Testing the Centrality of Targeting Demandingness in REBT

Camhi, Rachel D St. John's University (New York) 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This study investigated the core principles in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and whether targeting the cognition of demandingness was predictive of greater therapeutic change. Nine clients were randomly assigned to one of two nine-session treatment conditions. These included either REBT that targeted the irrational beliefs of demandingness (n = 3) or (2) REBT treatment as usual (TAU) (n = 6). Participants included clinically anxious adults who received psychotherapy from a metropolitan clinic that specialized in REBT. Clinical outcome was measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ), and Shortened General Attitude and Belief Scale (S-GABS) during intake, fifth, and ninth sessions. Weekly therapy progress was evaluated by the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ) and Idiosyncratic Belief Scale in sessions one through nine. It was hypothesized that treatment that focused on disputing only demands would produce a greater change than REBT TAU. REBT produced a significant positive change in functioning in both the demandingness (55.56% improvement across outcome measures) and REBT TAU condition (65% improvement across outcome measures). Out of all the clients in both treatment conditions, the four clients who demonstrated largest treatment effects in measures of demandingness, showed the largest percentage of positive change in outcome measures, as opposed to other irrational beliefs. On four out of the five outcome measures, the majority of participants demonstrated a significant.

Habituation to acoustic stimuli when blink response is inhibited: A comparison of multiple methods of reflex modification

Tillman, Karen C St. John's University (New York) 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This researcher attempted to demonstrate that habituation of the human eye blink response to startle-inducing acoustic stimuli occurs in relation to the frequency of presentation of the stimuli and is not influenced by motor responses. The experiment was performed to support the findings of previous studies that have demonstrated that habituation appears to occur in sensory pathways. In multiple prior studies researchers have displayed evidence that rates of habituation are dependent on rates of stimulus presentation. It was predicted that these findings would be repeated and would be used to demonstrate further that it is rate of presentation of the acoustic stimuli, and not the rate of response, which affects the rate of habituation. To demonstrate that habituation to acoustic stimuli can occur in the absence of an eye blink reflex response, this researcher compared the rate of habituation of four groups---two experimental and two control. The two control groups received presentations of single acoustic stimuli, one group every 30 s, the other every 15 s. One experimental group heard a startle-inducing acoustic stimulus every 15 s which was preceded by an acoustic prepulse that was designed to inhibit the blink response. The second experimental group heard a double acoustic stimulus (double pulse) every 30 s. Although participants in this group heard the acoustic stimuli twice in a 30 s period, they were only physically capable of blinking once during that time. It was hypothesized that the 15 s control group, the prepulse group, and the double pulse group would all have similar rates of habituation and that their rates of habituation would be significantly faster than those of the 30 s control group. The findings revealed that there was no significant difference in rates of habituation between the two control groups. This unexpected finding rendered it difficult, statistically, to accurately compare the results of the experimental groups to the control groups. Although no significant differences on rates of habituation were found between any of the four conditions, it is likely that this finding is an artifact of an unexpected amount of variability in the pool of participants.

Cognitive and affective expectations of rejection as concurrent and longitudinal predictors of negative behavioral outcomes in late childhood and early adolescence

Lamm, Jonathan D St. John's University (New York) 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Peer rejection is a salient emotional stressor, especially in childhood and adolescence. Positive peer relationships lead to significant adaptive outcomes while rejecting ones may have lasting repercussions. Some children adopt a cognitive schema in which they expect to be rejected in ambiguously rejecting situations and further expect to experience the negative affect associated with that rejection. These anticipatory thoughts and feelings may affect children's behavior regardless of experienced rejection. Consequently, understanding how these processes work may be of particular importance. The current study sought to examine the individual and combined effects of cognitive and affective expectations of rejection on three particularly maladaptive social behaviors: physical aggression, relational aggression and withdrawal. In addition to being linked to cognitive expectations, we hypothesized that certain behavioral outcomes could be predicted by specific affective expectations, and that the effects of the cognitive and affective expectations would interact in predicting behavioral outcomes. The sample consisted of 386 children aged 9-14 from five multi-ethnic, parochial elementary schools in Queens, New York. Children were evaluated at two time points in year one and year two. Overall, results did not corroborate our hypotheses. Two approaches are suggested to explain the negative results and recommendations are made for follow-up study.

