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- Creator:
- Ritzer, Melissa
- Description:
- Behaviors that are differentially associated with one hemisphere or the other are considered “lateralized.” Dozens of studies have demonstrated individual side biases for motor tasks across species and taxa. Over the last 20 years, research has confirmed that the two hemispheres differ in their reactions to potentially arousing stimuli. The approach-withdrawal hypothesis posits that the left hemisphere reacts to stimuli in such a way that there is a tendency to positively engage the stimulus, whereas the right reacts in such a way as to withdraw from the stimulus. There is limited research on how emotional laterality affects social interactions between conspecifics. Both motor and emotional laterality have been demonstrated in horses (Equus caballus). In the current study I investigated differences in horses’ reactions to dominant conspecifics according to side of approach in both manipulated and naturally occurring trials. I predicted that there would be larger reactions to approaches that occur in the left visual field compared to the right. Specifically, I predicted an individual would begin to move away sooner (dependent variable: the distance from the approaching horse at which the subordinate horse begins to moves away from the approaching horse), and move farther away from the approaching conspecific (dependent variables: number of steps, and distance moved away from the stimulus) in response to an approach from the left. The subjects for this study were 29 horses living in 5 bands, including one band of wild Przewalski’s horses. Contrary to the hypotheses, reactions to approach from both the left and right sides generated remarkably similar scores. The assumption that the approach of a dominant horse would activate a fear reaction, and consequently enhanced right hemisphere activity, may have been incorrect. My results suggest that situations in which fear or novelty is not induced do not elicit the patterns of lateralized reactions seen in similar studies, and that future research should investigate subtle forms of lateralization that might accompany such situations.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Milner, Alanna
- Description:
- It is estimated that about half of all women in college demonstrate eating disturbances that do not meet the clinical threshold for diagnosis (Berg, Frazier & Sherr, 2009). Researchers have speculated that social influences play a large role in the development of eating disorders, especially romantic relationships. Romantic relationships may account for disordered eating through benevolent sexism, which has been found to be related to self-objectification. Self-objectification, in turn, is closely associated with disordered eating. This study investigated: the relationship between self-objectification and benevolent sexism; the relationship between female benevolent sexism and male benevolent sexism; whether self-objectification and benevolent sexism were significant predictors of disordered eating in women, with benevolent sexism adding more predictive value than self-objectification; and, whether male benevolent sexism was a better predictor of disordered eating in women than female benevolent sexism. Eighty-four female undergraduates and their male romantic partners completed questionnaires assessing their levels of benevolent sexism. Women also completed questionnaires examining their self-objectification and disordered eating behaviors. Pearson’s product-moment correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to analyze the hypotheses. The results demonstrated that women’s and their male romantic partner’s levels of benevolent sexism are positively correlated and that surveillance, an aspect of self-objectification, is positively correlated with female benevolent sexism. Finally, self-objectification is a significant predictor of disordered eating in women.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Merchant, Gina
- Description:
- The purpose of the present study was to examine cognitive variables that predicted an individual's relationship with exercise and to obtain the self-reported activity levels of Whites and Latinas. Self-efficacy for exercise, hope, the pros and cons of change, and attitude towards exercise were tested as possible predictor variables and the stages of change from the transtheoretical model was the primary dependent variable. Of specific interest was whether hope theory explained unique variance across the stages of change. A cross-sectional design compared White and Latina female college students (N=112), and two versions of the stages of change measure in the same population. Whites had lower body-mass-index than Latinas (d =.62) and Whites were more active than Latinas (d =.41). Close to half of the study's participants ( 41%) did not meet the national guidelines for regular exercise. Goal specific hope's agency factor, affective-attitude towards exercise and ethnicity explained 41% of the variance across the stages of change. Although both stages of change measures discriminated between those who were more active and those who were less, the ladder form of measurement better described those in various stages of intention. For individuals not currently exercising regularly, but considering starting, cognitive constructs such as goal-specific hope could be effectively targeted in interventions. The motivational underpinnings of healthy behaviors are difficult to describe and theory integration offers much promise.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Novy, Meghan B
- Description:
