Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Psychology

While the field of psychology has directed a great deal of attention towards educating the public about what psychologists do and what the field has to offer, little attention has been focused inward on the internal fragmentation of the field and how psychologists actually view other psychologists. The current study was based on the general assumptions that psychologists identify by subfield, that they hold less positive attitudes towards other subfields compared to their own, and that these attitudes impact behavior. While these had not been looked at directly in previous research, empirical and theoretical support for these assertions existed in various lines of literature. More specifically, it was expected that psychologists would feel more positively about their own subfield than other subfields and that those displaying stronger self-stereotyping, subfield identification, affective commitment and subfield self-esteem would have less favorable attitudes towards members of other subfields than participants with lower levels. Further, it was expected that the greater the perceived threat from another subfield the less favorable one's attitudes toward that other subfield would be, that graduate students' perception of faculty attitudes would predict graduate student attitudes, that time within the field of psychology would predict favorable attitudes towards one's own subfield and that attitudes toward another subfield would influence behavior regarding that particular subfield. Psychology faculty members and graduate students across the United States were invited to participate by completing an online survey created for the purposes of the present study. Results indicated basic support for the three assumptions, with participants identifying by subfield as well as viewing other psychologists as belonging to subfields. They also felt more positively about their own subfield than others, with their attitudes predicting their behaviors toward other subfields. Howeve (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2024, Counseling Psychology

Health service psychology (HSP) students are at a high risk of burnout and physical and mental health problems (El-Ghoroury et al., 2011; Rummell, 2015). Research has begun to explore environmental factors within training programs that cause or prevent burnout (e.g., Kovach Clark et al., 2009; Swords & Ellis, 2017). Using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model of burnout (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Demerouti et al., 2001), the present study assessed the relationships between demands, resources, and burnout symptoms in a sample of HSP doctoral students. Structural equation modeling was used to test the JD-R model and compare the relative contributions of perceived workload, weekly work hours, sense of community, work environment, and relationships with academic advisors and clinical supervisors to students' symptoms of exhaustion and disengagement. Analyses of variance were used to explore demographic group differences to better understand the experiences of diverse students, especially those with minoritized identities. Participants reported high levels of burnout symptoms, especially exhaustion. The hypothesized JD-R model, which contains unique and separate pathways representing the processes by which job demands sap energy and job resources promote engagement, did not yield interpretable parameters and thus was not a good fit to the data. However, an alternative model containing additional pathways between job demands and resources and burnout symptoms fit the data well and collectively predicted about half (50.8%) the variance in exhaustion and about a third (31.8%) of the variance in disengagement. The results demonstrated HSP doctoral students' experiences of burnout are highly linked to environmental factors. High demands impair students' health and create exhaustion, while lacking resources impair motivation and create disengagement. Perceived workload, sense of community, and the work environment had the largest effects on burnout sym (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2020, Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology MS

We looked at the facilitation and transfer of a flow state in a cognitive context. Subjects played a manipulated version of the game Tetris, and we gathered data on their gameplay performance on pre- and post-tasks, as well as a set of questionnaires which measure flow and perceived task effort. The altered version of Tetris includes an artificial intelligence agent that continually assesses the participant's skill and adapts the challenge level of the game to match the participant's skill. An adaptive condition characterized by challenge-skill balance was hypothesized to induce flow, reduce perception of effort, and improve performance. We found differences in reported flow state between conditions, with the easy condition inducing greater flow than adaptive condition, which induced greater flow than the hard condition. We did not find significant differences for performance measures.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2016, Theology

This dissertation considers a spectrum of five distinct approaches that mid-twentieth century neo-Thomist Catholic thinkers utilized when engaging with the tradition of modern scientific psychology: a critical approach, a reformulation approach, a synthetic approach, a particular [Jungian] approach, and a personalist approach. This work argues that mid-twentieth century neo-Thomists were essentially united in their concerns about the metaphysical principles of many modern psychologists as well as in their worries that these same modern psychologists had a tendency to overlook the transcendent dimension of human existence. This work shows that the first four neo-Thomist thinkers failed to bring the traditions of neo-Thomism and modern psychology together to the extent that they suggested purely theoretical ways of reconciling them. Finally, this work concludes that a personalist approach to modern psychology that locates the reconciliation of these two traditions within the practice of individual human beings rather than within a theoretical dialogue between the traditions themselves has the potential to succeed where theoretical neo-Thomist accounts of these traditions failed.

Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2014, School Psychology

This study examined the impact of targeted recruitment strategies during School Psychology Awareness Week (SPAW) on the number of applicants who applied to the University of Dayton's (UD) School Psychology Program and whether the recruitment efforts yielded a more diverse applicant pool and incoming cohort to the program. Researchers presented to undergraduate psychology and education students (N = 195) at eight universities in Ohio, including two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Applicants' demographic information from the previous year was compared to applicant data from the current year. In addition, a comparison between the diversity of the program's cohort in 2012 to 2013 was made. Participants' interest in applying to a school psychology program was measured through the School Psychology Awareness Inventory (SPAI). Researchers also obtained suggestions and improvements for the SPAW presentation and the types of recruitment information students found beneficial through qualitative data analysis. While there were no statistically significant differences between the two applicant pools, the diversity ratio of cohort 2012 to cohort 2013 increased in variability in terms of age, ethnicity, and gender. There was an increase in the level of interest in school psychology among participants, who reported the presentation to be beneficial. Implications for school psychology graduate program recruitment strategies are discussed with regard to increasing the diversity in the field.

Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2014, School Psychology

The purpose of the present study was to examine the efficacy of a recruitment presentation conducted during School Psychology Awareness Week on increasing undergraduate students' knowledge of and interest in the field of school psychology. A program evaluation design was utilized to determine if targeted strategies were an effective means of recruitment for the School Psychology program at the University of Dayton. Eight Ohio universities were selected and agreed to participate in the study, yielding a total of 192 participants. Participants were given a pre-School Psychology Awareness Inventory (SPAI) to assess their knowledge of and interest in the field of school psychology, among other areas. Participants were then shown a PowerPoint presentation on school psychology and provided with informational brochures on the University of Dayton's program, along with the contact information of the researcher, her thesis partner, and the University of Dayton's program coordinator, Dr. Susan Davies. Immediately following these targeted recruitment strategies, participants were administered the post-SPAI to re-assess their knowledge of and interest in the field of school psychology. Results demonstrated that both knowledge and interest increased significantly between pre-SPAI and post-SPAI, indicating the targeted recruitment strategies were effective in increasing awareness of and interest in the field of school psychology. Implications for future recruitment of students in school psychology are discussed.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : Political Science

This dissertation is an effort to explore the fundamental basis of American electoral psychology. It challenges and augments the psychological approach of partisanship and the theory of rational choice, and agrees partially with the retrospective and economic voting theory and goes beyond it with the analyses that are based on the poll data of the National Election Studies of five decades, from 1948 through 2000, especially that of the 1980s and the 1990s. The theoretical framework absorbs useful factors of information-processing approach of psychology, personality psychology of Freudianism, humanistic perspective and realistic conflict of interest theory in psychology, and pluralist theory of interest group in political science, and forms new theoretical approaches. It seeks profound explanation for the seemingly contradictory phenomena in the behavior and psychology of American voters. The discoveries include: (1) the cognition of American voters concerning the bipartisan politics is periodically and contingently enhanced by the political mobilization and intensity of political competition of the presidential elections based on information provision and absorption; (2) the judgment of American voters on presidential personalities is of duality, using different standards to assess the natural and acquired traits and the traits related to politics; and (3) American voters behave differently in national politics than they do in group conflicts, and base their choice of a president on three benchmarks, i.e., economic prosperity, group compatibility and national security, which form three vulnerable points in the psychology of electorate. The third discovery is the main melody of this research, which is strengthened by the discovery that the result of an American presidential election can be largely predicted by the American voters' perceptions on the presidential candidates and their parties in terms of the three policy fields of economy, group relation and national s (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2007, Organizational Behavior

Although there is substantial research on mindfulness and experiential learning there has been no effort to study how the two constructs relate to one another. This study explores the relationship between mindfulness and experiential learning to develop a construct called mindful experiential learning. It details two types of mindfulness research streams and administers the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) to measure the two approaches respectively as they relate to experiential learning measured by the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and adaptability of learning style as measured by Adaptive Styles Inventory (ASI). An integration of the two mindfulness streams was hypothesized to load into three factors and resulted in four factors of novelty seeking, novelty producing, engaging, and attention/awareness. An integrated definition of mindfulness is proposed and a scale is suggested. As it relates to experiential learning, the thesis aimed to clarify whether or not mindful experiential learning is a metacognitive or sensory/contextual process. Data revealed positive correlations between mindfulness as measured by the LMS and concrete experience on the LSI and negative correlations between the LMS and reflective observation on the LSI. There were no significant relationships found between learning styles and mindfulness as measured by the MAAS, and no relationships found between the ASI and either mindfulness scale. The data suggests that a mindful experiential learning is a sensory/contextual process. Mindful experiential learning involves the concrete experience of knowledge acquisition in order to seek and produce novelty that allows one to learn in a way that best fits the context of the learning environment. From this starting point, the learner may navigate a range of experiential learning styles to improvise with the demands of the environment. Mindful experiential learning is proposed as an engaged process (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

Past research has focused on positive antecedents and outcomes of job crafting at the expense of considering any potential costs or downsides that may arise from this behavior. Although job crafting is defined as a volitional, employee-driven process (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001), certain work environments and situations may create external forces, such as constraints or pressures, that motivate employees to engage in job crafting. Although some researchers have begun to explore detrimental forms of job crafting, such as avoidance job crafting (Bruning & Campion, 2019), there has been no focus on whether the motivation behind job crafting matters for the outcomes experienced. To address this, two studies were developed to examine the relation between job crafting motivation and counterproductive work behavior through the lens of cognitive sensemaking and attributions. Study 1 used a cross-sectional design with a sample of 636 working adults from Amazon's Mechanical Turk to provide initial evidence of an association between externally-motivated job crafting and CWB. Study 2 employed an experimental design using a subsample of participants from Study 1 (n = 338) to provide an alternative test of the hypothesized externally-motivated job crafting-CWB relation. For Study 2, vignettes were used to experimentally manipulate whether job crafting was internally- versus externally-motivated and participants were then asked to reflect on how much CWB they anticipated a typical worker to engage in if they experienced the conditions outlined in the vignette. Results from both studies supported the assertion that externally-motivated job crafting, but not internally-motivated job crafting, is associated with increased CWB. These findings provide evidence that the motivation behind why an employee job crafts plays an important role in determining why and when they might also engage in CWB, challenging the perception that job crafting is associated only with positive outco (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2021, College of Education and Human Services

The available research on psychosis is presently lacking practitioners' beliefs about people with symptoms of psychosis (focused here on auditory verbal hallucination) as well as conceptualization and treatment planning with these clients. There is some growing interest in “healthy voice-hearers,” people who hear voices but do not experience distress. This study comprised information about clinicians' experiences through an empirical phenomenological method guided by a critical theory framework. A sample of both counseling (n = 4) and clinical practitioners (n = 10), including psychologists and predoctoral and postdoctoral interns, was recruited and interviewed about their beliefs and experiences, as well as to what degree positive psychology or strengths-based perspectives are used in understanding and working with clients who hear voices. Results were analyzed using an empirical phenomenological approach (Aspers, 2004). The following themes were found: therapeutic approach to working with people with psychosis, clinicians' feelings about working with people who hear voices, familiarity with critical theory, healthy voice-hearers, clinical and counseling psychology training, training and familiarity with positive psychology, implementing positive psychology in their work, and belief in recovery. Implications for future research, clinical practice, training and education, and advocacy are discussed.

Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2021, School Psychology

The field of school psychology is currently facing a shortage that has impacted states across the nation. This study examined data gathered from individual interviews of currently licensed school psychologists within the state of Ohio who have worked with an educator on special assignment due to the shortage of trained school psychologists within the state. The study aimed to gather more information regarding school psychologists' perceptions of this practice including any benefits or drawbacks that they had experienced or anticipated. Analysis of the interviews resulted in four broad themes, variation in the role of an educator on special assignment, need, concerns, benefits/opportunities, and solutions. Interviewees indicated a clear need for support based upon the shortage and clerical demands, while also revealing concerns surrounding potential misuse of the position, a lack of opportunity to work with students, and inconsistent background/training for the role. Some of the benefits noted included reduced burnout and additional time to engage in consultation and other practice. While the use of educators on special assignment is one potential solution being utilized within the state of Ohio, additional proposals for solutions such as clerical support/paperwork reductions, more trained school psychologists/graduate programs, more flexible training opportunities, and pay commensurate with education were also revealed. Recommendations for future discussions to provide clarification of this role and explore other potential solutions to the shortage both within Ohio and nationally are provided.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

As organizations increasingly modernize and globalize, they depend on employees who can perform in these dynamic environments. Self-driven and agentic employees are, thus, integral to organizations. Employees high in proactive personality, defined as a willingness and desire to assume additional responsibilities and pursue meaningful changes, are well-equipped for these uncertain environments. One way for highly proactive employees to effect change is through job crafting. Job crafting is defined as an ongoing process where employees continuously alter and shape their job tasks and environment. Although job crafting and proactive personality are often discussed in tandem due to the proactive nature of job crafting, proactive personality's status as a predictor of job crafting is relatively unexplored. Further, it is likely that lack of job autonomy limits engagement in job crafting, and proactive personality and level of autonomy might differentially influence engagement in the three forms of job crafting (task, relational, and cognitive crafting). The current study examined proactive personality as a predictor of task, relational, and cognitive job crafting and tested autonomy as a moderator of these relations. Proactive personality was positively correlated with task, relational, cognitive, and overall job crafting. Proactive personality led to increased job crafting, and the strength of this relation was moderated by level of autonomy. Employees high in proactive personality engaged in all forms of job crafting to a greater extent under high rather than low levels of autonomy. These findings align with the proposition that restriction of autonomy within an organization does not fully prevent engagement in job crafting, but rather that it constrains job crafting.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Psychology/Clinical

Survivor characteristics, including psychological attributes that may increase an individual's chances of survival, have been the subject of various disaster response theories and have received attention in many survival handbooks. The present study examines psychological characteristics that have been attributed to an increased probability of survival during an active crisis event using a sample of 401 adults living in the United States. Existing literature on the psychology of survival from a variety of disciplines was used to develop a 15 item self-report measure of survival attitude, the Survival Attitude Scale (SAS), and to examine its psychometric properties and psychological and behavioral correlates. The SAS yields three dimensions of survival attitude (confidence in response, relinquishing control to others, and self-preservation). It also evidences acceptable reliability and construct validity when compared to measures of decision-making, reaction to threat, self-reported optimism, self-esteem and social desirability. To establish criterion validity for the measure, participants' scores on the SAS were compared to overall performance on a short vignette depicting an active shooter situation on a university campus. In predicting scores on the Survival Response Strategies Vignette, scores on the SAS contributed to between 2% and 6% of the variation in survival response strategy scores beyond that of demographic factors (age, gender, religious affiliation), previous disaster experience, and scores on measures of decision-making ability, previous trauma, and personality characteristics. Scores on the SAS and the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale were moderately positively correlated, but overall, SAS scores were better predictors of scores on a vignette of survival response strategies than were scores on the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale. Although preliminary, present findings provide insights into relevant factors related to survival response strategies for (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1970, Graduate School

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2015, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

This dissertation focused on capturing and describing the experience of sexuality for women between the ages of 65 and 75 as they live in American society. The main research question asks how these women gain awareness, perceive, and react to the stereotypes, assumptions, expectations, and negative images associated with their sexuality. The participants completed a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview with the principal researcher. Information was gathered about age, relationships, family history, employment, and sexuality. In the interview general and specific questions were asked relating to sexuality in order to answer the research questions. The data from these was analyzed to answer the research questions. The short term goal of this research was to gain understanding and inform the field of psychology and the public about the experience of the studied population. Another goal was to outline possible implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research. The data collected was able to answer questions related to how social influences played a role in the lives of older women. The electronic version of the dissertation is accessible at the Ohiolink ETD center http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2014, Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology MS

Previous research has been divided on whether or not multisensory cues can speed visual search relative to their component unisensory cues alone. Some studies (e.g., Mateo et al., 2012) found reaction times for multisensory cues were not faster than the RT of the faster component unisensory cue alone. Other studies (e.g., Oskarsson et al., 2012) found the multisensory cue to be faster than either unisensory cue alone (i.e., multisensory enhancement). This study aimed to determine whether the relative effectiveness match between auditory and tactile cues affects multisensory enhancement on a visual search task. In Experiment 1 we estimated for each subject three auditory cue inaccuracy values that corresponded to RTs equal to, 25% faster than, and 25% slower than tactile cue RTs. In Experiment 2 we combined each estimated auditory cue inaccuracy with a tactile cue to produce the multisensory conditions. We then compared RTs across the three different multisensory conditions. Our results suggest enhancement was more likely to occur when the auditory and tactile cues were closely matched in effectiveness and interference was more likely to occur when auditory and tactile cues were not closely matched. Although additional work will be needed to determine whether the interference was due to ineffective cues, poor strategies by the subjects, or a combination of thee factors, our results seem to demonstrate the utility of providing two equally-matched cues as a strategy to speed visual search.

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2013, Philosophy

A productive relationship between the philosophy of mind and the empirical cognitive sciences not only is possible, but also is pursued productively by practitioners from both sides. In the first two chapters, I consider two examples of sets of concepts (“folk psychology” and the “architecture of the mind”) which are shared between the philosophy of mind and the empirical cognitive sciences and analyze them from both perspectives. I introduce a historical-analytical apparatus called “inherited ontologies” to track these sets of concepts and how they emerge, mutate, and replicate over time in order to show that what can begin as semantic opacity can end as ontological confusion. I argue that the important question is not whether we inherit our implicit ideas about the mind from our genes or our culture, but how shared inheritance manifests in different ways in different individuals. In the third chapter, I argue that the plurality of kinds of minds should inform how we research our minds. Instead of supposing that a plurality of approaches to study a plurality of minds is a problem to be solved, we should embrace cognitive and methodological diversity as not only possible but desirable in a shared problem space. The cognitive sciences should develop a unity of purpose without collapsing into a presumed uniformity of subject matter.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1961, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1967, Graduate School