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Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania
Psychology Department
Senior Theses Abstracts
2008
THE USE OF THERAPIST SELF-INVOLVING STATEMENTS WITH CHILD AND ADULT PSYCHOTHERAPY CLIENTS
Kimberly Barnett
Advised by Kirk Lunnen
The investigators evaluated the differences in use of self-involving statements in therapy between adult and child therapists. Seventy-two adult therapists and 50 child therapists participated in the study through electronic surveys. The use of self-involving statements was predicted by client population, theoretical orientation, and the motivation to use self-involving statements with clients. The results indicate that, contrary to previous research, the use of self-involving statements in therapy does not differ based on whether the client is a child or adult. Additionally, the results suggest that therapists are more likely to use self-involving statements that are more positive than negative.
IMPLICIT STEREOTYPES OF MULSIMS: CAN THEY ELICIT AGGRESSION?
Darnelle Clark
Advised by Jamie McMinn
This experiment investigated the implicit stereotypes of Muslims and their effects on aggressive behaviors. Sixty male and female undergraduate college students participated. A 3 (Muslim vs. non-Muslim vs. control) x 2 (Male prime vs. Female prime) between subjects ANCOVA design was used to test the hypotheses that people who are exposed to a Muslim prime and a male prime would have more aggressive behaviors than those exposed to non-Muslim and female primes. Participants exposed to a Muslim prime were more aggressive than participants exposed to a non-Muslim prime. Participants were more aggressive in assigning low grades to an essay. There was a significant interaction between target religion and sex. Participants who were exposed to a Muslim male prime showed more aggression than participants exposed to a non-Muslim male prime.
AN EVALUATION OF HOMONEGATIVISM BASED ON PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT FOLLOWING A
VISUAL STIMULUS
David Dean
Advised by Kirk Lunnen
Psychophysiological measurement is a good way to avoid the effects of socially desirable survey responses in the study of prejudice. Limited research exists on the psychophysiological measurement of homonegativism. This limited research is also not inclusive of women as both participants and stimuli. The present study includes 11 male and 18 female undergraduates and their reactions to both male and female homosexual stimuli based on measures of GSR, facial EMG, respiration activity, and cardiac activity following visual stimuli as well as their responses to the IHP (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980) a survey that measures negative attitudes towards homosexual. Results are insignificant or contrary to hypotheses. The results seem to be due to equipment and facility issues as well as a modest number of participants.
THE EFFECTS OF IMPLICIT STIGMATIZATION OF OBESE INDIVIDUALS ON PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Shalyn Eakin
Advised by Jamie McMinn
This study included 62 male and female Westminster College students and examined implicit attitudes toward obese individuals. Participants’ prosocial behavior was assessed through responses to a prospective student's questions about their campus; their anti-fat prejudice was measured with the Implicit Association Test (IAT). It was predicted that obese women would be helped the least and rated as the most unattractive, and average weight women would be helped the most and rated the most attractive. Also, it was predicted that individuals with more anti-fat biases would give less help than individuals with fewer anti-fat biases when interacting with someone perceived as obese. Results indicated that obese men were perceived more harshly than obese women, and that implicit biases affect how well an obese prospective student will fit with college life.
AN INVESTIGATION OF CARE AND JUSTICE-BASED MORAL REASONING: THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL AROUSAL
Veronica Geretz
Advised by Kirk Lunnen and David Goldberg
Psychologists have debated for centuries whether reason or emotion serves as the primary factor of moral decision making, in addition to what influences this factor. Sixty-two participants (36 women and 26 men) were researched to investigate care and justice moral orientation differences. Using electromyography (EMG), galvanic skin responses (GSR), the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), and the Moral Justification Scale (MJS), reactions to 6 moral dilemmas were measured. Individuals who reflected a care-based morality, rather than a justice-based morality, had higher arousal responses, as recorded by the GSR, when presented with moral dilemmas. Feminine individuals, as indicated by the BSRI, rated both the care and justice-based items on the MJS as more important when making moral decisions than did masculine individuals.
AN INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL SIMULATION’S MITIGATING EFFECTS ON SPATIAL LEARNING IMPAIRMENT CAUSED BY DEXAMETHASONE INJECTION IN RATS
Melissa A. Gnech
Advised by Alan Gittis
Stress causes morphological changes that correlate with spatial learning and memory deficits. Social stimulation may mitigate these stress-induced impairments. Nineteen Long-Evans Hooded rat pups received injections of dexamethasone, a chemical stressor, and 20 received vehicle injections. In each condition, half of the animals were housed socially and half individually. Of the rats that received the chemical stressor, the social animals had intact spatial memory, whereas the isolated rats had impaired spatial memory. These findings suggest the possibility of using social therapies for patients with certain psychiatric conditions caused by stress.
A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF PAIN AND INJURY SENSITIVITY ON ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
Kylene Hoch
Advised by Kirk Lunnen
This study examined how both pain and injury sensitivity can predict athletic performance from coaches’ and players’ perspectives. Pain sensitivity was measured by a cold pressor task and injury sensitivity was measured by the Sports Injury Appraisal Scale (Cassidy, 2006). The participants included 25 (11 males, 14 females) contact sport athletes. It was predicted that higher pain tolerance would result in higher ratings of athletic performance and higher injury sensitivity would result in lower ratings of athletic performance, but these hypotheses were not supported. However, the last pain rating given in the cold pressor task was significantly related to the total player\coach ratings.
