Psychology Theses and Dissertations
Browse by
This collection contains some of the theses and dissertations produced by students in the University of Oregon Psychology Graduate Program. Paper copies of these and other dissertations and theses are available through the UO Libraries.
Recent Submissions
-
Comparative and Cross-Cultural Validity of the Moral Actions Questionnaire, a Measure for Ethical Virtue
(University of Oregon, 2018-10-31)Though current personality models provide a starting point for measuring ethical virtues, ethical content may not be fully captured in existing personality inventories due in part to the systematic elimination of ... -
Characterizing the Structure of Infants' Everyday Musical Input
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)Infants acculturate to their soundscape over the first year of life (e.g., Hannon & Trehub, 2005a; Werker & Tees, 1984). This perceptual tuning of early auditory skills requires integrating across experiences that repeat ... -
Boredom and the Need for Agency
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)Humans are highly motivated to avoid boredom. What is the functional role of boredom, and why is it so aversive? An empirical study tested the hypothesis that a need for agency, or control over one’s actions and their ... -
Probing the Representation of Decision Variables Using EEG and Eye Tracking
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)Value based decisions are among the most common types of decisions made by humans. A considerable body of work has investigated how different types of information guide such decisions, as well as how evaluations of their ... -
Regulating mind-wandering and sustained attention with goal-setting, feedback, and incentives
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)The present set of experiments investigated three potential means of regulating mind-wandering and sustained attention: goals, feedback, and incentives. The experiments drew up goal-setting theory from industrial/organizational ... -
Internal Body Awareness Among Sexual Trauma Survivors: A Multi-Method Study
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)Sexual trauma, in addition to being a human rights violation, harms people in numerous ways, including negative psychological and physical outcomes. Body-based interventions reduce sexual trauma symptoms, but limited ... -
Context-Specific Inhibitory Control Training in Adolescents with a Range of Early Life Stress Exposure: Employing a Translational Neuroscience Approach for Innovative Intervention Development
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)Early experience critically shapes cognitive, affective, and behavioral development, and experiences of early life stress (ELS) have been documented to negatively impact developmental trajectories. An increasing need exists ... -
You Failed To Go Fast Enough To Win Your Prize: Biological Reactivity and Cognitive Vulnerability to Acute Stress in Early Childhood
(University of Oregon, 2018-09-06)A well-developed body of literature has established the deleterious effects of chronic stress on children’s cognitive development. However, there has been almost no research examining the impact of acutely stressful ... -
Neurobiological Foundations of Self-Conscious Emotion Understanding in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)This dissertation explored the subjective experience and neural correlates of self-conscious emotion (SCE) understanding in adolescent males with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and age-matched neurotypical ... -
Role of Mindfulness in Economic Risk-Taking
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)Despite evidence of mindfulness’ effects in down-regulating risk-taking associated with mental and physical health, there is almost no research examining mindfulness’ role in economic risk-taking. To address this gap, ... -
Development and Initial Validation of a Scale Measuring Young Children’s Awareness of Trait Cognitive Control
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)Success in early childhood requires fluent cognitive control functioning and the ability to select and execute effective regulatory strategies across many new contexts including academics and social interactions. Cognitive ... -
Violation of Sacredness and Violence
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)This dissertation aims to present a model of sacredness – MAPR – that emphasizes four components to empirically study sacredness: source of meaning (M), experience of awe (A), protection against the profane (P), and ... -
Effects of a Dual-Generation Intervention on Supportive Parenting Behaviors and their Relation to Child Brain Function for Selective Attention in Families from Lower Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)Parents and Children Making Connections – Highlighting Attention (PCMC-A) is a dual-generation intervention program for families from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds that includes parenting training for parents and ... -
Holy day effects on language: How religious geography, individual affiliation and day of the week relate to sentiment and topics on Twitter
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)Religious belief and attendance predict improved well-being at the individual level. Paradoxically, geographic locations with high rates of religious belief and attendance are often those with the differentially high rates ... -
The Development of Creativity
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)While there is evidence of early creativity in children’s colorful drawings, original stories, and elaborate games of pretense, conducting research on the topic of children’s creativity can be challenging. In particular, ... -
Mechanisms that perpetuate health disparities: physician stereotypes & bias
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)Purpose: Although Asian Americans are the only racial group for whom cancer is the leading cause of death, colorectal cancer screening is consistently lower than that of White Americans. Physicians also recommend colorectal ... -
In the Spirit of Full Disclosure: Maternal Characteristics that Encourage Adolescent Disclosure of Distressing Experiences
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)The purpose of the current study was to investigate the dynamic process of disclosure within the adolescent–mother relationship by examining maternal characteristics that encourage adolescent disclosure of distressing ... -
Cultural Betrayal Trauma Theory
(University of Oregon, 2018-04-10)Trauma victimization has deleterious effects on both physical and mental health. In a non-pathologizing manner, betrayal trauma theory offers one paradigm that contextualizes abuse within the relationship it occurs. It ... -
Investigating Dopamine- and Norepinephrine-Linked Variability in Cognitive Control in Lab and in Life
(University of Oregon, 2017-09-06)A series of experiments investigated the relationship between locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) function and striatal dopamine (DA) tone and the flexibility of stability of cognitive control. Across 4 experiments, ... -
Doubly Double Negative: When Not Being Negative is More Important than Being Positive
(University of Oregon, 2017-09-06)When people are asked to compare themselves to others, they frequently engage in self-enhancement. Further, prior work has shown that when engaging in self-enhancement, people tend to downplay how often they engage in ...