Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

Identity-Specific Positive Psychology Intervention For Sexual Minorities: A Randomized Control Trial, Sarah Job

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minorities experience mental and physical health disparities in comparison to heterosexual individuals due to minority stress (Branstrom et al., 2016; Kerridge et al., 2017; Meyer, 2003). Positive psychology interventions have improved mental and physical health (Antoine et al., 2018; Lambert D'raven et al., 2015), and therefore these interventions have potential to address health disparities. The current study tested an identity-specific intervention (n = 30) to a general positive psychology intervention (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) among sexual minorities. This built on a recent pilot study which tested the efficacy of an …

The Impact Of Mindfulness On Healthy Food Choices, Kaylea Hopfer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The practice of mindfulness has a long history in research, particularly psychological studies. In this paper I examine the effects of a short mindfulness intervention on healthy food purchases. Specifically, I developed an online survey and recruited 634 participants via Prolific between July 24 - July 27, 2020. I randomly assigned participants to either a mindfulness manipulation or a control condition. Following treatment (or control) participants completed a food choice task and various other control. Following the survey, I analyzed data using R version 4.0.2 (2020-06-22) and R-Studio. I estimated three different regression models, ordinary least squares (OLS), Poisson, and …

Facts From Fiction: Packaging Misinformation, Angel Ray Houts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research established that readers learn both accurate and inaccurate information from fictional stories. The current study explored factors that might moderate the impact of misinformation. Participants read fictional stories that contain three assertions; the first two were labeled as set-up assertions, and the last were labeled as the critical assertion. First, there was a manipulation of plausibility of information within the stories by presenting either assertions with truthful information, assertions with small lies (plausible misinformation), or assertions with big lies (implausible misinformation). Second, there was manipulation of reliability of the fictional stories by presenting big lies or truthful information …

Disgust Versus Anger-Relevant Trauma Analogues: Associations With Affect And Disclosure Behavior, Teah-Marie Bynion

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to high prevalence rates of sexual assault experienced by college-aged women, it remains important to consider factors associated with negative posttraumatic outcomes (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder). One factor consistently linked to negative outcomes following sexual assault is elevated peri- and posttraumatic disgust. Particularly, when such feelings are self-focused, peri- and posttraumatic disgust is linked with feelings of dirtiness (mental contamination). The current study extends this line of research to disclosure behavior. Disclosing a sexual assault to another person can be beneficial, however many survivors will never disclose. Theoretical accounts suggest that specific feelings associated with a sexual assault may …

Distress Tolerance As A Potential Target For Change: The Relationship Between Distress Tolerance, Craving, And Alcohol Consumption In A Lab-Based Experiment, Isabel F. Augur

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Distress tolerance (DT) has recently been studied as a potential catalyst for the development ofalcohol use disorder (AUD). Research exploring the relationship between DT and craving is limited and has primarily focused on nicotine craving. Furthermore, there are no current studies examining the relationship between DT and alcohol consumption. This study was designed to fill this gap in the literature, which may shed light on a potentially important target for alcohol use treatment. Additionally, the role of mindfulness was explored in the context of the relationship between DT and alcohol craving and consumption, with the intention of expanding on the …

Laughter As A Priming Agent For Change, Linnea M. Heintz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze the importance of laughter as a factor in influencing employee job satisfaction ratings. The Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985, 1997) and pulses of laughter were used in this study. To explore the relationship between laughter and job satisfaction, results of the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1994) were collected quarterly (four times a year) for three consecutive years, beginning six months prior to the start of the two-year study and six months post. The study sample was composed of 545 employees (34% male, 66% female) operating out of 10 employee-owned retail chain locations …

How Risk-Related Statistics, As Reported In News And Social Media, Are Linked To The Use Of The Public Transit System, Prashiddhi Pokhrel

