Department: College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
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1.
Cefus, Jon M.
THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE SELF: HOW EASTERN THOUGHT HAS INFLUENCED WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► This paper explores mindfulness as a therapeutic tool in the field of…
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▼ This paper explores mindfulness as a therapeutic tool in the field of psychology and its historical origins in Buddhism. Over the past thirty years, mindfulness has become an area of growing interest and the subject of much research in psychology. Mindfulness, as a method for providing therapeutic benefits, has a long history that dates back to at least the time of Siddhartha Gautama (563 B.C.E.), who later became known as The Buddha. The story of the Buddha is used to frame the origins of mindfulness. The relationship between Eastern thought and Western psychology has been discussed by several of the early authors in the psychological traditions, particularly in the post-Freudian psychoanalytic schools, and this is explored here. The later cognitive psychological schools of thought that arose from roots in behaviorism would ultimately give rise to the current wave of mindfulness-based therapies we see being applied today. Finally, ethical dimensions are discussed in order to better understand whether or not mindfulness-based therapies can be effectively applied outside of the normative framework of Buddhism.
Advisors/Committee Members: Betz, Brian.
Subjects: Cognitive Therapy; Counseling Psychology; Psychology; Psychotherapy
Keywords: mindfulness; Buddhism; psychology; ethics
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2.
Conaway, Rebecca R.
Self-discrepancy as a mediator in the relationship between adult attachment and body dissatisfaction.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► Past research has suggested that adult attachment is associated with body image…
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▼ Past research has suggested that adult attachment is associated with body image such that a secure attachment style is related to higher body satisfaction whereas an insecure attachment style is related to lower body satisfaction. However, these findings are inconsistent in the literature. I propose that self-discrepancy, a socially oriented mechanism, may account for a motivation to behave according to others’ standards as a mediator between adult attachment and body dissatisfaction. To test this hypothesis, the present study recruited 53 dyads to answer measures regarding attachment, body dissatisfaction and self-discrepancy. Results showed that attachment style did not associate with body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, self discrepancy was not related to body dissatisfaction. However, analyses revealed a positive relationship between general actual-ideal self-discrepancy and actual-ideal body self-discrepancy. This finding suggests that when discrepancy is present in the self as a whole, there will likely also be discrepancy present in the multiple selves that comprise the general self. Due to certain methodological limitations, the generalizability of the present study’s findings may be hindered.
Advisors/Committee Members: Crowther, Janis.
Subjects: Psychology
Keywords: adult attachment; self discrepancy; body dissatisfaction
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3.
Das Lala, Meenakshi.
Identification of Endogenously Biotinylated Proteins in Mammalian Spermatozoa.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► A protein’s biological activity can be modified by non-protein co-factors. Co-factors bind…
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▼ A protein’s biological activity can be modified by non-protein co-factors. Co-factors bind to or are covalently linked to an enzyme to assist in biochemical transformations. An enzyme and a co-factor together form an enzymatically active conjugated protein called the holozyme. Co-factors can be organic (coenzymes) or inorganic (metals). They can also be classified according to their ability to bind to enzymes. Loosely-bound cofactors are termed coenzymes and tightly-bound cofactors are termed prosthetic groups. The primary difference between a prosthetic group and coenzyme is; the prosthetic group remains attached to the apoenzyme while undergoing oxidation and reduction while coenzymes may undergo reduction while attached to one apoenzyme, and then migrate to another apoenzyme where it can be oxidized. NAD, NADP and CoA are examples of coenzymes whereas hemes, flavins and biotin are prosthetic groups. Biotin is a cofactor responsible for carbon dioxide transfer in several carboxylase enzymes. It is covalently attached to the active sites of the metabolic carboxylases. Using biotin cofactor as a mobile carboxyl carrier these metabolic enzymes generally capture CO2 from bicarbonate ion and catalyze transfer of this carboxylate to organic acids to form various cellular metabolites[10] . Biotin protein ligase (BPL), also known as holocarboxylase synthetase (EC 6.3.4.15), is the enzyme that enables covalent attachment of biotin to the carboxylases. Post-translationally, biotin forms an amide linkage with specific lysine