Psychology Theses and Dissertations

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A Comparative Study of Certain Personality Characteristics of College Women Participating in Basketball and Modern Dance
(1965) Bird, Anne Marie; Johnson, Warren R.; Health Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
Twenty-five college women attending the University of Maryland during the spring semester of 1963 were studied in an effort to determine whether or not there were any identifiable personality characteristics among those (14) who chose to participate in basketball, as compared to those (13) who chose to participate in modern dance. The subjects used in this study voluntarily chose the activity in which they participated. The California Psychological Inventory was used to evaluate the personality characteristics of the subjects. Analysis of the data showed that the basketball group scored significantly higher, at the 5 percent level of confidence, on the community scale. The modern dance group scored significantly higher, at the 5 percent level of confidence, on the scales measuring flexibility and femininity. A comparison of the group means for all other scales proved insignificant at the 5 percent level of confidence.
Abusive and Supportive Leadership Effects on Masculinity & Aggression towards Women
(2020) Epistola, Jordan; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Masculinity is a highly-valued but elusive status in society. This is due to its socially conferred nature. While masculinity is associated with good traits, it is also associated with negative traits such as aggression against others. Negative masculine traits occur when males lose masculine status and seek to reestablish it. While research has identified contexts that elicit masculinity loss, research to date has not focused on the role leaders play in shaping followers’ interpretations of such contexts. The present study sought to address this by examining the effect of supportive versus abusive leadership on followers’ experience of masculinity in potentially threatening contexts. Dahl, Vesio & Weaver’s (2015) research method for threatening masculinity was expanded upon to test this. Results revealed significant differences in public discomfort and anger between supportive and abusive leadership. Leadership also impacted followers’ hostility towards women through changes in masculinity loss stress. Surprisingly, Dahl et al.’s (2015) method for threatening masculinity could not be replicated. Potential explanations, as well as theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.
Adaptive echolocation and flight behaviors in free-flying bats, Eptesicus fuscus
(2008-10-22) Chiu, Chen; Moss, Cynthia F; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Echolocating bats emit ultrasonic sonar pulses and listen to returning echoes, which are reflected from targets or obstacles, to probe their surroundings. Their biological sonar system is well-developed and highly adaptive to the dynamic acoustic environment. Bats are also agile flyers and they can modify their flight behavior in order to capture insects efficiently. Adaptable echolocation and flight behaviors evolved in bats in response to environmental demands. This study employed changes in the external ear of bats and in the acoustic environment to examine how the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, modifies its echolocation call design and flight patterns to cope with these new experimental conditions. Study one investigated the influences of changes in sound localization cues on prey capture behavior. The tragus, which is part of the external ear, is believed to contribute to sound localization in the vertical plane. Deflecting the tragus affected prey capture performance of the bat, but it adapted to this manipulation by adjusting its flight behavior. The tragus-deflected bat tended to attack the prey item from above and show lower tangential velocity and larger bearing from the side, compared with its flight pattern in the tragus intact conditions. The bat did not change its echolocation call design in the tragus-deflected condition. Study two paired two bats together and allowed them to perform a prey capture task in a large flight room. Echolocating bats showed two adaptive strategies in their echolocation behavior when flying with another conspecific. The bat either stopped vocalizing or increased its difference in call design from the other bat. In addition, one bat tended to follow another bat when flying together and antagonistic behavior was found in male-male and female-male pairs. The pursuit strategy the bat uses to track another bat is different from the strategy it uses to capture flying insects. This thesis confirms that the big brown bat's echolocation and flight behaviors are highly adaptable and describes several strategies the bat employs to cope with changes in sound localization cues and conspecific interference.
Addressing Follower Motivation Within the Kelley Typology of Followership Using Significance Quest Theory
(2022) Forgo, Emily Elizabeth; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This thesis sought to build upon the Kelley typology of followership by examining the motivational factors that affect follower behavior in follower-leader interactions that the original theory did not explore. The motivational mechanism I argued accounted for differences in follower behavior was Significance Quest theory. This thesis examined whether the interaction between the activation of an individual’s significance quest and the closeness to a network perceived as valuable to them would influence follower behavior. Additional factors, such as narratives valued by the network and regulatory focus orientation, are also explored. Partial support was found for two hypotheses. Implications and future directions of these findings are discussed.
