Matching Items (23)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: psychology
- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
- Resource Type: Text
Description
A prior experiment by Li and colleagues found that when participants rated same sex faces in physical attractiveness, their self-reports of religiosity were higher in comparison to those that rated opposite sex faces. Could this be due to participants feeling their sexuality was threatened or misunderstood? In the current experiment, we attempted to replicate these findings and extend them by using a pseudo personality test that presented false feedback to participants. This feedback explained that their personalities were similar to homosexual or heterosexual people. Four hundred and fifty participants from Amazon Mturk were randomized into these conditions. We also measured homophobia, moral values, and the believability of the experiment. Results displayed no replication of the original findings. Men were more homophobic than women, while displaying lower moral values and religiosity. Those that self-reported being more homophobic also reported being more religious and moral. In conditions of sexual threat (homosexual personality, same sex faces) and sexual comfort (heterosexual personality, opposite sex faces), self-reports of moral values increased. Participants that reported believing the feedback displayed higher religiosity in both sexual threat and sexual comfort conditions. For a more concrete understanding of the relationship between religiosity, mating goals, and threats to sexuality, more research needs to be performed.
ContributorsHobaica, Steven Matthew (Author) / Cohen, Adam (Thesis director) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Neuberg, Steven (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Public Programs (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Catastrophe events occur rather infrequently, but upon their occurrence, can lead to colossal losses for insurance companies. Due to their size and volatility, catastrophe losses are often treated separately from other insurance losses. In fact, many property and casualty insurance companies feature a department or team which focuses solely on modeling catastrophes. Setting reserves for catastrophe losses is difficult due to their unpredictable and often long-tailed nature. Determining loss development factors (LDFs) to estimate the ultimate loss amounts for catastrophe events is one method for setting reserves. In an attempt to aid Company XYZ set more accurate reserves, the research conducted focuses on estimating LDFs for catastrophes which have already occurred and have been settled. Furthermore, the research describes the process used to build a linear model in R to estimate LDFs for Company XYZ's closed catastrophe claims from 2001 \u2014 2016. This linear model was used to predict a catastrophe's LDFs based on the age in weeks of the catastrophe during the first year. Back testing was also performed, as was the comparison between the estimated ultimate losses and actual losses. Future research consideration was proposed.
ContributorsSwoverland, Robert Bo (Author) / Milovanovic, Jelena (Thesis director) / Zicarelli, John (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
More than 260 million people suffer from an anxiety disorder worldwide, with 40 million in the U.S. alone—18% of the American population. And that label includes everything from Social Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to phobias and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Thus, people with anxiety may not have a singular cause for their worry, but a myriad number of them that influence every aspect of their lives. And, that doesn’t include people who’ve never been formally diagnosed and don’t receive proper medication or therapy.
Unfortunately, medication has many possible side effects, and both medication and therapy are often expensive. However, there are alternatives for someone dealing with anxiety. This book proposal offers a range of solutions for anxiety management, from do it yourself techniques like guided imagery and yoga, to biofeedback devices like HeartMath, to research trials on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, as well as Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The idea was not to outline every potential solution for anxiety, but to educate people on available opportunities and empower them to take control.
Though anxiety can be managed and reduced, there is no cure. That’s because anxiety is a normal part of life, and in most cases a helpful evolutionary tool to keep people on track. But, when this anxiety becomes a burden on someone’s life, there is a plethora of alternative solutions available. Understanding anxiety and learning to manage it is not an impossible task. This thesis provides an introduction to the idea and then allows the reader to move forward on their own path as they choose.
Unfortunately, medication has many possible side effects, and both medication and therapy are often expensive. However, there are alternatives for someone dealing with anxiety. This book proposal offers a range of solutions for anxiety management, from do it yourself techniques like guided imagery and yoga, to biofeedback devices like HeartMath, to research trials on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, as well as Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The idea was not to outline every potential solution for anxiety, but to educate people on available opportunities and empower them to take control.
Though anxiety can be managed and reduced, there is no cure. That’s because anxiety is a normal part of life, and in most cases a helpful evolutionary tool to keep people on track. But, when this anxiety becomes a burden on someone’s life, there is a plethora of alternative solutions available. Understanding anxiety and learning to manage it is not an impossible task. This thesis provides an introduction to the idea and then allows the reader to move forward on their own path as they choose.