Thinking Matters Symposium

Due to the pandemic, people have started relying more on televisions, news, social media, and other news outlets for guidance. Moreover, with the increasing amount of news, data, and information there is also an increase in the amount of misleading statistics. People’s opinions and decisions significantly depend on the data, statistics, and information that they are exposed to, as well as their sources. For this project, we want to look at how information and its sources are affecting the decision made by the general public for the usage of the Portland Transit System. It is very important to know why …

The Effects Of Acute Exercise On Retrieval Induced Forgetting, Walter Simpson

Honors Theses

Retrieval Induced Forgetting (RIF) is a type of active forgetting that may play beneficial and detrimental roles in long-term memory. The benefit of the retrieval of certain information is that information will become more readily available following subsequent retrieval; a concept termed the retrieval practice effect (RP). The detrimental effect of RIF may be that, upon the subsequent recall of certain information, related information may be inhibited from recall. The effects and mechanisms of RIF have remained a topic of debate among neuroscientists, psychologists, and other related scholars. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute …

Observation And Detection Of Adhd Malingering In College Students, Zoe Tenner

Honors Theses

The rate of college students attempting to obtain Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses in order to gain access to prescription stimulant medications has shown a large increase over the past 20 years. Research has also shown that college students are frequently able to convincingly present themselves as meeting clinical criteria for ADHD with relative ease, meaning that the barrier to false presentation for the purpose of obtaining inappropriately prescribed medication is minimal. There is a need for more concise, accurate tools to detect these efforts in clinical settings, which is an area of research pursued by members of the University of …

Cannabis Use, Sedentary Behavior, And Physical Activity In A Nationally Representative Sample Of Us Adults, Lydia Q. Ong, John Belletierre, Citlali Alvorado, Paul Chavez, Vincent Berardi

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Prior research examining the relationship between cannabis use, sedentary behavior, and physical activity has generated conflicting findings, potentially due to biases in the self-reported measures used to assess physical activity. This study aimed to more precisely explore the relationship between cannabis use and sedentary behavior/physical activity using objective measures.

Methods

Data were obtained from the 2005–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 2,092 participants (ages 20–59; 48.8% female) had accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Participants were classified as light, moderate, frequent, or non-current cannabis users depending on how often they used …

Everyday Memory In People With Down Syndrome, Yingying Jennifer Yang, Zachary M. Himmelberger, Trent Robinson, Megan Davis, Frances Conners, Edward Merrill

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Although memory functions in people with Down Syndrome (DS) have been studied extensively, how well people with DS remember things about everyday life is not well understood. In the current study, 31 adolescents/young adults with DS and 26 with intellectual disabilities (ID) of mixed etiology (not DS) participated. They completed an everyday memory questionnaire about personal facts and recent events (e.g., school name, breakfast). They also completed a standard laboratory task of verbal long-term memory (LTM) where they recalled a list of unrelated words over trials. Results did not indicate impaired everyday memory, but impaired verbal LTM, in people with …

When Attraction Becomes Addiction: A Study In Video Games, Camille Garden

Honors Theses

Since their inception, video games have been accused of everything from encouraging violence to ruining the mental health of children, adolescents, and adults alike. The adverse effects of video games have been studied scientifically to prove their negative qualities. Yet, this criticism is not new or unique to video games. With the birth of every new media format, including but not limited to novels, magazines, and movies, there is some level of controversy surrounding the validity and inherent goodness of the given format. Video games are not the exception to this rule. This research questions the validity and truth behind …

Mitigating Depressive And Anxiety Symptoms With Healthier Dieting, Morgan Edmonds, Janet Brown

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Theoretical Proposal

Sugar Glider (Petaurus Breviceps) Behavior In Red Vs Blue Lighting, Elisa Hillman

Honors Thesis

Sugar gliders are an exotic pet that is increasing in popularity in households as well as in zoos. One challenge that caregivers have to manage is their nocturnal circadian rhythm. In order for people to view or interact with sugar gliders during their active time, many zoos will reverse their diurnal cycle with lights. The discovery of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) which seems to have an increased sensitivity to blue light and how these cells affect the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and circadian rhythm has led to an increase in awareness on the health effects of being exposed …

