Other Psychology Commons^™

Total Fitness, Mark A. Tolmachoff

Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects

Total Fitness is a course of instruction designed to provide participants with evidence-based approaches and tools for improving well-being in each of five domains of health: emotional, social, family, physical, and spiritual. It is based heavily on positive psychology concepts, research, and empirically supported interventions. The twelve two-hour lessons focus on building positive attributes and psychological resources, such as character strengths, self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, and strong social connections. Each lesson provides practical skills or activities participants can use in their daily lives. They are accompanied with enough theory and scientific background to establish credibility and evidence that the …

Counterterrorism Intelligence Analysis: Language As Threat, Vulnerability, And Risk, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the role of language in describing possible membership in or connection to al Qaeda.

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 …

The Political Personality Of U.S. President Barack Obama, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. president Barack Obama, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Obama was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Obama’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/confident …

Optimism And Pessimism In Children With Cancer And Healthy Children: Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Youth Life Orientation Test And Relations With Health-Related Quality Of Life, Natalie A. Williams, Genevieve Davis, Miriam Hancock, Sean Phipps

Faculty Publications, Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies

Objective To test the measurement equivalence of the Youth Life Orientation Test (YLOT) in children with cancer (N = 199) and healthy controls (N = 108), and to examine optimism and pessimism as predictors of children's health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Methods Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to establish the two factor structure of the YLOT and to test for metric invariance.

Results A two-factor structure for the YLOT was confirmed and found to be stable across our study groups. There were no differences in mean levels of optimism and pessimism between cancer patients and controls after controlling for …

Mother Earth "Speaks": Change Yourself, Change The World, Use The Archetypal Energy "Harmony" As A Guide, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

In relation to the Cosmos, we all, as human beings, live on this tiny planet we call Earth, a planet that supports and sustains life, as we know it. There are many different kinds of people, plants, and animals functioning in harmony with soil, air, and water--all linked to one another in a complex web of life to form one Earth community. Unfortunately, we often take this miracle and ecosystem of life for granted. When, however, we take the ecosystem of life too much for granted, Mother Earth "speaks," reflecting imbalances and dis-harmonies. When Mother Earth "speaks," her message is …

Stanley Mcchrystal, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Jérôme Kerviel: Are We All Ciphers?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article examines the fall of United States (US) Army General Stanley McChrystal, and the concepts of the self and identity.

An Update On Suicide Terrorism, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author considers the potential moral and ethical merits of suicide and suicide terrorism from a historical and philosophical perspective.

Psychologists Gone Wild: The Politics Of Scientific Psychology, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

With power on the line in science, one should expect controversy beyond the substantive. In scientific psychology—whether discovering human nature or discovering what can be said about it—the search for the what of human nature becomes a mask for human nature.

Sea Cruise: Israelis And Palestinians Drowning In Water Sport, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The article discusses differing Israeli and Palestinian narratives in regards to the deaths of 9 people during an Israeli blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Spot Off: The Gao Takes On The Tsa’S Behavior Detection Program, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently Issued Efforts to Validate TSA’s Passenger Screening Behavior Detection Program Underway, but Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Validation and Address Operational Problems (May 2010, GAO-10-763). This IBPP article will describe and comment on the main GAO findings and additional data on which the findings are based. The article will end with some basic challenges to behavior detection as a useful security measure.

Are We All On The M Squad? Murdering Schoolchildren In China, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the phenomena of violent attacks against schoolchildren in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and its relevance to political psychologists.

Messages In The Medium: The Relationships Among Black Media Images, Racial Identity, Body Image, And The Racial Socialization Of Black Youth, Valerie N. Adams

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

Despite modest research relating racism and media (Tynes & Ward, 2009; Ward, 2004), how Black youth interpret negative stereotype images of Black people promulgated in the media has not adequately been explored. This dissertation study examines the relationships among exposure to Black media images, racial identity, racial socialization, body image and self-esteem for 14- to 21-year-old Black youth.

Focus groups were administered to learn about how Black youth interpret Black media images and whether they could identify negative stereotype messages. Next, survey data was collected to pilot the Black Media Messages Questionnaire and to examine the relationships among Black media …

The Word On Terrorism Threat As Terrorism Threat, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses terrorism (and terms associated with it), considering the social rhetoric surrounding the terms as well as other potential meanings. The constraints of the words used to define these terms of terror are considered.

Under The Volcano: Emergency Management And The Eyjafjallajokull Eruptions, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull eruptions that began on April 14^th, 2010 have exemplified challenges for transportation in a world of globalization, and ever-present need for preparation for emergencies.

Counting Blessings Versus Neutral Events: An Experimental Investigation Of Gratitude And Athletic Performance In Volleyball, Marie B. Godwin

Psychology Honors Projects

Positive psychology has related gratitude to positive outcomes for individuals. The purpose of the current study was to apply gratitude journaling to the athletic domain, specifically volleyball. It was hypothesized that participants journaling about things they were grateful for at each practice would result in heightened athletic performance, measured through vertical approach and block jump, team win/loss percentage, and satisfaction with performance, especially when compared to participants who journaled about neutral practice events. Results showed a significant difference between groups in athlete satisfaction with individual and team performance; however, participants who journaled about neutral practice events displayed higher levels of …

How Implicit Beliefs Influence Trust Recovery, Michael P. Haselhuhn, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Alison M. Wood

Operations, Information and Decisions Papers

After a trust violation, some people are quick to forgive, whereas others never trust again. In this report, we identify a key characteristic that moderates trust recovery: implicit beliefs of moral character. Individuals who believe that moral character can change over time (incremental beliefs) are more likely to trust their counterpart following an apology and trustworthy behavior than are individuals who believe that moral character cannot change (entity beliefs). We demonstrate that a simple but powerful message can induce either entity or incremental beliefs about moral character.

Client-Centered Play Therapy With An Elderly Assisted Living Facility Resident, Angela M. Fuss

Doctoral Dissertations

While play therapy is primarily used with children, recent research has begun to explore the use of this approach with adults and the elderly. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe in detail the process of Client Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) with an elderly assisted living facility resident through use of a qualitative case study. A single elderly resident participated in 12 CCPT sessions over a period of six weeks. Qualitative data were obtained through observational session notes, pre- and post-treatment interviews with the resident and the facility’s Licensed Practical Nurse, pre- and post-treatment administrations of the …

Providing Parents With Young Children's Performance Feedback Information: Effects On Vocabulary And Pre-Literacy Development, Amanda Alexandria Nnachetam

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the effects of performance feedback information on parenting practices that contribute to development of vocabulary and pre-literacy skills. Fifty-one dyads of parents and their pre-school aged children were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Group one received full treatment including a workshop and feedback. Group two, designated as the control group, did not receive the feedback portion of the treatment; and group three, designated as a wait list control group, received neither the workshop nor performance feedback. All participating parents were administered a survey of parenting practices that lead to vocabulary and pre-literacy development. Treatment …

The Effects Of Gosolve Word Problems Math Intervention On Applied Problem Solving Skills Of Low Performing Fifth Grade Students, Jessica Lynn Fede

Open Access Dissertations

This research investigation examined the effects of GO Solve Word Problems math intervention on problem-solving skills of struggling 5th grade students. In a randomized controlled study, 16 5th grade students were given a 12-week intervention of GO Solve, a computer-based program designed to teach schema-based instruction strategies (SBI's) to solve math word problems and 16 control students continued with the standard school-based mathematics curriculum. A subset of items from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) as well as the Group Mathematics Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GMADE) was used to measure student test performance. Examiner-made probes were given to both the …