Browsing by Author "McDonald-Morken, Colleen Ann"

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Hawk and Dove Stress Response Profiles in Humans
(North Dakota State University, 2011) McDonald-Morken, Colleen Ann
A recent evolutionary theory hypothesizes that there are two primary biobehavioral profiles of stress responding. Labeled "hawk" and "dove," each is characterized by divergent patterns of autonomic nervous system and neuroendocrine system activations in response to stress as well as distinct affective and behavioral tendencies. These profiles are prominent in a number of species, and it has been hypothesized that hawk-like and dovelike responses to stress may, in part, explain variability in stress-related health outcomes. This study is a preliminary investigation of hawk and dove biobehavioral profiles in humans. Participants included 73 Midwestern university students recruited from undergraduate-level psychology classes. Upon completion of a stressor task, participants answered questions regarding their psychological experiences during and immediately following the task and reported their emotions and health-related behaviors over the past several weeks. Physiological measures of cortisol and high frequency heart rate variability reactivity were used to identify relatively hawk-like and dove-like responders. Associations between patterns of physiological responding and emotional and behavioral responses were tested. The results showed mixed support for the existence of hawk and dove biobehavioral profiles in humans.
Mainstreaming Critical Disability Studies Towards Undoing the Last Prejudice
(North Dakota State University, 2014) McDonald-Morken, Colleen Ann
According to critical disability studies scholars, disablism may be the fundamental system of unearned advantaging and disadvantaging upon which all other notions of difference-as-deviance are constructed. If so, a deeply critical and intersectional investigation of enabled privilege/disablism prepares a grounding from which seeds of novel and effective approaches to social and educational justice may be cultivated. Whether or not disablism holds this pivotal position, the costs to us all in terms of personal, ethical, professional, and financial losses are too steep, have always been too steep. In this disquisition I begin by arguing for the prioritizing and centering of a radical emancipatory discourse--across and within all education venues--regarding disability. In Chapter 2, I explore models of disability and notice where awareness of enabled privilege has been absent in my own experience as an educator and call for all educators to consider what might it mean if awareness of enabled privilege and the harms of disablism were at the center of our daily personal, social, and institutional lives. Chapter 3 investigates the perceptions of post-compulsory education professionals regarding what constitutes disability allyship and identifies three unique viewpoints. Chapter 4 blends conceptualizations of allyship developed within various social justice literatures with those identified viewpoints of disability allyship to yield a model professional development approach focused on an intersectional analysis for social justice through disability justice. The dissertation concludes in Chapter 5 with a discussion of core assertions and findings and points to future research priorities.