Honors Projects

Effects of Disclosure and Interpersonal Warmth on Attitudes toward Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Workplace

Chelsea C. Werries — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:42:35 PDT

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been known to struggle with attaining and maintaining employment. The stigma of ASDs plays a large role in this struggle, and research on stigma management strategies in the workplace is needed. I investigated the effects of two specific stigma management strategies for adults with ASD in the workplace, self-disclosure and interpersonal warmth behaviors (e.g., asking others questions about their interests), on coworker attitudes. In this experiment, I showed participants a video of an individual with ASD interacting with coworkers. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, featuring 1) the presence or absence of self-disclosure and 2) the presence or absence of interpersonal warmth from an individual with ASD. Participants then completed questionnaires to capture several dimensions of their attitudes. Results showed that participants in the disclosure condition perceived more warmth and competence, felt more admiration and less irritation, and had greater intentions to help and associate than participants in the no disclosure condition. Participants in the disclosure condition also reported more willingness to work with an individual with ASD than participants in the no disclosure condition. Participants in the warmth present condition reported seeing the individual as significantly warmer than participants in the warmth behaviors absent condition. Participants in the warmth behaviors present condition also reported feeling significantly less envy towards the individual in the warmth behaviors present condition than participants in the warmth behaviors absent condition.

Potential Factors Influencing Leniency toward Veterans who Commit Crimes

Amanda Larsen — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:02:14 PDT

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that occurs following a traumatic experience and has symptoms that can severely impair functioning. Military personnel are particularly likely to experience trauma, and thus are commonly diagnosed with PTSD. Importantly, because PTSD is correlated with expressions of anger and aggression, military veterans are at an increased risk of committing crimes upon returning from deployment. Although legal records have shown that veterans with PTSD are often charged with lighter crimes and/or given lighter sentences compared to people not diagnosed with PTSD, to date no psychological research has directly investigated if jurors truly are inclined to give veterans with PTSD lighter sentences than veterans without PTSD. It also remains unclear how various factors related to PTSD may influence jurors’ sentencing recommendations. The purpose of the present research was to compare judgments of guilt for veterans with PTSD to civilians and to investigate whether various factors lead to increased leniency from jurors. Participants read fictional court documents describing a crime and reported perceptions of guilt, responsibility, and feelings toward the defendant. Results indicated that the diagnosis of PTSD, timing of diagnosis, and type of combat experienced influenced various perceptions of the defendant and his sentencing. Future directions are discussed.

Attachment Theory and the Sexual Double Standard

Erin A. Vogel — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:20:09 PDT

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between adults’ attachment orientation and their exhibition of the sexual double standard. According to attachment theory, adults who score higher on measures of anxious attachment are more clingy, jealous, and fearful of abandonment. Those who are more avoidant are distrustful and uncomfortable with intimacy. The sexual double standard is the belief that men are rewarded for sexual activity while women are derogated for the same activity. Participants read about a male or female who has had either 12 sexual partners or 1 sexual partner. They then evaluated the person’s popularity, success, intelligence, and values. Although this study did not find evidence of the double standard, results indicated that women who are insecurely attached to their mothers judge men with more partners more harshly than men with fewer partners, and men who are anxiously attached to their romantic partners judge men with more sexual partners more harshly than men with fewer sexual partners.

Dissociating Allopregnanolone Mnemonic Effects from Sedation

Sarah B. Hartman — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:22:03 PDT

Allopregnanolone (Allop) is a neurosteroid metabolite of progesterone. Allop modulates cognition, specifically learning and memory, but these effects are frequently confounded by its anxiolytic and sedative properties. We attempted to dissociate the anxiolytic effects of Allop from its mnemonic effects by employing a pharmacological challenge with d- amphetamine. Because previous research suggests that the effects of Allop may vary with the cognitive domain being tested, we assessed both spatial and non-spatial memory. Spatial memory was tested in a Morris Water Maze, and non-spatial object memory was tested on a novel discrimination task. Allop, alone or in combination with d-amphetamine did not have any significant effects on spatial memory. Neither Allop nor amphetamine alone affected memory of a novel object relative to controls, but the combination of the two produced a dissociation and enhanced performance. The results suggest that, depending on the type of memory being tested, the sedative effects of Allop can be dissociated from mnemonic effects by co-administering a sub-threshold dose of d-amphetamine.

Conditions of Cooperation between Rats in the Prisoner's Dilemma Model

Malory B. Wodka — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:38:49 PDT

Reciprocal cooperation is the act of working together with another individual to increase the likelihood that the other individual will continue to work together during future encounters. Reciprocal cooperation can be explained evolutionarily because it promotes the fitness of individuals in certain conditions. Cooperation is most commonly studied in humans. However less complex mammals such as rats display cooperative behaviors in certain conditions. This study examines the necessary conditions for cooperation in rats by testing the significance of housing conditions and prior interactions between cooperating rats. We found that rats did not cooperate at levels greater than chance.

Life History Theory and the Sexual Double Standard

Yuliana Zaikman — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:29:04 PDT

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the potential relationship between life history theory and the sexual double standard. Life history theory posits that one’s upbringing (e.g., whether one’s parents are divorced or not; quality of relationship with one’s father) may have physiological and psychological implications on one’s future mating strategies, especially for women. The sexual double standard is the notion that men and women are judged differently depending on their sexual activities. For the present study, we hypothesized that participants who came from single parent households or who have had worse relationship with their parents would differentially exhibit the sexual double standard compared to participants from two parent households or who have had better relationship with their parents. Participants completed questionnaires regarding their relationships with their parents and then evaluated a target individual who reported having either 1 or 12 sexual partners. Results showed that female participants who come from divorced households evaluated highly sexually active men as less successful than less sexually active men. Additionally, female participants who reported worse relationships with their mothers evaluated highly sexually active men as less virtuous than less sexually active men. There was no relationship between a female’s quality of relationship with her father and the exhibition of the double standard.

Implicit Encoding Explored Through the Flankers Task

Jaclynn V. Sullivan — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:26:57 PDT

The problem we examined involves the process of selective attention and its relationship with implicit and explicit memory encoding. One task that has been used previously to examine selective attention is the flankers task, which consists of three items with the center item being the item that requires a response - the target. The two items on either side of the target are the “irrelevant” flankers. The correlated flanker effect is the difference in reaction time between the trials in which the flankers that are correlated with the correct response are present (congruent) and trials in which the flankers correlated with the opposite response are present (incongruent). Participants are about 30ms faster to respond on congruent trials than incongruent trials (Miller, 1987). The current study sought to further understand the mechanisms behind this selective attention task by asking, is incidental (implicit) learning of irrelevant information encoded in memory differently than intentional (explicit) learning? Participants completed a correlated flankers task. Half the participants were told to expect a memory task for the flankers and half were not given warning. Participants also completed an implicit memory task and an explicit memory questionnaire. Response times (RT) on congruent correlation trials and on incongruent correlation trials were measured. In the implicit memory task, participants’ responding to neutral targets surrounded by previously shown flankers was measured. We hypothesized that the greater recall of the irrelevant information in the implicit task over the explicit task. Results demonstrated no presence of the flanker effect yet participants were significantly more accurate than chance on the implicit task but not the explicit task.

Evaluating a Sensorimotor Intervention in Children who have Experienced Complex Trauma: A Pilot Study

Lauren Hansen — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:31:06 PDT

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a sensorimotor intervention with children who have experienced complex trauma. In the United States, millions of children are exposed to traumatic events each year, and thousands develop subsequent psychological disorders (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Researchers and clinicians are now categorizing these disorders as traumatic stress-related disorders or Developmental Trauma Disorder (Courtois & Ford, 2009), particularly when there is an interpersonal component (e.g. abuse or neglect by caregivers). Unfortunately, there is a dearth of evidence-based information available on effective treatment for complex trauma in children (Malchiodi, 2008). This study focused on incorporating principles from the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (Perry, 2009, 2006) as well as a sensory integration intervention into an effective treatment for children. Both interventions focused on increasing attunement to the self and to others while providing the brain with the stimulation that it needs to develop. The intervention took place at the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) at The Baby Fold in Normal, Illinois. The RTC is an inpatient treatment center for children with severe emotional and behavioral problems, which are typically related to early, chronic traumatic experiences. The intervention took place in the form of specialized activity groups. We hypothesized a decrease in the frequency of problematic behaviors and an increase in positive, pro-social behaviors for children receiving the treatment compared to a control group that did not receive the specialized activity groups. As predicted, our results indicated a significant decrease in some problematic behaviors in the treatment group, but there was no change in positive behaviors.

The Evolution of Social Pain: Understanding the Neural Network of Social Ostracism through Electroencephalography

Daniel M. Kern — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:31:04 PDT

The lack of belonging or frequent exposure to social ostracism has maladaptive psychological and physical consequences. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the neural processes of social ostracism. Previously, Williams (2009) showed a decrease in theta power in the frontal lobe when female participants were ostracized in a virtual chat-room. Using male and female Illinois Wesleyan college students, this study manipulated two powerful social cues (biological sex and attractiveness level) to determine their effect on prefrontal brain activity in response to social ostracism in a virtual chat-room environment. Using EEG technology, frontal theta power (4-8Hz) was measured using three cortical electrodes (the F3, F4, and Fz sites). Using a similar procedure to Williams (2009), social ostracism was elicited using a well-established chat-room paradigm that involved 4 phases. In the introduction, inclusion, and re-inclusion phases, participants were actively involved in the conversation, in contrast to being actively ignored during the exclusionary phase. During the exclusionary phase of the experiment, we hypothesize a significant decrease in theta power across gender and attractiveness levels in the frontal lobe. Results revealed the virtual chat-room paradigm was successful in eliciting feelings of social ostracism. Participants reported lower levels of enjoyment, F(2, 35) = 103.413, p = .000, interest, F(2, 35) = 89.89, p = .000, and participation F(2, 35) = 197.76, p = .000, as well as lines typed, F(1.564, 35) = 104.98, p = .000, during the exclusionary phase in comparison to the inclusionary phases. In addition, males reported experiencing a significantly higher degree of ostracism than females, F(1, 34) = 5.527, p = .025. Theta power showed a non-significant, F(2, 30) = 1.203, p = .180, decrease in between phases, with inclusion showing the highest overall theta power and exclusion and re-inclusion showing lower degrees of theta power.

Perceptions of a Deity and Corresponding Religious Group as Affected by Descriptions of Gender and Personal Characteristics

Hannah R. Jones — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:44:18 PDT

Both personal and social identities are important to the self-concept, but the values of such identities can come into question when they conflict with one another. The religious group, one such identification, can exert a great deal of influence over one’s thoughts and beliefs. However, religion is often critiqued for being a reflection of the patriarchal context from which a religion often emerges, which potentially elicits and reinforces gender stereotypes and sexism within the religious group. This can be seen in the Abrahamic religions; they maintain that their God does not claim biological sex nor gender, but their texts include predominantly masculine imagery as well as the convention to refer to their God as “He.” The present study aimed to determine whether individuals would be willing to consider broadening their view of their deity to include feminine imagery and the option of referring to their God as “She”. Participants were divided into six conditions and provided with a description of a hypothetical deity and the religious group that worships the deity. Each condition varied in the pronoun used to describe the deity as well as gender stereotyped traits that were provided concerning the deity’s attributes, and participants’ views of the deity and the religious group were examined. Analyses revealed that participants viewed deities described with stereotypically female traits significantly more favorably than deities described with stereotypically male traits over a range of subscales. No effects were found when the pronoun used to describe the deity was manipulated. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

Neural Activity During Social Exclusion: An Exploratory Examination

Stephanie Khatcherian — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:34:19 PDT

Social exclusion has been brought to the forefront of media attention in recent years due to the recent tragedies like campus shootings and cyberbullying on social networking websites. In order to gain a deeper understanding of social exclusion, this study examined the relation between social exclusion and event-related brain potential (ERP) activity. ERPs were collected while participants completed three blocks of the Cyberball paradigm during which they experienced situations of social inclusion, exclusion, and re-inclusion. This well-established paradigm mimics actual social behavior experienced in real-world situations. Results showed larger N2 and smaller P3 amplitudes during throws where participants were excluded compared to when they were included, regardless of the interaction’s overall context (inclusion, exclusion, re-inclusion), suggesting the conflict-driven “neural alarm” and the allocation of attention are determined more by specific events within the interaction rather than the larger context of the social exchange. Further, during the exclusionary interaction, both the N2 and P3 showed larger amplitudes in the earlier stages of exclusion compared to the later stages, suggesting heightened early sensitivity for both components, and P3 amplitude was larger to exclusionary events compared to the two inclusionary interactions, indicating a contextual influence of exclusion. These findings suggest that discrete events occurring during a social interaction may provide additional insights into social exclusion compared to more global “inclusionary” or “exclusionary” classifications of social interactions.

Cyberostracism and Social Monitoring: Social Anxiety's Effects on Reactions to Exclusion and Inclusion Online

Claire E. Karlen et al. — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:03:10 PDT

Previous research has shown that ostracism –the equivalence of exclusion in a social situation –improves social monitoring abilities – a natural practice by which individuals gather information through social cues about what is happening in their social worlds (Pickett, Gardner, & Knowles, 2004). Current knowledge on social anxiety, defined as a chronic fear of social situations that put one in the position of evaluation by others, describes hypersensitivity in those individuals in cases of social monitoring others (Barlow, 2002; Craske, 1999). The current study investigated how those two constructs interacted in a cyberostracism paradigm. After measuring their social anxiety levels, participants were placed in either an exclusion or inclusion situation modeled on the social networking website Facebook, a medium through which rejection is not only easily but also commonly executed. Following the manipulation, participants were tested on their social monitoring abilities, their mood, and their feelings of satisfaction in regards to Williams’ four fundamental needs – self-esteem, control, belonging, and meaningful existence. We hypothesized that individuals in the exclusion situation, in contrast to those in the inclusion situation, would show higher levels of social monitoring ability, lower mood, and fewer feelings of satisfaction in relation to Williams’ needs. We also predicted that individuals who were higher in social anxiety would show lower levels of social monitoring ability. Finally, we hypothesized that individuals both high in social anxiety and placed into the exclusion situation would show the lowest levels of social monitoring ability. Results showed that while participants with higher levels of social anxiety had stronger psychological reactions to be ostracized, they did not then show decreased social monitoring abilities. However, participants who were high in social anxiety and also in the exclusion situation made different kinds of social monitoring errors based on the affect and intensity of the social cue.

Examining the Effects of Ostracism on Neural and Behavioral Indices of Cognitive Self-Regulation

Aaron B. Ball — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:03:08 PDT

The impact of ostracism on a target individual produces a number of negative consequences, including deficits in cognitive functioning related to self-regulation and general cognition. While such effects have been acknowledged, there is a lack of literature regarding the effect of ostracism on action monitoring in particular. Action monitoring is a self-regulatory process in which participants ensure the accuracy of their responses to a task or situation, the authors hypothesized that it would be adversely affected by an experience of ostracism. The goal of the current study was to utilize event-related brain potentials to examine the relationship of these two factors. The authors hypothesized that upon experiencing an event of ostracism, participants would exhibit a decrease in action monitoring capability, observable through both neural and behavioral measures. Specifically, the authors predicted that participants who experienced ostracism would exhibit decreased error-related negativity (ERN) amplitude, as well as decreased post-error response accuracy and a slowing of response time during subsequent execution of the flanker task. Results indicated that participants who experienced social exclusion exhibited decreases in both ERN amplitude and post-error accuracy in a flanker task. These findings provide both neural and behavioral support for the experimenter’s hypothesis that the action monitoring ability of ostracized individuals is compromised by their experience of social exclusion.

Pulsed Radiofrequency Neuromodulation of Peripheral Nerve Injury

Alex Willett — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:03:06 PDT

Pulsed-radiofrequency neuromodulation (PRF) is a pain management technique that involves placing a needle electrode near nerves and generating electrical current pulses in order to modulate the transduction of somatosensory information through those nerves. This technique evolved from a similar radiofrequency (RF) procedure in which constant current is distributed to a nerve or neural structure. RF interrupts nerve conduction and prevents somatosensory information from reaching the brain. In the case of continuous radiofrequency, however, the destructive lesion can cause further complications and unwanted side effects. According to research, PRF, unlike RF, is non-destructive yet still induces analgesia and consequently represents a more advantageous technique. Only a handful of previous studies have attempted to determine the neural effects of PRF. The current study seeks to develop an animal model of PRF using the spared nerve injury model (SNI) and, through molecular analysis of neurological tissues harvested from rats, examines mechanisms by which PRF causes analgesia. The study found that there was a significant difference between the SNI lesion model groups and the groups that did not receive the SNI lesion model. However, for the rats with SNI lesions, the analgesic effects of PRF appear to be inconclusive.

Explanatory Autism Disclosure in the Workplace: Perspectives of Key Stakeholder Groups

Anna Genchanok et al. — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 08:56:19 PDT

The high prevalence of unemployment and underemployment among adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is exacerbated by public misunderstanding of this complex condition. Many individuals with ASD work alongside coworkers and supervisors who are unknowledgeable about the disorder, which promotes the development of misconceptions regarding the individual’s ability to function in the workplace. Despite frequent recommendations both for and against the use of explanatory ASD disclosure in work settings, there is a lack of empirical research directly assessing stakeholder perceptions of such disclosure. The goal of this small sample, exploratory study was to evaluate the implementation of an explanatory disclosure strategy (i.e., the use of an ASD disclosure booklet) on the basis of gathered perceptions from the perspectives of key stakeholders: the client/employee with ASD, the supported employment staff (e.g., case managers, job coaches), and non-ASD coworkers. Research was conducted in collaboration with the supported employment services office of United Cerebral Palsy (UCP). Workers with ASD were invited to develop individualized disclosure booklets, which were shared with and evaluated by the key stakeholder groups. Results provide quantitative and qualitative descriptions of perceived benefits and risks of such disclosure. Positive feedback was gathered across three stakeholder groups with regards to the ease of developing booklets, comfort with information shared, and perceived understanding/accuracy of booklet material. Additionally, all groups were able to identify both benefits and risks of sharing booklets in the workplace with perceived benefits outweighing risks.

