Psychology & Philosophy
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/15382
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Attachment-based family therapy versus nondirective supportive therapy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning adolescents with depression, and suicidal ideation: An exploratory study(2023-09-21) Russon, Jody; Abbott, Caroline H.; Jin, Bora; Rivers, Alannah Shelby; Winston-Lindeboom, Payne; Kobak, Roger; Diamond, Guy S.Introduction Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) adolescents are particularly at risk for suicidal ideation; however, little clinical research is focused on treating this population. Attachment-based family therapy (ABFT) is among the few empirically supported youth suicide treatments adapted for LGBQ adolescents. The purpose of this exploratory study is to determine the differential treatment effects and rates of change for LGBQ and heterosexual adolescents with depression and suicidal ideation receiving either ABFT or family enhanced nondirective supportive therapy (FE-NST). Method The sample included 129 adolescents (31% LGBQ), ages 12–18 randomized to the two treatment groups. Multilevel modeling was used to examine individual changes in depression and suicidal ideation over the 16-week treatment. Results Results revealed that LGBQ adolescents in the ABFT condition showed a greater rate of reduction in depressive symptoms over treatment, slope = −0.94, p < 0.001, than did LGBQ adolescents in the NST condition, slope = −0.41, p = 0.12. Heterosexual adolescents showed symptom reduction in both treatment conditions (ABFT slope = −0.47, p < 0.001; NST slope = −0.79, t (113) = −7.48, p < 0.001). Changes in suicidal ideation were found across time, but not across conditions. Conclusion LGBQ adolescents in the ABFT condition had a sharper decrease in depressive symptoms and better outcomes at week 16.Item Differentiating Between Youth with a History of Suicidal Thoughts, Plans, and Attempts(2023-02-24) Rivers, Alannah Shelby; Winston-Lindeboom, Payne; Atte, Tita; Rosen, Perri; Wintersteen, Matt; Watkins, Nicole Kathleen; Tien, Allen; Diamond, GuyLimited research has examined factors distinguishing between patterns of adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The current study examined demographic, school, family, and mental health differences across patterns identified by Romanelli and colleagues (2022): history of thoughts only, plans with thoughts, attempt with thoughts and/or plans, and attempt without thoughts. The current study includes 4,233 students (Mage = 14.65 years, SD = 2.06) with a history of suicide risk referred to school Student Assistance Program teams. The sample was approximately 60.7% female, 59.8% White (16.0% Black, 15.4% multiracial, 8.8% other), and 14.4% Hispanic. Results indicated that the “attempt without thoughts” group was small with no differentiating characteristics. However, membership in the other three groups was predicted by demographic, school, family, and mental health factors. These results support the importance of examining suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts as distinct indicators and assessing key biopsychosocial factors. Further research could improve how behavioral health systems identify at risk youth.Item Maternal Reflections on Working from Home with Children during the Pandemic(2023-06-26) Rosen, Lisa H.; Rubin, Linda J; Sharbine, Mackenzie BeckmonDue to widespread work and school closures during the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, many mothers were forced to work from home while supervising their children’s remote schooling. The current study examines maternal reflections on this period, focusing on the perceived impact of working in close proximity for both mothers and their children in the United States. Mothers reported that their children learned more about their job responsibilities since the onset of the pandemic compared to before it, which was likely due to children spending more time closer to their mothers while they worked. We used thematic analysis to examine mothers’ open-ended responses. Two overarching themes emerged. The first theme was that greater time together increases children’s understanding of working mothers’ role in the family, workplace, and community. The second theme was that observing one’s mother work from home can inform children’s future career paths. Mothers shared that this experience of learning about their mothers’ career enabled their children to better understand their perspective, which has the potential to be an empathy-building experience. Looking towards the future, this increased respect and empathy have the potential to improve relationship quality and help children view their mothers’ careers more favourably.Item The moderating role of anti-black racial identity and coping on the association between perceived racism and health behaviors(The Texas Psychological Association, 2022) Phillips, Jasmine; Tayebi, Shanyon; Henderson, Craig; Banks, CourtneyThe purpose of the current study was to examine the association between perceived racism and eating pathology, and the moderating effect of coping style and racial identity on this association.Item Evaluation of the race card strategy: The importance of supporting evidence(Boise State University, 2007) Hart, Christian L.; Lopez, Edward P.; Griffith, James D.The role that racial issues play in the courtroom has been studied in terms of the effect of salient racial variables on juror perceptions and decision- making. However, no prior research examined the effects of using charges of racial bias by police officers as a criminal defense strategy. The “race