Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

The Benefits Of Art Therapy On Stress And Anxiety Of Oncology Patients During Treatment, Helen Shiepe

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Within the last ten years research on art therapy and its positive impact on oncology patients’ stress and anxiety during treatment has been minimal. Oncology patients whether they are children or adults when diagnosed experience similar reactions due to their diagnosis, treatment, and in some cases end of life care. The current question is whether or not art therapy does have a positive impact on decreasing the stress and anxiety with oncology patients while undergoing treatment. Deane, Fitch & Carmen (2000), discussed art therapy as a healing art that is “intended to integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual care by facilitating …

Alternative Approaches To Police Interventions When Responding To Mental Health Crises Incidents, Karen Rivera Apolinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: This study explored mental health workers perspectives on alternative approaches in responding to mental health crises.

The study was carried out in Southern California, in collaboration with mental health workers who currently work or previously have worked in mental health crisis. It adopted a post-positivists paradigm and data was gathered through individual interviews with mental health workers who have direct experience with mental health crisis response in the community and with the police. The twenty participants in the study were men and women working in the mental health field, and of various backgrounds, licensures, and ages.

The study found …

The Association Between Vigorous Physical Activity And Alcohol Use, Christina James, Emily Junkin, Cathy Lau-Barraco

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Evidence supports a positive association between excessive exercise and alcohol use among young adults. Past research has looked at the effects of medium-intensity physical activity regarding alcohol use prevention among college students, suggesting a positive linear association between these two variables. However, prior research has primarily focused on men. Thus, questions regarding health-compromising behaviors, such as excessive drinking and exercise among women, remain to be investigated. Further, questions have been raised concerning the pattern of association between vigorous physical activity and alcohol use among men versus women. The present study aims to replicate prior research by evaluating (1) the association …

Gender And Deception: Moral Perceptions And Legal Responses, Gregory Klass, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Decades of social science research has shown that the identity of criminal defendants and alleged victims often affects case outcomes. Parties’ race, gender, class, and age affect decisions of prosecutors, judges, juries, and other actors in the criminal system. Less studied has been how identity might affect other forms of legal regulation. This essay begins to explore how parties’ gender might figure into legal decisionmakers’ responses to deceptive behavior. More specifically, we explore the hypothesis that ordinary people tend to perceive deception of women as more wrongful than deception of men, and that such perceptions can affect both case outcomes …

Anxiety Disorders And Executive Functions: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis Of Reaction Time And Accuracy, Nadyanna M. Majeed, Yi Jing Chua, Meenakshi Kothari, Manmeet Kaur, Frosch Y. X. Quek, Matthew H. S. Ng, Wee Qin Ng, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Anxiety disorders, one of the most common classes of psychological disorders, have been shown to result in a decreased quality of life. Although some research suggests that anxiety disorders are linked to impairments in executive functioning, the inconsistency in the current literature yields an unclear conclusion on the relationship between the two. The current meta-analysis systematically investigated 55 records (N = 4601; kReactionTime = 44, kAccuracy = 79) that compared various groups with anxiety disorders to healthy controls on executive function tasks. Overall, our meta-analysis showed that individuals with anxiety disorders exhibited significant deficits in performance efficiency (reaction times) on …

Insights Into Accuracy Of Social Scientists' Forecasts Of Societal Change, Igor Grossma, Andree Hartanto, Nadyanna M. Majeed, Et Al See Comments For Full List Of Authors

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How well can social scientists predict societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? To answer these questions, we ran two forecasting tournaments testing accuracy of predictions of societal change in domains commonly studied in the social sciences: ideological preferences, political polarization, life satisfaction, sentiment on social media, and gender-career and racial bias. Following provision of historical trend data on the domain, social scientists submitted pre-registered monthly forecasts for a year (Tournament 1; N=86 teams/359 forecasts), with an opportunity to update forecasts based on new data six months later (Tournament 2; N=120 teams/546 forecasts). Benchmarking forecasting accuracy revealed that social …

The Effects Of Screen Time On Children, Jacqueline Valdepenas

Nursing | Senior Theses

With the development of technology continuing to grow at a fast-paced pace in society, children are now becoming exposed to such technology at a younger age. The introduction of smartphones and tablets, which is defined as screen time in this paper, are being introduced to children as young as 6 months of age. Instead of children playing with toys recommended for their age, they use screen time for their play needs and entertainment. Some parents use screen time as a distraction and/or relief for their own needs when the child is upset or they’re unable to tend to the child. …

