Matching Items (30)
Description
The effects of over-the-counter drug (OTC) use on college students' health has been debated in the field of psychology with researchers arguing that poor sleep quality among college students is the result of polysubstance use. However, this explanation is not a foregone conclusion. These researchers have not adequately addressed the issue poor sleep quality among college students and its relationship to polysubstance use. This is an important issue because prolonged unsupervised OTC drug use and poor sleep quality can impact long-term health and lessen students' likelihood of being successful in college. This paper addresses the issue of OTC drug use with special attention to sleep quality. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scores were collected to assess subjective sleep quality and its relationship to OTC drug use. Several other risk factors including binge drinking, marijuana use, and illicit drug use were also accounted for in this model. This study argues that, although the current literature suggests that poor sleep quality is the effect of drug use rather than the cause; the relationships between these factors are still unclear. This study aims to fill a gap in the college drug use literature by establishing a relationship between poor sleep quality and OTC drug use in a college sample.
ContributorsLara, Gustavo (Author) / Vargas, Perla (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Three experiments used a spatial serial conditioning paradigm to assess the effectiveness of spatially informative conditioned stimuli in eliciting tracking behavior in pigeons. The experimental paradigm consisted of the simultaneous presentation of 2 key lights (CS2 and CTRL), followed by another key light (CS1), followed by food (the unconditioned stimulus or US). CS2 and CTRL were presented in 2 of 3 possible locations, randomly assigned; CS1 was always presented in the same location as CS2. CS2 was designed to signal the spatial, but not the temporal locus of CS1; CS1 signaled the temporal locus of the US. In Experiment 1, differential pecking on CS2 was observed even when CS2 was present throughout the interval between CS1s, but only in a minority of pigeons. A control condition verified that pecking on CS2 was not due to temporal proximity between CS2 and US. Experiment 2 demonstrated the reversibility of spatial conditioning between CS2 and CTRL. Asymptotic performance never involved tracking CTRL more than CS2 for any of 16 pigeons. It is inferred that pigeons learned the spatial association between CS2 and CS1, and that temporal contingency facilitated its expression as tracking behavior. In a third experiment, with pigeons responding to a touchscreen monitor, differential responding to CS2 was observed only when CS2 disambiguated the location of a random CS1. When the presentation location of CS1 was held constant, no differences in responding to CS2 or CTRL were observed.
ContributorsMazur, Gabriela (Author) / Sanabria, Federico (Thesis advisor) / Killeen, Peter R (Committee member) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Ho Chen Cheung, Timothy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Research in the area of childhood trauma has shown a substantial amount of psychological maladjustment following the experience of traumatic events in childhood. Trauma survivors are at risk for developing a multitude of adverse psychological outcomes as well as unsafe behaviors following the event of trauma. One unifying theme within these psychological sequelae is the nature of impulsive behaviors. Delay-discounting refers to the subjective decrease in value of a reward when its presentation is delayed. Delay-discounting is often used as an index of impulsive behavior. This study poses two primary questions: 1) Can childhood trauma predict rates of delay-discounting? 2) Could delay-discounting predict psychological maladjustment for individuals who have experienced childhood trauma? This study will seek to answer these questions using an online version of the Kirby et al., 1999 hypothetical delay-discounting method, as well as the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), to measure trait impulsivity. Measures of depression (BDI-II), life events (LEC), post-traumatic stress (PCL-C), and drug and alcohol abuse (DAST-20) will also be included. Participants included a sample of university students ages 18-52 (n=521, females = 386, males = 135) with a mean age of 25.19 years. Results indicated that childhood trauma was not a significant predictor of delay-discounting rate, nor was delay-discounting rate a significant predictor of psychological maladjustment. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsForeman, Emily S (Author) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Thesis advisor) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Emotion regulation repertoire, or the number of emotion regulation strategies one is able to employ when needed, is an important element of emotion regulation flexibility. Emotion regulation flexibility, the ability to regulate in accordance with changing situational contexts and demands, is predictive of emotion regulation success. Currently, little is known about emotion regulation repertoire and its association with emotional health and well-being. In particular, more can be learned about how the different strategies in one’s repertoire interact, and which strategies show stronger relationships with mental health. The current study aimed to assess the relationship of different emotion regulation strategies to mental health, including their individual and combined influence. In addition, the interaction between the use of specific emotion regulation strategies and emotion regulation flexibility with respect to mental health was examined. I hypothesized (1a) reappraisal and (1b) acceptance, two strategies previously associated with positive psychological outcomes, would be significant predictors of mental health, and (2) better flexibility would predict better mental health. In addition, I hypothesized that (3) strategies often found to be maladaptive (suppression, distraction, rumination, and experiential avoidance) would have an inverse relationship with mental health. Finally, (4) maladaptive strategies would be associated with worse mental health for those lower in flexibility. These hypotheses were tested through a questionnaire as part of a larger in-lab study. Results revealed that reappraisal and rumination were the strongest predictors of mental health. Emotion regulation flexibility did not predict mental health or moderate the relationship between individual emotion regulation strategies and mental health. Results from this study suggest some emotion regulation strategies are stronger predictors of mental health than others. This will guide future research on specific emotion regulation strategies in a repertoire as well as their combined effect on mental health. Creating a clearer picture of how different strategies interact and influence mental health will also be vital for clinical interventions.