ADHD and Cannabis Use in College Students: Examining Indirect Effects of Coping Motives
(2024) Taubin, Daria; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
ADHD is a developmental risk factor for cannabis misuse and cannabis use disorder. Individuals with ADHD also struggle to cope with negative affect and are more likely to engage in maladaptive, avoidant coping behaviors. This may be particularly salient in college, a developmental period characterized by increased stress and autonomy and easy access to highly reinforcing substances. However, despite this increased risk, little is known about mechanisms underlying why college students with ADHD use cannabis more frequently than their peers. This study examined associations between ADHD, coping motives (i.e., using cannabis to avoid or reduce negative affect), and frequency of cannabis use in a sample of college students (49% female) with (n=42) and without (n=30) ADHD using a two-week daily diary protocol. Results showed that ADHD was significantly associated with elevated coping motives and more days of cannabis use during the daily diary period. Additionally, there was a significant indirect effect of ADHD on number of cannabis use days through coping motives; students with ADHD endorsed a stronger drive to use cannabis to cope with negative emotions, which in turn was associated with more cannabis use days. Findings align with theory linking ADHD to increased vulnerability for avoidant coping behaviors. Further work may explore the potential of targeted, proactive interventions to help youth with ADHD build and utilize adaptive substance-free coping skills, particularly in the college context.
Adolescent Attributions About and Responses to Imagined Future Romantic Partners’ Behaviors: Links to Adolescent Attachment to Parents
(2020) Fitter, Megan Haley; Cassidy, Jude; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Attachment theory states that experiences with primary caregivers influence other close relationships throughout the lifespan (Bowlby, 1969/1982). The quality of early caregiving experiences influences children’s mental representations of how others will treat them. These representations guide social information processing, the way that individuals remember, perceive, hold expectations, and make attributions about their social world. The present study is the first to examine how young adolescents’ attachment to parents influences their attribution biases about future romantic relationships. Attachment insecurity with mothers and fathers predicted negative attribution biases about hypothetical future romantic partners. Insecurity to fathers marginally predicted negative attributions above those predicted by insecurity to mothers. Negative attributions, in turn, predicted adolescents’ forecasting their own negative behaviors in a future relationship. Further, adolescents’ attachment avoidance (discomfort with closeness) across both parents predicted negative attributions. Results suggest that attribution biases could explain relations between attachment to caregivers and later romantic relationship functioning.
Adolescent Secure-Base Use and Parental Secure-Base Support: Relations with Adolescent Attachment Security
(2003-11-17) Dykas, Matthew Jason; Cassidy, Jude; Gelso, Charles; Rubin, Kenneth; Psychology
The goal of this investigation was to examine whether adolescent (AAI) attachment security could be linked to adolescents' secure-base use and parents' secure-base support while discussing the adolescent's developmentally salient task of leaving home after finishing high school. Results indicated that secure adolescents were more likely than insecure adolescents to use their mothers and their fathers as secure bases. Results also indicated that fathers of secure adolescents were more likely than fathers of insecure adolescents to support their adolescents' secure-base behavior. There was no evidence, however, that mothers of insecure adolescents differed from mothers of secure adolescents in their amounts of secure-base support. Results also indicated that dyadic open communication was greatest in secure adolescent-mother and secure adolescent-father discussions. Secure adolescents were also more likely than insecure adolescents to use at least one parent as a secure-base and to have open dyadic communication with at least one parent.
Adolescent-Parent Discrepancies in Reports of Parental Monitoring: Links with Adolescents’ Social Anxiety with Unfamiliar Peers
(2020) Keeley, Lauren; De Los Reyes, Andres; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Adolescents commonly experience social anxiety, an impairing set of fears of unfamiliar social situations. Yet, we know little about factors implicated in how adolescents maintain these concerns. One factor robustly implicated in adolescents’ externalizing behavior involves parental awareness of adolescents’ whereabouts and activities (i.e., parental monitoring). Not only do we know little about the links between parental monitoring and social anxiety, but also parents and adolescents often provide discrepant reports about such monitoring. Prior work indicates that these discrepant reports facilitate understanding adolescent externalizing behaviors. I explored whether these reporting discrepancies also predict adolescents’ social anxiety, within a controlled laboratory paradigm that measured adolescents’ reactions to interacting with unfamiliar peers. The interaction between low levels of adolescent-reported parental monitoring and high levels of parent-reported parental monitoring related to increased adolescent anxiety during these interactions. These findings inform how to use parental monitoring assessments when assessing and treating adolescent social anxiety.