ContributorsSchneider, Sage Ann (Author) / deLusé, Stephanie (Thesis director) / Boyd, Patricia (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
As construction and building methods advance so should their focus on reconstruction post-natural disasters. For the past 50 years there has been an average of 6.2 hurricanes making landfall, and several recent unfortunate occurrences in the past year that have caused immeasurable damage and taken priceless lives (Chris Landsea 2017). Damages could have been significantly reduced to residential homes and lives saved if proper, hurricane-resistant construction was used. It is important to continue advancement in efficient planning and reconstructive methods to restore individuals into their homes and ensure their safety in the future. Utilizing tested resilient building methods may increase construction costs but has a visible payoff through mitigation of economic losses in the future. This can also help develop response and mitigation plans based on the very specific conditions of each community or affected location. To do so, it is crucial to continue research and test various methods of construction and materials in residential homes. This study was a comparative analysis of the current roof systems implemented in residential homes, the role of hurricane testing facilities in maintaining building codes, and how damage incurred by hurricanes can be significantly reduced through a shift in the approach of homeowner insurance incentive. The purpose of this study was to provide a feasible and practicable solution for increasing implementation of hurricane resistant construction into homes. The results of this analysis concluded that there is a low percentage of homeowners investing in making their homes hurricane resilient. By re-inventing the incentive methods that insurance companies offer, this problem can step into the right direction in making more homes hurricane resilient consequently reducing damages, deaths, and economic loss.
ContributorsVarkalaite, Migle (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis director) / Ayer, Steven (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Del E. Webb Construction (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This study aims to examine how crossover relations from one parent relate to the other parent's view of familial relationships. The study examines mood state and psychological distress as variables that relate to each other and familial relationships. Home visits were scheduled with families of normally developing three-year olds. During these home visits, naturalistic observation and surveys were done. Researchers then conducted regression analyses to examine the relation between mood state, psychological distress, and familial relationships. The data showed that there were significant relations between one parents' psychological distress and how the other parent viewed the marital relationship, indicating a crossover relation between those two variables.
ContributorsLopez, Nicole Marie (Author) / Crnic, Keith (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Nelson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
In an attempt to fix the problem of an abundance of individuals with mental health issues in the criminal justice system, mental health courts have begun to develop as the newest form of problem-solving court. These courts aim to keep individuals with easily treatable mental health issues out of prison and connect them with the treatment that they need. This paper is a literature review examining the development and implementation of mental health courts across the United States. The paper first explains the essential elements to a mental health court and how they function. The main claim addressed is that: through the institution of statewide standards as well as the blanket adoption and regular measurement of national performance measures in each accredited mental health court, the large-scale and longitudinal study of mental health courts will become more practical. When these types of studies become more prevalent, the most effective practices of mental health courts will be identified and innovation will follow. The paper develops this claim by explaining the state and national regulations currently in place and the importance of standardization. It then moves into the national performance measures that should then be examined by courts once state standards are in place. The paper then explains the importance of longitudinal study to the proper collection of the significant data needed to solidify the institution of successful mental health courts. By identifying the most effective practices in mental health courts and standardizing them, this system will be able to: better help the individuals involved get appropriate treatment, promote public safety, and more effectively use taxpayer money.
ContributorsSanta Cruz, Ignacio Luis (Author) / Rigoni, Adam (Thesis director) / Kingsbury, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Teacher assessments are often used alongside parent assessments to identify behavioral problems and patterns in school-aged children. These assessments can aid in the diagnosis of disruptive behavior disorders and are used to screen children for targeted delinquency prevention programs. Although researchers have heavily studied the relationship between parent and teacher assessments, not as much research has analyzed teacher assessments alone, specifically semiannual teacher assessments. Teacher assessments are typically conducted during the fall semester, normally a couple months into the school year, or during the spring semester, normally a couple months after the winter break period. Using data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS), we aimed to determine the temporal stability and predictive utility of semiannual teacher assessments of children's behavioral problems from 2nd grade to 5th grade. Results showed that mean assessment scores increased from the fall to the spring semester across all 4 grades. We also found that teacher assessments of behavioral problems in grade school were significantly correlated with future serious violence. Although our statistical model did not identify a specific time period or semester when these assessments were most predictive, we observed a pattern where the spring semesters were more predictive for the younger grades, and the fall semesters were more predictive for the older grades. Future research could aim to understand why this pattern exists and what its implications are.
