Matching Items (34)
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- All Subjects: psychology
- Creators: Hall, Deborah
Description
Separation from a loved one is a highly stressful event. The range and intensity of emotions accompanying such a separation arguably are amplified when one's spouse deploys. This thesis examines at-home spouses (AHSs) of deployed military and how emotion, marital satisfaction, and communication are impacted throughout the deployment cycle. Additionally, I explore technology as a possible coping mechanism to help AHSs adapt and overcome stressfulness of deployment. One hundred sixty-six married females with a partner currently deployed, anticipating deployment, or recently returned from deployment completed an on-line survey. It was predicted AHSs would experience specific emotions during each phase, categorized as "anticipatory," (e.g., anger, worry) "absence" (e.g., lonely, sad) or "post" (e.g., happiness, relief); marital satisfaction also was predicted to be higher among spouses whose partner recently returned from deployment versus was deployed or anticipating deployment. Data showed AHSs whose partner was anticipating or currently deployed reported more "anticipatory" and "absence" emotions than AHSs with a recently returned partner. The former two groups did not differ in these emotions. AHSs with a recently returned partner reported more "post" emotions than the other two groups. Marital satisfaction did not differ based on deployment status. It was also predicted that among AHSs with a currently deployed partner, less negative emotion upon deployment would be associated with more frequent communication during deployment. Data showed AHSs who reported less negative emotion upon deployment engaged in more frequent communication with their deployed partner. Lastly, I predicted AHSs whose partners are currently deployed and who prefer modes of communication allowing direct contact (e.g., Skype) will experience less negative emotions than AHSs who prefer indirect contact (e.g., e-mail). Data showed reports of negative emotion did not differ based on preference for direct versus indirect communication. Therefore, negative emotions may develop and persist before and during deployment, but when the partner returns home, spouses do experience a rebound of positive emotions. Additionally, emotions at the time of deployment may be useful in predicting spouses' communication frequency during deployment. Findings aim to provide knowledge of family life during separation and explore technology as a possible coping mechanism for AHSs.
ContributorsPowell, Katrina D (Author) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary H. (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Perceptual learning by means of coherent motion training paradigms has been shown to produce plasticity in lower and higher-level visual systems within the human occipital lobe both supra- and subliminally. However, efficiency of training methods that produce consolidation in the visual system via coherent motion has yet to be experimentally determined. Furthermore, the effects of coherent motion training on reading comprehension, in clinical and normal populations, are still nascent. In the present study, 20 participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Two conditions had a participation requirement of four days while two conditions required eight days of participation. These conditions were further divided into 500 or 1000 trials per day (4 x 500, 4 x 1000, 8 x 500, 8 x 1000). Additional pre-test and post-test days were used to attain timed pre- and post-tests on the Wide Range Achievement Test IV (WRAT IV) reading comprehension battery. Furthermore, a critical flicker fusion threshold (CFFT) score was taken on a macular pigment densitometer on the pre-test and post-test day. Participants showed significant improvement in CFFT levels, WRAT IV reading comprehension, and speed of completion between pre-test and post-test; however, degree of improvement did not vary as a function of training condition. An interaction between training condition and degree of improvement was evident in coherent dot motion contrast scores, with significant training plasticity occurring in the 4 x 1000 and 8 x 500 conditions.
ContributorsGroth, Anthony (Author) / Náñez, José E. (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Risko, Evan F. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
While acceptance towards same-sex marriage is gradually increasing, same-sex marriage is banned in many states within the United States. Laws that prohibit same-sex couples from marrying have been shown to increase feelings of depression, exclusion, and stigma for same-sex attracted individuals. The intention of this study was to explore the effect both pro- and anti-same-sex marriage advertisements have on heterosexual individuals' implicit attitudes towards same-sex couples. It was predicted that exposure to anti-same-sex advertisements would lead to viewing same-sex couples as more unpleasant and heterosexual couples as being more pleasant. However, heterosexual participants who viewed anti-same-sex marriage ads were more likely to rate heterosexual couples as being unpleasant and same-sex couples as pleasant. It is theorized that viewing anti-same-sex marriage advertisements led heterosexual individuals to report heterosexual stimuli as being more unpleasant compared to same-sex stimuli as a form of defensive processing.
ContributorsWalsh, Theodora Michelle (Author) / Newman, Matt (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Salerno, Jessica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Bully victimization has been associated with blunted cardiovascular responses to stress as well as elevated responses to stress. The difference between these altered physiological responses to stress is largely unknown. This study explored several possible moderators to the relationship between chronic stress and future cardiac output (an indicator of increased stress) in response to future stressors. These moderators include the difference between social and physical stressors and individual levels of loneliness. Participants were administered measures of loneliness and victimization history, and led to anticipate either a "social" (recorded speech) or "non-social" (pain tolerance test ) stressor, neither of which occurred. EKG and impedance cardiography were measured throughout the session. When anticipating both stressors, loneliness and victimization were associated with increased CO. A regression revealed a three-way interaction, with change in cardiac output depending on victimization history, loneliness, and condition in the physical stressor condition. Loneliness magnified the CO output levels of non-bullied individuals when facing a physical stressor. These results suggest that non- bullied participants high in loneliness are more stressed out when facing stressors, particularly stressors that are physically threatening in nature.
