Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Current Trends In Psychological Testing, Kimberle L. S. Crawford

Masters Theses

Discussions about the adequacy of psychological measurement and assessment can quickly become controversial therefore; I expect some strong reaction to portions of this manuscript. Debates about the usefulness of criticism of psychological testing are longstanding: Even early psychologists such as Cattell and Jastrow disagreed on this issue. To be clear, I do not believe that use of contemporary tests should cease. I share the view that "psychological tests often provide the fairest and most accurate method of making important decisions" (K. R. Murphy & Davidshoffer, 1988, p. xii).

My first purpose, then, is to provide a historical survey of relevant …

Intuition: Theory And Application In Counseling And Psychotherapy, Neva S. Calvert

Masters Theses

This is a comprehensive literature review rendering over 300 references to articles, books, lectures, and websites that pertain to the subject of intuition and its relationship to human consciousness. The scope of this review includes (1) statistical overviews of intuition/intuitive-related websites, book publishing and professional documents; (2) overview of professional intuition/intuitive and counseling/psychotherapy-related documents; and (3) historical and current review of (a) women's, (b) children's, (c) religious, (d) delusional, (e) mathematical, and (f) scientific intuition studies. The author reviews intuition in relationship to (1) Husserlian phenomenology in modem science and psychology; (2) savant syndrome; (3) gaia theory and Native American …

Aggressive Communication, Parental Communication, And Sibling Communication, Kristi K. Eustice

Masters Theses

The family is often seen as the center of instruction for children and the base for learning communication patterns. Aggressive communication is often seen in the family, especially as a parenting method. In this thesis, the current state of available literature on aggressive communication in the family is examined. This includes parenting styles, communication relationships between one parent and one child, and the negative effects verbal aggressive communication has on children. A t-test is used to research the responses of 100 students who have verbally aggressive parents. At 2.59, the t-test supports the hypothesis that parenting communication styles concerning aggressiveness …

The Effects Of Empathy On Speech Ratings, Jill Mcnamara

Masters Theses

This research project tests whether empathy has an affect upon ratings of speeches. First the rater' s individual level of empathy is surveyed. Next, the many different definitions of empathy are broken down into cognitive and affective perspectives and altruistic motivations. The likelihood of empathy being a dispositional or situational trait is discussed. Various methods used to train individuals to enhance their empathic skills through behavior observation and schools and how effective these methods have proven to be is identified. Empathy was then examined as to gender affects an individual's ability to experience that emotion. Using two different speeches, one …

Cognitive Complexity Of Heterosexual Arguments On The Civil Rights And Liberties Of Homosexuals, Kristopher Michael Goetz

Masters Theses

This study examined how heterosexuals argue about the civil rights and liberties of homosexuals and how various factors interacted in determining how complex heterosexuals' arguments are about two issues; the freedom of homosexuals to express their sexual orientation in public and the status of same-sex marriage. The factors examined were: value conflict (conflict in values experienced when dealing with an issue), issue familiarity (knowledge of the pros and cons of an issue), and perceived status (the perception that one's views are shared by most people or by only a few).

The value conflict experienced by the participants was assessed when …

The Biphobia Scale: Development And Validation, Patrick S. Mulick

Masters Theses

Sexual orientation is generally assessed as a dichotomous variable, rather than a continuous variable. According to this classification the concept of bisexuality does not exist and there is a dearth of research for the construct. Some theorists believe that this lack of knowledge has led to fear and discrimination of bisexual individuals (Ochs, 1996; Rust, 1993). Biphobia, defined as negative attitudes about bisexuality and bisexual individuals, is a psychological construct that is not well understood. There has been a recent resurgence of interest in bisexuality and biphobia but there are currently limited empirical investigations examining the constructs. And, no scale …

The Future Of Banking: A Political Analysis For 1999 And Beyond, John Maffey

Masters Theses

This study focuses on the cycle of politics and banking by analyzing the relationship amongst the three primary actors within the domestic financial subsystem; regulatory agencies, the banking industry, and members of Congress. The cycle consists of three stages; loosening or deregulatory behavior, tightening or reregulatory activity, and re-loosening, which is a return to deregulation. Legislation does not distinguish the stages, rather it ratifies existing behavior. Prior to legislative action, regulators grant bankers similar authority in an effort to enhance profitability or fend off competitors. Regulatory agencies provide mostly objective, non-partisan advice to Congress and supervision of the industry, acting …

Dermatoglyphic Analysis Of Male Criminals, Jeremy Matyas

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between genetics and criminal behavior. Using specific dermatoglyphic features of 100 Caucasian male criminals, comparisons were made to a comparable control group of noncriminals. Dermatoglyphics are known to be, in part, genetically determined. Differences between the non-criminal and criminal samples would support the belief that certain criminal behaviors are genetically determined.