residue of newly synthesized carboxylases with the help of BPL[10]. The image below shows steps of the biotin protein ligase reaction. Role of biotin in carboxyl group transfer. Biotin is the only prosthetic group that facilitates the transfer of a carboxyl group. The role of biotin is to act as a mobile carboxyl group carrier, transporting the carboxyl group from the site of the carboxyl donor to the carboxyl group acceptor enzyme. Common carboxyl group donors are HCO3-, oxaloacetate, or methylmalonyl CoA, and carboxyl group accepter enzymes are pyruvate, acetyl CoA, propionyl CoA. Biotin-dependent carboxylases. The four biotin-dependent carboxylases in mammals are acetyl-CoA carboxylase (E.C. 6.4.1.2), pyruvate carboxylase (E.C. 6.4.1.1), propionyl-CoA carboxylase, (E.C. 6.4.1.3), and b-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase (E.C. 6.4.1.4). Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) is found mainly in the cytosol while pyruvate carboxylase (PC), propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC) and methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase (MCC) are present in the mitochondria [6] (Figure 1). The biotin-dependent carboxylases play a crucial role in cell metabolism. ACC controls fatty acid synthesis in the cell cytosol by providing the substrate malonyl-CoA[1] (Figure 1). ACC may also play an important role in biotin storage [1]. PC is a key enzyme in gluconeogenesis [3] and provides a tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate [1]. PCC catalyzes an essential step in the metabolism of amino acids such as isoleucine and methionine, odd-chain fatty acids, and breakdown products of dietary carbohydrates [1]. MCC carboxylase catalyzes an essential step in leucine metabolism.
Advisors/Committee Members: Vijayaraghavan, Srinivasan.
Subjects: Biology
Keywords: Biotin, spermatozoa, identification, carboxylase, gluconeogenisis, sperm motility, energy production
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4.
DeFranco, Rachel.
Witness Uncertainty and Its Effect on Jurors' Decisions.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2012, Kent State University Honors College
► Many studies have shown that jurors are heavily swayed by highly confident…
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▼ Many studies have shown that jurors are heavily swayed by highly confident eyewitnesses, even when their testimony is inaccurate. This study aimed to examine whether mock jurors are similarly sensitive to testimony provided with uncertainty. My study had three goals: (1) examine whether mock jurors would distrust testimony provided with uncertainty more than information provided without doubt, even if presented by the same witness; (2) assess how sensitive mock jurors are to testimony provided with low confidence, by eliminating a high confidence comparison, and (3) examine whether mock jurors would be more sensitive to some indicators of uncertainty than others. Participants listened to a fictionalized eyewitness interview containing six neutral confidence items and five critical items, of which each varied in degree of uncertainty. After a cover task, participants rated their confidence that each item mentioned by the witness had actually happened. The results showed mock jurors were distrustful of information presented with uncertainty even if the witness had been confident in previous answers, that mock jurors were sensitive to low confidence even when there was not a high confidence comparison, and that both overt and less overt indicators of uncertainty had comparable effects on mock jurors’ belief in the testimony’s veracity.
Advisors/Committee Members: Zaragoza, Maria.
Subjects: Cognitive Psychology
Keywords: eyewitness; juror; memory; cognitive; uncertainty; confidence
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5.
Dickerhoof, Alison M.
Associative Learning versus Rule-Learning: A Computer Model of Pattern Phrasing Effects.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2012, Kent State University Honors College
► After two different lines of research provided mixed results about whether or…
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▼ After two different lines of research provided mixed results about whether or not rats can use rules or only associations to learn serial patterns, the Sequential Pairwise Associative Memory (SPAM) model, a computer program, was developed to help provide clearer evidence in support of one or the other view. The research reported here provided further testing of previous behavioral data using SPAM. Although the rat behavioral study simulated here was once thought to provide evidence that rats can learn rules, SPAM was able to replicate much of its data using only associative mechanisms, thus producing evidence against the rule learning theory. However, the results of the simulations reported here also suggest that additional research needs to be done to be sure that the output of the SPAM model truly matches the results produced by rats in serial pattern learning tasks.
Advisors/Committee Members: Fountain, Stephen.
Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Psychology
Keywords: animal cognition, psychology, behavioral psychology, computer modeling
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6.
Liggett, Danielle A.