card” strategy can be defined as the introduction of salient racial variables in an attempt to sway attitudes and beliefs of jurors or judges. In these two experiments, subjects reviewed fictional criminal case summaries in which the race card strategy was or was not used. Furthermore, evidence supporting the defendant claims of racial bias was introduced in some of the cases. The results indicated that when a defendant claimed arrest because of racial bias by the arresting officer, those claims resulted in significant reductions in juror perceptions of guilt. However, claims of racial bias were only effective when the defense produced further evidence supporting claims of racist attitudes or behaviors by the arresting officerItem Responses to the sports inventory for pain among BASE jumpers(University of South Alabama, 2006) Griffith, James D.; Hart, Christian L.; Goodling, Morgan; Kessler, Jill; Whitmire, AndyBASE jumping is considered to be among the most dangerous sporting activities in the world. Individuals involved in this activity jump off of four different types of fixed objects that include buildings, antennas, spans (e.g., bridges), and edges (e.g., cliffs). There are many similarities between skydiving and BASE jumping, but there are distinct differences that force BASE jumpers to deal with more hazards in less time resulting in a much smaller margin of error necessary to make a successful jump. Although there is a high risk of injury and death compared to more traditional sports, no studies have examined how these extreme sport participants perceive pain. A total of 134 BASE jumpers were categorized on the basis of experience (low, medium, high) and completed the Sports Inventory for Pain (Meyers, Bourgeois, Stewart, & LeUnes, 1992) that measured six dimensions of pain coping styles. Multivariate analyses revealed significant differences on five of the six dimensions. In each significant finding, there was a similar pattern such that experienced BASE jumpers used more conservative pain coping styles than inexperienced participants as conceptualized by the instrument. It is argued that more conservative responses among experienced jumpers are associated with a greater awareness of the risk factors involved in BASE jumping and a higher level of self-preservation.Item Ironic effects of mental control in problem solving: Evidence for the implementation of ineffective strategies(McNeese State University, 2006) Hart, Christian L.; Randell, Joe A.The ironic effect of intending to solve problems was examined in this study. Previous research has demonstrated ironic effects of mental control for numerous behavioral and cognitive processes. In this study, subjects were either asked to solve problems, or they were asked to solve the same problems as quickly and efficiently as possible. Based on previous demonstrations of ironic effects of mental control, it was expected that those exercising the greatest mental control would have the poorest performance. Results indicated that those subjects trying to solve problems quickly and efficiently actually solved fewer problems and committed more errors than those who were not intended to work quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, there is evidence that this ironic effect of mental control in problem solving was associated with the use of different strategies. The use of ineffective strategies is suggested as one explanation for the ironic effects of mental control.Item Save the best for last? Social psychology taught in introductory psychology courses(McNeese State University, 2012) Curtis, Drew A.; Hart, Christian L.The purpose of the current study was to explore social psychology as it is taught within introductory psychology courses. Sixty syllabi from various educational institutions were randomly selected. Several variables such as the duration and placement of social psychology within introductory psychology courses were examined. Results indicated that social psychology is typically taught in the second half of an introductory psychology course (90.7%) and most lectures occur in the last quarter (51.2%). Results also show that 75% of the syllabi dedicated no more than 3 sessions to social psychology and over half of the courses spend no more than 3 hours teaching social psychology (65%). An argument for covering social psychology earlier in the course is made.Item Ironic effects of attempting to remember(North American Journal of Psychology, 2007) Hart, Christian L.; Randell, Joe A.; Griffith, James D.In this study, ironic effects of intentional memory processes were explored. Ironic effects have previously been demonstrated in a number of mental control domains such as sleep onset, anxiety, and physical behavior. In this study, it was determined that ironic effects of mental control do occur when individuals apply greater cognitive effort toward the memorization of a word list. Specifically, individuals trying the hardest to remember information were later able to recall less information than those who were not trying as hard to encode and store information. It was further determined that the conditions that give rise to these ironic effects in the memory domain are associated with heightened cognitive workload. Finally, we demonstrated that while elevated intention to remember results in less than optimal recall, this heightened intention is still more effective than no intent. Thus it appears that ironic effects of attempting to remember vary with the level of mental control over mnemonic processing. A theoretical perspective linking ironic effects of mental control with the implementation of ineffective strategies is discussed.Item Pornography actors: A qualitative analysis of motivations and dislikes(North American Journal of Psychology, 2012) Griffith, James D.; Adams, Lea T.; Hart, Christian L.; Mitchell, Sharon; Kruger, Alex; Phares, Bekah; Forbes, RandyThere is a paucity of research on individuals who perform in x-rated films because this group of actors represents a difficult-to-access population. The current study used a discovery oriented qualitative methodology to examine the responses of 105 male actors in the adult entertainment industry regarding the motivations for becoming involved in the pornography industry. The results indicated that there were nine reasons that emerged from the data with the most frequent responses being money, sex, and social interactions. The results provide insight from a large sample of actors on why they chose to become involved in the pornography industry and represent a step in better understanding the characteristics and attributes of individuals in the adult entertainment industry.Item Does information about the frequency of lying impact perceptions of honesty?(North American Journal of Psychology, 2021) Curtis, Drew A.; Levine, Timothy R.; Hart, Christian L.; Serota, Kim B.In the psychological research literature, deception is often discussed as a ubiquitous phenomenon. However, recent research has revealed that the mean of two lies per day is highly misleading due to a skewed distribution, with most people telling zero lies on any given day. We sought to explore how the presentation of statistics on lie frequency affects understandings of lie frequency, veracity judgments, behavioral intentions, beliefs about others' propensity to lie, suspicion, and attitudes. In Study 1, 176 participants were randomly exposed to two explanations of deception research findings that either described lying as ubiquitous or not. Results revealed that the differing explanations of lie frequency did not produce significance differences on the dependent measures. In Study 2, 114 participants were randomly assigned to watch a video of a researcher discussing one of three deception literature prompts. Results indicated that a more nuanced presentation of the skewed distribution of lie frequency led participants to believe that lying is less ubiquitous, but had no effect on veracity judgments, behavioral intention, beliefs about others' propensity to lie, suspicion, and attitudes. Implications and considerations for reporting lie frequency are discussed.Item Others’ deception attitude measure(North American Journal of Psychology, 2022) Curtis, Drew A.; Dickens, Chelsea; Hart, Christian L.Deception is an extensively researched cross-disciplinary subject with limited assessments. Literature has revealed a difference in attitudes toward deception based on the perspective that one holds (liar or dupe). The Others’ Deception Attitude Measure (ODAM) was developed to assess attitudes that people hold toward others who are deceptive. The purpose of the current study was to assess the psychometric properties of the ODAM. We recruited 149 participants who completed the ODAM and several other measures. Our results provide initial reliability and validity for the 17-item ODAM.Item Satisfaction with campus police services: A community policing initiative(Project Innovation Austin LLC, 2004) Griffith, James D.; Hueston, Harry; Wilson, Eddie; Moyers, Casey; Hart, Christian L.Problem: Higher education has seen dramatic increases in student enrollments, diversity and crime rates during the past 25 years. These changes have created the need for new approaches from campus law enforcement agencies. There has been a movement toward community oriented policing (COP) policies and practices by campus police departments to address these changes. A vital step as part of a comprehensive COP strategy is to gather information from its community members. Method: This study collected survey responses from 557 students at a mid-sized university on information regarding victimization, contact with campus police, satisfaction with campus police services, and overall feeling of safety. Results: There was a low crime rate on campus and those that were a victim of crime did tend to report it to a university official. Students were highly satisfied with campus police services and felt safe on campus. Conclusions: This survey represents an initial step toward developing a foundation for a community policing initiative. Implications of the findings are discussed.Item Using vignettes to change knowledge and attitudes about rape(Project Innovation Austin LLC, 2010) Griffith, James D.; Hart, Christian L.; Brickel, MollyThis article describes a classroom activity that was aimed at increasing knowledge and changing attitudes regarding rape in an undergraduate Forensic Psychology class. Students from four sections of the course taught over two years were included in the study. Two of the sections participated in the exercise which required students to read vignettes of fictional rape cases and make individual and group decisions by determining if rape occurred or not and two of the sections did not perform the exercise and represented the control condition. Students showed a lack of understanding in identifying instances of rape. There was a greater increase in knowledge and more favorable attitude change for students in the experimental group compared to the control condition. Exercises of this nature can be easily incorporated into a variety of classes in order to provide information regarding rape to college students.Item Indirect detection of deception: Looking for change(Center for the Study of Group Processes at the University of Iowa, 2009) Hart, Christian L.; Fillmore, Derek