Matching Items (201)
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- All Subjects: psychology
- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
Humans require sufficient social understanding and connectedness to thrive (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). The current study evaluates the effectiveness of the Social Intelligence Institute's training program pilot. At a middle school in Phoenix, Arizona, students in a 7th and 8th grade class participated in this pilot program during the spring of 2013. Pre- and post-test questionnaires administered indicated changes in participants reported measures of Perspective Taking, Empathetic Concern, Interpersonal Expectations, and Relationship Self-Efficacy. The program consists of seven modules, each with several sessions, including instructional videos with reflection questions and class discussions. It was predicted that there would be a significant increase in mean scores for the dependent variables in the questionnaire mentioned above from the pre-test to the post-test. However, the null hypotheses were not rejected; statistical significance in t-tests of the measured variables were not met. Yet, the program was more effective for 8th graders than for 7th graders for Perspective Taking. This study of the SI pilot program demonstrates areas of improvement and provides support for wider implementation in the future.
ContributorsBailey, Jonathan Donald (Author) / Zautra, Alex (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Short, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
An introduction to neuroscientific thought aimed at an audience that is not educated in biology. Meant to be readable and easily understood by anyone with a high school education. The first section is completed in its entirety, with outlines for the proposed final sections to be completed over the next few years.
ContributorsNelson, Nicholas Alan (Author) / Olive, M. Foster (Thesis director) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Color is an inseparable part of our world as it exists in everything we perceive (Hemphill, 1996). With this constant exposure to colors, it has been widely acknowledged that colors have a distinct effect on a person's feelings and emotions (Hemphill, 1996). In fact, researcher have found that color perception evolved as an adaptation to increase fitness for animals (Bryne & Hilbert, 2003). For humans, color is a part of many everyday associations from temperature to traffic lights to sporting events. Taking this a step further, researchers have studied the effects of color on psychological functioning and physiological responses, including anxiety. A substantial body of research developed a base of information to support the idea that color has a significant effect on humans' emotions, perceptions and behaviors. I set out to test the effects of color on test anxiety and the relationship between anxiety and test performance. It was hypothesized that paper colors red, blue, and green would have an effect on anxiety with red having the most robust effect. It was also hypothesized that there would be a correlation between test performance and anxiety. Fifty undergraduate students took a ten-question brainteaser test printed on one of the three paper colors. Results displayed a significant mead difference between the three test group colors and a significant correlation between test performance and anxiety. This study was then repeated using the colors white, blue, and red. Fifty-eight undergraduate students took the same ten-question brainteaser test. These results failed to suggest a significant mean difference between the three test groups and failed to suggest a correlation between performance and anxiety. These findings conflict with the first study, and therefore, are of interest. Possibilities for these findings are the frequency of occurrence of white and social desirability. Future directions include testing for trait anxiety prior to data collection and using physiological measures to test anxiety. Still, these results can be applied in classroom settings, office environments, and airports.
ContributorsKissinger, Gabriella Nicole (Author) / Lynch, Christa (Thesis director) / Cate, Heather (Committee member) / Patten, Kristopher (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
There is preclinical evidence that the detrimental cognitive effects of hormone loss can be ameliorated by estrogen therapy (Bimonte, Acosta, & Talboom, 2010), however, one of the primary concerns with current hormone therapies is that they are nonselective, leading to increased risk of breast and endometrial cancers as well as heart disease. Thus, in order to achieve a successful and clinically relevant long-term hormone therapy option, it is optimal to find an estrogen therapy regimen that is selective to its target tissue. Recently, phytoestrogens have been found to exert selective, beneficial effects on cognition and brain. For example, genistein and diadzein produce neuroprotective effects in cognitive brain regions (Zhao, Chen, & Diaz Brinton, 2002). The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to examine the cognitive impact of phytoestrogens in young ovariectomized rats, 2) to replicate the dose effects found in the Luine study (Luine et al., 2006), while controlling for manufacturer differences, and 3) to assess if the rodent diet used in our laboratory has an estrogenic-like cognitive impact.The current findings suggest that, at least for object memory, diets containing varying amounts of phytoestrogens can alter cognition, with diets containing high amounts of phytoestrogens showing potential benefits to this type of memory.
ContributorsWhitton, Elizabeth Nicole (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Baxter, Leslie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
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
ContributorsChandler, N. Kayla (Author) / Neisewander, Janet (Thesis director) / Sanabria, Federico (Committee member) / Olive, M. Foster (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
I propose that norms regulate behaviors that negatively impact an individual's survival and reproduction. But because monitoring and enforcing of norms can be costly, individuals should be selective about which norms they police and under what circumstances they should do so. Two studies tested this idea by experimentally activating fitness-relevant motives and having participants answer questions about the policing of norms. The first study examined a norm prescribing respect for status and another proscribing sexual coercion. Results from Study 1 failed to support the hypotheses; activating a status-seeking motive did not have the predicted effects on policing of the respect-status norm nor did activating a mating motive have the predicted effects on policing of the respect-status norm or anti-coercion norm. Study 2 examined two new norms, one prescribing that people stay home when sick and the other proscribing people from having sex with another person's partners. Study 2 also manipulated whether self or others were the target of the policing. Study 2 failed to provide support; a disease avoidance motive failed to have effects on policing of the stay home when sick norm. Individuals in a relationship under a mating motive wanted less policing of others for violation of the mate poaching norm than those in a baseline condition, opposite of the predicted effects.
ContributorsSmith, M. Kristopher (Author) / Neuberg, L. Steven (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Hruschka, J. Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The purpose of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of the often-despised financial sector while exploring the parallels it reflects in our society. Information Measurement Theory was applied to several aspects of life apparent in both the financial sector and our society in order to discover parallels present in both. By analyzing the financial sector against our society as a whole, it becomes apparent that the financial sector's composition of individuals reflects that of our societies and is a close representation. Further, the financial sector is able to reflect the importance of information and how individuals react to and justify good and bad results from decision-making. In all our despise of the financial sector is nothing more than the loathe of inherent flaws in our society as a whole.
ContributorsHappe, John Nicholas (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Barlish, Kristen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Previously we found that subjects ate less from a four-piece bagel than from the same bagel served whole. Here, we determined if subjects differed in their perception of the amount of food based on the number of pieces of food served and measured the effects of these judgments on the amount of food consumed. A total of 213 (140 male, 73 female) undergraduate students with a mean age of 19 years participated in this study. Subjects were shown a whole food and the same food cut into pieces and asked which they perceived to be larger either before or after consuming that food, or not asked at all. We found that subjects ate less from a whole bagel than from a four-piece bagel. Furthermore, significantly more subjects perceived the whole bagel to be more food when asked this question after consumption of the bagel than before. People may be more familiar with the amount of satiation expected from a whole bagel than the four-piece bagel and this perceptual bias may be influenced by recent exposure to food, which ultimately may affect food intake.
ContributorsTurro, Cameron Nicholas (Author) / Capaldi-Phillips, Betty (Thesis director) / Bajaj, Devina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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