Department of Psychology

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https://hdl.handle.net/11299/227749

The Psychology Department is committed to excellence in teaching, research, and service. Its purposes are to offer students a firm grounding in the discipline; to contribute to the liberal education goals of the University; to provide the community with people trained to apply psychological principles constructively; to prepare students for advanced study; to contribute to the advancement of psychology through research and other scholarly activities; and to enhance the professional development of the staff.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 119
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    Abusive Supervision and Burnout: The Moderating Role of Subordinates’ Neuroticism and Time Spent with the Supervisors
    (2020-05) Yu, Jie
    Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory (COR. Hobfoll, 1989), the purpose of this study was to further our understanding of the relationship between abusive supervision and burnout by testing the moderating effects of subordinates' neuroticism and time spent with the supervisor. Data collected from two samples showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between abusive supervision and burnout. When considering only the primary moderator, subordinates' neuroticism, on the relationship abusive supervision and burnout, the perception of abusive supervision on burnout was not influenced by any level of subordinates' neuroticism. When considering the primary moderator (subordinates' neuroticism) and secondary moderator (time spent with the supervisor) on the relationship between abusive supervision and burnout, results from Sample 2 only found a significant three-way interaction between abusive supervision, subordinates' neuroticism, and time spent with supervision that was operationalized as time spent interacting with the supervisor in hours per week. Specifically, the positive relationship between abusive supervision and burnout was strongest when subordinates were high neuroticism and they interacted with their supervisor for more than 9.45 hours a week. Practical implications, limitations and future directions are discussed.
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    Antidepressant Effects of TRH Analogue EEP in Female and Male Rats Assessed with the Forced Swim Test and BDNF Assay
    (2023-05) Schulz, Emily N
    The endogenous peptide pGLU-GLU-PRO-NH2 (EEP) has antidepressant effects in male rats demonstrated by decreased immobility in the forced swim test (FST). EEP is a chemical analog of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), which has short-term antidepressant effects by intrathecal administration in humans. In people with depression, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is decreased in the hippocampus and frontal cortex which leads to decreased volume in both. When people are successfully treated for depression, irrespective of the treatment type, BDNF and volume increase in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, which can indicate recovery. Sex differences are present in the occurrence and symptoms of depression; however, female animals are not always represented in depression research. Female sex hormones are thought to be a reason for sex differences related to depression, and BDNF is known to fluctuate over the estrous cycle of female rats. This study sought to determine if the antidepressant effects of EEP are related to BDNF levels in rats. This study found no significant effects with the forced swim test (FST) and immobility but had a large effect size. A minor sex difference was present in the FST (p = 0.03). Rats that received EEP were not found to have significantly increased levels of BDNF in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, but the results had a large effect size with the frontal cortex. No sex difference was found with BDNF concentrations. Results related to the estrous cycle were insignificant and considered exploratory. The results suggest that continued testing of EEP is needed to gain a greater understanding.
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    Appetite Awareness Training as a Weight Gain Prevention Intervention for Young Adult Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial
    (2017-08) Guidinger, Claire
    Young adulthood, in particular, is a time of increased risk of weight gain. Indeed,weight gain of 3-5 pounds among college freshmen has been well documented. Given the high rates of obesity, prevention efforts have become a national priority. This Plan B Project evaluated the efficacy of a brief Appetite Awareness Training Intervention in preventing weight gain in young adult women. Appetite Awareness Training (Craighead,2006) aims to increase an individual's ability to eat intuitively based on bodily hunger and satiety cues, rather than external or emotional cues, thereby potentially preventing weight gain. This study was a randomized control trial that used a 3x2 mixed factorial design with participants (n = 89) assigned to one of three groups: Appetite Awareness Training (AAT, n = 31), Nutrition Education (NE, n = 29), or a no-treatment control(NTC, n = 29). Primary (weight, BMI, body fat %, and waist circumference)and secondary(self-regulatory eating processes) outcome variables were assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The findings of this study revealed no statistically significant differences between groups on primary outcome variables, but AAT participants experienced a substantially greater increase in weight management self-efficacy at post-treatment compared to the NE and NTC groups.