Statistical tests were performed on the dermatoglyphic pattern types and ridge counts of the criminal and non-criminal samples. There were three tests of the total ridge counts (TRC) that were found to be statistically significant. The principal difference was …

The Educational Nature Reserve Problem: Selecting A Prairie Reserve Location For The Kalamazoo Nature Center, Theresa M. Mau-Crimmins

Masters Theses

This study investigates a complex location-planning problem that is often faced by managers of nature centers: how to select sites on which to position new habitat reserves. Mission statements of these establishments often indicate objectives of habitat preservation and public education. Inherent in land preservation is a limited amount of traffic through the area. In contrast, in order for visitors to fully experience an ecosystem, access to the site is required.

In order to address site selection problems at such institutions, the Educational Nature Reserve Model was developed. This model fits situations in which the conflicting goals of conservation and …

Ethics In Forensic Anthropology: The Evaluation Of The Forensic Anthropologist As An Expert Witness, Brent D. Benzing

Masters Theses

Within the last two decades technological advancement has enabled the forensic sciences to become much more highly complex and has provided the legal system with a specialized means of interpreting scientific evidence. In this regard, the forensic anthropologist has seen an increasing amount of time spent as an expert witness in judicial proceedings. However, expert courtroom testimony requires that a scientific witness be knowledgeable, accredited, and ethical in his representation of the discipline. This thesis studies the state of ethics among Diplomates in the American Board of Forensic Anthropology.

A survey was designed and sent to Diplomates of the A.B.F.A. …

Stress At A Juvenile Detention Center: Identifying Stressors And Examining The Coping Process, Matthew J. Schmid

Masters Theses

In the examination of the literature dealing with stress as it relates to corrections, normally "juvenile corrections workers are not considered, due to the dearth of stress-related research" (Huckabbe, 1992, p. 479). This thesis is a qualitative project designed to analyze detention workers' views on stress. I was interested in finding out the following two things: (1) the workers' identification of the major stressors in their job, and (2) the ways the workers coped with the stressors identified.

Structured interviews were conducted with one third (12) of the detention staff that worked at a forty bed juvenile detention center in …

The Estimation Of Rape Prevalence: A Reflexive Account Of The Construction And Pretesting Of A New Questionnaire, Edith Marie Fisher

Masters Theses

A review of the rape literature and current assessment suggests that research done in this highly sensitive area is especially vulnerable to response effects. Comparisons between studies is problematic due to vast differences in the conceptualizations of rape, the wording and context of the questions used to solicit data as well as the method of data collection. I created a new rape prevalence questionnaire with the intent of decreasing response effects. I conducted 15 semi-structured pretest interviews with female Western Michigan University students and three pilot tests, in which 30 telephone interviews were completed, 30 personal interviews were completed, and …

Discriminative Stimulus Effects Of (+)-7-Oh-Dpat In Rats: Importance Of D3 Receptors, April J. Christian

Masters Theses

Despite the reported relatively high binding affinity of 7-OH-DPAT to dopamine D₃ receptors, results of recent investigations with the highly selective 03 receptor antagonist, PNU-99194A have questioned the importance of 03 receptors in the discriminative stimulus effects of 7-OH-DPAT. In the present study, sixteen male Sprague- Dawley rats (N=8/group) were trained to discriminate (+)- 7-OH-DPAT (0.03 mg/kg, sc) from saline in a two-lever operant procedure using a fixed-ratio 20 schedule of water reinforcement. After stable performance was established, substitution tests were conducted with the D₃-prefering agonist, (+)-PD-128907 and the psychostimulant cocaine. Additionally, antagonism were conducted with the …

An Archaeological And Historical Investigation Of The Blount Mansion Slave Quarters, Brooke Hamby

Masters Theses

Introduction: Archaeologists have been studying African-American material culture during slavery and subsequent freedom since the 1960's (McCarthy 1995). While most historians believed that no trace of African culture remained through slavery and consequent oppression, archaeologists (McCarthy 1995) and anthropologists (Herskovits 1941) sought to prove that African-Americans persisted with their culture as a rebellion or reaction to their forced migration to the Americas (Ferguson 1992). In studying African-Americans in archaeological context, historical archaeologists have not had to change thier methodology but had to modify their interpretive approach. Because a culture historical framework tells us only what types of artifacts African-Americans possessed, …

Intellectuals And Nationalism In Cyprus: A Study Of The Role Of Intellectuals In The 1931 Uprising, Georgios P. Loizides

Masters Theses

My thesis addresses the role of Cypriot intellectuals in the nationalist movement aiming at the political union of Cyprus with Greece. In particular, it will examine the contribution of three intellectual categories to the 1931 uprising, namely clerics, teachers, and journalists. The 1931 nationalist uprising was the first Greek nationalist mass movement in Cyprus, and can be seen as laying the ground for the 1955-1960 armed struggle against the British, who were the colonial rulers of the island at the time. Furthermore, I argue that over and above the petty interests of modernized urban elites, it was the accommodation of …

Saugatuck's Shining Shore: The Transition Of A Michigan Community Into A Resort Town, 1870-1930, Kyran V. Kelley

Masters Theses

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many communities adapted themselves to the leisure industry with the growth of a middle class that had time for leisure activities within the United States. One impetus for this change suggested for the period is a lack of manufacturing and extractive activities (Brown 1995).