Adoptive Parents: At Risk or Resilient
(2009) Merson, Erica Shawn; O'Brien, Karen M.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This study advanced knowledge regarding the demographics of a nationally representative sample of adoptive parents and their use and level of satisfaction with adoption agency services, specifically that they are functioning well both psychologically and in their marital relationships and are satisfied with the adoption agency services that are being offered and used. It also examined the contributions of (a) psychological functioning at nine months postpartum, (b) infertility experiences, (c) tangible resources, and (d) the marital relationship in predicting the psychological health of adoptive parents at 27 months postpartum. Findings revealed that the psychological health of adoptive parents at nine months was the strongest predictor of depressive and anxiety symptoms at 27 months for both adoptive mothers and fathers, with tangible resources also contributing unique variance to the prediction of fathers' depressive symptoms. Moreover, marital hostility was found to partially mediate the relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms at nine months and 27 months postpartum.
Affect and Cognition as Antecedents of Intergroup Attitudes: The Role of Applicability and Judged Usability
(2009) Leary, Scott; Stangor, Charles; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
When making intergroup evaluations we experience cognitive and affective responses. Given that the content of the cognitions or affective reactions are applicable and judged usable, each has the potential to influence one's attitudes towards that group. In a Pilot Study participants reported significantly more disgust than fear when thinking about gay men, and significantly more fear than disgust when thinking about African-Americans. Studies 1 and 2 provided initial support that these specific emotional responses to social groups are moderated by the extent to which that information is judged as usable. Data from Study 3 did not fully support my hypotheses, as personal relevance did not moderate the extent to which affect was related to social distance. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Affect and Condom Use in a Daily Diary Study of Men Who Have Sex with Men
(2014) Sarno, Elissa Louise; Mohr, Jonathan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionally affected by HIV. Although some theoretical models created to explain why individuals engage in risky sexual behavior contain an affective component, there has been relatively little focus on the influence of affect on sexual risk-taking. The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between affect and condom use in men who have sex with men (MSM) in an archival dataset from a survey of users of a popular sex-oriented website. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze daily diary data from 2,871 MSM. At the within-person level, positive affect was positively related to risk-taking, whereas negative affect was negatively related to risk-taking. However, these results were qualified by interactions of trait affect and relationship to sex partner. These findings suggest that interventions focused on emotional regulation may have the potential to reduce sexual risk taking among MSM.
The Affective Consequences of Conforming to Gender Stereotypes
(2016) Venaglia, Rachel; Lemay, Edward P.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
It was of primary interest to examine the affective consequences of conformity to gender stereotypes, and to assess if feelings of social approval and authenticity mediate the relationship between conformity and affect. Therefore, we utilized an Electronic Momentary Assessment methodology to capture University of Maryland students’ engagement in gender stereotypical behavior, and their emotional and social experiences during their daily social interactions. Counter to expectations, we found that regardless of one’s own gender, enacting gender prescriptions enhanced feelings of authenticity and feelings of social approval, and enacting proscriptions reduced feelings of authenticity and feelings of social approval. Enacting prescriptions predicted more positive affect and enacting proscriptions predicted a more negative affective experience. Feelings of authenticity and feelings of social approval independently predicted feelings of more positive affect. Overall, our findings suggest that irrespective of gender, engaging in desirable stereotypes has a number of social, personal, and emotional benefits.
Affective Pathways of Work-Family Enrichment Among Dual-earner Couples
(2009) Dunn, Marianne Grace; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The current study examined the extent to which resources generated at work influence family functioning among dual-earner couples while accounting for interdependence of observations among couples. Path analytic findings based in the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Cook & Kenny, 2005) and Work-Family Enrichment Theory (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006) supported the presence of a mediated model. The relationship between resources generated at work to positive family performance was mediated by positive affect at work. A number of intrapersonal effects, including one mediated effect emerged between work, positive affect at work, and family variables. One interpersonal effect was detected: female family-supportive organization perceptions predicted male dyadic adjustment. The results and implications for theory, policy, practice, and research are discussed.