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    Associated Correlates of Social Comparison Threat to Working Memory Capacity
    (2018) Peper, Philip E
    Social comparison, whether upward or downward, can cause consequences that hinder working memory performance. The present study aimed to illuminate possible moderators and mediators of the threatening effect of social comparison on working memory capacity. No significant group differences were found, so moderation and mediation analyses were not conducted. However, across comparison groups, exploratory analyses revealed negative affect and peak sympathetic nervous system arousal both negatively and significantly predicted working memory performance. Greater research is needed to determine whether these variables mediate the phenomenon and discover whom is most susceptible to detriments.
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    Barriers to Mental Health Services for Children in Low-income, Racial-Ethnic Minority Families
    (2021-07) Knourek, Kimberly A
    Accessing mental health care can be difficult for several reasons, but barriers to treatment can be exacerbated by racial-ethnic minority status, poverty, and its associated stressors. Understanding barriers to mental health care for children and their families experiencing poverty is essential to organize resources and provide better support. The first aim of this study was to examine how poverty status, trauma experience, and age affects access to the child’s mental health care and treatment progress. Data were collected on children aged 6 to 18 years old (N = 224) from August 2018 to February 2020 by using archival medical records in collaboration with a local community mental health organization. Children and their parents completed study measures with a therapist at their first appointment. This study utilized a between-groups, quantitative, natural correlational design and results were determined by the use of the Child and Adolescent Service Intensity Instrument (CASII) to measure treatment progress and treatment intensity measured as number of sessions and weeks of treatment as outcome measures. Results displayed that CASII pre-treatment scores were a significant predictor of CASII mid-treatment scores, meaning there was very little change in scores. Poverty, trauma experience, and age were not significant predictors for either change in symptoms over time, or treatment access as measured by treatment intensity, when CASII pre-treatment scores were included in the model. The second aim of this study is to aid the community collaborator in acquiring information that is beneficial in supporting the families to whom they provide services.
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    The Blame Game: Assessing Blame Placed on Gender Diverse Victims of HIV and the Impact of Perspective Taking
    (2020-03) Deihl, Emma C
    Gender diverse individuals experience higher rates of HIV and are blamed for their diagnoses to a greater extent than cisgender individuals. Proponents of Attribution Theory posit that victim blaming can be explained by understanding how people attribute causes to others' misfortunes (i.e., one's HIV diagnosis), whereby victims whose behavior is perceived as internal, controllable, and stable are blamed to a greater extent than victims whose behavior is perceived as external, uncontrollable, and unstable. Furthermore, perspective-taking is a technique used to reduce blame by altering one's causal attributions. Despite the links between causal attributions and perceptive taking, no study has applied these constructs to understand and reduce blame placed on gender diverse individuals who have been diagnosed with HIV. Thus, the current study examined the extent to which hypothetical gender diverse individuals were blamed for their HIV diagnosis to a greater extent than cisgender individuals, whether causal attributions explained this difference, and if perspective taking reduced blame. U.S. adults (N = 513) were randomly assigned to read one of nine vignettes, depicting an individual diagnosed with HIV, in which the gender identity of the target (transgender, cisgender man, cisgender woman) and the perspective-taking instructions (perspective taking, stay objective, and no instructions) were manipulated. Participants then completed scales assessing casual attributions (locus of causality, controllability, and stability) and blame (using three sub-measures: malice, unreliability, and recklessness). The results revealed that the gender diverse target was perceived to be more reckless than the cisgender targets and that locus of causality attributions partially explained these perceptions. In addition, the perspective-taking manipulation failed to significantly reduce blame placed on gender diverse individuals. The results from this research have important implications for educators and practitioners working to reduce blame associated with HIV diagnoses and stigma placed on gender diverse individuals.
