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- Creator:
- Schmitt, Joseph
- Description:
- This experiment examined the role of social norms in encouraging conservation behaviors. Participants were 624 households from neighborhoods located in North San Diego County, California. This was a field experiment with participants randomly assigned to one of five conditions: generic normative information, specific normative information, efficient normative information, information-only control, or no-contact control. Prior to the experiment, participants indicated their level of identification with the three different referent groups. The dependent variable was average daily household electricity consumption. Results indicated that participants who received the efficient normative information significantly reduced their household electricity consumption. Participants who received the specific normative information trended towards an increase in consumption. Further analyses showed that the trend was driven by low users who highly identified with their specific referent; these households used significantly more electricity from baseline to intervention. In addition, households identified with the specific referent group significantly more than they did with either a generic or an efficient referent group.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
44692. Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment in Pakistani Women Living in Pakistan and the United States
- Creator:
- Passyousofi, Makees
- Description:
- People across cultures form expectations about love; research suggests that there are cultural differences in the kind and amount of love that is expected in marriage. Marital expectations also vary by relationship status (i.e., single, engaged, and married). The current study used Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love to explore expectations about components of love (intimacy, passion, and commitment) among single, engaged, and married women in Pakistan and Pakistani immigrants in the United States. One hundred and ten Pakistani women between the ages of 18 and 32, who were involved in romantic relationships longer than three months, were recruited from Pakistan and the United States using a referral method. Data collection was done using paper and pencil surveys. Measures included a demographic questionnaire, the Sternberg Triangular Love Scale, the Adapted Triangular Love Scale, and The Vancouver Index of Acculturation. Love expectations did not differ by relationship status alone, as had been predicted. Culture, however, was a significant factor related to love expectations. Pakistani women in the United States presented a “western” pattern of love expectations, with single and engaged women emphasizing passion and intimacy. Married women in the United States sample experienced lower levels of intimacy, passion, and commitment; although immersed in a western culture, they seem to have been less influenced by expectations about romance than single and engaged women. Participants in Pakistan showed a more traditional pattern, with commitment the most highly valued dimension of love among all relationship groups. These findings suggest that immediate cultural surroundings influence the experience of love in Pakistani women.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Limas, Eleuterio
- Description:
- Smokers have been regarded as having low distress tolerance, a characteristic shown to be linked to smoking behavior. Individual and population based interventions have proven to be effective in changing behavior; however, no research exists that has investigated the effect of a population based intervention on manipulating distress tolerance and subsequent smoking behavior. The present study utilized a type of population based approach commonly associated with successful behavior change: social norms. Specifically, the effects of a social norm intervention on distress tolerance as measured by pain tolerance during the cold pressor task as well as subsequent smoking behavior (i.e., latency to smoke) was examined. Participants consisted of 128 moderate smokers (at least 12 cigarettes per day). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: social norm treatment and social norm control. Two separate oneway ANCOVA’s were conducted to assess the effects of the treatment on distress tolerance and subsequent smoking behavior while controlling for covariates (e.g., gender, pain catastrophizing). Results indicated that individuals who received a social norm message increased pain tolerance compared to those who did not receive a social norm message. However, latency to smoke was similar across both groups. Implications as to how to better experimentally assess smoking variables in future studies are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Dunbar, Megan K
- Description:
- Increased communication technology use, including contact through email, cell phones, chat rooms, instant messaging and social network systems, has dramatically modified social interactions. Specifically, communication technology has increased the frequency of communication between individuals but has resulted in the loss of face-to-face interactions. This study was designed to test the relationship between communication technology use, personality characteristics and the quality and quantity of face-to-face interactions. In this study, 176 adults from one corporation were surveyed on their communication technology use, emotional intelligence, extroversion and face-to-face relationships. The results from this study provide evidence that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between communication technology use and the quality of face-to-face interactions. However, there was no evidence that emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between communication technology use and the number of face-to-face interactions. The results for extroversion are converse to those examining emotional intelligence. There is support that extroversion moderated the relationship between communication technology use and the quantity of face-to-face interactions, but not the quality of face-to-face interactions. It is clear that there is a relationship between personality characteristics, communication technology use and face-to-face interactions.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Gonzalez, Patricia
- Description:
- The mental health of individuals of Mexican origin varies as a function of generational status. Studies have found that Mexican Americans tend to have more depressive symptoms than Mexican immigrants. The goal of this study was to identify possible explanations for the reported generational differences in depression among individuals of Mexican origin by examining acculturation, gender, generational status, and relative deprivation. Participants were153 women and men of Mexican origin who completed a questionnaire packet assessing demographic background, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA-11), the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-11), relative deprivation and the Revised Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS-R). Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine whether gender, generational status, acculturation level were significant predictors of depressive symptoms and optimism level. Findings suggest that low acculturation and being female were significant predictors of depressive symptoms. Relative deprivation was not a significant predictor of depressive symptoms among Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Flores, Ana-Mercedes
- Description:
- Individuals with depressive symptoms report less specific autobiographical memories than healthy individuals. Depressed rumination is commonly seen in this population and evidence suggests it may interfere with autobiographical memory retrieval by depleting executive functioning resources used to retrieve memory, thus explaining the decreased rates of specific memories. The current study sought to investigate whether relationships between depressive symptoms and overgeneral autobiographical memory seen in trait-like measures of depression were also seen during an induced negative mood state, and whether rumination moderated these relationships. Furthermore, the current study sought to expand on the current literature by measuring memory content using traditional criteria (temporal categorization; valence), as well as two additional criteria (detail given and trajectory). In total, 160 participants were randomly assigned to an induced mood condition (negative, neutral) as well as an attentional task condition (self-focused rumination, distraction). Results supported the predicted significant main effect of mood on rates of specific memories. Rumination was not a significant moderator of specific memory rates. However, rumination significantly moderated degree of detail when cue words were positive by impeding retrieval of details given relative to distraction. Additionally, there was an overall significant, positive linear trend of rates of specific memories across cues. Taken together, these results indicate that some, but not all, relationships between depressive symptoms and overgeneral autobiographical memory seen in trait-like measures of depression, are also seen during a state-like manipulation of negative mood.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Ayala, Rafael
- Description:
- This study addresses the various factors that influence an individual’s level of cognitive complexity in the domain of music. Specifically, the links between intelligence, practice, musical ability, and musical cognitive complexity were assessed. It was hypothesized that higher intelligence, more hours of practice, and greater musical ability would predict greater musical cognitive complexity, and that intelligence, practice, and their interaction would predict greater musical ability. A total of 72 participants completed a questionnaire assessing number of hours practiced, musical experience, and intelligence. Additionally, they completed the repertory grid technique with musical elements in order to assess musical cognitive complexity. There was a significant positive correlation between intelligence and musical ability, a significant positive correlation between musical ability and musical cognitive complexity, and a significant positive correlation between practice and musical ability. Multiple regression results indicate that neither of the hypotheses were supported. Results are discussed in terms of implications that musical training may have for musical cognitive complexity.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Andreas, Marie
- Description:
- Differences were investigated between nontraditional and traditional working women students through stressors, level of perceived social support (PSS), perceived stress, and well-being. Female undergraduates (N = 192) attending a 4-year university were surveyed regarding their academic stress, work/family conflict, and reported level of PSS. There were two significantly different populations under examination; nontraditional students were older, worked more hours, and had spent more years in college whereas traditional students were enrolled in more courses. To test the hypotheses t-tests and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. First, comparisons between traditional and nontraditional students were made. Consistent with expectations, nontraditional students reported significantly higher levels of work/family conflict than traditional students. In contrast, traditional students reported greater levels of perceived social support than nontraditional students, a result that contradicted previous research and study predictions. Regarding academic stressors, few differences were found between populations. Hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine direct and moderator relationships between stressors, social support, and the outcomes, stress and well being. After controlling for social desirability and demographic characteristics, work-family conflict was a significant predictor ofboth stress and well-being, but academic stress was not. In addition, a significant incremental change was reported for both stress and well-being when PSS was entered. The predicted moderator effects between PSS and the stressors (academic and work/family conflict) failed to be statistically significant.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
- Creator:
- Blanes-Lopez, Erika Xiomara
- Description:
- Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and developed countries worldwide. In the United States, Latinos constitute the largest ethnic minority group. The increase in number of Latino immigrants and U. S born Latinos poses immense challenges for governmental, medical, and nonprofit institutions. These challenges are apparent in the efforts to address the mental health needs of current and future Latino populations. For instance, the literature shows that second or later generations of immigrants have a higher prevalence of mental disorders compared to first generation immigrants. The current study sought to identify the relationship between acculturation and depressive symptomatology using acculturative stress as a moderator variable in a sample of Latino participants from various settings. The current study examined two groups that varied in the level of acculturation High Hispanic-Low Anglo participants and High Hispanic-High Anglo participants. It was hypothesized that acculturative stress would be a moderator between acculturation and depression symptoms. It was predicted that High Hispanic-Low Anglo, high stressed individuals would show higher depressive symptom levels compared to High Hispanic-High Anglo, low stressed individuals. Moderation analysis showed that acculturative stress did not significantly moderate the relationship between acculturation level and depressive symptoms(~= -.174, p = .315). Keywords: Depression, Acculturative stress, Acculturation, Latinos.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science
44700. Hand preference, fear responses, and exploration in Geoffroy's Marmosets (Callithrix geoffroyi)
- Creator:
- Braccini, Stephanie Nicole
- Description:
- Handedness is the preferred use of one hand over the other. The consistent preferred use of one hand is characteristic of many human and nonhuman primates and may reflect hemispheric specialization. Hopkins and Bennett (1994) and Cameron and Rogers (1999) found that right-handed chimpanzees and marmosets were more willing to explore novel situations than left-handed individuals, leading to the tentative conclusion that hemispheric dominance for use of hands may predict certain behavioral tendencies. This study examined the relationships between handedness, exploration, and fear responses in two groups (N = 18) of Geoffroy's marmosets ( Cal/ithrix geoffroyi) at the Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Handedness was assessed by observations of multiple (2: 50) instances of reaching for food and bringing it to the mouth. Based on the Handedness Index, there were 7 right-handed, 5 left-handed, and 6 ambidextrous individuals. In the first of two experiments, both conducted prior to the handedness assessment, the marmosets were exposed to 13 novel objects and 16 novel foods, an ecologically valid measure of response to novelty that has not been included in prior studies of handedness and behavior. The data shows that right-handed marmosets explored novel objects and novel foods significantly more and significantly faster than left-handed marmosets. All correlations and means were in the predicted direction. To date, the implied relationship between left-handedness and fearfulness has not been directly measured. In Experiment 2 the taped calls of three raptors were played to induce fear in the marmosets. Right-handed marmosets recovered from their "freeze" reaction significantly quicker than left-handed marmosets. Together with the results of Experiment I, my data support the notion that at least some lateralized traits (e.g. fearfulness) might be more characteristic of nonhuman primate individuals whose handedness is lateralized in the same hemisphere as that trait. KEYWORDS: Callithrix, laterality, handedness, hemispheric specialization, exploration, fear responses
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science