Psychology Masters Theses

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At the intersection of gender and sexuality: the role of a counselor in the co-transitioning process
(North Dakota State University, 2024) Simenson, Sara
Transgender and gender-diverse people experience prejudice, invalidation, and minority stress. There have been strides towards counselor competency when working with this population, however research is limited in exploring how a counselor can help the cisgender partners and partner dynamics. The research becomes scanter if the cisgender partner identifies as gay or lesbian. “Co-transitioning” is a term introduced by Theron & Collier (2013) that refers to the adaptation process a partner undergoes alongside their transitioning partner (Theron & Collier, 2013, as cited in Siboni et al., 2023). While a trans individual is transitioning, their partner must also renegotiate different aspects of their identity, as well as navigate a new relationship dynamic. Thus, the cisgender partner is engaging in a transition of their own. With limited evidence-based research available, counselors may not be providing competent services to trans partners. Research suggests that the partners who seek counseling services often experience a lack of psychological support (Van Acker et al., 2023). To combat the lack of research and support, this study aimed to answer the following research question: “What is a counselor’s role in helping gay/lesbian, cisgender partners of trans individuals navigate the co-transitioning process?” The goal of this study was to explore this population's needs and how a counselor may assist these individuals through the co-transitioning process.
Applying a modern situational measure to improve the reliability, validity, and outcome predictability of dream assessment
(North Dakota State University, 2024) Garcia, Odalis
Dreams are hallucinatory activity occurring during sleep that nearly everyone experiences. To understand and research dreams, the field needs a reliable and valid dream assessment tool. The current, most used, measure (Hall and Van de Castle measure) has presented with various reliability and validity issues since its development in 1966. I propose adapting the DIAMONDS taxonomy for situational characteristics to assess dream content. The validation process of this adapted measure has begun with foundational work informing the development of dream-specific subscales. In two preliminary studies I provide some evidence for substantive and structural validity of the adapted measure. Interim data analysis (n=53) in a larger study begins to establish its external validity as it relates to the measure’s ability to predict next-day affect. The completion of this study should present some evidence of all phases of the validation process, therefore providing the field with a novel validated dream assessment tool.
Gating of food and non-food information from working memory
(North Dakota State University, 2024) Johnson, Emily
Prior research has suggested that biased attention towards food cues in the environment may contribute to the onset and maintenance of binge eating. Here, we examine whether individuals who report high levels of binge eating also have difficulty keeping task-irrelevant food-related information out of working memory (WM). To investigate this, we used the contralateral delay activity (CDA), a neurophysiological measure reflecting the amount of information held in WM. Experiment 1 confirmed differences in behavioral performance and CDA amplitude when holding one versus two items in WM and between stimulus type (food vs. non-food). Experiment 2 replicated these behavioral findings but not the CDA results. Furthermore, we found no significant differences in filtering efficiency as a function of distractor type (food vs. non-food) or self-reported binge eating frequency, contrary to our hypotheses. Future work could benefit from adopting a behavioral measure of filtering efficiency or examining filtering cost.
Are two heads better than one? Investigating the influence of collaboration on creativity
(North Dakota State University, 2024) Knopps, Alexander
Creativity and collaboration are considered fundamental skills for student success in STEM Education (Karimi & Pina, 2021) and are consistently among the top-ranked skills for employers (Flaherty, 2021). To assess creativity, the Remote Association Task (RAT) is an increasingly used tool to measure creative problem-solving (Wu et al., 2021). However, no research has systematically investigated the effectiveness of working collaboratively versus individually using this measure. The current research evaluates how collaboration impacts creative problem-solving using the RAT. Participants worked collaboratively or individually to solve 20 RAT problems (Experiments 1-2) and completed a later, individual test that involved the same 20 RAT problems and 20 novel RAT problems (Experiment 2). Outcomes suggest collaboration lowers performance during initial problem solving, but may benefit later, individual problem solving. Evaluating how best to support creative processes in the context of collaboration has implications for supporting student success and helping them develop highly applicable skills.
