Psychology
Senior Research 2002-2003
Predicting Nutritional and Exercise Behaviors: Role of Nationality, Health Attitudes, and Body Image
Melinda A. Bohmer
Advisor: L. Kaye Rasnake
The purpose of this study was to examine differences between American and International students as well as men and women in their health attitudes and behaviors. Differences in nationality in the internalization of the western standard of appearance (i.e., the thin ideal) were also examined among the women. Specifically, how well the variables of nationality, health and taste attitudes, and measures of body image could predict nutritional and exercise behaviors were examined. Given the small sample size, results are tentative. However, International students appeared more concerned with health, women appeared more concerned with taste, and International and American women did not differ in internalization. Two models of explanation were examined: the health belief model and an internalization model. Both help to understand behaviors. Further work is needed to more clearly differentiate the role of health attitudes and beliefs and the role of beauty standards in exercise and eating behavior.
Academic Achievement Motivation: What Motivates Students in High School and College
Sarah Elizabeth Hamel
Advisor: Cynthia Bane
Previous research has shown that social factors, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and goal orientation impact academic achievement motivation. The present study investigated students? perceived academic achievement motivation in high school and college. Participants completed questionnaires assessing the perceived impact that social factors, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and goal orientation had on their academic achievement motivation in high school and college. Results indicated that overall students were more motivated by their parents than their peers. An analysis of social factors and year in college, however, indicated that in college seniors perceived their peers as being more academically motivating than their parents. Students were more intrinsically than extrinsically motivated, especially regarding what motivated them in college. Students perceived that they were more motivated by a mastery goal than by either a performance approach or a performance avoidance goal. The present findings help clarify academic achievement motivation in high school and college.
Evaluation of a School Violence Prevention Program: The PAVE Program
Bryan T. Karazsia
Advisor: L. Kaye Rasnake
The efficacy of a school violence prevention program was evaluated. Seventh grade students (N = 31) enrolled at a rural middle school involved with the PAVE Program received the intervention. Sixth grade students (N = 66) from a similar school served as the control and received the intervention later. All participants were scheduled to complete three self-reported violence-related constructs during the pre and posttest period (i.e., knowledge, attitudinal, and behavioral assessments). Methodological problems resulted in the absence of some anticipated data (e.g., pretest behavioral data for intervention group). Analysis of the available data indicated that the intervention group?s knowledge improved across two of four domains addressed (i.e., physical abuse, sexual assault). There were no changes in the intervention group?s attitudes or behaviors. Suggestions were made for program modifications to improve efficacy and for future research to identify the essential components of violence prevention education.
The Effects of Relational-Schema Activation and Coviewing on Unrealistic Ideas about Marriage
Nicole Danielle Pukay-Martin
Advisor: Rita E. Snyder
The effects of relational-schema activation and coviewing on unrealistic ideas of marriage were investigated experimentally. Portrayals of romantic relationships selected from movies were utilized to activate an unrealistic relational schema for marriage. College students (N = 55) watched an unrealistic relationship prime or a control tape alone or in an opposite-gendered pair and then reported the extent to which they endorsed unrealistic ideas of marriage on four scales. Manipulation checks suggested that the content of the unrealistic prime contained many unrealistic characteristics of relationships; however, results revealed no significant differences in unrealistic ideas of marriage among the four conditions. Since unrealistic schemas for marriage are prevalent in American culture, the priming procedure was likely ineffective because it attempted to prime the dominant schema for marriage. Future research should utilize mass media images to prime non-dominant relational schemas. Also, studies should use indirect tasks after schema activation rather than belief inventories.
Deviant Behavior in At-Risk Adolescents: A Comparison of Traditional and Alternative Students
Aaron M. Sawyer
Advisor: Marci McCaulay
The present study sought to compare deviant behavior in first-year traditional public high school students with those enrolled in an alternative high school. Specifically, this study attempted to examine the relative influence of demographic variables, previous peer deviant behavior, school placement, School x Peer Behavior interaction, and Gender x Peer Behavior interaction on four outcome variables related to deviant behavior. Results indicated that Time 1 peer deviant behavior was the best predictor of Time 2 hard drug use, property crimes, and overall deviant behavior. The School x Peer Behavior interaction term added significantly to the variance accounted for by the regression models for hard drug use and overall deviant behavior at Time 2, while school added notable but nonsignificant amounts of predictive value for property crimes and unexcused absences. The Gender x Peer Behavior interaction term did not account for additional variance in any outcome model. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
Constraints on Auditory Motion Perception
Raymond M. Stanley
Advisor: Nestor Matthews
The purpose of this project was to investigate the perception of moving sound sources. In the experiments, I investigated whether the snapshot hypothesis, which suggests that spatial mechanisms encode motion information, was sufficient to explain speed discrimination. In experiment I, participants discriminated the speed of pairs of sounds, which moved in either the same or opposite directions. Speed differences were implemented in three ways: fixed time, fixed distance, and random time and distance. The finding of no directional effect supported the snapshot hypothesis, but the floor effect for fixed time motion was not consistent with the snapshot hypothesis. Experiment II was executed as a control for this and other studies that simulate motion. This experiment demonstrated that participants cannot be using monaural amplitude modulations to achieve optimum precision on motion discrimination tasks, and thus provided support for the validity of using dynamic interaural intensity differences to simulate motion.