The Role of Student Characteristics on Retention and Graduation Rates of Standard and Referred Admission Students

Rog, Whitney St. John's University (New York) 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The aim of the current study was to examine retention and graduation rates between two types of admitted students (standard and referred) enrolled at a large, urban, Catholic university in the Northeast, whose mission focuses on the education of both low-income and first-generation college students. Data obtained from the University's Department of Institutional Research for the sample of 6,74I students were analyzed to compare and explore the most salient characteristics associated with persistence to graduation. The results suggest that students' first semester college GPA was the most frequently occurring significant variable to predict graduation. Additionally, students' residential status was also found to predict both retention and graduation. Furthermore, High School GPA and parental marital status also predicted graduation. Additional exploratory analyses were conducted and are presented herein. Implications for the field of school psychology, the research university, and directions for future research are discussed.

Semantic priming of emotional information: Implicit versus explicit measures of a depressogenic cognitive triad

Weiss, Jessica Faye St. John's University (New York) 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

According to Beck's (1967; 1976) cognitive triad theory of depression, active depressogenic schemas produce a pattern of thinking that is characterized by a negative view of the self, the world, and the future. The present researcher used a primed lexical decision task to measure the extent to which affective material is activated when participants are subliminally exposed to words pertaining to components of this triad. Seventy St. John's University undergraduate students participated in this study. In an effort to implicitly investigate the cognitive triad theory of depression, the task required participants to make lexical decisions about real words and nonwords, after subliminal exposure to words having to do with the self (e.g., Identity), the world (e.g., Peers ), the future (e.g., Tomorrow), and neutral household items (e.g., Couch). Target letter strings consisted of categorized positive (e.g., bliss), negative (e.g., torture), and neutral (e.g., Submarine) words. Reaction times were recorded in order to assess how the speed of lexical decisions varied as a function of subliminal exposure to words pertaining to the cognitive triad. The predictability of BDI-II scores by the lexical decision task was compared to predictions by the Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI), which measures explicit cognitions about the self, the world, and the future. In order to find a measure or set of measures that represented the psychometric properties of the lexical decision task, reaction times were empirically explored. Exploratory analyses revealed that priming did not occur on lexical decision task trials. Rather, reaction times varied only as a function of target word valence, with subjects responding faster to positive and negative words than to neutral words. Regression analyses indicated that biases on the lexical decision task were not correlated with severity of depressive symptoms, as measured by the BDI-II. Depressive symptomatology was instead significantly predicted by scores on the CTI, with a correlation coefficient of r = -.615 between total BDI and total CTI scores. These results are discussed within the context of methodological limitations of the study. As well, recommendations for future investigations are provided.

PTSD symptom reductions following Seeking Safety and relapse prevention treatments

Stiffler, Christine L St. John's University (New York) 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The researcher's purpose in this study was to determine whether Seeking Safety (SS), a cognitive-behavioral treatment for PTSD and substance abuse, was more effective than Relapse Prevention Treatment (RPT) and standard community care in reducing any of the three PTSD symptom clusters (reexperiencing, avoidance/numbing, or hyperarousal). The study sample consisted of dually-diagnosed urban women of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Seventy-five women were randomly assigned to receive either RPT or SS. Thirty-three women formed the non-randomized community care comparison condition. Contrary to expectations, SS was not more effective than RPT in reducing any of the symptom clusters. However, SS participants who had attended at least six therapy sessions demonstrated a significant reduction in reexperiencing symptoms and a trend toward improvement in hyperarousal symptoms at the end of treatment when compared with standard community care. These improvements were not sustained, however, at either the six or nine-month post-baseline follow-up points. The implications of these findings for treatment development are discussed. The data for the present study are part of a larger data set from the primary study entitled "Promising Empirically Supported Treatments for Women with Comorbid PTSD and Substance Use Disorders." The primary study was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse's National Institute of Justice/Violence Against Women and Families Consortium. The principal investigator is Denise A. Hien, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Women's Health Project, St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center. The primary study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center.