Assortative mating in young adult romantic relationships.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► Research on mate selection has often shown that individuals choose romantic partners…
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▼ Research on mate selection has often shown that individuals choose romantic partners based on similarity in characteristics, behaviors and traits. The current research in the field of romantic attraction has primarily focused on married, adult populations to determine how individuals select a romantic partner. In this study, a young adult sample in dating relationships was examined to determine whether assortative mating exists for this population, as it seems to in married couples. The sample included 82 Kent State University students and their romantic partners recruited through the Psychology Subject Pool (N=164). Female participants’ average age was 19.87 years (SD= 1.39) and male participants’ average age was 20.59 years (SD= 1.64). The average length of time participants were in their current romantic relationship was 1.59 years (SD= 1.60). The Mini IPIP was used to determine personality similarity and the Adult Self Report measure was used to determine similarity in problem behavior and substance use. Partners were not similar in personality, but were similar in problem behavior and substance use. Partner dissimilarity in substance use was related to length of relationship. Interestingly, partner dissimilarity in agreeableness was associated with a longer relationship. Partner dissimilarity had no effect on relationship dissolution.
Advisors/Committee Members: van Dulmen, Manfred.
Subjects: Personality; Personality Psychology; Personal Relationships; Psychology
Keywords: assortative mating; romantic relationships; dating relationships; young adult relationships; attraction
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7.
Robinson, Kelsey M.
Is the Fixation on “Healthy” Unhealthy? A Study on Orthorexia Nervosa.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► This research was a comprehensive examination of the characteristics that may constitute…
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▼ This research was a comprehensive examination of the characteristics that may constitute the proposed disorder “orthorexia nervosa,” a pattern of disordered eating fixating on the consumption of healthy foods. Orthorexia nervosa does not have an extensive research base at this time, as it was only defined within the last decade. This research utilized various self-report questionnaires drawn from other studies centering on food and obsessive-compulsive characteristics, including the Orthorexia Screen created for the present study; a Three-Day Food Recall; the Healthy Eating Index; the Food Evaluation Questionnaire; the ORTO-15; an adaptation of questions from the Florida Obsessive- Compulsive Inventory; and a survey accounting for other dietary needs. Results of the present study showed that compared to individuals in the control group (n = 20), individuals in the orthorexia group (n = 29) exhibited a significant fixation with thoughts and behaviors about food, as well as distress over these thoughts and behaviors; consumed less meat, fat, and saturated fat; and had a significantly greater susceptibility to ON. Future research should examine this pattern of eating further, particularly in different cultural contexts.
Advisors/Committee Members: Crowther, Janis.
Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Health; Mental Health; Nutrition; Psychology
Keywords: orthorexia; orthorexia nervosa; eating disorder; ednos; ocd; obsessive compulsive; healthy eating; Donini; Bratman
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8.
Steinman, Christopher T.
The attenuation of the renewal effect via the forgetting of contextual attributes.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► Sixty-nine Sprague-Dawley strain rats were used to experimentally investigate the hypothesis that…
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▼ Sixty-nine Sprague-Dawley strain rats were used to experimentally investigate the hypothesis that the renewal effect (ABA design) could be attenuated via time-mediated forgetting of contextual attributes in a Pavlovian fear-conditioning paradigm. One or fourteen days after fear-training in one context, subjects received an extinction exposure in either the same or a shifted context. Although the results indicate that differences in context and interval play some role in the effectiveness of extinction, low levels of expressed extinction across all conditions prevented empirical analysis of how the forgetting of contextual attributes may interact with the renewal effect. Dependent measure validity, methodological issues, and theoretical considerations are discussed.
Advisors/Committee Members: Riccio, David.
Subjects: Psychology
Keywords: renewal effect; forgetting of contextual attributes; forgetting of stimulus attributes; memory; forgetting; extinction; context; context shift
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10.
Turner, Sarah J.
Why Do College Students Improve their Learning Performance Across Trials?.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2012, Kent State University Honors College
► The present study examined students' improvements across trials, and attempted to explain…
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▼ The present study examined students' improvements across trials, and attempted to explain why these improvements occurred. Participants studied simple words paired with values which indicated how much that word was worth if correctly recalled. Their goals were to maximize their scores. The contributions of regulation of encoding, retrieval, study time and output order were evaluated. Improvements were found to come from increased recall over time, rather than from differential attention to the higher valued items. Efficiency and learning to learn also played roles in participant's improvements across trials.
Advisors/Committee Members: Dunlosky, John.
Subjects: Psychology
Keywords: value-based learning; metacognition; self-regulated learning; encoding and retrieval
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11.
Upadhyay, Sri Siddhi Navnit.