K-5 Elementary Alternative Program: A Case Study, William E. Scheuer Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to examine how the K-5 elementary alternative program All Students Can Thrive (ASCT) used student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. There is a lack of research on K-5 elementary alternative programs, such as ASCT, and specifically those that integrate student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. Literature does not contain universally accepted interventions that are effective in the elementary alternative setting to help students return to the mainstream classroom setting better prepared to display appropriate behaviors when a student is removed from a mainstream classroom setting due to disruptive behaviors. …

An Investigation Of Lab-Based Research Procedural Fidelity: The Relationship Between Experimenter Infant-Directed Speech, Temperament And Language Proficiency, Tess A. Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether developmental researchers were influenced in the laboratory by the characteristics of children who participate in their research. I hypothesized that experimenters, as social partners, would adapt their speaking and other behaviors to the child’s perceived temperamental profile and language proficiency. I specifically focused on whether experimenters would adhere to the experimental laboratory procedure of two elicited imitation tasks, Feed Bear and Make a Rattle, in an archival dataset. Participants included 61 primarily white 15-month-olds. Coders transcribed infant directed speech (IDS) and analyzed transcriptions for total words, words per sentence, and …

Psychosocial Factors And E-Cigarette Use: An Application Of Problem Behavior Theory, Samantha A. Fitzer

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has increased among the U.S. population in recent years with estimates showing that nearly 15% of American adults have tried an e-cigarette (Villarroel et al., 2020). Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) has successfully outlined a variety of factors that affect an individual’s engagement in an identified problem behavior. In an attempt to better understand e-cigarette use among an emerging adult population (i.e., college student population), the purpose of the current study was to explore how a large subset of PBT factors may differentiate between e-cigarette user categories (nonuser, non-daily user, daily user). A sample of 487 college …

Responses To Covid-19 Threats: An Evolutionary Psychological Analysis., Stephen M. Colarelli, Tyler J. Mirando, Kyunghee Han, Norman P. Li, Carter Vespi, Katherine A. Klein, Charles P. Fales

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Responses to COVID-19 public health interventions have been lukewarm. For example, only 64% of the US population has received at least two vaccinations. Because most public health interventions require people to behave in ways that are evolutionarily novel, evolutionary psychological theory and research on mismatch theory, the behavioral immune system, and individual differences can help us gain a better understanding of how people respond to public health information. Primary sources of threat information during the pandemic (particularly in early phases) were geographic differences in morbidity and mortality statistics. We argue that people are unlikely to respond to this type of …

Hiv And Early Life Stress On Neuroimaging And Risky Behavior, Paola Garcia Egan

Dissertations

This study examined the interactive effects of early life stress (ELS) and HIV on brain morphometry, diffusion-basis-spectrum-imaging (DBSI), risky decision-making, and sex-risk behavior. 122 people with HIV (PWH) and 113 people without HIV (PWoH), free of major psychiatric illness and neurological confounds, were stratified into high (≥ 3 events) vs. low (< 3 events) ELS [PWoH/low ELS (n = 57), PWoH/high ELS (n =56), PWH/low ELS (n = 43), PWH/high ELS (n = 79)] and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, DBSI, neuropsychological, and risky-behavior assessment; all PWH were virologically controlled. Compared to PWoH, PWH had smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), parietal lobes, insula, caudate and anterior cingulate. No ELS effects were detected in volumetric measures. Significant interactions were found between HIV serostatus and ELS on the OFC and on cellularity of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus after multiple comparisons adjustment. Specifically, PWH/high ELS exhibited significantly smaller OFC and PWoH/high ELS show significantly larger OFC than the other groups. PWoH/high ELS exhibited higher DBSI cellularity (neuroinflammation proxy) of the inferior-occipital-fasciculus compared to PWoH/high ELS. Regardless of HIV status, executive function moderated the relationship between the OFC and sex-risk behavior such that individuals within the sample who performed above average on a measure of executive function and had a larger OFC reported fewer sex partners in past six months than individuals with smaller volumes. No interaction was found between HIV serostatus and ELS on risky behavior measures. Clustering analyses defined ELS subgroups in PWH that were determined by demographic characteristics, duration of infection, recent CD4+ T-cell count, nadir CD4+ T-cell count and high/low ELS.Even in PWH that are virologically controlled, without major current psychiatric comorbidities, there is evidence of a synergistic impact of ELS and HIV on OFC volumes. Higher volumes in the OFC were detrimental when associated with lower executive function scores or advantageous when associated with higher executive function. Findings suggest that ELS is associated with different brain signatures among PWoH and virally suppressed PWH. However, ELS was not directly associated with risky behaviors, and subgroups in PWH were characterized by demographic variables, past substance use and HIV clinical variables.