The Effects of Metyrapone (a Corticosterone Synthesis Inhibitor) on the Development of Behavioral Sensitization to Cocaine
Maegan Swartwout
Advisor: Susan Kennedy
In rats, exposure to either a stressor or a stimulant results in release of dopamine and the stress hormone corticosterone. Both can induce sensitization, an increased effect from the same dose after repeated exposure, and cross-sensitization, where exposure to one leads to a sensitized response upon exposure to the other. Previous research has found that surgical and pharmacological suppression of the HPA axis can attenuate the development and expression of stress-induced sensitization to stimulants. The present study investigated whether the corticosterone inhibitor Metyrapone could similarly reduce cocaine-induced sensitization. Sensitization did not occur, and Metyrapone did not significantly reduce the behavioral response to either acute or repeated cocaine administration. Metyrapone reduced locomotion following saline administration, but only when animals had previously been exposed to cocaine. Suggestions for future research of this type are suggested, and implications for the treatment of human drug abuse are discussed.
Using Schema Theory to Develop Profiles of Known Sex Offenders: Applications to Rape, Sexual Imposition, and Sexual Nuisance Crimes
Jessica Sayward Welty
Advisor: Dr. David P. J. Przybyla
The process of inferring the personality characteristics of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts has commonly been referred to as criminal profiling. In this paper the history of criminal profiling is discussed, including the goals and ethics surrounding the profiling process, as well as three types of profiling, Crime Scene Analysis, Investigative Psychology, and Behavioral Evidence Analysis. Drawing on these approaches, a study examined 31 sex offenders in three categories: rape, sexual imposition, and sexual nuisance crimes. Forty-three variables relating to the offender, the victim, and the offense were investigated using information collected from police reports. Applying concepts from schema theories, a profile was developed for each type of offender. Applications of the profiles, general information about the specific offenses, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research were also discussed.
Musical Expertise and the Identification of Intonation and Tempo Variations
Danelle Alexis Wilbraham
Advisors: Harry Heft and Nestor Matthews
This study examined differences between the perceptual abilities of musical experts and novices on tempo, intonation, and duration identification tasks. Experts had at least 8 years of musical training. Novices had no musical training beyond middle school. Each task consisted of 120 trials with the sequential presentation of a standard and test stimulus. Participants indicated how the test stimulus differed from the standard by making faster-slower (tempo), sharper-flatter (intonation), or longer-shorter (duration) judgments. Results indicated that while experts exhibited significantly superior intonation identification ability, they had no advantage over novices on tempo and duration judgment tasks. Additional results suggested that self-ratings of musical skill are significant predictors of both years of musical experience and intonation identification ability. Limitations of the study, implications of the current findings, and suggestions for future perceptual and cognitive research in the area of musical expertise are discussed.
Responses of College Students to Contraceptive and Safer-sex Imagery in Erotica
Patrick Yingling
Advisor: David P. J. Przybyla
The purpose of this research is to consider the consequences of imagery manipulation in the context of safer sex and contraceptive behavior. More specifically, we are studying the consequences of exposure to sexual stimuli containing contraceptive or safer-sex imagery for fantasy construction, affective and evaluative responses, and behavior intentions of college students. It was predicted that differences would exist in the responses to the 'no condom' condition and the 'condom' condition, as well as in responses mediated by erotophobia-erotophilia. A questionnaire was administered to participants after they had viewed a five-minute clip of erotica. Participants were also given a fantasy assessment, which consisted of an erotica slide, to which participants wrote imaginative responses. Differences were found between erotophobes and erotophiles with regard to their affective and evaluative responses to the video. This study adds support to characteristic dimensions of erotophobia-erotophilia.