College Students' Accuracy in Predicting Their Learning of Novel Words.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2012, Kent State University Honors College
► Skilled readers learn new words through incidental vocabulary acquisition (Landauer & Dumais,…
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▼ Skilled readers learn new words through incidental vocabulary acquisition (Landauer & Dumais, 1997; Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985), during which establishing meaning for novel words depends on sentence context and lexical characteristics of embedded words. Skilled readers have a discrepancy between their confidence in what they are retaining and what they will actually recall (Hilgham 2010). This is related to readers’ sensitivity to processing difficulty in reading. I investigated the relationship between readers’ processing on sentences containing novel words and their subsequent judgments of comprehension. Participants read sentences containing semantically opaque or transparent (e.g., pearpeel, deerhike) novel English compounds in informative contexts; readers judged how well they derived and would remember the correct meanings. Lastly, participants took a surprise vocabulary test. Overall, sentences containing opaque novel compounds were harder to process, indicated by inflated reading times. Participants were less confident about deriving definitions for opaque words than transparent, and readers were less accurate for opaque items. Results indicate readers judged making a meaning inference for opaque compounds, for which morphological and contextual information contrasted, was harder than for transparent compounds, for which morphological and contextual information converged. These judgments correlated with processing difficulty as measured by sentence reading time.
Advisors/Committee Members: Folk, Jocelyn.
Subjects: Cognitive Psychology
Keywords: Metacomprehension; metacognition; vocabulary; reading; incidental learning; psychology; cognitive
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12.
Watson, Jessica Lynn.
A Comparison of the Role of Self-reported Mindfulness in Predicting Interpersonal Functioning in Individuals with Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► This study examined the affects of mindfulness on interpersonal functioning in individuals…
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▼ This study examined the affects of mindfulness on interpersonal functioning in individuals who experience varying amounts of worry and depressive symptoms (N = 151). On-line measures of interpersonal functioning, dispositional mindfulness, worry, and depressive symptoms were administered. Results of a hierarchical regression indicated that higher depressive symptoms and worry predicted lower interpersonal functioning; lower scores on mindfulness predicted lower interpersonal functioning above and beyond depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that dispositional mindfulness may relate to social functioning after accounting for concurrent symptoms of depression and anxiety. Implications for future research are discussed.
Advisors/Committee Members: Fresco, David.
Subjects: Psychology
Keywords: Interpersonal Functioning; Depression; Worry; Mindfulness
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13.
Williams, Brittney Michelle.
PERCEPTIONS OF ACTING WHITE.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2012, Kent State University Honors College
► This study examines why students make the “acting white” accusation on the…
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▼ This study examines why students make the “acting white” accusation on the Kent State University campus. Eleven African American students served as participants. A qualitative approach was used to examine the reasons for making the accusation as well as gaining further insight into what it means to act white and to act black at Kent State University. Participants were asked their definition of acting white, acting black and their experience with the accusation. Three of the eleven participants met criteria for making the accusation and were asked to participate in a face-to-face interview. Major themes suggest accusers may feel inferior toward the accused and need to make the accusation to compensate for their true beliefs. Reluctance and discomfort appears in describing their rationale behind making the accusation. Discomfort to the accuser may be as important as bother is to individuals who are accused. The implications of results and further direction for accusers are discussed.
Advisors/Committee Members: Neal-Barnett, Angela.
Subjects: Psychology
Keywords: acting white; perceptions; racial identity; college students; qualitative
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14.
Williams, Evelyn S.
POVERTY IN KENYA: AN ASSESSMENT OF NEED FULFILLMENT, PHYSICAL HEALTH, AND MENTAL WELL-BEING.
Degree: BA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychology, 2011, Kent State University Honors College
► Prior research has repeatedly documented the negative consequences of poverty on physical…
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▼ Prior research has repeatedly documented the negative consequences of poverty on physical and mental health/well-being. One theory that may add to the understanding of these negative consequences is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow’s theory, an individual who is unable to satisfy a series of needs (e.g., physiological, safety, etc) will experience a void in their life and be unable to maximize their unique talents/abilities. This paper reports on the results of two studies that examine Maslow’s Hierarchy within the context of Kenya, Africa. Study One reports on the results of a secondary analysis, examining the relationships between need fulfillment, physical health, and mental well-being among a general population sample. Study Two reports on the results of a pilot study, investigating the relationships between need fulfillment and life satisfaction among a sample of women with disabilities (a population at greater risk for poverty). The results of these studies have implications for future research and development of intervention to assist those living in poverty.
Advisors/Committee Members: Cremeans-Smith, Julie.
Subjects: Psychology
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