Impact Of Adolescent Social Isolation On Adult, Binge-Like Ethanol Consumption And Plasma Corticosterone In High-Alcohol-Preferring Mice, Eva Cullins

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Adolescent stress exposure increases the likelihood of alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder (AUD) in adulthood; however, it is not clear how genetic and environmental factors interact to increase risk. This study examined how adolescent social isolation affects adult binge-like ethanol drinking and levels of the stress hormone corticosterone in male and female mice with a genetic predisposition toward high alcohol preference (HAP). Twenty-eight HAP mice were separated into group-housed (GH) and socially isolated (SI) conditions (n = 13, 13). Binge drinking was assessed using a drinking in the dark (DID) procedure. Blood samples were taken before DID and after …

Event-Related Potentials Of Individuals With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Performing The Attention Network Task, P. Dennis Rodriguez, Justin E. Stauffacher

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The current study sought to investigate the neural basis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by examining the performance of individuals with ADHD on the Attentional Networks Test (ANT) by Fan, McCandliss, Sommer, Raz, and Posner (2002), while recording electroencephalography (EEG) utilizing event-related potentials (ERP) methodology. Fifty-seven university students were divided into three groups: control, ADHD-inattentive subtype (ADHD-IA), and ADHD-combined/hyperactive impulsive subtype (ADHD-C/HI). The average peak amplitudes of the P300 waveform for each group were compared and analyzed for performance on each attention network measured by the ANT: the alerting network, the orienting network, and the executive control network. The average P3 …

Evaluating The Stigma Toward Counseling In The African American Community, Jamaica Chapman

Doctoral Projects

Self-stigma is an important factor that hinders help seeking through the use of mental health services. “Self-stigma is the reduction of an individual’s self-esteem or self-worth caused by the individual self-labeling herself or himself as someone who is socially unacceptable” (Vogel et al., 2006, p. 325). Attitudes have suggested both men and women struggle with depression in this population, and that they are reluctant to addressing psychological problems. Most are overly concerned about the stigma associated with mental illness. Though some are open to seeking treatment through mental health services, religious coping in this community is the most preferred method …

The Differential Effects Of Acoustic Discriminations On Operant Learning Performance And Neurogenesis In Male And Female Zebra Finches, Kristena L. Newman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adult neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons, occurs throughout the lifespan in most organisms. However, though neuronal proliferation occurs daily, most of these neurons do not survive to become incorporated into preexisting neural circuitry and become fully functioning neurons. In the mammalian brain, adult neurogenesis occurs within the hippocampus, a brain region known to be important in learning and memory. In rats, successful acquisition of certain learning tasks increased new neuron numbers when the learning was sufficiently challenging (Curlik and Shors, 2011). It has also been demonstrated that a spatial discrimination task requires new neurons when the discrimination is more …

In Covid-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety With Little-To-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence From 84 Countries, Charles A. Dorison, Et. Al., Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message …

Multisensory Integration In Children With Adhd: A Behavioural Investigation, Bernice Leung

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders in children. Sensory processing difficulties are often reported in individuals with ADHD. Multisensory integration (MSI) refers to the ability to integrate multiple sensory inputs into a single consistent perceptual experience. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether children and adolescents with ADHD have altered multisensory integration and multisensory temporal processing, as compared to typically developing (TD) youth.

Psychospiritual Experiences Of Belonging: A Mixed-Method Study Of Veterans With Combat Trauma, Nicholas A. Fadoir

Theses and Dissertations

Belongingness is a fundamental human motivation to be a part of something larger than oneself. Many combat Veterans who return to civilian life lack a sense of belonging and, in turn, possess elevated rates of depression, substance use, and suicide. Compounding these issues, Veterans may separate from the military bearing psychosocial-spiritual war injuries, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury. Recently, spiritually integrated treatment interventions have addressed the psychological, moral, and spiritual effects of combat trauma. However, Veteran mental health interventions and supports must also acknowledge the ways a loss of belonging further impacts the psychosocial-spiritual functioning of returning …

Threat Detection From Phenotypic Facial Features, Melissa L. Kern

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated people's ability to accurately and quickly make snap judgments of trustworthiness from viewing individuals' faces (Todorov, Pakrashi, & Oosterhof, 2009; Willis & Todorov, 2006). The study of how human beings make meaningful predictions from phenotypic facial features about trustworthiness, among other traits, warrants additional scrutiny and investigation. Further, other research suggests the facial width to height ratio (fWHR) is a more specific indicator used by human beings to gauge, often accurately gauge, trustworthiness with some accuracy. As such, past research found participants rated people with larger fWHRs as less trustworthy and more aggressive (Carré & McCormick, …