Antisocial and Prosocial Peer Experiences and Social Cognitions as Predictors of Children's Responses to Harassment from Peers.
(North Dakota State University, 2009) Visconti, Kari Jeanne
The current study examined whether prosocial and antisocial peer experiences and cognitions are predictive of changes in children's coping behaviors in response to peer victimization. Longitudinal data spanning two time points across two consecutive school years were analyzed. Participants included 305 children who were in the 3rd and 4th grades at the beginning of the study. Peer victimization, a significant form of peer stress for many youth, and positive peer treatment were examined, as well as the beliefs children hold about the characteristics and dispositions of their peers (e.g.,peer beliefs), including both antisocial peer beliefs (i.e., perceptions of agemates as mean, bossy, and untrustworthy) and prosocial peer beliefs (i.e., perceptions of agemates as prosocial, cooperative, and helpful). Five coping strategies were examined - support seeking from friends, parents, and teachers, behavioral avoidance, and retaliation. A series of regressions was performed in which children's coping in the Spring of their 4th or 5th grade year served as the criterion variable. Analyses controlled for children's use of these strategies during the Spring of their 3rd and 4th grade year, respectively, allowing for a test of changes in responses to peer victimization. Children's antisocial and prosocial peer treatment and peer beliefs in the Spring of the 3rd or 4th grade were the primary predictors, and interactions between sex and peer treatment and peer beliefs were included in each regression equation. Results demonstrate that victimization is predictive of decreased retaliation for all children as well as decreased friend support seeking for girls, but not for boys. Prosocial peer treatment was associated with marginal decreases in parent support seeking for girls and was predictive of iv increases in friend support seeking for all children. Although no significant relations were found between antisocial peer beliefs and children's coping with victimization, prosocial peer beliefs were predictive of decreases in retaliation for boys; however this relation was not significant for girls. Furthermore, that friendship moderated the link between victimization and retaliation such that peer victimization predicted decreases in retaliation over time for those children with no mutual friendships in their classroom. Findings from this study help elucidate how children's social experiences and related cognitions contribute to the strategies they utilize when coping with peer victimization.
Gaze Cuing, Familiarity, and the Self
(North Dakota State University, 2009) Wadeson, Heather Kay
Attention researchers have known for over a decade that people have a tendency to shift their attention automatically to a location gazed at by another person (e.g., Friesen & Kingstone, 1998). This social orienting appears to be reflexive in nature, and yet it also seems to be influenced by contextual factors and individual differences (for a review, see Frischen & Tipper, 2007). In the present document, I investigated how the familiarity of the gaze cue provider influences individuals' tendency to shift attention to a gazed-at location. The main questions addressed in the research are: (1) What is the role of familiarity in responding to gaze direction? and (2) If an effect of familiarity is observed, does it generalize to the situation of orienting in response to one1s own gaze direction? My results indicated that participants did orient to a gaze cue provided by their own face, as well as to gaze cues provided by the faces of a friend and a same-sex stranger. Findings which address the roles of the familiarity of the gazing face and of individual differences (i.e., self-esteem, autistic tendencies) among participants will also be discussed.
The Influence of Vulnerable Narcissism on College Adjustment
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Dombeck, Joseph James
Attending a university is one of the first major life transitions for many young adults, and it presents a number of important challenges, difficulties, and stressors. Thus, students with certain personality characteristics may be especially susceptible to developing adjustment problems while in college. Because vulnerable narcissism is associated with several characteristics that have been implicated as risk factors for poor adjustment to college (e.g., low self-esteem, use of maladaptive coping strategies, insecure attachment styles, and hypersensitivity to criticism), it may place college students at higher risk for maladjustment and negative health-related symptoms during their first year. This hypothesis was tested with a two-month longitudinal design in a sample of 319 first-year students during their first semester of college. Higher levels of vulnerable narcissism (but not grandiose narcissism) at Time 1 predicted poorer college adjustment, lower levels of social support, and higher levels of negative health symptoms at Time 2. Therefore, vulnerable narcissism appears to be a risk factor for developing health/adjustment problems during the first semester of college.