G.; Griffith, James D.In this study, we examined the effectiveness of using indirect methods to detect liars. College students viewed a video in which half of the people told some lies and half of the people were entirely truthful. Participants were either asked to detect the liars in the video or they were asked to identify people in the video whose behavior, mannerisms, or speech changed. Participants using the indirect lie detection method of looking for behavioral change were more accurate in their categorizations of liars and nonliars than were participants who were directly and explicitly looking for liars.Item Evolutionary perspectives in publications across subfields of psychology(The Evolutionary Studies (EvoS) Consortium, 2017) Hart, Christian L.; Morley, S.; Herzog, L.Across time, there has been variability in the degree to which evolutionary perspectives and explanations have been integrated within the prevailing theoretical perspectives in psychology as a whole and within the various subfields of psychology. In the current study, we explored recent (2004-2013) publication rates of papers presenting evolutionary perspectives within the top journals in eight sub-disciplinary areas of psychology. We selected the journals with the highest impact factor ratings in each sub-disciplinary area and searched for publications within those journals that utilized evolutionary-relevant terms (e.g., evolution, natural selection, etc.) in their abstracts. While the general experimental and multidisciplinary journals had the highest rates of evolutionary-themed publications, the applied areas had the lowest rates. Overall, a rather modest proportion of recent publications in psychology’s top journals integrate evolutionary perspectives.Item Human error: The principal cause of skydiving fatalities(Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments, 2003) Hart, Christian L.; Griffith, James D.Between 1993 and 2001, 308 people died while participating in civilian recreational skydives in the United States. Using a database generated by the United States Parachute Association, the authors of the present study conducted an analysis to determine the proportion of fatalities that were due to human error. The results of the analysis indicated that human error was the principal cause in 86% of the cases. Methods for reducing human error fatalities are suggested.Item Online female escort advertisements: The cost of sex(Sage, 2016) Griffith, James D.; Capiola, August; Balotti, Brandon; Hart, Christian L.; Turner, RyanFemale escorts represent an occupational group that charges a fee for sex, which can be regarded as an extreme form of short-term mating. The present study examined if the fees charged by escorts are related to traits typically associated with female short-term mate value. A total of 2,925 advertisements for female escorts offering sexual services in the United States were examined, as a customized software program was used to download all the advertisements from an online escort directory. The advertisement content was coded, and relationships between advertised physical characteristics and the hourly rate charged by female escorts were examined. The analyses showed that higher fees were associated with female escorts who advertised a waist-to-hip ratio near 0.7, lower weight and body mass index, younger age, and photographic displays of breast and buttocks nudity. The findings provide evidence that evolutionarily relevant traits associated with female short-term mate value are systematically related to fees charged for sexual services.Item Teaching grant writing with service learning(International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning, 2006) Griffith, James D.; Hart, Christian L.; Goodling, Morgan M.Grant writing experience can be a valuable asset for students completing masters-level degree programs across a variety of disciplines. A service learning grant writing project was incorporated in a multidisciplinary program evaluation course as part of a writing requirement. Twelve students served as “ghost writers” and wrote grant proposals to foundations for community organizations. Projects were assessed by ratings provided by faculty across departments who served as judges. Qualitative data was collected from students and organizational sponsors that showed high levels of satisfaction from both groups and an awareness of reciprocity of benefit from service learning were observed in both groups. Benefits and limitations of the pedagogical technique are discussed.Item Deception in psychotherapy: Frequency, typology and relationship(Wiley, 2019) Curtis, Drew A.; Hart, Christian L.Deception in therapy has been documented anecdotally through various narratives of therapists. The investigation of its occurrence within therapy has largely been overlooked. We explored the reported frequency of deception within psychotherapy, the types of deception used within therapy, the likelihood of people lying to a therapist compared to other groups of people, and client perceptions of the types of deception that therapists use. Ninety-one participants were provided with a series of deception examples, asked questions about the use of these types of deception within therapy, and asked generally about their use of deception in therapy. We found that a majority of the participants had been deceptive in therapy, and a majority were willing to be deceptive in future therapeutic contexts. Participants were more likely to use white lies than other forms of deception in therapy. Lastly, participants were less likely to lie to therapists compared to strangers and acquaintances. Implications for research and practice are discussed.