vanslyke

Mario Scalora Publications

Since the shootings at Virginia Tech, academic institutions and police departments have dedicated substantial resources to alleviating concerns regarding campus safety. The incident in Blacksburg and the similar tragedy at Northern Illinois University have brought renewed attention to the prevention of violence at colleges and universities.

Campus professionals must assess the risk posed by known individuals, as well as by anonymous writers of threatening communications. The authors offer threat assessment and management strategies to address the increased demands faced by campus law enforcement, mental health, and administration officials who assess and manage threats, perhaps several simultaneously.

Markers Of Marijuana Use Outcomes Within Adolescent Substance Abuse Group Treatment, Paul Amrhein, Brett Engle, Mark Macgowan, Eric Wagner

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives: Despite their popularity, little is known about what distinguishes effective from ineffective or even iatrogenic adolescent group interventions. Methods: Audio recordings and transcripts from 19, 8—10 session, school-based treatment groups comprised of 108, substance abusing 10- to 19-year olds were analyzed. Group leader empathy was measured globally, while two new constructs, group commitment, and peer response, were measured using discourse analysis. All variables were measured at the group level. Results: Associations among these process variables were tested and supported, as were the hypothesized associations between both group member language constructs and marijuana use outcomes. Conclusions: These findings were consistent …

Validating Kreiner And Ashforth’S Organizational Identification Measure In An Engineering Context, Morrie Mullins, Christian M. End, L. Carlin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Relationship Between Escape And Gambling Behavior, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Kevin S. Montes, Danielle M. Christopher

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Recent research suggests that there is a potentially strong relationship between gambling as a means of escape and the presence of pathological gambling. The goal of the present study was to establish whether there was a correlation between endorsing gambling as a means of escape and how participants played video poker in a laboratory setting. Forty eight participants completed several questionnaires and then played video poker. Results demonstrated that endorsement of gambling as a means of escape, as measured by the Gambling Functional Assessment (Dixon & Johnson, 2007), was significantly positively correlated with number of credits risked during video-poker play. …

Recreational And Pathological Gamblers Preferences For Slot Machines Yielding Unequal Reinforcement, Mark R. Dixon, Kelly N. Paulson, Becky L. Nastally

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present study examined the effects of relational training and the transformation of stimulus function on the slot machine preferences of non-problem an problem gamblers. In order to extend previous research, the present study programmed the slot machines with unequal payouts values and employed a relational training reversal phase in order to enhance experimental control. Results showed no significant differences between the response allocations of nonproblem and problem gamblers; however, results did indicate significant differences in response allocations between the three slot machine tasks.

Sogs Scores Correlate With Rates Fo Delay Discounting Of Hypothetical Monetary Amounts, But Not Non-Monetary Outcomes, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Adamn Derenne

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Although several studies have reported that gamblers display steeper rates of delay discounting than non-gamblers, other research has failed to find a systematic relationship between self-reported frequency of gambling and discounting of different outcomes. One hundred fifty six college students self-reported their frequency of gambling, completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and then completed a delay-discounting task involving five different outcomes. Self-reported frequency of gambling was correlated with discounting of one outcome (finding an ideal dating partner) and the correlation was in the opposite direction of what would be expected from the literature. SOGS scores were significantly and positively …

A Review Of Petry & Madden’S Chapter Discounting And Pathologicalgambling In Impulsivity: The Behavioral And Neurologicalscience Of Discounting, Becky L. Nastally

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Petry and Madden contribute a revealing chapter on the relationship between discounting and pathological gambling to Madden and Bickel’s (2010) Impulsivity: The Behavioral and Neurological Science of Discounting. Within the chapter, the authors note the increased interest in the topic of delay discounting and gambling while presenting some obscurities in the existing body of literature further research will need to address, including the co-occurring role of substance abuse in pathological gamblers. Additionally, the chapter outlines theoretical interpretations of discounting as they relate to gambling behavior as well as highlights the need for further research in the area of probability discounting …

Behavioral Gerontology And Gambling: The Jackalope Of Behavior Analysis, Jonathan C. Baker

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Older adults constitute over one third of all gamblers in the United States. As the baby-boom generation continues to reach older adulthood, this proportion is likely to grow. To date, behavior-analytic research on gambling has focused on younger populations. Although such research is necessary and important, the present account will suggest that additional research should focus on studying older gamblers. The purpose of the present account is to review the literature that exists on typical behavior changes observed in older-adult populations and the implications for those changes related to current behavior-analytic research in gambling.

The Effect Of Relational Training On The Near-Miss Effect In Slot Machine Platers, Becky L. Nastally, Mark R. Dixon

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

In the current study, six slot machine players were exposed to two concurrently available computer simulated slot machines (one yellow and one blue). The blue slot machine produced a high frequency of near-miss outcomes and the yellow slot produced no such outcomes. Both machines produced reinforcement on a random-ratio 10 schedule and response options were presented in a free operant paradigm. After a 50-trial exposure, participants completed multiple exemplar training and testing as well as a stimulus-sort task to form a relation between the color blue and ‘worse-than’ and then were re-exposed to the slot machine task for another 50 …

Temporal Discounting And Gambling: A Meaningful Relationship?, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Pathological gambling is an important and large societal problem. Theorists and researchers have linked pathological gambling to rates of temporal discounting, although not all attempts to do so have been successful. Unfortunately, popular measures of temporal discounting each have weaknesses, and studies of discounting have tended to focus on one particular commodity – hypothetical monetary rewards. Evidence exists to suggest that problem and pathological gambling is also linked to escape contingencies. If so, these findings could potentially explain the link that has been found between temporal discounting and gambling. Implications and predictions of this possibility are discussed.

The Impact Of Derived Relational Responding On Gambling Behavior, Simon Dymond, Bryan Roche

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present article describes existing research on the impact of derived relational responding on gambling behavior. First, it is argued that a greater understanding of the role of verbal behavior in gambling behavior is made possible by research findings and theoretical advances in research on derived relational responding generally, and the transformation of stimulus functions in particular. Second, the findings of several recent studies are described in order to describe the key features of this contemporary approach for verbal events. Finally, implications for the verbally based treatment of disordered gambling are outlined.

Upward And Onward, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

No abstract provided.