I'm Seeing Red!Literally: The Effect of Metaphoric Representation on Perception
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Fetterman, Adam Kent
Metaphor is often used to represent abstract concepts using concrete domains (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). One set of metaphors that has long been of interest, but seldom studied, is the set of those linking color and emotion. Specifically, red and anger are often linked in everyday language and popular media. There is a recent body of work on metaphoric representation processes, yet none of it has focused on color perception. The present studies investigate the effects of priming anger-related concepts and experiences on the visual perception of color. It was predicted that participants would perceive degraded color screens as red following the activation of anger-related thoughts (Study 1) and when made angry (Study 2), consistent with the "seeing red" metaphor for anger. Both hypotheses were supported. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Literal vs. Symbolic Immortality: Exploring the Relative Strengths of Religious Paths to Death-Transcendence
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Juhl, Jacob Timothy
According to terror management theory, religious worldviews provide protection from mortality concerns by providing feelings of literal immortality ( conscious life after death) and symbolic immortality (the essence of one's self or identity living after death). Although research has shown that both feelings of literal and symbolic immortality provide protection from mortality concerns, no studies have sufficiently compared the relative strength of these forms of immortality. To investigate their relative strengths as death anxiety buffers, three studies made mortality (MS) or a control topic salient and then made salient aspects of religion that provide symbolic or literal immortality ( or social affiliation-Study 3). Subsequently, religious worldview defense (Study 1) and search for meaning (Studies 2-3) were measured. In Study 1, results revealed that compared to the salience of literal immortality (and neutral condition), the salience of symbolic immortality increased religious worldview defense after MS. Studies 2 and 3 revealed that compared to the salience of literal immortality (Study 2) or the social aspects of religion (Study 3), the salience of symbolic immortality mitigated MS-engendered search for meaning. Taken together, these studies suggest that feelings of symbolic immortality generally provide a better defense against mortality concerns.
Conquering Avoidance by Avoiding Death: The Effects of Mortality Salience on Goal Value, Goal Commitment, and Goal Pursuit in Depressive Individuals
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Myxter, Peter John
Research into the antecedents and consequences of successful goal pursuit is reviewed within the framework of a proposed existential intervention for depression. Behavioral perspectives propose that insufficient goal pursuit and concomitant positive reinforcement leads to depressed mood. While substantial research has been conducted examining the relation between goal pursuit and psychological well-being, little research exists regarding strategies for fostering increased motivation for goal pursuit in depressed individuals. This review suggests that novel strategies for increasing goal pursuit motivation can be derived from the existential paradigm of Terror Management Theory (TMT). Past TMT research indicates that reminders of mortality lead to greater valuing of the standards and values of one's cultural worldview. The current study screened a sample of individuals exhibiting depressed mood to examine whether reminders of mortality lead to greater valuing and pursuit of individualized goals. Participants were randomly assigned to mortality salience or control condition and completed depression and well-being measures in a baseline session and a follow-up session two weeks later. Results indicated that reminders of mortality did not lead to greater valuing and pursuit of individualized goals.
Rumination and Problem Solving: A Focus on Dispositions, Processes, and the Five-Step Framework
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Scheller, Katey Rae
Rumination is a method of responding to and coping with negative moods that involves repetitively and passively focusing on the causes, consequences, and symptoms of negative mood (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991 ). Research has indicated that rumination may be an important vulnerability factor for depression. The present study aimed to add to this literature by investigating the deleterious effects that rumination, the process and characteristic trait, has on all five stages of problem solving. The primary hypothesis was that individuals who were high in trait rumination would demonstrate the least effective problem solving performance when induced to ruminate in comparison to when they were induced to distract and in comparison to those low in trait rumination. Overall, the results did not support this hypothesis. The single significant finding was that individuals rated their solutions as less effective when distracting, regardless of trait rumination. This paper critically reviews the literature on the relationship between rumination and problem solving and makes several suggestions for future research.