- Past studies have explored and supported the hypothesis that trichromacy offers an advantage over dichromacy in detecting ripe fruit. Few studies have explored whether this advantage is maintained in food selection, that is, if the color cues available to trichromatic individuals help them to select the most optimal pieces of fruit once that fruit has been detected. I presented Geoffroy's marmosets with pieces of red-orange fruits that have color cues available to trichromats, but not dichromats. These cues are related to ripeness and palatability. I predicted that trichromats and dichromats would differ in food selection behaviors during a given visit to the food pan. I also predicted that there would be no differences between trichromats and dichromats when fruit pieces were dyed black. I explored the possibility that there were enough color cues available to dichromats in blue and yellow fruit to eliminate any differences between the dichromats and trichromats. The results of my study did not clearly support my general hypothesis that marmosets use available color cues to select fruit. However, the primary comparisons did generate a pattern of trends in the predicted directions: trichromats sniffed, tasted, and rejected red fruit less often than did dichromats, and were also more efficient at selecting red than black fruit. The exploratory hypotheses regarding blue and yellow foods generated less compelling and inconsistent results. The unexpected finding that trichromats examined all foods longer than dichromats suggests a possible difference in trichromatic and dichromatic reliance on visual inspection of foods. Keywords: Color vision, food selection, primates
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Hernandez, Paul Richard
- Description:
- Substantive issues in cross cultural testing require that tests be offered in different languages to suit the needs of a diverse society. However, the fundamental issues involving measurement accuracy become complicated when applied to crosscultural test development. Test developers must wrestle with a host of difficult issues when translating tests into new languages. The current study examined the issues in cross-cultural measurement and test translation using empirical techniques to validate the equivalence of different language versions of a test. The primary focus and goal of this study was to use item response theory to evaluate the test score equivalence of English and Spanish translation ofthe Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D). The item analyses revealed that five of the twenty CES-D items exhibited translational equivalence in English and Spanish. The analyses also revealed two general patterns among the fifteen differentially functioning Englishand Spanish-language item-pairs. First, six items displayed a pattern of"uniform" DIF, while nine remaining items exhibited a pattern of"non-uniform" DIF. The item level findings show that the vast majority of the item-pairs (75%) did not exhibit translational equivalence. The combined effect of item level DIF resulted in systematic differences between the test characteristic curves for English- and Spanish-language test takers at the low and high end of the depression (i.e., theta) continuum. Keywords: Item Response Theory; Translation; Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; Differential Item Function.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Leach, Dawn M
- Description:
- The purpose of Positive Psychology is to acquire a scientific understanding of the strengths and virtues that people need in order to thrive, and to use that information to develop effective interventions for positive change. A large part of Positive Psychology research is centered around an individual's sense of well-being. The present study focuses on the theory that setting intrinsic and autonomous goals (internally motivated goals) increases overall subjective well-being (SWB). In order to fully understand this relationship, we conducted a four-week experiment examining which part of the goal setting process actually influences SWB. We randomly assigned 163 participants from CSUSM to three conditions (Internally Motivated, Externally Motivated, and a control group) to examine the effect of goal setting on subjective well-being (SWB). Specifically, we wanted to examine the relationship between daily progress toward a goal and SWB, the relationship between level of achievement of a goal and SWB, and examine differences in SWB scores for participants in the three conditions. We did not find any significant differences in SWB between the three groups. As predicted, results showed a significant relationship between daily effort toward a goal and SWB, but not between level of achievement and SWB. Keywords; Goals, Well-being, Positive Psychology, Happiness
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Bruni, Coral M
- Description:
- A growing body of research has distinguished implicit from explicit attitudes. Yet, very little research has been conducted on the implicit attitudes of children; and no research has examined the implicit environmental attitudes of children. The purpose of the current study was two-fold. First, children's implicit and explicit environmental attitudes were examined using a sample of 52 fourth and fifth graders. Second, the psychometric properties of a new game version of the Implicit Association Test CIA T), known as FlexiTwins, were examined and its appropriateness for use with children was assessed. Implicitly, approximately 75% of the participants showed some form of connectedness with nature, with only 6% of children showing a connectedness with built. Explicitly, 58.4% of children stated that they were partially connected to nature. Results showed evidence for reliability ofFlexiTwins. Testretest correlation showed that FlexiTwins is a relatively stable measure. In addition, two subscales of the game were correlated and provided evidence of good internal reliability of the game. No significant correlations with explicit environmental measures were found. Although the validity of the new measure is not yet fully known, the reported results suggest that FlexiTwins is a useful measure of implicit social cognition and can easily be used to measure a variety of constructs. This study serves as phase I of an accelerated longitudinal study of connections with nature in order to better understand how environmental attitudes develop in children. Keywords: Children; Connectedness with Nature; Environmental Attitudes; FlexiTwins; Implicit Association Test; Implicit Social Cognition.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Aguero, Sandra