Women, war and rape: The politics of rape warfare

Patene, Donna M St. John's University (New York) 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This research essay will employ historical documents, as well as qualitative methods, to examine and contribute to the existing literature and collective efforts of feminists, sociologists, historians and international organizations with respect to the historical context and consequences of rape warfare. This study will focus on the intended victimization and rape of women during World War II into the present day. Specifically, this study will examine the history of rape warfare by providing an analytic overview of the literature of rape warfare post World War II. Additionally, the study will examine the Balkan Conflict (1992-1995) and the violence against women. This study will attempt to prove that war perpetuates the exploitation of women and violates their human rights. Tragically, women's subordinate position in patriarchal societies has allowed rape, within the context of war, to become an acceptable, permissible practice. In the specific case of the women of Bosnia, the use of rape warfare was conducted on an unprecedented scale and with the most horrifying of consequences. Using testimony from the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, reports from various human rights organizations, survivor interviews and United Nation reports, this study will attempt to prove that mass rapes of Bosnian women were a form of "ethnic cleansing," deliberately perpetrated upon the Bosnian Muslim women to force pregnancy and ethnically cleanse the area. Finally, this study will examine the response from the international community and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's). By examining recent decisions of the International Criminal Court, this study will examine the crime of rape under international humanitarian law and attempt to answer the question why, given the amount of concrete evidence substantiating the existence of rape warfare, have there been only 28 convictions by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and 11 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) since 2011.1 This research essay will explore the current political and cultural climate and the obstacles facing the international community with respect to intervention and/or conviction. 1 Rape: Weapon of War and Genocide, 1st ed (St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2012), xxxviii---xi.

Development of a measure of teachers' knowledge of Asperger's disorder: Implications for practice and interventions

Murphy, Edward F St. John's University (New York) 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Asperger's disorder is increasing in prevalence, particularly in the school setting, and many students with Asperger's are educated in regular education classes. Review of the literature indicates teachers may be lacking in knowledge related to Asperger's. The Knowledge of Asperger's Scale (KASP) was developed to assess teachers' knowledge of Asperger's disorder across three conceptual subscales of diagnostic criteria, general information, and interventions. Participants were 147 teachers (120 female, 24 male) from public school districts in a suburban community within a 25 mile radius of a large, major, metropolitan northeast city. The mean age of the teachers was 40.12 (SD = 11.58) with a mean of 14.01 (SD = 10.11) years of teaching experience. Of the 147 teachers, 114 were regular education teachers and 33 were special education teachers. The sample included teachers from preschool, elementary, middle, and high school. Teachers were asked to complete KASP and the Attitudes Toward Children with Asperger's scale (ATCA). The KASP demonstrated good psychometric properties while the ATCA did not. Factor structure for the KASP was not supported by the data. Results supported four of the six hypotheses. The participants who obtained a score of 65% or less on the KASP was 70.7%, indicating poor knowledge. The amount of contact a teacher had with a student with a pervasive developmental disorder was significantly correlated with the KASP total score. Teachers' reported level of confidence was also significantly positively correlated with the KASP total score. Teachers appear to lack knowledge rather than possess misconceptions. The two hypotheses not supported involved the ATCA. Scores on the ATCA were not significantly correlated with contact or knowledge. Relationships between demographic information and KASP scores were significant for gender, teacher type, teaching experience, special education experience, grade-level taught, education level, the number of articles read about Asperger's, and the number of Asperger's workshops attended. Implications are discussed for the practice of school psychology.