CURRENT PREJUDICED ATTITUDES AND DIVERSITY EXPOSURE DURING SCHOOL YEARS
Amber D. Huyett
Advised by Sherri Pataki
This research examines the relationship of diversity experienced during school years and its later effects on prejudiced attitudes. Using the Modern Racism Scale, along with a behavioral measure, to examine attitudes related to prejudice of 46 liberal arts students, both male and female, at Westminster College. Along with these measures, the diversity of the area in which the participant lived, both perceived and actual, was used as another measure of implicit racial prejudice and attitudes toward individuals of other ethnicities. Individuals whom grew up with more diversity were likely to have less prejudice than individuals who did not experience diverse populations. The results helped to gain a better understanding of prejudiced attitudes and the effects of diversity on their development.
CORRELATION BETWEEN ADULT ATTACHMENT STYLES AND ROOMMATE SATISFACTION AMONG FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS
Amanda Kowalczyk
Advised by Jamie McMinn
The present study is a correlational test between adult attachment styles and roommate satisfaction. Eighty-six first-year students (43 roommate pairs) completed the study. A regression was conducted to test the hypotheses that those individuals with secure attachment styles would adapt to college easier, have higher levels of self-esteem, and be satisfied with their roommate. Those who have avoidant or anxious attachment styles would have a harder time adjusting to college, have lower levels of self-esteem, and be less satisfied with their roommate. However, avoidant individuals would be satisfied if paired with another avoidant or secure individual. The results yielded that both males and females reported having more secure attachment styles. There were no significant results found to support the hypotheses. However the results did yield that higher roommate satisfaction at testing time one predicted higher roommate satisfaction at time two.
THE EFFECTS OF CLOMIPRAMINE-INDUCED DEPRESSION ON DECISION MAKING IN RATS
Jake Martinez
Advised by Alan Gittis
Clomipramine affects limbic system activity and induces symptoms of depression. The involvement of these circuits is thought to play a role in decision making, therefore, it was hypothesized that clomipramine will impact decision making. To test this hypothesis, twenty Long-Evans hooded rats received clomipramine (15 mg/kg) or saline injections and were trained to associate radial maze arms with various incentive values. Compared to saline animals, clomipramine rats displayed disrupted decision patterns when deciding between arms that did not include an arm baited 100% of the time. This showed clomipramine animals lacked the normal decision making ability when choices were not so clear cut. This demonstrates the validity of using clomipramine as an agent for creating symptoms of depression.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY DYNAMICS, PARENTING STYLE, AND MATERNAL PERCEPTIONS OF ATTACHMENT
Danielle J. McCommons
Advised by Mandy Medvin and Jamie McMinn
Supportive and nurturing parent-child interactions are essential for all areas of development in young children. This study explored differences in parenting style and maternal attachment in married, step-parent, cohabitating, and single parent family structures using self-report questionnaires. Parenting and dyadic satisfaction was also assessed through self-report. Two hundred and two mothers of 3-6 year old children participated. The data did not support the hypothesis that parenting style would differ by family structure however, maternal attachment was significantly lower in the married biological family structure. Further analysis on maternal attachment revealed that this difference was only true in the mother-daughter relationship. Significant correlations were found between the parenting and dyadic satisfaction measures and parenting styles and maternal attachment.
PROGESTERONE AS NEUROPROTECTIVE AGENT IN SERIAL LESION PARADIGM AFFECTS BEHAVIORAL PERFORMANCE
David S. Mills
Advised by Alan Gittis
The administration of progesterone (16mg/kg) during the interoperative interval of a serial lesion paradigm yielded evidence that a neuroprotective agent can simultaneously be retroactive and proactive in its neuroprotective properties. The behavioral performance of male Long-Evans Hooded Rats, divided into three treatment groups (n=4; serial lesion/progesterone, serial lesion/vehicle, and sham), was measured on a non-match to sample task. Unilateral serial lesions, conducted via ablation, targeted the medial prefrontal cortex (MpFC) to induce a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Following both serial lesion stages, rats receiving serial lesion/progesterone exhibited fewer errors than rats receiving serial lesion/vehicle, but more than sham rats, indicating retroactive and proactive neuroprotective properties of progesterone. This effect could provide a new model for evaluating TBI treatment and prevention.
ATTACHMENT STYLE AND GENDER ROLE ADHERENCE WITHIN FAMILIES IN THE U.S. AND EGYPT
Nicole Roberts
Advised by Sherri Pataki
Are traditional versus egalitarian backgrounds related to attachment styles and gender role adherence? Based on Bartholomew and Horowitz’s (1991) attachment measure and its translation into Arabic, 55% of males and 52% of females reported a secure attachment in the U.S. In Egypt, 52% of males reported secure attachment opposed to only 10% of females. Gender role adherence was measured using the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (1974) and its translation. In both countries, participants perceived parents and themselves as adhering to traditional gender roles, and males reported being less masculine than their fathers. These findings suggest cross-cultural differences related to the female gender role, as well as a shift to less traditional gender roles for men in both countries.
AN EVALUATION OF THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Rebecca Slifkin
Advised by Mandy Medvin
The present study explored the relationship between occupational therapy and therapeutic alliance. Few studies have empirically investigated therapeutic alliance in occupational therapy. Two hundred and fifteen occupational therapists ranging in age (M = 46.13, SD = 10.21) and year of clinical experience (M = 19.19, SD = 9.70) indicated the importance of the therapeutic alliance using slightly modified versions of the Helping Alliance Questionnaire (HAq) and perceived outcome success using cluster 2 of the Therapist Questionnaire (Q-T). Results indicated that therapists with greater perceived therapeutic alliance had more successful patient outcomes, and the success was dependent upon the relationship. Findings suggest that future research into therapeutic alliance in fields outside of psychotherapy could be beneficial to treatment outcomes.
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