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- Creator:
- Tonsing, Linda Ann
- Description:
- This study profiles the adult with muscular dystrophy and determines what psychosocial needs are important to him in the management of this physically disabling condition. Ample research exists to support the fact that physical disabilities are accompanied by personal and social problems, prejudices and stigma. Through the use of personal interviews and mailed questionnaires, 64 adults (males and females ranging in age from 18 to 70 years) with muscular dystrophy or other neuromuscular diseases were sampled in the Los Angeles area. In a three-part measure, designed by the investigator, subjects provided extensive demographic data; responded in agreement/disagreement with 18 positive and negative statements involving certain aspects of living with a physical disability, and evaluated the importance and usefulness of 25 services which could be a part of an adult program. The question is raised as to whether large volunteer agencies, such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America, should be responsible for the research and provision of psychosocial services to its adult population. An essentially medical problem has been compounded by social, personal and vocational handicaps, and effective medical treatment is limited. It is suggested that each such agency reexamine and reevaluate, if necessary, the original tenets upon which it was formed, and consider the social responsibility of eliminating the effects of stigma and prejudice from the disabled person’s life.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Dascal, Julieta
- Description:
- Fear of success is a psychological barrier arising due to individuals' avoidance of perceived negative consequences of success, such as unwanted attention and pressure to perform, managing people's expectations, and peer rivalry. The present study investigated the role of two constructs (i.e., anxiety and depression) that potentially contribute to fear of success in student populations. Despite the increasing rates of anxiety and depression in undergraduate students (Gupta & Basak, 2013), no previous research had previously investigated the relationship between depression and fear of success. A total of 425 undergraduate students completed online self-report surveys assessing anxiety, depressive symptoms, and fear of success. Results indicated that individuals scoring high on anxiety and depressive symptoms were also more likely to score high on fear of success. However, only depressive symptoms appeared to be a strong predictor of fear of success. Gender comparisons found fear of success to be higher in men, while anxiety and depressive symptoms were higher for women. Based on these findings, implications of the observed results as well as directions for future research were also discussed. Keywords: fear of success, anxiety, depression, self-defeating behaviors
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Babush, Maxim
- Description:
- Although the combination of impulsivity and depleted self-control could have unique effects on financial decision-making and temporal discounting, their combined influence has not been empirically tested. The present research addresses this gap by examining the effects of hunger-induced impulsivity and depleted self-control on intertemporal choice. The results suggest the combined influence of impulsivity and depleted self-control has no effect on temporal discounting specifically. However, depleted self-control did influence intertemporal choice in a way inconsistent with most previous studies: depleted participants displayed less myopic preferences.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Kramarova, Olga
- Description:
- Dancers often have difficulty remembering choreography they learn in a class or workshop. This project investigates strategies dancers can use to effectively learn and remember choreography so that they will be more likely to perform it correctly in the future. The first part of this project introduces and tests the effects of new strategies designed to improve dancers' abilities to cluster movements and organize events together in ways that might make choreography easier to remember (Hanna, 2008; Stinson, 1985). The second part of this project extends these findings by making some redesign recommendations for the Nintendo Wii's Just Dance video game. Both goals have the potential to augment usability, increase customer satisfaction, and maximize the potential health benefits related to learning how to dance.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Spolter, Barry Marshall
- Description:
- An investigation of situational factors was made in order to compare the multiple linear and multiple logistic regression models. The study was performed in two phases. During the first phase, an artificially created data set was employed, while in phase two, analysis was performed on a real data set. Phase one of the study involved creation of data sets by using a logistic regression equation obtained from a previous research project for the comparative analysis of the linear model and the logistic model without any residual error. The development of the data sets allowed for investigation of several situational factors which might influence model preference. The first involved holding the parameter estimates of the logistic equations constant, while making the values of the predictor variable more and more extreme. The second investigation was performed in a similar fashion, except that on this occasion, the predictor variable values were held constant, while the parameter values were varied. The second phase of the study involved the use of a real data set, in order to compare the multiple linear and multiple logistic regression models. This data set consisted of 70 predictor variables in order to evaluate the multiple linear and multiple logistic regression models on the selected criteria. For phase one of the study, it was found for constant parameter values that as the value of the predictor variable became more extreme, the multiple linear model became less accurate in the criterion used to evaluate the models. This difference was even greater when all values for the predictor variable were extreme and of the same sign. For the situation where the values of the predictor variable was constant, and the value of the parameter estimate was varied, it was found that, as compared to the logistic model, the multiple linear regression model became less accurate as the value of the parameter increased. For phase two, few differences were found between the two models for most of the methods used to select subsets of predictor variables. However, one method did indicate a significant difference between the models on all designated criteria used for phase two. For subset selection using the stepwise logistic regression method, it was found for a number of criteria that the logistic model had a significantly higher level of performance than the multiple linear model. The multiple logistic model had an increase of 10% over the variance explained by the linear model; the logistic model had 27 more cases with residuals values less than 0,1; and it had three fewer misclassifications.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Kern, Shira Michelle
- Description:
- Dementia represents a series of degenerative diseases known to cause a decline in cognitive functioning. A significant yet understudied type of dementia is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), characterized primarily by deficits in executive abilities and language. There is, particularly, little data regarding the daily functional abilities of FTD patients. The current study aimed to detail patterns of activities of daily living, using an observation-based test, and neuropsychological performance of patients with FTD. Thirteen participants with FTD were administered the Direct Assessment of Functional Status (DAFS). Fourteen subscales of the DAFS, designed to assess areas of orientation, communication, transportation, shopping, and financial skills were assessed. Each task within the subscales is observed and rated objectively by the researcher who scores participants on their performance; higher scores are equivalent to better performance. DAFS subscale scores were then converted to percentage correct responses for each subscale. FTD and 57 normal age and education-matched controls also completed a battery of cognitive tests designed to assess major cognitive domains, which included the Digit Span, CVLT, WCST, FAS and Rey-O. FTD patients' raw neuropsychological test scores were converted to z-scores using control participants' mean and standard deviation measures in order to create comparable units of measurement. The results revealed no significant differences between the neuropsychological z-scores for the FTD. However, a significant difference in ADL performance across groups, with NC outperforming those with FTD on nearly all areas of ADL performance was found. Within group analyses revealed that tasks related to recall, recognition and executive functioning were particularly difficult for those with FTD. Overall results support prior research in stating that those with FTD will be outperformed by normal controls on tasks related to ADL functioning. However, what this study specifically identifies is that within the range of deficits characterized through the DAFS scores, there are areas of ADL performance which are significantly more challenging for those with FTD in relation to not only age matched controls, but within their own patterns of deficits.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Bhurawala, Huma Khurshid
- Description:
- Comparisons of two contemporary models used to analyze bicultural identity; the UDM (unidimensional model) and BDM (bidimensional model) show that conceptualization is not clear in the field. Thus, it is suggested that a third model, the TDM (tridimensional model) is able to better unpack the contents of ethnogenesis (Flannery et al., 2001), or the phenomenon by which heritage and host cultures intertwine to form a new ethno-cultural group over generations. This present study seeks to examine the construct of ethnogenesis as it relates to bicultural college students by employing the TDM model and the similarly related Alternation model. It is further predicted that biculturals who vary on two dimensions, alternating and blending, will differ in amounts of bicultural selfefficacy (LaFramboise et al. , 1993).
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Zamora, Luis
- Description:
- The current study examines the effects of viewing positive and negative exemplars directly prior to an athletic performance task. It was hypothesized that participants who were given a positive exemplar (as opposed to the negative exemplar) would: perform worse in an athletic task, have lower levels of perceived control and state anxiety - positive, and higher levels of state anxiety - negative. Accordingly, it was predicted that greater perceived control would correlate with higher levels of performance, with recent findings supporting this view. Positive state anxiety was also studied to monitor how an athlete may use feelings of arousal to enhance performance. The participants included n = 269 undergraduate students from a local university who had a minimum level of previous basketball proficiency. Participants were asked to complete two sets of basketball free throws and given several questionnaires to fill out, including the Perceived Control scale (based on Otten, 2009), the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised (Cox et al., 2003), and a new Competitive State Anxiety - Positive inventory. Participants in the experimental groups were shown pictures and text of professional basketball players who shot over 80% (positive exemplar), 75% (control), or below 50% (negative exemplar). As in Dijksterhuis et al. (1998), participants transcribed their reactions regarding these exemplars, and then were asked here to shoot the second of two rounds of free throws. Results were not demonstrative of differences across the exemplar conditions on performance, perceived control, or the state anxiety levels of the participants. There were positive correlations, however, between performance and perceived control, and perceived control and positive state anxiety. This study is intended to aid athletes, coaches, and trainers to better understand the antecedents of a successful performance under pressure.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Schwalm, Norman D.
- Description:
- Fifty-four subjects randomly assigned to six groups in a 2x3x3 experimental paradigm were required to locate, count, and identify designated targets on displays of 40, 80, or 120 lettered, colored, and shaped items. Half of the subjects performed in a single task situation and half performed in a forced time-sharing task situation. Dependent measures were response times, percent correct responses, and rate of information processing (bits/sec). Results indicated significant effects of density and coding method for the location and counting tasks but not for the identification task. Color coding appeared to be the best coding method, followed by letter and shape coding respectively in both task situations. The superiority of color over the other two coding methods for the location and counting tasks was found to be greater in the time-shared task situation than in the single task situation, and this was attributed to color's attention-getting characteristics. It was concluded that attention becomes a critical factor in time-shared task situations. Implications of the findings for display design, as well as suggestions for further research, were stated.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Burkhart, Brenda J.
- Description:
- Previous studies on database data models have produced conflicting results. It was hypothesized that reported results differed due to different methodologies used to study the effect of data model on information retrieval. To test this hypothesis three methods of retrieval were utilized. The first was information search through instance diagrams (no language condition) which used the same method as Brosey and Shneiderman (1978). In the other two conditions, a query language (SEQUEL) was used and subjects either wrote queries (Offline) or typed queries into a computer (Online). Relational and hierarchical data models were compared. Sex was used as a blocking variable and all subjects answered both easy and hard questions (Query Difficulty). Correctness of retrieval results showed a main effect for method of retrieval as hypothesized. The No Language group scored higher than the Offline group who in turn scored higher than the Online group. It was hypothesized that the relational data model would result in better performance. Unexpectedly, there was a significant main effect for data model with the hierarchical model resulting in higher correctness of retrieval scores than the relational data model. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology