http://hdl.handle.net/1803/208 Fri, 24 May 2013 03:01:10 GMT 2013-05-24T03:01:10Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5091 Title: Self Esteem Instability – Scale Development and Relations to Appraisal and Dispositional Constructs Authors: Flaxer, Joseph M. Abstract: Past literature indicates that self-esteem may not be a stable entity for all individuals, and there may be some individuals for whom their self-esteem varies across contexts. Research has shown that further exploring the Self Esteem Instability paradigm has the potential to create a much more comprehensive and accurate account of SE that accounts for this variability. Also, it is desirable to develop a viable alternative to the current multiple assessment method of SE-stability that can measure SE-instability in a single assessment. Participants were asked to write about a highly stressful event they had experienced, and then responded to a long survey of questions measuring SE-level, SE-instability, appraisal style and situated appraisal, and a variety of other dispositional constructs. Interaction between SE-instability and SE-level was predicted, as well as relationships of these interactions to blame assignment, coping, and other appraisal and dispositional constructs. Results indicated that a highly reliable measure of SE-instability was produced with strong face validity. Instability was found to relate to a wide variety of constructs in ways that were largely in line with predictions, although the exact relations predicted were not always observed. Implications of these findings are discussed. Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5091 2012-04-01T05:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5085 Title: Refining a Measure of Appraisal Style Authors: McLain, Tessa C. Abstract: The following study addresses creating a new, more efficient measure for evaluating appraisal styles, specifically emotion-focused, or accommodative-focused, coping potential and problem-focused coping potential. The current measure, the Appraisal Style Questionnaire is considerably reliable and valid, yet its length precedes its usage in practical settings. We aimed to create this measure, administer it along with the old measure and select validating measures to collect data, which we then utilized for validity and reliability checks. We had three main expectations: the first of which was that the new scales of Accommodative-focused coping potential (AFCP) and Problem-focused coping potential (PFCP) will correlate appropriately with each other and their analogous ASQ counterparts, which results show occurred with significance. The second expectation for our new measure was that it would show significant correlations with other validating measures. Our last expectations was that our new scales would maintain unique relationships with those validating measures when controlled for the opposing component, and these unique relationships would mimic the old ASQ components’ unique relationships. Results show that in fact our new measure correlated with the validating measures and maintained those correlations when being controlled, to an extent more so than the old ASQ and with stronger correlations. Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5085 2012-04-05T05:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5074 Title: Problem- Focused and Emotion-Focused Coping Potential in Adjustment to College Authors: Spitzer, Elizabeth G. Abstract: An individual engages in coping when he or she uses cognitive and behavioral efforts to deal with the internal or external demands of a stressful situation to make it more congruent with his or her goals (Smith & Lazarus, 1990). When a person changes their beliefs, values, and goals in stressful situations, they use emotion-focused coping (Lazarus, 1991). Likewise, when an individual uses action to change the demands of the situation they are engaging in problem-focused coping (Smith, 1995). This study examines coping styles in first-year students who were enrolled in introduction to chemistry, a pre-med requisite. These students were followed from the beginning to the end of their first semester. Their responses to multiple surveys looking at self-esteem, anxiety, coping style, appraisal style, perceived stress, goals, among other measures were assessed at nine points over the semester. Before and after each exam, students reported their expected grade, satisfaction ratings, and perceived stress. For each exam, there was a large gap between student’s desired and achieved exam scores. Students used problem-focused coping more before the exam and emotion-focused coping more upon receiving their grades. Both forms of coping had significant correlations with performance, personality measures, trait factors, emotions, and other exam related behaviors. Description: Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in the Psychological Sciences, under the direction of Dr. Leslie Kirby and Dr. Craig Smith. It investigates problem-focused and emotion-focused coping potential in first year students adjusting to college. Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5074 2012-04-05T05:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1803/4797 Title: Should Emotions Have a Stake in Decision-Making? An Empirical Evaluation of Intuition. Authors: Jacobs, Skyler G. Description: The construct of intuition has gained recent attention in the literature on decision-making and emotion. Of particular interest are measures of decision-making style that claim to assess individual differences in intuitiveness and deliberativeness. Study one analyzed the extent to which these measures assess intuitiveness and deliberativeness, developed a brief, derived measure of decision-making style, and explored suspected dispositional correlates of decision-making style. Study two explored the effects of individual differences in intuitiveness and deliberativeness on quality of interpretation in an experiment in which participants provided advice to a fictional person in a moral dilemma under experimentally manipulated time pressure. Key dispositional features of decision-making style as well as key features of intuitiveness and deliberativeness in practice are identified and discussed. Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1803/4797 2011-04-01T05:00:00Z