Creativity and Randomness
(North Dakota State University, 2010) Zabelina, Darya Lvovna
Major theories of creative cognition are reviewed in the present thesis. These theories are diverse yet seem to converge on similar key processes. One definition of creativity emphasizes going beyond stereotypical responses in the service of truly novel thought patterns. However, the generation of remotely associated elements must be done in a 111 controlled, goal directed manner. To examine stereotypic and novel thought patterns, I used a cognitive measure termed Random Number Generation (RNG). Baseline tendencies reflecting departures from randomness ('trait' tendencies) were assessed, as were tendencies exhibited in a condition in which participants were asked to type number sequences in as random an order as possible ('ability'). Creative originality and creative achievement were found to relate to lower trait randomness on the Repetition of Responses factor of RNG. Creative fluency and creative flexibility, on the other hand, were related to higher ability for randomness according to the Prepotent Associates factor of RNG. Results indicate that the ability to overcome stereotyped sequences is beneficial for generating ideas, but that a certain rhythmicity of responding facilitates creative achievement. Limitations of the study and future directions are discussed.
The Relationship Between Features and Edge Types in Natural Images
(North Dakota State University, 2011) George, Jonathon Michael
One of the most important processes in the human visual system involves detecting and understanding edges. Edges allow humans to break a visual scene up into meaningful chunks of information. Without edges, a visual scene is meaningless. As important as edges are to human visual perception, how they are detected and classified is not well understood. This study provides evidence that humans are able to classify edges into appropriate categories when enough visual information is presented but objects in the scene are not detectable. In addition, this study shows that regions of interest (RO Is) of a particular edge type can be clustered according to similarities in structure using a simple algorithm. This study examines the relationship between image features (i.e. closure, texture & repetition) and the type or cause of an edge (i.e. albedo, depth, shadow & specular) in natural visual scenes. Two groups of human subjects were used to carry out the current study; the cause estimators (CEs) and the feature experts (FEs). The CEs were asked to state the cause of an edge presented in a ROI. The FEs were asked to label specific features for the same set of RO Is as the CEs. The first analysis describes the relationship between image features and the actual cause of the edge in the ROis presented. The second analysis describes the relationship between image features and the cause estimation provided by the CEs. This study provides evidence that closure, texture and repetition may help to inform human observers as to the cause of an edge when limited but sufficient visual information is available.
Changes in Negative Affect Following Pain (vs. Nonpainful) Stimulation in Individuals With and Without a History of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Bresin, Konrad Winston
Theoretical models of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; i.e., purposeful destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent) suggest that individuals engage in NSSI in order to regulate intense emotions. However, empirical support for these models is limited. This study attempted to address previous limitations by comparing the emotional response to a mood induction and pain (vs. nonpainful) heat stimulation in individuals with history ofNSSI (vs. no history of NSSI) following a negative mood induction. It was predicted that individuals with a history ofNSSI would have a larger increase in negative emotion following the mood induction, and individuals with a history of NSSI who are exposed to a painful stimuli would have the largest decrease in negative emotions compared to the other three groups. Though the first hypothesis was not supported, the second hypothesis received partial support. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.
Facial Expression Recognition in People with Differing Levels of Eating Disorder Symptoms
(North Dakota State University, 2022) Nudnou, Ilya
Previous studies of emotion categorization abilities of people with eating disorders used accuracy and reaction time to identify performance deficits for these individuals. The conclusions from this literature have been mixed, due in part to low sample sizes and inconsistent assessment of comorbid diagnoses. The current study re-examined eating disorder symptom severity as a function of emotion categorization abilities, using visual cognition paradigms that offer insights into how emotional faces may be categorized, as opposed to how well these faces are categorized. This relationship was examined while controlling for anxiety, depression, alexithymia, and emotion regulation. Visual information use, emotion representation fidelity, and categorization accuracy were unrelated to eating disorder symptom severity in a sub-clinical sample of undergraduate students. Future research may benefit from the visual cognition tasks validated in this study. More complex designs are needed to test mediational pathways through which recognition deficits may operate.
Sex Differences in Response to a Large 200-Person Audience using the Trier Social Stress Test in Pre-Recorded Virtual Reality
(North Dakota State University, 2022) Byron, Garrett
The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) induces stress in the lab by having participants complete challenging tasks in front of an audience. The TSST has been adapted to virtual reality (VR), eliminating in-person audience variability that could explain sex differences in stress responses. Furthermore, the VR-TSST facilitates the examination of factors difficult to investigate in person, such as the effect of a large, 200-person audience. This study compared male and female physiological and psychological responses to an in-person 2-person TSST and a prerecorded VRTSST with audience sizes of 2 and 200 persons. Results indicated that only males had statistically significant cortisol reactivity to the TSST and responded with more positive affect, arousal, and lower ratings of stress than females. In the VR conditions these differences were less apparent, suggesting that the sex differences may be a result, at least in part, of in-person audience variability.
Exploring the Effects of Interleaving on Mind-Wandering
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Miller, Alyssa Lynn
Research has shown that interleaving (a study technique where two topics are practiced in an alternating fashion) enhances learning and memory. However, it is unclear whether interleaving impacts the frequency of mind-wandering. The current research explores the extent to which interleaving reduces mind-wandering using a between-subjects design. Participants completed the experiment remotely and learned 40 bird images from 8 distinct families. Bird images were presented in pairs from two different families (e.g., interleaved) or individually from one family (e.g., blocked). After a brief distractor task, participants completed a final classification test. Participants also completed a post-assessment questionnaire regarding the level of difficulty, confidence, and likelihood of missed information throughout the experiment. Results showed no significant differences between the interleaved versus blocked groups for rates of mind-wandering or final test performance. These outcomes have important implications for memory and retention in authentic learning environments.
The Inkblot Re-conceptualized: Developing an Implicit Situational Judgment Test of Multiple Components of Poor and Optimal Functioning
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Irvin, Roberta Linda
Situation judgment tests (SJTs), which provide a balance between global personality measurement and context-specific social-cognitive processes, can be combined with implicit measurement approaches to limit some of the biases that are common in self-reports. Based on such considerations, the author developed an implicit SJT, called the Inkblot Scale, to investigate three components of optimal functioning – Happiness, Success, and Friendliness – that can be assessed from the same response set. Undergraduates completed the Inkblot Scale and various measures related to each component of optimal functioning (n = 184) before reporting their daily experiences and behaviors for two weeks (n = 124). Happiness, Friendliness, and Success, as measured by the Inkblot Scales, predicted global and daily outcomes and processes that were relevant to their respective constructs. The Inkblot Scale materials are therefore valid and have potential to assess a variety of important constructs in ways that bypass self-ascriptions of the relevant qualities.
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.
Changing Dating Behavior Expectations by Using Judgmental Anchors to Induce Cognitive Dissonance
(North Dakota State University, 2018) Semanko, Anna Maruska
This study expanded upon literature separately examining numerical anchors and cognitive dissonance, by attempting to use numerical anchors to induce cognitive dissonance and change dating behavior expectations. The high numerical anchors had an effect on dating behavior expectations, such that the expectations assimilated in a healthier direction toward the anchor value. The dissonance manipulation resulted in higher levels of psychological discomfort, as measured by the scale created for this thesis. Further, an exploration of assessing magnitude of dissonance and an examination of the theoretical antecedents of dating behavior intentions was conducted. Overall, future dating behavior intentions for respect, trust, communication and helping behaviors were in healthy directions. Additionally, dating behavior intentions assessed four to six weeks after the study remained in a healthy direction. These findings are informative and contribute to our knowledge regarding the use of numerical anchors, cognitive dissonance, and undergraduate dating behavior expectations and intentions.

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