Affective Reactions to Uncertainty as Driven by Past Experiences, Personality, and Perceived Valence
(2022) Ellenberg, Molly Deborah; Kruglanski, Arie; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The assumption that uncertainty is inherently threatening which underlies decades of research belies the fact that people rarely react negatively to uncertain situations about which they do not care, and that some are excited by uncertainty. I propose that affective reactions to uncertainty are driven not by uncertainty itself, but by people’s expectations of positive and negative outcomes to personally relevant uncertain situations. I find that positive past experiences predict higher optimism and higher resilience, both of which predict higher tolerance of uncertainty and more positive perceptions of uncertain events. I also find that negative past experiences predict higher pessimism and lower resilience, both of which predict higher intolerance of uncertainty and more negative perceptions of uncertain events. The second study suggests that optimistic people are more likely to approach, rather than avoid, uncertainty. The third study finds that mindfulness training, which emphasizes non-attachment to outcomes, results in more neutral reactions to uncertainty. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
African-Americans and African-English-Speaking West Indians: Relationships Between Racial Identity Attitudes, Self-Attitudes, Self-Esteem, Skin Color Perceptions and Sex-Role Attitudes
(1994) Murray-Carney, Melita Josephine; Fretz, Bruce; Psychology; Digital Repository and the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
This study examined the relationship of racial identity attitudes to skin color perceptions, sex-role attitudes and self-esteem among 106 African-Americans and 102 African-English speaking West Indians. Skin color perceptions were measured by Helms and Carter's (in press) skin color scale and the present author's (1992) skin color chart. Sex-role attitudes were measured by the Bem's Sex-role Inventory and self-esteem by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale respectively. It was hypothesized that differentially statistically significant relationships would be found among racial identity attitudes, skin color perceptions, sex-role attitudes and self-esteem for African-Americans and African-West Indians . For African-Americans , the results indicated racial identity was associated with self-esteem but was not related to skin color perceptions or sex-role attitudes when gender was controlled. For African-English speaking West Indians, racial identity was associated with sex-role attitudes but was not related to either skin color perceptions or self esteem. Additional exploratory results pointed to a need to include other variables such as socioeconomic status and education in understanding more about racial identity attitudes of African-Americans and African-English speaking West Indians. Research and counseling implications for African-Americans and African-English speaking West Indians are discussed.
Aging, Illusory Conjunctions, and Attention
(2006-04-19) Murphy, Lisa; Scholnick, Ellin K; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Elderly adults do not perform as well as young adults on complex tasks. Elderly adults' poorer performance may be partly due to an age-related increase in the occurrence of illusory conjunctions. To investigate this possibility, this research is designed to examine the relationship between attention and illusory conjunctions in young and old adult performance. Experiment 1 is modeled after Cohen and Ivry (1989; Experiment 3) and requires participants to perform concurrent digit-matching and letter identification tasks. The digit-matching task manipulates the spread of attention, i.e., narrow vs. wide; and the letter identification task provides opportunity for illusory conjunctions, because both a target and non-target letter differing in color and identity appear in the display. The results suggest that selective attention affects the formation of illusory conjunctions in young but not elderly adults. In young adults illusory conjunctions are more likely to be formed within the attentional window. The elderly are just as likely to form illusory conjunctions inside and outside the attentional window. Because the design of Experiment 1 requires the participants to identify two properties of the target letter simultaneously (i.e., the subject must determine the color and the shape of the target letter) this experiment is a dual property experiment. Since elderly performance often suffers when required to complete simultaneous tasks (Craik, 1977; Hartley, 1992; McDowd & Shaw, 2000), it is possible that an age-difference in the occurrence of illusory conjunctions in Experiment 1 was due to age differences in ability to handle dual task performance. Experiment 2 was used to investigate this possibility. Thus, Experiment 2 consisted of two conditions. In the dual property condition, the participants were required to determine both the color and the identity of the target letter. In the single property condition, the subject only reported the color of the target letter. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the results of Experiment 1 were not due to the dual property nature of Experiment 1. The pattern of illusory conjunctions was similar whether the requirements of the task were to identify one or two properties of the target letter.
Allometric comparison of brain structure volumes in three species of bowerbird: satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus), spotted bowerbirds (Chlamydera maculata), and green catbirds (Ailuroedus crassirostris)
(2005-08-03) Bentz, Shannon Carson; Brauth, Steven E; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In three species of Australian bowerbirds the volumes of several brain structures were determined based on areal measurements of fixed tissue. Allometric comparisons, i.e., those that take into account the gross interspecies and intersexual differences in body mass and overall size, were made among these three species. Sexual dimorphisms were detected in the vocal control nuclei of each species. Most intriguingly, a putatively novel nucleus in the dorsal hyperstriatum of all three species has been identified. These findings are discussed in a functional context, in which the bower-building habits of these three species of bowerbird are considered.