This thesis tests this scenario on one community of the period, Saugatuck, Michigan, by examining the employment and business structures of the town while also examining land use. This was accomplished through the use of both primary and secondary documents.

Data gathered and placed within its historical context …

A Policy Analysis Of Teen Courts: A Look At Teen Courts As A Viable Alternative To The Juvenile Court System, Jon P. Mathieu

Masters Theses

Teen Courts are rapidly emerging as one possible solution to the escalating juvenile crime problem in the United States. From the initial court, started over 20 years ago in Texas, Teen Courts are now in 30 states, with over 250 programs. As the crime problem grows within this population, a need for alternative methods to the Juvenile Court has emerged. Moreover, to date, no formal evaluation has been conducted between United States Teen Courts for a comparative study. Therefore, I sought to explore the following issues: (a) the need for Teen Court implementation, (b) a rationale for Teen Court existence, …

Exploring Thematic Balance In Personal Narrative As A Marker For Responsiveness, Laura G. Porter

Masters Theses

Research on personal narrative as a template or map that organizes experience and creates a lens for the interpretation of reality has largely relied on structural analysis for its assessments of adequacy. As a synthesis of beliefs and values with actions, thoughts, and feelings, however, the tone and thematic quality of an individual's life story must also shape the narrative compass that guides interactions in the social world. Among these elements, one's theory of reality will exert a significant impact on the overall context within which the specific unfolding of narrative plots occurs. In Western societies in particular, this perspective …

Creativity Or Collusion?: Representations Of Women In Music Videos, Jan E. Urbina

Masters Theses

There is a need in the field of sociology to expand our knowledge about how media-generated representations of women impact our lives. This research was designed to explore participants' perceptions of music video representations of women. Using a pre- test (survey), treatment (educational video) and post-test (survey), I analyzed participants' perceptions of how women were represented in music videos. The educational video exposed the techniques, which are used by the male-dominated music video industry, that present women in demeaning ways. The post-test proved useful in my attempt to determine whether the educational video impacted participants' understandings of the ways in …

Behavior-Based Safety And Working Alone: The Effects Of Self-Monitoring On The Safe Performance Of Bus Operators, Ryan Olson

Masters Theses

Experimental evaluations of Behavior-based Safety (BBS) processes applied with lone workers are scarce. Further research is needed to determine the power of self-monitoring based interventions for improving safe behavior, and to explore the best practices for improving safety when employees work alone. In the current study,· four male bus operators (ages 40-50) self-monitored their safe performance and initialed feedback graphs based on their self-monitoring data at the end of each day. Experimental data collectors observed each participant by riding buses as passengers. A multiple baseline design across performances was used to assess the effects of the intervention on four target …

The Rime Of The Ancient Miners, Jay Douglas Franklin

Masters Theses

Terminal Archaic hunter-gatherers explored and heavily utilized deep passages of 3^rd Unnamed Cave, which lies at the bottom of the Western Cumberland Plateau Escarpment in north central Tennessee. Footprints, torch stoke marks, chert mining pits with digging stick marks, flintknapping debris accumulations and associated fireplaces, and petroglyphs remain as evidence of this intensive utilization. The focus of this thesis is largely technological, centering on the chert mining and subsequent reduction activities that followed. Specifically, insight into four major issues is developed, including the nature of the flintknapping activities practiced deep within 3^rd Unnamed Cave, the goal(s) of the …

Identifying Osseous Cut Mark Morphology For Common Serrated Knives, Jenny Rebecca Martin

Masters Theses

Worldwide crime statistics indicate that while the firearm is the instrument of choice used in the commission of homicide, bladed weapons run a very close second. This being the case, the analysis of these implements and the cut marks they create in soft and osseous tissues demands the attention of the medico-legal and law enforcement community, particularly forensic pathologists and anthropologists. To this end, the author and several colleagues inflicted stab wounds with three pairs of common serrated-edged kitchen knives of differing blade structures to the thoracic areas of three euthanized domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) and examine the cut marks …

Gender Negotiation On The East Tennessee Frontier: An Example From The Bell Site, Thomas Charles Stinson