ContributorsSchmitt, Marin (Author) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Social discounting underlies individual altruistic decision-making, and it is frequently measured as the amount of hypothetical money one is willing to forgo for another person as a function of social distance. In the classic social discounting task, individual participants are asked to imagine their friends along a continuum of social distance, that is then used to estimate participant’s social discounting rate. While an ever-growing proportion of social interactions takes place over social media, no research has yet characterized social discounting in that context. Moreover, no research has estimated social discounting rate using real persons’ social distance, instead of the hypothetical continuum described above. Using existing social media indicators of social distance, it is now possible to estimate social discounting rate based on real people, which may lead to more accurate social discounting measurements and may expand the discounting model to real-life situations. Specifically, using computer algorithms to estimate the social distance from social media data makes it possible to assess the utility of numeric social distance indicators and the most appropriate ways to represent them. The proposed study examined the extent to which a hyperbolic model for social discounting fits social distance information retrieved from Facebook pages; and assessed whether there were differences in discounting rate when real or hypothetical social distance is used; also to further investigate whether discounting rates based on real persons are in fact based on perceived social distance by the participant, or on the imaginary social distance scale (i.e., an experimental artifact.)
It was found that the social discounting model can be applied in the social media context, even when real Facebook friends’ profiles were used as substitutes of numeric social distance indicators. Additionally, people showed similar altruistic tendencies in both the numeric and profile social discounting tests on the Facebook environment. These findings were qualified, however, by a high rate of nonsystematic data for the profile group; a rate much higher than traditional numeric paradigm. This discrepancy suggested that the allocation rates between numeric and profile approaches need further investigation to determine the factors affecting individuals’ generosity as a function of social distance indicators.
It was found that the social discounting model can be applied in the social media context, even when real Facebook friends’ profiles were used as substitutes of numeric social distance indicators. Additionally, people showed similar altruistic tendencies in both the numeric and profile social discounting tests on the Facebook environment. These findings were qualified, however, by a high rate of nonsystematic data for the profile group; a rate much higher than traditional numeric paradigm. This discrepancy suggested that the allocation rates between numeric and profile approaches need further investigation to determine the factors affecting individuals’ generosity as a function of social distance indicators.
ContributorsJiang, Linle (Author) / Miller, Paul A. (Thesis advisor) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Silva, Yasin N. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Long-term results of dietary weight loss interventions are not promising, with rates of weight loss maintenance at a mere 20%. Psychological factors related to weight maintenance include setting unrealistic weight goals, poor problem-solving skills, low self-efficacy, dichotomous thinking, and external locus of control. The ability to maintain a stable bodyweight over time has been associated with optimal health outcomes, lower stress levels, and higher general well-being. Dichotomous thinking has been associated with overeating and increased bodyweight. Cognitive restraint, disinhibition, and hunger are three dimensions of human eating behavior that appear to be important to understanding weight loss maintenance. Individuals who attempt to maintain their bodyweight via dietary restraint mechanisms are more susceptible to excessive eating episodes. Disinhibition has been found to be the strongest predictor of weight gain, while the research on the association between hunger and bodyweight is mixed. This study sought to evaluate the relationship between dichotomous thinking toward food and various eating behaviors (binge eating, cognitive restraint, disinhibition, and hunger). A multiple regression analysis revealed that binge eating, cognitive restraint, disinhibition, and hunger were each significant unique predictors of higher body mass index (BMI). Higher levels of hunger predicted lower BMI, controlling for cognitive restraint, disinhibition, and binge eating. Mediation analyses revealed that dichotomous thinking mediated the relationships between binge eating and BMI, cognitive restraint and BMI, and disinhibition and BMI. Further analysis revealed that binge eating mediated the relationship between dichotomous thinking and BMI, indicating that thinking of food in black-and-white could lead to higher rates of binge eating, and the excess calorie consumption could lead to increased BMI. The study findings suggest that a strong focus should be made to promote a more flexible attitude toward food in an effort to improve weight loss maintenance in the population.