Analogue Study of Peer Influence on Risk-Taking Behavior in Older Adolescents
(2011) Reynolds, Elizabeth Keats; Lejuez, Carl W; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
An accumulation of research has demonstrated that peers play a considerable role in older adolescent risk behavior engagement with risk taking often occurring in the presence of peers. Yet, questions remain about how peer influence manifests in the immediate context of risk behavior engagement and consequently whether the influence of peers has been overestimated. It is uncertain whether a situational effect takes place whereby the presence of the peers and/or their influence in that moment is key. Additionally, it is unclear whether certain adolescents are more or less susceptible to peer influence. To better understand the proposed influence of peers during risk-taking behavior, the current experimental study aimed to examine whether peers do act in a riskier manner in the presence of peers and further whether peer presence alone influences risk behavior or if a direct influence process is necessary. Further, the study aimed to examine potential moderators of peer influence. Utilizing a behavioral task assessing risk-taking behavior, 183 older adolescents (M age = 19.16, SD = .57, 63.9% female, 53.0% non-Hispanic White) came to the lab alone once and then were randomized to one of three conditions (alone, peers present, peers encouraging). If the target was randomized to peers present or peers encouraging conditions, the target brought in two, same-gender close friends for the second session. A repeated measures ANOVA with the within subject factor as the risk task score at each session and the between subjects factor as condition revealed a significant interaction of session by condition (F(2, 180) = 11.38, p = .001; partial eta-squared = .11) such that at the baseline session there were nominal differences between the three conditions but at the experimental session there was a significant increase in risk task scores particularly for the encouraging condition. None of the proposed moderators had a significant effect, suggesting that the experimental conditions had an equal effect across participants. These findings support the idea that older adolescents take more risks when being encouraged by peers but that the presence of peers on its own does not lead to more risks than when completing the task alone.
Anxiety and Anxiety-Coping in Children's Picture Books
(2023) Hui, Janisa; Wang, Cixin; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The contribution of this study is to provide an understanding of how picture books educate young children on the common experiences of anxiety. This qualitative study used thematic analysis to analyze 82 English children’s picture books for infants and young toddlers (0 to 5 years old) that were published in 2020. Picture books in this sample portray anxiety in a way that match with the clinical knowledge of childhood anxiety in terms of characterization and signs of anxiety. This study identified five major themes of anxiety-eliciting situations, namely schools, bad things happen, being alone, health and diversity. The findings of this study also include themes and patterns of coping strategies that were used by the protagonists; finding comfort, inhibiting emotions, solving problems, recognizing and expressing emotions and culturally-related strategies are the five themes that summarize the coping strategies found in this sample. Across all types of anxiety-eliciting situations, finding comfort is the most frequently presented coping strategy. This study holds implications for caregivers, teachers and clinicians, through which they can have an idea of how anxiety is presented in some recently published children’s picture books in their use of the books for educational or clinical purposes. Publishers may also take reference on the gaps noted in this study to diversify the content of anxiety-related picture books.
Appealing to Masculinity or Empathy?: Educating Men to Recognize Warning Signs of Dating Violence
(2018) Kearney, Monica Sherri; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Dating violence continues to be a social concern for young adults (Barrick, Krebs, & Lindquist, 2013). Dating violence occurs often on college campuses, with between 16% and 50% of college women reporting experiences of dating violence prior to graduation (Knowledge Networks, 2011; Murray & Kardatzke, 2007). However, over half of college students reported that it is difficult to identify warning signs of dating violence (Knowledge Networks, 2011). Moreover, one study determined that undergraduate, heterosexual men have more difficulty recognizing warning signs of dating violence than undergraduate heterosexual women (Kearney & O’Brien, 2016). Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess multiple strategies to increase recognition of warning signs of dating violence and engagement in an online dating violence intervention with a sample of heterosexual college men. Participants were assigned randomly to one of four conditions: (1) the appeal to masculinity condition, (2) the appeal to empathy condition, (3) the combined appeal to masculinity and empathy condition, or (4) the control condition. Participants were instructed to watch the first component of STOP Dating Violence (O’Brien et al., 2016), a short online video intervention developed to educate college students about dating violence. Participants in the control condition received the standard intervention, while participants in the experimental conditions viewed a brief (one minute) introduction before beginning the intervention. Results indicated that all participants demonstrated an increase in ability to recognize warning signs of dating violence after participating in the intervention. Moreover, there was an interaction of time and condition for three dimensions of dating violence warning signs. However, condition did not have an effect on engagement with the intervention material. The results and future directions for research are discussed.

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