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    A Brief Appetite Awareness Intervention for Eating and Weight Regulation Among College Freshmen: A Randomized Clinical Trial
    (2016-05) Vieaux, Lauren E
    The pervasiveness of obesity within our society has become a leading public health concern. Weight loss interventions are largely ineffective over the long run, thus researchers are turning their efforts toward weight gain prevention approaches. Given that the time of greatest change in dietary quality and incidence of obesity is during young adulthood, it would seem that prevention approaches would ideally target this population. Currently, most prevention programs utilize informational approaches (i.e., providing nutrition education) and/or are time intensive. Although these approaches show small short-term effects, Appetite Awareness Training (AAT), delivered in a brief group format, may offer a low-cost intervention aimed at sustainable skills. With an emphasis placed on an individual's ability to eat intuitively based on bodily hunger and satiety cues, AAT transforms an individual's approach to eating, instilling long lasting awareness of one's eating habits. This study evaluated the efficacy of a brief AAT intervention versus a standard nutrition information intervention (NE) versus a notreatment control. Freshman women (n=34) were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. Changes in weight, BMI, eating self-regulation, and other psychosocial variables were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 18 weeks post-intervention. Preliminary results show brief interventions (AAT and NE) to supersede no intervention with regards to ability to prevent unintended weight gain. Further, AAT participants showed greater confidence in efficaciously managing their weight and refraining from eating due to external influences.
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    Children Receiving Services at a Community Child Advocacy Center: A Mixed-Method Examination of Early Maladaptive Schemas and Coping Responses
    (2022-05) Zheng, Linda
    Schemas are core emotional and cognitive themes regarding oneself and one’s environment. Early maladaptive schemas (EMS) are themes originating from childhood and are associated with unmet emotional needs and adverse experiences, such as those that occur in caregiver-child relationships. EMS are maintained throughout life by unhelpful coping responses. However, it is unclear when children develop EMS and how the relationship between EMS and coping responses presents in children. Objective: The present study examined: (1) the prevalence of EMS and coping responses in children who have experienced maltreatment, (2) the relationship between EMS and coping responses, (3) how qualitative data compare to previous theoretical structures found in quantitative studies, and (4) how personal factors (e.g., age, gender) and abuse factors (e.g., frequency, type) are related to EMS and coping responses. Participants: Data were collected in collaboration with a child advocacy center through forensic interviews in which a child reported primary and/or secondary abuse. Measures: EMS were assessed using the Dusseldorf Illustrated Schema Questionnaire for Children (excluding illustrations). Coping responses were assessed using the COPE Inventory. Information about individual and abuse factors were gathered from case reports. Procedure: Staff at the child advocacy center completed the measures based on information obtained during forensic interviews. Results: All EMS were present in this sample. Excessive responsibility/standards was positively associated with self-sufficient coping and negatively associated with avoidant coping. Children of color, older children, and children who experienced multiple forms of abuse also reported higher levels of disconnection/rejection. Children who reported multiple forms of abuse also reported higher levels of impaired autonomy/performance. Conclusion: Early interventions should address EMS and reinforce more helpful coping responses for children with such adverse experiences.
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    Children's Wellbeing and ADHD among Rural and Urban Families
    (2024-05) Coleman, Callie Ann
    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between both positive parent-child relationships and community support to child ADHD symptom severity and child subjective wellbeing across rural and urban families. Past literature has found extensive barriers for accessing quality mental health services among rural families, however there is limited information on assets and strengths of rural families that may facilitate improved mental health. In particular, accessing high quality mental health services is important for assessment and treatment of mental health conditions such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Additionally, evaluating the relationships between parents and children would be beneficial, as ADHD is a concern of the entire family. The current study’s aim is to provide information on the unique experiences of rural families with children with ADHD that may ultimately inform community or school based services. The current study recruited children with ADHD and their families from urban and rural settings to complete surveys on the parent-child relationship, child wellbeing, and community support. Results showed a significant main effect of positive parent-child relationships on ADHD symptom severity. However, location and community support were not significant predictors of ADHD symptom severity. Community support and positive parent-child relationships were significantly associated with each other. Results showed there were no significant main effects of the predictors of location, community support, and positive parent-child relationships on child subjective wellbeing. Implications and limitations of the current study are discussed.