An Exploratory Study Of Older Adults’ Emotions To Social Isolation And Their Coping Activities During Covid-19 Pandemic, Letrice Samuels, Michele Kekeh, Muge Akpinar-Elci

College of Health Sciences Posters

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults are advised to remain in their homes and personal spaces since they are at greater risk for COVID-19 related illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths. Health professionals and caregivers are concerned that preventative measures, especially social isolation, may have long-term psychological and age-related effects among older adults. A survey prepared by the Center for Global Health at Old Dominion University, in collaboration with Healthy Chesapeake Inc., assessed social isolation, associated emotions, and daily coping activities of older adults in Chesapeake, Virginia. The target population included senior residents of the Cambridge Square Apartments, where Healthy Chesapeake Inc. …

The Effect Of Environmental Context Upon Visual Distance Perception, Jessica M. Dukes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The ability of 16 younger adults to visually perceive distances in depth was evaluated within three environmental contexts (indoors in the dark, indoors in the light, and outdoors). The observers' task was to bisect an 8m distance interval in all contexts using both monocular and binocular vision. In the outdoor environment (a natural grassy field), the observers' judgments indicated perceptual compression of farther distances similar to that obtained in many previous studies. In the indoor lighted environment (a 10.2 x 9.6m laboratory room), the observers' judgments were consistent with perceptual expansion of farther distances. Finally, there was a beneficial effect …

Effect Of Mood On Humor, Virginia Randall

Senior Honors Theses

Humor is a social tool that has been documented for hundreds of years with a plethora of studies being produced to attempt to piece together a comprehensive definition of the concept. Among these studies, there have been several analyses regarding the psychological, cognitive, psychobiological, and neural effects of humor, and how they are outwardly manifested. Additionally, several social contexts have been considered. In analyses of humor, several theories have been produced, many based off of figurehead concepts within the field of psychology.

Primary interest of this research study was in whether these studies and theories can support whether there is …

Dreadds Modulation Of Operant Behavior In Male And Female Hiv-1 Transgenic And F344/N Rats, Jessica Illenberger

Theses and Dissertations

The neurobiological processes which determine the choice between 2 (or more) reinforcers are unidentified despite the remarkable benefits which could result from better understanding or control of such processes. Most prominently, reducing choices to pursue drug over non-drug reinforcers could curtail the development or continuation of drug dependence. Likewise, increasing goal-directed behavior in single-schedule and choice settings may alleviate some of the consequences of apathy, a reduction in goal-directed behavior which can occur with neuropathologies including HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Dysregulation of the mesolimbic circuit, connecting the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens, has been implicated in both drug dependence …

Escitalopram Treatment To The Hiv-1 Transgenic Rat: Spine Dynamics, Telomere Quantification And Neurogenesis, Adam Ray Denton

Theses and Dissertations

HIV is a serious viral infection that persists in the brain despite treatment. Approximately half of all seropositive patients will experience some degree of comorbid depression, as well as HIV associated neurocognitive disorders. The present research sought to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor in ameliorating neuroanatomical and biochemical markers associated with HIV infection. The central purpose of this research is to characterize the effects of escitalopram treatment upon dendritic spine proliferation in the nucleus accumbens. Previous research has consistently demonstrated impaired synaptodendritic integrity in this region, with underlying mechanisms remaining unclear. A secondary focus …

Treatment Of Hiv-1 Associated Neurocognitive Disorders Through Mechanisms Of Neurogenesis With 11-Hour Voluntary Running Wheel Exposure, Alex Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with HIV-1 taking combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) live longer with less morbidity associated with the infection. The increase in lifespan has created a critical need for the deterrence of HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) reported in the aging population. Previous reports indicate that the HIV-1 infection may cause impairment in neurogenesis, leading to many of the cognitive deficits seen. The current paper proposes that exercise, as defined by voluntary wheel running, would be a potent inducer of neurogenesis that results in the neuro-restoration of CNS properties and cognitive functioning. Each animal had free access to 11-hour nocturnal wheel-running seven …