Shakespeare's imaginary father: Suspending judgment in the age of Elizabeth

Denbo, Elise R St. John's University (New York) 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This study explores a positive father in Shakespeare's plays through Julia Kristeva's concept of the imaginary father, which she takes from Freud. Although my reading reconfigures Kristeva's theories when applied to Shakespeare's plays, the notion of a preoedipal father prior to representation and within childhood prehistory challenges traditional readings that posit binary constructs of a symbolic father or a preoedipal mother. This study contextualizes psycholinguistic and rhetorical processes within a historical framework. Early modern writers were fascinated by the nature of fiction and its ability to act in the world. Imaginary fictions were less bound by nature or the law: they not only possessed a mysterious capacity to move both passion and spirit, but also to reconfigure agency and authority, private and public beliefs. Although current studies investigate Shakespeare's craft as rhetorical fictions embodied within discursive practices of his day, most converge on the symbolic father. Exploring a positive father in Shakespeare offers a new perspective through which to consider his plays and to rethink the creative process itself. Bringing the maternal body back into language enables subjectivity to be explored as a metaphorical process shaped through movement and alterity that enriches and disturbs social constructs of power. Unlike Lacan, who defines the imaginary as a narcissistic dual enclosure, Kristeva reads primary narcissism as a triadic dimension, offering an alternative narrative -- a `third space' -- to rethink natural, psychic, and social borders. In contrast to the oedipal agon which founds the cultural subject, Kristeva considers Narcissus "the obliged creator of the world," whose failure to realize his image as both semiotic and symbolic needs re-evaluation. Like Shakespeare, Krisreva explores the crafting of psychic space, its childlike labors and attractions. Because Shakespeare exposes rather than defends cultural concerns, his fictions dramatize the individual's relationship to the family and state, the dialogic interplay of power with the choric and more personal voice. This project explores the positive father through the following plays, Hamlet, As You Like It, 1 & 2 Henryy IV, The Tempest and The Winters Tale..

Mephistopheles in Concord: The Faustian bargain in the post- transcendentalist romances of Hawthorne and Alcott

Burby, Stephen P St. John's University (New York) 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Prior to postmodern literary analysis, the general notion of gender norms in North America is that there existed "essential" masculinity and femininity, and anything falling outside the acceptable norms was considered to be "deviant." The aim of this study is to extend the understanding of the complexity of gender norms and the ways in which those norms were destabilized through the cultural work of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott. During the early nineteenth century, the dominant icon of American manhood was President Andrew Jackson, and the prevailing model of masculinity was materialistic, aggressive, and anti-intellectual. Opponents were characterized as either weak or demonic, to be battled and vanquished. The Transcendentalists, following Emerson, wanted to reestablish intellectualism as a component of "true" masculinity. The presence of the "Faustian bargain," the traditional trope of the "contract with the Devil" in the romances of post-transcendentalist writers Hawthorne (in the romances The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun) and Alcott (in sensationalist romances A Long Fatal Love Chase and A Modern Mephistopheles) reflects societal anxieties and desires surrounding normative and "aberrant" masculinities, and the depiction of such bargains both reinforces and undermines nineteenth century social gender norms. The Mephistopheles/Faust dyads created by these authors were read because readers of this period needed to be able to examine the demonic male other in relation to the self; this masculine other served a function of both calling into question and resolving anxieties about contemporary gender roles as they applied to both men and women. The cultural work being performed by these authors was to simultaneously challenge and reinforce the conventions of nineteenth-century American masculinity along a variety of axes. Through many variations on the enactment of this transaction, the multivalent nature of the Mephistopheles/Faust dyad provides a useful lens through which to examine the anxieties, assumptions, and prejudices surrounding masculinities and evil leading to and passing through the Transcendentalist period. The message that emerges from these authors is that whether you are male or female, possession of too overtly masculine traits is evil, and only the Eternal Feminine offers redemption.