ContributorsHaneline, Magen (Author) / Newman, Matt (Thesis advisor) / Salerno, Jessica (Committee member) / Miller, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Recent research has identified affirmation of transcendence and exposure to violent Bible verses as being related to greater prejudice toward value-violating out-groups (Blogowska & Saroglou, 2012; Shen et al., 2013). Effects of exposure to specific Bible verses on attitudes toward out-groups have not been measured in combination with the Post-Critical Belief Scale developed by Hutsebaut (1996). The relationships between exposure to scriptural endorsements of prejudice, affirmation vs. disaffirmation of transcendence, literal vs. symbolic processing of religious content, and prejudice toward value-violating out-groups were examined using an online survey administered to a sample of U.S. adults (N=283). Greater affirmation of transcendence scores were linked to greater prejudice toward atheists and homosexuals and more favorable ratings of Christians and highly religious people. Lower affirmation of transcendence scores were linked to less favorable ratings of Christians and highly religious people and more favorable ratings of atheists. Exposure to scriptural endorsements of prejudice did not have a significant effect on levels of prejudice in this study.
ContributorsGrove, Richard (Author) / Robles, Elías (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Schweitzer, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The long-term impacts of bullying, stress, sexual prejudice and stigma against members of the LGBTQ population are both worrisome and expansive. Bullying among adolescents is one of the clearest and most well documented risks to adolescent health(Nansel et al., 2004; Wilkins-Shurmer et al., 2003; Wolke, Woods, Bloomfield, & Karstadt, 2001) The present study examined the influence of sexual orientation to severity of bullying experience, coping strategies, emotion regulation and the interaction of gender role endorsements in relation to coping and emotion regulation strategy prediction. Extensive research exists to support high victimization experiences in LGBT individuals (Birkett et al., 2009; Robert H DuRant et al., n.d.; Kimmel & Mahler, 2003; Mishna et al., 2009) and separately, research also indicates support of gender role non conformity, social stress and long term coping skills (Galambos et al., 1990; Sánchez et al., 2010; Tolman, Striepe, & Harmon, 2003b). The goal of this study was to extend previous finding to find a relationship between the three variables: sexual orientation, victimization history, and non-traditional gender role endorse and utilizing those traits as predictors of future emotion regulation and coping strategies. The data suggests that as a whole LGBT identified individuals experience bullying at a significantly higher rate than their heterosexual counterparts. By utilizing gender role endorsement the relationship can be expanded to predict maladaptive emotion regulation skills, higher rates of perceived stress and increased fear of negative evaluation in lesbian women and gay men. The data was consistent for all hypotheses in the model: sexual identity significantly predicts higher bully score and atypical gender role endorsement is a moderator of victimization in LGBT individuals. The findings indicate high masculine endorsement in lesbians and high feminine endorsement in gay males can significantly predict victimization and maladaptive coping skills, emotion dysregulation, increased stress, and lack of emotional awareness.
ContributorsPuckett, Yesmina N (Author) / Newman, Matthew L. (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Risko, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) evidence has been shown to have a strong effect on juror decision-making when presented in court. While DNA evidence has been shown to be extremely reliable, fingerprint evidence, and the way it is presented in court, has come under much scrutiny. Forensic fingerprint experts have been working on a uniformed way to present fingerprint evidence in court. The most promising has been the Probabilistic Based Fingerprint Evidence (PBFE) created by Forensic Science Services (FSS) (G. Langenburg, personal communication, April 16, 2011). The current study examined how the presence and strength of DNA evidence influenced jurors' interpretation of probabilistic fingerprint evidence. Mock jurors read a summary of a murder case that included fingerprint evidence and testimony from a fingerprint expert and, in some conditions, DNA evidence and testimony from a DNA expert. Results showed that when DNA evidence was found at the crime scene and matched the defendant other evidence and the overall case was rated as stronger than when no DNA was present. Fingerprint evidence did not cause a stronger rating of other evidence and the overall case. Fingerprint evidence was underrated in some cases, and jurors generally weighed all the different strengths of fingerprint testimony to the same degree.
ContributorsArthurs, Shavonne (Author) / McQuiston, Dawn (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Schweitzer, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Parents are the primary source for socializing children's attitudes and behaviors about adaptive concepts such as how to stay safe and reduce risk. Parent-child discussions about potential health risks have the ability to evoke anxiety in both mothers and children. This study examined the impact of observed anxiety on non-clinically anxious families, and the differences observed between anxious or non- anxious families. Sixty-one mothers engaged in naturalistic conversation with their children (aged 9-11) about their potential exposure to an anxiety-provoking situation, an Avian influenza pandemic. Conversations were video recorded and observational data were collected to examine mother and child behaviors; questionnaire data from both mothers and children supplemented this observational data. Results indicated that anxious children were more engaged in these discussions than less anxious children, and anxious mothers were less engaged than non-anxious mothers. The content of the parent-child conversations varied between non-anxious and anxious dyads; mothers were more likely to remind their children that the situation was "pretend" if they recognized that their child became anxious, and mothers that emphasized the severity of the hypothetical situation had children who self-reported higher levels of anxiety. Underlying parental beliefs about how children develop also varied among mothers; mothers of anxious children were more likely to believe that their children learn because of cognitive development that occurs through their own interactions within their environment, while there was a trend for mothers of non-anxious children to hold stronger beliefs that children learn through modeling and the direct teaching of behaviors. Results indicate that dysfunctional behaviors previously observed in clinically anxious families may be apparent within non-clinically anxious families when anxiety levels increase, and the bi-directional influence of mother-child anxious behavior is explored. This study builds on our understanding of parent-child interactions, parent socialization behaviors, and the importance of minimizing anxiousness during parent-child threat discussions evoking child anxiety.
ContributorsBurk, Erin Taylor (Author) / Tinsley, Barbara (Thesis advisor) / Miller, Paul (Committee member) / Newman, Matt (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Very little experimental work has been done to investigate the psychological underpinnings of perceptions of privacy. This issue is especially pressing with the advent of powerful and inexpensive technologies that allow access to all but our most private thoughts -and these too are at risk (Farah, Smith, Gawuga, Lindsell, &Foster;, 2009). Recently the Supreme Court ruled that the use of a global positioning system (GPS) device to covertly follow a criminal suspect, without first obtaining a search warrant, is a violation of a suspect's fourth amendment right to protection from unlawful search and seizure (United States v. Jones, 2012). However, the Court has also ruled in the past that a law enforcement officer can covertly follow a suspect's vehicle and collect the same information without a search warrant and this is not considered a violation of the suspect's rights (Katz v. United States). In the case of GPS surveillance the Supreme Court Justices did not agree on whether the GPS device constituted a trespassing violation because it was placed on the suspect's vehicle (the majority) or if it violated a person's reasonable expectation of privacy. This incongruence is an example of how the absence of a clear and predictable model of privacy makes it difficult for even the country's highest moral authority to articulate when and why privacy has been violated. This research investigated whether public perceptions of support for the use of each surveillance technique also vary across different monitoring types that collect the same information and whether these differences are mediated by similar factors as argued by the Supreme Court. Results suggest that under some circumstances participants do demonstrate differential support and this is mediated by a general privacy concern. However, under other circumstances differential support is the result of an interaction between the type of monitoring and its cost to employ -not simply type; this differential support was mediated by both perceived violations of private-space and general privacy. Results are discussed in terms of how these findings might contribute to understanding the psychological foundation of perceived privacy violations and how they might inform policy decision.
ContributorsBaker, Denise, M.S (Author) / Schweitzer, Nicholas J (Thesis advisor) / Newman, Matt (Committee member) / Risko, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
With widespread increases in the use of electronic communication technology, cyber-sexual harassment (CSH) has been on the rise. Broadly defined, CSH is unwelcome and repeated conduct of a sexual nature performed through electronic technology. The prevalence of CSH reported in previous studies varies significantly due in part to inconsistencies in how CSH is defined and measured. Whereas four existing scales measuring aspects of CSH have been published, each has several limitations. This research aims to develop and psychometrically validate the Multidimensional Cyber-Sexual Harassment Experiences and Attitudes Scale for Victimization (MCSHEA-V), which taps into five key components of CSH, including: (1) gathering sexual information online, (2) image and video-based sexual harassment, (3) offensive comments or posts, (4) coercive behaviors, and (5) CSH attitudes. In Study 1, a sample of psychology graduate students and faculty (N = 13) evaluated the content validity of the MCSHEA-V items, leading to key improvements in item relevance, clarity, and wording. In Study 2, a sample of adult participants (N = 298) completed the initial version of the scale through the online survey platform, Prolific.co. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated the proposed 5-factor structure was a good fit, but exploratory factor analyses indicated the items represented an alternative 4-factor structure. Specifically, these items captured dyadic CSH behaviors, CSH behaviors that affect one’s reputation, perceptions of the seriousness of CSH, and CSH victim-blaming behaviors. In Study 3, an additional sample of adult participants (N = 207) was surveyed via Prolific.co. Separate confirmatory factor analyses indicated the 4-factor model was the best fit. Overall, the MCSHEA-V will contribute to a clearer understanding of the defining features and prevalence of CSH victimization and facilitate future research through the introduction of a psychometrically-validated measurement tool.
ContributorsWheeler, Brittany (Author) / Hall, Deborah (Thesis advisor) / Mickelson, Kristin (Committee member) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022