Masters Theses

Archaeological investigations involving questions of gender have become more prominent in recent years. Material recovered from the Bell Site (40KN202), the remains of an 18^th-century log house in Knoxville, Tennessee is examined to determine the role of women on the East Tennessee frontier. Historical information concerning social structuring of gender roles in the 18^th and 19^th century America is examined to determine the social factors involved in gender construction, and the impact these factors may have had on women living on the East Tennessee frontier. This documentary data is then compared with artifacts excavated at 40KN202. …

Multiple Regression Of Body Weight On Stature And Waist For Estimation In Forensic Anthropology, Eldred L. Pierce

Masters Theses

Questions have been present in the forensic literature for many years about the most proper and accurate method for calculation of human body weight. Many have tried and failed to measure aspects of the human skeleton and find some correlation with body weight at the time of death. This has never been possible and selected skeletal measurements regressed against known weight will bear this out. Simple measurements of the femur were regressed with weight and with stature to show that skeletal measurements in general have a higher correlation with stature than with weight. The bulk of this thesis will deal …

The Study Of Political And Economic Reforms In Ghana, John L. Adedeji

Masters Theses

The dual transition program of Ghanaian political economy was put in place as a result of Ghana's huge external debts, its balance of payments problems, and the critical shortage of foreign exchange resulting from years of financial management by seven regimes (civilian and military) that ruled the West African nation since its independence in 1957. Taken together, these problems tilted the balance of power in favor of external actors, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The study focuses on the dual strategy of macroeconomic measures and structural adjustments. The study then evaluates: (a) the policy components of the …

Effects Of Methylphenidate On The Sensitivity To Reinforcement In Children Diagnosed With Adhd: An Application Of Matching Law, Laura Kay Murray

Masters Theses

This experiment evaluated the effects of methylphenidate on sensitivity to reinforcement of children diagnosed with ADHD using matching law.

Four children (2 males and 2 females) between the ages of 6 and 10 who were previously diagnosed with ADHD completed easy math problems to earn tokens under four different variable-interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement presented in random order. The rate of completed math problems was plotted against the mean frequency of obtained reinforcers at each schedule value in tokens per minute. The data were fit to the following single-rate hyperbolic equation (Herrnstein, 1970): R = kr/r+r₀.

Results show …

A Three-Choice Drug Discrimination Procedure Differentiates The Stimulus Effects Of D-Amphetamine And Mdma, Amy K. Goodwin

Masters Theses

(±)-3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) produces effects in humans that are reportedly similar to those of CNS stimulants. However, drug discrimination studies in nonhumans have yielded inconsistent results regarding the similarities between MDMA and d-amphetamine. Sixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate d-amphetamine, MDMA, and saline in a three-lever drug discrimination procedure. In addition, differential outcomes were employed during drug discrimination training with eight of the rats but this did not appear to facilitate the acquisition of the discrimination. Cocaine (0.25-10.0 mg/kg) produced dose dependent increases in d-amphetamine-appropriate responding with complete substitution at the highest dose administered. LSD (0.02-0.16 mg/kg), produced dose …

Of Agrarian Landscapes And Capitalist Transitions: Historical Archaeology And The Political Economy Of A Nineteenth-Century Farmstead, Daniel O. Sayers

Masters Theses

This exposition utilizes Marxian theory in conjunction with archaeological and historiographic data to understand and interpret the significance of the landscape in the political economy of a mid-nineteenth century farmstead in Battle Creek, Michigan. The Shepard site (20CA104) was a family owned, progressive farm that went through many significant changes between the frontier era (ca. 1834) and the eve of the Civil War. By exploring the political, economic, and ideological aspects of the site architecture, the familial gender divisions of labor, and class relations between the family and non-familial workers, many aspects of the political-economic contradictions between the landscape and …

Cut Mark Classification With Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis, Jennifer Cheryl Love

Masters Theses

Cut marks are preserved records of human activity and are used by anthropologists for a variety of purposes including reconstructing past events. Presently, examination of surface modifications with a dissecting or scanning electron microscope is the most common technique for mark classification. Although appropriate for morphologically typical marks, these methods are subjective and non-applicable to atypical marks. In light of these limitations, the author attempted to develop a method that utilized residual material transferred from a weapon to the bone for classification.

Recent advancements in electron microscopy led to the development of the environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) equipped with …

The Development And Application Of A Digitized Image Database For The Estimation Of Age Based On Bone Histology, John Edward Mailen

Masters Theses

In this study, digital image analysis was incorporated into existing regression formulas for age estimation. Previous studies in forensic anthropology have utilized only the manual counting of Basic Structural Units (BSUs) within the bone matrix for age estimation. The integration of an image database with the accepted regression formulas (Kerley 1965 and Kerley and Ubelaker 1978) allows for data to be reexamined without having to be sampled from the original slides. Thus, the data will have a more dynamic nature, where it could be investigated by other researchers from the original readings. In addition, the data can help train future …