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    Contextual Predictors of BIPOC Students’ College Experience at a PWI: A S-BIT of Work Perspective
    (2024-05) Lindenfelser, Hope Elizabeth
    Objectives: Utilizing the theoretical framework of the Strengths-Based Inclusive Theory of Work (S-BIT of Work), the purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among contextual factors, the college setting, and positive individual characteristics amongst BIPOC college students. Specifically, discrimination, institutionalized classism (contextual variables), supportive university environment, cultural congruity (promotive work/educational context variables), hope, strengths use, and empowerment (individual positive characteristics) were examined. Participants: 98 adult college students from a predominately White 4-year institution in the Midwest (United States) who identified as BIPOC were recruited for this study. Method: Participants were recruited via three recruitment methods: emails to student clubs, organizations, and offices; extra credit offered by psychology faculty; and the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Psychology Research Pool (SONA). Participants completed validated measures for each variable previously noted. Participants were either entered into a drawing for one of 74 $25 gift cards, if desired, offered extra credit in a psychology course, or offered SONA credit depending on the recruitment method. Results: Path analysis was used to evaluate the theoretical model. Discrimination significantly and negatively predicted supportive university environment and cultural congruity. Also, results approached significance between institutionalized classism and hope, with a negative relationship. Results suggest that contextual barriers BIPOC students experience negatively relate to their perceptions of their environment, and these barriers may negatively relate to students’ goal-setting ability (i.e., hope).
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    Development and Exploratory Factor Analysis of Trauma-Related Blame Scale
    (2020-06) Jamieson, Jeremy D
    Following interpersonal trauma, survivors often experience maladaptive trauma-related blame cognitions which have relevance for psychopathology and treatment. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association has included blame as a symptom of PTSD in its most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. At the present, there is a paucity of literature concerning the development, course and resolution of these cognitions. Unfortunately, this research has been stymied by the limitations of existing measures, being rooted in a single trauma type and primarily regarding self-blame. The aim of the present study was to develop a trauma-related blame scale for survivors which could be employed to assess blame in any type of interpersonal traumatic experience and would include subscales for various blame typologies. Trauma-related blame items were developed to target attributions about the self, trauma-perpetrators, other victims, traumarelated others, higher-power entities, or no-one at all. Following the generation of 767 items, feedback from subject matter experts, and necessary modifications to the measure after content analysis, items were administered to a mixed interpersonal trauma population via a web-based crowdsourcing participant pool. Then, an exploratory factor analysis was performed on a final dataset containing responses of N = 458 participants to assess the degrees to which items load on intended blame subscales, resulting in a total 89 items at final reduction and eight factors: Higher-Power-Blame, No-one, Behavioral SelfBlame, Perpetrator Intent, Characterological Perpetrator-Blame, Perpetrator-Blame, Other-Blame, and Characterological Self-Blame. The next stage of this research should examine the construct validity and further validation within clinical populations.
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    Do Explanations Matter? The Hiring of Ex-offenders
    (2024-06-19) Manning, Josieann J
    Many employers are disinclined to hire applicants who have committed a crime due to the belief that they will commit another offense in the future. In order to screen out those with prior offenses, employers may use criminal background checks. After such background checks are conducted, applicants may be given the opportunity to explain the circumstances behind their criminal offenses to their employer, should they have one. However, little is known about how such explanations affect how the applicant is evaluated by the employer. This study aimed to assess whether the type of explanation offered by an ex-offender with a felony conviction will increase their likelihood of being hired by the organization. A total of 413 participants were recruited to participate in this study. Results revealed that the type of felon a person had (nonviolent versus violent) had no impact on their favorability rating by the participant. Furthermore, the type of explanation provided by the job applicant (none, self-explanation, court documentation, or both) also had no impact on the way that the participant perceived the ex-offender. Results of this study did reveal that the hiring decision-maker’s belief set did have an impact on how they perceived the job applicant. Participants who had an incremental theorist belief set (growth mindset) perceived the job applicant more favorably than participants with an entity theorist belief set (fixed mindset). These findings indicate that providing an explanation has no impact on whether the ex-offender may be hired by an organization.