- Description:
- Thesis Abstract Efforts to promote psychological well-being have been a concern for researchers. While psychosocial factors have been identified as indicators of well-being, limited research has been conducted on the effects of attachment styles and need satisfaction on well-being. The present study examined the effects of need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), on the relationship between secure attachment and psychological well-being. The primary path of analyses predicted that securely attached individuals will perceive greater need satisfaction in their life, which in turn will lead to greater well-being. Undergraduate psychology students attending California State University San Marcos who had experienced a romantic relationship participated in this study. The hypothesis was not supported. Results showed that need satisfaction does not mediate the relationship between dimensions of attachment and well-being. The results have implications for mental health professionals to develop interventions targeting those psychosocial factors among students. Key Words: Well-being, secure attachment, insecure attachment, Need-Satisfaction, autonomy, competence, relatedness.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Cruz, Araceli
- Description:
- Attachment research has demonstrated that the early mother-child relationship plays a significant role in shaping a child’s emotional development. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of emotion regulation between the quality of early childhood mother-daughter relationships and symptoms of depression in college females. It was predicted that adult females who report higher quality of early childhood relationships will also report healthier emotion regulation and lower scores in depression than those individuals who report lower quality levels. Also, it was predicted that emotion regulation would mediate the relationship quality of mother. One-hundred nine female college students participated in the study. The Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI) and the Psychological Control Scale-Youth Self-Report (PCS-YSR) assessed the perception of early childhood mother-daughter relationships. The Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI) assessed emotion regulation. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) assessed participants’ depression symptom levels. Two separate mediation regression analyses were conducted to determine whether emotion regulation mediated the relationship between maternal warmth and symptoms of depression and maternal psychological control and symptoms of depression. The findings demonstrated that greater maternal warmth was related to higher levels of emotion regulation and lower symptoms of depression. In contrast, greater maternal psychological control was related to lower levels of emotion regulation and higher levels of depression. In addition, the results showed that emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between maternal psychological control and symptoms of depression, but not for maternal warmth. These findings contribute to understanding one pathway that may partly explain the relationship between maternal psychological control and symptoms of depression in college females.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
44690. Impact of Sensitization During Adolescence on Subsequent Drug Response: A Study of Resensitization
- Creator:
- Klumph, Marianne
- Description:
- Adolescents and young adults are the primary consumers of drugs of abuse (including prescriptions drugs); yet, most of the preclinical research aimed at understanding the effects of these drugs has been performed in adult animal models. Drug use during adolescence is particularly problematic because it is a major predictor of later drug abuse and dependence during adulthood. Although there is growing evidence for age differences in behavioral responses to drugs of abuse in rats, the long lasting impact of drug exposure has rarely been investigated using adolescent rats. Repeated exposure to a wide range of drugs has been shown to produce an enduring change in behavior termed sensitization. Behavioral sensitization refers to the progressive increase in the psychomotor effects of drugs following repeated administration, and this phenomenon is thought to contribute to addiction. The current study examined the effects of drugs of abuse on locomotor activity. Drugs tested were from three major classes: a psychomotor stimulant (methamphetamine, METH), an opiate (oxycodone, OXY), and a dissociative (phencyclidine, PCP). Rats were treated repeatedly during adolescence for 7 days, followed by a second 7-day regimen during adulthood. We hypothesized that animals exposed chronically to drugs as adolescents would show enhanced sensitization as adults. As expected, chronic treatment during adolescence induced locomotor sensitization. However, the follow-up treatment in adulthood yielded mixed results. Although there was evidence of an impact of adolescent treatment for all three drugs, in no case was sensitization greater in adults sensitized as adolescents. For METH and PCP, sensitization in adulthood was reduced in animals previously sensitized as adolescents (relative to animals that were not exposed to drugs as adolescents) whereas for OXY sensitization was not different. These results suggest that exposure to METH, PCP and OXY during adolescence leads to persistent changes, or lack of changes as seen with OXY, in the responses to these drugs in adulthood. These findings have implications for adolescent use of these three major drug classes, and the impact that early drug use may have on adult behavior.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science