ContributorsLee, Sohee, 1989- (Author) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Thesis advisor) / Vargas, Perla (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Cultivation theory states that consuming television cultivates a social reality in the real world which aligns with the reality present in television. When the television show CSI was released, researchers studied a form of cultivation stemming from the show titled the "CSI Effect." One of the components of the CSI Effect is the tendency of those who watch CSI to be more likely to overestimate the presence of forensic evidence present in a trial and place more trust in such evidence. In recent years, several true crime documentaries that examined controversial cases have been released. In a similar vein of research conducted on CSI, the current study examines true crime documentaries and their possible impacts on viewers’ judgments and beliefs about the criminal justice system. In the current study, participants were provided with a mock case and asked about their perceptions of the case along with their viewership habits. While overall true crime documentary viewership did not influence judgments of evidence manipulation or perceptions of police, findings point to viewership of the targeted documentaries being associated with feelings of mistrust towards the criminal justice system overall, while the lesser-viewed documentaries correlated with judgments of strength and responsibility of the defendant in the case. One possible explanation is that individual characteristics may serve as the driving factor in how individuals choose what to watch when the popularity of the show is not as well-known.
ContributorsDoughty, Kathryn A (Author) / Schweitzer, Nicholas J. (Thesis advisor) / Neal, Tess (Committee member) / Salerno, Jessica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
People often rely on experts' opinions and knowledge to inform their own decisions. This can be problematic, as expertise does not necessarily protect one from bias, and increased experience does not always increase an experts' accuracy (Cassidy & Buede, 2009; Goldberg, 1968; Molins et al., 2008). The nature of task characteristics of expert domains is associated with experts' performance (Shanteau 1992). The purpose of this thesis is to examine how people perceive experts in different disciplines, and to explore the factors that affect perceptions of expert objectivity. Perceptions of objectivity in 26 expert domains were examined. As hypothesized, higher ratings of clear and immediate feedback available to experts were associated with higher ratings of objectivity. However, other indicators of higher domain validity were not recognized by laypeople, such as higher levels of training and education. Contrary to our hypotheses, higher levels of familiarity with experts in a given domain and more experiences of disagreement with experts in a given domain were not associated with perceptions of objectivity. These results suggest that laypeople can correctly identify some indicators of the validity of different expert domains, but they cannot identify others. These perceptions affect how objectivity is perceived.
ContributorsVelez, Rebecca Ellen (Author) / Neal, Tess (Thesis director) / Salerno, Jessica (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
A between-subjects online survey was conducted to explore the extent to which female victims of kidnapping crimes are blamed for the crimes committed against them and why. Scenarios involving victims aged 8 years old and 30 years old were constructed using various routes of escape. Routes of escape included a control condition in which it was not clear whether or not the victim would have escaped given the opportunity, a condition in which the victim had a clear opportunity to escape and took it, a condition in which the victim had a clear opportunity to escape and chose not to take it, and a condition in which the victim did not have an opportunity to escape. The results of the study demonstrated that the 30-year old kidnapping victim was consistently blamed more than the 8-year old victim. These victim blame measurements were exacerbated when the participant maintains a high belief in a fair and just world. A second study was constructed to determine if the victim's actions preceding the kidnapping influence victim blame attributions, and to determine if providing additional details on the victim's mindset or intentions to escape would affect the amount of blame attributed.
ContributorsTrow, Ashley Cheyenne Lacy (Author) / Schweitzer, Nicholas (Thesis director) / Neal, Tess (Committee member) / Kirsch, Sharon (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The Arizona healthcare system is changing and although its effects can be seen in almost every realm of the medical field, psychiatry is a specialty that is still experiencing hardship. There are scarce resources available for the ever-growing and struggling patient pool, especially in rural areas and minority populations. A comorbid cycle of untreated psychiatric illness contributes to the burden on emergency department and primary care medicine, as well as homelessness, crime, and suicide within the state. Arizona currently has a dismal spot in the rankings for American states with appropriate access to psychiatric resources, leaving many who need treatment without it. Compared to states with similar populations who are at the top of these rankings, Arizona spends more government money for behavioral health services, indicating a disparity in productivity and questioning monetary waste. Demographic statistics and other relevant scientific literature reveals that Arizona's psychiatric system lacks appropriate structure, and is failing the mental health care system both in monetary and societal constructs. These issues highlight the need for remedies and identify areas for future reform. Recommendations on such reform include permanent change in legislation and department models to improve crisis ward work, communication and networking during transition of care, integration of and access to continuum of care, and community education. They also include creating incentive and certification programs within the state in order to increase the number of available providers, especially in rural areas. These recommendations are directed to specifically reduce the burden of mental illness on emergency medical services, increase productivity, and decrease chronic untreated mental disease and monetary waste.
ContributorsHarding, Calen LeMay (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis director) / Neal, Tess (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05