ContributorsForthun, Marisa Nicole (Author) / Pardini, Dustin (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
We compared sociability towards humans of domesticated and tame members of several Canidae: Belyaev's fox (Vulpes vulpes), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), gray wolf (Canis lupus), dingo (Canis l. dingo), New Guinea singing dog (Canis l. dingo), and dog (Canis l. familiaris). We defined sociability as motivation or willingness to engage with humans. Our operationalized definition of sociability is the latency to approach (LTA) the human experimenter and the amount of time the canid spent within one meter of the human experimenter (PTC). We added an unfamiliar and familiar experimenter condition to deduce whether or not canids discriminated on who they were more social with: an owner or a stranger. To each experimenter condition we added a passive and active phase to discern whether or not canids were more social when called or not. Across all conditions and phases dogs were significantly more social than all other canid types. We concluded genetic differences due to domestication and environmental differences due to socialization accounted for sociability differences seen in dogs compared to the other canid types.
ContributorsBeckstrom-Sternberg, David Tristan (Author) / Wynne, Clive (Thesis director) / McBeath, Michael (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Over the last few decades the number of international students in the U.S. has increased considerably. According to Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) statistics, the number of international students reached 1.18 million as of May 2017 (Smith, 2017). Whereas both first year international and domestic students experience difficulties associated with their status as university students, international students appear to be more vulnerable to experience psychological distress, as compared to their domestic peers (Edmond, 1997). Research has shown, that international students report higher levels of stress related to social difficulty as opposed to domestic students (Edmond, 1997). Given these patterns, it is not surprising that international students entering U.S. universities may be more likely to seek and receive counseling services than before. A study conducted with students, both international and domestic, compared trends from 2004 to 2006 of students utilizing counseling services; results revealed a 10 percent increase in international students' utilization of counseling services. (Cheng, Mallinckrodt, Soet, & Sevig, 2010). Such increase in the number of international students seeking counseling services appears to necessitate current and future practitioners to be well-equipped to work with this unique and diverse client population of international students. The goal of this study is to explore the experience of two current day American counselors working with international students using grounded theory of analysis to analyze the transcriptions of semi-structured interviews and to ultimately inform current and future practice in the treatment of international students undergoing counseling
ContributorsStahl, Amelia Rose (Author) / Santos, Carlos (Thesis director) / Tran, Alisia (Committee member) / Hwang, Bong-Joo (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Abstract The purpose of this study was to discover the most prominent factors that affect the Arizona population from routinely visiting the dentist. For many people there is a factor of anxiety or fear, while others have issues with cost, insurance, or even the dental clinic environment. My study looks at some of these factors and supports the data with available research on dental avoidance factors. A significant portion of the study is also allotted to potential solutions to these avoidance factors, in order to increase regular dental visitation. Oral health is extremely important not only to the teeth, but also to the rest of the body. Therefore, it is important to address avoidance factors and find potential solutions to these problems. The study involved 71 participants, eighteen years of age or older, and a questionnaire with twenty-one questions. These questions asked the participants about gender, ethnicity, age, employment, reasons for avoidance, oral health education, and past dental experiences. These questions were designed to better understand how a person's background and understanding of dentistry affect their decision to visit the dentist. These questions also provide insight to why certain avoidance factors apply to different groups of people in the Arizona population. The results of the study showed that anxiety, price, insurance issues, and the personality of the dentist are the most prominent factors that cause individuals to avoid the dentist. Potential solutions to these avoidance factors were given, especially for anxious individuals. There are dentists who deal specifically with anxious individuals through sedation dentistry. Regarding price, there were several options for free or low-cost dental clinics that were provided. Preventative dentistry education was an important focus and solution to many of the avoidance factors, because when individuals are more aware of how to care for their teeth, there is a greater chance that they will have healthier teeth and dental visits will be less invasive and costly. Suggestions were provided for spreading oral health education and preventative dentistry through community programs and schools. Among the avoidance factors addressed, solutions provided, and the importance of oral health and preventative dentistry reiterated, the study stressed the importance of the results to my future profession. As a future dental practitioner, the data and research will be used in order for me to become a more compassionate and accommodating practitioner to my future patients. There is a special relationship and trust between the dental practitioner and their patient, and this study has helped me better understand how to accommodate patients and eliminate the factors that cause them to avoid regular dental visits.
ContributorsValimaki, Casey Jordyn (Author) / Washo-Krupps, Delon (Thesis director) / Bang, Christofer (Committee member) / Schoenborn, Scot (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05