An Examination of the Phenomenon of Preference for Bar Pressong over Freeloading

Phyllis Thomson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:08:54 PDT

Since the discovery of the law of effect, psychologists have been investigating a number of the parameters of reinforcing stimuli. The law of effect states that a response is learned, or not learned, depending upon the events (effects) that follow it. To evaluate the aspects of reinforcing stimuli. typically an organism is deprived of food or water and an increase in the probability or speed of a response is noted when small amounts of food or water are made to follow a response. Using this type of paradigm, characteristics of reinforcing stimuli which have been investigated are number of reinforcers, schedule of reinforcement, magnitude of reinforcement, and their effects on rate of responding and resistance to extinction.

Financial Stress, Neighborhood Stress, and Well-Being: Mediational and Moderational Models

Amy Kapp — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:49:54 PDT

This study explores how aspects of the community environment might facilitate the stress-and-coping process – specifically, the protective effects of social integration and high quality neighborhoods on psychological well-being. Previous research suggests that low levels of financial stress, lower neighborhood stress, and social integration are each associated with greater levels of well-being; few studies, however, investigate these contextual variables in conjunction with one another. Data from the Notre Dame Study of Health and Well-Being were used to investigate whether (1) neighborhood stress moderates the relationship between financial stress and psychological well-being and (2) social integration mediates the relationship between neighborhood stress and psychological well-being. Although the results did not support the moderational hypothesis, post hoc analysis did indicate that neighborhood stress mediates the financial stress [to] psychological well-being relationship. Data supported hypothesis 2. From an ecological systems perspective, these results suggest that proximal contextual variables such as social integration and neighborhood stress can change the effect that less proximal contextual variables, such as economic conditions have on individuals’ psychological well-being.

The Accuracy of Self-Reported Intuitive and Analytical Ability

Jennifer A. Sobyra — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:42:04 PDT

The current study aimed to establish whether individuals can accurately report their experiential (intuitive) and rational (analytical) processing abilities on the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI) in relation to their performance on the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) and the Operation Span (Ospan) tasks. Previous research has indicated that the rational subscale may have predictive validity, but evidence of the predictive validity of the experiential subscale is mixed. To determine why previous researchers have struggled to establish this link, the current study introduced a manipulation of the knowledge of the psychological definition of intuition and its value in cognitive processing. The researcher hypothesized that the manipulation might have an impact on the correlations between self-reported intuitive ability and performance on the SRT, and that there would be a correlation between self-reported analytical ability and performance on the Ospan in both conditions. The results indicated that the relationship between self-reported rational favorability scores and Ospan performance was significantly higher in the control condition than it was in the experimental condition, but that all participants, regardless of condition, struggled with accurately reporting their intuitive ability. The implications for the use of self-report measures of intuitive and analytical ability are discussed.

Correlates of Attitudes toward Diversity among White College Students

Amanda G. Sobottka — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:42:02 PDT

Previous research illustrates numerous benefits of diversity, notably in college. Despite the benefits, not all students have positive attitudes toward diversity initiatives. Specifically, research suggests that White college students are less likely to engage in diversity-related experiences. Fostering positive diversity attitudes and general awareness about diversity-related constructs might enhance the benefits of a diverse campus. This study examined the relations of gender, year in school, openness to experience, diversity experiences, colorblind racial attitudes, and diversity attitudes. Participants were White undergraduate students from a small, private, liberal arts college. The main finding was that color-blindness negatively related to positive attitudes toward diversity. Results also showed that White women were more aware of racial issues than White men.

Effects of Explanatory Autism Disclosure on Coworker Attitudes

Kathleen M. Henegan — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:42:01 PDT

People with autism tend to have difficulties with the social relationships in the workplace, which are a crucial aspect to maintaining employment. In this study, we investigated whether disclosure of an autism spectrum disorder would improve adults’ attitudes toward a potential coworker with autism. Participants (93 college students, 93 working adults) were randomly assigned to read one of three vignettes describing the same interaction with a potential coworker with moderately severe ASD, but different levels of disclosure. As hypothesized, disclosure, as compared to no disclosure, led significantly more positive attitudes toward and higher willingness to work with the coworker. Disclosure significantly increased positive judgments of the coworker’s warmth, although it had no significant impact on judgments of the coworker’s competence. This research indicates that disclosure of autism to coworkers may be beneficial in improving attitudes toward people with autism, which could ultimately improve working relationships of those with autism.